What can you expect in the Food Thread on PF?

[Evo]

I like Evo's ceramics. :)

Thanks! You should see my collection of animal soup tureens. I have a really cool boar's head tureen with tusks. I collect bizarre kitchen ware.

 

[Astronuc]

I heard this this morning. Sounded wonderful.

In Praise Of A 'Fetastic' Summer: Nigella Lawson
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112179487

Zucchini Fritters

Grilled slices of eggplant are brushed with oil and then rolled with a stuffing of crumbled feta, red chili, a little lemon juice and some fresh mint


Some great food ideas
http://www.nigella.com/

 

[turbo]

Last night, I quartered some new red potatoes and sweet onions, drizzled them with extra virgin olive oil, and seasoned them with oregano, basil, cayenne and finely-minced fresh Russian garlic. I roasted them under the broiler for about 1/2 hour, turning often until stuff was browned, shut off the broiler, but left the pan in the oven so that the potatoes would cook through. In the meantime, I started steaming the broccoli, and sauteed thin-sliced venison steak in butter with a little salt and black pepper. I have some ideas about tweaking the roasted vegetables, but everything was pretty darned good as-is.

The potatoes and onions were given to us by a neighbor, and the venison was given to us by a different neighbor, so apart from the broccoli and garlic that we grew ourselves, the meal was on them.

 

[Ouabache]

I heard this this morning. Sounded wonderful.
Zucchini Fritters
Grilled slices of eggplant are brushed with oil and then rolled with a stuffing of crumbled feta, red chili, a little lemon juice and some fresh mint

Wow, those sound fantastic! I'd like to try a few of those at the next PF summer picnic

 

[Moonbear]

I've got to ask how many people have bought into the 'dry rub' craze for barbecue.

It is very well known in places like Cincinnati. And very tasty if done right. You actually have to know how to cook the meat right and keep it tender and juicy without slathering liquid all over it if you use a dry rub. And, no, it doesn't have the same taste as bbq sauce, because it's something entirely different. Usually, though, I combine both, which is how I really think it's intended to be used...put the dry rub on to season the meat (if you just put it on when you're ready to throw the meat on the grill, it's useless, you need to put it on at least 4 hours in advance to let the seasonings penetrate into the meat, and preferably overnight). Then I grill or smoke the meat, and then add the bbq sauce at the very end, and let it just carmelize a little (one bbq sauce recipe I have is the exception...it's not meant to be cooked, so you just add it when ready to serve; that's one where dry rub is really important to infuse the meat with flavor during the cooking process, and not just add the sauce on top at the end).

It's not dry rub that's the problem, it's of course the people doing the cooking who don't know how to grill meat properly in the first place who are ruining the meat.

I really love the dry rub recipe I have on chicken, and will completely skip any sauce if I grill with that on the chicken (well, sometimes anyway...other times it's that sauce I'm craving). When it comes to things like pulled pork or ribs, I still always add sauce (well, for pulled pork, you have to use sauce no matter what, though I only added it after the pork was fully cooked). I don't have a proper grill for the slow cooking you need to do for bbq, or for getting good flavor into it, so I use my stovetop smoker for bbq.

 

[WhoWee]

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...

I wasn't sure about this one - but I agree now!

 

[Ouabache]

I've got to ask how many people have bought into the 'dry rub' craze for barbecue. I was watching a show... "we use the time honoured dry rub". What? I never heard of dry rub before about 5 years ago.

Actually dry rub cooking has been around for some time. http://www.texasbrothers.com/texas-brothers-history.html". As MB also describes, it works best when allowed to diffuse in over time. On pork or beef ribs, after a dry rub on all sides of meat, I cover and let sit in the fridge overnight before grilling. I have to admit, they come out pretty tastey..

 

[Evo]

Actually dry rub cooking has been around for some time. http://www.texasbrothers.com/texas-brothers-history.html", have been using dry rub on their BBQ since the 1940s.

This appears to be bogus as they have no restaurant and they just have been going to competitions for about 10 years, which anyone can enter. My psycho neighbor at my old house did competitions.

I have been reading a ton of old cookbooks and cooking magazines, going back decades while I was home from surgery and nowhere is "dry rub" mentioned. The only mention is of rubbing meat with salt and pepper, sometimes some herbs, but it was just "seasoning" for the meat. True barbecue is done with sauce, otherwise it is just smoked meat.

