The Ultimate Recipe Thread!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
141

Oysters on the Half Shell
Ingredients:

1 Dozen small oysters
1 Cup rock salt
3 Lemons
Preparation:

Wash the oysters in cold water. If any of them remain open during this process, discard them. Use a flat blade screwdriver to open the oysters. Look at the back of the oyster’s shell, you will see the “hinge”. There should be an overhanging bit of shell at the hinge. Insert the screwdriver at this point and gently, but firmly twist the screwdriver blade. Do not push hard on the screwdriver, you will merely stab yourself. You will feel the hinge start to give. Continue to twist until the shells part. Be careful not to spill the “liquor” from inside the shell. With your hands, pry apart the two shells. Use a semi sharp knife to cut the adductor muscle and release the oyster from its shell. Slide the oyster into a small bowl and continue the process until all of the oysters are shucked. Be careful to avoid any shell fragments or sand that may be inside the shell.

Now that you have the oysters shucked, carefully wash all of the shells after draining any liquor in them into the bowl. Save the deeply cupped side of the shell for serving purposes. Scrape away any remaining adductor muscle from the shell and rinse once more. Spread the rock salt evenly across a plate or serving platter. Nestle the shells into the rock salt, being careful to avoid getting any of the salt into them. Use a spoon to ladle a single oyster into each shell. Spoon out some of the liquor into each shell and watch carefully for any grit that may be in the bottom of the bowl. Squeeze some lemon juice onto each oyster and start slurping.
Note: For an Asian accent, try a little Mirin (sweet rice wine) mixed with lemon juice and some finely minced scallion (white part only). I had this once and it made for quite a refreshing change up.
Please contribute a recipe and come back soon!

142

Here’s one of my favorite oyster recipes – simple and yummy:

OYSTER STEW

Two cold-pack jars of fresh oysters
1 tablespoon of butter
A few slivers of garlic
Quart of whole milk
Salt to taste
Cayenne pepper to taste

Bring the milk slowly to the scalding point in a big saucepan. In the meantime, melt the butter in a medium skillet, saute the garlic in it, and cut the oysters into the skillet, using a kitchen shears (this way you won’t lose any juice; also, reserve the juice in the jars). Saute the oysters until just plumped and curled around the edges, dump them into the milk, and add the reserved oyster liquor from the oyster jars. Salt the stew to taste and add a shake or two of cayenne.

Homemade garlic bread is the accompaniment of choice with this, and a good chardonnay.

143

I have long loathed the poor quality Shrimp cocktails I must often suffer through. Here’s how to do it right:

NO TIGER SHRIMP

You want large or Jumbo Shrimp. ALL Shrimp (Except for my special saource) are frozen at least once. If you buy prepared shrimp chances are they’ve been frozen, thawed and froze again. This is not good.

Peel your shrimp first while you are boiling water. Grab all the legs at once and pull, then peel the shell off. Butterfly at least the first couple of shrimp and see if they have that long black icky intestine thing. If they do, they’ve recently fed and you should butterfly them all. If they don’t you can get away with out it. I Butterfly all my shrimp. T’ain’t no big thing, Bronco.

When your water is boiling, throw your shrimp in. Let the water come back to a boil and let them boil for 2 or 3 minutes. Total cooking time should be well under 5 minutes. Do not cook them into rubber!

Immediately run ice cold water in the pot and continue running it to stop the cooking process. When all the heat is gone add ice, and let them sit.

Take iceberg lettuce, cover the bottom of a plate, and break the rest into chunks. Put ketchup in a bowl in the center of plate. You will you Heinz ketchup, or I will find you. You will find FRESH Horseradish (check the date for chrissake,) or better yet a horseradish root that you grind up yourself. You will add a lot of this to the ketchup. You really can’t have too much in my opinion. Then you will stir.

Don’t just heap the shrimp on the plate, arrange them artfully with ice and lemon slices to keep them happy. A good shrimp cocktail is heavenly. Anything less is unforgivable.

