Comfort food thread!

There’s a dessert I like to make when I’m stressed out. I take strawberries, dip them in sweetened mascarpone cheese, and then place the strawberries on a bed of chocolate sauce. You can sweeten the mascarpone with honey or powdered sugar. It’s so good!

This, but with a mix of green peppers and banana peppers. I honestly like it best with mashed potatoes and kind of saucy with the peppers cooked long enough that they're really soft.

Tuna Helper.

My dessert looks like this but not as fancy. Also with chocolate sauce!

Yeah we call that halushki, OP.

Halushki has noodles. The OP’s recipe does not.

Anything that can be enjoyed with a spoon. The act of eating with a spoon intensifies mouthfeel, so be creative. For me, the ultimate spoon meal would be: baked meatloaf, mashed potatoes(please, no skimping on the butter and milk) and any one of a number of favorite vegetable side dishes( cauliflower gratin, creamed peas, stewed tomatoes, baked spinach, sauteed Brussels sprouts)

Dessert, you ask? Bread pudding(you KNEW it was coming), chocolate upside-down cake, butterscotch pudding.

Fish and chips. Now there's an idea.

Pizza fresh out of the oven is best.

I've been bingeing on lime flavored Tostitos. I can eat an entire bag in a day. Ugh. That's comfort food to me, though.

split pea soup with ham hocks

^^^God yes!

No dip R10?

Comfort food is for the OBESE.

As I'm waiting for the test results and wont even go out to the grocery store, I've been making popovers every morning for breakfast! Wonderful puffy hot comforting little things, and easier to make than pancakes. Can be served savory with just butter, or a little cheese or ham, or sweet with honey or preserves.

Delish!

And the proportions are easy, if you want to make a single serving, it's basically half a cup of flour, half a cup of milk, and a little salt to each egg.

HALUSKI, NOT HALUSHKI, YOU FUCKING HEATHENS. And I am not even a Grammar Nazi.

Pierogies. Potato or sauerkraut. Smothered in onions fried in butter. No bacon, ever.

This stuff.........

Chicken & Dumplings

I don't use water, I use homemade chicken stock instead, and skip the salt and pepper.

I also put sage leaf in the dumpling dough

I made English-style scones, and ate them with homemade strawberry jam and clotted cream. With a nice tea, of course. There's something really decadent about scones with cream and jam... Massive calories and carbs -with fat thrown in. :)

2 cups all-purpose flour (10 ounces by weight)

4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup sugar

6 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature

2/3 cup whole milk

1 large egg

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. In a food processor, pulse the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar a couple times to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the butter is completely distributed. You shouldn’t see any chunks of butter, and the mixture should have a sandy texture to it. In a small bowl, whisk to combine the milk and egg. Save 2 tbsp of it for the egg wash later, and pour the rest into the mixing bowl with the dry ingredients. Stir to combine, until a rough dough forms. Transfer to a lightly floured countertop and knead about 10 times until the dough comes together into a relatively smooth ball. Roll the dough about an inch thick and use a 2.5″ cutter. Place the scones onto a parchment or silicone mat lined baking sheet and brush the tops with the reserved egg wash. Bake for 13-15 minutes, until about tripled in height, and golden brown on the tops and bottoms.

Mexican food: cheese enchiladas with green sauce, carne guisada, chicken flautas

There’s a local chain in Southern California called Urban Plates. They make an apple cake with caramel buttercream frosting that makes me drool. I wish I know how to make it it’s so amazing!

Macaroni with fried breadcrumbs and sugar. You just fry breadcrumbs on some oil, add macaroni, put it on a plate and sprinkle it with granulated sugar. It's as disgusting as it sounds but my lazy grandma got me hooked on it when I was a kid and I still make it at least once a month.

R7, Love upside down cake. Love chocolate. Do you have a recipe that combines both?

Oh, FUCKING FUCK OFF, R14. Might as well enjoy ourselves before we all kick over. Gad.

[R7] Bronze, your posts always make me feel so cozy. Thanks!

R22, This version doesn't have as many layers but it looks similar and was highly rated.

For me, it’s Ramen noodles. Why are they soooo good?

That looks good R27. I need some thing easy though. Like an apple sheet cake.

WHET Bundt cakes?? Remember those? My mom had to get a special ring shaped pan to bake them. The mix had a Gooey “filling” packet. Some of that would be nice right now.

Wow, R22, do they deliver?

To Sacramento?

Römertopf roasts. Also heats the house and roasting aroma for hours.

My stomach has been a bit touchy lately, so I've just been toasting an English muffin, and making scrambled eggs. You have to cook the eggs with lots of butter at the lowest heat, so they seem more like a curdled sauce. And I make some Earl Grey tea, with lots of sugar (which I normally don't use).

The grocery store was out of toilet paper, but they had plenty of lox and cream cheese!

Now if only grocery store bagels were worth eating...

A childhood favorite.

I'm tempted to just make up a big bowl of crepe batter, and make crepes with ham and cheese, or with spinach and fresh mozzarella, or jam, or whatever the fuck I've got lying around the house. I could go for days eating crepes for three meals a day, and put off dealing with the grocery store that much longer!

Should I? Should you?

R36 Make a Crepe Cake like this one.

I like to make a grilled sandwich. I use rye or sourdough, swiss, fresh turkey if I can get it, bacon (preferably Neuske), & tomato. Sometimes I use some mayonnaise with garlic added to it. So good!

Whenever I get a craving for cheesecake I make a low carb version that I call Trailer Park Pie. You need pecans, 2 blocks of cream cheese, 1 carton of Sugar Free Cool Whip, 1/2 a package of stevia, splenda, etc., unsweetened cocoa (optional), I Tsp. of Amaretto (or Kahlua, Frangelico -- also optional)

I toast a cup of pecans, chop them, put them on the bottom of a 7" pie pan (or what ever receptacle you wish.) Bring the Cool Whip and cream cheese to room temperature (important step!). Mix the cream cheese with (to taste, I use very little and sometimes none) your sweetener of choice. Mix in a Tsp of liquor. I throw in a pinch of salt. FOLD the Cool Whip into the cream cheese. Drop mixture on top of the nuts. Let set in fridge until set (about 30 minutes.) Sift cocoa on top (if desired) and enjoy.

Hershey's Symphony bar. Milk chocolate, almonds, and toffee (like the inside of a Heath or Skor bar). Sweet, yes. Chocolate quality & price are reasonable.

I'm making polenta and sausage ragu tonight!

r41

You just brought back such wonderful childhood Nonna memories!

chicken soup - fresh store brand - with added sautéed garlic and egg noodles.

vanilla ice cream with Sanders hot fudge sauce. This is some of the best hot fudge sauce I’ve ever had!

Grilled cheese sandwich.

I'm making stuffing with mashed potatoes and asparagus for dinner.

I made some really lovely center cut pork chops last night. I dried them, added kosher salt, fresh ground pepper and lime juice to them, let them come up to room temperature, sear both sides two minutes in a super hot cast-iron skillet, finish in the oven at 400° for about 12 minutes. Let them rest seven minutes. Served with sautéed cabbage and mashed potatoes. So good!

Untoasted Pop Tarts, Maple Brown Sugar, Blueberry, Orr Strawberry frosted.

Why untoasted R48?

