freeform goodness

Some of these things I may have seen in cookbooks, some are things I heard over the years, and a lot of them are just kind of “common sensical” things I’ve figured out over the years.

• Best scrambled eggs
  • Beat the hell out of them. Really. Crack them in a bowl and go at them with a wire whisk for minutes.
  • Don’t add milk to them before cooking.
  • If you’re scrambling them with cheese, grate it to death. Use really, really small pieces and don’t overdo it.
  • Use a clean(ish) pan and clean(ish) oil/grease. If you’re using bacon or sausage grease, strain all of the crud out of it.
  • As soon as they’re done, turn off the heat then splash a little (don’t overdo it) milk over them, swirl them around with the spatula until the milk is absorbed, serve them immediately, the hotter the better.
• Omelettes
  • Use a good pan (duh), and clean oil
  • Pour the egg into a hot (but not too hot) pan. Swirl the pan around until the egg evenly coats the skillet.
  • You’ll be tempted to mess with it at this point. Don’t. Just let it sizzle until you start to worry that you’ve overdone it. Then add your fillings to one half of the omelette.
  • Use a decent spatula to flip the unoccupied half over the first.
  • Wait about 30 seconds.
  • Serve to plate
• Coffee
  • Use a french press. Trust me on this — drip coffee doesn’t come close. Don’t drink the last half centimeter or so. It’s full of grounds. Rinse your cup and get some more.
  • Use less sweetener.
• Link sausage
  • Add a half-centimeter of water to the skillet along w/ the links
  • A half-thimble of oil added to the water will keep the sausage skins from sticking to the skillet
  • Sprinkle light salt and black pepper over the links while cooking

:: Dave Walker 13:23 (EST/EDT) [+] ::

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I was always under the impression that ports and madeiras were best served at room temperature, but we picked up a port that claimed to be “superb when served deeply chilled”, so now I’m confused. For the record, and maybe it’s just because it’s what I’m used to, when served chilled the port in question seemed way too sweet to me, whereas, at room temperature, it made me long for a smoking jacket and a fireplace, which is generally the state of mind I’m trying to reach when drinking dessert wines.

:: Dave Walker 17:58 (EST/EDT) [+] ::

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Ate much. Enjoyed it. Turkey, rolls from scratch, stuffing, collard greens, baked beans, macaroni pie.

Best “Black Friday” post ever (from TheRealStyro here):

Is this just in the USA or do they have them for us in Europe too?

No. This is just for us US citizens whose forefathers had the great foresight to leave Europe.

Now we get to celebrate by buying Chinese goods and Indian services for closer to actual worth prices for part of one day.

:: Dave Walker 21:47 (EST/EDT) [+] ::

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The missus and I had breakfast at Bob Evans today (the Homestead Breakfast, if you follow that link.) The waitress (probably about 20 years old) asked me how I wanted my eggs, and I said “hard-boiled.” She looked at me as if I’d asked for my eggs “cross-bleezled, with a sprinkle of Halon” or something.

“Um, do you mean ‘over hard?’”

“No, hard-boiled will be fine.”

“Hold on, I have to check if we have ‘hard-boiled’ eggs…” (she’s still looking at me as though my head might, at any moment, rotate 360 degrees.)

She disappears for about 20 seconds, presumably to ask one of her cow-orkers whether she knows anything about these ‘harte-boyled’ eggs of which I speak.

“I’m sorry, we don’t cook eggs that way. Would you like them over hard?”

(Hesitatingly) “No, I’ll have them over easy.” (I guess she’d heard of those. They came out fine.)

:: Dave Walker 20:14 (EST/EDT) [+] ::

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OK, you’d probably be dead of clogged arteries in a week and a half if you ate them every day, but Panera’s Baked Egg Soufflés are… well… most things you can do clothed aren’t this good. Seriously the über fastfood breakfast experience.

:: Dave Walker 09:41 (EST/EDT) [+] ::

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OK, I have a problem eating healthy food, and I’ve always had a problem (understatement) sticking to my ideal weight, but I’ve been drinking lots of water (probably more than 4 liters a day), and I feel great. Something as trivial as cutting back on soft drinks and increasing water (and fruit juice) consumption really does make a big difference.

:: Dave Walker 19:51 (EST/EDT) [+] ::

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After a few painfully corporate entries, the Google blog has finally produced a keeper. Buttermilk Fried Chicken Elvis Loved looks delicious.

:: Dave Walker 19:14 (EST/EDT) [+] ::

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Very basic, but it gets the job done. Doesn’t get more Midwestern than this.

• Spiral Sliced Ham
• Baked Beans
• Macaroni and Cheese
• Corn
• Potato Salad
• Deviled Eggs
• Brown ‘n’ Serve Rolls
• Cranberry Sauce
• Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
• Sweet Potato Pie (first time I’ve made it completely from scratch)

:: Dave Walker 15:01 (EST/EDT) [+] ::

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Everyone has their blind spots — things that seemingly everyone else in the world already knew, but that they themselves were ignorant of. Over the last week, I filled in one of mine: the Corn Chip Issue. It’s a really simple one with a very obvious solution: never buy off-the-shelf corn chips. Fritos, Doritos, and Tostitos are but a pale, flavorless imitation of something you can prepare at home for a small fraction of the money. Somehow, I never realized that all that you need to make tasty, crispy chips that rival the ones you get as appetizers at Mexican restaurants is a 99 cent bag of tortillas from the supermarket and a pot of hot oil. Slice the tortillas into wedges, drop them in hot oil for a couple of minutes, drain them on paper towels and salt lightly. Serve with salsa. That’s all it takes. Really, it couldn’t be simpler. Somehow I made it through decades without anyone telling me. In case your friends have likewise left you in the dark, I’m blogging it.

Seeya.

:: Dave Walker 18:45 (EST/EDT) [+] ::

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Made homemade cranberry sauce the other day, which is pretty labor intensive but worthwhile. Had a bunch of fresh cranberry juice left over, which we stored in the fridge. Managed to drop the container a few minutes ago, and it looks remarkably like we’ve murdered someone in the kitchen.

:: Dave Walker 16:09 (EST/EDT) [+] ::

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