blackpointyboots's Profile
Fourteen ounces is the new pound
It is everywhere. Ice cream is the worst. All of the major brands have shrunk packaging or added air. Now the price is skyrocketing on top of the shrinkage. Guess I need to make ice cream if I really want it.
The best ways I have found to avoid the shrink ray is to buy out of bulk dispensing. IE: open bins of produce, meat out of the meat counter etc. Or buying larger bags of things like beans. I buy more of the dry kinds of things out of the bins at the local food coop since I know what I am getting vs. the price and the quality is usually better. Making things from scratch seems to help too since much of the shrink ray is in processed products.
Sharing Ideas for Gluten-free Eating
I am a similar situation, wheat allergy rather than celiac. Spelt flour is a great stand in but apparently it is not gluten free. I use it in pastries, cookies, cakes etc. This spelt french bread turns out quite good. An egg wash makes it nice and crusty. http://cottagemagpie.com/cooking-baking/spelt-bread/
I eat much more ethnic food than I used to. More Asian, Mexican, Japanese, Mediterranean etc.
Rice pasta is good, there are lots of types of rice noodles in Asian foods. I found a tamari gluten free soy sauce San-J brand. I use rice stick noodles to make home made ramen. Rice flour makes great cookies, they end up crispy. Rice flour shortbread I think is better than spelt or wheat. For breading things I use ground in the blender rice crackers. For meatloaf and meatball type things oats work well. IIRC there are some oats labeled as GF?
Corn starch can work as a stand in to thicken many things. I have found lots of pudding recipes online that use cornstarch rather than a flour thickener. It works well if you need to dust meat before frying. I have used potato starch, oat flour or corn starch to thicken soups.
If you can find Schar baked goods they are all GF and better than any of the others I have tried including Udi's. They are shelf stable so they are not in a freezer section. They have a chibatta (sp?) roll that is good and stands up to sandwiches better than other GF bread. They make cookies and have a regular roll that could be used for burgers.
Applegate farms makes breaded chicken breast strips that are GF and very good. I have yet to find a GF frozen pizza that didn't taste horrible. I usually make spelt pizza crust and make pizza at home when I need a fix. I did manage to freeze pizzas on a piece of cardboard covered in foil then wrapped so I had frozen pizzas. It should work if you can find a decent GF pizza crust recipe.
I find that rice, lentils and potatoes help stand in for the need for carbs. I have made taboulli out of brown lentils that is very good.
Slow cooked pork shoulder not so tender
Smoker, oven or slow cooker I usually do 8 hours plus and do vinegar or beer mops if it is getting too dry in the smoker.
Turkey Burger seasonings and moisteners
I use finely minced onion or mushroom to help add moisture. A turkey burger mix we make (also works with lamb) fine minced onion, crushed garlic, oregano, feta cheese. We serve them without buns but any sort of bread that would compliment Greek food would work for a bun
Shredding Cabbage This Fine
How do you get cabbage this fine? I am assuming it is napa cabbage. I can't get that with a knife and I don't think my mandolin will do that fine. Hoping someone knows the trick.
Here is a picture of it
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fg20120518rs.html
What is in grocery store meats
Our main grocery chain (Hyvee) went to prepackaged c02 pack meats in the meat case a few years ago. The week they switched I asked one of the butchers what he thought of it. He quietly told me he wouldn't eat it. Since then meat at our stores have just gotten worse. Most of it is gelatinous and slimy both the beef and the pork like it has been treated with something to break it down. Much of it comes from Hormel The rest has store brand labels.
Anyone have a clue what they are doing to all the meat to make it into meat jello? There is nothing on the labels about additives.
Our other big store option is Sam's club, the big cryovac packs always have this thick liquid that doesn't quite seem to be meat juice because it is rather thick and syrupy. Anyone know what that is?
We have seriously cut back in how much grocery store meat we buy because I look at it and it is just unappealing. I have bought more from local farmers and a small meat locker when I can. I am just at a loss for how bad grocery store meat has become.
