What can you expect in the Food Thread on PF?

[turbo]

Our neighbor (the one who got me growing all the garlic) stopped in this afternoon with a large bag of fresh peaches. The branches on his peach trees are starting to split from the weight of all the fruit and he wants us to wander down and pick all of the peaches we want, to relieve the load. We may have to make a big batch of peach cobbler and maybe can some peach preserves. Home-made peach preserves and peanut butter on Rye toast makes for a killer breakfast sandwich. Mmmm...

 

[turbo]

For supper tonight I bought some ground turkey, I am going to mix some onions, an egg, and a red pepper in and make turkey burgers out it it and throw them on the BBQ. I am also going to have some baked potatoes made on the BBQ as well and some corn on the cob. Yummy. I think I am going to throw a roast in my slow cooker tomorrow so I have some good meat for sandwiches next week to, and when the roast is almost done I will throw some carrots, onions and pototoes into cook with it for the last half hour or so...soooo good.

Those slow-cookers are pretty good for making boiled dinners - they can tenderize a cheap chuck roast so that it falls apart. For better taste, though, you might want to first brown that roast in a pan with a little peanut oil, salt and pepper. Brown the roast on all sides and make sure that you get a nice brown glaze on the bottom of the pan. After you put the roast in the slow-cooker, add some cheap red wine (and maybe a touch of cider vinegar) and some water to the pan and boil it to lift that glaze off the pan. Pour that into the slow-cooker and add some onion powder and garlic powder or crushed garlic. I sometimes used one of the original Crock-Pots to make New England boiled dinners, if I couldn't be home to monitor the cooking process, but I had to brown the roast separately and reserve the juices for the slow-cooker. That's what puts the nice brown stain and flavor into the potatoes, cabbage, etc. The result was too bland if the roast wasn't browned before slow-cooking. My apologies if you already do this, scorpa - I'm probably preaching to the choir.

 

[Evo]

I picked two gypsy peppers and they smell like banana peppers, but aren't supposed to be hot. Can't wait to try them tonight.

I also find that I can't get enough jalapenos to satisfy my craving. They have all of the flavor with very little heat because I thoroughly seed and devein them then rinse them well with water to remove any residue. Each bush currently has close to 40 peppers each, but I am eating 3-4 a day. Next year, more bushes. I am now up to 4 large jalapenos in my potato salad. :!)

 

[turbo]

My wife and I are going to make up a HUGE batch of dill-pickled chopped jalapeno peppers with garlic. We'll process a bunch of the Hungarian peppers that way too. The garden is pretty much crap except for the garlic, carrots and peppers, so we'll make the best of it and process and can whatever we're able.

For the past 10-15 years, I have tried to cook most of our fresh turkeys by hickory-smoking them and they are wonderful, tasty and moist. Recently, the turkeys we have cooked have been brined using Alton Brown's brine recipe and then oven roasted. Those turkeys have been flavorful and the brining does a good job of keeping them moist, even in an oven. This weekend, we're going to brine a turkey AND hickory-smoke it. It will probably be more addictive than crack. The smoker is a Brinkman, and I have a water-pan that I put directly under the smoking rack so that the turkey smokes in moist heat for the best flavor.

Note: Always cook turkeys and chickens breast-down, so that all the natural fats don't pool up in the dark meat. Slow-cooking poultry breast-down allows natural fats to migrate down to the drier white meat, keeping it moist and making it tastier. Never have dry turkey breast again.

 

[scorpa]

Those slow-cookers are pretty good for making boiled dinners - they can tenderize a cheap chuck roast so that it falls apart. For better taste, though, you might want to first brown that roast in a pan with a little peanut oil, salt and pepper. Brown the roast on all sides and make sure that you get a nice brown glaze on the bottom of the pan. After you put the roast in the slow-cooker, add some cheap red wine (and maybe a touch of cider vinegar) and some water to the pan and boil it to lift that glaze off the pan. Pour that into the slow-cooker and add some onion powder and garlic powder or crushed garlic. I sometimes used one of the original Crock-Pots to make New England boiled dinners, if I couldn't be home to monitor the cooking process, but I had to brown the roast separately and reserve the juices for the slow-cooker. That's what puts the nice brown stain and flavor into the potatoes, cabbage, etc. The result was too bland if the roast wasn't browned before slow-cooking. My apologies if you already do this, scorpa - I'm probably preaching to the choir.

Thanks for the advice Turbo, I never thought of browning it in peanut oil, I will have to pick some up, and some red wine to. I'll bet that will taste great.

