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Methods ​

stew total ​

  1. prep the garlic/ginger
  2. mix the spices
  3. assemble salsa verde
  4. prep the chickpeas
  5. prep the cannellini beans
  6. produce chicken stock
  7. marinate the cabbage
  8. pickle the cabbage
  9. marinate the potato
  10. prep the squash or cauliflower
  11. prep the chicken
  12. cook the rice
  13. process the cabbage, onions, and peppers
  14. cook stew
  15. pack rice, salsa verde, and stew for distro

garlic-ginger ​

  1. peel ginger with a spoon or veg. peeler
  2. rough chop ginger to the size of garlic cloves
  3. pulse mixed garlic and ginger in batches in food processor until minced
  4. portion into quarts

spice mix ​

  1. toast whole spices together in a pan until aromatic, ~4 minutes
  2. grind whole spices in nutribullet/spice grinder
  3. combine all spices
  4. portion into quart containers

salsa verde ​

  1. char jalapeno peppers on stove using the scorched colander
  2. rough chop cilantro and scallions
  3. juice lemons
  4. process everything in vitamix
  5. portion into quart containers

chickpeas ​

  1. soak chickpeas overnight, water should come up twice the height of the beans
  2. next day, all chickpeas in deep hotel pans on the stove, cover with one inch water, simmer 30 minutes skimming foam, until tender
  3. drain water and rinse in cold water
  4. cool in open air

cannellini beans ​

  1. ask caleb what the method for cannellini beans is

chicken stock ​

  1. in large stock pot, immerse bones in water
  2. simmer for X hours
  3. let cool X hours
  4. chill overnight in fridge

marinated cabbage ​

  1. cut cabbages to quarters through core
  2. remove core
  3. cut to 1.5" pieces
  4. toss all ingredients together in large cambro
  5. marinade for 3 hours

pickled cabbage ​

  1. rough chop cabbage to ~1.5" pieces
  2. mix cabbage with salt, garlic/ginger mix, spice mix
  3. let stand at room temp for 3 hrs
  4. dissolve sugar into water and rice vinegar
  5. combine everything in square 8qt cambro, lid it
  6. chill and brine overnight, up to three days

marinated potato ​

  1. peel potatoes
  2. cut to loose dice, ~1" cubes
  3. mix all ingredients
  4. store in fridge overnight

rice ​

  1. bring salted water to boil in pot
  2. put rice in deep hotel pan
  3. pour boiling water over rice, stir once
  4. cover with sheet tray or inverted hotel pan
  5. bake at 350Β° for 20-25 minutes, until water is absorbed
  6. cool rice to room temperature
  7. roughly mix in chopped crispy chicken skin

squash ​

  1. peel squash with vegetable peeler
  2. slice squash in half, scrape out seeds and loose pith with a spoon
  3. cut to ~1" cubes
  4. set aside in a bowl

cauliflower ​

  1. remove base of cauliflower
  2. slice into thumb-sized florets
  3. set aside in a bowl

chicken ​

  1. mix all ingredients in large cambro
  2. marinade X hours
  3. lay out chicken on sheet trays
  4. roast for X minutes at 350Β°
  5. cool one hour
  6. remove skins (save them)
  7. remove bone
  8. rough chop and set aside
  9. lay out chicken skins on sheet trays
  10. roast in oven at XΒ° until crispy, ~X minutes (close eye, don't let them burn)
  11. remove skins from trays, cool briefly, then chop and set aside until ready to be added to rice

veggies ​

  1. slice or dice onions, not pretty, they will dissolve in the stew
  2. cut cauliflower to bite-sized florets, along the lines of the potato
  3. slice sweet peppers to half-inch rings
  4. medium dice bell peppers
  5. open the canned tomatoes

stew ​

Setup ​

  1. Preheat oven to 450 F. Clear away the dishpit (living room table), the bread station, clear/wipe the counters, get everything nice and shiny and ready to work.
  2. Two cutting boards. Gather and neatly arrange the many cambros and delis you will need.
  3. Corner Cook: tray out your chicken on the stovetop. Wash stockpot, clean out sink. Measure out spice mix. Gather marinaded potatoes, cabbage.
  4. Counter Cook: gather onions, garlic/ginger, cauliflower, peppers. Set up food processor, get a rubber spat. Begin veg prep.

