BS: Mudcat foodies thread

Subject: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 25 Mar 07 - 05:55 PM

Being one who loves to cook and eat out, I thought I'd start a thread for any and all things related to cooking, eating, food history, family recollections, favorite food writers, recipes, and the like.

Do you feel a certain connection to friends through cooking and eating together that is much like a musical connection? Both are nourishing to the body and soul. Who are the people that have influenced your cooking and eating tastes and habits? Any favorite recipes to post? Just a few questions in what I hope to be a very open ended discussion about all thngs food related.

For starters, my family has most influenced me. My mother is a great cook, and has opened a world of food for us. The Julia Child revolution affected her and helped further open up her repertoire and fueled her natural curiosity. My sister is a food writer and lecturer, cookbook author...and one hell of a great cook, too. My father cooked Chinese food for the family every Wednesday night. outside of family, there are two food writers who most influence me: Claudia Roden, and Paula Wolfert. If you like Eastern Mediterraneran and North African food, you can't go wrong with them.

Chanteyranger

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 25 Mar 07 - 05:59 PM

Well - my husband's curry (I do not cook - I admire -- I sit at the breakfast bar and say, that smells wonderful dear - may I have another glass of wine....) has now come to represent monthly song circles or house concerts at Sinsull's. If any one wanted, I could ask him for the recipe.......

As soon as I smell a Chelsea Bun, I KNOW I am in England....

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: Rapparee
Date: 25 Mar 07 - 06:19 PM

1. Select the dinner you want.
2. Following the directions, heat it in the microwave.
3. Eat it.

Cooking is sooooooooooooooo simple. And all you have to do is remember my Prime Directive:

Non-toxic in, non-toxic out.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: autolycus
Date: 25 Mar 07 - 06:37 PM

I thoroughly recommend the Hasty Pudding recipe in the joke thread.

   Taken to more roll-mops herrings and picled cucmbers recently, a real throwback to the cuisine of my Lithuanian grandfather.


   A bloke writes. Cooking is easy. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just follow the recipe until the penny drops.






       Ivor

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: Bee
Date: 25 Mar 07 - 06:40 PM

My mother is a plain cook, and a gifted baker. My big cooking influences ended up being various flatmates... the Russian Jewish girl who was the very best cook I've ever known taught me everything from a proper chicken soup (start with whole chicken) to Italian yummies, zabaglione, baked beef heart with prunes and vegetables, and general kitchen skills .... the Burmese girl who taught me yummy sweet burmese curry noodle dishes with coconut milk and how to make carrot fudge .... the Dutch kids who taught me basic Indonesian style curries and a frightening dish consisting of potatoes, sausage coil and kale boiled in one pot....

With that base, I learned to cook other great ethnic dishes pretty easily. I love cooking.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: Rapparee
Date: 25 Mar 07 - 06:49 PM

I shouldn't denigrate my cooking, says my wife. I'm a decent cook, and can turn out a pretty good meal when I have the time to do so.

But I'm never again going to cook venison or any other pastitsio, because I swore that I would never, ever again make a beauchamel sauce from scratch.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 25 Mar 07 - 08:20 PM

So, you tired of being the pat'stitsio. Rapaire?

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: Rapparee
Date: 25 Mar 07 - 08:38 PM

No, just that a job that should have taken two hours tops took eight hours to finish.

It was delicious, but that's a bit much for me.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 25 Mar 07 - 08:55 PM

Confessing that you bit off more than you could chew, Rap?   :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Mar 07 - 09:06 PM

OK - I'm a self-confessed "foodie"
My apologies for posting various recipes for squirrel, moose etc I really LOVE cooking and daren't confess how many cook books I have although it's in the hundreds! (well a girl has to have a hobby)

Next weekend I have to plan a dinner menu for a double birthday party for 8 people - suggestions welcome.

p.s, I'm quite partial to good wines too :)

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: GUEST,Canadienne
Date: 25 Mar 07 - 09:07 PM

sorry - that was me !

