Posted on 12/31/2011 9:09:18 AM PST by libertarian27
Welcome to the 4th installment of the FReeper Weekly Recipe Thread 2012.
Looking for something new to make or made something new that came out great? Please share a 'tried-and-true' recipe or three- for fellow FReepers to add to their 'go-to' Recipe Stack of Family Favorites!
Here's the place to share and explore your latest and greatest favorite recipe.
Happy New Year! I’ll be stocking up on gingerbread and brownie mix from TJ’s. I love to gussy them up.
Thank You for that link on last weeks thread to the Crash Hot Potatoes. I plan on trying them with a pot roast next week.
This is one of my favorite party recipes (great for Super Bowl) & it is so easy. Although the original recipe was ‘stovetop’ rather than crockpot, the longer these cook (minimum 6 hours, I would say), the better they get. A lot of the juice (probably fat) cooks out of the sausages and they shrink a little and become more dense .... and more delicious. Also, the bourbon needs time to cook & blend, otherwise the alcohol is a bit harsh.
Wicked Wienies - (Large Batch in Crockpot):
2 packages Little Smokies (50 per pack, total 100)
1 bottle (32 or 36 oz) catsup
1 bottle (10-16 oz.) BBQ sauce
1/2 cup bourbon
1/2 cup brown sugar
2-3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
Mix all, add sausages, put in crock pot on high for several hours, then switch to low for a couple of hours. Sausages become more dense (& delicious) the longer they cook (6-8 hours or so).
Not really FOR breakfast, so-called because of the main ingredients.
3 large eggs, hard-boiled and peeled
4 oz. swiss cheese, finely grated
4 oz. cooked ham, grated or finely chopped
6 oz. bacon, fat trimmed, cut into small pieces (see note 1)
4 oz. cream cheese, WELL softened
(optional -- see note 2) 2 TBSP canned devilled ham
ground cayenne pepper, to taste
ground black pepper, to taste
approx. 6 oz. small pretzel curlies or sticks
Quarter the eggs, place in food processor, and pulse until fairly finely chopped. Do NOT make a paste.
Cook the cut-up bacon over medium heat until done but not crispy. Drain the bacon oil (ok, ok, grease...G!) and let the bacon cool.
Cut the softened cream cheese into very small pieces. In a large bowl, combine ham, bacon, chopped eggs, grated swiss, cream cheese, cayenne, black pepper, and devilled ham if used. Mix well with your hands and form into a ball.
In food processor, pulse pretzels until broken into small bits, but do NOT turn them into pretzel dust. Roll cheese ball in broken pretzels until the ball is more or less covered. Place some of the remaining pretzel bits onto the ball by hand, to fix any gaps in the pretzel covering.
Put covered ball on a plate, cover entire plate w/plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 1 hour. Unwrap and serve with Triscuits or wheat thins.
Note 1: if your bacon is very fatty, the six oz. called for in the recipe will likely become 9 or even 12 oz. Plan accordingly.
Note 2: I recommend using the devilled ham, not for the taste but to help form a coherent ball. If you fancy devilled ham, use even more to your taste.
This ball was a pretty big hit at a party last week with several of my chef-wannabee friends. On an experimental basis, I used 1/8 tsp of cayenne and 1/4 tsp of black pepper. Your mileage may vary.
Bon appetit and Happy New Year!
Here’ the scoop on cookie making from Alton Brown’s food scientist friend, Shirley O. Corriher. Here’s the info she gives on page 131 in her Cookwise book (a must have cookbook!).
Change the flour and fat in a recipe to give the texture you wish:
Thin cookie = butter rather than margarine or shortening
Crispy = a little corn syrup for the sugar
Puffy = use shortening and cake flour to prevent spreading, also use another egg in your liquid amount
Moister = brown sugar
Color = increase baking soda
More spreading of the dough = more liquid and use all purpose flour instead of cake flour
Limit spreading = use baking powder instead of baking soda, or decrease fat and sugar by 2T
In between cookie = use equal parts butter and butter-flavored shortening
Sure, gypsy — see post #24.
I’ve had some good results with chilling the dough for an hour or two before baking.
Yes, I was talking about gingerbread cookies. A molasses-only dough drives me crazy too. Is there ANYONE whom it doesn't drive crazy...sheesh!
VERY useful short summary, bgill. Thanks!
That’s on the menu for dinner in my house tomorrow.
I had a dish that sounds similar at a baby shower and then lost track of the lady who brought it so never got the recipe. Thank you!
Before I knew how to bake anything, I made gingerbread men for my parents (oh, I was only about 30 years old!) I didn’t roll them out thin enough and my father broke a tooth. So much for gingerbread men!
That's because many of today's all purpose flours contain baking powder. Using different brands of all purpose flour will give you different baking results because of the protein amounts and other additives.
That’s some useful info. I’ve gotta get that cookbook. Thanks for the recommendation.
There’s no such thing as too much ginger!
Thanks! I’m already smashing my pretzels mentally. (Well, I plan to use a rolling pin, but you get my drift. It’d be a good trick though.) :)
I couldn’t agree more. People are waaaaaaaaaay to ginger about ginger.
:)
FYI, while CookWise has lots of recipes, she concentrates mainly on the hows and whys ingredients do what they do. Like she devotes an entire chapter to eggs, another chapter to fats, and another to flours. But she writes like she talks so it’s an interesting read.
I just put her other book, BakeWise, on my wish list!
Want to try something a little different? It is claimed Queen Elizabeth II, like her mother before her, has one of these before lunch every day.
30% gin, 70% Dubonnet with a lemon slice under the ice.
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