jgm

I don't have a recipe, but one of my favorite pancakes is found at IHOP. They put Cream of Wheat in it.

Oh, man, oh, man, bad steak. This is a special nightmare for me, because of something that I never see anymore but was ubiquitous in our household growing up: cube steak. This was some appallingly sinewy cut of beef that had been malleted and pierced to "tenderize" it. I still remember getting up and feeling like I had had jaw surgery. Did anyone else eat this strange thing? ← Yes! This is the stuff that a lot of people make chicken fried steak out of, right? Yup, we ate it, but without the slow cooking to help tenderize it, or the breading to give it some actual flavor. Oh yes, I remember it well. I think we called it "minute steak", probably because it was so tough and flavorless that cooking it any longer than a minute was a waste of energy. The other transgression was a recipe my mother picked up at a dinner after a neighbor's funeral. It was called "Chicken a la Can Can" and as you can probably guess, it had chicken, rice, and several kinds of Campbell's cream soups in it. I hated it with a passion. My mother was an otherwise decent cook. She tended to get into a rut, and cook the same things over and over, and I was well into adulthood before I realized that I am not a picky eater; I just don't like having the same dish several times in a month. The last time I lived with my parents was 1981, and I still cannot even think about pepper steak without wanting to get up and run. And my mother was a nurse, so we discussed anything and everything at the dinner table. Finally, as her children married and we began to acquire other relatives, her manners improved and that's no longer a problem. I have taken great pains to not let her and my father get to know my husband too well, so that the "company" manners will last as long as possible.

This is definitely a sin, jgm, and yes, you will braise in hell. We will announce your penance shortly. Mind you it's not even close to the sin of being a 'pretend' swallower, which certainly begs other questions, none of which I particularly want to know the answer to. ← When deciding upon the penance, please keep in mind that they were very, very, very good cookies.

You have two very powerful tools at your disposal: 1. Public wrath. Call a TV station and a couple of food writers in the area who have a large impact and the respect of their readers. Get well-known chefs and other prominent individuals on your side. A couple of movie stars wouldn't hurt. Embarrass the department. Make it a political issue. 2. Sue the bastards. The fact that they're singling out farmers' markets only, seems to me to be singling out a section of the market, and my gut tells me that's grounds for a case. But someone who has been admitted to the Bar in California would no doubt have a more reliable opinion. The only bar I've been admitted to lately is one that also has great cheeseburgers. But I'm serious: sue them. Join with others in your position, and sue them.

Looks like I finally found justification for one of my bad habits!

Some friends and I are probably going to burn in hell for this... Several years ago, our community had "overflow shelters" for homeless people during the coldest winter months. They rotated between downtown churches. When my friend's church was due to have a shelter in their building for a weekend, he and I and other friends agreed to prepare dinner for 75 on Saturday night. On the menu was chicken and noodles, which pretty much took all day since I insisted on making everything, even the noodles, from scratch. In the end, it was worth it when one of the men came back into the kitchen, and with tears in his eyes, said, "I haven't eaten like this since my Mom died." On Friday, one group member who had to be out of town, delivered several dozen molasses cookies to my office, to be taken to the church and served as dessert along with the chicken and noodles. Long story short: of course we had to taste the cookies, for quality control, you know. By the time dinner rolled around, we had eaten ALL of the cookies--boy, were they good-- and we had to send somebody out to buy more cookies. No kidding, not only were those the best molasses cookies I've ever had, they were likely the best cookies, period, I've ever had. Yes, we did confess our sins to our friend, who was not very happy with us, and we didn't blame him. All of the cookie-baking compliments in the world just didn't make up for our gluttony.

I had a friend who spent a lot of time in Brazil, and she gave me a great avocado recipe, which is a variation on some that were posted earlier. I've lost the actual recipe, but this can be done to taste very easily. Whiz about 4 good sized, very ripe avocados in a blender. Add sugar; I think it was around 1/4 cup. Also add regular milk until you get a nice pudding-y texture, then add a couple of tablespoons of port wine. Spoon into cups and serve with a lime wedge and squeeze the juice onto the pudding as you eat. My personal favorite is avocado slices on a BLT. Hurry, spring.

