Gluten-free Flour Mix by Miriam

For my flour mix, I use a mixture of around 40% rice flour (white and/or brown), 30% corn starch, and 30% tapioca flour. I'm not exact about it. I don't have access to xanthum gum here in Japan so I don't use that. In fact, it kind of grosses me out so I have just skipped it in my baking. In any recipe, I substitute between 75-80% of the flour called for with this mix, and for the remaining 20-25% I use almond flour, which does a great job of improving the crumb and texture. For any kind of quick bread, biscuit, or cake, I always use yoghurt or sour cream instead of milk, and I use half baking soda and half baking powder for the rising (whatever amount is called for in the recipe). For cakes, I always separate the eggs and beat the egg whites with a few tablespoons of sugar and fold them in at the end. It significantly improves the overall experience of gluten free cake. With these tricks, I feel like I can make just about any baked item short of yeast bread, and it tastes just as good as wheat based recipes, even according to my daughters. Now I need to figure out the secret of making tasty yeast bread that doesn't contain too much bean flour, which to me has a wacky taste.

I should also also point out that my batters are lot less liquidy than some wheat based batters, particularly since I am using less liquid overall with the yoghurt/sour cream substitution. If your batter gets too liquidy, the end result will not be great. I shoot for a batter that can sit in a spoon in a mushy lump and not flow around and off the sides, kind of what you want to see in a classic muffin batter.

Lowering the Calorie Count of Sauces by bookseller

In terms of sauces, adding a little cornstarch in a slurry (i.e., dissolved in liquid, typically in a 1:3 ratio) to ygurt, even lower-fat yogurt, will keep the yogurt from breaking and allow for a creamy sauce. If you, for example, braise some chicken with onions and greens, remove the chicken, boil down the liquid and veg to concentrate the flavors and evaporate most of the liquid, puree the veg and the remaining bit of braising juices, return this puree to the pot, stir in the yogurt slurry, simmer, return the chicken to the pot for a few minutes, and dish it up, maybe with some chopped dill or capers or lemon zest, something that will go well with the yogurt's mild acidity, you'd probably have a very nice dish that would taste much more calorically expensive than it really was.

I also find that Greek yogurt, or strained yogurt, makes a very good substitute for either sour cream or cream cheese, depending on the thickness. However, it can be a bit tricky, because the full-fat stuff doesn't save you a lot of calories, but the reduced-fat stuff can be REALLY sour once it's strained, so you'd need to experiment with brands and levels of concentration and also your own taste for sour.

I used to make a lower-fat maynnaise substitute, using roasted onions and tofu and fresh thyme, that I liked quite a lot; I think the recipe is in the Otters' recipe log. In fact, tofu can "creamify" things (like soup, especially, and desserts -- makes a very convincing mousse) very nicely. There will be lots of recipes online, and you might be interested in Deborah Madison's I Can't Believe It's Tofu. She's an extremely well respected vegetarian chef, was the chef at Chez Panisse before branching out on her own.

Worth knowing, btw, that almond milk (widely available here, not sure about where you are, though it's easy enough to make yourself) makes for a very pleasant bechamel, substituting for milk or cream, and certainly lower in carbs than the one and in calories than the other. You do need the flour to thicken it, though; on its own it has about the consistency of skim milk, so not much use as a sauce.

Finally -- and I think this is the last trick I know -- in southern Italy, pasta is often eaten with a topping of toasted coarse breadcrumbs, rather than cheese. Partly this is because that part of Italy has historically been desperately poor, and bread is cheaper than cheese but it performs some of the same functions; it helps drink up a bit of the sauce and thus thickens it and helps it cling to the pasta. Bread is also a caloric bargain over cheese; if you make pasta this might be an easy and tasty switch.

Brining a turkey by Grizzled Adams

Brining my turkey, to big to put in the fridge, its supposed to get down to 34 degrees tonight, so turkey is hanging out in the van in the driveway, found this recipe, hopes it works.



* 1 cup salt

* 1 lemon, cut into wedges

* 1 orange, cut into wedges

* 1 medium onion, cut into wedges

* 3 cloves garlic

* 4 bay leaves

* 1 tablespoon dried thyme

* 1 tablespoon ground black pepper

* 1 1/2 gallons cold water

Rub salt onto your turkey, and place remaining salt, lemons, oranges, onion, garlic, bay leaves, thyme and pepper into a large pot. Place the turkey in the pot, and fill with water. Refrigerate overnight. Discard brine after removing turkey.

THERE! you'all see it! Don't throw the turkey out with the brine water!

