[March Discussion]: Mmmmmm....Yummy!

[Nolder]

Most of the shows I watch are the whole "bizarre foods" type thing where people are eating scorpions and monkey brains and things like that lol.

There is one normalish cooking show I like but I don't know the name of it. 

It's kind of like American Idol where there are judges and the contestants are given like a specific ingredient to use that's usually someone really weird or random and they need to make something awesome out of it.

[Netbattler11]

I'm not much of a hand at cooking food, but I love to eat it. Hamburgers and pizza are the highest form of sustenance available to mankind. Especially a good burger. Mcdonalds and its ilk are okay if you're in a hurry, but a place like Red Robin serves nectar and ambrosia. Char-broiled until the meat is just this side of rareness... Topped with ketchup, mustard, pickles, cheest, onions, lettuce, tomato... A lightly toasted bun... Complete with crispy fries and an ice-cold soda and... Damn, i'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

 

Pizza i'm less picky about, although frozen pizzas are in the same line as mcdonalds. I dislike thin-crust and stuffed pizzas, for whatever reason. My favorite pizza place is in all honesty Dominos, which all my friends think i am extremely wierd for.

 

Also Asian cuisine is exceptional. Panda Express in particular, although I am not averse to less americanized places either.

 

And my mom can make a killer alfredo pasta.

[Nolder]

Also Asian cuisine is exceptional. Panda Express in particular, although I am not averse to less americanized places either.

You have not had proper Asian food (even fast food) if you think Panda Express is anything but dirt in a box.

I hate that franchise with a passion.

[Niniel]

I didn´t know Panda Express was a world wide company. I ate there a few weeks ago. It was okay. 

 

 

I guess I should share some recipies as well. This is Moroccan cous cous. Very simple. I have to make it soon because I haven´t eaten it in a long time. 

1. Roast lots of sliced red onion in olive oil.

2. When it gets soft add garlic and chickpeas.

3. Season with paprika spice and plenty of cinnamon.

4. Pour some water to the pan. Let it boil. When all water has evaporated it´s done.

5. Just before it´s done add raisins. Serve with cous cous.

[beanie]

How, and when, and why did you learn to cook?

I never learned to cook <.< Give me a recepie and I can follow it and it'll turn out good so long as it's accurate, but I can't actually do any sort of cooking :P

 

Do you like any particular cooking shows?  Hate any?

My mom always found interesting cooking shows though I never bothered to ask the names. Dont watch any now.

 

Do you have a favorite cookbook?

Dont have any >.>

 

Do you keep a family recipe book?

Nope <.<

 

Do you like to cook alone, or with company?

I will not cook for myself. Will only cook with other people :P

 

What memories do specific foods, or cooking certain recipes invoke? Does food make you think of any special times, or people?

 Good cheese makes me think of Christmas :) Was our tradition to eat cheese (and wine for parents) and fresh bread for Christmas dinner. And of course turkey and cranberries and pumpkin pie and pecan pie <3 remind me of thanksgiving. Crepes with spinach mushroom sauce remind me of when I was little....

 

Do you follow recipes to the letter or work on whim and whimsy?

Tooo the letter. Never turns out good otherwise. My stepmum hardly ever useses a recepie and I have nooo idea how she makes such awesome stuff!

 

Do you try to make food healthy, or good, or… is it possible to do both? 

Definately possible. All the food we have is healthy and neaaarly all of it is nommy (not so fond of eggplant).

 

 

Do you have any favorite recipes to share?

Hmmm I will snag from stepmum laters.

 

Do you want any recipes?  I love to share.  Recipes.

Have any recepies for nommies without butter?

 

How, and what and... why do you all like to cook? or.. why don't you, if you don’t?

 Dont like to cook cuz I'm lazy. Baking is fun but I dont like doing it alone. Eating the batter is the best part :)

[Turin Turambar]

As far as panda express/kitchen goes. It follows the same line as all restaurant type places. Chains are never as good as that old mom and pop shop. Especially for "ethnic" cuisines.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

I didn´t know Panda Express was a world wide company. I ate there a few weeks ago. It was okay.

