Culinaria: recipes, memories ...

[Dizzy]

So... I have 15 ladies coming in the next two days to stay at our house. They will be staying all week. I need some recipes I can have them make. I told them that with 15 women in the house, there is no excuse for the house not being cleaned up, the laundry not done, and I expect my dinner on the table waiting every day when I get home from work.

I was swiftly punched in the stomach afterwards

I like cooking every now and then. I jsut kind of go through my cubboards and throw stuff together. My friend and I actually made a kickass steak marinade. Key ingredient was a can of coke. The coke tenderizes the steak. We actually got that from the head Chef of The Refectory here in Columbus (Columbus's 5-Star Restraunt)

[Grilka]

Dizzy, you officially remind me of my husband! Well... or any man, really. Therefore I have some tasteful dinner suggestions for the visiting women to prepare for you.

Day 1
Pasta al Spaghettios

Directions: Open can, pour into saucepan or microwave safe bowl. Heat.

Day 2
Braised nuggets of chicken

Directions: Tear open box, place desired number of tender nuggets into toaster oven. Heat 10 minutes at 400 degrees F, and enjoy.

Day 3
Delectable butter of peanut with fruity spread

Directions: Get two slices of fresh bread, carefully spread the ingredients across each surface, smush together. Crust optional.

Day 4
Gourmet italian pizza

Directions: Open box of always versatile Ellios, where you can either have one big rectangle or three small rectangles.

Day 5
Beef ala frank with fresh roll

Directions: Place desired number of hot dogs in pot of boiling water, stick 'em on a bun with mustard. (Because nobody, but nobody puts ketchup on a hot dog!)

Day 6
Cheesy pasta

Directions: prepare pasta, add milk, butter and cheese sauce packet. Stir and enjoy.

Day 7
Order pizza


Have a good week!

[Darb]

GRILKA: LMAO

DIZZY: Sorry, I got back too late to respond in time, so I'll just comment on your marinade:

The coke tenderizes the steak

The reason coke works is because of the acid (which tenderizes) and sugar (which adds flavor and helps with crust formation during grilling). The cola nut flavor is just an added flavor component. I frequently add kosher salt to coke and use it for 'brining' things like pork shoulder for several hours ... then I take it out, give it a spice rub, and then truss & roast it.

Agreed about the pleasure of making your own marinades for steak ... it's cheaper, and you get better flavor control, if you make it yourself rather than buy it pre-mized.

Some of the stuff I might include in marinades might be: A1 Sauce (or Hoisin), Soy Sauce, Fruit Juice or Cola, Coarse Dijon Mustard w/w.wine, Ketchup (or Tomato puree/sauce/juice), Red/Balsamic Vinegar, Fresh Garlic Paste, assorted ground spices & herbs (depending on the type/cut of meat), Salt & Pepper, etc. The list is endless - I basically use whatever I have handy, and cover the 4 key components of a marinade: salt, sugar, acidity, flavor boosters.

Figure on needing about 12 fl oz of marinade for each 3 lbs of beef. I just put the steak & marinade together in a 1 gallon ziploc baggie, squeeze out all the air, seal it, and then let it rest for a few hours.

In general, however, I only use marinades for cheap/dryish/lean cuts of beef & pork (most common example: London Broil). Never for prime meat (like T-Bone / Porterhouse, Rib-Eye or Fillet) or strongly flavored meat (ex: skirt steak).

I also back way down on flavors when dealing with delicate meats (like lamb & veal), so as to not compete with or overpower them.

Veal, for instance, love nothing more than salt, pepper, olive oil, lemon zest, a little lemon juice, and a touch of crumbled rosemary ... and only for a few minutes before you grill it. Lamb likes similar treatment, although I might subsititute red wine vinegar for the lemon, and give it a little more contact time.

[Darb]

(copy & paste from another thread)

-----------------------------

Pizza Dough ?

That's EASY !

First of all, if you don't already have one, get yourself a pizza stone, and place it in the bottom of your oven. Increase your preheating time to a full 30 minutes. How hot ? As hot as your oven can possibly go. Mine peaks out at 550F, which is adequate, but hardly optimal for good pizza.

