I Said, Hey... What's Going On?

[Raziel]

Should be with the Pasta and Sauces, with the rest of the canned Tomato products.  At least all the supermarkets around here put it there.

[OSJ]

6 minutes ago, J.T. said:

My sister is allergic to tomatoes, so my CDS main batch is tomato free.  

I use ketchup for my mom's batch because I am lazy and can just go to the condiments aisle rather than bug someone to ask them which aisle the tomato puree is on.  Sometimes it is with the canned veggies and other places put it with the canned fruit.... which is where it should be..

 

Most groceries around here refuse to believe that tomatoes are a fruit.

[supremebve]

1 minute ago, J.T. said:

I try to make my sauce traditional with just vinegar, sugar, spices and prayer but my sacrilegious mom insists I make a separate batch with ketchup in it for her so that it has some consistency. 

The key is to make the sauce about a day or so before you barbeque so that the mixture has some time to set.  See also Ginger Teriyaki marinade.

I'm on the same page as your mom, who you should have learned by now is always right.  

Honestly, I think barbecue sauce is one of those things that should never be store bought.  You can make a barbecue sauce better than any you can buy in about 15 minutes with things that are probably already in your kitchen.  Not only that, it is really easy to customize and really hard to mess up.  Pork ribs get sauced, but it should only be a lightly applied and cooked on for 5-10 minutes.  Chicken is pretty much a free for all any sauce or no sauce as long it's not overcooked.  One more chicken point, there is no reason whatsoever to eat a chicken breast, literally every part of the bird tastes better.  Pulled Pork needs a vinegar based sauce, but you can and should add a bit of ketchup or better yet barbecue sauce to give it some viscosity as well as rounding out the flavors.  Good brisket needs nothing, but if you want to add something the best choice is chimichurri.  When it comes to beef ribs, do not get a rack of beef ribs.  Find a butcher that cuts their own short ribs and ask for a plate (not a dinner plate) of 3 short ribs.  Smoked short ribs are great, and much like brisket if you're going to use sauce chimichurri is the way to go.  If you can get your hands on some lamb ribs, buy them on sight.  While all ribs are delicious if cooked correctly, lamb ribs are by far the most flavorful.  My vote for most underrated barbecue meat is turkey.  I honestly never need to eat another dry tasteless slice of roasted turkey, give me smoked turkey 100% of the time.

[J.T.]

14 minutes ago, supremebve said:

Chicken is pretty much a free for all any sauce or no sauce as long it's not overcooked.  One more chicken point, there is no reason whatsoever to eat a chicken breast, literally every part of the bird tastes better.

Bite your tongue!  I have made grilled ginger teriyaki chicken breasts that were so good that have started fights, man.  

We won't even talk about my lemon pepper bone in pork chops

The key is to good grilled chicken breasts is to be generous when you are sauceing them and grill them on an open grill rather than a closed one so that they don't dry out.

Edited June 23, 2020 by J.T.

[Zimbra]

My most controversial food opinion is that store-bought barbecue sauce, pasta sauce, and pie crusts are all perfectly fine and the extra work to make your own isn't really worth the effort unless you're, like, simmering a bolognese all day.  And who has time for that?

[Raziel]

9 minutes ago, Zimbra said:

My most controversial food opinion is that store-bought barbecue sauce, pasta sauce, and pie crusts are all perfectly fine and the extra work to make your own isn't really worth the effort unless you're, like, simmering a bolognese all day.  And who has time for that?

If you want good sauce, everyone.  

My BBQ sauce is better than pretty much everything I could buy.  Plus, there isn't any Jim Beam in most store bought sauces.  My wife's pasta sauce is better than the sugary muck stores sell.  Even when I have to skimp on time and buy a store sauce, we doctor it up to make it closer to what we do.  

 

Now, as far a Turkey goes; for Thanksgiving, my Mother-in-law still insists on making a Roast Turkey for leftovers.  But I smoke a Turkey every year, and that bird gets picked clean on Thanksgiving day while the Roasted sits untouched, being left for sandwiches and pot pie over the course of the next week.  I did a smoked turkey for "Friendsgiving" last year, (which was 1 of 3 birds that were cooked), and there was none left while the other 2 had plenty of leftovers.  So Smoked Turkey > Roasted.

