What can you expect in the Food Thread on PF?

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The discussion revolves around a vibrant exchange of food-related topics, with participants sharing favorite recipes, culinary experiences, and kitchen mishaps. A notable focus is on lentil recipes, with suggestions for dishes like chocolate lentil cake and lentil lasagna, as well as creative uses of lentils in various cuisines. Participants also share recipes for pasta with pesto, grilled shrimp marinades, and Indian dishes like dahl and gulab jamun. There’s a strong emphasis on improvisation in cooking, with many contributors discussing how they cook "by feel" rather than following strict measurements. The conversation also touches on cultural influences, such as the appreciation for Lebanese and South Indian cuisine, and the importance of traditional meals like the Indian sadya. Additionally, humorous anecdotes about kitchen disasters and the challenges of cooking techniques, like frying mozzarella sticks, add a lighthearted tone to the thread. Overall, the thread celebrates the joy of cooking and the communal sharing of food experiences.
  • #4,401
Borek said:
Would you believe it - it still waits. But it is definitely ripening, it is not that hard as it was.

I hope it ripens before it rots. That annoys me when produce is shipped too green and never ripens before it rots. Along the lines of lisab's suggestion, have you tried placing it in a paper bag? Not plastic, but paper. It still allows some air flow so it doesn't mold/rot, but also supposedly helps concentrate ethylene gas to hasten ripening.
 
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  • #4,402
Moonbear said:
I hope it ripens before it rots. That annoys me when produce is shipped too green and never ripens before it rots. Along the lines of lisab's suggestion, have you tried placing it in a paper bag? Not plastic, but paper. It still allows some air flow so it doesn't mold/rot, but also supposedly helps concentrate ethylene gas to hasten ripening.

Good idea, I didn't think about it (thanks Lisa!). I plan to eat it this weekend no matter what, but I will try this paper bag idea.

That is, if I will find a paper bag. We are all plastic here. I think it will be easier to roll it up in a newspaper.
 
  • #4,403
If you put unripe fruit in proximity to tomatoes, the ethylene given off by the tomatoes will hasten ripening. That's a good thing to know, BTW, so you can avoid putting expensive fresh fruit near tomatoes when you don't want the accelerated ripening.
 
  • #4,404
Crackpot stew.

Note: Use organic ingredients only for the well documented health benefits.

1.38 lbs cubed Unicorn (you can substitute beef if your butcher does not carry unicorn)
1 can elixer of life (or chicken broth when not in season)
1 can sweet corn, drain the sugar water (you can cut the kernels from a fresh ear of corn if you can't get good canned corn)
5 mushrooms. Gather these from local woods. Take no heed of which kind, all mushrooms are alike.
1 bell pepper.
3 carrots.
A large potato or two. A potatoe or two if you are a Republican.
1 cup of white wine. (Red wine if you are pedantic)
Add some fairy dust, or to curry favor, favor curry.

Sear the unicorn. Cut the vegetables. Put everything into the crackpot and leave on high heat all day.
 
  • #4,405
Jimmy Snyder said:
Crackpot stew.

Note: Use organic ingredients only for the well documented health benefits.

1.38 lbs cubed Unicorn (you can substitute beef if your butcher does not carry unicorn)
1 can elixer of life (or chicken broth when not in season)
1 can sweet corn, drain the sugar water (you can cut the kernels from a fresh ear of corn if you can't get good canned corn)
5 mushrooms. Gather these from local woods. Take no heed of which kind, all mushrooms are alike.
1 bell pepper.
3 carrots.
A large potato or two. A potatoe or two if you are a Republican.
1 cup of white wine. (Red wine if you are pedantic)
Add some fairy dust, or to curry favor, favor curry.

Sear the unicorn. Cut the vegetables. Put everything into the crackpot and leave on high heat all day.
Sounds yummy! Except, I would keep it simmering all day. Unicorns are delicate.
 
  • #4,406
Jimmy Snyder said:
Crackpot stew.

Note: Use organic ingredients only for the well documented health benefits.

1.38 lbs cubed Unicorn (you can substitute beef if your butcher does not carry unicorn)
1 can elixer of life (or chicken broth when not in season)
1 can sweet corn, drain the sugar water (you can cut the kernels from a fresh ear of corn if you can't get good canned corn)
5 mushrooms. Gather these from local woods. Take no heed of which kind, all mushrooms are alike.
1 bell pepper.
3 carrots.
A large potato or two. A potatoe or two if you are a Republican.
1 cup of white wine. (Red wine if you are pedantic)
Add some fairy dust, or to curry favor, favor curry.

