What's an extra productive day in the kitchen look like for you?

This week H is on dinner duty, and I offered to make him bread for his “BLT bar.” So I started a sourdough yesterday, then shaped and baked it today. I also did a half recipe of oatmeal cookies (experiment with whites only), preserved the yolks for an ice cream base I’ll make this evening, and put together 10 chicken/bean/veg burritos for the freezer for kids lunches. Finally, not a big deal, but made a pitcher of sun tea. This is likely the most productive kitchen day I’ve had in a while.

What’s a productive kitchen day for you? I’m not really thinking holiday meals, but just one of those days when you’re filling your freezer or fridge or pantry with all the things…

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I’m a fan of BLTs and make a Millionaire BLT. I stole the Recife from a goof friend. Mine is better than what his restaurants make. :muscle:

The bread is critical but id sure like to sample yours.

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For me, the countertops are clean and open, there are no splash marks around or on the range, no produce on the counter is on the brink of going bad, the little aquarium is clean, the dishwasher is empty, nothing’s on the drainboard, the plants on the windowsill over the sink are watered, the floor is mopped, and there’s lots of cheese and fresh produce in the fridge.
I know what you’re asking for, but that’s my idea of a productive day in the kitchen.

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What makes it a millionaire?

Thick cut bacon cooked in brown sugar and a little lemon in the mayo or over the lettuce.

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Ah. My personal pref is basil instead of lettuce, but we don’t usually have that lying around. The bread is just a regular sourdough loaf, from a covid-era starter.

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It’s spring here so there’s no reason I don’t plant basil but I never seem to get around to it. I do buy basil plants at the market and drop them into water and they last a long time. I should use more than I do but forget about it so these small plants work fine for my lifestyle.

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Yep - I can buy a tiny amount for too much $, an overwhelming amount for a better deal. But I can’t grow it well. Not hot enough climate.

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That sounds like a day I haven’t set foot in the kitchen.

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I’d say today was pretty productive. I went out and got pork loin and pork butt. It’s not like being in the US. I get it and break everything down. So after convincing the guy with the machete who is used to haphazardly cutting everything up for stewing that I want these pieces cut this way, I take them home and fix them up myself. The loin for a stir-fry, any meat on the ribs attached for grinding. The butt for tacos arabes and some pieces for char siu. Pieces of fatback added to the stockpile for sausage-making. With the bones I made Thai pork stock. After freezing the meat, I sliced and pounded out the meat for tacos arabes and seasoned it. Sliced the pork loin for the stir-fry. Made club sandwiches for lunch with the potato loaf I baked yesterday. We bought a watermelon that was disappointingly bland, so that got turned into granita and limeade. Peeled and diced a few pineapples to freeze for piña coladas. Tempered some white chocolate with the circulator and made decorations for a cake I’m going to be baking soon.
Generally days I get meat are productive because they’re going to lead to multiple meals.

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I’d say! This reminds me - a little bit ago I bought a boneless leg of lamb from Costco - about 6 lbs in total. I am one of those apparently rare people who really don’t like meat fat, especially large hunks of it. I thought I would quick quick just cut it up into stew meat while mostly defatting it. Well. That was at least a 2 hr ordeal, but I ended up with about 4 one-pound bags of stew meat for the freezer as well as another pound of scraps that I chopped up smaller and used in the ragout for afghani dumplings.

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Exactly :100::blush:

For me, it’s something non-routine, and that usually entails a longer leadtime for the dish (es), an unexpected abundance of scarce ingredients, e.g., halibut cheeks or Madagascar pepper, or something I’ve been craving, like stewed rhubarb in hot custard, or maiwine with the year’s first sweet woodruff. Processing and preserving for the “other” times also lights my fire…

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That’s what I had in my head as other productive days - the days we pick a mess of berries or I just brought in gallons of summer veg - and we need to start jamming and canning.

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Yes siree! That’s productive!

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This - 1000 times! What’s 99 out of 100 times in my way of having a great cooking session, is not having a clean kitchen. A clean kitchen and a full fridge equal domestic bliss. :blush:

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