Posted on 03/01/2018 5:13:10 PM PST by Jamestown1630
Dear Cooking FRiends;
Due to issues at home and at work, I am going to be unusually busy for the foreseeable future, and I have decided that I will have to reduce our Weekly Cooking Thread to a monthly thread. Often, the thread is still quite active when I’m ready to post the following week’s installment, so I don’t think it will make a great difference if we continue each thread over a month.
I’ve greatly enjoyed the camaraderie that we’ve developed here; learning about all of your family culinary traditions and cooking secrets; and just sharing TALK, as our conversations wandered - often into ‘terra incognita’, as a lot of threads on FR do ;-).
You have all taught me many things, and introduced me to new horizons – not all of which have had to do with food and cooking - and I’m grateful for that, and for all of you.
I’ve also enjoyed and learned a great deal from the sheer effort of posting on a weekly basis for the last couple of years, ‘digitally challenged’ as I am. I’m still not very smart about using this little 'spaceship' as I call my computer; but at least I can post a picture and have a little HTML under my belt (Thanks, Liz!)
Instituting a cooking thread was one of my priorities when I ‘signed-up’, because I had always enjoyed the cooking threads on FR during my many years as a prior lurker – especially the Thanksgiving ones! - and I hope to continue for a long time.
I will probably post around the first of each month – and will always be checking in!
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I recently discovered Stephane of the ‘French Cooking Academy’ YT channel. He does great videos that are packed with information on ingredients and technique, and I’ve been especially impressed with everything he does with Potatoes.
Here is his video on Gratin Dauphinois - the Classic French Potato Bake; but check out the Duchesse potatoes, as well - they look fancy, but aren't that hard to do:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QCdN89DAYE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjdzwYREr48
-JT
Yes, I got the larger Cadbury creme eggs as well as the caramel ones for my mom who might choke on the tiny ones. I don’t like those for some reason but I was always fond of the tiny chocolate ones. They now also come in dark and white chocolate as well. But I am trying to stay away because they are very much like crack cocaine.
Yes, I do remember those eggs in your photo. So glad the Vermont place has them. They do have cool old products and clothing.
Use "Bon Appetit British Pathe" as the youtube search term to locate the whole collection.
Includes grand bread baking with very elaborate offering, wartime ration cookery, chocolates and how they are filled, etc.
Bon Appeit food month on British Pathe
a good starter
I just love this recipe Pugachev posted——has lots of cheffy techniques. These are really good.
PUGACHEV POSTED The best enchiladas I had were from a native Mexican cook w/ a restaurant near my childhood home. His cheese enchiladas were delicate and subtle, with beans and rice to match. That was his only menu choice and the place was packed every night. I have never had anything that could compare. Nevertheless, my current recipe follows. I use Mission extra soft corn tortillas. I’ve bought freshly made tortillas, and even made them myself, but the difference is not enough for the trouble.
I have used a comal, but, again, it’s not worth the effort. I use Old El Paso red sauce, or Goya Mole b/c preparing your own sauce is not worth it; no recipe is that much better to justify the effort.
METHOD overlap 14 Mission extra-soft corn tortillas on a plate; Micro covered 90 sec. Coat 12x8 pan lightly with corn oil.
FILLING Shred some sweet yellow onions. You can chop them, but shredding is worth the effort. Rinse the onions after cutting—important to preserve sweet flavor. Shredded Monterey Jack/Colby cheese mixture is best. Roll a tortilla with a small amount of cheese and some onions; be careful; too much cheese quickly overwhelms corn tortilla flavor. I can fit 14 rolled tortillas in a line of ten with two pairs to the side. Pour on sauce to coat top surface-—should see about 3/8 of sauce in bottom. Finally, sprinkle sharp cheddar on top, then small can of chopped chilies over that, add a few more onions; cook 400 deg 30 min.
