Cooking is Sexy - Recipe Thread

Back on the old forum we had a cooking thread that I've been dying to recreate here for a long time. I finally had a moment today, so I just decided to go for it.

This is a place where people can share their own favorite recipes so that we can all learn something from one another, and expand our own repertoires. I don't think anyone here is a professional chef, but I personally really enjoy cooking. I am always trying to get better and learn new tricks. So, let's see what we can come up with.

Also, as the title says: cooking is sexy.

If you'll forgive me, the first post will be a repost from the old thread. For context, I cooked this in Japan in our tiny, baby oven:

I have a good buddy who is a chef and every now and then I buy something - a piece of meat, veggies, whatever - and ask him how to make it sexy. So, Aly and I picked up a double pack of pork loin from Costco last week and I asked him how to make it drop some underwear.

It is seriously idiot proof and the end result was fantastic. Granted, you should like pork.

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Seared and Baked Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients: Pork loin, butter, salt, pepper, garlic powder, fresh rosemary, sage, and fresh thyme.

Tools: Stovetop and oven (our oven is tiny, so any oven will do as long as it can hold your pork loin).

Directions:
- Preheat your oven to 210 C/410 F
- Season your pork. Rub the salt, pepper, garlic powder, and fresh/dried herbs on the meat. As long as its sitting at room temp, it is good to go. Room temperature is important because it will allow the meat to cook evenly, especially inside.
- Get your skillet to medium high heat and drop some butter in the pan (olive oil is healthier, but fuck that). Also drop some more herbs into the pan with the butter. I tossed some more rosemary and thyme directly in the butter in the pan.
- Sear your meat. Only sear three sides. Treat the pork tenderloin like a "box" with four sides. Sear three of them. Searing just gives it that awesome crispy, brown texture. While this is going down, rub some butter or olive oil on the pan that's going to go in the oven.
- Once you got three sides seared, transfer the pork to the oven pan - non-seared side down. Pour that juice/butter/herbs from the skillet on top of that bitch and throw it in the oven.
- Keep it in the oven for 10 minutes.
- Take it out and let it sit and settle for another 10 minutes. Don't cut it before this or you'll dry it out.

Pork can be a little pink, contrary to popular belief. The important thing is that the internal temperature gets to 145 degrees F. If you have a meat thermometer then this is a perfect time to use it. I don't, so we just winged it. After the first cut, Aly thought it looked a little "too" pink. So, to appease her (happy wife = happy life) I put it back in. I think she was right though. It needed a little more.

Anyways, it is so easy and so bomb. We had it with pan seared asparagus and Newby-style mashed potatoes. BOMB.

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Newby-Style Mashed Potatoes

This is really a no frills, no nonsense take on mashed potatoes. It's the way my dad had always made them when I was growing up, and it is the way I make them now. The trick is a lot of salt and a lot of butter. This is not a healthy recipe. If you are on a diet, avoid these. Don't "put in less butter." Avoid them completely. There are no half-assing these bad boys.

It is important to note that I don't measure anything in this recipe. I add ingredients until it tastes "right."

Ingredients: Potatoes (I have made them with all kinds, so pick your favorite), salt, butter, pepper, milk, and garlic powder.

Tools: A pot, a strainer, and something to smash with.

Directions:
- Wash your chosen potatoes thoroughly but don't skin them. That is for weak men and communists. Vitamins are in the skin after all. After they are washed, cut them in half, then cut them in fours. This will help them boil through faster.
- Drop them in boiling water and allow them to boil until you can stick a fork in them without them hanging onto the fork.
- Drain the water and potatoes into a colander (strainers actually have names... weird, I know) and then put them back into the same, now empty, pot you just boiled them in.
- While they are still hot, add in butter and salt and pepper.
- Add in some milk; be careful not to add too much milk. You don't want them runny. So err on the side of too little here.
- Stir/Smash the shit out of what's in the pot and repeat ingredient process.

You want to get a solid consistency/texture that isn't too runny but fluffy like buttery clouds. Once you've reached desired consistency, put away the milk. Taste it. Is it bland? You need more butter. Maybe salt. Could be black pepper. Probably butter. Add and mix. Taste it again. Repeat.

Finally, put a tiny dash of garlic powder in there. If you use too much, it can overpower everything. Again err on the side of caution.

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I can't wait to add more and read all of your recipes!

For you information I can now say that I have tried the "Newby-Style Mashed Potatoes" in the "Semi-Lacto-Vegetarianism Style".

So what I essentially did was to replace the butter with a vegetabilian alternative and I didn't have any garlic powder at home so I used herbs instead...but I did mash those potatoes with the skin on them! Good and proper they got mashed and the mash made.


The result was very good. While I was a bit hesitant in the start about letting the skin remain on the potatoes it turned out nicely. My lazy nature also gives it an extra star because I didn't have to do the extra work of peeling the potatoes.

Dude! I didn't ever see that anyone responded. That's awesome! I am really happy to hear that you were able to make a Gurkhal-version. Something about keeping the skin on them really makes it for me; I can't quite place it, but I love it.

And yes, fuck peeling potatoes.

Cheers, Jeff!

I'll probably make them again as soon as money starts coming back to me again. Which isn't tomorrow but soon enough. Until then its rice and vegetables for me.

Im awful at cooking, but My parents got us an instant pot for x mas. Anyone ever use these things?

I cooked some pork loin in it today but it was a last minute, prepare-this-for-later-in-the-week scenario.
As such, it was not properly prepared, aka marinated for a day. Its juicy, but lacks any real flavor.

Not exactly a main course meal, but a quick desert that tastes like it took longer than it did. Peanut butter fudge. For those of you who like peanut butter. Its good for gifts, I made it for the first time over the 2020 holidays and everyone that had it said I should've lied about the time it took to make. It can also work out for Valentine's if you're into that.

Ingredients: Cake frosting (non-whipped), smooth peanut butter, optional pecans or walnuts
Tools: 8"x8" pan (or about 20x20cm), microwave safe bowl, spoons, measuring cups, wax paper

Into an appropriately sized bowl mix 1 cup (~128 grams) cake frosting (I used chocolate, theoretically you could use whatever flavor) and an equal amount of peanut butter. Mix well and microwave for one minute. Remove from microwave and mix thoroughly. Return to microwave for one minute. Remove and add pecans or walnuts (optional). Mix well, again. this should take at most 5-10 minutes depending on how fast you can measure the peanut butter.

Line pan with wax paper and spread evenly. Place into refrigerator for 2-4 hours before removing and cutting up into squares (I made 64 1x1 in squares).

Hopefully you enjoy, I forget who taught me this, but hopefully you impress for an upcoming valentine's day.