Weekly Cooking (and related issues) Thread

[leaning conservative]

I haven’t made Cornish hens in forever, but now that you mention it I feel the need to make a couple! To be honest I got rid of our ancient crock pot. I am extremely paranoid about leaving any thing plugged in while away. Plus I love cooking and roasting in the oven. The pilaf w/ the Cornish hen sounds wonderful.

[Jamestown1630]

It’s a combination slow cooker and pressure cooker, very versatile. Do a search, you may find it interesting and useful.

[Bodleian_Girl]

We did a pork butt a month or so ago and it was over the top.

I use it for dry beans a lot also.

However, if you have food that needs to be seared, like steak, I wouldn’t use it.

I made BBQ ribs that were falling of the bone and it took them 15 minutes to cook.

[Califreak]

That’s the only food from my childhood that I really crave.

Mom didn’t like to cook. :)

[Jamestown1630]

Very interested in doing beans in it. I love refried Black Beans, and want to make them from scratch.

[Aliska]

It makes wonderful boston brown bread. Pudding mold in the photo is perfect for one recipe of brown bread when I wasn't using the 2 cups of buttermilk as is usual I found out very belatedly. Also made a steam cake in my crock pot. Run the water half-way up and watch off and on.

Malay Steamed Cake. This was a November morning. The one on the right I made in a pudding mold in original my crock pot with just room for an older alum round trivet that fit perfectly and the one on the left, in a 1-1/2 I think quart covered casserole in an improvised steamer on the stove or oven. I followed a blogger's idea, used a yellow cake mix about 1/4 or so cups Bird's custard powder and 7 whole eggs I beat up for 7 minutes in my Kitchenaid until they were very pale and ribbony. That was first, then added the cake mix and rest of it, probably some vanilla. Tasted a little like sponge cake, grandson loved it. If big enough you could do a flan cake, and I don't see why you couldn't steam a standard cake mix but would be moister and denser maybe. If you could only dump it all into the crock pot from scratch!

No bread recipes yet. I love Phyllis Stokes' square hamburger buns. They are delicious to eat as bread and butter and any sandwich. I think why I like them better is she puts in more yeast, extra sugar, and I like a yeasty taste. The crusts are special, too.

[EinNYC]

The pilaf w/ the Cornish hen sounds wonderful.

I made it for Succos. It was a total yum job. This particular recipe, I made in the oven, not the crockpot, but I made an unstuffed CGH in the crockpot which was delicious. I actually combined TWO recipes to get the product I wanted. Here is the recipe for the brown rice pilaf:

BROWN RICE-TOASTED ALMOND-SAUTED MUSHROOM PILAF

INGREDIENTS:

1 tablespoon butter (margarine if using with meat)
1/4 cup onion, chopped
2 tablespoons celery, chopped
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1 cup brown rice
2 cups chicken broth
1/3 cup almonds, toasted, slivered
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan (that has a lid).
2. Add the onion, mushrooms and celery. Cook until just soft.
3. Add the rice and cook for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.
4. Add the broth and bring to a boil.
5. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer until the liquid is absorbed (about 45 minutes).
6. Remove from the heat. Toss in the almonds. Check the seasonings. Serve warm.

And here is the recipe for the Cornish Game Hen. After washing it inside and out and applying the olive oil coating and spices, I stuff it with the brown rice pilaf and lace it up with skewers and unwaxed dental floss.

CORNISH HENS WITH APRICOT GLAZE

INGREDIENTS:
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 Cornish hens
• 2 tbsp butter (or olive oil) melted and divided
• 1/4 cup reduced-sugar apricot preserves (can be substituted with sugar-free if desired)
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp onion finely minced
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Prepare Hens

1. Mix the cayenne pepper and the salt together. Rub one-third of the mixture inside of the Cornish hens. Brush the top of the hens with 1 Tbs. of melted butter or olive oil. Sprinkle the remaining salt/cayenne pepper mixture on top of the hens. Place on a rack on a sheet pan and bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes.

Prepare Glaze

1. While the hens are cooking, combine the preserves, the onion, the honey, nutmeg, cinnamon and remaining butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook until the preserves are melted, stirring occasionally.

Combine

1. After the first 30 minutes of cooking, brush the preserves mixture on the hens and continue to bake for an additional 35-40 minutes, or until a thermometer inserted into the thigh reads 180 degrees F.
2. Remove from the oven and tent with aluminum foil for 5-10 minutes before serving.

[CottonBall]

Ouch your teeth problems sound painful! I’ve had plenty of my own so I can relate. I’m sure I will go the denture route eventually. Last time I asked my dentist to just pull them all rather than nickel and dime me to death. I didn’t actually say that, but that was the intent.

Beautiful cakes!

[Jamestown1630]

Both of those recipes look wonderful!

[EinNYC]

Both of those recipes look wonderful!

They were absolutely sublime. Since I keep kosher, I had to substitute pareve margarine (does not contain meat or milk ingredients) for the butter in one recipe and olive oil for the butter in the other recipe, but it was still moist, succulent, and delicious. I brushed the apricot glaze on during roasting, and it helped keep the bird moist.

[Jamestown1630]

I will save that - we’ve often done Cornish Hens, but pretty plain ones compared to your recipe, which looks great. Thanks very much for posting!

[Aliska]

Thanks, CB. I decided, like you, to bite the bullet in Jan 2015 but he would only do 2 and refer me to a dentist to save the others, never got to that. I can stand novocaine if they get it right which he does, but the anxiety starts building up sometimes a week out. My 2nd cousin calls it white coat anxiety.

