Cooking During Times of Disaster

[rooftop1000]

Yay I spent this morning finding the map you posted in May of your new house and wondering..... Where the hell you were for the past week.

Thanks for checking in...

oh if you freeze the water in milk jugs you can use it for drinking later

tracey

[fifi]

Yeah . . . We keep bottles of water in the freezer so that it is more efficient. I use them in my cooler in the car as well.

My house site is in great shape. The rip rap at the shoreline has taken much harder hits. I would have loved to see the bay with the water blown out, the wind was all from the north and no surge. I could have spotted where the stone crab holes are.

[FoodMan]

Fifi-

Thanks for the funny, interesting and helpful account of your adventures (or are they misadventures?). For my family and I we got obsessed with bread. Come Wednesday night we figured out that we had no bread at my in-laws house where we were staying in Houston. So I was ordered to take care of the matter "before the power goes off".

By Friday afternoon we had three different loaves of bread, all freshly made from scratch. By Saturday morning, the power was still on, the cable was still on and the stores promised to open soon and we had plenty of bread .

Elie

[Smithy]

It's so good to see you back! and thanks for the survivalist postings.

At a different time of year, extra fuel would be critical for heat, too. More propane and/or kerosene for portable heaters.

Your nephew's shoebox idea is brilliant.

Your comments about cooking before the water shortage hits make me wonder, as I bet it did you too, what the heck our ancestors did. I remember many times my grandmother or grandfather saying to my mother, "Ruthie, you're using too much water" when she'd be cooking or washing dishes. Nana and Papa both remembered hauling water in their earlier years. So, did they just know things like "pasta takes more water than rice"? I'm not sure I remember much pasta in their house, actually. What other foods do we take for granted now, that we wouldn't if we were pumping by hand and/or hauling water?

Further to the water shortage: did you have barrels set up to catch water from the roof drainage?

Finally: what ails your folk, that they didn't want to eat fruit?

[fifi]

Smithy . . .

Funny, my mother's name was Ruth and I can remember the same thing when we were at the compound on Oyster Creek when I was a kid. The well had limited tank capacity.

Well . . . roofs need to be planned to catch water. My nephew and I did talk about stringing up some tarps. Funny thing is, we really didn't get any rain up there. Too bad. It was really dry.

I have no idea why the folks don't eat fruit during a storm. They do otherwise. This isn't the first time I have seen this happen. Very strange.

FoodMan . . .

Why is it that the first thing there is a run on is the bread? Tortillas are so much more useful. Your family is truly blessed to have you as a baker. I forgot to mention that one of the hunks of bread that someone brought was this huge Challah Bread. I made toast out of some of the slices to eat with the (pork) sausage hash. The breakfast was cross cultural.

[spoonbread]

I was a chef out in Bandera, Texas at a resort when the BIG flood happened that nearly destroyed downtown Bandera as well as sooo many businesses and homes. The damage was incredible, and the rationing you speak of brings about memories of that time (especially about saving water......all water was shut of.......no showers, bathrooms, etc.).

[fifi]

There was some useful information in The Houston Chronicle that I am just getting around to posting.

[fifi]

Just an update . . .

We are doing some trials on some of our ideas. Here is one that is a winner.

I bought some chorizo. It was in a casing but I took it out and fried it up as crumbles. First . . . I searched for a chorizo that wasn't lips and lymph nodes and found an all beef brand that only listed beef, paprika, salt, vinegar and garlic. The crumbled and fried off sausage has enough salt and low pH tang that I wouldn't worry about keeping it extra cold in its cooked state. I would get out the big skillet and fry up a few pounds of this stuff ahead of time.

With some scrambled eggs (low fuel consumption and little heat) and a dollop of sour cream (also keeps pretty well) rolled in a tortilla, I have a delicious breakfast.

What I didn't make, but would make sense, is the lime juice marinated onion. You thinly slice red onion and drench it in lime juice with plenty of salt and pepper. That is another thing that would keep with little refrigeration due to the acid and salt. We love this stuff and use it in tortilla roll-ups and salads all the time.

[highchef]

Hey, everyone, we are back home and except for the carport and the trees, it went well. I took it 8 days (left Sat. for Houston, there were too many loaded guns downstairs and one of them was about to go off) and left for the woodlands. I couldn't go sooner as my sister, bless her had 5 people from N.O. with her. They left Fri. and I showed up with my 2 youngest Sat. night. I did cook, and clean and shop for her though and left that huge house with 4 nights sleep and some good stuff I can't find in Chuckville (Lake Charles). I still have to post the FEMA gumbo recipe, but give me a couple of days....I got in at 3 and had to make an emergency beer run, but this town is out of beer. spent high dollar for a case. The Sheriff in his glory has declared hard liquor off limits for 'until further notice'.....I have no idea what prompted this except that when the guys around here work, they work. when they can't work, they party. I guess that's ok....we're working in the yard again and that means BEER!. I have the hard stuff. That's for this weekend, after we get dh's office cleaned and ready for Monday. No FEMA check, but I think we'll still get one after I go online and update that we did leave after all....

