Cooking and food thread

[Last Child of Ungoliant]

Recipe for Pasta:

In a small amount of olive oil, sweat off some onion and mushroom,
add a finely chopped clove of garlic, a pinch of Herbes de Provence,
and four tablespoons of fresh pesto, take off the heat.

mix two tablespoons of vintage balsamic vinegar with a small block of parmesan, grated

mix both mixtures together with your pasta, and top with mature cheddar

a perfect pasta salad!

[The Gaffer]

OK, enough recipe swapping

What's the most disgusting thing you've ever eaten?

I think it was, in my case, pochole, which is a traditional mexican stew made of pork and corn.

I had been impressing my hosts with my liking of hot chillies and ability to pronounce "quetzalcoche" and I was getting carried away. When I asked what it was, I was told you could have it two ways: like a poofy "gringo" or the traditional, real man's way.

Naturally, I plumped for the latter. Apparently the difference is that the "real man's" way is with using the traditional peasant ingredients, i.e. EAR, CHEEK, LIP, UNIDENTIFIED BIT FOUND BEHIND THE FRIDGE, etc of pig. Not exactly the prime cuts, then.

I had these huge, rubbery lumps of indigestible kak lolling about in my gob.

Somehow I managed not to barf, but worse was to come. Exacttly 18 hours afterwards I was struck down by Montezuma's Revenge and spent the rest of the week passing rusty water.

[Insidious Rex]

pleasent... isnt that also called menudo? or is that something else? maybe thats the mexican stew made with tripe.

Well Ive had boiled sheeps head before. Its edible as long as you dont look at the thing.

[Insidious Rex]

Quick! dont you make stuffing with cream?? And I should add this is oyster stuffing cooked as a casserole. Not in the turkey.

[jerseydevil]

Originally Posted by Insidious Rex

Quick! dont you make stuffing with cream?? And I should add this is oyster stuffing cooked as a casserole. Not in the turkey.

I don't. I use stove top stuffing as the base, then I fry up a package of bacon - not crispy - dice up half a large onion, cut up 3 - 4 stalks of celary and add it to the water that is used to make the stuffing. let it boil - then add the bread crumbs that come in the stove top package. I then stuff the turkey.

[Lief Erikson]

Originally Posted by Insidious Rex

Well Ive had boiled sheeps head before. Its edible as long as you dont look at the thing.

When my younger brother was a baby, I gave him some mud to eat, and he ate it. What an expression he made!

[Insidious Rex]

Originally Posted by Lief Erikson

When my younger brother was a baby, I gave him some mud to eat, and he ate it. What an expression he made!

Remind me to tell you about my friends little brother and the night crawler incident...

[Baby-K]

Originally Posted by The Gaffer

I had these huge, rubbery lumps of indigestible kak lolling about in my gob.

Know any South Africans?

Nurv, the hard & fast rules of the past when it comes to matching wines with food (red meats = red wines / white meats = white wines) are a thing of the past, nowadays it's pretty much a question of what you like and how it compliments the food (you don't want the taste of the wine to overpower the dish you are serving).

For instance I love red wines, especially Shiraz and on the odd occasion a merlot or pinot noir, but these are all rather robust wines so it wouldn't do to have them with a delicately flavoured dish such as saffron-yoghurt chicken (saffron is a very delicate flavour and you wouldn't taste a thing if you had a heavy red with it) - in that case I'd rather go for a light dry white or if you prefer a semi-sweet (ugh) maybe a fruitier off-dry. Not to say that I don't drink red wine with fish dishes though.

To me the weather also plays a big role - if I am entertaining outside in summer I'd rather serve white wine than red, it just 'feels' lighter, in winter I'd rather serve red or gluwhein (spiced wine).

Whatever you do though, make sure you know the wine you are serving (test a few different types and decide on your favourite before serving them to anyone else), the worst thing is to open a bottle of wine and no-one can drink the stuff. Oh and have more than one bottle of wine on hand when entertaining, make them of different types too as everyone doesn't drink the same thing.

[Last Child of Ungoliant]

i drinks whatever i got in the kitchen *hic* *hic,hic*, lol

[BeardofPants]

Baby-K... You have exquisite taste in wine. Anyone who likes shiraz roxxors the oneoneone in my book.

