Bon Appetit!

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BoSoxGal
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Bon Appetit!

Post by BoSoxGal »

This is a thread to share descriptions and/or photos of our own culinary creations, as well as recommendations of foodstuffs, spices, cookware, etc. that we really appreciate in our personal practice of the culinary arts. Also welcome are descriptions of wonderful meals you’ve experienced that were prepared by others, whether amateur cook or Michelin rated chef. The more scrumptious details, the better.


Starting out with a description of today’s lunch - it looked beautiful too, but I was too excited to consume it and the germ of this thread was only just sprouting in my mind as I happily munched this delicacy.

I used some wonderful sharp aged cheddar and caramelized red onion + sautéed white mushrooms (leftover from what I made to pair with a burger yesterday dinner) and put it all between two slices of rosemary garlic bread spread with salted sweet cream butter - grilled on both sides to a delectable golden hue. Fabulous!

I am doing you a favor telling you about this wonderful West Concord, MA bakery called Nashoba Brook. They have a bread by mail service I highly recommend; the bread freezes well and is some of the best I’ve ever eaten anywhere in my life - and I’m a gal who has always loved a bakery. It’s all slow rise sourdough based with a great variety of flavors- the rosemary garlic, olive and sourdough varieties are all favorites of mine.

Here’s their linky
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan

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Gob
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Re: Bon Appetit!

Post by Gob »

Since lock down here, I've been doing a load of baking. I'm getting quite good at it.
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Parmesan and thyme savoury biscuits, (Pommy version of biscuit, not your perverse use of the term. )
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Sundried tomato bread.
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Wholemeal loaf with homemade salmon pate.
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Muesli loaf, (my own invention.)
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Easter cheese loaf, weird looking but wonderful tasting.
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Chilli and herb spelt bread.
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”

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Sue U
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Re: Bon Appetit!

Post by Sue U »

OMG that's a lot of carbs.
GAH!

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BoSoxGal
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Re: Bon Appetit!

Post by BoSoxGal »

Well he does go on all those long rambles with the boys. :shrug
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan

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Gob
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Re: Bon Appetit!

Post by Gob »

Sue U wrote:
Wed Oct 28, 2020 7:01 pm
OMG that's a lot of carbs.
I love carbs me! This Sunday I have four friends coming over for Sunday dinner. I'm planning a four course meal, possibly five, I'll let you know how it goes. Interestingly, with the meal we will have matched wine, which will be my first alcohol in two months. Put on a few pounds over lock down, so needed to cut back somewhere, alcohol was the obvious one to stop. Not even two-three hours walking a day, (over three-four walks,) and an hour and a half at the gym was keeping me steady, so change had to happen.
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”

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Gob
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Re: Bon Appetit!

Post by Gob »

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Been baking again today!

Cheese and paprika scones, and an olive and spelt loaf.

"I asked the maid in dulcet tone
To order me a buttered scone;
The silly girl has been and gone
And ordered me a buttered scone"


I would offer you one, but I only made enough for me.
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”

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Sue U
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Re: Bon Appetit!

Post by Sue U »

Oh my those look beautiful, and I'm just ready for breakfast! Cheese and paprika? What kind of cheese?
GAH!

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Gob
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Re: Bon Appetit!

Post by Gob »

A bit of Jarlsberg, and white Stilton.
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”

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Guinevere
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Re: Bon Appetit!

Post by Guinevere »

If only I was eating bread....
... and let the record reflect, I would make an exception for those scones.
“I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.” ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg, paraphrasing Sarah Moore Grimké

Burning Petard
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Re: Bon Appetit!

Post by Burning Petard »

OK. Old family recipe (my wife's) for a fruit cake with no candied fruit.

Let all ingredients, including butter milk and eggs come to room temperature before mixing.

preheat oven to 300 F Grease and flour a 10 inch tube pan

One cup chopped pecans
One cup chopped fresh cranberries
One cup chopped dates (get these already chopped at the grocery store. One package makes one cup as I remember. Do it yourself is a sticky mess)
One cup buttermilk
One cup sugar
3 eggs
zest of two oranges
3/4 cup butter
3 cups all purpose flour
1 and one half tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla

In a big mixing bowl, Cream together the butter and sugar, then add eggs one at a time.
Add the soda to the butter milk and then stir into the big bowl.
Add the rest of the dry ingredients. Stir together and add in the dates, nuts, cranberries, vanilla, orange zest. Batter will be pretty stiff.

Transfer the batter to the tube pan. If you use the typical Bundt pan, you may have too much batter. Leave at least one inch unfilled pan so the cake has room to expand. Extra batter? Muffin tin perhaps. Bake for about 90 Minutes—until toothpick comes out clean.

While it is baking, take your two oranges and get as much juice out as you can. Combine 3/4 cup sugar. Heat in small sauce pan to dissolve the sugar.
(I suppose one could add some small quantity of ethanol here) I and my wife come from a long line of non-drinkers.