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: Beer
Date: 25 Mar 07 - 09:28 PM

Mum was (still alive at 90) a great cook. Especially when there was nothing in the house to eat. Feeding 12 children was a chore but one I was to young to understand. I remember a few things though. Going to school with bread and lard as the spread. Lining up in the morning before school to get our cod liver oil dose. She use to go to the fish house and scrape the oil as it floated to the top. Take it home boil it and when cooled feed us. Then there was the potatoes and herring 5 days a week when the fishing was good. Porridge and bread and molasseses was a treat. Then Dad would get lucky and happen to catch a halibut or cod. Boy there was nothing like a stuffed baked halibut.
Those were the hard times and cherished memories.
Love you Mum.
Adrien

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: Bee
Date: 25 Mar 07 - 10:03 PM

Nothing wrong with a big stuffed baked haddock, either, Beer. We ate lots of that, and lots of homemade bread and molasses. Saturdays she'd bake beans, in the coal stove oven, in a crock with onions, pork scraps or bacon, and molasses, and bake brown bread in big juice cans with it.

Man, I hated cod liver oil, but we got bottles of it, not living near a fish house - there were small farms around us, so we had vegetables, and we kids picked every edible berry around for winter jams.

But my bro-in-law is a fisherman's son, and he remembers being ashamed when bringing lobster sandwiches to school every day because they couldn't afford balogna.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: GUEST,Cats
Date: 26 Mar 07 - 04:54 AM

I am an unashamed foodie. Wouldn't eat anything else! Last Saturday I did a dinner for another foodies birthday on the theme of 'A Dinner for an English Gentleman'. We had King Prawns in Brandy cream sauce served with Cornish asparagus and home baked rolls as a starter, Roast haunch of venison with a gin jus served with new potatoes, and local seasonal vegetables, followed by Port jelly [i.e. port set and nothing else added] with Cornish Clotted cream, fresh raspberries and shortbread, Cheeseboard then coffee and florentines. Wines were Lanson with the prawns, Presidents XV with the venison, Couvoisier XO with the coffee. The food miles were minimal. Conviviality superb, food exceptional even though I say so myself. Anyone want menu's - I'll quite happily design one for you.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: Scoville
Date: 26 Mar 07 - 11:11 AM

TexasCooking.com

The Gumbo Pages.

Texas & Louisiana, respectively. Includes recipes involving catfish (but not banjo. I've yet to discover how to filet a banjo).

And the Chitterling Site has a great sweet-potato pie recipe.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: JennyO
Date: 26 Mar 07 - 11:15 AM

I suppose if you don't cook a banjo properly, it will be a bit tough and stringy....

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: MMario
Date: 26 Mar 07 - 11:23 AM

Bee - re: lobster as "poor man's food" -- at a recent family gathering we were discussing the fact that various items we grew up eating becuase of their low cost; and that were scorned by our peers - such as lobster, mussels, whelk, various cuts of meat are now so pricey that they are trendy

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Mar 07 - 12:15 PM

I am a pasta foodie, just a lump of garlic, fresh sauted tomates and a bit of basil and olive on a plate of Penne...then garlic bread and a good Italian wine, can't beat it.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: MMario
Date: 26 Mar 07 - 12:37 PM

you don't need the tomatoes, either - a bit of basil, some garlic and the oil...

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: Scoville
Date: 26 Mar 07 - 12:42 PM

Re: cooking banjo

And don't forget to skin it first.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: ClaireBear
Date: 26 Mar 07 - 02:16 PM

Don't be silly. The banjo is not a food, it's a pan. You use it to make haggis in an oven. The skin head on the banjo releases its savor up through the haggis mixture, giving the haggis that je-ne-sais-quoi. Especially if the banjo player sweated a lot.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 26 Mar 07 - 02:32 PM

I raised my sons alone, and for several years before that did much of the cooking. Cooking has never been an art form for me... more of an enjoyable necessity. One of my great treasures is my Mother's recipe book which she copied for me, of all her favorite recipes. I still do a lot of cooking, and was pleased to see this thread. If we can make requests, I've been looking for a white chili recipe... chicken or turkey chili with garbanzo beans as a substitute for the usual kidney beans. I'd be glad to swap my treasured Cowboy Cake recipe for a chicken or turkey chili recipe. I paid one of my Folk-Legacy albums for the Cowboy Cake recipe at a concert that I did, many years ago.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 26 Mar 07 - 05:44 PM

Got this in my head earlier.. tune should be obvious.

Mayo, Mayonnaise,
Lunchtime comin and I want me lunch.
Mayo, Mayonnaise,
Lunchtime comin and I want me lunch.

Hey Mr Sandwich man, make me up a sandwich
Fresh, fresh butter and a crusty bun.
Egg mayonnaise please, make me up a sandwich,
Lunchtime comin and I want me lunch..

