#it’s usually the chicken bouillon

[fattributes]

Genuinely, I don’t know how else to get the word out, but I feel like if your home-cooked dinners don’t taste right, you're missing either paprika, sugar, butter, or chicken bouillon.

[merevide]

why am i making pasta and already fucking up on step one bro fuck my gay ass life

[pikahlua]

Fourteen Days of MHA: Day 2

UA Academy, Education

In honor of UA/education day, I'mma learn you all some practical skills, à la the summer training camp arc.

How to make Japanese-style curry from scratch!

Yes, from scratch. Plus ultra. No pre-made curry roux box necessary for those of you who may not have access to such products where you live or who want to make modifications for food intolerance (this can be made gluten free! in fact that's usually how I make it). I will include two recipes: one for curry roux, and one for curry the complete dish. This is going to be my personal recipe for making curry, curry roux included, with some notes on other twists you can add to this dish.

Recipes below the cut. Let's get cooking!

Recipe: Curry roux

You need blocks of curry roux to make Japanese-style curry. If you'd like to go the easy route, buy a box of S&B curry blocks (the most widespread brand I believe) or from any other brand. But if you'd like to make this from scratch, here's how you do it.

Required Ingredients:

Note: This recipe makes about 3.5 oz of curry blocks or the equivalent of one small container of store-bought pre-made curry blocks. You would dissolve it in 2.5-3 cups of liquid to make curry. I double this recipe to make larger batches.

3 tbsp butter (or a neutral oil like canola)

3 tbsp flour (all-purpose gluten free flour works just as well)

3 tbsp curry powder (I use S&B curry powder)

1 tbsp tomato paste

Salt

Seasoning (see below)

Pika's Special Seasoning:

Garlic powder or garlic salt

Chinese chicken bouillon powder (or just MSG) (Lee Kum Kee has a gluten free option)

Ground mustard

Celery salt

Sugar

Black and/or white pepper

Chili pepper (I use shichimi togarashi), optional for spicy

These are the ingredients I typically use to flavor my roux. You may ask how much, and well, sorry, my measurements here are in my heart. I throw in dashes based on aroma and experience. I also like my curry strong and spicy.

Any ingredient can be omitted as all each does is add a new layer of flavor. No ingredients depend on any others (though sugar with tomato paste seems like a given to me). You CAN omit the tomato paste if you're sensitive to tomatoes.

Other Optional Seasoning:

Cayenne, optional for spicy

Ground ginger (fresh ginger would probably work too)

Onion powder (especially if you don't have MSG or chicken bouillon powder)

Garam masala (around 1 tbsp adds a sweeter flavor and a cinnamon-cardamom aroma)

Honey (I personally put honey in the curry after it's made, not at this stage)

These are ingredients others use that you may consider adding for different depths of flavor. I do not typically use them in this recipe, but I have been known to experiment with them on occasion. I've listed them in the order of how likely I am to throw them in on a whim.

Instructions:

Make one batch of roux for a small, mild curry. Make two batches of roux (i.e. double the ingredients) for a stronger and/or larger batch of curry.

Heat a skillet on the stove over medium-low heat. Optionally toast dry spices if desired, though not necessary, then remove spices and set aside. Melt butter (or heat oil, if using) in pan.

Add flour and combine. I personally use a nonstick pan-safe whisk to make sure it combines well, but a wooden spoon or silicone paddle would work too.

Reduce heat to low (medium-low if you're ready to watch that thing like a hawk). Cook 5-15 minutes stirring constantly to keep the roux from sticking to the pan and burning. You're looking for the roux mixture to turn light brown like peanut butter. It will develop a nutty aroma as it cooks.

Add curry powder, tomato paste, salt, and all desired seasoning ingredients. Stir to combine. The mixture should become dry and pasty.

Cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute or until all ingredients are well-combined and then turn off burner.

If using roux soon, set aside. If not using roux soon, put all the roux in a container lined with parchment paper. Score the paste with a knife to make it easy to break and remove. In an air-tight container, the roux will keep in the fridge for up to 1 month* or in the freezer for up to 4 months. *Caveat: If you use chicken bouillon powder or any ingredient that includes meat, I do not know if it will store in the fridge for longer than a few days. In this case, I would suggest freezing the roux to be safe.

Recipe: Japanese-style curry

Ingredients:

Note: My portions are determined by what fits in my pot.

2 tbsp neutral oil (canola)

1-2 lb protein (you can use any protein i.e. beef, pork, chicken, seafood, tofu, tonkatsu, etc., but I usually just stick with mushrooms for ease; if I do meat, I usually pick ground beef or cubed beef chuck)

1 batch of curry roux for mild curry (or 4 blocks packaged curry roux), 2 batches for strong (see above recipe) (or 8 blocks of packaged curry roux)

1 sweet onion (can substitute with yellow or white onion), sliced into half moons

1-2 carrots, peeled and sliced rangiri style

5-6 Yukon gold potatoes, cut into large chunks

8 oz button mushrooms (16 oz if mushrooms are the primary protein), cut into bite-sized chunks

2-3 stalks of celery, cut into bite-sized chunks

4-6 cloves or equivalent of minced garlic

1 quart chicken stock (dashi or vegetable stock or other stock or even water can also be used)

Meiji milk chocolate, 4-5 pieces (you can use any chocolate you like)

1-2 tbsp honey (add to taste)

1 grated apple, optional (I don't usually do this but it's a thing some people like to do)

Cheddar cheese, shredded

Cooked starch of choice i.e. rice or noodles

Pickled ginger, optional garnish

Fukujinzuke pickles, optional garnish

Instructions:

If your protein is raw and requires cooking or browning, prepare it first. Heat oil in a pot over medium heat and sear all the sides brown or cook ground meat until browned. For seared meat, do not worry about cooking it completely; it will finish cooking in the curry. Remove protein from pot. You can leave the drippings in the pot if you'd like to add their flavor to the curry. Ground meat might produce an excess amount of fat though, which you may want to clean out first.

