Author Topic: Food and How you Cook/Eat it (2009-2012)  (Read 97354 times)

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Offline Nathan

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1725: September 05, 2012, 08:50:38 PM »
Butter!   

 :lmao:

Oil, at dangerously hot temperatures.   Flour sifted finely, fast enough to allow for completion before the early granules burn, but slow enough to maintain separation.



What the hell have I been making then?  :lol:

Whatever it's called, it's easy peasy and it thickens up stuff so whatevs :P

Offline tomterp

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1726: September 05, 2012, 09:07:42 PM »
What the hell have I been making then?  :lol:

Whatever it's called, it's easy peasy and it thickens up stuff so whatevs :P

Butter cannot be heated anywhere near hot enough to literally toast the individual granules of flour as they fall into the oil. 

But sure, flour in butter is technically a "roux", though not the acadian style.  For anyone interested, here's a very comprehensive history and culinary article on the topic.  One excerpt:

http://www.honestcuisine.com/archives/stuff/000658.html

Quote
To make a dark Cajun roux, Paul Prudhomme recommends adding the flour to oil heated to it's smoking point over a burner set as high as it can go and whisking like mad when you add the flour. This method will indeed brown the flour very quickly and you can end up with a wonderful dark roux in a matter of minutes. Of course, Paul Prudhomme has fair amount of experience making roux. He can whisk faster than most of us can ever hope to and he knows almost intuitively when good roux goes bad. My one and only attempt at this method, however, resulted in a neighbor calling the fire department.

From my experience this is damn tricky to do.  They don't call it Cajun Napalm for nothing.


Offline Nathan

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1727: September 05, 2012, 09:24:04 PM »
Butter cannot be heated anywhere near hot enough to literally toast the individual granules of flour as they fall into the oil. 

But sure, flour in butter is technically a "roux", though not the acadian style.  For anyone interested, here's a very comprehensive history and culinary article on the topic.  One excerpt:

http://www.honestcuisine.com/archives/stuff/000658.html

From my experience this is damn tricky to do.  They don't call it Cajun Napalm for nothing.



You use clarified butter, it can heat higher without smoking.  I guess cajun roux is different than french roux :shrug:

Offline Terpfan76

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1728: September 06, 2012, 09:21:45 AM »
My wife made me jambalya once. It was delicious!! She made it a bit too spicy for herself though.

Offline houston-nat

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1729: September 06, 2012, 11:44:38 AM »
My mom's figured out gumbo, but it does take her like 3 hours and she says making the roux nearly burns her hand it's so hot. She's got a pot that's like 15 inches tall too.

Mad props to LO! Especially for throwing in that much bacon. Mmmm.

Offline lastobjective

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1730: September 06, 2012, 06:14:21 PM »
My wife made me jambalya once. It was delicious!! She made it a bit too spicy for herself though.

That is on my to cook list. My to cook list is very long.

But my roommates don't seem to mind and it is still WAY cheaper than eating out and they enjoy sitting down and eating together.

Only limitation is that he only grill I can access is a charcoal grill that is public for everyone :( so it is too inconvenient to just grill on a whim unlike gas grills.

But the university is offering a farmer's market until the middle of Nov. I am milking that place until it ends. Fresh fruits and veggies are just amazing from local farmers. Corn and tomatoes especially are putstanding, as well as peaches. Local peaches for peach cobbler is heaven on earth, especially with french vanilla icecream :)

Going to make some tonight.

Offline Frau Mau

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1731: September 06, 2012, 06:48:25 PM »
We had veggie dogs marinated in sambal today on potato rolls with sweet relish.

I would love to know your peach cobbler recipe!!  :)

Offline lastobjective

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1732: September 07, 2012, 12:23:15 AM »
We had veggie dogs marinated in sambal today on potato rolls with sweet relish.

I would love to know your peach cobbler recipe!!  :)

It's pretty damn simple and I just BS it until it tastes fine. I don't use crust, just topping.

This is the closet recipe I found : http://allrecipes.com/recipe/peach-cobbler-i/
The only thing is that I don't peel the peaches - I think the cobbler is just fine with the skins left on! I also add a little more flour until the topping turns into LARGE crumbs. It is super good. This recipe looks delicious as well though :)

Offline Mathguy

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1733: September 07, 2012, 08:18:16 PM »
WOW !
Thank you LastObjective - I made this recipe tonight and it was AWESOME !


It's a good recipe so I'll share - I actually have 20 minutes to just wait around for it to finish.

This recipe requires you have a little cooking experience - need to know how to saute veggies and when to stop. If you are scared on how to make a rue look it up - there are many youtube videos and detailed instructions out there. Also if you want to make this recipe ahead of time, just do steps 1-4. Save the last step for when you want to serve the dish.

