What was your best kitchen improv?

2,120 Views | 13 Replies | Last: 4 yr ago by Jackal99
rilloaggie
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Thread to tell the tale of a time you didn't have proper ingredients or equipment and still put out an awesome final product.

I headed to my buddy's ranch several years back for opening weekend and was tasked with making biscuits and gravy for a crowd. Stopped at the Lowe's grocery store in Jacksboro and loaded up on biscuits, milk, and sausage. Didn't mess with salt or flour because they usually have the ranch stocked with some staples. When I start on breakfast I realize they is not flour or salt, and it was over an hour round trip back to the store that probably wasn't open early. I ended up grabbing a sleeve of saltines and beating the hell out of them until they were pretty much dust and used that in place of flour. That gravy turned out freaking fantastic, to the point that I keep thinking I need to use crackers again when I make it!
Max Power
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Once I was going to make chicken tacos, didn't have any chili powder, but I had ancho peppers. Now all I use for that marinade is rehydrated ancho peppers along with my other ingredients, soy sauce, lime juice, vegetable oil, cumin, chipotle, oregano.

I made beer cheese soup once on the fly with what we had on hand and it turned out crazy good...but I didn't write down what the hell I did. Same issue with chili, one time I just totally improvised the whole thing, best chili I ever made, haven't been able to get back to that level yet.

I didn't have what I needed to make my regular old-fashioned, but I improvised what I call a Canadian old-fashioned. 2 oz whiskey, 1/4 oz maple syrup, 2-3 dashes walnut bitters. My apologies if this is a drink that already exists.

I wanted to smoke a brisket once but wasn't inspired with what was at the store so I went out on a limb and smoked a chuck roast like it was a brisket...results were outstanding and I still do those from time to time. I prefer the point to the flat, a chuck roast is pretty similar to the point so I was very pleased with myself on that one.
DiskoTroop
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Once I was going to help a friend make Chicken Fajitas and all they had was skirt steak and loin flap. It turned out ok.
jtp01
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Some of my best creations comes from improv. I enjoy cooking and am really looking forward to having our new kitchen in our new home (come on March 8th).

There has been a lot of soups/stews made on the fly that my kids ask for again and I have to think back to what the heck I did.

I recall the creation of taco-Mac we call it. Basically taco meat, pinto beans, mixed in to Macaroni the for a "sauce" using herdez avocado salsa. It stared out as a baked pasta dish only to find no canned tomatoes in the cupboard. So I just went with it. Now we have taco mac 2-3 times per month. .
Bruce Almighty
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
My wife an I had another couple over who's favorite cut of meat is flank steak, so I decided to smoke one. It was a three pound wagyu flank from snake river farms. I guess smoking a flank isn't a thing because there was very little information about it online. What I did see was about 2-3 hours at 200 degrees to med-rare. I don't know if my temp gauge was off, the meat was too thin or if what I read online was wrong, but when I checked the meat at 45 minutes, it was already in the med-well stage. So I said F it, I'm going to smoke it like a brisket and go to 203 degrees. I was expecting something inedible, but it came out really damn good. It looked and tasted like a really good brisket without the bark. For something that only took a couple of hours, we were all really impressed.
HTownAg98
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Last year during the snowpacolypse, I made dried mushroom risotto by candlelight. I was cold because we had no power, but we had water and gas service, and wanted something warm. I used what I had on hand: Arborio rice, water, butter, dried mushrooms, and some Parmesan. The one thing I didn't have was light, so I lit a candle and still couldn't see very well. But you'd be surprised how well you can cook by just relying on touch, sound, and smell. It turned out great, and tasted better probably because I was tired of being cold.
superunknown
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Max Power said:


I wanted to smoke a brisket once but wasn't inspired with what was at the store so I went out on a limb and smoked a chuck roast like it was a brisket...results were outstanding and I still do those from time to time. I prefer the point to the flat, a chuck roast is pretty similar to the point so I was very pleased with myself on that one.


"Poor man's brisket" aka smoked chuck roast has really picked up in popularity on r/bbq and it looks tempting as hell.
JCA1
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
HTownAg98 said:

Last year during the snowpacolypse, I made dried mushroom risotto by candlelight. I was cold because we had no power, but we had water and gas service, and wanted something warm. I used what I had on hand: Arborio rice, water, butter, dried mushrooms, and some Parmesan. The one thing I didn't have was light, so I lit a candle and still couldn't see very well. But you'd be surprised how well you can cook by just relying on touch, sound, and smell. It turned out great, and tasted better probably because I was tired of being cold.


Similar story here. Although our cooktop was electric at the time. Sacrificed the base of my turkey fryer and stuck it directly in my fireplace. Pan roasted some tasty mushrooms with it.
ValleyRatAg
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Damn food network. Brisket used to be the poor man's chuck roast. They messed up the price of skirt steak too.
aggiesherpa
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Cocktail version. Had some friends over, and not enough to drink, opened up the garage fridge ended up mixing OF100, trader Joe's sparkling peach tea and some ginger ale. Turned out much better than expected.
superunknown
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
I don't think there's any such thing as cheap beef anymore.
ValleyRatAg
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
True
1988PA-Aggie
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Crap In A Pot....

15 years ago...I cleaned out the ref one day; some chopped beef, ground turkey, the ref drawers had a few sad items (carrots, peppers, celery), big onion, a few cans of beans, cilantro, seasoned with cumin, paprika, oregano, salt and pepper. Served it over rice. Basically a stew/chili.

Kids now in their 20's...still ask for it every time they come home to visit.
Jackal99
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
That sounds pretty good, actually.
Refresh
Page 1 of 1
 
×
subscribe Verify your student status
See Subscription Benefits
Trial only available to users who have never subscribed or participated in a previous trial.