Brining Pork by Calamity Jeanne and bookseller

Calmity Jeanne:

I brine pork chops in the fridge for 90 minutes in six cups of water into which I've dissolved 3 tbsp. of kosher salt and 3 tbsp. sugar. Then I drain the chops, rinse them, pat them dry and proceed with the recipe.

bookseller:

I swear by Bruce Aidell; he says to make a brine of 1/4 cup each kosher salt and sugar (sugar sub is fine), plus 3.5 cups cold water and a cup of ice cubes (that's about 8 standard cubes). This for four chops. Stick the bowl or bag in the fridge, brine for 4-6 hours, then remove the chops and pat dry. At that point you can either cook them or wrap them in plastic and refrigerate to cook later.

You can flavor the brine with any number of things, from coffee to herbs to mustard to apple juice, but the basic works great. Even boneless loin chops, which I have usually found to be the definition of dry, turn out incredibly juicy and tender. REALLY good.

ETA, FWIW, same trick works great on chicken and turkey breast.

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Paneer by Pagan Mama

So I Googled, and by golly, believe it or not, you too can make your own Indian fresh cheese in about an hour. It's incredibly easy and fun and it WORKS. We've just finished a glorious mess o' saag paneer. This is the paneer recipe I used:

Paneer
Yield: 1 1/2 cups
1/2 gallon whole milk
2 TBSP lemon juice


1. In a heavy saucepan, bring milk to a boil. (When it has reached full boil, it will look very foamy and quickly - QUICKLY, I say - rise in the pot. To avoid the ensuing mess, remove it from the heat right away.) Add lemon juice and stir until small curds separate from the whey, about 2-3 minutes.
2. Let sit 10 minutes so curds can develop, then drain into a collander lined with 2 layers of cheesecloth. When cool enough to handle, tie up opposite ends of the cheese cloth and squeeze out remaining liquid.
3. Place paneer, still in cheese cloth, on a plate. Flatten to 1/2" thick and top with another plate. Rest something heavy on top (such as several cans or the Joy of Cooking) and let sit 20 minutes.
4. Pour off any liquid that remains and refrigerate overnight, or use immediately by cutting paneer into 1/2" cubes and frying gently in oil, turning to brown each side.

Riffing on Chicken Marbella by bookseller

[The Silver Palate recipe for chicken marbella is here.]

The chicken dish really isn't terribly sweet. There's a...I don't want to call it a recipe, because I've made it (and seen recipes for it) with everything from chicken to chard to zucchini to spinach, and from Spain, Italy, Portugal...anyway, there's a WAY of cooking that works really well with both poultry and green veg and involves garlic, olive oil, raisins, and pine nuts or walnuts. Lots of all of them. It's incredibly delicious -- and oh, it works well with pasta, too! -- and the raisins are just sort of these surprising snippets of sweetness. Chicken Marbella is very much like that. Or like eating a hamburger with ketchup or sweet pickle relish.

On Cooking Duck by bookseller

cutting myriad little slits into the duck's (or goose's) skin, repeatedly pouring boiling water over it, and then drying it in front of a fan helps render a lot of the fat from under the skin, and also helps the skin crisp. The theory, at least, is that the boiling water opens up the pores. I'm not sure what the fan-drying is meant to do -- maybe you want the skin ultra-dry, so that when it hits the heat, all of the heat goes toward crispinating, without any having to be given over toward first drying out the skin?

Lamb by Vinca Minor

I make curried lamb with fruit (you can use the same recipe you'd use for chicken curry, going for max intensity on the spices, then add apples, peaches, raisins and pineapples), served over rice. I also like Greek varieties of lamb dishes. An easy roast lamb which is also good on the barbecue is sprinkled with salt, pepper, garlic, basil, oregano and lemon pepper. I don't trim the fat at all before cooking. It crisps up nicely and unbrowned excess can be trimmed off easily after cooking if you prefer. If I'm roasting it I put it over carrots, potatoes and onions in chicken broth. I prefer medium rare lamb but RB like his well done. If I'm favoring his tastes I'll cook until the lamb is well done but tender and make a luscious brown gravy out of the pan juices.

Lamb Tips by LotusGal

I love lamb and agree that chops, medium-rare, with a little salt, olive oil, pepper, garlic and rosemary is a simple and great way to go. We usually bake them in the oven, at a high-ish temp, I think maybe 425 or so, but everyone's oven varies.

And seconding Indian recipes for lamb. We have a great cookbook, Classic Indian Cooking, by Julie Sahni—in it, particularly with things like cutting up a leg of lamb for stew, she emphasizes really getting rid of all the fat, b/c that eliminates a large part of the gaminess. We had always been sort of half-ass about that sort of thing, since I don't mind that flavor, but once we followed that instruction, it made for some amazingly non-gamy, clean-tasting lamb, helped I'm sure by the tasty spices the lamb ends up stewing in.