EDIT: And of course your your advice is always more than welcome! My cooking equipment is pretty poor right now, it is all very old and not of great quality and I really left home without the best cooking skills so I am always learning and looking for good tips. I think I do ok though, better than a lot of people anyway.

 

[wolram]

I picked two gypsy peppers and they smell like banana peppers, but aren't supposed to be hot. Can't wait to try them tonight.

I also find that I can't get enough jalapenos to satisfy my craving. They have all of the flavor with very little heat because I thoroughly seed and devein them then rinse them well with water to remove any residue. Each bush currently has close to 40 peppers each, but I am eating 3-4 a day. Next year, more bushes. I am now up to 4 large jalapenos in my potato salad. :!)

Chicken, how can you love jalapenos without the heat?

 

[Evo]

Chicken, how can you love jalapenos without the heat?

When you start vomiting blood in your sleep, you will learn to cut back on the hot stuff.

I always thought that if I couldn't have my jalapenos , they might as well shoot me, but like our all knowing and wise hypatia said

there is life after heat

I have found that as long as I have the flavor, I actually prefer it to the burn.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

I have been wanting to try my hand at making some thai style red curry, probably with chicken. Does anyone have any good advice and tips?

I've been looking up recipes and found some tips already.

Apparently Mae Ploy is likely to be the best brand I will find around here for curry paste and coconut milk. Goldenboy is supposed to be the best fish sauce brand. So far I have found neither in my usual markets so I may have to find an asian market. Or maybe Pavillions will have them.

The only other tip I can think of off the top of my head was to not put the entirety of the coconut milk in right away. Apparently bringing coconut milk to a boil somehow damages the quality. So what I understand you are supposed to do is use the 'coconut butter' (apparently a thick creamy substance that rises to the top in the can). You put it in the pan and cook it down as if you were clarifying butter and mix your curry paste with this and use it to cook your meat and veggies before finally adding the rest of the milk.

 

[turbo]

And of course your your advice is always more than welcome! My cooking equipment is pretty poor right now, it is all very old and not of great quality and I really left home without the best cooking skills so I am always learning and looking for good tips. I think I do ok though, better than a lot of people anyway.

When I went away to college, I had a couple of skillets, a couple of pots and pans with cracked or missing handles, a medium-sized bean-pot with no cover (had to use foil) and a tiny one-person bean pot with its original cover (cute, but impractical!) and entirely mis-matched silverware and plates. This was all hand-me-down stuff from relatives, but it got me by. My wife recently picked up a 6" Griswold frying pan at a yard sale for less than a buck (IIR) and it is a sweet little skillet. I'd love to have more of them. My favorite hand-me-down frying pan for college was a well-used 10" Griswold - I baked the crap out of it with oven-cleaner, washed and de-greased it several times and then seasoned it at high temperatures with lard and salt. I still have that pan, almost 40 years later.

 

[turbo]

My father, my younger brother, and his daughter are coming here this afternoon for a lunch on the back deck. There is a brined turkey in the smoker right now slow-cooking in moist hickory smoke. There is a large potato salad chilling in the fridge with lots of boiled eggs in it - my father's favorite. We're also having corn on the cob, picked fresh yesterday, tortilla chips with fresh home-made salsa, home-made mustard pickles and dill pickles, and for desert, there's peach cobbler with oatmeal crust. I picked the peaches yesterday from our neighbor's wind-damaged tree, and though they are not as juicy as some Georgia peaches I've had, they are very flavorful. I'll probably miss most or all of chat today. Time to get out a cooler and ice down some beer... Bon appetit.

 

[Evo]

People were asking why you weren't on chat. Sounds like a great time turbo!

 

[scorpa]

MMM my roast is smelling really really good. Soon it is time to put the potatoes, onions and carrots in. YUM. I hope it tastes as nice as it smells.

 

[Quincy]

Brownies, Pizza, Chicken, Oreo cookies w/ milk, Go-Gurt = best foods ever

 

[turbo]

We had a great time and a great meal, and I'm still stuffed!

Here's my 21 years-younger twin brother and his 7 month old daughter. Like me, he developed a passion for playing electric guitars, making fly-rods, tying fishing flies, camping, etc, etc. Hayley will have a fishing rod in her hands by the time she is 2, I'm sure.

There has been a literary inquiry as to "who got Einstein's office", but I'm pretty sure who got Einstein's tongue.

