highchef

You can buy dry roux in a jar, several different brands. However...it takes a lot more for some reason. The one time I tried it, I had to use half a jar. I do not see the sense in buying it, when basically it is just flour either browned in the oven, or on the cook top in a cast iron skillet. The fat in roux is there to help carry the flavor and add body to the dish. If you are trying to cut calories, then go for it. All dieting etc. begins by cutting out or cutting down. I'd rather just cut down. jmtc. P

There's a wheat germ brand out there that has a recipe for 'always ready bran muffins' that you make the batter up and keep it in the fridge. It keeps for weeks and makes a darn good muffin. I always have to add to it, a bananna here, dried fruit tomorrow, nuts etc. but the kids like them plain. Hudson's Mill ??? it's in the 'special diets' section. I may have some downstairs, I'll check and see and if the recipe is there I'll post it so you can adjust it to your liking. Tomorrow.

leftover cooked rice in chicken noodle soup is something mom used to add..I think you can buy it like that now.

Basic, large white mushrooms, stems removed, caps cleaned. finely chop stems and about a cup and a half of trinity...1/3 onion, 1/3 bellpepper, 1/3 celery. also finely chopped. Sautee all in 1/2 stick us butter. Add fresh tarragon (just a bit), salt and pepper to taste, a couple of tablespoons of fresh parsley, about a third of a cup of finely sliced green onion along with a splash of hot sauce and just enough panko to give some body. stuff the caps and broil until hot and the caps are tender. I've topped them with a dollop of white sauce before heating, or freshly grated cheese (something mild). If you don't care for tarragon, use thyme. A squeeze of lemon on top when they come out is good...great teasers. My mil used to do them 'italian' style from a recipe she got from Mosca's in N.O., but all the cheese and Italian spices overpowered the taste of the crabmeat and I'm all about the crabmeat. They're good though, you can make them just like the above, but sub italian seasoning and add parm and romano on top before broiling. and use Italian bread crumbs.

Claw meat is 'stronger', but I'm not sure that makes it better. I think it all has to do with what you're using it for. There's nothing like crab cakes, with beautiful, mild, tender pieces of crabmeat barely holding together with just the minimum of filler and lovely crisp green onion. It just is not the same sensation when done with crab claw, not the same mouth feel, not the same insane crab 'rush' you get when you taste the sea itself in the white meat. Now, for stuffing, it's the right time for claw meat..you're using it as an ingredient with lots of other flavors to play off of, it's the star of the show but isn't the dealmaker. I love clawmeat in mushrooms..such a simple thing but soooo sweet! I know what you meat about the price difference, it's daunting. But I pay for the white for salad and cakes. I cannot stand the fake stuff. I won't get started on it, cause I know there are people out there who like it, but you'd never eat that 'dip' again if you tried mine alongside it. I'm not bragging, just telling it like it is.

I'm giving homemade vanilla-bourbon extract. I've already had to shoo the hubby out of the Jack Daniels, cause he wanted to have a 'shot'. I let him smell it to clarify what I was doing and he REALLY wanted a shot of it then....it's either not strong enough or too strong. I hear the scent of vanilla is a real male turn-on, I may have a good thing going here. I need to put up another bottle!

Bergamot is the flavor in Earl Grey tea. It can be bought as an essence, and added 'whenever'. There should be no reason for not using the essential oil for flavor, it is what it is.

sw La is still closing at 6, and if you drive around after dark, you better damn sure know where you're going. One of the 50 wine masters in the U.S. is a friend of mine and his place is gutted. Everyother home here has a blue tarp on the roof. The trees are cut up, not by fema, but by us....we're a little different than normal, we are really on the ball. I'm sure fema does good things, I just haven't seen it besides the water. Yea, that was good. Thing is, you don't understand what a hellhole the whole southern coast of Louisiana is like now. You won't..you can't... My friends in NewOrleans went home to condemd signs. My friends here have the same things, We were lucky, lucky, lucky. and it's still nasty. I wouldn't want to leave my new "NEW YORK STUDIOS" either, but I'm just an average person who stayed and fed the locals..and anyone else who showed up. fyi, the mre's were lunch.

Well, SB, just go back to the beginning. The conversation just evolved, as they do. There will probablly never be, and seldom is, a resolution. but at least we got to bitch a little, share a little, and educate a little. Just my Humble Opinion, Patty

No one locally, ie Louisiana, would have accused him of grandstanding, unless he was. Hell we know grandstanding when we see it, we invented it! What Louisiana needs right now, is a concentration from the good to offset the bad. That's as concise as I can say it. You have to take the flavor, condense it, see what it needs to support it, add to it as necessary and say "God Bless" . We need to be supportive of NO, but we don't all have to live there. Come, bring you're money, eat, drink and pass a good time. Let the port do it's thing. It'll all be good in the end.

ah, the green egg. Im not sure how it'll look, but I hear it cooks great!

