The Chef Thread

[Jb85]

So after the clear success of ‘The Finest Ale’ thread, what about ‘look what I’ve cooked’ thread.

I absolutely love cooking. Mega passion of mine - fourth to golf, coasters and beer.

So I’d like to see what we’re all cooking, and if any of us are actually any good.

Just made these - peri peri wedges, and roasted pepper, garlic, basil and onion chicken burger.

Bloody lovely.

Polished off with a non beer drink for once. Captain Morgan’s and ginger wine topped to the rim with ginger beer.

That’ll do pig, that’ll do.

 

[DistortAMG]

This was my steak I cooked a few months ago. Medium rare, the only way to go. Can't remember the exact cut, I like to try them all.



Accompanied with my favorite condiments and sides to a steak; pepper corn sauce, jacket potatoe covered in pineapple cottage cheese, cesar salad and a healthy portion of scampi.

I am also a big fan of cooking, Like wise I am a big fan of getting steaming drunk with some fine wine, beer, or anything strong while doing it (kind of like the legend that was Keith Floyd). Makes the process so much more fun. Plus you then get to enjoy a tasty meal to soak up the copious amounts of alcohol that was devoured while cooking it. It's a win win. As you can see in my picture, I do like my large portions. Just like the alcohol really.

It by far beats steak and chips for sure, these sides are my number one go to for a steak. Although I will settle for a good steak and chips if I have to, but it's a bit bland.

While we are here I'll also add this. This was my take on a non descript or style, chicken based curry last week. Spicy. Sauce was made from scratch. Spices and tinned tomatoes to make up the base sauce. I made this specific one quite hot, to the detriment of the rest of the family. Cooled down with sour cream or yogurt to taste.




I am a big fan of making currys. I haven't gone as far as always making the base gravy yet (not to be confused with a single curry base sauce) my friend does, it just takes ALOT of time to create your base gravy.

But that is how all the Indian curry houses make all their currys though and is the best way to make an authentic Indian curry. I am also a big fan of ramming my currys with vegetables, tomatoes in the sauce, diced potato's in the curry, peas and onion, all that good stuff.

I did make an authenticly made Indian curry with my friend using the above mentioned gravy that he made days earlier, as that takes about 6 hours alone. The good thing with the gravy is that most Indian currys (apart from the coconut based ones which have a seperate gravy) will use the same gravy, you just then add different spices and what not for different currys when cooking, aslong as you have the base gravy, any curry can be cooked fresh in 20 minuites. This is the proper, authentic way for an Indian, likewise, your currys then come out looking like and tasting like a real Indian takeaway curry. It is alot of work though. You can freeze the gravy and batch cook it, which is the best way as that saves ALOT of time when you want to throw up a quick curry.

This was our take on an authentic Indian lamb balti, without all the extras I like to add, keeping this one true to real Indian currys, with extra spice for extra heat. Think we had drunk about 15 cans of larger each at this point, so got a bit carried away. But you can see it looks like something you would order from an Indian, that is the magic of the gravy batches that you make for you.

 

[pluk]

Possibly the lowest claim to fame you'll ever find, I once had a dish I cooked shown on Something For The Weekend (effectively what is now Sunday Brunch), it was a monkfish dopiaza and it was beautiful.

Food has become a bit more functional these days, I still love to cook but wish I had more time to knock out special stuff more often.

 

[Connor98]

I’m actually a chef now, well a trainee one. It’s going quite well, we aren’t anything fancy but we do nice homemade food and it’s a beer big garden too! Quite a lot of covers on weekends.




That’s a mint aero cookie dough pie, homemade. And presented by myself .
We use Nutella for the chocolate and top it with the mint aero bars and cookie dough before baking and portioning.




A classic double bacon and cheese burger. Simple but I really liked the look of this one so I grabbed a quick picture of it. Pan sear the burgers with some bacon in the pan too, get a nice colour then top it with cheese and bang it in the oven. Nice toasted bun too. We’ve ran out of sticks for the the burgers but honestly I prefer it without them.

