cooking @ home

Although this is allegedly the time of “Web 2.0″ when people are supposedly all into being interactive, communicating and socializing, I notice at least with my little site here, that people rarely communicate or participate. Why? I have no idea. Despite the ease of leaving a comment, seems that other than spammers, you the regular surfer has little or nothing to say or even ask.

… Or do you?

Every server has stats and almost every server has a little program called Analog that helps sort and make sense of all those pieces of data. And in one section of that program is the “search query” section which relates what search terms were placed at the search engines that brought those folks to your site. It is through that that I can see what people were looking for, and which give me a glimpse of what’s on reader’s minds.

Among those you typed in and I had the recipes or answers for included: cooking brisket in oven, stuffed chicken Florentine, easy steak quesadillas, microwaves and food freshness. homemade pizza recipes, making simple syrup, buttermilk substitution, the difference between calzones and strombolis, difference between parfait trifles There were tons more, but you get the idea.

The rest of the search terms fell into two additional categories: normal and interesting things people wanted that were not answered on the site (even though the search engines for whatever reason led them here), and somewhat odd things that people were looking for (which not only I wonder why they were brought here, but I have to wonder what was going through these folks minds.)

Ok, so the bulk of this article, starting right here is my trying to answer those questions you never asked me, but obviously you were looking for. And then we’ll end this some raised eyebrows and maybe a laugh or two with the stranger items searched for.

Questions You Asked (Without Actually Asking)

“difference between frozen and canned pea” – I know why this was asked, it was because of my article on “Frozen and Canned Foods: A Cook’s Dream Come True” this very subject … In part I answered this question already, in part, didn’t. To repeat the answer on frozen peas: sugar in peas quickly converts into starch, these peas are picked and preserved at the height of their quality and so the canned variety does not do that, the canned peas the chemical process continues and therefore they are not as fresh and do not taste as good. One exception to this rule would be the young baby peas such as those in Le Sueur, which being not as mature as the regular pea, the chemical process is not as robust, and so they taste great even though they are in a can

Philadelphia Foods

“the frugal gourmet scrapple recipe” – Being from Philly, the land of scrapple and having been big into the Frugal Gourmet, I recall this recipe and seeing him doing it on his old television show. Basically there is no recipe for scrapple. That is, Jeff Smith, The Frug, was talking about regional foods in America. Scrapple was an ingredient, not a recipe. He pretty much cooked eggs and scrapple (the same one would eggs and bacon, eggs and ham). He didn’t actually make scrapple. I have no idea how one would. It’s a bit of a mystery meat. I assume as with sausage, if you saw what went in it, you would not eat it. That said, scrapple is delicious. At least I think so.

“make a real Philly pretzel” – I have no idea. I will say this. Whether it is a Philadelphia roll, a Philly pretzel or a Brooklyn bagel … it’s the water. These and other foods simply cannot be made anywhere else except their place of origin. Why? The water. No one can accurately duplicate a bagel made in Brooklyn or a pretzel made in Philly because of these. The water is so integral to the dough. Sure, folks can kinda make something like these items, but they can’t ever exactly duplicate them unless they are made there.

“cooking Philly cheesesteaks at home” – Like the pretzel, the key to a good and real Philly cheesesteaks is to get a Philly roll. Not easy to find outside the city. That said, here is the about the closest you can come to making one at home.

The roll. If you’re in Philly, you know where to pick the rolls up at, almost any deli and many convenience stores. If not, try to get a hold of an Amoroso Italian roll available in 39 states. If you can’t find that, then try to get a roll that is soft yet very firm on the inside and slightly crusty on the outside. The meat: Next, find a package of Steak ‘ems frozen meats, they’re thin sliced slabs of steak divided by wax paper, found in the frozen foods aisle of your super market. Some say you can use rib eye or brisket sliced thinly. I say it needs to be top of the round, and sliced thinly does not mean something you can do with a knife. We’re talking a commercial deli slicer set to a thick setting. The cheese: Can be American or provolone or scooped from a jar of Cheese Whiz. Fried onions are often put on it. And then ketchup. Tada.

The following are not not not authentic toppers nor ingredients. No hot sauce, no peppers of any kind, no chilies. Pizza sauce can be put on, but now it’s called a pizza steak sandwich.

Wine and Liquor

“red wine proof” – This is probably the most asked (but not asked) “question” I find over and over again in my logs, so I’ll spend a bit more time on answering this than the others.

Many red wines today contain between 12.5% to 14% alcohol. Note, that is exactly what it says, percentage of total alcohol. There are some red wines coming on the market now, a few from Australia which stand out in my mind, as being 16% alcohol. This was not always the case. The wine-making industry has for the past twenty-or-so years has worked hard to create better wine. More consistent quality between two harvest, looking for more vibrant fruits, finding and perfecting the art of picking the riper grapes. In doing so, the alcohol level has increased. You could easily find reds in the early ’80s that were between 10 and 12 percent. As you see the “standard” level has now risen.

