What can you expect in the Food Thread on PF?

[rewebster]

some food looks better in person/ on the plate

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This just happened:

an older guy (hard to tell as he looked beyond his years) asked if he could shovel the drive and walk for some cash, as he was out of money and needed food---I may have done it, but he smelled of beer---

 

[wolram]

Which is you favorite gravy? mine is onion and mushroom, i fry the onions with a little brown sugar until they are caramelized, chop the mushroom into very small pieces, place in water with a beef stock cube and any meat juices and thicken with mashed potato.

 

[Evo]

Yes that's true http://www.ethnicrecipes.org/index.php?search=&category=dutch However the meat is mentioned seperately Hutspot with "klapstuk". The personal touch for more flavor is to replace the beef brisket with "rookworst".

Sausage sounds good. I'll have to try that next time.

 

[turbo]

Which is you favorite gravy? mine is onion and mushroom, i fry the onions with a little brown sugar until they are caramelized, chop the mushroom into very small pieces, place in water with a beef stock cube and any meat juices and thicken with mashed potato.

My favorite gravy is made from the juices of a New England boiled dinner. It's a really easy meal to prepare.

https://www.physicsforums.com/showpost.php?p=1194466&postcount=15

 

[Evo]

My favorite gravy is my turkey giblet gravy.

A guy I dated once said that his mother always added chopped hard boiled eggs to it. I thought he was crazy, but wanted to make him happy so I added a chopped egg. It's the only way I'll make it now, it was so good.

 

[arunbg]

So I'm at home and being treated to good old Mum's cooking. But now I am having an attack of vegetarianism!
The university mess serves only vegetarian food, which is what I have 9 months a year. Probably the diet rubbed off on me or something, but right now I feel it an absolute effort to eat meat at home. Just today, I refused meat dishes on two separate meals :Eek:
My love for animals, is I guess another reason, though all these years I have been thinking it was okay and part of the biological chain. I had quit eating eggs for many years now (don't ask why). I don't know if this is just temporary or permanent, but I admit I have been contemplating vegetarianism for some time now.

Any vegetarians on the board for some advice? Non-vegan advice is also welcome

 

[wolram]

Pan boiled fox

http://www.wildmanwildfood.com/pages/recipes.htm#fox

Pan Boiled Fox (serves 6-8)

This recipe is inspired by my Greek friend's father who cooked wild
mountain goat using this (Ikarian) method. The flavour is extremely
similar to fox. So, as you can see, very occasionally - and in the
interest of research - I have tasted non-roadkill meat!

INGREDIENTS (all approximate measurements)
2 large onions roughly chopped
Boned or still-on-the-bone legs of one medium to large fox (cut into 8
pieces if still on the bone)
6 medium sized carrots (cut into thick inch long batons)
6 medium sized courgettes (cut into thick inch and a half long batons)
(with flowers if available)
1 tea cup olive oil
2 bay leaves
4-6 whole pepper corns
2-3 pieces of allspice
2-3 lemons
2 large eggs
Sea salt (fairly liberal amounts) and ground black pepper
Water

METHOD

In a large saucepan gently brown the onions in olive oil. Add the meat and cook in the onion/oil mix for a few minutes. Add the bay leaves, allspice, pepper corns, salt, ground pepper,juice of one lemon, carrots and a few cups of water to the pan. Cover with a lid and simmer for half an hour stirring occasionally. Add the courgettes. Add more water if necessary. Cook for about another half-hour at a slow but steady boil.

Beat the eggs and mix with remaining lemon juice. Gradually ladle off all the hot cooking liquor from the pan and carefully beat it in with the eggs.

Return to pan. Serve with hunks of good rustic bread to soak up the juices.

 

[gravenewworld]

The best bread and tomato pie you will ever have. From Marchiano's in Philly and rated best of the city. I've been calling for 3 days straight and can not get through to make an order. They have pictures on the wall of people who have been there to get some bread like the Pope, a ton of professional sports players, and presidential candidates. They are a little bit soup-nazish when you go there but they can be as big of jerks as they want because their bread is so freaking good.http://www.marchianosbakery.com/menu.htm

 

[wolram]

Flaming hedgehogs

http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/recipes/detail~RecipeID~16.asp

 

[Evo]

Flaming hedgehogs

http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/recipes/detail~RecipeID~16.asp

Thank God they're mushrooms, I was afraid to look, thinking they were actually using hedgehogs.

 

[Evo]

Ok, I bought a turkey for Christmas. I think I'm going to cook it tomorrow though. Going to do the Alton Brown brining thing. No turkey derrick.

Anyone have turkey leftovers recipes? I've got the usual turkey fricasee and a la king recipes. Damn I wish I could get my hands on some wild garlic, slices of turkey sauteed in butter with wild garlic shoots, placed on a bed of couscous would be heavenly. I can't think of anything else that really tastes like wild garlic. I guess maybe a sautee of leeks, shallots and garlic might do.

