CDouglas's Profile
Culinary Uses for Pickled Jalapeno
Battered and deep fried Jalapeno slices are tremendous. Dip them in queso, salsa or even Ranch dressing.
I also like them in addition to diced onions on top of a chili dog.
What to add to fish tacos?
In your particular case try diced tomatoes and radishes. Line with a few squeezes of crema made from lime zest and juice mixed with creme fraiche. Add a good hot sauce like Valentina to your taste and try using grilled fish instead of fried.
Steaming Crabs: Season the Water or the Crabs?
I use half White House apple cider vinegar and half Natty Boh as my steaming liquid. Plunge the crabs in ice water as mentioned so they won't drop claws as a defense mechanism. Add them by layer to your steamer insert and sprinkle with seasoning. I use JO #2 which adheres in a nice, thick layer on the crabs. Repeat until you fill up your pot.
Some of the seasoning is going to fall through the holes in the steamer into the liquid as it cooks. It is probably unnecessary to season the liquid directly.
Need help with meal planning to pair with Marcella Hazan Bolognese
How about Straciatella? It is a light egg-drop soup.
Chicken Roasting question
If you roast a chicken until the thighs are done the breasts would be overcooked.
Power Dinner Spot
The Prime Rib, The Caucus Room, CityZen.
Seat-side service to Lexus Presidents Club seats at Nationals Park would be hard to beat.
Best Fries in the U.S.
Shake Shack crinkle-cut, Yukon Gold fries are cooked perfectly and delicious plain.
Thrasher's in Ocean City, MD and Rehoboth, DE. Thrasher's serve boardwalk-style fries that have the most intense potato flavor of any fry that I have had. They are fried in peanut oil and customers sprinkle them with malt vinegar and salt. Absolutely addictive.
The perfect frites served alongside pastis-scented steamed mussels at The Girl and the Fig in Sonoma, CA will haunt this east-coaster's memory forever.
Potato Chip Afficionado
Cape Cod Dark Russet, Herr's Old Bay, Zapps Cajun Crawtators and for a change of pace - Munchos.
Whats the best hotdog to buy for my hotdog stand? What tastes the best?
Whether you will be grilling, boiling or steaming your dogs Kayem carries great tasting franks that will work with any method. Kayem makes the franks sold in Fenway Park and at Nationals Park. They carry both natural casing and skinless franks in either beef/pork or all beef versions.
From their site: "They have no by-products, fillers or artificial flavors and are msg and gluten free."
I have had the Old Tyme Natural Casing beef franks at home and I believe they use the Jumbo Beef dogs at Nationals Park which I have also had and enjoyed.
Website: http://www.kayem.com/products/franks/index.html
Good luck.
Purpose of vodka in vodka sauce for pasta
Tomatoes contain alcohol-soluble flavors that can only be released with the presence of alcohol.
I prefer white wine for the extra flavors it brings to the party. An added bonus is that you can drink what you don't use.
What's the best thing you personally can make with white sliced sandwich bread?
PB&J "Club"
Using three slices of Pepperidge Farm white sandwich bread:
Toast one slice. Spread chunky peanut butter on one untoasted slice and spread jelly on the other untoasted slice. Lightly butter the toasted slice and place on the jelly side. Cover with the peanut butter side and cut off the crusts. Cut into four triangles and serve.
Old Bay Seasoning vs. Chesapeake Bay Seasoning.
Herr's Old Bay Potato Chips uses the real thing and don't last after the first bag opening at our house.
perfect shrimp
http://www.oldbay.com/Recipes/Shrimp/Main-Course/The-Original-OLD-BAY-Shrimp-Boil-Shrimp-Fest.aspx
All you need to know right here. Omit the veggies and sausage unless so inclined and it will still turn out perfectly every time.
Cheers.
Is there a best cookbook for learning how to smoke meat?
Smokin' with Myron Mixon is a solid Que book. Smoke & Spice was the first BBQ book I bought and I still use it from time to time but Myron's book is the one I grab when I get back into Que season. Sound basics and techniques and some of the best rub, injection and sauce recipes you will find.