Ground Beef at Supermarkets Contains ‘Pink Slime’
This article has a good factual write up about what it is. Sadly many people are falling for the beef industry's recent PR blitz that has some outright lies in it about pink slime http://www.thelunchtray.com/has-lftb-really-been-in-our-beef-for-twenty-years-and-without-incident/
Ground Beef at Supermarkets Contains ‘Pink Slime’
Be careful where you get your information. The beef industry is in damage control mode telling people that this garbage is good for you. Pink Slime has not been around for 40 years. It wasn't invented until 2001. Doping meat with ammonia is not "the norm" or safe. The panic, is far from silly. People are freaking out a bit because they finally realized what is in their food and feel betrayed because not a thing about this goo is in the labeling.
February 2012 Cookbook of the Month Companion Thread: Japanese Month
No wheat Asian noodles? I can't eat wheat so I am always looking for alternative noodles to try. Rice noodles have been a good option. I have yet to find a buckwheat soba that doesn't have some wheat in it. I am not very familiar with other noodle varieties but know there are lots out there. Are there any non-wheat Asian noodles that are somewhat easy to make or that I might look for at Asian stores? We have two small Asian groceries I need to check out. The ones I was used to closed down so what kind of stock these new ones have remains to be seen.
February 2012 Cookbook of the Month Companion Thread: Japanese Month
The hot pot recipes posted inspired me to try a Sukiyaki recipe last night. I grabbed what I remembered while at the grocery rushing home ahead of the snow storm. I used this recipe with some modifications. http://japanesefood.about.com/od/beef/r/beefsukiyaki.htm
I used my cast iron dutch oven since it is what I had on hand. I used button mushrooms instead of the enoki and shiitake due to limited items at the grocery and first time trying the recipe out on the family. Swapped leek for green onion, used rice stick noodles and omitted the chrysanthemum greens and tofu. Added sliced yellow onion and a small batch of thin sliced carrots. It got rave reviews and worked as a good introduction to hot pot type dishes without anyone whining about strange ingredients. Next time I will probably hunt down the proper mushrooms. I doubt I will find chrysanthemum greens in South Dakota, are there suggestions of other greens that might make an acceptable substitute? One other substitution I ended up making but was reluctant about was sushi vinegar for the mirin. The grocery didn't have mirin at all and I had some very sweet sushi vinegar on hand. I think it changed the dish a bit but wasn't bad or off balance.
Recipe using bottle of sweet chili sauce
So is this Asian sweet chili sauce like sriracha or the Heinz chili sauce in a bottle? Sriracha I use in deviled eggs or buffalo wings. The buffalo wing recipe IIRC was 1/2 cup butter, 1/4 cup (or more) sriracha and 1 tbsp seasoned rice wine vinegar.
If you looking to use up the Heinz variety, adding horseradish for cocktail sauce is about the only use I have found.
oatmeal in a rice cooker?
I have a cheap 10 cup rice cooker from Target. I don't think it has fuzzy logic and only has a "cook" setting. I do rolled oats in ours all the time. I get organic long cooking rolled oats from our food coop. I use the proportions on a long cooking rolled oats container. Suggestions I saw online were to rub butter on the bottom of the pan before adding ingredients. I tried that once it does seem to help with browning to the bottom. I usually add oats in the labeled water/oats proportion then add a chopped apple and 1-2 tbsp of brown sugar and a bit of nutmeg. Leftovers go into the fridge for later days. I will get a small amount of oats in the vent but the vent pops out and cleans easily on mine.
Which salt do you use at the table?
I leave out regular iodized but nobody uses it. I personally can't stand the taste, too much bite to it. I bought a jar of "RealSalt" after the doc told me to use it to get some additional minerals in my diet. Now everyone uses that. I use kosher or sea salt in certain recipes that need it.
Dream kitchen - cookware, gadgets, knives?
as in the baking dishes etc. vs. pans and pots. :-)
Worst kitchen screwup.
