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Topic:
The Dining Room: The Senate Cooking and Food Discussion
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Kimball_Kinnison
Registered:
Oct '01
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Date Posted:
1/26 7:53pm
Subject:
The Dining Room: The Senate Cooking and Food Discussion
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Over in the social thread, DM and I got to talking about different aspects of cooking and food, and it struck me that we really should have a thread here to discuss such things. After all, is there anything that cries multiculturalism and understanding like a wide variety of international foods?
So, if you want to discuss the finer details of French cuisine, or just need advice on grilling up a piece of meat, this would be the place to post it. If you need help figuring out which wine to serve with what dish, ask away.
Besides, who in the Senate doesn't enjoy a little flame-grilled discussion every now and then?
So, to start things off, why don't we pick a good topic. I recently got my hands on some high-end blue cheese (about half a pound), and I'm not sure how to serve it up. Any thoughts on what to do with it, or ways to serve it up?
Kimball Kinnison
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Why, Kimball... I didn't know you had it in you.- KW
I think that Kimball just made a joke, and a funny joke at that.- Raven
Stupidity got us into this mess, why can't it get us out?
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Darth Mischievous
Registered:
Oct '99
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Date Posted:
1/26 9:30pm
Subject:
RE: The Dining Room: The Senate Cooking and Food Discussion
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Great idea for a thread, KK!
Foodies unite!
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As far as bleu cheese is concerned, I like Stilton. You can crumble it on top of a grilled filet mignon steak, for it to melt on top of. Or, you can stuff hamburgers with it and grill 'em. Or, you can make a twice baked potato while mixing the bleu cheese in it....
Or, you can crumble it over a spinach salad and a pepper jelly vinagrette (I found a similar recipe online to a local restaurant that serves this salad with good bleu cheese):
FOR THE SALAD:
6 ounces fresh baby spinach leaves
2 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes
2 tablespoons roasted pecans
2 tablespoons golden raisins
1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
1/4 cup blue cheese, crumbles (for garnish)
5 kalamata olives (for garnish)
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Jansons_Funny_Twin
Registered:
Jul '02
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Date Posted:
1/26 9:53pm
Subject:
RE: The Dining Room: The Senate Cooking and Food Discussion
- Date Edited:
1/26 10:01pm (4 edits total)
Edited By:
Jansons_Funny_Twin
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I love cooking, but only for other people. Too much of a hassle to cook for just myself. Only time I eat a good home cooked meal these days is when I have friends over. The two most popular meals my friends ask for are the grilled chicken and penne with a walnut-pesto sauce, and chicken/steak shish-kabobs. Since I don't have the recipe on hand for the pesto, I'll share my marinade for the steak/chicken.
Two pounds of steak or chicken, cut into ~2" cubes
Two cups of olive oil
One tbsp of apple cider vinegar
Two tbsp of chipotle powder
One tbsp of Adobo seasoning (salt and pepper work of you don't have it)
One shot of sake or rum
Just marinate it in a zip-lock bag (I personally use the vacuum sealer dealy) for 24 hours, and cook over a grill. use the same recipe for grilled vegetables as well.
EDIT: Tomorrow (after the hard cider has worked it's way through my system), I'll share Jifty's $5 meal plans, as well as share my insights on foreign food (mostly European, since that's where I've spent time overseas).
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Mr44
Registered:
May '02
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Date Posted:
1/26 10:08pm
Subject:
RE: The Dining Room: The Senate Cooking and Food Discussion
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great topic, my friend. I also love just about every type of cheese, although I don't know a lot about what to do with it, besides eat it..
There's an excellent British pub in Carmel, CA called the Red Lion. It has the best "plowman's lunch" that one would find anywhere, and the cheese selection in it is outstanding.
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chibiangi
Registered:
Jun '02
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Date Posted:
1/26 10:11pm
Subject:
RE: The Dining Room: The Senate Cooking and Food Discussion
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If you have a Trader Joe's near you, they sell some awesome white stilton cheeses in all kinds of flavors. My favorite is apricot. It is better than candy. It's nom nom nom yum good. Although I haven't done this yet, you could have it with a dessert wine and some crackers and maybe even crumble it over some fresh cut fruit for a way tastier than average dessert for the sweet and savory tooth.
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malkieD2
Title: EuroMod™-JCC - FFUK-RSA Emeritus
Registered:
Jun '02
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Date Posted:
1/28 7:23am
Subject:
RE: The Dining Room: The Senate Cooking and Food Discussion
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Mr44 posted:
It has the best "plowman's lunch" that one would find anywhere, and the cheese selection in it is outstanding.
"ploughmans"
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yankee8255
Registered:
May '05
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Date Posted:
1/28 7:28am
Subject:
RE: The Dining Room: The Senate Cooking and Food Discussion
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My wife made a really great salad a few times for special occasions (anniversary, valentine's) with Roquefort, unfortunately I don't remember all the details. I believe she used mainly romaine lettuce, maybe with some endive. Add roasted pears and walnuts, with a raspberry-vinaigrette. Awesome. I think she based it on one that she had at one of our favorite restaurants in New York.
