Things I Didn't Know About Food

[skb12172]

My mother had the amazing ability to make something dry, greasy, and chewy all at the same time.

I learned to cook as a child as a self defense mechanism.

The biggest revelation?

Pork was actually good, when it wasn't cooked to the point of being dry and gray.

Same here. Raised by a mother from an Irish background who was also phobic about illnesses from "undercooked" meat. I thought I hated steak, baked chicken, etc., until I was in my early 20s and was able to eat examples that weren't of the consistency of shoe leather.

[Denis]

My mother had the amazing ability to make something dry, greasy, and chewy all at the same time.

I learned to cook as a child as a self defense mechanism.

We were clearly separated at birth.

[mekender]

We always joke that my mom never met a piece of meat she did not cook well done... I swear, for everything I loved about her cooking, which was most things, she never once served any meat that had pink in it.

[PawPaw]

Both my mother and my wife (who are otherwise excellent cooks) have no clue about biscuits. I often claim that their biscuits defy gravity: They're heavy as lead but won't go down.

I had to learn to make biscuits as a self-defense mechanism. There's an excellent sourdough recipe here. LINKAROONY!

[HTRN]

Cooking Pasta in a frying pan = life changed forever.

Harold McGee, what a shock..

He did another one I like involving eggs. Chow tips in general have all kinds of useful shortcuts.

Here's one - don't fully cook lasagna noodles before making the dish - put a bit of hot tap water into a baking dish, and stick the noodles in. the idea is to get them flexible enough to be used. Because you're not fully cooking them, they'll absorb the excess water from the lasagna, you know, all that nasty stuff at the bottom of the pan, making a much better dish, with far less work.

If you ever get the chance to actually try real, French cooking, do NOT pass it up.

I just found out about a tiny, 12 seat(!) local French place that doesn't even serve alcohol(I'm guessing he can't/won't deal with a liquor license), that supposedly serves unbelievably good food. I'm itching to eat there.

My mother was born in Scotland.

Mike Myers said it best.

Yeah, that's Scandinavian cooking.

I'm just gonna leave this here.

[mekender]

Both my mother and my wife (who are otherwise excellent cooks) have no clue about biscuits. I often claim that their biscuits defy gravity: They're heavy as lead but won't go down.

I had to learn to make biscuits as a self-defense mechanism. There's an excellent sourdough recipe here. LINKAROONY!

They weren't by chance cooks at a FL Boy Scout camp back in the mid 90's were they?

Those damn biscuits were dangerous to windows if you threw them... And watching a bowl of grits melt a spoon is a sure way to tell you that you would be better off sneaking candy bars from the commissary.

[MarkD]

I'm just gonna leave this here.

I gross my wife out when I eat pickled herring, hey, it's GOOD!

I also like smoked salmon, and Fisker Boller (literally means fish balls, made of the same stuff as fish pudding, just balls instead of in a pan). Actually, there's not much that comes out of the ocean I won't try, I'd probably even try lutefisk. Ikea used to sell it fozen.

And let's not forget Gjetost cheese (pronounced yay-tost), which my wife calls Jaagermeister cheese.

Damn, I'm getting hungry.

[Aglifter]

I've had that cheese, I think - does it look like caramel, and is very strong?

As for pickled herring, no, it is not good.

[TheIrishman]

I learned that vegetables could have flavor and texture...usually canned, sometimes frozen, and she always boiled them into submission..."steak" was "chuck steak".

My mother had the amazing ability to make something dry, greasy, and chewy all at the same time...Pork was actually good, when it wasn't cooked to the point of being dry and gray.

Raised by a mother from an Irish background...phobic about illnesses from "undercooked" meat.

To think, my mother had all these other kids I never knew about

[PawPaw]

Here's one - don't fully cook lasagna noodles before making the dish - put a bit of hot tap water into a baking dish, and stick the noodles in. the idea is to get them flexible enough to be used. Because you're not fully cooking them, they'll absorb the excess water from the lasagna, you know, all that nasty stuff at the bottom of the pan, making a much better dish, with far less work.

Hell, I don't cook lasagna noodles at all. I put them in the sauce hard, right from the box. I figure that there's enough juice in the sauce to cook the noodles while everything bakes. I've been doing this for years and no one has complained about it yet. Layer of sauce, layer of noodles, layer of sauce, layer of noodles, you know the drill.