cooking/food thread. i can't find my old one, lol!

[316zombie]

you guys really make me giggle! poor folks food is REAL comfort food to me, from any country.
BUT ,  i do make more high end stuff for my clients when they need to impress THEIR clients. mostly they like my food for themselves at home though.

[claws]

My lunch today: Bavarian Brotzeit "platter"



Clockwise:

marinated Blutwurst (Blood sausage) with onions & pickles
Smoked Bratwurst
Laugenbrezel (Lye pretzel)
Fleischsalat (Sausagesalad in creamy mayo)
Pork roast
Bavarian Blu (Blue cheese)
Obatzda (Cheese & Butter spread with leek flavor)

This covers about the basics. What's missing are radishes and a tomato or two. I did have horseradish with the pork roast but its not pictured.

[The Burgomaster]

RECIPES, please!!

When I cook, I never use recipes (unless I'm making something for the first time). For example, when I make spaghetti sauce I don't measure anything. I do it all by taste and keep adding ingredients until it tastes the way I want it.

[316zombie]

i think most home cooks do too, i know i do at home. but when i'm at work, i have to be able to provide an exact recipe for the other cooks. even more so when i was running the main catering kitchen for the company i worked for, because i had to provide print copies  for 23 cafeterias as well, and provide them to the various dieticians at daycares, nursing homes, etc..
   and for the online cookbooks i contribute to, as well as the one i'm writing, lol!
i'm happy with just a list of ingredients and a general idea of amounts, i can go from there, i've done it for years. people are always asking me to create a recipe for a dish the had at a restaurant, and as long as i know what's init, i can experiment until i get it right. i write down all the experiments too, for a future book, i think i'm going to call it" epic fail", lol!
  you should see some of my epic fail recipes from way back when i started making my own sauces, they are hilarious! i wish i had taken pictures of my tasters faces for a few of them!
   

[frank]

thanks all! and alex,before i post the chimi recipes,do you have any spice triggers with your gout issue? i've been learning to change up recipes to avoid gout triggers recently.
  frank, i would love it if you could find it, but no worries if you can't, okay?
dean, it wasn't tzaziki, no cucumbers in it. but it WAS green,a rather bright green,actually. and fairly thin,almost like a jus,rather than a sauce. and it had tan and black speckles in it, the tan was the bitter part, i think. pretty sure the black was just crushed peppercorn.
   john,do you use red or yellow or sweet onions for caramelizing?  this reminds me, i should post my homemade french onion dip recipe, it is addictive.

Still not sure about the "savory bread pudding", but it should be some sort of "strata". I think it's something everyone has a personal recipe for, but you could start from here:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/well/healthy-recipes/recipes/savory-bread-pudding-with-tomatoes-and-herbs

Personally, I would make a tomato sauce as above instead of sliced tomatos, and probably add the anchovies in there. Otherwise, it sounds delicious - I might try it myself soon.

[316zombie]

yup, that's pretty much it. and definitely a sauce instead. thank you!

[justme2013]

hiya,and congratulations mama! what is cooking bacon, please?

Thanks! and cooking bacon is just bacon scraps.


http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=72565.0

[316zombie]

ah, i see! my butcher calls it hillbilly bacon, she's originally from tennessee. i love it for making bacon bits for salads, and cook it" chunky" for casseroles and to go in beans. when i can keep the old guy from eating it all first, lol!
  i have some expat friends in various parts of "oz" , they moan constantly about not being able to get regular breakfast bacon,you know, the kind that will cook so crisp it breaks. can you get that in  the UK?

[claws]

Here is one of my own creations, combining mac 'n' cheese with classic swiss cheese fondue ingredients.

Mac 'n' Swiss Cheese Fondue



What you need:

2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup white wine
2 tbsp cherry schnapps
2 cups grated Gruyère cheese
2 cups grated Emmental cheese
1 1/2 tbsp salt
2 tbsp smoked paprika
2 tbsp coarsely ground pepper (black & white)
2 tbsp garlic powder
nutmeg
4 cups cooked (al dente) macaroni

Melt butter on medium heat, add flour and stir. Add liquids while stirring (heavy cream, wine, schnapps). Stir and add cheeses, spices and cooked macaroni. Transfer to buttered baking dish and into the pre-heated oven at 350 F for about 30 minutes.

[justme2013]

ah, i see! my butcher calls it hillbilly bacon, she's originally from tennessee. i love it for making bacon bits for salads, and cook it" chunky" for casseroles and to go in beans. when i can keep the old guy from eating it all first, lol!
  i have some expat friends in various parts of "oz" , they moan constantly about not being able to get regular breakfast bacon,you know, the kind that will cook so crisp it breaks. can you get that in  the UK?

we can get it here, they call it streaky bacon.

[316zombie]

apparently streaky bacon in oz is what you and i would call fatback. they complain that it's too chewy, lol!
   i like that recipe, and the look of the casserole, but i'm curious about the cherry schnapps?

[claws]

cherry schnapps = fruit brandy! 

[316zombie]

ah, i see. thanks! dekuyper shnapps is different, i think? i LOVE hot damm,and apple pucker!

[claws]

Tried my hand at lunch meal preps for work today, meals that are good to keep four days in the fridge. I did a variation of "buddha bowls" and it was totally easy to do.
I filled four food storage containers in layers with

curry rice
broiled bell pepper strips and red onions (mixed with olive oil, salt, pepper)
fried chickpeas (olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, smoked paprika, cayenne)
cauliflower salad (store bought, jar)
fried chicken filet sliced (bbq marinated)
crumbled feta

for dressing I used roasted garlic hummus with a little water and lemon juice added, enough so I can pour it.

Had some before work and it was pretty good.

[316zombie]

i wish i could do stuff like that for curtis's lunches, but he's on the road 4 days a week, sometimes 5. but this would be great for my BFF! could you post how you do your curried rice, please?