![]() |
Maggie's FarmWe are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for. |
Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page
Categories
QuicksearchLinks
Blog Administration |
Saturday, April 3. 2021Elderflower Cordial
Easy to order online. Sunday, March 21. 2021Springtime Beverage: Shandy
A light, refreshing drink. Sunday, March 14. 2021St. Patrick wasn't Irish - and Corned Beef and Cabbage isn't Irish eitherRe-posted - Just wanted to set the record straight on the historical facts. Even worse, his name wasn't Patrick. He was an England-born slave of Irish raiders. Since England was still Roman in 400, he really was a colonial Roman. The "snakes" he drove out of Ireland were the pagan beliefs. Ireland never had real snakes. The Irish do not cook Corned Beef and Cabbage - except for American tourists What is Irish? Shepherd's Pie is. I happen to love corned beef and cabbage (plus potatoes) - as long as there is plenty of horseradish mustard and beer. The real name of the meal is New England Boiled Dinner. I cook it all together in a giant pot. If the pickled beef needs a knife, it's underdone. I think it should almost crumble. I make some for family, including my Irish father-in-law, yearly. No Guiness, though. It really does not go with food in my opinion. Heck, it's a meal in itself. In Irish pubs, they throw one or two raw eggs in it, stir it up, and call it breakfast. (Our kids are 25% Irish, 25% Southern Italian, 40% English, and 10% Scandinavian probably via the Norman invasion. In other words, all- American. Genetic mongrelization worked well for our kids, cuz I am 90% English, around 10% Scandinavian and thus overly-inbred in New England since the 1600s.) Sunday, February 21. 2021"Milk"Just back from the market. We needed Coconut milk (Mrs. B is cooking Indian lately). I saw Soy Milk, Almond Milk, Coconut Milk, and Oat Milk. I just hope parents are not giving this to their kids instead of Cow Milk.
Saturday, February 20. 2021A brief education in Italian food for college credit, reposted When I grew up, "Italian food" meant various forms of wheat (no egg) pasta with red glop on top, and maybe meatballs or eggplant. That, plus pizza and Italian grinders. Also, Lasagna I guess, made from an American cookbook. They don't make grinders in Italy, and their pizzas aren't any good in my view. (I gave up on them. American wood-cooked pizzas can be pretty good, though. Crust has to be half-burnt.) This was because most of the Italian immigrants to America were from a poor southern Italy with Neapolitan food traditions. To tell the truth, I do not care too much for that stuff but I am willing to eat it if I am starving. I do like a good Pasta Fagiole but I can make the best one you have ever had, and I will have a Bolognese on Tagliatelle. Call me a food snob. Our best Italian meals have been in Umbria, which is where Romans take dining expeditions by the busload - so they can drink and gorge on wild pig, and get a ride home. No good Italian food tastes wonderful without wine. If you're on the wagon, it's not so wonderful unless it includes truffles or Balsamic. They do not use much wine in their cooking because you are supposed to be sipping it as you eat. Wine is expected to be an accompaniment, blending in your mouth. I had a fine Lasagna in Verona for lunch, in a sidewalk cafe near the Arena. No red sauce, heavy on the nutmeg which makes sense, given the history of being part of the Venetian Empire for a while. One Italian dish I really wanted to try in Italy was Vitello Tonnato - Veal with Tuna Sauce. Mrs. BD makes an excellent version, but somehow we missed it on our last trip. Also wanted to try their Chicken Liver with Balsamic, but missed that too. That's OK - food isn't everything - and we know some great Italian restaurants in NYC. Italian Food Regional Cooking: Southern Italy Italian Food Regional Cooking: Central Italy Italian Food Regional Cooking: NorthWest Italy Italian Food Regional Cooking: NorthEast Italy Italian Food Regional Cooking: Sicily and Sardinia Northern Italians eat very well, but are mostly skinny. It's the walking and the minimal pasta that does it. Low carbs.
Posted by Bird Dog
in Food and Drink, Travelogues and Travel Ideas
at
13:36
| Comments (18)
| Trackbacks (0)
Friday, February 19. 2021The "Chef's Knife"
I guess the high-carbon, high-maintenance ones are the best, but whatever. I like the ones with a curved blade so you can rock it when chopping garlic, parsley, etc. Maybe you only need two knives: a bread knife and a chef's knife. You can sometimes find used high-carbon chef's knives on eBay.
