What's for Dinner? Literally.

[bluenix]

Over in the Wal/K-Mart thread a couple of people mentioned that they load in a month's groceries at a time. Since nothing fresh lasts that long, I'm supposing they either dine out or eat microwave.

 

Is cooking a thing of the past?

 

I first learned to enjoy cooking back in the 80s, when a friend who was tired of being served Tuna Helper gave me Pierre (rest his soul) Franey's The 60-Minute Gourmet. Lordy, I was Helen Keller at the water pump. Such a revelation to learn that you could make all manner of great meals "from scratch" in under an hour.

 

Franey was especially good, I thought, with chicken: curried, with slivered almonds and black currants; braised, with tarragon, carrots & (who would dare use it today) heavy cream; Hunter's Chicken, simmered in red wine with loads of sliced mushrooms, tomatoes and garlic.

 

Later, I learned to improvise. The Hunter's Chicken, for example, is not harmed in the least if you happen to throw in a handful of black olives.

 

More recently, I've been hooked on Biba Caggiano's Trattoria Cooking, "authentic recipes from Italy's family-style restaurants." Wonderful, wholesome (if often calorie-laden) cooking.

 

It's a great pleasure, for me, to plan a menu, shop for the ingredients, and then organize and prepare a meal. Whether for one or a dozen doesn't matter. And besides the meals themselves, I find these activities great stress relievers. A way to leave behind the cares of the day.

 

Even on nights when I get home late, heck. It's possible to throw together a rice pilaf, with onions and mushrooms, broil a filet mignon and steam some frozen peas in 25 minutes max. As can anybody with a bit of practice.

 

So. The question is: Does anyone cook anymore? Is there no pleasure in it for anyone anymore?

[+ deej]

>Over in the Wal/K-Mart thread a couple of people mentioned

>that they load in a month's groceries at a time. Since

>nothing fresh lasts that long, I'm supposing they either

>dine out or eat microwave.

 

Not necessarily. I'm one of the ones who does the "big" grocery shopping monthly and have it delivered. But that only covers the stuff in cans, bottles, jars, pastas, etc. Why walk home carrying a 5-pound bag of potatos? Or a 20-pound bag of kitty litter?

 

Like you, I love to cook.

 

I still have to go to the store to pick up the fresh stuff myself. The deliveries just cut down on what I have to carry.

 

Of course, some of the monthly "grab" is meat to go in the freezer. I learned a long time ago from a very frugal housewife how to make a buck stretch with strategic use of the freezer. Wait for turkey breasts (fresh) to be on sale, for example, and chop the sucker up into ziplock bags. Half the bags in pieces small enough for stir-fry and half the bags in lumps just right for a soup.

 

I also freeze bacon. It goes on "monster" sale about twice a year so I'll buy two packages and lay the strips on sheets of wax paper and freeze them. Then I peel them off the waxed paper and shove them into ziplock bags. When I need one strip of bacon for a soup or to sautee with onions I have it without worrying about the whole package going bad waiting to be used. (And it's easier to dice when frozen!)

 

If you looked in my freezer, you probably wouldn't see anything recognizable. It's all ziplock bags of stuff that was orginally packaged larger. It makes for a quick defrost and you can eat pretty good.

 

It's also easier to cook just for one without getting sick of leftovers when the freezer is stocked with "single-serving" packets.

 

I learned to cook working in a deli. So it was difficult for me to think in "single-serving" proportions until I started doing this. We were always cooking for 50. :9

[bluenix]

Gee, deej, I love the bacon idea. Never even crossed my mind to separate and freeze individual strips. Me, I wouldn't put in soup, but BLT, here I come. Woohoo!

[+ deej]

Knock yourself out. LOL

 

I started freezing bacon individually after buying it for a specific recipe and throwing away the hundredth or so package when it turned on me before it could be used.

 

And don't knock it in soups.

 

Peel & chop a medium potato and carrot, 1 strip of diced bacon, a small diced onion, a cube of boullion, (diced celery if you've got it) and you've got a dandy soup for a quick lunch.