Now for the pizza recipe ... let me cut & paste from my recipe file ... one sec ...

Ugh ... gotta reformat it to make it fit ...

OK, done. I vastly prefer the 'thin crust' method (baked on parchment paper), BTW.

-----------------------
Ingredients (dough):
¾ cup Warm Water (roughly 200 gr)
1-2 tbs Olive Oil (optional)
2 cups Flour, All Purp. (roughly 300 gr )
1-2 tsp Active Dry Yeast
1-2 tsp Salt

Ingredients (Toppings):
Sauce: A thin layer of plain crushed tomatoes, straight from a can is fine - your flavorings come from your toppings, not the sauce.
Cheese: 8-12 oz Shredded or Thin-sliced Cheese (mozz, or your favorite blend) ... reduce to 6 oz for Two Calzones
Other: Whatever you wish

Directions: (for 1 medium Pizza, or 2 lg Calzones)
1. Dough: Warm water (or soured milk) in microwave to 100-120F (35 sec) & add to machine (Kitchenaid stand mixer). Add oil. Measure flour, yeast & salt into separate container, seal & shake to mix evenly, then activate mixer, and pour slowly in. Mix (using dough hook) @ low speed (2) for 3-4 minutes (or until all the dough forms up & clings to the dough hook in a single mass). Remove dough to countertop, and work by hand (adding more flour as needed). Rise: Put dough in a well oiled bowl & cover tightly with saran wrap (to prevent dough from drying out). Let rise until nearly tripled in volume (about 1 hour). While waiting, prepare your sauce & toppings. After 1st rise, dough may be stored for later use in fridge (punch down & briefly knead every 5-10 hrs until used, and mist top w/water before re-sealing & returning to fridge).
2. Pizza Sauce: (omit for calzones) Plain crushed tomatoes (or pasta sauce) straight from the can/jar will work fine. If you use sauce from a can/jar, it doesn't need to be heated - but it should also NOT be too cold (i.e., straight from the fridge).
3. Toppings (prep): Prepare your vegetable, meat & cheese toppings. Meat should be pre-cooked & drained (or it will sog the pizza), hard veggies should be parcooked, and your cheese should be pre-shredded/sliced.
4. Preheat: Place pizza stone in oven & preheat oven (see below) for 30+ mins.
5. Form & Bake: Pick 1 of the following 2 methods ...

a) Thin-Crist (550F, Stone + Parchment): After oven preheats, “punch downâ€

[Darb]

(snip)

For toppings, I basically use whatever I have handy. Sometimes I make it plain, sometimes not ... and sometimes I get very experimental.

Oh, here are a few more pizzamaking tips for you ...

MOST COMMON ERRORS IN HOMEMADE PIZZA:
1) Not baked hot enough (soft mushy crust)
2) Too much sauce (sogs/softens the crust, causes cheese to slide off when bitten)
3) Baked on the wrong surface (naked on stone is best but kinda messy/problematic for the home - so that leaves parchment on stone as the best home alternative, with baked on a pizza screen 2nd, and baked in a dark non-reflective baking sheet or pizza pan 3rd)
4) Dough not risen enough (too tight/stiff - doesnt stretch out enough) before use. You want at least one, preferrably 2, risings to nearly triple volume ... the slower, the better.
5) Using 'pizza sauce' from a jar - if it tastes crappy & lifeless in the jar, it'll taste the same on the pizza. Do what the pros do and use plain crushed tomatoes (or a plain marinara) straight from a can, and focus instead on building flavors with good quality cheese & toppings, and massive heat (which develops even more flavor).

[Elongated Man]

Thanks again. I usually violate rule #2, too much sauce. I also seem to put on too much cheese and meat at times too. I wonder if there's a formula depending on the crust size?

