Tropicalsenior

If you don't like that, you probably won't have much use for this recipe.

Oh, tell me about it. My friends and family just do not understand how an online group can become true friends if you don't ever see each other. I tried to describe the support, the humor, the shared interests and the wealth of knowledge that this forum represents and other people just don't understand. Those that only use the other social platforms can't imagine one like this with never a bad word or snide criticism of other members. That's why I like to start topics like this, to get to know all of you better. Yvonne

I can't say that I use a lot of it but it is something that I will absolutely not be without. They make several versions here but none of them come close to the original L & P Worcestershire. As for pronunciation, I've heard that it is one of the most mispronounced words in the English language. Don't know why because once you have heard the correct pronunciation it is one of the most unforgettable.

Now that I think about it, I can remember my mother scraping the steaks. And they did all their own butchering. And then she would beat the living daylights out of it with the back edge of a butcher knife. I had no idea what a rare steak was until I left home.

Years ago, one of the restaurants that I worked in made their French toast with pancake batter and eggs with just a touch of cinnamon. Best French toast I've ever had in my life and I still make it that way. It's about a quarter of a cup of pancake batter to two eggs.

I had forgotten that but that was a trick that I was taught years ago and the purpose is not so much to salt the meat as to keep it from sticking in the cast iron skillet. Works best when the skillet is screaming hot.

No problem. I just posted it in recipe gullet.

Microwave Lemon Curd "This is a delectable lemon curd recipe with the added attraction of being quick and easy to make. It is particularly useful when entertaining and short on time." 1 cup white sugar 3 eggs 1 cup fresh lemon juice 2 tablespoons lemons zest 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted In a microwave-safe bowl, whisk together the sugar and eggs until smooth. Stir in lemon juice, lemon zest and butter. Cook in the microwave for one minute intervals, stirring after each minute until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon. Remove from the microwave, and pour into small sterile jars. Store for up to three weeks in the refrigerator. Tip: If you over cook the mixture a little, or forget to stir, you can pass the mixture through a fine sieve to remove the bits of cooked egg. Note: I have never found this to be necessary it is easier just to not overcook the mixture or to forget to stir.

My father was the world's pickiest eater so my mother cooked two separate meals. One that he would eat and normal meals for the rest of us. She said that she refused to raise five more like him.

It doesn't make much sense to me either and personally, I don't consider cucumbers to be a bitter vegetable. I wonder if they have ever tried it with bitter melon.

I think one of the greatest sins of Home Cooks is over cooking everything. My father wouldn't eat anything unless it was cooked into submission and mush. His favorite saying was when it's brown it's cooking and when it's black it's done. The pork of today is also much leaner then it used to be so that if it's well done it's dry.

There's nothing that turns me off quicker on a restaurant than burnt garlic or over cooked shrimp.

If you are interested, I have a terrific microwave lemon curd recipe that has never failed for me and it is killer.

Keep it! That at the top is pure lard and the bottom would be great in a gravy. You can keep it just about a week as is in the fridge but to keep it any longer you would probably want to freeze it. If you put it in the microwave and melted it and then pour it in a straight sided glass to cool you can then slide it out and separate the two elements. Pure lard and pure wonderful pork essence.

I almost always have to cut bread recipes in half because there are just two of us to eat it and it goes stale too quickly. As for the baking time, the difference would be minimal because you would still want a nice brown crust.

I grew up on a farm and very often the meat that we had was some animal that had outlived its other purpose and the meat could be rather gamey or rather tough. My mother would always soak pork or chicken in salt water for several hours before she cooked it. It was just the way that I learned and something that I have always done. I've always gotten compliments on my pork and chicken and imagine my surprise when I learned that I have been doing something right all these years and I didn't know why I was doing it. She also used to always soak liver in milk before she cooked it but that was something that I never followed. I still don't know why she did that but there must have been some good reason behind it. Maybe I'll have to try it someday.

Whenever I see a recipe that is 'Grandma's favorite' or 'Grandma's best' I approach it with trepidation. Being 81 years old, I realize that a lot of these recipes came out of the 60s and 70s when I was learning to cook and let's face it, a lot of these recipes were unadulterated (crap) uh, food of questionable culinary value. We may not all be cooking with Grandma's recipes today but I'll bet that there are a lot of little habits and Customs that you picked up when you were learning to cook that you still do today. Some of them may have been helpful tips and some of them may have been something that made no sense but you still do it because that was how you learned. One story has always stuck in my mind. It was about a young bride that was preparing a roast for the oven. She cut off 1/3 of the roast and set it in the pan beside the larger piece. Her husband who was watching asked her why she did it. She said that that was the way her mother had taught her. Curious as to why that should be, the husband called the mother and asked her the reason and she said that she didn't know but that was the way that her mother had taught her. He then called the grandmother and asked her the same question. Her reply, "I always had to cut the end off because my roasting pan was too small." @Shelby's answer in the topic on soaking chicken in buttermilk is that she does it just because it's the thing to do. It made me stop and think. How many things do you do in the kitchen that come into this category.

The freezing seems to take out a little bit of fire, too.

Looks great. I've never eaten raw tomatillos. I'll have to try it.

Both of these look wonderful especially the ground pork with basil and garlic. You mentioned in your recipes that you fry a little to taste it. I once worked in a deli in a butcher shop where the butchers made their own paté and lunch meat. They would take about a tablespoon, flatten it, and put it in the microwave for 15 to 20 seconds. Instant test! I've done it for years to test the seasonings. It works great.

I used to live in Sacramento and how well I remember that wonderful Gilroy Garlic. Just to drive through the Gilroy area is an experience. You can smell it for miles. As most of you know, my housemate is allergic to onions and garlic so the only thing that I have been making with garlic is my candied garlic. One head of garlic would last me for a year otherwise. I have found that peeling it and putting it in a jar in the freezer is a great way to store it and yet always have to have it on hand. In a tropical kitchen, garlic starts to sprout or dry out in just a week or so. That garlic looks beautiful. You've just given me another good reason to sit here and seethe with envy.

I tried that when I was doing my garlic experiment and it didn't work for me. I think it just depends on the age of the garlic. Almost all the garlic that we get now comes from China and it just isn't all that fresh.

I don't know how many of you followed my garlic experience or made my candied garlic, but in that time, I peeled a lot of garlic. A while back I read a tip about peeling garlic and thought that someday I would have to try it. Well, today I did and I am amazed. The picture below is garlic that was peeled in 2 minutes. I put a head of garlic in the microwave for 25 seconds and all the cloves just slipped right out of the peel. I have a very low powered microwave (850) so you might want to adjust accordingly. It's amazing! The garlic is still raw and the peel is gone.

I haven't seen too many of these in Costa Rica but the ones that are here they call jiros, giros, or gyros and serve the meat in tortillas. On our trips to Mexico, they were quite common but the most that we saw them was in Mexico City. Every little taco stand had one for tacos al Pastor. A friend of ours that has a Mexican restaurant here in Costa Rica asked us to bring one of the mechanisms back from Mexico so that he could make tacos al Pastor. That was quite an adventure. First we had to find it, then we had to carry it back by hand. The components are iron and fire bricks. A pretty heavy little contraption. So what I personally called them is a PIA.

Thank you. I would love to have your recipe.