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/images/einstein_tongue.jpg

 

[turbo]

Note on the turkey: When you smoke a fresh turkey in heavy, moist hickory smoke, the meat near the skin becomes a nice rose color, penetrating nearly 1/4" into the meat. When you smoke a brined turkey, the smoke does not penetrate as well. Rule> roast brined turkey, smoke fresh un-brined turkey. The turkey is very good, but does not quite meet our high marks for either roasted brined turkey or smoked fresh turkey. Sometimes, simple = better.

 

[turbo]

MMM my roast is smelling really really good. Soon it is time to put the potatoes, onions and carrots in. YUM. I hope it tastes as nice as it smells.

Good luck, scorpa! I love slow-cooked roasts with cabbage, onions, and lots of root vegetables.

 

[wolram]

Hayley will be catching uncle Turbos dinner .

 

[turbo]

Hayley will be catching uncle Turbos dinner .

I'll put her on a quota system.

 

[Math Is Hard]

I just put some pickled peppadews into the spaghetti sauce I am making. I hope that was not a mistake.

 

[Evo]

I just put some pickled peppadews into the spaghetti sauce I am making. I hope that was not a mistake.

Oooh, that sounds interesting, let me know how it turns out.

I just made a plate of nachos.

 

[lisab]

This morning it was cool and overcast, so I decided on pot roast for dinner tonight - perfect for a gray day. The forecast said it would clear and be warm but they're wrong as often as they're right, especially with overcast. I found a beautiful chuck roast at my local meat shop.

Well, they were right - it's gorgeous outside, clear sky and warm. But I'm sticking with my pot roast!

 

[lisab]

We had a great time and a great meal, and I'm still stuffed!

Here's my 21 years-younger twin brother and his 7 month old daughter. Like me, he developed a passion for playing electric guitars, making fly-rods, tying fishing flies, camping, etc, etc. Hayley will have a fishing rod in her hands by the time she is 2, I'm sure.

Your niece is so beautiful, turbo!

 

[Math Is Hard]

Oooh, that sounds interesting, let me know how it turns out.

I just made a plate of nachos.

It was better than I expected. I only added about 5 chopped peppadews and it gave it a nice little tanginess and heat.

I love nachos, but I only know how to make the fake ones - melting American cheese slices with salsa and pouring over tortilla chips.

 

[turbo]

Your niece is so beautiful, turbo!

Thanks, lisab! She is a cutie, and is as even-tempered as can be.

 

[rootX]

I am loving my ramen noodles soup with green peppers, red chinese hot chilli sauce and some green sauce! :)

 

[Ouabache]

I just put some pickled peppadews into the spaghetti sauce I am making. I hope that was not a mistake.

I thought you were kidding, with the peppadew. I never heard of it.
(then i poked around PF and see we have a following on this one).. So it does have some zest to it?

I love nachos, but I only know how to make the fake ones - melting American cheese slices with salsa and pouring over tortilla chips.

Mmmm I also love nachos.. Maybe you can try Paula Dean's http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/macho-nachos-recipe/index.html on your next batch. If you don't want to go through that much bother, you might try pepper jack instead of American cheese on your nachos..

 

[Evo]

I thought you were kidding, with the peppadew. I never heard of it.
(then i poked around PF and see we have a following on this one).. So it does have some zest to it?

The ones I ate were sweet and very mild. They were pickled, not fresh.

 

[Ouabache]

I have had buffalo meat, and it is great. We used to live fairly close to a fellow who raised them, but he eventually went to buffalo-cattle crosses (beefalo) to breed animals that were a bit easier to handle. Even better are white-tail deer and MOOSE - venison is the king of meat, and I love deer meat, but there is nothing like moose - very tender and flavorful.

I heard on the radio a fellow demonstrating the call of a female moose in heat.
He has seen a dozen bull moose come running as they think they're heading for a hot date. Only to learn, he's to become the main course for dinner.. Here's what his call sounded like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDb1oSzFahA

 

[Ouabache]

The ones I ate were sweet and very mild. They were pickled, not fresh.

Maybe they will have some fresh ones soon. I think those and your tomatillos would make a tastey addition to a pico de gallo.

 

[Evo]

I think they aren't selling the fresh ones for fear that people will start growing them and they won't have the market cornered.

If the weather holds out, I should be able to start picking my tomatillos in a couple of weeks. I can't wait.

 

[turbo]

If the weather holds out, I should be able to start picking my tomatillos in a couple of weeks. I can't wait.

