To Serve Man - It's a Cookbook!

[Mazder]

Omg that is so dark!

The dark one in the picture should be called "Midnight Lagoon".

Its got blood orange in it, its called Blood Magic!

I would be willing to settle for 'Black Blood', but only if it also means an official sponsorship from CD Projekt Red.

Oooohh that's also good!

[TheodoricFriede]

Once again, did not reach the clarity I would have liked, but this is my Raspberry mead.

IMG_20201027_010457.jpg

This was before I learned you could add pectic enzyme to help clarify the wine. Its also before learned not to use Champagne yeast. (its been in production since May) As a result its dryer than i would like, and could use a touch more sweetness.

That being said, the Raspberry Flavor is very pronounced, which is what I was hoping for. Its not the best I have made, nor the worst. It should improve with age, as they all do. Ultimately, I would consider it a success.

Alas, I now have no mead currently in production. I'll need to get some honey again soon.

[TheodoricFriede]

I made freedom bread.

IMG_20201109_023537.jpg

Its a lot like French bread, but better, because its American.

[SciFlyBoy]

Looks wonderful! How did it come out?

That's one hard cheese, what was it?

When I was a kid I used to dunk my Fr...American bread in a glass of milk.

[TheodoricFriede]

It wasn't bad. I feel like i could have done better, but it tasted right.

That cheese is Mimolette. It is my favorite.

[SciFlyBoy]

Wow, that's an interesting looking cheese. What's its taste and texture like?

[TheodoricFriede]

Wow, that's an interesting looking cheese. What's its taste and texture like?

Very hard. A sort of nutty, salty flavor. its somewhere between Cheddar and Parmesan.

It literally gets its flavor from enzymes cheese mites release as they eat away at the outside. Which is why you can see I cut away the 'crust'.

Its delicious though. My favorite cheese.

[Alienmorph]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MAB-VVqjOE

Came across this channel that does old timey recipes, and they had a video about making mead. Felt like it might be of interest.

[TheodoricFriede]

So a fun little side note ( I haven't watched the video, I will later)
...Viking mead is garbage.


They had no idea what they were doing. Their mead recipes are notoriously low quality, and often result in a product that needs to be aged for years to be drinkable, rather than months.

[Alienmorph]

Yeah, I believe that's the one. Thought it would be interesting anyway. But yeah, I don't drink, but even I know you don't exactly get high quality booze with just a few days of fermentation.

[TheodoricFriede]

You can actually get a decent alcohol by volume fairly quickly. But it would taste like paint thinner.

The aging process lets the yeast drop out, and the honey flavor to develop.

[TheodoricFriede]

Yeah I'm only a few seconds into the video and seeing 'mead' that cloudy really hurts my soul in some ways.

That would be real rough to drink.

Also never boil your product, it means it will take way longer to age.

Oh god 5 days?!

this would be UUUUUUUNDRINKABLE

[Vol]

I had some leftover cheddar on its last legs, so I decided to learn how to make a cheese sauce.

Roux->Bechamel->Add cheese and pepper

The lesson learned here, besides those simple steps, is that mild cheddar is a very poor choice for a cheese sauce. And a cheese in general.

[Mazder]

I had some leftover cheddar on its last legs, so I decided to learn how to make a cheese sauce.

Roux->Bechamel->Add cheese and pepper

The lesson learned here, besides those simple steps, is that mild cheddar is a very poor choice for a cheese sauce. And a cheese in general.

I mean I am not one of the types to like blue cheeses because they taste like vomit and it sets off my emetophobia, but why do people ever go below strong Cheddar?
Why?
You're just eating solid semi-skimmed/2% milk.
Why bother?!?!

[Vol]

I'm fairly sure I didn't buy that cheese, in my defense. I cannot imagine ever consciously buying a mild cheddar. Though I do enjoy bleu cheese, so I tend towards the stronger stuff anyway.

Not my fault!

[Mazder]

I'm fairly sure I didn't buy that cheese, in my defense. I cannot imagine ever consciously buying a mild cheddar. Though I do enjoy bleu cheese, so I tend towards the stronger stuff anyway.

Not my fault!

You are forgiven.
THIS TIME!

[TheodoricFriede]

On the topic of cheese, I have started using Queso Fresco instead of standard grocery store shredded cheese whenever I make Tacos or Fajitas.
Turns out its way better.

Also the above conversation reminded me that there is an excellent cheddar by the name of Coastal, which is apparently made in the UK, that I can never find, but always want. There's not enough fucking cheese shops in Houston.

