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Post by 12540dumont on Sept 28, 2012 0:17:26 GMT -5
Dear Joseph, Come stay a week with me and I'll show you all the secrets of cooking that the Utah women keep secret. Browned flour is the secret of Roux.
Today I took a nasty fall. I slammed onto a piece of concrete. My son made me lunch and brought me frozen peas to put on my wound and arnica to spread on the bruise. I guess he must have learned these treatments from me or his dad.
The point is here folks, is that you need to pass on your knowledge of all things healing and cooking. You need to pass it on to all sexes.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Sept 28, 2012 1:50:14 GMT -5
I think that there was no hiding involved... I come from a dysfunctional family of children raising children. [Our family legacy from WWII]. Maybe there was hiding: why didn't the school teach me how to make roux in my cooking classes? I made due during my childhood by just adding flour or corn starch to thicken whatever I was cooking. When I became an adult I bought mixes for the brown color.
Is roux typically made in large batches and then doled out a little at a time as needed? If yes, that just made my life a whole lot easier... Stored in refrigerator? Since my previous failed attempt to make brown gravy from scratch, I have switched from using canola oil for cooking, to using only butter, lard, or coconut oil. Wondering if that makes a difference?
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Post by mnjrutherford on Sept 28, 2012 6:23:19 GMT -5
Sauces and gravies can be simple or complicated with regard to seasonings. But the basics are simple chemistry.
Don't make and keep the roux, make and keep a base sauce, then season and use as needed.
Basic Formula:
50 gm fat
50 gm flour (I don't use cornstarch in this context, more for puddings)
700 gm liquid
Use medium heat throughout:
Melt the fat (bacon grease, butter, olive oil, canola oil, duck fat, etc.)
Add flour before fat gets very hot.
Cook while stirring gently.
When the flour has the desired color (1 minute for a white cream sauce, 3 minutes for sausage gravy, 5 minutes for certain stews or what I grew up called "fried chicken gravy") pour in the liquid.
Whisk to incorporate all ingredients.
Stir with a wooden spoon at 3 to 4 minute intervals until desired thickness is achieved (5 to 15 minutes typically).
Bechamel, or cream sauce is the most basic and you use butter for the fat and milk for the liquid. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt, pepper to taste, and a pinch or two of nutmeg. You can store this in the fridge for up to a week.
Cheese sauce: Make the bechamel and when it's done, remove from heat, add the cheese and stir till melted.
Brown sauce: Place 500 gm water, 200 gm dry red wine, 1 tablespoon beef bullion, branch of thyme, 1 bay leaf in a small pot. Bring to a gentle simmer. Start the sauce in a different pot using bacon grease or half and half butter and olive oil for the fat. Bring flour to a medium brown. Strain broth into the flour mixture (you don't want the "big" herbs in the sauce)
Fried chicken or sausage gravy: Leave the fat in the pan, add flour and cook till JUST before burning, adding about 2 teaspoons of salt and as much black pepper as you can stand. Pour in 50/50 mix of milk and water.
Hope this helps! By the by, cut corn off the cob, run through blender or food processor till smooth, add to chicken broth and simmer about 10 minutes... velvet soup!
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Post by steev on Sept 30, 2012 14:19:29 GMT -5
Yes; teach everybody everything they can learn. Men who can't cook are like women who can't drive; it's possible to live like that, but not well.
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Post by mnjrutherford on Sept 30, 2012 17:36:36 GMT -5
Precisely correct Steev. That's why my kids don't go to school. The education is so limited and the result are mental cripples. It's a broad big world and I'm not seeing young folks that are seriously capable of dealing with the full scope of things. They are ALWAYS limited to a narrow frame of reference and it's extremely difficult to get them to pass beyond the walls and consider the outer limits.
Speaking of which, the original saying, I believe, is, "One can live without onions, but not so well."
I planted onions today. Along with parsley, spinach, broccioletto (sp?), and chard.
We are not touching our sweet yet, but Miss Piggy got out and tasted a few.
Miss Piggy is getting brand new hog panels this week.
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Post by steev on Sept 30, 2012 19:51:59 GMT -5
I didn't know there was a saying relating to onions. The cooking/driving thing is just personal observation.
Poor Miss Piggy; doomed to miss a Christmas season that others will enjoy so much. It's so kind of you to make her remaining time festive with gifts like new hog panels; I do hope she appreciates the effort.
