The AH Recipe Book

lance gt

Literotica Guru
Joined
Mar 3, 2006
Posts
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Share your favourite recipes for all of us to enjoy. Anything from soups, sauces, BBQ, drinks, and foods of all kinds. Tell us what it is and then how to make it. Thanks to Dianthus for a great idea.
 
I cobbled this out of a basic recipe for freshwater panfish that I found in an American fish cookbook. The original was quite unimaginative so I decided it needed help. This is better . . . a lot better!


Improved Fish Chowder


4 slices extra thick bacon, cut up
1 lb. baby potatoes, whole
½ large onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 cups stock
½ cup chopped baby carrots
¼ cup chopped cilantro
Juice of ½ fresh lime
½ tsp dried dill
1/8 tsp. anise seed
1cup whipping cream (or canned coconut milk!)
1 lb. white fish fillets, cubed

in a 3-quart saucepan or kettle, cook bacon until browned, stirring occasionally. Remove bacon from pan and sauté onion in bacon fat until soft. Sauté garlic 15 seconds and add stock, potatoes, carrots, cilantro, lime juice, dill and anise seed. Bring to boil and simmer 20 minutes. Blend in cream, add catfish cubes and simmer 3 minutes until the fish is cooked. Serve with hot French bread and green salad. Either beer or a Riesling would go good with this.
 
I cobbled this out of a basic recipe for freshwater panfish that I found in an American fish cookbook. The original was quite unimaginative so I decided it needed help. This is better . . . a lot better!


Improved Fish Chowder


4 slices extra thick bacon, cut up
1 lb. baby potatoes, whole
½ large onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 cups stock
½ cup chopped baby carrots
¼ cup chopped cilantro
Juice of ½ fresh lime
½ tsp dried dill
1/8 tsp. anise seed
1cup whipping cream (or canned coconut milk!)
1 lb. white fish fillets, cubed

in a 3-quart saucepan or kettle, cook bacon until browned, stirring occasionally. Remove bacon from pan and sauté onion in bacon fat until soft. Sauté garlic 15 seconds and add stock, potatoes, carrots, cilantro, lime juice, dill and anise seed. Bring to boil and simmer 20 minutes. Blend in cream, add catfish cubes and simmer 3 minutes until the fish is cooked. Serve with hot French bread and green salad. Either beer or a Riesling would go good with this.


That sounds delicious!
 
From the appendix to one of my posted stories The Virgin Unbirth:

"Spotted Dick" recipe.
Not recommended for dieters!

Ingredients:

100g fresh breadcrumbs
175g currants
75g self-raising flour
75 ml milk
75g shredded suet
50g caster sugar
finely grated rind of one lemon

A. Half fill a large saucepan or preserving pan (at least 20cm diameter) with water and put on to boil.

B. Put all the ingredients except the milk in a large bowl and stir well until mixed.

C. Add milk. Blend in well. Bring the mixture to a soft tacky dough.

D. Put dough on a clean floured surface and knead smooth. Make into a roll about 15cm long.

E. Put roll on a clean pudding cloth, or greaseproof paper or foil. Fold the edges together at the top, twisting the ends. Tie ends with string and attach both ends to a lifting loop.

F. Lower the roll into the pan of boiling water and boil for 2 hours.

G. Lift the roll out of the water using the string loop. Place on a wire rack over a plate to drain.

H. Cut the string and roll the pudding on to a warm plate. Cut into slices to serve with custard.


US readers might have difficulty obtaining suet.

Og
 
Stir Fried Chicken with Vegetables.

This is more performance art than food, but it tastes good.

Seat your guest at the kitchen island on a barstool and pour white wine in a chilled wine stem. She is the audience, so keep her down stage.

The first step is to make a big show of washing your hands, all the way up to the elbow, just like the doctors on Mash.

Prepare the vegetables ahead of time.
One large onion, chopped.
One green bell pepper, chopped
One red bell pepper, chopped,
One cup of broccoli flowers, cut from the stems

All of these should be in the fridge, in covered bowls.