Finding an incredible recipe, like I did when I made Tony Bourdain's mushroom soup. I've used all of those ingredients before, but not exactly in that way, and the result was way better than anything I thought would ever come out of MY kitchen. Boy, did that make me believe in magic! What an incredible soup. The same kind of thing happens when making lemon curd. Lemons, sugar, eggs, butter. Everyday objects that become incredible when combined correctly. I'm sure there are others, but right now I'm too busy thinking about mushroom soup, to remember what they are.

Who's over this office? County commissioners? State legislators? Figure out the political hierarchy, and go up the ladder, and find an elected official. I really think you should consult an attorney if you feel you can afford it. Find someone who specializes in dealing with entities like the health department; it's likely going to take some research on your part, but it will be worth the effort. An attorney who's dealt with these bureaucratic types will already have connections in place and won't be reinventing the wheel. It wouldn't hurt to call a TV station or two. You need large numbers of people on your side, and a TV story will produce them. Also check in with food writers of influential publications in your area. The publicity will probably bring a couple of mushroom-loving lawyers out of the woodwork, who might volunteer to represent you for free. Go to war.

I've always wanted to do something like this in my community, and I'm going to do some checking around to find out what may already be in place. Meanwhile, I'm having memories of my early days, when I was just out of college and earning a meager living. I had to budget carefully to afford toothpaste when I needed it. I was fortunate to have a job with an organization that had a cafeteria, and the food there was good and was sold to us at cost, so the price was very reasonable. One of the hurdles I remember, besides not knowing much about cooking, was not being able to afford even dried herbs and spices. It made no sense to me to purchase a bottle of a dried herb at the grocery store for $4.95, especially knowing that since I lived by myself and would likely not use it all before it became stale. So my point is, that in addition to teaching people how to cook, budget, etc., we also need to personalize the lessons to our own communities. We have at least a couple of stores here that sell bulk herbs and spices. You can measure out however much you want into a plastic bag, and purchase only that amount. One of these stores, a health food store, also sells things like oatmeal, beans, lentils, and nuts in bulk, and once again, you buy only as much as you need. But most of my friends have no idea this is available, because they shop only at the big chains. Both of these stores are on major bus routes, and readily accessible to someone who doesn't have transportation. When people begin to cook, there is so much they need to buy, that we don't even think about because we take it for granted. Stuff like plastic wrap, aluminum foil, storage containers, tools. As we begin to formulate plans to bring these cooking lessons to our own communities, it would also be helpful to include sources for bulk items and low cost items. And we have to keep in mind, as has been mentioned previously, that some people will not have the ability, the time, or the energy to shop at multiple stores, so some strategies for helping people to work together and help each other might be good, too.

Check out this link: http://www.simplesupperstogo.com/ Simple Suppers to Go is a business in our community started last spring by a local chef. You go to her store, look at the menu, and pick which items you want to make. If you look around on the website, you'll find her menus, which will have some ideas for things you can freeze for later cooking and consumption, and there will also be an explanation of exactly how her business works, if you're interested. She's a pretty generous and open person, and if you had questions about what works well and what doesn't, I'm sure she would talk with you about it. I'm so glad to see her business is doing well, both for her and for the community. I've referred a lot of people to her, who needed fix-ahead meals for kids their families, and for elderly parents.

Aaah, so this is what it takes to make me appreciate living in Kansas! We just got liquor by the drink a few years ago. Now we're trying to banish evolution, and to make sure gays don't get married. Of course, we'd have to actually be able to BUY those things here before we'd have to worry about outlawing them. (Details, details) But you do have my sympathy. This is utterly outrageous. Someone at the Health Department doesn't have enough to do. Why couldn't they just require a warning, if they want to keep the public "safe"?

I'm of mixed opinion. I agree with a lot of the negative comments I've read here. But I learn so much from reading the descriptions of what they tried, and what did and didn't work. I don't make many of their recipes, but I always learn something. The mental gymnastics they go through for choosing and ruling out ingredients and cooking techniques, has been extremely informative for me. I did take issue with a measuring cup review they did in this last issue. They downgraded the Oxo measuring cup, which is one of my favorites. One reason is because they don't see the merit in having measuring lines you can look down and see; I seem to remember a comment about it not taking much effort to bend down and look at the glass measure from the side. I beg to differ. I have problem eyes, and they don't like trying to reconcile the glare off the glass with (often) the glare off the liquid inside and the painted lines. And my back doesn't like bending over to get my head down to counter level. Additionally--and this was the most problematic for me--one of their criteria was how well each one worked for measuring honey. The only thing I would ever measure honey in is that (oh man, what is it called???) self-cleaning thing that consists of an upside-down cylinder with a clear sleeve over it. Same principle as a syringe. A lot of people use it for measuring shortening and peanut butter, and it's a natural for honey. I wouldn't dream of putting honey into a glass measure, unless I were cooking in someone else's kitchen and my preferred gadet wasn't available. I thought they really missed the boat on this one, and by the end of the article, I wondered what planet they've been living on.

