Tropicalsenior

Last night we had schnitzel sandwiches with green beans and Serrano ham in a vinegar bacon fat vinaigrette and cucumber, radish salad in a sour cream sauce. Dessert was an orange bread pudding made in the instant pot.

It looks great but I used to feed the quail on my front lawn in Reno every winter and I haven't been able to eat them since.

Well, my saga for the perfect schnitzel has finally culminated in success. My first attempt was with a tenderized sirloin. Although it tasted great, camera wise, it was a dismal failure. I also melted Swiss cheese on the top which was a big mistake. It added to the sandwich but it destroyed the crispy crust. My second attempt was a chicken piccata which also tasted great. Unfortunately, my tablet battery was too low and we would have starved to death before I got a picture of it. So I tried again. Yesterday I started with some pork milanesa. This one I can actually show off with a little bit of pride. This is the cutlet after I pounded it. Years ago, I worked pantry in a large restaurant and my station and the butcher’ station were in a room together. In my spare time he would put me to work pounding cutlets. I learned a lot. First, handle the meat gently. You don't have to pound it to death, it's already dead. Use the points on the mallet first first to tenderize the meat. You don't have to beat with a lot of force, let the mallet do the work for you. For this you need a good, heavy mallet. A BIG mallet. Then starting in the middle and using a rolling motion, spread the meat to the sides until you have a thin, even cutlet. For this, use the flat side of the mallet. The reason for using a pounded cutlet instead of a thin slice of meat is that the pounding breaks up fibers and gives you that buttery tenderness that you associate with a good schnitzel. For bread crumbs I made some homemade panko. I found that using my homemade bread and not grinding it completely fine in the food processor gives me the texture of panko. I then toasted it a bit. I can get panko down here but sometimes they charge more for the panko then I paid for the meat. I breaded them first in flour, then in egg mixed with mayonnaise and milk, then in the bread crumbs. Then I let them set for an hour in the refrigerator before I fried them. They turned out perfectly with that little puff in the middle. I served them on homemade rolls with mayonnaise made with lemon juice and capers, sliced Gouda cheese, slice tomatoes, and garnished with homemade dill pickles. My camera finally cooperated and I was a happy camper.

Childhood food memories seem to last forever. However, to this day I detest tomato soup because of Campbell's. Seems like this would be a great idea for a new topic.

I can buy pretty good corned beef hash in a can, but I never thought of spam hash. it does sound good, especially with the leftover vegetables from the corned beef.

Sorry, I didn't remember that one. I was going more on personal experience.

Kind of like when you forget to put on the top of the blender?

@CantCookStillTryAs we all know, too often, taste is in the preference of the diner. Is your husband Australian? If so, he has probably grown up with the taste of vinegar in his corned beef. Myself, I can't imagine it. However, I have seen vinegar in the brine even here in the US. Maybe you could put in just half of the amount that the recipe calls for in Australia. If his mother puts in vinegar that's probably the flavor that he is used to. Don't feel alone, I grew up with the canned corn beef, too. I had no idea there was any other kind and I still love canned corned beef. Once in a great while, we will get it here but it comes from either Argentina or Chile and doesn't taste anything like the corned beef from the States. The only other canned meat that we can get is the ubiquitous Spam in about 10 flavors and I still like the original. I've been researching corned beef in the slow cooker and some people swear by it. Go for it! I'd still cook the vegetables separately because you don't want any hint of mush in them.

Thanks, @chileheadmikeThat looks absolutely delicious. Were the Chile's ancho's? Just a small tip, my daughter-in-law's mother is Mexican and she puts them in a blender with boiling water and then weighs them down with a glass of hot water. When when they cool down, she purees them.

Since it had mustard, I would think Emmentaler, Jarlsberg or Gruyère.

Last night I made bean soup in the instant pot. I was able to get some nice fresh beans from my little Chinese market and a nice big chunk of smoked pork from their butcher shop. To that I added every little bit of ham, chicharrones and sausage that I had lurking in the freezer, seasoned it with lots of celery, oregano, cumin, smoked paprika and a little bit of chili powder. I missed being able to add onions and garlic but in my house that's strictly a no no. The whole the whole thing cooked in 7 minutes. Since I can get just about every kind of fresh being here, I've pretty much stopped using dried beans. Fresh beans don't split as much and the texture is always creamy. Beans in the pot. Ready for the table. Served with corn muffins and fresh pineapple.

Isn't it wonderful. It's almost worth the price of the instant pot if that was all it could do. I like beets but I hated cooking them. I boiled them, I baked them, I tried to cook them in the microwave. They were still miserable. Then, one of the first things that I did was beets. They were a thing of joy. I'll never do them any other way again. Pickled beets and pickled eggs, also steamed in the instant pot.

I'd swap out the okra for some good skillet cornbread.

