1st Gen. Lunch Table - General Discussion

"Quick Carnitas base" recipe using pulled pork:

- 4-6 cups pulled pork, chopped so nothing larger than 1"
- 1 can Ro*Tel tomatoes
- 1TBSP olive oil
- 1/2 chopped onion
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 cup water or chix broth
- Directions: TBSP olive oil in pan. Add onion sear to translucent, add cumin for 1min to bloom. add Ro*Tel w/juice and salt. Add water and pork, when it starts to bubble, stir thoroughly, turn to low, cover, simmer 20 min. Sear in pan for proper carnitas, or use as filling for chimichangas etc.

"All-purpose rub". For paprika, buy the 1lb bag of smoked paprika from Red Bunny Farms on Amazoniuhhhhhhh's website, it's killer bang for your buck.

- 3 TBSP smoked paprika
- 3 TBSP brown sugar
- 2 TBSP kosher salt
- 1 TBSP dry onion granules or powder
- 1/2 TBSP garlic powder
- 1 TBSP black pepper
- 1 tsp dry parsley
- Directions: Shake in a bag or tupperware. Dump into a mortar and pestle and grind together. If no mortar and pestle, use hands to crush up. 1 helping of above rub is enough to cover 12-15lb of pork shoulder. To add pizazz, add a up to 1TBSP of your favorite chili powder, I like 1/2 TBSP ground jalapeno for some flavorful heat. I LOVE adding 1 TBSP of Merken ('merquen'), a smoked seasoning typical in Chilean food from aji cacho de cabra, salt and cumin to add variety. Cumin works well with this rub, but I'm a cumin addict ftr.

 

First one sounds “amaze balls”
Second one sounds very similar to the rub I made for that tri tip minus the parsley.
Is a 1lb bag of paprika pretty big? I feel like I’m getting into the big leagues if I’m buying elbows of spices for smoking meats!

 

Parsley is just for color, really.

1lb is 16oz and cost $15. The average glass bottle you buy at the store is ~3oz and cost $4-6 depending on the brand. So basically 1lb is 5-6 glass jars from the store at 1/3 or less the cost?

Or, if you want to look at it this way, 3 TBSP asked for in this recipe is 1.5oz or half an entire bottle from the store. You want to throw $2-3 of one ingredient one in your rub or 50¢?

When we go on camping trips, I bring a 7-piece Swiss army kit for me to cook with: Kosher salt, smoked paprika, cumin, herbes de provence, sugar, olive oil, and whatever vinegar I'm feeling. Smoked paprika is an absolute essential to cooking. Herbes de provence is excellent because it has oregano, rosemary, and other stuff, sometimes lavender if you go that route. The rest are just essentials in my opinion. I have tons of other spices on-hand, but I could literally live with the above for years.

Got potatoes? Cut into small pieces, Toss in olive oil, paprika, herbes de provence, roast at 375 on a sheet pan for 22-25 minutes.
Got cauliflower? Cut the herbes de provence in half, otherwise same deal, but add cumin and shave off 2-3 minutes.
Need a good flank, skirt or hanger steak marinade? 4 cloves minced garlic, 1 TBSP smoked paprika, 2 TBSP your favorite spice blend, 1 tsp cumin 4 tsp hot sauce, 2 TBSP worcestershire sauce, 4 TBSP red wine vinegar whipped into 2/3 cup olive oil.

I dunno. Personally, smoked paprika is an essential (hot paprika not so much). Especially for rubs, marinades and bbq. It, salt, and brown sugar are crucial to bbq flavors.

 

Were you a hot shot cook in the army or something? You seem very experienced! My mom was a home economics teacher, so I’ve been exposed to lots of cooking techniques, as well as my professional work setting. I too love to camp and cook, kinda what I get excited for when we go camping.
Supposedly my old lady has been using paprika for some time without me knowing.........I can’t complain!!
Your “herbs de la Provence” sound interesting, I don’t know if I’ve seen it or seen it called that here; I’ll keep an eye out!
I really appreciate you sharing, I love learning, and specially something new or different!
My favorite camping dish to make is Dutch oven lasagna; kinda a homage to my dad and Boy Scouts. I had one prepped for me and the boys in Rocky Mountain National Park, when one of them informed me his was intolerant of lactose!!! I had mushrooms as a top layer, plenty, I ended up making a triangle for him that was mushroom layered instead of cheese, he said it was phenomenal! (Same group of dudes, different trip, a momma bear and two cubs ate all our food strung up in the trees..........20-30 yards from where we slept!) @Tundra2 that was a crazy trip!!!

 

DAMN!

