Teach me about Tea

cookbook suggestions:

Jamie's Italy-Jamie Oliver: much as I can't stand the guy on TV,every recipe is idiotproof,there's nothing required that needs an epic quest to a mystic mountain (looking at you,Lawson) and praise is lavished on delivery.

Hairy Bikers' Food Tour Of Britain - Si King & Dave Myers. Unpretentious,well laid out and beautifully tasty kit. Also,their live stage show (co-written with Bob Mortimer) is funnier than any stand-up I've seen short of Bill Bailey,while the first three rows were ready to charge the stage for a taste of their fried steak..)

Heat-Paul Grayler: essential reading for chilliheads.

What a pleasant surprise to come back to the forums and see a whole discussion on tea. I love tea. There's nothing quite like opening up a fresh package of tea and having that wonderful aroma waft over you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eisregen_NA Maybe it's me who has to feel terrible for the state of any food in the US? Reality is relative.

LOL. The thing about the US is that our food reflects our multicultural population. In any urban area, you can find all kinds of restaurants catering to certain cultures or ethnic groups.

I had a nice giggle when I read your above post. I remember when we were taking a friend out to a new German restaurant that opened up. We asked if she ever had German food before. Her reply? "Yes. It's English food with vinegar." I had to giggle because she had a way of breaking things down to very basic levels you never thought of before that would be funny, even if misleading.

Something odd that I like...

Peanut butter on pepperoni pizza. Creamy kind, not the chunky. The peanut butter's sweetness goes great with the salty/slightly spicyness of the pepperoni. Plus, it helps to absorb some of the grease produced from the pepperoni.

Although I've not tried peanut butter on pizza, I have had pepperoni pizza with cashews on it. It was interesting.

So...

The produce co-op I participate in recently offered peaches... so a few of us split up an order to the tune of 10 lbs each.

MMMMmmm... peaches.

I've got a couple sliced up and soaking in some vodka.
I've made peach cobbler in a bowl;

slice up a peach, nuke for a minute, drizzle a tablespoon of ginger-honey (from the asian market) & sprinkle with nutmeg, top with granola (cinnamon & raisins included), nuke for another minute... watch that first bite, it's hot!

• slice up a couple peaches to desired size (slices or chunks)
• slice one serano pepper (go habanero if you really want a kick!) As always, be careful not to touch your face (eyes, nose, lips) when handling hot peppers. Wash hands thoroughly when done.
• saute pepper in a good bit of butter (2-3 TBSP) for a couple minutes
• pull out the cooked pepper & add peaches to the remaining butter
• sprinkle with nutmeg, ginger, & cinnamon
• add a little more butter if you like
• top with a bit of brown sugar... how much really depends on how "carmelly" you want the sauce to be. I used about 1/4 cup.
• let simmer for a few minutes until peaches are tender (but not too soft)

So, as a parent of a toddler I end up making my share of 'fast food', which I usually try to dress up at least a little bit. Here's a modification that (I think) greatly improves the final product while still appealing to the less than sophisticated two year olds palate.

Mac & Cheese, Goat Style



Take whatever sort of boxed mac and cheese you prefer. Most of them want you to cook the mac then add the flavor packet to some combination of milk & butter to create the sauce.

I mix the packet with plain whole fat yogurt (which is surprisingly hard to find outside of health food stores. Lowfat plain yogurt is foul, if you can't find whole fat don't bother). My favorite is Straus, second choice is Trader Joe's house brand. It imparts the creaminess you want with a bit of an extra flavor kick (I also sometimes sub it for milk in biscuits and pancakes).

My other addition is shredded cheese. A handful of sharp cheddar gives it some pizzazz, fresh shredded parmesan is also a nice addition. If you feel brave you can mix n' match.

Sometimes I can sneak in extra protein in the form of canned tuna, or leftover burger crumbled up.

Simple steps leading to a much tastier final product.

I have made the smoked pork of the gods...

Take a pork butt. Soak in a brine of water, brown sugar, and canning (pickling) salt. That's normal. Here's the kicker...

Soak it for THREE days rather than the normal one.

Smoke with a combination of hickory and mesquite. It took about 8-9 hours to do four ~3 lb pieces in this neat smoker that we got. You don't need an outer rub on it, but if you want, mix up paprika, salt, pepper, brown sugar and whatever other spices you like.

Use Bullseye Carolina-style barbecue sauce on it once you get it to serving sizes.

I have a singularly weird affliction.

