• Cooking Basics #5

    From Dave Drum@1:18/200 to All on Thursday, February 24, 2022 19:10:07
    CHOP ONIONS WITHOUT CRYING: There are many hacks floating around which
    tell you how to avoid crying when chopping onions, including holding a
    piece of bread between your teeth while you chop! The only way to reduce
    the tears is to wear glasses, sunglasses or swimming goggles. If that
    doesn't float your boat, buy a mini chopper or use a food processor
    which will do the work for you instead.

    MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.06

    Title: Chopped Liver #2
    Categories: Five, Poultry, Offal, Usenet
    Yield: 4 Servings

    1 lb Chicken livers
    1 lg Onion
    2 cl Garlic
    3 tb Schmaltz *
    3 Eggs; hard-boiled

    Melt the schmaltz in a large frying pan. Saute the onions
    and garlic in the schmaltz until the onions are tender.
    Add the chicken livers and saute until done. (Livers are
    done when they are no longer red or pink on the inside.)

    Chop the cooked livers and onions, along with the hard
    boiled eggs. I always chop by hand, using a chopper and
    a wooden bowl. Regardless of how you chop them, they
    should be fairly coarsely chopped. Season with a little
    salt and a little more melted schmaltz if things are dry.

    * Chopped liver Just like Mom used to make - This is
    NOT liver pate; it's chopped liver. And lots of folks
    who claim to hate liver love this stuff.

    * Schmaltz is rendered (melted) chicken fat. If you
    want to make your own (which I recommend), get some
    chicken fat (from the butcher, or from a chicken you
    fix; one chicken's fat is plenty). Put the fat in a
    frying pan on low heat. Stir the pieces of fat
    frequently; if there's lots of fat, you can drain the
    pan into a container to keep things from splattering too
    much. The fat will eventually melt down to a tough, dry
    blob (the griveners, which are pure poison, but I love
    'em!), at which point you're done rendering. The liquid
    fat is the schmaltz.

    FROM: Alan M. Marcum; Sun Microsystems, Mountain View, CA

    From: http://www.recipesource.com

    Uncle Dirty Dave's Kitchen

    MMMMM

    ... Green Spam Jell-O? This will not be a classy meal.
    --- MultiMail/Win
    * Origin: Outpost BBS * Johnson City, TN (1:18/200)
  • From JIM WELLER@1:135/392 to DAVE DRUM on Friday, February 25, 2022 21:25:00
    Quoting Dave Drum to All <=-

    CHOP ONIONS WITHOUT CRYING: wear glasses, sunglasses or swimming
    goggles.

    You can also avoid having your eyes tearing up just by working with
    your arms extended and not hovering directly over the cutting board.
    Also doing the chopping near the kitchen range with the fan on.

    Tamari and arrowroot:

    MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.06

    Title: Sweet And Sour Chicken Stir Fry
    Categories: Chicken, Chinese
    Yield: 6 Servings

    2 lb Boneless chicken breasts cut
    Into bite sized pieces
    2 md Bell pepper cut into bite
    Sized pieces
    3 Green onions sliced (reserve
    Green parts for garnish)
    1 Garlic clove minced
    8 oz Can pineapple chunks in
    Natural juice
    1 c Cherries divided
    1/4 c Arrowroot powder
    2 tb Oil
    FOR THE MARINADE:
    1 ts Tamari or soy sauce
    1 ts Chinese rice wine
    1 Garlic clove grated
    FOR THE SAUCE:
    1/2 c Pineapple juice
    2 tb Arrowroot powder
    1/2 c Cherry juice
    1/2 c Ketchup
    1/3 c White or rice vinegar
    1 ts Tamari
    1 c Cane sugar

    For the Marinade: In a medium bowl, whisk together the tamari
    Chinese rice wine, and grated garlic. Add the chicken pieces to
    the bowl and stir to coat. Cover and refrigerate.

