GSBravo

I will always give a recipe when asked. I have accumulated a ton of recipes from various sources; the internet, cookbooks, the newspaper, etc, etc. I doubt if I have any original recipes in my collection. So I don't see where I can hold back something that's not mine. Additionally, I think you have to consider why you cook, why you are feeding people. It's been noted already, and is worth repeating, that cooking is the best thing you can for a person. If someone enjoys what you have prepared enough to ask how to recreate it, why not share it? I do worry that they won't make it as good as they remember me making it, but it happens. Or what if they make it better than I did? So what, I'll get feedback from them and maybe it will make the recipe better. And it was said uppost by Busboy, it's a karma thing. What goes around comes around.

But that's okay, considering that it's mostly a Southern food. And Southerners are known for given their kids two names. Bobby Jo, Ruth Ann, etc.

Neither. It's similar to Salisbury steak, except that it's dropped in flour prior to being fried in oil. But there is chicken in chicken fried chicken.

My apologies for chuckling at the lovely visual you have provided.

Can you either tell me more about this, start another thread explaining it, or point me to where I can find more information on this? I'm into the whole story behind the story thing with foods- who, what, where, when, why. And this "13 traditional deserts", while not something that would go over well at the shanty, sounds interesting.

I am pulling on one string in this sweater. I agree that this is a political issue, but it seems to me that at some point employee wages could result in a public health issue. Am I reaching too far on this? I think so - but try to "connect the dots" for me. Robyn Okay, here's what I am currently thinking, it's early-ish so bear with me. Whether it's the food industry or any other, most employees are paid. The extreme low end of the pay scale tends to find people that a lot of times are, in my opinion, just trying to get by. No more, no less. So, a person working in a meat packing plant, for example, drops their knife on the floor. They pick it up, wipe it off on their dirty smock, and continue. The same thing happens at a unionized butcher shop. The butcher, who is paid more, cleans the knife before continuing. This is something that could contribute to a breakdown in the health chain. Does this connect any of the dots? Or am I still too fuzzy? Sidebar- I have read this entire read and was surprised how quickly it exploded. One thing that stuck out was the Walmart wage debate. Without trying to stray to far from the food issue, why is it entirely Walmarts fault? Yes, they farm out jobs to third world countries that pay crap wages. These employees in turn make, sometimes, crap merchandise. We buy this stuff. At what point does the manufaucturing company have a responsibility to pay decent wages to their employees? And again I apologize for veering off track.

Have you ever thought " Gee, I wonder if this burner is hot?" You'd a thought I would have placed my hand over the burner, not directly on it. It was hot. As an aside, I have done a few of the other things mentioned here. And I must say it makes me feel better to know that I am not alone.

Crepes, strawberry & blueberry. Which should be interesting, as I've never made crepes before.

I am pulling on one string in this sweater. I agree that this is a political issue, but it seems to me that at some point employee wages could result in a public health issue. Am I reaching too far on this?

That would be a trick. I really believe that with a little more knowledge, and a gentle push in the right direction, more people would cook for themselves. I mean, on average, who cooks better- you or the guys/gals at the restaurant?

Good, wholesome, food. Oh, you want specifics. I'll have to think about this tonight and post an answer tommorrow. This will give me time to browse the food ads in todays paper and form a game plan. So a menu for one week, family of four. What is the makeup of the family? Any particular likes/dislikes? What am I working with, other than $125.00? And what cooking skills do the adult members possess?

Thank you fresco. I will open with $125.00 per week. On the surface this seems low, but it averages out to $541.25 a month. Which should be more than sufficient to food a family of four for a month. If this were to be done, I feel it is necessary to have a cooking and shopping class as well. Money for moneys sake is no good, you have to know what to do with it. And I think that if more people knew how to cook, at least some basics, than they would do better. Once I started cooking for our family, I also took over the shopping. As you cook more, you learn more of what you can do. If you learn to shop better, than you will be able to buy better food. It's a vicious cycle.

"...with some of the other, more harshly judgemental posts earlier in the thread." May apply to some my my previous posts. In that I am a harsh, judgmental SOB, I can not apologize for what I am. However... "Let's get this back to food." is probably a good idea. So if someone would care to swing this back to a food discussion, I will try to be less tempermental.

I don't think that dropping a class in which people get exercise is going to be good for people's health. Do you mean that you're favoring garden-variety Phys Ed over competitive sports? I forgot about the excercise part, so we can't drop sports. But something has got to be done, I find it amazing that there are so many people, poor or rich, that don't know how to cook. Poeple argue that they don't have time to cook, well look at what they do have time for. It's a matter of priorities.

And why don't they know how to cook or shop? Basic cooking skills don't require a degree in rocket science. And when did it become something only for those that are better off? Drop sports from our education system and teach our children about credit, dietary needs, and cooking. The woman that comes home after two bus trips from her minimum wage job and wants to fix Kraft Macaroni and Cheese? She is not the one that people are pissed off about, it's the one that takes her kids to McDonalds or BK every damn day. And if she can fix the stuff in a box, than she has the skills to fix other things. It takes an effort. And people don't want to make the effort. In the last 20 or so years, perhaps longer, society, as a whole, has lost track. Lost track of personal responsibilty. "It's not my fault" is the new national mantra. Fat? Sue somebody! Did you participate in a shooting spree that left 11 pople dead? Not my fault, I was brainwashed. So what if somebody works two jobs? Why is it that I work, yet the lazy shit around the corner with 3 kids doesn't, and she pays less in rent than I do? At some point a person has to take responsibility for their own actions. Whether we are talking about work, diet, or geneal well being. Why is that some people feel they are owed a free ride?