I can't taste tea.

No joke. I can smell it across a room, no problem. But you could brew black tea until it looked like Coke, and when I drink it, all I taste is hot water. I've tried more types of tea than I can count, of varying strengths and brewing methods (loose, blooms, whatever), and nothing. Which is aggravating as hell when John makes certain types of tea and I go, "oh wow that smells good I want some... crap it tastes like hot water."

ICED tea, however, I can taste. And when I was at Teavana a little while back, the girl behind the counter introduced me to this chilled tea mix of mint and chocolate/vanilla that was just to die for.

But normal, everyday, put-the-kettle-on hot tea? Nada.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

eeeeewwwww, D_R, yer weeeeeeiiirrd!

j/k


I will be helping a friend pickle cucumbers tonight, sweets & koshers... yum!

I am drinking... well, technically it's not tea, but an herbal infusion.
I am drinking an infusion of comfrey in an effort to help a bad disk heal up.
Comfrey was used for centuries to assist in the healing of bones & cartilage, but it's recently gotten a bad rap due to misuse and studies skewed with massive dosages. Having done my research and consultations, I am comfortable with how I am using it.
It's kinda bland... like grass... so I add a few mint leaves. Mint makes it nice.

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Are you making refrigerator pickles or canned/normal pickles? And if you are doing the canned variety...do yours ever come out not as crisp as the store bought variety? Ours always come out not-mushy, but not that nice, crisp crunch either.

Cool, refrig pickles! I sorta do something like that when I get my big jar o' stuff together, I always lie throwing cucumbers and tomatos along with fresh garlic, a variety of hot peppers and some fresh beets. to start with, then I just add stuff and adjust the taste as I go along. Even threw in some boiled eggs one time - good stuff.

First time pickling.
She picked the recipes.
We did them with the water bath canning method.

The sweets required some pre-cooking, so I expect them to be a bit mushy, though we did cut the chips pretty thick.

The Koshers were cut into spears, raw/cold packed, then filled with hot brine and processed in the water bath.

Thinking on it a bit, I'm guessing the "mushiness" comes from the cooking process.
From what I understand (and I admit my understanding is limited) true pickling does not require cooking, but rather soaking in brine for a good month or more. I imagine that is why "true" pickles are crunchier.

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You should try making refridgerator pickles sometime. Vastly easier to prepare than the canned variety. Only downside is that you need to devote fridge space to 'em for the length that you have them. I've got a second fridge in the basement w/2 gallon ice cream pails full of 'em. Just tried a couple and my word...they would be good as a side dish all on their own.

Something else to try...pickled garlic. Do your traditional cucumber pickle brine/canning method, but leave out the dill. Remove the outer husk of the garlic and slice off the root end of the clove. I'm not sure how long you need to let them sit, but when they are done, it's basically like eating the garlic left over from the cucumber pickles.

I've seen watermelon pickles before, but never tried 'em.

Something else to try...I noticed the fried chicken in Troy's thread, but since that is meandering wildly off-topic (par for the course 'round here...), thought I'd say it here...

Fried chicken drizzled with honey.

You heard me right. Honey on fried chicken. The sweet of the honey is oh so good of a counterpoint to the salty and greasy of the chicken. The trick is not too much, such that the chicken becomes sticky, but rather just enough so that you get some with a bite.

Tea is not only a relaxing hot beverage, it is also a social event.

When I visit my Brit (British Shorthair) cousins in Cheshire, we enjoy tea, tea biscuits, and/or finger sandwiches or scones.

I think I forgot one great cookbook in my list a while back:


Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook.


For anyone on a tight domestic schedule, this book is your new best friend.
Every recipe I've tried (which is most of them) has turned out fantastic, and the bulk of them are no more difficult than chop stuff up, dump in pot, forget about for 4-8 hours. It's really nice being able to get something going in the morning and have it ready to eat after work.

(And a special shout-out to the posole and tortilla soup recipes, they're both excellent.)

Ah, it's that time of the year again...when we can say goodbye to seeing our toes again until spring.

My Turkey Day feast contains...

A full turkey plus a pork boston butt. Each were brined for 3 whole days. They both just came out of the oven (a little early I know), but OMG...the turkey is so nice and crispy and flavorful. The pork is sooooo juicy.

I was going to smoke 'em in my smoker, but it's more than just a little bit cold outside, so I had to make do with the oven. I know it's not the same, but I set the oven at about 225 and let it go for ~7-8 hours. It is still durn tasty.