I feel like making blueberry waffles for some reason. With real maple syrup! Problem with waffles is that after eating it’s usually followed by a 2-3 hour nap.

You all type fat.

I made these yesterday.

Just made myself a hot mocha! Melted chocolate chips with half-and-half, added coffee, whip cream on top, sprinkled with cinnamon! Such a lovely way to start the day!

Air fried french fries with plenty of ketchup if I’m at home. It actually tastes better than fries that are fried in oil.

All the wrong stuff, I’m afraid.

Making an easy dish with leftover chili and macaroni. Will have to add tomato paste and probably a beef stock cube and redo salt. So turning leftovers into "chili macaroni" or whatever people call it.

Can't walk right now and all I have are pantry items.

It's based on something my dad used to make when I was a kid with macaroni, ground beef... other things I can't remember and tomatoes. Basically Canadian / American Giouvetsi.

Supermarket fried chicken...love the stuff.

Sows at the trough.

That being said, any fattening pasta with Italian sausage and cream.

Cocktails based on Italian bitter-sweet liquors.

Dominos pizza with hot dog crust!

Macaroni and cheese. I make a roux, into which I shred two cups of really sharp white cheddar cheese. Stir in the cooked macaroni (or sometimes cavatapi) and pop in the oven at 375° for 35-40 minutes.

I'm planning to make Cottage Pie tomorrow. Like a Shepherd's Pie, an Irish favorite, but Cottage Pie is traditionally made with beef.

Thank you, r62.

R61 : you just add cheese to flour and butter? No milk?

Yes, of course I add milk.

A roux is just the flour and butter. Adding milk to that makes a bechamel.

I've gained 10 lbs. reading this thread.

I made a delish potato ham chowder for dinner last night to use up some left over spiral ham.

Tonight I want to make a ham fried rice to use the rest of the ham. Anyone have a good Fried rice recipe? I have the basic stuff in the pantry for chinese/Japanese cooking. With unpredictable shopping at the moment every day is like an episode of Chopped.

R66 Yes, I know. But Iwasn't trying to replicate the exact recipe, just giving an idea of how I do mine and I know some people don't start with a roux when making m&c, so I mentioned it. But I see how it could be confusing, so thanks for the correction.

I add salt, white pepper, and mustard powder to my m&c. Nutmeg in quiches, however.

[quote]I made a delish

Nothing is "delish." Well, maybe something made in a deli. Or veggies. Veggies can be delish.

In r69's defense, I have heard both terms, "start with a roux" and "start with bechamel," used to describe that method of making macaroni and cheese. Or "roux-based" and "bechamel-based." As opposed to the kind in which you just melt cheese (Velveeta?) and maybe cream on top of the stove with hot pasta.

I have only ever made it with bechamel, so I'm not perfectly clear on the other method.

R44 Everything they make is wonderful. Marshalls is the only place I've found it in Massachusetts (Sanders is a Michigan company) and they're closed.

Which is a good thing for now, but the dark-chocolate sea-salt caramels are obscenely good.

Chicken salad, meatloaf, mac and cheese using the four kinds of Mexican cheese that comes in the bag, chicken quesadillas (so easy!), chili con carne, Navarin of lamb (sounds fancy but it's a stew), and cheesecake.

Someone here at the DataLounge posted this recipe a few years ago and I tried it out and loved it. A friend had given me herbes de Provence and I never knew what to do with them, so I used them on this recipe and it was a total success. A great winter dish to keep your kitchen warm, and your kitchen will have a glorious scent with all that roasting garlic in the oven. I sometimes throw in another pan with potatoes, onions and red peppers in olive oil, to roast at the same time. With some haricot vert, you have a complete meal.

R59, I am sure you must know the Negoni. It is my favorite aperitif. Later, I found out all these variations on the Negroni, but the original remains my favorite. It took me a while to find the perfect gin and vermouth to use and get the taste that suits me.

Someone recently introduced me to the black Manhattan. It uses Averna. I looks like flat coca cola in the glass, but it tastes different. It uses bitters like a regular Manhatten.

I am slow cooking collard greens with onions, peppers, butter and smoked turkey wings.

I purchased some center cut pork chops and I’m going to try to make them like R47.

R72 you can order their products through that link online. I did about a month ago. I recommend the pecan clusters and the hot fudge sauce. It’s making quarantine so much better!

I've made Ina Garten's Engagement Roast Chicken many times. The sauce made from the drippings is delightful, though you can skip that step and just enjoy the chicken.

R74 that looks wonderful but I can’t see the recipe because I’m not a subscriber. It’s there a way to take photos of the recipe and post them here?

Here you go R80.

Roast Chicken Provencal:

Ingredients 4 chicken legs or 8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

½ to ¾ cup all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons herbes de Provence

1 lemon, quartered

8 to 10 cloves garlic, peeled

4 to 6 medium-size shallots, peeled and halved

⅓ cup dry vermouth

4 sprigs of thyme, for serving

Preparation

Step 1 Heat oven to 400 degrees. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Put the flour in a shallow pan, and lightly dredge the chicken in it, shaking the pieces to remove excess flour.

Step 2 Swirl the oil in a large roasting pan, and place the floured chicken in it. Season the chicken with the herbes de Provence. Arrange the lemon, garlic cloves and shallots around the chicken, then add the vermouth to the pan.

Step 3 Put the pan in the oven, and roast for 25 to 30 minutes, then baste it with the pan juices. Continue roasting for another 25 to 30 minutes, or until the chicken is very crisp and the meat cooked through.

Step 4 Serve in the pan or on a warmed platter, garnished with the thyme.

Enjoy!

The above recipe was from Sam Sifton of the New York Times. This is his little background on the recipe:

This is a recipe I picked up from Steven Stolman, a clothing and interior designer whose “Confessions of a Serial Entertainer” is a useful guide to the business and culture of dinner parties and general hospitality. It is a perfect dinner-party meal: chicken thighs or legs dusted in flour and roasted with shallots, lemons and garlic in a bath of vermouth and under a shower of herbes de Provence. They go crisp in the heat above the fat, while the shallots and garlic melt into sweetness below. You could serve with rice, but I prefer a green salad and a lot of baguette to mop up the sauce.

Yield: 4 servings

Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

[quote] Tonight I want to make a ham fried rice to use the rest of the ham. Anyone have a good Fried rice recipe? I have the basic stuff in the pantry for chinese/Japanese cooking.

R68, you sound like you know how to cook. IMO, fried rice is kind of intuitive. If possible, use leftover rice put in the freezer (makes grains crumbly rather than grains sticking together). Start with oil, onions, garlic, and whatever meat (if any) you are going to use. Add the harder vegetables (carrots / broccoli). The rice goes in pretty much last.

Takes a bit of oil to get a good fried rice consistency. (Not a lose-weight food.) I don't use oyster sauce. I do use lots of soy sauce and some sesame (the Asian kind) oil to taste. Watch out, though. The sesame oil can overtake the dish.

I haven't made this recipe, but here's Maangchi's kimchi fried rice. I have used a recipe of hers before and it worked out, so I might trust her recipes.

Miso soup. Before we left the city, I bought some of these really cheap little packets of miso soup from Katagiri. It’s like $1.79 for a dozen. You just add hot/boiling water after squeezing it out into a cup. They’re so delicious and comforting. I’m almost out of them!

