Favorite home-cooked foods

[Guest ncm2169]

RE: Favorite home-cooked foods - Grilling

 

< the ease of the Weber Summit Gold appeals to my year round grilling

 

Wouldn't the Weber Performer with gas ignition to light natural charcoal work for you? I have two of them here in the Twin Cities and they satisfy my "inclement weather" grilling needs very well.

 

P.S. This is not a commercial for Weber. }(

[jasoncarter_dfw]

This one is not mine either, but I made it today and it is easily the best meatloaf I have ever tasted!

 

*** Glaze:***

1/2 cup ketchup or chili sauce

4 tablespoons brown sugar

4 teaspoons cider or white vinegar

*** Meat Loaf:***

2 teaspoons oil

1 medium onion -- chopped medium

2 garlic cloves -- minced

2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1/4 teaspoon hot red pepper sauce

1/2 cup whole milk or plain yogurt

2 pounds Meat Loaf Mix Of Pork, Veal, Beef (I did 1/2 beef and 1/2 pork)

1 cup Saltine Crackers -- Crushed

1/3 cup Minced Fresh Parsley Leaves

10 slices Bacon

 

 

 

Directions:

 

For the glaze: Mix all ingredients in small saucepan; set aside.

 

For the meat loaf. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Heat oil in medium skillet. Add onion and garlic; saute until softened, about 5 minutes. Set aside to cool while preparing remaining ingredients. Mix eggs with thyme, salt, pepper, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, pepper sauce, and milk or yogurt. Add egg mixture to meat in large bowl along with crackers, parsley, and cooked onion and garlic; mix with fork until evenly blended and meat mixture does not stick to bowl. (If mixture sticks, add additional milk or yogurt, a couple tablespoons at a time until mix no longer sticks.) Turn meat mixture onto work surface. With wet hands, pat mixture into approximately 9-by- 5-inch loaf shape. Place on foil-lined (for easy cleanup) shallow baking pan. Brush with half the glaze, then arrange bacon slices, crosswise, over loaf, overlapping slightly and tucking only bacon tip ends under.

 

Bake loaf until bacon is crisp and loaf registers 160F degrees, about 1 hour. Cool at least 20 minutes. Simmer remaining glaze over medium heat until thickened slightly. Slice meat loaf and serve with extra glaze passed separately.

 

- Jason Carter - Dallas, TX

- jasoncarter53@hotmail.com

- (972) 365-0120

[Epigonos]

This year I have decided NOT to do hamburgers and hot dogs for a patio picnic on July 4th. Instead I'm going to grill marinated tri-tips. Here is a great marinade:

 

1 2-inch piece of fresh ginger, cut into 4 chunks

3 large cloves garlic

1 large orange

1 TBS. Asian sesame oil

1/4 cup soy sauce

 

With the motor running, drop the ginger and garlic through the feed tube of a food processor. Remove a 1-by-3-inch piece of peel from the orange, drop it through the tube, and process to chop the peel. Juice the orange and add the juice to the mixture along with the sesame oil and soy sauce. Pulse once or twice to blend

 

Place the tri-tip in a large zip-loc bag and pour the marinade over the meat. Marinate overnight in the refrigerator. Let the meat come to room temperature before grilling

 

Have a great 4th of July everybody.

[+ Italiano]

Being Italian and having lived in Italy more than half of my life, I have always loved a brick-oven Italian way pizza.

I LOOOOVE pizza!

 

In New York there is only one place in the East Village (Una pizza napoletana) which makes the closest thing to a real fantastic pizza in Naples. But an individual 12' pie costs $ 22!!

 

I have tried many times at home to make pizza, even making my own pizza dough with a food processor, which is an easy and fast way to make it, but even if it is good, with a traditional pizza pan (I also bought the one with holes which helps a bit) it is impossible to do what I really like.

 

Recently a friend of mine told me to buy a pizza baking stone and a wooden peel, and I can't believe that I am actually making pizza like in Italian pizzerias!

I found both things in an offer package at Bed Bath and Beyond for 14 bucks, it can be found also online or in some specialized store.

I saw a beautiful one at Williams & Sonoma for 70 bucks, but I left it there!

 

For the absolutely best results, I make my own dough with VERY little yeast and let it raise for 8-9 hours, but I have tried to make it with fast raising (more active yeast and 60-70 minutes of rasing process) or to buy the ready-to-make-pizza dough in Italian bakeries (I live in Brooklyn...) and it works very well also.

