What can you expect in the Food Thread on PF?

[turbo]

mmmm, mmmmm, mmmm...

chocolate chip cookies dipped in habanero sauce!


mmmmmm!

Now that's just strange! Tollhouse cookies go better with green tomato/jalapeno salsa than with habanero relish.

 

[turbo]

that's another thing that will happen this year--

my garden is a raised bed and I'm going to add an herb area this year---fresh frozen spices for the next fall and winter...

As a follow-up. We grow basil in containers on the back deck. Down in the garden are parsley, cilantro, dill and a few other herbs. Cilantro is wonderful in fresh salsas, and the fresh dill is very nice in cream-sauces for salmon and other fish. Don't just use the dill weed - make sure to use the tiny yellow florets. The flavor is incredible.

 

[Ben Niehoff]

Simple things today: smoked salmon, creme fraiche, and dill, on a toasted whole wheat bagel.

 

[turbo]

Simple things today: smoked salmon, creme fraiche, and dill, on a toasted whole wheat bagel.

Mmm! Sounds great.

My connection at the local Atlantic salmon hatchery died of heart failure last summer. I may not get salmon again when they next cull their brood stock. His wife works for one of my father's best friends, and it sure was a treat (and a surprise) to get over 100# of fresh salmon a couple of years back. The hatchery is operated by a salmon-farming business that has an exclusive agreement with a large supermarket chain. Part of the agreement is that when they cull brood-stock, the fish can be given away or destroyed, but NOT sold.

 

[IMP]

Food Thread you say? Here is some "food thread", 100% edible:

 

[Evo]

That's cute IMP.

 

[turbo]

Some time back, I posted about the methods for making nice scrambled eggs. It seems like such a simple thing, but the post elicited some discussion, and some misunderstandings about the physics of cooking great eggs.

Today, I propose another basic. How to make perfect macaroni and cheese. Not the crappy watery or gummy stuff that your relatives or friends might have made, but something that will keep you coming back for more.

Set your oven to pre-heat at 450 deg F. Then boil enough macaroni noodles to make a properly sized batch. Put salt in that water and bring it to a heavy boil before you add the noodles. While the noodles are boiling, crush some garlic, and finely-chop some jalapeno peppers and yellow onions. When the noodles are much firmer than "al dente", strain them through a colander and shake them to remove excess water. Do not rinse! Return the noodles to the pot and mix in the chopped vegetables thoroughly.

Get out a nice heavy casserole dish and fill it about half-way with the noodles and vegetables. Dust the noodles lightly with a few tablespoons of flour, then cover that layer with a nice thick layer of sharp Vermont Cheddar. Make another layer of noodles with vegetables, and dust that layer with a few tablespoons of flour. Then, pour in enough milk so that the milk is not up to the surface of the top layer, but is visible between the noodles. Top with another generous layer of sharp Vermont Cheddar, and put the casserole dish in the oven. By the time the top layer of cheese is golden brown, the dish is done. Served fresh and hot, the dish is tantalizing, if a bit loose. Once the dish has been refrigerated, the combination of the flour, cheese, starch from the noodles, etc, allows the mix to solidify, so it can be easily be cut with a butter knife into single-serving sizes to be microwaved.

I left out salt, pepper, etc. That's up to you.

 

[Evo]

Oooh, sounds wonderful!

Then, when it's cold, cut it into squares, wrap it in bacon, dip it in egg, then in flour, then in bread crumbs and DEEP FRY IT!

MUWAHAHAHA, Sorry, I watched Paula Deen do that a couple of hours ago on a repeat.

Ingredients
1 recipe "The Lady's Cheesy Mac" prepared, chilled in the refrigerator overnight, and cut into 15 squares, recipe follows
1 pound bacon
Flour
2 eggs, beaten
Plain bread crumbs
Peanut oil, for frying
Directions
Heat peanut oil to 350 degrees F.

Wrap each square of cheesy mac with 1 strip of bacon, and fasten with toothpick. Dredge each square in flour then egg and then bread crumbs to coat. Fry for about 3 minutes until golden brown.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/ladys-fried-mac-recipe/index.html

 

[MotoH]

The Perfect Pork Chop.

1) Buy pork chops from store
2) salt and pepper pork chops
3) Turn grill on to whatever temperature floats your boat
4) put pork chops on grill
5) flip until both sides have black grill marks
6) put on plate and eat.