 

Or my very favorite decadent midwest summertime treat: farm-fresh green beans, simmered with new potatos and of course bacon. I love veggies steamed "al dente" like anyone who likes good food. But there's something about a "mess" of green beans like mom used to make. :9

[Guest tmbg]

After reading all these posts, especially Deejs, I'm feeling a little guilty. I rarely cook for myself. I have little to no motivation to do so. Therefore, I tend to eat a lot of fast food, pizza, burgers, fries, and so forth.

 

Health-wise I've been very lucky. I am close to my ideal weight and have had very few medical problems.

 

Most likely what has helped me is the exercise I do. As I mentioned in another thread I run 3 miles every night, no matter what. Also, I do not smoke or drink and am not chem friendly -this might also be working in my favor.

 

Back to cooking, I know how to I just cannot see myself going to the supermarket, bringing home uncooked food then having to cook and clean up for one. Thinking about it depresses me

 

Cheers! Ritchie

[Losgatan]

Gee, I never thought I’d see a thread about cooking on this board.

 

I, too, have gotten the bug – but only fairly recently. When we both were working, my BF always cooked because he was a college professor and usually got home by 4:30 pm. I was lucky to straggle in before 7 pm.

 

When I retired, he – with good reason – gave me an ultimatum: “It’s your turn in the kitchen.”

 

For the first year, I cooked the way my BF always had: a piece of fish, meat or poultry under the broiler augmented by a vegetable (usually frozen) and a starch (usually frozen or prepackaged). Very boring – both to make and to eat.

 

So, I started collecting cookbooks – and among the first was Rick Leed’s “Dinner for Two: A Gay Sunshine Cookbook.” It’s was absolutely perfect. The recipes range from simple to fairly complex but nearly all can be put together in about an hour. Best of all, they’re all are designed for just two people. One of my next acquisitions was Mark Bittman’s “How to Cook Everything” which, as the title suggests, is encyclopedic and full of tips on technique.

 

Within six months, Bon Appétit and Gourmet Magazines were arriving monthly (both are excellent recipe sources) and I was spending several hours a day watching the FoodTV network. (Sarah Moulton is my favorite TV chef and I’m awed by Wolfgang Puck).

 

Now that I’m about three years into this program, I find myself really enjoying the daily routine of choosing a recipe, shopping for the ingredients, and putting it on the table. Instead of frozen chops, steaks and chicken breasts (which I now always buy fresh), the freezer is loaded with demi-glaces and small containers of beef and chicken stocks. Oh yes, and a couple of boxes of lima beans which I love but am unable to find on the produce shelves of my favorite market.

 

Not quite as much fun as sex – but fun nevertheless.

:9

[trilingual]

Been cooking for years, although I go in cycles: for a while I find myself eating out a lot, then I get tired of it and start cooking at home, then I get tired of my own cooking and start eating out again. . .

 

Having lived in many places, and being multi-culti (is that the modern version of tutti-frutti?) I have a wide range of specialités de la maison, from Brazilian (moqueca de peixe) to Mexican (mole poblano), Jewish (Mom's brisket and matzo balls) to Creole (jambalaya) and some other stops in between. I can't imagine why people DON'T cook. It doesn't have to be difficult, at all, even though some recipes seem to go on for pages and are very labor-intensive. Those are fun to read, but rarely to try! However, I learned to read through them carefully because sometimes they're deceptive. I remember reading through Julia Child's four-page soufflé recipe and thinking I'd never be able to do one. After stripping away the verbiage I realized it was nothing more than a thick white sauce with some spinach or cheese added and then a lot of whipped egg whites folded in and baked for twenty minutes. Any fool could do one (after all, I can) but the oohs and ahhs demonstrated that most of my guests were impressed and I decided not to disabuse them of their belief that this involved major slavery over a hot stove! :9 Baking is my weak point, but I make fabulous cheesecakes, which are also foolproof. It takes a lot to screw one of those up!

 

My roommate and I do our monthly bulk shopping at Costco. Besides the obvious canned stuff, we usually buy a whole cry-o-vaced pork loin and some of the big salmon filets. When we get home I cut the loin into chops and the salmon into individual serving sizes and wrap them in plastic cling wrap. Then they go into the freezer where they thaw out quickly in the microwave whenever we don't feel like major cooking. Of course, for fresh veggies, salad greens, etc. we just go down to the greengrocer's on the corner. (This is San Francisco, where we have such amenities.)

