A journal from our kitchen
The dishes we made, and what we learned along the way. Starting with one very full pot.
Recipe no. 001
A 2.3 lb chuck-shoulder batch with Cabernet, bacon and mushrooms.
This batch was built around 2.3 lb of chuck shoulder and cooked Dutch-oven style. The important practical rule was the liquid level: enough wine and broth to reach roughly two-thirds to three-quarters of the meat, not enough to drown it.
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Recipe no. 001
Garlic-mustard pork shoulder roasted indirectly over charcoal.
The piece was a 3.32 lb boneless Boston butt. It was marinated overnight, cooked indirectly around 300–325°F and tracked with a probe. About one hour in, the center was only 90.7°F — a good reminder not to panic and not to keep opening the lid.
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Recipe no. 001
Chicken, tomatoes, herbs — plus mushrooms because that is what happened in our kitchen.
We started from a classic chakhokhbili direction and then deliberately broke rank by adding mushrooms. Four large tomatoes went in, the sauce was reduced uncovered at the end, and the verdict during the cook was simple: the sauce tasted good.
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Recipe no. 001
Our faster Dutch-oven version with beef, vegetables and light lager.
We had only about 1½–2 hours, so this became a practical home version rather than an all-day traditional khashlama. The Dutch oven looked impossibly full at first. It settled during the cook, which made room for the potatoes later.
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Recipe no. 001
Cabbage, ground meat and rice baked in a sour-cream tomato sauce.
The version we discussed used a cutlet-style mixture, browned briefly before baking in sauce.
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Recipe no. 001
Seafood medley, extra shrimp, bacon, potatoes and a final squeeze of lemon.
The clams were replaced with a mixed seafood bag plus extra shrimp. The seafood was thawed before cooking. The base was built with bacon, onion, celery and potato, then finished with cream and the seafood right at the end.
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A 1.2 lb, nearly 2-inch ribeye cooked medium-rare and finished hard at 500°F.
For this thick ribeye, the sous-vide bath handled the interior while the gas grill supplied the crust.
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A small layered Japanese-style omelet.
This is the compact four-egg version from our notes.
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Recipe no. 001
A clarified chicken broth set with Knox gelatin in individual molds.
The batch was first discussed as roughly two liters, but once measured during the cook the working amount was closer to 1.2 L of broth plus 200 ml reserved for blooming the gelatin. Three Knox packets went into that amount.
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Already cooked. Now gathering the photos, details and lessons.
01From our kitchen
Notes in progress02On the grill
Notes in progress03Kitchen experiments
Notes in progress