Cookin again

[Vael]

Oh, this thread may be my undoing.

I'm more a baker than a cook, and I know most are trying to be good post holidays, but I thought I'd briefly go into some holiday successes and failures.

First, I've been doing homemade marshmallows for awhile now, and it's a solid recipe. I use Alton Brown's and make some pretty good marshmallows. I've tried mint flavouring, they turn out well.

What disappointed this year was my French Macarons. I normally make a batch for gift giving and previous years have turned out okay. But this year ... I'm pretty sure I underbaked the shells, as they stuck to the parchment paper and just developed a large bubble between the top crust and the bottom of the cookie. Or perhaps it was under-beaten? I dunno, I hadn't had such a lackluster batch before, and I do most of the "tricks" that are mentionned: let the shells rest after piping before baking, give them a solid bump to knock out large air bubbles ... so I'm not entirely sure what went wrong.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Homemade marshmallows? Much respect!

I‘m a cook, I can’t bake for doodly-squat. I have 2 baked dessert recipes to my repertoire beyond cake from a box.

...because, as the saying goes, BAKING is science, COOKING is an art.

 

[Beleriphon]

In creole cooking, we call that a roux. I sometimes use butter, lard or bacon grease for certain dishes, but most o the time, I use some kind of plant based oil.

In gumbos, I like to get my roux between a light tan to a milk chocolatey brown- the lighter it is, the more it can thicken. The darker it is, the more flavor it brings.

Definitely a roux, and I certainly know what it is but the base of the sauce is functionally a bechamel (there's no nutmeg to make a real bechamel) I don't necessarily get the texture and colour of the butter/flower mix the same as other folks so I just describe how I like to make it. The roux is for sure to make it thick, the flavour is coming from the cheese and mustard for the most part.

I use butter becasue I find it combines with the milk and milk fat in cheese better than vegetable oils or straight animal fats like lard or bacon grease. Oils and fats tend to make the whole thing oily and and separate from the milk since there nothing actually in the sauce to keep it emulsified.

AMEN! Mixing cheeses to get different textures and flavors is a an important culinary weapon. I must have a dozen different cheeses in my fridge right now- smoked gouda, truffle gouda, blue castello, cambozola, Stilton, Boursin, swiss, Parrano, truffle gouda, Monterrey Jack, American (both Kraft singles- for my Dad- and the real stuff for every other use), havarti, butterkäse, port wine, cahill, herbed D’Affinois, belletois, and so forth.

Even with simple things like grilled cheese sandwiches, I use mixes.

Oh yeah need a good cheese mix for most things. The big thing with the cheese sauce is you need cheese to dissolve or melt into the base. So stuff like swiss cheeses (greyuere is amazing in sauce), cheddar, mozzarellas (there's a place near me that raises water buffalo and makes the real deal), and gouda are really good.

Trying to use something like blue cheese of any kind isn't great because its too crumbly to really melt right. I'm sure it would taste awesome, but it would have a weird texture.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Alton Brown used a little blue in a cheese dip. Don’t remember what kind, though.

And Boston’s- the Canadian sports bar/pizza chain- makes a bacon-wrapped flatiron steak appetizer that is served with a Blue cheese based creamy dipping sauce so good that 3 blue cheese haters I know make sure they get their own ramekins of when we go.

I suspect the secret is fine chopping + low & slow.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Went to one of our favorite little creole places- owned & operated by Indians, oddly- and in addition to one of the usual faves, Mom ordered some sweet potato fries. A lot of places serve them with traditional fry seasonings- salt, pepper, etc., but Mom likes hers with sugar & cinnamon. Generally, I’m not a big fan of sweet potatoes unless they’re full on dessert of some kind.

These, however, were unseasoned.

For once, Mom tasted one before reaching for the sugar, and said it was pretty sweet already, and asked me to try one. I did, and while it wasn’t dessert-sweet, it was noticeable.

Now, we had started the meal with an order of hush puppies (this place makes the best I’ve ever had) with remoulade. Their remoulade is a nice mix of tangy and sweet, and it made me think: what if...

So I dipped one of those orange-colored fries in the pink remoulade...and to my surprise, the tangy sweet sauce worked VERY well with the sweet potato! I told Mom she needed to try it- she liked it too!

For completeness sake, I also tried the fries with the tartar sauce and cocktail sauce that was served with our seafood basket. The cocktail sauce simply overwhelmed it, but the tartar sauce wasn’t bad. Not as good as the remoulade, though.

I can’t say I’m a convert or this is my new thing, but I would seriously consider this combo again.

 

[Beleriphon]

Now, we had started the meal with an order of hush puppies (this place makes the best I’ve ever had) with remoulade. Their remoulade is a nice mix of tangy and sweet, and it made me think: what if...

So I dipped one of those orange-colored fries in the pink remoulade...and to my surprise, the tangy sweet sauce worked VERY well with the sweet potato! I told Mom she needed to try it- she liked it too!

A good solid sweet potato fry is always good in something that is slightly spicy and acidic. I'm partial to the green jalapeno Tabasco mixed with mayo. That being said, sweet potato fries are hard to get right, I find they're never quite crispy enough and always slightly soggy, even at places that have good ones.

The problem is they have way too much sugar to really fry up nice and crispy like actual potatoes.

Once I get a deep fryer I think I'll par fry them, then do a tempura batter and see if that helps.

For blue cheese dip I agree cream bases are possible, but I don't think any of them start with a bechamel base. Most that I've seen generally start with sour cream or even cream cheese, and blend the blue cheese to that. I don't actually think it really melts per se, but I might have to try it.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The one at Boston’s is based in heavy cream & butter, as I recall, with the blue being the third dairy ingredient.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I’d smash that in my face-hole!

I like that you used the low-sodium V8. That’s been a secret weapon in my kitchen for the past 5+ years. I mainly use it in conjunction with chicken or turkey broth when making soups, stews & chilies.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I did a couple eggs in our new toaster oven tonight, quasi-poached, with seasonings and cheese. 15min @350degF. End result was tasty, but the yolks were slightly firmer than I’d like. Perhaps 9min next time.

The big news about it for me was that the little oval Le Creuset ceramic boats I bought on clearance a few years ago were PERFECT for the task. I did the two I had simultaneously, and I probably could have done another 3-4. And even though I plated tonight’s eggs on a bed of baby spinach, I could just as easily have served them in their baking dishes.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Just throwing my hat into the ring of folks who love to cook. I also sort of bake as well (I've had to limit that because it's not good for my health to eat all the baked goods lol).

Last week I tried a new dish that turned out quite well.

Zest a grape fruit, then juice it about halfway (leaving plenty of juice in the fruit itself), then slice

Bake a salmon filet that has been prepared by a coating in brown sugar, then laying the grapefruit slices on top

Heat up about a cup of olive oil in a medium saucepan and cook an entire diced shallot* until translucent
Add 2 cups of chickpeas, 1 tablespoon Za'atar spice (or equal parts thyme, oregano, cumin, sesame seeds), 1 tsp salt, and 1 tsp of pepper. also add 1 tablespoon of the zest from a grapefruit
Heat on low, stirring occasionally until salmon is done

Spoon (slotted spoon) out chickpeas into individual serving bowls. Add grapefruit juice into remaining mixture to create a dressing

Add some fresh greens and sliced radish to one side of the bowl, and flake the salmon on top of the chickpeas on the other side. Drizzle with the dressing.

Soooo good!