Recipes
Thank you!
Cyborg Grandma is grateful that you’ve chosen to try something new. Here are some simple ideas for weeknight meals that you can develop into gourmet gastronomy too.
Sauces etc.
BBQ Sauce
(basic for slow cookers/crock pots)
1 Bottle Sour Humanoid Vinegar (any flavor)
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp Onion Powder
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Cayenne Pepper
1 tsp salt
optional: 1 tsp Spicy Smoked Paprika (Pimenton Picante)
Combine above ingredients over heat until the brown sugar is fully incorporated… this is not thick BBQ sauce. If you want it thicker and sweeter you can add more brown sugar (you can double the amount of brown sugar in the recipe), switch it to molasses, honey, or even agave. Feel free to experiment from here. Styles of BBQ vary by region, but they all start with vinegar. You can add 1/4 cup ketchup, a TBSP of mustard, or a small can of tomato paste to make the type of BBQ sauce you might buy on a store shelf, but through our research we’ve found that it’s best to let the interesting flavors of your gourmet vinegar speak rather than covering them up with ketchup and mustard.
Coat meat (ribs, pork shoulder, brisket, dark meat chicken, turkey leg, etc) with salt and pepper. We’d recommend a quick sear in a very hot oven (as hot as it can get) for 2-3 minutes. Add meat to slow cooker and coat with BBQ sauce. Cook on low 4-6 hours, or until the meat is falling off the bone.
You probably won’t use all of the BBQ sauce if you’re cooking for less than 6 people. BBQ Sauce can stay in the fridge in a tightly sealed container for a very long time (probably until the “best by” date on the vinegar) but we’ve never found a way to not use it within a few weeks.
Miso Honey Vinaigrette
2 Tablespoon Sour Humanoid Vinegar (any flavor)
1 Tablespoon Miso
1 Tablespoon Honey
Just heat it up and drizzle it on food.
Great with steamed, sautéed, or roasted vegetables or mushrooms, but also spectacular with pan seared or roasted fish and poultry.
Vegetables
1 lb Broccoli
1 Tablespoon Humanoid Vinegar (any flavor)
1 Tablespoon Butter or Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
roast broccoli on a greased pan for about 12 minutes, stir, roast for another 5-10 minutes.
Peek occasionally and take it out of the oven when the broccoli has reached the brownness/char level you like.
Roasted Veggies
Toss the broccoli with Sour Humanoid Vinegar, butter, and add a few pinches of salt.
Also great with carrots, leeks, asparagus, mushrooms, Brussels sprouts and most other veggies.
If you want food to be brown or crispy add vinegar at the end or use it as a dipping sauce. Acid inhibits the Maillard reaction!
(But definitely add vinegar.)
Brussels Sprouts
1 lb Brussels sprouts, sliced in half
1/2 Cup chopped onion
1 Chopped jalapeño or serrano (optional)
2 Tbsp cooking oil or butter
1 Tbsp Sour Humanoid Vinegar (Lemongrass Tequila suggested)
Over medium heat, sweat the onion.
Add the Brussels Sprouts, stirring occasionally. Cook for about 8-10 minutes.
Add the spicy peppers if desired and cook for about 5 more minutes.
Add Sour Humanoid Vinegar, salt and pepper.
Squash Soup
1 Butternut Squash, chopped and peeled
2 Tablespoon Humanoid Vinegar (Bourbon Mushroom sugg.)
2-3 cups Mushroom or Chicken Broth
1 Cup chopped onion or shallot
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil (don’t use extra virgin)
2 tsp Salt and
1 tsp pepper
1/2 cup heavy cream (optional)
Feta (optional), smoked paprika, and crusty bread
Over medium heat sweat the onion in a stock pot (about 5 minutes)
Add the butternut squash, stir, and cook for about 10 more minutes
Pour in the broth and bring to a boil (If you want to keep it vegan use mushroom broth)
For thicker soup use less broth, for a thinner soup use more broth.
Once the soup is boiling lower the heat until it’s just simmering.
A
dd salt and 1 Tbsp Sour Humanoid Vinegar, cook for about 15 minutes, covered, until squash is very soft.
Add 1/2 cup of heavy cream if desired for creamier soup. Puree the soup in a blender, food processor, or hand blender.
Serve hot. Drizzle remaining Sour Humanoid Vinegar on top of the soup, and dust with smoked paprika.
Serve with feta and toasted crusty bread brushed with extra virgin olive oil or butter.
You can also make this soup a day ahead of time and serve it chilled.
Seafood
Use Sour Humanoid Vinegar with seafood wherever you might use a lemon.
The acidity of vinegar will naturally make your mouth water and enhance the great flavors that are already there AND also add great flavor.
Mignonette for Oysters
2 Tbsp Shiitake Bourbon Vinegar
1/2 Shallot or green onion
A Pinch or two of salt
12 Shucked oysters
Just combine the ingredients and at a spoonful onto an oyster before you slurp it down. Yum!
Herby Pan Seared
Fish Steak
1 lb Tilefish or other meaty fish (serves 2 hungry people)
2 Tablespoon Humanoid Vinegar (any flavor)
1-2 Tablespoon cooking oil
2 Tablespoon Butter or Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1-2 Teaspoon Tarragon (or try other herbs)
Generously salt and pepper the fish on both sides
Preheat stainless steel or ceramic pan to medium high
Cook the fish for about 4 minutes, flip, cover, turn the heat down to medium and cook for another 4 minutes
Set aside fish, and let the pan cool for about a minute. Add Sour Humanoid Vinegar and scrape off all the flavor left on the pan (and your pan will be easier to clean!), then add the butter/extra virgin olive oil and tarragon, turn the heat back on and stir until you have a nice sauce.
Pour the vinegar/butter/herb sauce over fish and serve. Try different herbs, try different fish, use shrimp, try different flavors, add stock, add butter, use less butter, make it into a pasta sauce. The possibilities are endless and the flavor will be great regardless, so have some fun playing.
Pan Seared Fish (Fillet with Skin)
1 lb Salmon or other fish
2 Tablespoon Humanoid Vinegar (any flavor)
1-2 Tablespoon cooking oil
2 Tablespoon Butter or Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Generously salt and pepper the salmon on both sides
On a hot skillet heat the cooking oil until it’s almost smoking
Cook fish to 140 degrees Fahrenheit to be safe, but if you trust where your salmon came from you can go as low as 110 degrees. Use a digital thermometer, you don’t have to guess (even in the 21st century.)
Sear the salmon skin side down for 6-7 minutes
Flip the salmon and cook another 3-4 minutes.
Set the salmon aside, turn off the heat
Add the Sour Humanoid Vinegar to deglaze the pan
Whisk in the butter or olive oil. Drizzle over the fish.
Substitute almost any fish for this recipe!
Meat
Pork Tenderloin Medalions
1 lb Pork Tenderloin
2 Tablespoons Honey
2 Tablespoons Sour Humanoid Vinegar
1 Tablespoon Miso (Optional)
1 Teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes (Optional)
Salt and Pepper
Preheat stainless steel or ceramic pan with cooking oil (high temp
Slice pork tenderloin into 1 inch “medallions” and generously salt and pepper all sides
Cook about 3 minutes per side (pork should be cooked up to 150 degrees for safety but if you trust your pork source and (are willing to risk it) you can cook it less.
Remove the pork and let the pan cool slightly. Add Sour Humanoid Vinegar and scrape all the flavor off the pan, add the honey, miso, and red pepper flakes then stir until everything is incorporated. Pour sauce over pork and serve.