[Mazder]

On the topic of cheese, I have started using Queso Fresco instead of standard grocery store shredded cheese whenever I make Tacos or Fajitas.
Turns out its way better.

Also the above conversation reminded me that there is an excellent cheddar by the name of Coastal, which is apparently made in the UK, that I can never find, but always want. There's not enough fucking cheese shops in Houston.

Apparently it's made in Dorchester.

I'd imagine the Queso Fresco would be a very close cheese to mozzarellas and stuff?
Stuff that'd give the good old "cheese string"?

Also apparently pre shredded cheese has some sort of anti coagulant on it to stop it pressing back together, so that might also be ruining it's melty factor. Or so I have heard.

[TheodoricFriede]

I'd imagine the Queso Fresco would be a very close cheese to mozzarellas and stuff?
Stuff that'd give the good old "cheese string"?

Kind of? It is, as its name suggests, a fresh cows cheese that has been salted and pressed into a brick. It crumbles easily, and has a spongy, springy, texture. For as simple as it is, however, its really quite good.

I have to stop myself from eating it by the brick.

[SciFlyBoy]

Been making more meat pies recently. Add to that trying to get the pie crust routine down to a science; flour, butter, salt and just the right amount of cold water. Oh, I also add thyme to make it more savory. Innards are the bits of meat and vegetables with a thick sauce. One recipe called for English beer, but I used cooing wine. It's coming out alright, however I might need more filling for all the crust I make.

[SciFlyBoy]

in Denmark...

Hey TTTX, my mentor bought me a bottle of Den Originale Remoulade. He said it's the most Danish thing he could think of to get me. How should I use it?

[TheodoricFriede]

Well, I'm not Danish, but as I understand its a bit like Bearnaise sauce. so... on steak?

[TTTX]

Hey TTTX, my mentor bought me a bottle of Den Originale Remoulade. He said it's the most Danish thing he could think of to get me. How should I use it?
*snip*

You are asking the wrong guy when it comes to food, I have condition which limits what I can eat (like by a lot), but I did ask my grandmother.

it's generally used with meat and sometimes with certain fish dishes, like (what we call fiskefilet and I will use google translate of danish stuff I'm unsure of is spelled in english) fish fillet or (fiskepinde) fish sticks, as for the meat well if you like (pålæg) cold cuts you can use on there to give it some more extra flavor or with sausages, similar to what you do with ketchup and you can use as some decoration on various of meat.

[SciFlyBoy]

So if I have a fried cutlet, either fish or like a croquet, I would use it on top of that. Like tartar sauce to a fish stick? I think I'll experiment with cuts of meat, like salami and crackers.

[TTTX]

So if I have a fried cutlet, either fish or like a croquet, I would use it on top of that. Like tartar sauce to a fish stick? I think I'll experiment with cuts of meat, like salami and crackers.

I think so.

I said I'm far from an expert when it comes to food, I mean I eat the same stuff 2-3 times a day and basically can't eat much else at least not without throwing up.

Edit: Used google translate and Tartar sauce what the bottle contains.

[SciFlyBoy]

I said I'm far from an expert when it comes to food, I mean I eat the same stuff 2-3 times a day and basically can't eat much else at least not without throwing up.

Edit: Used google translate and Tartar sauce what the bottle contains.

I have a 'Live to Eat' dietary life style. I can't imagine being extremely limited in my choices. What foods are you limited to? You have to avoid vinegar, am I right? Or maybe someone else here does. Someone here can't eat vinegar.

[TTTX]

I have a 'Live to Eat' dietary life style. I can't imagine being extremely limited in my choices. What foods are you limited to? You have to avoid vinegar, am I right? Or maybe someone else here does. Someone here can't eat vinegar.

I have mental condition that prevent me from eating close to every food known to man at least not without throwing up (sometimes even the smell is enough to make me feel sick, spices in particular is terrible for me, and it even goes as far as to where I buy the food and where it comes from, you know the brand).

I basically eat Sandwich bread without crusts with some (pålægschokolade) lay on chocolate on top, a piece of cucumber, a piece of (kødpølse) meat sausage (from a butcher, because I hate the store bought stuff), a bit of very mild cheese (Can't remember the name of it), with a glass of either (sødmælk) whole milk or just plain water, I can't drink much else, because the mental thing affects what I drink too, this is pretty much what I eat every single day as side from my afternoon coffee where I take some sweet stuff that I can eat.

