The Cookbook

[Mik]

Yeah, it’s really not worth making it from scratch when you can get the packets and cans.

[George K]

Tonight's Dinner: Juicy Milk Pork Chops with Mustard Sauce.

Yum! This was good!

https://bestrecipebox.com/milk-braised-pork-chops-with-mustard-sauce/

2 pounds pork chops , bone-in or boneless
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon paprika
kosher salt or sea salt , to taste
fresh ground black pepper , to taste
2 Tablespoons butter divided
4 cloves garlic minced
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 cups milk
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves or fresh thyme
1/4 cup dijon mustard
zest of 1 lemon
additional fresh cracked black pepper and salt to taste

Optional For Thicker Sauce:

Additional 1-2 Tablespoons butter , to thicken sauce
1-2 Tablespoons flour , to thicken sauce

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400° F.

Season both sides of pork chops with ground cumin, paprika, salt and pepper.

Heat large oven-proof skillet on medium-high heat and then melt 1 tablespoon of butter. Sear both sides of the pork chops until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes per side. Remove pork chops from pan and set aside.

In same skillet over medium heat, melt the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter, add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add bay leaf, milk, thyme, dijon mustard, and lemon zest. Stir and reduce heat to bring liquid to a low simmer. Taste the sauce and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Add pork chops back into the skillet and cover with a lid or aluminum foil. Bake the pork chops for about 15-30 minutes or until fully cooked and to your desired tenderness. (Different thickness of pork chops will change cooking times).

Serve the pork chops with the milk-mustard sauce. Add thyme garnish as an option.

(optional) For a thicker sauce (gravy), remove the pork chops from the pan. Heat up the pan of milk sauce again to a low simmer. Whisk in a tablespoon or two butter and flour until all flour clumps are removed. Sauce will get thicker as it cooks. Once gravy is thick and creamy, remove from heat and serve immediately.

Link to video

[Mik]

Yum. Chops looks fantastic.

We had bunless bacon cheeseburgers and Golden Lamb Signature Salad (greens, smoked cheddar, granny smith apple matchsticks, candied pecans and their fantastic balsamic dressing).

Waiting for biscuits to cool now for strawberry shortcake.

Smoking a brisket tomorrow for Father's Day (hey! why am I doing the work?)

[George K]

@Mik said in The Cookbook:

Yum. Chops looks fantastic.

If Mrs. George approves, that's high praise.

The chops I had were a bit on the thin side, so I only baked them for about 15 minutes, and though well-done, they were not dry.

So many interesting flavors: Dijon mustard, lemon zest, thyme. Oy!

[xenon]

I’m not one to brag, but the pizza game is getting strong.

Ignore the overflowing recycling

[Rainman]

Wow. Just, wow.
Can't even bring myself to make rude jokes or be sarcastic.
Just feeling sorry for myself. Hungry.

Did you know, if you close your eyes and lick the computer monitor, after like 30 seconds of doing that you can almost taste it?

I'm full now. Thanks Everybody!!

[Catseye3]

No, Rainman, no. Don't do that.

No.

NO.

[Rainman]

@Catseye3
Tastes like chick'n

[George K]

Looks great, but....

[Mik]

Pizza looks great. Love the airiness in the crust!

Also, you have the one truly necessary condiment - crushed red pepper. I buy the Kirkland giant size too.

[Jolly]

@xenon said in The Cookbook:

Anyone maintain sourdough starter?

I'm on day 3 of starting a new culture (just flour and water). The thing has already risen and bubbled - but it smells like baby vomit as of a few hours ago.

Some folks say this is normal and keep at it, other recommend starting over.

Thoughts?

Well, how did that work out?

[Optimistic]

OMG. That pizza motivates me to get back into trying to make pizza.

[taiwan_girl]

@George-K The pork chop looks great!

[xenon]

@George-K Ha! Busted! It's actually a flat of sparking water cans. But I was impressed how close we got to restaurant style pizza even the first time we went down this path a coupe of weeks ago. Two big reasons for the success:

• Our oven gets very hot. Almost 600 degrees.
• This book is phenomenal. Few recipes, but lots of detail on technique:
  

I actually bought a pizza stone and went back to a steel pan. It's tough transferring a raw pizza loaded up with toppings (the way we like it). Created more than a couple of messes.

[xenon]

@Jolly said in The Cookbook:

@xenon said in The Cookbook:

Anyone maintain sourdough starter?