 

[turbo]

I'm not a big fan of rubs. I generally make custom sauces and marinate meats, seafood, etc, and paint them with the left-over sauces while grilling. I made two sauces for my niece's visit Thursday. Both were based on red wine and cold-pressed olive oil, with seasonings like oregano, basil, garlic, etc. The shrimp sauce was also dosed up with roasted red pepper vinaigrette dressing and home-made habanero relish, while the sauce for the chicken featured ginger vinaigrette dressing, some additional ground ginger, and Javin curry powder. My niece said she really didn't like spicy food, but after her 18 month-old boy started chowing down on the ginger/curried chicken, she became a convert.

I tended baked beans during the day (made with black turtle beans) and my wife made up a large tossed salad (everything from the garden) and a macaroni salad with cheese and bacon in it. We tried to have a wide variety of stuff available for the more "delicate" palates, but no worries...the spicy stuff was disappearing fast. My niece's husband couldn't make it to the BBQ, and I had to watch the food to make sure we could send him a care-package.

 

[WhoWee]

I like to rub large (8 to 20#) pieces of beef, rotisserie slow cook over wood charcoal, then 1/4, rub again and finish roasting. When done, slice very thin and serve. (I feed a minimum of 7 people at each meal)

For pork, I enjoy a very heavy/spicey rub - slow cook over fruit wood - then soak in a butter-added KC style barbecue sauce. I usually make 2 other varieties of the KC sauce also. I add hot pepper seeds or hot sauce to one and Open Pit or Sweet Baby or brown sugar (or all 3) to the other batch.

 

[WhoWee]

Before I had kids, my favorite was to slice jalapenos or habaneros, cook them with garlic in a skillet with a few cups of olive oil until soft - then remove from heat. When the oil cooled enough to touch, roll chunks of beef in the oil, add salt, pepper, and lemon and allow to marinate overnight. The next day, prepare a shake-bag with all of my favorite spices and shake each piece of meat until fully covered. Then slow cook over wood. Ahh, those were the days.

I used to do this with chicken (whole birds splayed through the breast, leg quarters, breast quarters, or wings (really good). This is also good with thick cut pork chops, country ribs, and pork roasts.

 

[Moonbear]

This appears to be bogus as they have no restaurant and they just have been going to competitions for about 10 years, which anyone can enter. My psycho neighbor at my old house did competitions.

I have been reading a ton of old cookbooks and cooking magazines, going back decades while I was home from surgery and nowhere is "dry rub" mentioned. The only mention is of rubbing meat with salt and pepper, sometimes some herbs, but it was just "seasoning" for the meat. True barbecue is done with sauce, otherwise it is just smoked meat.

Just because you don't like it or have never heard of it doesn't mean it's bogus. That site offers plenty of evidence it's been around a while. For example, here's a 20 year old article, with the date included in the clipping, showing that they were serving sauce on the side even back then.
http://www.texasbrothers.com/iowastory.jpg

 

[turbo]

Yes, rubs have been around for a very long time. Some might have gotten to the south with the Acadians (cajuns) in the Carolinas and Louisiana. I grew up with rubs. It was typically salt, pepper, paprika, mustard, cumin, etc, (and maybe brown sugar and other stuff). I much prefer my marinades and BBQ sauces though. I like using wines, oils, acids (lemon juice, cider vinegar, etc) to get better penetration along with spices and flavorings. When I was a kid, it was common to see good cuts of meat held under moderate refrigeration and under-optimal storage conditions in order to "season" them. Part of the seasoning involved in dry rubs may have evolved in part to complement or counteract the saltiness of the "corning" process in which a meat is protected from spoilage by coating it with a rub dominated by salt.

 

[Evo]

Just because you don't like it or have never heard of it doesn't mean it's bogus. That site offers plenty of evidence it's been around a while. For example, here's a 20 year old article, with the date included in the clipping, showing that they were serving sauce on the side even back then.
http://www.texasbrothers.com/iowastory.jpg

It's because I *do* know better that this fad irks me. I always season my meat before cooking, so it's not about taste, it's about TV hype. Since when is seasoning meat with salt and spices new? Sauces and marinades need some expertise to be good, rubbing seasoned salt into meat needs zero expertise.

