ren’s Profile

Recent Comments

From Serious Eats

Seriously Delicious Holiday Food Giveaway: Russ & Daughters

exactly that: smoked salmon, cream cheese, good bagel. i live in texas now, and have had to say goodbye to bagels...

From Serious Eats

Time To Drink More Guinness—Pubs Are On the Decline

Is the Irish pub on the wane too? Wouldn't ale be a better choice to support the Brits?

Actually, I love that in virtually any city in the western world (and no doubt many in the eastern), you can find an Irish pub. It's like the embassy for drinkers.

From Talk

Egg salad...what's your secret ingredient?

Mayo and mustard (and salt/pepper). The best is using Kewpie mayo (2d best being Hellmans). Then on sandwich bread. I like it English style, with cress, but I'm not going to buy cress myself.

See more comments by ren »

Recent Posts

From Talk

Shrinking pie crust -- what gives?

From Talk

Most irritating/dumbest food advertising?

See more posts by ren »

Recent Favorites

ren hasn't favorited a post yet.

Recent Polls

ren hasn't answered any polls yet.

Recent Quizzes

ren hasn't taken any quizzes yet.

Recent Comments | Response to Comments

From Serious Eats

Seriously Delicious Holiday Food Giveaway: Russ & Daughters

exactly that: smoked salmon, cream cheese, good bagel. i live in texas now, and have had to say goodbye to bagels...

From Serious Eats

Time To Drink More Guinness—Pubs Are On the Decline

Is the Irish pub on the wane too? Wouldn't ale be a better choice to support the Brits?

Actually, I love that in virtually any city in the western world (and no doubt many in the eastern), you can find an Irish pub. It's like the embassy for drinkers.

From Talk

Egg salad...what's your secret ingredient?

Mayo and mustard (and salt/pepper). The best is using Kewpie mayo (2d best being Hellmans). Then on sandwich bread. I like it English style, with cress, but I'm not going to buy cress myself.

From Talk

Cooking club information to share?

Not a conventional sort of club, but you might check out the Daring Bakers circle. I'm sure there are quite a few around this site, but I know the blogs Tartelette and Cream Puffs in Venice are run by some of the original members.

From Talk

Favorite no-bake treats?

Wow I'm an idiot: I never made them before (only had them from my mom) and I always supposed they were no-bake. But I was wrong. So I retract from this discussion, but stand by their deliciousness.

From Talk

Favorite no-bake treats?

Magic Bars, or whatever you may call them (I think they are called Dolly bars in some places). Recipe available on a can of Eagle brand sweetened condensed milk and also here:
http://www.eaglebrand.com/detail.asp?rid=650

Everything delicious. You might call them kid stuff, since they are quite sweet, but I never met anyone who disliked them (except for those weird anti-coconut types)

From Talk

Emergency Turkey Day plans -- Help!

Don't forget about turkey pieces: whole breasts, or if that's still too large, you can find cutlets. There are also legs and thighs available. That way you can pick what you like (dark v. white).

Most other sides can easily be scaled down.

From Talk

Green Bean Casserole...

Ooh, Thomas Keller has his version, as well, on New York mag's site:
http://nymag.com/restaurants/articles/recipes/greenbeancasserole.htm

I tried it 2 years ago and thought it was great. but I used creminis, not cepes (budget).

The hardest part is making the shallot rings for the top, but they are so delicious, and not all that hard, really.

From Talk

KitchenAid Artisan Mixer vs. KitchenAid Pro Mix

Oh, and you will probably want to find a good illustrated book or online source for learning to mix doughs by any method. A stand mixer is, of course, faster and more powerful than the handheld. If you're still learning to bake, you'll need a good teaching guide to show you what to look for (under/overmixing can have serious consequences for cakes), and no mixer will tell you that.

One web resource I like is baking911.com. The layout and organization is a bit confusing, but there's a lot of information--and photos--there.

From Talk

KitchenAid Artisan Mixer vs. KitchenAid Pro Mix

Do keep in mind what previous commenters said about the quantities: unless your serious interest in learning to bake comes with a serious commitment to regularly turning out large quantities of baked goods, you might be better off with the Artisan. I have one, and I've done bread, pastas, cakes, cookies, etc., with it. I bake a lot (2 or more times a week), and I use the Artisan for things like mashed potatoes as well, and I've never thought that I should have gone with the bigger model.