[Darb]

SAUCE: The secret is to use a ladle - you dollup on just a little sauce, and use the bottom of the ladle to spread it around thinly, in a swirling pattern. The next time you go to a pizzaria, pay attention to how they do it - 30 seconds of careful attention will tell you everything you need to know. Basically, you want just enough sauce to keep the top of the crust slightly moistened and to add a little flavor ... but not so much that the cheese floats on it, and can't adhere to the dough. Remember - saucing a pizza is VERY different than saucing a bowl of pasta. Try to think more along the lines of lightly buttering a baking pan, rather than frosting a cake, and you'll get the general idea. Better too little than too much.

CHEESE: Once you get a stone, and get practiced shaping dough for it, you'll learn by trial and error how much cheese to use. Cheese is FAR more forgiving, in terms of using too much or too little, than sauce is. It also depends on the type of cheese you use ... strongly flavored cheeses (ex: feta or blue) or cheeses that are very high in fat (ex: triple cream brie or camembert) need to be used with restraint, lest they overpower (or over-oil) the pizza ... in which case, you want to use them for no more than, say 1/3 of your total cheese. Figure on 1/2 lb shredded mozz for a medium pie - and then adjust up or down based on personal preference. Also keep in mind that the more non-cheese toppings you use, the less room there will be for cheese, so decrease accordingly, to avoid overcrowsing the pie. Also, another tip for you ... it's cheaper to use a box grater to shred your own cheese - plus, you gain total control over the types of cheese you can use. Also, the cheese tends to be higher in quality, and fresher, if you shred it yourself (ex: REAL Neal's Yard aged English chedder, rather than the crappy orange "sharp" American bulk stuff). Another tip for you, if you like cheese & have a good cheese store, is to buy a good book on gourmet cheese - a few ounces of top knotch cheese can make an otherwise hum drum pizza a truly mind-blowing experience, trust me.

MEAT: If you find you like to use a lot, to the point where it interferes with baking the pizza, try the following: Bake the pizza, and let it cook. Then, cook the meat, scatter it on, and rehake the pizza again in a pizza pan ... just enough to allow the meat to settle into the cheese.

Being too generous with the toppings can interfere with the crust cooking properly.

[Elongated Man]

I'll let you know how it went on Monday.

[Darb]

If you have trouble finding a store that carries a good stone (I strongly recommend a square one, rather than a round one, BTW), you can just as easily use some plain unglazed ceramic floor tiles.

Glad to be of help

A few more tips for you:

1) You can rise dough in the fridge - figure that a typical 1 hour rise will take 8-10 hours (or overnight) in the fridge ... thus, you can make dough in the morning, let it rise in the fridge, get home from work, preheat the oven for 30 mins, take the dough out of the fridge, punch it down, and wait for the oven to finish preheating ... viola ... fresh pizza from scratch in 36 minutes, including the 1/2 hour time it takes to preheat the oven. The only drawback to rising dough in the fridge is that the yeast doesnt generate as much flavor as it does with 2 slow full risings at room temperature. It's more a matter of weeknight convenience than it is a preferred method. Rising at room temp is always preferrable.

2) Pizza dough, and yeast, both freeze reasonably well ... thus, you can make multiple batches of dough, press them into semi-flattened patties (to speed thawing later on) then individually wrap and freeze them. Then, you can take them out of the freezer the night before, let it thaw overnight in the fridge and rise while you're at work the next day ... and then make pizza when you get home. Easy.

3) For entertaining, pre-make/bake/cool as many pizzas as you need, but dont cut them. Get the oven hot as meal time appriaches, then, when guests get hungry, you can just slap a finished pizza on the preheated stone for a few minutes and it's all ready to go ... all you need are a few pizza boxes to stack/store them until it's time to eat. This way, you can serve 2-4 homemade pizzas during a party, with little or no hands on time during the party itself (you finished cooking just before people arrived).

Ok, more info than you probably wanted, but I love to cook, so it's hard for me to stop once I get going

[KiltanneN]

Homemade Pickled Onions.

These are very popular in NZ - [where I come from] and in England. [The original colonial father/motherland.]

One particular batch I made - they brought tears to the eyes - and my cousin thought I must have pickled them in Rocket fuel - The secret? as near as I can figure the only real item I added extra on that batch was a couple of tablespoons of peanut butter.

