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[tania]

i don't know if baking counts as cooking but people seem to read this thread pretty often, so screw it. a friend today gave me me the raddest brownie recipe ever and i feel it really needs to be shared.

here's what you need:
1 (18.25 ounce) package chocolate cake mix
1 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup melted butter or margarine
35 caramels, unwrapped
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
and, if you want, 1 cup chopped nuts

here's what you do:
1. preheat your oven to 350 degrees F
2. combine the cake mix + nuts together in a big bowl, then add the butter and 2/3 of the evaporated milk. it's going to be really thick and gooey.
3. pour half of this into an ungreased 13 x 9 baking pan.
4. bake it for 15 minutes.
5. put the caramels and remaining evaporated milk into a pan and heat it on low heat until it's also melted and gooey.
6. sprinkle the chocolate chips onto the brownies
7. then drip the melted caramel on top of them.
8. then pour the remaining brownie mixture on top of that.
9. then you bake that for another 25-30 minutes. let them cool in the pan.
10. eat them all

[Ozymandias]

Oh man. Again, I wish I had had internet.

Vodka is the correct solution.

[Boro_Bandito]

i don't know if baking counts as cooking--

Here's my formula for it.

raw ingredients+chemical reaction of some kind(heat, through smoking, grilling or baking;curing, brining, pickling, fermenting etc.)=tasty edibles that are greater than the sum of their parts = cooking.

So baking under it would be considered cookin' in my book. Things that are on the borderline are Steak Tartare(which is marinated and served on toast in most cases) and Sushi(since its made with cooked rice).

Things that this does not include are Sashimi (unless its octopus, which is generally cooked due to toughness), and raw salads.


I wish I had brownies....

[tania]

if you are going to be in chicago next year and are willing to wait seven months for brownies, i will make them just for you.
but also kind of for me because i eat everything and have no self-control.

[Boro_Bandito]

I also feel like Sannakji should not be classified as being cooked.


Sweet. Brownies. I will probably find some way to have some from another source before then. But I will also have some there.

[Liz]

Well Tania, Kris and I were already planning on having a baking party at Matt's place, so I guess you can join us and make some brownies. It will be fun times!

[tania]

woooo

[Liz]

Also I think the plan might be to watch Street Fighter that night/afternoon?

I am not entirely positive.

[Gemmwah]

Even if it's not the plan, that should totally BE the plan.

[tania]

yeah i'm not taking no for an answer on that

[Boro_Bandito]

I say make it a Street Fighter/Super Mario Bros./Ninja Turtles 2 medley.

[Slick]

So, there is the literal interpretation of 'cooking' or there is the sentiment represented in this thread. If anyone gets uppity about 'cooking' and 'baking' and 'food prep' I will punch them in the face after I am done sodomizing Phil.
I doubt anyone will object though.

[David_Dovey]

I won't object to that last part as long as you take pix

On the topic of Baking, it would appear that baking has become a Thing Me and My Girlfriend Do All The Time. Last weekend we made Chelsea Scrolls (which are like cinnamon scrolls but with icing on top and currants in the middle) and this weekend we made raisin oatmeal cookies. So now I have a stomach ache because we made about 4 dozen of the fuckers and ate all of them in two days. But that is OK with me.

Tonight I am going to a pot luck and I am thinking of making either pierogis (which look incredibly hard to make but I have never even tried and want to because people keep telling me about them) or stuffed chillies (which also look pretty hard but not as hard as pierogis and I also really really want to make because of all the talk about them in this thread and also I have no idea how hard it is to get suitably large chillies around here).

[bainidhe_dub]

Dudes, Thanksgiving is this week! What are the other Murricans planning?

I'm having my husband's family over to our apartment.. I'm kinda freaking out about it because I'm not sure when I'll be able to go grocery shopping. I am going to make: Broccoli and (Soy) Chicken Braid, Sweet Potato Casserole, Cranberry Sauce, and "Mixed Green Salad with Oranges, Dried Cranberries and Pecans". And rolls. And maybe some stuffing. But those are easy. The broccoli braid and casserole are standard holiday fare for my family. The cranberry sauce and salad I found recipes for online. They both use dried cranberries.. should be interesting. Photos and reviews after Thursday!

[ViolentDove]

We're doing Yanksgiving at our house, on account of having a couple of Americans staying with us.

Apparently Turkeys are really expensive here, so not sure if we'll be doing turkey... might have to settle for a roast chicken. Definitely going to have some kind of sweet potato dish, pumpkin pie, and whatever our guests bring. I'm on entrees, and I'm doing prawns wrapped in prosciutto with herbs and lemon zest, fried cheesy eggplant fritters, and baked brie.

[Boro_Bandito]

I'm not sure what we're having for Thanksgiving yet, but I do know that today for dinner I made french toast. Simplest thing ever.
2 eggs
1 cup of milk
couple teaspoons of cinnamon
all mixed together
soak some pieces of bread in it for a few seconds
fry them in a pan with some butter
syrup on top
delicious.

