cookuschus

[cookuschus]

Fruit Review: Yellow Plums

I found yellow plums, I bought yellow plums. Everyone knows that fruits with different colours than normal taste better, and yellow plums are no different. Juicy, like water balloons, sweet, and just a tad sour, and most importantly, tender.

Weird thing to say about a fruit? Sure. But my biggest gripe with plums is how the flesh clings onto the pit, how impossible it is to pry the edible off the inedible, how eating a plum always results in waste. But these? I won't claim that the seed just popped out (well, for at least one of them it did actually), but there was very, very minimal flesh left on the internal bark. And when I say juicy, I mean that I was bent over my desk, practically face in the bowl pictured, and it still squirted on my pants. So take that as you will.

Plums aren't my favourite fruit, not even close, but I do enjoy them nonetheless. My biggest gripe with purple/red plums, as mentioned above, is how hard it is to efficiently eat one. On top of that, they're usually just too sour for my liking, and not sweet enough. These plums flip that upside down. I got sweet plums with still very much notable secondary tones of sourness; overall, much, much better balanced. Also, them not being really hard was a plus, but I think that's more on the provider than the fruit.

Overall fruit rating: 7/10. Good, and I'd take them any day over normal plums, but I haven't passed a day since I was born that I've, ever, craved plums.

[cookuschus]

Product Review: Mutton Bouillon Cubes

I saw a new product today and I couldn't stop myself, I just had to buy it: Mutton bouillon cubes. I've never seen, heard of, nor even considered such a thing before, I needed to try it. And good thing I did, too, since it's limited edition. I wasn't planning on using it today, funnily enough, as I wanted to use only chicken bouillon since I'm cooking chicken and I figured that'd keep the flavours relatively synchronized. However, I couldn't stop myself when the time came to actually cook the rice, so I used it on a whim instead of chicken.

The first thing I noticed, as soon as I mixed it into the water, was the smell. This is divisive; my mom doesn't like it, but I absolutely love the scent of mutton. It's strong, it's musky, and it's umami on air. So that was a pretty good sign. I was tempted to taste the broth before adding to the rice but I ended up having some modicum of self control.

So how is it, taste-wise?

Well, they sure as fuck didn't lie. While I seldom spy a difference between chicken and beef bouillon, this was different. It gave the rice a strong umami flavour, as if the rice was cooked in actual mutton stew. It wasn't overpowering, but it was noticeable--pleasantly so. It wasn't just another bouillon, it was mutton bouillon, and it lets you know it. It didn't overpower or ruin the taste of the main star, the lemon chicken, either; instead, it actually ended up complementing it with these nice, sheepy undertones.

Overall rating: 10/10. It being a limited product will forever haunt me. I need to buy and hoard their entire stock.

Lemon-Sauce Chicken

I'm starting this blog to share my thoughts about meals I've made or had, and occasionally cooking products/ingredients I encounter. I'll start with this dish I made four days ago, loosely inspird by a recipe online, served over a bed of white rice and yellow lentils.

The Cooking Process:

The chicken was seasoned with salt, pepper, MSG, coriander, thyme, olive oil, and apple cider vinegar. There was intent to also use cumin but I didn't have any. It was left in the fridge for roughly 24 hours, give or take.

The chicken was then cooked in some ghee over high heat before being removed from the pan, which I then took off the flame for a minute or so to prevent burning and added more ghee + olive oil to give them time to melt and warm up. After this, a medium yellow onion, diced, was added and cooked in the oils over medium-high heat, then a generous amount of crushed garlic was added, then two tablespoons of flour were mixed in. Once the flour was starting to brown, I added a small-ish splash of milk since I find that it helps bind everything together really well, especially when flour is involved. Sure enough, a very thick sauce started to form.

Then I added about half a cup of chicken broth; in hindsight, I could've added more for more + thinner sauce. It used one cube so it was concentrated, but it's more about the volume. After this I added the chicken and a sprinkle of MSG, at which point I realised the sauce was WAY too thick so I added more milk to dilute, and the juice of three and a half lemons/limes, and a big more ghee. It didn't thin out as much as I wanted it to, and after mixing everything turned the heat off. After this black pepper, parsley, and dill and mixed again.

The rice was cooked in typical fashion; washed, then cooked in ghee before adding broth, with the added bonus of briefly tossing the lentils with the rice about 30 seconds before adding the broth. Mixed once and was met with sufficiently cooked, fluffy rice so I killed the heat.