 

The "secret" is to put the stone in the oven (or even better in the barbecue grill!) and let the temperature raise to around 600 degrees and keep it that high for the whole time.

ALWAYS put flour or corn meal on the peel before sitting the flattened (1/4 of an inch roughly) round dough and the ingredients on top.

When ready, with the peel let the pizza slide carefully on the stone (you can quickly add a little flour/corn meal also on the stone just before this process to feel safer), close the oven or the barbecue and let it cook about 5 minutes until it becomes crispy on the edges and soft in the middle with the bubbling and slightly browned cheese like in Italian pizzerias.

It also becomes slightly burned and "black" at the bottom, like in Italy!

 

To me, the best pizza is the simple "margherita", little (Italian!!) tomato sauce, good fresh chunks of mozzarella (stay away from the packages of grated Pollyo's and company!), a bit of oregano, lots of fresh basil and some olive oil, but of course it can be made as anybody likes.

I tried different ones, the pizza bianca (white) with mozzarella, a few pieces of gorgonzola (a creamier blue cheese), a little bit of mascarpone here and there and grated parmesan cheese is delicious, so is the calzone filled with mozzarella and thin sliced ham, with a few spoons of tomato sauce on top of the closed pie.

 

A good olive oil is a MUST on top of each pie before it goes into the oven.

 

BUON APPETITO!

[Philly Guy]

RE: Favorite home-cooked foods - Grilling

 

>Wouldn't the Weber Performer with gas ignition to light

>natural charcoal work for you?

 

I have thought about it but now I would have two things to worry about running out of... Gas and Charcoal

[Guest ncm2169]

RE: Sweet Corn on the Cob

 

Iowans (where "the tall corn grows"), we Minnesotans, and Wisconsinites should all be able to tell you how to buy and care for Sweet Corn on the Cob, but many whose lives are far beyond the farm forget the basic rules.

 

Here's what my Iowa-born, Minnesota-bred farmer father taught me about how to buy and care for SweetCorn on The Cob:

 

The Basic Rules are Fresh-picked + Young = The Sweetest Corn

 

First, find the freshest picked corn (the earliest in the morning you can find on the local "corn truck" or at a Farmers' Market or other fresh produce stand). Second, pull the husks down on a few ears - you want to select young corn - the ears which have the smaller, light-yellow kernels (NOT the "pinhead-sized" pure white baby kernels). If you need to store your purchased corn for a few hours before cooking, keep it cool and moist - wrap the cobs in their husks in wet paper towels and refrigerate them until ready to be cooked.

 

Husk the cobs, removing all the silk, and place them in a pot totally submerged in ice water. Add 2 heaping tbsp. sugar. DO NOT, under any circumstances, add salt (it toughens the corn).

 

Cover the pot and bring to a boil. When the water is boiling, turn off the heat and let sit covered for about 30 minutes.

 

Drain the corn on paper towels and lather with butter and salt. (There are TONS of other seasoning options, choose your favorite).

 

The key to this recipe is choosing the right corn in the first place. Again the sweetest corn is freshly picked young corn, with smaller light yellow kernels.

 

Enjoy. :9

 

P.S. I know there are many aficionados of grilled corn in the husks. I've heard people rave over it, but I've never had any I liked. I'd welcome some recipes in response to this post. :7

[Greathands]

RE: Sweet Corn on the Cob

 

The mother of a friend, who is from India, husks and cleans the corn, uses spray butter on it, then cooks it directly on the grill, rotating it every few minutes. After she takes it off the grill she rubs it with a lemon or lime wedge before eating. It is very different and enjoyable, but not something I'd want to do every time.

[Guest ncm2169]

RE: Burgers!!!

 

If it's Summer in America, it must be Time for Burgers :9 :9

 

I have my fave recipe (hint, hint, with a little help from a Paul Newman cookbook), but there must be HUNDREDS of fave burger recipes among those of us here. How's about sharing??

[Guest ncm2169]

RE: Burgers!!!

 

If it's Summer in America, it must be Time for Burgers :9 :9

 

I have my fave recipe (hint, hint, with a little help from a Paul Newman cookbook), but there must be HUNDREDS of fave burger recipes among those of us here. How's about sharing??