My brother told me to add nutmeg, but I'm not big on nutmeg in my french toast, so I told him where to put the nutmeg.

[ViolentDove]

Back on the spice rack?

[CarrionMan]

I want to make a pie. Any recommendations on a flavor that isn't too extraordinaire.

[Boro_Bandito]

Back on the spice rack?

exactly. And then I told him to go fuck himself. *badum ching!*

[thegreatbuddha]

Apple Pie is delicious.  If you are feeling frisky, add some Vidalia onions.  It will taste so good

[Edith]

I am making stuffing with mushrooms and sausage and sage and hazelnuts and Amaretto. It is going to be amazing. Oh yes.

[bainidhe_dub]

I cooked things yesterday. They were successful. I didn't get to take pictures of the finished products, though. But I discovered that the beer & wine store across the street sells adorable mini-bottles of wine that were the perfect size for the 1 cup that I needed for the cranberry sauce.

[redglasscurls]

OR you buy a real bottle of wine and get the in-laws sloshed. Geeze.

[bainidhe_dub]

yeah but it was only $2.35 and the in-laws drink beer.

which we DO still have scads of left from the wedding. there was no red wine left, which is why i was buying some.

[J-cob9000]

A while back I made this awesome casserole thing that I call cheeseburger pie. It consists of browning some sausage/beef and onions in the same pan, putting them in the bottom of a 9x13 pan and mixing up some Bisquick or an equivalent quick bread making thing and pouring that over it and baking it for 25 minutes. It comes out like a cheeseburger but in pie form!
It was scrumptious.

[David_Dovey]

I made my own birthday cake! It was a Tiramisu.

I took this stuff



and turned it into this



and then I had some with a glass of the Glenlivet.



In all honesty I am pretty cool.

[-Karamazov-]

I just successfully used the raft clarification method on a chicken stock I made.  I feel really proud.  There is only one problem, ladling out the stock without disturbing the raft.

Update: Got it, I made gently made a large hole at the top and slowly ladled the stock through a china cap into separate containers which I then quickly chilled.  It has cleared up so much, I could read the date of a penny at the bottom of the pot.  (not that I actually threw a penny in it)  Additionally lost almost no flavor during the clarification process.  Its still pretty dark, almost the color of honey.

[abadname]

A way I learned to get out all of the consomme is to get a length of hose and siphon it out.

[St.Germain]

In honor of upcoming holidays, I offer my variation on cranberry sauce. If this seems to be a more Thanksgiving thing, bear in mind I have it for all holidays. Well, the winter ones, anyway.

Note: This is a whole-berry sauce, none of that jellified piffle here.

We begin with the recipe off the package of cranberries:

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 12-ounce package Ocean Spray® Fresh or Frozen Cranberries

DIRECTIONS:

Combine sugar and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to boil; add cranberries, return to boil. Reduce heat and boil gently for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cover and cool completely at room temperature. Refrigerate until serving time. Makes 2 1/4 cups.

While this is all well and good, I got in the habit of adding things to it, and then adding things to those things. So, I add:

1 cup (or a handful, whatever) fresh or frozen raspberries (I use frozen, because my parents' freezer in full of them)
Zest of 1 orange, or most of an orange, at least half (I abandoned trying to use a little grater, and just took a potato peeler to the thing. Then I had to chop the peel into littler buts, but it was easier in the end)

Add these ingredients about halfway though the 'boil 10 minutes" part. Raspberries are very soft, and get obliterated as it is.

[Slick]

I am making turducken again tomorrow.
We wanted a 4.5 pound chicken, 5.5 pound duck, and 15 pound turkey, but the smallest duck my friend could find was 9 pounds, so he got a 25 pound turkey to compensate. So we have, like, forty pounds of bird.
This is going to be stupid.

[Tyler]

40 pounds? Holy god.

[tania]

This is going to be stupid.

stupid awesome.

[Ozymandias]

Stupid erotic.

[KibBen]

So, according to wikipedia, I'm a skilled saucier.

(Regarding cooking methods for hollandaise sauce) Room temperature is too low; most stovetop burners and even double boilers are too hot, and will overcook the egg causing it to scramble, though skilled sauciers are able to prepare their mixtures over an open burner.

I just made hollandaise sauce RIGHT IN THE PAN. I am so impressed with myself right now.

[Slick]

This is going to be stupid.

stupid awesome.

Got dinner plans tomorrow?

[tania]

dogg i hope you are serious, because you better believe i will take the first bus to waterloo if it means i get to help eat 40 pounds of bird

[Slick]

The edible portion of the birds will probably be between 20-30 pounds since there is a lot of bone in them, but yeah, if you want, you are welcome.

[Slick]

MY HOUSE IS FULL OF SMOKE AND MEAT

[Edith]

Whoah, our turducken at thanksgiving was boneless. How do you carve it with bones left in there?