Lamb Tips by MollyDunlop

Maddie, since you're in Canada you should be able to get New Zealand lamb, which is grass-fed and tastes much better, to my palate, than North American lamb. Also, if you can get ground lamb, it makes an excellent burger if you mix in a little chopped green onion and some cumin.

More Tips on Breading by shell

The only thing I'd add to Aq's excellent 1-2-3 instructions is that you can add dijon mustard to the egg for extra flavor. Also, refrigerating the chicken for a few minutes after dredging seems to help keep the breading on during the cooking.

Thoughts on Parmesan-Crusted Chicken by Aquarius

I find a 100% parmesan crust to be a little tricky to execute without burning the cheese or undercooking the chicken; also, I think the flavor is a little overpowering.

My recommendation would be to mix regular or, better yet, panko breadcrumbs at about a 3:2 ratio with grated parmesan, throw in a pinch of salt, some ground black pepper, and possibly some oregano, and then do a classic 1-2-3 dredging with the chicken breasts (1. coat in flour, shake well; 2. dip in a beaten egg thinned with a bit of water; 3. coat with breadcrumbs). Then I'd pan-fry 'em up over medium heat and enjoy. Heat up a little marinara sauce, boil up some spaghetti, and serve the whole shebang together, and you've got a quick chicken parmesan.

My other tip would be to pound the chicken breasts a little flatter than they're naturally inclined to be before coating them, so that they cook evenly on your stovetop.

Improvising by bookseller

You know, one of the things I like best about cooking is the acquisition of basic principles, which then permits a certain amount of confident improvisation. For example, protein and pan sauce. Take a boneless piece of chicken, season it with salt and pepper, saute it in butter till it's done. Remove the chicken from the pan (cover it loosely with foil to keep warm), add a glug of white wine to the pan, and bring the wine to a boil while scraping up all the brown bits that the chicken has left on the bottom. Once all the bits are scraped up and the liquid in the pan has reduced to a glaze consistency, you have a sauce. Pour it over the chicken and eat.

That's perfectly good. But you could do the same thing with steak, with pork, with fish, with veal. You could use red wine or chicken stock or beef stock or fish stock or cider or coffee or orange juice or...any liquid (or combination of liquids) that you like. You could saute some shallots or garlic or onions (or ginger or scallions or lemongrass) in the pan before adding the liquid. As the liquid's reducing in the pan, you could stir in some mustard or some cream or some jelly or some capers or some chopped pickles or some peanut butter or some hoisin or some orange segments. That's your improv. But it's all based on the extremely simple technique of Cook a Piece of Protein and Use the Fond (the bits left in the pan) and a Liquid to Make a Pan Sauce. If you like, you can turn it into a hugely complicated dish -- various vegetable garnishes, minced herbs, toasted nuts, sit the whole thing on a crouton (fried bread) or a potato cake, etc. But even if you just use the very basic ingredients -- protein, salt and pepper, fat, liquid -- you'll have a really tasty dinner. And once you latch onto that basic technique, you can make substitutions easily, depending on what looks good and sounds good.

Spices That Go Together, by Tamarind

When I do indian, i typically do garam masala + turmeric + red chili powder + cumin seeds + cumin + coriander, added to chopped onions sauteed in oil w garlic and ginger.

Li, Penzeys is a mail order brand with really good, CHEAP spices and blends. I hear they have really fun spice blends and it's easy to just sprinkle them on veggies or whatever you're making. They have physical stores too, but i don't know if there are any in the LA area

http://penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/shophome.htm

Spices That Go Together, by Pickelhead

Salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary: basic roast chicken seasoning. (add breadcrumbs to make nuggets or flour to make fried chicken)

Salt, pepper, thyme, basil: basic tomato sauce seasoning.

Salt, pepper, thyme, fennel, oregano: pizza sauce

Cayenne, chili powder, paprika: hot and warm - I throw some into meatloaf when I have a head cold, to give it a nice kick.

Bay leaves, cloves, cumin, cardamom, cinnamon: warm and sweet Indian

Cumin, coriander, ginger, cayenne, garlic: basic Indian masala

Spices That Go Together, by Verbal Remedy

Cumin & oregano & chile powder (Mexican)

Rosemary & garlic & lemon (Italian)

Star anise & garlic (Vietnamese)

Thyme, rosemary, oregano, garlic (good ol' fashioned meat seasoning)

Lavender, marjoram, rosemary, sage, tarragon (Provencal)

Sage & garlic (yum)

How to Harvest Pomegranate Seeds by Verbal Remedy

I learned the trick to harvesting these little suckers without looking like a murder happened in your kitchen when I was at the cooking school @ Rancho La Puerta last Nov. Fill large bowl with cold water. Slice pom in half. Pick up pom half, plunge into cold water and pull the seeds out with your fingers underwater. Easy as pie and they're just as pretty as can be.