I’m trying to locate the ingredients to make it from scratch, but the stores out here don’t seem to carry them. I’ll have to order from Amazon, I guess...

I’m going to make vanilla custard from scratch later.

Ethan, I am going to make that chicken. Penzey's is closed and I imagine I won't be able to get Herbes de Provence anywhere else, so I'm just going to use the herbes I have sous la main, rosemary, thyme, tarragon, dill, and oregano.

I might buy some fresh basil which I will chiffonade and use as a garnish. Poulet Provençal sounds comforting indeed.

[quote]Penzey's Herbes de Provence: rosemary, cracked fennel, thyme, savory, basil, French tarragon, dill weed, Turkish oregano, lavender, chervil and marjoram.

Thank you r83!

Pasta (usually ziti or thin spaghetti) with marinara, and tuna packed in olive oil, topped with fresh pecorino romano.

Thank you so much R81! That was so nice of you. I don’t like dark meat though do you think I could substitute with wings and breasts?

R75 sure I do.

Averna is good with store brand but single malt whisky, in the Black Manhattan. With the Averna, I feel the orange bitters are redundant but I kept the Angostura out of habit.

I have a big ever changing variety of Italian liquors. When you drive along the coasts of Italy, most of the bigger towns have very local varieties. I like mountain ones, too, from Italy through Switzerland to France.

R89, white meat has a shorter cooking time than dark meat, so you'll have to adjust for that. It may affect how the vegetables come out as well.

I just had a couple plain old cheese crisps (like a quesadilla but open faced.) Very nice with a sharp longhorn, jack or colby cheese and a few dashes of hot sauce.

Any of the 250+ one pan pasta meals found online. It's a mix of uncooked pasta, tomatoe sauce, chicken broth, milk, water, garlic and a pre-browned meat like chicken or pork, all cooked up at once. Add basil or spinak after you've turned off the heat and you're set!

You can buy Herbes de Provence in any grocery store anywhere.

It’s a bottle in the spice area.

The trick with fried rice is to use day old rice that's been in the fridge and to turn the heat down after the rice goes in. It keeps the grains separate and the rice from sticking. You want to kind of dry it out as it fries a bit as well. Oh, using salt as opposed to soy sauce keeps your fried rice nice and bright and doesn't make it too wet. If you want soy sauce, only add a small amount just for the sou taste and then season to taste with salt. My favourite fried rice starts with a base of roasted chilli paste and is finished with chipped mint, basil and cilantro.

Do haricots verts taste like green beans?

OP, your fried cabbage and bacon is one of the earliest recorded dishes of British Colonial North America in the early 17thC, noted not long after the 1607 settlement of Jamestown, Virginia. It shows up in the first cookbooks and collections of recipes from Virginia as well.

Us, OP? Do you work for Buzzfeed?

I made beef stew on St. Patrick's Day because it reminded me of my grandmother and I was panicking about coronavirus.

No standard dish, really, but rice often figures into it. A chicken with lots of curry and ginger and scallions maybe, with nutty basmati rice; or an Andalucian arroz or arroz caldoso (lots of possibilities, with seafood, or maybe shrimp and asparagus, or chicken or duck with mushrooms.) And the alternative starches: a classic pasta bolognese, or a chicken tagine.

If I have a cold: Hot and sour soup is a favorite, and good Indian food with its complex bright flavors and aromas will often wake me up from a disinterest in food, or anything with lots of ginger.

Soy sauce is optional in fried rice, but sesame oil and salt are not! Sesame oil not only flavors the dish, it helps the kernels of rice "fry" and caramelize. Of course only a little, the flavor of the oil is strong, and too much oil will of course make your fried rice greasy.

Every other ingredient in fried rice is optional, of course. just the rice, salt, and sesame oil are needed.

Pizza would be mine, I love pizza but all of the local good pizza places are closed for corona.

I would love a Buddy’s pizza right now!

My boss has been making detroit style pizza using the serious eats recipe. Looks amazing!

lasagne alla bolognese alla Marcella Hazan

Have you tried it R103? I would love to try to make it but I am on the West Coast and cannot get Wisconsin brick cheese out here.

I just made Peas and Cheese Salad--the flavours are melding now in the fridge. So good. I use twice the amount of bacon.

Last night I grilled up knockwurst, grilled a pretzel bun with a little bit of butter, topped it with raw sauerkraut and a nice German mustard. It was very tasty!

[quote]tomatoe sauce

You're not Dan Quayle by any chance, are you?

R105 he used a mix of cubed Muenster and the standard block of mozzarella combo.we can’t get brick cheese here either. He has made it that way a few times. Use the Serious Eats recipe and a rectangular cast iron pan if you can.

This crock pot mac and cheese is to die for! And it's just as good when reheated in the microwave!

I just made a nice ribeye with sautéed mushrooms. To the mushrooms I added butter, chicken stock, A1 sauce, Cajun seasoning, garlic, sautéed and at the end added fresh thyme. Served it with some sautéed spinach and garlic toast.

R86, go for it. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention. Since my friend gifted me the herbes de Provence, I have purchased lots of it on my trips to Pars in the last 10 years. You can get them here in the States, but for a higher price.

I also use them for breakfast I add a small pinch to scrambled eggs. I also make them with tomatoes. I slice a tomato and add some minced garlic on top, and add a pinch of the herbes, and a bit of sea salt, saute in a skillet with olive oil for a minute or two. Flip the slices of tomato and saute the other side for another minute or two. Makes a great side for any meal.

R80, you're most welcomed. I love to share.

R90, I'm loving the black Manhattan. I don't use the orange bitters as well. I do garnish with a brandied cherry. So good.. 6 years ago I did a trip from Naples down to Amalfi and thoroughly enjoyed tasting my way down. I also did a day trip to Capri. What a joy and trip of discovery. The Italians know how to enjoy life.

My heart bleeds for Italy right now.

R96, haricots verts are French style green beans. I blanch them in boiling water for 5 min, then saute them in olive oil with crushed garlic.

Gumbo. Simple versions. Usually chicken (or duck, if I have any), andouille and shrimp or crab. Partial to okra but I'll slip some file in, too, because it's my gumbo. Pepper, celery, onion, chicken stock, Worcestershire sauce, Sometimes Cajun and sometimes Creole, the latter with tomato and a lighter roux.

That's my favorite comfort food.

R62 Looks good, but I'll raise you a Shepherd's Pie; I prefer lamb mince, with plenty of leeks, Thyme, Sage, Marjoram, and shallots. Food of the gods. I add a bit of puréed leeks to my mash as well, they brown up quite nicely that way due to the sugars in the leeks.

Cassoulet with Duck, Chicken thighs, Andouille sausage, and homemade chicken broth, along with some white beans, mirepoix, a few bay leaves, and plenty of garlic is my other comfort food... Is it a stew? Is it a soup? Is it a mess? It's all of those things, and so very much worth all the time it takes to get it just right!

I love gumbo R116. Do you make your own roux? Is it difficult to do?

I too am a Gumbo maker R118 and roux is as easy as stirring and waiting.

I want to make banana cake tomorrow. I have three over ripe bananas just begging to be used.

Cake recipe

I have a great sour cream banana bread recipe if you want it..