Some other things I also eat and drink generally in the morning and afternoon, is some mild coffee with some whole milk and sugar in the morning and afternoon, two eggs in the morning one hard boiled and one soft-boiled for the protein, some cookies for my afternoon coffee I get from a special barker, some after eight chocolate for my afternoon coffee, sometimes I eat a rye bread without seeds liver pâté and some pieces of banana on top to make taste slightly better with my afternoon coffee, a vitamin pill (that I can chew, because I can't swallow things whole) with the afternoon coffee because I need it to survive, a banana with my dinner along with some chocolate called marabou milk chocolate.
I can also eat a single red hotdog without anything, or some spaghetti, or even some softice when the mood strike me which isn't often.
I also drink chamomile tea (with milk and sugar) when I'm sick, because I can't well swallow pills for the same reason as I can't eat other food.

I think that's everything, I don't eat anything else or drink anything else and it's to late to do anything about it (mostly because when I was born this mental condition wasn't discovered until recently and it didn't pop up inside of me until I was like 4).

[SciFlyBoy]

That sounds rough. You have a variety of food that is small, but it seems tasty none the less. It reminds me of when I was loosing weight with my diet, I really only ate a couple of things throughout my day not counting dinner.

I hear your rye bread is the best in the world there.

[TTTX]

That sounds rough. You have a variety of food that is small, but it seems tasty none the less. It reminds me of when I was loosing weight with my diet, I really only ate a couple of things throughout my day not counting dinner.

I hear your rye bread is the best in the world there.

I have come to accept it most of the time. I have done my best to make sure my food taste the best or else it would be boring to eat everyday.

It depends on where you buy it, me personally I buy from a local baker near where I live, things in general seems to taste better when you buy it from small stores, bakers or butchers, even when I can't eat most of what they sell, it generally smell pretty great.

[SciFlyBoy]

Burns Supper is today? I thought it was supposed to be tomorrow. Oh well, I grabbed a can of Haggis from my local English import store and will have 'Haggis with Neeps and Taties' for super tomorrow. Made it last year with beef haggis and it was mighty delicious. This year I grabbed a can of the real stuff, lamb byproducts. Yup.

I will boil the rutabaga longer this year, usually they take longer than potatoes to cook, but I'll make sure they're both perfectly done this time before I mash them together. I'll share pics.

[SciFlyBoy]

Haggis with potatoes and rutabaga. I roasted a cabbage quarter and it was all very nice. The haggis cooked up like a chorizo would if you're familiar with that. It was savory, had a nice spice and the mashed roots made an excellent balance. I made sure to fry it in a pan until it had nice brown bits in it.

[SciFlyBoy]

And not to outdo my dinner, but this might be the best looking breakfast sandwich I made in a long time. Round buns tend to please the camera.
The layers were from the bottom; Grilled Kaiser roll, cooked onions and jalapenos, colby cheese, duck bacon, tater tots, more cheese, fried egg, top bun.

[Vol]

That is mighty heavy for breakfast, but looks neat and lovely. Expensive too! Where do you even get duck bacon?

[SciFlyBoy]

That is mighty heavy for breakfast, but looks neat and lovely. Expensive too! Where do you even get duck bacon?

It wasn't too heavy, only one egg and maybe 8-9 tater tots, 1/4 cup of onion and so on. But the trick to getting free duck bacon is to make lots of smoked meats for your family in hopes they buy you some for your birthday. In this case they got it for my from D'artagnon which I just found out is in NJ. https://www.dartagnan.com/ Really it's cold hickory smoked duck breast, then sliced up. Duck at my local store is $2 per pound, rather on the cheap side when it comes to lbs of meat if I want to make it on my own. However I've never cold smoked anything before.

[Vol]

Those are actually very reasonable prices on that site. Normally when I see "truffles," "foie gras," and "charcuterie," I know I've stepped beyond my class. Might give these folks a try later in the year.

What do you aim for, calorie-wise, for breakfast?

[SciFlyBoy]

What do you aim for, calorie-wise, for breakfast?

Uhhhhhhhh...on a good day, like when I go out to work, I have a half cup of steeped rolled oats with a small handful of blueberries. That's well under 200 calories. That's the smallest I go. Breakfast is my most favorite and most creative meal of the day. If I'm home and there's an egg somewhere in the house I'm making something substantial with it. Biggest I usually go is a sandwich because it's twice as much bread as an open-faced breakfast sandwich, which is just the scrambled egg mixture with fixings on a piece of toast. No toast then I'm looking for a potato of some sort. Boil it then fry it in a pan and put scrambled eggs on top. Or cut it up, bake in and put it with boiled eggs. Basically if someone buys tortillas there's breakfast burritos in my future.

