Category: food

My sister sent me Make It Fast, Cook It Slow: The Big Book of Everyday Slow Cooking for Christmas.  This is a cookbook written by Stephanie O’Dea, who challenged herself to use the slow cooker every day in 2008, and documented the results at her web log, A Year of Slow Cooking.  I handed the book and a notepad to Jack asking him to write down the page numbers of a few recipes he would like me to try making.  He filled the sheet of paper with page numbers.

So far we have had Beans and Rice, Tortilla Soup, Bread Pudding and Fish Chowder.  All the recipes have been good, and the Fish Chowder is outstanding. (I used cod as the white fish.)  I have increased some of the seasonings from what was recommended in the book, but have otherwise followed the recipes pretty closely.  I like cooking, but tend to like doing it early in the day, so using a slow cooker is ideal for me.  Not only do I recommend this cookbook, I plan to buy the sequel.

Simply Recipes has a method of testing how well done meat is by pressing on various parts of the hand: The Finger Test to Check the Doneness of Meat | Simply Recipes.  I think I will stick with a temperature probe for the Thanksgiving turkey.

This recipe for  Hungarian Goulash from an ancient Cutco cookbook  is a favorite from my childhood.

An Irish Chef talks about Irish Soda Bread at Irish soda bread: Not actually Irish? – TODAY Food and wine.

We’ve recently discovered that our waffle maker does a good job of cooking thick cut bacon as well.  (This is yet another Alton Brown suggestion.) Our maker turns out flat, crispy bacon in about six minutes.  If you want more ways to use your waffle maker, go to the Waffleizer, a weblog devoted to alternate uses for a waffle iron.

This weekend, Jack made an Alton Brown pasta recipe, Cracker Noodle Do, that incorporated two of Paula Deans four food groups:  crackers and butter.  It was very tasty with a little grated parmesan added.  Jack has started watching Alton Brown’s show on the Food Network.  Be afraid,  be very afraid.

Jack received a copy of  Alton Brown’s Good Eats – The Early Years from my sister for Christmas.  The poor guy didn’t even know who Alton Brown is.  We also received some Omaha Steaks from a friend.  So New Year’s Eve Jack prepared the first application in the book:  Pan Seared Rib Eye Recipe : Alton Brown : Food Network. The steak was wonderful. (I plan on reading the cookbook myself when Jack stops fondling it.)

In a series of graphs, The New York Times shows the frequency of requests of various recipes in various parts of the United States at Allrecipes.com:  What’s Cooking on Thanksgiving.