Eating and drinking....

[maofas]

i like lamb.
god how i like lamb.

expensive,i prob eat it 5 times a year max.
or saucages:its a malfunction but whereever i go in europe i try to get local saucages.

btw whats the seafood like in the usa? fresh? xpensive?

Oh man, I love lamb, but it's expensive as hell here too. I was supposed to have some for my b-day dinner, but I wound up saving the money for various immunization shots I need instead (yay for not being able to afford healthcare).

The U.S. is a big area and the culture is differs from area to area, but generally speaking the U.S. is very much NOT big on fish-eating (and the fish people usually do eat are the non-fishy tasting fish). I grew up eating fish a lot, especially during Lent, though. Asian markets tend to have good fresh fish at low prices, if the area has one.

[Dsimon3387]

i like lamb.
god how i like lamb.

expensive,i prob eat it 5 times a year max.
or saucages:its a malfunction but whereever i go in europe i try to get local saucages.

btw whats the seafood like in the usa? fresh? xpensive?

On average the food quality in the US tends not to be as high quality as in a typical European market. For example, if I buy a prepared soup in a container in London, I do not have the selection I would have here, and it will cost me a lot more, but the soup I get will have better ingrediants. People tend to like cheap food here and the meat quality, the **** that gets put out in super markets can be real garbage.

However, in most US cities there are great food markets that have incredible food items. Also we have farmers markets with regional produce that is exceptional. California produce gets shipped everywhere and by the time it arrives it is crap. Best to buy what is in season where yu are here.

European dairy and California dairy are commensurately very good excellent food products.


I was a professional Chef and had a catering company here in San Francisco, san francisco has many foodies haha. My favorite cooking in the Cajun Creole which I learned about when I married my Cajun wife. new Orleans is a great unpretensious food city that has incredible products... hopefully this spill does not make it so my kids never have an oyster from Grtand Isle.

But my heart is in New York. To this day when I get to New York and take that first bite of pizza, or Zabar's sour cream onions and herring it is an overwhelming emotional experience for me.

[Lebell]

i enjoyed watching that show 'no reservations', excellent presenter, and interesting dishes and people.
have you seen it?

[Dsimon3387]

Ah... the Stoli is kicking in. This one is going to make you a huge hit at the next party. I am sure all you die hard MMA fans will be having parties over the next two weekends. But what to make for all your guests? Well, here is a manly mix for one and all....

Block Party Beans
Serves 10 to 12

For a festive presentation worthy of its name, we recommend using beans of varying shapes and colors, such as kidney beans, navy beans, black beans, and pinto beans. Serve with hot sauce.

2 1/2 pounds 85 percent lean ground beef
1 onion , chopped fine
4 garlic cloves , minced
4 (15-ounce) cans beans , drained and rinsed (see note)
2 (28-ounce) cans tomato sauce
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper
12 ounces green beans , trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 (10-ounce) package frozen lima beans

1. MAKE SAUCE Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Cook beef in Dutch oven over medium-high heat until no longer pink, about 8 minutes. Drain beef in colander, then return to pot. Stir in onion and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in beans, tomato sauce, barbecue sauce, sugar, vinegar, pepper flakes, ½ teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper and bring to boil.

2. BAKE Transfer pot to oven and cook, covered, until sauce is slightly thickened, about 30 minutes. Stir in green beans and lima beans and continue to cook, covered, until green beans are tender, about 30 minutes. Season with additional salt and pepper, if necessary. Serve. (Beans can be refrigerated in airtight container for 3 days or frozen for 1 month.)

With melinda sauce this is a great dish.... and by the time the main event is on, the farts in the room will peel the paint off the walls!!!!

Mark the memories you bring back. In New York we would watch the fight and fix lots of stuff and yes, demonstrations were par for the course!

I always like to make a ton more than I need reason being, you have for next time and for other meals... when taking the time to cook why not be efficient about it?


The kind of stuff you are making is par for the course. I always make meatballs because I usually have some ground meat around and you can get all kinds of great combos when you mix ground meats in various ways: For meatballs:

don't mix ground chix/turkey and beef. You can mix with ground veal, pork.

Lamb, pork veal beef..... you can mix it up mix what you have and what you can find cheap.

take meat and prepare per 2 pounds, saute a handfull of onions a bit of carrot and celery (mir Poux) or saute peppers onions and garlic (cajun mir Poux). add to meat after, then add an egg or two ( you can also break up some white bread and add (one slice), add some seasonings you like, I use mexican oregano, or italian mix... garlic powder.... the meat will taste like the flavors you add ok? add about two table spoons of sugar for balance and salt to taste.

ok the way to get good meatballs is to take the size you want (I use small size about a tablespoon of meat) shape the meatball and then slam it into your palm a few times, this packs it so it stays together.

