emilyr

I love the sound of coffee percolating. Glub-blub-blubbing.

I put this in the "absurdly simple questions" thread a few days ago. I"ll probably leave the salt out next time and just plan on finishing them in a skillet later. I'm using them, but not nearly as quickly as I'd planned.

I think a few people were talking about the dish descriptions being really long. "Chicken smothered with X, topped with Y, doused with Z...." etc. None of the dishes on this menu seem overly complicated or to have too many ingredients, which is something I really hate at chain restaurants. Like, if you throw more on it, people won't notice that our cooks can't really cook.

I thought you did not want to salt onions to encourage browning. Alton Brown has said a few times that salt encourages sweating and if you're going for browned/caramelized onions to wait til they've already started to get golden to add the salt. I always wait on salt with my onions, but do everything else as above: higher heat and fat, well stirred to start; turn down the heat til all is melty and golden; then up the heat a little to brown.

What about a combo with a citrus and an herb. Like lime and basil or grapefruit and thyme. I think they'd be very bright tasting after the meaty main dish and balance the spicy curry. Celery and yuzu?

They were most of the time. I had them uncovered for a couple of hours on Friday evening, but didn't want to leave them that way when no one was home.

Last weekend I tried to make a batch of slow-cooker caramelized onions. I looked up a ton of recipes that made it seem like the easiest thing possible, and was excited to have some around to boost other recipes. On Friday around noon I sliced 3 punds of yellow onions, tossed them with olive oil and a little salt and put them in the slow-cooker on low. They were still pale and wimpy when I went to bed at 9 that night, so I left them on overnight. Saturday when I left the house at 5 am, they were just barely brown - more beige - and wet, so I boosted the heat to high. I had asked family members to turn them off, but no one did, so when I got home a little before 11 that night, they were still on. Darker, but not really caramelized and water-logged. Unwilling to spend any more electricity on them, I called it quits. I've used them a couple of times since, and they're fine. Still kind of onion-y (you know what I mean? they still have a bit of bite) and not caramel-y, not very sweet. I also have to give them some time sauteeing to make them the right consistency. Should I leave out the salt next time? Maybe add a sprinkle of sugar? Set it on high from the get-go?

In my neighborhood, eggs are between $4.50 and $5.75 a dozen Add another $1 for organic. ← Here in the midwest, generic store-brand eggs are $1.99 for 18. Organic store brand are $2.99 a dozen. My family, 5 adults or nearly so, go through two or more dozens a week. Mostly fried or scrambled, but all kinds of ways, really.

I don't really have anything substantive to add; I've never cooked pig tails. But the most memorable scene, for me, from the first Little House book, Little House in the Big Woods was the pig butchering scene. Laura and her sister get the tail skewered on a stick and roast it over the wood stove fire til it gets crispy and then pull of yummy bits while it's still hot, burning their fingers in the process. Then they go play ball with the bladder that their dad has blown up. Both sounded really fun to me when I was little.

I think it's more like having both sugar and honey in a recipe. It doesn't change one or the other, but it makes a more complex sweetness. When you add umami to an already meaty/savory/umami food, you build up the flavors.

Me too! My friend in elementary school had one EVERY year for her birthday, and I was so jealous. Begged my mom for one, but she was not a fan of the pre-made b'day cake. I finally got one for myself in college. It was awesome! OK, not awesome, but I wasn't disappointed. I went in fully knowing it was not real food, but it satisfied my birthday requirements!

I just read through the first 5 or 6 pages of this thread, and not wanting to bring up the whole "chain v. local" or "elite v. common taste" arguments, I am curious if the CF has fundamentally changed its menu or approach in the last 5 years. I checked out their website and the menu because many of the non-chain related comments were on how complicated the menu was and how all the dishes contained 6 or 7 or 8 major components. Looking at the menu (here's a link), it doesn't seem like the main entrees have much longer descriptions than any other restaurant I've been to recently. Sure, some of the salads, omelettes, sandwiches, and so on may be a bit lengthy, but those are dishes that usually have a lot of ingredients anyway. But, geez!, there sure is a lot to choose from. Also, while I've never eaten at a CF, I can't say I won't. My college roommate was one of the pickiest people I knew. Her mom had MS and really never cooked when she was a kid; they ate out every night. I guess the CF is close to her house or work or something, and she's been eating there more recently. She completely shocked me the other day when she called to ask how to cook artichokes. It seems she had some on a salad at CF and really liked them. I tried for 2 years for her to get her to try them! Seriously. Plus, she said that she really appreciates that they don't freeze and ship in their sauces and cook meats to order, but she did hear that a local restaurant in her town made a better [something - I don't remember the dish] and she was going to go try it next week. Color me surprised! I think CF may be turning her into a foodie.

