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Food Thread: Stewing About Stew?

It's that time, when the leaves are falling from the trees, and there is a nip in the air! Well, the leaves are falling, but we haven't had much cold weather yet, so I am going to have to fake it with beef stew in the absence of frost!

One makes due.

But I am baking a sourdough loaf to go with the stew, because here at Chez Dildo we are nothing if not authentic! However, the stew recipe I am using is a bit odd...it calls for orange zest and cloves. And too much of both! I pulled two thirds of the orange out after about 10 minutes, and didn't bother with the cloves, because that's just weird!

It also called for two cups of flour with which to dust the meat. Two cups of flour for three pounds of chuck? That's quite a bit! So I made a roux instead, because it was obvious that the stew wasn't going to be thick enough for the aesthetic pleasure of the season's first robust dish! I also added more potatoes and carrots and pearl onions. And didn't really follow the instructions for cooking.

So...why did I bother with a recipe in the first place?

I have no idea.

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SNAP and other food-based boondoggles have been in the news lately. At the risk of exposing my ignorance of government programs and their largesse, I had no idea how much SNAP provides, and after doing a bit of research, I retched!

But it also made me think about how to maximize one's food dollar, which many of us do naturally as a consequence of being of a certain age and upbringing.

It really is pretty simple. Fresh foods, the less processed the better. Raw state will almost always be cheaper than even minimally handled stuff. That's why I learned how to butcher a chicken at a very early point in that whole pay-for-your-own-food thing. Stretch foods with beans and rice and other inexpensive stuff, and be generous with fats. They taste good, make us feel full, and are not the health risk that the elite fools in our government have been claiming for 50 years.

One thing that is often overlooked is the use of spices. They are not expensive per serving, and having flavorful and interesting food to look forward to is a huge advantage when one is trying to economize!

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This place looks great! Anyone ever been to The Buckhorn Saloon and Opera House?

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Scampydog found these in a hunting shack...in 2001. Sadly, he has not tasted them, although I am hoping that he will on the 25 anniversary of his discovery.

What's the oldest food you have ever eaten? Booze and wine do not count!

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Swamp Rice? What the hell is swamp rice?

Well, we are going to find out from your favorite up-talking chef!

I like weirdly colored foods, simply because they are startling on the plate. I think that's why Indian food appeals to me. Of course, in nature, weirdly colored things can often signal danger, which in some respects is exactly what Indian food does!

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It is said that Great Britain and America are two countries separated by a common language. Of course, Jamie Oliver may not speak either version of English, and instead speak some dialect rich in pomposity and obfuscation.

Which would be okay, if the food was tantalizing. But this Chicken & mushroom puff pie is a lot of work, both trying to decipher his blather and also make a relatively complex dish out of something that should be simple.

Yeah...I don't much like ole Jamie. His woke cooking is mostly obnoxious.

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A long-time lurker who has contributed some very interesting stuff in the past sent this link along.

Really, anything that Homesick Texan does is going to be worthwhile. I had a very pleasant email conversation with her many years ago, and I still use her biscuit recipe!

Saved by red beans and rice is just that! Rescued from the catastrophe that is classic roux. But it is a serious recipe with depth of flavor that is difficult to find outside of authentic cooking.

It sounds so ridiculously simple, but a pot of good beans is delicious on its own, and adding meat and rice creates a dish that is simply marvelous.

By the way, Homesick Texan knows how to write recipes. I compare her to that idiot Jamie Oliver, and it is an embarrassing reflection on the silliness that most celebrity chefs have become.

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A friend graciously gave me some genuine grown-in-the-USA garlic, and I am going to taste one clove and plant the rest, because my pathetic failure last year is an anomaly...right?

And...send all of your extra antelope to: cbd dot aoshq at gmail dot com.

Who are those poor deluded souls We know who shakes their Manhattans! These are the same people who drink fine bourbon with coke, and probably shake red wine with ice too.

$1,200 for a bottle of bourbon is just stupid, insulting, and a ghastly affront to most people's palates and wallets. I think the sweet spot is $40-$60 for excellent and interesting bottles, and bumping that to $100 gets you an incremental improvement in quality, but nothing mind-blowing. More than that and I think you are paying for hype and rarity, which may look good in your liquor cabinet, but doesn't translate to more quality in the bottle.

The problem...or the solution...is to buy lots of bourbon, take tasting notes, and eventually arrive at your favorites! It should take forty or fifty years, but it is worth it!