I have a few more but I won’t flood you with them all for now. I need to start taking more photos of my food at work really. Look forward to see more of everyone’s dishes

 

[DistortAMG]

I’m actually a chef now, well a trainee one. It’s going quite well, we aren’t anything fancy but we do nice homemade food and it’s a beer big garden too! Quite a lot of covers on weekends.




That’s a mint aero cookie dough pie, homemade. And presented by myself .
We use Nutella for the chocolate and top it with the mint aero bars and cookie dough before baking and portioning.




A classic double bacon and cheese burger. Simple but I really liked the look of this one so I grabbed a quick picture of it. Pan sear the burgers with some bacon in the pan too, get a nice colour then top it with cheese and bang it in the oven. Nice toasted bun too. We’ve ran out of sticks for the the burgers but honestly I prefer it without them.

I have a few more but I won’t flood you with them all for now. I need to start taking more photos of my food at work really. Look forward to see more of everyone’s dishes

I've never been one for burger sticks, as to me they are a sign of a badly built burger, an art in itself.

Plus, you need to remove them to eat it. If the burger is unstable, re design to make it more stable if you ask me. Switch the condiments around so they don't slide, or make the burgers and buns thinner but wider for more stability. There are many ways. A well built, stable burger holds better in the hands too and doesn't fall apart when eating.

This is something I've found is usually the case with stick held burgers. They are usually just an excuse to hide a mess of a badly built burger, not always though I must add! As a rule of thumb, if you actually need a stick to hold it together on its journey from kitchen to table, it will not hold together in the hand when eating. I've been in some right pickles (pun intended) in many pubs with burgers.

That burger looks great, stable, not to juicy, decent bun to meat to condiment ratio. Very good. Same goes for Jb85's too.

I am a big burger fan I must say. Probably my favorite food. Chicken burgers with a hashbrown currently ranking top tier for me. Absolutely love a good beef burger too.

Show us ya buns.

 

[Connor98]

I've never been one for burger sticks, as to me they are a sign of a badly built burger, an art in itself.

Plus, you need to remove them to eat it. If the burger is unstable, re design to make it more stable if you ask me. Switch the condiments around so they don't slide, or make the burgers and buns thinner but wider for more stability. There are many ways. A well built, stable burger holds better in the hands too and doesn't fall apart when eating.

This is something I've found is usually the case with stick held burgers. They are usually just an excuse to hide a mess of a badly built burger, not always though I must add! As a rule of thumb, if you actually need a stick to hold it together on its journey from kitchen to table, it will not hold together in the hand when eating. I've been some right pickles (pun intended) in many pubs with burgers.

That burger looks great, stable, not to juicy, decent bun to meat to condiment ratio. Very good. Same goes for Jb85's too.

I am a big burger fan I must say. Probably my favorite food. Chicken burgers with a hashbrown currently ranking top tier for me. Absolutely love a good beef burger too.

Show us ya buns.

I did do a nice garlic chicken burger with hash brown, cheese and chipotle sauce. Was very nice. I’m not the guy who would order a burger normally but I really enjoy cooking them.

 

[DistortAMG]

I did do a nice garlic chicken burger with hash brown, cheese and chipotle sauce. Was very nice. I’m not the guy who would order a burger normally but I really enjoy cooking them.

Interesting choice of flavours. Sounds delicious.

 

[rob666]

I like burger sticks...usually means it was big and posh.
They are handy at parks for stabbing pushy vloggers for your own amusement in the afternoon after beer.
I used to chef in the care system for up to 25, but usually around a dozen.
Cooking was often easier than care, and I liked to shake out individual orders from a basic two alternative menu.
A set meal or two plated up nicely for the latecomers or local copper on his stunning evening socials...
Now I batch cook everything, all the usual bolog basics, chilli, and ded shep pies.
My wife only knows the kitchen as the beer store...the cold white thing in the corner has them.
I love cooking, having a nice glass in the kitchen, feeding the birds, dancing to 6 music and all that.
Better than stuck on the settee watching midsummer murders...
But I have no phone camera so all this could be lies.

 

[Jb85]

@DistortAMG that lamb curry looks amazing. Did you follow a recipe or make from scratch.