Sear the unicorn. Cut the vegetables. Put everything into the crackpot and leave on high heat all day.
Is canned unicorn okay? I have a hard time getting it fresh this time of year. And, do I need to go to the woods to get the mushrooms, or is it okay to use the ones growing in that damp corner in the basement?
 
  • #4,407
I just made couscous with winter vegetables. It was good, but I made far too much. I'll have enough to eat for 3 days! :biggrin:
 
  • #4,408
I can't stand canned unicorn. The quality control is atrocious. I have to go shoot my own, for a good meal.

It's getting harder and harder to find them. Plus the female virgins are getting younger all the time, it seems.

:devil:
 
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  • #4,409
Jimmy Snyder said:
Crackpot stew.

Note: Use organic ingredients only for the well documented health benefits.

1.38 lbs cubed Unicorn (you can substitute beef if your butcher does not carry unicorn)
1 can elixer of life (or chicken broth when not in season)
1 can sweet corn, drain the sugar water (you can cut the kernels from a fresh ear of corn if you can't get good canned corn)
5 mushrooms. Gather these from local woods. Take no heed of which kind, all mushrooms are alike.
1 bell pepper.
3 carrots.
A large potato or two. A potatoe or two if you are a Republican.
1 cup of white wine. (Red wine if you are pedantic)
Add some fairy dust, or to curry favor, favor curry.

Sear the unicorn. Cut the vegetables. Put everything into the crackpot and leave on high heat all day.

Just because some poor sod suggested a method for creating free energy or he thinks that science is wrong, doesn't mean you have to shove some soup into some orifice of his body and then leave to bake while you go to work.
 
  • #4,410


I bought a nice Italian sausage, mushrooms, and asparagus tonight for dinner. It *looked* delicious, but my first bite of asparagus was full of grit! Yes, I washed it before cooking it -- apparently not nearly enough, though. The grit got into the mushrooms, too. :frown:.

Only the sausage was edible.

Grrrrr !
 
  • #4,411
Wow, this thread needs saving from crackpot stew recipes.

A friend and master chef recommended this: America's Test Kitchen He has been a member on and off for the last decade. These guys are the real deal, the more you dig into what they have to offer the more you will be impressed. I just joined 29.95$ a year and I just skimmed the science section for the past 12 years. Guess what I am using their knowledge for ? Cooking new and more healthy meals, yes, trying to create the most flavorful, memorable sauces, mild, medium, hot, extra hot sauces on the planet, most definitely, yes. He also lent me their cookbook summary of their best recipes for the last decade. Check them out.

Rhody... :smile:
 
  • #4,412
The Girl Scout cookies I ordered got delivered today, plus a cheesecake and jalapeno cheese stuffed pretzels (frozen) from another fundraiser a former student guilted me into, and I spent tonight making fudge because tomorrow is my turn to provide snacks for my class and one student can't eat gluten, so everything I got today isn't acceptable for sharing with the group. I'm bringing them a proper lunch too, since it's mid semester when they start looking emaciated from too many exams and not enough eating. It's a class with just 8 students and isn't over until 12:30, so they decided to take turns bringing snacks so they could last the full time without grumbling stomachs.
 
  • #4,413
Tonight we have chicken soup a la turbo.

Roast 6 chicken drumsticks (We all like dark meat. You can roast a whole chicken or just breasts, etc.)
Cut off the tips of carrots and celery and lightly boil them along with the carrot peelings to get a broth started.
Slice the carrots and celery into bite size chunks and slice some mushrooms too.
When the chicken is cooked through, remove the meat from the bones and set aside. Put the skin and bones in the broth.
When the broth is ready, strain it. Toss the bones and send the rest to the compost pile.
Put the cut veggies and meat into the broth.
 
  • #4,414
Jimmy Snyder said:
Tonight we have chicken soup a la turbo.

