I have a vague recollection of an old cookbook (possibly BH&G '70s volume) that called for an ingredient called “Complement”. I’ve exhausted my Google-fu, and know my best chances for validating this memory are with the Dope. Mr. HP thinks I must have dreamt this bizarre ingredient, but I think I even remember seeing it in cans back in the day. I would appreciate any ideas you might have!
You sure it wasn’t Accent? It’s msg.
It must be something like “Scratch”, which all of our grandmothers used to make everything from…
I know that some Chinese cookbooks use the term ‘complement’ for the items (usually vegetables, etc.) that accompany the ‘principal’ (‘meat’, or what might be called ‘protein’ nowadays). Traditionally they are cooked separately and combined to make the dish. Is it possible that was the usage?
You mean you can’t buy Scratch anymore?? :eek:
Thanks, folks. I know it wasn’t “Accent”. This stuff was in a can, and was somewhat like a gravy or condensed soup. Oh well. Maybe I did dream it.
The only possibility I can think of is Bouquet or Kitchen Bouquet. It comes in a little brown bottle now, but may have been sold in cans at some point. It’s a gravy base and used for browning. I’ve seen it occasionally in cookbooks and thought it was an awfully odd-sounding ingredient until I found out what it was. Not sure how far back its use goes.
Do you have any idea what the recipe was for? I have a 1960s-era cookbook from either BH&G or Good Housekeeping-- really a collection of cookbooks intended for new housewives (“Breakfasts” “Cakes & Pies” “Meats” that sort of thing) held in a box/binder, courtesy of my mom. Maybe I can dig up the recipe in question, or at least find something similar.
Other than the standard definition of complement, as an adjective, I’ve not heard of it.
Kitchen Bouquet was never in a can… it’s a thin liquid in a brown bottle, as Typoink said. I remember my mom using it back then. No clue of its ingredients, I’ve not seen it (nor used it) for years. She used it (with other lovely ingredients) when making pot roast, if I recall correctly - which resulted in scrumptious brown gravy.
Consomme?
I found this ad searching around. Still not sure what it actually is, though it looks like it might be a canned gravy.
Terraplane–that’s it!! Thank you all so much! Now I know I wasn’t hallucinating (at least this time).
Oh–I do actually use kitchen bouquet. It’s in my grocery store by the mustard and bbq sauces. I use it on the turkey I roast in a roaster oven. The turkey won’t brown in there, so I “paint” it with a combo of butter and kitchen bouquet. It then turns out a gorgeous mahogany brown.
Some of it might be canned gravy, but the text at the bottom talks about the different varieties of Compliment including “Compliment for Meat Loaf”, which would be pretty hard to do with gravy. (Which of course isnt to say that they didnt create a gravy and implied that it plus ground beef = meat loaf :))
Heh. You don’t need Kitchen Bouquet, you need one of these. Really. I got one for Christmas after wanting one forever. No more soggy turkey skin in the Athena household!
Ah, yes. The poor man’s salamander.
Um, you are supposed to uncover it in the roaster for about 30 minutes at the end of the roasting … to crisp up the skin. Some people do it at the beginning, but I prefer to do it at the end.
My roaster oven is like a slow cooker (a separate appliance with a lid)–I’m not referring to roasting it in the oven. But, um, I’m sure you meant to be helpful. Thanks!
Athena–I do have a creme brulee torch. I never thought of using it to torch the turkey! Oh well, at least my way uses lots of butter!
It says specifically that you pour it over chicken and simmer, but you mix it into meatloaf, and claims that whatever is in it eliminates the need to mix in bread crumbs, eggs, and spices. Better living through chemistry, baby!
To me it sounds like those simmer sauces you can buy (or could buy anyway) like Chicken tonight. You poured them over chicken, but they weren’t gravy.
Damn you !
Now I’ll have that darn “theme song” from that commercial running through my head all day and visions of people doing the chicken dance while singing it.
Some things from the past should just stay there.