laddx005

I just started reading an old book from the 1920's called, The art of naming dishes on bills of fare by Schumacher, L. So far it's quite facinating. If you ever have had good friends in the resteraunt buisness or are head chefs, or just like making up your own dishes, it appears to be a great resource. It has english / french translations of food descriptions. You can get your own copy here.

I buy eggs from my university's organic farm and I've gotten those dark spots too, but didn't mind just picking them out. But I didn't notice any fishy smell. I was told their birds only eat grain and leafy greens. Maybe it's like catfish. Bottom feeders taste like mud, dry food feeders are more mild.

I am reading.... or struggling through: 1) A Taste of History: 10,000 years of food in Britain I rather enjoyed this one. and 2) History of Food: by Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat This one is very euro-centric and a little bit hard to get through. But still very good. A few months ago, I checked out from the local library: An Illustrated History of French Cuisine from Charlemagne to Charles de Gaulle by Christian Guy, Translated by Elisabeth Abbott Wow, now this is a little dated, but a great book. It details history, dishes, techniques, has antidotal stories as well as reciepes. The format and layout is a little odd too. If anyone knows any food history books from the Asian or Indian viewpoint, let us all know.

I like them with Italian meat dishes. I think they also go well with dishes that call for sun dried tomatoes. Try them in pasta with bacon, orange zest, chicken, garlic, olive oil, herbs, etc, etc.

Here are some interesting links that have reciepes: Audubon Green Gourmet Invasive Species Recipes of New England Mid-Atlantic Exotic Pest Plant Council Recipes and links Iowa State U's Tasty Insect Recipes From Halfbakery.com

The foodtimeline.org is fantastic! You should also try google books. Even better: go to various universities around the states. Many of them have huge digitzation projects-etc. You can find cook books from the 1700's to present scaned in for you. All free too! Also try project Gutenberg, online books: http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Cookery_(Bookshelf) Most of these don't have any copyright restrictions.

11 seasoning fried chicken tenders Serves 3 as Main Dish. Chicken tenders or nuggets are among my favorite foods. Ever since my first church potluck I've been fascinated with fried chicken seasonings. Including trying to figure out the KFC version. I don't really recall purposefully looking at fried chicken seasonings, but I am sure that's had an influence. But rather I've always intuitively tried to find the best savory mix of flavor. Below is what I came up with a couple of years ago and it has performed pretty consistently for me. 30-45 prep time, 1-1/2 hour cooking time depending on pan size. Pre-prepare each step before you get started. ************ Step 1 ************ Into 1 mixing bowel 4 skinless, cut up boneless chicken breasts 1/4 cup honey 2-cups milk 1Tablespoon kosher salt or 1 tsp salt [Cut up chicken breasts into whatever size strips you wish. I like 2-3" pieces. Soak thawed chicken in milk, honey and salt for 1/2 hour. Make sure the milk covers the chicken pieces completly.] Step 2 ************ Prepare: 1 cup of flour in 1 plastic freezer bag With your fingers, collect a handful of tenders at a time, and put into the bag, zip it up and shake. Then take the chicken out and put on a clean work surface. Step 3 ************ Into 1 mixing bowel beat 2 large eggs 1/8 -1/4 cup water Now take the previously floured chicken, a handful at a time, and dip tenders into egg mixture and toss into the next bag and shake (See step 3.5). Then lay out pieces on work surface with pieces not touching each other. Try not to shake the flour off the chiken. During this process you will want to wash your hands so the flour doesn't stick to you so much. Don't worry about a time frame the chicken will sit fine. NEXT BAG (2 nd coating) Step 3.5 ************ Prepare: 1 plastic freezer bag with, 2-cups flour 1-cup of cornmeal and spice mix. [spice mix (dried spices)(try to grind up if too big) -1/2 to 1 Teaspoon (depends on your taste) of: sage, oragano, pepper, paprika, tyme, salt, mustard powder, garlic powder, parsely, basil] Step 4 ************ In a frying pan of about 12-14 inches, with at least 2" sides, fill the pan 1/2 full of the following oil mixture. 1/2 canola or vegtable oil, 1/2 peanut oil, and several drops of seasame oil. Cook the tenders in the oil on med high heat for 6 min. per side until golden in batchs of 6 tenders at a time. You don't want the tenders to touch one another in the cooking process. After they are done cooking, place paper towels on a big plate and put the chicken on that. I then put a paper towel and foil over that, so that the chicken stays warm while the rest of the batches are cooking. I like to have dipping sauces for my tenders too. Keywords: Appetizer, Dinner, Main Dish, Lunch, Intermediate, American, Chicken ( RG2133 )