Cooking In General

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BTA, you seem to separate food into good food and bad food. If these trans-fats are 'food that's not good for you', are they indeed food?

I mean, you can eat vaseline too, I guess. Bricks probably are bad for your teeth. But are they bad food? Probably it depends on how fearless you are.

 

Ragusa, I think you did misunderstand that post about what I actually use. All that goes into the spray bottle is oil. (Some oils are better for you than others, true.) You gain pressure by pumping the top up and down - just air does it.

As for tasting a little "off" that happened to me with the do-it-yourself spray bottle once because I bought it, filled it, used it a few times, and then forgot it was there as I went through one of my long periods of hardly doing my own cooking at all. It had been stored on a top pantry shelf and probably got too hot. Also, that sprayer was made of heavy plastic, which may have contributed to the problem.

The one I use now is made of metal with some plastic parts in the spray tube mechanism, brand name Quick Mist and is a Williams-Sonoma product, no doubt overpriced.

As for the commercial non-stick sprays, I agree that most of them have odd things in them, though there are a few on the market here in the U.S. that only have oil and the pressurizing gas. They tend to be horribly expensive, though.

The other problem I learned about the hard way with commercial sprays is that they leave a residue on your pans that is quite hard to get off. The first set of heavy duty bread pans I ever owned eventually got too gross to use because of this. That's one of the things that made me switch to my own sprayer, even though the thin tube and spray mechanism requires some patient spraying of soapy water then plain hot water to get clean.

So, unless you just oppose things like olive oil and corn oil, and I suppose there are some reasons to do so, I think you misunderstood me.

 

I made this chili recipe from scratch by trial and error...It has a bit of a kick to it , but not so much you can't taste all the flavor of the spices. I basically, pulled every interesting spice and sauce from my spice rack and added it to the pot. Anyway, take a look and give it a shot...Enjoy!

Sir Bel's Abyssal Chili

• 1 lb Andouille Sausage (chopped)
• 2 lbs. Stewed beef (chopped)
• 1 Cup beef stock
• 2 Onions, chopped
• 1 Green pepper, cored, seeded & chopped
• 1 Can chopped green chilies
• 2 Jalapenos, seeded and chopped
• 1 Can crushed tomatoes
• ¾ Cup tomato paste
• 1 Can dark red kidney beans
• 1 Can light red kidney beans
• 2 Cloves garlic, diced
• 2 tsp Ground chili powder
• 1 tsp Oregano
• 1 tsp Cumin
• 1 tsp Turmeric
• 1 tsp Cayenne Pepper
• 1 tsp Paprika
• 2 TB Tabasco
• 1 Dash habanero sauce
• 1 tsp Sesame oil
• 1 TB Salt
• 2 TB Cocoa
• 2 Bay leaves
• 2 tsp corn meal (if needed for thickening)

Sear beef until gray. Sautee onions in beef drippings until clear, then strain onions and place in crock-pot. Place all other ingredients into crock-pot, stir, and cook on low heat for 10-12 hours (15 if you have the time ;D ) Feel free to tweak it to your taste - Cooking is all about experimentation!!

 

Sir B, the chili sounds divine, and once I read it carefully not such a daunting list of ingredients as all that! Half of them are spices.

And, sports fans, you CAN overcook a pot roast . Did one in the slow cooker and found that 10 hours left the roast falling apart tender (very good) but almost tasteless (very bad.) Should have been 8 hours, I guess. Live n' learn.

 

@Uytuun - Its kind of hard to recommend a good spagetti sauce for you because you live in a different county and have different products on the shelf. Even if you don't have a lot of time for cooking you still could add a few veggies or meat in with your canned spagetti sauce and make it taste nicer. Take a little mushroom, green pepper, onion -whatever you like and lightly fry it for a few minutes and then add sauce. It should improve the taste and nutrition a lot.

See above comments for recommendations on what oil to use for frying

 

Speaking of vaseline, BTA, an appropriate recipe: Ukranian fried potatoes

You need a flat-iron, potatoes, some vaseline and really great hunger.

Taken from the indispensable guide to Soviet cookery, whose title would best translate as 'Cuisine Totalitaire - the Cookbook of Socialism', by Wladimir and Olga Kaminer. Thinking about it, you'll probably want a bottle of wodka with it as well.

 

Just a hint, for pancakes. Use cinammon, bannanas, apples and blueberries. And instead of using all white flour, make it half whole wheat, and the other white. It will make 'em thick, but not to hearty. They're the favourite around the house.

 

Uly, I don't know the best brand, either. But when I was in grad school I had this great cookbook for newbie cooks called the Campus Survival Cookbook that had this recipe for improving bottled/canned sauce:

Improved Bottled Spaghetti Sauce

2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon oil
1 1/2 teaspoons oregano
1/2 pound chopped or ground meat (beef, sausage, whatever)
1 - pound jar or can meatless spaghetti sauce

Peel and cut up garlic cloves. In large skillet, warm oil over medium heat for a couple of minutes. Add garlic. Cook 1 minute. Add oregano. Cook another minute. Add meat. Stir around till all the pink disappears. (Now I would suggest draining off the fat but way back when we didn't.) Open and add bottled/can sauce. Bring to a bubble over high heat. Turn to low. Cover skillet (use foil to make a loose cover if you don't have a lid). Simmer 20 minutes, then serve over cooked pasta of your choice.