Yes please R122!

Banana bread recipe here:

Re a roux for gumbo, you can bake it in the oven on a cookie sheet, so you don't have to stir it continuously for half an hour. There are websites that will show you how to do it. Don't use olive oil.

I probably shouldn't have but I bought ingredients to bake brownies. Haven't had any in a long time and it will give me something to do this weekend.

R126 Why not? Treat yourself! Just don't eat them all in one sitting.

Sliced baguettes with melted Jarlsberg

R126 I made pot brownies last week they turned out great.

I want to make barbecued ribs but only have an oven. Do they come out pretty good just by baking them?

sloppy joes with raisins

Raisins R131? Have you gone MAD?

R130 BBQ means smoke, not nasty jarred sauce.

roast gives you roast pork which is fine but it is not BBQ.

That sounds Moroccan or something.

Pizza and ice cream

R128, tried it because I had all the ingredients on hand. Microwaved the halved baguette with sliced Jarlsberg in between and it was slammin'. You don't have to melt the cheese all the way either. Semi-melted Jarlsberg is fire.

R124 I have three over ripe bananas and that recipe is calling my name! Should I give in to temptation?

R137 its a pretty fantastic recipe, I vote yes!

Linguine with white clam sauce is super easy to make and you can always have the ingredients in the pantry to whip it up. I add a can of whole baby clams when I make it.

R139 You can add fresh clams in the shell to the sauce which bumps it up a notch.

I made a baked chicken,rice, broccoli, cheese Casserole and it was delicious! Haven’t made it in decades, the recipe yielded enough to freeze some extra.

R139 Pasta in all forms is a comfort.

R141 do you have a recipe to share?

four fucking cheese MACARONI, BITCHES

R143 I based it off of this recipe. Made a couple of tweaks: Instead of cream of chicken I used cream of broccoli soup. I lightly steamed the broccoli florets before folding in and skipped the stick of butter. Frau-y but so yummy!

R143 I based it off of this recipe. Made a couple of tweaks: Instead of cream of chicken I used cream of broccoli soup. I lightly steamed the broccoli florets before folding in and skipped the stick of butter. Frau-y but so yummy!

I love soul food-style oven baked macaroni and cheese with hot sauce over it, but am ill-equipped to make it in my quarantine hotel room.

R146, that recipe is flag-flying Frau food if I've ever seen it before.

r146, sounds like a fucking hotdish!

R146 thanks for posting!

R146 That does look good. One can feel good about it as well, since there's Broccoli in it! I'm thinking it may be good with Cauliflower and carrots too. I do love a "low-rent" casserole every now and again. I think you made an excellent choice with the substitution. The only "Cream of Campbell's" I find are good is the Shrimp and the Broccoli. I have had a few 70s era casseroles with Cream of Celery which were surprisingly tasty, but the Mushroom and the Chicken just have an off flavour one cannot mask. Some claim it's the tin itself, but I disagree.

Meatloaf and garlic sour cream mashed potatoes.

R151 That sounds so-o-o good! Is your recipe anything special you would care to share with us?

Yes I need a good meatloaf recipe!

G damn I love meatloaf!

For you meatloaf freaks (among whose number I proudly count myself), the best one I've ever eaten is Frank Bruni's mother's, from his and Jennifer Steinhauer's book [italic]A Meatloaf in Every Oven[/italic] . Essential ingredients: a panade and a sauce on top made from canned tomato sauce, Dijon mustard, vinegar, and brown sugar.

Best meatloaf I've ever made (though a southwestern one, and one with sour cream, mushrooms, and bacon stand out in memory). These pages in my cookbook are already mottled.

FUCK ME, I need a meatloaf

I love meatloaf but only one slice and then I am done.

R155, Link to your book on Goodreads offers a free read of the introduction on meatloaf but no recipes.

Google "Frank Bruni meatloaf recipe". I'm too lazy to link it up for you.

R159, I'd substitute thinned tomato sauce for the milk to soak the bread but otherwise it looks like a very good recipe.

If you want recipes for *anything*, I highly recommend Food52.com. It's the very best food site I know of, and they have some truly ingenious cooks as contributors. Miles above most of the other food sites on the web.

I recommend Serious Eats for really good tested recipes that are free to access.

funeral potatoes.

"Fuck me WITH a meatloaf!"

There! Fixed that for you, R156.

I'm making that damned fraulina recipe tonight!

r162 Is there a way to look at that site without a video automatically turning on? Thanks.

Plug your ears

I would love a meatloaf sandwich on toasted multigrain bread with pickles and a dash of ketchup.

Plugging my ears isn't going to do a damned thing about the visual cacophony those autoplay videos create, r167. Not a goddamned thing. Nothing makes me click a website away as quickly. The whole thing. Bye-bye.

I’m on a tablet and not getting any auto play videos on that site.

I’m on the toilet and can’t hear a thing

There are a lot of comfort foods on this site. Recipes for the new depression abound. The very strange roast chicken recipe works like a charm.

I would love to make this cake but I cannot find unsweetened cocoa or dark corn syrup anywhere!

R173, King Arthur sells the cocoa, and you could make a simple syrup if you have sugar and water. The texture might be a little bit off, but maybe not, and it wouldn't be a big deal if it is.

Many companies sell Dutch processed cocoa. You can use light corn syrup and perhaps add a little molasses or dark brown sugar.

You can buy one from Sanders in Michigan R173

They deliver - eventually

I had to try that meatballs with catsup and grape jelly in the slow cooker discussed elsewhere...now I can’t stop eating them.

r177 I had a friend whose mother made those all the time (early '70s, so no slow cooker). They would often invite me over because I loved those meatballs so. Just melt the jelly with the ketchup in a pan and add your pre-cooked meatballs. Heat through. Not meatballs that rely heavily on onion or garlic, though, especially garlic. She would serve them over egg noodles.

Really r178? I guess you could use noodles. You can also add kielbasa; read that online on one of those cooking frau websites.

I don't eat kielbasa, r179.

r178

I eat meat

The strong flavors of kuh-BAH-see (garlic, allspice, smoke flavoring) would obliterate the delicate flavors of the ketchup and grape jelly. It would just be one more eastern European stew.

R177 I had those once at a party, thought they were the most disgusting things ever. Gross in every way.

yeah, please, just NO thanks

I don’t mind it...to each his own...

I had milk about to expire and made a delicious vat of rice pudding on the stovetop while watching Carson Kressley’s instagram live show, Thom Felicia was his guest, a welcome distraction while I stirred for 40 minutes. Cant wait to eat the pudding tonight

Chicken piccata with angel hair pasta

That looks superb r187 wonder if it would work with cod? (I was going to make a pan sauté tonight)

Just peeking at this whole thread.

Funny to see a clay cooker with a German name at R32, very similar to something I saw recently re: Mediterranean dishes - the tagine.

[quote] You can buy one from Sanders in Michigan

Their stuff is great but they have THE worst mail order system ever (even before the virus)

R188 It wouldn't be chicken piccata then lol but why not? Give it a go

^The third sentence of the linked recipe says it would also work for veal or fish. It looks pretty tasty. I might add a little white wine, or even better, white vermouth.

I would also chop the capers up a little bit.

R190 You are right. My order from April 8 may arrive tomorrow by Fedex.

