Archive for December, 2009

Look, everyone has to start somewhere, so if you are a novice cook or baker don’t fret. All those seasoned cooks and bakers on Food TV Network might have you believe that it’s as easy as pie, but the truth is learning to cook and bake is work, just like learning that job you go to everyday.

Nothing really gets those creative culinary juices flowing like cooking everyday, day in and day out. As a baby-boomer I grew up learning to cook at my moms’ hip, reading cookbooks like they were novels and watching Julia, Yan, Jacque, the Galloping and Frugal Gourmet. This was before celebrity chefs and when food was pure and cooking was about celebrating what you ate, drank and had for dessert.

Do we even do dessert anymore?

Below are some time honored cookbooks that should be in the library of every novice cook. It matters not where you live, there are some techniques and recipes you must have under your belt. Every novice cook should know how to make a great pot roast, chicken and dumplings, baked salmon, and heavenly vegetarian lasagna. Every novice cook should know how to braise, steam, sauté, and broil. Lastly, every novice cook should learn to bake. Yes, bake. Bake something, a pie, cake, cookies, custard, brownies or bread.

It is not necessary that you have all of the books listed, but start with one, just one and work your way through it. There really is something to be said about cooking your way through a cookbook like Julie Powell.

Betty Crocker’s Picture Cookbook – This cookbook has timeless reliable recipes and should be in every culinary library

The Joy of Cooking – Another staple that needs to be on the book shelf since it provides wonderful detailed explanations about food and cooking

Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone – This cookbook offers creative ways to prepare vegetarian meals that are easy and delicious

The Cake Bible – This is perhaps one book that stays open in my kitchen, only because I love making simple little pound cakes…great company pleasers.

The Silver Spoon – If you are lucky enough to locate a copy of this cookbook, buy it immediately. Italian cooks recommend this book and the sauces…well, have mercy! Yes, it is expensive, but it is well worth it…and I have found great recipes in little mail order booklets for $5 and grand sophisticated cookbooks for $70.

Look, it’s no surprise that the economy is getting worse and as I mentioned in a past post more lay-offs are eminent. Americans will not be dining out in large numbers or buying expensive cuts of meat. There may even be another stimulus package in the works.

With so many people struggling to pay their bills and make ends meet and I’m talking about working folks, or the few that are still working, it’s important to have some idea of what will be the survival foods for 2010.

The food items listed are not as high in nutrition as they should be but that’s what happens when we start living on the edge. In 2010 we are looking at basic staples that fuel the body and keep hunger at bay. Some of these foods may support our daily intake of vitamins, minerals, fiber and protein but most probably won’t.

Survival Foods for 2010

1. Eggs – although expensive they are versatile and easy to prepare
2. Canned Tuna/Canned Meats – relatively inexpensive and one can feed a family of four if creative
3. Yogurt – healthy snack
4. Pork – inexpensive and all cuts are available
5. Beans – easily seasoned with smoked pork for a filling meal
6. Powdered Milk – a great substitute when money is tight and works well in most recipes
7. Fruit (apples, oranges, grapes, bananas) – available all year round
8. Baking Mix (i.e. Bisquick ® will get real popular; it’s been around since 1931) – can be used to make 1000 different types of bread and other stuff
9. Corn – the sister to the potato, one of the most versatile fillers on the planet and can be added to just about anything to stretch it, i.e. soups, stews, eggs, salads, you name it.
10. Peanuts (Peanut butter) – nothing stops hunger like a PB&J
11. Potatoes – the big brother to corn, you really can make a meal out of potatoes
12. Rice – a staple in China…need I say more?
13. Pasta – just add flavor and you’ve got a tasty meal.
14. Canned Fruits and Vegetables – infamous for helping to extend any homemade soup or stew
15. Boxed Entrees i.e. Rice-A-Roni ® and other meal-in-a-box products including mac & cheese (With a creative flare and cheap meat this can easily lay the foundation for a grand meal)

After a long holiday with family and friends it’s always nice to wake up to bacon and eggs with butter toast on the side. This traditional breakfast meal got me thinking about why we always focus on meat first. I am not a huge consumer of meat but lately, I started to realize how many times meat takes center stage to every meal combination.