One of my staples (there are like 12 of them) is boiled eggs and sausage with some sort of potato (french fries from the oven, tater tots, hashed, baked, boiled, whatever) with a little butter, cheese and herbs. Then you add in a little of water the eggs and sausage was boiled in and mix it all up in a bowl. Damn good.

And all well over 200 calories.

[Ragabul]

So we have this tradition of buying weird international fruit & vegetables for the heck of it whenever they show up in the grocery store. The last couple of times we went they had these weird things:



They are called mamey sapotes and are like big, weird orange avocados in terms of looks and texture and they taste like a strange cross between a papaya and a sweet potato. They are okay raw and better if you put a bunch of honey and cinnamon on them and bake them.

They are *really* good blended up with yogurt into a smoothie.

They are *killer* baked in a pie. (I don't do the cooking around here but I'm proud to say the mamey sapote pie was my idea). Anyway, basically do them as you would a pumpkin pie but use way less sugar. They are naturally very sweet.

We also got some of these:



Golden Berries. I had some of these a long time ago and my memory was "meh." They must have just not been in season or something because the ones we got this time were really good. They are very tangy.

[Mazder]

Well I just applied for a job at a local bank I don't even bank with. Let's see how that goes.

[Vol]

It is remarkable how many fruits and vegetables are out there that I have absolutely no knowledge of. "Mameys" would be a new one that would surely get me into trouble if I started making jokes.

Need to start using my slow cooker more often. Going to try a chili, real basic. Problem is I'm not great at gauging proportions. "Spicy and garlicy" is my target, though estimating cloves instead of teaspoons of powder will be interesting. Peppers should be easier, though not sure of jalapeno would go well in the mix. Only time I've ever enjoy jalapenos was on this pretentious nacho platters I had a hotel restaurant. But it'll be hard to fuck this up. Ground beef, tomato paste, kidney beans, onion, garlic, pepper, anything else?

[SciFlyBoy]

boob jokes and chili...

Best slow cooker starter recipe I know of is beef pot roast. You put the 3-4 pound chuck in the cooker, season it plenty with salt & pepper and then put an entire sliced onion on top. Put it on low for 8-10 hours. Then you got something great.

About your recipe, you might need to add the beans last, as in the last 30 mins of cooking, unless they're raw beans, it depends on the recipe as its something I see from time to time. Let me find a slow cooker recipe for you...


Here's one from my go-to slow cooker book;

Basic Chili

1Tb vegetable oil
1lb ground beef
1 onion
2 Garlic cloves, minced
3 cans beans (15.5oz)
1 can diced tomatoes (14.5oz)
1 can tomato sauce (8oz)
1 can green chilies (4oz)
2tsp cumin
1.5 tsp chili powder

Heat oil in skillet over medium. Cook beef, onion and garlic until meat is browned. Place in slow cooker, add remaining and mix. Cook on low 8hrs or high 4 hrs.

So yeah, you got everything you need. I'd use the proportions here as a guide and add the flavors you want. Less spicy = less chili powder. Want more garlic then add more so on and so on. Substitute chunks of beef if you want, brown them first.

Pulled pork is also a good slow cooker go-to. Don't forget that it's also good at 'baking' things too. Breads, chocolate desserts. Oh! There's a great buffalos chicken dip I love to make...

It's a good tool.

[Vol]

Yeah, I've only used it for pot roasts thus far. But I want do a chili, as I can make a large amount, then parcel it out and freeze for later, as I'm chronically short of good lunch food.

What's the ratio of garlic powder to cloves?

Otherwise, looks like a solid recipe to try soon as I get groceries. Thanks, Sci, I'll let you know how it turns out.

Made scalloped potatoes the other night for the first time. Very simple, trying to mimic my mother's recipe without knowing how she did it, so I did a cheese sauce. Assumed she blanched the potato in oil first, then baked with the sauce and bacon crumbles, but I was way off when I talked to her later. But the sauce came out better than my first attempt a while back, though it badly needs a sharper cheese than this mild cheddar crap we keep getting. It was to accompany meatloaf, which was fine, though layering bacon in the middle and top helps a ton with flavor, my grandma diced the onions before I could. Far too coarse, and I was surprised to find them crunchy still, despite cooking in fat for so long. Need to fry them first, on the side, I think.