I've been looking more at the dried beans available at my grocery store since pasta is getting more expensive (the cheapest was $1.55 for a bag of macaroni [i don't know why the same weight of pastas cost so much more - 12 oz bags go for anywhere between $1.55 to 2.69 depending on the shape, but that's another story]). I noticed they started carrying dried chickpeas. I've never cooked them before; what would be the best way to do them? I'm looking for a good side dish or base for braise-y meat dishes we seem to cook most in the winter.

I made a 16 bean soup right after New Year's. I'd never made one before, but the bag of beans was on sale at the grocery store (like 99cents, I think) and we had both smoked sausage and a ham bone left over from Christmas. It was, in a word, yummy and will be making a reappearance on my stove very soon. The directions called for a can of tomatoes and vinegar, and I thought it was going to be weird, but they blended in well and added a hint of sweetness without over powering the beans and meats.

B/C of the stalks sticking out, it kind of looks like a small celeriac/celery root. But I'm just taking a shot in the dark.

I don't know where you get your eggs, but eggs have gone up like around 80% in the last 2 years. The egg industry has cut back on egg producing hens, thus increasing the price dramatically. Last I heard they are being investigated for this practice by the government. They used to be a cheap meal and maybe will be again one day. doc ← They are getting more expensive in the grocery store, especially if you want organic, free range or even pasturized, but they're still really cheap if you get them straight from local farms. We have a new farm store that gets eggs from lots of local farms, including Amish farms. I think more are showing up because people are looking for extra cash from "egg money" (which is what my grandma still called her extra cash).

That's what I've done.

OK, I just got off the phone with my friend and have to change my plan. I was going to make a quiche with hashbrown crust similar to this Martha Stewart recipe, but the hostess is going to be making quiche and is asking everyone to bring breakfast side dishes. She specifically asked me to make a hashbrown casserole *or something.* I'm not really in the mood to go the normal-around-here route of cream of... soups and Velveeta. I already bought some good ham, monterrey jack cheese, mushrooms, spinach and green onions, in addition to the frozen hashbrowns (they work better for the crust) for the planned quiche. I know I can sautee the veggies as usual and add them to the potatoes and bake or fry, frittata-like (with lotsa butter), but I feel like it needs a binder. What can I use to make this more of a casserole and not just baked hashbrowns with stuff in. Also, when we did this last year, I made the cocktails. Mango or apricot nectar with Cava and a bit of vanilla vodka. She wants something like that again this year. Any suggestions?

Sauces for me, too. I've started getting the Big Taste Taco. It's just a regular taco, but with crunchy red tortilla strips and the spicy-ish sauce from the quesadillas. Plus, it's 89 or 99 cents. I can't remember. I used to always get the chicken soft taco, but I don't like it as much now that they only offer it with the ranchero sauce. I like both the chicken flavor and the ranchero sauce (on other products), but I"m not a big fan of them together. I only get TB maybe once a month. I prefer it over McD's but not as much as even chain, sit-down Mexican.

I got this covered baking dish (or, rather, I will; it's back-ordered). I also got my mom a digital meat thermometer with alarm like Alton Brown uses, but I will be using it a lot, too!

If I'm not going to have chilli, cheddar and sour cream (my favorite meal when I was 10 and still comfort food now!), I like to go for some still crisp, blanched asparagus and cream whipped with dry mustard powder. Lots of salt and pepper.

I'd start with the most basic recipe you can find and then increase the broth or add it if it's not called for. That would add the savory element as well as making it smoother and thinner. Also, I've never made butternut squash soup, but I've made a beet soup that calls for a potato, and I think that really helps make it silky. It was pretty easy: sautee onions and garlic (just a little) til soft, add beets and potatoes and stock, and simmer til it's all soft. I think there may have been some fresh thyme thrown in during the simmer, too. Then just a quick buzz with the immersion blender or in the Cuisinart.

My friends and I are going to be at various different places early in the evening, but we're all meeting up around 11 and we're going to make a midnight breakfast with champagne. I think I'm doing a strata, but I'm looking for inspiration, too.

You don't have to be inundated unless you want to be. You can control the spread of the roots by containing it with a 6" round of PVC pipe. ← Or doing it in it's own container or bucket. That's what I do with mint.

We stick stuff in our barbeque grill in the winter. Great for Christmas left overs and keeps the local possum out the food. One note, don't forget your large container of soup is in the BBQ when the weather is changing every 12 hours in February. Last year we left a big bowl of potato soup in there one night, when it was 28 degrees out. Unfortunately, in a typical Missouri shift of weather, it was up in the 60s by 10 am. Ew.