Cookbook Project, Books #129, 130, and 131

[ladysprite]

"Slow Cooker Meals," Betty Crocker

And back once again to the glossy checkout lane booklets - after a brief break into the land of hardcover and respectable books, I had to start attacking this shelf again. This is one that I bought for myself, mostly because I love my crock pot, and I've used it at least a couple of times. There are a couple of decent, safe recipes in there for things like baked pasta and chili and the like.

I decided, though, not to slack off - I'm nearing the end of the project, and I don't want to succumb to the urge to slack off and make easy, safe stuff - and instead of falling back on one of those, to make something that I normally wouldn't. So we wound up making Thai Chicken.

(As an aside, one of the most positive side effects of this project is that I'm becoming more comfortable cooking with flavors in the Asian spectrum. I know this isn't real Thai food, but hey, a year ago I never would have approached a dish with peanut sauce, and now they're slowly becoming a go-to category....)

The Thai chicken was pretty good - if anything, it was a bit bland, but the meat came out nice and moist, and the sauce was a good base flavor. If I made it again, and I'm likely to, I'd double the lime juice and use a spicier salsa. That's all.

"Dishes Children Love," Shop-Rite Supermarkets

This book is one of a series of ancient, non-glossy booklets that I got as hand-me-downs from my mother. I admit that I've been doing my best to ignore the fact that they're on my shelf, since I've been desperately dreading using them, but I'm at the point where I can't dodge them any longer. Since this one was the most unfortunate-looking, I decided to bite the bullet and get it out of the way first.

Among other things, children apparently love dishes with stupid names made with MSG. Also, apparently, dishes that are either cream-based or deep-fried. When my sainted husband vetoed the concept of fried stuffed hot dogs (coward), we wound up making Grilled Tuna Salad Sandwiches instead.

They were, well, not as bad as I had feared. They were kind of a cross between tuna salad sandwiches and Monte Cristos, being dipped in egg before grilling, and the bread wound up kind of soggy, but they were edible, and decent enough for a quick dinner. I'm never going to make them again, nor am I likely to make anything else from this book, but I can't quite bring myself to get rid of it either - if nothing else, it's entertaining.

"The Joy of Cooking," Irma S.Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker

I have mentioned before that ours is a mixed marriage. I am a Fannie Farmer purist, but my still-sainted husband comes from a Joy of Cooking family. As such, I have a copy of that book in my house, and that, unfortunately, means that I needed to bite the bullet and actually cook something from it.

I know, intellectually, that it's a perfectly fine cookbook. But I still feel like I'm betraying my mother, my lineage, and my beloved copy of Fannie Farmer by doing so.

After Thanksgiving, we had a turkey carcass just taking up room in the fridge. And giblets. And extra aromatics and herbs, and, blessedly, extra time. So I figured that this was an opportunity to... well, accomplish a few things at once, and looked up Joy's recipe for Turkey Stock.

One dead turkey, some carrots and onions and celery and bay leaves and peppercorns, and several hours of simmering and straining later, I had something magical. I had never made my own stock before; it always struck me as something fussy and time consuming and beyond me. But this was far easier than I had anticipated, and in addition to making the house smell amazing and using up a lot of leftover stuff, it's worlds better than any canned broth or stock I've ever tried.

I am not a convert. But I will grudgingly admit that this book may have earned its place on my shelf.

Comments

[wcg.livejournal.com]

In the grand universe of "Joy of Cooking" v "Fannie Farmer" remember that I bought Paula a Fannie Farmer cookbook on your recommendation. It seems to have settled in nicely among her four different editions of JoC, and there's been no ripping of the spacetime continuum. I think this is a fine place to embrace the power of "and."

[tpau]

hey pass alongthe thai chicken slowcooker recipe? :)

i adore Joy, but i have never used it as a recipe book. i use it like an encyclopedia (vs. a novel i guess) there for reference rather then meals...

[gyzki.livejournal.com]

Second the interest in the thai chicken recipe.

Ditto the "Fannie Farmer is a cookbook, Joy of Cooking is a reference book" mindset. (I would not have expected to agree two-for-two with tpau on matters of cooking, but here we are.)

[tpau]

well, if it makes you feel better, i don't own fanny farmer at all. never seen it outside ladysprite's house. buti do have Joy for reference and a bunch of cookbooks for cooking :)

so we only sort of agree

[gyzki.livejournal.com]

so we only sort of agree

1.5 out of 2. OK, that's better :-)

Better Late than Never

[ladysprite.livejournal.com]

Thai Chicken

8 chicken thighs (about 2 lb), skin removed
3/4 cup hot salsa (we used medium; I'd go with the hot next time)
1/4 cup peanut butter
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp grated gingerroot
1/4 cup chopped peanuts
2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro (we skipped this)

Place chicken in 3 1/2 to 6 quart slow cooker. Mix remaining ingredients except peanuts and cilantro, pour over chicken.

Cover and cook on low heat 8-9 hours or until juice of chicken is no longer pink when centers of thickest pieces are cut. Remove chicken from cooker using slotted spoon, place on serving platter.

Remove sauce from slow cooker, skim fat from sauce. Pour sauce over chicken. Sprinkle with peanuts and cilantro.

Serves 4.

[rosinavs.livejournal.com]

I am up for trying fried stuffed hotdogs, in case you ever want to try it. I agree, your husband is a coward (in this instance.)

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

The _Joy_ is a solid basics cookbook.

[z-gryphon.livejournal.com]

Everybody loves the great taste of... uh... well, the other stuff in dishes that have MSG, technically. :) (And the cream/deep-fried thing is just axiomatic, I mean, c'mon.)

[glinda-w.livejournal.com]

My mother was a Fannie Farmer devotee, but since her copy was in Braille... well, anyway, I'm Joy of Cooking all the way. That said, I use it more as a reference than as an actual cookbook. And stock? That's another thing my mother made, so it's just something you do after you've roasted a bird of any sort, and there's no more a recipe for that than there is for tomato/spaghetti sauce. If it's a turkey, use at least the 12-qt. stockpot, then freeze or pressure-can the 12 pints or so. I haven't used purchased chicken broth in - ghods, have I *ever* used it? :)

Try the Coq au Vin recipe from Joy sometime...

Home Made Stock

[edthetallguy.livejournal.com]

Mmmmm....Home-made stock. I do a whole chicken on the charcoal grill every few weeks. Two or three good meals out of the chicken and the carcass goes in the freezer. When we accumulate enough carcasses, my other half breaks out the stock pot. The house smells wonderful and we get 6-8 quarts of stock in the freezer. Then we get a bunch more meals out of the stock. It is indeed better than anything you can buy, and it feels so righteously frugal.