144

Select your clams carefully. No chowder clams, the smaller the better. Littlenecks are particularly good.

Look at these clams before you buy them. Are any of them open? If they are that means they are dead. You should run away. Eating a bad clam is one of my top 3 worst things that you can do to yourself. You will truly want to die.

(If you are curious #1 is to set yourself on fire, #2 is to fall off a motorcycle)

Once you have secured fresh clams, get a large pot with a cover. Add one inch of water, and bring to a rolling boil.

Begin melting butter (Hotel Bar Butter is by far the best with Land O lakes a distant second, lightly salted please.)

Add clams and cover. After a minute or so open the lid and see if any clams have opened. Once they open they are done. Remove them with tongs. If after several minutes all but one or two clams are done, you are probably best to regard the remaining clams with suspicion. If they don’t want to open, Fuck 'em. You don’t want to get sick.

Serve immediately. Remove with fork and dip in butter.

145

Zenster said:

"How to make a Roux:

                     Over low heat, melt the butter in a sauce pan and add the flour. Stir well until completely mixed. If the roux is too dry, add some more
                     butter. If it is too wet, add more flour. The final mixture should not run in the pan and yet still be semi-liquid. Allow mixture to cook for
                     about fifteen minutes. The flour should begin to brown and have a nutlike aroma. Continue to stir and make sure it is not sticking to the
                     bottom of the pan. Once the flour has taken on a tawny color, shut off the heat and allow the roux to "relax" for another ten to fifteen
                     minutes. This is a critical step whereby the flour granules "bloom" and lose their gritty texture."

#1 Butter can’t stand up to the heat necessary to make a roux this way. It breaks down and your roux is inferior. You really can’t even attempt a dark roux in this fashion. If you want to do it this way, substitute Peanut oil for butter, and use a wisk.

#2 How to make a real roux.

Chop a ton of onions, bell peppers, celery very fine. Melt a small amount of butter in a very large pan (Yeah, I know what I just said about butter, but this is different. The natural oils in the veggies merge with the butter and defend the end product from breakdown.)

Add the vegetable and cook slowly. They will turn translucent and produce a lot of water. Keept cooking, stirring frequently. Low heat, take your time. The water will boil away. The veggies will begin to darken. Keep cooking. The veggies will begin to break down. Keep stirring.

Eventually you will end up with almost a pastelike consistency. If you’ve burned anything, throw it away, and start again. While stirring, slowly cook this mass until it darkens to the color you want.

It will be rich and creamy, and nutty smelling, and wonderfully flavorful. It will be far superior to flour and well worth the effort. This is a real roux. Anything else is a pale imitation.

146

for Hallowe’en in Ireland. It’s tasty just about any time. The cooking time is a little off - or maybe my oven - start checking it at one hour. It should come out about the texture of banana bread.

BARM BRACK(TRADITIONAL IRISH BREAD)
Amount Measure Ingredient – Preparation Method

2 1/2 c Mixed dry fruit–currants>>>
Dark & golden raisins.
1 c Boiling black tea
1 ea Egg
1 t Mixed spice (see note*)
4 ts Marmalade
1 c (heaping)superfine sugar
2 1/2 c Self-rising flour

 Place dried fruit in a bowl, cover with the hot tea

and let soak overnight. The next day, add the
remaining ingreds. and mix well. Preheat oven to 375
F. Pour batten into greased 7" square pan and bake in
the center of oven for 1 1/2 hrs. Let cool in the pan
on awire rack. Slice and serve buttered with tea.

 NOTE* (Mixed spices: equal parts of cinnamon,

clove, nutmeg, allspice, and mace.

The term “barmbrack” for an Irish fruit loaf or cake does not derive from barm or leaven. It is a corruption of the Irish word “aran breac” (Speckled Bread).