I don't know where the Government gets it ideas for the WIC approved list, but it seems to consist mostly of high fat, high sugar foods. None of it, except for perhaps dairy products, seems to have any "good" qualities. I think that staples, flour, milk, rice, etc, would do a helluva lot better than the current crop of crap. But who has time to cook or knows how to cook? The first lawsuit field against McD's in New York, the guy stated that he ate fast food 4-5 times a week. Why? Because he couldn't cook. Cooking is not that hard, it takes time and practice. But who has the time? Make the time. Buy less, live cheaper. Certain things are hard to control, rent for example, but other things aren't. Do your kids really need another pair of $150.00 sneakers? Actually, do they need that first pair? The problem is people expect. They expect that if they can't take care of themselves than the Government will. People see nothing wrong with taking a handout, and if you're in dire need there isn't, but you really need to try to get off your ass and improve your situation. How long does the general public have to support someone? WIC, which is an extension of the welfare program, was never intended to be a permanent solution to your problems. Yet somehow, somewhere, sometime it become that, it's not a lifeline anymore. It's a lifeboat.

I either read or heard somewhere that it does, which seems ironic. Apparently, at lower income levels, people are eating more foods that are high in fat and are otherwise not "good" for you. The solution, partly at least, to the problem is to teach people about food nutrition and preparation. If you can afford to spend $40 a week, and this is a figure I made up, eating fast food then you can afford to eat better. It's a matter of priorities.

What did Emery Barnes do after the month was up? He wasn't "poor" anymore, he got to step out of it. Normal "everyday poor" people don't get to step out of their enviroment at the end of x amount of time. They're still poor. To chop up what fresco said, it's not about the shared experience, it's the long term effects that matter. And for Steve March to give up after some dinners of grilled cheese sandwiches and of eggs and toast is bullshit. What did he learn? That's he a candyass who but for the Grace of God would have died from poverty long ago. This is just an example of why it doesn't work. And to close, here's another:

No, I'm sorry but this doesn't work. It never works. So what, you went a week? a month? a year? living "among" the poor, big deal. You have a way out. At the end of your time, you get to go back to your real life. This "experience" doesn't teach anything. It doesn’t give you anymore empathy for the poor. It's a PR exercise, plain and simple. It's like the college kids a few years back that as part of a class experiment they spent the night on the streets to "learn" what it was like to be houseless. What did they learn? That outside, in the middle of the night, in winter it's cold. Big f'n deal. You got to go back home the next morning. When those that have try to pretend to be those that don't have- you learn nothing. Can anyone tell me what they "learned"? Don't say that the experience counts, cuz it doesn't. You wanna experience hunger, skip lunch. I don't have the answers, but spare me the theatrics. Don't give me the "I lived as a poor person for x amount of time, so I know what it's like". You don't know jack. Live your entire life as a poor or houseless person, then report back. Oh wait, no one will listen to you then.

I've done some of the things listed, and thesse probably aren't new, but they are things I should stop doing. Do not, as oft mentioned already, grab a cast iron pan that has been in a 500 degree oven. It's hard to sleep while trying to hold a bottle of ice. Although the scars do show the proper way to grip a pan. I'm pretty sure someone has already issued a warning about hot sauce, if not...do not take a deep whiff from the pan of whatever hot sauce you are making. It will make you cry. And don't lick the top of the hot sauce bottle either. Now this is a do, DO take the time to make that you have the right measuring spoon. You can't pick out the extra salt. It seems obvious in retrospect, but don't blow away the flour (pepper, etc) on the edge of the bowl. You really can't blow away just that little bit. Oh, almost forgot. It's never a good idea to dry off a sharp knife. With a paper towel. Even if you fold it several times.

Homemade, out of the oven. Kraft may be okay in a pinch, but then only barely.

I will second the motion for Bittman. Especially since, when I saw the title of the post, it was the first book I thought of. I only own one "real" cookbook, and this is it. All of my recipes are in several binders, slowly being transfered to the computer. While it may not be the fanciest cookbook around, it helps provide a solid foundation of the basics, and then expands from there.

Yeah, I guess I do. But I do agree with this: I mean I still eat, but not as much as when someone else cooks. What I like more is seeing other people enjoy my cooking. Watching, but not staring, and seeing that they really liked what I just slaved over. This most often happens with my sons friends, who probably haven't had a real meal prepared from scratch in forever. And I also agree with this: But I would add, other people's cooking, not just home cooking but restaurant cooking as well. I don't really like eating out, because I start thinking I could have made this. Then I start thinking about what I would have done different. then I think about how much I could have bought with the money I jsut spent.

Tell me more about this Weber grill, bacon under skin thing. Please.

As I recall it, and I will admit my memory is faulty at times, it was a Hindu that sued McDonald's after discovering that the French fries had beef tallow in them. And again, nothing against the Hindus but I don't go into a vegetarian restaurant and order a steak. The problem is that McDonald's has to be all things to all people. Which is not possible, so you have to please most of the people most of them. Mostly my problem is my extreme dislike for what McDonald's has become. I reckon it's one of those "things were better when I was kid" deals. (Andrew thanks for pointing out the quote tags feature. Lord knows I'm opinionated enough that I don't need to confuse my opinions for others.)