 

[turbo]

We always make turkey soup. After reserving some meat for sandwiches, stir-frys, etc, we boil down the carcas, skin, scrap meat, etc to make a rich turkey stock. Using a colander we strain out the solids and put the stock in the 'fridge to solidify the fat so that most of it can be removed. In the meantime, we clean all the meat off the bones and save that to return to the soup. We add carrots, onions, potatoes, celery, parsley, and whatever else comes to mind. Substitute rice for potatoes, or maybe include a can of black beans for a little twist.

Turkey often finds its way into a curry-spiced stir fry with lots of green pepper and onion, served over a bed of rice. There are no recipes for stuff like this - we just "wing it" and remember what worked best, for the next time.

 

[Astronuc]

Turkey soup, stew or pie comes to mind.

Turkey Potpie with Biscuit Crust
http://food.realsimple.com/realsimple/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=524363

Recipes
http://food.realsimple.com/realsimple/recipefinder.dyn?action=categoryBrowse


Appetizer Recipes
http://www.realsimple.com/realsimple/package/0,21861,1679014-1571913,00.html

 

[Evo]

I always do soup with the carcass once all of the meat is gone.

 

[turbo]

I always do soup with the carcass once all of the meat is gone.

We don't strip all the meat from the carcass - especially the dark meat around the spine and flanks. A lot of the richness of the stock comes from that.

My wife got a commercially-processed turkey from her employers, and it is currently soaking in a water cooler full of brine. She'll roast that tomorrow for my father. I can't eat any of it because it is self-basting (injected with a broth loaded with MSG), so I'll be suffering tomorrow, smelling roasting turkey, soup stock being boiled down, etc, and not being able to sample it. I'll probably compensate with a couple of hot dogs and rolls fried in butter with onions, loaded with chili relish and mustard. It won't cut my turkey cravings much, but it'll help.

 

[Evo]

I always throw extra meat into the soup when I start it.

That's to bad that you can't eat the turkey. My boss gave me a $20 gift certificate and I bought the turkey with it, it was on sale for 68 cents a pound! I bought a 15 pounder and have money left.

 

[Astronuc]

How about turkey fajitas?!

http://www.thatsmyhome.com/texmex/main/turfaj.htm

 

[turbo]

I always throw extra meat into the soup when I start it.

That's to bad that you can't eat the turkey. My boss gave me a $20 gift certificate and I bought the turkey with it, it was on sale for 68 cents a pound! I bought a 15 pounder and have money left.

My wife promised to make me a batch of black-bean dip as a way of cutting the pain. Black beans, lemon juice, crushed garlic, onion, seasonings, and some hot chili relish. It's great on corn chips or crackers. It has the consistency of hummus, but with a really lively flavor and a nice burn.

Pretty much all chicken and turkey sold in supermarkets is loaded with water laced with "natural flavoring", especially the breast meat that can be so dry and bland if the cook is not careful. There is nothing "natural" about boiling corn solids (from which the oils and starches have been extracted) in acid to make glutamates and neutralizing the product with caustic, but maybe that's just me. Nowadays, I have to avoid pork and other meats with "water added" because of the same reason. Luckily, there are farms and butchers in the area that offer minimally-processed meats, but we have to limit our consumption because of the costs. It can be expensive to avoid foods from ADM, Con-Agra, etc, because they dominate the market and our government's subsidies to them penalize the little farms.

 

[turbo]

Ah, yes! I am in the midst of food-torture. The turkey has been roasted and stripped of meat and the skin, bones, and scraps are boiling down to make soup stock. The cabin smells like Thanksgiving all over again, and I can't wander out to the kitchen area and taste. No turkey meat, no neck meat, no heart or gizzard...there is no justice!

 

[wolram]

I have some braising steak, 2 big field mushrooms, carrots and peas, can i make a spicy hot dish with lot? i have birds eye and finger chillis, hot chilli powder, stem ginger, fresh corriander, garlic and other spices.

 

[turbo]

I have some braising steak, 2 big field mushrooms, carrots and peas, can i make a spicy hot dish with lot? i have birds eye and finger chillis, hot chilli powder, stem ginger, fresh corriander, garlic and other spices.

You sure can! Just improvise with your wok. I would slice the carrots about as thick as the slices of steak and put them in the wok at about the same time with garlic and grated ginger. Peas later, mushrooms last.

You already know what's going to happen when you put chopped chili peppers in a hot wok, so use discretion. Don't try to put too much stuff in anyone dish - especially spices. Keep it simple and make up your meals in small batches, so you'll get more chances to experiment.