I hope you enjoyed this recipe from the MotoH cookbook (25 dollars by paypal)

 

[turbo]

Oooh, sounds wonderful!

Then, when it's cold, cut it into squares, wrap it in bacon, dip it in egg, then in flour, then in bread crumbs and DEEP FRY IT!

You are evil! This kind of macaroni and cheese has kept my body and soul together for decades.

 

[Evo]

You are evil! This kind of macaroni and cheese has kept my body and soul together for decades.

I know, each time I see her wrap macaroni in bacon, batter it, and then deep fry it, I feel a heart attack coming on.

Your recipe sounds great, I'm going to try it on the Evo child this weekend.

 

[turbo]

I know, each time I see her wrap macaroni in bacon, batter it, and then deep fry it, I feel a heart attack coming on.

Your recipe sounds great, I'm going to try it on the Evo child this weekend.

This type of macaroni is killer.
Please try it.

 

[rewebster]

I know, each time I see her wrap macaroni in bacon, batter it, and then deep fry it, I feel a heart attack coming on.

I haven't had this but for some reason I think of county or state fair food concession stands.

 

[Evo]

[begin rant]Cooking for one. This has got to be one of the hardest things to do from variety to cost. I am one of the most frugal people on this planet, so buying food items in small, overpriced quantities just goes against my grain. Seriously, at the grocery store where they buy meat/poultry/seafood in bulk then re-package the food in-store, is there really any reason for them to charge more for smaller quantities? If I buy a 10 pound package of beef, it's usually ~30 cents per pound cheaper than if I buy 1 pound. Smaller cans and boxes of food are also significantly more expensive by weight than larger cans and boxes.

I end up opting for the larger sizes since almost all recipes seem to make 6-8 servings. Then I have a ton of leftovers, which for some recipes is ok, and sometimes even better, but a lot of foods are best eaten right when cooked. I used to go through the trouble of making little single meal packages of leftovers and freezing them for later use, but that can add costs in packaging that can reduce any savings I gained in buying the larger quanties. Not to mention that my apartment freezer compartment is half the size of the one I had at my house, so the leftovers get pushed to the back and by the time I find them, freezer burn has ruined them.

I want variety, but I won't buy an entire container of food where the recipe calls for one or two teaspoons of it and the rest will likely spoil before I get around to ever using it again.[end rant]

Oh, I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner tonight and nothing appeals to me, and I have tons of food. I might try Paula Deen's Chicken Georgia, sounds quick and easy.

Ingredients
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
4 skinless boneless chicken breast halves
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
2 tablespoons minced shallots
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
4 ounces grated mozzarella cheese

Directions

Melt butter over medium heat. Add mushrooms and shallots and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook 10 minutes. Add chicken and cook 10 minutes on each side, or until tender. Transfer chicken to platter and sprinkle with grated cheese. Top with mushroom mixture. Cook and let stand 5 minutes or until cheese melts.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/chicken-georgia-recipe/index.html

 

[turbo]

My house smells wonderful! I'm making a big batch of my from-scratch pizza sauce, and it has to simmer for hours to get to the right consistency.

 

[Evo]

I made a delicious potato & collard green soup yesterday.

I used three yukon gold potatoes, (cut into small cubes)
1 pound chopped frozen collard greens
6 cups of water & 6 chicken bouillion cubes
1 half medium onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/4 tsp mustard powder (not wet mustard)
1/4 tsp lemon pepper
a couple of pinches of red pepper flakes
a few shakes of Frank's original hot sauce (you can go much heavier on the pepper and hot sauce)
1/4 teaspoon of black pepper

Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, then let simmer 20-30 minutes, or until onion is transparent and stock is slightly reduced (do not cover while cooking)

Slightly mash soup with masher to mash most of the potato, (if you prefer a cream soup, you can blend with a hand blender, I prefer the small bits of collards)

Add 3 ounces of cream cheese (I use 1/3 fat neufchatel), 1/4 cup grated parmesan/Romano cheese, and stir until completely melted. Season to taste with salt & pepper (I use Morton's Nature's Seasons)

Pour into bowls and (optional) add crispy croutons and/or shredded cheddar or Mexican 4 blend cheese (which I always keep on hand). Bits of cripsy cooked & drained bacon adds a nice touch.

 

[turbo]

Now that sounds good! I might have to try this - we have had good luck combining potatoes, onions, and greens (collards or kale) with hot sausage.

Tonight, though, is pizza. Onion and green pepper pizza with mozzarella, topped lightly with grated Romano and additional oregano before baking.