Just think, there is chicken and dumplings, steak and eggs, turkey and dressing, ham and eggs, ham and cheese,  pork and beans, steak and potatoes, Chicken Alfredo, Chicken Marsala and the list goes on and on. Of course there are times when this is not the case as with spaghetti and meatballs but for the most part, old man “meat” seems to jump to the head of the table every time.

I never really paid attention to how vegetarian meals are labeled, but I think that’s because nothing really takes center stage, right? What would happen if we stopped letting meat take the spotlight and just brought out a plate piled sky high with scrambled eggs and a 2 ounce piece of Filet Mignon. Do you think we would be any healthier focusing on the side kick? (Not that eggs are all that healthy) I think the pork and bean company got it right, particularly since you have to almost have a magnifying glass to locate the pork in the can of beans. I often wondered why they even bothered to put that fatty piece of piglet in the can, there was never enough to go around.

Do you think renaming foods and giving meat the opportunity to play second fiddle might have some bearing on not only what we eat but how much? I am just trying to make sense of the psychology behind placing the horse before the cart, no pun intended. Would it matter to you if the menu featured Hash Browns, Stewed Apples, Biscuits and a side of Country Fried Steak? Is not mentioning the meat first a turn off or disappointment? True carnivores, let me hear from you.

Whether you call it “stuffin” or “dressin” is really a matter of where you live;  it’s a regional thing.

Those who live in the south are more apt to call it dressing, while everyone else calls it “stuffin” or if you must “stuffing” and for those outside the south who call it dressing.

My grandmother was from Louisiana and for me dressing has always been a part of my life. I can’t really remember a world without it. You stuff your chicken, turkey, thick cut pork chops and chicken breast with dressing, not stuffing.

We always thought stuffing was that awful, tasteless bread filling that if allow to cook too long became a gummy mass of dough.

Dressing is always made with cornbread, hence cornbread dressing. It is well seasoned, and made with an amalgamation of things, cornbread, finely chopped vegetables (onions, bell peppers, celery, garlic), sausage, seasonings, along with eggs, milk, stock and in some cases a chicken or turkey base to intensify flavor. Let there be no misunderstanding cornbread dressing is a serious matter and not for the faint at heart.

For large family gathering my mother made two types of cornbread dressings, one plain (with sausage) and one with oysters.

One holiday season my grandmother made a “cracker dressing” with unsalted saltine crackers which was amazing. Don’t ask for the recipes, this was a “scratch” cook who kept everything in her head. I have not attempted to recreate it but for Christmas 2010 I just may give it a try.

When I was young I remember my mother putting the dressing inside the turkey, but as I got older my mother stopped this practice, mainly because when stuffing a bird with dressing there are a certain number of rules you must follow.

1. The dressing should be cold
2. The dressing should be firmer than the dressing you bake in a casserole. Why? The bird will release a certain degree of juices that will naturally moisten the dressing and if left in its original state it will run out of the bird like water and never firm up.
3. The dressing must often cook longer than the bird since the internal temperature takes longer to reach outside than inside
4. There is a major risk of foodborne illness any time you add food to the inside cavity of raw poultry
5. If you are stuffing your turkey with any type of dressing, it is best to cook the dressing first, particularly if it has oysters or any other raw shellfish; again you are risking the health of your guest and family

I personally prefer the taste of dressing stuffed inside the bird, but the time it takes to do it correctly is just unmentionable which is why it is rarely done this way anymore. Plus any dressing left in the carcass is also more perishable. Oh yes and a word about adding bread to cornbread dressing, I don’t think so.

I recently saw a video of this woman making cornbread dressing and she suggested that you can add any bread you like to the dressing, wheat, Italian, rye, stale hot dogs buns etc.

No, no, no, dam-it, no!!!  If the bread is stale check it for mold and never use any food product that has mold. Don’t combine breads of various flavors with cornbread, unless the amount is so small you could never run the risk of over powering the cornbread taste. Remember, Traditional Cornbread Dressing is made with cornbread.