Put your Wok on the burner, but don't turn on the heat, yet.
Put a saucepan with water on the burner and start it to boil.


Take one whole chicken from the fridge and plop him down on the cutting board and debone it completely. It's best to practice this a few times. It has to look effortless. This is theater and you have to play to the audience.

All the bones go into the boiling water in the sauce pan to make chicken stock.

Your guest will ask how you learned to do this. Don't tell her about Food Network cooking shows. You watched your mother when you were young. Stick with that story and elaborate it as much as you like.

Cut the chicken into thumb sized piece and set aside in a bowl. Check your guests wine and refill her glass.

Turn the heat under the wok to high. Rotate the wok to heat it evenly and pour in a tablespoon of peanut oil. Coat the wok evenly and dump in the chicken. This makes a spectacular sound and a cloud of steam. Stir the chicken briskly until each piece is slightly brown. Don't cook completely at this step.

Scoop out the chicken and set it aside in a clean bowl. Do not reuse the original bowl. Are you trying to kill her with Salmonella?

Dump in the vegetables and stir to make sure they don't stick. Pour in some of the boiling chicken stock from the sauce pan, just a splash. Put a cover on the wok and reduce the heat. Let the vegetables steam for 5 minutes and check on your guest.

She will need more wine at this point. If one shoe is dangling from her toe, it is a good sign.

Mix 1 tablespoon of potato starch with 2 tablespoons of cold water and make a smooth paste.

Add the cooked chicken to the vegetables and season with whatever you like. Salt and pepper are fine if that's all you like. I use Tony Chachere's. http://shop.tonychachere.com/seasonings-c-8030.html It used to be a local product, but now its available around the world.

Pour enough chicken stock to cover the vegetables and stir until it boils. Pour in the potato starch paste and stir until thick. Take off the heat immediately.

This should be served over steamed rice or pasta, with more white wine.
 
Most of what I cook is good ol' southern food, and there's really no recipe for most of it. :eek:

Southern cooking is done by intuition, feel, and experience.
 
Most of what I cook is good ol' southern food, and there's really no recipe for most of it. :eek:

Southern cooking is done by intuition, feel, and experience.

OFFICIAL TRANSLATION: I make my kids eat cereal, and egg-salad sandwiches from the QUICKIE MART, if there's anything left after I get my beer and cigarettes.
 
OFFICIAL TRANSLATION: I make my kids eat cereal, and egg-salad sandwiches from the QUICKIE MART, if there's anything left after I get my beer and cigarettes.

You're just jealous 'cause no one will cook for you. :D

(and I don't drink)
 
Most of what I cook is good ol' southern food, and there's really no recipe for most of it. :eek:

Southern cooking is done by intuition, feel, and experience.

Do you fry your fish with cornmeal or flour?
 
Do you fry your fish with cornmeal or flour?

Flour.

Although my family's southern, I don't like cornmeal. And after a recent trip to Alaska with seriously heavenly fried fish, I played around with lots of recipes this summer.

I prefer a flour/baking powder mixture with paprika and cayenne. Good for fish and chicken and for making battered anything - potatoes, onions, broccoli... Quick, easy, cheap, and I don't really measure any more, hard to mess this recipe up.

Another good chicken method is just soak in buttermilk, dredge in the flour mixture, then dunk in the buttermilk again and then the flour again. Here's stuff I made this week:

FLOUR BATTER

2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Dash Old Bay Seasoning

(it says to add beer, but I don't notice a difference between beer and water, and so I use water, batter should be pancake consistency) Fry for about 3-6 minutes until golden brown in 350 degree oil. I always raise to 400 since the temp will drop right away anyway once you put in your first batch into the oil.

