A cooking meme this time

[pensnest]

Well, kudos to Bosch. When we moved here five years ago, the previous owners had left their Bosch washing machine plumbed in. We brought ours with us, not expecting this, so we parked it in the spot for the tumble dryer and Freecycled the latter. The washing machine stopped running the spin cycle today, luckily on a day when the sun is roasting hot so we hung the clothes outside to drip. Then began the exhausting swappage of washing machines (this is quite a lot complicated by (a) FIL's giant fridge-freezer and (b) the soft floor mats we put down to keep him safe if he falls). We borrowed a sackbarrow and managed to get the broken machine out of the house and into the garage, a process made vastly more difficult by my FIL's lean-to greenhouse. (It covers the accessible double door from which there are no steps to the outside.) Then we swapped in our five-years-dormant machine, and lo! it worked! \o/ It's also a Bosch, and very similar to the one that has just died—this may be a temporary death, as one of Bun's housemates is exceeding handy with machinery and is going to take it away after three days' quarantine in the garage, and see whether he can Miracle Max it back to life. Same friend took over the incumbent dishwasher from here (again, we had brought our own but there was already one in place so we used that until it stopped working) and it is apparently still chugging away happily. I am very pleased to see machines repaired rather than thrown out, so it's nice to pass this washing machine along to someone who may be able to fix it, and if not, to cannibalise it.

It seems to be list-meme season, and this one, which I saw on tielan's journal, is more logical than the last, exceedingly random, set of questions. It's plainly about staples of American cooking, and I don't know enough to decide whether it is specifically Southern cooking or not. I *think* it is covering a fullish geographical range of American dishes, but would be interested to know whether that is the case or not.



1. Made biscuits from scratch?
Yes, but like tielan, I am now wondering if the 'biscuits' in the question are not what I think of as biscuits. However, I have also made scones, both sweet and savoury, so the yes still works.

2. Fried fresh okra?
No. I've eaten it occasionally, and I have a hazy suspicion that I may have used some in a curry at some point, but it's not something I usually consider.

3. Made sourdough bread?
No, but if I can get some starter the easy way (ie from somebody else) I will definitely have a go! I do not trust myself to create a starter. It will either fail to do anything, or it will envelop the house.

4. Fried chicken?
I don't think so—I mean, I have cooked chicken pieces in a frying pan, but I assume this is talking about the kind that is coated in magic crumbs? I usually just buy the coated kind that gets cooked in the oven.

5. Made spaghetti sauce from scratch?
Yes. I usually serve it with pasta in shorter and more manageable shapes than spaghetti, though not always.

6. Made any kind of yeast bread?
Yes, though not really 'by hand' as I had the most success when using a bread-maker.

7. Baked a cake from scratch?
Yes, sometimes with great success. Note the 'sometimes'.

8. Made icing from scratch?
Yes. I've even shaped and iced a cake to look like a dragon. Twice.

9. Cooked a pot roast with all the veg?
Hmmm. I think so—I've occasionally cooked a chicken surrounded by veg in the oven. Delia calls that a pot roast, I think.

10. Made chili from scratch?
Yes, though it's usually quite mild. I have made very spicy food in my time, but not for a while now.

11. Made a meatloaf?
I don't think I've ever made a meatloaf. Not actually sure, come to think of it, whether I've ever eaten it. Not for years and years, anyway.

12. Made scalloped potatoes?
Hmm. What I'm imagining is very, very smooth mashed potato piped into a shell shape—in which case, no. If it's something else, then I don't think so. No, wait! It seems 'scalloped potatoes' are basically what I would call Dauphinoise Potatoes, so yes. I haven't got them quite right yet, but my daughter is very keen so I shall continue to try.

13. Made mac/cheese from scratch?
Yes, and apparently it was very good. But I've never been a big fan of macaroni cheese.

14. Made a jello salad?
No!

15. Made peanut brittle?
No.

16. Made fudge?
I don't think I have, but it's on my to do list. I like fudge. I fancy an orange+black pepper flavour, but we'll see.

17. Made cookies from scratch?
Yes. And this question probably answers my query about the biscuits, above.

18. Cooked a pot of beans from dried beans?
No. Er. I have a feeling this 'pot of beans' means something more specific than 'beans', possibly involving pork? I think I read a recipe for Boston Baked Beans years ago which sounded very good, but whether this is what is meant, I cannot tell. As for cooking involving beans other than fresh ones, I usually use tins, *so* much easier and I lack the forethought to soak stuff the night before. I put dried lentils into curries and soup? Doubt think that counts.

19. Cooked a pot of greens?
Like tielan I think this question is referring to something I don't know about. No, wait, there's an explanation of this in the comments to her post—so, no.

20. Made cornbread from scratch?
No

21. Made a pie dough from scratch?
Yes, but 'pie dough' sounds really weird to me. It is—surely—pastry? Actually I am rubbish at shortcrust pastry, which always falls apart (I suspect I make it too short). It is disappointing, because my grandma used to make the most excellent pastry. Her apple pies were fantastic. If 'pie dough' is, say, suet pastry (which sounds righter) I have done that, too, once in a while.

22. Cooked a whole turkey?
Yes, although usually without the bones! Many years ago, Good Housekeeping published a Christmas recipe for boned turkey, which I surely saved but cannot now find. However, I retain the basics, and have asked for a boned turkey whenever I've wanted to cook one. *So* much quicker, and a doddle to carve. It does mean nobody gets a drumstick, of course.

