Monthly Cooking Thread - September 2020

[Jamestown1630]

We love pickles, here - Husband loves dill pickles, I like sweet pickles, we buy lots of Giardiniera for making Panzanella; and lots of Kimchi.

But except for a few attempts at Kimchi, I've never made my own pickles.

The most recent Gardening Newsletter from Lee Valley included a great idea for adding some 'zing' to store-bought Bread and Butter pickles - and a nice basic recipe for the pickles themselves:

http://www.leevalley.com/archive/en/newsletters/gardening/2533/article3.htm

(We always add a few dried peppers to our 'pickled' Brussels Sprouts - but that recipe hasn't seemed to be very popular here. It appears that many people harbor an antipathy toward the little Sprout Guys - I probably couldn't convince them even with my husband's wonderful roasted ones...)

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I made an ill-informed purchase recently. I've always been very bad at visualizing measurements in my head and don't seem to learn my lesson and pull out the tape measure; so I bought a covered 'Pullman' pan that was much larger than I actually wanted. I wanted one for making little tea-sized breads, and wound up with one that makes a 1-1/2 pound loaf.

Now, I'm looking for recipes for it. Dale Calder of Campobello Island, New Bruswick (whose YouTube channel I follow) recently posted his experiment with Pain de Mie, using the same size pan:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKnqSyyWUA8

I'm going to try that; but I want to try quick-breads, sweet AND savory. Does anyone know the formulae for increasing quick bread recipes? I'm not much of a baker, and have never figured this out - I just recall that one apparently can't simply 'increase' all the ingredients proportionally.

-JT

[Liz]

Ina Garten Is Hosting a Fundraiser for Joe Biden’s Campaign: ‘We Need to Stop Being Divisive’
People ^ | 8/8/2020 | Shay Spence
Posted on 9/8/2020, 10:31:39 PM by simpson96

Ina Garten is raising money — and a glass — for Joe Biden’s presidential bid.

On Thursday, the Food Network star will be interviewing the former Vice President’s wife Dr. Jill Biden for Cocktails and Conversation, an online fundraising event for the campaign.

Though the Barefoot Contessa host used to be a White House nuclear budget analyst in the Jimmy Carter administration, she has mostly shied away from political statements (besides joking that she would serve President Donald Trump “a subpoena” for dinner) during her career as a culinary star. “I’m not political,” Garten tells PEOPLE. “I think if you research you’ll find I’ve supported political programs privately but I’ve never been really public about it—but sometimes you just have to do it.”

“As a country, we need to pull this together. We need to stop being divisive and be positive and supportive and collaborative,” she adds. “[Biden] is a guy who’s been in Congress for decades and has a reputation for working across the aisle, and I think that’s exactly what we need right now.”

(snip)

The lifestyle guru will be also providing a signature drink for the event, which requires a minimum contribution of $250 to attend. Guests will be given the recipe for the cocktail ahead of time, and they’re calling it a “Winning Ticket Watermelon Cosmopolitan.”

(Excerpt) Read more at people.com ...

[Liz]

FALL FAVORITE

Glazed Streusel-topped Pumpkin Muffins w/ Cream Cheese Filling

CREAM CHEESE FILLING ING: 6 oz. softened cream cheese 1/4 cup sugar teaspoon vanilla

Streusel ING 3/4 cup flour 2 tb ea light brown sugar, gran/sugar 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 cup unsalted butter

PREP Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line muffin pan with paper liners or spray with cooking spray. Set aside.

Streusel topping: combine flour, sugars, cinnamon, and butter. Cut butter in til mixture is coarse and crumbly. Set aside.

Cream Cheese Filling: hand mixer cream cheese, sugar, vanilla smooth 2 min. Refrigerate while you make muffins.

Muffins: In a medium bowl whisk together flour, spices, baking soda, and salt, set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, sugars, oil, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture, and stir just until combined.

Fill each muffin cup with about 2 tablespoons of batter. Add a heaping spoonful of the cream cheese mixture to each muffin. Top the muffins evenly with the remaining batter, using a spoon to spread so the cream cheese is fully covered. (Muffin tins will be almost filled to the top). Sprinkle the streusel topping over the tops. Bake muffins for 23-25 minutes, or until a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out with just a few crumbs. Let cool completely.

Make glaze while muffins cool. Elec/hand mixer cr/cheese, vanilla, pinch salt and milk til smooth.

Drizzle the cream cheese glaze over the cooled muffins. (put the glaze in a small sandwich bag, snip a corner and drizzle it on).

[lizma2]

I was watching the Olympics and using a mandolin. (I know very stupid.)

Sliced a side of my thumb off. ER sewed it backed up . Part of my thumb nail never grew back.

They say live and learn. I DID!

Do you have a Kimchi recipe?

Unemployed but I’m a food hoarder so have 2 full freezers and been in the process of using up stuff. (Spend about 20-30 bucks month on food) Have a bag of shredded frozen cabbage I need to use.

[Jamestown1630]

My husband cut the tip of his thumb off while slicing garlic one night. Nail grew back ok.

His unpleasant encounter with a chain saw, when he was a kid, left more lasting damage...but he survived with all ten, if a few of them kinda ‘weird’ nail and joint-wise...

Someone here posted a good Kimchi recipe a few months ago - I saved it and will try and find it again. But I’m not sure that frozen cabbage will actually work well for real, fermented Kimchi.

