Weekly Cooking (and related issues) Thread

[heartwood]

Some frozen seafood worth getting too.

[Jamestown1630]

That’s good to know. We used to be able to get a greater variety of frozen fish than we do now. I never see frozen haddock anymore, for instance...

-JT

[WVKayaker]

Unfortunately, I got so fed up with my cast iron grill pan, I put it out for pickup. I just couldn't clean it.

Rule #1- You do not WASH a cast iron anything!

...Here are instructions from Mark at Lodge Manufacturing on how to clean one of their grill pans.

How to Clean a Cast Iron Grill Pan

It's easy! Simply use a mixture of kosher salt and water to create a paste, then use a nylon scrub brush to scrub the cookware. After cleaning, rub a light amount of vegetable or olive oil on the cookware, place it on the stove at a very low temperature for about 30 minutes. It’s then ready to be used again.

[miss marmelstein]

I know all about the salt stuff. Didn’t work. And I know about Lodge cast iron. I have a ton of the stuff. Only the grill pan was a problem.

[V K Lee]

This is also very, very good with cooked egg noodles as well. There would be many a time when, living alone, just didn’t want to cook and made this. Eating every bite :-)
butter, salt, fresh cracked black pepper and, of course, the noodles - easy peasy and you’re off

[Aliska]

Thanks for the link. That is an adorable little gadget. It's the one I saw a vid of a lady cooking a chicken cordon bleu sandwich on, sounded so good except leave out the dijon. It was thin sliced deli ham, chicken breast fried separately breaded with panko, thin sliced swiss cheese, on some bread you usually wouldn't grill like that, flat square pieces. Some of that Italian artisan stuff I can't think of, maybe it is ciabatta.

I doubt if I would grill my burgers like that. The thing to do is try the grill pan I have and don't like and rig up a press for it.

Wow, I went to yt and it there it was staring me in the face, watch again. But it doesn't want to play this time. It will another day.

Youtube - Chicken Cordon Bleu Panini Recipe 15 spatulas, what's with that?

Verrrry tempting I must say. Got the vid to play. It looks so good. Haven't eaten yet.

I love that mustard, just not on certain things. I even put it on my burgers for a change. If I'm not sure I will like it on the whole thing, I put a little at a time when I'm eating it. Sometimes I do anyway because I like a lot of it.

[Aliska]

I like mine late, too, because it makes me sleepy. This you put in some cayenne, so I put it in. Not enough, will do just a little more next time. I'm hooked on that for heat anyway.

I thought Mexican hot chocolate has cinnamon in it. You are talking hot sauce. I just bought some hot taco sauce for when I make those. I don't think so in my cocoa lol.

[Ellendra]

I've only used mine for potatoes once, because I didn't feel that the difference it made in the texture was worth the work. But the ricer is an excellent tool for recipes that require squeezing all the liquid out of steamed spinach. It's worth having one for just that purpose.

I bought a ricer just for herbs. I use it to squeeze the last drop of tincture or infusion from herbal preparations.

I've seen special herb presses for that purpose for $200 or more. I got my ricer for $1 at goodwill.

[Aliska]

I've got my mom's, only used it once or twice to rice boiled potatoes, then put gravy on them. I liked mashed with fork or regular mashed better.

But on Everyday Food, there is a latke recipe I want to try. After hand grating 2-1/2 pounds potatoes and onion and putting in other stuff, she squeezes as much liquid out as she can with a dish towel. Then adds salt and makes more liquid which she scoots off as she's dropping them into hot fat with an ice cream scoop. I'm going to try my ricer for the liquid instead of dirtying a towel.

There must be other things I can do with it. I also have a Foley food mill, if I made as much soup as I used to, I'd be using it more. Use it for cranberry sauce.

[goosie]

I am too lazy at 2:00 in the morning so I uae Swiss Miss and a shot of sriacha sauce. It is really good and done in two minutes.

I think the true Mexican way is to boil chiles in the chocolate and then strain it.

[pops88]

Speaking of chocolate and chili, Jeff Smith had a great recipe for brownies. It was a box of brownie mix with a small can of jalapenos dumped in. Don’t remember exact instructions, but that was basically it. They were fantastic. As for ricers, I was given a spaetzle maker as a gift which is essentially a ricer. I love it. Spaetzle is an easy recipe and I think so much better than dumplings, and can also be eaten alone with butter and desired spices. Of course after discovering it was basically a ricer, I’ve used it for other things, although I prefer to use a hand potato masher so my potatoes have chunks and don’t get gummy.

[Library Lady]

LOL!! When my husband was a teenager, he and a friend came home hungry one day and could not find anything cooked in the refrigerator, so he cooked a pot of spaghetti and served it with butter. His friend talked about it for 40 years as the worst meal he ever had. A little while ago a really good Italian restaurant opened in his neighborhood, and he had to share the story with the owner. She looked at him like he was from Mars, and said. “What? You don’t like butter?”

[samiam1972]

I have a quick version of tomato soup that I make for myself. One small can of tomato sauce, one cup of chicken broth, quarter cup of heavy whipping cream, salt, cayenne pepper and sweetener of choice. Fresh basil if I have it and a dash of parmesan cheese or nutritional yeast if I have it. It fills a big mug and I sip the whole thing myself.