While the cake is still in the pan and warm from the oven, pour over it the sugar/orange juice mixture. Let it sit overnite before serving. The cake will be good in a tightly covered container on the counter top for 3-4 days, or a week in the refrigerator. Can go in the freezer, wrapped in plastic wrap, and then aluminum foil, for 3-4 months.

But I never have any left that long.

snailgate

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MajGenl.Meade
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Re: Bon Appetit!

Post by MajGenl.Meade »

The perfect fruit cake recipe was discovered many years ago by Mr and Mrs Lib.
For Christianity, by identifying truth with faith, must teach-and, properly understood, does teach-that any interference with the truth is immoral. A Christian with faith has nothing to fear from the facts

Burning Petard
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cooking sauce pan

Post by Burning Petard »

Any recommendations for a small sauce pan? Useful to heat about two cups, or less.

Many years ago we had one from 'Club Aluminum" with Teflon coating the inside. We rubbed off the teflon, but the pan still worked fine for many years. I think our daughter acquired it along the way. Now my wife was using a pyrex glass version with a teflon bottom interior, but I hate cooking with glass. or thin metal. Any suggestions?

snailgate

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BoSoxGal
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Re: Bon Appetit!

Post by BoSoxGal »

Are you far from Rehoboth Beach? There’s a Le Creuset outlet store there at Tanger Outlets Mall. If you don’t care about color you can get a 2qt. saucepan at 50% off (or more) in whatever color is on sale when you visit. Yes it’s expensive but it’s heirloom quality, one of your grandkids will be using it 25 years from now and thinking about you (have you got grandkids?).

You can also find steeply discounted Le Creuset at Marshall’s, TJ Maxx and Home Goods.

Definitely ditch your Teflon coated pans, they’re carcinogenic -especially if they’re scratched at all, and most folks are using scratched nonstick coated pans.

A couple of years ago I spent a modest end of life bonus from a wealthy client’s family on some pieces of discount Le Creuset and they have made my cooking endeavors 100% more enjoyable- I only wish I’d known about the stuff 25 years ago, I would have started a collection then. Earlier in my life I had a set of copper bottom Revere ware that began with a few pieces my mother bought me when I moved out at 17 and grew over the next decade - good quality stuff, but the pots were reactive and after a few years I got tired of the regular ritual of polishing all the bottoms with Barkeeper’s Friend every month (no I couldn’t stand to let them get ugly and stained). I left that collection to a cousin when I moved to Arizona from Maine and couldn’t afford to move all my household goods. After that it was a cheap set of IKEA pots and pans that weren’t fun to cook with, then a set of Emeril pots and pans I got on discount from Bed Bath and Beyond (floor display set, slightly dinged and dented) until I decided I didn’t want to use nonstick anymore - I never really liked cooking with them anyway. All of these other pans were prone to hot spots and cold spots and just generally not so pleasant to use. Cast iron enamel coated is definitely the very best surface for the widest range of cooking applications, IMHO.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan

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Bicycle Bill
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Re: cooking sauce pan

Post by Bicycle Bill »

Burning Petard wrote:
Sun Nov 15, 2020 6:32 pm
Any recommendations for a small sauce pan? Useful to heat about two cups, or less.

Many years ago we had one from 'Club Aluminum" with Teflon coating the inside. We rubbed off the teflon, but the pan still worked fine for many years. I think our daughter acquired it along the way. Now my wife was using a pyrex glass version with a teflon bottom interior, but I hate cooking with glass. or thin metal. Any suggestions?

snailgate
Check your local resale places — Salvation Army or Goodwill thrift stores, or whatever else might be in your area — to see if you can locate RevereWare pieces.  I see BSG also mentioned them, but I don't what she means by 'reactive'; and as far as polishing the copper-bottom exteriors, there are other ways to keep them clean and shiny without letting them get to the "Barkeeper's Friend" level.  These are the all-metal (stainless steel, I think) pans with the copper-clad bottoms — definitely old-school, and not a spot of Teflon/T-fal or any of those other 'miracle' coatings to be found on them.  You don't have to use special nylon utensils to protect the linings, since there ain't any, and if you need to use a Brillo or SOS pad for clean-up they'll take it in stride.  In my area, single pieces are about $3 to $5 each, depending on size, condition, and what sort of mood the person pricing the items was in that day, and if you're lucky you might even find the matching lids for them as well.

My mother's set lasted for at least forty years (they were disposed of when she died and her assets were liquidated, although I think my sister might have glommed onto them before the liquidators got there), and the second-hand set I purchased for myself at a yard sale over ten years ago is still going strong.  Good luck!
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BoSoxGal
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Re: Bon Appetit!

Post by BoSoxGal »

BB:
Nonreactive vs. Reactive Pans

The terms “reactive” and “nonreactive” are referring to the type of metal from which your pot or bowl is made. Aluminum, cast iron, and copper are all “reactive.” Stainless steel, ceramic, glass, and metal cookware with enamel coating are all “nonreactive.”

