What are you cooking?

[Fishmanic]

having baked salmon with homemade garlic/lemon/honey mustard sauce... with salad and macaroni and cheese

 

[Back in the fold]

Ramen Noodles. The breakfast , lunch and supper of champions.

 

[jaylach]

Veggie pizza. No pepperoni on a pizza for me, too greasy.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

On Saturday I made up a years worth of my pasta meat sauce. I freeze it I do not jar it. It also doubles, with alterations, as pizza sauce and lasagna filling with cheese. Plus I make chicken cutlet parm with it.

I use ground beed and ground sweet Italian sausages for the meat. The recipe came to my mother in the 1950s from a Swiss au pair who lived wih us for a few years. The girls mother was of Swiss/Itlian heritage and the recipe was the mom's. It is not written down and I add all the ingredients by eye and by taste.

This is tricky as the sauce needs to simmer for some time and then it comntinue to season for the next day or two. I have to get that taste right from the start but never know if I have for at least a day. The neat part is no two batches are exactly the same, but they are always delicious.

The worst part is I ran out many months ago and it took me forever to do this batch.

 

[jaylach]

On Saturday I made up a years worth of my pasta meat sauce. I freeze it I do not jar it. It also doubles, with alterations, as pizza sauce and lasagna filling with cheese. Plus I make chicken cutlet parm with it.

I use ground beed and ground sweet Italian sausages for the meat. The recipe came to my mother in the 1950s from a Swiss au pair who lived wih us for a few years. The girls mother was of Swiss/Itlian heritage and the recipe was the mom's. It is not written down and I add all the ingredients by eye and by taste.

This is tricky as the sauce needs to simmer for some time and then it comntinue to season for the next day or two. I have to get that taste right from the start but never know if I have for at least a day. The neat part is no two batches are exactly the same, but they are always delicious.

The worst part is I ran out many months ago and it took me forever to do this batch.

I also cook large and freeze. I have a 2 gallon crock pot that I fill. With sketty sauce I cook pretty much all day then put in the fridge and cook again the next day. My measuring spoons are the palm of my hand. Try using chicken some time. Also, while it may sound odd, Polish Sausage is also good when cooking low and slow. I also always add sugar to any tomato based sauce. Tomatoes are acidic and sugar is a base. Acids and bases cancel each other.

I do the same with stews and chili. I make a big batch and freeze in quart freezer bags then into my chest freezer it goes. I even have a stand that holds the freezer bage open and upright.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I made shepherd's pie tonight, with elk as the meat and shredded potatoes instead of mashed. Not too shabby.

 

[jaylach]

This discussion made me think of a friend I had when living in Ft Worth, TX. Now I'm a GOOD cook but he was better in areas and we would compete a bit sharing dinners. When it came to such stuff as pasta and stews I would blow him out of the water. When it came to more exotic and sea food he would kick my butt.

We were talking about food one time and he brought up a problem he had getting a woman to cook for him. I asked him something like "OK, ... Last woman you had over for dinner; what did you make?". He answered with 'duck à l'orange'. I was like... "Dude, of course she won't cook as you intimidated her. Next time in the first cook situation make her a burger and fries; burn the burger and have the fries half raw. If she has any cooking talent she will just about beg to do the cooking the next time.".

This goes both ways. I LOVE good green chili and think about making at times but back down. Again, when I lived in TX I dated a lady that made green Chile that I could never match. Shoot, at one time, she owned a bar/restaurant in Arizona. Twice a week she would do green chili as a special and had people driving 50/60 miles to get. I mean her stuff was totally scratch starting with a beef and pork roast in a stock pot. One of the best cooks I ever met; her smothered pork chops were to die for!

LOL! Funny thing with the green chili lady (Valerie) and me was that she was half Black Foot Indian and looked the part with the hooked nose and black straight hair she also a bit tall at like a bit over 6 feet. Now I was 5 foot 8 inches with long hair and a mustache. Few people called us Jay and Valerie; they tended to call us Sonny and Cher. To get the picture here is a picture of me and the perfect dog that shows my appearance not that long after Valerie. Sad to say that the image looks nothing like me today but the dog trying to be a lap critter was the best black lab that ever existed.... Sorry, I rambling so I shall end.

 

[jaylach]

Just something to think about... Do you like scrambled eggs? Most people will whip the eggs with milk but this is wrong. Just once try just using water instead of milk; you will probably never go back to milk. The reason that we add liquid to scrambled eggs is that the liquid evaporating makes the eggs light anfd fluffy. Adding milk actually defeats this as you end up with all the milk solids left in the eggs which makes them dense. Just adding water adds the fluffy with nothing left but the eggs.

Also try adding just a bit of dried or fresh basil to the egg/water whip. In this prep dried basil actually works better.

Now, if making french toast, it is different and you want to use milk. With french toast you actually want the milk solids and the goal is to make a light custard on the bread which requires the milk to form. Another hint on this is to use stale bread as it will do better on absorbing the custard mix. A lot of people mix in some cinnamon in the egg mix. Try a bit of nutmeg instead. And don't just dip the bread in the egg mix, let the stale bread soak in the egg mix for a minute or two. Does not actually change the flavor that much but does a lot as to texture. It turns the whole thing into sort of a fried bread pudding with the nutmeg giving the mystique you can't quite figure out just as with old school stroganoff recipes.

All the above leads to this... Figure that you have made the french toast as advised. It becomes the bread for a breakfast sandwich. High temp sear some very thinly sliced flank steak and add caramelized onions and bell peppers (would want to partially cook the onions and peppers first). When you add the steak also add just a little maple syrup and butter and let it cook down. You will never have a better breakfast sammich. Ham or bacon can replace the flank steak and is still awesome but I'd go with the flank steak.

 

[I Like Rare Fish]

Made this pineapple upside down cake the other day. Split open, but it was really good

 

[Back in the fold]

@jaylach You’re an old hippy ! I love it !

 

[Slaphppy7]

@jaylach You’re an old hippy ! I love it !

If you check my emoji, I may fall into that class, as well

Far out....

 

[Back in the fold]

If you check my emoji, I may fall into that class, as well

Far out....

I noticed the Three Dog Night thing a looong time ago. Always loved that song.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Groovy.

 

[Back in the fold]

Groovy.

You’re too young Sonny. You never saw a real flower child in your life. It was quite a time and will never come again. And that’s a shame.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

You’re too young Sonny. You never saw a real flower child in your life. It was quite a time and will never come again. And that’s a shame.

You might be right. I was a little kid at the tail end of the whole thing. Or maybe the movement got to Wyoming ten years after everywhere else.