My Korean friends taught me something called ‘fresh kimchi’ - when you don’t have time to do that whole process - and this might work for you:

http://futuredish.com/fresh-kimchi-geotjeori-incredible-10-minute-recipe/

Speaking of Kimchi, there’s one called ‘Bachelor Kimchi’, made with radishes, which looks interesting:

http://www.beyondkimchee.com/bachelor-kimchi/

[lizma2]

Thanks.

Would love to try fresh but I’m hell bent on using what I have. (and I have a ton.) When I was a kid we were snowed in Chicago big time in ‘67 and ran out of food. Never gonna let that happen to me.

Been refurbishing things I’ve already made with pretty good success. Love cooking.

Any other ideas of what to do with frozen cabbage?

Would love to make a New England Boiled Dinner but can’t afford corned beef right now and I’m liking this “don’t buy” challenge!

[Jamestown1630]

Cabbage in Caraway Cream

2 tsps. Butter

1 T. caraway seeds

1 small head cabbage, shredded coarsely

1 tsp. Sugar (opt.)

1 clove Garlic, minced

1 tsp. Salt

1-1/2 T. Vinegar

½ C. Sour Cream

Heat butter in skillet. Add cabbage, salt and garlic, and stir well. Cover tightly and steam 10 minutes, or until tender (a little water may be added, but if you cook slowly, the cabbage will wilt and give up its own water.)

Add caraway seeds, sugar (if used) and vinegar. Stir in Sour Cream, and serve immediately.

[lizma2]

Thank you much.

I actually own caraway seeds although they 30+ years old

[Jamestown1630]

Double the amount. Works for me...

[Liz]

Danish Pastry Apple Pie Bars

ING 2 1/2 c flour tsp salt cup shortening egg yolk 1/2 cup milk 10 peeled, cored, thin-sliced apples
1/2 cup light br/sugar 1/4 c sugar 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/4 tsp nutmeg egg white

METHOD combine flour and salt. Cut in shortening to coarse crumbs. Beat egg yolk in measuring cup; add milk to make 2/3 cup total. Stir into flour mixture til damp. On floured surface, roll one-half the dough into rectangle to fit 9x13" pan. Add apples. Roll out rest dough; place over apples. Seal edges; slit top dough. Brush top w/ frothy egg white. Bake golden 375 deg 50 min.

FILLING combine apples, brown sugar, white sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.

[Flaming Conservative]

I’ve been making refrigerator pickles like crazy -— bread and butter, pickled beets and onions, refrigerator sauerkraut. I’m using recipes from Mary’s Nest. For the bread and butter pickles, I’m using the little mini cucumbers they sell at Aldi. They call them Persian cucumbers at Sprouts. They’re not waxed. Mary’s recipe calls for putting a black tea bag in the bottom of each quart, so the tannin will make the pickles crunchy. And boy, is she right! You don’t taste any tea, but these are the crunchiest pickles I have ever had!
Also, I had some red and green grapes that had gotten too soft to eat, but were not spoiled, so I put them all together, and cooked them with a little water till they were completely cooked, added sugar and cooked that down thoroughly, then used my stick blender to pulverize everything. I didn’t use pectin, so it has a consistency a little thicker than homemade applesauce, but it sure tastes good. I’ll never throw away soft grapes again! I didn’t process it, but it only made one quart, and it’s nearly gone. If I make more, I’ll freeze it like strawberry freezer jam.
I’ve been culturing butter and sour cream, too. I use the buttermilk the cultured butter makes to make the sour cream, plus buttermilk biscuits, and more cultured butter! I’m having a blast. And I’ve been using ultra pasteurized cream, because I can’t afford the other cream; the ultra is only $1.55 a pint at Aldi, and that stuff lasts practically forever.

[Flaming Conservative]

Speaking of pickle weights, when I was planning to make the sauerkraut, I priced the pickle weights, and wanted to see if I could go thrifting and find an inexpensive substitute. At a Goodwill, I found six heavyweight pristine large square shot glasses that worked perfectly. The recipe suggested pickle weights or substitute a small jelly jar, but these shot glasses are perfect. (50 cents a piece).

[greeneyes]

Good idea. I have used plastic lids before, but liked the idea of using glass of some kind better.

[Flaming Conservative]

I’ve made Irish soda bread several times, and when it’s fresh, it has the consistency of good quality sandwich bread. You could easily make sandwiches with it.

[Flaming Conservative]

Wow. That sounds easy. But is that 1/4 cup of vinegar right? That seems like so little. Next time I get to where I can get some mini cucumbers, I’m going to try it. I like a good dill pickle. I’ll go ahead and put the black tea bag in the jar, though, because I know it makes really crunchy pickles!

[Flaming Conservative]

When I make grilled cheese for my husband, he likes sliced dill pickles on it.

[leaning conservative]

Yes!!!

[Flaming Conservative]

Make your own corned beef! It’s crazy easy to do! And it tastes wonderful. You can use any cut of beef you like, but a thinner fattier cut works best. The only thing you’d have to but is the Prague powder (sodium nitrite. Not to be confused with Himalaya pink salt).

https://ruhlman.com/2016/03/08/homemade-corned-beef/

[Flaming Conservative]

Ha! I thought I was the only one who keeps spices for decades!

[Jamestown1630]

I’m not sure, because I’ve never made pickles; but it’s only for a pound of little cukes, and in the restaurant Duke probably made batches constantly, because every day they got ‘et up’. I don’t think it’s a recipe for long-term keeping - the fellow who designed it seemed to be going for the taste.

(I do know that I make a Brussels sprout sort of ‘pickle’ with about a quarter of the vinegar as water - and they last a long time.)

Perhaps someone with more pickling experience can weigh in.

[Flaming Conservative]

BUY, not but. Sigh.