VARY In a hurry, make New Mexico stacked pancake enchiladas. In shallow pan dip each corn tortilla in sauce to thoroughly coat. Don’t bother pre-heating the tortilla, bc/ they’re used flat. Plate tortilla flat; add a small amount of cheese and onions, and then tb sauce toward center. Top / coated tortilla. Add cheese, onions and sauce. I usually stack them four deep, and add cheese, chilies, sauce, and onions on top. Cover then micro 4.5 min (one minute for each tortilla in the stack, plus 30 seconds); they come out perfectly cooked.
BEEF TACO BOATS
ING 4 medium flour tortillas Rice or dried beans, to use as weights tb evo 1 onion, chopped 2 cloves garlic 1 lb. ground beef 1 tsp. chili powder 1/4 tsp. paprika ks/p 1/2 c. shredded Cheddar 1 avocado, chopped chopped cilantro, for garnish Guacamole, for serving Pico de gallo, for serving Sour cream, for serving shredded lettuce, for serving
METHOD Make tortilla boats: Preheat oven to 350°. Shape a large piece of foil into a boat. (It should be smaller than the size of your tortillas.) Place one tortilla inside foil so that the perimeter of the tortilla come up the foil sides. Repeat to make 4 boats. Fill each boat with rice or dried beans (or pie weights). Bake until the edges just start to turn golden, about 15 minutes. Let cool in foil packs until ready to serve.
FILLING on medium heat, heat oil. Add onion and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute more. Add ground beef, chili powder, and paprika, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon. KS/p; cook til beef is no longer pink, about 6 minutes. Drain fat. Heat broiler.
ASSEMBLY Remove beans and foil from tortilla boats and transfer the boats to a baking sheet. Fill each boat with ground beef and top with cheese. Broil until the cheese is melted, about 2 minutes. Garnish with cilantro.
SERVE warm with guacamole, pico de gallo, sour cream, lettuce.
Shredding the cheese yourself produces a better flavor than buying pre-shredded cheese. Amazon sells a rotary cheese shredder for about $22 which works like a charm and makes the job easy.
For variation, add about I/2 Tsp. of black tea from a Lipton's tea bag to the enchilada sauce, and sprinkle a few flakes over the enchiladas before cooking. It imparts an earthy taste.
If you are using Goya Mole sauce, add three portions of water with the Mole in a blender and drop in 1/2 of an Abuelita's Mexican Chocolate tablet and 1 cup of Coke Cola. I use Mexican coke because it has cane sugar, but I don't know if it makes a difference. Blend everything and then heat it in a saucepan before pouring it over the enchiladas before cooking. When using Mole, you may want a soft white cheese, like Caique Manchego. I wind up using about 15 Oz. for 14 enchiladas. You can buy the cheese from Amazon, or find it in most Spanish grocery stores.
To make the rice, I use Canilla Golden Dorado parboiled rice, but Uncle Ben's parboiled rice will do as well. It's just more expensive. I use a simple rice steamer which works very well if you carefully observe the recommended water lines on the bowl. I use 2 Oz. of butter for 1.5 cups of rice. The cooker has a measuring cup that equals .75 of a cup, although and the rice cooker instructions refer to this as a cup. I add a packet and 1/2 of Knorr Red Mi Arroz and 1/2 Tsp of sea salt. The Mi Arroz is available at Amazon or most Spanish grocery stores. I don't know what's in it, but it's magic. The label says "no se pega" and the rice really does not stick together. Sometimes I add a dash of Cayenne pepper too.
Wow-——your cooking tips are spectacular....thanks.
The additions you list amp up the flavor......but no one will ever guess what they are.
I like that.
BTW, I have seen nearly all the items you mentioned-——
the market I shop in has an international food aisle includes many Spanish products.
Looks like I’ll be restocking my kitchen.