Time: 1.5 - 2.5 hrs
Ingredients:
5 slices bacon, cooked & diced (keep drippings)
4 tbsp flour
1.5 qt chicken broth
2 tbsp butter or margarine
2 large onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 small green pepper, minced
3 cups chopped okra
1 lb can peeled tomatoes, drained & chopped (keep liquid)
4 bay leaves
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
dash of Tabasco
dash of cayenne
dash of Worcestershire
2 lb shrimp, shelled & divined
1 lb crab meat or 6 crabs, cleaned (you can buy the cheapest canned crab meat in the store - look by the fish & meat department!)
Cooked Rice
Saltine crackers

Steps:

1. Fry bacon in heavy, non stick saucepan until crisp. Set bacon aside on paper towels.
2. Stir flour into drippings, cook until lightly browned, stirring constantly. This makes a rue. Gradually stir in some broth, avoiding lumps. It should be like gravy. Set aside.
3. Melt the butter/margarine in a soup pot, and add in onions, garlic, green peppers, and saute. Then add okra and tomatoes (drained).
4. Stir skillet (rue) mixture into soup pot. Add the tomato liquid, chicken broth, chopped bacon, and all seasoning. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for about 1 hour (steps 1-4 can be prepared ahead of time if need be).
5. About 30 minutes before serving, add seafood and salt if necessary. Cook slowly.

Serve along with cooked rice, crackers and Tabasco sauce. Enjoy!

Possible substitutions:
I substituted celery for green peppers today, didn't have any peppers on hand. Turns out fine.
You can easily "cheapen" this recipe by replacing some of the crab meat with cooked chicken breast. Just cook the chicken on the side, chop up, and add to the gumbo.

I'll post pictures soon, after the game.


Offline imref

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1734: September 07, 2012, 11:01:17 PM »
That is on my to cook list. My to cook list is very long.

But my roommates don't seem to mind and it is still WAY cheaper than eating out and they enjoy sitting down and eating together.

Only limitation is that he only grill I can access is a charcoal grill that is public for everyone :( so it is too inconvenient to just grill on a whim unlike gas grills.

But the university is offering a farmer's market until the middle of Nov. I am milking that place until it ends. Fresh fruits and veggies are just amazing from local farmers. Corn and tomatoes especially are putstanding, as well as peaches. Local peaches for peach cobbler is heaven on earth, especially with french vanilla icecream :)

Going to make some tonight.

google "wood badge jambalaya" and try the recipe, we make it on campouts and it is always a hit.  very very easy to make.

Offline Ali the Baseball Cat

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1735: September 07, 2012, 11:04:12 PM »
Looks pretty good.  Gotta pack in the sriracha of course...

Offline lastobjective

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1736: September 29, 2012, 03:27:53 PM »
Trying this recipe to made some homemade pizza dough. Usually (when I was at home) we'd just use Trader Joe's pizza dough for our homemade pies but without access to one here I thought it'd be fun to do our own. Tastes better, anyways. I don't have a mixer though so just kneaded by hand.

http://www.annies-eats.com/2010/04/29/perfect-homemade-pizza-crust-tips-and-tricks/

Offline hammondsnats

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1737: September 29, 2012, 04:45:30 PM »
to you RU folks, i cooked up some homemade crusties a week or two ago ... oh the memories. 

Offline lastobjective

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1738: September 29, 2012, 07:14:01 PM »
Trying this recipe to made some homemade pizza dough. Usually (when I was at home) we'd just use Trader Joe's pizza dough for our homemade pies but without access to one here I thought it'd be fun to do our own. Tastes better, anyways. I don't have a mixer though so just kneaded by hand.

http://www.annies-eats.com/2010/04/29/perfect-homemade-pizza-crust-tips-and-tricks/
Turned out very well, would have been better with a pizza stone.

http://imgur.com/iKCPd,ztw54

Offline imref

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1739: September 29, 2012, 10:44:52 PM »
to you RU folks, i cooked up some homemade crusties a week or two ago ... oh the memories. 

wow.

to get the true impact you would have to get drunk, order them at 1 AM, and eat them at 2 AM.


Offline 1995hoo

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1740: October 01, 2012, 03:54:09 PM »
My parents came over for dinner last night and I grilled some porterhouses, which I then served with chimichurri sauce I made yesterday afternoon (the sauce is in the second picture).

I think I may have gone a bit overboard with these steaks. None of us finished. But this is the size the Springfield Butcher sells, and I had two Groupons to use.




Online Slateman

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1741: October 01, 2012, 04:01:05 PM »
My parents came over for dinner last night and I grilled some porterhouses, which I then served with chimichurri sauce I made yesterday afternoon (the sauce is in the second picture).

