Jump to content

nibor

participating member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    527

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by nibor

    RIP Marcella Hazan....

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    I have not yet cooked from Marcella's books. But I recently spent time eating in the Piedmont, and was thinking about cooking my way in that direction.

    It might be a nice tribute to Marcella if some of you would name your favorites among her recipes. Particularly if they worked in an American kitchen.

    Teaching Someone How To Cook

    in Cooking

    Posted

    My sister's latest boyfriend was divorced at 50. He had never cooked for himself, was living on junk food, and had no interest in learning to cook. She started out by noticing what he would order when they went out to a restaurant, and then asked him to help her when she made simple versions of those same dishes at home. I think they started out with salad and chili. He was shocked at how easy it was. Now he has a small repertoire, and proudly makes dinner when she has to work late. Quite a turn around.

    German Potato Salad - Kartoffelsalat

    in Cooking

    Posted

    This is speck at my grocery store in Zurich today. This is what is called speck in Germany as well. If you order bacon for breakfast in a restaurant in either country, you will be served speck. I don't know my pig parts, but it is bacon-like, comes either in blocks (as in this photo - about the size of small bricks) or thick slices, and it tastes more meaty than bacon in the US. I didn't look at the ingredient list, but I suspect that it doesn't have as much sugar added as US bacon.

    IMG_1381.jpg

    Ethnic foods I'm supposed to like - but don't.

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    My dislike of the curries I have eaten is simple. After having curried whatever for dinner I will wake up in the middle of the night in such gastric pain that being dead at that moment has appeal. So I pass on eating curry.

    The world is full of foods I do enjoy so trying to find a curry that I don't react to is quite unnecessary.

    This brings in another aspect of not liking something. Any ingredient from the red pepper family gives me serious problems digestively speaking. So of course over time I have come to hate Mexican food. Maybe I used to like it, before this problem arose. But I don't remember that time anymore. Now I can't even stand to look at it.

    Green Beans: The Topic

    in Cooking

    Posted

    Oh, forgot to add... Although I've lived all over the world, my heritage is basically US Southern, and most of us Southern Cooks always add a tiny pinch of sugar to our vegetables. My grandmother, a legendary Southern cook, and restaurant owner, told me that a pinch of sugar mitigates whatever bitterness there might be, and enhances the natural sweetness of the vegetable. You definitely don't want to add too much. You're not trying to make a sweet dish. In fact, my grandmother said, if anybody that eats your vegetables can tell that you added sugar, you added too much.

    My dad, a legendary cook in our house only, and of Lithuanian extraction, taught me the same thing. For vegetables and especially any tomato-based concoction. My carb-abhorring DH can really tell the difference. He thinks my trick is extra butter.

    Food preservation

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted · Edited by nibor (log)

    From http://www.foodsaver.com/faqs.aspx?fgid=31

    To preserve foods safely, it is critical that you maintain low temperatures. You can significantly reduce the growth of microorganisms at temperatures of 40°F (4°C) or below. Freezing at 0°F (-17°C) does not kill microorganisms, but stops them from growing. For long-term storage, always freeze perishable foods that have been vacuum packaged.

    It is important to note that vacuum packaging is not a substitute for canning and it cannot reverse the deterioration of foods. It can only slow down the changes in quality. It is difficult to predict how long foods will retain their top-quality flavor, appearance or texture because it depends on age and condition of the food on the day it was vacuumed packaged.

    IMPORTANT:Vacuum packaging is NOT a substitute for refrigeration or freezing. Any perishable foods that require refrigeration must still be refrigerated or frozen after vacuum packaging.

    Reseasoning cast iron, flaxseed v. grapeseed oil

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    I bought a large Lodge pre-seasoned frying pan some years ago, and all has gone well. So I thought I knew what I was doing. But I recently bought a little cephalon cast iron pan and am having trouble - black stuff keeps coming off the interior. When I wipe it with a paper towel the towel turns black. There seems to be no end of black stuff, like I could wipe forever and still get black. Is this the "preseasoning" coming off? Should I just nuke it in the oven?

    Fresh Morel mushrooms

    in Cooking

    Posted

    As a footnote - the gentleman who pointed the morels out to me noted that he cooked them two different ways. First simmered in milk and then turned into beaten eggs for a light scramble; second sauteed in oil. He thought the oil masked the delicate taste. Maybe butter would have been different. I was also wondering about some posts I read where the morels were allowed to dry out a bit. I ate mine within hours of picking and the taste/fragrance was clearly mushroomy in a nice way but at the same time quite delicate. Is there a preferred treatment after harvest? I ask in the event I find some more. As I noted they were in the rose wells which are in the sun so that was odd - it might just have been "all the stars aligning" for one harvest.
    I grew up finding & eating morels. We cleaned them, sliced them, sauteed them in butter and ate them ASAP. Never thought of waiting.

    Cooking for One

    in Cooking

    Posted

    When my husband is out of town I indulge myself by cooking dishes I know he won't eat. Lately that has meant cooking from Alain Passard's "The Art of Cooking with Vegetables". Each recipe is a strange combination of a few ingredients - like poaching pears and radishes in butter. The instructions are quite minimal, sometimes to the point of not making sense, which makes it especially fun. No beans, braises, leftovers or freezing involved.

×
×
  • Create New...