There was more seepage of blood than I'm used to because they put the dentures right on top. So I was afraid to take them out, missed my critical day-after appt, and had to reschedule. Almost better to wait in my case. So he tells me to take them out and I did as the female asst at the oral surgeon told me. Wasn't bad at all.

When it was time to put them back in, I couldn't do it and handed to the denture dentist. He tried to force them in a couple times and it hurt like he!!. So I was scared being alone, had to this morning, but daughter just happened to stop in which was reassuring in case I needed to go for help.

The most critical point is leave them in for at least five days. If you take them out overnight, the gums swell worse and can't get them back in.

The other was a tip I read on the web. Put them in the freezer for 5 minutes. While I washed with salt water. Got them right in with no pain at all! Thank heaven.

I'm missing a lot of bottom teeth or moved out of alignment, leaving nothing to chew against unlike many. But I have a couple more now and I didn't relish trying to gum my food like one couple I met.

He asked about color. I said I didn't want Joe Biden white. He laughted. Then I told him I had been a redhead when young, and he said that was very helpful to know what shade.

The few people who have seen them said they look great, so much better! I won't look in the mirror so don't know. I wasn't thinking about improving my appearance; it's been so long and quit smiling with the first missing front tooth years ago, wasn't the reason I went through with it. It was the pain and bleeding gums. A couple nurses said it was causing some of my stomach problems because I wasn't eating right.

Hope it goes well for you when it's time to get yours done. They didn't even want to give me Twilight Sleep which is an option. I don't see the point of it if you are still drowsy conscious while it is going on. You just don't remember.

They seemed to think I was making a fuss over just 3, one badly broken off. Yeah, but they weren't thinking of the gum pain. I think it was probably easier than a lot of people though otherwise. I still have 6 left on the bottom.

Enough. Sorry about blathering on about it; maybe it will help someone.

[SkyDancer]

Always prepared.

[Jamestown1630]

:-)

[SisterK]

No worries. You can make gin from all those juniper berries.

[Jamestown1630]

LOL! That will be a Husband Project - I’m a cheap beer drinker ;-)

[reformedliberal]

I make Italian Hot beef in a crock pot. I like a round roast. Round steak works, too and cooks faster and can often be found on sale. Chuck is too greasy for me in this recipe. I prefer my sirloin as a roast or steak...too good a cut for Italian Beef.

3-5# round roast (top or bottom)
2 packages Italian salad dressing dry mix (can add more, but 2 is plenty spicy)
I large jar pepperoncini with brine
one onion, sliced
Beef bouillon or beef broth or Better than Bouillon Roast Beef or Au Jus mixed with water to cover (6-8 cups)

I mix the spices, water and peppers and onion and put them in the pot on high. Let heat for an hour so broth is as warm as possible before adding meat. (you can also heat broth, peppers and onion on stove to boiling and add to crock pot)
It’s worth it to sear the beef in a pan...just heat pan, add some oil, use a meat fork and press each side to the hot oiled pan long enough to sear), Place meat in hot broth, set on low six-eight hours. I like to slice the meat at about 5 hours and return to broth to cook until falling apart tender. This makes the normally dry round roast juicier. I make this and freeze in 2-3 serving portions. Freeze extra broth separately in multiple containers (I add broth to the meat when freezing, but like extra for dipping). I like it when I have enough extra broth to start the next batch. If you do this, puree the frozen peppers/onions before adding fresh ones and enough dry dressing mix and broth to cover. Taste to adjust seasoning. Sometimes I add only a partial envelope of dressing mix because my frozen broth is already spicy enough.

I love having this in the freezer. Just add mini baguettes and a salad for a quick dinner.

[Jamestown1630]

WHAT???

Have you never tried the ‘spicy’, or the gravy for the mashed potatoes???

:-)

[Aliska]

That sounds good and thank you. I have to aim for what our local Chef's Hat used to make (the last one I ever had they cut costs and/or didn't know or care how to cook them right). They used a big fat beef roast and plastered it on the outside with tomato paste or diluted a little and the spices, lots of real garlic. Broth I don't know. Or cut I don't know. But I do like the bread a little juicy not soaked or dipped for those. And I think the only thing on the menu I can remember would have been to use the beef for sandwiches which were very popular, Italian Beef and Italian Delight, the one with the cheese and peppers. We liked their pizza the best, too, the flavor of the sausage, think the secret is fennel.

The tomato didn't totally permeate the beef so there was quality beef flavor. My gold standard is prime rib and similar cuts which I haven't bought for years.

So I hope you wouldn't be offended if I try yours with a tomato paste rub. Probably is better to cook the peppers with. But I think ours were served heaped with beaf in french bread, crisped up, cut long and sliced through, the juicy meat, add the partially or wholly cooked peppers and a slice of mozzarella (optional).

I think I lost my recipe I cut out of the paper but that's where i first learned to roast in a heavy covered pot (cast iron enamelware is perfect) at 275 with a little liquid in the bottom. So regret I learned it so late in life. It's about exactly the same as in a crock pot except it does brown a little on the exposed parts. Sirloin tip was what I usually roasted but sometimes rump.

They used to say the bigger the piece of beef, the better the flavor, but the slow oven roast and crock pot changed all that.

[BunnySlippers]

Amazon had the $99.00 one for $69.00 for a few hours last week. I sadly passed it by!!!