I don't measure anything, but the recipe has stayed the same for about 15 years and it always comes out consistent. For single people, or folks with little freezer-space, here's how to make a small batch.

Start with a large can of Pastene peeled ground tomatoes. This is important, since you'll be simmering the sauce for a long time, and you want to use sauce tomatoes that have no skins, so they will de-water without scorching.
Dump the tomatoes in a blender, and add in:
a couple of tbs of olive oil
salt
black pepper
cayenne
garlic powder
onion powder
oregano
basil
hot sauce of some kind (I use my home-made habanero relish)
maybe a tbs or two of sugar if you like your pizza sauce to not be too tart

Liquefy this mix at your blender's highest speed, using the "pulse" button for best mixing. This step ensures that the tomato cells are ruptured and broken up, so they will dewater easily. When I first started making this sauce years ago, I had foaming problems while simmering, which was cured by the addition of the olive oil.

After blending thoroughly, transfer the sauce to a large stock pot with a lot of surface area, and simmer. My stock pots are stainless, and tend to develop hot spots while simmering, so to prevent that, I put my perforated aluminum pizza pan on the burner, and set the stock pot on top of that. The pizza pan distributes the heat evenly to the bottom of the stock pot, so there is no scorching and less stirring is required.

 

[turbo]

The little custom butcher-shop that opened a few miles from here is turning out to be a treasure! The butcher's wife and my wife get along really well, and she is sensitive to glutamates, so when they make sausages, deli meats, etc they don't add "natural flavors", "modified food starch" etc. That's really nice. Also, she knows that my wife and I love flat-iron steaks. Last night she called and said that her husband had cut up a steer and she had reserved the four flat-irons for us. We told her to hold them and we'd take all four. At $5.99/lb, they are a steal, and they are such a low-yield cut that they can be hard to find. No problems, now. We are first in line for them, and we'll take all they cut for at least a few more steers' worth and stock up the freezer a bit.

 

[rewebster]

I haven't heard of a 'flat-iron steak'---I just googled though

I've had and cooked pork blade before

 

[turbo]

I haven't heard of a 'flat-iron steak'---I just googled though

I've had and cooked pork blade before

Try it, if you can find any. Darned near as tender as loin cuts, with 'way more flavor, and at a far more reasonable price. The butcher used to devote that cut primarily to blade steaks, but now he knows that we want flat-iron steaks, he has changed the cut.

The local grocery store has a meat-counter with a full time meat-cutter. He knows that we would buy flat-iron steaks, but the owner thinks that in the winter, people stop grilling and would prefer the smaller, cheaper blade steaks to pan-fry, so he's got to keep packages of blade steaks in the meat-cooler.

 

[Evo]

I made coq au vin the other night. Haven't made it in ages. You just can't go wrong with something that calls for bacon and wine.

So I have more chicken I need to cook, it was on sale for 79 cents a pound for leg quarters. I have now officailly run out of ideas. Maybe I'll just make fried chicken. Mmmm, bacon fried chicken with garlic mashed potatoes.

 

[Evo]

The fried chicken was awesome. I had to buy a can of crisco for that 55 year old recipe for cherry wink cookies, so I used that. Alton Brown claims that crisco is his preferred shortening for frying, but you can't believe anything he says on the show because the script is written by his writing staff and he just plays the part. But I remember my mother always had a can of crisco for frying.

My how times have changed.

I cut the leg quarters into drumsticks and thighs and I refuse to admit I cut that last one, I misjudged the joint by a good 2 inches.

But I'm ready to dress a moose, seriously turbo, I can do it.

 

[rewebster]

But I'm ready to dress a moose, seriously turbo, I can do it.

http://www.pollsb.com/photos/o/30046-bored_enough_wear_moose_head_made_ordinary_objects.jpg

 

[Evo]

http://www.pollsb.com/photos/o/30046-bored_enough_wear_moose_head_made_ordinary_objects.jpg

That's[/URL] pretty scary.

 

[turbo]

That's pretty scary.

How quickly could you gut that? I'm figuring 5 minutes at the most to do a quick field-dress.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

I made coq au vin the other night.

I can cook a vegetarian coq au vin.

 

[turbo]

I can cook a vegetarian coq au vin.

Without wine?

 

[lisab]

Where do cravings come from? I've had a craving for beef stroganoff all day. I haven't made it in a long time...mmm, mushrooms :!). Looking forward to a yummy dinner.