23. Snapped green beans and cooked them?
Snapped? I've cooked green beans (sometimes fresh from Grandpa's garden, sometimes bought) but I don't think the process involves snapping. Possibly a different kind of bean? I have opened/snapped pea pods and cooked the contents (and eaten some of them raw, too), but I don't know of green beans which work the same way.

24. Made mashed potatoes from scratch?
Yes, though I also keep a pack of instant mashed potato mix in the cupboard.

25. What’s the most people you have (alone) prepared a whole meal for?
21

26. Poached an egg?
Yes.

27. Made pancakes from scratch?
Yes, occasionally, though these are the thin crepe-style pancakes rather than fluffy, fat ones. It is easier just to buy them and microwave them… If I can get hold of some sourdough starter, I will definitely try the fluffy kind.

28. Roasted vegetables in the oven instead of boiling them?
Yes, certainly. What does the vegetable kingdom have to offer that is better than a roast parsnip? (Two roast parsnips!) Celeriac is delicious roasted, and I've recently become a convert to roasted carrots, if I'm cooking something in the oven. Roast potatoes are, of course, by far the best kind of potatoes. And in the winter I sometimes roast a bunch of veggies and whiz them into a soup.

29. Made fresh pasta?
No

30. Made croissants from scratch?
No.

31. Made tuna salad?
Er, I guess? I mix tuna, finely chopped onion, possibly also tiny pieces of bell peppers, mayonnaise and pepper, and put it in sandwiches. My cats get the tuna water. They are big fans.

32. Fried fish?
Sure. But overall I prefer wrapping it in foil and baking it—so much easier. I have never bothered to batter and deep fry fish, as it is much easier, and probably better, bought from the chippy.

33. Made baked beans?
No. Baked beans here come in a tin, enrobed in orange… stuff. I have used these on many occasions, but I suspect they are not what is being referred to here.

34. Made ice cream from scratch?
Yes, a fabulously simple recipe involving double cream, a little icing sugar, and the juice and zest of limes and oranges. Delicious.

35. Made jam or jelly?
No.

6. Zested an orange or lemon?
Yes.

37. Made grits from scratch?
No. Never made the acquaintance of a grit.

38. Made an omelette?
Yes, but not for a very long time. I don't like them very much.

39. Lived in a house without a dishwasher?
Yes, but not, mercifully, for quite a long time.

40. Eaten a bowl of cereal for supper?
No.

Adding on a couple of out-of-region questions for any future meme-takers:

41. Made rich fruit cake?
Yes, but only once. Though I might make it for future Christmases, in miniature, as presents. I quite fancy decorating little ones.

42. Cooked a full English/Irish breakfast?
Oh yes. Black pudding and all. Fried bread, fried or scrambled eggs, mushrooms, baked beans (from a tin), bacon, sausages, black pudding. Toast may be substituted for the fried bread, though it is a limp and sorry thing by comparison, and tinned tomatoes can replace the baked beans. Hash browns, while inauthentic, are also welcome.

43. Made your own vinaigrette dressing?
Yes.

Comments

[topaz119]

These do tend to lean to Southern regional cooking, though there are things that are more cross-culturally American. Grits, greens (usually collard greens), and okra, though, are not things you generally find anywhere outside of the southeast (or from families who have moved away from there.) Also, baked beans tend to come in a can around here, too, though I think they're asking if we've done the whole Process of soaking them and making the sauce and all.

[pensnest]

I was pretty sure I'd got the grits and greens right, though I obviously have some other association for okra, can't remember why. Do your canned baked beans contain meat, or traces of it? I shudder at the thought of making them from scratch!

[topaz119]

I love okra as one of the veggies in a gumbo or just sliced and cooked with tomatoes and corn; and sometimes, if it's right out of the pan, I like it rolled in cornmeal and fried, but it can get ... slimy if it's steamed or boiled plain, and then it takes me a year to get over the texture and eat it again.

Yes, our canned baked beans have sad little scraps of what they like to say is pork in with them. Making them from scratch isn't hard; it just takes a while to soak and cook them. But the sauce is mostly just tomatoes and molasses/brown sugar and some spices and you let the soaked beans bake in it all day.

[topaz119]

Also, grits can play an important part in legal proceedings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T24lHnB7N8

[sporky_rat]

Grits are pretty much white corn polenta, maybe a little finer ground, boiled up and served with a little salt, sometimes cheese on them. My father likes to put his fried egg in his.

[pensnest]

Thanks for explaining the grits. One day, I will taste these. Cheese on them sounds good, though boiled and salted is about as appealing to me as salted porridge.

[sylvaine]

Yay for having a spare washing machine!

[pensnest]

Such a mercy! Not that ao.com isn't efficient at delivering, but it's nice not to have to go that route. I shall be interested to see if the old one can be fixed.

[frausorge]

Glad to hear your stored machine was able to step up! All that hauling sounds very un-fun, though.

[pensnest]

It's most unfortunate that we have (a) a very narrow front door (it used to be the back door) and (b) three steps down from it. It did make the process rather unnerving! The ground floor of this house has Too Many Steps.

[turps]

Swapping machines in the heat must have been a workout, but it's great you're up and running again.

[pensnest]

It was indeed a rather sweaty business! We did do quite well out of the previous owners with respect to useful household machinery, since they left us a dishwasher and a washing machine. And the lawnmower lasted reasonably well, too.