 

 

I guess I should share some recipies as well. This is Moroccan cous cous. Very simple. I have to make it soon because I haven´t eaten it in a long time.

1. Roast lots of sliced red onion in olive oil.

2. When it gets soft add garlic and chickpeas.

3. Season with paprika spice and plenty of cinnamon.

4. Pour some water to the pan. Let it boil. When all water has evaporated it´s done.

5. Just before it´s done add raisins. Serve with cous cous.

computers are down at work and just wanted to take a quick minute to build on a recipe you already feel comfortable with.

 

that's a good way to expand your repertoire.

 

do exactly what you do with the onions and oil, garlic I might replace with ginger for this or leave out or not, your choice. continue as you describe but substitute a good curry powder or paste (one you like the scent of is usually good) for the other spices.

 

that's a really basic curry.

 

I would go a few steps farther and add a cubed potato, perhaps some coconut milk, but that's optional. and some cut up chicken, or some peeled cleaned shrimp, or some vegetable or anything else you have around.

 

cook till everything's tender, serve over the cous cous or rice... raisins would work in this as well. I use apples in curry a lot, and sometimes tomato.

 

you can add spices like turmeric and cayenne pepper and... anything you like.

 

or you can keep it very simple, like this.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

also have to say I'm very much enjoying reading the discussion and I can't wait to be back home with my desktop so I can respond better.

 

oh, and nolder, are you talking about the show chopped? a basket of weird ingredients for three courses, and judged by a mostly nasty and highly critical panel?

 

I looooove that show. takes iron chef a step further, and does beautiful fake little edits to make the time pressure more dramatic.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

and since the computers here can't cope with the DST time change...

 

key lime pie

 

this is the simplest recipe for this pie you'll find. there are fancier ones that add cream cheese, sour cream, lime zest (actually, the lime zest is real nice if you have the time, just mix it in with everything else), a meringue topping, etc... but this is five minutes and done. and delicious.

 

i think it's one of the recipes that became popular during rationing around WW-II, when sugar was hard to come by, and sweetened condensed milk wasn't. they fed that stuff to babies so you could get it with your ration book. you'll find a lot of recipes from the time using it.

 

I don't bake this. I'm not scared of eggs, especially in this much acid and sugar... but if you are, put in in a 400 or so degree oven (hot, doesn't really matter exactly) for ten minutes. especially if you're feeding people with compromised immune systems. but, the pie sets without baking, it's really just a mix and pour, egg issues aside.

 

you can make a pastry or graham cracker pie shell if you want, but there's nothing wrong with a store bought graham cracker shell, and if we're being lazy... lets go all the way.

 

you should wait for key lime season and squeeze them by hand... but if you yearn for this out of season... and it's a brief one... they sell bottled key lim juice, near the lemon juice in most gricery stores. key lime, mind, not regular lime ... though... you'll get a decent pie, it wouldn't be the same.

 

so... have a 9 inch pre baked pie shell ready

 

 

whisk together until smooth:

 

one (14-1/2 oz) can sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk, has to be sweetened condensed)

1/2 cup key lime juice

4 egg yolks

 

pour into the pie shell.

 

it will be set in 5 minutes, but cool it thoroughly in the fridge before serving. very nice frozen in wedges and covered in dark chocolate as well, but that's another show.

 

you wanna deal with meringue, go ahead.

 

I like whipped cream.

 

and that's it.

 

the egg yolks, condensed milk and acid combine to make a custard that just... sets. magic.

 

I've played around with the recipe to make orange, blood orange, grapefruit and other citrus pies. little tip if you do that - this stuff needs more acid than what you'll find in oranges, etc., to work, so boost it with a couple ounces lemon or lime juice.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

the simplest chicken recipe I have from my family is chicken paprikash.