Roast 6 chicken drumsticks (We all like dark meat. You can roast a whole chicken or just breasts, etc.)
Cut off the tips of carrots and celery and lightly boil them along with the carrot peelings to get a broth started.
Slice the carrots and celery into bite size chunks and slice some mushrooms too.
When the chicken is cooked through, remove the meat from the bones and set aside. Put the skin and bones in the broth.
When the broth is ready, strain it. Toss the bones and send the rest to the compost pile.
Put the cut veggies and meat into the broth.
Sounds good, except I add chicken bouillion to the water, 1 cube per cup of water, gives a really great flavor to the soup. You can use chicken stock instead of the bouillion and water if you have it.
 
  • #4,415
I made carrot soufflé today. The taste was superb, but it was too liquid. I guess I used too much bechamel/too thin bechamel.

On another note, my new vegetarian cook book just arrived. It has 600 pages of recipes. I'm going to have lots of fun with it.
 
  • #4,416
Jimmy Snyder said:
Tonight we have chicken soup a la turbo.

Roast 6 chicken drumsticks (We all like dark meat. You can roast a whole chicken or just breasts, etc.)
Cut off the tips of carrots and celery and lightly boil them along with the carrot peelings to get a broth started.
Slice the carrots and celery into bite size chunks and slice some mushrooms too.
When the chicken is cooked through, remove the meat from the bones and set aside. Put the skin and bones in the broth.
When the broth is ready, strain it. Toss the bones and send the rest to the compost pile.
Put the cut veggies and meat into the broth.
Sounds good, Jimmy. When my wife finds sales on thighs or whole legs, she'll stock up, so I can just toddle on out to one of the chest freezers and get started. I always dust the chicken-parts with powdered sage, smoked paprika, black pepper, and a bit of salt before roasting. When it's time to to make soup, those modest seasonings really stand out!

Edit: there are only two of us here, so it makes sense to start with chicken-parts instead of a whole chicken. I don't like the texture of white-meat that has been frozen, and we both prefer dark meat, like your family. It makes a richer soup. When my wife finds a killer deal on whole chickens, we plan on making big batches of chicken soup, and try to make sure that my father has some nice home-made soup in his 'fridge.
 
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  • #4,417
Please help! URGENT! Final Exam tomorrow.

Thanks, turbo, for the recipe. I owe you one. Here's the background. I'm a house husband now while my wife works. She leaves very early in the morning and is home by 4:00. I told her I would cook dinners to take the pressure off of her and I did make a few, but she is a great cook and doesn't like my cooking. Yesterday I bought a rib-eye steak and prepared some mashed potatoes. I started to prepare the steak when she took over from me and ended up doing the rest. I also bought the chicken and told her I would make chicken soup. When I said so on chat, turbo suggested the recipe above which I followed today. My wife liked the soup and said so. Then she had a second bowl. Then she said she would take some of it to work tomorrow for lunch. I'm as giddy as one of those dippy housewives in a 50's ad in Good Housekeeping. Well, that's not humanly possible, but I am glad to take this burden off of my wife. Now here's the upshot. This is what my wife would have me do tomorrow.

I have a large can of crushed tomatoes and a small can of tomato puree. I'm going to get about a pound of ground beef and an italian sausage.

Slice the sausage and sear the pieces. Fry the ground beef and pour off the grease. Put the sausage, ground beef, crushed tomatoes and paste, and some red wine into a large pot and simmer. Add Italian Spice (a brand name that she likes) and some bay leaves. When ready to serve, boil some spaghetti.

If anyone can improve on this, let me know.
 
  • #4,418
That all sounds good, Jimmy. If you can, please try to find peeled ground tomatoes next time. They de-water better than crushed tomatoes, so if the consistency is too thin, you don't have to add more sauce or puree. Assuming you start early enough in the day, you can just increase the simmer-time to thicken the sauce.

Taste the sauce during preparation, and if the sauce seems a bit tart, resist the urge to sweeten it. Instead, stir in some ground dried basil and continue to simmer. I love summer-time when we have fresh basil growing in pots on the deck, but have to resort to the dried stuff most of the year.

I'd also suggest finely mincing some onions and crushing some garlic to add to that sauce. I'll bet that "Italian Spice" is mostly oregano and dried basil, and that you'll have more flexibility in your recipes if you buy them separately and add or withhold to taste. Whenever such pasta sauces are on the menu, some nice hard Romano cheese is always on hand with a grater or rasp, so each person can put on as much as they'd like.

Hope some of this was helpful.
 