Well it amused me for a while.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: mrdux
Date: 26 Mar 07 - 06:53 PM

Canadienne --

Dinner party for 8? A couple weeks ago I did a dinner for six -- a cassoulet, with a loaf of crusty bread and a big green salad. And a couple old(er) bottles of wine. Baked apples for dessert. Everyone ate well, grinned a lot, and the whole thing was quite festive. If it sounds interesting I'll share the cassoulet recipe (it expands easily).

michael

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: GUEST,worker
Date: 26 Mar 07 - 07:16 PM

Dinner for 8. We had 6 last night including ourselves. We served baked salmon fillets, asparagus, baby new potatoes, served with various flatbreads and olives. It didn't take much labor in preparation and the results were successful for all.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: Rapparee
Date: 26 Mar 07 - 07:30 PM

Fresh Copper River King salmon (well, as fresh as possible) brushed with melted butter and dill, broiled and with fresh lemon juice squeezed on top just a few minutes before it's ready to serve. If you don't have King salmon, use what you have, but it's got to be wild caught.

Put some mayo in a small pan and heat it after stirring in some sweet curry. Be careful, since you want to release the curry flavor but not make the mayo seperate. Serve on steamed fresh aspargus.

Small red potatoes, washed, pricked all over, rolled in olive oil and sea salt, then microwaved or baked.

For dessert, fresh blackberries over angel food cake, topped with creme fraiche.

Enjoy with a good wine -- Thunderbird, Ripple, Boone's Farm....

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: bobad
Date: 26 Mar 07 - 07:33 PM

I can't find Ripple anywhere.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: GUEST,worker
Date: 26 Mar 07 - 07:35 PM

I never looked for them.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: Rapparee
Date: 26 Mar 07 - 07:43 PM

Doesn't matter, as long as it's got a screw top and costs less than USD 2.00 per liter.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: GUEST,Bardan
Date: 26 Mar 07 - 08:31 PM

mmmm. Food. I have to say I really miss Italy. The oil, the vegetables, the proper bisteche, the veal, the porcini, the bread, the pizze, the ham, the cheese... *stares vacantly and dribbles*.

I made a nice meal by accident a while back. The recipe's slightly approximate, but it's turned out nice a few times since.
I marinaded some tuna steaks in lemon juice, olive oil, pepper and copious ammounts of fresh coriander and stuck em on the barbecue. Then no-one bloody well turned up for ages. I stuck em in one of those aluminium trays, like the ones chinese takeaways come in only bigger and chucked in the marinade so they wouldn't completely dry out or burn. The marinade started to dry up so I kept adding wine and water. Still no-one came and they cooked so much they started to fall apart, to I broke em up and took the bones away and added the rice which I was originally going to serve them on. Turned out lovely when everyone finally arrived over an hour after they were meant to. (They were family so I forgave them.)

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 26 Mar 07 - 10:26 PM

Mr. Redux:

Cassoulet! Ah yes!!! I'd love to get your recipe. I used to have it a long time ago on a fairly regular basis and loved it. I'd forgotten all about it until I went to a dinner of soul food cooking, and someone brought a baked lima bean dish that tasted much like cassoulet.

One thing that I've been doing these last three years is revising old recipes to cut down on sugar and cholesterol. Some things work better than others. I've reached the point where my wife actually seems to prefer my spaghetti & meatballs made with whole grain spaghetti, and meatballs made of a mixture of turkey sausage and ground turkey. I've converted all of my pasta dishes that way, and while some (like baked ziti) don't measure up, at least I don't feel like I need to serve them on a tombstone, like the pasta I used to make.

A couple of weeks ago, I picked up a soup and casserole cook book that has a recipe for cassoulet in it. The italian sausage and bacon give it much of it's flavor, and I'm sceptical how it will taste substituting turkey sausage and turkey bacon. I doubt that it will be anywhere near as good, but I'm going to give it a shot. The good news is that these last three years, I've kept my weight 30 pounds below where it was for many years, my energy level is high, for a 71 year old, and my cholesterol and blood sugar are good without medication, even though I am diabetic. Whatever taste I sacrifice in cooking is more than made up for with my greater taste for living.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: Bee
Date: 26 Mar 07 - 11:30 PM

Jerry, besides the oily fats and red meat content, the flavour is likely in the spicing of the sausage. I would try to figure out what spices and herbs are in your favourite sausage, and add them to your recipe. Sometimes a subtle savoury (as opposed to sweet) flavour comes from unexpected sources; cinnamon, nutmeg, anise, chocolate are good examples.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 26 Mar 07 - 11:42 PM