Texture & Taste:

First, the chicken.

I don't have much to say here. The chicken was tender and well-cooked, so my fears were quelled. The sauce was… lemony. Like, intensely so. Like, if I served you this and you said it was too intense, I wouldn't be surprised. That being said, I do really like it when the main flavour is pronounced, and I like lemon, so no complaints there. The broth plus the seasoning on the chicken provided enough salt that I didn't need to add any external salt. The herbs added a really nice kick that doesn't overpower the existing tastes. Additionally, the onion and garlic give it a nice flavour and aroma but not only are they not overly present, but also the onion, texture wise, is practically invisible. Once again, my only complaint is that maybe the sauce could've been thinner, but it doesn't ruin the dish for me; only holds it back very slightly.

As for the rice/lentil, it was really good. It's a classic combination in Egypt for a reason, it just works. Easy to cook, with 2/3 cup rice and 1/3 lentil, used the same amount of water as I would a normal cup of rice, and overall ended up cooking both faster and better than just rice. The lentils don't mess with the texture too much, only enhancing it by making it fluffier, but it does add a nice flavour to break up the monotony of just-rice that, admittedly, most spices fail to add for me. Also it makes the dish more visually interesting. Also, fiber and protein galore.

Overall rating: 8.5/10. A 9 with a thinner sauce.

[cookuschus]

Lemon-Sauce Chicken

I'm starting this blog to share my thoughts about meals I've made or had, and occasionally cooking products/ingredients I encounter. I'll start with this dish I made four days ago, loosely inspird by a recipe online, served over a bed of white rice and yellow lentils.

The Cooking Process:

The chicken was seasoned with salt, pepper, MSG, coriander, thyme, olive oil, and apple cider vinegar. There was intent to also use cumin but I didn't have any. It was left in the fridge for roughly 24 hours, give or take.

The chicken was then cooked in some ghee over high heat before being removed from the pan, which I then took off the flame for a minute or so to prevent burning and added more ghee + olive oil to give them time to melt and warm up. After this, a medium yellow onion, diced, was added and cooked in the oils over medium-high heat, then a generous amount of crushed garlic was added, then two tablespoons of flour were mixed in. Once the flour was starting to brown, I added a small-ish splash of milk since I find that it helps bind everything together really well, especially when flour is involved. Sure enough, a very thick sauce started to form.

Then I added about half a cup of chicken broth; in hindsight, I could've added more for more + thinner sauce. It used one cube so it was concentrated, but it's more about the volume. After this I added the chicken and a sprinkle of MSG, at which point I realised the sauce was WAY too thick so I added more milk to dilute, and the juice of three and a half lemons/limes, and a big more ghee. It didn't thin out as much as I wanted it to, and after mixing everything turned the heat off. After this black pepper, parsley, and dill and mixed again.

The rice was cooked in typical fashion; washed, then cooked in ghee before adding broth, with the added bonus of briefly tossing the lentils with the rice about 30 seconds before adding the broth. Mixed once and was met with sufficiently cooked, fluffy rice so I killed the heat.

Texture & Taste:

First, the chicken.

I don't have much to say here. The chicken was tender and well-cooked, so my fears were quelled. The sauce was… lemony. Like, intensely so. Like, if I served you this and you said it was too intense, I wouldn't be surprised. That being said, I do really like it when the main flavour is pronounced, and I like lemon, so no complaints there. The broth plus the seasoning on the chicken provided enough salt that I didn't need to add any external salt. The herbs added a really nice kick that doesn't overpower the existing tastes. Additionally, the onion and garlic give it a nice flavour and aroma but not only are they not overly present, but also the onion, texture wise, is practically invisible. Once again, my only complaint is that maybe the sauce could've been thinner, but it doesn't ruin the dish for me; only holds it back very slightly.

As for the rice/lentil, it was really good. It's a classic combination in Egypt for a reason, it just works. Easy to cook, with 2/3 cup rice and 1/3 lentil, used the same amount of water as I would a normal cup of rice, and overall ended up cooking both faster and better than just rice. The lentils don't mess with the texture too much, only enhancing it by making it fluffier, but it does add a nice flavour to break up the monotony of just-rice that, admittedly, most spices fail to add for me. Also it makes the dish more visually interesting. Also, fiber and protein galore.

Overall rating: 8.5/10. A 9 with a thinner sauce.