Dinner party favourites?

[FrenchTart]

Haha excellent!

As an aside - does anyone have any recipes for some top notch BBQ sauce to accompany the porkage?

I've actually never made my own BBQ sauce (though have smoked a pork butt many a time). I'd recommend trying out amazingribs.com though. Most of their recipes and techniques are amazing.

 

[4737Joker]

For me it would be Chilli or Lasagne.

You can do vegetarian versions of both which is allways a plus (if required).

 

[pitchfork]

Actually you can par cook a risotto, because it is a dish reliant heavily on starch if you stop about 2/3rd the way in you'll not have any issues finishing it off later on. It will be as good as it would have been cooking it in one go.

This is how restaurants prepare risotto, cook most of the way, probably in the region of 12 minutes. Then you put on to cooled thick baking sheets lined with parchment to cool it off fast, then cover and store in the fridge til required, that way you have a base which can be finished off in a few minutes by adding remaining stock and any additional ingredients required.

I tend to do risotto if I want to spend a lot of time with guests for that very reason.

 

[FrenchTart]

Actually you can par cook a risotto, because it is a dish reliant heavily on starch if you stop about 2/3rd the way in you'll not have any issues finishing it off later on. It will be as good as it would have been cooking it in one go.

This is how restaurants prepare risotto, cook most of the way, probably in the region of 12 minutes. Then you put on to cooled thick baking sheets lined with parchment to cool it off fast, then cover and store in the fridge til required, that way you have a base which can be finished off in a few minutes by adding remaining stock and any additional ingredients required.

I tend to do risotto if I want to spend a lot of time with guests for that very reason.

That's pretty cool if it works. I'm not great at risotto but part of the reason is I find the process of making it really laborious. Maybe I'll give that technique a try.

 

[monkeyspank]

Haha excellent!

As an aside - does anyone have any recipes for some top notch BBQ sauce to accompany the porkage?

make a few. i normally make a simple vinegar one and then a sticky sweet brown one

 

[randomshenans]

I've actually never made my own BBQ sauce (though have smoked a pork butt many a time). I'd recommend trying out amazingribs.com though. Most of their recipes and techniques are amazing.

http://randomshenans.com/recipes/7-ribs-ribs-ribs

The one I use is a Steven Raichlen, or mostly, recipe and he's a BBQ/ 'MURICAN god. We have made that sauce every single BBQ since we started, probably over 100L by now lol

It's ****

 

[pitchfork]

That's pretty cool if it works. I'm not great at risotto but part of the reason is I find the process of making it really laborious. Maybe I'll give that technique a try.

There is three tricks to a good risotto.

1. Use the appropriate risotto rice and use a well aged quality rice
2. Real fresh stock, nice and gelatinous if you can
3. Season at the end, never before, don't add any salt or anything before you finished cooking because it messes with the rice absorbency

I should also mention I've frozen par cooked risotto before, I wouldn't for a dinner party but it's a great little tip to have a midweek risotto if you have a lot of freezer space.