Mabelline

I will be at the foodbank helping make up the boxes (from Monday thru Wednesday), and, health willing, serve food at the Montana Rescue Mission while we take a break from our home cookin. I may also take a ride with my preacher girlfriend out to three elders in the Pryor Area to deliver goodie baskets along with the feast- type we are going to be delivering. If I make it through all this I will consider myself blessed, because it was really up in the air just a month ago. Someone lend me a little of their strength!!

Fries dipped in a milkshake...oh yeah. Too hot to eat otherwise. Good ketchup...oh yeah. Red sauce-shrimp cocktail sauce with a lot of horseradish...yeah. Malt vinegar and fine salt on smoking hot fries...you bet! A-1 with a good steak and a good steakfry...happy tum! Mostly,good fries!!! There is nothin on this earth that will redeem a sorry fry.

I guess we are just too gauche for words, cuz we eat Texas style Chili Dogs at least once a month. I have tweaked them up a little, using 'artisanal' buns, browned under the broiler. Big fat allbeef doggies, homemade chili, Grated Onions, Grated cheese, no mustard if I can help it, and look out... As far as that beefheart Coney Dog sauce is concerned, somebody just busted out a chilequeen secret. This is a secret ingredient in Chile Meat, and one that you won't get anyone to admit to. For every 5 #s of chile grind meat, you grind 4#s great beef(including chuck) and 1# beef heart. So now the beefheart's out in the open. I look forward to seeing people deny it.

Or you were Barney Fife! I can do and shall carry on cookin' from scratch. I will carry my freak flag high! I refuse to bow to the frozen hordes. Good topic! This is exactly the forum to discuss this, for people all over the world cluster here to trade methods that the masses have given up or forgotten about. There are very few times that my homebound disability is a plus, but the time I am able to invest in feeding myself and husband the way my mama and gram did would have to be A-1 on the debit sheet.

how about a grilled bacon, lobster, peanut butter, and cheese sandwich? I'd bite...

I do love turkey. Roasted, smoked, fried...any way. Smoked turkey legs!! My Basset Hound daughter Lucy Belle would share with me--one of my fondest memories of her. I am determined this year to cook a turkey in the ground, with DH helping me, as well as my traditional table bird. The turkey in the ground method is the most tender and moist method I know of. It takes about 1 to 1 1/2 days all told, if you are not prepared with the hole dug ahead of time. But we are supposed to dig the hole and lay up the supplies this Sunday.....oh my goodness....I think this Thanksgiving will be fun, for a welcome change

Bummer!!! I love melba toast and those Norwegian flatbrods!

Aah, yasss, waffles...I could go on about our family wars between-- first out of the box, my sister and me, then on to my three daughters (I have done my penance for any childhood digressions, okay? There is no guilt in me) My sister ate syrup like a maniac. I only liked butter or sour cream on mine. She would get a waffle meant for me and pour syrup on it, before I could get to it, hence she ended up eating mine. AAArgh! I frequently paid her back, in spades, as they say...you could ask her about the horse with the loosened cinch in the pasture slapfull of nettles, but I doubt even today she would fess up to why she paid the piper for that one!

They just had the info. about this on my local news broadcast this morning. I cannot FATHOM liquid mashed taters. The mouthfeel of your dinner is more than half the pleasure. And if you mix your flavors, whatcha gonna do? Pour turkey and gravy, taters, and cranberry all together?

That just sucks ducks! I thought for sure we had a med school here judging by the residents we have. Okay, then go for AZ or CO- where you can snow or water -ski, when you have time.

fifi, I read about your carnitas experience, and I feel your pain. I am kind of suspecting these products that pull this on an unsuspecting soul are the ones you'd never think of. The 'Sinkers'. The sneaky ones that you you consider all-dried...Hell, I always let my chicken-fry air dry to prevent just that. Mebbe it's the critters getting their last revenge Older, smarter folks than me would say"Did you thank the animal for providing the food?" As I get older, I start using more of their beliefs. And my skin is proportionately thinner now.

I loves my peppers in vinegar to sprinkle on greens, as well. Especially the curved bottle with the snip-off top that you keep closed-up with a toothpick. Trappey's I think. We really can't forget to mention the fishing camps with good fish frys. Although that's not exclusively cajun, luzianne, or whatever, you all do put it up right. Make a dog drop a pork chop make me wish I could get down there!!

The weirdest thing I ever saw was banquet-serving at the yearly Cotton Ball at Francisco Grande in Casa Grande AZ, too many years to count. 2000 people, huge DRUNK once all the awards were done, and tables had 'high-dollar' table decorations provided by the "Cotton Wives" that august, moldy bunch of hypocrites (sorry, the opinions are mine, all my own, and anyone else who has worked with 'august bodies'). We were clearing the main table, and one of the head harpies had already claimed her centerpiece. We had left it, and were trying to get the kitchen back into repair. Pretty soon we heard some yellin' that was even louder than kitchen noises. Looking out the double doors, we see the wife havin' a knock-you-out with girlfriend of her husband over the centerpiece. And pretty soon, the men were in it, as well. Believe me when I say that it was very entertaining to see expensive Goldwater's couture getting ripped!! Ah, Memories...