 

[Evo]

Where do cravings come from? I've had a craving for beef stroganoff all day. I haven't made it in a long time...mmm, mushrooms :!). Looking forward to a yummy dinner.

I *LOVE* beef stroganoff.

 

[Borek]

Where do cravings come from? I've had a craving for beef stroganoff all day.

Lol, such cravings are considered (at least here) to be early symptoms of pregnancy.

 

[turbo]

Lol, such cravings are considered (at least here) to be early symptoms of pregnancy.

Universal belief, it seems, except that in the US, such cravings are characterized as being for odd combinations, such as pickles and ice cream.

 

[Evo]

Universal belief, it seems, except that in the US, such cravings are characterized as being for odd combinations, such as pickles and ice cream.

I love pickles dipped in honey, taste like apples.

 

[Evo]

Ok, I'm making my stew for couscous. I guess very few people here know that traditional couscous is cooked in a couscousiere, which is an elaborate steamer placed over a pot of boiling lamb stew. The steam cooks the couscous and gives it flavor. My mother is French, but was born and raised in Algiers, when it was a French colony, so much of my cooking is North African based.

Anyway, I've never done this before and I know it's not acceptable, but I was thinking of adding corn or peas to the stew. My shepherd's pie has corn and it's awesome, so I'm wondering, since I have already substituted beef for lamb, do you think corn or peas would be better? I've never seen corn with couscous, I think I've seen someone add peas. Of course couscous is used like rice in cooking now, so there are no longer rules, which is a bit sad since I'm more of a food purist. Like baklava can't be made with sausage and cheese.

 

[turbo]

I just got a short look at Iron Chef America. Alton Brown should have stuck with his manufactured (Good Eats) "prominence". He is an actor/spokesperson, not a cook.

 

[Evo]

I just got a short look at Iron Chef America. Alton Brown should have stuck with his manufactured (Good Eats) "prominence". He is an actor/spokesperson, not a cook.

He's definitely not a cook. But he had a great idea for a show "Good Eats" where he played a scientificallly minded cook. Unfortunately his research staff sometimes blew it big time.

 

[turbo]

He's definitely not a cook. But he had a great idea for a show "Good Eats" where he played a scientificallly minded cook. Unfortunately his research staff sometimes blew it big time.

That's painfully evident, but he's still on the air as an "expert". Why? If I was forced into an impromptu cook-off with him and Bobby Flay (no information nor back-feed by their producers), I think I would bury both of them. I use my grill year-round, and there are some considerations to deal with when using a grill outside in an ambient temperature of 0. Think either of those "stars" would know how to contend with that? Cooking isn't some zero-sum game that is done under controlled conditions, and the Food Network seems not to know that. When I was a kid, we used to take the windows out of our kitchen and open doors so that we could stand to put up with heat needed to can high pH vegetables. My grandmother had a huge open-air summer-kitchen to accomplish the same, but she was the head cook at a large log-driving concern, and could make that pay.

 

[Evo]

You would have died if you had seen the episode where they had just installed their high tech infra red grill. They went on and on saying how cutting edge Food Netowrk was for installing them. Apparently no one tried cooking on them before the filming started. BUWAHAHAHAHA Everything they placed on the grill instantly went up in flames and no one knew how to adjust the heat. It was hysterical.

 

[turbo]

You would have died if you had seen the episode where they had just installed their high tech infra red grill. They went on and on saying how cutting edge Food Netowrk was for installing them. Apparently no one tried cooking on them before the filming started. BUWAHAHAHAHA Everything they placed on the grill instantaly went up in flames and no one knew how to adjust the heat. It was hysterical.

FAIL! Which Food Network does regularly, BTW.

 

[suvorav]

what are you eating on your work? Are you eatin in canteen or taking homemade food?

 

[Evo]

what are you eating on your work? Are you eatin in canteen or taking homemade food?

In my office, more people are bringing their lunch than in the past. The only time I go down to the food court is when I didn't take time to prepare a lunch.

 

[turbo]

I must say that Alton Brown's method of pan-frying steak is quite handy. Last night it was pouring rain, so instead of grilling our flat-iron steak, I cooked it inside. The method is drop-dead simple.

