Sandbox thread for cooking, nutrition nazis, your fucking lunch, etc.

it's a cheap book for what you get, i recommend it. i'm not even a big cookbook person. the urad dal are whole. i was concerned i bought the wrong thing but apparently these have like 10 different names. like everything indian bc they have so many languages i guess

i think split would work really well for any soup calling for them. i don't know why i've never used them before. they have a texture like black beans.

"u rad, doll"

Prosperity dinner tomorrow - pastrami (subbing for corned beef), cabbage, hominy, black-eyed peas.

Worked on condiments today -- a fresh batch of kecap manis and some of Chuck Hughes' apple barbecue sauce to go with a big hunk of oversmoked beef brisket I got from my parents. Prosperity dinner tomorrow I guess. Monday I'm going to make my folks a batch of tom kha gai and blow their minds.

NYE - courgette fritters, salmon-head soup, left over from day before but still v nice. Roman beef stew, with some fresh parpadelle I bought from Italian deli and some braised fennel.

Guys I am so fucking excited abt these kale smoothies. I usually do 5-7 leaves of kale, a banana, a good handful of frozen strawberries, and maybe a cup or so of non-dairy milky bev. This morning I added a heaping spoon of PB and holy shit this just went next level.

I wonder if I could do like choc soy milk with PB and banana and kale?

i don't think i've done that before but i don't see why not because the kale taste is always masked by whatever else you have. i mostly use baby spinach instead because my blender doesn't do kale that well. it's true it's very exciting! i use almond milk and soy protein powder and a banana and frozen strawberries and mangoes.

Just discovered the wonder of avocado smoothies (with almond milk and whatever else I have around - usually frozen blueberries or an apple).

brb, making cream puffs

that's fun!

have you ever made gougeres? they're basically cream puffs with gruyere mixed in to the dough and no filling. i want to make them.

^^ that is exactly the recipe I use - I used to be a pastry chef and made gougeres every day

ground pepper, fresh thyme, and gruyere in addition to the basic pate aux choux

btw my first dozen I tried in tinfoil and the bottoms stuck, the next dozen I did on parchment and the bottoms burned

I miss the professional convection oven I used to use

now I have a bunch of cream puff halves that I will conjure into a misshapen approximation that will be delicious

maybe I will come home early tomorrow and make more, we'll see

the secret is to chill the dough, like, a lot. I used to put it in the freezer for 45 minutes, then into the fridge for another hour or so.

making a 2nd batch now, gonna leave it in the fridge for longer

325 seems like the sweet spot in our home gas oven

this is very great, the sandbox was crying out for a proper pastry chef, we love pastry.