Freeper Kitchen: Family Secrets

[HungarianGypsy]

Last week I told my husband I had started this thread. He asked if I could get a recipe for toast. He thinks he's funny.
This week's topic is family recipes. You don't have to devulge your secret recipes that are too precious to give out. But, maybe those loved and cherished ones from when you were a kid or those that bring back great memories.
For years the big treat at Christmas time in my husband's family were the yummy Sweet and Sour Meatballs that his grandma made. After she died I overheard his aunts talking and asking about where to find that recipe. If you have the right material, I can share it with you right now. First, get out your Betty Crocker Cookbook. Then look up the Sweet and Sour Meatball recipe.
Later in this thread I will get around to posting the family Carrot Cake recipe. But until then I must close this, since my husband says it's cruel of me to be talking about food when he's hungry.

[Welsh Rabbit]

In a heavy pot, make a light brown roux using the oil and flour. (I make a dark one, but be careful not to burn it.)

Could you please explain to this useless young bachelor what a roux is.

[Safrguns]

Only instead of the vanilla, we roll them into little balls and push a chocolate kiss into the center before baking.

Ahhh yes... everything tastes even better with a pound of chocolate in it!... It's an oldie but goodie, and one most people (bachelors especially) learn in college.

[SAJ]

Here's a nice easy dessert for a dandy meal like that(sounded great, btw).

Virgin Bananas Foster au Chocolat

3 ripe bananas, sliced lengthwise
5-6 oz semi-sweet chocolate
1 tbsp brown sugar
4 oz orange juice
2 oz pureed and strained cherries or raspberries (regular ol' cherry juice is fine)
1 tbsp unsalted butter
cinnamon to taste, fresh grated is best, powdered is fine
nutmeg to taste, fresh grated is definitely best, powdered is OK
couple oz. shredded coconut or well-chopped nut of your choice (pecans are dynamite here)

In a shallow dish, pour the fruit juice, add dash of cinnamon and/or nutmeg if you wish. Soak bananas in juice, 3-4 minutes a side, turn once (or, if you're lazy like SAJ, just do 'em for 6 minutes, flat side down, and don't bother turning 'em), and refrigerate. Put a large dinner plate in the freezer.

While bananas macerate, melt chocolate, brown sugar, and butter in a small saucepan over LOW heat, adding 1/2 tsp grated cinnamon and 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg as it melts. Stir well until creamy, should not be runny.

Place bananas on the frozen dinner plate, flat side up; if a little juice is dripping, who cares? Pour or spoon chocolate slowly onto bananas, end to end. Neatness doesn't count. Grate a little more cinnamon and/or nutmeg on top if you like, couple of shots of powdered sugar, too, if you want. Top w/shredded coconut or chopped nuts, put entire plate into freezer for 10-20 minutes (depends on how cold your freezer is).

Remove from freezer (having previously chased all pesky non-cook spoon-lickers away with any convenient Mossberg or Uzi), cut each slice into thirds or quarters, garnish if you like with a little chopped mint. Serve on any plates you like, or just leave 'em on the frozen plate, toothpicked.

You can serve these w/your favourite ice cream, but I rarely bother; the blasted things vanish too fast (g!)

Buono appetito, y'all !

Psst, oh yah, forgot -- if you want, take the remaining fruit juice mixture, add 1-2 tsps sugar, 3 oz water, and a good healthy shot of Grand Marnier. Put over medium-low heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Chill well, then pour this syrup over the bananas before cutting. Mo' bettah, I gar-on-tee. (g!)

[SAJ]

A roux is a thickening agent made from equal parts flour and either butter or oil, and is used as a base in soups and stews (and for other things, too). You mix the two in a saucepan over medium-low heat, and stir **continuously** until they incorporate together (you do this to get rid of the ''raw flour'' taste). The longer you cook it, the darker it gets; starts off light brown, which is called a ''blonde roux'', then turns to peanut butter colour, then later to a deep brown, sometimes called a ''gumbo roux''.

NOTE WELL: if you do not stir this puppy more or less continuously until it turns the colour you want, it will start spotting up on you...and you've just burnt it and get to start over. You make roux, you stir, hokay? (g!)

Tune in to Emeril Lagasse on FoodNetwork for more details -- he makes roux as a base for MANY of his dishes.

[shattered]

Thanks! I've been trying to remember that recipe for a few years. Think that I originally found it on a carton of sugar. I'll have to make these tonight!