SWEET TEA FRIED CHICKEN

Brine:
1 lemon
1 quart very strong tea
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup kosher salt
8 chicken legs and 8 thighs

Crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup masa harina
1 tablespoons crab boil seasoning (recommended: Old Bay)
1-1/2 tsp chili powder
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
Vegetable oil, for frying

To make the brine: Zest, then quarter the lemon. Put the lemon zest and quarters in a saucepan. Add the tea, sugar, and salt. Simmer the mixture over medium-high heat until the salt and sugar dissolve. Add 1 quart of ice water and the chicken. Brine the chicken in the refrigerator for 48 hours. Drain the chicken and blot dry.
Combine 1 cups flour, the masa harina, crab boil seasoning, chili powder, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. In another bowl, beat the 4 eggs with the buttermilk. Put the remaining 1 cup of flour in a third bowl.
Prepare a breading station by lining up the bowl of flour, then the bowl containing the egg and buttermilk mixture, and finally the bowl of seasoned crust mixture. Roll the chicken in the flour, then the egg mixture, and then the crust then put the legs and thighs in a single layer on a plate or baking sheet. Set aside at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Fill a large deep pan with enough oil to completely submerge the chicken. Heat the oil over medium heat until it reaches 300 degrees F. Add the chicken and cook until it is golden and the juices run clear, 15 to 25 minutes. Drain the chicken on a rack then serve.

For cloudy, from my Southern roots:

BOURBON BALLS

1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
bourbon
1 stick butter, softened
1 lb confectioner's sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
8 oz semi-sweet or unsweetened chocolate
1/2 oz paraffin wax
pecan halves

Cover the chopped pecans with bourbon. Cover and let sit 24 hours. Pour off the excess bourbon and liquify the pecans in a food processor. Add butter, sugar, vanilla, corn syrup and cream of tartar, When smooth, chill until firm. Melt chocolate and paraffin together in double boiler. Then form bourbon mixture into balls about 1 inch in diameter. (I use a melon baller to do this.) If mixture becomes too soft, place in freezer until it firms up again. Put the mixture into two containers and put them both in the freezer to chill. That way, when one gets a little too warm, you can put it back in the freezer and take out the other one and work with it. This keeps the process moving.) Drop the balls one at a time into the melted chocolate, and place them on waxed paper. Top each with a pecan half. Chill until chocolate sets -- about half an hour. Store in closed container in a cool place.

(note - this is a family recipe, I made it for the first time this week - the chilling isn't kidding, the first time I tried this, my filling was too warm and it melted like Gollum at Mt. Doom. Must be COLD. Of course, the chocolate was about to seize up so I couldn't dip any more, and I just spooned chocolate over the filling and squashed down with a pecan. Still damned yummy in a turtle-praline mutant way.)

CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

I had a batch of this up this week, and my Bourbon Ball filling almost didn't make it to the candy stage, because a little bowl of mousse and a little bowl of the bourbon pecan mix together is heaven.

Ingredients
• 6 oz milk chocolate chips
• 6 Tbsp unsalted butter
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3 egg yolks
• 2 Tbsp rum or Kahlua
• 1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream

Directions

Melt chocolate. Cream the butter with half the sugar until pale. Beat in the cocoa. In another bowl, beat egg yolks with remaining sugar. Stir in rum. Whip cream until it holds its shape. Beat the chocolate into the creamed butter, stir in yolk mixture, then fold in whipped cream.
 
Stir Fried Chicken with Vegetables.

This is more performance art than food, but it tastes good.

Seat your guest at the kitchen island on a barstool and pour white wine in a chilled wine stem. She is the audience, so keep her down stage.

The first step is to make a big show of washing your hands, all the way up to the elbow, just like the doctors on Mash.

Prepare the vegetables ahead of time.
One large onion, chopped.
One green bell pepper, chopped
One red bell pepper, chopped,
One cup of broccoli flowers, cut from the stems

All of these should be in the fridge, in covered bowls.

Put your Wok on the burner, but don't turn on the heat, yet.
Put a saucepan with water on the burner and start it to boil.


Take one whole chicken from the fridge and plop him down on the cutting board and debone it completely. It's best to practice this a few times. It has to look effortless. This is theater and you have to play to the audience.

