Recipe swap (and other food related stuff)

[Noah O.]

Mostly, I enjoy taking basic stuff and just piling other things on top of it. Like one time I added cocoa powder, cinnamon, vanilla extract, more sugar, white chocolate curls, mini marshmallows, larger marshmallows, mini marshmallows I inserted into the bigger marshmallows, a strawberry (hulled), milk, instant coffee mix (half a packet), a chocolate pudding cup, and two disintegrated Oreos to a cup of Swiss Miss. By the end of it the hot chocolate was congealed into this kind of chocolatey-creamy globbering mass that I had to scoop out with a spoon. Still tasted pretty okay (in my opinion)

[Sunflower]

You made cheese.

Oh, sure.  It's really not hard, just messy.  Dairy product + acid (+, optionally, bacterial cheese culture, which I've never used) + salt = cheese curds + whey. 

I've made "paneer" (Indian white cheese) once or twice.  But I decided it was too much trouble, when Indian stores all over Silicon Valley sell perfectly good fresh or frozen paneer for about the same price.

Then a friend who knew I like to experiment late at night in my laboratory kitchen gave me a kit for making soft "farmer's" cheese.  It was fun, and the cheese turned out pretty tasty, especially when I added some herbs from my balcony garden. 

But I realized why cheese is expensive: it takes a lot of milk to make, at least 8-10x the volume of the resulting curds.  The rest is whey, basically a yellowish, watery, faintly buttermilk-smelling broth.  It's supposedly packed with protein (dried whey powder is a major component of sports drinks and supplements), and you can use it in smoothies or making bread.

So I had a bunch of cubes of frozen whey that were cluttering up my freezer, and I really wanted to use them up.  So I gambled, thawed them, and put the result in the soup.  Luckily, it worked.  ("Let's see what happens" is kind of my M.O. in the kitchen.  Usually it doesn't result in injury or food poisoning...)

[potatobunny]

I've made "paneer" (Indian white cheese) once or twice.  But I decided it was too much trouble, when Indian stores all over Silicon Valley sell perfectly good fresh or frozen paneer for about the same price.

Then a friend who knew I like to experiment late at night in my laboratory kitchen gave me a kit for making soft "farmer's" cheese.  It was fun, and the cheese turned out pretty tasty, especially when I added some herbs from my balcony garden. 

But I realized why cheese is expensive: it takes a lot of milk to make, at least 8-10x the volume of the resulting curds.  The rest is whey, basically a yellowish, watery, faintly buttermilk-smelling broth.  It's supposedly packed with protein (dried whey powder is a major component of sports drinks and supplements), and you can use it in smoothies or making bread.

So I had a bunch of cubes of frozen whey that were cluttering up my freezer, and I really wanted to use them up.  So I gambled, thawed them, and put the result in the soup.  Luckily, it worked.  ("Let's see what happens" is kind of my M.O. in the kitchen.  Usually it doesn't result in injury or food poisoning...)

Ah, yes, paneer. My Indian ex-housemate used to make that occasionally, and I remember she'd always put a heavy pot on top to squash it. Somehow I never think of that as cheese.

Your whey experiment reminds me of an experiment I participated in! I earned £40 for it, and free meals besides, so I remember it fondly. Basically they give you a control breakfast, then you go back in a couple hours to have a bland spiced carrot soup. After you manage to get all that soup down (huuuuuuge bowl), you go away for half an hour and when you come back you get served pasta.
 
What the experimenter was looking at was basically how the addition of protein and umami (which I suspect whey powder had a role in) would affect how full you felt after the soup (i.e., how much pasta you were able to eat). It also explained why the soup was almost impossible to finish for two of the sessions, yet quite alright for the other two.

[FrogEater]

How could I miss this thread so long ? ?

In the 'play by post' I jokingly challenged people to prepare a mayonnaise and Nimphy's answer was, to say the very least, frightening (don't beat me, dearest !)

So, for what it's worth, here comes (tadaaaa!) the true mayonnaise.

Needed : a small salad bowl or large cereal breakfast bowl, a whisk (or a fork if you don't have a whisk, but a whisk is really worth the few coins it costs), one egg, a small spoonful of mustard, olive oil (or any other good oil), a good right (if you're right handed) wrist.