  • #4,419
You nailed it turbo, Italian Seasoning (I got the name wrong) is Basil, Oregano, Marjoram and Thyme. We also have ground Basil (And we also have it growing in the garden in the summer.) We already have the crushed tomatoes, but I will buy a can of the peeled ground tomatoes for the next time. I will not add onions as I cannot keep them down. We just use Kraft Parmesan cheese for pasta. I like the idea of simmering for a long time to thicken it so that's what I'll do.
 
  • #4,420
Jimmy Snyder said:
You nailed it turbo, Italian Seasoning (I got the name wrong) is Basil, Oregano, Marjoram and Thyme. We also have ground Basil (And we also have it growing in the garden in the summer.) We already have the crushed tomatoes, but I will buy a can of the peeled ground tomatoes for the next time. I will not add onions as I cannot keep them down. We just use Kraft Parmesan cheese for pasta. I like the idea of simmering for a long time to thicken it so that's what I'll do.
Sounds like a good solution for you and your family. Just keep tasting and tweaking. That's all I can do. I don't trust recipes at all, since I learned to cook from my mother and grandmother, and they didn't look at little 3x5 cards when they were cooking. My 3 sisters had no interest in preparation, canning, cooking, etc, and I'm so glad that I had such a close connection to my mother and my grandmother when I was a kid. I lost them both too soon.
 
  • #4,421
Jimmy Snyder said:
Tonight we have chicken soup a la turbo.

Roast 6 chicken drumsticks (We all like dark meat. You can roast a whole chicken or just breasts, etc.)
Cut off the tips of carrots and celery and lightly boil them along with the carrot peelings to get a broth started.
Slice the carrots and celery into bite size chunks and slice some mushrooms too.
When the chicken is cooked through, remove the meat from the bones and set aside. Put the skin and bones in the broth.
When the broth is ready, strain it. Toss the bones and send the rest to the compost pile.
Put the cut veggies and meat into the broth.

I was waiting for the hot peppers when you said it was a la turbo. :biggrin: That's similar to how I make chicken soup, except I start by sauteeing some garlic and onion until clarified, and add the whole roast chicken, meat and all (usually the leftovers from a roast chicken dinner since there's just one of me and a lot of chicken on a chicken) with the carrots and celery in together and simmer a long time before stripping the meat from the bones. No straining either...I eat all the veggies in the soup. Depending on how heavily I season the roast chicken, I may or may not add extra seasoning. Generally, salt, black pepper, thyme, garlic powder and onion powder, sometimes oregano too.
 
  • #4,422
Moonbear said:
I was waiting for the hot peppers when you said it was a la turbo. :biggrin: That's similar to how I make chicken soup, except I start by sauteeing some garlic and onion until clarified, and add the whole roast chicken, meat and all (usually the leftovers from a roast chicken dinner since there's just one of me and a lot of chicken on a chicken) with the carrots and celery in together and simmer a long time before stripping the meat from the bones. No straining either...I eat all the veggies in the soup. Depending on how heavily I season the roast chicken, I may or may not add extra seasoning. Generally, salt, black pepper, thyme, garlic powder and onion powder, sometimes oregano too.
Soups are so basic, but are so so personal. I don't make everything hot, but I try to make everything tasty and not waste the flavors of the skins and trimmings... There is something upsetting (to me) about advocating the addition of a commercial additive, when tried-and-true processes have been circumvented.

BTW, Moonie, your recipe is probably something that I could work with.
 
  • #4,423
You guys seriously just boil a chicken in water? You guys don't use homeade chicken stock as the base or even bouillion? What you guys are calling soup, I call the first step in making a stock that you reduce then use as a base for the soup.

Chicken stock is one of the most utilized ingredients in the kitchen. Not only is it the base of chicken soup,

Making chicken stock is not as hard as you may think. It's easy, because all you have to do is simmer some chicken and vegetables until they've released all their flavor. If you have some parts leftover from a whole chicken, be it the wing tips or backbone, and you have a few carrots, celery and an onion in your refrigerator's vegetable drawer, you have the ingredients to make stock

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/31/how-to-make-chicken-stock_n_1244886.html

Chicken stock

Ingredients
4 pounds chicken leg quarters cut in half
1 small carrot peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
1 small stalk celery cut into 2-inch pieces
1 small onion root end trimmed, peeled and cut into eighths
6 sprigs fresh parsley
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1 clove garlic crushed and peeled
20 whole peppercorns
20 cups water


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/27/rich-homemade-chicken-sto_n_1049828.html
 
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  • #4,424
Evo said:
You guys seriously just boil a chicken in water? You guys don't use homeade chicken stock as the base or even bouillion? What you guys are calling soup, I call the first step in making a stock that you reduce, then use as a base for the soup.
Yes. Evo = Top Chef!

