Iron Chef WAYCT - What Are You Cooking Today

[Chap]

@Giles:

Yep, that is a Scorpion Fish….

I'll take photos later, but at the moment I am cooking Potato and Celeriac Gratin - yes to go with my potato curry!  I also have some chicken and lentil curry that Paula made (and made the recipe up too).  Paula is away today, visiting her mum (I had a subsequent engagement  :)), so I'm playing in the kitchen....

love those playing in the kitchen evenings… the new kitchen yet your playground?

La Rouille:

[Giles]

Nope, new kitchen not yet my playground.  When we originally rebuilt this house, we put a self-contained flat in the basement for Alex when he lived with us, now for guests, I am using the kitchen in that at the moment, and boy am I looking forward to getting upstairs…

[Chap]

[seawolf]

Today I'm making my famous Yankee Pot Roast. This is perhaps one of the most labor intensive dishes that I regularly make. What I love about it is, at the end it seems so simple, but the flavors are complex and well developed. I'll post updates along the way, but here's the beginning. 5 pounds of chuck, mire poix (rough chopped), garlic, bouquet garni (bay leaves, thyme stems, parsley stems, and peppercorns wrapped in a coffee filter and tied), tomato paste, and chicken stock (not shown).

[Chap]

That's a nice piece of meat… always a pleasure to see the work of other kitchen enthusiasts here 

[seawolf]

I heavily coated the chuck with kosher salt, and placed it into a hot dutch oven over medium heat. Looking to get a nice hard sear on all sides. Once the meat is adequately browned, I'll move onto the vegetables.

[seawolf]

Next: get the garlic nice and golden, add the mire poix and sweat it down, add the tomato paste and caramelize.

[seawolf]

Deglazed with about half a bottle of red wine, cooked it down to au sec, added a quart of chicken stock, the bouquet garni, and the beef. Putting it in the oven with the lid on for 4-6 hours. Once it's done, I'll move onto the next phase.

[Giles]

And I had a humble gratin and curry….

[seawolf]

That looks delicious!

[seawolf]

Next up: Puree the vegetables and push them through a fine chinois. The pureed and strained vegetables will thicken the sauce and make it very silky. Add the beef back, and put it back in the oven.

[seawolf]

If you're not sick of seeing this yet, I have a couple more steps to show you. Adding new vegetables to the sauce next. Normally I do a mix of pearl onions and carrots, but I couldn't find pearl onions easily and didn't feel like running around looking for them, so just carrots today.

[JDelage]

… I'll be right over ...  ??? 

[seawolf]

Finished with Gremolata.

Thanks for letting me hijack this thread for the day!

[sabergirl]

Looks delicious, Chief!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[neph93]

Great hijack!  Thoroughly enjoyed following that and it looks amazing. The pureeing of the veg took me by surprise but the result is wonderful.

[Giles]

On my list to cook…..

[seawolf]

@sabergirl:

Looks delicious, Chief!

Thanks! Turned out great!

@neph93:

Great hijack!  Thoroughly enjoyed following that and it looks amazing. The pureeing of the veg took me by surprise but the result is wonderful.

That's the detail that makes it a special recipe for sure. The sauce thickened up nicely in the oven for the last phase of the braise which made me very happy. I love that I don't need roux for this recipe!

Also, glad you enjoyed that. I thought I might be being annoying with the oversharing, but once I realized that, I was already committed, so I went for it

@Giles:

On my list to cook…..

So glad to hear! I'm sure you noticed the mashed potatoes, and that's because Mrs. Seawolf doesn't care for the texture of potatoes that have been cooked in a stew, but if that's your thing, by all means, go for it. I personally love putting potatoes, carrots, and pearl onions back into the sauce for the last phase.

[Giles]

I'll do mash with mine, love a bit of good, highly calorific, mash…

[seawolf]

Nothing like some fluffy mash with lots of butter.