What can you expect in the Food Thread on PF?

[turbo]

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

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

 

[Ivan Seeking]

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

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Are you eating while posting this ?

No, but I just killed some leftovers.

 

[Proton Soup]

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

 

[Evo]

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

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

 

[lisab]

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

Wow, that post made me crave Pinto beams .

 

[turbo]

Pinto beams .

Never had them basil! Are they woody? Do they have have reliable structural properties?

 

[Evo]

Wow, that post made me crave Pinto beams .

LOL, I do believe those are illegal in Texas chili.

 

[lisab]

Never had them basil! Are they woody? Do they have have reliable structural properties?

Lol...it's been a long day .

 

[Astronuc]

Lawry's Pasty Recipe

Makes four pasties

Crust

2 cups flour

2/3 cup shortening

1/2 cup water

Dash salt

Preheat oven to 400F degrees.

Cut shortening into flour and salt, add water and knead until well blended. Form into four balls and chill. Coat with plenty of flour and roll into circles.

Filling

3/4 pound ground chuck or cubed steak

3 cups diced potatoes

1/2 cup each of diced onion and rutabaga (or turnip with or without diced carrot)

2 tablespoons dried parsley

Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Divide into four equal portions and place in center of each crust. Fold over and seal edges. Bake at 400F degrees for 50 to 60 minutes.

We baked ours at 375F for about 60 min and turn up the heat the last 5-10 min to get the outside crusty.

Ref: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113207915#113204745

 

[turbo]

My wife and I have been experimenting with biscuits because we love them and big batches are just too big to deal with. Now, we cut lots of biscuits and freeze them in Zip-Loc bags separated by squares of freezer paper. Want biscuits for breakfast tomorrow? Take a couple out of the freezer and put them in the 'fridge to thaw. In the morning, preheat the little toaster oven to 475, put the biscuits in for 5 minutes and shut off the oven. When they are browned, they're perfect (maybe another 10 minutes or so). Fresh biscuits in very tiny batches. I'm going to take some up to my father's place tomorrow - living alone, he doesn't cook properly for himself. We use the Bakewell Cream recipe, and fold and roll the dough many times to make lots of thin flaky layers. That recipe is perfectly suited for freezing!

 

[Evo]

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

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

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

It's delicious. :)

I imagine it's delicious and some of my soups probably would have lists almost as loneg if I wrote them down. I just tend to flat line after 10 ingredients.

 

[Evo]

turbo, I might salvage enough banana peppers off of my plant to make one jar of refrigerator pickles. Any suggestions?

It's so cold that all of those peppers on my plants have refused to grow, I probably have a hundred fingernail sized peppers that will never grow any bigger, they've been stunted for weeks now.

 

[turbo]

turbo, I might salvage enough banana peppers off of my plant to make one jar of refrigerator pickles. Any suggestions?

It's so cold that all of those peppers on my plants have refused to grow, I probably have a hundred fingernail sized peppers that will never grow any bigger, they've been stunted for weeks now.

Download a basic recipe for dill pickles, and buy enough pickling cucumbers to make a jar or two of pickles. Also, be sure to get a bulb or two of nice fresh garlic, and if you can, get some fresh dill weed, or (better yet!) some dill florets. Make up the pickles as usual, but jar them and refrigerate them immediately. The lack of processing will make the pickles brine more slowly, but lots of people like the way the flavors develop when they are done this way. Generally, I let refrigerator pickles brine for at least a month, though the neighbors couldn't wait and have been digging in since the second week. The little girls (4 and 6) love them, even with the additional heat and richness of the jalapeno, cayenne, and Russian garlic.

When I was in college, I was friends with an older couple who owned a well-respected restaurant, and they made all their pickles this way, since they raised their own cattle and had a huge walk-in cooler to use to make their pickles in. I'd show up at night, and she'd say "don't go downstairs yet, sweetie, because John is bringing out a nice seafood newburg on the steam-table, and we'll have toast-points". Nice people. They knew when us college denizens were struggling, and they did their best to keep our souls and bodies connected. I dragged friends and relatives there for meals and parties for years, and they greeted me like an old friend every time.