Bland crabcakes
Add a some dry sherry to your mayonnaise mixture before folding the crab into it. I also add Colman's mustard powder, Old Bay, Tabasco and lemon juice.
Sherry adds a bright depth to cream of crab soup and works great in crab cakes as well.
Casserole: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly...
King Ranch Chicken was a staple in my house through childhood and is now something I prepare for my kids. Great recipe here:
http://homesicktexan.blogspot.com/2007/10/king-of-casseroles-king-ranch-chicken.html
White pizza
I took my family to Il Porto on Saturday for the white pizza based on your rec. We love Pines of Rome and live too far away from it now to go as often as we would like.
Home run! We ate one large white pizza with extra fontina there and took another one home. Everything we had from their homemade bread to the calamari, hot crab dip and regular pizza was fantastic. We will be going back.
Thanks brother.
Cheers.
What Pepper? Red, slightly spicy and somewhat sweet
Sounds like it could be a ripe Cubanelle pepper.
Other possibilities are ripe versions of the Poblano or Peppadew.
What goes good with chili?
Growing up it was always saltine crackers and a glass of milk.
Now it is corn tortillas and beer. Roll the tortillas into tubes and dip them in your chili. Perfection.
Crab salad recipe
Good to hear. I will have to make this myself the next time we stock up on canned crab.
Super Bowl Food: I want to make PERFECT Buffalo Wings
If you opt for Alton's method I suggest extending the refrigerator-drying time to 6 hours or so. The wings become bone dry and somewhat firm but become very crispy and golden brown once you bake them. You should take them out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before baking them.
Also, when you add your Frank's to the melted butter or margarine I find that whisking them together makes a sauce that coats the wings better than just stirring.
Condiments and Eggs
Chimichurri is delicious with eggs.
I once had deviled eggs topped with a small dollop of mango chutney that were incredible. I might add those to the Super Bowl menu this weekend.
What's your fave asian shrimp recipe for dinner?
Green curry shrimp over Jasmine rice. Sweet heat balanced with a little coconut milk and fish sauce. Truly addictive.
House Of Tsang Classic Stir Fry Sauce Flavor
I just found this ingredient list for the Classic Stir Fry Sauce:
INGREDIENTS: SOY SAUCE (WATER, SOYBEANS, WHEAT, SALT, CARAMEL COLOR), SHERRY WINE, SUGAR, WATER, VINEGAR, MODIFIED CORNSTARCH, COTTONSEED OIL, SESAME SEED OIL, SALT, DRIED GARLIC, HYDROLYZED WHEAT PROTEIN, DRIED ONIONS, XANTHAN GUM, NATURAL GINGER FLAVOR, DISODIUM INOSINATE AND DISODIUM GUANYLATE, LESS THAN 1/10TH OF 1% SODIUM BENZOATE AS A PRESERVATIVE.
I think you hit it right on the head with your analysis.
Crab salad recipe
This one intrigued me so I came across this recipe after a little digging:
http://www.shawnsplate.com/2011/06/roasted-potato-crab-salada-review-of.html
You could add hard boiled eggs to the above salad if desired.
I need an idea for dinner out in Mont Cty
How about Old Angler's Inn in Potomac?
http://oldanglersinn.com/Dashboard/?page_id=79
Wick Fowler's 2-Alarm Chili Kit
To me it tastes like 100% ancho chile powder. This gives his chili a one-dimensional and muted flavor. It would be far better to have an ancho-New Mexico chile mix in addition to the extra packets in the kit.
What are YOUR predictions for 2012 food trends?
Buffalo wing - EVERYTHING. Meatballs, sliders, quiche, potato skins, pizza, tacos, lasagna, pot pie (actually that last one sounds pretty good).
The Best Chain(franchise) or fast food hamburger
Second Shake Shack and will throw in Checkers and Roy Rogers.