[shattered]

Add me to the list. Thanks!

[tet68]

Share, sure.
Got my mom writing it down will post it when received.

Goes good with Fried Noodles too.
Will try and get that one too.

[Dashing Dasher]

The elusive roux....

Roux is a mixture of flour and fat.
It is the basis for many of the mother sauces of classical French cooking. It is used as a base for gravy, other sauces, Souffles, soups and stews.

The mixture is cooked by stirring over heat in a pot or pan. The fat is heated first, in the process melting it if necessary, then the flour is added, the mixture is stirred until the flour is incorporated and then cooked until at least the point where a raw flour taste is no longer apparent. The end result is a thickening and flavoring agent. The final results can range from the nearly white to the nearly black, depending on the length of time it is over the heat, and its intended use.

[SAJ]

GMTA! (see 44) (g!)

[bootless]

Roux bump for later

[MS.BEHAVIN]

Please add me to your PING list!
Thanks!
Ms.B

[SAJ]

Would you please add ol' SAJ to the ping list?

Many thanks!

[tet68]

FIRST you make a Roux.
The temp of the pan needs to be just right, don't want to
burn it, gives it a bitter taste, but it's got to be hot
enough that the flour doesn't take too long to brown.

Heck we even do this when we are deer hunting.

From Gumbopages.com

Just as it is in classical French cuisine, roux is a mixture of flour and fat, usually butter or oil. The proportion is roughly 1:1, but I tend to use slightly more flour than oil; maybe 1-1/4 cups of flour to 1 cup of oil.

It is the basis for many Louisiana dishes, particularly gumbo, but also etouffees, sauce piquantes, and more.

There are three basic types of roux: light (or what the Cajuns call "blond"), medium (or "peanut butter" colored), and dark. There is white roux also, which is cooked for just a minute to get the flour taste out, but this is rarely used in Louisiana cooking. For gumbos, for instance, Creole cooks tend to prefer a blond or medium roux, where Cajun cooks tend to prefer a very dark roux, which is wonderfully smoky tasting. There are, of course, exceptions to this. In fact, you'll see people making many different "levels" of roux. Blond, light brown, medium-light brown, medium brown/"peanut butter", and dark browns that range from the color of milk chocolate to the color of bittersweet chocolate. This is the most amazing roux of all in flavor, but the most difficult to achieve; it's really easy to burn it from this point. Use your eyes and nose; if it's gone over to being burned you can smell it. It's like the difference between really dark toast and burnt toast. You also have to take it off the heat slightly before the roux gets to the color you want, because the residual heat in the pan (particularly if it's cast iron) will continue to cook the roux. This is why it's a good idea to add your "trinity" (onion, celery, bell pepper) to the roux before it gets to your desired color, because that'll help slow the cooking process.

Roux is used to thicken gumbos, sauces, étouffées or stews, and in the case of a darker roux to flavor the dish as well. Dark roux has more flavor, a wonderful roasted nutty flavor, but tends to have less thickening power.

Preparation of a roux is dependent on cooking time; the longer you cook, the darker the roux. A blond roux will only take four or five minutes; a dark roux up to 20 or 25 minutes at high heat, or up to an hour at low heat. Roux must be stirred constantly to avoid burning. Constantly means not stopping to answer the phone, let the cat in, or flip the LP record over, and if you've got to go the bathroom ... hold it in or hand off your whisk or roux paddle to someone else. If you see black specks in your roux, you've burned it; throw it out and start over.

When you're stirring your roux, be very careful not to splatter any on you. It's extremely hot, and it sticks. They don't call it Creole napalm for nothing ... I have a lovely burn scar on my forearm from last year's Christmas Eve gumbo, when I got sloppy with the stirring.

Certain dishes (like crawfish étouffée) would benefit from a butter-based roux, but if you're going to make a dark roux, this will take a long time. Butter roux must be cooked at low to low-medium heat, or the butter will scorch. Darker roux are better suited to being made with oil. If you know what you're doing, you can make an oil-based roux over medium-high to high heat, whisking like hell, and you'll have a beautiful near-milk-chocolate colored roux in about 20 minutes rather than an hour. Peanut oil works best for high-heat roux cooking.

I'm told that some home cooks are making roux in the microwave now. "No stirring!", they say. "It works!" Bah. Humbug. There's a certain satisfaction to stirring it by hand that I myself refuse to delegate to a microwave. Some things simply must be done by hand if you're serious about this.

