I Won $10,000

[voodoolily]

I used to give cooking lessons, and I specialized in what I called "white trash delicasies". Stuff like white moms made, but all gussied up. Like tuna casserole, but instead of a can of cream of mushroom soup you make a bechamel and use portabellas, and instead of cat food-tuna you use solid white albacore. And meat loaf becomes a work of art if you use sirloin, lamb and pork instead of chuck. I still have a soft spot for the blue box, but I make a pretty good uber-gooey mac and chee from scratch (but unlike Merusk I actually make a cream sauce and add smoked fontina and white cheddar instead of just melting shit on top).

[MrHat]

Holy shit, I forgot this forum existed.

So useless, it makes me feel productive typing in the other forums.

[Abagadro]

Just for some true consanance for this thread, one of my favorite recipes:

Maytag Blue Chese & Mac:

3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon butter
3 tablespoons flour
3 cups milk
Freshly ground white pepper
1/2 pound crumbled Maytag Blue Cheese
2 egg yolks, beaten
Dash of Crystal Hot Sauce
Salt
1 pound small shells, cooked until tender
1 cup fine dried bread crumbs
1 tablespoon olive oil

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a large shallow baking pan with 1 teaspoon of the butter. In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, melt the remaining 3 tablespoons butter. Stir in the flour and cook for 2 minutes. Whisk in the milk, 1/2 cup at a time. Season with white pepper. Cook, stirring constantly for 4 to 6 minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in the cheese and egg yolks. Season with the hot sauce and salt if needed. In a large mixing bowl, toss the pasta with the sauce. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. In a small mixing bowl, combine the bread crumbs and oil. Season with salt and pepper. Mix well. Sprinkle the pasta with the bread crumbs. Bake until the top is golden and bubbly, about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for about 5 minutes before serving.


Oh, and congrats on winning the money. I just lost 2 grand playing poker tonight. Yay me!

[Zetor]

And while we're sharing cullunary delights, here's one I learned from an ex-fiancee's Hungarian family.

Go to a butcher (yes, a real one) and get a slab of bacon, a loaf of italian bread and some onion. It has to be a slab, as this doesn't work with strips. Slice-up the onion and put some onion on piece of bread, and keep this nearby.  Start up a fire and score one surface of the bacon slab in a criss-cross manner.  Cook this over the fire on a stick like you would a hot dog or marshmallow. As the bacon cooks pull it out of the fire every so often to drip the fat onto the onion & bread. Yummy.  As you run out of uncooked bacon, chew it off the hunk and cut more crosses into the slab.

Win.

This is pretty much standard fare in Hungarian high school camps and such. It's weird though, I didn't know it was a Hungarian specialty. Those are stuff like this, this (in its natural habitat), this or this.

...

goddammit, I'm hungry and it's only 9am!


-- Z.

[schild]

Zetor - explain the crepes in gravy (the third one). It looks yummeh.

[Zetor]

There are several kinds of crepe (we call them pancakes dammit! Heathen Americans.).
For the most famous one, you need (*disclaimer* I am posting this from a Hungarian recipe site, I have never made any myself)

Pancakes: 2 eggs, 1 cup (?) of flour, 1 cup of milk, 1 teaspoon of vanilla-sugar, lemon peel from 1 lemon, 1/3 cup water, a pinch of salt, 1 cup of sunflower oil (for the pan)

Filling: 4 tablespoons of rum, 50g of raisins, 125g of ground walnuts (nutmeat? WTF? is that a word?!), 125g of finely ground walnuts, 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon, 100g sugar

Sauce (not exactly 'gravy' :P ): cup of milk, 1 teaspoon of vanilla-sugar, 1 tablespoon of butter, 100g chocolate, 3 egg yolks, two teaspoons of cocoa powder, 3 tablespoons of rum, 4 tablespoons of sugar, 40g butter

fwiw, a "cup" seems to be 2.5 dl.

First you need to make the pancakes. Mix the eggs, milk, vanilla sugar, lemon peel and salt in a 2 liter bowl. Add flour and stir until it's "clumpless". Add soda water to set the texture of the dough (it has to be like fluid like sour cream). Rest it for 30 minutes. Heat a frying pan (20 cm diameter or so, with the oil already in it), pour 1/3 cup of the dough in it and rotate it (off the stove) so it's equally covered. After 20 seconds, flip it and cook the other half for 20 seconds as well. Repeat eight times for eight pancakes.

Then you need to make the filling. First, boil the cream and sugar, then add the rest while stirring constantly. Heat for 2-3 minutes on a 'low' setting. If it's too dense, add some more cream. Divide the filling equally among the 8 pancakes and roll them up afterwards. (or alternatively fold it in 4 like on the picture)

After this, you only need the sauce. Melt the chocolate in a 500ml pot along with the milk (no, you don't melt the milk, but it's in the pot dammit) on a low setting, pad the pot with the 40g of butter beforehand. After it has melted, take it off the stove and quickly add the 3 egg yolks and mix with a mixer.  Add the sugar, vanilla sugar, cocoa powder, butter (1 tablespoon) and rum and stir it for 5 minutes while heating on medium-low. If it's too dense, dilute with milk.

You are essentially done at this point, but you can bake the pancakes if you want. Sprinkle castor sugar on them and serve.


OR, you can skip the sauce and filling and just use cocoa powder (Nesquik for the win) / jam / ground walnuts for filling and sprinkle sugar on the pancakes instead.