Unfortunately I made these in my misspent youth and never made any scientific or otherwise notes - so therefore I don't have the rest of the recipe.

Does anybody else have a good pickled onion ingredient?

Also - are there Americans here who actually enjoy pickled onions?/ seems to me as I have lived here that it is a much less well-known savory...

BTW - have mostly been purchasing my pickled onions for some time - but I haven't been able to find a source for them here in NY. I may have to start making my own once again!

Kilt

[Darb]

Every country has their old rustic pickling recipes. Pickling of vegetables and fruit is very popular in Japan, India, Russia, England, and the Mid-West of America.

Personally, I've never had pickled onions, but I'd love to try them.

Havent really done much pickling either - aside from a batch of cucumber pickels I made a long time ago (oh, so fresh and crunchy and brightly flavored). I'll have to get back into it at some point.

In any case, I assume your recipe for pickled onions included the basics ... wine vinegar, spices, and a certain amount of sugar and water, and perhaps some wine.

p.s. My first objective will be pickled eggs ... probably the only recipe from that book of Alton Brown's book I just reviewed over in Critic's corner that I found even remotely interesting.

[Rebecca]

Personally, I've never had pickled onions, but I'd love to try them.

I have to second Kilt's love of pickled onions, Brad, and encourage you to try some. (I have no more clue than he does as to why they're not well-known in parts of the US.) My mum used to pickle them herself, but the bought varieties are just as yummy. I think it's the combination of the tart vinegar and the sweetness of the onions that does it. I've found that onions similarly sweeten when roasted, too.

[Darb]

Sounds good !

Roasted onions are wonderful - I just peel em, cut an "X" across the top, drizzle in a few drops of olive oil, wrap em in foil, and then shove them in the oven along with whatever I'm roasting. If memory serves, about 60-90 minutes at 350F is about right - or until the foil package feels soft. The longer and slower you cook em, the darker and sweeter they get ... and they take up fairly little room, so you can do a lot of them without interfering with your main dish. They're wonderful with grilled sausages.

Garlic is done similarly - just slice the top 1/3 of the bulb, drizzle generously with oil, re-seat the top, wrap in foil, and roast the same way ... then remove the top and squeeze out like toothpaste onto toasted baguettes. Oooh la la.

/me wishes he had more people to discuss food with.

If anyone wants to chime in on just about anything, feel free ... my cooking preferences are both local, and global in focus. Any country or ingredient is fair game for disussion.

Culinary tools and techniques, or even just memorable meals or dining experiences (good or bad) are all fair game too.

[Superenigmatix]

Straying away from the barbie theme for a moment (sacrilege here in NZ I know ) here's a something quick but yummy.

Get some frozen blocks of chopped spinach from the supermarket (Brad can of course make his own ) and some Chilli-fied Olive Oil (my little bro' sent me some really nice stuff from Israel or alternatively we here in NZ make Avacado Oil which is better than Olive Oil and a Chilli version is available)

Place both in frying pan and let the spinach defrost.
Add some seasoning to taste
Stir Fry for about 3 minutes

Eat - yum - ouch - hot mouth - drink beer!!

Alternatives:
Add some crushed Garlic too
Replace Chilli Oil with plain Olive Oil and add Garlic & Basil
Replace Spinach with Chopped Cabbage

ooooh I'm hungry now

sE

[Darb]

Your version sounds very tasty

Mine uses clarified butter, softened minced shallots, a tiny touch of garlic, and perhaps a dash of dry white wine. Seasonings are sea salt, black & white pepper, and a teeny tiny grating of fresh nutmeg (not pre-grated).

To cream it, I saute a little flour in clarified butter, stir into the cooked spinach, add some lite cream, and simmer for several minutes until thickened. Yummy. Great side dish for lamb or a crusty steak ... esp with fresh garden tomatoes.

Sauteed spinach also loves eggplant and cardamom, and is featured prominently in numerous Indian curries - esp lamb and goat.