 

the technique here is useful to make any chicken with sauce dish... just change up the seasoning and the liquid and the veg at will.

 

but this is how we made the classic.

 

dredge boneless, skinless chicken breasts lightly in flour.

 

brown very lightly in butter on both sides.

 

add a diced onion, cook for a minute with the chicken.

 

add a sliced bell pepper, cook another minute.

 

add 2 or 3 tablespoonsful of good Hungarian paprika ( sweet, hot, a combination, whatever you like. should say Szeged or szego on the label), a little salt and white pepper, and a cup or o of chicken stock or water.

 

simmer, turning the chicken once or twice, for ten to twenty minutes. until its tender, but not until it's dried out and stringy.

 

serve over buttered noodles, potatoes, or rice.

 

 

the flour dredging bit thickens the sauce, but you can skip it and thicken with a cornstarch slurry. but it won't reheat as well.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

@ cyan - what kind of nommies without butter, and should they also be without fat of any kind?

 

is margarine ok, or oil?

 

generally you can dub margarine for butter in most any recipe, but I have a feeling that's not what you mean.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

and seafood.

 

I love cooking shrimp at home... we can get really nice frozen ones here, but... wouldn't trust fresh seafood this far from the ocean.

 

simplest thing to do is throw them in boiling water for a opulent minutes till they turn red. that means they're done. cool on ice till real real cold. you can fancy up the water with a halved lemon, maybe a bay leaf but meh. I put so much horseradish in the cocktail sauce you'd never know anyway.

 

you can buy cocktail sauce, but it's easy enough to mix catsup or chili sauce with horseradish, lemon juice, a shot of Worcestershire sauce, and a little white pepper.

 

I like to cook the shrimps in the shell, they come out a lot more succulent that way... but some people don't want to deal with shells, so you decide I you want to do that little kindness for them. adjust the cooking time downward if you peel them first.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

my most favorite thing to do with shrimp is to old bay them... don't know if old bay is available everywhere but if you can get it, set a steamer basket over a little water in your cook pot (thanks Narg, I'll get it back you you), layer in shrimp, hit them hard and heavy with old bay, srsly, you can hardly out too much on shrimp with peels on... cover the pot, turn the heat up high, and steam till they pink up.

 

 

if I have a fire going outside, I'll put the shrimp in a tin foil... envelope I guess you'd call it... with lots of old bay, some beer, and a little butter, and cook it over the coals, turning once... ten minutes or so, it's ok to peek to make sure.

 

last time family visited and wanted old bay shrimp and I was out of old bay...*gasp*

 

so.. I did this and it was sooooo gooooood.

 

put the shrimp in a baking pan, seasoned with salt, paprika, cayenne, thyme, oregano, dry mustard, a few bay leaves, a chopped head of garlic, a little olive oil, splash of beer, a couple chopped tomatoes, a few slices of lemon, touch of celery seed, and just a pinch of saffron.

 

covered tightly, baked in a very hot oven(450 or whatever you can do without setting the fire alarms off) about twenty minutes,

 

they'll never let me get away with old baying it again...

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

and the side dish I'm serving with most everything I do in the oven now...

 

sweet potatoes in adobo.

 

um, yeah, that's the recipe.

 

slice sweet potatoes, toss with adobo and oil... roast covered at whatever temp your ovens cranking until tender... eh, saying twenty minutes again but you know, just check it. when fork tender, uncover and let them brown until everything else is done.

 

 

works with regular potatoes or any veg at all.

 

just adjust the cooking time.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

and... steak.

 

nothing is easier than steak.

 

I air dry mine in the fridge a few days, you don't have to but... it is good.

 

set it in an open paper bag on absorbent paper or paper plates in the fridge for a few days, turning the steak and changing the paper every day..

 

or not.

 

either way, cook it like this.