Sunday, February 14. 2021Cooking toolsA semi-retired buddy has gotten big into cooking as a hobby. He is especially into old coooking tools on eBay. - Carbon steel chef knives, for example. They need a little maintenance but supposedly are best. Here's an old one from LL Bean he likes:
Cast iron deep fryers.
Sunday, January 31. 2021Why fruit makes you fat Fructose is metabolized in a different way than is Glucose. The very short story is this: All sugars are not created equal. Fructose is metabolized into fat. Glucose in moderate amounts is turned into glycogen for energy. Table sugar is Sucrose, which is metabolized first into its components of Glucose and Fructose. Corn syrup, the most common commercial sweetener, contains Glucose and Fructose. Thus eating a fruit, or drinking fruit juice, is equivalent to drinking a Coke other than the virtue signaling. No common sweeteners contain pure Glucose. Children are best off drinking milk or water. Friday, January 29. 2021What is "Olivier Salad"?
It just has to have pickles.
Wednesday, January 27. 2021This is not a meal. It's a Primo.It's a Primo. A platter like that is to serve at least 2 people, maybe 4. I can be an annoying stickler about Italian food but there is a tradition to it and a logic to it too. A big bowl of pasta is not a meal and, in fact, it would be a terribly unwholesome meal. A small plate of pasta, like the Bolognese recipe (the correct recipe) featured today is an excellent Primo preceding a meat and vegetable course (the Secondo). Bolognese is a beef-flavored sauce. Some tomato sauce flavor. Typically, less sauce than shown in the photo. Italians seem to reserve their 4-course meals (Antipasto, Primo, Secondo, Dessert - sliced fruit usually) for special occasions. It's just too much food and puts you to sleep. However, when we are in a food paradise like Norcia, Mrs. BD and I do their 4-course dinner (around 1 pm is dinner there) we just order one plate per course and share so we get all the tastes. Restaurants don't mind that at all. Main rule for pasta? Dump the wet undrained pasta into the pan with the sauce with the heat on, and swirl around. Add some pasta water if a sauce is too dry or not creamy enough.
Tuesday, January 26. 2021Toasted Fluffernutter, re-posted The use of peanuts dates to the Aztecs and Incas. They supposedly made a paste out of them too. Wow. Another New World food that I missed on my list of European appropriations of native New World foods: Squash, corn (maize), all peppers, tomato, potato, sweet potato, beans, vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, avocado, cashew, walnut, etc. A twist on the venerable New England classic. Here's a food question for the day: Where do Fluffernut Trees grow? Sunday, January 24. 2021Nonna's Cheap Homey Winter Cooking #14: Pasta FagioliHome cookin'. It's a southern Italian bean soup/stew. Real, non-Americanized Italian peasant food. If you are from around Napoli, it's pronounced something like "fazool." Otherwise, "fajole." Fagiole are la Carne dei Poveri. (No, I am not a paisan but I married into a half of one.) I see recipes online which include meat, but Pasta Fagioli is best made with meat broth (chicken or beef), and properly has no meat in it. When it was a meatless Friday meal, of course veg. broth. Why did the RC's get rid of meatless Fridays anyway? This recipe about gets the basic version, but I use canned cannelini (white) beans for convenience - stupid not to - (no chef, unless cooking for hundreds, would waste time with dried beans), and chicken or beef broth instead of vegetable broth. I am not enough of one of the poveri not to have meat broth around. Another recipe includes tomato sauce. I've never had a Pasta Fagiole with tomato in it other than a tablespoon or two of tomato paste, and believe it ought to be without the tomato. It's meant to be pleasantly bland, cheap, and filling. If I make it, no tomato but I'll add some hot pepper flakes to give it a little zip. Any small pasta works in it, but I like to use the small shell pasta. Serve with a plate of simple crostini, eg with oil and garlic and maybe some herbs on them. You can put some shaved parmesan on top of your soup if you want. The thing with Italian cooking is that you make it your own way, and never follow a recipe after the first time. No, my Mom never made this or ever heard of this, but my wife's Grandma made it to please her husband who required it weekly to feed his Neapolitan soul. Mrs. BD kindly claims my version is better than her nonna's.
Clootie Pudding: The Joys(?) of the cuisine of the British IslesWe're making a Clootie Pudding in advance for a Bobbie Burns party. These sorts of "puddings" can last a year in the closet. We'll make a real brandy-flavored pudding to go with it.
Friday, December 25. 2020"Come, Martha. Let's go listen to the pudding singing in the copper."