(sorry for the butchering of culinary terms, I only have http://szotar.sztaki.hu/magyar-angol to work with -- the recipe is at http://www.gundel.hu/muveszet/index.php?lang=hu&mid=2&parh=20&midpage=1#b20 )


-- Z.

[schild]

That sounds good. I might actually make it when I get out to Arizona.

We should really start a recipe thread.

[Signe]

This thread is gay.

Not that there's anything wrong with that....

[stray]

Bah.

[Merusk]

This is pretty much standard fare in Hungarian high school camps and such. It's weird though, I didn't know it was a Hungarian specialty. Those are stuff like this, this (in its natural habitat), this or this.

Those look yummy. They never made 'em though.  Just Goulash, Paprikash Chicken and Doboush(sp.) A multi-crepe layercake with chocolate stuff between each layer and carmelized sugar over top of it.  Her grandparents made this really great eggplant spread, too, but that was the extent of the Hungarian faire I got.  Though, it was her Mom's side that was Hungarian and her Dad's was Romanian, so that might have something to do with it.

[Roac]

Stuff like white moms made, but all gussied up.

Yep, love stuff like that.  We've done a couple variations on mac & cheese now.  Had spaghetti last night with the sauce made from scratch.  Included portabellas, chicken instead of beef, etc.  Fun stuff.  All sorts of stuff you can do if you step away from frozen foods and jars 'o stuff.

[Signe]

I always look for a box of instant scratch at the grocery store but have yet to find one.

[voodoolily]

That sounds good. I might actually make it when I get out to Arizona.

We should really start a recipe thread.

That is a fabulous idea. Shall I, or are you already on it?

Stuff like white moms made, but all gussied up.

Yep, love stuff like that. We've done a couple variations on mac & cheese now. Had spaghetti last night with the sauce made from scratch. Included portabellas, chicken instead of beef, etc. Fun stuff. All sorts of stuff you can do if you step away from frozen foods and jars 'o stuff.

Well color me surprised. Roac, I knew something would bring us together. Food for teh winz! (Although I still think that frozen peas are in many ways superior to fresh)

Last night I finally got around to making that French onion soup that I started last week. Word to the wise: don't make caramelized onions from Walla Walla sweets (or Vidalias). They're just too sweet! Just eat 'em raw or grill 'em. Save your money and buy a sack of cheap yellows if you're caramelizing. The WWS onions made the soup almost taste like dessert, and totally overpowered the homemade beef demi glace I spent a whole fucking day making. The cheapy yellows have an earthy pungency that I think really needs to be expressed to get the breadth of flavor for the soup.

[tazelbain]

What were you crying about while you ate it?

[voodoolily]

That it wasn't perfect and tasted like candy instead of soup.

Edit: Oh, wait, was that a joke about how onions make people cry? Oh, grasshopper. Don't you know? I'm a Level 60 Housegirlfriend. I haven't cried cutting an onion since 6th grade Home Ec.

[Shockeye]

I cry every time I read a new post in this thread.

[WayAbvPar]

I cry every time I read a new post in this thread.

Is it the subject of the posts, or just the fact that there are more words to read? We could probably figure out some sort of pictograph language for you...

[tazelbain]

It was a joke that vaguely related Crying While Eating to this thread.

[WayAbvPar]

It was a joke that vaguely related Crying While Eating to this thread.

I thought the Crying While Eating thing was beyond stupid, and even I picked that up. C'mon folks- stay with us here!  :mrgreen:

[tazelbain]

That's part of the joke, fool.

[voodoolily]

Derrrrrr....
Well at least I got to use my stupid Level 60 Housegirlfriend joke. You don't know how long I've been waiting for that opportunity.

[HaemishM]

You're easily amused, aren't you?

[WayAbvPar]

The fact that she hangs out on here reading all the drivel we post is proof enough of that, I would guess.

[Strazos]

My new favorite dish?

Big Dutch frites DROWNED in Mayo.

It is heaven, but hard to do in the US because of the difference in fries.

Also, Falafals are pretty damn tastey. I had no idea they were a vegetable product.

[tazelbain]

Derrrrrr....
Well at least I got to use my stupid Level 60 Housegirlfriend joke. You don't know how long I've been waiting for that opportunity.

You've only been a Housegrlfriend for a few weeks and you're already lvl 60?
You must be using a hack, cheater.

[voodoolily]

Well, I've spent years grinding after work. Now I'm uber. I'm completely impervious to daytime tv and my grocery shopping and catbarf removal skills are like no other.

[stray]

In other news:

My TV just blew out
I found out that my Car needs a $1500 repair
Among other things

Life hasn't changed 

[EDIT] At this rate, I'm going to be eating Mac & Cheese ALL THE TIME.

[EDIT 2] And I'm pretty sure that I have bone spurs on the bottom of my left foot. I'm not sure. The pain is on the balls of my foot, not my heel. Does that matter?

[Signe]

In other news:

My TV just blew out
I found out that my Car needs a $1500 repair
Among other things

Life hasn't changed 

[EDIT] At this rate, I'm going to be eating Mac & Cheese ALL THE TIME.

[EDIT 2] And I'm pretty sure that I have bone spurs on the bottom of my left foot. I'm not sure. The pain is on the balls of my foot, not my heel. Does that matter?

Feel better: