thecuriousone

Hi All- I am a passionate ameteur and I wanted some feed back on what to do with a barbequed roaster carcas. What I did was throw it in a stock pot with some water, carrots, celery and create a stock. I then cleaned the carcass of the meat, discarding the skin, mixed it with veggies, and little fresh chicken stock from the freezer, fresh sage and made pot pie. I'm left with 6 cups of stock that have a smoked (somewhat acrid) taste. I'm going on the assumption that a chef would have some tricks to make this stock usaable. My questions are the following: 1. Is there a way to counter what I think are the burned surgars in the stock so it is usable without that off taste? (I'd be willing to freeze it in ice cube trays in order to give a slightly smoky flavor to soups.) 2. Did I make the best use of the leftover chicken? The pot pie made 6 portions (although my huband ate 3 portions at a time- but thats not a chef issue). Thanks for any suggestions.

Hi there- Thanks so much for getting back to me. I went and pulled the recipe to make sure that I'm communicating the right info. (also, you should try it, its great!) It comes from page 100 of the Good Cook, Preserving. The title is Lemon Watermelon and Bitter orange jam 3 lemons, peels only, thinly pared into a julienne 1- 4lb watermelon quartered, fruit cubed and seeded 4-5 bitter oranges, peels of three and juice of all 3/4 cup water sugar Bring large pan of water to boil, add lemon and orange peels and boil for 15 minutes, drain. Put watermelon cubes in enameled pan with 3/4 cups water and cook over low heat for 20 minutes. Add the blanched peels and the orange juice. Measure the mixture and add 3 cups of sugar for each 4 cups of fruit. Cook over very low heat untill cubes are transparent and syrup has reached jelling point, about 1 hr. put in jars and cover immediately. Process. ____________________________ If I were tio use sure gel, what would be the ra tio? Thanks again for all your help.

Hi All- I tried a recipe out of The good cook, James and Jellies over the weekend. It is a bitter orange, lemon and watermelon Jam. Actually its more like a marmalade. The recipe went together easily, but a curious thing happened while I was cooking it. The recipe said to add 3 cups of sugar for each 4 cups of fruit and simmer slowly for 1 hour. I did that but at the end of the hour, the consistency still seemed thin. My first though was to reduce it further. I pulled some out of the pot to taste and continued to reduce. I never did get to a really jelled consistency, however the taste started to change, it lost the fresh watermelon flavor and took on almost a "tea taste" like the sugars in the watermelon had carmelized. It doesnt taste bad but should I have taken another approach? I'm not familiar enough with sure gel to use it if its not called for in a recipe. Any help would be appreciated. Its a beautiful jam, I would just like to maintain the fresh watermelon taste and have it thicker.

Hi All- This is my first post but from reading the previous, I feel like I'm at home. There are 4 8 foot shelves in my kitchen with cookbooks, and that does not include the "to be read" pile next to my bed. My reliable go to's are: 1. The making of a chef, 2nd edition. Madeline Kamman. Her history and discussion of each topic give me confidence. Her "golden veal stock" has elevated my cooking. 2.Cuisine Economique-Jacques Pepin-(he always reminds me that elegant french need not take a kings ransom or a million years to make!) 3.The Gotham Bar and Grill Cookbook-Alfred Portale I like his straightforward,"its about the food" attitude. 4. The Jessie Marie DeBoth Cookbook for all Occasions . (The spiral bound edition)-I always get the feeling that this cookbook accurately represents the cooking of the 1950's. Menus are included. 5. The Working Girl Must Eat by Hazel young, 1938. This is a great book, published in 1938, Each 2 pages include a themed menu, market list and discussion. The menus are geared for ease and speed to the table. The menu for, "When the boyfriend comes to dinner" is a scream. 6. Creole Feast- 15 master chefs of New orleans Reveal Their Secrets, Nathaniel Burton and Rudy Lombard. This book has the killer shrimp creole recipe. If the shrimp are clean, from the time you turn the stove on untill the time you are sitting down is 30 minutes-look for it on p.109 7. Paul Wolfert in any iteration. My husband was recently diagnosed as a type two diabetic, and throught her books we know that great food is still part of our reality. My favorites include: Mediterreanean Grains and Greens, Mediterreanean cooking, The cooking of the eastern mediterreanean and Slow cooking........ I will be forever gratefull to her.