What are your culinary aspirations & goals for 2024?

Culture, Media, General Culture, Chains, General Discussions
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New Year’s resolutions are so passé… that said, I figured this group of food enthusiasts might have a few goals or aspirations for the next 12 months.

Is there a technique you’ve been wanting to tackle? New equipment? A different way of eating? A food destination or restaurant that’s been on your bucket list forever?

Since my PIC has forbidden me from trying to poach eggs that meet my personal standards in our kitchen ever again :crazy_face:, learning the intricacies of the ginormous (used) kamado grill I was gifted last year is high on the list - if not particularly seasonal. Apparently, there’s a multitude of videos available online that we just couldn’t be arsed to watch as of yet, and I’m not big on manuals. So, this should be an interesting & hopefully rewarding adventure.

Another goal is to winnow the collection of recipes in my NYT recipe box. In theory, the plan is to cook at least two new-to-us recipes every week. That did not pan out last year - like, at all :laughing:

I also want us both to s-l-o-w down at dinner time and not inhale our foods like some starvated savages, i.e. practicing that magical mindfulness everyone wont shuddup about, adding more veg meals/mains to our diet, and overall just eating less (how original, that last one!).

What are yours, HOs?

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Two years ago :scream_cat: my sisters gifted me a Ninja air fryer. They were even thoughtful enough to gift a wheeled cabinet to hold it without taking up counter space. The cabinet gets plenty of use, but the Ninja has yet to even be plugged in. One of those sisters is no longer with us, so I feel I should at least try the thing. (The other sis visits regularly, but is too polite to question the layer of dust on the appliance,)

I’ve read the air fryer threads here on HO as well as other sites. My friends all love their air fryers. I’m not averse to trying new things. I dunno what the block is here, but I’m really going to try it this year–and it better work, since I’m sure the warranty has expired :stuck_out_tongue:

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Ours lives in the basement and is only retrieved as needed. Thanks for the reminder, tho - I’d like to experiment more with it - beyond reheating / crisping up pizza or leftover wings :grimacing:

I’m grateful for the existing air fryer threads here, and there are, of course, tons o’ recipes out there to check out. I believe the NYT just had one for ‘simple air-fried salmon.’

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Well I do have a piece of fresh salmon in the fridge that requires my attention. But mom’s kinda’ stuck on my honey-mustard-nuked-in-parchment prep. Bonus: incredibly easy and little cleanup.

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I was too excessive in 2023. My goal is to be less excessive in 2024.

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I’d like to make different styles of bread/dough products… bagels, better pizza dough, soft pretzels, different breads, etc.

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I have a pretty solid bagel recipe, if you want it.

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I’m hoping to up my Chinese cooking game. I got these for Christmas, which should help.

download (2)

shopping

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Yes…
Please and Thank you!!

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Dough

1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons lukewarm water
454 g unbleached bread flour

Poaching liquid

2 to 3 quarts water
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

To make the dough, stir the honey, yeast, and salt into the lukewarm water in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add flour and mix on lowest speed for 3:00. Let the dough rest for 5:00. Mix for another 3:00. Place the dough in a clean, lightly oiled bowl, cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for two days. Remove the bagels from the refrigerator 60 to 90 minutes before you plan to bake them.

When you’re ready to shape the bagels, prepare a sheet pan by lining it with parchment paper then misting it with spray oil. Divide the dough into 6 to 8 equal pieces. Form each piece into a loose ball by rolling it on a clean, dry work surface with a cupped hand. (Don’t use any flour on the work surface. If the dough slides around and won’t ball up, wipe the surface with a damp paper towel and try again; the slight bit of moisture will provide enough traction for the dough to form into a ball.) Poke a hole through the center of the ball to create a donut shape. Holding the dough with both thumbs in the hole, rotate the dough with your hands, gradually stretching it to create a hole about 2 inches in diameter.

Check whether the bagels are ready for baking using the “float test”: Place one of the bagels in a small bowl of cold water. If it sinks and doesn’t float back to the surface, shake it off, return it to the pan, and wait for another 15 to 20 minutes, then test it again. When one bagel passes the float test, they’re all ready to be boiled. About 30 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 500°F. To make the poaching liquid, fill a pot with 2 to 3 quarts of water, making sure the water is at least 4 inches deep. Cover, bring to a boil, then lower the heat to maintain at a simmer. Stir in the baking soda and salt. Gently lower each bagel into the simmering poaching liquid, adding as many as will comfortably fit in the pot. They should all float to the surface within 15 seconds. After 1 minute, use a slotted spoon to turn each bagel over. Poach for another 30 to 60 seconds, then use the slotted spoon to transfer it back to the pan, domed side up. (It’s important that the parchment paper be lightly oiled, or the paper will glue itself to the dough as the bagels bake.) Sprinkle on a generous amount of whatever toppings you like as soon as the bagels come out of the water.

Transfer the pan of bagels to the oven, then lower the oven heat to 450°F. Bake for 8 minutes, then rotate the pan and check the underside of the bagels. If they’re getting too dark, place another pan under the baking sheet. (Doubling the pan will insulate the first baking sheet.) Bake for another 8 to 12 minutes, until the bagels are a golden brown. Cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before slicing or serving.

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Thank you!!
I just took a screen shot and saved it to my hard drive. I’ll print it out later and add it to my ever growing “RECIPE BINDER”.

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I’m going to post more regularly in the What’s For Dinner topics. I get lots of inspiration from those topics, time to participate.

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More protein, less sugar.

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There’s a reason it’s the most popular thread on the entire site :wink:

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Here’s an article from [NYT](Making a Cooking Resolution? These 9 Recipes Will Get You Started.

recipes

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2022 was supposed to be my Year of The Scone and The Biscuit. I never got past scones (deep rabbit hole), and pushed biscuits off to 2023. Then, beginning January 2023, we nominated Gateau as BCOTQ.
2023 became The Year of the Cake. No calories left for biscuits.

2024 is my Year of the Biscuit. I will up my game and expand my repertoire.

Learning more about our new Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro is high on my list, as well.

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Order and maybe make Hainanese Chicken Rice.

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Sounds manageable.

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I want to:

Poach a lot more.
Elevate my stocks.
Dig more clams.
Find a secret patch of Morels.
Start raising cattle again.
Make more compound butters.
Spend more time learning sauces.
Read more M.F. K. Fisher.

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I got an ebook loan from my library: Fred’s at Barney’s by Mark Strausman. He’s no longer at Fred’s, I think he now has his own restaurant in the same area. I admire this chef.

He has a recipe for Estelle’s Chicken Soup (Estelle was his maternal grandmother) that he’s made very chefy. It takes 3 days to make because you use fortified stock. Sounds expensive to make because I don’t want to use backs, liver is there, so for initial stock I’ll use wings.

I’m going to have to be in a special mood to make this. I couldn’t find the recipe online so I typed it out and put it in WORD. One ingredient is 3 cloves … I don’t think I’d like them in stock, might use one or none.

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