[Slick]

We boned them, I was just saying how when we bought the 40 pounds of bird, there was lots of bone. I made chicken-duck stock with the bones!
We left the turkey wings intact, hacked the duck wings off and strapped them on top of the turkey to cover up the seems, and our chicken wings were expertly de-boned by the amateur boner (she's got two generations of butcher behind her, though).
Man that's a lot of fun.

Disturbingly enough, we ate pretty much all of it. There's enough left for hot turkey sandwiches tomorrow, but it's pretty much all cleaned up. We had a good crowd out to eat!


So what's the 'raft method' for clarifying stock that was being mentioned earlier on? I have two liters of chicken-duck stock that I need to do something with now.

[-Karamazov-]

the raft method involves mixing egg whites, a mirepox, an acid, and ground meat (chicken in your or turkey in your case to match the stock).  I've only used it once, but it worked terrifically. 

someone else can probably explain it better than I can, but you mix these ingredients in chilled stock and continually stir while you bring it up to heat.  When the stock gets hot enough, the egg whites and ground meat solidify and encase the impurities in the stock.  After a while, the protein mass will float up to the surface and you can ladle the clarified stock out.  It looks amazing, but may reduce some of the taste.

[Slick]

What are the impurities in this case? Colour impurities, little bits of flotasm, taste impurities?

[-Karamazov-]

The cloudiness of the stock and any little bits of junk floating around.  Impurities was a bad word to use in this case.

You might want to try gelatin filtration, I just read an about it here: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/dining/05curi.html?ex=1346731200&en=c5ed30afe5c4cdcf&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

It sounds like an awesome process.  I'm especially impressed by how it removes all the fat and allows you to make it with virtually anything.

[Slick]

Curious! I'm leaving the place I live in for christmas in a few days, so I'll probably freeze the stock now and thaw it when I get back. I hope that doesn't affect it too much.

[abadname]

It doesn't.  If your stock is really good and hearty is should already have enough requesite gelatin in it.  Does your stock get kind of jiggly and thick when cooled?

And the gelatine process is awesome.  You can actually do it with any gelling agent.  I keep doing it with new things.

But a carrot consomme is the coolest thing, put some confit rabbit with it and you have just make the culinary god smile.

[thegreatbuddha]

A rough recipe for the clarification method:

1lb lean (as lean as possible) ground meat
1/2 lb mirepoix
8oz egg whites
4oz acid (I use white wine for lighter stocks like chicken or fish, and red wine for a good brown veal stock. Go crazy!)
1 gallon Stock

Chill all ingredients thoroughly, and mix everything except the stock together.  Add the mixture to your cold stock, and slowly bring up the heat, continuously stirring to avoid egg whites burning to the bottom of the pot.  Once you hit a slight simmer, stop stirring and carefully monitor the heat. You want to avoid a full on simmer or boil, as that will break the raft. Poaching temperature (160-180) is ideal. Poke a hole in the center of your raft with a ladle, and continuously ladle the stock over the edges of the raft, slowly, and trying to keep the sides of the raft balanced. Do this until you can pour the stock in a rocks glass and read the year of a dime sitting at the bottom of the glass, and you've got yourself a consomme.  If any fat remains in your clarified stock when finished, pour it through a coffee filter while hot.  I like to put a baked custard in the center of the consomme as a showpiece, basically creme anglaise minus the sugar and vanilla, with a bit of tabasco and worcestershire sauce added.

DELICIOUS

[MrBlu]

I'm seeing a chef.

He wants me to cook for him.

What do I do?

Tell him he's a flipping idiot.

I'm a chef, and I'd never ask my girlfriend to cook for me.

[Gilead]

If you spend all day working in a stressful kitchen cooking it would probably actually be a really nice thing to have someone care enough that they'd cook for you and let you relax.

[Edith]

Yeah well, I cooked for him a while back and he said thanks very sincerely and also had seconds, but also now I guess we aren't seeing each other or something so I guess it's a moot point anyway.

[mbb]

Posting one of my favorite holiday recipes:

Recipe for Sara's smokey, spicy, savory Butternut Squash soup!
(note, this is to be regarded more as a set of guidelines than instructions. food is meant to be played with!)

Take one butternut squash, peal, seed, and chop into approx 1 inch cubes (doesn't have to be exact). Peel 4 cloves of garlic and mince. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and a little powdered garlic and sauté in 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat until squash is golden in color. Add veggie broth to pan (all natural, with no added msg for best results), enough so the squash has is thoroughly immersed, but not enough for the squash to swim in it. Simmer until squash is extremely tender, about 15 minutes. Transfer to blender or food processor and puree mixture and then transfer to sufficent pan over low heat. Add 1 1/2 cups of milk. Add 2 tblspoons fresh chopped basil, 1 tblspoon cumin, 1 tblspoon chili powder, 1 tspoon cayenne pepper. Garnish with fresh chopped parsley and serve.