My crazy neighbor has been doing the Kansas City Royal cookoff for 30 years. I could enter a cook off, it means nothing, you pay an entry fee. At least my neighbor uses sauce and it's actually not bad. He has one of those smokers that he tows behind his truck. The "dry rub" is just what we used to call "seasoning". If you notice, they do not use the term "dry rub", that's a new commercial hype that has appeared to hike the price of normal seasonings. My problem with it is that what used to be common sense, that you season your meat before cooking, has become a stupid fad with 15 brands of celebrity endorsed "dry rubs" at $15 for 6 ounces. Puhlease.

My point is that people that don't know any better are being duped into buying all of these outrageously over
priced, over hyped "dry rubs". What provoked my post against this tv show host hype was when I went to the grocery store to buy my $1 bottle of dry seasoning and it had been replaced by a dozen bogus tv show host's "dry rubs" for $15.

Yesterday, it was called seasoned salt and cost a buck, today the same thing is called "dry rub' and cost $6-$15 dollars for the same amount.

Hey, if paying for hype makes your food taste better, then it's all good. I'm not buying into it though, I'll continue to pay $1.00 for a bottle of seasoned salt.

 

[Proton Soup]

well, i live in alabama, and have seen quite an assortment of barbecue. there's the sweet red sauce, of course, then a lot of people seem to like that nasty thin vinegary version. there's a place up around Decatur that is famous for a white sauce, and a little podunk place near Huntsville i found that had a black pepper-based sauce that would about burn the roof of your mouth off. also in Huntsville, a place with dry rub on the menu.

barbecue just refers to the method of cooking.

 

[Ouabache]

My problem with it is that what used to be common sense, that you season your meat before cooking, has become a stupid fad with 15 brands of celebrity endorsed "dry rubs" at $15 for 6 ounces. Puhlease.

My point is that people that don't know any better are being duped into buying all of these outrageously over
priced, over hyped "dry rubs". What provoked my post against this tv show host hype was when I went to the grocery store to buy my $1 bottle of dry seasoning and it had been replaced by a dozen bogus tv show host's "dry rubs" for $15.

You're right, seasoning meat before grilling has been around for ages. I suspect the phrase 'dry rub' was coined to emphasize that the seasoning is not only applied, but rubbed into the meat without a wet carrier, to make a distinction from marinades.

The best way not to be put off by those hyped overpriced combo seasonings, is to steer clear of them, including 'seasoned salt'. Making your own mix of seasonings to rub into grilling meats, guarantee control of how fresh the spices are and how much of each ingredient we add. That also goes for chili seasoning, garam masala and curry. Many of the herbs you need are most likely, already on your spice rack. I have been mixing my own for years. My http://bbq.about.com/od/rubrecipes/Rub_Recipes_Recipes_for_all_kinds_of_rubs_for_all_kinds_of_meats.htm" describe some many good mixes, you could use for grilling.

 

[turbo]

You're right, seasoning meat before grilling has been around for ages. I suspect the phrase 'dry rub' was coined to emphasize that the seasoning is not only applied, but rubbed into the meat without a wet carrier, to make a distinction from marinades.

Pre-seasoning meat, chicken, etc with salt so the salt can infuse the meat is called "koshering". Do the same to salmon fillets prior to smoking (usually in solution), and it's called brining. Bacon, ham, and other cuts of pork are often pre-seasoned before smoking, usually with salt at a minimum. I still prefer my custom marinades to rubs for BBQ, but brining poultry and pork roasts prior to cooking helps preserve moistness and flavor. I do not brine poultry prior to smoking, though - only fish.

BTW, I made 12 quarts of dill pickles today, with lots of garlic. I used fresh dill flowering heads and leaves, and some dried dill seed in each jar, along with allspice berries and black peppercorns. We have no ripe chilies yet, so the batch is not "hot".

 

[Ouabache]

I'm not a big fan of rubs. I generally make custom sauces and marinate meats, seafood, etc, and paint them with the left-over sauces while grilling. Both were based on red wine and cold-pressed olive oil, with seasonings like oregano, basil, garlic, etc. The shrimp sauce was also dosed up with roasted red pepper vinaigrette dressing and home-made habanero relish, while the sauce for the chicken featured ginger vinaigrette dressing, some additional ground ginger, and Javin curry powder. My niece said she really didn't like spicy food, but after her 18 month-old boy started chowing down on the ginger/curried chicken, she became a convert.

