What can you expect in the Food Thread on PF?

[rhody]

Can't say I feel any wiser Rice is sold here in 1kg bags, lentils in 400g bags. I guess even minute rice bags (they are here, but I don't use them) can be different.

Ratio of masses or volumes, please.

1 cup = 136 grams = 4.8 ouunces
1 kilogram = 35.2739619 ounces

Borek,

All these figures are for 1/2 of the receipe:

2 cups instant rice boiled, 272 grams
1 cup lentils, boiled, 136 grams

I hope this helps. A ratio of 2/1 for rice versus lentils.

Rhody...

 

[Evo]

I've been wondering about this *cornbread* recipe from Ina Garten since I saw her make it last year.

I love cornbread, but this bread calls for 3 cups of white wheat flour and only 1 cup of yellow conrnmeal. I was sure that it coudln't possibly taste like cornbread, But I only had about 1 cup of cornmeal yesterday, so decided to give it a try. It was great! Actually tastes like cornbread.

I did make changes, I reduced the sugar to 2 tablespoons, used table salt, so used less than two teaspoons, and doubled the jalapenos. I also used 2 cups of 4 cheese shredded mexican and put it all inside the batter. I used ny mother's trick to preheat the oiled greased pan so that the batter crisps as you pour it into the hot pan, gives a wonderful crispy crunch to the bottom and sides of the bread.

When you cut into this this bread, the aroma of the fresh jalapenos hits you along with the Mexican cheese. delicious with butter.

It makes enough for an army though. I've had to wrap and freeze most of it.

So easy and so tasty, thought I'd share.

http://www.barefootcontessa.com/recipes.aspx?RecipeID=238&S=0

 

[Borek]

I hope this helps. A ratio of 2/1 for rice versus lentils.

Thanks. Now we are talking the same language.

Red lentils or green lentils? You see, I am a chemist, I need exact recipes

 

[dlgoff]

I've been wondering about this *cornbread* recipe from Ina Garten since I saw her make it last year.

I love cornbread, but this bread calls for 3 cups of white wheat flour and only 1 cup of yellow conrnmeal. I was sure that it coudln't possibly taste like cornbread, But I only had about 1 cup of cornmeal yesterday, so decided to give it a try. It was great! Actually tastes like cornbread.

I did make changes, I reduced the sugar to 2 tablespoons, used table salt, so used less than two teaspoons, and doubled the jalapenos. I also used 2 cups of 4 cheese shredded mexican and put it all inside the batter. I used ny mother's trick to preheat the oiled greased pan so that the batter crisps as you pour it into the hot pan, gives a wonderful crispy crunch to the bottom and sides of the bread.

When you cut into this this bread, the aroma of the fresh jalapenos hits you along with the Mexican cheese. delicious with butter.

It makes enough for an army though. I've had to wrap and freeze most of it.

So easy and so tasty, thought I'd share.

http://www.barefootcontessa.com/recipes.aspx?RecipeID=238&S=0

I've been thinking about this since Monday when you posted about the amount out cornmeal in the recipe. I thought that was weird since my mother makes/made the best cornbread in the world, IMO, and I've never seen her use wheat flour. So I did a google search on cornbread and every recipe I looked at included wheat flour. I'll have to ask her for a verbal recipe.

Anyway, since I like corn tortillas and mexican 4 cheese, I would modify your version with a higher cornmeal/wheat-flour ratio and add another 2 cups of the shredded mexican 4 cheese on top to brown. Thanks for the giving your mothers preheat oiled greased pan trick.

The last time I decided to make enchiladas, I made a casserole instead by baking layers of corn tortillas and cheesy meat sauce topped with more cheese.

 

[Evo]

The last time I decided to make enchiladas, I made a casserole instead by baking layers of corn tortillas and cheesy meat sauce topped with more cheese.

Do you have a recipe?

 

[rhody]

Thanks. Now we are talking the same language.

Red lentils or green lentils? You see, I am a chemist, I need exact recipes

ACK ! I use green ones (come to think of it, they have a brownish tinge to them).
I just finished my batch last night, shared with a few folks at work. I usually get a thumbs up. Anyway, I like them every so often. If you do blacken all the onions, you may want to add a third onion to the 1/2 receipe mix, without some blend of onion to add flavor the rice and lentils are pretty boring. Two onions reduced to black do not give enough volume to the mix.

