Cookoff!!!!

[Jester]

Upon further review, sadly, I will not be making mozzarella from scratch. It's not the time factor. It's not even the precision factor (though that kind of precision is what I hate about baking as opposed to cooking). It's the fact that I don't have a lot of the equipment necessary, such as the stainless steel bowls, the fine mesh strainer and the instant read thermometer, the last of which I am betting is rather expensive.

Now, if any of you can suggest a way to do this with less equipment, I am all ears, but as of right now, I fear I am going to have to nix this particular part of the plan....which makes me rather sad. I was looking forward to it.

[42_42_42]

An analog instant read is pretty cheap, actually, and a digital one is only about twice that.


I use ground veal, lamb, and pork when I make my "classic" lasagna. There are 2 schools of thought on what a "classic" lasagna is, btw. One says bolognese and bechemel sauces are used and the only cheese is some mozzarella on top. The other is a meat sauce layered with a cheese mixture that's basically the same as what's in cheese manicotti.

[lupo pazzesco]

I use glass bowls, and as 42 said, a digital. Got it fairly cheap at Target, about $12, I think. As for not having a fine mesh strainer, I usually have cheesecloth on hand, and that works wonderfully. fairly cheap, too. I don't have stainless steel bowls, only pots, so I adapted, and glass works just as well, I've found.

[Cazzi]

Spanish rice is usually flavored rice, often yellow or red, with some fun flavors, often tomato being one of them. I typically use Spanish rice from a pouch, as it is easy and quick, and the flavor is good enough for what I am using it for. One day I will make Spanish rice from scratch, as I have done with coconut rice (which was awesome).

With you now, we have similar type things over here, Not Spanish but the more basic stuff like chicken & veg flavoured rices... make a fairly quick snack when you're in a rush.

/Googles coconut rice.... That definitely looks worth a try

At the moment I have a selection of Thai sauces/pastes & other cooking ingredients lurking in my cupboard,.. my mother is a compulsive competition enterer and won a large box of things including the above mentioned sauces, a really nice wok, chopsticks, bowls etc, most of which made their way to my house
My challenge is though, to adapt some recipes to conform with the plan from my slimming group. Coconut is probably on the "Synful" side (that may be a good clue as to what plan I use) but the rice looks too good not to try

[TelephoneAngel]

I had an idea but not sure how it would work in practice.

I love different sorts of salad with salad dressing, so maybe there could be a lasagne with the sauce of salad dressing (honey vinagrette) then layers of huge juicy tomoatoes as the pasts layer then the fillig fo chopped up salad ingrediants, or maybe even layers of grated cheese.

[Jester]

An analog instant read is pretty cheap, actually, and a digital one is only about twice that.

Plus the bowls (which I could adapt what I have, I suppose, though all I have is plastic), plus the strainer/cheese cloth, plus the vegetable mennet, whatever the hell that is....while I still want to make my own mozzarella one day, this is not that day. I appreciate the help, though, and the information.

There are 2 schools of thought on what a "classic" lasagna is...

I don't doubt you. But I also never said I was making a "classic" lasagne. Merely a "traditional" one, as opposed to the completely outside-the-box Mexican Lasagne. I.e., I'll be using pasta, red sauce, and cheese. But classic? Nope. Not making bechamel sauce, I don't think. I do plan on using some of that awesome sausage I have in my freezer. And my own bolognese sauce. And stupid amounts of cheese, probably ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan. I'll think about the bechamel, of course. I'm not rejecting it out of hand. Hell, what I'll probably do is what I do for any undertaking like this....check out a few recipes online to get an idea of what exactly I'm going to do, and how I'm going to do it, and then adapt it to my own uses.

I'm kind of good like that.

Googles coconut rice.... That definitely looks worth a try

It was not only easier than I thought it would be, it was scrumptious.

Coconut is probably on the "Synful" side (that may be a good clue as to what plan I use) but the rice looks too good not to try

As I said, it was lovely. And I doubt it used enough coconut to make it that bad for whatever diet you are on. Hell, here's the recipe that I used, keeping in mind that I adjusted this recipe up to serve 20 people, as this original recipe I found online was designed for 16 servings (you can scale it up or down, however you need):

Coconut Rice

4 cup coconut milk
6 cups water
4 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoon sugar
4 cup long grain white rice
12 (3/4 cup) tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

In a saucepan, combine the coconut milk, water, salt, and sugar. Bring to a boil. Add the rice, stir well, and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer undisturbed until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is fluffy, about 20 to 24 minutes. Remove from the heat and let sit without stirring for 10 minutes.
Fluff with a fork and add the cilantro. Adjust seasoning, to taste. Serve hot.
Yield: 16 servings

[Magpie]

Go easy on the sausage! My mom "perfected" (I disagree ) her lasagne recipe a while ago. Based on feedback she had from everyone, she made it vegetarian. Why? Because all the complaints where "it needs more ________". The blank was filled in with everything except meat. Meat takes up space that other ingredients could be using . Now, if you have a meat that goes perfectly, it probably won't be as much of a problem, but a lot of people just say "oh, I have meat X, I'll use that".

