January Mess Hall Group Cookout ~ Theme: Winter Vegtables

DoctorShavegood said:

Nice Owen. You're getting pretty good at the picture thing.




Traditional beef stew tonight for the cookoff. Sirloin beef, Yukon taters, carrots, onion, garlic, red wine, beef stock, parsley and a little love. Homemade cornbread on the side (not boxed), grass fed cow butter from Ireland and local Texas honey.

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Thanks Aaron. I love a good beef stew. What is the trick for getting the dark brown gravy? When I made it, I barely got a dark tan. It tasted good, but the look was off.

On edit- you said Texas honey. Was it Burleson brand? It's pretty good.

davent said:

Looks real good Owen! Brussels Sprouts and bacon, you can't miss!

dave

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The good thing- I have some leftovers. They will only get better.

davent said:

Thanks Dustin!

Endless variations you can do with the twice baked potato, anything goes for filling additions or toppings.

If i were to revisit the stew i'd turn it to a curry and use white basmati as the bed to pile it atop.

Another new one, this one from a vegan cookbook but used regular ingredients i had on hand instead of sourcing the vegan version and then i went and topped with yogurt, no rules allowed here. So, Suppose-to-be-Vegan Cabbage Roll Bowl.

Tomato sauce was a jar we canned a couple summers ago using garden tomatoes. Filling is cooked green lentils, pecans, dried garden tomatoes, onion, olde fashion rolled oats, EVOO, Worcestershire sauce, Bragg's Amino's, salt and pepper. Recipe said to throw all that in the food processor and pulse, too easy to turn all those different densities into mush so most were pulsed individually to maintain some solidity and chew.

Added some sauerkraut to the bowls for some more interest and variety. All in all worked out well. Vegetarian bowl rather then vegan.

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dave

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Dave- are you a pro? Because your food always looks fantastic.

oc_in_fw said:

Thanks Aaron. I love a good beef stew. What is the trick for getting the dark brown gravy? When I made it, I barely got a dark tan. It tasted good, but the look was off.

On edit- you said Texas honey. Was it Burleson brand? It's pretty good.

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The honey is Goodbees from Round Rock, Texas.

The darker gravy come from 3 things; The fond left over from browning the beef, red wine to de-glaze the fond and beef stock.

DoctorShavegood said:

The honey is Goodbees from Round Rock, Texas.

The darker gravy come from 3 things; The fond left over from browning the beef, red wine to de-glaze the fond and beef stock.

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Thanks. I didn't deglaze when I made mine.

oc_in_fw said:

Dave- are you a pro? Because your food always looks fantastic.

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Thanks Owen!

Not a pro but i did cook in an establishment that sold what i was making, maybe 25 years ago, given the green light to make whatever i wanted.

Playing with food since i was a kid and taking pictures almost as long, my dad had a darkroom in the basement. Over 6,000 pictures taken last year all but a handful within walking distance of my front door. I'm pretty comfortable with making the food and taking pictures but don't have much of a clue on plating.

I'm constantly reading books and magazines looking for new recipes to try and most new books i see have great pictures accompanying the recipe so plating ideas to borrow. I'll do a Google image search for pictures of what i'm making to get ideas and then there's a few people on Instagram that i follow who post jaw dropping homecooked-meal pictures. I borrow and steal ideas from everywhere.

Before i post i always do a bit of post picture editing, pretty minimal but to me makes a difference, try to get the food to pop.

If there's anything specific you're curious about, ask away, i'll do my best.

dave