Sounds tastey, unforturnately I need to steer clear of most marinades due to allergy. It's fungi that do me in, therefore no vinegar, red wine, beer or soy sauce. So meat rubs are great alternative for me.. Marinades using citrus are fine. If you know marinades using lemons, limes or oranges, please share.. In the citrus spirit, one summer salad I enjoy, I make with black beans, sweet corn, lime juice & zest, fresh cilantro, bell peppers, onion & habanero peppers.

 

[turbo]

In the citrus spirit, one summer salad I enjoy, I make with black beans, sweet corn, lime juice & zest, fresh cilantro, bell peppers, onion & habanero peppers.

My wife and I make something quite similar, though it always contains fresh chopped tomatoes and sometimes chopped cucumber. We are generous with the tomatoes to keep it juicy, and we dip it with tortilla chips, like fresh salsa.

On a side note, since I just put a reply on the "crushed ice" thread, my wife makes fruit smoothies for herself every morning, either for breakfast or for a snack on her morning break. When we harvest apples, we always chop and freeze bags of them, and when we pick more berries than we will use immediately, we also freeze those. When she loads the blender, she uses refrigerated juices and frozen fruit and berries as well as 1/2 banana, etc. No need to water down the smoothies with ice - the frozen ingredients chill the mix quite well.

 

[turbo]

Here is a recipe (rough measurements only) that is wonderful with cooler weather coming on: Leek soup.

Get 1/2 dozen or so large leeks, wash them, trim off the roots (and the harder material just above the roots) and the tops, slice them in half lengthwise, and chop finely.
Cube a couple of large potatoes (leave the peelings on - they're good for you) and a large sweet onion or yellow onion.
Put the vegetables in a large soup pot, cover with water and bring to a boil.
Add a large handful of brown rice (I use basmati), some finely-shredded fresh basil leaves, salt, and black pepper. At this point, I added a quart of thickened Roma sauce tomatoes, brought to a low boil again, and moved to the small simmer burner to simmer until the rice is soft.
The soup is filling, with a mild flavor, so don't overdo the spices.
Serve with saltines.

If you don't have fresh sauce tomatoes, I suggest using a large can of crushed tomatoes - you'll want the sauce and flesh well-distributed through the soup, not big chunks of tomatoes here and there.

My mother used to make this soup when I was a kid, using leeks that we had salted down. Very cheap and filling, which is a good thing when trying to feed 6 on a budget. She and my aunt both called it "French Soup" - don't know why except it was probably a traditional dish in their family. My wife and I had my father down for a late lunch (pork rib roast, mashed potatoes, beans, slaw) on Saturday and we served "French Soup" as the opening course. He was thrilled because he hadn't had that dish since my mother passed away almost 30 years ago.

Apart from the potatoes and rice (and salt and pepper of course) every ingredient in the soup originated on this property. I've got to find the proper way to salt down leeks for storage, so I can continue to make this soup throughout the winter.

 

[Ben Niehoff]

Last night my girlfriend and I made Bigos (Polish hunter's stew, traditionally served the day after Christmas). There are a gazillion different recipes; it's one of those "throw whatever you like into it" things. The key ingredients are meat, sausage, bacon (yes, those are separate categories), and sauerkraut. We made ours with:

Beef
Kielbasa
Bacon
Sauerkraut
Fresh cabbage
Onion
Carrots
Parsnips
Mushrooms
Tomatoes
Tomato paste
Garlic
Basil
Caraway seeds
Marjoram
Paprika
Juniper berries
Bay leaf
Black pepper
Tabasco
Worcestershire sauce
Beef stock
Red wine
Flour (to coat beef)

Directions are pretty standard for a stew. The list of ingredients sounds complicated, but it's not really hard to make. Just requires about 3 hours of simmering time.

It's delicious. :)

 

[Moonbear]

It's because I *do* know better that this fad irks me. I always season my meat before cooking, so it's not about taste, it's about TV hype. Since when is seasoning meat with salt and spices new? Sauces and marinades need some expertise to be good, rubbing seasoned salt into meat needs zero expertise.

