Posted on 02/18/2009 2:24:13 PM PST by JRandomFreeper
“I hope your meal was good.”
You have no idea how much we appreciated and ate that American cooking you, or more precisely from that air base we ate at, long ago. I still remember that meal from 40 years ago. My gosh, that was really, really good food. Not trying to pump you up, but take the credit due. Thanks.
I ate better than my uncle at New Guinea who ate rats and lizards fighting the Japanese.
You are very well prepared if the shiite hits the fan
/johnny
Exactly!
Scratch cooking from the pantry. I make a basic vegetable minestrone but it never gets boring because, being a minestrone, it always changes depending on whim and what's on hand. Sometimes spinach and extra diced tomato, sometimes no spinach but more garlic in the starter and triple tomato paste, sometimes mixed bean with carmelized "string" onions. Every now and then, a tube of frozen ground turkey. Delicious. Varying the beans, alone, is a great way to keep variety. Bowties or elbows or egg noodles? Potatoes or no? On and on...
Now my breadmaking skills are still developing, but a variation from batch to batch again keeps things interesting. You mentioned a mixer...I have a fine Kitchenaid but I don't use it--I knead each batch by hand. Great way to burn through frustrations, especially in Obamaland.
As for flour, I've never tried King Arthur but I've heard great things. I use Pillsbury unbleached no-bromate. Anywhere from one-sixth to one-third graham flour for mixed grain bread, what is known in Trinidad as "hops."
Yeast from the jar rather than the packets allows me to vary batch sizes.
And on top? Sesame seeds, or dried onion and kosher salt, or even rosemary.
Bread like this is good enough to eat all by itself.
Meat jello is right. Alton Brown is a good food scientist/physicist/chemist but his manic manner makes him unwatchable
Put a wrought-iron pan filled with hottest tap water in the bottom of the oven when the preheat is started.
I thought for a moment all those beans were going in one batch of soup.
Ay carumba!
The best midnight meals I remember were during the winter of '03-'04 at Pope AFB when I backfilled for the kids headed to the desert.
The kids that I fed were working mainly nightshift maintenance on A-10s, and would come in cold, reeking slightly of hydraulic fluid, tired, and far from home.
I made it my mission to be a bright point in their day. My kitchen staff had ONE mission. Make those kid's day have something special to look forward to.
That was the most gratifying experience of my life. Ever. Those kids were my kid's age, and I was able to make a difference.
It changed my life profoundly.
I was honored to be allowed to serve.
/johnny
Ping
I’ve got sweet potatoes...think I’ll make oven fries out of ‘em.
...or gnocchi. But I'm particularly fond of potato pancakes.
Yes, that's the best "teasing" -- a tantalizing aroma from the kitchen!
Where do you live?
I smell the ability to make a LOT of $$$$ in the black marketing of American goods!
About six months ago, I noticed that she started DVRing the program, so she got over it.
Love those....for an extra kick try some spicy Mrs. Dash...I sprinkle her on everything:-)
I don’t go much for mixes. What’s in Mrs. Dash? I’ve got loads of dried cayenne and jalapeno peppers that I need to grind up.
As my old friend Bobby (one of the best grocery slingers Ingles Markets ever had) used to say: "You can eat it all, from the roota to the toota."
Just dried herps and spices....no salt....It’s really good with sauteed shrimp....I’m going to throw some in my burgers tomorrow....It’s also good in scrambled eggs...Give it a try.....
We could use standard stuff like flour, salt, sugar, shallots, wine, etc... in the kitchen, and any leftovers in the walk-in, and (after I pressed the issue) any edible vegetation around the school grounds. (I remember Euell Gibbons.
It became quite a competition to be creative with some of the stuff we were handed.
If any freeper has stuff in the fridge and wants to make a meal of it, or even post hypothetical "mystery baskets", I'm game to come up with a creative, tasty dish and recipes.
/johnny
Found the ingredient list...wild with the herbs!
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