Cooking with wanye...

[wanye]

ok, the beef ragu i used this week was made a while back and frozen...

its based on this ATK recipe:



start off with beef shortrbs. i like the individual ones, but it works just as easily with slabs of meat, just do it in a large oven pan rather than a dutch oven

make the sauce using dried mushrooms, anchovy, tomatoes and cover the meat (or drop the ribs in the pot) and cook slowly

once cooked, cool a little, and pull the meat off the bones (removing the layer of tough silverskin stuff near the bone

shred the meat roughly, and add back into the tomato sauce.

portion into tubs, one tub is enough for 2-4 people, just add a tin of nice tomatos (mutti are my go-to tomatoes - the polpa crushed ones work well with this)

to defrost, just drop the frozen tub in the microwave for 5 minutes, then drop into a pan with tomatoes to reheat and serve

[wanye]

sometimes not everything is a massive success, but with "disasters" as tasty as this? who cares!

the arancini i made the other day...

fried for ~5 mins, turning every couple of mins

served with the other half of the duck breast leftover from the day before, the beef ragu, and some pasta i brought back from italy (or maybe i bought it from tk maxx, its hard to tell. i get a lot of my posh pasta from there!)

so the arancini had great structure, but wasnt cooked long enough, the mozzarella in the middle was still cold!

tasted great, but wasnt quite there. i took the other balls off the plates and had them later that evening.

i decided to try and reheat using internet tips. it said to microwave for 30 secs, then put in a convection oven for 20 mins or so.

MISTAAAAAAAAAKE!


microwaving and then oven cooking the ball made it collapse!

again, it still tasted great, and the cheese was lovely and melty inside. but its just not arancini if its a squishy blob rather than something you can pick up and eat like a scotch egg!

i have 10 more in the freezer, i might try frying one up for lunch today, but this time cooking for ~10 mins...

[wanye]

ok, lets talk fried chicken.

i buy 2-3kg of boneless chicken thigh meat at a time, cut it up, marinade and batter, but theres a variety of methods and ways to coat it...

i almost always marinade the chicken in soy/ginger/garlic/rice wine. usually overnight. i then either freeze the marinaded meat as it is, or i dredge, par-cook and freeze. sometimes i dredge and freeze without cooking, depends n the batter/breading and how busy i am!

so you have three "flours" you can use. or in some cases, a mix of all three!

normal flour - used for traditional KFC style
cornflour - used for most asian style breading. a lot crispier and thinner "batter" than normal flour
potato starch - used in korean style. VERY crispy when cooked properly. doesnt brown very easily, so either cut it with a bit of normal flour, or add marinade/seasoning to make it a bit browner

always season your breading too. old bay works well here, but adding a bit of liquid to make the coating nice and craggy always works well too. salt and pepper are a bare minimum though, ,but also onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, cayenne and whatever else you have that you like the taste of. experiment!

so heres some in a cornflour/potato starch mix

and after frying for a couple of mins just to firm up the batter, they go on a baking tray and into the freezer. after a while, they just get bagged up and labelled for cooking another time...

heres some par-cooked "battered" chicken. i made an oobleck using potato starch, some soy, and some fish sauce. this stuff is solid AND liquid. you know how you can walk on custard? its all about the non-newtonians!

anyway, this batter is a nightmare to work with, and im not sure the results were worth it.it tasted great and was cripsy as hell, but its just so much easier dredging in seasoned (corn/potato) flour

to finish off, fry at 375f for ~5 mins (a bit longer if larger pieces), or put on a baking tray at 180c with a spray of oil for ~20 mins, although its never quite as good when its not deep fried

serve with rice and some sauce of your choosing, or chips!

i like schezuan style, but it can be like subway here - sweet and sour, teriyaki, bulgogi, hot sauce, whatever!

heres korean style, with a gochujang based sauce, and pajeon crispy vegetable pancake...

also, ALWAYS USE THIGH MEAT!
breast is great, but a lot less forgiving when cooked a little too long. thigh meat doesnt have that issue, and is tastier too!

[wanye]

Originally Posted by katebush95

Very impressive! I think I’m doing well when I get Gousto for a week 🤣

Did you like Sorrento? I went in June and thought it was great. Loads to do and see in the area 👍

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i absolutely loved sorrento! im just sad that i'd put it off until now (ive done pretty much all of europe, but never italy! despite pizza being one of my fvourite food groups!)

we had loads of plans, a couple of days in naples, pompeii, etc, but it was the week of the heatwave, so instead, every day was spent by/in the hotel pool until teatime, quick shower and change, and head down the hill into town...

i will definitely be going back to italy!

(discovered stanley tucci's tv show about the different regions after we got back, am now working through it and making notes of other areas to visit!)

[marypoppins38]

Oh my days, those pics are making my mouth water. Its enough to get me starting to eat meat again!
Out local wine bar does tapas and one of them is crab arancini. They are delicious!

[wanye]

Originally Posted by marypoppins38

It all looks fabulous Wanye.
Our local sports club has a guy down on a Friday night that has a pizza trailer when they open the bar. The queues are miles long. I am sure something like this with your amazing food would go down a storm.plus people would get to know you for your events catering. You really have a fantastic talent and I love how you keep working on things and tweaking them until perfection.

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i've done a couple of small friends only pizza parties recently with a view to doing this properly at some point. i have a friend who owns a campsite nearby, and i'm gonna see about doing a popup there at some point, but i need a couple of trainees/staff as i cant do it all myself.

i made 4kg of dough which was enough for ~15 pizzas - i need to see how i can scale this up to do 50 in one night...

soon though!

[marypoppins38]

I think you would do a roaring trade. It might be worth contacting a local college to see if any of their catering students might fancy a few casuals hours work.

[wanye]

Originally Posted by marypoppins38

Oh my days, those pics are making my mouth water. Its enough to get me starting to eat meat again!
Out local wine bar does tapas and one of them is crab arancini. They are delicious!

See more...

that batch was made using leftover risotto (i deliberately made a buttload!)

next time though, ill be making the rice specifically for arancini, so it will be a little drier and undercooked so i can work with it a bit easier

[wanye]

arancini experiment part 2...

two frozen arancini dropped in a 375f pan of oil. did 5 minutes on one side, then flipped for another 5.

this time i used my trusty thermapen instant read thermometer to check the temp in the middle, and it was still only ~25c - good job i checked!

ended up being another 5 minutes or so of flipping every minute or two until the cheese was melty and hot

i didnt use my oil temp monitor this time, i should have, because after dropping the balls in, the oil dropped to 350f, and i left the gas on full. by the time i realised, the oil had gotten back up to 425f! (too hot, especially for breadcrumbs!)

i shouldve turned it down earlier, and i think it would have been still cooked, but not nearly as dark brown on the outside. not burned at all, but definitely the wrong side of browned!

so next time, im going to try heating to 375, dropping in, and maintaining at 350f for 12-15 minutes. i may also try defrosting one, see if it maintains its integrity before cooking

but yeah. pretty nice lunch! now to figure out what im having tonight... maybe more arancini with something?

[wanye]

Arancini... done!

Dropped the frozen balls in the pan at 375f and kept it at 350f for 15 minutes. Still wasn't hot enough inside so kept in for another 5 mins

Served with some leftover chopped baby potatoes coated in chip seasoning, and a gourmet attempt at a sausage and bacon mcmuffin... Two of beedhams finest pork patties, crispy bacon strips, and black truffle ketchup/mustard smeared on the toasted buns.

Pretty f'ing spectacular for a leftovers dinner!

Oh, and I made chocolates!