What can you expect in the Food Thread on PF?

[WhoWee]

Oh I want to talk about roux!

My favorite: equal parts flour and peanut oil. Cook on medium heat until it's the color of peanut butter, about 40 minutes, stirring constantly once it's hot (yes, 40 minutes!).

Result: roast-nut tasting roux. Really yummy in a gumbo.

Much faster roux can be made with butter or drippings from bacon, etc.

Anyone cook much with roux?

I'm going to try that as a substitute for peanuts in a stir-fry.

 

[Monique]

Fortunately, I'm not making soup tonight but a rainbow terrine. To cheer up the thread:

http://1.1.1.3/bmi/cmgtcontent.ahold.com.kpnis.nl/cmgtcontent/media/000462200/000/000462246_001_FRAL07130952_300.jpg

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

The spaghetti was a success. That's two and a half meals this week that my wife didn't have to cook. I'm going for five next week. She can still cook on the weekends and usually we eat out then anyway. For instance, tomorrow we're going to a newly opened authentic Taiwanese restaurant. They make a kind of bread sandwich call saubin-yotiau. I ate this in Taiwan for breakfast and liked it immensely so I'm looking forward to the Americanized version. Also oyster pancakes.

Tonight I treat myself to my weekly beer. I always eat a snack when I drink so I won't get intoxicated. I got a kind of cheese I never saw before. It's a brie, but with blue cheese mold in it. I snuck a taste and it's pretty good.

 

[turbo]

Good, Jimmy! Keep up the good work.

 

[Evo]

The spaghetti was a success. That's two and a half meals this week that my wife didn't have to cook. I'm going for five next week.

Congrats! A budding cook.

Also oyster pancakes.

Please explain, I love pancakes and I love oysters.

It's a brie, but with blue cheese mold in it. I snuck a taste and it's pretty good.

Sounds interesting, what's the name?

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Please explain, I love pancakes and I love oysters.

Oysters, rice flour, eggs, and spinach or other veggie. The cheese is called Saga Classic Blue Brie by a company called Arla Foods from the French Quarter of Basking Ridge, NJ.

 

[Evo]

Jimmy, is this like what you are referring to?

http://www.chezpei.com/2007/01/taiwanese-oyster-pancake.html

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Jimmy, is this like what you are referring to?

http://www.chezpei.com/2007/01/taiwanese-oyster-pancake.html

Yes, that's it.

 

[netgypsy]

this sounds interesting. I love Vietnamese pancakes. Have to try to find a recipe for them.

 

[turbo]

OK, time to put Chicken Soup in a single post (with details) so that people can try it out. first off, my wife and I prefer dark meat, so she usually looks for deals on thighs or legs, but this will work well for whole chickens, too. Rub your chicken/chicken parts with powdered sage, smoked paprika, ground black pepper, and salt. Place the chicken in a metal pan coated with olive oil, cover the pan with aluminum foil, and put that pan into a preheated oven at about 350 deg. When the chicken is nearly done (use a meat thermometer) take off the foil and cook for a while longer (this is when I activate the convection feature on our oven) to brown the skin.

After enjoying your supper of roast chicken, it's time to make soup. Put a bit of water in your roasting pan and heat it on the range to lift the juices, fats, bits of skin, etc, and dump the contents into your stock pot. Strip off all the skin from the remaining chicken and throw that in the stock pot. Strip all the meat from the bones and reserve the meat. Clip the large bones with poultry shears and put all the bones in the stock pot. Now is a good time to look ahead to vegetables and use those, too. Chop off the bases and tops of celery stalks, the tips and tops of carrots, etc, and throw those into the stock pot. Bring to a boil and simmer all of that for a few hours. Your house should smell really good, especially if it's winter and you've had to shovel snow or some other onerous chore.

After a couple of hours, it's time to get ready to make soup. Take the reserved chicken meat and chop it up and put it into a large bowl. Get out at least a couple of cloves of fresh garlic and crush that into the bowl. Get out some fresh onions (I prefer yellow onions) and chop those and add them to the bowl. Grab the celery and carrots that you trimmed earlier, chop them, and add those to the bowl. Time to chop a a potato or two (depending on the potential size of the soup) and add that to the bowl, too.