Enjoy...

Rhody...

 

[turbo]

We got a brand new propane BBQ, made by Stok, that has the highest heat density [BTU per sq inch of grill area] of any we saw. I was sure this would be enough to cook a steak properly, but not so! Cooking on propane was a lost cause - way too little heat per sq inch. I modified the grill so that I can use charcoal and wood as before, and this helped a great deal, but they have too much vent area. The steaks are coming out okay but we are still getting layering. If cooked properly, the interior color should be approximately uniform. No doubt there is still too much air flow when I close the lid. I've been through this before as I tried to improve my technique over the years.

Having a direct flame seems to be critical. Everyone is moving towards indirect heat only, I think to reduce the production of cancer-causing whatever, and this just doesn't cook the steak quickly enough. If the air temp was higher it might still work. I know there are ovens that cook steaks at something like 1200 degrees F, and I think without a direct flame, but temps that high likely create too many liability concerns for BBQs and standard ovens.

On one occasion, my charcoal-wood BBQ mixture was so hot that it ignited the paint on the outside of the BBQ. I looked out just in time to see the BBQ engulfed in flames.

Too bad about that Ivan. I had a gas grill that required me to pull all kinds of tricks to get even half-decent steaks, including preheating a large grate-full of lava-rocks on high for about 1/2 hour. Now, I have one of these:

Propane on the left, wood-charcoal in the center, and an indirect-heater/smoker fueled by wood/charcoal on the right. For perfect steaks, fill a starter chimney with charcoal, ignite with a couple of sheets of newsprint, and dump the started charcoal out in a pile. Cook steaks directly over the coals if you want tasty, rare ones. If somebody insists on medium or (yuck!) well-done, start theirs early over the charcoal to brown them, and move them off to the side for indirect heat, wait a bit then cook the rare ones. This particular grill is quite flexible WRT venting. You can increase/decrease the undergrate air in the charcoal section by adjusting the damper on the end of the smoker box, plus there is a guillotine damper on the chimney in the top of the charcoal grill. It takes a bit of tinkering to find out what works best, but it's worth the trouble.

It's a CharGriller (brand) and toward the end of summer, your local Tractor Supply may put them on special. If you buy yours in the box, expect to say some bad words as you assemble the monster. If you want to buy an already-assembled floor-model, you'll need a long-bed pickup and some kind of ramp to load it and take it home, plus somebody to help you unload it.

 

[dlgoff]

Do you have a recipe?

1lb extra lean (I use 93%) ground beef
1-large white onion-diced
4-cups of shredded mexican 4 cheese
2-10oz cans of Old El Paso Enchilada sauce
1-10oz can Rotel diced tomatoes & green chilies-drained
1-pkg 6" corn tortillas
salt, black pepper, garlic powder...optional but I use it

cook ground beef, diced white onion, salt, black pepper, garlic powder in a skillet on medium heat. (While cooking "chop"/mix for medium to small meat chunks.)

when meat in cooked, drain and return to medium heat, add 1 can of Old El Paso Enchilada sauce, cover and simmer until most of the liquid is cooked out.

turn heat to low and mix in 2 cups of mexican 4 cheese. (remove from heat when cheese and meat is thoroughly mixed and cheese melted)

place 2 layers of tortillas on the bottom of a casserole baking dish (size ?), pour/spatula in hot meat & cheese, place 2 layers of tortillas on top, drizzle on 1/2 can of Old El Paso Enchilada sauce, cover with the other 2 cups of mexican 4 cheese, cover cheese layer with the can of Rotel diced tomatoes, drizzle remaining 1/2 can on Old El Paso Enchilada sauce.

place uncovered in preheated 375°F for 15 to 20 minutes.

Done

 

[HeLiXe]

I ate so much crap today I'm surprised I'm still alive -_-
2 Chili cheese dogs! *faints*

 

[CosmicEye]

^^^ Thats what I am talking about!

If you think 2 chilidogs is a lot of junkfood, well, I've got you beat bigtime..

 

[HeLiXe]

I ate them in one sitting!

