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Post by whatagain on Dec 5, 2021 11:32:28 GMT
We had raclette yesterday with excellent friends. Cheese with patatoes, charcuterie (keep forgetting the english word, delicatessen ?), salad and a good red wine. Tahitian um before and alsatian whisky after. My wife was the driver. Extra long gym session today...
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Post by bjd on Dec 5, 2021 11:39:54 GMT
Between the raclette and the tartiflette, Whatagain, you must be dreaming of going to the Alps!
I call charcuterie "cold cuts" but perhaps the Brits have a different word.
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 5, 2021 12:13:26 GMT
Last time I was in England (before the plague), the people there were calling it charcuterie, at least on the menus.
I love the way we are all under the impression that tartiflette is a traditional dish, when it actually wasn't invented until about 1980 by the reblochon cheese producers syndicate. It proves that the invention was a stroke of genius.
Anyway, tonight I will heat up and finish off the remnants of my roasted chicken, maybe with some noodles.
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Post by tod2 on Dec 5, 2021 12:53:25 GMT
Kerouac you reminded me of the Tartiflette recipe I used when you mention Reblochon cheese. I could'nt find it here so used a good Brie. I hope you watch this video Whatagain to see how it matches up with your version.
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 5, 2021 13:02:12 GMT
Canadian accents always amuse me.
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Post by breeze on Dec 5, 2021 13:32:18 GMT
Tod,I'd never heard of Chef John till you kept posting his videos. Over the months I've watched a few of them. He's always a good explainer and is entertaining to boot.
I wondered about his slightly odd vocal presentation, so I just looked it up. That's not how he really talks; he tried doing that to perk up his commentary and it worked. He was born in Shortsville, NY, full name John Mitzewich.
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Post by bjd on Dec 5, 2021 13:57:13 GMT
Canadian accents always amuse me. What Canadian accent would that be? The guy is American with a strange sing-song voice. His oven is in Fahrenheit (Canada uses Celsius), and he mentions that you can't get that cheese "in America". No Canadian would say that. Anyway, I haven't made tartiflette for a long time but would never add cream. Reblochon is not in fact a particularly "stinky" French cheese, although stronger tasting than Brie.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 5, 2021 14:56:44 GMT
That's not how he really talks; he tried doing that to perk up his commentary and it worked. Not on me! I want to smack him in the back of the head & yell, "Talk right!" Admittedly, I find most cooking videos unwatchable. Give me a nice written recipe any day. What Canadian accent would that be? The guy is American with a strange sing-song voice. Absolutely! The fact that he is so obviously American makes the weird delivery even more excruciating. The sing-song effect is every bit as annoying as those robot-generated voices used on some youtube videos.
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Post by tod2 on Dec 5, 2021 16:12:19 GMT
Oh I'm sad..... His voice and presentation is what makes him so different. I don't want ordinary. I want different. His voice to an amateur audience of amateur cooks like me is re-assuring and encouraging. Big attraction is clean cooking utensils. Boy have I seen some ghastly stained pots and pans never mind the cooking surfaces.... Give me John any day. He is my Prince. BUT then I have no idea about too many American accents. What does it matter if we all understand English (with an accent).
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 5, 2021 18:22:35 GMT
He does enunciate clearly, so maybe that plus his sing-songiness makes him more accessible to a variety of native English speakers.
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 6, 2021 19:57:44 GMT
I find it astonishing that some of you seem to think you have to be from a country to adopt the accent of the country, intentionally or unintentionally. Many French people think I have a Swiss, Belgian or Dutch accent if they pick up on the fact that I wasn't born in this country. Americans instantly brand me as French if they don't know where I was born, although some with a bit more foreign experience say that I have a "mid-Atlantic" accent. Maghrebis say that I pronounce Arabic words with a Saudi accent (ugh!), but it's not my fault -- that is the way I learned most of those words.
So I still maintain that the guy has a Canadian accent (often qualified by Americans as "sing song" even though I disagree -- it has to do with the pronunciation of certain words and not just "aboot").
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Post by htmb on Dec 7, 2021 0:41:33 GMT
Thirty seconds and I had to turn him off. The singsong voice annoyed me to no end.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 7, 2021 0:55:20 GMT
Egg-zackly!