Very important : all ingredients at temperature room ! and not too warm. Newbie's error : picking the egg out of the fridge at the last moment. Don't. Just don't.
Also : use a heavy bowl or find a way to stabilize it or hire your roommate to hold it, since you will need your two hands to work. And use a spherical bowl, not a large mug.

1 - break the egg, manage to put only the yolk in the bowl (you know how to do that ? I can try to explain further). White would spoil the sauce.
2 - add a knife tip of mustard (good mustard, preferably). This is a trick to make the emulsion process easier, a trick I was given by a very good cook (which I am not). Add pepper and salt, you can be generous with pepper - matter of taste.
3 - mix all this with the whisk (or fork), until it's homogeneous (that's not long).
4 - (assuming you're right handed) Whisk in the right hand, mixing. Olive oil bottle at left. Pour a *very* little quantity of oil while you mix. When homogeneous, oil again, and repeat. NEVER STOP MIXING and don't try to pour too much oil at the same time. Soon you will find yourself pouring a thin, continuous trickle of oil. Mix, mix, mix. If you do it the right way, the sauce 'prend' or  'monte' (takes ? grows ? rises ?) i.e. thickens and takes more volume than the initial ingredients, and you feel very proud of yourself. You have the right to be :-)
5 - When to stop ? when you have enough sauce (in practice, when the bowl is reasonably full). You are allowed to massage your wrist then - and only then.

Can be kept +-24h in the fridge (not more : bacterias love egg yolk !), but much better when tasted fresh.
I don't have the text of the recipe with me, this is pure memory, hence feel free to check on the Web.

Perfect match aside cold roastbeef, cold fish (see ? the rest of the cod fillet of yesterday, plus fresh parsley, a few drops of lemon juice and a glass of dry white wine) or (ooooooh my !) cold lobster or crab. Don't spread it on the food, you sinners ! just dip the piece you're about to eat in the sauce.

Further hints :
- this sauce consists almost exclusively in oil, that's why you have to choose a good oil. Olive oil is a personal preference, sunflower oil works well too (but is, imho, less tasty). The egg yolk and the mustard are here only to launch the process. This means that making more sauce does not require more eggs or mustard, only a stronger wrist (and some luck).
- about luck : you may fail at your first attempts, mainly because your kitchen is too hot. There are tricks to recover from the disaster, I don't remember them now. But Google is your friend...

[Raya]

Just made some chocolate pumpkin cookies!

Carved some pumpkins for halloween, and I always thought it was a waste to chuck out the insides. Problem is I can't make it into soups, pies etc because I really don't like pumpkin! So instead I've blended it up and made some chocolate cookies out of them. My friends are coming round for a halloween movie night later, so will give the taste results after I've inflicted them on them

[Sunflower]

I had lunch with my dad today at the Copenhagen Bakery -- a little neighborhood place that's not super-authentic.  But it *is* Danish enough to feature several traditional open-faced sandwiches or smørrebrød. 

Including one with a strange and intriguing name: Dyrlægens Natmad (the Veterinarian's Midnight Snack).

As the author of the linked article/recipe comments:

The name always struck me as odd as a child, since the sandwich contains a lot of meat and I assumed that the name implied the veterinarian was eating his former patients!

The sandwich is sinfully delicious, made from paté, rich meat aspic (called sky in Danish), and a kind of corned beef (called saltkød). Frankly, because of the meaty ingredients, I always thought it would have made more sense to refer to the sandwich as the Vegetarian’s Nightmare.


Unfortunately, this story's link to the "real" explanation of the name no longer works.  Does anyone have an alternative to the fanciful tale about King Christian IV and Tycho Brahe?

[hushpiper]

I have never had an open-faced sandwich! I don't know how I feel about the idea... I'm too much a fan of grilled/pressed/fried sandwiches. Speaking of which, guys: get yourself some good creamy havarti cheese and a pear or two--slightly underripe is actually good here imo, makes them just slightly tangy. Cut the pear into thin slices and layer it onto your bread between slices of havarti, then either butter the outsides of the bread and grill it, or dip the whole thing in an egg monte-cristo style and then grill it. If you want to get fancy you could put in some cinnamon and fresh rosemary too. Om nom nom nom!