I never just boil a chicken.
 
  • #4,425
Evo said:
You guys seriously just boil a chicken in water? You guys don't use homeade chicken stock as the base or even bouillion? What you guys are calling soup, I call the first step in making a stock that you reduce then use as a base for the soup.
No. Roast a chicken, and then boil the chicken parts to make a stock/broth, and then start the soup from there. What's the point of boiling a chicken?

Are you OK, Evo?
 
  • #4,426
Astronuc said:
I never just boil a chicken.
Exactly!

turbo said:
No. Roast a chicken, and then boil the chicken parts to make a stock/broth, and then start the soup from there. What's the point of boiling a chicken?
Correct, you need chicken stock to make chicken soup. I'm referring to the "soup" recipes that have been posted that were just chicken, celery and carrots boiled in water. That's how to make the stock that you make the soup out of.

Boiling the chicken in water (no stock or bouillion) is too bland for me. I guess some people like it that way. But they should try it the traditional way with the stock.
 
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  • #4,427
I always roast the chicken before using it in a soup, too. Actually sometimes it doesn't quite make it to the soup :redface:...roast chicken is one of my favorite foods of all time, I can't help but indulge!

I have had chicken that was basically just boiled. It looses that great umami flavor, but if there's a lot of other things going on in the dish, it can be OK.
 
  • #4,428
Moonbear said:
I was waiting for the hot peppers when you said it was a la turbo. :biggrin: That's similar to how I make chicken soup, except I start by sauteeing some garlic and onion until clarified, and add the whole roast chicken, meat and all (usually the leftovers from a roast chicken dinner since there's just one of me and a lot of chicken on a chicken) with the carrots and celery in together and simmer a long time before stripping the meat from the bones. No straining either...I eat all the veggies in the soup. Depending on how heavily I season the roast chicken, I may or may not add extra seasoning. Generally, salt, black pepper, thyme, garlic powder and onion powder, sometimes oregano too.
Once we have roasted chicken parts (or whole roasted chicken) the meat and skin is stripped off the bone and reserved. The skin and bone is boiled down a long time (along with vegetable scraps, etc.) to make a stock. That is strained and is used as a base for the soup/stew. Got some potatoes, carrots, onions, celery, etc? Do your family members actually like the taste of turnip? Now's a good time to try them.

Healthy eating should not begin or end at either end of the the taste continuum.
 
  • #4,429
turbo said:
Once we have roasted chicken parts (or whole roasted chicken) the meat and skin is stripped off the bone and reserved. The skin and bone is boiled down a long time (along with vegetable scraps, etc.) to make a stock. That is strained and is used as a base for the soup/stew.
Yes, that is the, IMO, correct way. Once you have the strained stock, then you add new chicken (I agree roasted is yummiest) and vegetables and/or noodles.
 
  • #4,430
Evo said:
Exactly!

Correct, you need chicken stock to make chicken soup. I'm referring to the "soup" recipes that have been posted that were just chicken, celery and carrots boiled in water. That's how to make the stock that you make the soup out of.

Boiling the chicken in water (no stock or bouillion) is too bland for me. I guess some people like it that way. But they should try it the traditional way with the stock.

No, we start with ROASTED chicken. I'd never add bouillion to chicken soup, that's just a block of salty flavoring. I don't think you understand what we're explaining. My soup has tons of flavor!
 
  • #4,431
Evo said:
Yes, that is the, IMO, correct way. Once you have the strained stock, then you add new chicken (I agree roasted is yummiest) and vegetables and/or noodles.

What a waste! Start with a whole new chicken? What's wrong with the one that's been in it? I didn't grow up in a house where you just throw away a whole chicken! That's the meat with all the flavor from the cooking.
 