Heat more oil in the pot and add the vegetables. Cook on medium heat for 5 or so minutes or until the vegetables start to develop color and the onions turn translucent.

Add back the protein and any accumulated juices to the pot.

Add chicken stock (or broth/liquid of choice) and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cover. Simmer until ingredients are tender and potatoes can be pierced with a fork, approximately 15 minutes.

Remove lid and reduce heat to low.

Add curry roux (or packaged curry blocks), chocolate pieces, honey, and grated apple if using. (If you'd like, you can break the blocks and chocolate up or shave them into small pieces with a knife.) Stir constantly, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pan often, until curry and chocolate are completely melted and incorporated in the liquid.

Simmer 5 minutes while stirring constantly. Cook longer if you want it to thicken more.

Serve over rice or noodles. Top with shredded cheddar cheese (in my opinion there is no such thing as too much cheese). Optionally garnish with pickled ginger and/or fukujinzuke pickles.

Store leftover curry in the fridge for 3 days. The curry and liquid may separate, but they'll combine again when you heat it up and mix it together. I'm not sure about freezing leftovers as it usually doesn't last long enough for me to get to that stage, but it's worth a try.

Now eat up, you damn nerds!

[laundryandtaxes]

@fetusdeletustotalus I actually happened to take pictures the most recent time I made beef burgundy, which is very handy here. What I usually make is basically an extremely simplified, totally stove-top version of the dish. I don't necessarily reference a specific recipe, but ATK has a version called Modern Beef Burgundy that's similar, though theirs is much more complex and probably, resultingly, better. I find that using fairly few ingredients works perfectly well for me, and allows me to cook this routinely without any fuss and without needing a special trip to the grocery store for anything other than a shallot if I'm out or some fresh thyme. I rely on method to build flavor, and it works for me.

Basically, for one pot:

1 lb or more of chunks of high connective tissue beef- I usually just buy what is labelled "stew beef" by the grocery store

As many carrots as I want (about twice the amount pictured), half cut into circles and half cut into quartered chunks

One onion, half cut into big chunks and half diced

A tablespoonish of butter

1 shallot, half quartered and half sliced

As much garlic as I'd like

As many potatoes as I'd like, cut to roughly similar sizes and then submerged in cold water to keep them fresh in the fridhe while everything else works. This recent batch featured maybe too many potatoes even for me, an extreme lover of potatoes

1 bay leaf

A few sprigs of thyme

3ish cups of chicken broth (not beef broth, because the storebought stuff just isn't good ime, though I've been meaning to experiment with better than bouillon beef since the chicken is so good)

3ish cups of red wine, ideally something drinkable and robust

Corn starch dissolved into a little bit of cold water- more than I, at least, initially guessed I would need

S&P

Prep all your items, and you can spend almost no time touching anything after the first few minutes.

Steps post prep:

Sear beef over medium high heat in a generousish amount of oil, just enough to get sufficient color on all chunks. I salt in the pan, and cook in batches. The reason I do this is to prevent crowding the dutch oven/steaming the meat rather than frying it. Once a chunk is ready, set it aside on a plate, etc, working in batches. You will need to monitor heat, and likely lower it at some point in this process to prevent oil smoking or anything burning. This is the only step that's trickyish.

Lower heat to medium low. Add a tablespoonish of butter. I do this for yumminess reasons and because it helps to prevent the oil/beef fat in the pan from burning. Add in the roughly chopped half of the carrots and alliums. S&P in pan. Cook until everything has some light charring. Then, add in chicken stock, wine, the bay leaf, and maybe 2 sprigs of fresh thyme. Salt again. The reason that I do this is basically to make a richer beef stock- the flavor from these carrots and onions is part of the stock, and these will eventually become mush. These are not to be eaten as pieces.

Bring to a low/moderate boil and let it reduce a little. I let it reduce until I no longer really strongly smell wine. At that point, add in beef chunks, submerging them as much as possible in liquid. Reduce to a simmer. Walk away and forget the stew for a minimum of 2 hours.

Pull beef chunks, set aside. Pour the stew liquid into a bowl through a strainer. You will be left with very mushy vegetables and your herbs in the strainer, and basically finished stew stock in the bowl. Toss the bay leaf and thyme. I personally mash the vegetables up as much as possible, then add them to the stew and stir as much as possible. If I were being sophisticated, I might immersion blend the veggies in for texture uniformity. But it's stew, and I don't have an immersion blender and this sure isn't worth using a standard blender for me. The only reason I don't just mash the vegetables in the dutch oven is that I use a potato masher and don't like using metal in my dutch oven. Otherwise, I'd just mash it in the pan directly after removing the beef.

Put everything back into the pot, and add your more nicely cut carrots, onions, and potatoes. Simmer for another 30 minutes minimum.

Prep corn starch. Once added to the stew, bring it to a boil for a minute minimum to allow the corn starch to set up.

Profit

Basically, once the veg is cut and the meat is seared, you're doing very little. This is definitely not the most classic or involved beef burgundy, it's just how I personally choose to make beef stew when I make it. Some people like to remove the fat from the broth, and there is a special measuring cup sort of device you can purchase cheaply for that purpose, or you can use an ice and ladle trick that I've heard works well. Or you can do what I do and just leave it.

[i-am-a-fan]

Things I learned my first year in American College ™ that maybe would be helpful for others?

