First Post

Word Press and Tristan weren't friends, so we're moving back to blogger. Tristan gets blogger thanks to his SSI Challenge. Below we've reproduced our first post.

Welcome to the Pressure Cooker. In the Pressure Cooker we'll be bringing you the most random food creations using 4 ingredients selected at by each other, friends and YOU the reader.

Who are the contestants?

Tristan and Monica, foodies who watch way too much Food related television.

The rules?

In less than two hours create a delicious dish using 4 mandatory ingredients plus anything else located in the kitchen. While this is kind of a competition, each competitor will cook separately. The kitchen is not large enough for two people to cook at the same time and maintain relationship bliss.

Cookbook use is allowed. This is our dinner and we don't want to totally waste food. Part of the reason for doing this is to increase our talent in the kitchen. This is will force us to use different techniques and learn how to use different ingredients. Without a cookbook we'll just ruin a bunch of food.

The Ideas:

SSI Challenge continues - cook using spam, beans, rice and ramen

And somewhat related to the SSI Challenge, the $4 challenge

The Dinner Party Challenge - we invite guests over, they bring the 4 ingredients, we make them dinner.

Fast Food Challenge - at least one of the ingredients will come from a drive thru.

Frozen Freezer Frenzy - all of the ingredients come from the back of the freezer.

Chopped Challenge- Replicate basket ingredients from Chopped on Food Network.

Method Challenge- must cook with a certain style such as grilling or braising.

Reader's Choice- You choose the ingredients for us.

Expired- Ingredients will come from the pantry, whichever 4 items are closest to expiration.

Happy Holidays- Holiday themed baskets.

Farmer's Market- The ingredients come from the Farmer's Market.

Leftovers- One- four of the ingredients will be left overs.

The Name of the Game:

As many of our friends know, we struggled to decide on a name for our challenge. From the beginning Monica wanted to use "Diced" and Tristan wanted to use "Knifed." We spent a good 48 hours turning verbs into titles. We tried to put it to a vote on Facebook but we ended up with more options than we anticipated. Chiffonaded, Deglazed, Reduced, and Julliened were all contenders but still no winner. After a few days of debate we decided to go with the Pressure Cooker (Thanks Ryan!). If Tristan does a horrible job, he is Diced by Monica. If Monica does a horrible job, she is Knifed by Tristan. Astute readers may notice the blog's address is CookedUnderPressure.wordpress.com ThePressureCooker, PressureCooker, PressuredCooked, etc were all already taken. Tristan likes the address as it makes him sing the Under Pressure song every time he says it.

Stay Tuned for our first food post later today.