Bailey’s Irish Cream Fudge
Ingredients:
2-12 oz milk chocolate (35-45% cacao), chopped, or 2-12 oz packages of milk chocolate chips
12 oz dark chocolate (65-85% cacao), chopped or a 12 oz. package semisweet chocolate chips
2-7 oz jars of marshmallow creme
2 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cups of Bailey’s Irish Cream
2 cups of chopped nuts (optional)
4 1/2 cups of granulated sugar
1-12 oz can of evaporated milk
1/2 pound of sweet Irish butter (KerryGold?), softened
Directions:
In very large bowl, combine milk chocolate chips, semisweet chocolate chips, marshmallow cream, vanilla extract, Irish Cream, and nuts (if you are adding them). Set this mixture aside.
Line 10 x 15 baking pan with foil and spread lightly with butter.
In medium saucepan, combine granulated sugar, evaporated milk, and butter. Bring to gentle boil over medium heat and cook slowly, stirring constantly for about 10 minutes.
Pour milk mixture into chocolate chip mixture. Stir slowly by hand to combine. It is very important to do this by hand and NOT use any kind of mixer.
Pour fudge into prepared pan and chill until set.
http://dyingforchocolate.blogspot.com/2018/03/baileys-irish-cream-fudge-st-patricks.html
Very Nice :-)
(St. Patty’s Day!)
JT, something to share with you and the crew.
Just found in the bottom of my purse :-/
While traveling (msg on a blank deposit slip) heard on radio of a new service similar to “PLATED” with a twist. This service is more into international cuisine. Must have been heard on Rush show, advertiser?
international takeout.com
Googled and this was found
https://takeoutkit.com/
Perhaps some might be interested?
Perhaps purse should be cleaned out more often. No idea how long this was buried.
Mr McGregor's fence round the cake and the perky jonquils can also be made of marzipan.
OMG-—tat recipe is perfection.
Two kinds of chocolate, the Bailey’s AND Irish butter all in one recipe.
I just love that web site-—the vintage ads are a kick.
That is adorable. It reminded me of a website that I used to go to that would post a bunch of awful cakes and balanced it out with masterpieces.
cakewrecks.com
Clever cooks can make the seashells out of melted white
chocolate and seashell molds. The ones pictured are
purchased.
That is a beautiful cake.
I’ve worked in bakeries and chocolate shops and I loved making chocolate in molds. It used to be one of my favorite things to do.
You ARE clever....... and accomplished.
I’ll bookmark all your recipes as something very very special.
Pastel sugar seashells in sugar bowl
SUGAR SHAPES---sweet bites for birthday parties, baby or bridal showers, or holidays.
easy to make--color and flavor sugar, then shape in shallow candy molds.
METHOD Stir/moisten cup sugar, tb water; add/stir in bit color/flavor. Adding small amt color in increments. Should have texture of wet sand/clumps when squeezed in palm. If too dry, add small spoonfuls water til workable. W/ spoon heap sugar into c/starch dusted mold; firmly press; compact well to hold together; take form of mold. brush or pastry scraper excess from tops. Dry completely at room temp, might take an hour to overnight to set—--depends on consistency of sugar, humidity, and depth/size of molds. Alternately, micro 25-30 sec to speed dry. cool briefly, then gently flip out; set at room temp to dry, keep indefinitely airtight at room temp. careful packaging, they are brittle and can be scuffed or broken. Variation: For an additional treat, omit flavoring; make with Vanilla Sugar, Lavender Sugar, or Lemon Sugar!
CANDIED EASTER POPCORN
CARAMEL In popcorn pot, cook/melt/bubble cup butter, 2 c br/sugar, tsp salt, 1/2 c corn syrup on med 5-6 min.
Offheat, add combined 2 tsp vanilla/tsp b/soda; stir well.
Immediately pour onto 12-14 cups popcorn and cup roasted salted peanuts
which are spread on parchmented sheet pan.
Stir well w/ heatproof spatula. Bake 250 deg 50-60 min; stir every 20 min.
FINAL Remove to counter; immediately sprinkle w/ M&M's. Drizzle w/ melted white/choc.
While chocolate is soft, sprinkle with pastel Easter sprinkles.
NOTE: might add mini marshmmallows in the shape of pastel Easter bunnies (in stores now).
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