I threw a pork roast into the oven. Thinking something along the lines of bourbon sauce and typically cooking a roast with beer or some wine. I put about 1/2 a cup of Jack Daniels along with some brown sugar and some other thing in the pan and put it in the oven. A few minutes later I heard a big woosh and the oven door rattled as it ignited. I don't know what I was thinking, or not thinking but putting whiskey into the oven was not a good idea.
What's your favorite Spring time Dish?
New potatoes and spring peas in cream sauce. That was always the first spring dish at home when I was a kid. Morels don't show up until late May around here so I don't quite consider them spring food. I have lost track of the mushroom hunting ground we used to use but would love to take my daughter mushroom hunting this spring.
Dream kitchen - cookware, gadgets, knives?
Open hearth fireplace w/ rotisserie & pot hook and an adjacent brick bread/pizza oven.
A full set of high quality cookware and LeCruset.
One of each type of knife, good quality.
Industrial blender
Commercial espresso machine
Good quality food processor
Kitchenaid mixer w/ all the attachments
Multiple touch screen wall mounted computers w/ tv tuners in them for TV, recipe database access and internet etc.
an area with couches and comfy chairs.
side by side freezer & fridge units.
a beer and soda dispenser for home brews.
an outside section with a gas/charcoal grill, smoker and wok burner.
An attached large conservatory to grow hothouse veggies and herbs.
Reverse osmosis water system
double dishwashers
walk in pantry - a beer/wine cellar for fermenting & aging. Somewhere to cure meats and do cheese would be a bonus.
A salimander, 4+ burner induction top, 6 gas burners, 2 convection ovens
a good dehydrator system that doesn't crap out after a years use.
a good array of uni-taskers: rice steamer, yogurt maker, etc.
some sort of anti-fatigue flooring
lots of storage and counter space with one marble section for pastry
the energy to be on my feet for hours at a time to make use of all of this.
Oh and a series of ice cream makers.
DIY Wedding ideas?
We did the food for our wedding with the help of a couple of friends. We made cheesecakes and froze them, thawed starting the night before. IIRC we did a greens salad that just had to be assembled on site. We also did venison with morel mushrooms and a red wine gravy sort of sauce. It was prepped and put in large heavy foil pans then cooked on a campfire. We had other dishes but I can't remember what they were right now. We did a spiced lemonade, about half the people commented that it "tasted funny" so that one was probably too adventurous for a wedding.
Aversion to fish--but would like to try salmon. Any good recipes that don't involve grains?
Getting a good quality salmon is a night and day difference in taste. Cheap farm raised salmon has a really fishy flavor. Probably the best I have had was a Norwegian wild that was flown in fresh. I put salt & pepper on it and grilled it. That was all it needed and was wonderful. It tastes like salmon without that extremely fishy taste.
Ranch Dressing, what is up with that?
I think commercial or bottled ranch dressings are disgusting. They are way too sour and seem more like a vehicle for fat and sugar than anything I would enjoy to eat. Some of the food service ones seem a little less awful than the bottled grocery store variety but are still nothing I would want to eat.
The first time I encountered ranch served at a restaurant was at Carl's Jr. in CA, they serve ranch dressing dip with fried zucchini. I now live in the Midwest and they seem to serve it with everything but as a mostly low brow lower class thing. It is today's "smother everything in ketchup".
Actual ranch dressing made from scratch or with the seasoning packet isn't horrible and it tastes totally different that the swill in a bottle. I can deal with the from scratch type but it still isn't my go-to dressing.
How crucial is enamel cast iron vs. plain? Anyone just use plain for almost everything?
Never thought to use my cast iron pan to do veggies. Will have to try that since I don't have a wok.
I don't own any enamel cast iron and do various slow braise dishes with tomatoes and red wine and have not had issues.
Do you keep an ongoing grocery list?
