Cooking thread, anyone?

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
I made a nice borscht tonight with our garden ingredients: beets, potato, onions, celery, carrots. It was topped with home yoghurt. Yum!! We had it with homemade sourdough pumpernickel bread.

View attachment 336586
Oooh, pumpernickel… it’s on my list! I’m a bit intimidated though! What type of tea did you use?

I went to the Co-op yesterday and picked up more berries yesterday. Rye, soft white, spelt and Kamut (new to me!) followed me home. They were out of hard white unfortunately, which is what I really wanted as I’m almost out of it.
 
Oooh, pumpernickel… it’s on my list! I’m a bit intimidated though! What type of tea did you use?

I went to the Co-op yesterday and picked up more berries yesterday. Rye, soft white, spelt and Kamut (new to me!) followed me home. They were out of hard white unfortunately, which is what I really wanted as I’m almost out of it.
It was a challenging mix for a sourdough bread. The rye flour makes for a sticky, wet boule. It took a long time (much more than the recipe) to get the inside temp up to 200º. I like it, but my wife is a perfectionist and was dissapointed. She used coffee, no tea.

[Hearth.com] Cooking thread, anyone?
 
An Aebleskiver Sunday for the Super Bowl. Danish pancake balls. Made two savory. Spicy Corn. And Chicken Bites.

Usually make a Buttermilk dressing. Lazy this year. I bought bleu cheese dressing and my wife bought ranch.

The corn ones have scallion, jalapeno, cheese, and corn meal in the batter. the chicken ones have chicken, shallot, and
parsley.
 

Attachments

  • [Hearth.com] Cooking thread, anyone?
    20250209_182259.webp
    332.9 KB · Views: 20
It was a challenging mix for a sourdough bread. The rye flour makes for a sticky, wet boule. It took a long time (much more than the recipe) to get the inside temp up to 200º. I like it, but my wife is a perfectionist and was dissapointed. She used coffee, no tea.

View attachment 336606
Mouth watering. Getting into baking a little more and I learned that oil on my hands and bowl scraper really help with sticky dough
 
New bread today! An ice fishing buddy remarked that my rye was like Irish Brown Bread. I tried it. I played with the flour with hard red, rye, einkorn and kamut berries. I’m not sure how it’s supposed to taste, but this turned out pretty good and was super easy to make and clean up after.
 

Attachments

  • [Hearth.com] Cooking thread, anyone?
    IMG_8908.webp
    351.1 KB · Views: 16
  • IMG_8909.mov
    8.9 MB
Must smell good. What is the leavening in this bread?
 
It’s a soda bread, so

2tsp of baking powder
1 1/2 tsp of baking soda

Prep time was 15-20 minutes. The longest part of which was finding the 1/3 cup scoop.
 
Yes, soda breads are quick and easy and instantly rewarding. They're the opposite of making a sourdough loaf.
 
Did a half whole wheat Irish soda bread a couple of weeks back. Love how easy it was, Today did this half bread flour, half golden whole wheat flour loaf . It was intended to be a rounded boule. You can see I have a lot to learn about how to shape but am very happy with the flavor and texture and crust. Held the simply hydrated whole wheat on the counter almost 24 hours while the other half, the white biga was developing in the fridge.

[Hearth.com] Cooking thread, anyone?[Hearth.com] Cooking thread, anyone?
 
That looks great!

I’ll have to figure out how to get the outside smooth. Mine was anything but! Maybe wetted hands or a bit more water in the mix.
 
Pork shoulder tonight.

If you want to watch my pork shoulder cooking today, here is the link to the MEATER thermometer probe I’m using.
It may default to C, and you can change it to F in the settings.


[Hearth.com] Cooking thread, anyone? [Hearth.com] Cooking thread, anyone?
 
This is my first attempt at a rye bread. It is 42% rye flour. I read that if the rye is over 50% the bread calls for a wild yeast. Did an over night soaking of the rye while the white developed in the fridge, similar to the half whole wheat. Blending the two into a uniform dough by hand takes a lot. A mixer would be nice but next time I will try throwing it into our breadmaker for a few minutes. Still need to work on shaping

[Hearth.com] Cooking thread, anyone?
 
That looks great! How does it taste? My loafs are 2 cups hard red berry and 1 cup rye. 4 tsp of carroway seeds.
 

Attachments

  • [Hearth.com] Cooking thread, anyone?
    image.webp
    158.1 KB · Views: 5
The hard red gives a nutty flavor vs the hard white.
 
  • Like
Reactions: thewoodlands
Here are a few pics of my specialties. Sour Dough bread 1/2 Organic Whole Wheat 1/2 Organic White Flour. Almost 3 lb Loaf.
Sous Vide pork tenderloin - best way to cook it.
 

Attachments

  • [Hearth.com] Cooking thread, anyone?
    IMG_3757.webp
    225 KB · Views: 5
  • [Hearth.com] Cooking thread, anyone?
    IMG_3760.webp
    214.2 KB · Views: 5
  • [Hearth.com] Cooking thread, anyone?
    IMG_3838.webp
    238.8 KB · Views: 5
I haven’t done SV in a while. I found chicken was the real standout cooked that way, although steak sure didn’t disappoint! It’s so tender! I don’t think I ever tried pork.
 
I haven’t done SV in a while. I found chicken was the real standout cooked that way, although steak sure didn’t disappoint! It’s so tender! I don’t think I ever tried pork.
I've never tried chicken, I always just cook chicken dark meat cuts in the oven. I think I did experiment once with a brisket to get ready for the smoker. I did try a beef roast too. That was a long time ago. Now I am 100% pork tenderloin. It is cheap sometimes, and I can easily do two at once. These days I rarely have it as a meal, I cook them and put them in the fridge for my breakfast which is at noon. They last over a week no problem. I do a dry rub, then seal, then into a regular pot with a lid. Temp 165F for as long as you want or minimum 4 hours. Preheat the water too 190F before dropping them in. I use my stove on a burner (electric) and set it about 1/4 heat.
 
With chicken, most people are worried about getting the inside temperature hot enough to kill the bacteria. The SV pasteurization kills it all. It stays super moist. I think the rub travels through it too. I bet it’s the same as pork with worries about the trichina worm. I bet that stays real tender.

I use a propane IR grill to sear the outside after it’s cooked. It looks pretty bad coming out of the bag, lol.