What's New (for Dinner) Pussycat? 8/5/13

[PrincessFiona60]

Oh yes, I forgot...


WHOA WHOA WHOOOOOA WHOA! *flings lingerie at the stage*

Alix!

I'm roasting a turkey. Forgot how disgusting all the innards are...

*flings thong onto stage*

@Dawgluver...

Yup, that's the one! How'd you know?

You missed the stage and hit me with it.

Oops!

I've found the other kind of thong doesn't quite get the same trajectory....you have to slingshot it.

ON THE FLOOR!!!!

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

By the way, I really like the feel as my convection oven exhausts combustion products at floor level, even here in the peak of summer. I've shamelessly ran my A/C sometimes even at 72F, because I've been working so hard that my personal comfort has exceeded any concern for cost of utilities or being concerned about environmental concerns.

I do intend to do the environmental thing but not until I reach the point where I'm not exerting high physical exercise 4-6 hours a day fixing up my new home.

Anybody critical about my energy and conservation concerns should understand that I just spent $700 to convert all my overhead floods (15 of them) from 65W incandescent to 11W LED lighting, going from an "all lights on" scenario of 975W to the same scenario of 165W.

This amounts to getting the same light at 1/6 the electricity cost, and that doesn't even consider TCO considerations (total cost of ownership) considering that you have to buy new incandescents every few years while LED lasts 20+ years.

It's interesting that as far as I can tell all oven cooking is headed towards electric, not because of energy costs but rather because the manufacturer can provide more features and more exact cooking by using electricity vs. using gas.

But when it comes to the cooktop/range gas is still king, and I find it hard to conceive of the day that electric would take over cooktops. Just to start with, gas cooktops accelerate immediately to heat increases/decreases, and the chef can more easily relate to his/her perception of flame height vs. memorizing arbitrary heat number settings.

I had thought the future was gas burners and gas ovens, but now I believe the future is gas burners and electric ovens. As evidence of my belief, one of the major manufacturers of high end cooking gear (Wolf) doesn't even offer gas ovens: their product line includes only electric ovens, one of them which I am the proud new owner of.

To paraphrase the classic movie line, "The future is plastics," I believe the future for gourmet and commercial ovens is electrics. (I'm pretty sure the movie line came from is the classic movie "The Graduate.")

 

[mmyap]

We've settled on a baked pork chop and rice casserole. No chopping, no fuss...and yes, there was a can of cream of something soup involved. Salad (not from a bag either!). Not that I'm getting defensive or anything.

 

[Dawgluver]

We've settled on a baked pork chop and rice casserole. No chopping, no fuss...and yes, there was a can of cream of something soup involved. Salad (not from a bag either!). Not that I'm getting defensive or anything.

I am a huge fan of cream of something soup. And now they're warning that we should wash the prewashed bagged stuff.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

We've settled on a baked pork chop and rice casserole. No chopping, no fuss...and yes, there was a can of cream of something soup involved. Salad (not from a bag either!). Not that I'm getting defensive or anything.

Don't get defensive. That's what I do ALL the time! And we have salad practically every night. I think using fresh lettuce and washing & tearing it up yourself tastes a lot better. I've gotten away from bagged salad for so long that when I picked one up that a store was offering them as a loss-leader (97 cents!) I couldn't believe how processed it tasted. And they say they don't do anything but wash it. Hmm, maybe.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

......I had thought the future was gas burners and gas ovens, but now I believe the future is gas burners and electric ovens. As evidence of my belief, one of the major manufacturers of high end cooking gear (Wolf) doesn't even offer gas ovens: their product line includes only electric ovens, one of them which I am the proud new owner of...

Himself and I had to make a Lowes Run last week. I always roam through the appliance section, Himself behind me wiping up my drools. I was telling him if we ever remodel a kitchen I want an stove that has gas burners but an electric oven, the only real drawback being they cost a lot and I'm not sure I'd get exactly what I wanted. He said "why don't you get a wall oven in electric and a gas countertop cooktop?" Genius! That's just one of many reasons I love him.

I've told him when we move back home I don't want to buy a house with a newly redone kitchen, I want one that NEEDS to be done - with the price of the house set accordingly, of course. When people remodel kitchens to make a house sell you can bet they aren't the kinds of people who actually DO a lot of real cooking. Until and if I get that chance I'll just live the dream through your posts Greg!

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

Until and if I get that chance I'll just live the dream through your posts Greg!

Just to note, I've been dreaming of having a gourmet kitchen for years. In my dreams the kitchen was bigger and it had an island and a walk-in pantry.

Recognizing the Rolling Stones You Don't Always Get What You Want (... but if you try real hard you always get what you need!)

So, no island, and I may have to convert my entry closet into a pantry, but I still ended up with a house nicer than I thought I'd ever have. It's not perfect but I'm happy with what I have.

I'm pretty sure this is the last big thing I'll get for my new house.

 

[pacanis]

We've settled on a baked pork chop and rice casserole. No chopping, no fuss...and yes, there was a can of cream of something soup involved. Salad (not from a bag either!). Not that I'm getting defensive or anything.

I make a killer pork chop and rice casserole type dinner stovetop that includes cream of shroom soup and canned green beans. It's gets a nice crust on the bottom like a paella... mmmm, thanks for reminding me. I haven't made that in a while.

 

[GotGarlic]

I make a killer pork chop and rice casserole type dinner stovetop that includes cream of shroom soup and canned green beans. It's gets a nice crust on the bottom like a paella... mmmm, thanks for reminding me. I haven't made that in a while.

Sounds good. Have you posted the recipe?

 

[pacanis]

Sounds good. Have you posted the recipe?

Posted the recipe? Here? Are you kidding me, it's got canned condensed soup, canned green beans and minute rice in it. I'd be run outta here
I haven't made it in years. Let me see if I can replicate it and come up with something.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Posted the recipe? Here? Are you kidding me, it's got canned condensed soup, canned green beans and minute rice in it. I'd be run outta here
I haven't made it in years. Let me see if I can replicate it and come up with something.

That is not a running off offense...now if you use fresh green beans in that recipe

 

[pacanis]

Tried it once. And I've tried uncooked rice in similar recipes. They don't cook through. I'm sure things could be adapted though.
This was basically a pantry meal where all you have to do is take some chops out of the freezer and open up a cupboard.

 

[GotGarlic]

Tried it once. And I've tried uncooked rice in similar recipes. They don't cook through. I'm sure things could be adapted though.
This was basically a pantry meal where all you have to do is take some chops out of the freezer and open up a cupboard.

Sometimes that's all I have the energy for. Although I have switched from canned to frozen green beans.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Tried it once. And I've tried uncooked rice in similar recipes. They don't cook through. I'm sure things could be adapted though.
This was basically a pantry meal where all you have to do is take some chops out of the freezer and open up a cupboard.

Sometimes that's the meal that is the most memorable. There are flavors from childhood that cannot be replicated using the freshest foods.

 

[pacanis]

Sometimes that's all I have the energy for. Although I have switched from canned to frozen green beans.

I know I've mentioned this when the subject of green beans has come up, but I could never develop a taste for frozen green beans. They all seem to have that freezer taste to them, or at least used to. The only canned I will eat though is DelMonte. The price of canned DelMonte products though...

Sometimes that's the meal that is the most memorable. There are flavors from childhood that cannot be replicated using the freshest foods.

This one is memorable to me because it's the first thing I ever really threw together and made more than once. Back at a time I was eating a lot of take out, this was my one home cooked meal that wasn't steak or... you're probably not going to believe this... chicken wings