Don’t skip meals, if you have to then buy a starchy snack to keep you from feeling funky until meal time

Take out is a god send

Buy frozen Veggies

WD -40 is a good investment ( Squeaky door frames to Wasp Killer)

Bring rain boots. It won’t hurt.

Be okay with bugs. If you have a phobia, make sure there’s a designated bug killer.

Know how to communicate your wants and needs

DONT. LEAVE. OUT. DISHES. WITH. FOOD.

Keep sandals on at all times if you’re on the first floor. (I had scorpions :,>)

Eggs are a good and easy source of protein!

you will get tired of eggs.

Go out. do stuff. Even if it’s just sitting in the library for a bit.

You’ll need more paper towels than you realize.

Take a water bottle with you. A 16 oz is really enough.

Have a routine. It’ll help keep you sane

I know everyone says this, but start your stuff early. Especially if you work. The bad part is that most of your peers will not be able to help you if you start early.

MAKE. FLASH. CARDS. Write down the information your professors give you like 3 times in different places.

Your professors and peers are mostly there to help you.

Little treats will mostly keep you sane but will drain your bank account

There’s a million ways to cook instant ramen packets. Don’t just follow the instructions.

IN FACT HERES MY FAVORITE RECIPE I MADE

Take the ramen packet that’s cooked on the stove (I usually used spicy lime shrimp.

Separate the noodles and the flavor packet.

Fill a medium pot with about 3-4 cups of water. (I measured out the water to be the same amount as could be held in the bowl I used). Turn on to medium heat.

Add the flavor packet to a pot of water.

Add a slice of butter (for creaminess).

Add half a spoonful of chili garlic sauce

add a spoonful and a half of soy sauce

add minced garlic (half a spoonful)

Add ginger paste ( a dollop)

Add chicken flavored Bouillon (a spoonful)

Mix it all together and let it boil.

Once boiling crack an egg and there and MIX. MIX!! You want the egg to cook fully in the boiling water.

Once the egg is cooked add in the noodles and let the noodles cook for like 3 minutes?

Once the noodles are starting to separate, add in your hearts content of frozen minced spinach.

Wait until spinach is no longer frozen and serve.

[transactinides]

i'm super bad at cooking and never know where to start because every recipe out there asks for ingredients i simply don't have at home so do you perhaps know what basic ones would be good to stock up on? like eggs and stuff...especially when it comes to spices i have no idea what is okay to use

Haii o/ very honored that you sent me an ask, and ofc I’ll do my best to help! This reply got a bit out of hand so. Long text under the cut. Behold. Feel free to reach out in asks or dms or whatever with any future questions (@ everyone tbh).

Food is, of course, very subjective, so my idea of a perfect list of foods to keep a stock of will not be universal, but I hope this will, at least, give you some ideas if anything. 

First of all, I usually mentally break down my typical weekday recipe into vaguely carbs source - protein source - veggies, buy a couple of options for each category and just switch them around for variety. My standard set is

rice / pasta (usually spaghetti re:shapes) / glass noodles

eggs / chicken / tofu / bacon

random pack of frozen vegetables, bell peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, cucumbers, leafy greens. garlic and onions too

I have an option of making egg fried rice with chopped up bacon and added frozen vegetables one day, then blending the leftover vegetables with bell peppers and tomatoes to use as pasta sauce with chicken and spaghetti the next day, then branching out and making eggplant tofu stir fry with glass noodles, then using whatever eggplant tofu stir fry i had left as rice balls filling and making myself a quick vegetable salad on the side… And all those things are easy to make and don’t need much fussing around. 

Other options to consider would be potatoes (you can roast them with whatever, boil, fry, etc), buckwheat (my wife doesn’t like it otherwise I’d use it more often), kidney beans and chickpeas for your carbs*; fish and meat for your proteins (those are. a bit too expensive for me usually); carrots, cabbage, leeks etc. 

The list looks long, but, again, you just need to pick out a couple of things from each group and throw shit in a pan so to speak. And a lot of them are easily soup-able (boiling water chicken potatoes carrots rice? boom soup. etc), which is another easy base recipe to exploit.

Now to the matter of spices. Salt and pepper are obvious enough, but a good thing to look for are, especially if you are just getting into cooking, spice blends. Something something French Herbs™ something something Taco Seasoning™ something something Seven Spice™ something something Garam Masala™. There’s a lot of different ones, but they are, essentially, a formed flavor profile in themselves, so you don’t need to worry about mixing spices and herbs that might not go well together, and by paying attention to contents you can learn for yourself what individual seasonings are commonly used together.

Also, everyone, hold your judgement real quick and trust me with this, but ooh I always save leftover flavor packets from instant ramen and reuse them in other dishes. Egg fried rice just doesn’t taste right without suspicious red powder courtesy of shin ramen… It’s probably MSG my beloved or something…

While I’m at it, bouillon cubes are handy to have, you can use them for soups, crumble them up in other recipes. Adding one to the water you’re cooking rice in is a great hack at making it more flavourful.

In general, while I do actually have way too much spices (and keep buying more… very excited about my newly acquired dried tarragon…), the ones I’d advise to have for an average person would be:

Salt (ideally both coarse grain and fine grain, but fine grain only serves you just right)

black pepper (both in a mill/grinder and peppercorns), red pepper flakes

paprika, garlic powder, ginger powder

bay leaves, dried oregano, basil, thyme, dill, cinnamon, coriander, cardamon, cumin, turmeric, sumak....