Back to wines and alcohol levels. This question made me go look over my own wine collection and this is what I found. All of my “normal reds” fall exactly into the area mentioned above. There were two exceptions. I found my bottle of Dry Marsala (Which I use primarily for cooking) to be 17% and my Porto Special Reserve from Portugal to be 20%. While these two wines are definitely included in the category of “red wines”, they are indeed a bit more special and few folks would ever include them in the “normal” category of reds.

Lastly, a quick addressing of what the levels are for whites and what a proof is. If my own stable of wine is any indication, whites are, as you would expect, lower. My blushes and white wines fall between the 9.5% to 12% alcohol levels. Now, as to proof. Proof it used in alcohols that are not wine. A proof is twice the level of alcohol, so something that is 34 proof means it contains 17% alcohol.

“what can you put in your recipes if you don’t drink liquor? can you taste the liqueurs if you do use it?” – This is another question I’ve seen asked several times, though this is the version asked in the longest number of words used in a search engine question I’ve yet seen. So let me try to answer these.

If you don’t want to use liquor in your recipes but they ask for liquor … first, you can sometimes use an extract, for instance if a recipe calls for Amaretto, you could use almond extract (Amaretto being an almond liquor). Continuing this theme if a recipe calls for Grand Marnier, you could use orange extract. But but but … read this before doing that … There are problems. One, extract is a highly concentrated form. If someone says use 4 tablespoons of an orange liqueur, that might mean only a few drops of orange extract. Further, extract is used almost exclusively in baked goods. It might or might not work in a different recipe. For instance, substituting a fruit liqueur in whipped cream for the same in the extract will work. In a trifle or a sauce it won’t. Further, guess what? Extracts are almost always made with liquor. So, depending on your tolerance of or aversion to liquor, we’re back where we started.

Yes, this is a tough question to answer. So let’s go to juices and zests. You may be able to substitute an almond alcohol with almonds (depends if the recipe needs a liquid or a solid). You might be able to substitute orange juice or orange zest for Grand Marnier. But again, what kind of recipe is it? For a sauce, a stew, a dessert? There is no one all-encompassing answer as it very much depends on the recipe.

To the second part of the question can you taste it? Almost always, the answer is yes. Over 99% of the time, that is supposedly the general idea here. It wouldn’t be in the recipe in the first place if the idea was not to taste it. It’s an ingredient, a taste. No one is tossing alcohol in the recipe merely for the sake of alcohol. If so, they may as well use vodka or wood grain if the idea was to merely drunk up the food. It’s there to be tasted. So yes, you can taste the flavor. That’s the entire idea.

Rare exceptions? Sure. There are those times, for instance, when I use liquor to turn raspberry preserves into a raspberry sauce, when I’ll use a tablespoon or two of a liquor or a liqueur. Often this is added to give a texture or character to the sauce and I’m purposely not putting it in for the sake of flavor. Or to put it another way because that’s not totally correct, I am putting it in for flavor — but not for the flavor of the liqueur but to bring out and enhance the flavor of the raspberries. So, yes, sometimes, but rarely, you might not be able to taste it.

“fresh berries what type of liquor to put on them” – Good question. And a variety of answers. Grand Marnier often works well with fresh berries. But if you’ve read my article on substitutions “Ain’t Got It? Fake It – Cooking Substitutions” you’ll find I highly recommend Triple Sec instead. It doesn’t have the fancy marketing name but it has the same taste at 10 times less the price. If you want a different flavor, I’ve found a sweet liquor like Southern Comfort works nicely as well. If you want a more potent kick, regular brandy is excellent. For a kick where you can really taste the liquor, go with vodka or rum. Again, depends on what level you wish, from subtle to resonant to “wow”.

Strange But True Searches

“del gornio self rising pizza cooking instructions” – I have no idea why this brought you here or why you ask. The instructions are on the side of the box. This question has actually been asked several times, which scares me. And it seems few can actually spell the name “DiGiorno”, which actually neither scares me nor surprises me but does make me groan. Now I have a question for you: Are there a ton of DiGiorno pizzas floating around somewhere out there without a box or something???

“can’t tell red wine from white wine at same temperature” – That means you have no palette. Please purchase one as soon as possible that actually works.

“three cooking guys on TV” – Um, um …. I’m inclined to say Chevy Chase, Steve Martin and Martin Short. Or could it be Pavarotti, Domingo and Carreras? Maybe Sakai, Nakamura, and Morimoto? … Ok I admit it, I have no idea who you’re talking about.

“what are the ingredients in canned string beans” – Hold on to your hat now. This is going to shock you. …. String beans. (sigh)

“top 5 culinary robots” – I only know of one, Bender, the Iron Cook, who defeated Elzar for the title.

Without a doubt this will become a series of articles and I’ll have more for you in the future!