What are You Cooking or Baking This Month
6 years ago
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What is the most challenging thing you ever baked/cooked?
Comments (47)When I was a teenager, I made a "Spanische Windtorte." The picture of it was so pretty, and it sounded wonderful. It is an Austrian dessert composed of meringue filled with cream. You pipe meringue in a close spiral and bake it for the bottom, easy enough. Then you have to pipe and bake many rings, which you layer up from the bottom and glue with unbaked meringue to form a round box. Then you do another close spiral for a lid. The inside is filled with whipped cream flavored with cognac and fresh strawberries. After carefully placing the "lid" on top, the outside is decorated with piped whipped cream and candied violets. It wasn't that it was difficult, exactly, it's just that it was seriously time consuming, handling the brittle meringue rings was troublesome, and decorating had to be very quick so that one could serve the dessert before the inside cream began to melt. I had to make my own candied violets as well, which didn't help. It was very pretty, but when it came to eating it you might do just as well with a bowl of strawberries & whipped cream by crumbling a few meringue cookies on top. All that work and so little gustatory umph....See MoreCooking and Baking - do you get this from others?
Comments (28)Like ssommerville, I don't think I've ever gotten anything but very appreciative comments from any man I've cooked for. Women who don't cook themselves are often another story. They pay back-handed compliments like, "Gosh, I can't believe how much time and effort this entailed. Do you cook like this every day?" From the (slightly patronizing) tone of their voices and the (wide-eyed, innocent) look on their faces, it's so easy to tell what they're really thinking... that I must be an airhead, with too much free time on my hands and too few meaningful skills. Sorta like a kid who takes vocational classes instead of AP college courses. Sure, it's aggravating, but who gets the last laugh? Okay, true story. Last time this happened to me was at a Super Bowl party. A woman I know very casually thought she'd put me down so cleverly with a comment like that that I wasn't even aware of the slam. I just smiled and thanked her for the compliment, because she was the one who was clueless. What she didn't know was that her son had just picked at the Christmas dinner she'd arranged (at untold expense) through the caterer. Then he'd rushed over to my house to pig out on home cookin'. He called and begged for an invitation. I swore a blood oath never to tell. :) So why get mad at the woman for her ignorance? All I felt for her was pity. Imo, these silly people need to conduct a survey of their children/grandchildren. Assuming they got honest answers, I think they'd be absolutely shocked at how much it means to a kid to grow up in a home where family dinners are important, where holiday meals are a very big deal, where food traditions are treasured and preserved. For those of you with young families, I'll just share my experience after a lifetime of spending 'too much time' in the kitchen. First, my grown children still come home. A lot. I'm sure that my personality and charm and sparkling wit are all big draws. :) But it doesn't hurt that they know they'll get a delicious meal thrown into the bargain when they visit. Secondly, it has been an unexpected joy that their friends still stay in touch. Somehow this food thing has forged a strong bond. I hear other parents comment sadly that they never see the kids their children grew up with anymore. Funny, 3 of them were at my house for dinner last Sunday night. We had the most wonderful time eating chicken enchiladas and drinking Coronas and reminiscing about 'the good old days' -- which, in this case, went back to when they were in pre-school. When they buy their first home and I ask what they'd like for a house-warming gift, they invariably say all they want is a copy of our family cookbook. When they get married, they invariably ask me to teach their new brides to make a favorite dish. When their first child is about to be christened, they call and ask if it would be just tooo much trouble to make (whatever) for the party. It's just incredibly flattering to still feel like I'm an important part of their lives long after they no longer need me to drive them to soccer practice... The third thing is -- and, hey, it may not be pretty, but it has to be said -- I make their in-laws all look sick. lol Now, I'm all about sharing. But, seriously, can I be blamed if everybody is working hard to figure out how to spend most of the holidays at my house?? :)) Last, but definitely not least, my kids turned out to be darned good cooks and gracious hosts. Since they were all boys, I didn't make a huge effort to teach them to cook. (Sexist, I know...) But they just absorbed so much. Most importantly, they developed an appreciation of homemade and a loathing of 'fast food', so cooking for themselves later on seemed more of a pleasure than a burden. And since their friends always gravitated to our house for dinner, they're totally comfortable in the role of host. So if anybody denigrates your efforts, just write them off as an idiot and move on. Stepping down off my soapbox now...... sm...See MoreRE: Once a month cooking..What did you