I really got a bit carried away by the end, but. You don't actually need to buy all of them and at the same time, just start with whatever couple of things you'd need for whatever you are cooking and let your collection build up over time, since spices aren't something you need to buy often anyway 👍

Other things I think it’s nice to have in stock in your kitchen would be flour and baking powder, vinegar (distilled vinegar, rice vinegar… I like to have balsamic vinegar too but it’s so expensive it’s ridiculous ngl), soy sauce, cooking oil of your choice (I use sunflower oil, olive oil and sesame oil), panko or breadcrumbs, starch (i have potato starch, cornstarch and tapioka starch, I would suggest just getting cornstarch at first).

* going to clarify here that while beans are often brought up as a source of protein, most are rich in complex carbs, excluding edamame and green beans for example. And since I mostly often cook beans with meat, they check out my daily carbs in my head.

[theaudientvoid]

Recipe: Curry a la Broke Grad Student

The point of this recipe is to make something that tastes good, while also being (1) cheap and (2) calorie dense.

Pour a small amount of olive oil in a frying pan.

Chop one medium onion, one medium potato, and a chicken breast. Put all in frying pan.

Add a spoonful of curry paste to the frying pan. Different curries have different degrees of spiciness, and different people have different tolerances for spiciness so adjust as necessary.

Cook on high for a few minutes.

While the pan is cooking, peel and chop three cloves of garlic. Add to pan and mix so that the garlic isn't just sitting on top of everything else. Since there's food on the heat, you probably shouldn't take forever with this, but you do want to give it at least a few minutes on the high heat.

Add one can of coconut milk. For the true broke grad student experience, use generic supermarket brand milk exclusively, which typically sells for less than half the price of the name brands. Also, since we want as many calories at as low a price as possible, be sure to avoid the watered down "light" coconut milk, which usually sells at the same price as the regular stuff.

Add a spoonful of chicken bouillon paste. Mix thoroughly.

Reduce heat to medium-low. Let simmer for 25 minutes.

While the curry is simmering, throw one cup of rice and one cup of water in a rice cooker. The rice should be done at approximately the same time as the curry.

Serve curry over rice.

This should make enough for two or three meals.

[love-bites-sugary-treats]

My favorite Ana hacks

-Wyler’s chicken bouillon cubes. Put one of them bitches in some boiling water and it taste like food. It’s warm to the stomach like food. It stops cravings like food but its 5calories.

- Walmart sugar free jello cups. 5 calories. Amazing with a little whipped cream on top if you’re willing to stand the extra 15 calories for 2 tbsp.

-Chick-fil-A style ice or snowcone ice with lemon juice on top. 7 calories per oz of lemon juice.

-Fruity tea bags like raspberry tea bags and peach tea bags usually have 0 calories, they’re sweeter than traditional tea, and you can get them caffeine.

-Spinach and mustard instead of a salad. Mustard is 0 cal and 1 cups of spinach is 7 cal.

-Make homemade popsicles with crystal light only 5 calories per powder pack

[alex51324]

Soop!

Woke up today with a sore throat, so it sure is a good thing I was planning to do the Chicken Noodle Spell today anyway!

Details of the soup spell behind the cut!

I was doing Quick Chicken Noodle Spell, because I had plans today (which I skipped in favor of taking some Tylenol and a nap), so I started with a carton of chicken broth and a chicken breast. I boiled the one in the other, along with some celery ends, the top and bottom of an onion, and some garlic. (I skipped carrots because all I have are baby-cut ones, and I'm not making real stock, so I just put in stuff that was going to go to waste otherwise.)

Once the chicken was cooked through, I fished it out and put it in the fridge to cool, and fished out the vegetable bits to throw away. Then I chopped up the middles of the onion and celery, along with some carrots, and sauteed those for a bit:

Toward the end of the sauteeing, I put in some minced garlic, and then I put everything in the broth and brought it back up to a boil. For noodles I used these:

One of the nice things about central Pennsylvania is that you can buy small-batch, homemade-style noodles pretty easily! There's a brand I used to get that were really thick and chewy; I haven't found those anywhere in ages, but these are OK.

By then the chicken was cool enough to handle, so I chopped that up and put it back in the pot while the noodles were cooking. The broth was still a little bland, so I put in a big spoonful of chicken base, which is this almost-neon-yellow powder, like grandma uses*:

That zipped it right up, and now I have soup! I ate a big bowl already and I have three more to eat later.

(*I usually get Better Than Bouillon, which is a paste in a jar and has a more natural-looking color, but they had this stuff at the same place I bought the noodles and I recognized it from Grandma's house.)

[timetraveltasting]

NAPOLEON'S CHICKEN MARENGO (1867)

French cooking hasn't steered me wrong yet, so I decided to make my next Tasting History dish a Napoleonic favourite: Chicken Marengo. Apparently this dish, Napoleon's favourite, is decently well-known and still made today, but I'd never heard of it until watching Max's video. The version here is from 1867, found in the cookbook Le Livre de Cuisine by Jules Gouffé. There are a few interesting tales surrounding this dish, adding a bit of intrigue. The dish is named after the Battle of Marengo, in which Napoleon (First Consul at that time) and his French forces defeated the Austrian army (after nearly losing the battle) on June 14, 1800 in Piedmont, Italy. This battle cemented his control of Italy. While a tall tale states this dish was cooked for Napoleon by his cook, François Claude Guignet (nicknamed Dunant), after the battle, using local Italian olive oil instead of the usual French favourite, butter, this tale is pure fiction. Dunant didn't work for Napoleon at that time, and records state Napoleon dined at the tent of his cavalry general that evening. In actuality, the recipe gained popularity more because it was Napoleon's favourite dish, and Napoleon's popularity sky-rocketed after the victory at Marengo. Napoleon's valet confirms it was his favourite dish, but it may have gotten its name from the restaurants of Paris, which were trying to sell more chicken by piggy-backing on the popularity of Napoleon. While the dish was very popular in Paris during and after the Napoleonic period, written recipes of the dish don't seem to be published until about ten years after his death. Even then, they vary wildly in ingredients and method; some included egg, tomato, and truffle, and by the late-19th century, crayfish had become a standard ingredient! According to all accounts, however, Napoleon preferred his meals prepared simply, with just a few basic ingredients. He was said to dine, in both substance and manner, like a soldier (so, basically inhaling his food), and he only began eating more gourmet meals during his exile on St. Helena. It only follows then, that his favourite dish, Chicken Marengo, is a simple chicken dish with household ingredients. See Max’s video on how to make the dish here or see the ingredients and process at the end of this post, sourced from his website.