 

If you don't cook, start. All it takes is a decent recipe book and knowing what good food tastes like. And it doesn't have to be complicated. There are some fun "five-ingredient" and "ten-minute" cook books out there. I've found some good recipes in them, like a nice shrimp sauteed with cilantro and tequila and served over pasta. However, if you're American and don't know how to boil water, get a copy of "The Joy of Cooking," "The Settlement Cookbook," or "Fanny Farmer," which will explain all the basics to you in language anyone can understand. Bon appetit!

[Guest tmbg]

OK - in case I happen to get the urge or become really bored -can someone suggest a good started cook book please? The best will be easy to understand and maybe have receipts for one if there are such cook books.

 

Cheers! Ritchie

[Guest RushNY]

As the "other" person mentioned ;-) i suppose to me the reason why i do it is the simple reason is that i HATE shopping for ANYTHING ,if i can get 80%of my shopping done in one swoop then i will.

I also admit i'm not a great cook i can do simple stuff pasta,rice,baked potato,fish,but the fact also is that both my BF and I work shifts and its difficult to sit down together and eat ,although on the plus side he is a great cook and with his PR background can come up with some amazing stuff.

If anyone can recommend recipe books that are concise easy recipes then tell me and i'll give it a go as from 5/1 i'm gonna be working about 10 minutes from my house i fear i'm gonna end up doing more cooking than before so it might be a chance to learn ! though gimme a barbecue and i'm in heaven thats my type of cooking.

[Guest JH]

Lurve cooking. At the moment new BF and I are competing on a weekly basis to come up with the most impressive, but healthy meal. Any idiot can cook if they hide the flavour with half a pint of cream or loads of butter, but low fat cooking soon shows up the REAL cooks.

 

Days when I'm on my own I'll often cook up a large batch and freeze the left-overs in bags, my own convenience meals ready for the microwave.

 

I'm living away from home at the moment and have left many of my beloved cook books at home. However, I now find that I really don't need them. There are some great cookery sites on the Internet and if I'm going to cook something specific I just type the name of the dish into Google.

[duke37]

Ritchie

 

May I recommend "The Joy of Cooking" available everywhere and loads of easy to follow recipes and lots of how-to tips?

 

I love to cook as well, it beats the cost of going out all the time and it makes it easier to keep to some kind of healthy diet. Which I sorely need. The problem for me is I like lots of different vegetables but I grew up having them cooked one way-with bacon fat. Ahh the taste of the South. Tasty but not too healthy. So trying to get used to cooking without bacon fat. Bacon fat=the redneck shmaltz.

 

I was a baker in the years before opening my shop. It sort of burned out the desire to bake but recently I have been doing some light baking. Well for me a dozen pies for Thanksgiving family dinner is light baking. Your mileage may vary.:-)

 

I have to join Losgaten in admitting to the joy of the Food Channel and some cooking programs. If you get a chance read anything or watch anything done by Jacques Pepin. He rocks!

 

Jeff

[+ deej]

I actually don't own any cookbooks. Not a single one.

 

I've been fortunate to know (and learn from) some terrific cooks over the years and once you've got the basics down it doesn't take much to put it together yourself. And, of course, like everyone else I watch the food channel a lot. (Jaques Pepin does rock!)

 

I *do* have a collection of recipes and things I've picked up over the years.

 

A dear friend, a Polish-American housewife, called me into her kitchen one day and said "you need to see how to do this -- good bachelor one-pot meal" for example. She's the one that bought me a small crockpot for my birthday one year. Never thought I'd use it, but I use it regularly.

 

As long as you stick to the basics, getting started is easy. Once you're comfortable, the more adventuresome stuff isn't so daunting.

[Guest Thunderbuns]

She's the one

>that bought me a small crockpot for my birthday one year.

>Never thought I'd use it, but I use it regularly.

 

I agree about the crockpot. I'd be lost without mine. It's so great to fill it up in the morning, knowing that when you get home, dinner will be practically ready.