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 7, 2021 17:38:57 GMT
Due to the delightfully fake Canadian accented video, I avenged non-recipe followers all over the world tonight by replacing the lardons I didn't have by using chopped chipolata sausages, adding some green Moroccan chiles to the onions and using both stinky Pont l'Évêque and imported English cheddar instead of Reblochon. All of the replacements were just fine.
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Post by fumobici on Dec 7, 2021 19:49:05 GMT
Due to the delightfully fake Canadian accented video, I avenged non-recipe followers all over the world tonight by replacing the lardons I didn't have by using chopped chipolata sausages, adding some green Moroccan chiles to the onions and using both stinky Pont l'Évêque and imported English cheddar instead of Reblochon. All of the replacements were just fine. You're not much of a cook if you can't work with what's at hand. Sounds good.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 8, 2021 5:10:51 GMT
I had a wonderful supper tonight. The vegetable was a thing my grandmother used to make with okra, onions, & tomato. She had a way of cooking it down so that it wound up sort of fluffily dry, if that makes sense. I've never gotten it to come out as well as her version, but tonight's edition, using nopales instead of okra, was quite nice.
But the real star, the nth degree of deliciousness, was this bean thing I found in NYTimes recipes. I mostly followed the recipe except that I cooked the beans instead of using canned ones. (I mean, cooking beans is one step above boiling water, culinarily speaking, and they are just better than the ones in cans.) I used little bitty white beans. The only other real change was that I put all the chard in & let it wilt/cook because it wasn't all that tender. I didn't compulsively follow the amounts called for in the recipe & substituted cilantro for parsley since that's what I had. Also, I finely chopped the garlic because I didn't see the point of slices. If you're lucky enough to have salsa macha, use that instead of the red pepper flakes. Honestly, this dish is so good that the parmesan is really gilding the lily. You can serve it up as suggested, or mash it with a fork and drizzle on some olive oil -- excellent either way.
My comments are in italics ~
Lemony White Beans With Anchovy and Parmesan By Alison Roman, The New York Times
¼ cup olive oil 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced (or more) 4 anchovy fillets (I used five) 2 tablespoons salted capers, rinsed, or 1 tablespoon brined capers (I used two T of the brined ones, drained) 1 teaspoon red-pepper flakes 2 (15-ounce) cans white beans, such as cannellini, Great Northern or navy, drained and rinsed Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 head of escarole or chard, trimmed and torn into large pieces ½ cup fresh mint leaves (I just used a couple of sprigs) ½ cup fresh parsley leaves, leaves and tender stems (the cilantro I substituted worked fine) A hunk of Parmesan or pecorino cheese, for serving (I tried it with & without the parmesan & kind of liked it better without) 1 lemon, halved
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and add the garlic. Cook, swirling the skillet occasionally until the garlic is pale golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the anchovies, capers and red-pepper flakes, swirling until the anchovies melt and sizzle, the capers pop slightly, and the red-pepper flakes toast and bleed into the oil, about 2 minutes. Add the beans and season with salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to medium-low and toss to coat the beans in all the garlicky business. Let them cook until the flavors have melded and beans no longer taste like they came from a can, 8 to 10 minutes. Add half the escarole and toss to coat, letting it wilt ever so slightly. Transfer the beans and wilted escarole to a large serving platter or bowl, and mix in the remaining escarole. Scatter with the mint and parsley. Use a peeler or box grater to shave some Parmesan over all. Squeeze the lemon over everything just before serving. Tip This dish is really best prepared right before it’s going to be eaten; if you must make it ahead, you can do everything up until Step 3 a day before. When it’s time to eat, reheat the beans and continue with Step 4.
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 8, 2021 17:18:08 GMT
Cabbage and carrot soup tonight with a mutton cube. Winter must be on the way.
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Post by whatagain on Dec 8, 2021 17:22:40 GMT
Gosh. Sounds wonderful Bixa.
I grabbed a sandwich and will probably eat some junk food in a gasstation on my way to Germany. One of the downsides of traveling.
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 8, 2021 17:26:22 GMT
Pasta with pesto and some bits and pieces. Mrs Cactus unwell so just cooking for self.