Put a colander into a large pot in your sink and pour the contents of the stock pot into it. This let's you separate the skin, bones, and vegetable scraps from the tasty stock quickly. Take the large pot (with the stock) out of the sink, and put it on the range and heat it gently and immediately add all the contents of the bowl (diced chicken, vegetables, etc) cover and simmer. In a couple of hours, you'll have the best chicken soup you have ever tasted. There is some time involved, but the time is mostly in roasting, simmering, and simmering the final product, so it's not like you are tied up all day.

 

[Evo]

OK, time to put Chicken Soup in a single post (with details) so that people can try it out. first off, my wife and I prefer dark meat, so she usually looks for deals on thighs or legs, but this will work well for whole chickens, too. Rub your chicken/chicken parts with powdered sage, smoked paprika, ground black pepper, and salt. Place the chicken in a metal pan coated with olive oil, cover the pan with aluminum foil, and put that pan into a preheated oven at about 350 deg. When the chicken is nearly done (use a meat thermometer) take off the foil and cook for a while longer (this is when I activate the convection feature on our oven) to brown the skin.

After enjoying your supper of roast chicken, it's time to make soup. Put a bit of water in your roasting pan and heat it on the range to lift the juices, fats, bits of skin, etc, and dump the contents into your stock pot. Strip off all the skin from the remaining chicken and throw that in the stock pot. Strip all the meat from the bones and reserve the meat. Clip the large bones with poultry shears and put all the bones in the stock pot. Now is a good time to look ahead to vegetables and use those, too. Chop off the bases and tops of celery stalks, the tips and tops of carrots, etc, and throw those into the stock pot. Bring to a boil and simmer all of that for a few hours. Your house should smell really good, especially if it's winter and you've had to shovel snow or some other onerous chore.

After a couple of hours, it's time to get ready to make soup. Take the reserved chicken meat and chop it up and put it into a large bowl. Get out at least a couple of cloves of fresh garlic and crush that into the bowl. Get out some fresh onions (I prefer yellow onions) and chop those and add them to the bowl. Grab the celery and carrots that you trimmed earlier, chop them, and add those to the bowl. Time to chop a a potato or two (depending on the potential size of the soup) and add that to the bowl, too.

Put a colander into a large pot in your sink and pour the contents of the stock pot into it. This let's you separate the skin, bones, and vegetable scraps from the tasty stock quickly. Take the large pot (with the stock) out of the sink, and put it on the range and heat it gently and immediately add all the contents of the bowl (diced chicken, vegetables, etc) cover and simmer. In a couple of hours, you'll have the best chicken soup you have ever tasted. There is some time involved, but the time is mostly in roasting, simmering, and simmering the final product, so it's not like you are tied up all day.

Wow, that puts my chicken soup to shame, I've got to try your recipe, sounds much more savory than what I've been making. I think you've nailed it. If it's as good as it sounds, I'm stealing your recipe and entering a cooking contest. I'm all for savory. Hopefully I can make that tomorrow during chat. I agree on the dark meat. I've noticed that after all of these years of cooks touting boneless, skinless chicken breasts, that they switched to touting dark meat for flavor and moisture.

 

[turbo]

Yep (about the breast meat). When my wife gets a deal on whole chickens, I always roast them breast-down so that some of the fats and oils from the dark meat will migrate down to the white meat and keep the breasts from drying out and getting tough. We prefer legs and thighs, though. That's where all the flavor is, and that makes the best soup.

When Campbells or Progresso touts the breast-meat in their chicken soups, I have to wonder what geniuses are behind their ad-campaigns. Don't people actually cook chickens and taste them?

 

[Evo]

When Campbells or Progresso touts the breast-meat in their chicken soups, I have to wonder what geniuses are behind their ad-campaigns. Don't people actually cook chickens and taste them?

The pieces of white meat are like chunks of cardboard, I give them to the Fruit Bat, they're just dry and tasteless.

Disclaimer: I'm not suggesting that people can't prefer white meat or that people shouldn't eat it. (lest I get condemned for stating my personal preferences)

 

[rhody]

Here we go, from the America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook, 2001 - 2012, page 387,

Stir Fried Chicken and Zucchini with Ginger Sauce

(to make slicing chicken easier, freeze for 15 minutes, serve with basic white rice)

Sauce:

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons minced or grated fresh ginger
• 2 tablespoons low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar

Chicken and Vegetables:

• 12 oz boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed sliced
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tavlespoon dry sherry
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil
• 3 mediun garlic cloves, minced or pressed, about 1 tablespoon
• 2 scallions, white parts only minced
• 2 carrots, peeled and cut into 2 inch long matchsticks
• 1 red pepper, stemmed, seeded, and cut into 1/2 inch strips
• 1 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced 1/2 inch thick

Sauce:

Combine all sauce ingredients in bowl, set aside.