All the bones go into the boiling water in the sauce pan to make chicken stock.

Your guest will ask how you learned to do this. Don't tell her about Food Network cooking shows. You watched your mother when you were young. Stick with that story and elaborate it as much as you like.

Cut the chicken into thumb sized piece and set aside in a bowl. Check your guests wine and refill her glass.

Turn the heat under the wok to high. Rotate the wok to heat it evenly and pour in a tablespoon of peanut oil. Coat the wok evenly and dump in the chicken. This makes a spectacular sound and a cloud of steam. Stir the chicken briskly until each piece is slightly brown. Don't cook completely at this step.

Scoop out the chicken and set it aside in a clean bowl. Do not reuse the original bowl. Are you trying to kill her with Salmonella?

Dump in the vegetables and stir to make sure they don't stick. Pour in some of the boiling chicken stock from the sauce pan, just a splash. Put a cover on the wok and reduce the heat. Let the vegetables steam for 5 minutes and check on your guest.

She will need more wine at this point. If one shoe is dangling from her toe, it is a good sign.

Mix 1 tablespoon of potato starch with 2 tablespoons of cold water and make a smooth paste.

Add the cooked chicken to the vegetables and season with whatever you like. Salt and pepper are fine if that's all you like. I use Tony Chachere's. http://shop.tonychachere.com/seasonings-c-8030.html It used to be a local product, but now its available around the world.

Pour enough chicken stock to cover the vegetables and stir until it boils. Pour in the potato starch paste and stir until thick. Take off the heat immediately.

This should be served over steamed rice or pasta, with more white wine.

Yum from start to finish.

More wine, please?

:kiss:
 
I'm a deep-south cook, and like Cloudy indicated, we cook by intuition. As I was coming up, my Mama always said, "You put in a dash of this and a dab of that." Measurements just don't exist. We create food to taste good and express love, and that's pretty much all cooked from the heart rather than the head. I suppose I could try to explain making cornbread, but honestly, I have no idea what the measurements are. I just do it until things mesh together properly.
 
I'm a deep-south cook, and like Cloudy indicated, we cook by intuition. As I was coming up, my Mama always said, "You put in a dash of this and a dab of that." Measurements just don't exist. We create food to taste good and express love, and that's pretty much all cooked from the heart rather than the head. I suppose I could try to explain making cornbread, but honestly, I have no idea what the measurements are. I just do it until things mesh together properly.

When one grows up in a cooking family, it creates a cooking aptitude which can't be learned later in life. There are somethings you know will taste good and very little conscious thought goes into it, until someone asks about it.




The flour or cornmeal is a regional thing, even across the south. Somewhere between Gulfport, Ms and Mobile, Al, the cornmeal line is crossed and flour is used. I once spent a week fishing on Mobile Bay. I had an ice chest full of fish and was surprised my ready made seasoned cornmeal fish fry was not on the store shelves. I bought cornmeal, flour and of course, Tony Chachere's and made my own. My Alabama relatives were impressed. They had never tasted good cornmeal breading.

For cornmeal breading, the fish should be dipped in milk and a beaten egg to make it sticky, then rolled in the cornmeal until it's dry on the outside. Drop it in the oil before the milk soaks through.

Flour can be used for wet batter frying.

Yum from start to finish.

More wine, please?

:kiss:

Certainly :kiss: There is plenty where that came from.
 
That's how I make red sauce. But for those who want the best tasting easy pasta possible, here's Helen Hazan's.

Take a 32 oz can of plum tomatoes and blend it. Pour it into a pan. Peel and quarter an onion and drop it into the tomato puree. Add a half stick butter. Bring to a boil and simmer 3/4 hour. Remove the onion and season with salt and pepper. Pour over capellini with fresh grated Parmesan or Romano cheese. Mangia!
 
I'm a deep-south cook, and like Cloudy indicated, we cook by intuition. As I was coming up, my Mama always said, "You put in a dash of this and a dab of that." Measurements just don't exist. We create food to taste good and express love, and that's pretty much all cooked from the heart rather than the head. I suppose I could try to explain making cornbread, but honestly, I have no idea what the measurements are. I just do it until things mesh together properly.