Edit: BTW, John ran the kitchen all by himself. He had minimal prep-staff (only during busy times) and your wait-times were proportional to the traffic. If you showed up when the place was busy, you would order, and then be deluged with so many Oronoko appetizers... Refrigerator pickles, potato pancakes and applesauce, baked beans and horseradish, the list would go on and on. A sit-down meal in that place on a busy day could easily take 3 hours, but you'd be satisfied, happy, and probably going home with a doggie-bag before it was all over. We took my brother-in-law there for his birthday once and his was the last meal delivered. He had ordered prime rib, and it was so big that it took extra time to prepare, compared to our filet of sole, scallops, etc. When it came out, people at an adjacent table jumped up with cameras and asked him not to cut into it until they got a picture of him with that platter of meat. When we were winding down, the waitress came out with a lovely two-layer birthday cake, and had only guessed one candle wrong on the age.

I'd like to see RR, Emeril, etc, go head-to-head against John and see their money-men go head-to-head with John's wife. They were a perfect storm in the restaurant trade.

 

[turbo]

Supper last night was wonderful. Yesterday was a raw, wet day with snow flurries mixed into the showers, and I wanted a simple meal of cold-weather comfort food. My wife had appointments after work and I wanted to have a nice meal waiting for her. A few days ago, she bought a smoked shoulder from the local custom butcher (they cure and smoke bacon, shoulders, hams, etc at their own smoke-house using no nitrates - just salt brine and maple smoke). I simmered that for several hours in water seasoned with black pepper, garlic, and whole cloves of garlic. About an hour before she was to get back home, I peeled and cut up a bunch of carrots that we dug on Monday and put those in a steaming rack in a covered saucepan. Next was a pan of potato chunks, garlic cloves and a whole quartered yellow onion. With about 40 minutes to go, I started cooking both of those, and was mashing the potatoes, onion, and garlic together just as she was coming in the front door. Yum! I'm trying to watch my weight, but I still had to go back for seconds.

 

[Evo]

Today was a good food day at work. First, my meat hunter brought in an absolutely delectable elk dish. The meat melted in your mouth. He won't tell what his seasonings or techniques are.

Then I found out that they were selling unlimited deer chili for $1 a bowl, free refills, and that it was awesome, I was too busy to get away to get some. :(

Then someone walked in my office and handed my an ice cream sandwich that were being handed out for free.

Oh, I also got a baggie of fresh homemade elk jerky.

Elk is very tasty, not like venison, not gamey.

 

[Borek]

Must be they ALL wanted to comfort you

 

[Evo]

Yesterday I got another elk feast at work. I never would have guessed ittasted so good and was so moist and soft. It might just be how he cooks it though.

 

[dlgoff]

It's all in the marinade I think.

Elk is very tasty, not like venison, not gamey.

And venison can be just a good.

 

[Sorry!]

It's all in the marinade I think.

And venison can be just a good.

I thought elk WAS venison. I've never had elk before but I've had deer plenty of times and it tastes delicious I thought :)

 

[mbrmbrg]

My mother-in-law gave us a new pizza stone that they had lying around the garage, and it is amazing. But how is one supposed to clean a pizza stone? Wipe it down with kosher salt while it's still hot? I'm sensing that soap is a very, very bad idea.

 

[Sorry!]

My mother-in-law gave us a new pizza stone that they had lying around the garage, and it is amazing. But how is one supposed to clean a pizza stone? Wipe it down with kosher salt while it's still hot? I'm sensing that soap is a very, very bad idea.

yeah never use water/soap on it you will taste it when you go to use it again :P

I guess you could rub it with kosher salt. What I would do though is bake it for a while and anything that burns on the stone will come off easily. You could also use like a knife to gently scrape it away.

 

[mbrmbrg]

yeah never use water/soap on it you will taste it when you go to use it again :P

I guess you could rub it with kosher salt. What I would do though is bake it for a while and anything that burns on the stone will come off easily. You could also use like a knife to gently scrape it away.

Do you have any idea how long I should bake it for? If this takes anywhere nearly as long as self-cleaning an oven, I might just take my husband's advice and put it away dirty.

Thanks!

 

[Evo]

Do you have any idea how long I should bake it for? If this takes anywhere nearly as long as self-cleaning an oven, I might just take my husband's advice and put it away dirty.

Thanks!

Like cast iron, you can just warm it, then pour in salt then scrub it with a paper towel unti the paper looks clean.

 

[Evo]

I got another *fix* from my meat connection. This time I bought a couple of 18 ounce porterhouse steaks and a crate of filet mignon.

It's not so much the price as it is restaurant specified dry aged prime beef. You CANNOT buy that in a store. It's from a restauarant supply that specially ages the beef for a famous restaurant, but if they don't buy it all every night, he will sell off the leftovers at cost. (YAY)

 

[mbrmbrg]

Like cast iron, you can just warm it, then pour in salt then scrub it with a paper towel unti the paper looks clean.