 

You must be careful though as some crockpot recipies are really very high in fat!

 

Thunderbuns

[bluenix]

>May I recommend "The Joy of Cooking" available everywhere

>and loads of easy to follow recipes and lots of how-to tips?

 

I got a kick learning that Irma Rombauer originally called her how-to cookbook -- this is 1931 -- Stand Facing the Stove. No snob, she extolled the virtues of food coloring, bouillon cubes and molded Jell-o salads.

 

"The can opener," Rombauer opined, "is the best friend of any woman with the wit to use one."

 

And here I always thought it was... well, never mind.

[SmallTownJohn]

Hello,

 

 

I don't really cook but I do love watching "Iron Chefs." The commentating always cracks me up:0) When the guy steamed piles of lobsters over white asparagus then threw all the lobsters away(they were just for flavor) I was laughing my ass off when they said that side dish would easily cost $1500 in a fine restaurant.

 

 

John

http://www.SmallTownJohn1.com

[+ deej]

Oh, Iron Chef is a hoot to watch.

 

I saw a "playoff" recently where the featured ingredient was scallions.

 

Make a meal out of green onions. Go ahead. I dare ya. But they did.

 

It's cheezy. The whole time, you feel like you're watching an old King Kong movie, but it's fun to watch.

[SmallTownJohn]

Green Tea & Rock Salt was another favorite dish I liked. When the Japanese actress said, "This is disgusting!" I knew it was a good show

 

 

John

http://www.SmallTownJohn1.com

[trilingual]

Good basic cookbooks? "Joy of Cooking," "The Settlement Cookbook," and "Fanny Farmer." I don't remember the exact name, but there are some with titles something like "5 in 10," meaning dishes that use no more than five ingredients and don't take more than 10 minutes to prepare. Sometimes they fudge a bit on the time or the number of ingredients, but they're mostly on the mark. Depending on your tastes (like for different ethnic foods) just browse the cookbook sections at places like Borders and Barnes & Noble. If the recipes all seem to have 30 ingredients, probably they aren't for basic cooks! But others have less complex recipes for things you like. (Latin American cooking tends to be somewhat complicated. The recipes come from the days when women had nothing else to do but cook, and they had servants or offspring to help with chopping, stirring, etc.)

 

Also, be skeptical of the claims of certain cookbook authors that everything has to be made from scratch from only the freshest ingredients, presumably from places like Balducci's. Balderdash! Unquestionably, for some things only fresh ingredients work, and good quality can be important. But you can save tons of time starting with a good bottled spaghetti sauce and "improving" it with some wine/mushrooms/seasonings, for example. Canned chicken broth (or even, gasp, bouillon cubes) can be perfectly fine in many recipes. So are canned tomato products. Frozen, sliced okra makes just as good gumbo as fresh, and it's a great time saver. And so on. Don't be intimidated by food snobbery. Read the recipes, then figure out what sensible short-cuts you can take. I got over it all years ago when I served an aspic-covered paté to a friend who is a major foodie of the "everything from scratch" school. He got positively orgasmic about the aspic, so I decided he really didn't need to know that it was just Campbell's Beef Consommé, improved with a dash of Worcestershire and a bit of brandy! Unless he's now a reader of this site, that little secret will go to my grave! (By the way, a lot of patés are ridiculously easy to make with a food processor and/or blender, you save tons of money over what you pay for them at a market or deli, and the ooh-and-ahh responses when you serve them are very good for the soul!)

 

Besides can openers, my all-time favorite kitchen appliance is a food processor. I've got just about all the various gadgets that have come out over the years, but the food processor is the only one (other than the microwave) that I continue using regularly. It's an incredible time-saver.

[Guest tmbg]

Thanks Tri* I appreciate the information. I might give it a shot, maybe I will go shopping this weekend for one of the books mentioned then for some food that doesn't come in a paper bag with a happy face on it

 

Cheers! Ritchie

[+ deej]

<<Also, be skeptical of the claims of certain cookbook authors that everything has to be made from scratch from only the freshest ingredients, presumably from places like Balducci's. Balderdash! Unquestionably, for some things only fresh ingredients work, and good quality can be important. But you can save tons of time starting with a good bottled spaghetti sauce and "improving" it with some wine/mushrooms/seasonings>>

 

Oh, absolutely! Friends *rave* about my lasagna, but the primary ingredient is sauce by Ragu. ;-) It's heavily doctored sauce, but it still came from a jar labeled Ragu.