[Darb]

Hey, I discovered a culinary secret to stop guacamole from browning ... add a tiny sprinkle of ascorbic acid (1/16th tsp per 4 avacados) to the lime juice before you stir it in. Works great.

You can get ascorbic acid at a winemaking supplies store.

I've always used it to add to the shelflife of fresh garlic paste, but I never tried it on guacamole.

[Darb]

I'm not sure, but it might be true that you can simply grind some vitamin c tablets into powder to get ascorbic acid ... I'd have to read the label.

p.s. Hey, we're in BBQ season here in the northern hemisphere ... doesn't anyone wanna discuss grillin or other forms of outdoor cookery ?

[Lily]

Dizzy, i suggest those ladies serve you up a huge bowl of arsenic and lace!!

Lily

[Lily]

Say Brad, how may licks does it really take to get to the middle of the tootsie pop!!!

Lily

[Darb]

That's easy ... one more lick than the penultimate lick, of course (see mathematical proof below).

Hey Kilty: do I get a 4th IBDOF "Sherlock Holmes" prize for solving this age-old question ??

----------------------
BRAD'S THEORY OF TOOTSIEROLL SUB-LINGUAL RELATIVITY
- by Brad 16-Jul-2003 (all rights reserved)

MATHEMATICAL PROOF:

First, we define the following:

NLTM as the Number of Licks To the Middle, and
PLTM as the Penultimate (next to last) Lick To the Middle.

Since we defined the meanings as stated, and since the definitions are relative to each other and do not involve absolute numbers open to debate, we can therefore accept these definitions as completely true and beyond challenge.

The problem is thus reduced to solving the latter equation for NLTM by simple algebra:

PLTM = NLTM - 1
(PLTM) + 1 = (NLTM - 1) + 1 <-- by additive law
PLTM + 1 = NLTM <-- now we flip it around
NLTM = PLTM +1 <-- viola ... solved !

Now, trying to derive an absolute numeric answer for PLTM is a separate problem, and probably not solvable. The best you could do would be to rig up a modelling simulation for a series of standardized human tongue types and licking patterns (ex: large tongued heavy salivators who lick aggressively, small tongued intermittant lappers, and people who suck the entire pop inbetween licks, etc.) and then use confidence interval projections to determine the most likely sample size necessary to create a pool of results which would then be averaged together to form an approximation for each of those groups. The approximation given would then depend on who was asking.

I'm sure it's been done by someone with entirely too much time on their hands, so I'll refrain from repeating their work

[Lily]

Oh you kill me Brad! How Funny! I love it!!!

Lily

[Darb]

(cut & paste from one of the other forums I participate in)

I ran a big cookout for my family on Saturday night - I tailgated over and fired up my 200,000 BTU Coleman stove, got two 5 gallon stock pots of salted water rolling, and boiled up a big pile of corn, followed by a pile of 24-28 oz hard-shell (unmolted) Maine lobsters (which I served with clarified butter).

For those unfamiliar with hardshell lobsters - if you find ones that havent molted yet, they tend to have a lot more meat in them for their size (kinda like someone who's grown too big for their too-tight jeans), and they're sweeter. The only drawback is that their shells can be REALLY friggin hard - I had to pre-crack them (after cooking) with the back of a heavy cleaver, and poultry shears, before serving them. Even still, I managed to snap a pail of nut crackers on a recalitrant claw that I hadn't fully cracked with the cleaver - that sucker was like 1/8" thick. Anyway, they were very tasty, and afterwards I simmered the shells (with mirepoix, white wine, water, and chicken stock) during the dessert and after dinner boozin - to make lobster broth for the next evening.

Sunday night's lobster-shrimp bisque was really special - it was the classic variety, made with double strength lobster broth, paprika-laced light amber roux, heavy cream, and diced sauteed shrimp. Rich, velvety and intense - about midway in thickness between latex paint and drywall spackle It went wonderfully with fresh garlic bruschetta. The fact that the bisque was about 450 calories per 8 fl oz cup made it a sinful pleasure, but hey - how often do you get to eat like that ? A family meal to remember.