 

over fire, or in a blazing hot pan (don't get nonstick pans blazing hot, btw, toxic fumes and all; use cast iron or stainless steel), or in a not so hot any kind of pan in a wee bit of oil...

 

place the steaks on the hot thing, watch them... for rare... and you want rare or I despair of you but... ok anyway, for rare, watch for the first drops of blood to rise to the top, and turn, and watch for the same sign on the flip side, and off the fire, you got rare steak.

 

if for some reason you want medium rare... I don't know you might... wait for the blood to start pooling, flip, same on the other side.

 

for medium, wait till that blood turns pink.

 

for well done... sigh... if you must... wait ir the blood to go brown or clear, flip, wait for the same on the other side.

 

awful nice to give it some butter, black pepper and Worcestershire sauce once you turn it. and yumm pressed garlic mixed in the butter.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

butterless nomm

 

chocolate cake

 

this is really called oil chocolate cake but... it's much better than that makes it sound.

 

whisk to combine 2 cups sugar, 3 cups four, 2 teaspoons baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 cup cocoa

 

beat in 2 cups water, 1 cup oil, 2 tablespoons white vinegar, and 1 teaspoon vanilla

 

 

bake in a greased 13x9 inch baking pan at 350 degrees (that's 175 c, let me know if y'all want me to do the conversions btw) about 40 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

 

cool in the pan, frost or not.

 

 

you'll notice that recipes using baking soda have an acidic ingredient, in this case vinegar in them. it's the acid that makes the soda work to leaven. baking powder says double acting on the box because it bubbles with acid, and again with heat... giving you a rise even in the absence of vinegar.

 

so if the recipe uses soda and not powder... the acid is not optional.

 

for this cake, you can substitute buttermilk or sour milk for the water and vinegar (only use raw milk that's naturally soured or add a teaspoon of lemon juice or vinegar to pasteurized milk; pasteurization kills the natural bacteria that would give you a "good" sour, and you don't know what it's going to culture from the bacteria floating around your kitchen).

 

but it's a good recipe for ppl allergic to dairy - check the label on the cocoa, you'll want it to say kosher parve to be sure there's no milk in the processing. that's what parve means, no milk products. useful for people with allergies to look for.

[Nolder]

also have to say I'm very much enjoying reading the discussion and I can't wait to be back home with my desktop so I can respond better.

 

oh, and nolder, are you talking about the show chopped? a basket of weird ingredients for three courses, and judged by a mostly nasty and highly critical panel?

 

I looooove that show. takes iron chef a step further, and does beautiful fake little edits to make the time pressure more dramatic.

I think that's it yeah

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

 

also have to say I'm very much enjoying reading the discussion and I can't wait to be back home with my desktop so I can respond better.

oh, and nolder, are you talking about the show chopped? a basket of weird ingredients for three courses, and judged by a mostly nasty and highly critical panel?

I looooove that show. takes iron chef a step further, and does beautiful fake little edits to make the time pressure more dramatic.

I think that's it yeah

it's the one where the contestants usually tell a tragic personal story for pity points... I'm not sure how that makes the food any better, but it always sells it to the Paula Abdul judge.

[Turin Turambar]

The best ones were when the judges had to cook. But they made those ones a bit easier I thought.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

I liked it when they did that on iron chef, too... yes, I'm a bit obsessed with that show.

 

but though they were very respectful with the judging, iirc, doc hattori got his butt kicked.

 

they never play quite fair on chopped, and they do pretend it's a real competition, unlike IC.

[Niniel]

 

I didn´t know Panda Express was a world wide company. I ate there a few weeks ago. It was okay.

 

 

I guess I should share some recipies as well. This is Moroccan cous cous. Very simple. I have to make it soon because I haven´t eaten it in a long time.

1. Roast lots of sliced red onion in olive oil.

2. When it gets soft add garlic and chickpeas.

3. Season with paprika spice and plenty of cinnamon.

4. Pour some water to the pan. Let it boil. When all water has evaporated it´s done.

5. Just before it´s done add raisins. Serve with cous cous.

computers are down at work and just wanted to take a quick minute to build on a recipe you already feel comfortable with.