Warm the steak to room temperature. Put your skillet in the oven and preheat it to 500 deg. Lightly oil the steak and season it with salt and cracked peppercorns. Transfer the skillet from the oven to the grill-top with the burner set on "high" and put the steak in the skillet. Don't move the steak while it is searing. After 30 seconds, flip the steak using tongs. After searing the second side for 30 seconds, put the skillet right back in the oven. After 2 minutes, flip the steak and leave it in the oven for another 2 minutes. Then get the skillet out of the oven and immediately put the steak somewhere where it can relax. I use an inverted luncheon plate on top of a dinner plate (to catch the juices) and cover the steak with the cover from my large Revere stew-pot. After 2 minutes, serve the steak. It's a pretty fool-proof method. Not real energy-efficient, but the results are quite consistent.

 

[lisab]

what are you eating on your work? Are you eatin in canteen or taking homemade food?

I bring my lunch from home about half the time (usually a peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwich...ah, like food of the gods ). After a long search I finally found some frozen, microwavable meals that are fairly healthy, with not many calories, for days I run late in the morning and don't have time to make a sandwich. I keep a bunch of those in the freezer at work.

 

[turbo]

My wife juices fruits, berries and vegetables every morning, and that's her breakfast, along with black coffee. She also blends thick "shakes" of yogurt, banana, wheat germ, flax-seed, soy milk, and various fruits, and takes that to work in an insulated container for her lunch.

I snag some left-overs for breakfast, and skip lunch. When she comes home after work, we make a nice sit-down supper. Weekends, we make up "batch" dishes like chili, baked beans, stews, etc. Except for the occasional crackers, chips, etc, everything we eat is home-made.

 

[suvorav]

I usually take home-made food. My girlfriend cooks it on weekend. It is usually soup and pork with rice or pasta. and vegetables.

 

[Evo]

I usually take home-made food. My girlfriend cooks it on weekend. It is usually soup and pork with rice or pasta. and vegetables.

Sounds yummy.

 

[Evo]

[RANT]Grrr, On American Iron Chef, Mario Battali says he's serving grits, or polenta, like there is no difference. People in the south only call milled white hominy corn "grits", yellow cornmeal, course or fine grind, when cooked in water (or milk) is called cornmeal mush, now that is what the Italians call polenta. I understand that only a small portion of the US is familiar with grits, and I may be the only forum member to have eaten them, but if you are a chef, you shouldn't talk about things you don't know about. Just spreading misinformation.[/RANT]

 

[turbo]

Nope! You're certainly not the only grit-eater here. Most of my consulting work (pulp and paper mills) was in the deep south, and I ALWAYS ordered grits with my breakfast down there. Some diners automatically included them in a standard breakfast. Order eggs and sausage, and you'd get toast and grits, too as standard sides. Grits seemed to be better at little family-owned diners. Forget Denny's, Waffle House, Cracker Barrel and other chains. The little diners seemed to take real pride in their grits. Even as far north as northern Kentucky, there were really good places to get grits - just avoid the chains.

 

[Evo]

Nope! You're certainly not the only grit-eater here. Most of my consulting work (pulp and paper mills) was in the deep south, and I ALWAYS ordered grits with my breakfast down there. Some diners automatically included them in a standard breakfast. Order eggs and sausage, and you'd get toast and grits, too as standard sides. Grits seemed to be better at little family-owned diners. Forget Denny's, Waffle House, Cracker Barrel and other chains. The little diners seemed to take real pride in their grits. Even as far north as northern Kentucky, there were really good places to get grits - just avoid the chains.

YAY! Another fellow griter! Oy, tell me about Denny's grits, made that mistake once, it would've made a fine substitute for plaster of paris. Absolutely inedible.

 

[turbo]

YAY! Another fellow griter! Oy, tell me about Denny's grits, made that mistake once, it would've made a fine substitute for plaster of paris. Absolutely inedible.

I think that the chain restaurants made grits in huge batches, and the little diners made them in small batches to keep supplied all through the breakfast period. You can't control the consistency of grits well if you make big batches and keep them heated with steam table. I tried really hard to find local diners to eat at everywhere I worked. Sometimes they were mom-and-pop stand-alones, sometimes they were in-house restaurants in truck stops... Whenever I started working a contract in a new location, I'd mention food to some of the mill-workers and the ones who were most enthusiastic would give me directions to their favorite diners and tips about what was best on the menu.

 

[turbo]

A little tip: If you have a recipe that calls for mace, but have none on hand (it happened to us today while making raisin bread), you can substitute nutmeg. Just cut the quantity in half. Mace is made from the milder outer layer of the nutmeg seed.