Now, one not-so-bad idea is the oil-less roux, pioneered by Cajun Chef Enola Prudhomme. Basically, you just dump the flour into a cast-iron skillet and toast it dry, making sure to stir it around as you would a normal roux. I've never tried this, but apparently it works rather well, and is perfect for folks who are on low-fat diets.

[Welsh Rabbit]

Thanks!

[KimmyJaye]

Great. Thanks.

I'll keep my eye out for it.

[MS.BEHAVIN]

Here's an easy and yummy recipe:

Mustard Fried Catfish

6 10 to 12 ounce catfish, cleaned
Vegetable oil
2 cups prepared yellow mustard
3 eggs, well beaten
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1 cup corn flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 teaspoon Hungarian paprika
Lemon wedges

Pat fish dry and set aside.
In a heavy skillet, heat one inch of oil to 350F.
In mixing bowl, combine mustard,eggs, and Tabasco sauce.
Pour mixture into a 13 x 9 inch baking dish.
In mediun bowl, combine all remaining ingredients except lemon wedges..:
pour into another 13 x 9 baking dish.

Dredge fish in mustard mixture, turning to coat all surfaces....
Dip fish in cornmeal mixture, turning to coat well.
Shake off excess.
Gently place fish two at a time in hot oil.
Fry until golden brown and crispy, about 6 to 7 minutes per side, turning once.
Serve with lemon wedges...
Enjoy!
Ms.B

[mware]

Our secret family recipe started as a mistake.

My brothers insisted that they would cook the Thanksgiving Day turkey.

ALL went well until it was time to carve. My brother Dave looked and looked at the turkey as he began to carve off slices. It finally questioned those standing near him asking, "Where is the white meat?"

They had placed the turkey in upside down.

It all turned out well as we found that the white meat was much more moist than any other year.

I did almost get sent to the kids table for laughing so loud though.

[Dashing Dasher]

Call us when you make something with your newly found Roux Skills.

;-)

[Jack Deth]

More of a hint than a recipe, SnarlinCub:

Whenever dealing with whole tomatoes for sauces or chili.
Rinse.
Peel.
Quickly rinse again.
Slowly crush the tomatoes in your hand(s)
Add a tablespoon of milk and 2 tablespoons of sugar four every four tomatoes to kill most of the acids in the tomatoes.

It sounds weird, but it works!

Jack.

[mplsconservative]

Thanks for this thread!

I absolutely love cooking, and gardening. Can't wait for those first homegrown tomatoes and jalapenos. It will be salsa time! Ay yi yi!

Until then, here's a couple of my mother's tried and true recipes that always go over well.

This one's good for a crowd:

Sopa de Fideo

2 lbs. hamburger

1 pkg. vermicelli noodles

3 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1/2 C. chopped green pepper

2 C. thinly sliced onions

2 C. sliced celery

1 large can of stewed or whole tomatos

1 can of whole kernel corn, drained

1 C. water

1 tsp. pepper

3 tsp. salt

3 tsp. chili powder

2 tsp. garlic powder

Velveeta to melt on top (If its' got Velveeta melted on top it has to be good!)

Heat oil and brown vermicelli until golden. Add burger and cook until slightly browned. Add remaining ingredients, except cheese, and simmer for 25 minutes covered.

Cover with cheese and simmer 5 minutes longer or until cheese melts.

This easy to put together on a busy weeknight, tasty too, if you can handle canned corned beef hash.

Crescent Hash Pie

1/2 C. grated Cheddar cheese

1/4 C. dried bread crumbs

1/4 C. ketchup

2 Tbsp. chopped onion

1 small can mild green chilis

1 15 oz. can corned beef hash

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 tsp. salt

1/4 pepper

1 8 oz. pkg. refrigerated crescent rolls

milk

About 45 minutes before serving, preheat oven to 375. Grease a 9-inch pie plate.

In medium bowl combine all ingredients except crescent rools and milk. Spread smoothly in pie pan and bake 15 minutes.

Seperate rolls. Remove pie from oven and arrange rolls overlapping in wedge-shaped pattern with narrowest points in center.

Form rolled edge just inside rim of pie plate. Using a pastry brush, lightly coat crescent rolls with milk. Bake for 20 minutes more or until browned.

Serves 6.