NulloModo

I don't even know what a springform is. I am most decidedly not a professional, I have simply taught myself how to cook these things because a). when I started this diet there was nothing out there in restaurants or pre-packaged that catered towards those eating low-carb, and b). now that there is, a lot of it tastes bad and is bad for you anyway. I make mine just as I described and with a $1.50 disposable aluminum pie tin from the grocery store (not really springy). I will say that it is lots better on the 2nd day than on the first, the flavors solidfy more or something, and that it does tend to brown on top a bit. It isn't super pretty, but at least IMO it is very very tasty. Of course, maybe the springform and waterbath alleviate the brown top and occasional cracks issues, if so, let me know ;).

I've loved every Indian dish I have ever tried (with the exception of the Bengali Mustard Fish from the eCGI course, but then again, I'm 100% the failure here was in my preparation, I will attempt it again as soon as I come upon more good fish). With regards to Japanese, Ilove certain dishes, I am a huge fan of all things Sashimi, and the (surely Americanized) Japanese dishes served at the local Hibachi are quite tasty. When talking about noodle soups and all that jazz though, I am fairly indifferent. I will eat it, but if I have other options that aren't swimming in noodles and broth, I will go with those. I certainly don't dislike any Japanese food I have had, and I have probably only experienced a small portion of the pie, but I haven't totally fallen in love with it as I have with Indian, Thai, Mexican (and other Central/South American), and Italian cookery.

Ouch! That can do damage. Are you okay now? Yes, that one was this evening actually, but the pain and blurred vision were alleviated through a brief consultation with Dr. Jim Beam. This just hasn't been my week for cooking safety: I've managed to almost fully sever the tip of my finger, blow chile powder all over my eyes, and grab both the handle of a hot cast iron skillet as well as a metal broiler plate from underneath the broiler.

Ohh.... rare vegetarians at the Jones tonight. I detest well done vegetarians. Please, please post those pics! I think it depends on the type of vegetables they were raised on. Sure if they are the flax fiber and oat bran variety there is great potential for them to be gamey, but there might be some decent marbling in those raised on coconut, mango, cauliflower, and lentils.

If I had my druthers I'd start each day with a glass of Bombay Sapphire slightly thinned with OJ.

I will never again: Take a look at the spice resevoir in my brand new spice mill, which I have just used to grind dried thai bird chiles, notice that it is still covered in chile dust, and figure the best means of cleaning it is to stick my face (and therefore my eyes) up close to it and blow real hard.

I am just now starting to explore the breadth of Indian cuisine. Currently, most of my Indian experience comes from eating at Indian restaurants in the area, and thus to me Indian food has been: strongly flavored, usually reddish, yellow, or brown in color, often covered in a thick sauce, served up with lots of flat bread and rice, and cooked till super-tender (I can't reacall ever having crunch Indian food). Oftentimes there are condiments served in a little silver condiment carrier, which are of unknown contents and origin to me, but taste nice. Usually one is green, one is white and chunky, and a couple others are shades of yellow and brown. I'm sure this is not at all authentic, or maybe it is to a certain part of India, I like it a lot though, so I would love to learn more.

Sounds like a carb-bomb that wasn't consumed in time.

now I know what I'm having for supper tonight. NulloModo, do you have a recipe (or method)? thanks! Fi Nothing that I use every time. I do a google search, look for a recipe that looks interesting, and jump into it based on what I have in the pantry ;).

Funny you should ask. Here is the recipe that I most recently used, and tourned out very well: Low-carb bourbon Cheesecake Filling: 2 Lbs Cream Cheese 2 or 3 eggs (2 for very dense, 3 for slightly fluffy) 4 Packets Sweet - N - Low 2 Packets Stevia 3 Packets Splenda (using a blend of artificial sweeteners gives a syngergistic effect to each, and make the whole thing taste like real sugar instead of, well, fake sugar. These three are all heat-stable, Acuselfame-K can be subbed for Stevia if you can't find it in your area) 1/2 Stick of butter Dash of salt Tablespoon of Vanilla extract 1/2 Cup of Bourbon Crust: 1 Cup Almonds 1 Cup Pecans 1/2 Cup Macadamias (or other fatty nut) 1 Stick butter dash of salt For crust: Process the nuts with the butter until nuts are ground and mixture is pliable. Shape into a pie-crust tin and bake at 350 for a little under 20 minutes, just long enough to set. Remove from oven and let cool, let oven remain hot. Filling: Throw in everything but the eggs into a food processor and process till creamy and well mixed, then add the eggs one at a time and mix just long enough to incorporate them into the mixture. Combination: When crust is done, pour in the filling and bake at 350 for around an hour, or until done. Take out, let cool for a bit on the counter, then into the fridge over-night.

Hehe, unfortunately a good deal of effot on my part is required to catalyze that reaction.

I have never had the pleasure of enjoying French meat, but I have enjoyed U.S. meat from some of the lowest (Sizzler, McDonalds, etc) to near the highest (USDA Prime, however, no Wagyu or Lobel's) quality, and have no qualms about ordering and ejoying it rare, or cooking it that way myself, whenever and wherever possible. I realize the cows don't live wonderful lives compared to their European brethren, and I realize that I might lose my appetite were I actually to tour a slaughterhouse, but that does not concern me as long as I don't know. I have never become sick from beef I have eaten anywhere, so I just don't worry about it. Then again, I don't wear my seatbelt, wear suncreen, purify my water, clean my knife between chopping poultry and vegetables, or refridgerate half the things I should either, but none of that stuff has killed me yet, and I have the same attitude. In my mouth, rare beef just tastes better, and I would like to enjoy it that way anywhere and everywhere I can.

oh, I also completely forgot the butter. Use lots and lots of butter. I've never used cream cheese, just lots of good heavy cream, and been very happy with the results. Maybe I will try cream cheese next time. Last couple times I've ended up with a head of cauliflower it has turned into aloo gobi mattar however.

