What can you expect in the Food Thread on PF?

[turbo]

You've got to know this stuff. When baking a large salmonid, we always bake them with the head on. If you cut off the head, you'll always lose some meat unless you are very careful, but that's not the worst of it. Under the gill flaps on either side are the jaw muscles - the most tender, sweet meat in the whole fish. I've seen grown men resort to cutting cards, rolling dice, etc for dibs on that meat.

 

[Evo]

You've got to know this stuff. When baking a large salmonid, we always bake them with the head on. If you cut off the head, you'll always lose some meat unless you are very careful, but that's not the worst of it. Under the gill flaps on either side are the jaw muscles - the most tender, sweet meat in the whole fish. I've seen grown men resort to cutting cards, rolling dice, etc for dibs on that meat.

Oh yes, I remember watching Iron Chef (Japanese) praising the jaw or cheek meat as the best part.

Have you watched the original Japanese Iron Chef? I have never learned so much about food.

 

[turbo]

Oh yes, I remember watching Iron Chef (Japanese) praising the jaw or cheek meat as the best part.

Have you watched the original Japanese Iron Chef? I have never learned so much about food.

No, I never saw that program. We don't have cable and when we did, it was always the basic "local" package since we only watch news, a couple of PBS shows, and maybe 60 Minutes. I learned how to cook (and the secrets of tasty parts of fish, fowl, and livestock) from my family members. Our clan involved even the youngest members of the family in raising, harvesting and processing vegetables, and generally, the boys were pulled into the slaughtering/butchering process pretty early. I still remember the time that I was "old" enough to be trusted with lugging a wash-pan full of pig's blood to the kitchen so the women could start making blood sausage. If you dropped a pan full of small intestine or large intestine in the dirt (sausage casings), no big deal - they would be washed off, cleaned, boiled, inverted and cleaned and boiled some more. Drop a pan of blood - woo, you don't want to face your grandmother, great aunts, etc, after that, though some of your aunts and your mother might cut you a little slack.

Blood sausage was an important source of iron for menstruating women, and unless there was a lot of it to share, the women got most of it. I'm impressed by the intuition and trial-and-error that must have gone into this, since it was a generations-old tradition.

 

[turbo]

We might be all done pickling cucumbers for the year - the cupboards are getting full and we've just started to make tomato-based salsas. Still the cucumbers continue to come, and we're picking about 10#/day, and trying to find people who want them.

 

[Astronuc]

I've got an uninhabited township all picked out for you - as long as I can come up and fly-fish the ponds there.

Get out your DeLorme Atlas and look for T2 R7 BKP WKR in the center of map 40. Also known as Misery Township. Got some of the best brook trout fishing in the country - fly-fishing only with strict limits.

I'll have to change the name.

I wonder of Mellon would sell me the MEC RR? I tried to establish a short line in NY, but the taxes and other liabilities were too great, the existing RR's didn't want competition, and the local folks think railtrails are great for tourism. The annual average income from tourism in this area was about $16K about 7 yrs ago.

 

[turbo]

You'll have to petition the state to change LOTS of names. The main ridge, the mountaintop, several ponds and a number of streams all bear that name. Then Delorme would be forced to change all their maps too.

Maybe Mellon would sell out. He's made so much money selling off rolling stock, scrapping track and deferring maintenance that he could afford to give you a good price.

 

[NateTG]

I found my favorite cookbook! Ok, I'll make this when we have the first Evo get together.

Yorkshire Christmas Pie from Glasse "Art of Cookery" 1774

...

Okay, the Serves 2 was a joke. What kind of pie pan could hold all of that?

A large one.

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tips/getAttraction.php?tip_AttractionNo==701

At 28,000 lbs of pie, assuming 1/4 turkey, and 40 lb turkeys works out to 175 turkeys... Now, to find an oven ;)

In the real world, you can probably build the pie in a roasting pan or large dutch oven.

 

[Astronuc]

Did you know . . .

that Omaha, Nebraska is the original home of the Reuben sandwich, Omaha Steaks and ConAgra Foods?

