Monthly Cooking Thread - November 2022

[Jamestown1630]

I think I’ve posted the Russ Parsons/Judy Bird dry brining technique for turkey every year since I found it. It makes the best turkey we’ve had, and is a lot easier than the wet brine. A recent change I’ve noticed is that they now advise that you can even begin this while your turkey is still frozen and thawing:

https://food52.com/recipes/15069-russ-parsons-dry-brined-turkey-a-k-a-the-judy-bird

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My favorite recipe for cranberry sauce comes from Tasha Tudor. It’s very simple but makes quite a lot if there aren’t many in your crew who like it. I usually halve the recipe and do it in a smaller mold:

Tasha Tudor’s Cranberry Sauce (from ‘The Tasha Tudor Cookbook’)

2 lbs. fresh cranberries, washed and picked overnight

2 cups cold water (more or less)

2 lbs. Sugar

Place cranberries in a large saucepan with enough cold water to cover when they are pressed down. Add the sugar. Bring to a simmer, and skim off the foam occasionally. Cook the cranberries until their juice jells when it is dropped on a cold plate. Pour into a mold and chill overnight.

To remove the sauce from the mold, gently run a paring knife around the edge, dip the mold in hot water for a moment, and invert it onto a platter to serve.

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I’ve often made this sweet potato ‘souffle’, but when I took it to a large potluck I learned that some people really dislike raisins. I personally think the raisins make this recipe, but you can certainly leave them out, and you can leave off the marshmallow topping, too.

I usually don’t bother making this as a genuine souffle, but mix everything together in a ‘sturdy’ souffle.

Sweet Potato Souffle

Prepare 2 cups of mashed sweet potatoes: Boil potatoes in their skins until done; remove skins and mash.

Preheat oven to 350.

Scald: 1 C. milk

Add: ½ C. sugar, 1 tsp. salt, 3 T. butter, 1 tsp. nutmeg, and the potatoes. Beat until fluffy.

Separate 2 eggs. Beat yolks and add to the potato mixture. Add: ½ C. raisins, and stir in well.

Beat the 2 egg whites until stiff, and fold into 1st. mixture. Pour into greased baking dish.

Bake at 350 for 50 to 60 minutes, or until knife comes out clean. When done, top with marshmallows and brown briefly under broiler.

(Usually I make the potatoes the night before.)

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I like the now traditional string bean casserole, but lots of people don’t. I found a more elegant recipe at the Kevin Lee Jacobs website that some might prefer; this one uses a Swiss cheese (Mornay) sauce:

https://www.agardenforthehouse.com/green-bean-gratin/

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My Grandmother made a great navy bean soup – I think she used a ham bone, and the dregs from a baked ham. My husband also makes a good one using ham hocks. I was craving something like this, and decided to try the famous Senate Bean Soup, which has been served continuously in the U.S. Senate cafeteria for over a century.

There are a couple of stories and recipes attached to this tradition, and you can read about them here:

https://www.senate.gov/about/traditions-symbols/senate-bean-soup.htm

I chose the recipe without mashed potatoes, which is the one that is served now and has been for many years. I soaked my beans overnight, and used chicken broth instead of water; and I did add, at the end, some instant mashed potato flakes mixed into the broth, to thicken. (I think I learned that trick from Jacques Pepin, and I appreciated it because I don’t like chunks of potato, which are often added in recipes for soups and chowders.)

This is a very ‘plain’ recipe, and you can play with it any way that you like. It would benefit from some bay and other herbs; and the recipe is easily halved:

The Famous Senate Restaurant Bean Soup Recipe

2 pounds [0.91 kg] dried navy beans

four US quarts hot water

1 and ½ pounds smoked ham hocks

1 onion, chopped

2 tablespoons butter

salt and pepper to taste

Wash the navy beans and run hot water through them until they are slightly whitened. Place beans into pot with hot water. Add ham hocks and simmer approximately three hours in a covered pot, stirring occasionally. Remove ham hocks and set aside to cool. 

Dice meat and return to soup. Lightly brown the onion in butter. Add to soup. Before serving, bring to a boil and season with salt and pepper. Serves 8.

-JT

[waterhill]

Had a quirky weird thought once about buying a food truck and selling nothing but peanut butter sandwiches. Even started on a menu. Came up with like 20 or so..
.

[waterhill]

Gonna miss you

[Jamestown1630]

Raisins and frying do sound good.