Jerry,

many of those sausages added to dishes often have various types (sweet, heat) of chili spicings in them.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: mrdux
Date: 27 Mar 07 - 01:43 AM

Jerry --

For some friends who eat poultry but no meat-of-the-hoof, I tweaked my usual recipe with a garlic chicken sausage made by my local butcher shop and poultry parts instead of pork sausage and parts. Not quite the same -- and, being less fatty, poultry sausage doesn't take as well to long cooking as pork sausage -- but not bad at all. I haven't tried it but my guess is that turkey sausage will do better than chicken. I'll get you my main recipe -- the all-poultry version I still have to write down.

michael

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: Barry Finn
Date: 27 Mar 07 - 02:57 AM

Oh, I have some fresh trout in the fridge that I was gonna cook up for supper tomorrow night. But I think I may cook it as a late night snack, now, after reading through this thread. Yum!

Barry

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: Wordsmith
Date: 27 Mar 07 - 03:44 AM

I came quite late to cooking, since my mother never liked cooking, although she was decent at it. She never shared her recipes, either. I started out baking, and little by little, picked up things on my own. Better Homes and Gardens, Good Housekeeping, McCall's...these were where my first recipes originated. My tastes expanded, more than my waistline, over the years...as did my fear of cooking diminish. But I have loads of horror stories as well. College roommates. Wrong ingredients. Oven not quite right. And so on.

I now feel quite secure in my ability...but am always open to new ideas, recipes, tastes. I will credit Julia...I adored her, though I thought her heyday recipes were too elaborate...I'm not that interested in eight-hour prep time, either, any more. I refer to my falling apart, Joy of Cooking, frequently still, as much for the recipes tucked inside as well as the great advice within. I haven't seen or bought the newest edition, yet. Don't have a Cuisinart...actually want a Kitchaid.

I watch PBS for their frequent cooking shows. I especially like a short program, called Posh Nosh, that is charmingly citric. I also have the complete DVD collection of the former BBC show: Chef! And, after reading through this thread, I, too, am hungry, and would've loved to have been at the English dinner described in luscious details.

BTW, Scoville, I'm not sure if this was intentional or not, but your link to Texas Cooking took me to Amazon.com and a group called Luscious Jackson. It provided me with a little after-dinner music from their album: "Fever In Fever Out." I prefer Peggy Lee for my "Fever," although this group was interesting. Do you get a commission? ;D

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: GUEST,Cats
Date: 27 Mar 07 - 04:08 AM

I have to thank MMario for putting me on to The Accomplisht Cooke. I bought it and have worked out what some of the recipes are and have made loads from it. Thanks MMario.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: autolycus
Date: 27 Mar 07 - 11:02 AM

I went to a de-cluttering workshop,where the thingy doing it asked if we had lots of Cookbooks. She said we could chuck them because all recipes are on the net.


Sorry - on the Net (Web?)





    I.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: Bee
Date: 27 Mar 07 - 11:19 AM

Autolycus - she's nuts. There are lots of recipes on the internet, but you won't find the one you're looking for!

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: MMario
Date: 27 Mar 07 - 11:23 AM

Not to mention - you never, ever, ever throw out a book. Not while it's still has legible print.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 27 Mar 07 - 11:36 AM

Jerry, I think if you put paprika in your cassoulet, especially smoked paprika, you'd get some of that lovely savoury flavour that comes from the inclusion of nice French saudsages (I always put chorizo in mine). And don't underestimate the power of a really good stock!

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 27 Mar 07 - 10:35 PM

... especialy among Bulls and Bears...

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: Scoville
Date: 28 Mar 07 - 10:45 AM

Yeah, my mom was going to quit writing out recipes because they "Were all on the Web", but of course we don't have a computer in the kitchen and print-outs smear if you spill ingredients on them.

I'll keep my cookbooks, and I write out my own recipes in Sharpie so they don't smudge.

* * * * *

Ah, crap--blew the link. I was trying to explain to a friend how bad my ex-boyfriends taste was in music. Try this:

Texas Cooking.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: GUEST,maire-aine
Date: 28 Mar 07 - 12:39 PM

I don't know about in cassoulet, but I have a sauerkraut dish that works well with Butterball turkey kielbasa.

m

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 28 Mar 07 - 12:44 PM

Heyyyyy forget cooking...just take me to my favourite 'Sushi' restaurant in Montmartre, Paris....mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 28 Mar 07 - 04:09 PM

Thanks for the suggestions on the Cassoulet. The Turkey Kilbasa is an especially good idea. Thanks for the ideas about spices, too... I'll see what I can whip up, based on mrdux's recipe.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: Mrrzy
Date: 29 Mar 07 - 01:06 PM

OK - do you get hungry going to the Aquarium because of all the great seafood? How about the zoo - I remember going through an Endangered Species wing with one of my sibs who'd lived in Africa as an adult - and kept hearing Oh, I've eaten that - really upset some of the mommies and daddies around!
I am a great top-of-stove cook. I am a lousy baker unless it's a very good recipe. I am learning to grill and barbecue. But baking is science and stovetop cooking is art, I think!