The Reuben or Reuben sandwich is a grilled or toasted sandwich made with corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and either Russian dressing or Thousand Island dressing. It is typically made with rye bread, though originally it may have been served on pumpernickel bread, and is often served with potato salad on the side.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reuben_sandwich

I like mine with pastrami instead of corned beef. Pupernickel could be somewhat overpowering.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumpernickel

Clearly the quality of sauerkraut is a key factor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sauerkraut

And I'm interested in variations on dressing, e.g. Ranch vs Russian vs Thousand Island.

 

[Evo]

Don't eat Hamburger Helper Beef Stroganoff. It tastes nothing like stroganoff. Why did I buy it? I could have bought a package of McCormick stroganoff seasoning, now that's pretty yummy and just as quick to fix. And you use real sour cream and sherry.

 

[Andre]

Hamburger Stroganoff? encroyable.

Stroganoff should go with chateaubriand. And don't fry the beef directly from the fridge. It should be heated slowly au-bain-marie to about 100-110F first, keeping it red. Don't boil it, the water may not be too hot to touch it. Then fry it on a hot fire 10 seconds before turning over. 60 seconds on the other side, then back 50 seconds for the other side. That's the ultimate dining experience.

 

[hypatia]

End of Summer Joe's

In olive oil, brown... Big tablespoon of corse chopped garlic, 1/2 cup chopped onion and 1/2 cup thin strips of peppers{your choice}.
To that add, two full cups off shredded summer squash{I use yellow, but any kind will work}, stir to mix, then turn to low for 10 minutes, covered.
Add one cup of crushed tomatoes, one teaspoon of cider vinegar, one teaspoon of brown mustard and one teaspoon of sugar.
Cook{reduse liquids} stirring often for 10 more minutes.
I oven toast good Keiser rolls{cut open of course}, spoon it on and eat!
It makes 6.

 

[Moonbear]

Ooh, that sounds DELICIOUS hypatia!

 

[turbo]

My sister-in-law just dropped off about 20# of sweet corn, so I know what I'll be doing for at least part of the day tomorrow (shucking, boiling, cutting, freezing), and we swapped her a bag of cucumbers. Tomorrow, I'll pick another 15-20# of green tomatoes and start prepping them for another batch of salsa to be canned on Thursday after a whole day of simmering. This is an exciting time of the year, and my wife and I are all grins when we're preserving food that you cannot possibly buy in a store for any price. If Martha Stewart showed up looking for recipes, I'd tell her to pull out her checkbook and start writing zeros until I told her to stop. If anybody here is interested, I'll gladly try to summarize what my wife and I do to produce this stuff for free. WARNING! Neither of us measure ingredients - we tend to "wing it" so quantities are loose. Of course, given the varying strengths of the flavors of the ingredients (capsicum levels in peppers, acidity of tomatoes, quality of herbs, onions, garlic, etc) you've got to be flexible and be willing to "season to taste" or else be doomed to uncertainty, mediocrity, unbalanced flavors, or just plain unpalatable stuff.

You have to taste and smell your ingredients and get a feel for what you've got to do to balance them and approach your target product. You can't easily do this by blindly following recipes (Waa! It was good last time!) or by ignoring your instincts. I think that my wife and I could make a comfortable living honing school-trained chefs into real cooks. One of my grandmothers cooked for a river-based log-drive employing many men and she could whip up a meal for 50+ people or 2 people with alacrity. She could put Emiril and or Martha to shame. Promotion does not equal real traction. They are pikers.

 

[Evo]

What a busy (food-processing) time of year! Sunday afternoon, we made a fair-sized batch of hot pepper relish - the best batch yet this year. Yesterday, my wife and I made spaghetti sauce from fresh garden tomatoes and canned a large batch of tomato-based salsa with habanero, jalapeno, and lipstick chilis - very hot and tasty. We put the left-over juice and solids from Sunday's chili relish in the salsa before we simmered it down. We also relented and put up another large batch of dill pickles yesterday, even though our cupboards are mostly full. We harvested about half of our herbs and froze dill, basil, cilantro, parsley and chives in small batches so they can be easily added to soups and sauces this winter. Last but not least, we scalded and peeled a few gallons of green tomatoes which I am simmering down today so that we can turn them into green tomato salsa and can that tonight. The house smells great.

turbo, since the slightest error in canning can cause botulism, I'm afraid you will have to send me at least 5 samples of each batch of sauces and salsas you have made so the Evo Botulism Test Lab, Inc. can make sure that you don't accidently poison yourself. UPS will be dispatching a truck to pick up samples before the end of the week.

