Advocate I
Let's not debate whether or not "skottles" are worth it (there's already a thread for that), or focus on alternative "better" cooking methods here. Let's just share our favorite things to cook on the skottle. I'll start with a few that are my "go-to" favorites:
Alright, so what are your skottle favorites?
-TJ
- Peppercorn Crusted Steaks with a Mushroom Cream Sauce. I'm sure videos exist for this, and steaks are obviously a pretty common skottle recipe so I'll just give a brief overview here. I let the steaks sit and come to ambient temp before cooking, and do my other prep (chopping shallots and mushrooms). ~10min before the cook I salt them (preferably fresh-ground kosher, Himalayan, or other 'strong' salt... but I don't go crazy overboard like some do, then again I don't like a ton of salt in my food), and then HEAVILY coat them with fresh-ground coarse black pepper. The pepper will obviously flavor the steak, but also help create the "crust" for a bit of texture, AND it will end up adding to the flavor of the sauce. I get the skottle as hot as it will go, and I sear the steaks fully. I add some butter as I'm introducing the steaks, but it's key to only add it once the steaks are in. If you drop the butter in by itself first with the skottle at full-heat it will burn very easily. From there I move them outward and reduce the skottle temp. Again, I'm not going to tell you how to cook your steaks as far as doneness, there are zillions of YT videos and books on that... however the next step is what this recipe is about to me. If I have it, I deglaze the center of the skottle with just a *little* red wine. This step isn't necessary, and IMHO you need to very light as I'm not going for a "red wine sauce". After deglazing, or instead of it, I toss a bit more butter in the center of the scottle and in goes the finely chopped 1-2 shallots (depending on size, and how many you're cooking for). I let those get a little color, but not fully caramelize (you're not going for a caramelized onion flavor, you really just want to soften them up and get a *tiny* bit of color IMHO), then I introduce coarsely chopped mushrooms (I tend to buy pre-sliced baby portabellas, and just give them 1 additional chop per slice so they're still a pretty big chunk) and you guessed it: more butter. I toss those for a min or so, then crack a bunch more fresh pepper in. At this point I introduce heavy whipping cream (sorry, no measurement, I just do it by eye) and just lightly simmer it to reduce. Since you're using a skottle all of the drippings and some of the crust of the steak that stuck in the middle will be incorporated into your sauce. And that's it. If you go too heavy on the cream and are having trouble getting it to thicken you can use a little corn starch, but I really don't find this to be a problem on the scottle since the sauce spreads out over a large surface area it reduces nicely.
- Lemon-Cream Sauce Chicken Pasta with Asparagus and Mushrooms. I can't take ANY credit here, I found this recipe and absolutely love it: I play with the ratios a bit (I like a lot of asparagus/mushroom and a pretty strong lemon flavor myself) but if you do it just like the vid, you won't be disappointed.
- Denver Breakfast Scramble. I love this one for the last day of a trip, because it requires ZERO prep so no additional dishes to wash up, and it's very quick. It's hard to even call this a recipe it's so simple. I buy the eggs in a carton so I don't have to carry eggs on the trail (no matter how careful I am, and what kind of egg-holder I use I end up with cracked eggs and a mess... but then, I wheel pretty hard sometimes). The carton eggs also mean you don't make a mess cracking fresh eggs, or dirty a bowl to mix them up. I'm sure the true chefs on here would highly disapprove, but hey I'm no chef! So I buy pre-diced ham steak, pre-diced bell pepper mix, and pre-chopped white onion (yes, I'm that lazy... especially on the last morning of a trip). I get some butter going in the skottle on a medium heat and toss in the onions. Like the cream sauce above I'm not going for full caramelization here, that's a different flavor that doesn't blend well w/ this dish IMHO - but hey if it's what you like... go for it! Next the bells go in, and a minute or so later the ham. I just keep that moving for a min or two (at this point all you're really doing is warming the ham, it's obviously fully cooked already) then poor in my eggs and just mix it around 'til it's starting to setup. Then I kind of pull it all together in the middle, top with cheese, turn the skottle off and put the lid on. A few min let's the eggs finish w/o getting too dry and gets the cheese nice and melty. There are also a few mods you can try to make the b'fast a bit heartier and/or feed more:
- Cook up some potatoes Obrien first and then move them to the outer perimeter of the skottle while you do the onions/bells/ham. Mix the potatoes in with everything else before you introduce the egg.
- Another mod is to buy pre-made hashbrowns and get them warmed/browned first. After they're warmed up, move them around the perimeter and heat up your veggies and ham like the standard method, however before you crack the egg in move the veggies/ham off to one side and arrange all the hashbrowns in the center of the skottle in a solid layer, lay the veggies/ham on top of that, then poor the eggs over it all and cover to let the eggs setup, open, top with cheese, and cover again. This makes more of a breakfast casserole, but it's tricky to not burn the hashbrowns and get an even distribution of the veggies/ham. I've done it once, and was pretty happy with it... but it's one you may want to tweak some.
Alright, so what are your skottle favorites?
-TJ