I didn't know my husband was a member on this board. Danno, is that you?

I tried it once and they were kinda tough. Might want to try blanching them first.

It might not hurt to find out what the kids will eat. Picky eaters tend to have their own reasons, none of which make sense to anyone else. I'm thinking about pot roast; I don't know if the vegetables would survive freezing, but there are a few frozen vegetables out there that would accompany it well. Chicken, if it's not been frozen before, can be cut in half, seasoned with just about anything you like, and frozen. Also, a riff on the lasagna idea might be manicotti. You could double up on the tomato sauce you make for the lasagna, and stuff the cooked manicotti shells with ricotta, parmesan, and mozzarella; pour the sauce over and freeze. I also make beef stew (some people would call it a thick vegetable beef soup) without potatoes, and serve it over a baked potato. In fact, lots of stuff can be served over a baked potato, and thinking in that direction might offer more ideas. And then there's chili: without beans for the nursing mother, please!

Whaddaya mean, "he refuses to allow anyone ELSE to have cranberries"? He can get by with that only if he's allowed to. What's he going to do if you put them on the table and tell him to behave? If it's a situation like a peanut allergy, where for some people even the slightest exposure is life threatening, that's reasonable. Otherwise, time for him to put on his big boy pants and not worry about what others are doing. My DH... won't eat meat cooked with fruit. He also won't eat yogurt. Or sour cream. Or avocados. Other than that, he's a good guy, and the cats like him, so I let him stay.

I didn't even try a search on this topic, because I didn't know what words to look for. So if this has been covered before, please forgive me; if the moderator needs to combine it with a previous topic, you have my permission and my blessing. Something I read in the Julie/Julia project caught my attention, many months ago, and I have been mulling it over ever since. I'd like to know what you think. Julie Powell said: "I have had enough. Enough of the $40 olive oils and imported semolina flour and "please, Turkish oregano only." . . . People speak of gleaning the green markets for the freshest this, the thinnest that, the greenest or firmest or softest whatever, as if what they're doing is a selfless act of consummate care and good taste, rather than the privileged activity of someone who doesn't have to work for a living. Julia Child wants you ... to know how to make good pastry, and also how to make those canned green beans taste alright." In short, Julie's thesis here is that technique performed on standard ingredients is what it's all about. As someone who can't even find arugula in a local supermarket, I find the idea she expresses here is an interesting and attractive one. Obviously, "special" (for lack of a better term; feel free to offer one if you have it) ingredients can be quite wonderful. (Said the woman who eats creme fraiche right out of the carton.) How much of your cooking relies on "the basics"? How much absolutely requires "special" ingredients, otherwise the dish just won't work?

I'm a fan of Stouffer's and Marie Callender's. I will eat Marie's turkey dinner when it's far enough from Thanksgiving that I need a turkey and dressing fix. Not as good at homemade--at my house, anyway, but better than what many people fix at their houses. Stouffer's Creamed Chipped Beef tastes exactly like the stuff my mom used to make. Their manicotti also isn't bad, and I usually keep a package of the Baked Chicken Breast (comes with mashed potatoes and gravy) to take for lunch. No, this ain't gourmet stuff, but I have neither the time nor the energy to fix magnificent meals every day. I eat a lot of leftovers, and other dishes that I have frozen, and they are the mainstays. But when pinched for time, I'll take these frozen items any day, over the fast food I'd otherwise have to grab on the run.