Oh, there have also been reports of radio active corn in your area, so you have to fork over the corn as well.

No need to thank me, it's just part of the PF member protection plan.

 

[Moonbear]

turbo, since the slightest error in canning can cause botulism, I'm afraid you will have to send me at least 5 samples of each batch of sauces and salsas you have made so the Evo Botulism Test Lab, Inc. can make sure that you don't accidently poison yourself. UPS will be dispatching a truck to pick up samples before the end of the week.

Oh, there have also been reports of radio active corn in your area, so you have to fork over the corn as well.

No need to thank me, it's just part of the PF member protection plan.

So that's how the GenCo Olive Oil company is still turning a profit these days.

 

[turbo]

turbo, since the slightest error in canning can cause botulism, I'm afraid you will have to send me at least 5 samples of each batch of sauces and salsas you have made so the Evo Botulism Test Lab, Inc. can make sure that you don't accidently poison yourself. UPS will be dispatching a truck to pick up samples before the end of the week.

Oh, there have also been reports of radio active corn in your area, so you have to fork over the corn as well.

No need to thank me, it's just part of the PF member protection plan.

You POOP! My family has been surviving for a few hundred years up until now. I think that we can wing it for a while longer, as long as you don't mail us any botulism.

 

[Evo]

So that's how the GenCo Olive Oil company is still turning a profit these days.

You POOP! My family has been surviving for a few hundred years up until now. I think that we can wing it for a while longer, as long as you don't mail us any botulism.

Moonbear, I'll cut you in for half of the booty, just back me up here.

Why turbo, I'm shocked that you would suspect a PF mentor of devious tactics! I have only the deepest concern for your welfare.

Moonbear, do you think he fell for it?

He can't see this, right?

 

[Moonbear]

Moonbear, I'll cut you in for half of the booty, just back me up here.

Why turbo, I'm shocked that you would suspect a PF mentor of devious tactics! I have only the deepest concern for your welfare.

Moonbear, do you think he fell for it?

He can't see this, right?

I hear that botulism is really running rampant through Maine this year. Of course us PF Mentors are willing to take on this important task of ensuring member safety.

Yep, I think it'll work, Evo. He can't suspect anything.

 

[Ouabache]

I've always enjoyed warm homemade buttermilk biscuits topped with fruit preserves.. Only thing is, I've only followed a recipe to make them. But mine never looked like the ones I've eaten at country kitchen restaurants. I think the problem was, I didn't have a gramma to show me how it supposed to be done. Now with the help of youtube we have a surrogate gramma who can show us how.

My only change, would be to add more space between the biscuits on the pan. (I see my problem straight off was; I use a pastry cutter to work the shortening into the flour and a rolling pin to form the dough).

Next I'd like to find the proper technique to prepare sausage gravy for the biscuits

 

[turbo]

Moonbear, I'll cut you in for half of the booty, just back me up here.

Why turbo, I'm shocked that you would suspect a PF mentor of devious tactics! I have only the deepest concern for your welfare.

Moonbear, do you think he fell for it?

He can't see this, right?

You have the "deepest concern" for your belly, lady! I'm going to start storing this stuff in our safe in case you're planning a raid.

 

[turbo]

I hear that botulism is really running rampant through Maine this year. Of course us PF Mentors are willing to take on this important task of ensuring member safety.

Yep, I think it'll work, Evo. He can't suspect anything.

The only botulism running rampant through Maine is being soaked up by vain dowagers who are afraid to show any emotion for fear of looking wrinkled. I guess I could try to produce BT intentionally to cash in on the fad...

 

[turbo]

Today, I boiled down gallons of green tomatoes, and tomorrow they will be reduced further and combined with peppers, onions, cilantro, etc to make a BIG batch of salsa, and my wife and I will have a lot of canning to do tomorrow night. I also processed the sweet corn that my sister-in-law gave us yesterday and that is bagged in the freezer, with the husks and cobs joining the activity in the compost bins.