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: RangerSteve
Date: 29 Mar 07 - 06:53 PM

My mom grew up with the idea that vegetables should be cooked until they a minute away from turning into mush. As a result, I hated most cooked veggies. Corn and beets were an exception. It seems you can't ruin them. Otherwise she was a good cook. A friend of mine introduced me to steamed veggies, and now I can eat things that I couldn't stand as a kid. Most of my recipes come from fund-raising cookbooks, the kind put out by fire departments, schools, churches, etc. No nouvelle cuisine, exotic ingredients, just good home cooking.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 29 Mar 07 - 06:59 PM

For baking you need to measure carefully - other types of cooking can work fine with 'a pinch of this, a dab of that'.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat foodies thread
From: mrdux
Date: 30 Mar 07 - 12:58 AM

At the beginning of this thread (cool thread, by the way), Chanteyranger mentioned favorite food writers. I also like Claudia Roden and Paula Wolfert (especially her Cooking of South-West France).

At least at this moment, my two favorite food writers are Elizabeth David and M.F.K. Fisher. Both were impeccable and elegant writers, both were insightful essayists, both lived into their eighties, both passed away in 1992. Elizabeth David was more the scholar, the ethnographer, the collector of what and how people eat. Her Cooking of Provincial France and Italian Food are superb, as are any of her collections of essays.

M.F.K. Fisher believed that "eating well was one of the arts of life," and her writing centers on food as a part of living, with fascinating forays into natural history, culture, and philosophy. But it's her ability to express the sensual nature of food and eating that's the most striking to me. Here's an excerpt (and sorry for the long-ish cut-n-paste, but I could resist)("Al" is her first husband)


"...It was then that I discovered little dried sections of tangerine. My pleasure in them is subtle and voluptuous and quite inexplicable. I can only write how they are prepared.

"In the morning, in the soft sultry chamber, sit in the window peeling tangerines, three or four. Peel them gently; do not bruise them, as you watch soldiers pour past and past the corner and over the canal towards the watched Rhine. Separate each plump little pregnant crescent. If you find the Kiss, the secret section, save it for Al.

"Listen to the chambermaid thumping up the pillows, and murmur encouragement to her thick Alsatian tales of l'intérieure. That is Paris, the interior, Paris or anywhere west of Strasbourg or maybe the Vosges. While she mutters of seduction and French bicyclists who ride more than wheels, tear delicately from the soft pile of sections each velvet string. You know those white pulpy strings that hold tangerines into their skins? Tear them off. Be careful. Take yesterday's paper (when we were in Strasbourg L'Ami du Peuple was best, because when it got hot the ink stayed on it) and spread it on top of the radiator. The maid has gone, of course - it might be hard to ignore her belligerent Alsatian glare of astonishment.

"After you have put the pieces of tangerine on the paper on the hot radiator, it is best to forget about them. Al comes home, you go to a long noon dinner in the brown dining-room, afterwards maybe you have a little nip of quetsch from the bottle on the armoire. Finally he goes. You are sorry, but -

"On the radiator the sections of tangerines have grown even plumper, hot and full. You carry them to the window, pull it open, and leave them for a few minutes on the packed snow of the sill. They are ready.

"All afternoon you can sit, then, looking down on the corner. Afternoon papers are delivered to the kiosk. Children come home from school just as three lovely whores mince smartly into the pension's chic tearoom. A basketful of Dutch tulips stations itself by the tram-stop, ready to tempt tired clerks at six o'clock. Finally the soldiers stump back from the Rhine. It is dark.

"The sections of the tangerine are gone, and I cannot tell you why they are so magical. Perhaps it is that little shell, thin as one layer of enamel on a Chinese bowl, that crackles so tinily, so ultimately under your teeth. Or the rush of cold pulp just after it. Or the perfume. I cannot tell.

"There must be someone, though, who understands what I mean. Probably everyone does, because of his own secret eatings."

"Borderlands," Serve It Forth (1937)