Great idea for a thread, btw!
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malkieD2
Title: EuroMod™-JCC - FFUK-RSA Emeritus
Registered:
Jun '02
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Date Posted:
1/28 7:48am
Subject:
RE: The Dining Room: The Senate Cooking and Food Discussion
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Don't mean to be xenophobic, but the problem with cheese in the US (or often what you think is decent cheese), is that it doesn't taste of anything.
If you have good, decent cheese you don't want to do anything with it other than sample its flavour. Mixing it with raisons and almonds (!?!) is terrible, when all it needs is something tasteless to serve it on (ie a collection of simple crackers).
Melting it on burgers is terribly american, but an insult to a decent cheese.
What's more important is getting the right wine to go with the cheese - those sort of combinations are very difficult to get right.
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HBOF There are only 10 types of people in this world; those who understand binary jokes, and those who don't. If you don't already know, you'll never understand. If you already know, no explanation is needed - KW
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yankee8255
Registered:
May '05
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Date Posted:
1/28 7:55am
Subject:
RE: The Dining Room: The Senate Cooking and Food Discussion
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Like all things in America, I'd avoid making that kind of generalization -- there's plenty of great cheese in the US, both domestic and imported, but it's not always easy to find. If you live in Manhattan, no problem, there are great gourmet markets all over. If you live further away from the coast, though, it#s very hard to find anything other than Kraft singles.
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A perfect world: a house in the Hamptons with two solaria and a horse named Prickely Pete,
Dr. van Nostrand as my primary care physician,
the O-OT legally available on DVD in a quality worthy of its greatness
and Luke the undisputed hero of Star Wars
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Mr44
Registered:
May '02
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Date Posted:
1/28 9:00am
Subject:
RE: The Dining Room: The Senate Cooking and Food Discussion
- Date Edited:
1/28 9:16am (1 edits total)
Edited By:
Mr44
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Yeah, I would have to agree with Yankee here.
I would just say that your characterization simply isn't accurate in the large scale. You're glossing over the positive aspects of globalization, and where I live, in the suburbs of Chicago, I can easily find dozens of intimate wine and cheese shops in the area, and this doesn't even include the actual metro area of Chicago which probably has one of every block. I've noticed that olive oil/olive tasting shops are also becoming recently trendy. Someone also mentioned Trader Joe's, which would also be an example of a mass market specialty shop that isn't very expensive.
Just across the state border, dairy farmers/cheese makers in Wisconsin are doing wonderful things with cheese and offer products much more diverse than the typical "Wisconsin Cheddar." (although that's still an art-form in itself.)
Even where my grandparents live- a smaller farming town in the middle of Illinois- has a specialized food shop where one can find things like imported Vieux Boulogne. I don't visit there that often, but I'd like to say that the shop opened around 2002 or so? That's not to say that every small town in the US has access to gourmet food from around the world, some are more limited, but this is no different a reality than one would find in rural Italy, or a remote region in France, or outside of Southampton.
I would simply say that good recipes are good recipes, and if one limits oneself to convention, or refuses to try new things simply because they don't think they should be done, that person is missing out on great opportunities.
I also agree that an example like a nice, homemade blue cheese burger showcases both flavors. There's no magic rule that says something like good cheese only has to be eaten on plain crackers, or that something has to be stuffy to be good.
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chibiangi
Registered:
Jun '02
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Date Posted:
1/28 6:04pm
Subject:
RE: The Dining Room: The Senate Cooking and Food Discussion
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malkieD2 posted:
Don't mean to be xenophobic, but the problem with cheese in the US (or often what you think is decent cheese), is that it doesn't taste of anything.
If you have good, decent cheese you don't want to do anything with it other than sample its flavour. Mixing it with raisons and almonds (!?!) is terrible, when all it needs is something tasteless to serve it on (ie a collection of simple crackers).
Melting it on burgers is terribly american, but an insult to a decent cheese.
What's more important is getting the right wine to go with the cheese - those sort of combinations are very difficult to get right.
I'm a cheese h0r and likes teh cheese. And I love white stilton with apricots. It's not supposed to taste like mold or anything else. It is nice, light, sweet, refreshing.
Cheese. It's like an orgasm. Some are strong and powerful, others are soft and gentle. They're both pretty damn good.
Speaking of cheddar, has anyone had that squeaky cheese?
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mujaki na kao de boku ni hohoemu
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DeathStar1977
Registered:
Jan '03
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Date Posted:
1/28 6:17pm
Subject:
RE: The Dining Room: The Senate Cooking and Food Discussion
- Date Edited:
1/28 6:18pm (1 edits total)
Edited By:
DeathStar1977
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O.K., as I implied in the social thread...I'll be the resident food idiot. I'll probably learn a lot.