[Cazzi]

Coconut Rice

cheers for that, although I'll be making a very small portion, just for me... boring kids don't like trying new stuff.. me I love trying new things!

I used to experiment a lot until I got stuck doing it as a job that finally ground me down. Its been a few years since I had that job & I'm really only just getting back into cooking for fun rather than as a necessity Well, the rather strange & experimental choco-strawberry-banana cake I made was rather tasty

[Jester]

The lasagne is in the oven. All my work is done, pretty much. In about ten minutes, I'll pull it out of the oven with many culinary prayers, and see how it looks. Then I'll pack it up with a spatula and a heating element, and head on down to the cookoff.

As always, I am a bit nervous. Though I must say, the noodles turned out wonderfully. I made the whole box, and yet still only butchered one noodles and slightly damaged a couple others, but the whole box, as it turns out, was more than I needed, so all the noodles I used turned out perfectly.

I used the spicy Italian sausage, all 2.5 pounds of it, and made my own bolognese sauce, which I've been making for years. And I blended ricotta and mozzarella with a couple of eggs, and also sprinkled some pamesan reggiano throughout the layers. And I even went out and bought fresh basil and oregano for my sauce, rather than using the usual dried stuff. And, of course, fresh garlic. I hope I used enough.....you can almost never have too much garlic!

[Jester]

The good news: The lasagne looks great! I would like the cheese on top to be a little browner, but I cooked it uncovered for an extra ten minutes, and really don't want to overcook the inside of the lasagne (if I haven't already). I can't wait to try this!

The bad news: Due to the lasagne having a metric shit ton of sausage in it, it was a bit taller than normal, and some sauce leaked out on to the cookie sheet I had the lasagne pan on in the oven, and sadly, on to the floor of the oven itself.

So I've transferred it to a cooler, cleaner cookie sheet, and I am going to try to figure out how to re-tent it for the drive to the cookoff. Which starts in half an hour.

Crap.

And away we go!

[Whiskey]

http://www.e-rcps.com/pasta/rcp/stfd...tti_crepes.jpg

Close enough and way better than Lasagna.

[Jester]

Yes, but I am going to a lasagne cookoff. I don't think crepes would quite cut it there, all things considered.

[42_42_42]

I had an idea but not sure how it would work in practice.

I love different sorts of salad with salad dressing, so maybe there could be a lasagne with the sauce of salad dressing (honey vinagrette) then layers of huge juicy tomoatoes as the pasts layer then the fillig fo chopped up salad ingrediants, or maybe even layers of grated cheese.

Ever heard of 7-layer salad?

[Jester]

So the cookoff was awesome!

Lots of people out there, both those who cooked and those who wanted to eat, all out to support a noble cause, that cause being Hospice, and the great work they do for people in medical need.

Lots of good lasagna, some great, some awful. I still will never understand why some people think that cheeses like cheddar and colby belong anywhere near a lasagna. I got a lot of great compliments on mine, and in fact received 11 votes as the best one there. That did not mean I placed in the top 3, but it was a fundraiser, so it was perfectly legal to stuff a ballot box, as long as you paid for the ballots. Though other people did just that, I didn't, and was thrilled with the way my sausage lasagna (my first lasagna ever) came out, and apparently 11 people agreed.

AND I made a bit of a splash when they were making announcements after the fact. When they said they had made almost a thousand dollars for Hospice, the crowd asked how short they were....and upon the answer, I immediately made up the difference. (Only $30, but for a great and noble cause.)

At the end of the day, my pan was empty, 11 people thought I was the bomb, I didn't have to stuff the ballot box, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. And proved to myself that I can, in fact, make a great fucking lasagna.

One day I'll make someone a wonderful wife.......

[AccountingDrone]

NOw that the baking frenzy is done, you can experiment with making cheese =)

I grew up in western NY's agricultural area, and one of the things was cheesemaking, so I grew up loving curds. Well, when you move to an area with no curds if you want to enjoy the teethsqueeking goodness of curds you have to make them yourself so I learned to make cheese.

Rennet - the nonvegan version is an extract of calves stomach lining. It is the enzyme secreted to curdle milk and change the protein strands into a more digestible form for the little critters. Vegan plant based rennet is any number of substances.

Cultures - specific bacteria groups are used to modify the basic milk for certain types of cheese - one culture is used for cheddar, mozarella and similar cheeses, which gives it a sort of solid tang, and a different one is used for the soft oozy stuff like brie, chevres and the more buttery goudas. Another culture is used if you aremakign bubbly cheeses like havarti and swiss.

Acid testing - you can do without this, but it does come in handy to have the milk in the right pH range.

Additives - sometimes you have to modify the milk to get the process to work, there is actually a chemical to add to homogenized milk to make it unhomogenize so that the culture and heat will properly separate and coagulate the proteins.

Kits - google cheesemaking and start surfing - many cheesemaking kits are relatively cheap and come with a mold, cheesecloth, rennet, culture, the chemical and an instruction book.

Mozz making can be twitchy - you do have to knead and stretch the stuff, sort of like taffy making to get the stringy/smooth ball deal going.

My favorite is the cheddaring process to get the nice squeeky curds =)