Anyway, here's my favorite recipe, ridiculously easy chicken korma. Don't get scared off by all the ingredients, it really is easy:

Chicken--about 4 chicken breasts worth, cut into pieces
5 cloves garlic
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp each black pepper and cayenne pepper (cut back on the cayenne if you're a wimp about spice like me)
1/4 tsp each ground coriander, cumin, cardamom (if you can get the whole stuff and grind it yourself it is totally worth it btw)
1 lime's juice

Combine all the above and marinate them overnight.

1 onion, diced
1/4 cup butter
2 14.5oz cans tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, or the equivalent in fresh tomatoes
1 pint whipping cream, light cream or half and half
1 bunch chopped cilantro
rice

Saute the onion in the butter until it's translucent and all the harshness has been cooked out of it. Then add the chicken and marinade from last night and cook it for 10min or so. Take a moment to appreciate the delicious smells. Add the tomatoes, cover it and cook for about 30min. When it's done, add the cream and cilantro and serve it over rice. \o/

[Fimbulvarg]

I have never had an open-faced sandwich! I don't know how I feel about the idea... I'm too much a fan of grilled/pressed/fried sandwiches. Speaking of which, guys: get yourself some good creamy havarti cheese and a pear or two--slightly underripe is actually good here imo, makes them just slightly tangy. Cut the pear into thin slices and layer it onto your bread between slices of havarti, then either butter the outsides of the bread and grill it, or dip the whole thing in an egg monte-cristo style and then grill it. If you want to get fancy you could put in some cinnamon and fresh rosemary too. Om nom nom nom!

Anyway, here's my favorite recipe, ridiculously easy chicken korma. Don't get scared off by all the ingredients, it really is easy:

Chicken--about 4 chicken breasts worth, cut into pieces
5 cloves garlic
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp each black pepper and cayenne pepper (cut back on the cayenne if you're a wimp about spice like me)
1/4 tsp each ground coriander, cumin, cardamom (if you can get the whole stuff and grind it yourself it is totally worth it btw)
1 lime's juice

Combine all the above and marinate them overnight.

1 onion, diced
1/4 cup butter
2 14.5oz cans tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, or the equivalent in fresh tomatoes
1 pint whipping cream, light cream or half and half
1 bunch chopped cilantro
rice

Saute the onion in the butter until it's translucent and all the harshness has been cooked out of it. Then add the chicken and marinade from last night and cook it for 10min or so. Take a moment to appreciate the delicious smells. Add the tomatoes, cover it and cook for about 30min. When it's done, add the cream and cilantro and serve it over rice. \o/

This actually looks easy as far as chicken goes. I've wanted to make chicken tikka masala, tandoori and butter chicken but the process is just too much.

Look up recipes for naan though. Chicken with home baked naan is heaven (store bought works too if you can afford it).

[Sunflower]

(sorry, I've been watching too many episodes of Regular Ordinary Swedish Mealtime!!)

While recovering from dental work, I knew I'd need something non-painful to eat.  What better than Swedish Split-Pea Soup, the traditional Thursday night meal in Sweden?  (And it's SSSS-compatible, except the cloves.  The Västerströms are probably all familiar with it.)

It's not quick to make because you have to soak the split peas, but it is easy.  And tasty!
The recipe is courtesy of Kari Diehl at About.com's Scandinavian food section.


Split Pea Soup (Ärtsoppa)

1 lb. dried yellow or green peas (whole if you can get them, but split ones work just as well)
8 cups water
2 finely chopped onions (2 cups)
1 peeled whole onion studded with 2 cloves
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped (1/2 cup)
1 meaty ham bone -or- 2 to 3 ham hocks
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
Grainy brown mustard (optional)
Optional:  Chicken or other broth to thin the soup

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 135 minutes
Total Time: 150 minutes

PREPARATION

Rinse and pick through 1 lb. dried yellow or green peas. If using whole peas, soak the peas overnight in their soup water.  (This isn’t necessary if using split peas so long as you can let the soup simmer for 2 to 3 hour.  But soaking does speed up the process.)

Fill a large pot with 8 cups of water (or 6 if you like a thicker soup. You can always thin it with water as you go along if it looks too dense). Add the peas, 2 finely chopped onions, 1 peeled whole onion studded with two whole cloves, 1 large chopped carrot, and a meaty ham bone (or 2 to 3 ham hocks).