Mmm! Tomatillos with some fresh tomatoes, garlic, onions, and jalapeno chilies. Snaz it up with a little lime juice, salt and cilantro and you'll have fresh salsa to die for. I like to let it "rest" in the refrigerator for at least a few hours before serving, so the flavors have a chance to blend. It's just not the same if it's eaten directly after being made. I can eat a pint of that stuff with corn chips, and then drink the juice after I've dipped all the solids out of the bowl.

 

[turbo]

The cabin smells pretty good! The residual smell from the habanero relish I made today is combining with the smell of the brine that I'm simmering (allspice, pepper, candied ginger, etc). I'm going to brine a 10# roasting chicken tonight to cook tomorrow. My wife left directly after work to go to her mother's place (she has dementia and can't be left alone), so I'm on my own for meals. I'll probably survive.

 

[brewnog]

Chicken, Mushroom and Tarragon Pie

Easy.

Fry your chicken until nicely browned. Chuck in a very generous glass of white wine, a glass of water, zest of a lemon, and a big handful of chopped fresh tarragon. Season well and simmer until the chicken is cooked and the sauce reduced nicely.

In a separate pan, fry some sliced mushrooms (anything apart from button mushrooms) in a very hot pan in some good olive oil. Drain.

Mix your mushrooms and chicken with all of the reduced sauce and a couple of spoons of sour cream.

Build your pie! I find puff pastry is best, but failing that shortcrust works fine. I use 50/50 butter and margarine, about the same amount of plain flour, and as little rubbing in with cold hands as I can get away with (lumps are good). Then some very cold water, and an hour in the fridge before rolling out.

 

[Moonbear]

Chicken, Mushroom and Tarragon Pie

Easy.

Fry your chicken until nicely browned. Chuck in a very generous glass of white wine, a glass of water, zest of a lemon, and a big handful of chopped fresh tarragon. Season well and simmer until the chicken is cooked and the sauce reduced nicely.

In a separate pan, fry some sliced mushrooms (anything apart from button mushrooms) in a very hot pan in some good olive oil. Drain.

Mix your mushrooms and chicken with all of the reduced sauce and a couple of spoons of sour cream.

Build your pie! I find puff pastry is best, but failing that shortcrust works fine. I use 50/50 butter and margarine, about the same amount of plain flour, and as little rubbing in with cold hands as I can get away with (lumps are good). Then some very cold water, and an hour in the fridge before rolling out.

Sounds YUMMY! I'll have to try that when the weather starts getting cold...sounds like a good chilly, rainy day meal (I guess that's what the Brits are best at ).

 

[Evo]

Chicken, Mushroom and Tarragon Pie

Easy.

Fry your chicken until nicely browned. Chuck in a very generous glass of white wine, a glass of water, zest of a lemon, and a big handful of chopped fresh tarragon. Season well and simmer until the chicken is cooked and the sauce reduced nicely.

In a separate pan, fry some sliced mushrooms (anything apart from button mushrooms) in a very hot pan in some good olive oil. Drain.

Mix your mushrooms and chicken with all of the reduced sauce and a couple of spoons of sour cream.

Build your pie! I find puff pastry is best, but failing that shortcrust works fine. I use 50/50 butter and margarine, about the same amount of plain flour, and as little rubbing in with cold hands as I can get away with (lumps are good). Then some very cold water, and an hour in the fridge before rolling out.

Sounds wonderful. This would also make a great filling for individual puff pastry shells.

 

[Evo]

I made a wonderful omelette this morning, onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, tomatillos and Mexican Queso Quesadilla and Asedero cheese. The peppers, tomatoes and tomatillos were picked fresh from my garden this morning.

 

[turbo]

I made a wonderful omelette this morning, onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, tomatillos and Mexican Queso Quesadilla and Asedero cheese. The peppers, tomatoes and tomatillos were picked fresh from my garden this morning.

No jalapeno chilies? That's sad... All the rest sounds good.

 

[Moonbear]

No wonder you were pushing omelettes on me in chat. I was going to make an omelette for dinner, until I remembered I had leftover rice from last night, so whipped up a batch of fried rice instead. It was faster than cooking potatoes for an omelette first and I was too hungry to wait for dinner.

 

[Evo]

No wonder you were pushing omelettes on me in chat. I was going to make an omelette for dinner, until I remembered I had leftover rice from last night, so whipped up a batch of fried rice instead. It was faster than cooking potatoes for an omelette first and I was too hungry to wait for dinner.

Yep, my omelette this morning was the best I've ever made, I'd say the best I've ever eaten, so I was in pro-omelette mode.

I love fried rice, but I can't seem to make a decent one. The rice is always too moist. Some day I will use that expensive rice cooker I bought with delusions about how many things I could do with it.

