"Correct ingredients" for standard recipes

[annabelle]

Thank you. "Bless your heart" can mean "aren't you wonderful" or "good Lord, you're dumber than a sack of hammers."

[Country]

Thank you. "Bless your heart" can mean "aren't you wonderful" or "good Lord, you're dumber than a sack of hammers."

PS. When I was a kid everyone used a hatchet to kill chickens, and that's all I've ever used. But I have a good friend in California that raised a couple of turkeys, that ended up being over fifty pounds each, and he decided that was more than he wanted to tackle with a hatchet. So he shot them with his .30-30.

[Norm Matthews]

Iin the case of mom's chickens, they were not caged or fed by the family. They fended for themselves. They didn't just let themselves get caught. Shooting one was easier.

[Country]

Norm, Those chickens never roosted? Your mom must have been a pretty good shot to hit a wild chicken in the head with a .22 some distance away. Scope or iron sights?

Edited October 4, 2011 by Country (log)

[LaCook]

Food evolves... and you can bet that if our ancestors could get their hands on the ingredients at our disposal today, then classics would have evolved EVEN THEN. Incredible taste is what everyone is after, and that's how it should be.

If the same logic as keeping classic food dishes in their original form were applied to the English language, then we would still be speaking in Shakespearian terms, and that’s just not the case.

Know the basics, and respect the dish, but if you have on hand an ingredient that would enhance the dish, then by all means use it.

I can just envision a stubborn chef not wanting to include an ingredient that would make a great classic dish even better JUST BECAUSE IT WAS AN INGREDIENT NOT AVAILABLE AT THE TIME, and one of our forefathers shaking his head and screaming, “ADD IT TO THE POT, YOU STUBBORN FOOL!”

[annabelle]

Another chicken story:

My father was a farm-boy in 1930's Nebraska and one of his chores was to help slaughter chickens. The daughter of neighboring farmers was to help with this task and, seeing as they were both around seven or eight years old, they took turns chopping off the chickens heads and turning the bodies loose. They had a trusty piece of tape or string with them and measured how far each chicken ran before expiring. Hilarity ensued and no one could agree on who won this contest, only that the chickens were the losers...but tasty.

[Norm Matthews]

Norm, Those chickens never roosted? Your mom must have been a pretty good shot to hit a wild chicken in the head with a .22 some distance away. Scope or iron sights?

Later I confirmed the story with other family members at a couple of different times and they all said yes and didn't seem to think anything of it. My uncle said she'd sit on the back porch and almost never miss. I am quite sure that they didn't have a scope but I never thought to ask about that.

[Tri2Cook]

Food evolves... and you can bet that if our ancestors could get their hands on the ingredients at our disposal today, then classics would have evolved EVEN THEN. Incredible taste is what everyone is after, and that's how it should be.

If the same logic as keeping classic food dishes in their original form were applied to the English language, then we would still be speaking in Shakespearian terms, and that’s just not the case.

Know the basics, and respect the dish, but if you have on hand an ingredient that would enhance the dish, then by all means use it.

I can just envision a stubborn chef not wanting to include an ingredient that would make a great classic dish even better JUST BECAUSE IT WAS AN INGREDIENT NOT AVAILABLE AT THE TIME, and one of our forefathers shaking his head and screaming, “ADD IT TO THE POT, YOU STUBBORN FOOL!”

Good point and as long as a change does indeed improve the result, I'm all for it. But often changes are done in the name of improvement when in fact they are a step in the wrong direction and aren't better, just changed. Cheese is a prime example. I like cheese. "Like" is probably an understatement. But everything isn't made better by throwing cheese in it... despite the evidence that many people seem to think that is the case.

On another note, I get the point you're making but the example of changes in the English language doesn't illustrate that point very well in my opinion. I'd say, as a general rule, that the English language is taking large strides in the wrong direction.

[janeer]

Does Chili need a new name when you add beans? I'd say no but lots of people w

As for jonnycake, Johnny Cake or Journey cake, it is a recipe that has evolved. As time has gone by, other ingredients have become available and added. Now days it may have eggs, flour, sugar, baking powder and lard.

Actually, not true--at least in RI. Every single RI white cornmeal producer's recipes still calls only for meal and/or milk and water. The only ones who change it are some restaurants who do not want to take the time, and trouble (they can be tricky) to cook the real deal. We love our authentic jonnycakes--and know which restaurants still make them right. But I do admit it is an acquired taste.

[qrn]

I die a little bit inside every time one of them hams up a Hollywood Italian or Spanish accent.

I got sick of dying a little each time I watched and just gave up.

WRT the beef stroganoff I've sometimes seen it with paprika as a garnish, but it's something I tend to avoid as I hate mushrooms and the slimy buggers seems to be ubiquitous in it. The two versions I have made and enjoyed are from Darra Goldstein and Pellaprat. They are both quite similar, and neither uses paprika or mushrooms, but the Pellaprat goes a step farther and has you discard the onions once they've lent their flavour to the meat.

When thinking about it, I have always viewed the Pellaprat version as the more authentic one simply because it's from an older and reliably French source. But that's sort of the problem. Tastes, ingredients and habits change over time. It's likely that the Pellaprat version was the authentic one in his corner of the world for the first half of the 20th century. If thats not how its being made today, if stroganoff automatically includes visions of mushrooms and paprika, maybe it's more appropriate to term some versions classic, and some modern (without the sort of "sousvide hamburger roll with bun soil" hideousness that made me finally turn off Masterchef).

Edited to fix glaring grammar issues.

looked at them and the 66 version has it as you say , but the 68 version does not even have it,,,strange..

bud...(pellaprat)

Edited October 5, 2011 by qrn (log)