Cooking was something I was good at at school and I considered pursuing it, but was encouraged out of it by a family friend who was the head chef at a decent restaurant near where I grew up after I asked if I could do work experience with him.
He asked if there was anything else I was good at/enjoyed, and when I mentioned accounting, his exact words (and these are words I still remember 25 years later) were “become an accountant. You can cook for fun at home on the weekend. I’ve never met someone who does accounting for fun on the weekend.”
And it was the best decision I ever made. I’ve heard/read so many horror stories about how aweful the hospitality industry is, and while my job has its challenges, and running a small business can be tough, I wouldn’t swap it for the world.
I have a few people every now and then tell me I should try out for MasterChef, but I drink too much while I cook (I’m always surprised how much red wine it takes to make fresh fettucine…), I swear too much and I dance around the kitchen like an idiot listening to loud music too much…
+1 for drinking, singing and general shithousery while cooking.
Having not travelled much of the North American circut my go to bbq is south American style - eg picanha or a homemade choripan with chimichurri
Father in law got the Aldi one and it’s pretty good. A few years ago, we got my dad the webber kettle smoker. Thing is a beast, but it’s definitely a labor of love. Having to set it and constantly check of 6-8 hours to ensure it’s burning and the temp is right…
I got bought a smoker a couple years ago, haven’t gotten around to assembling it. Every weekend when I think I’ve a spare hour or two to set it up something comes up.
I’ve got an electric one that struggled to get up to temp. Haven’t tried it up in a few years ago it would need a pretty thorough clean before I could use it again
1 whole bulb of garlic (worked out to about 8 cloves). Yes I put a fuck tonne of garlic in my cooking. No I am not apologetic about it. Anybody who used one or two cloves of garlic needs a Guantanamo Bay contiki.
3 carrots grated
-3 mushrooms grated
A tablespoon of dried thyme, oregano, sage, rosemary each.
3/4 teaspoon of smoked paprika, chilli powder (cayenne or homemade Jalapeno powder)
Good squeeze on tomato paste.
1 jar of tomato passata
1 tin of crushed tomatoes
Brown off the mince in a good glug of Olive Oil. Season well with the tears of Wanderers supporters and cracked Pepper of the Jacob variety. Once browed chuck in onions until they start sweating like a politician at an ICAC hearing, throw in ALL the garlic (I worry what you heard was a few cloves. What I said was ALL the Garlic.
Give it all a good mix until you’re happy with the smell, and throw in your grated veg. Let them cook until they’re now sweating like a priest in a kindergarten, and throw in your tomato paste . Stir that around and let it cook off for a couple of minutes while you argue with the sister in law to get the fuck out of your kitchen.
Proceed to pour the bottle of passata and tinned tomatoes and give it a good stir as you begin to eyeball the father in law who is complaining about being hungry. Proceed to give father in law a beer to shut him up.
Once the tomato products are up to temperature, throw in your herbs/'urbs/marijuana replacement into the mix and stir that bad boy around. Proceed to open a bottle of red that belongs to said sister in law and slug a good glug in there. Pour yourself a glass and down in one mouthful. Proceed to pour a second glass and bite lip firmly as the sister in law now starts complaining that you opened a bottle of wine from her stash (that she never drinks anyway) .
Inform family dinner will be ready in two hours. Bring sauce to boil, lower to a simmer. Pour third glass of wine.
Stir every 30 minutes or until the sauce is to your liking. Threaten to chop fingers of sister and father in law who keep meandering into the kitchen and stirring the pot.
Serve with pasta of choice. Tonight, it’s spaghetti. Good old San Remo. Nothing fancy.
Resist urge to glass sister in law with now empty wine bottle for complaining about the pasta not being spirals or tubes.
Tell family in law to dish themselves up after you’ve served up a hearty portion for yourself. Prepare multiple renditions of “if you don’t like it, don’t fucking eat it” for any "constructive criticism from the sister in law whose sole culinary achievement is burnt toast.
I made a dark oil-based roux as a base which took a while but is a great base, used real andouille sausage from the Tasty Butcher, browned in the pan, 400g of prawns and the meat from a rotiserie chicken. Veggies are celery, onion, spring onion and a green bell pepper. Most of the liquid is chicken stock.
Seasoned with pre-made cajun seasoning, garlic and salt, took 90 mins all up, tastes ace, I went light on the spices since my youngest daughter doesn’t like things too hot.
Tastewise its rich, thick, deep flavours but not quite what I’ve had in New Orleans, mostly spiciness dialled back but also I think the stock needs to be home-made and the spice mix needs to be different.
It’s not a particularly cheap meal to make, probably $30-35 in that pot between sausage, prawns, chicken, stock and veggies etc but there’s about 10 generous servings there and it freezes well.
yeah, with stews, chilli and soups I usually try to leave them to simmer for a long time then cool overnight to deepen the flavour, with the gumbo I’m letting it cool right away and rest so the veggies don’t break down too much.
Got some great crusty bread from the vietnamese baker to go with this too.
