lauraf

If you don't want to do a lot of butchering of a raw chicken, then the way I get the most out of a good chicken is to roast it whole first. Slow roasted or high heat for crispy chicken skin, with or without stuffing, different seasonings, whatever your pleasure. Use the drippings to either add to a roux and some stock for a traditional gravy, or de-fat and deglaze the pan with wine for a thinner sauce. Enjoy the whole roast chicken experience with your mashed potatoes and vegs or other sides of choice. Take the rest of the cooked chicken meat off the bones, and if you can use it over the following few days, save it in the fridge for chicken salads, pasta dishes, pizza topping, etc. If not, then use it to make a dish that can be frozen like chicken pot pies. I do what paulraphael does, and save the remaining carcass in a large freezer bag until I have accumulated enough carcasses to make a decent stock.

I despise yogurt, unfortunately, but can on occasion use it in place of low-fat sour cream (which is a bit of an anathema to me itself) in my cold avocado soup. Blend the flesh of two ripe avocadoes with half a cup of yogurt, a cup or more chicken/vegetable stock, lime/lemon juice, spoonful of cayenne, S&P to taste. Chill well before serving. Great garnished with salted croutons, fresh chives, baby shrimp, or fish roe. Truffle oil never hurt either.

Cool, thanks. I couldn't see any problem either, but am a souffle newbie

So I'm going to have some friends for dinner, and they are very forgiving friends so I will attempt a souffle recipe again! Is it a problem to double Julia Child's recipe to feed the six of us? Or should I prepare two separate souffle batches? Maybe this question belongs in the Stupid Questions thread . . .

I've read through this whole thread tonight my eyes hurt, but I want latkes! One of the reasons I've never made them is the daunting prospect of hand-grating the potatoes. It seems so labour-intensive, and grating has to be one of my least favourite prep activities. But I always hear from my Jewish relatives that grating potatoes in the processor makes for second-rate latkes. Any input? And, we'd probably eat them with creme fraiche and smoked salmon. Since I don't keep kosher (I'm a mixed breed ) I don't mind using some animal fat to fry them. Is duck fat better than bacon drippings? Do they fry differently? BTW - I am probably going to follow Pam R's recipe, with eggs and flour. If I want to add some gruyere and chopped scallions, any portion adjustments needed?

Don't! Just slice the stem end off the head, like a little hat. Drizzle a little oil in, maybe throw in a sprig of herb, pop the hat back on and place the head into a foil packet. Depending on the width of your foil you might get the whole lot into three foil bundles, like garlic bread [without the bread] to look at, if you follow me. Once the garlic is baked the individual cloves will pop out of the papery shell at the merest poke with the handle end of a teaspoon or similar implement. ← Thanks! I'll try it. I seem to remember the last time I baked the garlic whole, I lost a lot of the clove pulp when I squeezed them out. Has anyone frozen whole roasted garlic cloves? Are they really soggy/mushy when thawed?

So my local grocer is selling off packs of about 30 heads of garlic for, like, two bucks. It's still good, but has to be used pretty soon. I figured I'd roast the lot of it, and keep it handy for adding to soups, sauces, or to smear on bread. Two questions: what is the fastest way to peel that much garlic? Secondly, if I refrigerate the roasted cloves in a bit of olive oil, how long will they last?

Ummm, how do the goats die? Do they get bonged on the head and then have their throats slit?

I find asparagus is much better you keep it away from water in the cooking process. How I cook it partially depends on how big (diameter) it is. The small very young asparagus I just sauté in butter and olive oil and then add a little salt and pepper at the end. For larger stalks I steam a little prior to sautéing them. No matter what don't overcook asparagus! ← Curious: why do you recommend avoiding any water in the cooking process? The reason I asked about poaching asparagus is that my mum often microwaves the stalks in a shallow dish of water.

And since I am loving a thread devoted to stupid questions, here's another: if I buy a cooked ham, I just need to add a glaze of some sort and heat it through, yes? When one buys a ham, does it usually have the bone in? What different kinds of hams and flavour profiles are there? I've never bought or served one before, but love a 'real' Easter ham. My next stupid question: what is the best way to cook asparagus, if offering as a side dish? I usually pan-sautee them with olive oil and cracked pepper, but wonder if poaching isn't a better service to the vegetable?

I think the main reason is that the extremely high concentrations at the bottom of the pot before the salt has fully dissolved can cause some surface pitting on the stockpot, which might degrade performance for certain uses. I don't worry about it, personally, because I buy cheap stockpots. ← That makes sense. Thanks. Most people tell me not to rinse pasta after cooking, as the starch helps the sauce cling better. When - if ever- should you rinse your cooked pasta?

i agree!! (french toast being my all-time favorite breakfast). even more decadent: replace some portion (larger is more decadent) of the milk with CREAM. omg it's heaven. (cooked in cast iron, of course....) ← Yay! A great idea, thanks! As is using it for stuffing, but I don't make bread stuffing so much anymore - my husband prefers my mushroom stuffing, the ingrate. Re: adding salt to pasta water - Why should you wait to add it just before the water boils? I've always added it at the beginning . . . .

I have no idea why I'm lurking in this thread today... I'm sure I should be writing my dissertation or some nonsense... Yes, definitely. The difference between "fresh" and "not-fresh" when it comes to breadcrumbs is whether the bread has been dried or not. Fresh breadcrumbs have a much higher moisture content, so absorb less oil, etc. Frozen bread should work fine, though for whatever reason I generally thaw it first. Probably not actually necessary... ← Thanks Chris. And here's another dumb question: other than making bread crumbs or croutons, what the heck else can I do with frozen leftover bread? We never eat a whole baguette between the two of us, and I usually end up composting the stale leftovers - whatever they say, bread bags suck! - or throwing it in the freezer waiting for a good idea about what to do with it. And its usually making more dang croutons.

Ummm, can I use frozen bread to make 'fresh' bread crumbs?

Good call, Parkside is amazing as is Chambar. Don't know why I don't think of those places when out-of-towners ask for rec's. Maybe they seem less, I don't know, Vancouver-centric than others?