Comments (10)I've been a long time Garden Web member but have not visited here before. I live in Southern Missouri now. But we've lived all over the world. England, Washington DC..and more. I like to keep a comfort meal in the freezer. If I travel leaving my husband alone I prepare enough that he can treat himself every few days by taking out just one pan and heating in the oven or microwave. He likes it so much he'd just live on it but that wouldn't be the best idea. The frozen meal consists of meatloaf, mashed potatoes and Mac n Cheese. By making sure they all touch sides in the freezer package it helps keep them moist and avoid any freezer burn/drying out. I make a meatloaf of quality meat (whatever you like, Turkey, Lean Ground Pork etc. But for us I use a quality ground beef)and adding, for our taste, finely chopped mushrooms, onion, fresh garlic or powder, drained canned tomatoes chopped very small or crushed, oatmeal soaked in the tomato juice rather than using breading. Eggs if you like. I like to mix the eggs in the oatmeal while it's soaking up the tomato juice drained off the canned tomatoes. This holds the loaf together nicely. Just use similar portions to your favorite meatloaf recipe. I season liberally..whatever appeals at the time. Seasoning salt, celery salt, white pepper, italian herbs seasoning, different things as my mood calls for or what is at hand in the pantry at the time. Before baking I scoop a furrow about 2" w and at least an inch deep down the length of the top of the meatloaf and fill it with spicy ketchup and sprinkle brown sugar over that. Be sure to let a little of the brown sugar drift from the ketchup to the top of the meatloaf. Bake. The tanginess of the ketchup and brown sugar are a great taste treat with this particular meal. You could freeze the meatloaf whole for a large family. But slice it before freezing. Here's the comfort meal package: For a smaller family like us, just two, I slice the meatloaf, packaging meal size portions for the freezer in a disposable pan or cake pan. If you want the meatloaf to stay moist in the freezer you can spread a little fresh ketchup over the entire piece. (Gravy will keep it moist too.) The ketchup on the top will have caramelized with the brown sugar so it will stay on the meatloaf when you cut a slice and lay it on it's side. Or if your meatloaf isn't tall just cut a chunk and set it upright in the pan and spread a little extra ketchup on the side that's up to make sure it stays moist. You can freeze this meal for quite a long time..but it won't last that long. :-) Then I make mashed potatoes, place a meal size portion beside the meatloaf in the pan and be sure they are covered with a thin coating of gravy. A well in the center will hold enough gravy for a portion, and you just spread a thin layer of the gravy over the entire potato portion to keep them moist in the freezer. I make homemade mac and cheese and add another meal size single portion. This is the reason this is not an every day meal and is called a comfort meal. Since you are going to heat this in a microwave or hot oven the pasta is not going to deteriorate as it would reboiling it. All he has to do is make a small fresh salad or steam some broccoli and he's done. I plan the portions of potatoes and mac small enough so that he'll think he needs a large portion of broccoli or salad to "make ends meet". :-) That way I don't feel so bad for feeding him too starches in a single meal. I know it's not for everyday. But it's such a comforting meal. I think it must be one of his favorite treats. I had to be away for five weeks years ago, so I left enough of these for about three or four meals per week. Most of them went to his office for lunches. I have to tell you the other men were begging and bragging on his wife and he didn't feel nearly as abandoned as he might have. Starchy as it is, it's far better than hamburgers or pizza every night. And really, if you portion it out wisely it's not worse than one large helping of either potatoes or pasta. And they think they are getting away with something! And when I am not away from home it's nice knowing there is comfort meal an arm's reach away. There are those times when comforting with food (and no work) blesses a gal too. The ketchup and brown sugar idea were my great-aunt Ellen's idea. I have never tasted better meatloaf than this. Another thing she added to the meatloaf was breakfast sausage like Owens or Jimmy Deans. You cannot believe how good. But who needs the fat?...See MoreWhat Are You Cooking or Baking for The Weekend?
Comments (30)I've had the urge for an Apple Crostata, and Empires and Cortlands are my favourite apples. Boy I wish I lived closer to you Alsisande, your apples look wonderful. I'm in apple country, but they're still pricey. I'm going to have to bite the bullet and get some regardless. Nicole, I always put molasses in my bran muffins. It also calls for buttermilk, and I combine yogurt and milk to make buttermilk. It works perfectly, as we always have yogurt in the frig. I didn't do any baking this weekend, I made bread last weekend and we still have some. But I have chicken thighs that were marinated in lemon juice, garlic and lemon zest. They're in the oven over rice, baking now....See More- 6 years ago
- 6 years ago
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fawnridge (Ricky)