Cooking and Dining

[mac5155]

Raise your hand if you're cooking brunch Christmas day for 15ish people with your gas range and you just realized you ran out of propane at 3 o'clock today.

Hallelujah it's a Christmas miracle. The propane truck just left.

[count2infinity]

I made Alton Brown’s overnight cinnamon rolls Christmas Eve and into Christmas morning. I’ve never quite been able to get the texture on them right. This year, though… nailed it.

I think it was 2 things:

1. Working the dough for a longer time. I was busy doing other stuff while these were working in the stand mixer, so they went longer than the recipe called for. I think it made a huge difference in the end texture. That perfect combo of soft, stretchy, but easily ripped texture you want in a cinnamon roll.

2. I under baked them a bit compared to my normal bake on them. Usually I bake until they’re nicely browned on top. This year I pulled them just as they were starting to get some color.

10/10, would recommend.

[mac5155]

My brunch menu Christmas is pretty solid. I do a ham sous vide, bacon and sausage. Then I do the serious eats hasselback potatoes gratin which is an incredible recipe for both taste and display. Finish it off with a baked rigatoni, scrambled eggs and some roasted green beans. This year I added in a crock pot French toast casserole and I was extremely surprised how good it turned out.

[NTP66]

Source of the post 10/10, would recommend.

Honestly, this applies to basically all of his recipes.

[NTP66]

I bought a mini cannoli kit from Costco for Christmas Eve, thinking that it’d be decent enough, but it was way better than expected. Would buy again.

[count2infinity]

I make a batch of waffles and freeze most of them for my daughter to eat through the week. Super simple breakfast to make for her.

My daughter had a couple, my wife was still in bed, I had a little batter left so I threw in some pecans and some butterscotch chips. Phenomenal.


Also, with tonight being NYE, my wife and I have had a tradition for about a decade now of how we celebrate: pajamas, chinese takeout, Netflix, bed by 10:30. Can’t wait to get my Szechuan dry pot tonight.

[NTP66]

We always do chocolate fondue for NYE, so we’ve got Hershey’s bars, strawberries, blueberries and marshmallows ready. I skipped last year and went to bed at 10, but my daughter has demanded that I stay up this year. Gonna do a movie night leading into it.

[Joegap]

Picked up a Ninja Creami the other day. Making first batch now - orange sorbet. Anyone else have one?

[Kane]

Can it make the cream of sumyungai?

[Beveridge]

Picked up a Ninja Creami the other day. Making first batch now - orange sorbet. Anyone else have one?

We got one last year. I think it makes good ice cream. We've done a few milkshakes and the chocolate and vanilla my wife has done was good. The only thing we really experimented with was a cookies and cream and it was very good. We tried peanut butter but it never got cold - was weird. Might try the PB powder this year and see if that changes anything.

[NTP66]

Went to a new restaurant in the area, which is a small chain. My daughter and I split a prime rib, and both agreed that it was pretty bland. Overcooked, but still tender at least. The mashed potatoes had some sort of seasoning in it that just made it taste odd, and I couldn’t place what it was exactly. Figured okay, she hasn’t really liked anything, perhaps dessert will save things. Nope. Key lime pie that was dense and heavy, with a graham cracker crust that was - I **** you not - over half an inch thick.

[mac5155]

I made Omaha steaks again tonight and I got to say they are very good. Still not worth the price, but it was a gift. Bacon wrapped filet, the scalloped potato cups are da bomb, and the apple tarts a nice dessert.

[NTP66]

I get coupons for them all the time in the mail, and there’s a retail location about 5 minutes from me.

[NTP66]

Turkey Hill ice cream is on sale at my local Giant for $1.99 for the next three days. I’ve got enough now for the foreseeable future movie nights.

[robbiestoupe]

Can it make the cream of sumyungai?

[shafnutz05]

Turkey Hill ice cream is on sale at my local Giant for $1.99 for the next three days. I’ve got enough now for the foreseeable future movie nights.

That's a great deal. I usually go to Turkey Hill when it's 2 for $5.

[NTP66]

I normally pay around $3/ea on sale, so this was an obvious buy day.

[DigitalGypsy66]

The Costco subreddit had a picture of wings and drumettes on sale for $1.99 a pound, but then reading the comments multiple people said they had bad tasting or wings with feathers still on. Nope. Hard pass.

[NTP66]

The Costco subreddit had a picture of wings and drumettes on sale for $1.99 a pound, but then reading the comments multiple people said they had bad tasting or wings with feathers still on. Nope. Hard pass.

Those people are probably lying so that there is still chicken left to buy…

[DigitalGypsy66]

[NTP66]

Made Pillsbury Grands Cinnamon Rolls this morning by putting them in a round cake pan and pouring about half a cup of heavy cream on top. 20 minutes @ 350° in our Ninja air fryer in oven mode and these came out better than ever before. Definitely going to be my go-to from now on.

[count2infinity]

We're having a chili cook-off at work tomorrow. I know the palate of these plebs, so my guess is some sort of hormel chili dumped into a pot and heated will likely win, so I'm not concerned with winning. There are 10 people participating. The idea of 10 bowls of ground beef, kidney bean, tomato chilis sounds boring, so I think I'm gonna go with some pork chili verde for my entry. I thought about submitting something vegetarian just for kicks, but I like a green chili better.

[NTP66]

Don't drop the pot, Kevin.

[mac5155]

Ah, soup huh.

[count2infinity]

Soup?