How do you cook.....?

[vremya]

to liv's soggy rolls.

I finally made the blackberry bars that I posted about eons ago but never made because WE HAVE A WORKING OVEN NOW!

I used fresh blackberries but was just a little short, so I ran a couple of handfuls of frozen berries under warm water, dried them off, and tossed them in and they worked beautifully.

[Crumb]

Blackberries...

[Zehava]

Originally Posted by Crumb

Blackberries...

Agreed... though fresh strawberries right from the field come in a very close second.

[Megatron]

I cook on a grill, mother fuckers

Burgs. true Burgs. 1/3 pound patties hand made with sea salt, garlic and pepper.

Kaiser rolls

Bacon

Melted cheese.

we don't fuck around in these parts.

[Megatron]

AND THE BEST bURGER TOPPING - THE FRIED EGG.

[Megatron]

So, those burgers were from like, a while ago. A week and a half or something. Today though, is national burger day so I made more, but it was rainy on and off, we had to do an in-house operation.

This time I crushed them on a skillet


and melted cheese between the patties and it ended up like this:


I am hovering on the border of a food coma, and it's great.

[BrotherMan]

You cooked inside because it was raining? And you call yourself American.

[vremya]

I had bacon jam on a burger the other day and it was HEAVEN. So yummy.

[Megatron]

Originally Posted by BrotherMan

You cooked inside because it was raining? And you call yourself American.

No, I call myself lazy

[Megatron]

Well fuck I apparently killed the food forum (sorry ) but I'm gonna make some buttered dill salmon tomorrow with some steamed beans and asparagus...

[lisarea]

Does anyone have a really great tzatziki recipe? For some reason, the last couple of times I've made it, it hasn't been as good, and I don't know what I'm forgetting or whatever.

And online recipes vary so much I'm not sure how to even start over.

[Anastasia Beaverhausen]

I like this recipe.

A) I buy Gourmet Garden, the fresh herbs in tubes. Use those.
B) I just eyeball it and keep tasting, tbh.
C) I also add a little mint and finely chopped cucumber (if I have it)
D) You'll probably want to add lemon.

[lisarea]

That's not dissimilar to what I ended up doing (except I think tzatziki always has cucumber--mine does, anyways). Yogurt, cucumber, dill, garlic, lemon, and salt at least. Except that somehow, I managed to accidentally get NONFAT Greek yogurt. You'd think that this might be my fault, but I have decided that: No. It was not my fault, because nonfat yogurt should be illegal. That really messed it up. It was okay I guess, but there was no way I was going to fix nonfat tzatziki.

Anyways, I'm making some EXTREMELY FAT Greek yogurt tonight and will try it again tomorrow, and just keep making it until I get it right.

It's stupid, because I used to consistently make really great tzatziki, but I didn't make it for a while, and totally forgot how I did it, and I never write things down.

This is the only way I will ever learn.

[LadyShea]

It's really hard for me to find greek yogurt that isn't non fat, to the point of me yelling " what the fuck" at the yogurt aisle shelves. So probably not your fault they hide it .

[livius drusus]

I put together an onion and garlic topping for the giant pain in the ass kohlrabi pancakes I made last night. Exigent circumstances forced me to use 2% Greek yogurt and it was some chalky, grainy BULLSHIT. The texture was atrocious. Weirdly, I don't mind eating it just as yogurt, but as a base for anything it blows.

[lisarea]

To make regular full-fat yogurt into Greek full-fat yogurt, you can just strain it. I use cheesecloth secured to a bowl with a rubber band and some binder clips or something, and then you just dump the yogurt in, put it in the refrigerator, and let the whey dribble out until it's the right consistency for Greek yogurt. You could also use a basket coffee filter or a screen strainer or something.

If you keep it going longer, you can make a cream cheese consistency labneh. (Salt it before straining if that's what you're intending.)

And if you want to make your own full-fat yogurt:

Put 3.5 cups of whole milk in a microwave safe bowl, add about half a packet of powdered milk to it and stir, and then microwave it until it's almost to a boil, usually somewhere between 8 and 9 minutes.

Take it out, and let it cool to between about 115 and 120F.

Add about 2 Tbsp. active culture yogurt (plain is ideal, but you can use flavored too--it'll just impart a little flavor that will slowly disappear in future iterations). Mix that in, transfer to a jar or something, and then keep it at about 95-115F for anywhere from 6-12 hours until it's yogurt consistency. (The longer you leave it, the thicker it'll get.) I just leave it overnight in the oven with the light on, and check it in the morning to see if it's ready.