My experience making it:

The only specification which sets my ingredient list apart from Max's is the chicken itself: I used 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts instead of the many legs and thighs. I felt they would cook more evenly, and with fewer pieces of chicken, I was hoping to have some sauce left for the broccoli I wanted to serve alongside.

I began by making my beef broth (just dissolving those little bouillon cubes in hot water), meanwhile chopping the things that needed chopping and portioning out a few of my ingredients ahead of time. Doing this makes for more dishes to clean, but I find it prevents me from forgetting to add ingredients. For the thyme and parsley, I decided to tie them into a bouquet with some twine, just like the bouquet garni in my last French dish from Tasting History. I heated up the oil in a frying pain on medium high heat, seasoned my chicken with the salt and pepper, then added them to the hot pan, filling the room in between each chicken breast with the shallots, garlic, bay leaf, and the bouquet of thyme and parsley. I then covered the pan and let it cook for ten minutes, flipped each breast, then covered and let it cook for another ten minutes, meanwhile preparing the broccoli for my side. I turned the chicken one last time, noticing it was starting to brown nicely, and let it cook for five more minutes. The smell was divine! After checking it was cooked through with a knife, I removed the chicken to a plate and covered it to keep warm. Then, I removed the shallots, garlic, and herbs onto a plate. At this point, I added in the flour little by little and immediately stirred it in as I went. I noticed that my pan was so hot that the flour seemed to be burning before I could mix it in fast enough, so I turned down the heat to medium. Because my pan was still a little too hot, I only fried the mixture for about 30 seconds after the flour was combined; it was thickening at an alarming rate. I added the shallots, garlic, and herbs back in and cooked for another 30 seconds or so, as my roux was already a golden brown colour and very thick. I added the beef broth and stirred constantly, ensuring to scrape up all the bits and combining as well as possible. While Max said to do this for ten minutes, I only did it for five, as my sauce was already so thick and I didn't want it to solidify too much. I didn't have a conical strainer, so I strained it through a normal mesh one. I plated the chicken and broccoli and spooned the sauce over each. It kind of looked like a gravy, or my mom's Chicken Scallopini dish. I quickly fried some mushrooms and added them on top along with a fresh sprig of parsley, then served the Chicken Marengo forth!

My experience tasting it:

My husband and I tucked into the saucy chicken first. The sauce was definitely a little gloopy due to how thick it was, but it tasted great! The chicken was cooked to perfection. I would say the sauce tasted like a mix between gravy and the usual Chicken Scallopini sauce - both things I love. It also went really nicely with the broccoli. The herbs, shallots, and garlic didn't come through quite a strongly as I thought they would in the sauce, but I think if I didn't strain the sauce, it would have retained a lot more of that flavour, and I'll probably try it like this next time. That's right, I definitely plan on making this recipe again! Next time I will also follow my intuition a bit more regarding the thickness of the sauce. I felt I was following the recipe to the detriment of the final product, which, I admit, I felt I must do for the sake of historical authenticity. I think the sauce would never have gotten too thick if I had held back a bit adding the flour. Despite this, if the dish tastes this good already, it will probably taste really amazing next time if I apply these changes! Napoleon and I certainly share one thing in common: our love for simple, comforting, delicious meals. If you end up making this dish, if you liked it, or if you changed anything from the original recipe, do let me know!

Chicken Marengo original recipe (1867)

Sourced from Le Livre de Cuisine by Jules Gouffé, 1867.

Prepare the chicken as for fricassee; Put a deciliter of oil in the sauté pan: Add the pieces of chicken so they do not overlap one another; Add: 3 pinches of salt, 2 pinches of pepper, 2 shallots whole, 1 whole clove garlic, 1 bay leaf, a sprig of thyme, 1 bunch of parsley; Fry for 25 minutes, till the chicken is done: Place the chicken on a platter and keep warm; Put 40 grams of flour in the sauté pan, mix together and heat for 4 minutes, and add 5 deciliters of broth; Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring with the wooden spoon; Pass the sauce through the so-called Chinese strainer: Dress the chicken as for Chicken Fricassee; Pour over the sauce and serve…Mushrooms may be added as a garnish.

Modern Recipe

Based on the recipe from Le Livre de Cuisine by Jules Gouffé (1867) and Max Miller’s version in his Tasting History video.

Ingredients:

Chicken, whatever cuts you like, Max used 4 drumsticks and 4 thighs

3.5 oz (100 ml) olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 shallots, peeled but left whole

1 clove of garlic

1 bay leaf

A sprig of thyme

A bunch of parsley

1/3 cup (40 g) flour

2 cups (500 ml) beef broth

Mushrooms, optional

Method:

Heat the oil in a large pan over medium high heat. Add the chicken, making sure that the pieces don’t overlap, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add the shallots, garlic, bay leaf, parsley, and thyme, then set the lid on the pan and let it fry for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, turn the chicken over, then cover again and cook for another 10 minutes.

