Cooking chit chat

[xolady]

Well I noticed we all seem to start hijacking peoples recipe threads and thought this would help to stop that. I'll start by saying it off by saying hello all cooks and wanna be's!!! LOL Yesterday I made Gumbo for the first time!!! I worked for hours and it was worth it!!! Or so I keep telling myself!!! My back is killing me from standing and chopping for hours. Nexttime I am going with a smaller size!! Anyway now I can eat it and truly appreciate the amount of work it takes. Oh yeah I will never use big okra's again they are like woody and don't break down good. Other then that minor problem all went great.

[safran]

How did you do your roux? Last week, after reading & reading, I made mine lighter than I normally do and not only did I like the taste better to took less time.

I have a food processor with just about every size of blade so chopping is easy, but you are right - big okra is stringy and tough.

[xolady]

Butter, all the fresh trinity Onion, Pepper, Celery, cooked them till trans, garlic after garlice was right then added flour some broth from the roasted chicken got it to the color I wanted and went from there. Like I said it was my first attempt. It really turned out great except for the okra I pulled out as much of the giant pieces!! I ended up splitting everything into two huge crock pots because I realized I can't lift my big soup pot when filled. But that worked great as clean up was a snap. I also kept the rice separate I hate mooshy rice.

[safran]

Yes, keeping the rice separate is vital and I am a rice snob. Too bad about the okra -that was a lot of work only to have to take out one of the key ingredients, but at least you had some of the thickening from it.

I read the roux should be the color of peanut butter, which is what I did this time, but in the past I did until it was the color of a pecan - I prefer the less browned taste.

[LifeTraveler]

You don't HAVE to put okra in gumbo, but it is really nice when you do. Go on the web. You'll find a million different recipes. I just do it the Cajun way.

[safran]

"You don't HAVE to put okra in gumbo......"


I think putting okra in gumbo is a legal requirement where I live and I can't risk a 2nd arrest.

But yeah, I did some more Googling and some do make it without okra and they weren't even Yankee recipes.

[nimuay]

I adore brown roux! And just plain browned butter. I'll make shortbread with it, and gravy, and sauces, and anything else I can shoehorn it into.

That said, I think my favorite southern recipe is barbecued shrimp in their shells. Not that I don't enjoy gumbo....

I spent 3 years cooking for a transplanted New Orleanian who ran a N.O. kitchen and jazz club up in Connecticut. All the recipes are in storage, but I remember the tastes well!!! (It was really hard to get chorizo back then, so I had to get a local butcher shop to make it for me, after I supplied a recipe :>))

[safran]

Nim, how brown do you make your roux?

I was just stunned last week when I read to the color of p'nut. Trying to make it too dark can cause a tiny hint of burn though and stopping the browning early did take away some of the worry.

I used shrimp, crab meant and hot sausage; it was super good and even though it took a monumental effort I only made a small amount. By small I mean only enough for maybe 12 large servings and I think it was gone by day 4. I made jasmine rice.

Right now I am reheating the last of a pot roast. Last night I added a big spoon of smoked paprika (thanks to a member here reminding of how often that is used in central European cooking) and a big spoon of sour cream and declared it goulash.

[MrsDeeKay]

Originally Posted by safran

Nim, how brown do you make your roux?

I was just stunned last week when I read to the color of p'nut. Trying to make it too dark can cause a tiny hint of burn though and stopping the browning early did take away some of the worry.

I am originally from south of New Orleans so a true Cajun..... My grandmother always said, " brown like a dark penny! Never stop stirring or it will burn."

[nimuay]

Depends on what I'm making as to how dark the roux gets to be.

I don't care much about recipes any more. I have this and that and another thing in the cupboard or the fridge, and they get put together. Odds are, some culture somewhere has done it or something like it, so it has a name and 50 recipes for it.

[safran]

Yeah, I have burned more than one pan of roux and for some reason I no longer like that dark roux taste, but if you add enough seafood, spices, onion, garlic, bell peppers something good comes out of it.

[xolady]

I had some small frozen cut up okra. The ones I fished out were huge home grown my neighbor grew said they weren't good for what he cooks, now I know why!!LOL We have a friendly competition going about growing stuff. My accent is pure New York/ Ft. Lauderdale and I live in rural Alabama. So this guy don't believe I've ever grown anything! Well he's mostly right I know how just don't do well in practice. He still farms on his Daddy's farm!! But I read up on all the weird organic stuff and I know sunshine! We have two tomato plants here mine is slow and still producing his died about 2 months ago!!! He swears I poisoned it!! LOL I didn't have to he killed it I'm sure by using to much crap on it. Anyway he has kept me in peppers all summer. I'm going to try a winter garden in big pots I need fresh herbs, and greens. Not a fan of store bought crap that's older then the invention of plastic bags!! I am also gonna try some strawberry plants. in a five gallon bucket. Anyway I'm to organize Thanksgiving!! Everyone here is looking at me all cross eyed and crazy!!!LOL But I like to plan ahead its a ton of work and I love big holiday dinners. Oh yeah my friends Mom who's house burned down wants me to start catering her family dinners!!! I'm like floored! I am going to have to figure out a way to make this work, I can use the money I just don't have the room to store stuff. Like I need a serious stand up sub zero! Better kitchen equipment then I have for what she's talking about! Anyway I'm sipping my last cup of coffee for the day and smoking my cig!!! Later kids