What did me in in the end??? mosquitos. When the only cool place in your universe is on your porch and they're spraying with big old military planes....well, you know the world as you knew it is no fun. That was time for me to go. Fifi..I'm glad you got some camping experience from this. I'm sorry about the Houston Gridlock, we had the samething here. I had friends who took 4 hours to get to Welsh from here and turned around and came home.

Brooks....hellov a good shrimp gumbo. come around. I'll cook you one.

Patty

[Smithy]

Welcome back, highchef. It's good to learn you made out okay too.

[jmacnaughtan]

I'm probably not the only person who's movement has been restricted recently. With work slowing down too, it seems like a good opportunity to spend more time in the kitchen...

 

Tonight I'm going to play around with a duck breast, fennel and some Georgian spices.

 

Anyone else making the most of confining times?

 

 

[MokaPot]

I made some kimchi. This photo is from a batch I made a couple of months ago. But I made the same thing (daikon radish) this time.

 

I might make some yogurt.

 

Feeling very lazy.

[Madison Smith]

I'm making yogurt using a yogurt machine, good thing I bought a ton of milk before this. Made some seafood paella using frozen seafood and salmon, scrumptious! 

[jmacnaughtan]

I needed something comforting and vintage British, so I made an egg curry.

 

Lacking any Vesta's, I had to make do with my own spices and aromatics, but it was good! Reminds me of Japanese curry

[Anna N]

2 hours ago, jmacnaughtan said:

I needed something comforting and vintage British, so I made an egg curry.

 

Lacking any Vesta's, I had to make do with my own spices and aromatics, but it was good! Reminds me of Japanese curry

I keep thinking about an egg curry. I could certainly make it with Japanese curry paste. That would be an easy meal in the coming days. Thanks for the idea.

[jmacnaughtan]

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

I keep thinking about an egg curry. I could certainly make it with Japanese curry paste. That would be an easy meal in the coming days. Thanks for the idea.

 

That would definitely work. I can't remember where I read this, but it seems that Japanese curry was actually brought over by the English. I makes sense, as it bears no relation whatsoever to any Asian curry...

 

The question is, do you add raisins?

[Anna N]

3 minutes ago, jmacnaughtan said:

The question is, do you add raisins?

Well that would be really mixing it up! I have never even imagined adding raisins to Japanese curry but what the hell — these are trying times so I might try it.

[jmacnaughtan]

Just now, Anna N said:

Well that would be really mixing it up! I have never even imagined adding raisins to Japanese curry but what the hell — these are trying times so I might try it.

 

For me, the quintessential starch-thickened British curry sauce must have raisins.

 

And generally be served over chip shop chips

 

[Smithy]

3 hours ago, Anna N said:

 -- these are trying times so I might try it.

 

That is a lovely turn of phrase, Anna.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

10 hours ago, jmacnaughtan said:

 

That would definitely work. I can't remember where I read this, but it seems that Japanese curry was actually brought over by the English. I makes sense, as it bears no relation whatsoever to any Asian curry...

 

The question is, do you add raisins?

 

I'd add the raisins!  But toward the end of cooking.  My understanding is that the Japanese military learned of curry from the British navy.  I've heard curry is still served once a week on JMSDF vessels.  I'd love if anyone could confirm that this is true.

 

[Katie Meadow]

17 hours ago, jmacnaughtan said:

 

That would definitely work. I can't remember where I read this, but it seems that Japanese curry was actually brought over by the English. I makes sense, as it bears no relation whatsoever to any Asian curry...

 

The question is, do you add raisins?

I'll add raisins to curry when hell freezes over. And it never will.

[Anna N]

12 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

I'd add the raisins!  But toward the end of cooking.  My understanding is that the Japanese military learned of curry from the British navy.  I've heard curry is still served once a week on JMSDF vessels.  I'd love if anyone could confirm that this is true.

 

Click. seems a pretty reliable source. 

[heidih]

Serious Eats just put up a nice assemblage of projects for us isolated ones  https://www.seriouseats.com/roundups/big-cooking-projects

[rotuts]

jamie Oliver has a new short series :  Keep Cooking and Carry On :

 

https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/category/books/keep-cooking-and-carry-on/

 

of course , it helps to have a pantry .

 

Im a fan of his , I can see why some might not be.

 

5 shows .   Dont know how universally available it is.

 

just thought Id mention it , if you are a fan

[jmacnaughtan]

On 3/28/2020 at 2:57 PM, rotuts said:

jamie Oliver has a new short series :  Keep Cooking and Carry On :

 

https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/category/books/keep-cooking-and-carry-on/

 

of course , it helps to have a pantry .

 

Im a fan of his , I can see why some might not be.

 

5 shows .   Dont know how universally available it is.

 

just thought Id mention it , if you are a fan

 

Huh, I didn't realise he was still on TV. I suppose he has a bit more free time now...

 

On 3/27/2020 at 10:51 PM, heidih said:

Serious Eats just put up a nice assemblage of projects for us isolated ones  https://www.seriouseats.com/roundups/big-cooking-projects

 

There's some good things here  I've always wanted to do a proper choucroute, but out of the two of us, I'd  be the only one eating it. The odour would probably result in a few Words as well.

 

The main annoyance for these big projects is that they deserve a big audience  This is the reason I haven't been making a lot of cakes - if I don't have enough people to feed them to, they hang around and become breakfast...