What is it with EE's and cooking?

I'm an EE ;-)

Last night (for my father's 87th birthday dinner): Prime rib RARE (13 pounds), escalloped potatoes, marinated baby veggies, corn salad; shrimp to dip into hot sauce to start

Homemade cheesecake

Selected cheeses, chocolate chunks, walnuts

Coffee

And yes, indeed, Wolf Blass Cabernet/Merlot blend from "down under".

...Jim Thompson

I forgot the popovers ;-)

(and that we had 20 people there for dinner)

...Jim Thompson

Wanna try my custard bread pudding, or Bananas Foster?

We're starting to get some mighty tasty local cheeses here in N. California. They tend to be fresher-tasting and a bit less moldy/stinky compared to the French stuff.

John

Pear tart tonight ;-)

BTW, I'm only the meat and wine guy and the gourmand... my wife is the chef.

...Jim Thompson

Poached Bosc pears in honey sauce.

Good Eating! Rich

Every EE I know is either an amateur chef or a full blown alcoholic. Fortunately I fit both categories, cept i am not really an EE. Oh well, back to my roast lamb with pumkin soup entree and the oh so lovely bottle of cabernet merlot. What should i make for desert?

I also have some tasty camembert chese here which my local produce store somehow managed to smuggle in from france. I cant read the label, but perhaps someone has a nice recipe for it? Mind you, thats if it lasts long enough to be cooked in a dish.

Camenbert smeared on a non salted cracker biscuit and topped with a strawberry dusted with castor sugar comes to mind, a sprinkle of fresh chopped mint as garnish may appeal.

Not all French cheeses are mouldy or stinky by a long way.

Ever tried Port Salut ? One of my faves.

Graham

Drop by when you're next in New Zealand, Jim - the kitchen's yours! :-)

Cheers.

Ken

Well, in my case (thought I'm an EET as opposed to a full- blown EE), my cooking skills are borne of necessity. My wife, being vision-impaired to the point of legal blindness, cannot safely prepare anything other than frozen microwave-type dinners. Cooking, being a highly visual task, falls largely to me.

I enjoy it because, like electronics design or modification, it is a creative process. It's fun to try different spices and see how it turns out, and I've developed a couple of my own recipes over the years as a result.

Now, with that said: I've never done "pumkin" (pretty sure you meant 'pumpkin') soup, or anything really exotic beyond chicken kiev, but that's only because some dishes are truly an all-day project, and my weekends, and weeknights after work, are busy enough as it is.

Keep the peace(es).

John (et al),

Thanks much for mentioning a specific brand name. BTW, a little googling turned up an address (though no phone/email/url or certainty that it's current):

Chimayo Brand Chile El Encanto, Inc.

I used to attend an annual conference in Albuquerque, and I'd make it a point to buy a pound of so of medium-hot powdered chile, before flying home. Sadly, I'm not going to that conf. anymore. (Nomenclature detail: chile powder often delotes a mixture, whereas powdered chile is usually just ground chile pods.) This vendor sounds promising, in that they mentioned both de-seeding and de-stemming. I wonder what their min order would be to ship?

On the topic of EE/Cooking, my take is that cooking is a nice change of pace from electron (or code) wrangling. Done right, it also provides clear positive results, on a short time scale much shorter than many tech projects.

-- Larry Pfeffer

Dr. Anton T. Squeegee wrote: (snip)

Have you yet come across Chimayo Brand Chile Powder (label says, "medium hot, ground from Pure De-Seeded De-Stemmed ROASTED CHILE PODS, Hearts Removed")? My sister, who lives in New Mexico, bought me a 3 ounce packet of it from Walmart, there, for next to nothing. I used it all in 3 months. Not very hot and absolutely delicious in almost everything. Great in anything that contains eggs, cheese, meat, fish, or vegetables. Low enough heat that you can use enough to bring out the great roasted chile taste.

I probably used a few tablespoons of chile powder in the whole previous 50 years before this stuff. It is so cheap in New Mexico, that I don't think it is profitable to distribute it much further, in small quantity, but you can get larger sizes over the net.

Do you know anyone who lives in New Mexico?

I must admit to making breakfast this morning, just hashbrowns (about four grated medium potatoes with two eggs thrown in, fry on the griddle with some olive oil, salt and pepper) and pancakes from the box (Aunt Jemima since we don't have any buttermilk), but still yummy.

Your quoted text above is 100% on the money as far as I'm concerned. :))

Tim

-- Deep Fryer: a very philosophical monk. Website:

Here is a web site that sells 12 ounces for $5.95.

I think this is the parent company of Chimayo Brand.

They sell a gift basket that contains the chile powder.

Found it. They sell 4 each 12 ounce packets of the powder for $14.

(snip)

I have found that heat is easy, but excellent flavor is tough. That is why I like Chimayo so much. I can load it on for its flavor, then adjust the heat to whatever I desire, with a little of many things that add heat but have little flavor. I haven't yet tried the hot version of Chimayo, (and the company that makes them has 3 or 4 alternatives, hotter than the medium) but you sound like someone who might want to sample the hotter versions.

See chart at bottom of:

I love chili powder in all the things you describe, also soups and stews...well, everything I eat, I guess. I also like heat, up to quite hot compared to most "normal" people, from my observation. Here in Canada, there is a cayenne/chili blend made by Club House, in a bottle about 10" high by 2.5" wide by about 3.5" deep, for under $7 Cdn. It's a rare day goes by that I don't use it. It's not terribly hot, but enough to make it tasty.

For heat, I try to make sure I have habeneros in the refrigerator (after handling, don't go to the bathroom or touch your face without thoroughly washing your hands). I get a sauce called "Sizzlin' Hot" at Wal-Mart for $1.44 in a size that would be double or more for a comparable size in a regular grocery store. It's nice for soups, steaks, chops, etc., a bit thin for wings, so I use something called E.D. Smith 3rd Degree Sauce for wings. I also use something called Dave's Insanity Sauce (same bathroom and face instructions apply), not designed as stand-alone, but a tiny bit as an additive really perks things up. Apparently when it was first introduced in competition it was banned for being too nasty, and there are even hotter sauces out there now.

I love garlic and onion (powders when in a hurry, the real thing when not). Celery salt I use sometimes, and recently tried coriander for the first time, and it's quite good.

Speaking of the creative aspects, here's a laugh...at work on Friday I wanted something light and warm, but my usual broth solutions weren't at hand. I boiled some water, added a bit of hot sauce, a packet of soy sauce, two packets of black pepper, and 2 packets of...ketchup (yes!). It tasted like beef broth/bouillon to my (sometimes neanderthal) taste buds. :-)

Tom

Pardon the pun - cool! Thanks John. :-)

Tom

Anton, My wife is VERY visually impaired, and does her fair share of the cooking, although there are many dishes I do better than her... 8-)

She does full on frying and cooking, as well as baking. Just yesterday, she made a batch of her cornbread (no sugar, but adds garlic and parmesean cheese...) All I did was help her get all the ingredients around, and get out of the way. (I have to help her find stuff, cause I always put it back in the 'wrong' place...)

The only thing she has a problem with is turning things in a fry pan filled with grease. Too easy to splash!

Charlie