Homemade foods

[GGT]

I'm making a homemade stock/broth. Mostly based on what my mother and mother-in-law taught me -- saving vegetable scraps, throwing them in a pot, simmering and straining. That was when celery, carrots, onions or potatoes were considered daily kitchen scraps. Not broccoli crowns or pepper stalks.

Tons of variations in cook books and internet food sites, but looking for real life variations. Should I just compost this stuff instead of trying to make a stock?

[Lebanese Dragon]

I'm making a homemade stock/broth. Mostly based on what my mother and mother-in-law taught me -- saving vegetable scraps, throwing them in a pot, simmering and straining. That was when celery, carrots, onions or potatoes were considered daily kitchen scraps. Not broccoli crowns or pepper stalks.

Tons of variations in cook books and internet food sites, but looking for real life variations. Should I just compost this stuff instead of trying to make a stock?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfaJCzOBryY

I used that recipe and it was a huge hit.. he also goes over how to make homemade broth, there is a link in the vid.

[Flixy]

I'm making a homemade stock/broth. Mostly based on what my mother and mother-in-law taught me -- saving vegetable scraps, throwing them in a pot, simmering and straining. That was when celery, carrots, onions or potatoes were considered daily kitchen scraps. Not broccoli crowns or pepper stalks.

Tons of variations in cook books and internet food sites, but looking for real life variations. Should I just compost this stuff instead of trying to make a stock?

I think the idea of making broth is using stuff with decent tastes, and pepper stalks do not taste good at all, so I would suggest composting that. Broccoli should be fine, I'd think.

[Catgrrl]

The homemade stock that was in LD's link (well, I saw it on the sidebar) seems fairly good. I've been curious to make my own stocks, since I'm home and it probably would be better than the store bought stuff.

[Flixy]

I think I've only ever made stock from the shells of big shrimps, and immediately used that as a basis for soup/sauce. With good results!

[GGT]

Thanks, Lebbie, but I already know how to make meat-based stocks. Tip: pour them in ice-cube trays and store them in the freezer. Tastier than the commercial powder cubes or canned concentrates, and pretty easy to pop out cubes as needed in other recipes.

I'm looking for new ways to use vegetable scraps. Not just peelings but stalks and such. Flixy, Broccoli is "pungent" and powerful (as a flavor and aroma), and doesn't store very well. Since broccoli is one of the few green veggies my kids and I really like, raw or steamed, I peel the stalks and use them in cold broccoli salad.

Anyway....after I made that multi-vegetable-based stock (celery, green beans, red and green peppers, onions, potatoes) I used the "chunks" to make a puree mixture thing, then added it to a cream-of-potato soup. It didn't turn out very well.

[GGT]

....fruits are a totally different category.

I do buy oranges for fresh-squeezed juice. Plus apples, grapes, tangerines, pineapples. Pre-cored fresh pineapples are expensive, but seem to be juicier and sweeter than buying the whole fruit, even canned.

Maybe I was spoiled by my mom's fresh Florida oranges and grapefruits. That sweetness could almost rival chocolate.

[earthJoker]

Girlfriend got a noodle machine as birthday present.

I'm totally addicted to it currently. (I hope home made pasta fits this thread.)

[Catgrrl]

I use the broccoli stalks to add to coleslaw. Either alongside the cabbage or a substitute for it.

[GGT]

Homemade pasta seems like a lot of work. Almost like hand-churned butter. But it sounds like a great way to incorporate vegetable scraps --- by making eggplant or red pepper noodles! It would be colorful and probably tasty.

I don't use "recipes" much these days. It's more fun to experiment, since I didn't truly enjoy being in the kitchen.

[Flixy]

Homemade pasta isn't so much work, if you have a thing like that. Making the dough is very simple, and tasty!

[GGT]

True, dough can be pretty simple. I've had some fun recently making fresh bread....from pre-mixed box ingredients or frozen yeast lumps.

"Jiffy" (brand) has great corn bread and muffin mixes. Their general flour mix makes nice pancakes/waffles/muffins, drop biscuits, shepherd pie crusts, and some sweet desserts too. It's a staple in my pantry. And less expensive than buying special "machines".



Defining "homemade" is kinda tricky now. I know a woman who sifts raw flour to make all her bakery goods, instead of buying the pre-sifted kind. These days, it's pretty hard to find unsifted-flour, let alone a flour sifter.

[earthJoker]

Homemade pasta seems like a lot of work. Almost like hand-churned butter. But it sounds like a great way to incorporate vegetable scraps --- by making eggplant or red pepper noodles! It would be colorful and probably tasty.

Not done colored ones yet. Of course tagliatelle tricolori is on the todo list. I already made noodles, spaghetti and canneloni . I think canneloni and lasagna gain the most from homemade dough because you can really avoid having hard parts in them.

Homemade pasta isn't so much work, if you have a thing like that. Making the dough is very simple, and tasty!

The dough is just flour and water or eggs. Just knead it really good. I always take eggs, I like egg pasta better

[GGT]

<Some of our prepared tri-colored pastas use chemical food grade dyes, not natural vegetable coloring.>

[earthJoker]

Do they have blue instead of green?

[GGT]

Red dye number one.

Incidentally, the same chemical food coloring in pediatric medicines that induces most allergic reactions.

