Icanmakeit

It's funny that this thread started. I just spent an entire day last week cutting some of my cookbooks from the herd. I have over 200 and I need to stop the madness! My most stained cook books are from when I was much younger - in my early 20's. Even though I have been cooking since I was a little kid, I never bought my own cookbooks till I left home. I never really was an 'exact measuer" even then, but they must have provided some comfort. My Joy of Cooking circa 1975 should be condemed by the health dept. My second copy of Better Homes and Gardens paperback cookbook would probably suffer the same fate. Less messy is Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I seldom use cookbooks as anything other than a reference, except when baking. I still tweak those too, but leave the obvoius yeast/butter/milk etc. amounts the same. The recipes in cookbooks inspire ideas for creating great things in the kitchen, but it is rare that I bring one with me and spatter ingredients all over it.

Although I occasionally make my own curry paste, I have tubs (you can buy cans or tubs; the tubs are much more economical) of all sorts of curry pastes -- masaman, red, green, yellow, panang -- in the pantry at all times. I use the tubs too and was told by a Thai freind once that not too many people make their own curries anymore unless it is a special occasion. I have made my own a couple of times. The first time making the mistake of lifting the lid off the blender full of chilies, garlic etc and putting my nose right into it. It burned for days! Best coconut milk is Mae Ploy, fish sauce is Tiparos, I also use the Mae Ploy curry pastes. I am luck enough to live in a place with a lot of Asian markets. My favorite is the storeowner who grows Thai sweet basil year round in her green house.

I make my own and the ingredients to follow are not exact and made to taste. 2 - 21/2 lbs good ground beef or turkey 1 onion chopped 1 tsp garlic to taste fresh, powdered or granular Black pepper Kosher salt to taste 1 16 oz can tomato sauce A couple of shakes Worcestershire sauce 1/2 cup vinegar 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning or to taste Buttered toasted hamburger buns In a large frying pan or Dutch oven brown meat and onions till completely cooked. Add the remainder of the ingredients and cook till bubbly simmer and stir occasionally for about 10 minutes. Taste the mixture and add more sugar or vinegar to your taste (kids of course will like it on the sweeter side) If the mixture appears too soupy for buns add 2 teaspoons cornstarch to 1 tablespoon of water. Mix well and pour into bubbly mixture and stir. In a few seconds, it should thicken up. If not, adding another bit of cornstarch mixture, it will not affect the taste. This has been a staple in my family for years after my roommate and I made it almost every day over 20 years ago. (Relatively cheap ingredients)

I purchased one of these masa spreaders at http://www.mex-sales.com/stillStartSpread.html once you get used to it, spreading the masa on the husk goes by much faster. I make fresh masa using my kitchen aid mixer. I add a little of the marinade to the mix with some hot water. Usually from slow cooked pork cooked in a roasted chili, garlic, onion, cumin based sauce. I have added butter to the masa rather than lard - but I'm sure if I rendered my own lard, it would taste great. After steaming, I serve with fresh salsa and cojita cheese (Mexican crumbling cheese). As for freezing the cooked tamales - they stay fresh tasting even after a couple months.

I have tasted the RR EVOO and it is good but not better than a multitude of others. ← I have never liked Rachael Ray, she just bugs me for some reason. I don't care for her recipes either. As for any product she endorses besides the pasta I wouldn't buy it. I didn't buy the Triscuits and Wheat Thins she had her face all over around the holidays either.