Turn the chicken one last time, cover, and cook for 5 more minutes.

When the chicken is cooked, remove it to a plate and cover it so it stays warm. Remove the shallots and larger pieces of herbs. Keep them nearby because we’ll be adding them back in just a second.

Stir the flour into the hot oil to make a roux. Continue to cook and stir for a couple of minutes, then add the herbs and shallots back in. Cook for another couple of minutes or until the roux is golden brown.

Add the beef broth and use a wooden spoon to scrape up any brown bits that stay stuck to the bottom of the pan. Bring it to a simmer, then stir constantly for 10 minutes.

Strain the sauce through a conical strainer (or a plain mesh strainer if that’s what you have). If the sauce splits, add a couple tablespoons of water, set it over low heat, and stir until you have a nice smooth sauce again.

If you’re using the mushrooms, sauté them in a bit of oil until they’re cooked.

Arrange the chicken in a dish, pour the sauce over it, garnish with the mushrooms, and serve it forth. For extra authenticity, forgo the utensils and eat with your hands as the Emperor did, and remember to use your uniform to clean up with, not a napkin.

[prettyciggy]

sharing some of grandma's recipes 🩷 she's OUR grandma now. she tends to give simple recipes for easy bases - add whatever you'd like to them!

recipes:

- chicken noodle soup

- chicken salsa soup

- sweet potato curry

- gumbo

- how to make rice

- homemade bread. peasant, flat, and fried

CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP

- buy roasted chicken. place in pot with water filled about halfway up chicken. leave to boil for 40min-hour [good for walking away and doing things. boiling it makes it super easy to get the bones out. you can also just pick the meat you want off if you're in a hurry)

- pick out bones / add boneless meat to pot with water or broth from store (as much broth as you want)

- 1tb bouillon, bay leaf [i double this for stronger flavor]

- any seasonings you want. my personal favs are creole or yellow curry. parsley is delicious as well and discourages bad breath >:]

- veggies: sliced carrots, celery, chopped onions

- bring to a boil for cooking then turn down heat, leave for 10 min

- noodles! any that you want. grandma's favorite are egg noodles. cook until noodles are desired texture

great granny made this for my gma served on top of mashed potatoes

makes multiple servings! good for easy leftovers

CHICKEN SALSA SOUP

- saute / fry chopped onion in butter. add 1 pint water and 1.5 cup salsa

- 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp chili powder, 1-2 tb bouillon, as much garlic as you want (i personally double this)

- when it starts boiling add 1-2 cups of corn (canned or frozen)

- add bite sized chicken. i always buy my chicken precooked bc i have anxiety about it LOL. cook for 5 minutes longer

serve with sour cream, chips, and cheese

SWEET POTATO CURRY

- fry 1 chopped onion and 1 chopped sweet potato together with butter

- add a little water (don't fully cover food) and cover to steam about 10 minutes

- buy bottle of red or green curry sauce. 3 tbs. or about half the bottle. curry paste or powder also works! use same amount and adjust as desired

- add 1 cup of water with 2 tsp bouillon

- i personally add some cooked shredded chicken and a bit of creole seasoning and parsley. not called for in recipe

- add coconut milk once potatos are fully cooked and soft

- low heat until desired temperature

served with rice and flat bread

COOPER FAMILY GUMBO

cook in a big pot

- 1 bag frozen okra. chopped or chop yourself. fry with small amount of oil until it stops being stringy. takes about 10 min depending on amount. add to pot after

- add chopped: onion, green pepper, celery (1 onion, 1 big pepper, 2 celery for base recipe. i do some spicy peppers as well. add more as desired)

- 1 24-32oz can of diced tomatoes

- 2tbs bouillion (i use veggie bouillion, meat kinds are good too) (grandma uses this for an easy roux replacement) (roux recipe: butter and flour in low to medium heated pan. mix until golden brown. add creole seasoning)

- about 1 qts of water (i personally love broth so i just fill until im satisfied) (i will also use 3 32oz containers of broth instead of water for flavor)

- season with parsley, 2 bay leaves, plenty of tonys creole seasoning (i also add curry powder, onion powder, garlic powder, and lemon black pepper) (creole is main soup seasoning for gumbo) (the brand is just Cooper Family preference)

- once veggies are soft add bite sized cooked chicken, sausage, shrimp (i don't usually include shrimp bc of texture. i use a cooked chicken from the store and just tear it up so it's stringy. creole or beef sausage is my favorite) (i recently found some dried shrimp at my store and added that, good replacement for texture issues)

serve over rice with bread. best breads are garlic french bread or flat bread. normal bread slices also work just fine

creole is a little spicy, so taste test for desired amount as you're adding

FOR RICE IF YOU DONT HAVE RICE COOKER:

- add 1 cup rice or more

- WASH! rinse rice in water, mix with hands, and drain multiple times until water is no longer milky colored (doesn't have to be 100% clear)

- fill water until it's a little above the rice. measure with finger, i usually do a little under the first knuckle

- cover pot and leave to cook on medium heat. if it starts to boil, immediately turn down heat to low.