I didn't keep the careful notes that everyone else did, but in a nutshell, here are my results: Aluminum pan: plenty of stock left; meat only somewhat tender. All Clad pan: moderate amount of stock left; meat was tender. Le Creuset: all stock boiled away, and at first meat stuck to pan, but with a little urging it pulled away. Meat retained its structure and was melt-in-your-mouth tender. This pan was purchased last weekend and this was the first time I used it; I am extremely impressed with its braising ability, and now I know a lot about how to work with it. I haven't done much braising at all, so a lot of the details that were important to everyone else, didn't mean too much to me. I did take temperature readings and mine were similar to those reported by others. I have a question. In one of Alton Brown's programs on stewing chicken, he indicated that the stock should not boil, because if the temperature of the meat is higher than 160 F for a prolonged period of time, the meat will be tough and stringy. My own results roughly bear this out. Is there a temperature at which beef and/or pork should not go? I became worried when the temperature of the Le Creuset meat climed to 200 F and higher, but obviously it didn't make the meat tough. I don't know if I'll be able to find enough short ribs to continue the experiment throughout the week, but this one portion was definitely worth the effort!

I'm still in the middle of my experiment, but it's already an eye-opener. First of all, as a non-professional cook, I've never paid all that much attention to braising. Throw the stuff in the crock pot and come back 8 hours later. This is a different approach for me. I couldn't fit 4 vessels in my oven. I ended up with a Le Creuset pot and a very small All-Clad pot on the bottom and the aluminum foil contraption in the upper portion of the oven. The samples all were 9 1/4 ounces. The sample in the All-Clad pot was browned in that pot; the aluminum foil sample was browned in an All-Clad saute pan. Both did a much better job than the Le Creuset, which was frustratingly slow and didn't really do a good job. Having the two large pots on the bottom of the oven produced a dramatic difference for the aluminum foil pan on the top. It's consistently lagged behind by 30 to 50 degrees, but catches up as time goes on. A little over an hour in, the sample in the Le Creuset pot is the most tender. The one in the All Clad pot is next, and the one in the aluminum foil pan is stilll pretty tough. Everything smells wonderful and the dog is becoming anxious.

There are a multitude of food and funeral related customs in my own community. In many churches, the women's guild often fixes a meal for the family, to be held in a large meeting room after the service. It gives people a chance to sit and visit without worrying about serving and cooking. In other churches, everyone goes to a designated relative's house and eats food provided by neighbors and friends. Sometimes these meals involve about everyone who attended the funeral, and sometimes they involve only family and very close friends. I am Caucasian, and a close friend is African-American. When her father died a couple of years ago, I took food to her house, and she seemed quite surprised, but was still very gracious. And at the (Baptist) church for the funeral service, mine were the only flowers on the altar. Apparently, it's not a tradition within the African American community here (we were the only non-AA's at the funeral) to do either of those things. I believe there was a large gathering at the church after the service at the gravesite, which accommodated anyone who wanted to attend. Years ago, my sister and I were of ...um, you could almost say "opposite" religions. She was not accepting at all of the church to which I belonged; and after a funeral for one of her friends at a church similar to mine, she was very upset because it wasn't at all what she expected. She found it very cold and impersonal. It was explained to me that although there are variations within denominations, the Catholic type churches, which would loosely include Episcopalians and Lutherans, tend to have much different services than do the Protestant churches, and customs involving food are often just as different. If members of other religions are reading this, I think it would be fascinating to explore what happens in other faiths, if you are willing to share. I think there's as much variation from community to community as there is from denomination to denomination.

I don't let myself do this very often, but there are times when it's a must. I love to heat a can of sweetened concensed milk until it turns to caramel, and then sit and eat it with a spoon until I can't eat another bite. The leftovers, if any, go in the fridge and I have cold caramel the next day. Don't tell anybody, OK?

I thought this was one of the best IC competitions I've ever seen. And I think Michael got screwed by the new rule requiring 3 savory dishes, when he obviously focuses on desserts in his daily work. And I was extremely impressed with how well he rose to the occasion anyway. Both of the chefs did a great job. We've seen competitions before when the dishes weren't particularly imaginative, given the ingredients; we've seen competitions where it was much eaier to root for one above the other because of behavior issues. This competition had none of that, and I'd be happy to watch these two go at it again. Good show!

Black pepper in hot tea, along with all of those other amazing chai spices and milk. Never woulda believed it. Had a co-worker who ate BBQ potato chips in black walnut ice cream. I tried it and I still think she's crazy.