The only time my mixer couldn't handle the batter was for a 16inch cake for a wedding. But the Pro wouldn't have handled that much batter, either (need an industrial mixer or--gasp--a really big bowl and a handheld). But for the 12inch on down, no problem.

You definitely don't need the Pro to get started (and even continue for many years) baking.

From Talk

In a Yam Jam!

Maybe I was way off. A little more reflection and I realized I was thinking of the pumpkin candy also called dulce de calabaza (recipe here: http://www.mex-recipes.com/pumpkin-desserts.html). It's vivid orange like a sweet potato, slightly crackly with sugar on the outside, and very sweet and tender within. Really, really good, imo.. It may still be like what you were thinking, but I don't know.

From Talk

In a Yam Jam!

I think I know what you're talking about: it's more like an actual candy, and less like a side dish. am I on the right track? I've usually had these from Mexican bakeries.

Google turned up this recipe:
Sweet Potato Candy

1 pound sweet potatoes
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water

Wash and scrub sweet potatoes. Cook in boiling water until soft; let cool, then peel, mash, and pass through a sieve. Set aside.

In a saucepan on low heat dissolve the sugar with the water; cover, then simmer for 2 to 3 minutes to wash down crystals from the sides of the pan. Uncover and continue cooking on medium heat to the firm ball stage (242 degrees F) or until the syrup forms a firm ball that does not flatten when removed from cold water.

Add the potatoes to the syrup. Let cook until the mixture resembles a paste. Remove from heat and beat with an electric mixer on low speed until cool. By hand, roll bits of paste into 1 x 3-inch sticks. Place them on a board covered with wax paper and let them dry in a warm, dray place for 24 hours.

The following day, brush the candies with Glaze. Dry again. Wrap individual candies in wax paper or plastic wrap.

Glaze
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water

Boil sugar with water to the thread stage (234 degrees F). Syrup will spin a 2-inch thread when dropped from a spoon. Remove from heat and apply with a pastry brush to the candies.

Makes 32.

http://www.ethnicrecipes.org/index.php?search=&category=southwestern&page=13

From Recipes

Cook the Book: Chile-Garlic Egg Noodles

Oh, I just saw the "drain" step. silly me.

From Recipes

Cook the Book: Chile-Garlic Egg Noodles

Not to say it wouldn't be delicious, but even to me, this is a shocking quantity of oil.

From Serious Eats

Win Your Thanksgiving Turkey!

Alton's brine and roast. It's my first ever turkey.

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: Asian Flavors of Jean-Georges

brobably singapore noodles but there are so many i have never tried and desperately want to (starting with bibimbop). but yeah, fried rice is always awesome.

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'Beyond Nose to Tail' Contest

Only had sweetbreads once but it was one o the best dishes I can remember. On a regular basis, it's a tie between menudo (tripe) and chicken liver pate.

From Serious Eats

Houston's Doesn't Suck: What's Your Favorite Slightly Fancy Chain Restaurant?

It's been a while, but I've always had a good time at Benihana's. Love the scallops and steak. Not sure if it's a foodie destination but it's good and fun.

From Talk

Chili beans. An oxymoron?

As a native Texan, I am obligated to vehemently proclaim no beans.

But my mom always threw in a can of kidneys and I liked it that way. Not fond of any other sort of bean in chili, though, the texture is not right to me.

Also not crazy about rice with chili. For me, it's corn bead only. Garnishes? A little cheese, maybe some diced white onion or sour cream.

Now I want some. Today was the first arguably fall-like day herei n Austin,and chili would have been great.

From Talk

How often do you follow a recipe exactly as written?

There's Daring Bakers, and generally whenever I am making a cake, especially if i haven't done so before. Some types of baking will take more improv (pancakes and muffins definitely being examples), but cakes can be fussy.

Also, I think it's important to follow recipes pretty closely if I have any intention to review the recipes or books from which they came. Nothing annoys me more when looking for dishes to try or checking cookbook reviews on Amazon than people who totally change a dish--except for those who never even try it (ah, B. Marold, Amazon's pompous armchair cookbook reviewer, don't get me started...).