 

The only problem with canned sauces (and broths in particular) is salt content. You often need to cut them with equal parts of water (or wine) to get the saltiness under control.

 

To be honest, I can't tell you the last time I actually put spaghetti sauce on spaghetti. ;-) It's usually just an ingredient in something bigger. For spaghetti, these days, I'd just as soon dice fresh tomatos and sautee them in a little olive oil with sweet basil. It's as good a "sauce" as you'll get!

 

I've never had a food processor. I'd say the one thing I wouldn't be without (aside from the can opener) is the bread machine. There's just something comforting about having a nice hunk of fresh bread for dipping in whatever sauce you've doctored up. :9 And fiddling with bread recipes can be fun and inexpensive. You don't cry when you have to throw away a flop.

[Guest tmbg]

Deej - a bread machine? Man you sure are domestic I can't believe how domestic most of the guys are, who responded to this thread.

 

It actually makes this healthy, junk food, eat every meal out junky feel guilty. So I ordered a few of the cookbooks mentioned. Now all I need to do is buy some pots and pans, any ideas? I found some by Wolfgang Puck on the HSN site or do I go with non-stick? Has anyone tried either of these?

 

Cheers! Ritchie

[Guest JH]

Didn't you know - a bread machine and a coffee grinder are a great aid to early morning sex? Set the bread machine on timer mode and the smell of freshly baked bread and fresh coffee in the morning acts as a good incentive for your man of the moment to stay a bit longer. Seems to work especially well with Italians

[Bilbo]

I am far from domestic. I take after my Mother when cooking. She was a career woman before it was truely fashionable. I was in my mid to late twenties before I realized that it wasn't heresy to add to hamburger helper. Yet, I own a bread machine. Given to me by my husband - shameless extravagance at only $60! Unfortunately, I lost the cookbook that came with it and haven't found another one that focuses on bread machines. (Deej?) But there are some very nice boxes with everything in them already.

 

However, I am like the old saw about work - I love cooking. I could sit and watch it all day. In which spirit, and because they have an (often good) joke and a (usually very good) quotation section, may I recommend http://www.worldwiderecipes.com ?

[+ deej]

<<I lost the cookbook that came with it and haven't found another one that focuses on bread machines. (Deej?) >>

 

Oops. I forgot. I *do* have a cookbook!

 

Better Homes and Gardens "The Complete Guide to Bread Machine Baking"

ISBN 0-696-20967-5

 

:+

 

The bread machine (and the cookbook) was a Christmas present from my Mom because she knows I love fresh, warm bread (and because she couldn't think of anything more creative). She always ignores the list I give her and gets me something off the wall.

 

This one was a hit. I was skeptical at first but I haven't bought a loaf of bread since.

 

There's a downside to fresh bread, though. It doesn't have the preservatives present in commercial bread so it will go moldy sooner.

[+ deej]

>Deej - a bread machine? Man you sure are domestic I can't

>believe how domestic most of the guys are, who responded to

>this thread.

 

Domestic? I'm not so sure about that. Cheap is probably a better word. ;-)

 

I do my share of eating out, though rarely at a fast food joint. I just like to eat well and can do it myself for a fraction of what it costs to eat out. (Which leaves more money for hiring rentboys!)

 

>It actually makes this healthy, junk food, eat every meal

>out junky feel guilty. So I ordered a few of the cookbooks

>mentioned. Now all I need to do is buy some pots and pans,

>any ideas? I found some by Wolfgang Puck on the HSN site or

>do I go with non-stick? Has anyone tried either of these?

 

Any pots will do, although the food Nazis will tell you to avoid non-stick. DON'T BELIEVE THEM. Discussing cookware can cause religious wars among "serious foodies" but it's not a war that's worth fighting for a casual cook. Go to K-Mart or Target :+ and pick up a set of non-stick cheapo cookware. It'll serve you well.