@chileheadmikeit sounds like they were great. I would probably forgo the time for the flavor that you put in it them. I'm glad that you like the instant pot. I've only had mine since September, but I love it. I had an Oster electric pressure cooker before this but it blew up with me! I got this one by accident to replace that one and it is only a Chinese knockoff of a Chinese instant pot. It's almost the same thing and it works the same so I'll take it. BTY, I would love to have a good recipe for chili Colorado. I'm looking forward to seeing your pictures

@chileheadmike I'm not questioning your preference, far from it. I have a few myself that no one else agrees with, and that's their problem not mine. I'm just saying that this worked for me. I do have one question for you. Did you cook them in the water or did you steam them? The difference in the method might make a difference in your timing. I have found in cooking other vegetables, that I much prefer steaming them because they don't absorb extra moisture and they seem to cook just a bit quicker.

That kind of got me, too. After 1.5 hours, all I could imagine was a pile of mush. So, yesterday, after finding some nice fresh beans in my little Chinese market, I decided to give it a try. I checked the internet for recipes and found two that sounded logical. One recommended cooking them in water for 1 minute, the other said to steam them for 2 minutes. being a contrarian, I decided to steam them for 3 minutes with NPR release. They had just the right texture but I wished I had stayed with 2 minutes because I wanted to reheat them in a skillet with a vinaigrette of crispy Serano ham, bacon fat and vinegar. That one minute over was just too much for my taste. Fresh beans ready to steam. Fresh from the instant pot. There was no crunch to them at all. Finished dish with crispy ham and vinaigrette. They were delicious. Dessert that night, was an orange bread pudding made from some leftover Moroccan orange cake. Here it is, fresh from the instant pot.

Don't bother. Taco Bell today is a pale shadow of what it used to be. Now days, they're sticking red corn chips in everything and calling them crunch somethings. The meat, if you can find it, tastes like wet saw dust. If you want real Taco Bell, you have to look on the internet for the Taco Bell copycat recipes and make your own. The only thing they really have going for them is their photographer.

It looks okay to me. I'll take it anyday to the 'nice' rare chicken that some people serve at BBQs.

Actually, to this offal-phobe it looks darn good. Is the texture more like liver or like heart?

I did try making chocolates and failed miserably so I admire anyone who perseveres and can make them. I'd much rather just eat them. I'm glad you joined us and I'm looking forward to your contributions.

Welcome, the food of Goa sounds wonderful. Please tell us a little more about yourself.

My point exactly!

I am certainly not an expert on schnitzel, however, I am fairly conversant on the history of food. It does seem that each area has some particular dish that they can claim as their own. Then, each home cook, restaurant, and Chef has their own version. As people migrate to other regions and other countries, they take their recipes with them and adapt them to the ingredients that they can find in their new areas. Some of these migrations are just over the border into the next country where the food becomes so popular that that region now claims it as their own. Confusion reigns and food fights begin. I once worked in a Greek owned restaurant that had many Turkish customers. I have seen screaming fights over baklava and souvlaki, each culture fiercely claiming it as their own and no one ever winning. I think that in order for a recipe to be completely authentic, every country has to do what Italy has done about marinara sauce. They have declared and published an authentic recipe. I thought I had the reference to it but I can't find it. It's the recipe that I use and follow to the letter. Except that, I can't use onions or garlic because of dietary restrictions in my home and instead of fresh herbs, I prefer to use my own homemade Italian seasoning mix to make up for the lack of garlic and onions. It's the best one hundred percent authentic marinara sauce that I have ever made. And so, recipes evolve. Can you imagine what it would be like if we were all just using one approved recipe for something? How bored are palates would become. BTY, I wonder how my marinara sauce would be with schnitzel? Could I still call it schnitzel?

That's an interesting photo. You're right it does look more like Swiss steak. It's a shame to see all that sauce on a crispy fried cutlet. But what is more interesting, is that it looks like Swiss steak with mashed potatoes with a side of mashed potatoes.

Quote: A recipe is not meant to be followed exactly - it is a canvas on which you can embroider. Roger Verge This has always, for the most part, been my philosophy. Because of some dietary restrictions in my house, I have to alter just about every recipe that I try or that I have used in the past. Rather than claiming authenticity, I just call it my version of… As for sides, I opt for the fresh ingredients available. For condiments, I stick with the traditional. Tonkatsu sauce with tonkatsu, guacamole, sour cream, and salsa for Mexican, Etc. Having lived in a foreign country for almost 30 years, without having the availability of a lot of things that I would like to cook with, rules have to go out the window. Rules are for people a bit more obsessive than I am. I'm more interested in flavor, presentation, and using the good food available to me. I will admit that some dishes are not meant to be tampered with. Fettuccine Alfredo never has chicken or ham. Caesar salad must have anchovies. Carpaccio is always made with raw beef, never salmon. Some things are just too good to spoil with Innovation or fusion.