 

[rootX]

I made a wonderful omelette this morning, onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, tomatillos and Mexican Queso Quesadilla and Asedero cheese. The peppers, tomatoes and tomatillos were picked fresh from my garden this morning.
..

I want to eat one

I am going to buy some and going to cook each morning for breakfast
I had been thinking hard what to eat for my breakfast. Currently, it's oh henry bar and chocolate milk.

 

[Moonbear]

Y
I love fried rice, but I can't seem to make a decent one. The rice is always too moist. Some day I will use that expensive rice cooker I bought with delusions about how many things I could do with it.

Mine came out perfect today. You have to use day-old rice so it's drier. I sauteed an onion, less than a handful of frozen peas and corn (defrosted first), and fried up two eggs in a little vegetable oil and butter. When they were cooked, mixed them all together, added the rice, a splash of soy sauce (real stuff from a Chinese grocery, not Kikoman from the grocery store), a little salt and pepper, finished stirring together while heating the rice, and done. Yum.

Usually I don't have day old rice, and it doesn't turn out very well if the rice is fresh and moist.

 

[rootX]

is X Kabob Afghanistan's food?

X = {Chicken .. etc}

I have a place near me that sells pizzas and kabobs for about 6-8$ etc. There are lots of places here Asian, Indian, Middle East, and Harvey, subway .. etc.

 

[turbo]

I love fried rice, but I can't seem to make a decent one. The rice is always too moist. Some day I will use that expensive rice cooker I bought with delusions about how many things I could do with it.

I use a Black and Decker electric steamer and it makes perfect Basmati rice every time. I have a 20-year-old version of this one. It was cheap and it works great.

http://www.blackanddeckerappliances.com/product-349.html

Like Moonie said, if you let the rice sit in the fridge for a day, it soaks up any residual water, and the surface of the rice is drier - better for frying. I always make more rice that we need for a single meal - thinking ahead to stir-fries, etc.

 

[Evo]

My problem may also be that I use non-stick parboiled rice.

 

[turbo]

My problem may also be that I use non-stick parboiled rice.

That does sound like a contributing factor. When I spoon the day-old rice into the wok, it comes out of the storage container as solid chunks that need to be broken up as it's cooked.

If you can find some minimally-processed Basmati rice, and steam it, you'll be in good shape. I LOVE the nutty aroma of Basmati in the steamer.

 

[turbo]

Supper tonight will revolve around some fresh-caught wild brook trout. Today is the last day of the open-water fishing season, so I headed out to my favorite pond to try my luck. Caught and kept my limit (5 fat fish, about 12" each) put back one, and missed a real lunker - had to strip in my line to see if there was still a fly on the leader, he hit that hard. Generally, I release lots of trout, but if the trout gods are smiling on closing day, I take it as a sign that I should have a good meal or two. I stopped at my father's house on the way home and gave him the biggest of the trout - he was pretty happy about that.

Gut the trout, remove the heads, and toss them in a plastic bag with flour, salt and pepper. Get some butter preheated in a large skillet arrange the trout in the pan, and cover. Uncover, turn the fish, recover from time to time until the skin is crispy. Done! This treat is best accompanied by a skillet of home-fried potatoes. No biscuits tonight because the house is warm and I don't want to run the oven.

 

[Evo]

Gut the trout, remove the heads,

Do you save the heads for fish stock?

 

[turbo]

Do you save the heads for fish stock?

No, but if the trout are large enough, I don't fry them. I bake them with the heads on. The jaw muscles under the gill flaps are the most tender flavorful meat ever!

 

[tribdog]

Mine came out perfect today. You have to use day-old rice so it's drier. I sauteed an onion, less than a handful of frozen peas and corn (defrosted first), and fried up two eggs in a little vegetable oil and butter. When they were cooked, mixed them all together, added the rice, a splash of soy sauce (real stuff from a Chinese grocery, not Kikoman from the grocery store), a little salt and pepper, finished stirring together while heating the rice, and done. Yum.

Usually I don't have day old rice, and it doesn't turn out very well if the rice is fresh and moist.

I've never tried authentic soy sauce so I don't know how they compare. I grew up with LaChoy soy sauce, and I like it. I don't like Kikoman.

 

[turbo]

I've never tried authentic soy sauce so I don't know how they compare. I grew up with LaChoy soy sauce, and I like it. I don't like Kikoman.

That's the only stuff we've ever had available in Maine, too, and it is thin salty crap. (Just my opinion)