147

Drunken Beans

Ingredients
[ul]
[li]1 pound dried pinto beans[/li][li]1 large white onion[/li][li]2 tablespoons lard or vegetable oil[/li][li]2 fresh epazote* sprigs or 1 teaspoon dried epazote, crumbled, if desired[/li][li]1 teaspoon salt[/li][li]6 bacon slices[/li][li]2 cups tomato salsa[/li][li]1/2 cup beer[/li][/ul]

Method
Pick over beans. In a large bowl soak beans in cold water to cover by 2 inches for 1 day.

Drain beans and halve onion. In a 5-quart kettle simmer beans, lard or oil, onion, and epazote, if using, in water to cover by 2 inches, covered, 45 minutes, or until beans are almost tender. Add salt and simmer beans until just tender, about 15 minutes more. Beans may be prepared up to this point 2 days ahead and chilled in cooking liquid, covered. Drain beans in a colander.

Chop bacon and in a large heavy skillet cook over moderate heat, stirring, until browned. Add beans, salsa, beer, and salt to taste and cook, stirring, until most of liquid evaporates, about 10 minutes. Beans may be made 2 hours ahead and kept at cool room temperature. Reheat beans before serving.

  • Epazote has a flavor similar to coriander. It is also called Mexican tea or wormseed. It is found dried in Mexican specialty stores and since it’s a carminative it works to reduce gas.
148

UncaBeer,

Between our beer foods we could have a hell of a beer party!

< Miss Molson Ice – not really >

149

UncleBeer’s Hobo Stew

Ingredients
[/list]
[li]1 ½ Pounds of ground chuck[/li][li]4 good sized carrots[/li][li]2 good sized potatoes[/li][li]1 medium onion[/li][li]½ pound fresh mushrooms[/li][li]2 cans of Campbell’s cream of chicky soup, do not add any liquid[/li][li]coarse ground pepper, oregano, basil and chopped garlic to taste[/li][/list]

Method
Peel carrots (and potatoes if you wish).
Cut carrots and potatoes into bite size chunks.
Dice onion.
Boil above until tender (carrots take longest).

Press ground chuck on the bottom and sides of ungreased large casserole dish.
Layer vegetables, mushrooms, spices and soup in dish, reserving some soup for the top.

Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes (or until beef looks done) uncovered.
Spoon excess grease off.

150

Techchick, we used to make ckicken that way also, except we just punched a couple small holes in the top of the can, and drained some of it. The smaller holes cause the steam to to emerge more rapidly and the chicken to jiggle around a bit. Hence the name we gave it, dancing chicken.

151

Or, an alternate method which produces wonderful results:

Stolen shamelessly from Alton Brown’s show “Good Eats”.

Step 1:
1 lb Large Shrimp (20-25 count, tops.), shells ON and deveined. You can devein them yourself, but it’s a pain, since the shells MUST be left on, or you can buy these, usually stuck with the unfortunate label “E-Z Peel shrimp”. DO NOT REMOVE SHELL!!!

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup kosher salt
enough water to cover shrimp
some ice cubes

Mix salt/sugar/water/ice and allow shrimp to soak in mixture for 20 minutes. Rinse shrimp and pat dry.

Step 2:
Put a cookie sheet in the freezer

Step 3:
Put a (different) cookie sheet under the broiler, turn oven up as high as it’ll go.

Step 4:
1/2 of a small can chopped tomatoes, drained (or fresh, chopped tomatoes)
1/2 jar of Chili Sauce (Heinz is especially good)
Pinch sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Minimum of 3 Tablespoons of Prepared Horseradish (more if you want it hotter.)
Salt and pepper to taste

Dump all ingredients into a food processor and pulse until corsely ground. The sauce should have some texture. Use more Chili Sauce if you want it sweeter.

