Confession Time: Share Your Culinary "Sins"

[Marlene]

It all sounds good, except it's the sweet potatoes I can't stand!

[Kim Shook]

But I don't like that marshmallow thing at all. What a mean thing to do to a perfectly lovely sweet potato! I like my sweet p's cubed and baked with just a lil bit of molasses & butter, then mashed on my plate with more butter. Yum!

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eeeek!!! But then they taste like......shudder...shudder.... - sweet potatoes...shudder....shudder...shudder.

[Ling]

I love sweet potatoes. I like 'em best pureed with cream, butter, a bit of cinnamon, and salt and pepper. No additional sugar.

I haven't had the sweet potato and marshmallow casserole, but it sounds like a good dessert! I am hoping someone will bring one tomorrow to our potluck feast tomorrow. I'd have a nice heaping of it, after my turkey dinner.

(ETA: I made a roasted sweet potato cheesecake with a gingersnap crust and brandy caramel for tomorrow's dessert as well, so maybe I'll be lucky enough to eat two sweet potato desserts.)

Edited November 23, 2006 by Ling (log)

[srhcb]

I never thought of making sweet potato with marshmallow for dessert, but maybe by adding some walnuts or pecans .... and then topped with chocolate sauce!

SB (has everything but sweet potatos on hand)

[gfweb]

I've de-sweetened the mashed SP for several years. I do put in a bit of sugar, but add cream and liquid smoke, changing it into a much more "mature" dish that the kids still like.

[H. du Bois]

I don't think I've ever had it - maybe it's a southern thing? I grew up pretty far north, and the only way I like my marshmallows is toasted on a stick over a campfire. But it sounds like it has great dessert potential.

[petite tête de chou]

I think that this one of the friendliest-yet-we-often-disagree threads I've seen. Coolio.

I grew up with canned yams that were even further insulted by being dumped into an old aluminum pan (didn't they just escape that fate?) and even further disguised from their natural potatoey charm with what seemed like handfuls of brown sugar, fists of butter, bags of wee marshmallows and a bit too much cinnamon. That said, I don't like "candied yams" at all. Oh lord no... please? One year (hmmm wonder why there isn't "this year" or "last year" ) I baked or steamed (don't remember) the darker, sweeter potatoes and demonstrated a frugal hand with the rest of the ingredients (adding a bit of freshly grated nutmeg- brought my own nutmeg and grater, too ) and...my sweet dears were effusive, kind and...disappointed. They liked the rest of the meal but those "candied yams" of mine did not meet their needs.

Perhaps next year?

[tino27]

Love the green bean casserole too.  One year, I decided to make it from scratch.  Mushroom cream soup, fresh beans, my own fried onion topping.  It was terrible!  Maybe it was missing  msg and phophates.

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Ditto.......gross, bland......just not good......

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Y'all must be doing something terribly wrong.

My family actually asks me to bring this from-scratch dish every year now. I've also made it and taken it to several dinner parties where a casserole was requested and gotten many compliments.

If you're curious, PM me and I'd be happy to share the recipe.

[NWKate]

Thamksgivings in my family were often fraught with dissension and chaos but I have made new family traditions that serve us well. I make the sweet potato casserole ( the one with brandy!) out of the old NYT Cookbook, Thomas Keller's Green Bean Casserole and the CI brined roast turkey with an Anthony Bourdain twist each year. For dessert we always have pumpkin pie with freshly whipped heavy cream. And the latest addition is Russ Parson's mother's cranberry sauce with orange zest. This year I also had chantrelle mushrooms for the dressing and will never look back!

Kate

Edited November 26, 2006 by NWKate (log)

[Sunny Simmons Steincamp]

Some of us have also admitted a sneaking liking for congealed salads 

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Funny, I had an embarassing but overwhelming urge for one of these salads not too long ago, and even wrote about it on <a href="http://www.homewitch.net/2006/10/05/bring-back-the-jell-o-salads/">my food blog</a>. I've now been challenged by several people to see if I can come up with one that has *some* sort of nutritional value. Maybe using brie or marscapone or something, and juice instead of flavored Jell-0? Been ruminating on it for a while.

As for the sweet potato casserole, I can take it or leave it, but I have to scrape off the marshmallows if it's made that way... they are just disgusting to me. Of course, I also can't stand chocolate, so my opinion about the taste of foods is considered suspect by most folks who know me.

