When food makes you cook it

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The Late Night Gourmet

Assistant Cook
Joined
Feb 1, 2017
Messages
46
Location
Detroit
If you read enough of my posts, you'll know that I like chorizo. Actually, I love chorizo. And, I love making chorizo. Sausage isn't a single-batch operation because there's so much prep and cleanup involved, so I usually end up with a lot of it. This last time, I made about 3 pounds of chorizo. Great news, right? I mean, I have something I love, and I have a lot of it. And, it's versatile, making appearances in:

  • a breakfast cuban sandwich. This has all the features of a cubano (ham, swiss, pickles, mayo, brown mustard, and chorizo playing the role of pork in the sandwich), but with egg white added
  • a bahn mi (chorizo, kimchi, mayo, and cilantro on a roll)
  • pizza topping (the leftover pizza needed an extra kick)

But, having that much of a good thing also creates a sense of obligation. I've gotten sensible about how I make the sausage, so I don't have the full 3 pounds sitting in the refrigerator, waiting for me to use it up. But, when I'm trying to decide what to eat, I find myself thinking, "I'd better use some more of the chorizo".

I run into the same thing when I buy a lot of anything, whether it's something expensive (like lobster), or something cheap (like arugula). Does anyone else find that their food is controlling their minds?
 
Nope, we decide what we want to eat and when we want to eat it.;) When we buy bulk (meat), we have the freezer space to store. There are many types of chorizo. Are you talking about fresh, like Mexican which has to be cooked or cured like Spanish which can be eaten as is?
 
Well, YEAH, I had 4 gallons of milk that wasn't going to make itself into cheese. Food comes into this house in large amounts and it won't cook itself. Just like when the fruit trees give fruit, they do it in bushel loads and the gardens give tomatoes in 5 gallon buckets. It doesn't cook itself. It's the whole, "waste not, want not" deal, and it takes over my kitchen.
 
Having a garden ( of a decent size) could kind of dictate what you're going to have for dinner or what you're going to cook at any given time throughout the season.

Sure you can can, freeze, pickle or preserve a lot of it, but for me, the growing season allows me to have fresh veggies. Not all veggies are ripe at the same time, so at different times of the season Im making different things depending on whats available.

So yes, during the harvest season my veggies kinda push me in certain directions. But i love it and look forward to it every year.
 
Nope, we decide what we want to eat and when we want to eat it.;) When we buy bulk (meat), we have the freezer space to store. There are many types of chorizo. Are you talking about fresh, like Mexican which has to be cooked or cured like Spanish which can be eaten as is?
The Mexican kind...though, now that you mention it, I do have enough pork in the freezer to try my hand at the Spanish variety. :)
 
I understand, TLNG. Sometimes you see something while shopping that just calls out to you. It peaks your curiosity and delicious possibilities race through your head. So you grab it and bring it home and you can't wait to use it.

For me, it's not chorizo.
 
I understand, TLNG. Sometimes you see something while shopping that just calls out to you. It peaks your curiosity and delicious possibilities race through your head. So you grab it and bring it home and you can't wait to use it.

For me, it's not chorizo.
Chorizo applies here because I made so much of it. :)

But, in the case of buying more than you have time to cook...oh, yeah. That happens quite often for me.
 
Having a garden ( of a decent size) could kind of dictate what you're going to have for dinner or what you're going to cook at any given time throughout the season.

Sure you can can, freeze, pickle or preserve a lot of it, but for me, the growing season allows me to have fresh veggies. Not all veggies are ripe at the same time, so at different times of the season Im making different things depending on whats available.

So yes, during the harvest season my veggies kinda push me in certain directions. But i love it and look forward to it every year.

Fresh things from my backyard gardens are the only things I can think of that "make me" cook them on their schedule. They are ready when they are ready.

CD
 
I can understand in some way but more in the "garden" variety area. When our garden comes in, we have many decisions to make and we make them depending on the time we have, along with the available energy level. Both of us are lookin' at the 70 thing and aren't as ambitious when it comes to the garden.

Having said that, it's not unusual for something to speak to me when I go to the grocery store. Last week it was pencil-thin asparagus. Omgosh, this veggie nearly shouted my name. When I entered the store I had not anticipated purchasing asparagus but...

Other foods and other instances (roadside markets, for instance) all come into play when I'm "made to cook it."

Hey! Food...it's what's for dinner.:ROFLMAO:
 
I plant very small amounts of tomatoes, green beans, sometimes cukes, along with a few herbs. I can usually use them up as they come along.

Now, apples, that's a different story. For an elderly old bat, my apple tree sure can produce when it wants to. It usually takes a year off in between production.

I do like the occasional whole pork loin or ribeye to whap up, package, and freeze.
 
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I plan my meals, make my shopping list accordingly...and then go all "LOOK! Squirrel!" when I get to the grocery store. Thursday when I left home to grocery shop I "knew" I was making a roasted cherry tomato sauce-pasta dish with a salad on the side. However, when shopping, one store had the most picture-perfect bell peppers on sale for $1.49 a pound. I knew the second store I would shop later had Italian sausage on special. Dinner last night ended up being sauteed sausage/onions/peppers. I no longer surprise Himself when I change the dinner menu last-minute. Instead, he's amazed when I stick to my week's menu for the entire week. :LOL: I now will re-purpose those roasted cherry toms into a sauce for pizza. I kept them in the oven too long, anyway, and I would have had to fiddle with them to make them saucier.

I plant very small amounts of tomatoes, green beans, sometimes cukes, along with a few herbs. I can usually use them up as they come along...
Don't you mean you plant a good-sized garden, but your neighborhood critters leave just enough for you to use up? :D
 
For people with gardens and trees (as well as chickens), do you sometimes give away your extras? If that's the case, then you're inspiring others to cook, too. I know I'd figure out a few things quickly if a neighbor showed up with 2 dozen eggs. :)
 
I just gave away 5 dozen eggs.
I can only do so much with eggs.
In the summer months, zucchinis, cucumbers, string beans often get given away. And plenty of herbs too ( especially as it gets closer to Thanksgiving).
 
I sneak around in the middle of the night and do drive-by apple drop offs when my tree has been prolific. I think the neighbors have figured me out by now.
 
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Mine is baked goods. I go crazy-loopy when I start baking. I want to bake everything! Then it's not perfect the first time, so I'll bake it again and again. Next thing I know, I have 5 different pies in the fridge and there's no way DH and I are going to touch those (ok, maybe a touch, just to taste, you know...)

I need more Bunco parties to pass them off :LOL:
 
My children are trying to devise an ankle bracelet that will send off alarms when I go into the produce and the meat departments...

Last year, while a daughter was visiting, we went into Walmart. We drifted apart and I found my myself standing by a meat bin holding a $90. beef tenderloin.

My daughter, half-way across the store, saw me and yelled... "Put that Down!"

Everyone around her ducked and I dropped/threw the meat like a hot potato back into the bin.

We both ducked down different aisles and met up giggling but trying to act nonchalant.
 
Last year we had crook neck squash out our ears. We tried it all sorts of ways. Eventually we just gave up and let the garden go on its own. I don't want any squash this year. yuck.

I tend to over do it with peppers of all kinds. I have dreams of making sauces and salsas, but my work gets crazy busy in sumer and fall so I never get to it. We do eat a lot of peppers, but I really need to do sauces.

I'm a hot sauce geek among other things. Maybe this will be the year.

One thing we always have too much of at our place is blackberries. zillions. One can only make so much blackberry crisp. I will admit though, I never get tired of blackberries.

Except for the keeping them at bay and away from the fruit trees.
 
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