Bring to a boil, then cover pot and reduce to a simmer over low heat for 90 minutes.  Skim off any foam that rises.  If using whole peas, skim off any pea skins that have risen to the surface.

Remove 2 to 3 cups of the soup, puree in a blender or food processor, and return puree to the pot; this helps to thicken the soup.  (Or use a stick blender right *in* the soup pot, which I find easier.)

Season the soup with 1 tsp. dried thyme, 1 tsp. ground ginger, 1 tsp. salt, and 1/8 tsp. pepper.
Continue to simmer for at least 30 more minutes; another hour or more won’t hurt it.

30 minutes before serving, remove the studded onion and the meat. Chop the meat (it should amount to about 1 cup) and return to pot.  Continue cooking until the consistency suits you.  If it gets too thick, thin with water or broth.

Serve, passing around grainy brown mustard to stir into soup to taste.

Det är jättegott! (in Swedish, “Yum!”).

Serves 4-5.

If you want a more epic version of this dish (plus the pancakes and preserves that are the traditional accompaniment), Niklas and his merry band of berserkers at Regular Ordinary Swedish Meal Time offer this...

[JoB]

Maybe JoB knows a proper spicy microwave noodle brand

Sorry, I'm really fond of pasta, convenience food, and spicy, but the combination thereof turns out as "prepare pasta in a pot with boiling water, put mildly spicy ready-to-eat pesto on top (*), then level up with straight chili powders."

((*) When going spicy, that's often a certain Pesto Arrabbiata. Not at all spicy itself, but a good base to heap capsaicin on. But the Italian maker doesn't sell that line even back in Italy, so it's not a usable suggestion in this int'l forum ...)

I've pretty much given up on finding spicy sauces. They need some sort of substrate to hold the capsaicin in suspension, and that is usually vinegar, so the sauces tend to have a strong taste of either vinegar or something strong enough to cover up the vinegar (for anything labeled "Chipotle", that's the taste of "smoke"). Hence, powders.

We probably should be discussing this on the recipe thread, but what about spicy Thai/Indonesian/etc. sauces?  Those often have fatty ingredients (coconut milk, peanut butter, etc.) in which to suspend the capsaicin.  I don't know what's available worldwide, but here in Asian-influenced California, grocery stores routinely sell all kinds of bottled and canned Southeast Asian hot sauces and preparations.  (Then there's Sriracha Sauce, which I am not fond  of but apparently fuels the entire tech industry...)

The Sriracha bottles that takeaway food joints here put on the counter are the most spicy "Asian" sauces that I was able to find so far, spicier than even the Sriracha you can buy over the counter (and I did go as far as buying from an Indonesian-owned Asian-community-serving Asian food shop down in Southern France). And I put that stuff onto my meals like you'ld do with ketchup, and then break my "base level" spice shakers out of my vest pocket ...

The actual Asian style restos offer Sambal Oelek as well (which is a paste and not a sauce in my books). That one you actually can buy hotter yourself, I occasionally enjoy the waiters' faces when I ask for a second bowl after having emptied the one from the table's "refill every other day or so" menage ...

(On a more general note, the fact that I need to avoid soy sauce isn't conducive to going to Asian restos all that frequently, so ...)

[Fimbulvarg]

Sorry, I'm really fond of pasta, convenience food, and spicy, but the combination thereof turns out as "prepare pasta in a pot with boiling water, put mildly spicy ready-to-eat pesto on top (*), then level up with straight chili powders."

((*) When going spicy, that's often a certain Pesto Arrabbiata. Not at all spicy itself, but a good base to heap capsaicin on. But the Italian maker doesn't sell that line even back in Italy, so it's not a usable suggestion in this int'l forum ...)

I've pretty much given up on finding spicy sauces. They need some sort of substrate to hold the capsaicin in suspension, and that is usually vinegar, so the sauces tend to have a strong taste of either vinegar or something strong enough to cover up the vinegar (for anything labeled "Chipotle", that's the taste of "smoke"). Hence, powders.

We probably should be discussing this on the recipe thread, but what about spicy Thai/Indonesian/etc. sauces?  Those often have fatty ingredients (coconut milk, peanut butter, etc.) in which to suspend the capsaicin.  I don't know what's available worldwide, but here in Asian-influenced California, grocery stores routinely sell all kinds of bottled and canned Southeast Asian hot sauces and preparations.  (Then there's Sriracha Sauce, which I am not fond  of but apparently fuels the entire tech industry...)