O.K. I like Emeril, but I haven't seen anyone here either...if he's to do anything at this point, he need to direct it at all of the Louisiana coast, every inch. Emeril, Folsse', Prudduhum (sp) etc..need to be around and getting things back together. We are still in a weird zone...my sister says we're all suffering from combat fatigue!... The resturants that opened the fastest, got closed the fastest. St. dept.of health. etc.. The whole gulf coast could use a little love.. from any where.

zucc's, salt and pepper and a little oregano with butter. butternut, butter, cinnamon and a little fresh ground nutmeg. White pepper. perfect. oh, a pinch of salt, please.

Well, if that's what you want (looks like a bride's list), the go with the knives. If you're open to suggestion, screw the machine, and buy a little cap pot.. then you can afford the great knives. Or..this is my fav of the dishes I have ever owned: The chef's pan, the big one. does everything for me that I need in the kitchen, as far as cooktop is concerned....

I had to dig this thread up again to share something that gave me nightmares last night. Before bed reading, new Williams Sonoma catalog. There is the DuFour puff pastry. Sit down, this is truly painful. $42.50 FOR ONE 14 OZ. SHEET!!! PLUS SHIPPING!!! aghhhhh!!!

actualy, under extreme circimstances you can get creative with fish.Hey, 2 day with gumbo, you want to eat something else. Hello cerviche' (You know my spelling sucks) And eveyone ate well...hell, there was beautiful redfish, and tuna. Oh, this is sad...but we had a dozen limes and lemons and we ate well. And FEMA kept us in ice and water...that's the key to cooking. or surviving.

The oldest thing I have is a jar of chestnuts..from 1978

That is exactly the way it's done Brooks, in a hollow in a cypress stump. Yes, yes, yes. Thank you, the girls in the office thank you and my gumbo thanks you. Yes!

WS has organic and free range turkeys for 70 and 89 bucks respectively(is that a word???) Sooooo....my question is, when you pay that for a turkey, what then? Do you insure that the bread that made the stuffing is made from organic flour? The butter, sure. The herbs???Do I go buy all organic just to satisfy a requirement? If someone tells me, straight out, that these birds taste better with no other 'enhancement' other than what I myself provide it, then I will order asap. Otherwise I'll get a bird from central market when I go to Houston..I assume they make a 'smart turkey' to go with the 'smart chickens'????

Update on the file'...I called the girls in the office and was told the lady who brought the jars to us died in an automobile accident a couple of weeks ago. They are all out down there, so I guess I have the most left. I have another connection that I will try. If he doesn't know how to get the 'good' stuff, no one around here does. Now I'm on a quest!! Results as soon as I get them.

I would add that the pecan crop was pretty devestated by the hurricanes and if you are interested in making pecan pies you may want to pick some up now, while they are available. I bought 2lbs shelled yesterday and paid 15$ for them...which, honestly is about what they were at the hight of the holdiay season last year. This is not going to be enough, but I have some in the freezer. They're due to expire sometime in 06, but they'll be in pies by then. If you want to stock up, freeze them (air tight is best, but freezer bags work well too. Cooks did a comparison on the freezer bags and found that the blue one's, not the double ones worked best. I think they're ziplocs...not sure)

if you halve them you can squeeze the seeds out pretty quick. The peel is the best part of the fruit, so if you use 'orange' zest, just zest a few comquats. I use them for cranberry relish. cook cranberries with a little sweet wine and sugar until they break, then add halved (seeded) cumquats and cook just a few minutes more to help soften the rind. then pulse in a cuisinart a few times. I add a little salt, and fresh grated ginger for a bite. It's fresh and pretty and nice, and if you want, it makes beautiful gifts if you bother putting it up in jars (requires the same technique as preserves...ie, hot jars and a steam bath.)

I shall try to get a few more jars. I think he's from Cameron, which might make things harder, but I shall try. Give me a week or so. Patty edit: you can buy file powder in the stores here. Shall I send you some Zaterains'??

MRE's...gee, what to say. 2 cases later I'm a fricken' expert. Avoid at all cost the omlet one...however, the hashbrowns arn't bad. #2 son loves the raveoli, (sp), # 3 loves the beef stew, both fight over the brownie, and the skittles. #1 son likes the beef stew too, but settles for anything else and then eats 2 spoons of it and throws it away.. I think they are great if your hungry. My kids ate a lot of them while we were without power for 2 weeks. Hey, they like them, and they're free, and they're packed with calories and stuff they needed cause they worked they're butts off for 8 days till I took them to Houston. Yes we ate them, yes we apprecccated them, yes we were grateful. When you don't have the creature comforts of home as you know it, these things are a great meal. I think I could work in the MRE industry as a food taster.... wonder if they have any openings.

Short answer to the original question....yes, they can write about it. Long answer. Only if they have some history on what they are eating. My new nephew, who is jewish, married in St. Gabriel Parish last year to my neice. The New Yorkers were not crazy about the food, catered by Folse, inc. and fueled by a ton of abita beer. all local stuff.. But they wern't carried away by the crawfish boil the day before either... Point. You have to want to walk the walk. talk the talk. eat what they eat and live a llittle like they do to figure out why they eat the way they do. Otherwise, it's your original taste buds doing the talking, and they don't know what they're talking about. They only have one reference point. you must give them more. You can write about other places, foods etc. when you have that reference point.