Why not get her a FReeper cookbook?
Posted on 10/23/2005 1:44:45 AM PDT by dennisw
You have a point!
I will try that next week. Thanks for that tip.
I've noticed that most of the prepared, canned products like gravy and jams and jellies really have very little flavor. I think that they water the stuff down and try to make up for it with all that sugar and salt, which is why the stuff is so salty or sweet. After all, water, salt, and sugar is much cheaper than meat broth and fruit. I make my own preserves and they are 3:1, fruit to sugar. I add just enough sugar to cut the tartness. YUM!
You have all the right ideas! Wholesome home cooking is good for the family
I've heard that the weather can have an effect on how bread rises. It's supposed to rise better when the pressure is low. That might be a factor.
Oh my!
I've got my mother's old pressure canner. I haven't seen it used in almost a decade.
You're right, it IS a lost art.
How silly and ahistorical. In the West - women, wives, mothers, grandmothers have always been the keepers of the hearth
Cooking good wholesome meals can be such a point of pride and confidence. Not to mention the food is health- and family-promoting.
Home cooking definitely helps family cohesiveness.
It's a tragedy that Hamburger Helper rules the day.
Someone else said it might be that they CAN do it but really don't want to do it on a regular basis.
I've been cooking since I was little...starting with cake mixes at 8 and full meals by the time I was 11.
But I still have many nights were it's just a grilled cheese sandwich :)
I just got one a couple years ago. I've canned corn and leftover turkey broth from Thanksgiving and chicken soup when I've made too much. It's great to go into the basement and get that to use for cooking instead of the high priced stuff in the stores. And turkey broth is simply not to be found. Pressure canners are not hard to use but you need to check the integity of the one you have if you plan to use it and see if you have the instruction book for it, or get one somewhere.
I honestly think the canner is older than me (It may have been my grandmother's). It weights a ton and looks scary ;)
Most of what I do is freezing stuff. It's just me and I've got a big freezer. I've 'stove' top canned in the past (jellies mostly) and I've still got the jars in my storage building.
Why not get her a FReeper cookbook?
***Boy, you're not kidding! Whenever I make gravy for company, people are amazed at how good it comes out. It's really not that hard and it sure has that canned glop beat.***
It took me years to learn how to make a good gravy, and LOTS of it. I hate to waste that ability. When I make roast beef, I have enough rich gravy to freeze some and use it later in beef stew. With dumplings. Ummm...great cold day food.
Another problem I've run into, though, is making gravy for a roasted turky because I get the turkey breasts and they no longer include the giblets. Some really nice Freeper gave me the name of a frozen turkey product that includes giblets, but I forget what it is. Have you ever heard of it?
I started with canning some of those things cause of the freezer space (there's 5 of us)and freezer burn. Also, where we used to live, the power went out with some regularity and I thought it would be safer canned than frozen. I admit, I find the canner somewhat intimidating. It can be dangerous and I am REALLY, REALLY careful to read the instructions when I use it. So far, I haven't had any problems.
Stove Top. UGHHHH! I can taste the preservatives in it.
Your recipe for stuffing sounds delicious. Except, ahem...tons of sage. I never cared for sage even as a child. The first year I was married I read about substituting marjoram and thyme for the sage. I loved it! It has the same taste, but milder. So, when are you going to invite me to dinner?
And, off topic, but about herbs, I've been trying to find out why catnip smells exactly like oregano. Nothing on the net mentions that they might be similiar plants.
Yeah? Well I bet you don't order pizza WITHOUT cheese.
Thanks for the tips.
I was just sounding off about the sorry state of gravy making today. I shopped the "good" stores who specialize in kitchen stuff, and had no luck getting that roasting pan that could also be put on the burner to make gravy with the drippings intact. I also did the internet with no luck. There are roasting pans and frying pans and saute pans for every sort of gourmet food you can think of, but nothing for old-fashioned homemade cooking.
Then I found the right one in, of all places, Walmart.
No, I never heard of it. No one in my family likes the dark meat for dinner but I buy the whole turkey anyway. I use the darker meat for turkey salad and then boil up the carcass and use the broth for gravy in the future. You could always freeze it if you can't can it. With what the breast alone cost per pound, I figure that I'm really not losing any money this way since I get so much use out of the turkey. You do have to watch if the turkey is basted, though, cause it can really ruin the broth. The basting tends to be greasy, like it's all butter. I just use broth for my gravy, BTW, and not drippings. I haven't figured out that method because my drippings are always burnt.
***They do make great Yorkshire Pudding though.***
YUMMMMMM! Yorkshire pudding with the roast beef. Yorkshire pudding (left over from the day before) in the microwaver with butter and gravy on it for breakfast. I never make less than three times the recipe.
LOL! My mother was from Yorkshire, and I hated everything she cooked except blue pike and yellow pike. Everything else was overcooked. But her Yorkshire pudding was excellent.
There's a catalog that we get called "Lehman's Non-Electric Catalog"". It's an Amich company and they sell all kinds of old-fashioned stuff like that. Their web address is www.Lehmans.com. (LOL)
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