[Rían]

Originally Posted by Baby-K

Nurv, the hard & fast rules of the past when it comes to matching wines with food (red meats = red wines / white meats = white wines) are a thing of the past, nowadays it's pretty much a question of what you like and how it compliments the food (you don't want the taste of the wine to overpower the dish you are serving).

For instance I love red wines, especially Shiraz and on the odd occasion a merlot or pinot noir, but these are all rather robust wines so it wouldn't do to have them with a delicately flavoured dish such as saffron-yoghurt chicken (saffron is a very delicate flavour and you wouldn't taste a thing if you had a heavy red with it) - in that case I'd rather go for a light dry white or if you prefer a semi-sweet (ugh) maybe a fruitier off-dry. Not to say that I don't drink red wine with fish dishes though.

To me the weather also plays a big role - if I am entertaining outside in summer I'd rather serve white wine than red, it just 'feels' lighter, in winter I'd rather serve red or gluwhein (spiced wine).

Whatever you do though, make sure you know the wine you are serving (test a few different types and decide on your favourite before serving them to anyone else), the worst thing is to open a bottle of wine and no-one can drink the stuff. Oh and have more than one bottle of wine on hand when entertaining, make them of different types too as everyone doesn't drink the same thing.

Good post!

Originally Posted by Nurv

But with campfires, food must be served with beer!

I've tried, but I still don't like beer
I like to cook sausages in beer, tho!

[Nurvingiel]

That was a great post Baby-K. I like Shiraz too, I've had some nice Australian ones.

I'm going to go see what my trainwreck of an attempt at baking bread turns out.

Just so you know, if you use older flour, use much less than what the recepie calls for because it soaks up the moisture much more. Let the dough speak to you. Only enough flour to make the dough not sticky is needed. If it's not sticking to your hands, stop adding flour, even if you've added much less than what the recepie calls for. That's what I learned today.

[Insidious Rex]

Anyone know how to make proper calamari without making it taste like rubber?

[jerseydevil]

Originally Posted by Insidious Rex

Anyone know how to make proper calamari without making it taste like rubber?

The basic secret is NOT to overcook them.

[Insidious Rex]

well... theres a fine line between tire tread and fish bait I have found... and you cross the line rather quickly. It seems to be an art...

[BeardofPants]

Sun-star, it might have to do with how everything's mushy.

Originally Posted by Insidious Rex

Anyone know how to make proper calamari without making it taste like rubber?

If you find out, let me know...

[Lizra]

Probably has to be "tentacly" fresh! I sort of like some chewiness...the same with clams. My fave is steamed (with a little wine+herbs) mussels. Hard to get good seafood in Indiana though....

[jerseydevil]

Originally Posted by Lizra

. Hard to get good seafood in Indiana though....

You don't need to tell me that. Here, when I was little, we lived on the shore - so we went right to the docks and got our fish as it was coming off the boats in Pt Pleasant (I went to school 3 blocks from the ocean). Can't get much fresher than that.

Calamari is difficult to make - but it's similar to most seafood I think. You just want to cook it for a very short time. Calamari should melt in your mouth and that's how I usually judge a good seafood restaurant. If they can make calamari - then they know how to cook seafood. In Indiana - we never had lobster or any kind of seafood out because they didn't know how to cook it and it would always be tough - especially lobster.

[Lizra]

Melt in your mouth calamari!? THAT I would like to try...asap! ....Wonder what kind wine will be best with that....

[Nurvingiel]

I've heard white wines go best with seafood. But I'm not a wine expert. Mmmm Calamari... so, when's dinner?


My cookbook has been a source of endless hilarity. Allow me to present the best quote of the Five Roses Cookbook - A Guide to Good Cooking, reprint of 1967 edition.

From the heading of the "Pastries and Pies" section... (p.74)

Every woman wants to make that perfect "melt-in-your-mouth" pastry that the family will brag about. Follow these simple but important rules, and a light, tender pastry will result.



That happens to be one of my goals in life, but it's not exactly the be-all-end-all of my existence...