My only nit about this past weekend is that my calves are bit to hell with mosquito bites - itchin like crazy, as I'm typin this. I was too busy to notice at the time

RECIPE FOR LOBSTER-SHRIMP BISQUE (from memory)

Entree for 7-8, Appetizer for 15-20

4 oz (wt) Clarified AA Butter, Melted
4 oz (wt) Pre-Sifted All Purpose Flour (make sure it's fresh)
2 tsp Hungarian Paprika (highest quality)
2 qts Double Strength Lobster Broth **
1 1/4 lb Peeled Shrimp, diced & sauteed (the shells can be used in the broth above)
1 pt Heavy Cream
Salt & Pepper to taste, if necessary

a) sift flour & paprika together
b) make roux by simmering seasoned flour in the butter over low heat for 5-7 mins, whisking continuously to avoid clumping or scorching.
c) Heat & whisk in the lobster broth, and simmer 10 minutes until fully thickened.
d) Whisk in the cream, and return to serving temperature - but do not boil.
e) Add shrimp and serve - mugs, shallow bowls, or bread bowls will all work fine.

A nice side dish is tomato-garlic-basil bruschetta*** ... it adds crunch, brightness, and a nice garlickly snap.

Recommended wine match is unoaked chardonnay or sauvignon blanc.
---------------------
** BROTH: consult a recipe book for how to make lobster/shellfish broth, then boil until reduced by half - this is the heart of the dish, and the bisque is only as good as the broth used to make it. If anyone wants me to post a recipe, I'll do so. I just feel lazy ATM
*** BRUSCHETTA: If anyone wants a recipe, I'll post one.

[Trebor1503]

What's the difference between "clarified butter" and "melted butter"?

[Darb]

Table butter is only about 85% milk fat - there's a lot of milk solids emulsified in it, and those milk solids leave it somewhat soft and mushy when cold or merely cool, and frothy and cloudy when melted ... and it scorches easily if used for sauteeing at anything other than a fairly low temperature.

Clarified butter is unsalted butter that's been slowly simmered for about 10-15 minutes until most of the milk solids coagulate and separate from the butter - after skimming and decanting, the resulting butter is totally clear when melted, like olive oil. It still solidifies when cold, but when it melts it's totally clear. I can describe how to make it more fully to anyone who's interested.

Clarified butter lacks the pan-coating quality (great for lubricating pans for omlets) and thickening power of table butter (which is often used to finish certain sauces), and it's too hard to spread on toast - but it has certain advantages that plain butter cannot compare to:

* Much longer shelf life.
* Totally clear when melted, and an intense butter aroma - great for dipping (i.e., lobster & shrimp).
* Higher smoke point than regular butter - can be used for sauteeing vegetables and seafood, and for making roux.

Now, some unscrupulous restaurants 'cheat' their customers when they serve lobster - they may serve you melted margarine instead of real clarified butter. There's no comparison - the real thing has an intense butter flavor and aroma, whereas margarine has a weak, 'butter flavored oil' character.

Now, the Indian version of clarified butter is called "Ghee", which is the version that I make ... it's clarified butter that's been simmered longer and more slowly, until the milk solids are almost fully evaporated. It's even clearer and than regular clarified, and some people like the taste better. It also yeilds more clarified butter per pound of table butter, and has an even longer shelf life ... but it's also more labor intensive - esp near the end of the process, when timing can be critical in order to prevent scorching as the last of the milk whey/solids evaporate, and the temperature begins to spike.

Clarified butter takes about 10-15 minutes, and ghee takes 30-40 minutes.

Figure 1.5 lbs of butter yeilds about 1 pint of ghee. Stored in an airtight jar, and refrigerated, it will last 1-2 years - you just use a small metal spoon to scoop out what you need.

p.s. Butter tips: (a) look for butter whose sticks come wrapped in foilized paper - they keep fresh longer. (b) Butter freezes well - and keeps longer that way.

[Trebor1503]

One more question: is Clarified butter more or less healthy for you?