What type are they? How are you preparing them, and what are you serving them with?

Interesting, I had no idea in France meat was served generally rarer than in the US. I find myself having to very carefully isntruct every waiter here that I want my meat 'as rare as possible' and it still comes out medium half the time. Bleu is now in my vocabulary for dining in France ;).

This item is on the low carb menu page to accompany all of their entrees at Houlihan's .. new item .. actually, not too bad ... Its an oldie but goodie in the low-carb community. A couple of the chains that feature low-carb menus even have it on them...

I guess some people like swallowing all that stringy stuff. All I end up doing is choking. paging NeroW and Tommy...

Ah success! I went off to the farmers market today and found a bounty of quite ripe tomatoes, so I decided to go ahead and make the sauce from fresh. An onion diced with several cloved of garlic in EVOO started things off. I let these sizzle and flavor the oil as I pureed a food processor full of tomatoes, several sprigs worth of rosemary leaves, some more garlic, parsely, and a package of mushrooms. Once combined but still a bit chunky this all went in with the onions and garlic and slow cooked for about two hours. The chicken came out crispy, golden brown, and very flavorful deep fried with the parmesan crust, and the roll was just right. On the side was sauteed fresh asparagus in EVOO and garlic. After my total failure cooking tripe, I needed something like this to get my spirits back up ;). This is most definately something I will add to my repertoire, for it produced the most flavorful chicken parm sandwhich that I have ever consumed. Thanks for all the great suggestions.

When I make it I don't actually measure anything... I boil a head of cauliflower until it is pretty much fully cooked, then toss it into a food processor and puree it with a decent glug or two of heavy cream, salt, and pepper. I then sautee some chopped up bacon and garlic in a pot with some EVOO, then add the cauliflower mixture back in and cook just long enough to let the flavors mix, while also adding some grated sharp cheddar cheese. Serve with some extra bacon crumbles and cheese on top, which chives as well if you like them.

Pumpkin can be mashed and seasoned for something remarkably similar to mashed sweet potato, which could go nicely with the steak. Cauliflower pureed and cooked with cream, chopped bacon, and cheese, then topped with chive and a bit more cheese is also a great potato sub. Kale just lightly spread out over a cookie sheet and then dusted with EVOO and parmesan and baked till crispy is texture and flavor rich.

You could use the standard southern style method of cooking greens: slow simmer all day with a ham hock, some onion, and a little bit of garlic. Serve with fresh diced onion and a little bit of vinegar over top.

Interesting. Although I was leaning more towards that hard spirits issue than wines (and hard spirits should be free of the spoilage losses mentioned above, so I guess it is just a profit thing...).

Thank you, those both sound like great ideas so far, and I would love to get that PM Behemoth. For some reason I had it in my head that making a good red-sauce would be an all-day affair involving stock-bones, mysterious ingredients like pureed anchovy for hidden flavors, and other stereotypical Italian Grandmother secrets ;). I suppose there is definately nothing wrong with simple however. Malawry - I am breading the chicken using grated parm trick: I take the breasts, slice thin, drag through an egg wash, roll each slice around in grated pure parmesan cheese, and then toss it into a deep fryer till done. The grated parm will fuse and crisp around the breast giving a texture and color similar to breading, but with much more flavor. You can vary this by using other hard grating cheeses and spicing the mixture to give your fried chicken a slightly different character. I am using the O'So'Lo rolls, which I have been able to find at my local Safeway. The thing I like about these is that the actual and net carb counts are both very low, they are free of any sugar-alcohol, and make use of protein isolates and flax-seed as the primary bulking agents. In color they are much darker that your usual roll, but they do taste quite good, and are very moist, with just a hint of chewiness, almost like a good potato roll.

I have a serious hankering for a chicken-parm. sub this evening, alas I can not endulge because: a.) I am on a low-carb diet, and every little Italian join that delivers the little beauties serves 'em up with breaded chicken (which is how they should be), and of course have no low-carb rolls, which I wouldn't expect them to. But this is not a problem because... b.) I am too stubborn to order something that seems simple enough that I could learn how to cook myself anyway. I have the rolls, I have a means of 'breading' the chicken, but alas, I now realize that I do not know how to make the ubiquitous 'red sauce' which is somewhat akin to Marinara which is served up in every little dime-a-dozen Italian sub/steak/pasta/pizza joint. Recipegullet is empty of solutions, and I discovered none of the sauce courses in the eGCI cover this type of course. A quick look around google shows a bunch of different recipes, with very different ideas, but most seem to call for all dried herbs and canned tomatoes, surely I can do better. I turn to you, eGullet, to share your more flavorful cooked from scratch recipes for Italian style red-sauce. I would prefer something using all fresh ingredients, including all fresh tomatoes (no canned or paste), unless those products really do somehow make it taste better...

I live in Newark currently, and over the past school year worked in Dover on the AFB. I have been living in the state for about 12 years now, but only developed an interest in dining beyond the mega-chains very recently, so I am still exploring quite a bit myself. I will have to just start some posts about special places up here then, who knows, maybe some will catch on.