[SciFlyBoy]

What's the ratio of garlic powder to cloves?

Quick look up says 1/8 tsp per clove.

[Vol]

Went grocery shopping, and the bleakness of observing my fellow man aside, got most of the ingredients. However, for the canned ones, the beans and tomato, they were selling them explicitly for chili, with some sort of peppers and spices in the mix already. I couldn't find a canned chili pepper that wasn't pickled, sadly. Then in my ignorance, I didn't know there isn't a specific "chili pepper" when I was in produce, so I should've gotten a bag of jalapenos when I was there. So once I get some peppers, hopefully this weekend, I'll have some rather spicy chili work with.

There was a kind of pepper called "shishito" they had there, which claimed 1/8 in the bag was spicy, while the rest were mild. That seems like a fun party snack.

[Vol]

Update: Made the chili.

Came out well! Used 5 cloves of garlic rather than 2, still wasn't prevalent in the flavors. The one can of chili as well, lost in the mix. Used 2 tsp of chili powder, 2 of cumin, as well as salt to taste. Browning the meat with the garlic and onion made the house smell fantastic, by the way.

Good, basic recipe, Sci. Made 4 hearty portions out of the pot, eat another tomorrow, then 2 frozen for later. Fairly economical meal, if you can get ground beef at a reasonable price (I could not).

Next time I'll modify it some. Dice my own tomatoes, dice the garlic more finely, try fresh jalapenos instead of canned, etc. I could taste a need for something savory to top it off. MSG would be easy, but anything else come to mind?

[Vol]

Got the grill going. Instructions said 20 briquettes for some burgers, but that was not nearly enough, barely any heat. Though I didn't preheat the grate the full 15 minutes either.

Hot dogs came out find, but the "free" turkey burgers I had were odd. I couldn't visible see if they were cooking, as the color was pretty damn similar throughout, until they'd be on for around 15 minutes and I flipped them solely to check. Had no taste, ultimately, despite copious salt, pepper, and breadcrumbs for structure. For someone on a specific diet, supposed loading them down with more seasoning would work in a pinch.

Enjoyed it all tho. Tickles an itch to work with coal instead of propane.

[SciFlyBoy]

Jalapenos: I would cook them with the onions and beef, if you hadn't. Also you could use a chunk of meat, cubed like 1/2 inch would work too if no ground or they have a deal. You can be creative with a dish like chili. You can add your meat onions and peppers like before, but add a tube of pork chorizo sausage to give it a different spice profile. Crunch up some old stale tortilla chips to make it real thick. You can even roast your peppers before you add them. I put them on a pan under the broiler and turn them until they're all black then peel the skin off. Also you can put them on a stove flame and do the same.

Savory...I bet a little sprinkling of soy sauce might work? There is also smoked spices and different kinds of chili powders (chipotle chili powder) You can even find a canned of chipotle chili in adobo sauce. Chipotle are smoked jalapenos and the adobo sauce is just great. Add a table spoon of that and you have a beautiful mix of smokey and spice. I'm glad the chili came out well.


Watch a video where they put their hotdogs in a 'bath' of water, garlic head cut in half, two bay leaves and salt, put up to a temperature that wasn't boiling but sitting in warm water. After some time they took them out to grill just to cook the outside and they were plump and huge. I bet the bath brought in some flavor too and kept them from being rubbery and dried out. Definitely worth testing out.

[SciFlyBoy]

Enjoyed it all tho. Tickles an itch to work with coal instead of propane.

My wet smoker can use any kind of coal and I've read that lump coal is often the best. I haven't ventured into exploring that because my place is so small I can only afford to store one bag of any coal. When I see a deal on lump, preferably oak, I'll give it a test to see if it has a different smoke flavor. It's kind of a chore managing wood pellets when cooking with coals, as you can't put them directly on top because they'll just fall through the cracks and sometimes putting them in a plate messes with airflow and doesn't heat properly. It's a thing.

[Mazder]

Enjoyed it all tho. Tickles an itch to work with coal instead of propane.

Coal just tastes better!
Hank Hill can suck it!

[SciFlyBoy]

Coal just tastes better!
Hank Hill can suck it!

I just heard someone talk about the episode where he secretly cooked something with coal and said, 'damn'.

[Mazder]

I just heard someone talk about the episode where he secretly cooked something with coal and said, 'damn'.

Oh, yeah, I forgot about that.

Nah but seriously cooking with coals for barbecue/grilling is just so much better. All the flavour!