No Substitutes

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

There are just some foods where substitutes will not work Here are some of mine.

Grilled cheese sandwich - Although many have their favorite blends of cheeses, and even breads for this classic, I want mine mae on buttered white bread, with 18th inch thick slices of Velveeta Cheese, grilled to golden brown perfection. I love that gooey cheese texture, and the flavors

BLT - on toasted rye, double decker made with crisp, but not hard bacon, garden ripe tomato slices, with seeds and tomato caviar, Miracle Whip salas dressing, amd iceberg lettuce. Ok, you can add sliced sweet onion to make it a BLOT

Reuben - On toasted rye, with thousand island dressing, tender slices of corned beef, aged Emmental cheese

Sunday gravy (marinara sauce - tomato puree, diced tomato, onion chunks, sweet basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, plenty of garlic, salt & pepper, simmered until the onions and garlic are soft. Refrigerate overnight to let flavors develop fully.

Ragu - add browned ground beef - 70/30 blend, to marinara

Cassoulet - must use great northern beans

Split Pea Soup - green split peas, smoked ham shank, oh ham with bone, onion, Salt & pepper. Soup must be thick enough for solids to stay suspend.
This can also be done with a butter/flour roux, thinned with pea soup broth, then added to the soup as a binder

Mashed potatoes - riced yukon gold potatoes, combined with Half N Half, real butter, roasted garlic, salt

Bread dressing/stuffing - dried bread croutons, sage black pepper, turkey broth onion, vellery, chopped giblets, neck meat, and liver, rggs

baked beans - must use navy, or black beans

Chili - must have dark-red kidney beans and celery, as well as chili powder- diced tomato, onion, and coarse grind ground beef Can have other ingredients as well.

Tuna salad must have fine diced fresh yellow onion, yellow mustard, Miracle Whip, sweet pickle relish, fill weed, and good canned tuna.

Standing rib roast, must be served with au jus, and horseradish

Ok, that's some of my items that are a must. What are yous?

Seeeeyal Chief Longwind of the North

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

Hmmm, I gotta think about this one...

I really do not care for Stuffing,
but

I'll eat my version of Dressing Casserole ... not all wet and made with Linguica.

Beef Stew, for me anyways,

must
have a scoop of steamed White Rice in the bowl (or plate, but bowls are better with a spoon too ) !

I'll eat Brussel Sprouts,
but only
cooked my way


Meatballs
I would much rather eat mine than anyone else's
period!


Not too soft, and not too hard, but
just right!
I make them en mass and freeze them.

Y'know Chief, that's what's great when you're the cook,
there are no substitutions!

 

[pepperhead212]

Fresh kaffir lime leaves in Thai curries, as well as countless other dishes, in which they are an essential ingredient. Many other fresh herbs like that, that the dishes just aren't the same without them, once you've had them - curry leaves, Thai basil, lemon basil, and regular basil are a few that come to mind.

 

[taxlady]

Is this just for preferences or is it also for dietary reasons?

• It has to be Hellmann's (Best Foods west of the Rockies) mayo or homemade.
• Real maple syrup, or give me something that isn't pretending to be maple.
• Real dairy cream or whole milk for my coffee. If not, then I'll drink it black. Similar for tea - 2% or whole dairy milk or I'll drink it with lemon and honey or black.
• Bacon and eggs: if the bacon isn't crispy, I'll skip it.
• Bread: whole grain or I'm not interested.
• Peas: they have to be fresh or frozen. If they come from a can or they are overcooked, I can't gag them down.
• Pea soup: it has to be the French Canadian style.
• Butter for toast, a sandwich or I'll take mayo or scmaltz or bacon fat or even the fat that melted off a roast, no margarine.
• "Danishes", nope, nope, nope. It has to be real Danish pastry for me.
• Things that I might eat at your house, but I don't, won't cook with or serve them at mine: white rice, white flour pasta, white flour pizza crust. Just give me a whole grain version. Also, salad dressing is always homemade at my house. Give me something from a bottle and I'll have to read the label before I eat it.