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Recipes Discussion Thread

d'Kong76 Sep 17 2013 01:24 PM

This is pretty anal, I acknowledge that before continuing. Generally speaking, I use a lot of recipes as a guide and don't follow them to the letter. There are certain things however, that if you like them it would be nice to duplicate them time and time again. A teaspoon of this and a teaspoon of that followed by two carrots chopped and a small onion makes me nuts. I think the proper way to list items should be 3/4 cup of chopped carrots and 1/2 cup of chopped onion or whatever. Had to get that off my chest!

Ceetar Sep 17 2013 01:30 PM Re: Recipes Discussion Thread

true, but if I tell you you need 3/4 cup of chopped yellow onion for a recipe, are you 100% sure that you should only buy one onion at the store?

d'Kong76 Sep 17 2013 01:46 PM Re: Recipes Discussion Thread

Pretty sure, anal people like me have measuring cups in their brains to make sure the appropriate sized onion is purchased!

Ceetar Sep 17 2013 01:54 PM Re: Recipes Discussion Thread

Kong76 wrote: Pretty sure, anal people like me have measuring cups in their brains to make sure the appropriate sized onion is purchased! what about GMO super-onions and smaller organic ones? oh the horror.

cooby Sep 17 2013 02:35 PM Re: Recipes Discussion Thread

I agree. I don't like onions so a small onion to me is a pearl onion, whereas to someone else it might be golf ball sized or even bigger.

Benjamin Grimm Sep 17 2013 02:47 PM Re: Recipes Discussion Thread

I don't worry about those measurements. When it says a half cup of onion or a cup of celery or a cup of chopped green pepper, I just interpret it as "some onion, some celery, and some green pepper." I probably end up using more than the suggested amount, but I don't sweat it.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Sep 17 2013 02:54 PM Re: Recipes Discussion Thread

precision matters when you're baking. My issue is that I don't always know how much of a food = volume measurements when chopped. For example I don't know right now whether I will need 1 onion or 2 to produce a cup of chopped onion.

Benjamin Grimm Sep 17 2013 03:08 PM Re: Recipes Discussion Thread

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: precision matters when you're baking. When you're baking, definitely. But if you're making a stew or a jambalaya or something like that, I don't worry so much about being precise.

Ceetar Sep 17 2013 03:22 PM Re: Recipes Discussion Thread

Benjamin Grimm wrote: John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: precision matters when you're baking. When you're baking, definitely. But if you're making a stew or a jambalaya or something like that, I don't worry so much about being precise. but when you're making something new and don't have a feel for it, it's helpful to know if something was intended to be extremely oniony for instance, although a lot of times you have to make it once regardless before you decide "more or less" but it's nice if the recipe gives you a close approximation of the middle.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Sep 17 2013 04:07 PM Re: Recipes Discussion Thread

Some things are easier with numbers of things, and some things work better with spoons and cups and quarts. I mean, I could write "1 carrot, 1/2 onion, a pinch of salt, a shmeck of tarragon, a thing of bay leaf, a veritable buttload of water, something like a phenomenon of Old Bay, and the suggestion-- only a whisper, you Philistine-- of white pepper."

batmagadanleadoff Sep 17 2013 05:03 PM Re: Recipes Discussion Thread

"Punch. It's a Punch of salt. Why would a made man use a measuring cup when he has his fists? Unless you wanna be one of those mooks in Brooklyn who still think that manigutt is haute cuisine. Do made men use that word. Haute".

d'Kong76 Sep 17 2013 06:44 PM Re: Recipes Discussion Thread

[youtube:11szf4gp]TLmhfwGOYVY[/youtube:11szf4gp]