Chicken and Vegetables:

Toss the chicken with soy sauce, sherry in a bowl and let marinate for at least 10 minutes or up to an hour. In a large bowl, whisk sesame oil, cornstarch, flour. In a small bowl, mix 1 teaspoon of peanut oil, ginger, garlic, and scallions.

Stir the marinated into the sesame oil-cornstarch mixture. Heat 2 teaspoons more peanut oil in non-stick skillet over high heat until just smoking. Add chicken, break up clumps, cook without stirring until meat is browned at the edges, about 1 minute (it took longer for me). Stir the chicken until cooked through, about 1 minute (again, it took longer, I should have made it crisper). Transfer chicken to bowl, cover with foil.

Add 1 tablespoon peanut oil to skillet, turn to high heat until just smoking. Add carrots, cook until they begin to soften. Add bell pepper and cook until spotty brown, add zucchini and cook until tender.

Clear center of skillet, add ginger mixture, mashing it into the pan, until fragrant. Sitr ginger mixture into the vegetables.

Stir in the chicken with juices. Whisk sauce to combine, toss constantly until sauce is thickened. Serve and enjoy.

Hope you like it. Report back if you do.

http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/528/dinner1s.jpg

http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/325/dinner2.jpg

Rhody...

 

[rhody]

Has anyone tried or is planning to try the recipe I posted above ?

Rhody...

 

[Evo]

Has anyone tried or is planning to try the recipe I posted above ?

Rhody...

I will probably try it, sounds yummy.

I've been watching Cook's Country & America's Test Kitchen for a long time (same people). I also watch episodes I've missed online. They are the best. I love their equipment comparisons.

 

[Monique]

What do you guys think of garlic that has started to sprout? I heard in a television show that the sprout is responsible for the bad smell of garlic and that it should be removed. Is there any truth in that?

 

[turbo]

I grow and store a lot of garlic, and after a long winter, some of the garlic will start to sprout. Generally, I will slice each clove in half and discard the sprouts, then process the garlic as usual. Frankly, I don't know why I remove sprouts, since in the late spring when the growing garlic develops curly scapes, I harvest those and use them in stir-fries. The scapes are a bit more pungent than the cloves - with a taste similar to green onions.

Come to think of it, when white or yellow onions start to sprout, I'll slice them in half and discard those sprouts, too.

 

[Evo]

I grow and store a lot of garlic, and after a long winter, some of the garlic will start to sprout. Generally, I will slice each clove in half and discard the sprouts, then process the garlic as usual. Frankly, I don't know why I remove sprouts, since in the late spring when the growing garlic develops curly scapes, I harvest those and use them in stir-fries. The scapes are a bit more pungent than the cloves - with a taste similar to green onions.

Come to think of it, when white or yellow onions start to sprout, I'll slice them in half and discard those sprouts, too.

I like the sprouts and include them. Of course, I'm cheap. Potato sprouts I remove though.

 

[Evo]

So, Evo Child bought me a small box of instant rice.

What do I do with instant rice?

 

[lisab]

So, Evo Child bought me a small box of instant rice.

What do I do with instant rice?

Feed the squirrels?

 

[turbo]

Feed the squirrels?

Not good. Uncooked instant rice can kill birds and small animals when it absorbs water from their bodies and blocks their GI tract.

 

[alexg]

Return it?

 

[MarcoD]

Rice art? Though I guess your daughters are too old for that.

 

[drizzle]

Not good. Uncooked instant rice can kill birds and small animals when it absorbs water from their bodies and blocks their GI tract.

I didn't know that! Thanks turbo.

 

[Evo]

Bury it?

I do have an old recipe for creole porkchops that uses instant rice and it's really delicious, but I have no pork chops.

 

[turbo]

I didn't know that! Thanks turbo.

Instant rice absorbs water much more easily than conventional rice, and can quickly kill small critters.

 

[alexg]

Cook it with chicken broth instead of water.

Then, once it's cooked, it should be safe for critters.

 

[Evo]

Instant rice absorbs water much more easily than conventional rice, and can quickly kill small critters.

But squirrels love corn flakes and rice krispies.

 

[turbo]

But squirrels love corn flakes and rice krispies.

Yep, but those are low-density grain products. Feed those same critters high-density foods with a high affinity to water, and you'll kill some critters.