Rogue Pork Chops

Recipes from: Gordon Ramsay's Fast Food (2007)

Well, I'm certainly not about to complain, but Jordyn definitely gets all the credit in this one as she went rogue.  That's right-- she cooked without me.  However, I totally reaped the benefits of this one! She utilized the garlic herb butter in the bottom photo and cooked the pork chops per the top recipe and it was delicious!   Plated with some herbed potatoes and some Spanish rice-- eat your hearts out! 

Below are some photos that you will wish Wonka-vision existed for so that you could smell and taste it.  Anthony Bourdain would require a reservation for this table-- it's that good! Might need to revise the previously created standardize measurement tool. 

Look at that amazing prep work, making me hungry already!

Hold your horses, I know your mouths are watering for the finished product... here you go: 

Seriously was amazing! Gonna be a tough act to follow!!! I'm nervous!

Revisiting the previously established scoring scale:

On a scale from 1-10 

One being- "Bologna and Ketchup Sandwiches would be better" 

Five being- "Macaroni and Cheese with hotdogs level..."  

10 being- You're welcome, we just blew your mind... Gordon Ramsay and Thomas Keller will be calling us with job offers any minute - Bye Felicia!

The results are in folks:  Jordyn would give herself a 7 (always your own hardest critic) and I would give it a nine... 

Overall Score for the Rogue Pork Chops

8

First Attempt Friday

10/09/15

Sichuan Chicken Thighs

Disclaimer: This Post Will Not Tell You How to Make ANYTHING! --Enjoy!

Well-- we did it! We have completed our first dish, eaten it, and so far we're still alive. We chose to do the Sichuan Chicken Thighs from the Gordon Ramsay Home Cooking book.  We took our list of ingredients to the store and only had to google what something was or a substitute for it about three times.

We get home and read the recipe and it says to marinade for at least two hours... at 7pm we'll call 30 minutes good enough if we want to eat it some time this week.  Jordyn gets going on the marinade, the instructions are to cut the thighs in three... my question, "well how does it want us to cut it?" referring to the way in which it's cut, but it completely sounded like I had no idea what a person does to cut something. It was feeling pretty dismal in half the talent section (aka me).  For the record, I cut the chicken adequately.

Mmmm so appetizing, right?

We get the chicken marinating minimally and Jordyn is a chopping fiend and making it look effortless.  We get the chile out and the instructions say it should be seeded, I mention to remember to seed it and Jordyn asks, "doesn't that mean to leave the seeds in?" Well, fair point, now we're royally confused but realize the difference the flavor will have either way.  Google to the rescue again for us to clarify that "seeded" means removed. **whew, dodged that bullet**

 

 We've got your chopping and zesting needs covered! 

Colorful shot :)

Recipe calls for some kind of pan or a wok, "I have a wok!" I excitedly say about the crockery I rarely get to use... which became very evident very quickly as I was quite unaware at how quickly a wok heats up and how much it heats up... we survived.

 Something magical is supposed to happen in that wok above....

 Wait, that looks remotely edible and it smells good!

 Perhaps our presentation could use some help...

Bon Appétit!

Rating Scale

With each of our quests for culinary skills we will rate on a scale from 1-10 our end results. 

On a scale from 1-10 

One being- "Bologna and Ketchup Sandwiches would be better" (which Jordyn is arguing are really good.... Laura says "ew" in a very basic bitch way)

Five being- "Macaroni with hotdogs level..."  Jordyn adds if we want to get real technical, it's mac 'n' cheese with Kirkland hotdog status... Mac 'n' Cheesedawg level. Laura concurs. 

10 being- You're welcome, we just blew your mind... Gordon Ramsay and Thomas Keller will be calling us with job offers any minute - Bye Felicia! 

Overall Score:

7

That means we're at Mac 'n' Bacon status which we feel is an awesome first attempt. WOOT! Stay tuned!

The Idea

With the current passing of Tom who was such an amazing home cook I began to panic a bit for my nutritional well-being with my lack of skills in the cooking department.  The idea of creating a blog and a goal of two dishes a week from a couple of recommended books was born.  To be completely clear, my skill level is still at University student level which means that adding bacon and shredded cheese to a box of Kraft Mac 'n' Cheese would seem "gourmet".  

In making plans to visit the French Laundry come January 2016 it seemed suiting for one of the books to be a Thomas Keller cookbook, Bouchon Bakery (which hopefully we will also visit in said trip).  The other book we will use is Gordon Ramsay's Home Cooking.  Jordyn (the roomie) and I will be daring to take this task on together and update the blog for the amusement of our friend Nick. ;) 


Bon Appétit!