- once all water is evaporated, add butter and salt! serve with whatever you'd like

for YELLOW rice add 1-2 tb butter and 1 tsp turmeric, throw in some fried onions if you're feeling fancy!

grandma liked adding 1-2 tb of ketchup and fried onions to plain cooked rice. said it gave it a great reddish color LMAO

HOMEMADE BREADS

PEASANT BREAD BASE RECIPE

- 2 cups of warm water

      - for rosemary bread add crushed rosemary at this part

      - add any seasonings you want or leave plain! either way is delicious

- 1 tbs yeast, 2 tbs sugar, 2 tbs salt

let rest until yeast is activated (looks sticky/foamy/expanded)

- add up to 4 cups of flour. mix each cup in as you pour, the dough will be sticky and can be mixed with a fork

- cover with cloth and leave it to rise. will double in size. i usually walked away to leave it for an hour, im not sure if it actually takes that long tho lmao

- preheat oven to 375

- get your baking bread bowl or pan and butter VERY well to prevent the dough from sticking. i tend to cover the dough and pan in butter. if you don't have an oven bread pan or whatever it's called (my gma called it a cereal bowl i DONT think that's correct hahahah), then a flat pan will work just fine! bowl is just for shape. gma divides bread into 2 loafs, i divide into rolls or flatten it for flatbread!

- cover again in rag and let dough rise a 2nd time before placing in oven

loaves take about 20 minutes, but just bake until bread is a golden brown :] grandma likes adding sesame seeds before putting bread in oven

recipe works for pretty much anything! pizza dough, loafs, rolls, flatbread

FLATBREAD

- follow peasant bread recipe up until the 1st rise of the dough

- butter or spray cookie sheet with oil, spread dough thin

- brush top with melted butter, sesame seeds, parsley, and parmesan cheese

- bake at 325 until golden brown

i personally add some sliced chery tomatoes, rosemary, cheese, and creole seasoning to top bread before placing in the oven. then more cheese directly after pulling it out.

FRY BREAD

- after 1st rise, divide and hand flatten dough into thin circles

- paint with melted butter and let rest for 5-10 minutes

- fill a pan about 1/3rd with oil, high or medium heat while dough is resting in butter

- cook in oil until crispy golden brown

delicious with curry or gumbo!

[historia-vitae-magistras]

AHHHHH drop pea soup recipe pls (if you don't mind)?? or perhaps some tips :) saw lots of pea soup stuff mentions this morning - so I bought me self some split yellow peas and would like to try making some tonight. Should I soak the peas first to soften them and easier to boil?

Made a fresh pot to write this down as I went otherwise its just in my head. I'm not.... entirely sure if I'm a good recipe writer but I tried! I don't usually have the need to soak the peas but def rinse them and reserve the salt until the end to help. I made mine with chopped back bacon carrots, leeks, a turnip and celery but as noted any of the options below will work.

Ideal but optional Stock:

1 ham bone

2-3 carrots, quartered

1-2 ribs celery, quartered

2 medium onions, quartered

4 bay leaves

10-15 whole black peppercorns

1 soup pyramid (optional)

Throw it all in the pot and boil for 2 hrs. Strain and use it for the soup. This is also completely optional. You can just substitute it out for 8-10 cups 2.5 litres of water and a stock cube or bouillon paste in ham, chicken, garlic or vegetable. I wouldn't use beef or fish bouillon.

Actual soup

450-500 g/1 bag dried yellow or green split peas (no need to soak if split)

200-300g/8–10 ounces bacon, ham, back bacon or pancetta, or fuck even turkey bacon for our kosher friends can be done. Diced.

1 yellow onion, 2 large shallots or 1 large leek or about 150 grams of the whites and lights of green onion, finely chopped.

1 rutabaga, large waxy potato, turnip or parsnip, diced.

2 stalks celery or celeriac or turnip, diced

2 -3 carrots or parsnips, diced.

5 garlic cloves, minced.

Kosher salt, black pepper, soup pyramid or 2 bay leaves.

8-10cup/2.5 liters of the ham stock or substitute.

15 ml (1 tbsp) of your acid of choice. I'm a lemon juice girlie but wine vinegar, cider vinegar or plain vinegar will get it done.

Salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper to taste

To Make the Soup

Take the biggest pot in the cabinet and slap down your bacon. If not using bacon, tap out a scoop of butter or an oil of choice, sauté the meat and remove before cooking the vegetables.

Remove bacon from its rendered fat or remove the meat from its cooking oil and set aside.

Cook the veg until soft. Add garlic and cook another minute or two.

Add the stock or broth, soup pyramid or bay leaves, and dried peas. Reserve meat if using.

Bring the whole thing to a boil for 1-2 minutes, lower to a simmer.

Cover and stir every 15 minutes until split peas are tender. It will depend on your peas. Mine is usually done in about an hour, but water heat and time may vary.

Check the soup for seasoning and season to taste.

Remove bay leaves or soup pyramid.

Stir in the acid and your reserved meat.

Warm through and serve.

[strawberrystepmom]

Gm kendalll!! What’s your favorite recipe? Like what do you think defines you as a person?

my sweet sorin this is truly one of the most thoughtful questions i've ever been asked so thank you so much for taking the time to do so. i had to sit down and really think about it for a bit but to me, the only answer is caldo verde.

caldo verde (literally green soup) is something i ate almost weekly growing up - a deceptively simple soup made from potatoes, sausage of some kind, and a mountain of beautiful green kale. it's hearty and soothing, something that my grandfather ate often growing up on a dairy farm.

when my papa was still with us, he made big pots of it and we'd go over to their house and have fresh bread and our soup no matter the season and it was a time i recall as being really important because it taught me the value of just listening and being together. we would all talk over each other, ten convos going on at once, yet i dont think i've ever felt more heard in my life than i did during those dinners.