 

[wolram]

Tubo, how do i get a sauce to sort of blend the flavors, i have soy, rice wine, beef stock cubes etc.
I am thinking of flouring the meat so i have a thickener.

 

[turbo]

I would leave out the beef stock cubes, and go with the soy sauce and wine. Brown the carrots and meat first in hot oil, then add some soy, wine and chopped chilies and the peas. Add the thin-sliced mushrooms a couple of minutes before the other ingredients are about done. Remove the solid ingredients from the wok and thicken the liquid with flour and water. Put a little cold water in a bowl and whisk in some flour, stirring continuously. Once you have a thick mixture of flour and water whisk it into the liquid in the wok while heating the liquid, and stop adding when you've gotten the desired consistency. Spoon the solid ingredients over a bed of hot rice and top with the thickened juice.

 

[wolram]

Sounds Tasty i can not wait to get cooking.

 

[Moonbear]

I would leave out the beef stock cubes, and go with the soy sauce and wine. Brown the carrots and meat first in hot oil, then add some soy, wine and chopped chilies and the peas. Add the thin-sliced mushrooms a couple of minutes before the other ingredients are about done. Remove the solid ingredients from the wok and thicken the liquid with flour and water. Put a little cold water in a bowl and whisk in some flour, stirring continuously. Once you have a thick mixture of flour and water whisk it into the liquid in the wok while heating the liquid, and stop adding when you've gotten the desired consistency. Spoon the solid ingredients over a bed of hot rice and top with the thickened juice.

I usually add the liquids last, that way everything else is stir-fried and not boiled. I like it better that way. I've seen other people do it the way turbo describes, adding the liquids earlier in cooking, so I think it's just a matter of personal preference. You could try it one way this time and the other next time to see which you like better.

 

[turbo]

Sounds Tasty i can not wait to get cooking.

Just keep it simple at first, and when you get the hang of it, you'll be able to look in your refrigerator, and come up with a recipe right off the top of your head. With stir-frying, you've got to think your recipe through a bit before starting, because things move very quickly once you start adding foods to a hot wok. It's a good idea to taste stuff before it is done, so you can judge whether or not to add something to perk up the flavor. For this reason, we keep basic spices in sealed shakers near the stove. Need a bit of rich flavor to complement the garlic? There's onion powder at hand. Need a bit of complex heat? There's curry powder and cayenne. You don't have to plan these spices from the beginning, as long as there is time to add them before the end, because they can be added very quickly.

 

[turbo]

I usually add the liquids last, that way everything else is stir-fried and not boiled. I like it better that way. I've seen other people do it the way turbo describes, adding the liquids earlier in cooking, so I think it's just a matter of personal preference. You could try it one way this time and the other next time to see which you like better.

That's a good point, Moonie. Some times, I don't add liquids at all, and keep everything fried, and sometimes (especially when I'm going to add broccoli/mushrooms) I add liquid once the meat and the harder vegetables are browned, and cover the wok to steam these softer vegetables lightly. When you add liquids like wine, it recovers flavors from the initial browning, and the sauce is a perfect candidate for thickening. There are no rules, but I do tend to change the way I cook stuff based on what's on-hand.

 

[Astronuc]

Here are some ideas - http://www.pillsbury.com/bakeoff/

The judges have selected the 100 finalists in the 43rd Pillsbury® Bake-Off® Contest. These finalists will head to Dallas, Texas in April, 2008 to compete for the $1 million grand prize!

So get busy with those ideas.

 

[Astronuc]

First there was Quantum Mechanics, Quantum Electrodynamics, Quantum Chromodynamics and Quantum Field Theory.

Now we have Quantum Computing.


Now introducing Quantum Cooking. The fundamental units are dash and pinch.

Now it's a matter of defining a smidgeon, and the uncertainty principle as in a "dash here, pinch there" and whether or not it is commutative with "pinch here, dash there".

 

[turbo]

Since I discovered Applegate Farm's All Natural Organic hot dogs, I have been doing a lot of independent research on quantum hot dogs. Through diligent and careful experimentation, I have discovered the fundamental units of this field. The frank length, the frank mass, and the frank time. The elementary units of the frank appear in multiples of 8, though the elementary units of the complementary bread seem to arise in multiples of 6 - an inequality that is inexplicable, and does not adequately resolve until one has fabricated 24 units of the basic compound.

Through the liberal application of habanero relish, I have been able to test these fundamental food compounds at higher and higher energies, though as yet I have been unable to find traces of the theoretical Hot Diggity Dog-zon from which the frank mass originates. I am approaching the energy-limitations of my testing apparatus, and judging from the looks of the larder, I may have to ration energy and either test less frequently or forgo testing at the highest energy levels until the inventory is replenished. 9 months/3 half-pint energy cannisters = almost certain curtailment.