Save a couple tablespoons from that batch to make the next one, if you want.

And you can even use milk that's starting to sour so that doesn't go to waste.

It's actually pretty easy to do, especially once you get your routine down. I make yogurt a lot, and I've only had it fail once, and that's because I was being sloppy. Hell, you could make Kiddo do it, Shea.

[LadyShea]

Then you just add flavorings at will or is there like recipes

[lisarea]

Yeah, it's just plain flavored yogurt, so you can do whatever you want with it. Make tzatziki or some other kind of dip or sauce with it, or add honey, fruit, nuts, or jam or whatever like store-boughten. I usually make tzatziki a little thinner to use instead of cream salad dressings like blue cheese or ranch.

Labneh you can roll into little balls and crust them with herbs and drizzle some olive oil on them, or just use the way you would any soft cheese.

So my current batch came out really good and just the right texture, so everyone pary for my tzatziki tonight.

[Dingfod]

Back in the late 1990s I made the most perfect apple pie in the history of apple pies, one that I could never best, so I've never tried again. All I have are memories of it. The crust was the secret, really. I was sitting around like a lump, watching Saturday afternoon tv when Mrs. Fields of Mrs. Fields fame program came on. She was going to make an apple pie. My ears perked up, because I like apple pie, and because Mrs. Fields was pretty pleasing to mine eyes. I grabbed a steno pad and pen, and wrote down her recipe verbatim. Then, I went to the store to get what I did not have to make it. I then proceeded to make a huge mess in the kitchen. When I was done, I had created a masterpiece of an apple pie. I would have died happy if I had died choking on a piece of it, but that was impossible because it was melt in your mouth good.

Anyway, I was just thinking about this earlier. I googled "Mrs Fields pie crust recipe" and what do I find, the exact recipe I used back in the day. I will not show it here, because it is lengthy and probably copyrighted, but here is the link. Enjoy. If you follow the directions to the letter, you will not be disappointed.

[viscousmemories]

Originally Posted by LadyShea

It's really hard for me to find greek yogurt that isn't non fat, to the point of me yelling " what the fuck" at the yogurt aisle shelves. So probably not your fault they hide it .

So you're that crazy lady at the grocery.

[Anastasia Beaverhausen]

Lisa, sometimes when I make a yogurt dressing (for Turkish chicken skewers, will post recipe if asked) the recipe adds cumin. It's pretty nice

[lisarea]

Thanks, I might try that sometime.

I think I am back on track with the tzatziki, though. The main problem the last time was the stupid non-fat yogurt, so once I fixed that, I was able to get to what I was going for. (To make a big tub of it, I used that amount of Greek yogurt, one large cucumber, seeded, grated, and with some of the moisture squeezed out, the juice of one lemon, a big handful of chopped dill, salt, pepper, and a couple splashes of cider vinegar, IIRC. I STILL didn't write it down. What the hell?)

It's been miserably hot lately and it looks like this summer is going to be horrible, which means we go to mostly sandwiches and salads and things, so I'm probably going to try different variations, like parsley instead of dill and messing around with proportions and textures, and probably some other yogurt sauces too.

[Megatron]

SEE, MOTHERFUCKERS? LISAPEA KNOWS EVERYTHING.

God damn it, when do I get old enough to like, know everything? I'm 37, but I guess that isn't old enough. Doesn't help that I'm dumb. She probably already knew everything at 37. Hey, don't pick on her because she's 40. It's not that much older than me, y'know.

ANYWAY, um. food.

So I grow peppers. We've got GHOST NAGAS this year. Oh fuck yes. I'm gonna make some cheddar dip out of this first one and also there will be summer chili featuring a ghost pepper and some cayennes and jalapenos. Very busy bees this time of year, oh yes. My harvest is looking a bit weak because of FUCKED UP WEATHER but we'll get our peppers.

[BrotherMan]

I have it on good authority that pea gets her knowingness from the pibbles.

[erimir]

Originally Posted by Megatron

SEE, MOTHERFUCKERS? LISAPEA KNOWS EVERYTHING.

God damn it, when do I get old enough to like, know everything? I'm 37, but I guess that isn't old enough. Doesn't help that I'm dumb. She probably already knew everything at 37. Hey, don't pick on her because she's 40. It's not that much older than me, y'know.

God, I was just thinking about if we had an trivia team and went to trivia nights.