My worst burn, despite 20-odd years of welding with hot molten steel for cryin' out loud, was a "popper" from chicken-fried steak that landed smooth in the middle of the arch of my foot. I still wear that warwound; at the time, I healed it with Bagbalm and a sock on my foot. That shit hurts!!! Does not stop hurting, and is a very good reason for some good scotch. Hope you're felling better today, Varmint.

jsolomon, congratulations and best wishes to ya, sweetheart! I am thinking you will get the choice of your apps. Billings is good for skier, biker, cool type of docs. No state sales tax. Thanks for your kind em when I felt like 3 miles of wet road. It was nice. I am recooping. Mondays are a good thing to toast. Don't waste the bubbles. Have an outrageous good time with someone you'd never think of inviting to partake! Sometimes that can be a very productive thing

Indeed, a fascinating subject. I will only say that there are folks who'll steal anything, just to do it. It has nothing to do with class, privilege, income, etc. It boils down most times to moral fiber, aka character. I cannot do something simply because 'no one saw', because I saw. I know, and I have to look in my mirror when I am gettin' up in the morning. My mama always told me to think of everything I did as being seen by all my ancestors. That put the skids on alot of deviant child behaviors. I only hope that the places using this will use it as much to PROTECT employees as PROSECUTE.

Definitely the carcass soup and/or enchiladas. andie beat me to the turkey curry and curlywurlyfi's recipe sounds gorgeous. I like darkmeat-stuffed pitas with sliced avocadoes and tomatillo sauce and whatever else. Rich, decadent, sinful, deee-lish. White meat sammiches are the bomb, but I almost cannot swallow one without cranberry relish and some dressing piled in there too. Also, they are 'required eatin' at 2:00 am raids, maybe with some pecan pie and bourbon whipped cream on the side. I am carefully filing Jason's bacon recommendation. I may do an extra turkey in a groundpit this year. I love those. The meat and the juices are so flavorful! Ah, the anticipation. Love with drumsticks attached

Who amongst us has not applied the knife 'IQ Test" while attempting to carve or otherwise use those really stinkin' hard pumpkins, squash,etc. One word of advice: do not attempt if your children are there and decide to give your patience a workout. Those who are well-fielded in field injuries of this ilk are known to develop the sneaky practice of carving Mr. Jacko Lantern when home alone.

There have been some totally unforeseen changes lately, and I have to say that I gave up all interest in food for awhile. The fact that I wasn't just responsible for myself forced off my kiester and started cooking again. And like that previous mention by lovebenton0 (I think) I was a wobblecat for a couple of days, and homemade from start to plate Rice-A-Roni (way better than box) was a bigtime accomplishment. But it felt GOOD, by golly, and everyday seems a little easier...I am glad, so glad there's this thread to help me work myself back with. Far from being upsetting, I feel closer to the folks who've used the act of cooking to heal their soul. Big deep sorrow takes time and work to get a handle on. But the mechanical aspects of food preparation are therapeutic, to be sure.

I have so many thoughts about this, but Fat Guy mentioned something that has always lurked in my mind. Okay, suburban lifestyle, McJunk, and anorexic public figures notwithstanding, I am not convinced there are more obese folks than 100 years ago. I have seen many pictures of predecessors who were "right round and jolly"--except for perhaps ancestors who lived on real junk on reservations. But my point is that I think we have this bombardment of opportunity to gorge like zoo monkeys, and then worry 'bout it tomorrow, because everything anymore is a quick fix. Hell, we can't even keep our minds focused on a major news topic for longer than 72 hours, it seems. I think that moderation, and healthy products, prepared from scratch (no mono-oxy-zoxy-whatever) are as good to the SOUL as the gullet(sorry), and more life-extending in the long run. The pace of our lives have become downright frenetic. Form follows function, and fast-livin' generates fast food. Such a shame. We are nice people, actually, and we need to love ourselves more in order to love others in a meaningful way. Sorry about sermonizin'...

Smithy, Mayhaw Man posted a thread a while ago with pictureshow of an excellent lesson in making up a dish with a roux. Made me want to chew on the keyboard. Maybe he'll help you with the title of that thread, as I've no memory to speak of for titles, but I sho' enuf can remember goodlooking food! Another thing that you will find by delving into Luzianne is that as far as America goes, it's an old, and amalgamated cuisine. Think beignets, oysters Rockefeller, Sazerac cocktails, bitters as an ingredient--Peychaud's, but of course. Cajun, Creole, Spanish, African, American Indian, Italian, Greek--they are eagerly consumed by everybody---LA always impressed me with how knowledgable the little kids are there with regards to their food preferrences. You could read about the cuisine there forever! Enjoy!

If I recall rightly about sylphium, it was once the most used herb? spice? in it's day, which led to it's extinction, because it was biennial, or some reason it didn't repopulate denuded areas of it. It would be so cool if it were found in gravegoods, and modern science could resurrect it, so to speak. I have always wondered about that, as well, chromedome. Picky, rude eaters can ride back out on the jackass they rode in on. I agree there's a level of civility generally lacking in people nowadays, andiesenji, but your friends were incredibly dense foisting her on you. They should have shown the class to cancel, even at the last moment, and toted her butt to a place like Outback, etc. But next time you have a vacancy for your stupendous food, I volunteer to fill the gap. It'd be a LONG ride for a meal, but yours sound more than worth it

Marie-louise, I like almond extract in my cakes, too. I am sort of vanilla-ed out from smelling it in everything from candles to perfume, air fresheners and shampoo! Except French Vanilla custard Ice Cream. After all, I am human. My cat son Sneaker sometimes lets me have some of his.

I have gotten to really liking them in pitas with whatever Mexican cheese I can get. Fresh cilantro, diced, rinsed white onions, and avocado will make up a fine feedbag, for reals.

I go with nightscotsman's 1-2-3-4- cake. Been making them up (with help when I was a sprout) for around 40 years and they are always consistently gorgeous.