Not sure about the rest...:-)

[MV=PY]

I think I’ll try that this year. ;)

[Jamestown1630]

Well, be careful. I think it was a fluke.

A similar thing happened to us with pork chops, once.

We started them in the oven, and then we were called out and had to run an errand. So we turned off the oven.

Over an hour later, we came back and finished cooking them. They turned out to be the tenderest pork chops we’d ever had.

Who knows?

[Exit148]

I had this problem with someone in my home too. Bacon!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jamestown1630]

Thanks to all for your kind words. It means a lot to me that the cooking thread has been useful and appreciated, and it has been my great pleasure to manage it through the years.

-JT

[FamiliarFace]

You know what they say about low and slow? That sounds like what happened with your pork chops!

[Jamestown1630]

Possibly; but since then, we’ve learned that brining pork chops or pork loin makes a real difference, as we’ve learned from Chef Jean-Pierre:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzMp_wM3Bzc

[MomwithHope]

You are a treasure, I hope we will still see you around on FR.

[StAntKnee]

Many thanks for keeping up the thread. Anybody who devotes so much of their own time and effort to the benefit of others is on the path toward sainthood anyhow, but to do so with food involved will reward you with a special place in heaven.

[Ellendra]

Thank you for keeping this thread going for so long!

[Ellendra]

I have seen food trucks like that. They seem to do well.

[Jamestown1630]

Don’t worry. I’ll continue to be the often-contrary Freeper that I’ve always been...

[W.]

Thanks for your time keeping this thread going, I’ve picked up lots of great info here!

[V K Lee]

POSSIBLE NEW SITES FOR YOU

Recently discovered two sites which offer ‘meat and potatoes’
recipes. Southern by nature, we enjoy comfort food, speedy, simple edibles. As easy to make as it is to enjoy.

MANDY IN THE MAKING
https://www.youtube.com/c/MandyintheMaking/videos
https://www.mandyinthemaking.com/recipes

COOK, CLEAN, AND REPEAT
https://www.youtube.com/c/CookCleanAndRepeat/videos

[Liz]

A special holiday coffee from the. Ritz-Carlton Hotel:

Almond Chocolate Coffee

Ingredients:
1/2 oz. DiSaronno Amaretto
1/2 oz. Baileys Irish Cream
1/2 oz. Godiva Dark Liqueur
1/2 oz. Dark Cocoa Powder
6 oz. Fresh, Hot Coffee

Preheat a Coffee Mug for 30 seconds with hot water. Empty water and add Amaretto, Baileys,
Godiva Dark and cocoa powder. Fill with hot coffee to 3/4” from the lip of the mug. Top with
fresh whipped cream and chocolate drizzle

[Liz]

A special holiday coffee from the Ritz-Carlton Hotel:

Almond Chocolate Coffee

Ingredients:
1/2 oz. DiSaronno Amaretto
1/2 oz. Baileys Irish Cream
1/2 oz. Godiva Dark Liqueur
1/2 oz. Dark Cocoa Powder
6 oz. Fresh, Hot Coffee

Preheat a Coffee Mug for 30 seconds with hot water. Empty water and add Amaretto, Baileys,
Godiva Dark and cocoa powder. Fill with hot coffee to 3/4” from the lip of the mug. Top with
fresh whipped cream and chocolate drizzle

[Liz]

As served at the Ritz Carlton

[Liz]

Cookie Dough Popcorn / kids holiday treat

Ingredients:
3 cups packed brown sugar
3/4 cup corn syrup
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1½ cups melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
11 cookies worth of raw Cookie Dough
2½ gallons “popped” popcorn; approximately a quart before popping

DoubleTree Cookie Dough Link >>

Procedure:
Mix the brown sugar, corn syrup, salt, butter and vanilla in a sauce pot; boil until bubbly and thick, about 5-7 minutes. While still hot, pour the caramel over the popcorn in a large mixing bowl and use two, long handled, steel kitchen spoons to mix until the popcorn is evenly coated with the caramel.

Next, spread the caramel popcorn onto 2 full sized sheet pans. Cut the frozen, raw cookie dough into small cubes about 1/3rd of an inch each. Sprinkle the diced cookie dough evenly over the pans of caramel popcorn.

Bake at 350° for about 8 minutes, allow to fully cool, then break the popcorn into smaller, bite sized pieces.