 

that's a good way to expand your repertoire.

 

do exactly what you do with the onions and oil, garlic I might replace with ginger for this or leave out or not, your choice. continue as you describe but substitute a good curry powder or paste (one you like the scent of is usually good) for the other spices.

 

that's a really basic curry.

 

I would go a few steps farther and add a cubed potato, perhaps some coconut milk, but that's optional. and some cut up chicken, or some peeled cleaned shrimp, or some vegetable or anything else you have around.

 

cook till everything's tender, serve over the cous cous or rice... raisins would work in this as well. I use apples in curry a lot, and sometimes tomato.

 

you can add spices like turmeric and cayenne pepper and... anything you like.

 

or you can keep it very simple, like this.

 

This is so fun. You just described one of the few other meals that I can cook. lol Although I don´t have onion. I use to fry red curry paste and garlic. Then add chicken. When it´s done I pour on some coconut milk and sometimes I add some wok vegetables.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

lol, figures.

 

I'll try to find something else.

 

Thai red curry paste?

 

I'm always surprised at how much easier it is to find "exotic" ingredients ... everywhere... now.

 

I still remember when broccoli was fancy.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

oh, hey, there's an easy one.

 

broccoli and pasta. well, cauliflower or chick peas or anything else, but I like it with broccoli best. can always add chicken or seafood but simple, fast, get home, boil the pasta, last couple minutes of cooking time, drop the broccoli in with it (or cook it in the oil, no dif really), drain it.

 

heat olive oil, a little garlic, toss it with the pasta, hit it with pepper and Parmesan, Romano, like that, and done.

 

yes, I know you know how to make that one, too, but I just pulled in the driveway, I'll think better later.

[Niniel]

Thai curry paste? I have no idea. Maybe... :D

 

That sound both tasty and simple. Do you use fresh or frozen broccoli?

[Nikonis]

How, and when, and why did you learn to cook?

I really don't cook much and when I do it's usually spaghetti, raman or something simple like that. I did take a cooking elective in grade school, because this girl liked was going to be in the class, but the only think I really remember from the class was making a cheese crusted pizza and even that's a bit fuzzy.
 

Do you like any particular cooking shows?  Hate any?

Don't really watch any cooking shows.
 

Do you have a favorite cookbook?

Don't cook much so I don't really use one.  I do have a few cookbooks my parents gave me when I moved out but my meals are either pre-made, restraunt made or simple so I don't really use them.

Do you keep a family recipe book?

My mother has a cookbook from her mother and grandmother.  I guess, being the only child, that I'll probably have it handed down to me one day though I don't know what I'd make from it with my limited cooking skills.

Do you like to cook alone, or with company?
It depends, I normally make spaghetti when I'm

 

What memories do specific foods, or cooking certain recipes invoke? Does food make you think of any special times, or people?

When my mother makes a special recipe chicken I always remember family since it's uausally something she makes at family gatherings.
 

Do you follow recipes to the letter or work on whim and whimsy?

I generally stick to a recipe if I'm cooking but may substitute something small for my own taste.
 

Do you try to make food healthy, or good, or… is it possible to do both? 

If I'm cooking it's generally just what I have on hand and sometimes is healthy(ish) with a salad or something else healthy on the side.

 

Do you have any favorite recipes to share?

Not that I'd share but I do love my Raman as do my friends who have tried it.  Make the broth from scratch and add in the noodles, chicken and hard boiled egg.
 

Do you want any recipes?  I love to share.  Recipes.

No thanks, as I said I don't really cook too much and, when I do, it's easy to make things that generally don't need a recipe.

 

How, and what and... why do you all like to cook? or.. why don't you, if you don’t?

I cook when I am hungry and have the materials at home to make something to eat rather than running out and getting something at the store or a restraunt.