Great served with grilled cheese made with cheddar and swiss or provolone cheese. Butter the griddle and put the bread on top. I’m usually making 8 sandwiches at once so this is the easiest way for me to make them. I don’t have time to butter each piece of bread! And for the record, I’m making this for lunch today now!

[Aliska]

I remember Swiss Miss; we never used it much, but that could have been our loss. I always used Nestles Quik.

That sounds about right to boil the chiles in the mixture and strain, then drink. If you're game ;-). I think chiles are good for you; I only like jalapeno or milder ones, and I can't touch the seeds, have to wear gloves to prepare them. I must be super-sensitive to capsicum or whatever it is.

After I got tired of the high volume Nestles Quik mix I'd make up for the winter, it did taste good, but always some went to waste. The next method I used for a rich chocolate was to mix my Hershey's cocoa and sugar to taste in a little water, bring to a simmer, then I'd add a can of evaporated milk. Then I'd go for the rest with - was using 2% at the time - have gone back to whole.

I never measured but knew it was good when I had the color right. Or could taste a little. Then any left over could be reheated (or drunk cold). But Hershey's left a lot of residue.

This new dutch-process cocoa I'm using does not totally dissolve in hot milk, but it suspends very well and only leaves a little residue IF you are careful to stir all the lumps out and not let them hide from you on the bottom. And I like the taste because it's different.

You must nuke your milk. I do mine on the stove but the burner I use for that seems to take longer; maybe it is going bad.

I just found out you can use American cocoa in any recipe calling for it, but you shouldn't use dutch-processed in recipes that call for baking soda. Baking powder is ok.

I do not like cocoa in baking or frosting, fudge sauce, anything, prefer the squares or chips. But I think I might like this dutch process in recipes. There is a "magic" cake that separates into layers as it bakes and is all the rage now. I want to try to chocolate one and can use my dutch-process cocoa in it.

My milk is getting low. It's harder for me to get out, used to go to the store every day for something when the kids were home. And I hate to have to go all the way to the back of the store just for milk (having a little trouble with my walking and too proud to use a cane, the shopping cart helps).

But I don't like buying at convenience places as I have gotten milk that is spoiled or spoils more quickly. They don't handle it as well as the higher-volume supermarkets. There are always exceptions.

[Jamestown1630]

That’s a low-carb tomato soup, if your sauce doesn’t contain sugar. Thanks!

-JT

[Jamestown1630]

Using the potato ricer for latkes is something I hadn’t even thought of, it’s been so long that I made them. Excellent idea!

-JT

[mschalock]

I printed out your tomato soup recipe to try next summer when we have tons of tomatoes. I was wondering if anyone on the forum has used one of those hand blenders that you stick into your cooking pot to blend up your ingredients. I usually try to get my hot soup into my regular blender very carefully and then back into the pot. Is the hand blender worth it?

[Jamestown1630]

I don’t think the immersion blender would work very well for this particular tomato soup, unless you don’t mind it being full of the crushed fiber - and it might be fine that way, if you like it. But it’s meant to be a more ‘clear’ soup.

I make a number of pureed soups, and the one immersion/stick blender that I’ve used didn’t work as well as the regular old Osterizer blender - my immersion blender is one of the very earliest models, and I’ve never replaced it with a better one. There are better ones out there that might work well on pureed soups. Cooks Illustrated appears to rate the Kitchen Aid model highly, and I think it comes apart for easy dishwasher cleaning.

-JT

[mschalock]

Thanks for the info on the immersion blender. I will watch for a sale at Costco and try one some day.

Since everyone has already covered tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, I’ll go for my husband’s number 2 favorite school lunch: chili and cinnamon rolls. The kid chili was pretty tame, but now we spice it up a lot. As for cinnamon rolls, it is hard to improve on them!

Ida Cravens Cinnamon Rolls (very large batch!)

Dissolve 2 ounces yeast and 2 tablespoons of sugar in 1/2 cup of lukewarm water.

Add 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water.

Scald 2 cups of milk.

Add 5 ounces of shortening, 5 ounces sugar and 1 ounce salt. Stir until dissolved. Cool.

Beat 2 eggs and add to milk mixture.

Add milk mixture to yeast mixture and gradually stir in 3 1/4 pounds flour.

Knead on floured board until the dough is smooth.

Put dough into greased bowl.

Place in warm spot for 1 hour.

Punch dough down. Let stand another 45 minutes.

Roll out in rectangle on floured board.

Butter the dough with 1/4 cup butter (or you can use margarine or oil if desired).

Sprinkle with 1 cup of brown sugar and 2 tablespoons of cinnamon (raisins or nuts are optional).

Roll up.

Slice in one inch pieces (If a large cinnamon roll is desired, flatten slice with palm of hand).

Place slices in buttered pans or cookie sheets (13x15 inches).

Let stand in warm place for 45 minutes.

Bake 25 minutes in 350 degree oven.

Remove from oven and invert pan immediately. Add some frosting if desired, and I do desire!

Yield: 50 servings.

Read more here: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/special-reports/article31796877.html#storylink=cpy

[samiam1972]

I use Stevia blends instead of sugars. I’m trying really hard to give up sugar but my goodness, it is in EVERYTHING!!! Not that chicken bouillon cubes are nutritious or anything but even they contain sugar. So do my Vitamin C tabs. It’s infuriating! Also, I have an older daughter that makes killer muffins. Oh, for an ounce of will power!