But those of us who have cooked a lot are probably only looking for ideas most of the time anyway, so it's only natural to put your own spin on fairly standard dishes and methods. I'm much more inclined to follow the letter when it uses unfamiliar ingredients (in my case, most Asian dishes) or, most often, new techniques. So for recipes from Thomas Keller or Michel Richard or any slightly ambitious pastry, I'll trust the expert over myself.

From Talk

Do you have any great ideas for using mushrooms?

Porcini sauce: soak some dried porcini, saute some thinly sliced red onion in butter, add some thinly sliced fresh mushrooms (button works fine) and brown those. Add the porcini, the soaking liquid, black pepper, and if you want, some tarragon. Simmer down a little. Add some cream and simmer a little more.

From Talk

Egg salad...what's your secret ingredient?

A touch of Spectrum organic mayo just to bind the eggs together, chives, a squeeze of lemon juice, salt and pepper. Occasionally I'll add in a handful of diced celery for crunch.

From Talk

Egg salad...what's your secret ingredient?

Two eggs, tuna, a dod of lurpak slightly salted butter, salt & pepper all mashed up together.

Eat in whatever fashion you like!

Some other extras could be some spring onions. You could even try a little sweet chilli dipping sauce to give you a kick up the arse or maybe thats just me cause im obsessed with the stuff haha.

From Talk

Good, Authentic Mexican Cookbooks?

Hi
I know this comment is much later than the ones posted here, but it is relevant and sorry but I'm new here.

I too am searching for an "authentic" Mexican Cookbook, but I have somewhat of a problem with the suggestion of Rick Bayless, Dianne Kennedy, or any other "chef". Although these people are very good at what they do and create some very tasty dishes, they're not "authentic". They were not born and raised in Mexico cooking mexican food from the time they were old enough to see over the top of a stove. I'm from Texas and have eaten the cooking of people I worked with that were Mexican. I'm looking for recipes that have been handed down for at least a hundred years (authentic), from great grandmother to grandmother to mother to daughter. For instance, if I wanted to cook a mexican soup of some kind, I would have to go pick some tomatoes, skin them, scald them, peel them and then make a stock to start creating my soup, or to stew my tomatoes. This is what I think of when I say "Authentic".

From Talk

Chili beans. An oxymoron?

Chili must have beans for me to love it, but it also needs a lot of meat, and a lot of heat.

My new favorite chili recipe is one I created a few months ago: Chili con Carne with Rancho Gordo Pinquitos. It has one small bag of lush, delicious beans, and 5 lbs of roast beef (chuck or tip, ideally).

Cheers,

~ Paula

From Talk

Chili beans. An oxymoron?

I will give the ABSOLUTE greatest crock pot chili recipe EVER!!!!!

Ingredients:
-3 lbs. Lean Groud Beef---
-2(28 oz.) cans of Chunky Crushed Tomatoes---
-1(28 oz.) can Peeled Tomatoes----
-2 (12 oz., give or take) cans Red Kidney Beans
-3 Green Bell Pepers (abaout 2 lbs.)---
-1 Red Bell Pepers (about 3/4 of a lb.)---
-1 large Onion---
-2 Jalapeno Peppers (about 1 1/4 lbs.)---
-2 cups Rice(any style)
-2 large Tomatoes--
-8 table spns. Chili powder--
-3 table spns. Flour--
-3 table spns. Salt--
-5 table spns. Crushed Red Peppers--
-2 table spns. Pepper--
-3 table spns. Basil--
-3 table spns. Oregeno--
-1 table spns. Sugar--
- 5 table spns. Extra Virgin Olive Oil---
-8 table spns. of finely Chopped Garlic(sorry i don't know how many cloves exactly, but $1 worth of garlic is plenty---

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

-1. Fist put the two cans Crushed Tomatoes and 1 can Peeled in the crock pot on HIGH. Just let it cook.

-2. Cook the Ground Beef on a medium high flame until browned, add 2 table spns. of Chil Powder to the meat as it cooks. When ground beef is fully cooked DRAIN it and add it to the crock pot that already has the cans of Crushed + can of Peeled Tomatoes already cooking.

