Recipes and Cookery (now including : the wonder that is Cajun Cookery by YLJ!)

[spirilis]

Originally Posted by Usehername

1 bowl cereal with Rice Milk (I'm dairy allergic; yes it tastes as bad as it sounds)
and sometimes I have a Freezee for dessert.

I have an odd taste for ricemilk, especially the chocolate kind. Tastes really good to me... at least one brand in particular (Rice Dream). The soy dream-brand soymilk is good too. Maybe I'm a freak

[Ivy]

Nobody's allergic to cow's milk here but I don't keep it around all the time (when I do, it's always skim). We drink some soy but I don't like to rely on that either. I love rice milk but my kids won't drink it. They love hemp milk, though. It's too expensive to buy all the time, but it's great nutritionally (lots of nice omega3s and 6s and all that jazz) so I get it when I go to Whole Foods.

For the non-dairyites among us, Tofutti Cuties are really good. I would never have guessed they weren't real ice cream.

[EffEmDoubleyou]

Originally Posted by Ivy

Nobody's allergic to cow's milk here but I don't keep it around all the time (when I do, it's always skim). We drink some soy but I don't like to rely on that either. I love rice milk but my kids won't drink it. They love hemp milk, though. It's too expensive to buy all the time, but it's great nutritionally (lots of nice omega3s and 6s and all that jazz) so I get it when I go to Whole Foods.

For the non-dairyites among us, Tofutti Cuties are really good. I would never have guessed they weren't real ice cream.

Nobody is more of a "real food" snob than me, but Tofutti Cuties are astoundingly good. Like Ivy, I cannot tell the difference between them and a run of the mill ice cream.

[EffEmDoubleyou]

Originally Posted by Usehername

I do know how to cook all sorts of eggs. I don't know how to do much more than that. I hope I learn before I move out. And I made a roast once, and my mother taught me how to make Quiche. My mother and I learned that if we avoid cooking together, we are on good terms. So I've never really learned.

Does anyone know of sites with Recipes For Incompetent Cooks for when I move out next year? I have plenty of potential, but no desire to learn when people do it for me and I genuinely enjoy cleaning to pitch in my share.

The best resource I know of for easy recipes is foodnetwork.com. On their front page they have a tab "Quick and Easy" and most of the recipes are just that. Every recipe on the site is also rated according to difficulty, which most recipe sites don't do. Also, that site has a lot of tutorials that explain some basic terms and techniques. For a cookbook try the "Complete I Hate To Cook Book". It's written for people who don't want to make a hobby of cooking, but just want to be able to feed themselves.

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by Usehername

I do know how to cook all sorts of eggs. I don't know how to do much more than that. I hope I learn before I move out. And I made a roast once, and my mother taught me how to make Quiche. My mother and I learned that if we avoid cooking together, we are on good terms. So I've never really learned.

Does anyone know of sites with Recipes For Incompetent Cooks for when I move out next year? I have plenty of potential, but no desire to learn when people do it for me and I genuinely enjoy cleaning to pitch in my share.

You really need to get a copy of The Joy of Cooking. It's one of the very few cookbooks I can just sit down and read for enjoyment. You see, let's say you want to make pancakes, for example...you don't have to just toss open The Joy of Cooking to the pancake recipes and start cooking. Instead, there'll be a couple of paragraphs in the front of the pancake section (yes, there is one) that tell you basic information about pancakes, what to do, what to be sure not to do, how the different ingredients affect the outcome, and so on.

So by the time you DO try out the basic pancake recipe, you've already got a good handle on how to proceed. It's a great cookbook for that very reason. With that cookbook in hand, I wouldn't be afraid to try most any new recipe at home, albeit in a basic form.

I once used a copy of The Joy of Cooking to guide me through making a truly tasty batch of biscuits in an elk hunting camp in Colorado on the first try. My father was so enthusiastic I bought him his own copy of the cookbook.

[Ivy]

I second the move to get Usehername a copy of Joy of Cooking! It really does go beyond mere steps and directions, and gives you a good foundation in HOW to cook. I use mine all the time. I am not a huge fan of cooking, either, but if I'm going to cook something I want it to be good and well-crafted. And I want to know how I made it instead of simply being a conduit for somebody else's expertise.

[Geoff]

Originally Posted by Ivy

Nobody's allergic to cow's milk here but I don't keep it around all the time (when I do, it's always skim). We drink some soy but I don't like to rely on that either. I love rice milk but my kids won't drink it. They love hemp milk, though. It's too expensive to buy all the time, but it's great nutritionally (lots of nice omega3s and 6s and all that jazz) so I get it when I go to Whole Foods.

For the non-dairyites among us, Tofutti Cuties are really good. I would never have guessed they weren't real ice cream.

Much ice-cream is made with non-milk vegetable fat, in any case. Just like McDonalds fat.. sorry McDonalds milkshakes.

-Geoff

[EffEmDoubleyou]

For a workhorse everyday cookbook with a little background, and explanations of why you're doing what you're doing, I strongly prefer "The New Best Recipe" to "The Joy Of Cooking". "New Best Recipe" is by the people that do America's Test Kitchen on PBS.

I find that "New Best Recipe" includes more thorough explanations of why you are using the methods and ingredients specified and also details why other variations went wrong. It appeals more to a scientific way of thinking about cooking, and I've never had any of the recipes fail me. "Joy Of Cooking" is homier and more reminiscent of Grandma cooling pies on the windowsill or Donna Reed making a Sunday roast. I own both, and while they're both fine, I find "Joy Of Cooking" a little bit anachronistic for my taste. It doesn't include new recipes that incorporate modern influences on the way people eat today, like ethnic flavors and small plates. "New Best Recipe" has all the old standards, plus the newfangled stuff.

One caveat: "Joy Of Cooking" is a fairly easy book to work with physically, while "New Best Recipe" is a weighty behemoth that resembles an unabridged dictionary.

[Ivy]

I have an old copy of Joy of Cooking, and it has some delightful sexism in it.

I'll check out that book. Thanks!

[EffEmDoubleyou]

P.S., I just found out that the same authors of "New Best Recipe" have a new book called "Best 30-Minute Recipe". It's not as comprehensive, with only 300 recipes compared to the original's 1000 recipes, but it emphasizes quick and easy stuff for everyday cooking.