Step 5:
Put a bit of oil in the bowl (about 1 teaspoon. Enough to barely coat shrimp). Add some Old Bay Seasoning and toss until all shrimp are well coated

Step 6:
Working quickly, put shrimp on preheated cookie sheet in a single layer. Broil for a maximum of two minutes. Turn shrimp and broil for another two minutes. As soon as shrimp are done, put shrimp onto cold pan and put in freezer for 3 or 4 minutes to stop them from cooking. Move to fridge and chill.

Serve (with shell on) as per Scylla’s instructions.

Fenris

152

Uncle Beer, Sassy and Fenris. Thank you all for dropping by with such great recipes. Your beans with the epazote are mui authentico there Unca Beer! All of your recipes sound delightful and I look forward to trying some of them. Drop by again, real soon!

153

Chicken Fried Steak

Preparation time: 30 Minutes

Serves: 2 People
Ingredients:
1-2 Lbs Top pound or sirloin steak
2 Eggs
1/2-3/4 Cup of flour
2 Tbs Water, milk or cream
1/2 Cube Butter or lard
1/2 Tbs Salt
1/2 Tbs Ground black pepper
1/2 Tsp Ground paprika
1/2 Tsp Onion powder
1/4 Tsp Garlic powder
1/4 Tsp Cayenne pepper
Dash of Sage powder
Dash of Cumin powder
Dash of Ground celery seed
Preparation:

The most authentic way to make a chicken fried steak is to serrate the meat yourself. The “cubed” steaks that you get in the store will suffice if you are pressed for time but the results will not be nearly as good. To serrate your meat, use a sharp knife to make deep slices in the meat that do not cut all of the way through the piece. The slices should be about 1/8" apart and be made all across the meat in one direction, preferably crossing the grain on the diagonal. Turn over the meat and make the same cuts going at right angles to the slices on the other side of the piece. When you are finished the meat should almost expand like a lattice work when picked up.

Mix the flour, salt and pepper together. Dredge the serrated meat in the flour on both sides. Be sure to open up the serration in the meat in order to allow the dredge to penetrate into the cuts. This is accomplished by allowing the meat to “roll” into the flour, thus opening the serration. Place the dredged meat on waxed paper and allow it to rest for at least 5-10 minutes before proceeding.

Crack the eggs into a dish and add the water, milk or cream. I usually use milk. I know that this tightens the egg mixture, but I like the added richness it gives to the crust. Beat the eggs well and remove any parts of the egg white that have not broken up using a fork.

Warm a skillet over low heat. Add all of the other spices to the dredging flour. Add half of the butter or lard to the skillet and wait for it to melt. Dredge the steak in the flour and spice mixture once more and then into the egg wash. Run the washed steak through the flour again and place in the pan. Turn up the heat to medium low. The steak should not cook too quickly. You want to form a nice golden brown crust on each side without cooking the steak past medium rare. Add the remaining butter or lard to the pan before turning the steaks, or if the pan goes dry at any point. Deep frying is also perfectly acceptable if you have a fryer in your kitchen. Use lard for the most authentic results.
Note: This should be served with a country gravy and cat head biscuits. Other posters, please provide your favorite versions of these recipes. One of the more authentic chicken fried steak recipes called for working the dredge into the steak with the edge of a plate. Your mileage may vary.
Please contribute a recipe and come back soon!

154

Disclaimer: I cook by the “what looks and/or tastes right” method. I hope all the proportions listed here work. YMMV…if the ingredients that you have available don’t match exactly the portions I have listed, don’t sweat it. Experiment.