The Sriracha bottles that takeaway food joints here put on the counter are the most spicy "Asian" sauces that I was able to find so far, spicier than even the Sriracha you can buy over the counter (and I did go as far as buying from an Indonesian-owned Asian-community-serving Asian food shop down in Southern France). And I put that stuff onto my meals like you'ld do with ketchup, and then break my "base level" spice shakers out of my vest pocket ...

The actual Asian style restos offer Sambal Oelek as well (which is a paste and not a sauce in my books). That one you actually can buy hotter yourself, I occasionally enjoy the waiters' faces when I ask for a second bowl after having emptied the one from the table's "refill every other day or so" menage ...

(On a more general note, the fact that I need to avoid soy sauce isn't conducive to going to Asian restos all that frequently, so ...)

You carry spice around with you in a vest?? What are you, some kind of dragon/human culinary commando? If this forum ever goes on an Ssss inspired expedition, remind me that JoB will not be in charge of supplies/cooking.

What's wrong with soy sauce though, can people be intolerant to that too?

[JoB]

(Technical caveat: You can manually create posts with several levels of quoting, but when you try to reply to those, you get the text of several levels mis attributed to the post(er) you're replying to.)

The Sriracha bottles that takeaway food joints here put on the counter are the most spicy "Asian" sauces that I was able to find so far, spicier than even the Sriracha you can buy over the counter (and I did go as far as buying from an Indonesian-owned Asian-community-serving Asian food shop down in Southern France). And I put that stuff onto my meals like you'ld do with ketchup, and then break my "base level" spice shakers out of my vest pocket ...

Can you say "coincidence"? I posted that, went to run some errands, dropped by my standard Asian food joint for lunch, and lo and behold, they have started to resell their Sriracha as well. Which means that for the first time, I get a close look at the fine print:

"Made in U.S.A. with California produce"

I guess I'm not the only one who has to look around a bit to find suitably spicy stuff. (The guys I buy the powders from grow part of the chilis themselves here in Germany, though.)

[JoB]

You carry spice around with you in a vest??

Only the base level stuff (current max 175,000 Scovilles), and in its original container with the sealing foil still in place underneath the screw-on lid. I once had a "security container" with some 800,000 SCU powder rip apart off said vest, ever since, the real McCoy stays at the office until use is actually planned.

What are you, some kind of dragon/human culinary commando? If this forum ever goes on an Ssss inspired expedition, remind me that JoB will not be in charge of supplies/cooking.

My cow-orkers make a point of leaving me the seat at our table that is the farthest from any children present ...

What's wrong with soy sauce though, can people be intolerant to that too?

Soy is comparatively high on purine, to the point of tofu (vegetarian's standard meat substitute) having more of it than actual meat. I'm less than hot about the potential side effects of long-term Allopurinol medication, so I'm dieting to keep my gout in check.

Fun fact: "Soy sprouts" are OK because they're not sprouts of soy plants (at least here in Europe, they're actually Mung bean sprouts).

[Sunflower]

As the holidays approach, I'm starting to plan and buy ingredients for my Christmas gifts, mostly edible, home-made things such as jams, preserves, cookies, spiced nuts, etc.

Would anyone be interested in recipes for such things?  They mostly rely on ingredients you can get year-round, or in wintertime (such as a preserve made from dried apricots, golden raisins, and almonds, or apple cider caramels).  And most of them don't require special equipment such as a candy thermometer.

Feel free to reply either on this thread or by PM.

[Solovei]

As the holidays approach, I'm starting to plan and buy ingredients for my Christmas gifts, mostly edible, home-made things such as jams, preserves, cookies, spiced nuts, etc.

Would anyone be interested in recipes for such things?  They mostly rely on ingredients you can get year-round, or in wintertime (such as a preserve made from dried apricots, golden raisins, and almonds, or apple cider caramels).  And most of them don't require special equipment such as a candy thermometer.

Feel free to reply either on this thread or by PM.

Cookies, YES! I've never made jam before, nor have I heard of these "spiced nuts" but all of those sound delicious! i especially enjoy mint-flavored things around the holidays, I find, so if you've got anything like that, please share!