-3. Cook the Onion(Chopped), Green Bell Peppers(chopped), Red Bell Pepper(chopped), 8 chopped tblspns. chopped Garlic, Jalapeno Peppers, and 5 table spns. Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Cook until ALL ingredients are glazed/tender/slightly browned.-------and add it to the crock pot that already has the cans of Crushed + can of Peeled Tomatoes, and ground beef already cooking

-4. mix 6 tblspns. Chili Powder with 3 tblspns. Flour with *about* 5 tblspns. water. thouroghly mix the Chili Powder + Flour + water ( it should be a little thinner than a tooth past consistancy) ADD that mixture(RUE) to the crock pot.

--5. Add Basil, Crushed Red Pepper, Oregenp, Salt, Pepper, Sugar, to the Crock Pot.

--6. Chop the 2 Tomatoes into fairly large pieces. Add the chopped Tomatoes to the Crock Pot.

--7. *DRAIN* the 2 cans Red Kidney Beans


From Talk

Have you ever bought anything off of an infomercial?

I love the "AS SEEN ON TV!!" crap!! I have the George Foreman (I've owned 3 of them), a Flowbee (since 1989!! I haven't had to wait an hour to get a bad haircut and pay $15 plus tip since 1989!), all sorts of stuff. I just bought the Smooth Away hair remover.

A lot of the stuff doesn't work or doesn't work AS ADVERTISED, but some of it does. The Flowbee is great, the George Foreman was great, the Pedi-Egg or whatever that is called works pretty good.

From Talk

Egg salad...what's your secret ingredient?

I like some dijon mustard, just a touch of mayo and some finely grated onion - onion juice is awesome.

From Talk

Egg salad...what's your secret ingredient?

About 1/4c frozen peas (thaw them a few mins on a paper towel)! My hubby and kids aren't fans of onion or celery, but they love peas. I don't like peas, but mixed in with the egg salad I can tolerate it, and it feels healthy at least!

From Recipes

Store-Bought Stuffing Mix Showdown

As I contemplated the beginning process for my stuffing, which included choosing between cubed or regular Pepperidge Farm seasonsed stuffing, my husband told me how his grandmother made hers fresh, and walked me through the process and down memory lane. While I'm sure it was delicious and the memory is precious, my mother used Pepperidge Farm and I loved it. She made two versions, one with mushrooms, which you should definitely add to your list, and the other with the turkey giblets, which you should also add to your list. She would cook the neck, liver, heart, etc. and before cutting it up, let us have a taste. Amazing how much flavor they added, and how great they tasted considering.

Next year I plan to make two stuffing dishes, one from homemade stuffing, the other Pepperidge Farm. I personally doubt my family will be able to tell the difference, and if they can, I wonder which one they will prefer without knowing which is which.

From Recipes

Store-Bought Stuffing Mix Showdown

I just want to say that I LOVE Stovetop!
I add celery and sage sausage every time I make it for Thanksgiving.. I also have been known to add to that apples, raisins and occasionally onions for my hubby!
It is as good as any homemade stuffing.. I tried this because of an article I read in a newspaper over 10 years ago called "make it or fake it" the "fake it" recipes sounded a lot easier for a "challenged" cook like me!
Happy Turkey Day!

From Recipes

Store-Bought Stuffing Mix Showdown

That crinkly plastic bag of Arnold stuffing MEANS T-day to me. Mom didn't dig on cookbooks or cooking so much... the purchase of anything like this marked a special occasion, along with that little bottle of "Gravy Master." On a related note, Mom loved the stuffing at Boston Chicken (which came into existence some time after moved out), and would remark at how she wished she could do something like that at home.

From Recipes

Store-Bought Stuffing Mix Showdown

The only store-bought stuffing I use is Stovetop Herbal Stuffing Mix and I add minced fresh Italian parsley. But I mostly use it on top of chicken casserole, not inside a turkey, and I let it bake until that topping is crunchy -yum!

From Recipes

Store-Bought Stuffing Mix Showdown

Substituting apple juice or cider for the water or chicken stock gives the stuffing an interesting, tangy flavor. It goes well with raisin, walnut and sausage add-ins also.