Chicken and Veg Prep ​

  1. Corner Cook: set a 30-minute timer on chicken. It’s done when the skin begins to crisp, and a good deal of fat has rendered. It can be partly raw at the center still. We’ll finish it in the broth later. In the meantime, help Counter Cook get veg prep out of the way. When the chicken is finished, pour the fat into a stainless steel bowl, and place the trays on towels in the garage fridge to cool. Once the chicken has cooled, pick it. Separate meat, skins, and bones into three containers. Put the bones in the bone container. With a rubber spatula, scrape the remaining drippings and bits off the sheet trays and into a separate deli. Then roughly dice the picked chicken, and transfer it to another container. Finally, arrange the skins on the trays (no need to wash them beforehand) and roast them at 450 degrees for about 10-20 minutes. The lower the rack, the faster they will crisp. They will generate a good deal of smoke. When the skin is crispy, and just beginning to burn at the edges, it’s done. Remove the trays, pour off the last of the rendered fat into your fat bowl, and set aside the skins to cool.
    1. When the vegetables are done, get a batch of rice going in the upstairs oven. See the rice recipe and mind your timers, please. While the rice is going, drain and rinse the chickpeas, get them into cambros, pop all the tomato cans, and shake and pop the coconut milk. Mix the coconut milk with the fortified chicken stock (see stock recipe for ratio).

The Actual Stew ​

  1. Get the stockpots over the back left and front right burners, respectively. Set them over medium high heat and do something else for 3 minutes. When the metal is hot, add your oil, let it run around a little, and throw in your onions. They should sizzle, not spit. Feel free to throw in testers. When they’re in, heavy hand of salt.
  2. After five or ten minutes or so, when the onions are fragrant and approaching translucence, crank the heat all the way up, and use a sturdy wooden spoon to clear an area on the bottom of the pot where you can throw your spices and ginger/garlic.
  3. When the pan is very hot, throw in your spices and ginger/garlic. With the spoon, flatten them into the area you’ve cleared. You want them to burn. The smell should be powerful. Flatten them, and don’t touch them for 30 seconds or so. Then, turn them about, mix it up, and flatten them again. When they start to smoke, vigorously deglaze, and mix everything all around. Probably this will take a few goes. Use about a half cup of water at a time, if that, and pour it directly on the trouble spots. The final deglazed result should be saucy, but not wet.
  4. Add the potatoes, stir them around. Add the rendered fat. Add the tomatoes (and juice). Break up the tomatoes, bring it all up to a hard simmer, and taste. Season accordingly. It should be very aggressive at this stage, spice-wise. Simmer for 10 minutes.
  5. Add chickpeas, chicken, cauliflower. Stir everything around. Add coconut chicken broth. Bring everything up to a boil, reduce to a simmer, taste, season accordingly. Remember, there will be a lot of acid at the very end, so that will be lacking here.
  6. When the broth is back at a simmer, add peppers. Simmer 30 minutes. Add cabbage. Simmer 5 more minutes. Taste, kill the heat.

pack ​

  1. cooled stew ends up in four 5-gallon buckets
  2. cooled rice ends up in square 12-qt cambro with blue lid
  3. fill single 3-quart cambro with salsa verde
  4. distribute all packed food between downtairs fridge and rage fridge
  5. nest cleaned 32-qt inside 60-qt pot, set by front door
  6. ready now for Saturday morning transportation

bread pudding ​

  1. combine milk, butter, vanilla, sugar, salt in stock pot
  2. heat mixture on stove until butter melts and sugar dissolves then cool
  3. tear bread into orange-wedge-size pieces, distribute across hotel pans
  4. beat eggs, stir into liquid
  5. pour liquid over bread, let soak 1 hour
  6. bake at 350Β° for 30-45 min, until custard is set and edges of bread have browned
  7. cool, then slice to 2-inch squares