Here’s just a few from this month.



Jamaican goat curry - was just divine. The local butchers had some goat in. Never tried it before so thought why not.



Chicken pakoras, my favourite go to. Onion bhaji and Bombay potato. All from BBC good food app. Really easy to make actually.



Same meal, chicken pathia- the god of all curry - this is my favourite dish ever. Got taught to cook it by the guys in our local Indian when they were closing down due to retirement.


Chicken satay and wedges cooked on cabbage. Was good actually - think it was a James Martin recipe

 

[rob666]

Could I just add, all those lovely pictures are making my right jaw ache rather badly...
Well done one and all.
Back to my soft diet.
Microshopped spam and mushroom omlette anyone?

 

[jon81uk]

Does anyone have any moderatly simple curry recipe suggestions?

We used to get Gousto meal boxes quite a lot and there are a few from them I use, particularly this Sag Masala, but I'd like to hear other ideas.

Recipes | Quick and Easy Dinner Ideas | Gousto

Quick and easy dinner recipes to cook at home. Explore our online cookbook of recipe ideas, with a wide range of tasty meals to choose from.

www.gousto.co.uk

 

[rob666]

Cheat sauces mate, Pataks come to mind, and Booths have a nice selection.
My wife does not like curry, so I often use a half jar for my sauce and freeze half.

 

[DistortAMG]

@DistortAMG that lamb curry looks amazing. Did you follow a recipe or make from scratch.

That one was following receipe. As it was the first time I made one with a base gravy I wanted to make it as authentic as possible to the recipe. Now I know what I am doing, I may veer off road so to speak and add my own stamp on the next curry.

The posted food all looks amazing by the way.

 

[DistortAMG]

Does anyone have any moderatly simple curry recipe suggestions?

We used to get Gousto meal boxes quite a lot and there are a few from them I use, particularly this Sag Masala, but I'd like to hear other ideas.

Recipes | Quick and Easy Dinner Ideas | Gousto

Quick and easy dinner recipes to cook at home. Explore our online cookbook of recipe ideas, with a wide range of tasty meals to choose from.

www.gousto.co.uk

Double post sorry. I just use YouTube alot of the time. Let me look and I'll post in here once I've found some moderately simple good ones.

 

[Jb85]

That one was following receipe. As it was the first time I made one with a base gravy I wanted to make it as authentic as possible to the recipe. Now I know what I am doing, I may veer off road so to speak and add my own stamp on the next curry.

The posted food all looks amazing by the way.

Cheers! Appreciate it. Going through a mid life crisis…. So close to packing up the career and just going for it.

 

[DistortAMG]

Cheers! Appreciate it. Going through a mid life crisis…. So close to packing up the career and just going for it.

We only live once! My friend is considering getting a food van of some description amd doing roasts for events and what not..

 

[Jb85]

We only live once! My friend is considering getting a food van of some description amd doing roasts for events and what not..

Damn good idea that. Street food is the best way to eat

 

[Alix]

I’m not a huge fan of cooking - it’s more a necessary evil than a hobby - but I do like a home made biryani. It’s a BBC good food recipe, and vegan, but I think very tasty and once I’ve chopped everything up it’s quite simple. I serve with shop bought Tesco veg curry and naan bread.

Vegan biryani

Try our vegan version of a biryani. Our plant-based recipe has raisins and cashews for texture and flavour, and provides all of your 5-a-day

www.bbcgoodfood.com

 

[Jb85]

I’m not a huge fan of cooking - it’s more a necessary evil than a hobby - but I do like a home made biryani. It’s a BBC good food recipe, and vegan, but I think very tasty and once once chopped everything up it’s quite simple. I serve with shop bought Tesco veg curry and naan bread.

Vegan biryani

Try our vegan version of a biryani. Our plant-based recipe has raisins and cashews for texture and flavour, and provides all of your 5-a-day

www.bbcgoodfood.com

That looks rather tasty to be fair. Good effort!

 

[pluk]

Couldn't be bothered to cook tonight, and apparently neither could McDonald's. Got home and half my burger was completely missing. Furious!