Cookin again

[Zardnaar]

Cursed Thanksgiving’s final tally:

Besides the dead oven, blocked plumbing & temperamental circuitry in the kitchen, and my sliced right index finger, I also chalked up a slice to my LEFT index finger and a leaky filter on our second refrigerator’s water dispenser/ice maker.

BUT...

All the dishes I cooked came out aces, my maternal aunt sent deviled eggs and a ham, and our purchased fried turkey was perfect. Our guest took a picture of her plate- I’ll post it after she sends me a copy.

I’ll call it a close victory.

How do you manage to cut yourself?

Spent 5 years with a filleting knife never cut myself once. Wife cuts herself as well.

I'm probably slow though cutting stuff but it gets done in time for when I need it.

 

[Zardnaar]

Friday night fry up.

Egg, cheese, bacon burger with chips and hotdog courtesy of local Fish and Chip shop.

Was supposed to cook but someone decided to eat all the food at work party.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

How do you manage to cut yourself?

Spent 5 years with a filleting knife never cut myself once. Wife cuts herself as well.

I'm probably slow though cutting stuff but it gets done in time for when I need it.

Well, I’m usually pretty slow & methodical because every time I speed up, I lose discipline with controlling my pushing/holding hand, and my fingers slowly uncurl. This has resulted in other cooks criticizing me as “slow”. I may be able to make delicious food, but I can’t maintain the pace required to work in a professional kitchen.

At the time, I was just doing some gross chopping- my fingers were not supposed to be anywhere near the blade- so I was chopping fast (for me). But I had been having some control issues with my knife hand because of the prior injury. The knife shifted in my loosened grip, and I shaved off the side of the tip of my left index finger. Fortunately, even though the location and size of the cut was similar to the one in the right, it was nowhere near as deep. It didn’t really even bleed.

It’s sore enough, though. And anything hot I touched seemed to be right in those injuries.

 

[Zardnaar]

Well, I’m usually pretty slow & methodical because every time I speed up, I lose discipline with controlling my pushing/holding hand, and my fingers slowly uncurl. This has resulted in other cooks criticizing me as “slow”. I may be able to make delicious food, but I can’t maintain the pace required to work in a professional kitchen.

At the time, I was just doing some gross chopping- my fingers were not supposed to be anywhere near the blade- so I was chopping fast (for me). But I had been having some control issues with my knife hand because of the prior injury. The knife shifted in my loosened grip, and I shaved off the side of the tip of my left index finger. Fortunately, even though the location and size of the cut was similar to the one in the right, it was nowhere near as deep. It didn’t really even bleed.

It’s sore enough, though. And anything hot I touched seemed to be right in those injuries.

Must be sharp knife. Don't feel as much from them.

Used to get mine sharp enough to take hairs off your arm. Could go fast enough professionally but that was a while ago. At home slow down no hurry.

Stopped sharpening the knives that sharp due to room mates/wife being scared of them, it's semi pointless and everyone just blunted them anyway.

My favorite steel is an old one very smooth. Think it's still in the drawer.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I keep mine pretty sharp. Some kinds of knife work just can’t be done with a dull knife, like cutting your veggies super thin,

Much easier to control, too. Dull knives require more force to cut, and that means if you make a mistake or the material getting cut gives way unexpectedly, there’s more force behind that blade. More force behind the cut means it’s that much harder to regain control of the knife.

 

[Zardnaar]

I keep mine pretty sharp. Some kinds of knife work just can’t be done with a dull knife, like cutting your veggies super thin,

Much easier to control, too. Dull knives require more force to cut, and that means if you make a mistake or the material getting cut gives way unexpectedly, there’s more force behind that blade. More force behind the cut means it’s that much harder to regain control of the knife.

We just use serrated ones now. Supermarkets employ butchers so don't really need to devbone anything.

Used to be able to get the knives off mates at freezing works but don't know anyone working there anymore.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

We just use serrated ones now. Supermarkets employ butchers so don't really need to devbone anything.

Used to be able to get the knives off mates at freezing works but don't know anyone working there anymore.

Depends on what you’re working with.

But, to my chagrin, all I was doing when I cut myself the second time was trimming things to fit in the food processor. About as safe a cutting job as there is.

 

[prabe]

Depends on what you’re working with.

But, to my chagrin, all I was doing when I cut myself the second time was trimming things to fit in the food processor. About as safe a cutting job as there is.

I managed to collect a fair amount of spatter on my hands and forearms as the mud pot was blorping, but it was more painful than actually damaging.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I didn’t count spatter & splash, but I got some of that, too. Mine were to the face, but merely painful- no blistering.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

https://i.*****.com/t08xOwj.jpg

https://i.*****.com/BTwGnM8.jpg

https://i.*****.com/7nbZ03a.jpg

Fresh, cleaned mustard green leaves, de-stemmed from 15 bunches.
Meat stripped from smoked Turkey legs
4 yellow onions

Ingredients not pictured: chicken broth, flour, salt, pepper

Rinse mustard green bunches until they’re no longer sandy. Pare or tear the leaves from the stems. The stems of most greens- mustards included- are edible but bitter, and taking this step will make it easier to season this dish properly.

Strip & cut up meat from 3-4 smoked turkey legs*, being careful to remove the sinews.

Chop then sauté your onions in butter over low/medium heat. Deglaze pot with some of the broth, then add the turkey meat.

While that cooks a little, chiffonade the mustard greens. This will let them cook more quickly and make the finished dish easier to eat. After the cutting is done, add them to the pot, along with most of the remaining chicken broth. Cook them until tender, stirring occasionally. Season with salt & pepper to taste.

Optional step: With the last of the chicken broth, create a slurry with flour. It should look like milk or even oatmeal. Adding this slurry at the end of the cooking will cause the liquids in the pot to form a glaze on the leaves that traps the nutrients and flavors that leached out of the greens while cooking. I do this with ALL of my greens now.

If you’ve made greens before and add this step and removing the stems with the amount of seasoning you usually use, they will taste over-seasoned.

* I used to use ham, bacon or even sausage, which are more traditional, but created this variation to accommodate some Jewish & Muslim guests to my 2015 Thanksgiving dinner. The reaction to the change was so overwhelmingly positive that I’ve used smoked turkey ever since.