I'm on day 3 of starting a new culture (just flour and water). The thing has already risen and bubbled - but it smells like baby vomit as of a few hours ago.

Some folks say this is normal and keep at it, other recommend starting over.

Thoughts?

Well, how did that work out?

Meh - my starter probably wasn't great. I'm going to wait out covid and grab a good starter from a friend who is super into sourdough.

The bread wasn't bad - but I was getting much better results with long, slow ferments using conventional yeast.

[George K]

Tonight's Dinner: Roast Chicken with Tarragon-Lemon Pan Sauce

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 whole chicken , giblets discarded
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 recipe pan sauce (optional) (see related recipes)
Tarragon-Lemon Pan Sauce
Makes about 3/4 cup
Ingredients
1 shallot , minced
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 teaspoons minced fresh tarragon
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Pepper

Directions:

For the chicken:

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position, place 12-inch ovensafe skillet on rack, and heat oven to 450 degrees. Combine salt and pepper in bowl. Pat chicken dry with paper towels. Rub entire surface with oil. Sprinkle evenly all over with salt mixture and rub in mixture with hands to coat evenly. Tie legs together with twine and tuck wing tips behind back.

2. Transfer chicken, breast side up, to preheated skillet in oven. Roast chicken until breasts register 120 degrees and thighs register 135 degrees, 25 to 35 minutes.

Turn off oven and leave chicken in oven until breasts register 160 degrees and thighs register 175 degrees, 25 to 35 minutes.

3. Transfer chicken to carving board and let rest, uncovered, for 20 minutes. While chicken rests, prepare pan sauce, if using. Carve chicken and serve.

For the pan sauce:
While chicken rests, remove all but 1 tablespoon of fat from now-empty skillet (handle will be very hot) using large spoon, leaving any fond and jus in skillet. Place skillet over medium-high heat, add shallot, and cook until softened, about 2 minutes.

Stir in broth and mustard, scraping skillet bottom with wooden spoon to loosen fond. Simmer until reduced to ¾ cup, about 3 minutes.

Off heat, whisk in butter, tarragon, and lemon juice. Season with pepper to taste; cover and keep warm. Serve with chicken.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

I got pitchers...

Chicken

Sauce

Plated

It came out very very good. Tarragon is one of my favorite herbs, and it just goes so well with chicken. This is definitely a "make again" recipe.

[George K]

Oh. In the first step, I let the chicken come up to about 135 degrees before turning the oven off, and then it sat until reaching 170. Very flavorful, rich and juicy.

[Mik]

Looks great! We went out for our first lunch out in months. Felt great. We were outdoors at The Golden Lamb.

[George K]

Trying this out...

French Onion Soup Casserole Recipe

1/4 cup unsalted butter
5 medium Vidalia onions, thinly sliced (about 3 lb.)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3 thyme sprigs
2 flat-leaf parsley sprigs
2 bay leaves
1 (16-oz.) baguette, thinly sliced
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups reduced-sodium beef broth
1/2 cup sherry
8 ounces Gruyère cheese, shredded (about 2 cups)
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

Melt butter in a Dutch oven over medium-low; add onions, salt, pepper, thyme and parsley sprigs, and bay leaves; cook, stirring often, until onions are golden brown, about 1 hour.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350°F. Arrange baguette slices in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven until lightly toasted, 12 minutes. Set aside.

Remove and discard thyme and parsley sprigs and bay leaves from onion mixture. Add flour, and cook, stirring constantly, 2 minutes. Add broth and sherry; bring to a boil over high. Boil, stirring constantly, until slightly thickened, 2 to 3 minutes.

Layer half of the toasted baguette slices in a 13- x 9-inch baking dish. Spoon onion mixture evenly over bread. Top evenly with remaining baguette slices. Sprinkle with cheese; cover with aluminum foil. Bake in preheated oven 30 minutes. Increase heat to broil. Remove foil; broil until cheese is bubbly, about 3 minutes. Sprinkle with thyme leaves.

My mistakes: I didn't use enough onion. I used 3 large-ish onions. Should have used 5. I didn't have any sherry, so I just used more beef broth. Should be OK. Also, I couldn't find gruyere, so Swiss it was.

I'll let you know how it is after it cools down a bit.

[taiwan_girl]

@George-K said in The Cookbook:

Tonight's Dinner: Juicy Milk Pork Chops with Mustard Sauce.
Yum! This was good!

Recently did this one! Thank you for the recipe. It was good!!! Only had yellow mustard instead of dijon, but it seemed to taste okay