Benjamin Grimm Sep 17 2013 07:26 PM Re: Recipes Discussion Thread

This is what I cooked today. It was a work-at-home day, so I was able to tend to it over the nearly seven hours that it was cooking. I've made this a bunch of times. I love the way the smell of the pork just keeps building and building over the course of the day. Low and Slow Boston Butt Pork BBQ ( Oven Method ) By Chef shapeweaver © on August 31, 2010 5 Reviews timer Prep Time: 15 mins Total Time: 7 hrs 15 mins Servings: 8 Ingredients 4 lbs boston butt 1 1/2 cups brown sugar 2 teaspoons sweet paprika 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon ground black pepper 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1 1/2 cups barbecue sauce, I used Sweet Baby Ray's Hickory and Brown Sugar Directions Preheat oven to 250 degrees. In a small bowl mix together all dry ingredients,( at this time, taste and see if seasonings need to be adjusted ) set aside. Line a small roasting pan with foil ( makes clean up easier ). Rub roast all over with brown sugar mixture, then place roast,onto another piece of foil, and wrap tightly.if needed use another piece of foil to make sure no liquids come out. Bake for 4 or 5 hours, then remove foil from top of roast to drain excess liquid. Turn temp up to 350 degrees. Top with BBQ Sauce and bake for another 1 1/2 hours if roast is getting too dark cover with foil and continue baking.

Fman99 Sep 17 2013 07:45 PM Re: Recipes Discussion Thread

Ooooo that sounds good. Here's my baked ziti recipe. This serves four but I often double it and use a 9x13 pan for bigger family functions. 4 oz uncooked pasta 8 oz ricotta 16 oz shredded mozzarella, divided 1/4 c Parmesan 1 1/3 c tomato sauce, divided 4-5 oz ground beef or sausage Preheat oven to 350. Season ground beef with onion and garlic powder and brown in a small frying pan, then drain fat. In a small sauce pan, cook pasta until just tender, 7-8 minutes, and drain. Mix browned beef, cooked pasta, all 8 oz of the ricotta and half (8 oz) of the mozzarella in a large mixing bowl. Spray 8x8 pan with cooking spray. Add 2/3 cup tomato sauce and shift pan to coat bottom evenly. Then add pasta/beef/ricotta/mozzarella mixture and spread evenly. Top with remaining 2/3 cup tomato sauce, then Parmesan cheese, then the remaining 8 oz mozzarella. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, covered. Simple and delicious.

Ceetar Sep 18 2013 06:27 AM Re: Recipes Discussion Thread

Lol, I made Baked Ziti (And sauce) last night. and recipe? what recipe? Used three cans of tomato puree as a base, added random spices from the cupboard. (cupboard sounds stupid, don't we all say cubbard?) Oregano, Basil, Parsley, Allspice, white pepper, black pepper, cayenne, chili pepper, salt, little bit of this..little bit of that. fresh roasted garlic (See other thread) and a couple of small balls of raw meatballs (made with 2lbs of beef, 3 eggs, breadcrumbs, garlic powder onion powder, a splash of tabasco, maybe a little cumin, a shake of cayenne..) added ~a package of shredded 5-cheese italian mix cheese, the rest of the near empty tub of pecorino romano, some liberal scoops of ricotta and the sauce. and a pound of ziti.

metsmarathon Sep 18 2013 11:35 AM Re: Recipes Discussion Thread

when i cook with veggies, i usually work in whole-veggie increments. if a recipe only calls for a little bit of something, i'll try to get a smallish one of those veggies. maybe i'll only use half if using a whole one would drastically alter the outcome of the dish, or if i have another planned use for the reserved half veggie later in the week, but typically, i just go whole-veggie.

Ceetar Sep 18 2013 12:15 PM Re: Recipes Discussion Thread

metsmarathon wrote: when i cook with veggies, i usually work in whole-veggie increments. if a recipe only calls for a little bit of something, i'll try to get a smallish one of those veggies. maybe i'll only use half if using a whole one would drastically alter the outcome of the dish, or if i have another planned use for the reserved half veggie later in the week, but typically, i just go whole-veggie. This is a good strategy. I can tell you from experience cleaning out months old rotting veggies (or fruits) from the fridge is not fun, and that's always what happens to me if I only use portions of one.