This is a lovely idea for intuitive cooks, many of my family are like this.

But my daughter struggles with cooking, so it's a good idea for me to write everything down for her. She loves to eat and she loves to cook, but she lacks the intuitive aspect of it. It's best for me to write things down in exacting detail for her. Or else she'll forget to boil pasta sheets before it goes into the lasagna, or forget to drain the meat, or forget some step I take for granted.

I have thousands of recipes, I certainly don't recall all of them. Recipes help. There's lots of things I can make by intuitive memory, but there's also a chance that I'll forget a step. Breading and cornbread and biscuits and lots of pasta dishes are easy to recall, but I'm not going to attempt Peking duck without my recipe.
 
The flour or cornmeal is a regional thing, even across the south. Somewhere between Gulfport, Ms and Mobile, Al, the cornmeal line is crossed and flour is used. I once spent a week fishing on Mobile Bay. I had an ice chest full of fish and was surprised my ready made seasoned cornmeal fish fry was not on the store shelves. I bought cornmeal, flour and of course, Tony Chachere's and made my own. My Alabama relatives were impressed. They had never tasted good cornmeal breading.

For cornmeal breading, the fish should be dipped in milk and a beaten egg to make it sticky, then rolled in the cornmeal until it's dry on the outside. Drop it in the oil before the milk soaks through.

Flour can be used for wet batter frying.

Cornmeal's also good for the bigger stuff that's going to take a while to fry. Flour's best for the flash fry quick stuff.

So corn meal's probably a good idea in the raw chicken low heat - takes 15 minutes to fry. Flour's good for the small bits that are done in 3-6 minutes.

But I just think I like the puffy-crisp thick finish on the flour-baking soda batter.

And I can't resist putting Old Bay in anything. If there isn't enough in the batter, I'll probably put it in the dipping sauce.
 
Husband loves Ranch dip and we've always bought the little packages. But with a little research and experimentation, here's a good substitute. I use it for veggie dip, carrots, celery and cucubers for lunch with a little of this is yummy:

RANCH DIP MIX

Ingredients
• 1/4 cup garlic powder
• 1/4 cup onion powder
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons Lawry's Seasoned Salt
• 1 (1/2 ounce) jar parsley (crushed fine)
• 1 teaspoon black pepper (optional) or white pepper (optional)

Directions
Mix all ingredients and place in air tight jar.
Stir one teaspoon of dressing/dip mix into 8 ounces of sour cream at a time to taste.
Pour buttermilk into sour cream mixture until it is the desired thickness for dressing.
Omit buttermilk for dip or use very little.

- I don't always use parsley, sometimes just whatever's dried - oregano, sage are good.
 
Last edited:
Chocolate Cake

Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
CAKE ICING
6 1/2oz (190g) plain flour 2oz (50g) butter
2 tbsp cocoa 4 tbsp cocoa,sifted
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 2 tbsp milk
1 tsp baking powder 5oz (150g) icing sugar
5oz (150g) caster sugar
2 tbsp golden syrup
2 eggs,beaten
1/4pt (150ml) sunflower oil
1/4pt (150ml) milk

Method

1.Line the bases of 2 greased and base-lined 7in(18cm) sandwich tins.

2.Sift the flour, cocoa, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder into a bowl. Add sugar and mix well.

3.Make a well in the centre, add syrup, eggs, oil and milk. Beat well until smooth.

4.Spoon into sandwich tins to cook.

5.Cook at 350F, 180C, Gas 4 for 25-30 min.

6.Turn out and cool on a wire rack.

7.Meanwhile make icing: melt butter, add cocoa and cook on hob for 1 minute.

8.Stir in milk and icing sugar and mix until smooth.

9.Sandwich cakes together with a little icing, swirl remainder
over the top of the cake, using a small palette knife.

