Text 6970, 175 rader
Skriven 2008-05-12 14:06:38 av Ruth Haffly (1:396/45.28)
Kommentar till text 6806 av Carol Shenkenberger (12848.cooks)
Ärende: Meat Balls, Mamma Mia! [1]
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Hi Carol,
> CS> to bind them. Not spicy but she had a way of making them that was
> CS> really good. Baked I think but not sure.
> That does sound good as an alternative to straight hamburgers. Of
> course the chances of my mom having cooked rice or brown mushroom gravy
> on hand were/are pretty much slim to none. They would definately go
> well with mashed potatoes.
CS> Mom made rice fairly often but not as often as I do. Probably had it
CS> once a week is my guess? I think she made rice-a-roni pretty often
My mom's main use of rice was in the turkey soup she made from the left
over holiday bird. Other than the very rare chop suey (maybe every 3-4
years), she did't use rice. Several years ago mom and dad had forgotten
to get potatoes on their shopping trek and had run out on a Sunday.
Rice was an option but they wrote that they found some potatoes after
checking several stores (it took some driving around a pretty good sized
rural area) so they were "spared" having to eat rice. Rice a roni was
never in our house.
CS> leftovers (she'd make a little extra fairly often and sometimes we
CS> didnt eat up the extras), she'd freeze it and then pull it out later
CS> for the meatballs.
Makes sense; we rarely had left overs like that. If it was just a dab
or two, it went into the dog's dish. More than that and Dad would use
it as part of his lunch. Some meats had "planned re use" but a vegetable
and potaotes were always cooked fresh to go with it.
CS> Breadcrumbs were not common as she'd have to use up a slice or so of
CS> bread for it.
My mom kept a can of the cheap ones on hand--still does.
> CS> Probably had them every 4-5 months, or had a meatloaf fixed very close
> CS> to the same recipe except that one also used bread crumbs and tomato
> My mom's meat loaf was meat (whatever was cheap or given--she was given
> ground venison once), egg, bread crumbs, milk, worchestshire sauce and
> left overs. Actually, meat loaf was the first meal I ever cooked by
> myself--with supervision--when I was about 7. Did it with baked
> potatoes and (probably frozen) spinach with chocolate pudding for
CS> Simple. I think my first meal was not far off that. I just recall
CS> the main entree was a meat pocket filled with mushroom gravy and set
CS> on a bed of mashed potatoes. I was about 12 or 13?
I think cooking was more of a job to my mom with the 5 of us kids. We
are 7 years (total) different in age from the oldest to the youngest.
Combination of that and Dad being a basics eater, she wasn't creative.
Plus, the meat had to be separate from the potatoes in most cases, no
mixing. Bor-ing!
> CS> When she'd do meatball version, she'd pick one of us kids to pick the
> CS> size. It would either be little ones (about 1 inch across) or huge
> CS> ones (1/4 lb each). So you either got one big one or several small
> That sounds like fun. Were you predicatble with one kid always wanting
> big meat balls, another always the small ones?
CS> Yes, but since we'd trade off chores, Mom never really knew what to
CS> expect. If it was my week to do dishes for example, I might trade that
CS> night's chore to my brother and pick the little ones in exchange
CS> (which he liked best).
Funny, you would have expected the boy to like the bigger ones. My
younger brother always tried to get the biggest of anything he could.
Mom "set him up" once when she made choc. chip cookies; she made a big
one but had no chips in it. Of course he grabbed it--and was quite put
out that it had no chips. But, it taught him that bigger wasn't always
better.
CS> I always liked the big ones nestled in lightly oven browned mashed
CS> potatoes but Mom's spagetti, though doubtless not as good as anything
CS> you and Janis make, was quite acceptable fodder to me. She'd use only
CS> the McCormick
CS> spagetti packets with mushrooms. At that time, they were the best of
CS> the lot. (Jarred spagetti sauces didnt exist then I think).
I think jarred sauces have been around a good while but they've been
more expensive than the packet. I ate my mom's spaghetti/sauce but knew
there had to be something better--and found it when I met/married Steve.
> CS> curious about something I've mentioned making), I plan to try to
> CS> envegile my way into sous-chef duties often. That way I can watch
> CS> what others do.
> Just remember that no 2 of us will do the same thing with the same
> ingredients. I'll have to give you some of the basic Italian recipes my
> MIL gave me. I used them "as is" for a long time, then started using
> them as jumping off points but they are good either way.
CS> Oh definately! Most of us mention over and over how we almost never
CS> make anything excatly the same twice <G>. Thats my main failing with
CS> Italian, other than not growing up with it as a cultural influance. I
CS> 'fusion' it too much so the results though good to excellent, are not
CS> at all authentic.
But Italian doesn't lend itself to some regional fusions that well, as
you found out. It would go well with Greek or other Mediterranian but
not Japanese. I didn't grow up with it as part of my cultural heritage
but quickly learned how to do a decent pot of sauce. I don't try to
make it Italian/Korean; we like both cuisines but separately, please.
You will learn, as we all do, in experimenting with new dishes, what
works well together. Janis and I will jsut help you get a bit more of
the authenticity conquered.
CS> If i made you all a pot of tomato sauce, (not that I will as that
CS> market seems covered), you'd see traces of just about every place I
CS> have lived sneaking in, and a few places i've never been to!
I might use one or two of the areas where I lived as influence but try
to keep the fusion aspect limited. OTOH, a meal may reflect the various
places in several dishes, not all in one. (G)
CS> In fact, I have a recipe (will post it later if i remember to type it
CS> up) Charlotte and Don want me to make. It's a meat sauce but of a
CS> greek roughly style with canned tomatoes, and baby octopus. It's
CS> vaguely spagetti-style but would likely be served over linguini or
CS> rotini vice thinner spagetti noodles.
That would go well in a move toward Italian cooking. Just change out a
few of the herbs probably. Sounds good except the octopus & that is
basically a matter of a difference in "meat". If I knew it were coming,
I'd have no problems eating it; if I were surprised by it, there might
be more of a mental adjustment before I could eat it.(G)
CS> I had something like it at the Black Ship Festival in Japan in an
CS> 'italian' restraunt. Yes, very fusioned sort of food <g> but all very
CS> good. In their case, it was a sort that was very greek and japanese
CS> mixed but they had a sign that lead to it being supposedly italian.
CS> About the only thing italian though was the parmesan cheese <g>.
Just like so many things I've seen labeled as "Hawaiian" have pineapple
or coconut as an incidental ingredient and the total presentation is
nothing like would be found in HI.
> CS> Keep in mind I'm totally self taught on cooking so watching others is
> CS> fun for me.
> I was taught basics as my dad liked them but self taught on so many more
> things. Don't feel bad about it; I think more of us here are self taught
> vs taught (much) by others. None of us have a CIA degree (or similar)
> but OJT, which is the best teacher.
CS> Yup! I've been enjoying watching the cooking shows now that I have
CS> food TV here, and watching the chefs and how the chop things. I still
CS> do it my old way, but it's neat to see them make shoestrings and such.
I'm picking up tips from the cooking shows too. It is fun to watch them;
I'll never be as fast as they are with a knife but I know how to use one
effectively as well as safely.
> CS> Sure, and we should leave some room for the 'eats' to bring stuff.
>> CONTINUED IN NEXT MESSAGE <<
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Catch you later,
Ruth
rchaffly@earthlink.net FIDO 1:396/45.28
... Feed your faith and starve your doubts to death.
--- PPoint 3.01
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