Just in from Ina, Beatty's chocolate cake. Her favorite. I wish I could still bake (diabetic now).

R190 it’s funny I just ordered some Sanders hot fudge and other goodies for gifts for people from them. I ordered it on April 16th and received it yesterday, Friday. So it only took eight days. I am on the West Coast. I’ve ordered from them in the past and never had any troubles.

But......they were all out of bumpy cake!

r192 I add cooking wine (white) and it makes a vastly improves the flavor. I also add thinly sliced lemons with the skin and toss it in the last 10 minutes with lots of capers and it turns out SO tasty.

R126 Did you buy a browne box mix or will you make from scratch?

All the Campbells "Cream of" soups are picked over at my grocery store. Rare cream of celery or cream of chicken. Last time I had to get Cream of Mushroom with roasted garlic flavor--I hope it tastes ok in my casseroles.

The condensed soups are a guilty pleasure of mine. Usually I eat them with Texas toast.

I've always liked Campbell's Tomato soup and a tunafish sandwich for lunch. I put a little butter or milk in the soup, sometimes some leftover rice.

My mom loved Campbell Tomato soup. She used to make a chicken dish using it but I cannot find the recipe. She’s in a nursing home with dementia now, so I don’t think I’ll ever find it.

R197 I love cooking with wine but I don’t wanna buy a whole bottle. When I open a bottle of wine for cooking I don’t wanna drink it. So it goes to waste. Any ideas?

R202 I buy small bottles of wine (250 ml give or take) for cooking.

r202 How about freezing 1/2cup portions of it?

DL oenophiles: Would wine freeze successfully? Would the aroma and flavor change? Disappear? Could it be boiled down to a syrup-like consistency to keep it from going bad?

You can't easily freeze wine without first getting it hot enough to cause the alcohol to evaporate. I believe this happens below the boiling point. You could then freeze it like ice cubes, wrap them in cellophane and stick them in a freezer bag...Never tried it. I *have* had friends who have used 2 things for cooking when red wine wasn't available: a tablespoon or less of grape jelly; or you can use a little red wine vinegar. Both work surprisingly well to add a wine-like flavor to sauces. I don't normally have grape jelly around, so I don't think I've tried it very often, but it works pretty well. I don't recommend "cooking wine" - it is mostly salt and it tastes awful, or did the last time I tasted some (probably 20+ years ago).

R196: My errant Sanders order from April 8 arrived in Boston today. It was shipped Wednesday and Fedex delivered it to the wrong house.

Fortunately I have honest neighbors who don't know what Sanders sells.

R177, R183, & R205 I have come across the inclusion of Grape jelly in many vintage Jewish-American recipes, not only in those meatballs popular at Jewish holidays, but also in Brisket recipes, and Cholent as well. In similar recipes in Britain, Currant jelly is used. My family never used this trick, yet I'm sure I've tasted it in the States without knowing it before. Apricot jam is used in some savoury recipes in Jewish cookery as well. I think that is why the Kosher sections of American supermarkets always feature "Duck Sauce".

R207 are you from the UK? I didn’t realize that the meatball dish was a part of Jewish cuisine...

Every time I online shop, I say I'm doing to finally try kielbasa. What stops me is not knowing what to do with it. Is it smoked, spicy, is it in a skin like italian sausage, or full of little chunks of meat/fat like italian sausage. Does it go well with something like baked beans or in a roll/bun?

It depends. The best kielbasa is from the butcher. The supermarket brands can be used for stir fry, sandwiches mixed with pasta. Some folks use it for jambalaya. Experiment.

Should be a comma after sandwiches.

R208 Yes, originally from London. and Jewish. I've lived here (Chicago currently, NYC previously when I first moved) Those meatballs are a very curious dish...They're not quite American BBQ, but close with the ketchup, and sort of sweet and sour undernote. I've had them at American non-Jewish homes as well, but they vaguely do seem to be a Jewish-style recipe. Some recipes use a bit of vinegar and the jelly. They appear on websites for Jewish food, and in several cookbooks. They seem to be popular with Conservative as well as Reform Ashkenazi Jews. (Whilst Sephardics have more typically Middle-Eastern meatball recipes) Every culture has meatballs of some sort I suppose, like every culture has a dumpling!

^ sorry, I had meant to say I've lived here in the States for twenty-one years now... I've eaten tonnes of those meatballs!

These are the best meatballs.

R188 Excellent with Veal as well. You can order Provimi Veal if you are concerned about, or sensitive to "hammock lore". Not all veal is raised as such, or exclusively in small paddocks. Provimi is a most humane brand if you happen to enjoy Veal. This is my sister's favourite dish, either Chicken or Veal. One can buy very lean turkey breast, butterfly it and pound out scaloppine-style, and that is equally good as well.

R209 I just had a piece of kielbasa for dinner tonight. I purchased it from a local butcher. I like to have it on a bun with sauerkraut and German mustard but I didn’t have a bun. Buns are hard to find around here for the bigger sausages. So I grilled a piece of rye bread and ate it with that.

Here’s a good place to buy kielbasa online. The hotdogs with natural casing are great too!

This gives me so much comfort. This is my early morning tray.

R210 Agree about the butcher, or a good sausage shop, or Polish deli. So many more varieties than many are aware of... some with more prominent garlic flavour, and others only mildly-smoked, or even no smoke at all, and fresh/raw. I've used several smoked /different varieties in Cassoulet, and Cholent (if serving Cholent to Kosher Jews, please remember to stick with "all-beef") with excellent results. It's always a welcome addition to lentil and split-pea soup, and I think it's wonderful with eggs for breakfast as well.

The family at whose house I had the grape jelly-and-ketchup meatballs was Jewish. Who knew?

R202 Buy cooking wine and save the drinking kind. I think Holland House is one inexpensive brand.

R202 you can buy decent wine in cans now. Buy a couple and keep in your cupboard.

Kielbasa is delicious in jambalaya or most recipes where smoked sausage is required like a caldo verde soup. I like it on a sandwich with kraut too.

This week I am making Halal style chicken (like from the nyc carts) with turmeric rice and the white garlic sauce.

I’ve been eating the meatballs since Thursday; time for a change.

R221 Stinky Linkee!

For those of you that like sauerkraut this place makes really good stuff! I’ve only had the dill and garlic type!

My comfort food for the past five decades is pastina boiled till all the water evaporates (trust me) then mixed with a biggish cube of butter till it melts. Then add shredded Gruyere (Trader Joe’s has this) and shredded sharp cheddar. The sharper the better. Sometimes I use orzo or tubettini along with the pastina for a different texture. I call it Italian Baby Food which kind of sums it up.

R225 here it is usually cooked in chicken broth left a little soupy and covered with grated hard cheese, herbs and sometimes a poached eggs. Your version sounds very much like Mac and cheese.

Homemade date nut bread, toasted, with a shmear of Philadelphia cream cheese as I rewatch parts of last night's Sondheim tribute.

It's my Mom's recipe from WW II, which was alleged to stay edible over a long period of time because of all the dates.

Like a Katz's salami, it was one of the things you sent to your boy in Army.

R173 did you make the bumpy cak yet?

Would some of you invite me over? I promise to be entertaining if you feed me your specialties.