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Post by tod2 on Dec 9, 2021 13:02:54 GMT
Last night grilled lamb chops from the leg - with two of the biggest potatoes we have ever grown. The size of a mans hand couldn't hide them! Baby carrots and zucchini.
Tonight I am making the family a surf and turf stir fry. My grandson helped slice the beef in thin strips and it is marinating in a little Japanese soy sauce. The queen prawns were bought already slit open and cleaned and my variety of vegetables are ready. The rice is a combination of plain white rice, a flavoured paella rice and just for good measure a cup of risotto rice. It looks fine and I'll just reheat it before adding the rest of the surf 'n turf.
Bixa - that recipe for lemony white beans is a must try.!!
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 9, 2021 14:11:13 GMT
I can tell that the holiday season is upon us because I bought snails to have before dinner. But I think that my main course is just going to be a big salad with "everything" in it.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 9, 2021 18:24:05 GMT
Your surf and turf supper sounds lovely, Tod. Will the rice be served separately, or will it all be combined a la jambalaya?
Try the beans! Once you do, you'll want to save the recipe. I had some of them cold yesterday for lunch & there's still some left. Also, since I'd cooked a half kilo of beans, there was a bunch of broth with beans left over after taking out a liter for the freezer and after fixing the lemony bean thing. So, since I also had all the stalks left from the chard, along with some leaves, I cooked them with a lot of garlic & some habanero then added that to the reheated broth w/beans. A squeeze of lime & some parmesan and that was last night's supper. (and, god help me, some of that is left over now too)
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 9, 2021 18:56:41 GMT
The snails were delicious but tiny, which was not a surprise since you can see them through the package. Unlike shellfish, there is no lower limit on the size. But this was a discount supermarket and the package was only about 2.30 euros, which was more than reasonable. In a week or so, I'll go get the big ones at another place (and another price). My salad was a mix of chicory, romaine, red leaf lettuce, shallots, celery, cheese, coddled egg and tomato, seasoned with tarragon, pepper, salt, balsamic vinegar and olive oil. The only disappointing component was the tomato, but I knew that when I sliced it -- red but not ripe, no taste. I could have added some chopped ham, but that would have been overkill.
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Post by tod2 on Dec 10, 2021 10:05:19 GMT
Bixa - It was a large quantity of rice, veg, steak and prawns. To get it all co-ordinated in one go was a mission so I cut corners. The rice was cooked the day before and refrigerated. The sliced beef strips were stir fried in a little oil and butter and then kept warm. Next stage is to incorporate the veg into the rice with the beef so I merely blanched the veg in stages starting with the carrot strips and green beans, followed by bell pepper and cucumber - the mange tout went in raw. (I hate soggy veg) When all was combined and keeping warm I fried the prawns but kept then in a seperate dish. They were a special treat for the boys. I suppose you could call it a sort of a stir-fry....
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Post by whatagain on Dec 11, 2021 12:35:28 GMT
Pierrade tonight.
Heated stone, minced meat at discretion. Some beef, duck, boudin, pork. Patatoes and salad. I will put some apples in the salad and use a vinegar with something. Wine will be côte rôtie. Zakouskis to start with (saucissin, humus, olives, garlic, minced zucchini in olive oil). Tiramisu for dessert. Possibility of whisky or rum.
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 11, 2021 12:43:30 GMT
You're overdoing it. By the time Christmas arrives, you'll just want a thin soup before going to bed early. I'm making spare ribs tonight. The Chinese supermarket sells an excellent Filipino marinade with a hint of smoke in it. Since I can only use the oven, real smoke is out of the question, and I finished the last of the wonderful American chemical product 'Liquid Smoke' years ago.
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 13, 2021 19:42:57 GMT
I try to upgrade some of my meals at this time of year, so tonight I made an oven dish of Belgian endive, prawns and scallops with mozzarella and a saffron bechamel sauce. I did not even try to make it spicy for once, and it was better than anything I could have hoped for.
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 13, 2021 19:50:49 GMT
That looks good.
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Post by whatagain on Dec 13, 2021 20:48:02 GMT
Looks real good.
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 13, 2021 21:03:03 GMT
I confess that it was really excellent -- much better than I expected.
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