The Scrabbled: Making Fun of Each Other since '99

Brussels Sprouts have slowly become a favorite — if not the favorite — vegetable in our house. It was Luke’s amazing cooking that started the obsession. He even got Kev the Manc to admit he liked ‘em. Now they’re a weekly addition to the grocery list. And more and more, it seems restaurants and home cooks alike are jumping on board the Brussels Sprout Bandwagon.

So I have the following ingredients, to make a layered dip:

• refried beans
• sour cream
• shredded cheese
• shredded lettuce
• diced tomatoes
• diced chiles
• hot sauce

In what order would you make the layers? Would you double up any layers? Does order not matter to you?

Note: this dip will not be heated. Unless, maybe you think it should (and then the sour cream goes on top?).

Sam scored a slow cooker a.k.a. crock pot over the holiday weekend.

I followed up by purchasing a giant pork shoulder butt yesterday.

You, The Scrabbled, must now continue this by giving me recipes, instructions, pointers, tidbits on making some slow-roasted pulled pork.

The problem with cooking a turkey, whole and in your oven, is that white meat and dark meat do not cook at the same rate. Partly due to the molecular composition of the meat, and partly due to the location of the meat on the bird, if you want fully cooked dark meat, you get over cooked white meat. But If you want perfectly cooked white meat, you get undercooked dark meat. There are some solutions to help avoid this problem; pack the white meat in ice before cooking, tent the top of the bird in tin foil to reduce the rate of heat absorption, avoid stuffing your bird to allow heat to reach the dark meat faster. But none of the solutions are perfect and you will still end up some of the bird sub-optimally cooked.

The solution? Cook the turkey in parts — white meat separate from the dark meat. Which probably screws up your whole gravy/stuffing plan, but Grant Achatz has a plan. A really good plan. And it involves cooking your turkey in plastic bags submerged in water heated to 170 degrees. Behold, the sous vide turkey; the easier, simpler, cleaner, and far more perfect way to cook your Thanksgiving turkey.

Watch Part 1 on YouTube.
Watch Part 2 on YouTube (bonus — Deep-Fried Bourbon Pumpkin Pie on a Flaming Cinnamon Stick)
Read the recipe

When I first started getting into cooking, I sought out all sorts of inventive or ambitious recipes; crudo with radish matchsticks or mint-crusted roast leg of lamb, finicky seared lobster dishes or ginger-glazed honey salmon. But I’ve recently gotten the impression that maybe there’s a giant hole in my cooking knowledge: the classics.

I live in Perth Amboy with two brothers. Their father hunts/fishes often. There is a fridge in the basement full of meat. No, I don’t think Mr. Gregory hunts goat, but alas, there are goat chops.

Does anyone have an suggestions/recipes/ideas for me? I just made some delicious red curry chicken soup over the weekend, so I’m certainly in the mood for something with some foreign panache. Maybe something Greek?

I like meat. Cured meat. I first cured meat over the winter with some salted duck breast “prosciutto” that turned out great (and, surpisingly, didn’t kill me). So I decided to step it up a bit.

I made a chili that won a contest at work. It’s my own recipe this time (no blue-ribbon winners, food-crew). I worked on it for a few weeks testing it out on various Scrabblers and honed it down to this. I figured I’d post the recipe in case anyone’s interested.

I’m super pumped. I picked up some pork belly at the asian market last night with the intent of making these:

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2009/01/eat-for-eight-bucks-chinese-pork-belly-sandwiches-recipe.html

Anyone know any decent Mexican or otherwise South American cookbooks? I was going to just email this question to Luke as he has a rather extensive collection of amazing cookbooks, but I figured I’d put this out there in case anyone else does. In particular, I’m interested in an all-the-basics sort of Joy Of Cooking style cookbook that’ll lay the foundation for good Mexican food before I venture into anything crazy.

Also, if you have any especially good Mexican recipes, by all means, let us know. Unless it’s a casserole.

Sweet potato fries. Oh good lord. These look so goddam good.