I think I may have gone a bit overboard with these steaks. None of us finished. But this is the size the Springfield Butcher sells, and I had two Groupons to use.

(Image removed from quote.)

(Image removed from quote.)

WHere is this butcher's shop?

Offline 1995hoo

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1742: October 01, 2012, 04:14:33 PM »
WHere is this butcher's shop?

Springfield Plaza—strip mall on Old Keene Mill Road a short distance west of I-95. If you were facing the shopping center from Old Keene Mill Road, the butcher shop is at about the 2 o'clock position. There's a K-Mart at the far end of the shopping center and a Hard Times Cafe next to that. If you continue on around to the right from there the butcher shop is on the separate small wing off to the right next to the Subway. It's a little easy to miss because the sign on the facade simply says "Butcher" and the window contains athletic jerseys (including a Strasburg jersey) rather than meat!

Here is a map link. Springfield is a little tricky to get around if you don't know the streets quite well. If you're coming from I-95, the easiest thing is to pass under the overpass just to the west of the Interstate, then make the next right turn, then turn left into the shopping center just after the road curves to the right.

Online JCA-CrystalCity

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1743: October 01, 2012, 04:44:33 PM »
near Paper Moon.

Offline lastobjective

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1744: October 08, 2012, 09:05:49 PM »
Anyone have any good bread recipes? I don't have a bread machine or a mixer so hand-knead only recipes.

Offline lastobjective

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1745: October 13, 2012, 09:14:52 PM »
Made some soft pretzels as comfort food. First time, there were freaking delicious. Anyone with a SLIGHT amount of patience should try making them, but maybe half the or quarter the recipe if you're alone.



Salt ones on the top, cheese one int he middle, sugar and cinnamon ones on the bottom. All were delicious.

Recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/buttery-soft-pretzels/

Offline GburgNatsFan

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1746: October 13, 2012, 09:35:43 PM »
Oh my God those look great.
Made some soft pretzels as comfort food. First time, there were freaking delicious. Anyone with a SLIGHT amount of patience should try making them, but maybe half the or quarter the recipe if you're alone.

(Image removed from quote.)

Salt ones on the top, cheese one int he middle, sugar and cinnamon ones on the bottom. All were delicious.

Recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/buttery-soft-pretzels/


Offline imref

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1747: October 13, 2012, 09:57:04 PM »
Made some soft pretzels as comfort food. First time, there were freaking delicious. Anyone with a SLIGHT amount of patience should try making them, but maybe half the or quarter the recipe if you're alone.

(Image removed from quote.)

Salt ones on the top, cheese one int he middle, sugar and cinnamon ones on the bottom. All were delicious.

Recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/buttery-soft-pretzels/

I make them every year for Christmas, we've done a german-style meal the last few years, sauerbraten, pretzels, red cabbage, potato dumplings.

here' the recipe I use, though i've been told if I "really" want the real thing I've got to get brave enough to use food-grade lye for the water bath rather than baking soda.

http://www.theoktoberfest.com/HTML/pretzel/index.html

Also, use the left-overs to make great sandwiches with brie, ham and mustard.  If you don't want to do the work, the german gourmet in falls church has really really good frozen pretzels

Offline lastobjective

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1748: October 13, 2012, 10:04:39 PM »
here' the recipe I use, though i've been told if I "really" want the real thing I've got to get brave enough to use food-grade lye for the water bath rather than baking soda.
I wonder where I could get food grade lye, I saw that the "original" recipe calls for it. Thanks, gotta try it.

I've got a lot of German in my blood but we're so far removed from it that all we cook is the bastardized/Americanized versions of German food. So it'd be cool to really make some authentic German cuisine. Thanks for the recipe.

But if all you want is your Auntie Ann's fix that recipe I got is great.

Probably my favorite pretzels come from the Lancaster County Dutch Market in Germantown. They're really fresh (you probably have to wait a couple minutes for them to be done, so they're piping hot) and stunningly delicious. However I wanted to make something that was a little healthier (less butter dipping), cheaper, and that didn't require me to wait until Thursday to get them.

Offline imref

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Re: Food and How you Cook/Eat it.
« Reply #1749: October 13, 2012, 10:08:29 PM »
I wonder where I could get food grade lye, I saw that the "original" recipe calls for it. Thanks, gotta try it.

I've got a lot of German in my blood but we're so far removed from it that all we cook is the bastardized/Americanized versions of German food. So it'd be cool to really make some authentic German cuisine. Thanks for the recipe.

http://www.amazon.com/Grade-Sodium-Hydroxide-Micro-Beads/dp/B001EDBEZM

A few years ago when I was looking into it i found a discussion on a message board in which a few folks said the lye they sell at lowes is the same thing, i would never try it though.