Thanks!

 

[turbo]

I have delicacies waiting for me to cook for suppers. One of my neighbors shot a deer this afternoon, and like last year, he asked me to gut it out for him. He was born in Maine, but spent the last 45 years or so in Massachusetts and never learned how to gut a deer. Now he is retired and he's pretty excited about shooting a buck for the second year in a row. He and his wife like steaks OK, but they want the deer all cut up and packaged for them, and they don't want the organ meat. Yay! I have a nice venison liver and heart soaking in a weak brine solution right now, and will rinse, slice and pack them for future meals. I'll freeze the bulk of the liver and about 1/2 the heart, though some have to be fried up and eaten while fresh - heaven!

My organic-gardening vegetarian neighbor brought his grand-daughters down to watch me clean out the deer. It took me about 15 minutes to dress the deer because we had to pause periodically to point out the intestines, stomach, liver, lungs, heart, etc. The girls are 4 and 6 and they are VERY curious about life sciences, astronomy, geology, etc.

Al is not at all judgmental about eating meat or killing animals - not eating meat is a personal choice for him. He does most of the cooking for the family, and he is a master at BBQ. When he grills baby-back ribs over a wood fire, the aroma is amazing, and the ribs practically fall apart when he picks them up to turn or serve them.

 

[physics girl phd]

...they don't want the organ meat...

Travesty! Sometimes just looking at raw organ neat makes me want to eat it right then and there raw (though I haven't). It's just so full of the good stuff like iron.

 

[Sorry!]

Hey any PFers want to share some of their recipes for chicken wings?

I've always wanted to make up some wings but I don't really know how to go about making the sauce...

 

[Evo]

Hey any PFers want to share some of their recipes for chicken wings?

I've always wanted to make up some wings but I don't really know how to go about making the sauce...

The best chicken wing recipe I've ever made/had was just wings sauteed in butter with HOT paprika. You could add hot sauce if you want more of a venagar flavor, or add cayenne pepper if you want them hotter, but I think they're perfect as is, and so does everyone that's had them. The heat from hot paprika will surprise you.

I like making mini drumsticks out of the wings for easier eating. You get the main wing joint and pull the meat down over one end creating a "drumette".

Gigots, or small legs, are made from chicken wing drumettes by cutting around the bony base of the first wing section (the one nearest the breast) and using a towel for gripping, pushing the meat back over itself to make a package of meat on the end of the bone handle.

So easy to do and incredibly easy to handle and eat. I can't believe that people hassle with trying to gnaw tiny chicken wing bones when this process takes a second.

This is what they look like.

 

[lisab]

It's a cold and stormy night here in the Great Pacific Northwest of the US...perfect night for http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1571516" .

I think I may have posted that recipe before , but oh well...it's delicious.

 

[Evo]

It's a cold and stormy night here in the Great Pacific Northwest of the US...perfect night for http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1571516" .

I think I may have posted that recipe before , but oh well...it's delicious.

Oooh, thanks for that lisab, very similar to my chili, except I also throw in a bay leaf, that was a tip from the mother of one of my old boyfriends. I will try the bacon and Worcestershire. A tip I picked up from the Terlingua, TX chili cook off was to use beef bouillion and reduce the salt.

 

[Evo]

I now have 3 frozen turkeys, one smoked and two plain. Walmart had turkeys on sale for 40 cents a pound. If I had more freezer space, I'd get more.

 

[lisab]

Oooh, thanks for that lisab, very similar to my chili, except I also throw in a bay leaf, that was a tip from the mother of one of my old boyfriends. I will try the bacon and Worcestershire. A tip I picked up from the Terlingua, TX chili cook off was to use beef bouillion and reduce the salt.

A tip if you try that recipe: using fire-roasted tomatoes really makes a difference. http://www.muirglen.com/products/fireroasted_detail.aspx"

Also, smoked paprika is a bit tough to find, but it's worth the search - it also really adds to the smoky flavor.

 

[Evo]

A tip if you try that recipe: using fire-roasted tomatoes really makes a difference. http://www.muirglen.com/products/fireroasted_detail.aspx"

Also, smoked paprika is a bit tough to find, but it's worth the search - it also really adds to the smoky flavor.

I love Hunts, so I use Hunts fire roasted tomatoes. I can't find smoked paprika, I had a tough time getting them to get the hot paprika, I may have to buy it online.