 

I can't say I've ever encountered any bears that I know of. Maybe that's what was in the woods the other day when I was imitating @bmf4069

 

It was the turning point for my friends hate of camping, haha shortly after we did a slot canyon that flashed flooded and stranded us for a few days........ hahah I enjoyed they hell out of both situations. He wanted to hike out during the flash flood, I gently chuckled and layed back in my hammock!!!
I called it; his dad was waiting for us at the trail head, with sandwiches, Yerba mate, BEER, and water. I felt like we walked out of the Stone Age; I needed a few days to recover.

 

Ah, I remember you telling that story before.

 

Lots of bears in my neck of the woods. C'mon up for a visit. I'll introduce you to black bears and the occasional grizzly. Black bears aren't much of a hassle. Grizz are just downright ornery buggers though.

 

90% sure this year will be a early brutal winter

 

I'll second that. Going to have to service the snow thrower pretty soon.

 

The way our summer and monsoon is going, I’m guessing we will dip below 32 less than 5 times. One of the boys trip we do, years it’s been 17, others it’s been 57 up on the mountain.

 

The John deere with the plow is always ready to go!

 

Went ahead and got the ever start max battery for the camry. I am such a space case. I paid at the automotive department register, walked across the whole store to leave, then my dumbass goes and pays at the self checkout again! So I have two 120 dollar charges! Lmao

 

Either go get your second battery, or return your empty receipt?

 

Nah. Long story. Dad was Navy 20yrs and refused to let me enlist. He knew my rebellious ass would land in the brig and discharged OTH, likely DD or BCD.

Short-ish version is, I was born in Cajun country to a dad from north LA and a mom from south TX. My grandfather was hardcore coonass who firmly believed 'if it moves you can eat it', and 'you ain't much of a man if you need a woman to eat a respectable meal'. He firmly believed a 'real man can kill, clean and cook his own food' and it should taste good enough to impress the President if he ever showed up for dinner.

As a kid, my brother and I spent summers between mom's parents south of San Anton and dad's dad in north LA. By the time I was 8 my coonass grandfather would've beat the hell out of me if I wasn't able to turn a wrench and use the stick welder for repairing farm equipment on the property, shoot squirrels, rabbits and birds without him, and he showed us basics of how he cooked. Dad was Navy flight mechanic and constantly away, so always helped mom cook too, shop, and other stuff.

Age 14, I started working in the dish pit of a golf resort, it was the only place that would hire me. I worked in food service for 8-9 years to follow, starting back of house, then into front of house, then management. Between a half dozen or more places working back of house, I saw and learned a shit-ton from different people who thought very differently about food and flavors, I used a lot of equipment, learned a lot of fundamentals of flavors, technique. It was interesting.

A few months before Y2K hit, at the restaurant I was opening manager for, I asked the girl who always picked up Friday office lunches for a local tech firm if they were hiring. Dad being in the Navy exposed me to computers, games, coding, and this was during the dot-com bubble when anyone could get a tech job. Short story long, it led to me emailing one of the partners of that company, I got a job managing their tech support, and have been in tech industry ever since.

Never gave up on the culinary world, I like to eat good food, I know the fundamental techniques, I understand flavors, I recognize the patterns and that, with some basic sense off taste is all you need to create food. From the early days of cooking with grandpa and with mom, mostly making Cajun and southern food, but also smoking a lot of food in south TX with mom's family, up to now, cooking has always been a "thing" for me.

Anyone can do it, anyone can create food. You need to understand a few key ideas. You need to understand basic food safety. You need to practice the basic techniques of cutlery and cooking vessels. You need to try all kinds of shit, from everywhere, as long as it's safe, at least once. Some of my favorite foods are, if you think about it, really fucking disgusting. Like gizzards and tripe, for example. But they're awesome when prepared right.

 

Beers, bears, muskie and walleye. Sounds like my kind of trip!

 

Ooh, that would suck if you returned and didn't get back to core charge.

 

Lay off the maybe? Or switch to CBD?

 

Close enough. Whiskey, bears, grayling and bull trout.

No muskie in my area. We do have pike and walleye, though I don't spend alot of time with them.

 

Ah, I think I see the issue. I always thought Pickerel, Muskie and Pike were essentially the same. Quick trip to Wikipedia has educated me better.

 

Bull trout are different than dolly varden too.

 

Called my local dealer to compare prices to Toyota of Cool Springs for those 4Runner Rotors/Calipers. Still no dealer within 100 miles participating in the online thing.

Price Per rotor

• Cool Springs-$57
• Local dealership-$100

Price Per caliper

• Cool Springs- $146
• Local Dealership- $216

 

Sealed up the driveway which is about an every 4 year occurrence. Just in time for me to dirty it up with the timing belt mess.

 

https://redd.it/ispt3f

 

Ah, yes. The bro lean. Common among youths in my region.

 

Easy now, those are the last of the great Chevy Tahoe's

 

I spotted one of our members commenting in that post. That's a nice truck.

 

Dove closing day.