From Recipes

Store-Bought Stuffing Mix Showdown

Not picky with stuffing in box, I have 1000 of yrs experience doctoring this sort food item. I always use stock, eggs, and half and half. I will eat it with almost anything in it except the gizzards and what such, and eel? No, oysters yes. But everything else that is mentioned above bring it on. I could eat stuffing everyday of the year and never get tired of it. That is one of my most fav foods ever. There is so much that can be done with it, Soup is something I must have everyday all year around, it is a must with me, I think that i am going to have to add stuffing to accompany the soup I even have put some stuffing into chicken soup as a flavor yum. Nope having it just for the holidays just won't cut it with me anymore.

From Recipes

Store-Bought Stuffing Mix Showdown

I always use the blue bag of pepperidge farm sauteed celery and onion, ground up hillshire farm polish sausage some poultry seasoning and some warm chicken stock. It always tastes so good.

From Recipes

Store-Bought Stuffing Mix Showdown

The only stuffing mix I buy now is the bag of Martin's Potato Bread cubes. I chop and saute everything else I add to it. I've found some bagged stuffings to be too salty. I used to buy Pepperidge Farm plain stuffing mix but loooooove those little potato bread cubes!

From Recipes

Store-Bought Stuffing Mix Showdown

I always loved smelling the stuffing being made...the sage and celery, etc.

But! No fish in my stuffing!

From Recipes

Store-Bought Stuffing Mix Showdown

My mom has always started with Mrs. Cubbisons and then added mirepoix, black olives, italian sausage and the turkey gizzard type stuff to it. I don't know what else she adds but it is fantastic. Not too bready and definitely not gummy.

I have had dressing other ways, some with cornbread, also an oyster version and an apple type one and I always come back to my mom's.

From Recipes

Store-Bought Stuffing Mix Showdown

@Julie, that is pretty much how we do it in my family, except for the apples. It is always consistantly good and traditional. With all the other baking and cooking it just feels like a waste of time to toast bread.

From Serious Eats

Why Wedding Food Sucks

My awful wedding food experience is a good lesson for all!

I went for a tasting about 2 months before the wedding. We were married a restaurant renowned for good food, because good food was a must for us!

Anyways, a week before the wedding the managers changed. I met with the new person, who was nice enough. We went over the menu and costs and all was good.

The day of the way, our food was half the size as what it was on the night of the tasting and one of the items was totally different (and not as good) as what we requested. People ended up ordering food from the restaurant. It was horrid!!!

I assumed the chef was the same, but, I guess not.

So, if anything changes with your caterers or planners DEMAND a new tasting - free of charge of course!

From Serious Eats

Houston's Doesn't Suck: What's Your Favorite Slightly Fancy Chain Restaurant?

Hi Ed. I just found this post while trolling the web for Houston's Key Lime Pie recipe/ingredients. I waited tables in the Rockville, MD Houston's from 1993-1995. Having seen Houston's and more than a dozen independently-owned restaurants from the waiter's side of the table, I agree with everyone's positive comments about Houston's. It's one of my go-to spots when I want to treat myself (and I live in Manhattan).

Although more personal non-chain restaurants are great, only Houston's made me memorize each ingredient in every dish before letting me serve a customer. We had line-up every night where we were quizzed on the number of ounces in the coho salmon and the marinade for the Houston's Hawaiin ribeye. I learned how to give 110% to a job and what to expect as a guest in a restaurant.

From Serious Eats

Houston's Doesn't Suck: What's Your Favorite Slightly Fancy Chain Restaurant?

I love Houston's. Plain and Simple. It's never disappointed and If I was forced to choose a place for my last meal, this would be it. Want to know why?

From Talk

Chili beans. An oxymoron?

As a Houstonian, no beans was started by CASI and is for competition so that judges don't fill up on fillers. Any hearty, home-cooked, "just like mom made" chili has beans and the pretentious cook-off crowd can get over it.

Recent Posts

From Talk

Shrinking pie crust -- what gives?

From Talk

Most irritating/dumbest food advertising?

Recent Favorites

ren hasn't favorited a post yet.

Polls

ren hasn't answered any polls yet.

Quizzes

ren hasn't taken any quizzes yet.

About ren

Website:

Location:

About:

Favorite foods:

Last bite on earth: