I’m currently digging out a path through 4 inch tree roots so I can lay down pavers and connect two areas that should have been connected 46 years ago. I’d love a trip to the garden store just to get some better dedicated tools to rip up the land.

Fortunately my wife always tells the truth. But I did date a full blown list for 5 years. No fun.

Use the ingredients shown. Use other things you might have to make that possible. The more detailed the rules the less fun it is.

It’s a challenge, not a competition. It doesn’t need formal rules. Fun, not a contract.

Watch the whole video. They are using masa as a general term for ground corn. They take us through the whole corn cleaning process to remove the outer layers and get to what they are calling masa. There is even a whole section in the video on “what is masa” and not once is nixtamalization or lime mentioned. In the video it goes from fully cleaned and soaked in water only to ground to shaped with no lime treatment.

What meal did you envision that includes, but is not limited to, those two ingredients?

I totally get the concern on calories. What if you boiled the barley, and added it to some canned tomato sauce, chili powder and ground beef to create a chili? Use the pepper with some onion as your sauted veg base for the chili. All your nutrients and calories and both ingredients used.

I have thought about doing posts on that. There is a problem of regionalness. My pantry in Lesser Carolina is very different from my pantry in San Diego. But there are strategies of stocking a pantry. That are universal that people can find useful.

One thing I had to adjust is potatoes. In San Diego I could buy a 10 pound bag of potatoes and it could last two months. Here in the humidity of The South a 5 pound bag will start sprouting in two weeks.

I never had pantry moths in San Diego. But here everything that can be moth food has to be put into moth proof containers.

Sample pantry shelf picture for tax.

This is an international group. Different areas with different pantries.

I didn’t say anything about it being based on Iron Chef either. Because it’s not based on either one. It’s based on the idea that those shows are based on. You have ingredients that need to be turned into a meal. You can use other common ingredients to make that happen.

The more rigid the less fun.
It’s just like the challenge based cooking shows.
Use the star ingredients.
You can use other ingredients to make that happen.

This is a project of imagination and resourcefulness. I’m not going to put together a list of every ingredient you should have in a pantry because that’s going to vary from area to area. If you don’t know what’s in your pantry you can literally go to your kitchen and see what other ingredients you have.

Close enough for that purpose.

I definitely recommend at least boiling to barley. Otherwise you’re going to have a very disappointing yogurt because yogurt’s not supposed to break your teeth.

Use the ingredients that are posted. Use other ingredients you’re likely to have around the house to make that possible . Just lit every other cooking show.

It’s supposed to be fun. It’s not supposed to be a bunch of rules lawyers who can’t cook deciding to make up excuses. It doesn’t need more rules. It needs people who have ideas on how to turn the …

Wait. Is this one of those “kids today can’t function without explicit detailed instructions. They are afraid to try anything that they don’t know the results of in advance. They refuse to take chances” situations? Because it’s sounding exactly like that.

If you can’t figure out how to turn the ingredients into food then read the comments of those who can or keep scrolling. It’s not rocket science.

If you want to create your own challenge then go for it. It’s a community. Anyone can post food related topics.

This is a group for good faith conversations about cooking. Are you interested in that or would you rather be removed from it?

If you don’t understand how a cooking challenge works you can just keep scrolling. I don’t pester you about circle jerk etiquette.

Have you seen the shows Iron Chef or Chopped? Cooking challenges have pretty basic rules. You have to feature the selected ingredients. What you do with them is up to your skill and vision. If you could ignore the featured ingredients then there would be no point in playing.

A real friend or hologram?

Not all challenges are easy.

Nicely detailed.

Though with that user name I fully expect something fermented.

I have used store-bought yeast to ferment barley. It will definitely work. You’re going to get a lot of off flavors from the fermentation though. These flavors can be mitigated by using a longer and colder fermentation process. It’s going to easily get all the simple sugars but the maltostrios Is going to take more time. You’re probably looking at a 4 day rise at something like 50°f. Even then it won’t grab it all.

But yes I did misread that thinking it was going to be three cups of barley.

Hardcore mode