 

[dlgoff]

I ate so much crap today I'm surprised I'm still alive -_-
2 Chili cheese dogs! *faints*

^^^ Thats what I am talking about!

If you think 2 chilidogs is a lot of junkfood, well, I've got you beat bigtime..

Yep. Just a snack.

 

[CosmicEye]

mmm 711 hotdogs with hot cheese mmm

I always end up paying for that later

 

[Evo]

Last night I decided to make macaroni and cheese. All I had was whole wheat pasta. There is a brand of whole wheat pasta that is wonderful, unfortunately I didn't have that brand, I had nasty whole wheat pasta, but I figured that a cheese sauce might mask it.

Wrong.

First mistake was making a white sauce for the cheese instead of just melting cheese like I usually do. I didn't have milk, so decided to use some old powdered milk that I use in bread machine recipes. It was ghastly, but I thought, ok the cheese will mask the taste of the milk.

Wrong.

So I now had nasty pasta with a rancid cheese sauce. Throw it out? Never! I decided to add some dry mustard to the cheese sauce, as if I was making a welsh rarebit. Ok, now I just made the sauce bitter, so I thought "italian herbs" so fragrant and they really saved that nasty mushroom risotto the other night.

Wrong.

Ok, so adding enough hot sauce will mask the flavor of anything!



When my dog won't eat something, you know it's bad. I had soup for dinner last night...

 

[turbo]

Oh! Bad choices and bad luck piled on top! I hate throwing food away, but it sounds like what you made was a "food-like" concoction that convinced you of the need to toss the crappy pasta, the powdered milk, etc. When the larder gets a bit thin, I have to engage in free-style cooking, but I have never resorted to using powdered milk. I had that once at a friend's house when I was a kid, and had to run for the door. Never again.

BTW, Duke would have eaten your macaroni and cheese. He eats everything. I have to watch him when he's in the garden or in the berry patches because he helps himself. Of course, I have to keep him away from the compost heaps, too. He loves "treasure hunting" in those.

 

[dlgoff]

Last night I decided to make macaroni and cheese. All I had was whole wheat pasta. There is a brand of whole wheat pasta that is wonderful, unfortunately I didn't have that brand, I had nasty whole wheat pasta, but I figured that a cheese sauce might mask it.

Wrong.

First mistake was making a white sauce for the cheese instead of just melting cheese like I usually do. I didn't have milk, so decided to use some old powdered milk that I use in bread machine recipes. It was ghastly, but I thought, ok the cheese will mask the taste of the milk.

Wrong.

So I now had nasty pasta with a rancid cheese sauce. Throw it out? Never! I decided to add some dry mustard to the cheese sauce, as if I was making a welsh rarebit. Ok, now I just made the sauce bitter, so I thought "italian herbs" so fragrant and they really saved that nasty mushroom risotto the other night.

Wrong.

Ok, so adding enough hot sauce will mask the flavor of anything!



When my dog won't eat something, you know it's bad. I had soup for dinner last night...

Note to self: Buy boxed macaroni and cheese.

 

[turbo]

No Don! Don't go to the dark side! Boil some good elbow macaroni until it is partially done (not al-dente) then layer that in a casserole dish with slices of very sharp cheddar cheese, and dust each layer with a bit of white flour. Top with more cheese, and if you want a nice crunchy crust crumble saltines over the top before baking.

You can switch things up a bit by including some chopped chilies, onions, etc in the layers. When the mac and cheese is bubbly and not quite browned on top, fry up some calves liver or chicken liver with onions to go with the casserole dish. Heaven!

 

[dlgoff]

No Don! Don't go to the dark side! Boil some good elbow macaroni until it is partially done (not al-dente) then layer that in a casserole dish with slices of very sharp cheddar cheese, and dust each layer with a bit of white flour. Top with more cheese, and if you want a nice crunchy crust crumble saltines over the top before baking.

You can switch things up a bit by including some chopped chilies, onions, etc in the layers. When the mac and cheese is bubbly and not quite browned on top, fry up some calves liver or chicken liver with onions to go with the casserole dish. Heaven!

Thanks for bringing me back to my senses. Switching is up, less the livers, will work well with wheat beer.

