Josh Rising

Building the Future of Local AI, One Local Model at a Time.

Practical deep-dives into AI engineering, local LLMs, and custom software infrastructure optimized for consumer hardware.

Learn from my experiments.
local_inference.py 
import llama_cpp

llm = llama_cpp.Llama(
    model_path="gemma-4-12b-it-qat.gguf",
    n_ctx=131072,
    n_gpu_layers=-1
)

print("Initializing local session...")

No-Peek Chicken Thighs

Written by

zero4281

in

Prep Time Cook Time Yield
15 mins 1 hr 30 mins 6-8 servings

Equipment

  • 9×13 glass baking dish
  • Fine-mesh strainer
  • Aluminum foil
  • Bamboo or silicone spatula
  • Garlic press
  • Liquid measuring cup
  • Instant-read thermometer

Ingredients

Rice

  • 2 cups long-grain white rice, rinsed
  • 2 cups water

Soup mixture

  • 1 (10.5 oz) can cream of mushroom soup
  • 1 (10.5 oz) can cream of chicken soup
  • 1/3 cup water
  • 2 tsp Better Than Bouillon Base (Chicken)
  • 1 Tbsp soy sauce
  • 1/2 tsp dried oregano (or dried thyme)
  • 1/2 tsp seasoned salt
  • 1 cup small-diced yellow onion
  • 1 red bell pepper, small-diced
  • 1 green bell pepper, small-diced
  • 2 garlic cloves, peeled and pressed

Chicken

  • 6-8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs

Instructions

1. Prep

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Set the rack in the middle.
  2. Rinse the rice. Run it under cold water in the strainer, stirring with your hand, until the water runs mostly clear. Shake off the excess. Rinsing removes the surface starch that turns the top layer gluey.
  3. Dice the onion. Halve it from root to stem and leave the root on. Make 1 or 2 horizontal cuts parallel to the board, stopping short of the root. Slice toward the root, stopping about 85% of the way there, then cut perpendicular to those slices. Measure out 1 cup.
  4. Dice the peppers and prep the garlic. Cut the peppers into a small dice. Cut the stem end off each garlic clove, peel it, halve it, pull out the center, and press it.

2. Build the dish

  1. Mix the soup base in the dish. Add both soups, the 1/3 cup water, bouillon, soy sauce, oregano, seasoned salt, garlic, onion, and peppers to the 9×13 dish. Stir with the bamboo or silicone spatula until the soup loosens and no streaks remain. The soy sauce is doing the work of salt here, so don’t add any.
  2. Add the rice and water. Pour in the rinsed rice and the 2 cups water, then stir. The rice goes in raw. It cooks in the oven alongside the chicken, and precooking it first would leave it mushy by the end of 90 minutes. Spread it level so every grain sits under liquid.
  3. Lay the thighs on top. Arrange them in a single layer, flat. Don’t press them in; they stay above the rice and drip into it as they cook.
  4. Seal the dish. Cover tightly with foil, crimping it around the rim. The foil traps the steam, and the steam is what cooks the rice.

3. Bake and check

  1. Bake at 350°F for 1 hour 30 minutes. Leave the foil alone. Every peek lets out steam and slows the rice.
  2. Check the chicken. Pull back the foil and push the thermometer into the thickest part of a thigh. You want 165°F. If it’s short, re-cover and return it to the oven until it reaches 165°F.
  3. Serve. No rest needed. Don’t fluff the rice; scoop it straight from the dish with a thigh on top.

More posts