What's Cookin, Folks?

Greetings all!

I don't recall seeing this topic before, and it's something that interests me, both as a way to discuss a hobby of mine, as well as to gain another insight into our little community here at TrekRPG.

So, with that out of the way, here's my query: Who here likes to cook? If you like to cook, what do you like to cook (favorite dishes, favorite types of cuisine, favorite styles of cooking, etc).

For me, I tend to vary a lot, but mainly I like doing holiday-type meals (this way the two sides of my family fight over who gets me for the holidays, and who gets my spiced apple and pear ham, my sweet and sour turkey, stuffing and all the rest), though I really just do this for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Incidentally, it was during the planning of my Thanksgiving menu that I thought of this, so I guess there's a bit of reasoning, if you're curious... ;)

For myself, I'm mainly a chicken eater (though I don't know why, to be honest). I like to experiment, and try things that I haven't before, and I also like to cook for my friends. The latter mainly stems from my gaming, and my groups get-togethers, where we'll have an all-day game, and bring food to eat (sort of like a pot-luck). This isn't so much the case nowadays, as my group has shrunk rather dramatically, so now, when the mood strikes me, I'll fix something to bring for the game. For instance, this week I'm fixing roasted lemon herbed chicken and dumplings and pumpkin cheesecake, since this will probably be my groups holiday meal, as we all go home for the holidays, and final papers are starting to hit, so get-togethers (at least until the end of the semester) are going to be fairly rare.

As someone who likes cooking (and food, curse its goodness! :p), I like to watch the Food Network, and I get a lot of recipes and recipe ideas from there, in particular from Emeril Lagasse, Bobby Flay and Alton Brown. I've managed to pick up a few pointers from line cooks and other restauranters that I've worked with (while working my way through college), but those TV personalities that I've mentioned have helped teach me a lot, and I enjoy their programs (despite the ribbing that I take from friends and family for my preferred TV programming).

I guess I've kind of rambled a bit here, but I thought that it would be interesting to sort of delve into this particular aspect of life. So, please feel free to toss up a response, and, maybe, a favorite recipe...heck, who knows, maybe we'll get a TrekRPG cookbook started? :)

Anyway, thanks for tolerating my rambling...



Greg

Oh, I like to cook. And, as I've just moved into my own flat and can now stock the fridge with what I want (was renting a room in a shared house before and had a laughable amount of fridge space), I can indulge myself.

As for what I cook, my tastes vary. Generally I prefer wok cooking, but that's only because of the speed factor and the fact I didn't have access to an oven before (this may change now...). I've gotten into Creole food recently, chicken & sausage gumbo and jambalaya being my specialities. I also do a fairly good chilli and have a chicken korma recipe to die for.

My piece de resistance so far is a Carribean dish, so here goes:

Chicken breasts (appropriate for how many you need to cook for - can't be asked to faff about with quantities) - cut into strips.

One of each colour bell peppers, roughly chopped.

Garlic butter

Sweet Chilli Sauce

Grated block coconut

Lime Juice

Standard potatoes and Sweet Potatoes (again, amount as desired but mix must be 50/50)

Single Cream

Cumin powder (or grind your own)

Method: Dice the potatoes into bite-size chunks and boil until cooked. While this is going on, fry the peppers in the garlic butter until soft, then stir-fry the chicken. Once it is cooked, add two tablespoons sweet chilli sauce, one tablespoon lime juice and 1oz grated coconut (if you need to increase the amount of sauce, maintain these ratios). Simmer until the sweet chilli sauce changes colour (it's normally quite red, but goes orangey as it blends with the other ingredients). Reduce heat to keep warm. Drain the potatoes and add a knob of butter, a splash of cream as desired and a shake of salt and pepper, plus a good pinch of the cumin. Mash the potatoes. Serve the chicken and peppers over a bed of the mashed potatoes.

Trust me, your taste buds will love you for it...

Thanks, Capt. Hunter...that looks pretty good, and I love sweet potatoes, so I'll give this one a shot, I think!



Greg

Well, I ain't no fancy cook. I can make a decent shoyu chicken or chicken adobo (filipino-style).

I'm a pretty decent Cook (It's an Italian thing)

Barbaque (Start doing best Tim Allen Grunt )

Pasta & Sauce

Basic meat items and roasts

I make a mean Chili and Fajitas

Karg

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Ah, maccaroni casserole and beef jerky, both have been staples of mine in years past...particularly the jerkey, which is a favorite snack of our roleplaying group, though we use a dehydrator, as opposed to an oven.