[annecros]

Funny, I had an embarassing but overwhelming urge for one of these salads not too long ago, and even wrote about it on <a href="http://www.homewitch.net/2006/10/05/bring-back-the-jell-o-salads/">my food blog</a>.  I've now been challenged by several people to see if I can come up with one that has *some* sort of nutritional value.  Maybe using brie or marscapone or something, and juice instead of flavored Jell-0?  Been ruminating on it for a while.

Funny. The easily digestable and easily accessed by the GI protein available in even the sweet little boxes of jello make them a mainstay of any liquid diet in that the protein and sugars keep you upright, at least, and keep your metabolism running. I think chicken broth and such is thrown into the liquid diet just to keep the sodium content up, and whatever nutrition is left from the vegetables that have boiled to death in the broth before straining.

Easy to boost the nutrition. Use unflavored gelatin and fruit juice that is not too acidy. Even the typical cottage cheese, cream cheese or sour cream additions that so many of those recipes call for add calcium. Fruit, even canned, has a bit of nutrition left.

I wouldn't call jello a nutritional motherlode, but it is not completely empty calories either.

Then we could get into some of the savory congealed salads...

Easy on the GI, good source of protein. Just like the chicken soup you are supposed to eat when sick.

[Okbrewer]

I made this sweet 'tater dish for my office Thanksgiving luncheon (that and a slab of smoked salmon!) and it was the first dish to be scraped clean! Everyone loved it. In fact, when I came back to work this morning I had 2 emails asking for my recipe! I make it often, not just for the holidays. Any leftovers and I make a sweet potato pie! MMMM! Good!

Bob R in OKC

[Sunny Simmons Steincamp]

Then we could get into some of the savory congealed salads...

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My grandmother made what she called tomato aspic, although looking back on it, it was more like congealed gazpacho. YUM. You don't see much of those things anymore either, you're right... and that's too bad. I might have to play around with some in my spare time, too. (Ha. Spare time.)

[annecros]

Then we could get into some of the savory congealed salads...

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My grandmother made what she called tomato aspic, although looking back on it, it was more like congealed gazpacho. YUM. You don't see much of those things anymore either, you're right... and that's too bad. I might have to play around with some in my spare time, too. (Ha. Spare time.)

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I know EXACTLY the salad you are talking about, and yes it is yummy and nutritious. Easy to eat and digest on a hot day. Refreshing. Adds another dimension to a meal. Funny that more people don't think of savory congealed "salads" in the same way that they think of chilled soups. When you break down the components, they are very similar at times.

Same with the sweet potatoe stuff. Many cannot see beyond it being a dessert, however its position on the plate with meat and a savory dressing make it a wonderful foil. Much in the way that hot/sweet work together in asian cooking, or sweet/sour work together in contental fare.

I think it's time for an aspic, made the old fashioned way.

[Sunny Simmons Steincamp]

I know EXACTLY the salad you are talking about, and yes it is yummy and nutritious. Easy to eat and digest on a hot day. Refreshing. Adds another dimension to a meal.

I think it's time for an aspic, made the old fashioned way.

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I agree! And you're right... my family is from Memphis, TN and it's incredibly, stiflingly hot in the summertime, and humid beyond belief. You really don't want to be in a hot kitchen in the dog days of August; I LOVED coming in from a day of running around in the outdoors to a slab of grandma's shivery, cool, savory concoction.

Do you have any old fashioned aspic recipes?

[annecros]

I know EXACTLY the salad you are talking about, and yes it is yummy and nutritious. Easy to eat and digest on a hot day. Refreshing. Adds another dimension to a meal.

I think it's time for an aspic, made the old fashioned way.

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I agree! And you're right... my family is from Memphis, TN and it's incredibly, stiflingly hot in the summertime, and humid beyond belief. You really don't want to be in a hot kitchen in the dog days of August; I LOVED coming in from a day of running around in the outdoors to a slab of grandma's shivery, cool, savory concoction.

Do you have any old fashioned aspic recipes?

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Well, this was how it was made in my family, but as with all traditional southern recipes they are all pretty similar and I am sure you can find a great recipe in an Edna Lewis or Bill Neal Cookbook if this one doesn't seem to suit your tastes. Another good book is "The Southern Cook's Handbook" by two author's can't remember the names.

