deltadoc

I have a 1500 watt Rival deep fryer. It is crummy. I used a candy thermometer to gage its "true" temperature, because I was getting lousy results. When it says 350, it is really about 200. When it says 375, it is about 240. After 20 minutes, with no load, it still says 240. They will send me a new one under warranty, but it costs me for shipping both ways. The total cost is about what the original cost me with tax. BTW: A check of the internet shows that many people have had a problem with Rival deep fryers. Especially the Model CF250 that I have. I looked at 1800 watt commercial electric fryers at the Gourmet Cooking Supplies. I don't know if they work better, but if they keep the temperature at what they're supposed to, it might help! doc

Cold salted water, covering the equal sized chunks of red potatoes. Boil until fork tender. Drain, put potatoes back in pan on low heat until all steam stops coming off the potatoes. Rice them, add butter, S&P, cream, chopped fresh Rosemary and either fresh or roasted garlic to taste. Serve with demi-glace made with a bit of melted in Maytag Iowa Blue Cheese. Never had better! doc

And the Coca-Cola company swears that "Original Formula" is the same as the pre-New Coke Coca-Cola, but most everyone knows this is not so. They also claim that Coca-Cola never had cocaine or codeine in it either.... I checked my L&P in the fridge, and the two cases bought months apart downstairs. Opened two more bottles. They all have different batch numbers and they all taste the same, not the same as in the olde days! And as far as L&P "aging 2 years" I remember that used to be on the bottle, but not anymore! doc

I AGREE! It has changed, and I'd stake my reputation on it. It wasn't just one bottle either. It's been changed for some time now. So, I found a homemade formula on "Ask A Chef" website. It is very good, and we canned a bunch of it. Down to one bottle. I used to like to put a bit of L&P in hamburger, but it just doesn't work anymore. So that is why I have recently redoubled my efforts to come up with a great hamburger meat mix so that I can get the great hamburger without the L&P. However, with that said, the homemade stuff is pretty good, although a tad different tasting, it's in the same planetary system as L&P used to be. Can't say that about Heinz! doc

Just took delivery on my whole certified Black Angus Tenderloins, and one "hanging tenderloin". Steve, of Venison America, told me that as far as hamburger, these prime hanging tenderloins make outstanding burgers too. His favorite is the Kobe hamburger he sells. I may just have to throw one of these HT's into the hamburger mix tonight. Approximately 70 lbs of meat to grind tonight! But the thought of the delicious hamburger waiting for me when I'm done will be incentive enough!! doc

There is a steakhouse called Murray's (Home of the Silver Butter Knife Steak) in downtown Minneapolis that is a landmark. At lunch they serve a special burger made entirely from the strap and trimmings of the tenderloin. Haven't tried it yet, but I'm very happy with my strap/sirloin/chuck combo, and I've been trying to come up with the "perfect" burger combination for over 20 years! In fact today, I am taking delivery from Venison America of 6 whole Black Angus tenderloins. While I love tenderloin steaks, the main reason I'm buying these is for the strap. I've got a huge chuck roast and sirloin roast in the fridge at home that I bought previously thawing in anticipation of grinding them all up tonight, and then vacuum sealing in 2-lb packages. At the same time, I cut up the remaining tenderloin into filet mignon type 1 1/2" size medallions. One small one and one larger one per package, dry marinated and vacuum sealed and into the freezer they go. (small one for the wife, and need I say, the large one for me?) doc doc

I've been making Italian Hot Sausage for some 25 years, and 85% of the time I use a fatty pork butt, and the sausage comes out just fine. The other 15% of the time I use Pork Shoulder. Several butchers have told me that pork shoulder makes better sausage than pork butt, but I don't see a whole lot of difference. doc

The best fresh ground burger, besides fat content, is that it absolutely does not have any ground up tendon, connective tissue, gristle, bone, or other objectionable "chunky" stuff in the patty. Best combination of meat that I've ever found was a 1:1:1 ratio of fatty tenderloin strap, lean sirloin, and prime chuck, single ground. The smell of it frying was unbelieveable and took me back to the 50's when hamburger was really great! doc

I wasn't sure which was the best forum to post this but here goes: I am eyeing my brick facade fireplace in my living room which currently has a fireplace insert installed in it. The insert is old, and rather than replace it, and realizing that the brick facade is '50's style (read: Out of Style), I was wondering if anyone has ever tried converting their indoor fireplace into a brick oven. In Minnesota the warmth is nice, we're going to burn wood anyway, so why not cook with it too? I would also like to put a door on it, so that warm air doesn't escape up the chimney when the oven is not in use! Any ideas, suggestions, input, etc.? Tx! doc

I'd been wanting a nice mandolin for some time. Wife bought one at W/Sonoma's. After trying to use it several times, I found it is easier to use a knife instead. Its easy to cut yourself on a mandolin, sometimes potatoes or whatever are too large to fit inside the protective sliding plastic thing, the cutting blade nicks easily for what little use I've given it. The mandoline doesn't like to stay in one place despite it's rubber coated adjustable legs. It's hard to catch what you've sliced because of the angle of the mandolin. I now only use it if I need extremely thin slices. Such as making hidden herb potatoes (a fresh leafy herb in the middle of two buttered thin potatos slices, onto a baking sheet and into the oven. There a pain to wash up afterwords too. I'd have to be having a awful big dinner party to break it out to use it. Like I said, the knife, kept sharpened, does the job faster and easier for me. doc