Oh, and thanks for the colon warning, Liz, but I don't have one of those anymore, so it's safe for me! :eek:



Greg

My chilli recipie is an evolving thing, growing stronger with each iteration. At some point, I fully expect to see UNMOVIC pointing a geiger counter at my heirloom cast-iron frying pan... I posted the most recent version of it in here back around the 4th of July. Since then, I've discovered that they sell the real bacon-bits (soft & shredded) in large bags at the grocery. Next time I make it, I may add a quarter pound of those as well as the half pound of bulk hot sausage and pound and a half of ground beef. Should add a little smoke flavor to go with the fire of the chilli & curry powder, hot salsa & Rotels... So, my provisional Smoke & Fire chilli recipe is,

1.5 lbs lean ground beef
1/2 lb hot bulk sausage
1/4 lb bacon bits (Soft, shredded kind)
Half a bottle of hot Chilli powder
a little under a teaspoon of hot Curry powder
One can of Rotel brand chopped tomatoes & peppers (Hot or Mexican style)
16oz jar of salsa (With the bacon bits included, either chilpote or roasted garlic style salsa would be best)
Cajun seasoning & hot sauce to taste.

Brown the ground beef in bacon grease saved from cooking breakfast. Cook the bulk sausage in a seperate frying pan to keep its grease out of the chilli. Combine & mix all three meats in a large cast-iron frying pan or skillet. (Like what angry wives use on drunk husbands...) Add spices, Rotels, and salsa, along with water to make either a thick soup or meaty gruel. Let simmer until it looks like chilli instead of a thick soup. If you overdo the water, adding some cornmeal will help thicken it up.

I'm not responsible if the doctors find your colon three states away...

Pancakes & Pizza's.

Don't know how to do anything else. 'Corse, these remind me of my father the most.

"1/2 pound american cheese

Okay, just what the h-e-double-hockey-sticks is "American cheese?" I keep hearing the term, but have never been able to find out just what it is. Is it a variety of cheddar?

A few years back, I was a member of a cooking club which got together and did "Speculative Cooking." We'd take a culture from SF and create food for that culture - no cheating using Gummi Worms for qagh or anything like that, all food had to be the closest approximation of real ingredients.

One dish I created was for a planet where they liked brightly coloured, spicy food.

You'll need equal amounts of:

Beef, cut into finger-length strips
Snow peas
Fresh white mushrooms, whole (about 25mm in diametre)
Cherry tomatoes, whole

You will also need:
Soy sauce
Jalapeno peppers (sliced, bottled in brine)
Salt & pepper, to taste

Optional:
White onion, sliced and separated into rings
Hot sauce

In a heated wok or frying pan, brown the meat in soy sauce and add jalapenos, salt and pepper. Lower heat and allow to simmer a few minutes to let the meat absorb the flavour of the peppers, stirring constantly. Add the snow peas, mushrooms and tomatoes. Stir slowly until the skins begin to split on the tomatoes, then serve immediately. Onions may be added as a garnish. Hot sauce may be added when cooking the meat, or at the table (or both).

Quote:

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Originally posted by Owen E Oulton
"1/2 pound american cheese

Okay, just what the h-e-double-hockey-sticks is "American cheese?" I keep hearing the term, but have never been able to find out just what it is. Is it a variety of cheddar

---

American cheese is cheese that's been made with pastuerized cheese milk. It's has a more bland flavor than any other cheese, but it preserves for longer periods.

Legislation was passed in America that all cheese was to be made using Pastuerized milk, unless the cheese was to be aged for 60 days under specific conditions.

Many European cheeses are legislated requiring the cheese to be made with un-Pastuerized milk.

HTH

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Damn, that Defcon 5 chili sounds good....

You can probably use cheese slices for the American cheese (jeeze, what's next - US English? Oh, wait...)

OK, here's a Moroccan dish I served my mum at the weekend:

Moroccan-style Roast Lamb:

3-3.5lb leg of lamb

In a bowl, mix 3 tablespoons butter (or sunflower spread), 1/2 teaspoon paprika, 1/4 teaspoon cayenne (but do use more if you like 'em spicy like me!), shake of salt and black pepper, 2 minced garlic cloves). Cut diagonal slashes into the lamb and smear this butter mix all over the top of the joint. Leave aside for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Preheat an oven to Gas Mark 7/220oC then bung in the lamb. Cook for 15 minutes (the butter will burn but it adds flavour). Then reduce the heat to Gas 4/180oC and continue to cook for 1.5-2 hours, basting the meat with its own juices occasionally. Carve and serve (actually, you might not need to carve - the point of the different cooking times is to make the meat tender enough that you can pull it off the bone with a fork, which is how the Moroccans eat it).