Note to the sisters: breaking news! Apparently there have been reports of serious listeria outbreaks that have been traced to premium chocolates that have been improperly processed and packed in oxygen-free environments that promote the propagation of this pathogen. Cheap domestic candies with low chocolate content are not involved. Link here:

http://www.food_recall.org/premium_chocolate_listeria_epidemic_

 

[Evo]

Note to the sisters: breaking news! Apparently there have been reports of serious listeria outbreaks that have been traced to premium chocolates that have been improperly processed and packed in oxygen-free environments that promote the propagation of this pathogen. Cheap domestic candies with low chocolate content are not involved. Link here:

http://www.food_recall.org/premium_chocolate_listeria_epidemic_

I can't open the link.

 

[turbo]

I can't open the link.

Darn! The chocolate market must be flexing their muscle on this and squashing the news. No matter. I am trained as an organic chemist, and I can test for listeria. Just send all your chocolate to the turbo-1 listeria lab and I'll check it for you and ship it back. We can't have the sisters dropping like flies. I have your best interests at heart.

 

[Evo]

Darn! The chocolate market must be flexing their muscle on this and squashing the news. No matter. I am trained as an organic chemist, and I can test for listeria. Just send all your chocolate to the turbo-1 listeria lab and I'll check it for you and ship it back. We can't have the sisters dropping like flies. I have your best interests at heart.

We'll meet half way, you hand over the salsas and we'll hand over the chocolates.

 

[turbo]

In a food thread, there should be an occasional mention of the tools of the trade. I recently purchased a 6" Sabatier chef's knife (the brand with the stars and elephant logo) to replace one that disappeared years ago. In this season of salsas, chopped/frozen foods, etc, knives are critical tools and my wife has recently discovered why I missed the 6" Sabatier so badly when it went missing. The balance, the quality, and the feel are superb. Sabatier's SS knives are great, but their forged carbon steel blades are the best in the world.

Recently, Evo linked to a video by Alton Brown who purported to know how to take care of knives. I was prepared to be educated until said "good eats" guru proceeded to hand his "precious" knives over to some "expert" with a belt grinder and a grinding wheel to get them "properly" sharpened. This is so wrong on so many levels that it is hard to describe. Knives must be sharpened on lubricated, cooled stones or diamond hones, so that the temper of the edge is not compromised, and then they should be touched up on a steel between uses to re-align deformations in the edge caused by hard usage. It is difficult to imagine how somebody like Alton Brown has been awarded any kind of credentials as a food "expert" yet lacks the basic skills required to maintain the tools of his trade. Can you imagine a fish-monger or a butcher who lacked the skills to sharpen their cleavers, heavy knives and fillet/boning knives and had to wait for some itinerant "sharpener" to come by every few months and sharpen their tools on motorized machines in a shower of sparks? Stupid. If the Food Channel ever bothered to look beyond the urban, high-earning, dilettante demographic they aim for, they would realize that there are basic skills involved with the hunting, planting, cultivation, harvesting, and preparation of food that they are unable to address effectively. Real cooking requires skills that go far beyond the ability to throw stuff together from boxes and jars, and contrary to what Brown asserts, real chefs know how to maintain the tools of their trade. When my grandmother was honing a blade on a steel, you wouldn't get anywhere near her. The knife was a blur.

 

[Astronuc]

When my grandmother was honing a blade on a steel, you wouldn't get anywhere near her. The knife was a blur.

It was the same way with my dad sharpening the carving knife in the kitchen - 35+ years ago.

 

[turbo]

Well, during the time when my grandmother was cooking for the crew driving logs down the Kennebec river, she was feeding 40+ men per day. Every day, she was cooking hams, turkeys, beef roasts, vegetables, sauces, and stuffings, plus monster breakfasts every day, and she cooked a 10" fruit pie every single day for every man on the crew. These guys were working their butts off and burning the calories, and my grandmother was keeping them in trim. She was a monster in the kitchen.

 

[Astronuc]

I often spice my food with hot curry (lots of coriander and cumin, as well as fenugreek and tumeric) with hot sauce.