Whether you like it or not (it's like Fruitcake), it is a necessary Brit tradition. How to make it is below (recipe and video). Ideally served with flaming brandy, then something creamy on top. Funny thing about Christmas Pudding is that you can make it months in advance. Even a year or two in advance. Just put it on a shelf. Even mice won't bother it.
Wednesday, December 23. 2020Mulled wine, Venetian-style
Not sure what Harvey's has to do with Venice, but whatever. Thursday, December 17. 2020Gingerbread Crumb Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce
4 eggs Preheat oven to 350. Butter 9” x 13” baking dish thoroughly and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs until light lemon color. Continue beating and gradually add milk, sugar, ginger, molasses, cinnamon and melted butter. Mix well. Add grated bread and stir until well mixed. Pour mixture into buttered baking dish and place dish in oven. Bake one hour, or until knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Spoon pudding into a serving dish and top with butterscotch sauce. Butterscotch Sauce 4 tbsp. cornstarch Dissolve cornstarch in cold water and set aside. In saucepan over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon of sugar until browned to a golden color. Add water and remaining sugar. Bring to a boil and continue to boil for three minutes. Add cocoa, vanilla extract and butter. Stir to mix and simmer to a glaze. Slowly add cornstarch to boiling liquid and simmer until thickened. Friday, November 27. 2020The Classic Thanksgiving left-over turkey sandwich, plus turkey stockTurkey Hash is pretty good, and so is turkey soup (for which I am boiling a stock from one of the carcasses right now with water, onions, garlic, celery, parsley, herbs, etc - we fight over the carcasses and bones like jackals), but the main reason people in my family cook so many turkeys at Thanksgivings is for the sandwiches for a few days after. Here's how I make them: White bread Squoosh the sides of bread together, and cut in half with a sharp knife. Then eat with a glass of beer. Delicious. Then take a little nap. How I make turkey stock: Throw into a large stock pot a whole or chopped turkey carcass, leg bones, wings, etc. Not a bad idea to break the bones with a cleaver and/or to roast the carcass first so some of the bones brown. Cover with water. Take a bunch of celery, carrots, onions and garlic. Chop very roughly with skins on - do not peel - and sautee in butter or cooking oil until browned. (The skins add color and flavor) Then toss them into the pot. Add some cut-up raw potatoes, skins on. Throw in some salt, whole peppercorns. Then parsley, thyme, a little sage and marjoram. A little sugar. A bottle of white wine in there is optional. Simmer for 5-8 hours, adding water as needed. Then strain. That's a tasty turkey stock. It's man-cooking. Saturday, November 21. 2020Cranberry Harvest, reposted
The canned cranberry "sauce" pictured is garbage. It's just congealed sweetened cranberry juice. The recipe on the Ocean Spray bags is pretty good, but I cut the sugar they recommend in half. It's nothing but water, fresh or frozen berries, and sugar. Better yet for Thanksgiving, game, and even chicken, is Cranberry-Orange Relish. Raw berries and an orange. Thanks to the mother-in-law for introducing me to this tangy thing years ago. A great food, the Cranberry. I love to put them in pancakes (the combination of the sweetness of the maple syrup and the tartness of the cranberries is perfect). Here's our old post on Cranberry Season and the Heart. Funny thing about Cranberries: not many animals or birds like to eat them. Maybe bears? I've seen Box Turtles take a bite out of one, but I've never seen anything else eat them. I love Cranberries, as long as they aren't cooked too sweet. Here's a tiny Massachusetts Cranberry bog, flooded for harvest:
Here's how it's done on a larger scale: Saturday, October 17. 2020Canning without dyingHow to can your favorite foods without dying - You’ve got to be careful when you’re preserving produce. I used to can things, but it's too much time and hassle. Tuesday, September 29. 2020Trivia du Jour: Who invented Irish Coffee?
It was invented at a Pan Am airbase in Limerick in the 1940s as a treat for American travelers. I don't think the Irish in Ireland drink it. I think of it as a rare dessert treat, but one time I had it for breakfast at a shooting meet and I have never scored as well since then. Sunday, September 13. 2020British gourmet: Cheese and Pickle Sandwich
A Brit classic: Cheese and Pickle Sandwich.
Thursday, September 3. 2020Something different: Pine Cone PreservesA daughter sent me a jar but it broke in the mail. Thursday, August 13. 2020Something different: Spruce Tip Ice Cream![]()
(Page 1 of 31, totaling 774 entries)
» next page
|