Tag: cooking

Whether you are going out to a family gathering, having the clan over or just a quiet dinner for two, Thanksgiving can be a daunting affair and for some more stressful than enjoyable. For the last 20 or more years I haven’t cooked Thanksgiving dinner. My daughter took over that task because I was usually working the night before and that night. Emergencies usually don’t take a holiday break, in fact they usually break out. This year is no different except that I only work per diem in a very small ER 5 minutes from my house. I still  do some of the shopping, pre-prep and desserts. Anyway, I digress.

 I am going to post a few of the healthy easy to make recipes for side dishes that are tasty (tested a few of them on my fussy food critics) and can be prepared ahead, easing some of that stress on the big day. I’m also going to give you the best instruction for a roast turkey that will be cooked through and NOT dry compliments of Alton Brown who makes cooking entertaining and educational. There are several web sites that I use and I found them well worth the free subscription. Epicurious is indispensable. The site also helps with wine selections.

 I do not stuff the turkey either. It takes less time and the turkey cooks more evenly.

 There one piece of equipment that is worth the investment and, if you’re a cook, will wonder how you ever lived without it, an oven thermometer with a probe and an alarm that tells you when the correct temperature has been reached. The one I have also gives the oven temperature. It’s not absolutely necessary but takes out the guessing if the meat is done.

 For those who are vegetarians, The NYT has quite a few recipes for Thanksgiving

Going Vegetarian for Thanksgiving

Epicurious also has suggestions for Thanksgiving Dinner under $80, in 60 minutes and on a diet

Thanksgiving Recipes, Menus, and Videos

Original Article, titled Jamie Oliver: food for thought and subheaded Jamie Oliver has hit our screens again, this time teaching people how to cook. Amy Leather welcomes his take on food and class, by Amy Leather via Socialist Worker (UK):

In the last few years a moral panic over food has taken hold in Britain. Working class people are given rubbish to eat. This can mean a lifetime of health problems such as diabetes, obesity and even early death. We are then blamed for these effects.

The government and the media have made food into a personal and moral issue. What we eat – we are told – is down to decisions made by individuals. So if we make the wrong choices, it’s our own fault and we deserve the consequences.

In the recent spirit of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Pony Liberation Front (ASPLF, it's not just a stifled sneeze anymore, it's a movement) we bring you: Bootleg Pony. An unscheduled moment of pony-ness for your delectation. It also marks your author's maiden diary, so later on you can just shrug your shoulders and say, "well, we knew he was a putz — just check out that first thing he wrote." Read on if you will, and know you'll come out of this story better than I did.

I love to cook.

As openings go, it's not "call me Ishmael," but it does say something true and, for me, important. I do love to cook. I also love the bubbling rush of food blogging that has started around here, too. It speaks to something in our souls as well as our tummies, and to part of the core of ourselves: a better relationship with both earth and us through one of the most fundamental parts of our lives, how and what we eat. I'd like to write some stuff that's a part of that.

This ain't it.

That said, the kitchen offers me home, canvas, and refuge alike. I value it all. The three squares, snack foods, all the different shapes and styles and flavors of food, baking (I'm a pretty fair baker), playing short-order cook to the under-sixes (two of them), holidays, what foods and the ways we make them have meant to different people and cultures, the whole deal. It's a rhythm, a medidation, a craft, a solid kind of work, a source of some real satisfaction in my battered though improving life. I'm not a foodie, nor a snob about ingredients though I like them local (either for me or the recipe) whenever possible. No fancy magazine subscriptions though I read cookbooks for fun; no wierd but lovely gear from the lust-addled pages of Willams-Sonoma. Just a regular kitchen of a pretty poor family where I get some solace and share a little goodness with my wife and kids.

Mostly. Sometimes, though, it can go terribly wrong. Let's move along then ….

A quick attempt to talk about non-recipe cooking.

I love non-recipe cooking. Creating something from nothing.

However, we rarely, if ever, create ‘something from nothing.’

Usually, theres some basis– either italian, chinese, haut, southerm, or otherwise,

today i was playing, results to follow.

Well, here’s a beginning, based on an off-hand request last night… cooking with me!

I’m not a master chef, but I have cooked in restaurants before, including a 2-star restaurant, at least for a short time.

However, I do love to cook, and to eat! And in this chilly time of the year– it’s about 25 here in alabama tonight, which to me is cold… I like stews, soups, and gumbos.

Come with me below the fold, and let’s talk about them!

COOKBOOKS.

This weekend was chock o’block full of mind altering talks. First a panel, held during the Santa Barbara Book & Author’s Festival, discussing the future of newspapers. Followed by a talk given by Naomi Klein on her new book The Shock Doctrine and later a discussion with friends over coffee and dessert about the lecture.

Then, there was the Annual Planned Parenthood Booksale and it’s myriad of donated selections…including cookbooks. So, what’s all the fuss and a diary about cookbooks? I’ll try to explain below the fold.