The Lazy Gourmet

[Rusty Edge]

Nutmeg?

[Buster's Uncle]

He's trying to get high.  Elok's a nut-head...

[Elok]

Nutmeg is a traditional booster for white cheese sauces, esp. Swiss.  My sauce works okay with Swiss, except the cheese doesn't really melt properly so you have lots of little semisolid lumps.  I know it can be done; it might involve using different kinds of Swiss or perhaps grating it finer.

[Rusty Edge]

Nutmeg is a traditional booster for white cheese sauces, esp. Swiss.  My sauce works okay with Swiss, except the cheese doesn't really melt properly so you have lots of little semisolid lumps.  I know it can be done; it might involve using different kinds of Swiss or perhaps grating it finer.

Thanks, I had no idea. The only cooking applications I could of think for nutmeg were pumpkin pie, egg nog, and a Painkiller cocktail.

[Unorthodox]

Nutmeg is a traditional booster for white cheese sauces, esp. Swiss.  My sauce works okay with Swiss, except the cheese doesn't really melt properly so you have lots of little semisolid lumps.  I know it can be done; it might involve using different kinds of Swiss or perhaps grating it finer.

I'd actually suggest more milk. 

Thanks, I had no idea. The only cooking applications I could of think for nutmeg were pumpkin pie, egg nog, and a Painkiller cocktail.

I don't know why nutmeg and allspice have kinda gone out of style in American cooking, but looking over my grandma's old recipes, they were both used quite a bit in a rather large variety of dishes as of the 30's. 

[Elok]

I'm still mastering the subtle alchemy of the cream sauce.  Different cheeses have wildly different outcomes in sauce.  Shaker parmesan seems to disappear.  Cheddar is straightforward.  Jack adds little flavor but some gooeyness.  Shredded mozzarella is immensely gooey and doesn't incorporate fully; it forms a peculiar sort of matrix within the sauce.  And now Swiss.

(For mac and cheese of the conventional type, I highly recommend a mix of smoked cheddar, sharp conventional cheddar, and jack for goo.  Small traces of mustard and even curry powder boost flavor)

[Rusty Edge]

When I roast a piece of meat or a bird, I first cover the bottom of the roasting pan with carrots &/or potatoes, add some broth and butter, that way the protein doesn't burn/stick to the bottom of the pan, although I suppose I could let it do that and deglaze with some wine. Anyway, my household loves the slow roasted carrots.

The last two beef roasts I froze the excess broth. Today I used it to make a soup. I added barley, mushrooms, a little leftover beef and vegetables from the last roast ( cut into small pieces ) and seasoned it with something called "better than bouillon". I really enjoyed it. Better than I expected. Since I made it with mushrooms, me and the dog will have it all to ourselves. Onions would be an easy substitute.

[Unorthodox]

Been frustrated with the disaster going on at work, and the shop's not in order right now/can't be for a little while yet,thus halloween is off the table, so have been experimenting in the kitchen. 

Tonight was braised chicken and fettuccini (spelling) alfredo.  Neither of which I've ever done before and had no recipe for, just trying new things. 

The braised chicken yielded the most perfect stock I've ever tasted, and the alfredo is do die for. 

[Spacy]

Congrats.  Our new kitchen is going in slow - hoping to get counters in next week, then sink, backsplash and little bits of odds and ends and then done. 

[Rusty Edge]

Beef and chicken bullion are not an optional cooking supply, and not expensive or any trouble to add.  Many boiled dishes can benefit, including vegetables.

My brother discovered that trick about 25 years ago - I kept wondering why the green beans he was boiling smelled so good.  This one is especially essential for bachelors and college kids and the like, who don't spend a lot of money or effort on cooking at home - also nutriments added to pastas..

I got my mother doing this with the noodles in the stroganoff, and it improved the quality dramatically (cooking the noodles together with the meat/gray on low for an hour or two is also key fir more than one reason).

Also?  Sometimes you just crave a quick microwave soup at night (or for someone sick) w/o fooling with opening a can.  This is cheaper, too.  -I totally kept bullion on hand in my renfair camping days, when I was living on not much more than peanut butter sandwiches

   

This has proved to be good advice, although I like a paste product in a jar called "Better than Bullion" instead of beef bullion.