I served with roasted new potatoes, but put some chilli flakes into the oil for roasting them to add a spicy flavour. Green string beans make a fine accompaniment.

I've just bought a food steamer this weekend, so will experiment with steamed fish tonight!

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Chicken and Sausage Gumbo!

Two chicken breasts, cut into cubes

Hot 'n' spicy sausage (Recommend chorizo but not the tough variety) - sliced

Creole spice - mix 3:1:1 paprika, cayenne and tarragon.

Plain flour, sifted

Chicken stock (at least a pint but if you use cubes like I do you can whip up some more quickly)

Onions (diced) and button mushrooms (chopped) if desired. Could also add diced bell pepper.

Sunflower or corn oil (corn oil better as it can handle higher heat without burning)

Freeze-dried parsley

Garlic puree (can buy in tubes)

Boiled rice to accompany

Toss the chicken and the sausage in about a tablespoon or so of the creole spice mix until coated. Heat some oil in a pan and fry the meat until the chicken has just gone white on the outside. Remove to a dish and keep warm.

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large saucepan or wok. When quite hot add 2 tablespoons of the plain flour and start stirring rapidly. Keep stirring until the flour has gone a brown colour (for our US friends, about the colour of a Hershey's chocolate bar). Add in the chopped vegetables and stir into the flour/oil mix. Quickly add the chicken stock, stirring all the time to avoid lumps forming. keep adding the stock until the mixture is the consistency of thick soup. Add a good squeeze (about a teaspoon of the garlic puree). Add the meat and bring the mix to a simmer. Cook until the chicken is tender, stirring occasionally. Add a good tablespoon's-worth of the parsley and stir in. Add salt and pepper to taste. If not spicy enough for you, you can always add more of the creole spice while cooking or just cayenne on its own. Serve over bowls of boiled rice.

Capt. Hunter, you are a cooking machine! I'm looking forward to trying some of these recipes soon. The lamb recipe, in particular, looks really good, though lamb is hard to get here, so I may go for a pork loin. I was also thinking about trying it on the grill, for a bit of extra, smokey flavor.

Still, good recipes, all! Thanks for sharing! :)



Greg

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Owen E Oulton
"1/2 pound american cheese

Okay, just what the h-e-double-hockey-sticks is "American cheese?" I keep hearing the term, but have never been able to find out just what it is. Is it a variety of cheddar?

---

http://www.ilovecheese.com/cheese_pr...heese=American

I've also heard that in Canada it's called Canadian Cheese.

Alex

For Gingerbread cookies. With all these main dishes around, I thought I'd contribute some desert.

1/2 cup shortening.
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour.
1/2 cup sugar.
1/2 cup molasses.
1 egg.
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar (the crucial secret ingredient--you can use cider vinegar if you must. )
1 teaspoon baking powder.
1 teaspoon ground ginger.
1/2 teaspoon baking soda.
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon.
1/2 teaspoon powered cloves.


In mixing bowl beat shortening with electric mixer on med to high speed for 30 sec. Add about 1/2 the flour, all the remaining ingredients. Beat till combined. Beat in remaining flour.

Put in fridge till tomorrow. (second most crucial thing. It must sit at least 3 hours, but as in lots of things, longer is better. Wait till the next day, if at all possible.)

Let warm slightly on counter, to let become easier to handle.

Roll dough out, cut into cookie shapes.

Place on Cookie Sheet (greased, or non stick, please)
Bake at 375 degrees F for 5 to 6 minutes until edge is slightly brown.

Remove cookie sheet from oven, and cookies from cookie sheet as soon possible. Note--Cookie sheet will be hot, and continue to cook the cookies if you leave them on it. This will give you very tough gingerbread cookies.

Cool cookies on wire rack.

While cooling, make Frosting.

Powered Sugar Frosting.

1 cup powered sugar.
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon vanilla.
milk or orange juice.
Food color if necessary.

Mix ingredients, using 1 teaspoon milk or oj to start. keep adding, while mixing, until desired consistancy is achieved.

Alex