I am a very good grill man. I like all my red meat to be medium rare, and believe that BBQ chicken needs to be cooked just right or else it can be easily overcooked. Other than that, I don't know much else. Yes, as an american I like cheese on my burgers (cheddar or american..swiss is for pastrami), but people who put cheese on their steak are, well, wierd IMHO.
My wife, who is a bit of a health nut, says that her one vice is cheese (IIRC 'I could drink cheese' were her exact words). Out here in Cali, there are a ton of good cheese shops. But like most things in Southern Cali, the best places may not be the most expensive. My wife usually orders for me because I don't know what to order, but what I had last time was a toasted sandwich with cheese, bacon and carmel apples that was absolutely delicious. She has tried to teach me to cook, but I guess I never really bother because she usually cooks, and cooks very well. Its kindof our arrangement...she cooks and does the laundry, I fix stuff around the house and handle car maintenance.
Someone also mentioned Trader Joe's, which would also be an example of a mass market specialty shop that isn't very expensive.
Agreed. We like Whole Foods, but there is a reason why people call it Whole Paycheck.
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Obi-Zahn Kenobi
Registered:
Aug '99
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Date Posted:
1/28 6:24pm
Subject:
RE: The Dining Room: The Senate Cooking and Food Discussion
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Well, let me share a little Southwest recipe with you all.
Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure that unless you live in New Mexico or Mexico, you're missing out on the chile. I'm not talking about this crap with bell peppers and beef in a can you've all had before, but real, New Mexican chile peppers.
We put it on everything. Every fast food place offers burgers with green chile - McDonalds, Wendy's, Sonic, Carl's Jr., et cetera. Good green chile is especially important to this recipe I'm gonna give.
Well, I don't always have time to make things from scratch so I cheat very often. Tortillas and chile sauce I buy here in Albuqerque, but Albuquerque has a particularly diverse and high quality selection of tortillas and chile.
Southwest Breakfast Burrito
1 Albuquerque Tortilla Company SUPER Burrito Tortilla (12 in. diameter)
5 Large Eggs, scrambled
2 ounces of cooked, cubed sausage
2 ounces of bacon, crumbled
1/4 cup of potatoes, boiled in water (with salt)
Shredded cheddar cheese (add to taste)
1/4 cup of Cervantes Red or Green Chile sauce (though I have used other brands from time to time. Cervantes is expensive, but simply the best).
The key to making this good is to mix everything together thoroughly in the pan after the eggs are done cooking, then to pout into the tortilla and wrap it. You can always halve the amount to make work.
But still, believe me, guys. Come to New Mexico and try our chile. You won't want to leave.
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LostOnHoth
Registered:
Feb '00
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Date Posted:
1/28 6:26pm
Subject:
RE: The Dining Room: The Senate Cooking and Food Discussion
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Unfortunately, America suffers from the reputation that all cheese comes out of an aerosol can. Now I know this is not true but that is the perception. Now, I don't think any nation except the French can get snobby about cheese.
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Darth Mischievous
Registered:
Oct '99
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Date Posted:
1/28 6:33pm
Subject:
RE: The Dining Room: The Senate Cooking and Food Discussion
- Date Edited:
1/28 6:34pm (1 edits total)
Edited By:
Darth Mischievous
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malkieD2 posted:
Don't mean to be xenophobic, but the problem with cheese in the US (or often what you think is decent cheese), is that it doesn't taste of anything.
If you have good, decent cheese you don't want to do anything with it other than sample its flavour. Mixing it with raisons and almonds (!?!) is terrible, when all it needs is something tasteless to serve it on (ie a collection of simple crackers).
Melting it on burgers is terribly american, but an insult to a decent cheese.
What's more important is getting the right wine to go with the cheese - those sort of combinations are very difficult to get right.
Now, I appreciate cheese in its basic form and in simple ways - routinely, I may add - but, there are bigger horizons than simply serving it as itself with the traditional accompaniments.
You can make a brie en croute, with brie cheese topped with a praline mixture (inside) and covered in puff pastry, then baked to a golden brown.
The very best cheese can be sampled simply, but I tend to utilize it in all applications. I'll start with the cheese tasting simply as it is, and then on occasion make it part of the main course in some fashion.
My favorite cheeses are Brie (Brie de Meaux or St. Andre), Ubriacone, Stilton, Parmigiano Reggiano, and Pecorino Romano.
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LostOnHoth
Registered:
Feb '00
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Date Posted:
1/28 6:46pm
Subject:
RE: The Dining Room: The Senate Cooking and Food Discussion
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Australia doesn't have much in the way of traditional 'cusine' except for the Pavlova and the humble Lamington. Recipes for these great Aussie dishes are linked below:
Pavlova
http://www.aussie-info.com/identity/food/pavlova.php
Lamingtons
http://www.aussie-info.com/identity/food/lamington.php
I love Tex-Mex and Chile. We can get cans of Stagg chile in Australia now.
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