R173 here. I finally got all the ingredients together and made that Bumpy cake. Let me tell you it was a pain in the ass! Plus I do not bake that much. I followed the recipe down to the letter but I had to substitute corn syrup and molasses for the dark corn syrup. But it tastes wonderful even though it doesn’t look that great.

If you grew up in San Francisco, you may remember a dish called Joe's Special. It's ground beef, onions, garlic, spinach, and mushrooms, sauteed in a pan, You then stir in a couple of beaten eggs which holds the whole thing together and add some grated Parmesan. You can add other stuff if you're feeling creative. You can even make it healthier with ground turkey and Egg Beaters.

It's fast, easy, and immensely satisfying, either for dinner or brunch.

It was my mother's go-to-dish when she'd spend too much time at I. Magnin or City of Paris and didn't feel like cooking a fancy dinner.

R230 That's bumpy for sure! I bet it's delicious.

It looks great, R230: congratulations.

Your cake looks a little sad R230 :(

This thread got me obsessing about meatloaf now I've gotta make one and I rarely eat red meat.

good food

R230 impressive! I can cook pretty well but I cannot bake fancy cakes nor bread for shit.

R230 here. Thank you r237. I can bake a little bit but just following directions strictly is important. I made a banana cake a few weeks ago and that was pretty good too!

r230 r238, you could make a cake that would taste the same without doing the tube / Bumpy thing. Just use the white frosting first; let it solidify; then apply the chocolate frosting. Much easier, and it would taste about the same.

Alternately, make a two-layer cake, and use the white frosting in the middle.

What’s cooking this weekend? Im making my sour cream banana bread posted above. Considering shrimp and grits for Saturday night...

R155 Inspired me to make a meatloaf I used the Bon Appétit recipe it's in the oven baking now and smells wonderful.

^I have been thinking of meatloaf for a month now. Finally decided to do it. Need to go to the store early tomorrow a.m., and am fully prepped to find NO meat of any kind on the shelves...I'll go to the local carniceria. The white mommy and daddy crowd will have no idea how much meat is for sale all around em when they strike out at the big box corporate groceries. Waaahhh, cawl me a Waahmbulance!!

The meatloaf turned out great, it tasted even better a day later. I'm going to cut it up and fired the remaining ML for later use for those lazy days.

I have been making chicken salad sandwiches for lunch, I cut back on the mayo and use 1/4 avocado, I add some green onion (scallion) and a few dry black olives and 1/3 teaspoon curry powder.

^^FREEZE^^ not fired

I made a very good copy cat recipe of the Halal Guys chicken & Rice dish. Definitely going into regular rotation.

Their chicken and rice is among the worst in NY, why copy that? Pick a good one.

R243 you lost me at the black olives. The rest sounds great!

I was craving banana ice cream so badly this past week. I can’t find it anywhere! So I decided to try to make some myself. I don’t have an ice cream maker. I followed this recipe video and it is now freezing for 12 hours. It tasted pretty good before it put it in the freezer. Wish me luck!

Do you guys have any banana ice cream recipes without an ice cream maker?

r248 If the recipe doesn't call for clear corn syrup, add a tablespoon or two, it will help smooth out the ice cream and prevent ice crystals from forming. It's been my experience that the banana flavor dissipates quickly, so it's not a candidate for long-term storage, best to eat it soon after it sets up. Heating the mixture would help, but then you lose that delightful fresh banana flavor.

A SMALL pinch of salt and a few drops of pure vanilla extract improve the flavor.

I make this in a Kitchenaid mixer because I double the amount but it works fine with an electric mixer, too. One thing I do (just personal taste) is to let it chill for four to six hours in the freezer, take it out, and stir it up then freeze it until it's more solid than is shown in the video. It comes the closest to what I think is the best banana ice cream in the world, that made by an ice cream shop in Buenos Aires, Heladeria Freddo with shops in the Galeria Pacifico and Patio Bullrich (among many others). It's a long way to go for ice cream, so this is as close as I've gotten.

Kitchenaid sells an ice cream maker attachment you can pre-freeze but I don't have one and don't think it's necessary, but it's there if you want one.

R247 The black olives don't add much flavor , the curry powder is the dominant flavor they add salt. They are optional.

Ice cream. Damn. I really wish I had some. But if it’s in the house it’s gone. When the craving strikes bad I make do with extra thick smoothies made from frozen strawberries, honey, vanilla and half and half. And no fucking kale.

R250 my hips are getting larger just thinking about that recipe you posted. I’m about to watch it!

Making meat loaf and black eyed peas now. Yum.

I bought the basic ingredients for this stovetop mac & cheese (canned evaporated (not sweetened condensed) milk, cheese (extra sharp cheddar), and elbow macaroni). I'll report back on how it came out. Here is the recipe:

[quote] Equal parts macaroni, evaporated milk, and grated cheese. Put the mac in a pan and add cold water until it's just covered, along with a little pinch of salt. Cook, stirring, until the water is almost completely dry and the pasta is just shy of al dente. Add the evaporated milk and cheese and simmer while stirring until the pasta is done. If it gets a little too thick, add some more evaporated milk or regular milk or water to thin it out. Season to taste. Ta da!

R255 add some nice bacon or smoked sausage to it! It looks great.

That was a good video R250. I like the roly-poly guy too. Now I can’t wait till cherry season to make cherry ice cream!

How odd, R254: I decided to make meatloaf, for probably the first time in my life, and cooked it 2 nights ago. I decided, since it was going to take an hour or more to cook, that I would also cook some of the frozen black-eyed peas I had bought this past summer. And so I did. Small woild...about to eat some of the leftovers for supper, too.

I broke my mixer and wouldn’t you know they are hard to get these days.

R259, what kind of mixer are you looking for? There are Kitchen Aid hand mixers available on Amazon for ~ $35.

I have a Hamilton Beach hand mixer with whisk and immersion blender attachments r260.

And on Amazon, the parts are not in stock.

Dry white wine and fruit mentos....love the yellow and pink ones.

R248 here. I had two scoops of that banana ice cream last night and it was pretty good! There is the thing about some crystallization but I think I’ll try R249’s suggestion to add corn syrup to make it smoother. I would definitely recommend the recipe I used. It was pretty simple.

It’s going to be a chilly weekend on the east coast, what are you cooking? I am doing sausage and peppers with garlic knots tonight, a chicken veggie noodle soup tomorrow and trying Mary Berry’s scone recipe to drop at my mom’s for Mother’s Day Sunday. My partner will have to roll me into next week.

Going to try to make shrimp étouffée tonight. I have some crab meat so I’m going to add some of that too. I’ll let you know how it goes. This is my first roux attempt!

Roux can be baked in the oven on a sheet pan, with less trouble and risk of burning it on a stovetop. There are recipes for that on the internet. There is a food queen named John Martin Taylor, who calls himself Hoppin John, from South Carolina, who seems to think he invented the idea, and it is in his blog somewhere (it has a searchable index). Do not make a roux with olive oil, it will hinder the flour from browning. Ideally, use pork fat or some other kind of vegetable oil, not olive.

R267, can you use a combination of fats? I was thinking using mainly vegetable oil but adding a little bacon fat and butter to make the roux.

Yes, you can do that. The more bacon fat, the better the flavor will be, IMO. Butter solids will burn in the high temperature you need to brown the flour. You can make a roux with clarified butter, but I don't think you can use it if it has the milk solids in it.