Chocolate Cake (Microwave)Ingredients
CAKE ICING
6 1/2oz (190g) plain flour 2oz (50g) butter
2 tbsp cocoa 4 tbsp cocoa,sifted
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 2 tbsp milk
1 tsp baking powder 5oz (150g) icing sugar
5oz (150g) caster sugar
2 tbsp golden syrup
2 eggs,beaten
1/4pt (150ml) sunflower oil
1/4pt (150ml) milk

Method

1. Line the bases of 2 8in(20cm) micro-proof dishes with a circle of kitchen paper to cook in microwave.

2. Sift the flour, cocoa, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder into a bowl. Add sugar and mix well.

3. Make a well in the centre, add syrup, eggs, oil and milk. Beat well until smooth.

4. Spoon into sandwich dishes to cook.

5. Cook on full power for 5 minutes (650watt).

6. Remove cake from microwave. Allow to stand for 3 minutes. Turn out carefully and wrap tightly in cling film. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

7.Meanwhile make icing: Put butter in a bowl, cook on medium power for 2 minutes or until well melted. Stir in cocoa, mix well until smooth and cook on medium power for further 1½ minutes.

8.Stir in milk and icing sugar and mix until smooth.

9.Sandwich cakes together with a little icing, swirl remainder over the top of the cake, using a small palette knife.
 
Hot Tomato Soup

Soup3

Daughter’s Hot Tomato Soup

1. Chop and fry 1 or 2 red chillies and
2 or 3 red peppers.

2. Halve 1lb tomatoes. Blend until pulpy.

3. Add 1 pint (or half pint) chicken stock
to chillis and peppers. Then add tomatoes.

4. Season to taste. (If deseeded chillis, add
chilli powder to taste)

5. (Add 1 tbsp tomato puree or ketchup if not
already using tinned chopped tomatoes to make
up quantity.)

6. Simmer until you achieve desired thickness
(minimum of 15 minutes)
 
CARAMELS

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1 teaspoon fleur de sel or regular salt
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 cup water

Preparation:

Line bottom and sides of an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, then lightly oil parchment.
Bring cream, butter, and salt to a boil in a small saucepan, then remove from heat and set aside.
Boil sugar, corn syrup, and water in a 3- to 4-quart heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Boil, without stirring but gently swirling pan, until mixture is a light golden caramel.
Carefully stir in cream mixture (mixture will bubble up) and simmer, stirring frequently, until caramel registers 248°F on thermometer, 10 to 15 minutes. Pour into baking pan and cool 2 hours. Cut into 1-inch pieces, then wrap each piece in a 4-inch square of wax paper, twisting 2 ends to close.
 
Broccoli Soup with Roquefort

Soup4

Broccoli Soup with Roquefort

Ingredients
– Serves 4-6

600g frozen broccoli
80g Roquefort, crumbled into small pieces,
(or use any cheese you have handy)
2 Bay leaves
25g butter
One medium onion, peeled and chopped
Two sticks celery, chopped
One large leek, trimmed and chopped
110g potato, peeled and chopped into dice
One litre water
One vegetable stock cube
Three tablespoons crème fraiche
Salt and black pepper

Method
Take a large saucepan with a well-fitting lid,
melt the butter, then add the bay leaves, onion,
celery, leek and potato – cover and let the vegetables
gently sweat for 15 minutes.

Keep the heat very low, add the vegetable stock cube
to one litre of hot water, allow to dissolve, then add to
the pan and cook for 15 minutes. Add the broccoli and
cook until the broccoli is tender.

Remove the bay leaves, and then place the contents of
the saucepan in a food processor or liquidiser and process
until the soup is smooth and creamy.

Return it to the saucepan, stir in the crème fraiche and
cheese and keep stirring until the cheese has melted and
the soup is hot but not boiling. Check the seasoning, and
then serve.
 
Do you fry your fish with cornmeal or flour?

I usually use a half-and-half mixture for fish...and for fried green tomatoes. I like the crunch that cornmeal gives, but don't like to use all cornmeal.
 
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