    For the Sauce: Separate the pineapple chunks from the pineapple
    juice. Reserve the pineapple chunks for later. Measure out 1/2 cup
    of pineapple juice, stir in the arrowroot to make a slurry, and
    set aside (this will be used to thicken the sauce later).

    Pit and slice the cherries in half. Set aside half of the cherries
    for later. Extract the juice from the remaining cherries by
    combining them with 3 tablespoons of water in a saucepan. Simmer
    over low heat until fruit softens. Gently mash the cherries with a
    potato masher and continue simmering until the juices are released.
    Strain and discard the solids. Measure out 1/4 cup of cherry juice
    (add more water if needed).

    Add the cherry juice, ketchup, vinegar, and tamari to the
    saucepan. Heat and stir over medium heat until combined. Add the
    cane sugar and simmer over medium heat while stirring.

    Once the sugar is dissolved, stir the pineapple juice slurry, and
    add it to the saucepan. While stirring, bring the saucepan to a
    boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer
    until the sauce thickens, about 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the
    heat and allow the sweet and sour sauce to cool.

    For the Stir-Fry: Add the oil to the preheated wok. Add the
    chicken to the pan in batches and stir-fry until the chicken is
    cooked on the outside, about 3-4 minutes. Remove the chicken from
    the pan. Add the peppers, green onion, and garlic. Stir-fry for
    2-3 minutes. Return the chicken to the pan. Add 1/2 cup of the
    sweet and sour sauce, and stir-fry until the chicken is cooked and
    the vegetables are to your liking, about 2-3 minutes more.

    Add reserved, pineapple and cherries and combine. Serve over rice
    and garnish with the reserved green onions, and remaining sauce.

    Recipe Notes: Use bottled cherry juice and skip the juice
    extraction step.

    Rachel Arsenault at growagoodlife.com

    MMMMM


    Cheers

    Jim


    ... It's hard to imagine civilisation without onions.

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  • From Dave Drum@1:18/200 to JIM WELLER on Sunday, February 27, 2022 06:28:57
    JIM WELLER wrote to DAVE DRUM <=-

    CHOP ONIONS WITHOUT CRYING: wear glasses, sunglasses or swimming
    goggles.

    You can also avoid having your eyes tearing up just by working with
    your arms extended and not hovering directly over the cutting board.
    Also doing the chopping near the kitchen range with the fan on.

    Or choose onions that aren't overly "juicy", slice w/sharp knife, etc.
    I generally use a mandoline and an "onion chopper" for my onion work.
    The onion chopper is a very handy kitchen tool - it dices more than
    just onions. https://www.amazon.com/Vidalia-Chop-Wizard-67366-Large/dp/B000I6JZWA

    Also: https://www.amazon.com/OXO-Grips-Vegetable-Chopper-Opening/dp/B01BKWJ86I which I was gifted one Xmas. It's nice but has only 1 size die which
    means I generally use the Chop Wizard.

    MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.06

    Title: Spicy Onion and Eggplant Chutney
    Categories: Pickles, Condiments, Indian, Relishes
    Yield: 12 Servings

    1 lg Texas sweet onion; diced
    1 md Eggplant; diced
    2 cl Garlic; minced
    1/4 ts Cumin
    1/4 ts Salt
    2 tb Olive oil
    2 tb White wine vinegar
    1 Bell pepper; minced
    2 tb Lemon juice
    Crushed red-pepper flakes
    1 ts Chopped fresh parsley

    In large skillet, saute onion, eggplant, garlic, cumin and
    salt in oil and vinegar until eggplant is tender, about 15
    to 20 minutes. Add bell pepper; saute 10 minutes. Stir in
    lemon juice and red pepper; saute another 5 minutes.
    Remove from heat and cool to room temp.

    Recipe By: Low-Fat Meals, Woman's Day, 4/96

    Uncle Dirty Dave's Archives

    MMMMM

    ... Skiing combines outdoor fun with knocking down trees with your face.
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    * Origin: Outpost BBS * Johnson City, TN (1:18/200)