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Rickbern

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Posts posted by Rickbern

    Feeding the masses, party of 15 for 3 full days + 1 dinner.

    in Cooking

    Posted

    I’ll chirp in with a lunch idea…

     

    I always made sausage and broccoli rabe sandwiches on baguettes for my kids when large groups were involved, always a hit even with kids who were new to bitter flavors 


    another one that was popular was swordfish salad with onions capers celery and mayonnaise. Could obviously substitute tuna in cans instead 

     

    also did pate with gherkins and mustard or thin sliced tenderloin with arugula and pickled onions, sometimes  three together. Always on baguettes. 
     

    I never shied away from trying to introduce teenagers to more sophisticated food. Upside is they kept coming back for dinner as they got older

    • Like 3

    Valentine's Day Dinner

    in Cooking

    Posted

    I’m not the only one who breaks out a clay pot on Valentine’s Day?

     

    Here’s clay pot braised mushrooms and tofu with a side of pork tenderloin. If my beloved hadn’t have broken her elbow (surgery is today) it would have been a little more festive, but she appreciated it all the same!

     

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    • Like 6
    • Delicious 2

    How do you store your fresh herbs?

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted · Edited by Rickbern (log)

    7 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

    I do the same with cilantro and parsley. Parsley lasts a reliable 2 weeks or more. With cilantro, 10 days is more my average.  It’s amazing how a whole bunch of cilantro can go from perky to slime in a day!  Some produce comes in plastic bags with holes in them and if I have those, I use them. 
    For basil, I do the same thing but keep it out on the counter. 
    Tarragon and dill go in a plastic bag with a damp paper towel, in the fridge

    I have tons of rosemary outside so no need to preserve that one. Oregano, too. I need to replant sage and thyme. 


     

    I put Dill in a plastic container with some water and plastic bag too, but the shelf life is more like cilantro 

     

    I started storing used scallions over by the window in a glass with an inch of water to cover the roots, and dag gonnit, it started growing. Amazing!

    • Like 3

    Book recommendations for stewing?

    in Cookbooks & References

    Posted · Edited by Rickbern (log)

    Bruce aidells wrote a book called the great meat cookbook that is not exclusively about stews, but there’s a fair number of stews in there. He’s got a fairly comprehensive introduction 

     

    James Peterson has two books, one is called “cooking “ and the better one is “essentials of cooking” that are general but they have information about stews that is kinda valuable. Ditto Jacques Pepin. 
     

    my sentimental favorite is to recommend Paula wolferts clay pot cooking, but that’s a bit of complexity not everyone will relish. 
     

    it’s funny, there must be 47 books written about soup for every one about stews. 
     

    my simple advice? Focus way more on the initial browning step than you think you need to. When they say don’t crowd the meat, listen! I always brown in a carbon steel skillet or two and then transfer to a pot (often clay) to do the slow cooking part of the recipe. 
     

    oh, and make your own stock. Don’t ever buy stock. 

     

    • Thanks 1

    Diwali 2023

    in India: Dining

    Posted

    Can’t decide which of those recipes sounds better, but I’m gonna try one this week. Maybe the vindaloo. Or perhaps the chicken. 
     

    //sigh, maybe I’ll make both. Thanks for the inspiration!

    • Like 2

    Moroccan Tagine Cooking

    in Middle East & Africa: Cooking & Baking

    Posted · Edited by Rickbern (log)

    7 hours ago, btbyrd said:


    Yes, not unlike something from Emile Henry. I have never really seen the virtues in unglazed clay cookware, but I see plenty of drawbacks when it comes to cleaning, care, and maintenance. 

    I think the only advantage of unglazed is that it makes the food taste better!

     

    but on a serious note, that Japanese tagine seems sort  of shallow compared to the Moroccan style. There’s a fair bit of liquid to enclose in a lot of tagine recipes. 

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    • Like 1

    Moroccan Tagine Cooking

    in Middle East & Africa: Cooking & Baking

    Posted · Edited by Rickbern (log)

    On 10/28/2023 at 1:53 PM, btbyrd said:

    What tagine cookbooks are people liking these days? 

    I’ve found this one pretty good. It’s 4 bucks on kindle and the recipe for kamama chicken is banging.
     

    It’s really written with a home cook in mind. She’s not quite the purist that Paula Wolfert was, but lots of the recipes are interesting.  There’s also a Monkfish tagine with apricots, dates & fennel that I’ve made repeatedly 

     

    Casablanca: my Moroccan food by Nargisse Benkabbou

     

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078W64Q4J/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    • Thanks 1

    Show us your latest cookbook acquisitions!

    in Cookbooks & References

    Posted · Edited by Rickbern (log)

    I have that Prune book too. Never cooked a ton out of it but the recipe for canned sardines, gherkins and hot mustard on triscuits was a real keeper, worth the price of the book. I’ve made a ton of variations on it but the mustard and the pickles never vary

     

    i was friendly with lots of NYC French restaurant people, used to celebrate Christmas with them every year. Nobody in that crowd would have ever served foie gras 

    on anything other than Pepperidge farm white bread, and I thought they were right. 

    • Like 2

    Restocking Dried Herbs and Spices

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted · Edited by Rickbern (log)

    Try to take a walk over the bridge one day, there’s a middle eastern spice shop called Malko Brothers. Directly across Atlantic Avenue from Sahadis. 
     

    Three brothers run it, they’re between 70-90 years old, probably thé three nicest men in all Brooklyn. They were born in Syria but the family traces its roots to turkey. They grew up speaking Aramaic. I have some real loyalty to these guys and stepping into the shop is to be instantly transported to another place and time. 
     

    You just won’t get that mail order from Penzeys. 
     

    ps- everything is bulk. They’ll sell you as much or as little as you want. If you’re looking for something they don’t carry you can probably just cross the street to Sahadis and pick it up there

    • Like 4

    The Humble Squeeze Bottle

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    I keep two squeeze bottles next to my stove. One with cooking oil, the other with water. As soon as I start heating a pan I squeeze some water in so I can see how hot the pan is.  When I’m done cooking I squirt a little water in to cool the pan down so nothing gets baked on it.

     

    I also have an old school diner maple syrup dispenser there filled with olive oil. 

    • Like 2

    Lemons and Limes: The Topic

    in Cooking

    Posted

    On 3/25/2023 at 2:37 PM, heidih said:

    Size and type does matter. Also hiw are you squeezing/juicing? I stick a fork in a half antwist and squeeze really crushing the "juice sacs". Plus not every lime is at same level of ripe and growing conditions make a difference. They arenot widgets ;)

    I was using a hinged thingy and looking wistfully at all the juice it didn’t extract, so I switched to a wooden reamer. 
     

    Far, far better. Time to put the hinge things out on a stoop for someone else 

    • Like 2

    Pots and Pots and Pans

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted · Edited by Rickbern (log)

    I remembered reading that one of volraths lines was the same as Paderno so I googled it. This line of Paderno is pretty high quality I think

     

    https://www.amazon.com/ask/questions/Tx2IEYIO9KPZTY8/ref=ask_ql_ql_al_hza

     

    volrath is all over the map. Some of their stuff is all show and no go,some super high quality. Their catalog used to have a comparison page that explained which line was suitable for which purpose. It was pretty thorough. Optio and centurion have little in common

    • Thanks 1
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