[Catgrrl]

If I had that expensive attachment for my Kitchenaid mixer, I'd try making pasta once in a while. I have found a few brands of pasta that use spinach and tomato powders in their ingredients, without the accompanying dyes (as far as I can tell, unless they intentionally leave that part out). I also want to make "noodles" out of zucchini strips the next time I have a yearning for lasagna.

[Flixy]

I know they make the black pasta with squid ink.

[Lebanese Dragon]

Here's the direct link to the stock sorry: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyhBOFDL9-4
Used to be imbedded in the video, but now it's only on the side bar. Mr. Steve must have edited out the annotation.

Alright, so from what i've watched on making vegetable based stock, which is common. Is you need to cut them in large chunks, and just let them sit there, and add like salt to help the water heat faster, and helps flavor come out.

The vegetables after are very much flavorless (wonder where it went ), and sucked of it's nutrition value. Maybe use them as compost for plant or garden? Not sure how much value you get from them in dishes.

[earthJoker]

Red dye number one.

No blue noodles in Amerika? How unpatriotic.

If I had that expensive attachment for my Kitchenaid mixer, I'd try making pasta once in a while.

Honestly I think a dough machine is overkill for making pasta dough.

And I think spinach and tomato are the original ingredients to color them. You can always use beetroot to make something red if the tomatoes aren't red enough.

[Flixy]

My pasta bible suggests black pepper, chili pepper, porcini, tomato,.spinach, squid ink, herbs, or saffran to mix through the dough as traditional, for colour or taste.

[earthJoker]

Safran in the dough? That's interesting, we added the safran after the cooking with butter.

[GGT]

Yellow saffron is ridiculously expensive here. It comes finely ground in tiny amounts, but it's something like $50/pound.

But we use beet juice in tons of things, even noodles. Our Penn Dutch noodles aren't traditional "pasta", more like flat dumplings.

Also, where the hell would you buy squid ink...and why would you want to?

[Aimless]

Homemade creme fraiche, cultured butter and buttermilk are nice. I haven't made pasta from scratch in a very long time. Back when I used to, we didn't have a pasta machine, but it wasn't too hard making eg. tagliatelle from scratch. Just let the thinly rolled out dough get a teensy bit leathery, and then fold/roll it up before cutting.

Rendering fat at home is also fun and useful, esp. chicken fat for schmaltz we haven't made stock at home for a long long time, had to stop because we never had space and very rarely had the time. Now both problems have been ameliorated so I reckon stock will be making a comeback.

The missus likes making jams and marmalades. Neither of us are big consumers of such products, but her fig-and-almond marmalade is so delicious it rarely lasts long esp. when served on homemade bread. Since getting Hilda we've slowly begun to make more bread than we buy. It's easy and fun, tasty and hella cheap even if you buy pre-mixed.

[earthJoker]

Yellow saffron is ridiculously expensive here. It comes finely ground in tiny amounts, but it's something like $50/pound.

What would you need a pound of saffron for? Do you want to cook for an entire school?

[GGT]

No, no....the price PER pound is expensive, not that we buy it by the pound.

minx, my sister has a bread machine for years. (She's vegan with severe restrictions on ingredients.)

It was pricey at the time, but she's probably recouped the costs since then. She loads it with ingredients, sets the dials, and it mixes/kneads/rests/rises/bakes/cools without a human hand.

I dunno, part of the fun of making homemade bread to me is the process itself. I'd never been very good in the kitchen, because I was too impatient. Now some short-cuts are nice, but I like handling the dough, putting it in pans, watching the rising process, timing the baking....then pulling a loaf out of the oven all golden brown, slightly imperfect, smelling great. It's kitchen chemistry, but white and wheat breads rise and bake at different rates/temps/times. I had fun trying to make both at the same time, like "timing" a meal.

It's harder than it seems.

[earthJoker]

No, no....the price PER pound is expensive, not that we buy it by the pound.

You are the one not getting my joke. Why are you looking at the price per pound in the first place? In my whole lifetime I would never use a whole pound of saffron. You need only very little saffron, the price per pound is totally irrelevant, you need to look at the price per portion (a tip of the spoon that is).

[GGT]

Sorry, I still don't get your joke, earthJoker.

Price per pound is how our grocery stores mark most UPC tags, so the consumer can "weigh" product value. Yellow saffron is more expensive than prime rib beef, gourmet coffee, or even generic brand peanut butter. If you convert dry pounds to liquid ounces, it's more expensive than filling up a car's gas tank.

Folks in Penn Dutch territory rarely find value in that, especially when we have our own "saffron" flavors made from relatively cheap alternatives. Like beets.

[earthJoker]

Well I try it once more, last chance GGT.

You are comparing apples to oranges. Honestly! One pound of saffron is more expensive because its worth more. You just need a few grams of it to cook. I need 100g of beef for one person meal and 10g of saffron, why should I compare the 100g price of each? Do you know what 100g of concentrated squid ink cost?

Another example: By your logic concentrated flavor is more expensive than non-concentrated, as concentrated has a higher per 100g price. But you are totally ignoring the fact that you don't need as much concentrated flavor for the same result.

[Flixy]

A few grams already sounds like way too much, I thought it came in 0,02 gram packages hrre.