now everyone has their recipe. my papa had his that i now have, his sisters have and had their own, fuck i think my sister has her own but it's deceptively simple. you can use chourico, that is not my recommendation, i use linguica and recommend you get it if you can find it because it adds a lot of smoky flavor to the soup itself. it makes your home smell so warm and inviting, too. im not sure where in the world you're at, but i highly recommend taking the time this fall to do the following:

procure one pound of linguica. cut it into medallions or half moons, whichever you prefer, and set it aside. chop up 4-6 potatoes in bite sized cubes. chop a yellow onion (or two if you're serving a lot of people as i tend to do) and i am insane and use four to six gloves of garlic. i grate mine with a microplane but you can rough chop, use a press, use pre minced, etc. whatever is easiest for you!

heat good olive oil in a soup pot and saute your onion and garlic until your kitchen starts smelling really good. i stress good because a lot of the flavor basis comes from the oil you use here. once the onion and garlic are good, add your potatoes and sautee them for a few minutes just to let them start softening. at this point, i add my linguica. i let it fry for usually a good 8 or so minutes to really infuse the olive oil and veggies with the spices in it and then i remove it so that it doesn't get tough and hard to eat while everything else stews.

add about 6 qts of water and chicken bouillon powder to your potatoes, onions, and garlic (we are a knorr household but use whatever you have - boxed broth is also a great option here). crank up the heat and let it come to a simmer for about 25-30 minutes. at this point you will have a really beautiful soup and certain people will remove the potatoes from the stock and use a food processor/immersion blender to make them smooth and like a thickener but i dont, i prefer the more rustic experience and leave them whole. add your linguica back and let it simmer for a few more minutes then dump in the largest handfuls of kale you possibly can. i use like a pound per four servings bc im an insane person and love it lmao this will wilt really quickly and all you have to do is stir it until it all looks cooked through.

best when shared with people you love with a fresh loaf of bread from your favorite bakery.

<3

[ovaruling]

@radicalearthling my pleasure!!!!

ok so. my garlic & onion beans! 🫘

INGREDIENCE

- 32oz (or more or less—you can adjust accordingly) bag of any kind of dry beans (i like black beans or red beans the best, or black-eyed peas), soaked and cooked (im lazy and use an instant pot for this part so if that’s relevant to u, then what i do is fill with enough water to cover the beans and 30 minutes on high pressure, natural release for 20 min) (or you can use canned beans that equal 32oz drained!)

- 1 large yellow onion (im talking huge)

- 2 sticks of country crock brand vegan butter (that would be about 115g per stick, so about 230g of vegan butter) (you can use way way less of this btw, 4tbsp divided evenly between the onions and the pot ought to do)

- 5-8 cloves of garlic, minced (or more!)

- smoked paprika

- Badia southern style poultry seasoning (or any southern style poultry seasoning)

- salt & pepper

- 1 carton (32oz) of vegan no-chicken-broth (i use the Imagine brand, but any broth you have will work—you can also of course use vegan no-chicken bouillon or base)

- liquid smoke, if you have any (it’s vegan!)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. put your huge chopped onion and 1 stick (or 115g) of vegan butter in a skillet (chop it with a spatula as you go so that it distributes around the pan.) turn the heat to high or medium-high. salt and pepper generously. wait for the onions to brown and then nearly blacken. i use a ceramic greenpan on medium-high and it takes me about 10-15 minutes. this isn’t an exact science, i break the rules of caramelizing a lot. stir if you need to in order to prevent the onion from blackening beyond taste. (you can add garlic here too but i find it sometimes tends to burn but if you use the whole stick of butter it usually holds up. up to you how to add the garlic!)

2. once the onion is browned and fragrant, set the skillet aside.

3. put the plain cooked beans and the chicken broth in a large stockpot. put in 1 stick (or 115g) of vegan butter. set to medium-low heat.

4. put in 4-8 huge shakes of salt, pepper, smoked paprika, and poultry seasoning. this has no measurement—i eyeball it and taste it as i go. i usually end up needing to salt it a bit more.

5. add some dashes of liquid smoke, if using. again, i eyeball this—i usually dash it like 4-5 times.

6. add the cooked onion to the beans in the stockpot.

7. add your minced garlic if you didn’t use it for the onion browning.

8. stir, taste, and reseason as desired.

9. cover, and cook on medium high for about 10 minutes. let it come to a good boil.

10. lower the heat to Low, let it simmer until it reaches desired texture and thickness. add more water if needed.

11. i usually let it simmer on low for 1 hour minimum, up to 3 or 4 hours depending on my schedule. the longer it cooks down, the better it tastes imo.

12. keep tasting throughout to make sure you’re going in the right direction! i usually need to add way more smoked paprika to get the taste i want. i’m pretty extravagant w my smoked paprika….

13. let cool and voila :) this usually feeds me 1 full large bowl for 7-8 days of dinner (sometimes less bc i like to eat seconds…). i store it all in a large tupperware thang once it’s completely cooled. keeps very nicely!

[not100bees]

While I'm talking about recipes, the trick to peanut butter noodles is one: reserve a lot of pasta water. More than you think you'll need. And it's not required. But I do think using some sort of savory enhancer in the pasta water helps a lot. I use chicken bouillon cubes usually, but I did try it with a Chicken ramen packet and that also worked.

[chirpchangeling]

For the ask game: favorite comfort food?

Depends on the day, really! Any food can be a perfect and indulgent comfort food when youve had a rough day and you're really fiending for something specific. But id say my most common go-to easy 'i wanna feel good' type meal is a good breakfast sandwich.

I like toasting a kaiser roll and topping it up with pork roll, (or taylor ham if you're a north jersey dork that insists on disrespecting the legal definition of what ham is and enjoy false advertising /silly) avocado and some eggs fried with lemon pepper garlic and chicken bouillon until the yolks are, ideally, jammy (but usually fully runny, because i prefer that to fully cooked for these, bc the yolk functions as a sort of sauce for the rest of the whole ordeal)