[J.T.]

We don't even eat a whole turkey anymore for Friendsgiving.  I make a bunch of my Jamaican curry gravy and make Curry Chicken and Curry Turkey Wings.

There are no leftovers.  My family and friends all have tapeworms.

That's cool though, because I rarely eat a full meal with the family anyway because I've sampled myself to death while making dinner.  It is a stupid cook that goes hungry.

Edited June 23, 2020 by J.T.

[OSJ]

3 minutes ago, Raziel said:

If you want good sauce, everyone.  

My BBQ sauce is better than pretty much everything I could buy.  Plus, there isn't any Jim Beam in most store bought sauces.  My wife's pasta sauce is better than the sugary muck stores sell.  Even when I have to skimp on time and buy a store sauce, we doctor it up to make it closer to what we do.  

 

Now, as far a Turkey goes; for Thanksgiving, my Mother-in-law still insists on making a Roast Turkey for leftovers.  But I smoke a Turkey every year, and that bird gets picked clean on Thanksgiving day while the Roasted sits untouched, being left for sandwiches and pot pie over the course of the next week.  I did a smoked turkey for "Friendsgiving" last year, (which was 1 of 3 birds that were cooked), and there was none left while the other 2 had plenty of leftovers.  So Smoked Turkey > Roasted.

If you have the equipment and the patience deep-fried turkey is the fucking bomb.

[OSJ]

Just now, J.T. said:

We don't even eat a whole turkey anymore for Friendsgiving.  I make a bunch of my Jamaican curry gravy and make Curry Chicken and Curry Turkey Wings.

There are no leftovers.  My family and friends all have tapeworms.

That's cool though, because I rarely eat a full meal with the family anyway because I've sampled myself to death while making dinner.  It is a stupid cook that goes hungry.

If a restaurant has a skinny chef, find somewhere else to eat.

[J.T.]

2 minutes ago, OSJ said:

If a restaurant has a skinny chef, find somewhere else to eat.

I am offended, I have never weighed more than 150 pounds and I have been around for more than a half century.

But yes, if the cook isn't fat and doesn't sing while he / she is working, do not eat there.

Edited June 23, 2020 by J.T.

[OSJ]

20 minutes ago, Zimbra said:

My most controversial food opinion is that store-bought barbecue sauce, pasta sauce, and pie crusts are all perfectly fine and the extra work to make your own isn't really worth the effort unless you're, like, simmering a bolognese all day.  And who has time for that?

You have obviously not tried my chilli recipe, which  remains posted here for posterity.

[OSJ]

Just now, J.T. said:

I am offended, I have never weighed more than 150 pounds and I have been around for more than a half century.

My brother, you must have the metabolism of a hummingbird. I'm 5 '10 and have weighed about 240-250 since high school. 

[Zimbra]

Just now, OSJ said:

You have obviously not tried my chilli recipe, which  remains posted here for posterity.

Hey, I said nothing about chili.  That's one where the extra effort of homemade is almost always worth it.  Unless you're making chili dogs in which case Wolf Brand Chili is the way to go.

Which reminds me that I haven't made coney dog nachos in a few years and I really need to do that again.

[OSJ]

Just now, Zimbra said:

Hey, I said nothing about chili.  That's one where the extra effort of homemade is almost always worth it.  Unless you're making chili dogs in which case Wolf Brand Chili is the way to go.

Which reminds me that I haven't made coney dog nachos in a few years and I really need to do that again.

I am in full agreement, if you are in a situation where store-bought chilli is called for, Wolf Brand is the way to go. I must confess that I had a can of it a couple of days ago because it's in the nineties and I didn't feel like cooking my chilli and spending the day in an already hot kitchen.

[Craig H]

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It's a day where I get to eat my absolutely favorite foods that I don't eat at any other point during the year. I love it all. Each year my brother and sister-in-law host at least 30 people for thanksgiving so there's always 2 to 3 turkeys there. There's always a deep fried turkey, a grilled turkey, and a roasted turkey. The deep fried one is always the best.