Meat loaf, mashed potatoes and corn, with the mashed potatoes and corn mixed together.

I’m getting hungry everyone! What did everyone else have for dinner? Or is making for dinner?

R266 here. I made the recipe and it was OK. I think it would’ve had a better flavor if I made homemade shrimp stock.

Vegetable oil is disgusting and made from GMO cottonseed. Use bacon fat or peanut oil.

R272 - I would have used some chicken stock too. The flavor in gumbo comes largely from the toasting of the flour in hot grease - the darker it is, the richer the taste. Dark roux take a long time to make, and a good amount of skill and patience to keep from burning them. Also, gumbo-based dishes usually taste a lot better after they've spent a night in the refrigerator, the leftovers. Most folks I know who do this kind of cooking a lot, make lots of roux at time and then freeze it in portions for later use. And by vegetable oil, No. 273, I meant canola oil or peanut oil, etc., all of which are vegetable oils. Peanut oil is ideal because of its high burning point. -R269

Canola oil is also a toxic unhealthy oil, stick to peanut.

How does that pre-made store bought roux taste? Anyone?

Who doesn't love balls. I can highly recommend this snack. Again there's roux involved.

So peanut oil is a good oil for a roux?

healthy anyway

F278 Yes, very good for a Roux.

Mashed potatoes mixed with Stilton cheese, formed into patties and then fried in a tiny bit of oil until golden brown on both sides. Served on a bed of rocket that has a squeeze of lemon over it. The rocket makes me feel less guilty about the cheese and potatoes.

Ooooh R281 could you fry them in butter?

R282, I guess you could. I usually use rapeseed oil for frying. But if you wanted to be truly decadent, then butter would be the way to go. May your arteries forgive you.

[quote]WHET Bundt cakes?? Remember those? My mom had to get a special ring shaped pan to bake them.

Remarkably, it's called a Bundt pan!

Rapeseed oil is a crap unhealthy oil, butter with a little peanut would be ideal.

I do like Baozi or steamed Chinese buns. Easy to heat for a few secs in the microwave when they are fresh.

I make meatloaf with a can of crushed pineapple. Just take your favorite recipe and leave the liquid out. Drain the crushed pineapple (although you won't drain much) and mix into meatloaf.

If you want to make it pineapple pizza meatloaf, wait until it's almost finished baking. Cover with pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese. Put back into the oven and remove when bubbly.

Only at gunpoint would I eat meatloaf with pineapple in it. Maybe it's just me.

I'm not a very good cook, but did make Au Gratin potatoes which turned out great and were easy to make.

Last night I took the bits and pieces from the crisper - a bit of onion, garlic, cherry tomatoes, carrots, broccoli and asparagus steamed and sauteed - and folded them into some packaged mushroom risotto mix when it was cooked and served it with sauteed scallops. There's a takeout place near me that sells a similar dish as a meal-to-go for about $20 that feeds two. I spent less, got more, it was delicious, and we'll eat the rest of the risotto as a side tonight. Dessert was Trader Joe's allegedly key lime pie, except now it's more like key lime tart: when you open the box, it's about an inch high and half of that inch is the graham cracker crust. It tasted fine - there just wasn't much of it.

Horrors when I went to the grocery store this morning, though. I've been buying enough food for two weeks at a time now so I'm not in there as much but through it all, the local chain where I shop has stayed pretty well-stocked. Today there no chicken breasts, not much beef, no ground beef so no meatloaf with or w/o pineapple, no bacon, no fish (but they had lobster salad), no lamb; no bologna (all-beef, kosher, even the crap kind: none), not even the $6 cooked rotisserie chickens. Maybe half the usual array of breads and rolls and no donuts. And the cost of eggs (popular as cheap protein, I guess) has doubled.

I haven't had to be that creative until now because almost everything I wanted to buy has been there. That appears to be changing.

Potatoes make everything better.

Dinner tonight is a peanut butter and banana on toast sandwich. Too fucking lazy to cook.

Where ya at, R290? I went in a Publix outside of Atlanta yesterday morning around 9:00, and there was no shortage of any food products to speak of, except maybe rice. They had less meat than would have been normal, but they had everything, there were no gaps on shelves, and they had signs limiting purchasers to 2 of any item. I saw an old broad hauling a 24-pack of toilet paper in her buggy, looking all smug, but I refrained from my powerful urge to punch her in the smacker. I don't think they had any toilet paper, either, but I did not look for it.

^And specifically, they had loads of bacon. I looked at it. Thought about picking up a pack, but figured I didn't really need it.

R293: Market Basket, just north of Boston. No bacon at all, although I wasn't looking for any. The refrigerated cases where they usually have fish were filled with gallon jugs of water but they still had live lobsters in the tanks. They had a two package per customer limit on beef, chicken, and pork but only about 20 packages of ground beef, and it was all 93% lean when they usually have three or four kinds. There was a lot of pork, but my husband's from Texas and says he ate too much of it as a kid so isn't crazy about it now. They usually have Black Angus and Prime-grade beef there, but again, today there was none. Plenty of rice, though, and the giant 24 packs of toilet paper on sale, so I'm guessing different things are in short supply in different places.

I go early during the old people hours of 6 and 7, so I wondered if they have everything out that early. But two weeks ago Sunday when I was there at 6 am, they had pretty much everything on the shelves.

I've given up on the early-early hour. I just try to get there when they open at 8:00, far fewer people then. I noticed that going for the "early hour" usually just meant stuff was in short supply from the end of the previous day, it didn't seem like the place had been completely restocked before re-opening.

Hahahaha, R288! I should have explained that I would have said the same thing until I had it in a neighbor's meatloaf unknowingly. The meatloaf was really delicious, so I asked for the recipe. Pineapple. You really don't notice it as much as it gives moisture and the whole sweet/salty thing, not unlike a burger with grilled pineapple or kabab with pineapple. YMMV, of course.

It would be a kindness to let our old friend Nan Michiganwomyn in on the wonders of pineapple for her vegan nutloaf recipe, R297.

It would be a kindness to let our old friend Nan Michiganwomyn in on the wonders of pineapple for her vegan nutloaf recipe, R297.

R207, R208, Yes I've seen sweet and sour meatballs or a variation in many hybrid Jewish-American cookbooks. I think grape or currant jam is too sweet unless you use a very small amount. I substitute red wine in savory dishes. Remember currant and grape jam wasn't all that sweet originally if the fruit was processed when it was very ripe.It was "tree sweet."

Apricot jam is used in Jewish-American recipes for sweets like rugelach. Rather than duck sauce I prefer Solo apricot filling. It's delicious and not nearly as sweet as jam. The apricots used are the absolute best. Add a little bit to boring oatmeal for a real treat.

Another old-fashioned quick sauce for meatballs is to mix spicy brown mustard with currant or grape jam. Recommend using a very small amount of jam unless you like very sweet meatballs. Add a dab of brown sugar to improve the dish. I'd also add a little red wine.

R300 Cheers. Just to clarify, I wasn't suggesting Duck Sauce would ever be included in ANY desserts, like Rugelah or sweet Kugels, or other places apricot preserves would be... I was strictly referring to savoury meat recipes which have a sweet and sour componemt, i.e. Brisket, Meatballs, Cholent, etc. I was assuming the Duck Sauce would/could simply replace the jam and vinegar, or jam and ketchup combos in these recipes.

