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Post by Deleted on Mar 10, 2014 16:05:33 GMT -5
CB, thanks for posting. I now also found out that it was from Kathy.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 10, 2014 16:05:51 GMT -5
CB, thanks for posting. I now also found out that it was from Kathy.
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Post by chris on Mar 11, 2014 10:38:47 GMT -5
Yes Alan I believe she is now in Brooklyn. (Originally from Utica) as her blogspot name suggests.
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Post by chris on Mar 11, 2014 10:42:27 GMT -5
Kit your right. Less is more (and that goes for most things) The key in cooking though I think is to use the freshest of ingredients.
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Post by kit on Mar 12, 2014 7:27:02 GMT -5
Yes, Chris... excellent point. Many fresh products, although they may be treated to look good, quickly lose their flavor and nutrition as they sit in the refrigerator, cupboard or spice rack. The final dish may look good, but lacks the 'snazz' that freshness insures. Thanks for reminding us.
I must admit that I'm sometimes guilty of buying more of a product than I can use right away because it costs less per unit when buying a larger quantity. As time goes on, the final dish may suffer a bit, but I live alone and am usually the only one who eats it. However, when I'm cooking for my daughters or anyone else, everything is fresh.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2014 10:23:02 GMT -5
Making BBQ Chicken today. Wish I had a fresh chicken.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2014 10:37:31 GMT -5
Yes, Chris... excellent point. Many fresh products, although they may be treated to look good, quickly lose their flavor and nutrition as they sit in the refrigerator, cupboard or spice rack. The final dish may look good, but lacks the 'snazz' that freshness insures. Thanks for reminding us. I must admit that I'm sometimes guilty of buying more of a product than I can use right away because it costs less per unit when buying a larger quantity. As time goes on, the final dish may suffer a bit, but I live alone and am usually the only one who eats it. However, when I'm cooking for my daughters or anyone else, everything is fresh. Farm fresh to table is best. One thing I do not like is those lights that are used in the vegetable area of grocery stores. They make the vegetables look better than they really area. I try to take what I am buying away from that area to look at it before I bag them but I get strange looks. Most people don't care what they buy like the lady who was buying a package of cheap hot dogs. I said to her look at the information on the package it says those are mechanically scrapped meat products--nerve ending usually are part of the mixture. She didn't buy anything after that. |
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Post by Clipper on Mar 12, 2014 10:52:40 GMT -5
Kathy recently went through our spice cupboard and tossed about 3/4 of the dry spices and herbs because we had purchased some of them when Moby Dick was a minnow. Downside was that the replacements cost over $30, and that was a low price because I bought many of them in bulk at the local Amish store. What a difference fresh spices make in flavor. I just had some hash browns for breakfast, cooked with fresh cracked pepper and a dash of paprika. The freshness of the new batch of paprika simply made the flavor of the dish "pop." Paprika has a great taste if fresh. Not the red flavorless grit from the dollar store that offers nothing more than a little color when sprinkled on a bowl of macaroni salad.
Personally I have never mastered the use of FRESH herbs and never can judge the proper amount to use. About the only fresh herbs we use are cilantro, parsley, and rosemary, and then only on occasion.
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Post by Clipper on Mar 12, 2014 11:13:08 GMT -5
Kit, Kathy and I find ourselves in the same boat when it comes to buying in any significant quantity. We DO buy meat in fairly large packages at Sam's Club, but limit it to what we can use in a month. Vacuum sealing really works well when it comes to keeping the meat fresh in the freezer. After a month, even though it doesn't freezer burn, meat loses the fresh flavor and starts to go down hill. That is when we start using up meat in soups, stews, and casseroles, some of which can be frozen without further compromising the flavor of the meat once it has been cooked and incorporated in the new dish.
The other alternative and saving grace is the fresh meat counter at Krogers, where I can get two pork chops, cut thick for stuffing, or have a ribeye steak sliced thin on the slicer for Philly cheese steak sandwiches.
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Post by kit on Mar 14, 2014 7:00:28 GMT -5
Like you Clipper, I use the deli section of the supermarket often when I'm hankerin' for an open-face Reuben, or thick roast beef sandwich, or ham-on-rye, or a salad that I like but wouldn't go to the trouble of making a large batch of. Living alone and cooking for just one, as much as I like my own home-cooked items, there's the problem figuring out how to use the leftovers. The deli department is the answer. I buy just as much as I need and as long as the quality is there, it's worth the small extra price. This is not to say that I buy pre-packaged dinners of ANY brand. I definitely don't. One look at the ingredients tells me that I'd be buying a chemistry set of things I'd rather not have in my body.
I also agree about spices. When I was making custom pastas I used to get flour and certain spices in bulk because I used them up quickly. But those that hung around a while eventually lost their 'zing'. Some will remain fresher longer if refrigerated, but again, for me in the long run it's best to buy some things in smaller quantities and pay a little extra. And of course there are people who don't really care so much about their food anyway and go for the discounts. Different strokes, I guess.
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Post by Clipper on Mar 14, 2014 7:45:08 GMT -5
We freeze some spices. Kathy freezes some of her canning and pickling spices, and I have fennel seed and such for my Italian sausage making in the freezer also. I need to make breakfast sausage shortly. Store bought is too salty, fatty, and EXPENSIVE lol. Vacuum sealed and frozen, fennel seed and many other herbs and spices stay fresh for several months.
We moved down here in 2002. When I got to the top shelf of the spice cupboard, waaaay in the back was a bottle of PRICE CHOPPER dried oregano. No Price Choppers anywhere near here, lol.
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Post by chris on Mar 15, 2014 11:20:21 GMT -5
Just on one of yesterdays cooks shows they mentioned herbs. Said there is a date stamped on the bottom and after 6 months toss it.
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Post by Clipper on Mar 15, 2014 14:32:41 GMT -5
We don't stick too strictly to a 6 month thing obviously, but we do try to keep on top of freshness for the spices we use frequently. The stuff I tossed hadn't been utilized for a long time and was simply taking up cabinet space. It probably would have had the flavor profile of dry dirt, haha.
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