I have a thick rectangular pizza stone, which I pre-heat to 550 F for at least an hour before I put the pizza on it. Takes about 12 minutes for the thin crust pizza I make. It comes out perfect on the bottom, cooked all the way through, without having dried up the sauce, and the mozz is just slightly starting to carmelize. Yum! doc

I follow the advice from America's Test Kitchen. Heavy cast iron skillet set on the gas cooktop at High. Heat it for 20-25 minutes. Oil the 3" thick filet mignon, salt & pepper. Put it in the hot skillet exactly 3 minutes on each side. You know its about ready when you can grab the skillet by its handle and the steak will break free on its own. Nicely carmelized on both sides and the skillet and steak go directly into a pre-heated electric oven set at 450 F. About 6-8 minutes for medium rare. Then I place the steak on a plate, tent it with alum. foil, and deglaze the pan with some red wine, add some butter, diced red onion, demi-glace, a dash of Dry Sherry, S&P, and some Maytag Iowa blue cheese. Smother the steak with that sauce and I'm in steak heaven! doc

I have a Zojirushi that is the 10-cup Neuro Fuzzy logic. About 1-year old now. I have used it exclusively with brown rice, and it comes out perfect everytime, whether I cook 1 cup or 5 cups (dry measure). The teflon cooking pot comes out with non-hot handles, and has lines indicating water levels for every type of rice depending on how much dry rice you put in. doc

My Palestinian restaurant cook friends showed me how they make hummous. It is the best I've yet to eat anywhere. They make it in big batches, but basically start with a very large stock pot, filled with dried garbanzos (chick peas) and let them soak overnight. In the early morning, they start to simmer the pot, and add a touch of baking soda to help reduce acid, and to cause the skins to float to the top where they're periodically skimmed off. The tahini they use was always made from lightly toasted Tahini. Lots of fresh garlic and lemon juice, some salt, some pepper, and a touch of cayenne. I've seen them sometimes use some cumin for variety. When served it is always spread out on a large platter, with a pool of EVOO in the center , drizzled with fresh lemon juice, and sprinkled with paprika. They explained that this was considered breakfast, and whenever I arrived at the restaurant just as it opened at 11am, the bunch of 'em were sometimes still sitting around a table with a big platter of hummous dipping into it with pita bread. I've made hummous with raw tahini, and with toasted tahini. I kind of like both, but the toasted tahnini gives a richer flavor. Tahini was always explained to me to be peanut butter made with roasted sesame seeds instead of roasted peanuts. I've also heard the argument about "true" hummous containing no tahini, and if it does, it becomes "hummous bi tahini". But I've only once ever ordered hummous in a restaurant and had it not contain tahini. When questioned about it, the owner told me they had run out of the tahini that day, and had no time to wait for some to be delivered. doc

Try Delta Doc's Garlic Beef It was published in the Blues-L Cookbook entitled Come On in My Kitchen. http://members.aol.com/debjerky/cookbook/Garbeef.html doc

On a good day, Jerusalems on Nicollet is a pretty good Middle Eastern place to eat. Their lunch menu seems a better deal than their dinner portions. ALso, you can substitute rice for french fries with no upcharge, but you have to remember to ask for tahini sauce on the side. You can also substitute the Tabouli salad for the "western" type lettuce salad that comes standard with many of the dishes. doc

Their Papaya Salad (Thai Style) is awesome, one of the best dishes oriental I've had. I think we also had #82 which I think had just a bit too much cilantro in it for our tastes. I think we also had a pork dish with Thai peanut sauce which was very tasty. I'll pass on the coconut though. They chop off the husk of a whole coconut, top it, and stick in a straw. Very very sweet for my taste. The shrimp appetizer with hot sauce was very very good. I asked if I could get it with both available sauces (hot, and sweet & sour) and they gladly obliged. doc

The good ol days of college. I had an electric fry pan with cover. It had a thermostat control on the handle. I'd buy one of those Jenos, Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee or Kraft pizza mixes. Let the dough rise in a plastic bowl. Greased the fry pan, patted out the dough, added the sauce and cheese packet and even sometimes bought a 1b. of mozz and then put on the cover. TUrned it up to 350, as I recall, and within minutes, I had a perfect pizza, crisp crust on the bottom, fully cooked all the way through, and served it right in the fry pan. However, with a spatula, I remember that the entire pizza could be lifted out and placed on a paper plate (big paper plate!). doc