  • #4,432
Moonbear said:
No, we start with ROASTED chicken. I'd never add bouillion to chicken soup, that's just a block of salty flavoring. I don't think you understand what we're explaining. My soup has tons of flavor!
I fully understand. I've eaten chicken "soup" made without stock and it was just too bland. I can't eat it that way. Taste is personal, but if you haven't prepared chicken soup with stock, you don't know what you're missing.
 
  • #4,433
Moonbear said:
What a waste! Start with a whole new chicken? What's wrong with the one that's been in it? I didn't grow up in a house where you just throw away a whole chicken! That's the meat with all the flavor from the cooking.
After you make stock out of chicken, what's left of the meat will be pretty tasteless, you'll be boiling that chicken for hours to get everything out of it you can. You can eat it if you want, but you need more chicken for the actual soup.

But as I said, if you like it without stock, that's great. It's not for me though, I prefer the traditional way.
 
  • #4,434
Evo said:
After you make stock out of chicken, what's left of the meat will be pretty tasteless, you'll be boiling that chicken for hours to get everything out of it you can. You can eat it if you want, but you need more chicken for the actual soup.
If you strip the meat off the bones and you shear the bones before boiling them, it's a hard argument that you will be subject to bland, watery soups. This is not the way I grew up.
 
  • #4,435
turbo said:
If you strip the meat off the bones and you shear the bones before boiling them, it's a hard argument that you will be subject to bland, watery soups. This is not the way I grew up.
But you said that you make the stock and strain it first, which is traditional. Or are you saying that just boiling the chicken in water is not how you grew up?
 
  • #4,436
Evo said:
But you said that you make the stock and strain it first, which is traditional. Or are you saying that just boiling the chicken in water is not how you grew up?
You roast the chicken first. Then strip off the the meat and skin. Boil off the skin and bones after reserving the meat. Strain out the bones and waste, and that fluid is your stock. Make your soup out of that stock.
 
  • #4,437
turbo said:
You roast the chicken first. Then strip off the the meat and skin. Boil off the skin and bones after reserving the meat. Strain out the bones and waste, and that fluid is your stock. Make your soup out of that stock.
Ok, we agree. :smile:
 
  • #4,438
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?
 
  • #4,439
Evo said:
After you make stock out of chicken, what's left of the meat will be pretty tasteless, you'll be boiling that chicken for hours to get everything out of it you can. You can eat it if you want, but you need more chicken for the actual soup.

But as I said, if you like it without stock, that's great. It's not for me though, I prefer the traditional way.

It is made JUST LIKE STOCK, I just don't WASTE PERFECTLY GOOD CHICKEN by throwing it away! And, YOUR way does not neccessarily equate the CORRECT way! You always get such a snobby attitude about the way YOU make something. You've never had MY soup, so you have NO RIGHT saying it is bland. Everyone else here is capable of sharing recipes and ideas without declaring their way the only right way or passing judgement on other people's cooking when they have never tasted that dish. Try being a little less judgemental just once in your life!
 
  • #4,440
Moonbear said:
It is made JUST LIKE STOCK, I just don't WASTE PERFECTLY GOOD CHICKEN by throwing it away! And, YOUR way does not neccessarily equate the CORRECT way! You always get such a snobby attitude about the way YOU make something. You've never had MY soup, so you have NO RIGHT saying it is bland. Everyone else here is capable of sharing recipes and ideas without declaring their way the only right way or passing judgement on other people's cooking when they have never tasted that dish. Try being a little less judgemental just once in your life!
I said "if you like it without stock, that's ok". I also said people have different tastes. I said it was "my preference" to make soup with stock. I've had chicken soup made without stock, and it is too bland for my taste. Am I supposed to lie about what I like? And it is traditional to make soup with stock.
 
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  • #4,441
lisab said:
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.
 
  • #4,442
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
 
  • #4,443
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.
 
  • #4,444
Good, Jimmy! Keep up the good work.
 
  • #4,445
Jimmy Snyder said:
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?
 
  • #4,446
Evo said:
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.
 
  • #4,447
Jimmy, is this like what you are referring to?

http://www.chezpei.com/2007/01/taiwanese-oyster-pancake.html
 
  • #4,448
Evo said:
Jimmy, is this like what you are referring to?

http://www.chezpei.com/2007/01/taiwanese-oyster-pancake.html
Yes, that's it.
 
  • #4,449
this sounds interesting. I love Vietnamese pancakes. Have to try to find a recipe for them.
 
  • #4,450
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.
 

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