BTW, the first time I made this, I had no idea that a garlic clove was only part of a garlic bulb, and dutifully peeled, chopped up, and added two entire garlic bulbs. It tasted very odd indeed.

If you don't want to bother with all that, you can vastly improve the bottled sauce just by adding a couple of spices - I like the oregano and garlic combination, and you can resort to garlic powder if you don't want to cut up anything.

 

Phweeew! I wonder what your friends and family thought about you for the following 24 hrs after you ate it.

 

Well, I was a graduate student, Jim, not a chef!


Actually they just thought it was a very bad recipe and ate very little of it.

EDIT: Meanwhile, for our younger set who don't worry about calories, and our older set who quit caring, here's a recipe from the local paper I gained 5 pounds just reading:

Hot Cherry Chocolate

6 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups chocolate syrup
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons cherry syrup
1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar
4 red maraschino cherries with stems

Combine milk, 1 cup of cream, all chocolate syrup, and 1.2 cup cherry syrup in medium size saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring until mixture has bubbles around the edge of the saucepan. Do not let mixture boil. Keep warm over low heat while you use an electric mixture to beat remaining 1 cup of cream in a small, chilled bowl until foamy. Gradually add confectioners' sugar and the remaining 2 tablespoons of cherry syrup into beaten cream and continue beating until soft peaks form. Pour hot chocolate into four mugs. Spoon whipped cream over each serving of chocolate and top with cherry. Serve immediately. Makes 4 - 12 oz. servings. God himself only knows how many calories.

[ January 23, 2007, 22:53: Message edited by: revmaf ]

 

Could someone tell me the difference between marbala and marsala - other than the obvious consonant swap?

 

@revmaf: that "beverage" sounds utterly vile. Did Paula Deen have a hand in creating it? Cream *is* butter in is raw form, after all...

 

@Rallymama, it does sound like Paula Deen, doesn't it? On the other hand I like butter all too well. It shows, too. (picture of fat person here)

I haven't made the stuff, but was fascinated by how many calories and fat grams it must pack into a single mug of hot drink.

 

I tried your Abyssal chili today, Sir Bel, with a couple of modifications (to satiate the meat lover in me), and MAN... that's some SWEET chili!

Basically, I took out all the vegetables, swapped stewed beef for grounded beef, added two varieties of very, very, very spicy sausages (Diabolical, a Hungarian cayenne pepper sausage, and Calvaire, a sausage found only in my town which packs a very, very, very solid punch), swapped light red kidney beans for black turtle beans, multiplied by five the concentration of Cayenne pepper and Habanero sauce, added a ton of ground red peppers and a whole bottle of Tabasco.

It's spicy aplenty, and I love the smell it's cooking leaved around the house...

 

DoTW, that sounds like a whole new recipe!

Bought a new kitchen gadget: a two-quart Pyrex measuring cup with softish top that has different openings, or no opening, to use for storing - but best of all it is marked so you can measure by looking down into the cup rather than holding it up at eye level or bending down to look at it. Only drawback is, since it's glass, it's heavy.

I have the dreadful habit of fixing hot cereal in the microwave in the morning in a Pyrex measuring cup and then eating it right out of the measuring cup. I know, living alone just ruins all the civilized niceties.

 

That sounds great! I toned down the heat because my guests were not into "real spicy" chili...It was spicy, but tasty.

Yours sounds killer! I don't think I could find the meats or beans you used, but adding the extra hot sauces would be interesting...

The best chilis are those you create!! Nice job!!

 

My chili usually involves minced beef, two small cans of tomatoes with juice, three small cans of kidney beans, 2 small cans of corn, tomatoe extract, a few potatoes, 4 onions cut small.

Fry the minced meat till it is darkish, then add the onions, and when they are brownish, extinguish with the tomato juice. Add the content of the other cans and, if neccessary, add some more water, or beer.

I usually add some ten piri-piri - the small very hot variant, and pepper, some mexican chili powder I still have left over from my holiday there, cayenne pepper, ground bell pepper, and especially a good dose of cumin. That way it's an 'all round' spicyness, rather than that 'spiky' spiceness you would have when only using peppers.

As for guests, I once made a hellfire variant that was so overspiced my pals still talk about it with awe ten years later. Usual comment when I make chili today is 'but this time it's edible, yes?'
The mistake I made was to presume that twenty hand-length peppers are as spicy as twenty small peppers. I erred.

 

The Diabolical sausage I'm fairly certain you could find in a good grocery store, or perhaps at a sausage parlor (not sure if this is the exact term), it could prove hard to track down since this is imported, but it's definitively worth it.

Black turtle beans IMO are better than red kidney ones - but it's purely aesthetic since they pretty much taste the same. I'm fairly certain you could find some easily - that's what they look like

And yeah, that sucker is mighty spicy! If it gives me some heartburns, it's strong enough!

 

I never knew that those were call black turtle beans. They look like what we just call black beans around here. They are actually a type of kidney beans but I like the flavour better of the black beans rather than the red kidney.