metsmarathon Sep 18 2013 01:34 PM Re: Recipes Discussion Thread

i used to do that all the time. now, i think its mostly just the celery that goes unused the longest, and occasionally some carrots, but they last forever. because how often do you ever need to use a whole damned bunch of celery!? it helps that most of my fruits and veggies get bought at a farmers market on saturdays, and then i plan my meals around what i get, and go shopping for the rest of everything on sundays. in winter, i might skip the winter farmers market as it has less produce, obviously, and just pre-plan my meals all up front. that way i only buy what i'm going to use. when i don't pre-plan my meals, i end up with stuff i never use. after throwing away one too many heads of broccoli, i changed my grocery shopping for hte better. there's a white board up on my fridge where i sketch out my meals for the week. after the farmers market, i write down all the old veggies on the white board that are still good, using red ink. then all the new veggies get listed in green ink. i try to use the leftover veggies first as much as possible, and mark down what day each veggie will get used on. the goal is then to assign each veggie in the fridge a meal in that week. on the same white board goes the shopping list - as i identify items needed for each day's planned meal, it gets added to the list. that way i know what to get when i go shopping. the list then gets transcribed into a shopping list app on my iphone. the white board is all right there, easy to see, for the whole week. i can make annotations and change things up on the fly and see how that affects the whole week and the contents of my fridge. and it's really not a whole lot of added work. and then, buy planning out the week of groceries, i have it already in my head what i plan on making for the week, so that if i feel like impulse-buying or improvising while at the store, i at least have some context for my purchases. i'm the primary shopper and primary cook. splitting those duties would muck everything up. bill parcells would be so proud of me

John Cougar Lunchbucket Sep 18 2013 01:36 PM Re: Recipes Discussion Thread

My wife would like to divorce me and marry you.

Benjamin Grimm Sep 18 2013 01:43 PM Re: Recipes Discussion Thread

She might want to marry me too then. I also do all the meal planning and preparation. My approach isn't exactly the same as marathon's, but it's similar. On Sunday I plan each mean for the week through Friday. (Saturday we usually do takeout.) I then make a shopping list based on what's planned for the week. I've found that stuff that goes into the freezer rarely comes out before it's freezer-burnt, so I rarely buy perishable food that won't be eaten during the coming week.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Sep 18 2013 01:48 PM Re: Recipes Discussion Thread

I'm certain Wifey can do better than me with lots of people. Anyway, she does the same thing you guys do, plans week's meals around farmer's market finds. We don't use the white-board method though, and our take-out day is Friday.

Ceetar Sep 18 2013 02:29 PM Re: Recipes Discussion Thread

I _say_ I want to plan out the weeks meals every week, does that count? hah.. My wife recently mentioned converting a mirror into a chalkboard and hanging it on a space in the kitchen, so perhaps it'd be good for something like that.

themetfairy Sep 18 2013 02:56 PM Re: Recipes Discussion Thread

As for baking, my theory in life is to use a Hershey's or Nestle's recipe and follow it exactly, on the theory that they have to give you foolproof recipes so you'll keep coming back to use their products. That theory has never led me astray.

Ceetar Sep 18 2013 03:13 PM Re: Recipes Discussion Thread

baking wise, I made these on Saturday, with only slight modifications, and they were amazingly delicious. [url]http://www.positivelysplendid.com/2013/02/baked-chocolate-cake-doughnuts.html

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Sep 18 2013 06:50 PM Re: Recipes Discussion Thread

We are some fancy, fancy men. I'm the primary meal planner/foodmacher, too.

RealityChuck Sep 19 2013 09:36 AM Re: Recipes Discussion Thread Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Sep 20 2013 10:53 AM

My favorite recipe is a Dutch baby pancake: 2 eggs 1/2 cup flour 1/2 cup milk 2 tbsp butter powdered sugar lemon Preheat oven to 450 (absolutely essential). Mix eggs, flour and milk until a smooth batter.. In an ovenproof non-stick pan, melt the butter. Once melted, add the batter. Bake for 20 minutes until brown: Use a spatula to lift from the pan (very hot!). Serve. Use kitchen shears to cut. Sprinkle on the powdered sugar and squeeze some lemon on it (if you prefer, you can use any sweetener).

Chad Ochoseis Sep 20 2013 06:45 AM Re: Recipes Discussion Thread

^^^^^^^^ That was great. I had no idea it was that easy. I had some leftover egg whites because I'd used six yolks to make ice cream a few days ago. I used four egg whites instead of two whole eggs and it came out fine. Less eggy, perhaps, but I'm not a big fan of the taste of egg yolks, anyway.