 

[turbo]

Oops! I forgot to mention that after you have the pasta, cheese, flour, etc, layered up, you need to add whole milk to the casserole so that you can just see it under the top layer, then finish off with the top layer of cheese and crackers. Real macaroni and cheese is so easy to make, and it is SO good, unlike the stuff in the boxes with the pretend "cheese".

 

[Borek]

Today's dinner was based on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Túrós_csusza that we ate two weeks ago in Budapest.

I happened to have farfalle at home, so that was the basis. Curd is almost always in the fridge, we buy it every week. I bought a small piece of salo to make my own pork rinds. You don't need much - just a few on the plate, for a flavor. No butter - rinds were added together with some melted lard, directly from the frying pan. I forgot about the cream, but I wasn't missing it - and I am stuffed

 

[turbo]

That looks good, Borek!

 

[Borek]

That looks good, Borek!

Best part is that if you have rinds the most time consuming part is boiling pasta

Note: this thing definitely needs salt for the best taste.

 

[turbo]

Best part is that if you have rinds the most time consuming part is boiling pasta

Note: this thing definitely needs salt for the best taste.

I would also need ground black pepper, as I do for macaroni and cheese. Curds and pasta would do it for me, if seasoned properly.

 

[HeLiXe]

Yep. Just a snack.

Well maybe I should clarify...they were from Dairy Queen

somehow this pic makes me want to vomit >_> but they are big and they put a LOT of chili and cheese on them.

mmm 711 hotdogs with hot cheese mmm
you are just messing around...
I always end up paying for that later

 

[turbo]

That looks disgusting! If I put chili and cheese on a hot dog that I made, it would look edible. Yours doesn't! Not in the least.

 

[HeLiXe]

That looks disgusting! If I put chili and cheese on a hot dog that I made, it would look edible. Yours doesn't! Not in the least.

yes it does look disgusting lolll but this is a pic I found on the net that shows just how much chili is on there. If the one I ordered looked like that I would so not eat it -_-. The pics DQ has on their site just have a little chili


CosmicEye I just realized when you said 711 you meant the store lol I thought you were messing around yesterday (somehow when I wrote it I put it in quote) about eating seven hundred and eleven hot dogs lol.

 

[Evo]

yes it does look disgusting lolll but this is a pic I found on the net that shows just how much chili is on there. If the one I ordered looked like that I would so not eat it -_-. The pics DQ has on their site just have a little chili.

It probably looked really good before the cheese melted, but I'd still eat that in a heartbeat! The melted cheese would actually taste better.

 

[turbo]

It probably looked really good before the cheese melted, but I'd still eat that in a heartbeat! The melted cheese would actually taste better.

I have never seen real cheese that was that orange in color. I have a feeling that the "cheese" is made of vegetable oil, not milk.

 

[Evo]

I have never seen real cheese that was that orange in color. I have a feeling that the "cheese" is made of vegetable oil, not milk.

Cheese isn't made out of oil?

 

[turbo]

Cheese isn't made out of oil?

If your cows only give oil instead of milk, I guess you've got to work with what you've got.

 

[Borek]

I have never seen real cheese that was that orange in color.

C'mon, that's just wrong white balance.

 

[turbo]

C'mon, that's just wrong white balance.

Or a mix of red and yellow dyes in an emulsion of corn oil. The cardboard looks plenty white to me.

 

[HeLiXe]

It probably looked really good before the cheese melted, but I'd still eat that in a heartbeat! The melted cheese would actually taste better.

Well they were good :) lol

 

[jtbell]

Deep-fried cheeseburgers, ooh! :!)

Ohio Hamburger Festival dishes up fried patties to brave attendees

When I was a kid in northeast Ohio, "eating out" usually meant 15-cent hamburgers (with fries, of course) at McDonald's or a local chain called the "Golden Point."

 

[WhoWee]

Deep-fried cheeseburgers, ooh! :!)

Ohio Hamburger Festival dishes up fried patties to brave attendees

When I was a kid in northeast Ohio, "eating out" usually meant 15-cent hamburgers (with fries, of course) at McDonald's or a local chain called the "Golden Point."

Let's not forget Burger Chef, Red Barn, and Lord Burger (Cleveland in late1970's/early 80's).