 

[turbo]

We use hot curries a lot in stir-fries. Those are fun dished to just "wing it" with whatever's on hand. A pretty simple, generic dish might start with pieces of chicken going into the wok in really hot peanut oil - brown that and stir in chopped chilis, bell peppers and onions, and maybe string beans and/or carrots. If carrots are used, they should go in the wok at the same time as the chicken, because they take longer to cook than the other vegetables. When the vegetables are cooked but still firm, add in some chicken or turkey broth that we made previously (frozen in blocks in the chest freezer) and hot curry, black pepper, and salt to taste. Serve over hot basmati rice. Mmmm! That's a really quick, easy meal.

Last night, my wife got an idea about making a vegetable soup with lentils and Swiss chard. I was skeptical, but it was pretty darned good with a grilled cheese on rye.

 

[Astronuc]

Well I demonstrated tonight that Dole's Orange-Strawberry-Banana drink does not go well with a savory Garlic Chicken Pasta. A hint of orange or lemon juice would have been OK, but the strawberry-banana taste combined with the sweet fruit juices (and I'm guessing high fuctose corn syrup) just does not go well with the garlic and spices.

It's a good thing that I can eat anything regardless of taste, because I'll end up eating most of it.

 

[turbo]

Well I demonstrated tonight that Dole's Orange-Strawberry-Banana drink does not go well with a savory Garlic Chicken Pasta. A hint of orange or lemon juice would have been OK, but the strawberry-banana taste combined with the sweet fruit juices (and I'm guessing high fuctose corn syrup) just does not go well with the garlic and spices.

It's a good thing that I can eat anything regardless of taste, because I'll end up eating most of it.

Ooh! I am impressed by your adventurous nature, but I could not have been prompted to try that combination under any circumstances. Generally, when I think of garlic and chicken, that drives me to simple acids (maybe lime or lemon), fresh-ground black pepper and maybe branching out to parprika, basil, oregano for seasonings, and then finishing the dish with a complementary fruit or vegetable to round out the dish. In college, I'd raid my meager larder and come up with dishes that sometimes ended up being favorites. My roommate would have married me if I was female even if I was not cute. When I told him that I was making a batch of lentil soup, he'd flip.

 

[Astronuc]

Ooh! I am impressed by your adventurous nature, but I could not have been prompted to try that combination under any circumstances. Generally, when I think of garlic and chicken, that drives me to simple acids (maybe lime or lemon), fresh-ground black pepper and maybe branching out to parprika, basil, oregano for seasonings, and then finishing the dish with a complementary fruit or vegetable to round out the dish. In college, I'd raid my meager larder and come up with dishes that sometimes ended up being favorites. My roommate would have married me if I was female even if I was not cute. When I told him that I was making a batch of lentil soup, he'd flip.

Well, yes - I realized my error as soon as I poured the juice. Usually I use orange or lemon, which has worked in the past.

I have done some pretty weird stuff in the past, but then I'll eat whatever I cook - even if no one else will.

Certainly hot sauce or curry will repair the damage.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Our new member tacosareveryyum just reminded me: Yesterday I found the elusive REAL fried taco shells at a fast-food place near here. Hurray!

Their food is probably as good as any fine Mexican restaurant. And I found the same to be true in L.A. The best tacos that I ever had [tripe tacos] were from a hole-in-the-wall in one of the worst parts of the city.

 

[Evo]

It is supposed to freeze tonight so my mom went to go and pick all of the ripe tomotoes, I told her she should pick the green ones to and try making the green tomatoe salsa as well. I hope she gives it a try because it sounds yummy.

Scorpa try this, it's a version of Ninfa's Green sauce. It is fabulous!

3 medium avocados
3 medium green tomatoes
4 fresh tomatillos
3 garlic cloves
3 sprigs fresh cilantro
2-3 jalapenos
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1/2 teaspoon salt, to taste

Peel avocados and place them in a blender.
In a medium saucepan, boil tomates, tomatillos, garlic, and jalapenos for 15 minutes.
Remove from saucepan and place all ingredients in a blender with avocados.
Add sour cream and blend until smooth

http://www.recipezaar.com/34965