Lets talk turkey (food discussion)

[saltmummy]

I want pics ..

I wasn't gonna post pics of mac and cheese because I had already eaten half of the bowl when I remembered to take the pic. BUT since you are so eager for pics, I will give you several.

The above mentioned mac and cheese.

A terrible picture of a brisket I cooked ages ago.

and a much better picture of the loaf of bread I made because I wanted a grilled cheese with ham but I didn't have any bread.

Some home made smoked summer sausages.

An omelette

and finally, a grainy picture taken with my old phone of a chocolate covered steak.

[TotalyMeow]

Chocolate covered steak.

I had chicken once with a surprisingly good chocolate-based mole sauce. Any relation?

[JamesBonham]

Hehehe they look pretty good

[saltmummy]

Chocolate covered steak.

I had chicken once with a surprisingly good chocolate-based mole sauce. Any relation?

Not even a little.
I was visiting my mother and stepfather at the time, and I took them to the golden corral buffet. I looked at the chocolate waterfall that they have in the dessert section and said, as a bit of a joke, "I bet putting liquid chocolate on steak would be alright." and then got it into my head to actually do it. No one even gave me a second glance as a spooned molten milk chocolate onto that steak. As if they all thought "well, chocolate on steak is fine I guess." I ate the whole thing, and you know what? It tasted great. The savory flavor of the steak mixes with the sweet chocolate flavor beautifully. I'm not going to do it again though. For one, it's molten milk chocolate on steak, and for two, golden corrals standards of cleanliness are appalling. I stopped going when I saw three filthy little kids with their heads and hands stuck in the chocolate waterfall a few months later. Literally, one of them had his head IN the fountain while trying to get the chocolate to pour into his mouth while his sister was sticking both arms up to the elbows into it, would lick them off, and then stick them back in. At least the third kid had the decency to use a cup. These waterfalls work off a reservoir system that recycles the chocolate over and over. The employees of the place were just walking by them as they did so too. No one lifted a finger to stop them. Even their parents were just "eh, whatever." The kicker was for the entire time we were their that night after the kids were eventually pulled away from the machine by their parents, no one ever changed out the chocolate or even bothered to take the chocolate waterfall off the buffet line. Just tainted chocolate, and a long line of people dipping rice crispies, cookies, and fruit into it for the three hours we were there, never knowing what they were about to put into their mouths. I've never eaten there since.

Oh and believe me, we did say something to the management the moment we saw the kids in the fountain.

[saltmummy]

Coffee discussion. I drink 5 to 6 cups a day. Hot chocolate mix, or chocolate syrup, or chocolate milk added. Caffeine makes the headaches go away.

[saltmummy]

Corn fritters. Little more than deep fried corn bread. I first made these when I was making corn dogs and had tons of left over batter. With a few small changes to that batter recipe, the fritters have gotten a bit better.

What you'll need
1 cup of corn meal
1 cup of corn flour - If you want, you can use all purpose flour, but this will make the dough more akin to a batter. The corn flour is full of starch which makes it more dense than the batter.
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup of sugar
4 teaspoons of baking powder
1 cup of milk
1 egg

Optional ingredients
1 1/2 cups of sweet corn
OR
1 1/2 cups cranberries (cranberry raisins are fine too)

The preparation is very simple. Sift all your dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Once they are thoroughly mixed, add the egg and milk and stir until you have a thick dough. If you intend to use the optional ingredients, then you'll be adding the cranberries when you mix the dry ingredients or the corn while mixing in the milk and egg. Heat up your oil in a deep pan or deep fryer and drop blobs of the dough into the oil one spoon at a time. Keep the dough moving at first to keep it them from sticking to each other or the pan/fryer. Once the edges have attained a light brown, flip them with tongs or a fork. If you aren't sure if they are done or not, squeeze them with the tongs a little. Uncooked batter will squeeze out of the fritter, a cooked fritter will simply squish/rupture. Let them drain on a rack with paper towels underneath and serve with honey, jelly/jam, butter, or dusted with cinnamon and powdered sugar.

[Rockyjacknoman]

Chocolate covered steak.

I had chicken once with a surprisingly good chocolate-based mole sauce. Any relation?

Not even a little.
I was visiting my mother and stepfather at the time, and I took them to the golden corral buffet. I looked at the chocolate waterfall that they have in the dessert section and said, as a bit of a joke, "I bet putting liquid chocolate on steak would be alright." and then got it into my head to actually do it. No one even gave me a second glance as a spooned molten milk chocolate onto that steak. As if they all thought "well, chocolate on steak is fine I guess." I ate the whole thing, and you know what? It tasted great. The savory flavor of the steak mixes with the sweet chocolate flavor beautifully. I'm not going to do it again though. For one, it's molten milk chocolate on steak, and for two, golden corrals standards of cleanliness are appalling. I stopped going when I saw three filthy little kids with their heads and hands stuck in the chocolate waterfall a few months later. Literally, one of them had his head IN the fountain while trying to get the chocolate to pour into his mouth while his sister was sticking both arms up to the elbows into it, would lick them off, and then stick them back in. At least the third kid had the decency to use a cup. These waterfalls work off a reservoir system that recycles the chocolate over and over. The employees of the place were just walking by them as they did so too. No one lifted a finger to stop them. Even their parents were just "eh, whatever." The kicker was for the entire time we were their that night after the kids were eventually pulled away from the machine by their parents, no one ever changed out the chocolate or even bothered to take the chocolate waterfall off the buffet line. Just tainted chocolate, and a long line of people dipping rice crispies, cookies, and fruit into it for the three hours we were there, never knowing what they were about to put into their mouths. I've never eaten there since.

Oh and believe me, we did say something to the management the moment we saw the kids in the fountain.

Umm why didn't ya call the food safety administration? would have that place torn down faster than totallymeow can reply to a thread.

[saltmummy]

Mashed potato pancakes
Really simple, good use for leftover mashed potatos. You can use the mashed potato recipe outlined much earlier in the thread when I was talking about shepherds pie.

What you'll need
Mashed potatoes
1 egg*
1 cup of flour**
bacon (as much as you want)
shredded cheese
salt

As I said, really simple. Mix the egg, salt, and flour into the mashed potatos until it forms a dough. Cook your bacon and leave the grease in the pan, and then cook the potato dough in the grease (as one large pancake or many small ones) until both sides are golden brown. While cooking the second side, sprinkle cheese on the top.
*increase by 1 for every four cups of mashed potatoes
**increase by 1/2 for every four cups of mashed potatoes

Some notes on potato pancakes
I first tried this by simply frying the left over mashed potatoes, but that didn't work out so well. The problem with that was the moisture contained in the potatoes which would steam off and cause the mashed taters to separate and burn. The solution was to add flour and an egg. This makes the mashed potatoes very dense, but allows them to hold their moisture while frying. What you get is a rather bland pancake which tastes of mashed potato. To counter act that blandness, you can add cheese or butter to the finished product. Another idea is to chop the bacon fine and mix the bacon bits and cheese to the dough before frying it. This is one of those dishes where seasoning is key. Try various herbs an spices out, and remember that part of it's flavor will be dependent on the mashed potatoes you are using as your base. Another alternative to this dish doesn't use mashed potatoes at all. Instead, it uses hashbrown potatoes.

[Paradoxyc]

Seared porkchop with green apple salsa and mashed sweet potato

[saltmummy]

Seared porkchop with green apple salsa and mashed sweet potato

That's a coincidence, I had sort of the same thing except no green apple salsa. The chops were prepared in an apple cider glaze though. Served with corn, biscuits, and mashed sweet potato.
What were yours seasoned with?