My wife and I though wanted to have our private Thanksgiving dinner where we could hoard the leftovers and all that. Last year I wound up getting one of those Butterball electric turkey fryers for my 15 year anniversary at work. That thing is awesome and felt way safer to use that the propane and oil setups. It was our first time deep frying our own turkey and we're going to do it every year. We even thought about doing it a couple times a year because of how easy it is.

On the store bought pasta/pizza sauce tip, my wife makes her own sauce and dough when we make pizzas. I'll have to post pictures of them sometime. The sauce is outstanding. For pasta though, we really like Rao's brand sauce. Bon Appetit and Food and Wine magazines both gave it really high marks and the taste is really good. Not too sugary or anything, but it's a little on the oily side, which winds up triggering some bathroom trips for me.

[Zimbra]

Thanksgiving is, hands down, the best holiday.  What's better than a day whose entire purpose is to gather with the people you love, eat way too much food, and reflect on the things you're grateful for?  The only thing that keeps it from being perfect is that there's no basketball on, but I guess you can't have everything.

I do the Good Eats roast turkey every year and it's a consistent winner.  I haven't had smoked turkey, but I can imagine that's good as hell.  For all the hype fried turkey gets every time I've had it it's been extremely mid, but that could just be because my shitty uncle was always the one to make it and he's, well, shitty.

[Eivion]

My older brother and younger sister are the cooks of the siblings. You people are giving me plenty of ideas to pester the former with as he has really gotten into grilling the past year. Keep em coming.

[NikoBaltimore]

All I know is I just had lunch and getting hungry all over again.  I sure could go for some of the awesome stuff you all are referring to.

But I will say that if the chicken breast is cooked right I wouldn't necessarily pass it up.  But if there's any other part that is offered I'll dive into that any day over that.  As for BBQ sauces I'm guilty of buying store-bought but I'm also not really much of a cook.  I'll have to look into homemade ones though as that's always something I wanted to try.

[jaedmc]

3 hours ago, J.T. said:

We don't even eat a whole turkey anymore for Friendsgiving.  I make a bunch of my Jamaican curry gravy and make Curry Chicken and Curry Turkey Wings.

There are no leftovers.  My family and friends all have tapeworms.

That's cool though, because I rarely eat a full meal with the family anyway because I've sampled myself to death while making dinner.  It is a stupid cook that goes hungry.

Of all the food stuffs people have mentioned Jamaican Curry Gravy sounds like the best.

[dragonzombie]

I put hotsauce on most stuff.

[OSJ]

3 minutes ago, D.Z said:

I put hotsauce on most stuff.

As well you should! Every table should have salt, pepper and Sriacha. Besides which its great fun asking "Where do you keep the cock?" at the grocery store.

Edited June 23, 2020 by OSJ

[Zimbra]

I've only become a hot sauce guy fairly recently.  I tend to rotate between Sriracha, Valentina, Cholula Chili Lime, and Chipotle Tabasco.

[OSJ]

1 hour ago, Zimbra said:

I've only become a hot sauce guy fairly recently.  I tend to rotate between Sriracha, Valentina, Cholula Chili Lime, and Chipotle Tabasco.

That's a good starter group. Oh, for special dishes you need Da Bomb! I will warn you, more than five drops and you will be sorry; it is properly labelled "a food additive" and anyone foolish enough to slather it on something as though it were a sauce deserves just what they will get.

[Craig H]

No one needs Da Bomb. It's not manufactured for any kind of flavor. It's purely meant to be painfully hot. On Hot Ones it's unanimously known to be completely disgusting, not to mention absurdly hot. I've tried it myself and it's terrible.

I have a bunch of other Hot Ones sauces. The Last Dab is pretty good for heat and flavor. There's another sauce called Brain Burner that has the flowery notes of Habanero and Scotch Bonnet and that's pretty good too.

I think my favorite though is just the plain old Hot Ones Classic sauce. 

[Zimbra]

Yeah, I don't like super-spicy sauce.  I just want to add a little zing and some flavor.  Even habanero is too hot for me.