Now the real secret to make this special is the sauce. You have a good basic meatball so lets kick it up. DO NOT be afraid to buy a package of well made (not alot of ingediants) meatballs and focus on the sauce if they are a good value.

Sauce:

Take half a stick of butter, add chopped up carrot celery pepper garlic and onion, add pepper and carrot first, few minutes, then celery onions, then last garlic.... let get soft translucent then add a half a teaspoon of flour, let get brown... now for creole stylin' let your flour get a nice caramel color, once you get a nice reddish tint to the flour butter put your meatballs in the pot.... take a liquor that you like, anything from frangelica (my favorite) to a good sherry, a brandy, triple sec.... and put in a good half a cup into the pot on top of the meatballs... just remember what you add is the flavor you got. Add half a cup of stock just enough to barely cover and let simmer, you can start eaten em in about 5 minutes, when the alcohol burns off.

[Mtripp]

Too bad, in the U.S. it's significantly cheaper than beef and there are less-lean-but-still-learner-than-beef versions that are even less expensive.

Also, I just emailed MTripp's recipe to my s.o. and her reply was, "Wtf is this? It looks like something a guy would invent in his college dorm. DID SOMEONE ON THAT MARTIAL ARTS BOARD POST THIS?" Lol!

Please tell your "SO" that she should let the people at America's Test Kitchen that she is SOOOO much better than they are that SHE should be on their PBS program in over 70 markets.....

...because THAT is where my recipes come from.

[Dsimon3387]

i enjoyed watching that show 'no reservations', excellent presenter, and interesting dishes and people.
have you seen it?

I have seen Jamie Oliver (I know you mentioned him) but this particular show i don't remember, we lost our cable some time ago haha.

LeBell I had a dutch cookbook and it was awful!! haha everything was buried in cheese and what not. But you guys have nice herring that is street food yes?

I love herring that is marinated. either in oil with onions, or with sour cream and onions ( a new york jewish tradition).

The Belgians have some good stuff that is cooked with their great Beers, and German Spetzle is great stuff.

[Lebell]

if i may add:maofas, if you had paid attenton you could know Tripp didnt use his own recepy cos they constantly say: ' then WE add this and that, and then we put it ...etc'
i like Tripp but not even he uses the royal plural.
lol!

[Lebell]

I have seen Jamie Oliver (I know you mentioned him) but this particular show i don't remember, we lost our cable some time ago haha.

LeBell I had a dutch cookbook and it was awful!! haha everything was buried in cheese and what not. But you guys have nice herring that is street food yes?

I love herring that is marinated. either in oil with onions, or with sour cream and onions ( a new york jewish tradition).

The Belgians have some good stuff that is cooked with their great Beers, and German Spetzle is great stuff.

German and Belgian cuisine is much better then the Dutch one.
The recepies with cheese:ive been told by Dutch guys who live in the USA that they cant find 2 things there: good bread and cheese.
So if you start out with crappy cheese then the whole recepy would fail.
I honestly cant think of one single dish thats exclusively dutch.

the herring you can buy from springtime til autumn/late summer.
but in supermarkets you can buy em vacumepacked or sauer-ed in pots.

if i eat herring at all i prefer it raw, no marinade, nothing, just with some chpped fresh onions.

[Dsimon3387]

German and Belgian cuisine is much better then the Dutch one.
The recepies with cheese:ive been told by Dutch guys who live in the USA that they cant find 2 things there: good bread and cheese.
So if you start out with crappy cheese then the whole recepy would fail.
I honestly cant think of one single dish thats exclusively dutch.

the herring you can buy from springtime til autumn/late summer.
but in supermarkets you can buy em vacumepacked or sauer-ed in pots.

if i eat herring at all i prefer it raw, no marinade, nothing, just with some chpped fresh onions.

Yeah california the cheese and breads are awful. Way too heavy. You can get parisian style bagettes in New York.

The Indonesian stuff is also tasty yes?

When you say raw... you mean literally like out of the ocean, dressed and consumed? I buy my herring products in the Russian store here, and i get salmon eggs as well. umm! but I would love to try fresh herring... You cant eat oysters like that anymore what a loss.

[Lebell]

Yeah california the cheese and breads are awful. Way too heavy. You can get parisian style bagettes in New York.

The Indonesian stuff is also tasty yes?

When you say raw... you mean literally like out of the ocean, dressed and consumed? I buy my herring products in the Russian store here, and i get salmon eggs as well. umm! but I would love to try fresh herring... You cant eat oysters like that anymore what a loss.

Yes, i mean raw, raw.
Dead , skin it, clean it, eat it.
I got some contacts and i an get fish thats been dead 1 day tops.
Most people think haring is grey, not true, really fresh herring (inside meat) is pink/orangy kinda colour and doesnt smell whatso-ever.

i also liked sushi ive eaten it three times during functions at a job i used to work.
really nice sushi.