Foods cooked in reactive pots will often pick up a metallic flavor and sometimes turn funny colors (this usually happens with very acidic or very alkaline foods). For example, whipped egg whites can develop gray streaks and tomato sauce might start to taste tinny.

The chemical reactions that cause these things take a little while to happen, so you don’t really need to worry if you’re just doing a quick sauté or using aluminum bowls to prep ingredients. But if you’re cooking a slow-simmered sauce or preparing something with very delicate flavors, then you might want to find a nonreactive pot to use. These are also the reasons why a recipe might specifically tell you to use a nonreactive pan.
eta: Because I was raised by retired military and have a moderate case of OCD about household cleanliness, I never let my RevereWare pans get horrible; but they had to be shiny unmarred copper bottoms (i.e., like new) and I even hung them from a pot rack. Thus the frequent polishing with BF, usually weekly while I watched my Sunday morning political shows, but at very least monthly.

Any RevereWare made after 1968 is lesser quality than the pots and pans my mother had from her first marriage in the early 60s. The copper bottoms are very thin and this don’t do much of anything to conduct heat evenly, and the pans are thus prone to hot and cold spots - uneven heating that makes cooking very frustrating. Plus the aluminum ones are reactive so not good for long simmering tomato based sauces, curries, soups, etc.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan

Burning Petard
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Re: Bon Appetit!

Post by Burning Petard »

I have learned from whatever, that heavy, thick bottoms are always a plus in cooking pots. You will never get me to get rid of my cast iron dutch oven or my cast iron skillets (two sizes) but I know enuff to keep tomatoes or detergent away from them. Aluminum has alot of baggage against it. A trip to Rehobeth could easily be on my list, even tho I am a midwesterner at heart and the Ocean or its beach is not on my must list. The advise to cruise Salvation Army and Goodwill fits my soul. Non-stick? Just spend some time in a Waffle House and see what they do with polished and clean stainless steel. There is a collection of heavy SS with cast iron bottom core that my wife bought when she was thinking she would never marry that is still functional but most of it is two big. I keep thinking I ought to send some of them back (lifetime guarantee) to replace the burned off handles. The company still exists, still selling expensive sets door-to-door or at 'parties'

Grandkids? Yes 4, ages 27-18 all living with their parents. No hint of marriage by any of them.

I just cruised over to Amazon and the smallest Le Creuset was 1.75 Qt (I am hoping for smaller) and it was $189.95! Yikes In my head I hear the old country song 'My name may be Morgan, but it ain't J.P.' Is that typical list and Rehoeth would have something in an ugly color for 'only' a Benjamin?

snailgate

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BoSoxGal
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Re: Bon Appetit!

Post by BoSoxGal »

Yes the outlet routinely has 50% off sales and the other stores I mentioned often have even deeper discounts on imperfect pieces.

Yes it’s quite expensive but after I’d cooked on several pieces a client owned, I determined it was definitely worth the price especially considering I love to cook at home and it’s a nearly daily task and I (hopefully) have another couple decades to be using this cookware.

Our mutual friend AndyH is also a big Le Creuset fan; he turned me onto the outlet and other discount store sources when I expressed my appreciation for cooking on the pieces at my client’s house. I certainly could never afford retail list price; but then after working as a bookkeeper for a retail establishment, I almost never buy anything that isn’t on sale since I know how outrageous markup is.

It may not be your cup of tea, but the thread is about culinary adventures and recommendations of excellent cuisine and cookery and such, and all I can say is that the $150 I spent on my LC everyday pan (braiser) which I’ve already used a couple hundred times over the 2.5 years I’ve owned it - and done the best cooking of my life in it - was worth every penny considering it will outlast me and be used thousands more times (knock wood) before I die. All for the price of a few nights at Motel 6.

I also waited a very long time to invest in really good kitchen knives and wish I’d done so decades ago - the difference in pleasure of cooking experience with good knives versus bad is really everything. Mine are still relatively inexpensive (Victorinox) but have made my culinary efforts far more pleasurable.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan

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Gob
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Re: Bon Appetit!

Post by Gob »

I've got a couple of sets of stainless steel heavy bottomed pans, I love them (We cook on gas.)

I agree with what Bill says, if you just want a one off pan, shop at charity shops.
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”

ex-khobar Andy
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Re: Bon Appetit!

Post by ex-khobar Andy »

MajGenl.Meade wrote:
Sun Nov 15, 2020 3:50 am
The perfect fruit cake recipe was discovered many years ago by Mr and Mrs Lib.
Sorry, took me a while. :lol: :lol: :lol:

ex-khobar Andy
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Re: Bon Appetit!

Post by ex-khobar Andy »

The toxicity problem of flaky non-stick pans is overblown. Scientific American says so and while that is hardly peer reviewed research, it's good enough for me. It's probably a good idea to get rid of old non-stick pans on the grounds that they no longer work as advertised.

On the issue of whether heavy duty pans are better for cooking, no argument from me.

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