EDIT: Courtney Taylor and Bonnie Carter Travis wrote "The Southern Cook's Handbook"

2 envelopes of unflavored gelatin softened in a half cup of boiling water in a large bowl. Once the gelatine is dissolved, stir in three cups of warm (not hot) tomato juice. Stir until smooth, then stir in one finely chopped small onion, one finely chopped rib of celery, and (this was Grandma's secret ingredient) one finely chopped small cucumber that has been seeded and peeled, and a squeeze of lemon (maybe as much as a tablespoon or so). I add a dash of Worcestershire and tobasco and a dash of black pepper. I guess you could salt to taste at this point, but I find the toamato juice salty enough, and you can always salt the aspic at the table. Stir it all up, and let it sit on the counter to cool slightly. Dump it into a pyrex dish or 4 to 6 cup (depending upon your additives) mold, and chill until set. Grandma would sometimes get fancy and pull out her small single serve molds instead of one large one.

Unmold the single serves and put a dollop of mayo on top, or serve the big honker unmolded on a platter dressed with lettuce, radishes and olives with mayo on the side to dump on the slices.

Enjoy.

Some people add finely chopped bell pepper to the mix, dill is another common additive I have seen. Softened cream cheese in a layer in the bottom of the mold is another common variation, with the vegetables and dill mixed in with the cream cheese rather than the aspic. I am sure somebody has done this with seafood (crab or shrimp) mixed into the cream cheese layer as well. I seem to remember having it prepared with stewed tomato at some point along the line.

Edited November 28, 2006 by annecros (log)

[Sunny Simmons Steincamp]

Thanks! I was just thinking what a wonderful light lunch this would make. We're often so busy during the day that lunch is an afterthought. I'm going to have fun tinkering.

[Kouign Aman]

I used to hate that sweet potato dish and could never understand why. I finally figured out its the canned yams. I made it with boiled yams instead one year and enjoyed it so much more. But our new tradition came from my SIL - pureed, made into a pudding with pecans on top. I enjoy it as a TD sidedish, but will mostly be serving it as dessert during the rest of the year. A vitamin rich pudding. An entire serving of an "intensely yellow or orange" vegetable, in dessert. Life is good.

I've roasted the yams ala racheld. I end up eating them straight out of their jackets. I first saw them roasted in Beijing, where they served a dual purpose as tummy filler and hand warmer.

[GlorifiedRice]

Am I a bad cook if

I prefer Salmon well done and brown and crispy on the edges?

I prefer Turkey dry so the gravy makes it juicy?

I love to occasionally over grill my chicken breast till its crispy and chewy?

 

I usually do cook chicken "perfect", but at times I like it as above.

I do prefer steak medium rare though.

[Shelby]

No, you cook your food how you like it.  That makes you a GOOD cook. 

 

You're also a good cook if you can make the same things for others the way they like it 

[andiesenji]

It is called being a "maverick" in the kitchen.  It is YOUR kitchen, your food, fix it the way YOU like it and to hell with anyone who criticizes.

[FeChef]

No, you cook your food how you like it.  That makes you a GOOD cook. 

 

You're also a good cook if you can make the same things for others the way they like it 

What if i tell them if they dont like their steak alittle pink in the middle they can eat some cardboard?

Edited August 10, 2015 by FeChef (log)

[David Hensley]

When I fry potatoes, hillbilly style, with onions and carrots, I make it a point to get them firmly, but gently blackened on one side. A beautiful, perfect golden brown is simply inadequate...they must be clearly black in color, or else they don't taste "right" to me.

[FeChef]

When I fry potatoes, hillbilly style, with onions and carrots, I make it a point to get them firmly, but gently blackened on one side. A beautiful, perfect golden brown is simply inadequate...they must be clearly black in color, or else they don't taste "right" to me.

I put a nice char on perogies when i make perogies with browned butter and carmelized onions. The perogies need to be crunchy on both sides and soft in the middle to withstand the long slow roasting in the crock pot. There is not a event i am asked to attend that does not include requests for my perogies.

[dcarch]

Yesterday I boiled my steak (dry aged T bone) at 212F for 2 hours.

 

It was not bad, a little dry, but very tasty.

 

----------------------------

 

I took the steak out from the refrigerator and put it in the bag, set the SV temperature at 129F.

 

2 hours later, I smelled some wonderful aroma and went to check the SV cooker.

 

I realized that when adding hot water to the tub, I got a phone call and forgot to put the temperature sensor in the water. So the heater boiled the water because the sensor was telling the heater that the water temperature was at room temperature..

 

I was not about to throw the steak out. 

 

I guess I was a bad cook. 

 

dcarch

Edited August 10, 2015 by dcarch (log)