Tips on Roasting Turkey Quickly by bookseller

If you do decide to roast, rather than going in the bag route [a roasting bag had been suggested earlier in the discussion. ed.], you might consider cutting the beast up into breast halves and thighs and drummers and wings. It would cook much more quickly that way. And FWIW, if you decide you absolutely have to make it the day before, I'd take the breast off when the turkey is done, and refrigerate it in turkey broth. THe next day, slice the breast and reheat it on the stovetop in the broth -- otherwise it will dry out like crazy. If you think the white-meat people will miss the crisp skin, take the skin off before you slice the breast, and stick it in the oven with the dark meat. The skin will crisp up, and the dark meat can handle the oven's dry heat a second time.

Thoughts on Thai Food by bookseller

My first thought was to say, Eeeps, if you're just starting to cook, don't start with Thai food -- the techniques and the flavors are so different from Western cooking. But then I thought about it, and I'm not at all sure it's a bad place to start. Making "authentic" Thai food might be a real bear, but if you're making curries, most of the time it's just making a particular kind of stew. You make the base -- which is a handful of chopped up ginger and shallot and lemongrass, sauteed in peanut oil or coconut oil -- you add some curry paste from a jar (no need to screw around making your own), and when it all smells really good you add in coconut milk and stock of some kind (fish stock, shrimp stock -- which you make by boiling up shrimp shells -- chicken stock, etc., all of which you can buy), let it cook together for a little bit, and then throw in pretty much any protein and veg you want, and let them simmer in this very flavorful liquid until they're cooked. And that's really it. You can tweak the hell out of it -- add more curry paste next time if you want it spicier, use more or less coconut milk, add tomatoes, more shallots, etc. Thai curries are traditionally very soupy, but I like a somewhat thicker sauce and less soup, so I usually add about four times as much protein and veg as a recipe calls for (upping the number of servings correspondingly), and sometimes I thicken it at the end by stirring in a teaspoon or two of cornstarch that has been dissolved in a couple of tablespoons of water or stock. Bring everything to a boil, while stirring, and the cornstarch will thicken the liquid into a nice glaze. It is SO not hard. My favorite version probably uses a ton of fish and seafood -- chunks of monkfish, maybe, and shrimp and clams and mussels and scallops -- and a ton of veggies, like snow peas and string beans and chunks of sweet potato or butternut squash and tomatoes and greens of some kind like cabbage or spinach. It's never the same and it's always good. Thai Kitchen makes a perfectly good jarred curry paste in three or four different "colors" -- red is traditionally used for meat, but try them out and see what you like. They're available even in crappy supermarkets in New York, so I bet you can find them easily. Serve the whole thing over rice or rice noodles, Boy can eat it, happy dinner.

Remember that different kinds of veg take different amounts of time to cook. For example, if you're using butternut squash and snow peas, you'll want to cut the squash relatively small, and add it to the stew well before the snow peas, because the squash will take much longer to cook, and if you add them both at the same time, the snow peas will be limp and overcooked by the time the squash is done. Lemongrass and ginger are both very fibrous, so you'll want to peel them and then mince them really fine. If you have something like a mini-chopper, it can come in very handy here. If you use mollusks like clams or mussels, remember that you'll need to wash them ahead of time (if they're farmed, a quick rinse will be fine), throw away any clams whose shells won't close even if you tap them. And once they're cooked, throw away any where the shells AREN'T open. Seafood in general takes a very brief time to cook; aim for undercooking rather than overcooking.

What to do with Surplus Lobster by bookseller

But the lobsters won't keep long. Thought? Boil them up, pull out the easy meat (tails and claws), use your biggest cleaver to hack the rest of the lobster, shell and all, into big pices, and freeze them, along with the shells from the lobsters you ate tonight. When you have time, you can use these lobster shells and bodies to make the world's most fabulous lobster stock, which will make wonderful fish soup or lobster bisque or pasta sauce or whatever you like. The meat you pull out now probably won't feed a lot of people as is, but you could make lobster salad (MMMM....lobster rolls) or saute it with some herbs and butter and white wine and maybe some seeded tomato or some sugar-snap peas for a seriously good pasta sauce. You could even mix it into mac and cheese. In any event, the lobster will keep much better -- certainly for a few days -- if it's cooked.