Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Our gourmet dinner club always gathers for NYE and I have been assigned dessert. I am making Salty Caramel Chocolate Cake from the original "Baked" book.
ilene

JesBelle,

Arkansalsa?

I've been spending the past few days in the frozen wasteland known as North Dakota. A blizzard blew through (actually two different systems) and we had to pull two pickups and a tractor out of huge snow drifts today (when I say 'we' I mean my brothers). The streets have drifts over six feet high.

I have also been spending the days rescuing various meats from my mom's cooking techniques. I gave up the fight today and the turkey breast is in a covered roaster for going on two hours now. Perhaps I will attempt to rescue it soon, brush some butter on the skin, and keep it from becoming mush. My mom thinks it gets so "tender" when she does this but you can imagine what actually happens.

Last night I saved the ham from incineration. This afternoon I made spaghetti and meatballs for lunch and my brother ate three helpings. The cinnamon rolls I made for breakfast yesterday morning were a hit, too.

I don't want to hurt my mom's feelings, but I also feel sorry for the poor animals who will have died in vain if I don't intervene.

Another bad thing is that my parents' oven is horrible. It is extremely slow and uneven but of course there is no oven thermometer to check it. I know what to buy for the next gift giving time (my brothers and I bought them a refrigerator this Christmas). So even if I wanted to cook up something nice I'm limited by the tools and appliances here (although I also bought my mom a nice chef's knife and my brother got her a sharpener this year. She already cut herself on a newly sharpened knife!

Darcie, I feel your pain. You didn't say how old your mother is, but my mother, who was born in 1925, cooked everything until it was dead. When I turned 18, I took over Thanksgiving, against a great of protest from her, because she was, shall we politely say, a control feak. And not just protein. Pity the poor vegetable, which soon became mush, and was buried under a glob of melted velveeta. Everyone considered her a good cook. And she considered herself a good cook. I was never allowed to cook in her kitchen. At least she'll let you do somethings.....

Fuzzy,

Arkansalsa is basically a pico de gallo type salsa with chilies, bell pepper, and tomato. I used to make the black-eyed pea soup for some friends every New Year's Day. The soup itself is mildly spicy. The salsa should be quite hot. That way, everyone gets what they like -- more salsa = hotter, more dairy = cooler. I was actually too lazy today to make salsa, but I don't have quite such a wide range of heat tolerance to deal with.

Darcie,

I feel your pain too. My grandmother (God bless her soul) was an amazing woman, but we were always rescuing (usually expensive) meat from her oven before she cooked it to death. To her absolute (Norwegian and other northern European ancestory) credit, she could bake like nobody's business, so our need to tend the meat was usually preceded by telling her how we needed more baked goods for the meal. Worked like a charm.

Amy

As a teenager I was invited to a friends for a barbecue and was given the most amazing piece of meat. "What IS this wonderful thing?", I gasped. "Pork chop". To be fair, my mom is an excellent cook but my father has an unreasonable fear of undercooked pork and poultry and she cooked to his tastes. I recently asked why she just didn't put his chop in sooner. Light bulb. On the bright side, we all have incredible jaw muscles from years of chewing shoe leather.

Mary

Darcie, Mary, Amy:

I do most of the cooking for both families (except desserts, that's Kris). Even if it's meat (yes, I know how to cook it, I just don't wanna eat it) Rescuing doesn't generally come up. Both my mother and MIL are actually pretty good cooks, but unmotivated.

Well, I saved the turkey breast (mostly) - I stuck in a meat thermometer and it was only 150, so I basted the skin with butter and uncovered the pan. The bottom got a little "stewed" thanks to the (plain) water Mom put in the pan. I used that liquid and some canned chicken broth to make a decent gravy. This was served with instant mashed potatoes (which everyone loved 'cept me), and roasted veggies. The veggies were coated with bottled ranch dressing and then roasted on a sheet pan. It wasn't as gag-inducing as I thought it would be, and the veggies were thankfully not overcooked.

Amy, my mom is also an excellent baker. I think I gained 10 lbs over 4 days just due to the cookies and candies. Time to cut back on the treats and exercise. Well, maybe not - world's gonna end in 2012 anyway

My mother hated to cook, wasn' very good at it, and with 7 kids to feed, it must have really been a chore. She would happily have lived on Brach's peanut clusters and rat cheese. But she could bake like an angel! Best bread, cakes and cookies I've ever eaten! She could whip out a pie in about 10 minutes and they were always perfect and beautiful.
Fitzie