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Post by 12540dumont on Oct 1, 2012 0:14:52 GMT -5
And if you come across a cheap nut hoard, don't forget Miss Piggy.
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Post by mnjrutherford on Oct 1, 2012 8:10:21 GMT -5
Acorns for Miss Piggy. We are looking to get LOTS of acorns!
Homesteading activities for today are getting stuff entered for the county fair. (Somehow, I think I have just committed several grave grammatical crimes...) Whole wheat yeast rolls are in the oven, cramique and sourdough loaves are rising, cookies are cooling; woodworking projects, large brown eggs (weighing EXACTLY 13 ozs) and a rooted plant in water are waiting to be packed; cuttings will be taken... Busy BUsy BUSy BUSY!
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Post by steev on Oct 2, 2012 17:07:17 GMT -5
I'm a cheap, nut hoarder; Miss Piggy comes around, she's po'k!
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Post by mnjrutherford on Oct 4, 2012 9:10:36 GMT -5
Are you saying your nuts are cheap???!?!?!? ummm.... <.< seriously??? >.> ummmm..... LOLOLOL
ON a different note.... When we got her, she was the smallest of 3. Our neighbor has the other two. I took a look at his just a couple days ago and I was amazed to see that OUR piggy is now bigger than his! Mike has been mixing the pig mash with water and resting it for a week before feeding it to her. She gets a measure of the soured mash, plus all the weeds she wants from her area and we have been moving her around. She also gets all our food scraps. She appears to be pretty darn happy all things considered.
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Post by davida on Oct 5, 2012 21:58:28 GMT -5
My daily homesteading activity is still milking Peaches, the Jersey. I milk 9 times a week and a young friend milks 5 times a week and keeps the milk for his family. We give most of the milk away so the milk my wife and I use cost about $ 15 to $ 20 dollars per gallon in out of pocket expenditures plus all my time. But my grandbabies are drinking fresh raw milk, an elderly widow friend is not suffering stomach problems constantly anymore and a teenager who has diabetes is trying the milk to keep his blood sugar more stable. We milk outside and it has been a real pleasure to see and feel the changing of the seasons. Thankful to have had the opportunity to experience the summer of 2012 but glad to see fall weather and rain. Hope each of you get to experience homemade ice cream with fresh raw milk and cream with some home grown fresh berries. That with a prayer of thanksgiving in your heart is what I call "the good life".
David
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Post by 12540dumont on Oct 5, 2012 23:04:24 GMT -5
So glad to hear from you Davida.
Locally they are teaching cheese classes (by local I mean 100 miles way). I'd go, but I don't have a any reasonable access to raw milk. There's a farm near me that's selling it for $7 a gallon. That's out of my price range, but I still would love to take the cheese classes.
This week in homesteading I've been making chicas. (BBQ corn dried). Since my sweet corn was in such poor shape, I'm doing what I can to save what's usable.
I'm working on a recipe for corn chowder from dried corn and dried onions.
Please feel free to chime in recipes. Chicas are new to me.
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Post by davida on Oct 6, 2012 19:27:06 GMT -5
Locally they are teaching cheese classes (by local I mean 100 miles way). I'd go, but I don't have a any reasonable access to raw milk. There's a farm near me that's selling it for $7 a gallon. That's out of my price range, but I still would love to take the cheese classes. Holly, I have wished many times during milking that I could give you the fresh milk. We make soft cheeses but have not tried the hard cheeses. It would be interesting to see what you would create with the milk, cream and cheese. David |
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Post by 12540dumont on Oct 6, 2012 21:55:06 GMT -5
Oh, the things I would make, but Leo says no to cows no to goats no to sheep....sigh I guess he'd like a weekend free now and then  |
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Post by oxbowfarm on Oct 7, 2012 6:26:33 GMT -5
Picked up our steer from the butcher Friday night. Was very educational to watch him get cut up.
Huge learning curve managing getting all that beef frozen quickly in my chest freezer. I've packed and repacked it twice trying to get everything to the cold edges and get the frozen stuff in the center. Has opened my eyes to how I need a new system for organizing my freezer. Modular wooden crates that fit the space and stack are the key I think. We sold half the steer but only delivered one quarter that night. He hung at 655 lbs so I had to put 500 lbs in the freezer till I can get the other quarter delivered.
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