My crazy neighbor has been doing the Kansas City Royal cookoff for 30 years. I could enter a cook off, it means nothing, you pay an entry fee. At least my neighbor uses sauce and it's actually not bad. He has one of those smokers that he tows behind his truck. The "dry rub" is just what we used to call "seasoning". If you notice, they do not use the term "dry rub", that's a new commercial hype that has appeared to hike the price of normal seasonings. My problem with it is that what used to be common sense, that you season your meat before cooking, has become a stupid fad with 15 brands of celebrity endorsed "dry rubs" at $15 for 6 ounces. Puhlease.

I don't buy "celebrity endorsed" anything. I make my own dry rub, which is a blend of a lot more seasonings than you find in plain old seasoned salt. It's about the combination of spices used. So, yeah, PUHLEASE! Good grief. You are not always the expert on cooking just because you know someone who knows someone who pretends to know something. It is actually super simple to make homemade bbq sauce too. Just because it irks you that celebrities are making a buck by branding what you call "common sense" doesn't mean it isn't legitimate cooking, it just means there's a group of celebrities making an obscene amount of money off common sense. They sell celebrity endorsed "seasoned salt" too, which you could also make yourself, since it's just some herbs mixed with salt. It's sort of like buying "pumpkin pie spice" instead of just spicing your pumpkin pie with the individual spices...some people are willing to pay extra for the spices to be pre-mixed.

 

[turbo]

I'd like to have you both here.

 

[vorcil]

If I wasn't studying Physics and engineering, or computer science/video game making

i'd probably be a baker

honestly,

I can stop making anzac or chocolate chip biscuits and other random baking anomalies

I bought a 180g packet of psyllium husks for 9 dollars to help my lack of fibre intake and I haven't made any biscuits in 5 days so I'll probably make some tonight

cool story bro
lol.

 

[Evo]

I don't buy "celebrity endorsed" anything. I make my own dry rub, which is a blend of a lot more seasonings than you find in plain old seasoned salt. It's about the combination of spices used. So, yeah, PUHLEASE! Good grief. You are not always the expert on cooking just because you know someone who knows someone who pretends to know something. It is actually super simple to make homemade bbq sauce too. Just because it irks you that celebrities are making a buck by branding what you call "common sense" doesn't mean it isn't legitimate cooking, it just means there's a group of celebrities making an obscene amount of money off common sense. They sell celebrity endorsed "seasoned salt" too, which you could also make yourself, since it's just some herbs mixed with salt. It's sort of like buying "pumpkin pie spice" instead of just spicing your pumpkin pie with the individual spices...some people are willing to pay extra for the spices to be pre-mixed.

Oh settle down. I never claimed to be an expert, but actually, now that you mention it, I guess my extensive knowledge of cooking could qualify me as an expert in some areas, French haute cuisine, which is virtually dead now, is something I could write volumes on.

And the "dry rub" craze still irks me. Now there is a boxed soup stock fad, with Rachel Ray selling it. Not to mention she now has her face plastered on olive oil, the smallest bottle they sell and the highest price.

Yesterday she was telling people that "scallops are so full of sugar. You need to really caramelize them to bring all of those sugars out" Uhm no, scalops have zero sugar. You sear scallops, you don't caramelize them.

 

[turbo]

Yesterday she was telling people that "scallops are so full of sugar. You need to really caramelize them to bring all of those sugars out" Uhm no, scalops have zero sugar. You sear scallops, you don't caramelize them.

RR is a dope. You preheat the skillet, toss in some butter and throw in the scallops as soon as the butter starts to brown. Hit 'em on both sides, scoop 'em into a bowl, and cover them to rest and cook a bit more from their retained heat, then present them. Most restaurants have NO clue how to handle delicate sweet meats and seafood. So much expertise died with the last generation or two. I'm a few fingers away from 60, and it makes me sad when I realize some kid (OK, 40 or less mostly) has NO clue about how to take care of property, garden-spaces, etc. Sad!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Tsu and I discovered that while we were out of the area some years ago, a new szechuan restaurant opened in town in a rather obscure spot, and we never knew it. For the first time in two decades we have easy access to two of our favorites: Orange beef and sizzling rice soup. Mmmmmmmm.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Are you eating while posting this ?

No, but I just killed some leftovers.

 

[Proton Soup]

Kansas City?! bah, you've got to come South if you want proper barbecue. i thought everyone knew that.

 

[Evo]

Kansas City?! bah, you've got to come South if you want proper barbecue. i thought everyone knew that.

I'm a native Texan, I love Texas barbecue and chili. But chili is another fight.