Kenny Rogers Roasters barbecue sauce has grape jam in it. Assuming mixing ketchup and jam together would be similar.

Yes duck sauce is similar to sweet & sour sauce but without the ketchup. Remember brown sugar, corn syrup, and even molasses wasn't always readily available in Europe or Russia way back when many recipes were created. Meat and even chicken was reserved for holidays and the Sabbath. The inclusion of jam made it festive, dessert was not usually served except for special company.

R303 That's interesting about the Kenny Rogers Roasters...Imrecall an old homemade BBQ sauce recipe I came across once which called for Ketchup, Lemon juice, Tabasco, and Grape jelly... It had a few other ingredients as well, but this sauce was to be boiled on the stove, then poured over chicken. I'm assuming this may have been popular with many before commercial BBQ sauces became commonplace.

When I was a teenager my best friends mother made meatloaf and added some ground veal or lamb it tasted fantastic. Anyone have a recipe or know what percentage to add?

Traditionally it’s one third pound ground beef, one third pound ground pork and one third pound ground veal. But good luck finding any of those these days.

^ I think people mix the meat about half and half, or a little more beef than the other meat. I was going to add some pork to one I made a week ago, but the only other kind of ground meat they had in the store was turkey and I figured it would be too bland.

R305/R306 The recipe does call for one third of each, but to me that amount of pork makes it too greasy, so mine is more like a pound of ground beef, a pound of ground veal, and half a pound of ground pork. I put bacon strips on top of it before it goes in the oven, so they add both fat and flavor and contrary to what everyone here says, I make it in a loaf pan, not as a lump of meat on a cookie sheet: it's too dry for me that way.

[quote]I make it in a loaf pan, not as a lump of meat on a cookie sheet: it's too dry for me that way.

I find it drier when cooked in a loaf pan. All the liquid steams out.

I prefer it from the oven

To each his or her own, R309. After it's cooked in the loaf pan, I pour off what looks like about a cup of liquid fat it's been cooking in and which makes it moist enough for me.

r308 You reduced the amount of ground pork to make it less greasy, but then you put bacon strips on top. Seems counterproductive.

Re the meatloaf / dryness issue: I made meatloaf for the first time a week ago. I used a video by Ina Garten as a guide (I added some celery and green bell pepper to her onion mixture, and I put 2 bacon strips on the top, under the ketchup). I formed it like a loaf on a large tray, just like she did hers, and put a loaf pan of hot water on a rack under the meat. It came out moist inside, not dry. It was really good.

Pork, B-AG, has a lot more fat and doesn't have the flavor bacon does.

^ Re Ina's version - she called for using 3 pounds of meat. You could only get 2-lb packs at the store when I bought it, and I wasn't about to go for 4 pounds of meat. Made mine with 2 pounds and it ended up being a huge amount of food. It would have served 8 people easily. I ate the leftovers for nearly 5 days.

How about freezing the leftovers R315?

Frozen meatballs were on sale last week. Since I am back at work now, I don’t wanna do a lot of cooking. So I am making a cheat version of Swedish meatballs. Should last for a week.

R317 It may not qualify as authentic, but there's a McCormick sachet for Swedish Meatballs that I found to be a nice cheat. It's a divided two part sachet, one half has a mix you add too the beef, and the other for gravy. I added extra onion, a dash of Worcestershire, and some ground nutmeg. I would definitely buy it again. What was your cheat?

Ikea recently released a recipe which had been published in DailyMail... It did not look very "Swedish" at all. The gravy called for both soy sauce, and Dijon mustard. There was another odd ingredient as well, but I can't recall what at the moment.

I made a DUTCH BABY from a recipe I saw in the NYT. It was SO GOOD. I served it with whopped butter and Maple syrup.

R319 Was it difficult to make? could you post the recipe maybe? Thank you!

Cabbage as comfort food? I thought only the Slavic love cabbage.

for me the holy trio is macaroni and cheese, pizza and ice cream.

I do also make soup when I need comfort food, whatever is is the fridge mixed with freezer staples.

tonight i made a weird favorite, no prep really. a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice and some garloc in a small baking dish. dry quinoa and about half the recommended water. flash frozen chicken breast on top with a little basil. on that i put frozen (defrosted) spinach mixed with some garlic and feta cheese. cover, throw in the toaster oven. when almost done, uncover, add a little bit of mozzarella on top, pop back in until mozzarella is browned a bit and bubbly.

hits every comfort food spot for me.

R320- It was not difficult to make. You need to make sure ALL the ingredients are at room tempurature. The skillet should be put in the preheated over for 10 minutes too.

It's like a big pancake. It's easier than pancakes because your not standing there flipping pancakes for 10 minutes. You put the DUTCH BABY in the oven for up to 25 minutes and it's done.

R321 nothing comforts me more than a case of cabbage induced diahrrea

R323, Trick is to put your shelled eggs in a bowl of hot water for a few minutes. That way they'll quickly come to room temperature. Heat the milk before adding it too. Also add vanilla or almond flavoring to the batter.

Thank you to the poster who said to add finely chopped onion and spices to small hamburger patties before cooking them. Delicious. Amazon Fresh has very good quality hamburger on sale.

Served them in a Dave's Killer Seeded bun, then wrapped n a large romaine leaf. No toppings needed. Side was baked beans.

R323 I used to get the Dutch baby and the apple pancake at the Original Pancake House when I lived near one all the time. They are so good!

R327- There is an Original Pancake House near me in White Plains, NY. Is there food/pancakes good?

Yes it’s a very high-quality pancake shop. I live near one in Michigan. I love the blueberry pancakes, bacon, crepes, pretty much everything! My go to is the apple pancake! It’s like dessert. I eat half and take the rest home.

DORITO CHICKEN

R329- When I was a kid there was a pancake house called BICKFORDS. They had an apple pancake the size of a smallish pizza that I loved.

Love the Dutch Baby topped with sauteed or steamed vegetables and covered in sharp cheddar cheese at the Original Pancake House. The apple version is good but way too sweet. Easy to duplicate yourself and to make it to taste.

Vegetables?? Gross!

When I was a teenager my brother and I gave our poodle some Thanksgiving leftovers, defying Mom’s order NOT to feed him table scraps, especially rich holiday food. But who could resist that face. He literally had puppy dog eyes 🥺. We fed him some turkey, stuffing, cabbage and Mac and cheese. That night he slept in my parent’s room and all night long he belched and farted. And into the next day. My mom forced us to confess. We didn’t get beaten, as was the usual punishment. But we had to stay in the house on Black Friday. We had planned to go to the mall. Poor puppy 🐶. And the farts smelled like death. And he was so miserable. My brother chased him out of the living room. It wasn’t his fault.

But we learned from that experience. Other than the occasional piece of meat, NO MORE TABLE SCRAPS EVER.

It was the cabbage, r334.

Of course r335. And the stuffing with onions. I found out years later that dogs’ livers can’t break down the chemicals in onions and it becomes toxic in their system and could potentially kill them! As can chocolate, raisins and certain varieties of nuts and fruits.

Frozen pizza

Lucky Charms cereal with whole milk.