cybercat wrote:
> "brooklyn1" > wrote
>> Get used to stimulous food, costs little, goes a long way, nutritious,
>> and tastes delicious:
>> That looks good, Sheldon. How did you make the stock, or did you use
>> canned

I can't remember the last time I had canned stock, has to be some forty
years ago, my ex used to buy it for when she made the stuffing for the T-day
turkey, and then cooked it three years in a row without removing the
giblets... I'd let the in-laws (actually out-laws) pig out on their
daughters culinary skills... I'd claim indigestion and polish off a quart of
ice cream.

Started off by browning three pounds of cut up seasoned boneless beef chuck
in a bit of olive oil (superfluous fat trimmed and tossed out for birds),
added three diced onions, six cloves minced garlic to sweat, then added like
four quarts plain water to simmer while the beef started to become tender
('bout an hour), then added an entire stalk diced celery, a pound of diced
carrots, a diced red pepper, a basket sliced button 'shrooms, and a pound of
rinsed pearl barley (prepped during the initial simmering). Added a couple
bay leaves, a couple spoons marjoram, some dill weed, some parsley flakes,
black pepper, white pepper, msg and topped up with more plain water, cooked
covered below simmer for like 4-5 hours on lowest heat, occasionally
stirring, tasting, and adjusting s n' p and other seasonings... didn't need
any stock, made it's own, a very rich stock. There's no reason to use stock
in soups that contain a reasonably significant quantity meat/vegetables.

I like one pot meals, no clean up. But dumping everything into a crockpot
or pressure processor, turning it on and letting it rip without ever looking
back is what I call pot luck, and typically a loser. I don't care how long
it takes to cook (making a lot so there's plenty to freeze more than makes
up for the time), especially during cold weather when I'm indoors anyway...
and unless I'm constantly tasting and adjusting I don't call it cooking...
in fact following a recipe precisely is NOT cooking... that's like calling
paint by numbers art. Too many today prepare food without method, then they
wonder why they didn't just use canned. When I went to buy the chuck I
noticed a huge display of Progresso canned soup, $3 each, what a rip off...
any canned soup is barely worth 50¢. I've tried canned soups years ago,
reminded me of mostly saline solution with a bit of unidentifiable
flotsom... only thing different from the Coney Island surf was I didn't spot
any used condoms.