Beef with Broccoli

1lb. flank steak
3-4 moderate sized broccoli crowns
6oz. can sliced water chestnuts
6oz. can sliced bamboo shoots
6 or 7 cloves of garlic
1-inch cube or so fresh ginger
1 8 oz. bottle of stir-fry sauce (doesn’t really matter what kind, you’re going to liven it up. Kikkoman has some pre-made sauces that should work.)
2-3oz. soy sauce
1-2oz. rice wine vinegar
3-4tbs. corn starch or arrow root
6oz sesame oil, the darker, the better
a lot of vegetable oil (you’ll see)

Prepare the sauce: Finely dice the garlic and put into a plastic mixing bowl large enough to hold the stir-fry sauce, vinegar, and soy sauce. Finely dice the ginger. Add the soy and vinegar, and let steep for 10-15 minutes. Add the stir-fry sauce and about half of the sesame oil. Mix thoroughly. Try to beat the oil into the mixture as much as possible. Taste the sauce and adjust accordingly: add more soy if you like it salty, add more vinegar if you like it tart, or you can add some sugar dissolved in a small amount of water if you like it sweeter. Set the sauce aside. In a separate small bowl or cup, mix the cornstarch or arrow root with a small amount of water. Add just enough water to make the mixture pourable.

Prepare the meat and vegetables: Take the flank steak, and with a good, sharp knife (I use a Japanese cleaver made for slicing meat), cut down and diagonally across the grain of the meat. Aim for roughly 1x2" slices of meat. Cut the broccoli into spears. Size them according to preference. I sometimes also skin and slice the stems as well, but most of the time they end up as delicious casualties of cooking. :slight_smile: Open the bamboo and chestnut cans and drain them.

The actual cooking: I hope you have a good sized wok (preferably with a lid), you’ll need it. You are going to flash-fry the meat. This sears the outside of the meat and seals it, so that a smaller amount of the meats juices escape, leaving the meat tender and avoiding contaminating the sauce.

Put enough vegetable oil into the wok so that it will completely cover the meat when added. Heat the wok until the oil is almost to the point of smoking. Add the meat, and try not to splash too much. I use a wire mesh ladle type implement to lower the meat into the wok, and remove it.

The hot oil will react violently with the moisture in the meat, so there will be oil drops being spit out of the wok, be careful.

Move the meat around in the wok to ensure that it doesn’t clump together and leave surfaces uncooked. The meat should be left in the wok for a maximum of about 70-90 seconds. Remove it quickly and try not to let any pieces stay in the oil too long. Put the meat on a plate, and set it aside. You will finish cooking it later.

The leftover oil will be contaminated with meat juices, so I usually just pour it out.

Rinse out the wok and stick it back on the stove. Add the rest of the sesame oil and let it heat up. When the oil is nice and hot, toss in the broccoli. Mix the broccoli around so it is coated with the oil. Add a bit of water and cover the wok for a minute or two. Stir the broccoli again and cover for another minute or so. Add the chestnuts and bamboo, stir, and cover for another 30 seconds. Remove the vegetables from heat and set them aside. The broccoli will be bright green and should be not quite cooked all the way.

By this time, the meat has probably drained off most of the oil and some juices. Drain the liquid and throw it away.

Rinse out the wok and find the sauce you made earlier. If the oil has separated, mix it back in. Heat up the wok and pour in all of your sauce mixture. Heat the sauce until it is bubbling on the edges. Make sure you are stirring constantly; the oil in the sauce will help to keep it from burning, but don’t take any chances.

Add the starch mixture. If the starch has separated, mix it again before adding. After adding the starch, the sauce will take on a milky color. Keep stirring briskly, it will thicken quickly. As it thickens, it will lose the milky color. Don’t worry about the sauce’s thickness; it will thin up after you add the vegetables.

When the sauce is nice and thick, add the meat. Stir in the meat quickly, ensuring it is coated thoroughly. This is where the meat will finish cooking. Let the meat cook for another minute or two, all the time stirring vigorously. Add the vegetables and coat them as well, letting the whole mixture cook for another minute. Remove the wok from heat.

I serve straight from the wok on a bed of sticky rice. Serve as you will, rice noodles are tasty as well.

I was going to post the recipe I have for Tortilla Soup, but I can’t find my copy. I’ll have to get it from my friend again…[grumble]…

155

Excellent post Demise! The only thing that I would do different is to silk the meat per my post here on page three. Other than that, your recipe sounds wonderful. Try silking the meat sometime and you will see what I mean. Please post your tortilla soup recipe soon!