I have been using Smart Grocery for Droid and so far I like it. It has categories for different stores, also departments within a grocery store (ie: baking supplies, dairy, etc). It also stores things you previously put in so it pulls them up as you type. You can also recycle a list by just unchecking items you need again so they show up on the "shop" portion of the list. You can also have multiple lists. So I keep one that is "weekly grocery" with the big list and other smaller lists for short trips to town or specialized shopping at another store or for non food things. The only downside is others in the house never tell me we need something when my phone is around so I forget. I may still need to keep a pad stuck to the fridge for the things they find we need.
Favorite Gourmet Meal... for a dollar or less?
Lentil soup with a ham bone thrown in, some fine chopped onion, celery and carrots and a bit of cajun seasoning. The ham bone is free left over from another meal, always have the veggies on hand and the amount needed is small so only a few cents there. A bag of lentils is still less than a buck at Target and the batch of soup feeds our house for days. So less than a buck per person for dinner.
Or, home grown lettuce for salad, tomatoes laced with olive oil & balsamic, and some free venison steaks on the grill. We had a friend give us a yearling this year and usually get at least some venison in trade every winter. We butchered the yearling ourselves in the garage. It was a learning experience but really was not that hard. We had a friend advise us on properly aging the meat and the most efficient dismantling procedure. Hmm. I need to go dig a venison roast out of the freezer now..
Goose on a spit- advice?
You could do it in a cast iron dutch oven dug into the coals of the fire. I have done duck & pheasant (combined) this way and it turned out good. The cast iron radiated the heat in a way that caramelized everything wonderfully. The one I did we had a duck and 2 pheasants and the duck fat made up for what the pheasants didn't have. You should be able to do a solo goose this way. We had onions and a bit of bacon in the dutch oven. The bacon added a nice smokey flavor and the onions cooked in all that fat.
The big pain with doing a goose over a fire on a spit is all that fat causing flare ups. If you get a flat lid dutch oven with the lip around the lid you can pile coals on the lid.
Where to steep liqueur?
I have seen most blogs and recipes recently directing you to leave the jar or bottle of alcohol and the steeping ingredients in a cool cupboard while it steeps. Most of my older recipes and various herbal non-food recipes tell you to put the jar in a window sill so it gets the sun and heat.
Does anyone know the logic behind either method? I just started a batch of blood orange liqueur and didn't know if the window sill would do bad things to it.
KitchenAid MIxer - Do I really need one?
I scored one at a thrift store for $50. I use it about 5 days a week and recently did a food event for 24 people. I used it constantly for food prep things, pie crusts, bread dough and made all the sausages by grinding the pork and stuffing casings. I also use it day to day for things like pancake batter, whipping egg whites, making egg bases, mashed potatoes etc. I recently made cream puffs and found a recipe that used the mixer to do the choux dough blending.
I really like it and it is not just a counter ornament. It saves considerable time because it is doing the physical labor while I am cleaning, putting things away or prepping something else.
infused vodka ideas?
I did a clear rum watermelon infusion by letting it steep in the fridge, then ran it through a coffee filter before bottling. I kept the bottle in the fridge before we took it to the party so I don't know if it would have any sort of proper shelf life.
Homemade Baileys
You could try but the sweetened condensed milk is pretty key to getting the consistency. I would think vanilla soy or maybe better yet, almond milk might be ok but I don't know what would replace the sweetened condensed milk.
Homemade Baileys
This is the recipe I have used for years. I use espresso powder, skip the almond extract, use home made vanilla extract and home made chocolate syrup (ghirardelli). I think these changes make a significant improvement in the quality. I have been using Tullamore Dew with good results. The home made chocolate syrup also avoids the HFCS.
The second bottle I made last week I used cream from the local dairy that is really good but has the milk fat gobs in it. The taste was better but had to try to either blend in or fish out the milk fat.
Home made Kaluah
Use a vodka that is decent enough to not have that bad "gasoline" aftertaste to it. Use decent fresh ground coffee. Don't use old/bad/cheap coffee, it will come through in the finished product. The Kaluha recipe I have calls for steeping the grounds, then mixing the resulting liquid with sugar syrup.