In preheated heavy stock pot, add 1 C clarified butter, and then 14 C sliced Vadalia or yellow onion. Stir continuously until well carmelized but not burnt. Add 3 cloves chopped garlic. Stir 2 minutes more. Add 1 C good red wine. Stir 5-6 more minutes. Add 2 TBSP chopped fresh Thyme, pepper to taste. If using yellow onion, add 1/2 tsp sugar, omit for Vadalias. Add veal/beef stock until you have fully covered the onions by about 2 inches. Reduce over simmer for up to 2 hours to consistency you're looking for. Just before serving whip 2-3 egg yolks in small dish, add some hot soup, return all to pot and stir while also adding 3-4 TBSP of good Cognac. Salt to taste. I like to forego the piece of toast, and usually the gruyere cheese too. Sometimes I add a bit of grated Parmesiagno Reggiano, sometimes not. Can or freeze the leftovers! doc

My point isn't "So we shouldn't cook with the modern day Coca Cola?"! Just that most of those recipes relied on the "Real Thing" and I usually like to try out original recipes using the real ingredients upon which they were based, before I start modifying them. You can substitute Nutra-sweet for real sugar if you want, it doesn't matter to me as long as you like it. In my original post, I forgot to add that after the government got done doing their extraction process on the coca leaves, they gave/sold the leaves to the coca cola company to use for flavoring. BTW: Addressing that other post, codeine does not come from coca leaves. Codeine is a by-product of opium extraction. An Atlanta pharmacist once told me that the codeine was in the original Coca Cola to smooth out the buzz from the cocaine, which makes sense to me. It was orinally sold as an elixir in the form of a syrup. Somewhere along the way, someone discovered how good the syrup was mixed with seltzer water! I would be very surprised if the modern day Coca Cola still relied on coca leaf extractives for flavor. The whole point was that it was becoming too expensive to use anymore, and the company didn't want any of the real stuff around to compare to the "new" original formula. But oh for a glass of the original Vin Mariani! I'm told there is a whole book consisting of letters of praise from kings and heads of state regarding their admiration for Vin Mariani. (I hope I am spelling that right!) doc

I am aghast. OF all places to read about Coca-Cola recipes. Is there anyone here who actually thinks that the "Classic Coke" of today's world has any "real" relationship to the Coca Cola before the "New Coke" introduction? Do you not realize that "New Coke" was just a ploy to rid the world of any remaining "original Coca-Cola", so that they could introduce the "new" "Original Formula" Classic Coke which no longer depends on coca leaves and probably cola nuts too for its flavor base? I could make a list of many foods that drinking the Classic Coke of today leaves a whole different "after-taste" than the days of "pre-New Coke". Don't get me started on "Original Formula" either. Prior to 1908, it still had codeine in it. Prior to 1902 it still had cocaine in it too. And the whole reason it was called "Coca Cola" is that the flavor base relied heavily on coca leaf extract and cola nut extractives. The US Government used to buy coca leaves from South America, perform an organic extraction, reduced that to the base molecule "ecognine", then re-synthesized that back up to pharmaceutical grade cocaine hydrochloride and/or cocaine sulfate. doc

I would use a dehydrator and dry the mint, seal it with a Foodsaver, keep it in the freezer. Besides the obvious uses as previously described, sprinkling dried crushed spearmint on pizzas adds a wonderful touch. I like to use basil, a bit of fennel seed, and some spearmint before topping with the mozz. doc

Definition of suet: The harder fat near the kidneys and loins in beef and mutton. doc

I have a 48" Thermador Professional cooktop, one of the originals made for Thermador by DCS, and it is mounted on Fieldstone maple and oak base cabinets between, but not supported by, a 3/4" Corian countertop. My vent is a 1200 cfm Vent-a-hood. While it was all professionally installed, they never mentioned a replacement air system. I found out about that from a HVAC contractor when I put in a closed air furnace and gas water heater. So, I open the front door and a couple of windows even when it is -30 F out~! Been no problem with the Corian in close vicinity of the cooktop. It has a total of 90K BTU (4 burners, grill and griddle). I find the grill to be pretty lame at 15K BTU, but the 1/2" SS griddle works just fine. The burners are all 15K BTU too. The wok doesn't heat on the burners as well as it should, but then real Chinese woks run up to 100K BTU! doc

I don't remember the first time I ate pizza, but I do remember my aunt (who was a great cook) being surprised I would eat it. My father dictated what mom cooked, and Sunday's meal alternated from a super well done roast beef cut thick against the grain and served with the overcooked carrots, onions and potatoes that went into the covered roasting pan with it, or a cheap thick steak. I got into cooking as a matter of survival, and luckily the parents never threw anything away, so the old stove went into the basement, and so did I! But, in about 1980-81 time frame I met a Saudi royal cousin named Ohoud, who took me to Abdul's Afandy restaurant in Minneapolis. I think the TV show Roots was real popular about that time, and sure felt like I had found mine. Falafel, stuffed grape leaves, kofta kabob, shawirma, Jerusalem salad, hummous, and Tabouli, all on one plate called Abdul's combination plate. I am sitting here right now at home from work for lunch, just finishing up from eating hummous, tabouli, tahini sauce, pita, and shawirma, all homemade! Been eating this every day this week, and now its all gone! Good thing I talked my co-workers in going out to lunch tomorrow to the Holyland Restaurant! Their buffet always includes all of the above!!! doc