The Circuit Break Cookbook!

[Stephen.K]

Hey Breakers!

During the last design contest, Parker and I came up with an idea to start a Circuit Break Cookbook here on the forum. This will be a place to share your favorite recipes with the community.

Feel free to post your culinary creations in whatever format you would like. Pictures and detailed instructions are absolutely welcome!

When we get enough recipes here Parker and I would like to compile them into the official Circuit Break Cookbook. Lets make food by engineers and for engineers!

[Stephen.K]

I will start this cookbook off with one of my favorite recipes, the Kraig family gumbo! For this first recipe I want to do it a in more long form format with pictures.

Cooking time: at least 3.5 hours

Here is what is needed:

• 1lb boneless chicken thighs
• 1lb smoked sausage cut into coins - it does not have to be andouille but if you can find that then go for it
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 white or yellow onion
• 3 or 4 cloves of garlic
• 2 or 3 ribs of celery
• 1 Jalapeño pepper
• 1 x 32oz package of chicken stock
• 1 x 12oz beer - a brown or amber works great. If you do not want to use beer then substitute more chicken stock
• Vegetable Oil
• Flour
• Thyme - Fresh is great but dried works just fine
• Bay leaves
• Paprika
• Rice for serving

Recipe:

Gumbo begins with making a roux which is a mixture of fat and flour that is cooked to a deep color. The process of making a roux is simple but once started, will require all of your attention. Having all of the ingredients ready to go and at an arms reach is necessary. The next few steps are preparation before the cooking gets started.

Prep Steps:

1. Dice the green bell pepper, onion, jalapeno, and the celery into pieces about 1/4" and combine in a bowl.
2. Mince the cloves of garlic and set aside.
3. For the next step we will need a kitchen scale. Place a liquid measuring cup on the scale and zero the scale. Pour 1/2 cup of flour and measure the weight in grams. Set the oil in the measuring cup aside.
4. Next measure the same amount of flour by weight that was measured with the oil.

Cooking Steps:

1. On a medium burner place a large pot. A dutch oven work very well for gumbo if you have that.
2. Pour in the 1/2 cup of oil and allow to come to temperature for a few minutes.
3. Pour in the measured flour and immediately begin stirring the oil/flour mixture with a wooden or silicone spatula. You will continue to stir this roux until it reaches the color we want which can take a long time so be prepared. As you stir, you want to make sure that none of the flour settles to the bottom of the pot and burns. At first, the mixture will look tan and will be very runny but after just a few minutes it will begin to darken and have the consistency of wet sand.

4. Continue to stir until the color changes to a nearly dark chocolate color like in the below image.

5. At this point, the roux is complete. Immediately add the diced peppers, onion, and celery and stir to coat with the hot roux.

6. Add two or three bay leaves and a few pinches of salt and stir.

7. Cook this mixture for a few minutes to just soften the vegetables. Stir in the garlic and cook for 30 seconds or until you can just smell the garlic releasing its fragrance.

8. Pour in 8 oz of beer while stirring the roux. The roux will look like a very thick gravy once the beer has been incorporated.

9. Pour in the 32 oz of chicken stock while stirring to prevent lumps from forming.

10. Add a few sprigs of thyme and about 1 tsp of paprika.

11. Add a few pinches of salt and 2 tsp of black pepper.
12. Bring to a light boil then immediately reduce to a very low simmer. The mixture should only be bubbling slightly. Cover and cook for at least two hours.
13. 1 hour before you want to sever the gumbo, add the sausage to a pan over medium heat and cook until they are slightly browned and have released some of their fat into the pan. Remove the sausage from the pan leaving the fat and place in the gumbo.

14. Add the chicken thighs to the pan and cook a few minutes on both sides until they are lightly browned. Add the browned chicken to the gumbo. For extra flavor, deglaze the pan that the sausage and chicken were cooked in with some chicken stock scraping the bottom to loosen the fond in the pan. Add this to the gumbo.

15. Cook the gumbo covered for one more hour. At this point, the gumbo is done and ready to serve. Taste and make any salt or seasoning adjustments.

16. Serve the gumbo in a bowl over a lump of white rice! The gumbo will last a few days in the refrigerator and like most stews, It gets better every day.

[baldengineer]

Spicy Lime Avacado Chicken Soup

I eat this for lunch, with a salad, almost every day. It’s low fat, especially without the cheese, low carb, high protein, and delicious–if you like spicy.

Ingredients

• 1 to 1.5 lbs skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large white onion, chopped, divided (1/2)
• 1 cup chopped cilantro, divided (1/2)
• 4 jalapeño peppers, thinly sliced (coins)
• 3 limes, juiced, divided (2 and 1)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 cups water (or chicken broth)
• 3 large firm, ripe avocados, cut into chunks
  • Cut when served
• ¼ cup crumbled queso fresco, or to taste
  • Or other mild cheese

Directions

• Step 1: Prep Topping
  • Divide the Onion and Cilantro in half, and one juiced lime
  • Mix the three in a dish and chill.
• Step 2: Cook the chicken
  • Either boil in water or use an instant pot/pressure cooker.
• Step 2: Cool and shred the chicken
  • I put in an ice bath for about 5 minutes and then chop in a food processor.
• Step 3: Cook the veggies
  • Heat up olive oil on medium heat
  • Once hot, cook (remaining) onion and peppers for 2-3 minutes, until onion in softened.
  • Add garlic, cook for 30 seconds or until fragrant
  • Stir before…
  • Add Cilantro, dash of salt, and cook for 5 minutes
    • Salt here helps to break down cilantro
  • Juice remaining limes and use to glaze the pan
• Step 4: Combine the things
  • Add water/broth and chicken
  • Bring to a boil and then simmer on low heat for 5 minutes

Ladle into bowls. Add optional cheese. Add prepared onion/cilantro mix and chunks of fresh avocado.

Enjoy.

Options

• Use pork tenderloin instead of chicken
• Add 1 tsp of chicken bouillon (I found a non-sodium based that is great)
  • Even with broth, a little boullion gives some layers of flavor
• Skip the cheese. It’s grate (lol) but adds fat
• Add more (or less) peppers to taste.
  • I prefer to replace the four jalapenos with 2 seranos. Or one habanero.

[Parker_Dillmann]

I am going to have to try this recipe.

I need to write down my pizza recipe.

[tuxduc]

Chanko Nabe (Japanese style Sumo Hot Pot)

https://www.eatthismuch.com/app/food/3996034

1. Add broth to a large pot, heat to boiling
2. while heating, chop meat and veggies of choice into mouth sized chunks (~1in cubes)
3. once boiling, add chopped ingredients to broth, lower heat to simmer.
4. serve with size of rice or favorite noodles, and kimchi.
   *for flavor, also consider gochujang sauce

This recipe makes a lot, you’ll be eating it all week.

[mobius_striptease]

I’ll share my chili recipe, but only if we agree that we’re not going to argue about what ingredients should be in chili.

[Stephen.K]

If yours has beans in it then ill add my recipe that doesnt have beans

[baldengineer]

I would like both recipes for science reasons.