156

I saw your post on silking, and that was the first thing that sprang to mind. :slight_smile: I will definitely try it.

157

I posted this in Ike’s “I Bought Lard” thread, but Zenster thought it should be here too. So here it is:

Almond Cakes

1 cup lard (You could use half shortening)
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup ground almonds
1 egg
1 to 2 tablespoons almond extract
3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
yellow food coloring (if you must, but why?)

Garnish: 1 egg yolk mixed with 1 teaspoon water
almond halves

Preheat oven to 325 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Cream the shortening with the white sugar and ground almonds. Stir in egg and almond extract (add more extract if you like a pronounced flavor). Add dry ingredients (and coloring).

Form into lumps the size of golf balls. Place on baking sheet in well spaced rows. Press lumps lightly, just to flatten, with the bottom of a drinking glass.

Paint tops with egg yolk and water mixture. Place an almond half on each cookie (optional). Bake until cookies look set - 15 to 20 minutes.

158

The Chicken-Fried steak left me salivating. Last week I made Carnitas, this Friday will be chicken-fried steak.
After eating it and being forced into the mandatory Cardiac rehab program you may wish to give this tasty and healthy recipe a try:

Salmon meatballs:

Grind a pound or two of fresh salmon (or force your butcher to do it)

In a mixing bowl combine:

Salmon
one or two egg whites
Italian bread crumbs (or make your own by drying out home made garlic bread in the oven and crumbling it)
finely chopped garlic
finely chopped onion
parsley
oregano
salt
black pepper
Roll into smallish balls, fry lightly in a 1/4 in. olive oil

Roll into sauce with fresh unbreaded calamari rings and cook 20 minutes. Serve over angel hair pasta.

Sauce:

You may have your secret tomato sauce, use that. Don’t buy Ragu. Make your own. Fresh tomatos are excellent, tomato paste will do. Use a little sugar, use sauteed vegetables. Use lots of garlic and onions. For this recipe use white wine. Taste it often. You’ll do good. (Oregano, oregano, oregano.)

159

There used to be a Chinese food dish, that can no longer be found in the incarnation I want. I loved this dish, and can’t quite duplicate it. Anyone recognize the following dish and have a recipe? The dish?
Shrimp with (Crispy) Walnuts
Let me describe the varient I’m looking for.

It’s not the current vomit-like concotion of tempura shrimp and raw walnuts served with a heated sauce made from Miracle Whip, Oranges and Soy Sauce. Three resturants in town are serving this abortion of a dish. <retch>

It’s not Cashew/Almond Shrimp with Walnuts substituting for the Cashews/Almonds

The sauce is a brown sauce, very dark, like you’d get in Beef with Broccoli, not the lighter brown sauce you’d get in Cashew Shrimp.

The shrimp are very lighly battered and deep fried quickly (the post about “silking” is almost certainly what was done with the shrimp.)

The walnuts are just strange. They’ve got an almost-but-not-quite burnt sugar coating on them and are so crispy (but NOT burnt) that they almost crumble when you bite into them. They’re simultaniously sweet and bitter (from the nearly burned sugar, I presume)

I’d be pathetically grateful if anyone knows and could post an authentic recipe for this dish.

I have tried to duplicate it and haven’t been able to and I’ve looked in literally hundreds of cookbooks in the library, on the net and in used bookstores without finding the recipe.

Um…if requests aren’t allowed: Sorry, disregard this post and it won’t happen again. This is a great thread and I don’t want to hijack it.

Fenris

160

Fenris, requests are most definitely allowed. This is one of the primary functions of this thread. I’ll see if there is a recipe for the shrimp with candied walnuts in my “Thousand Recipe” Chinese cookbook. Thanks for inquiring. Post soon and often!