Something different to make or cook?

[ChilliWhizz]

I'm looking for something new to have a go at, over the years I've cooked a variety of dishes, and regularly knock up Thai stuff, Chinese, Indian etc. I have a small repertoire of lamb dishes, including Moroccan, Greek, and even Persian.... Pasta features fairly regularly, as does the good old British Sunday Roast We held a series of cooking competitions at the local, which included things like scotch eggs, cakes, even pork pie, and a mate (another foodie and avid cook) occasionally pops round and we'll get a bit creative... we've tried steak using the sous vide method (in my slow cooker), pork dim sum buns, and most recently good ole jerk chicken... bloody lovely I'm also a bit of a BBQ fiend...

Anyhoo, a lot of you guys are probably like me, and love experimenting.... and have some great dishes to suggest.... I've just run out of ideas

So, any suggestions welcome, the more challenging the better...

Thanks in advance,

Chilli

[Foliage]

Just pick a country, go on Wikipedia and look for a recipe, its what I do on occasion.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_cuisine#Main...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanese_cuisine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_cuisine

[Matt Novak]

Or pick a specific region of a country - Italy is great for this (but I am biased). Try Tuscany, off the top of my head you could have:

Starter - ribollito (bean soup made with stale bread)
Main - hare / rabbit ragu with fresh pasta (cook at least 12 hours, Jamie Oliver has a great recipe for this)
Dessert - Castagnaccio (a sort of flat cake made with chestnut flour, rosemary and pine nuts amongst other bits - serve with a sweetened ricotta)

Then you get to pair the wines! Mind has drawn a blank for the starter but try a Ripassso d'Amarone or a Brunello di Montalcino for the pasta and Vin Santo for the dessert.

[captainzep]

For me it's sauces. Getting good at sauces helps you get the best out of ingredients.

You can simply pick ones you fancy or be more structured and classical i.e. learning mother sauces and then the secondary ones and variations.

I went through a phase of learning to do a really good Bearnaise and then a proper Diane, Beurre Blanc, Bercy etc etc.

[cbmotorsport]

I collect a lot of cook books, I try and get unusual and little known ones. I try and cook regularly from them, great for trying new things.

[Mobile Chicane]

I would start with an ingredient you've perhaps not tried before and challenge yourself to find an interesting method of cooking it.

[C70R]

Foliage said:

Just pick a country, go on Wikipedia and look for a recipe, its what I do on occasion.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_cuisine#Main...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanese_cuisine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_cuisine

Indeed. If you wanted a mind-blowing cuisine in the same vein as the above, take a look at Georgian food. If you can source a bottle of robust Georgian red to go with it, I can guarantee that no foodie would be disappointed...

[TeeRev]

Can I suggest you try "Tapas" this weekend and put an entry in to this month's cooking competition.

[ChilliWhizz]

TeeRev said:

Can I suggest you try "Tapas" this weekend and put an entry in to this month's cooking competition.

Interestingly, a lady friend bought me a book last year called 'tapas' It contains 100 recipes, with great photographs.... I haven't used it yet though

[ChilliWhizz]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I have done a lot of browsing, and I quite find the Levantine cuisine interesting, having watched a number of Yotam Ottolenghi's programmes on the Good Food channel over the past year... I travelled to Russia a number of times in the early '90's and wasn't overly impressed with the food, although it was hotel food, so maybe a revisit of the cuisine is called for.. such a large country too, I imagine there are some fairly major regional differences, we did a number of stop overs in Moscow, but spent most of the time in Murmansk... Brrrrr...

Matt, loving your Tuscan suggestion

[mattdaniels]

If you want a challenge, forget mains and head to the pastry section. How about a galette or mille-feuille?

[21TonyK]

ChilliWhizz said:

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I have done a lot of browsing, and I quite find the Levantine cuisine interesting, having watched a number of Yotam Ottolenghi's programmes on the Good Food channel over the past year... I travelled to Russia a number of times in the early '90's and wasn't overly impressed with the food, although it was hotel food, so maybe a revisit of the cuisine is called for.. such a large country too, I imagine there are some fairly major regional differences, we did a number of stop overs in Moscow, but spent most of the time in Murmansk... Brrrrr...

Matt, loving your Tuscan suggestion

I'm going with "love rice" and spiced poussin this weekend inspired by NOPI.

[Type R Tom]

It's probably the wrong time of year but Eastern European food can be quite interesting and wholesome but I'd say it's more of a winter thing. Lots of meat and carbs!

Perogies, blood sausages, stuffed cabbage.

Edited by Type R Tom on Thursday 27th April 08:24

[TeeRev]

ChilliWhizz said:

TeeRev said:

Can I suggest you try "Tapas" this weekend and put an entry in to this month's cooking competition.

Interestingly, a lady friend bought me a book last year called 'tapas' It contains 100 recipes, with great photographs.... I haven't used it yet though

Now's the time use it then and put an entry in to the competition this weekend.