[sidewalker]

I need to plant again too.
The snails got the first of my green beans and I should have used the other container to plant a second batch.
I just reused the first one after the snails at the first set.
They are coming in but I dont have enough to just cook string beans so, I'll have to use them in something else.

Want to plant some of the purple lettuce I did one yr. I cant remember the name of it but it was sooooooo yummy! Kind of a nutty flavor. (and no it was not arugela.....I planted that last yr and got it to return again (accidentally)
I didnt use it as much as I was thinking I would.

Im kinda afraid to cook clams.
I didnt know they are alive when you buy them.
I dont want to look in the pot and seem them silently screaming!!
It would freak me out

[Ne Plach’]

Originally Posted by sidewalker

Im kinda afraid to cook clams.
I didnt know they are alive when you buy them.
I dont want to look in the pot and seem them silently screaming!!
It would freak me out

Many years ago, I was visiting people that fished on the Adriatic and they had a good catch of sea things. They cleaned it and cooked it but as we dined, a tiny crab crawled on the table! I do not think the fish was cooked well enough for the itty bitty one to survive. I played with it for awhile before I put it back in the water.

Okay, now a question....

Does anyone have a low yield waffle recipe? It is just my mom and I but we can eat only 1 waffle before full. We tried cutting recipes in half etc but not so good results. Help?

[safran]

I cheat; I use Bisquick and leave the egg out.

[xolady]

Pop a bad boy in the toaster!!!! Actually I don't have one, but cut recipes down. Side, clams live only to become ashtray's so your doing them a favor!!!!LOL

[xolady]

Okay I made spaghetti, sausage and pork, garlic bread and baby asparagas!!!! I'm trying to go simple tonight. I can use the left over sauce for a bunch of stuff.

[sidewalker]

Im hell bent on trying to make french onion soup
Got the cheese, onions (from a coworker and they ARE HUGE....WHICH if why I thought of that soup)
Need the bread.
and the beef broth. NO time to try to make my own stock so gonna have to use canned/boxed.

bbq'ed tonight and damn it came out good.
Ever see the stuff called Veri Teri Yaki?
omg. Its good for marinating chicken. added some pepper flakes and a bit of dried onion.
good stuff.
the rest was leftovers except for the green beans I semi sauted in the small pan.

I even ate two chicken thighs. lol.

[safran]

Let me know how it goes with the soup? I've tried and tried and mine usually seems flat and I have a hard time finding bread that is hearty enough.

[nimuay]

The bread's only a crouton to hold the cheese up. Plain white baguette works fine, by blending rather than emphasizing.

Safran, what kind of onions are you using? And are you using good sherry?

[safran]

I've used various types of onion including Vidalias, Hawaiian and Bemurdas.

I buy Tio Pepe sherry; I once read Eleanore Roosevelt liked it so it became my sherry of choice. Not that I spend too much time drinking sherry, but when I do it is Tios. In fact, I read an Eleanore novel a few weeks ago and meant to buy some in her honor.

I can't remember what the "tip" is right now, but I once read something that was supposed to be the secret to making onion soup fantastic.

[xolady]

My mother always put some kind of wine in hers. I am a weirdo I hate onion soup!!LOL People who hate soup eat that and I love almost all soups but that one and beer cheese soup. Just too funny because I could live on soup unless its french onion or beer cheese. I'm sure its the cheese in both I hate hot cheese cold I eat hate melted cheese even on pizza.

[safran]

I saw one recipe that called for red wine, Pioneer Women calls for white and I am used to it with sherry.

[sidewalker]

I think the one I was going to use calls for sherry too, but my son bought me a small bottle of Pino. lol.
We shall see.

I love soups too. Any kind.
I was planning on using some french bread for the topping.
More cheese the better I say. lol.

Going to have to try this either tonight or tomorrow night.
Its been too damn hot to cook much inside. (upper 90's)

If you like soups you should try that one I post xolady, for chicken noodle (asian style) omg its good.
Im not so much a chicken noodle fan as I am trying new stuff. The rice noodle was a total different thing. Plus the coconut milk (? its been a while)
If the onion soup is any good, I'll post it separate.

[nimuay]

If you're using commercial stocks, try simmering them down to half-volume. I used chicken stock in addition to beef, but boil that down, too. That way you get a rounder flavor.