[Geo]

Congrats.  Our new kitchen is going in slow - hoping to get counters in next week, then sink, backsplash and little bits of odds and ends and then done.

Congrats on becoming an adult.

[Rusty Edge]

I tried to make another reply late last night, but our guest cat leapt upon my keyboard and crashed everything. I re-read the thread, except for a couple off topic tangents. It's a good thread, and spans more time than I realized. I sensed a couple of themes. Buncle is often called upon to grill dinner on short notice. I am often called upon to accommodate a fluid head count the day of, while my meal planning and shopping is based upon a weekly approach for two or three people.

I used to be a gas griller, but my wife's family are strictly charcoal, and I live in their state now. So I learned to cope with longer prep times and struggling against adverse weather, but not usually happily. By the time I finished the thread and all the accounts of Buncle being asked to grill on short notice, I've concluded that I am no longer envious of his gas grill.  Best post before the cat strikes yet again.

[Buster's Uncle]

Thing is, I like meat, I like it grilled and smokey, and I don't need much notice with the gas grill, combined with the ashes-and-charcoal-in-the-bottom technique I've successfully worked out and talked about repeatedly for smoke flavor.  -And I'm doing part of my duty by my momma, doing my fair share of the cooking.

The only downside is having to sit outside for extended spells in dicey weather sometimes.  -But the cats come hang around, the weather is frequently awesome, and most things only take fifteen minutes on the grill and a few finishing off laying in their own juices in the microwave.

[Rusty Edge]

I recommend that everybody who's serious about being lazy and/or impatient in the kitchen get a pressure cooker.  My wife got one called "Instant Pot" (it's Japanese or something and does not, to my knowledge, involve marijuana) off Amazon; it's a pressure cooker, slow cooker, and plain ol' ordinary cooker all in one.  You can set it to sautee and fry onions in this thing, and since it's heating from every direction but up it cooks onions, bacon and the like quite fast.

Excellent advice! My wife got me one for Christmas. It's a perfect fit for the Lazy Gourmet Philosophy. Mine would be newer and possibly has more features. It also has a rice cooker, and Soup setting. ( the thing is computerized with a touchpad and display ).

So recently I was trying to figure out how to free some refrigerator and freezer space.

I had most of a box of chicken broth left over from making rice, some crisp bacon and tomato slices leftover from making BLTs, some diced tomato from when we had tacos, an unopened  can of V-8 juice left over from the last time I made chilli, and a handful of old frozen shrimp from the last time I made Alfredo. I decided to make a Jambalaya.

 I put in the broth & V8 and added a cup of rice. Cut up the other stuff and added it. Got a chicken breast and a handful of breakfast sausage links from my freezer, partially thawed them, then cut those up and put them in. For seasoning I tried a teaspoon each of onion powder, garlic pepper, smoked paprika, and red pepper flakes. Normal people would add salt, too. Locked the pot, closed the valve, and hit the soup button. Turned out great! Well, a little too much red pepper overshadowed the other flavors, but my head was congested and the improvised Jambalaya opened it up. I'll cut back on the cayenne next time and adjust seasoning to taste after it's cooked. It's not that it was too hot, it's that it was almost masking the other flavors.

A purist might have added onion, okra, and file, but the whole point of this venture was to remove odds and ends from my cold storage, not make a trip to the store for more food.

[Unorthodox]

So, life has changed at our place since I last posted here.

Kyle's got a job with the local UPS facility, swing shift.  So, he's NEVER home for dinner now. 

With hEt also gone 3-5 nights of the week, it's myself, Alec, and Talia for dinner, with the caveat I need to make enough for hEt and Kyle to have lunches, so things that reheat well, occasionally even undercooking stuff specifically to allow it to finish on reheat. 

Dinner has become this weird mix of whatever I feel like attempting that day, but the go-to is getting some fresh tomatoes and vegetables on the way home, and making a sauce to go over something.  Sometimes as a side, sometimes the main.  I'm surprised just how many flavors you can get from some tomatoes, veggies, and my herb garden.