T1B

Anyone else get any good cooking shit for Christmas? Here's what all I got. My wife paid attention to all the hints this year!

Finally get to replace my 8 year old mixer with the new big dog. Can't wait to break it in. $450 but worth it!



Got the 30 minute garlic roaster as well. Usually I fire up the oven for a whole 70 minutes to roast garlic. No more! I think she paid around $40 for this.



I make the wife Caffe Mochas allt he time. I was using a wisk attachment for my hand mixer to "froth" the milk. Never quite did the job. This $90 toy does the trick.



She scored me a dumpling press from the Cooking Enthusiast catalog. Around $15. Makes making dumplings easy.



And last but not least on the cooking front, I got a salt and spice box from Napa Style. $78 for 10 salts and spices along with the box. Just wish the box had a latch. Guess I'll install my own latch on it as I can see spills coming from my clumsy ass. Contains the following.

Herbes de Napa (1.75 oz.)
Chile Oregano Mix (1.75 oz.)
Citrus Pepper Blend (4.5 oz.)
Citrus Rosemary Gray Salt(4.5 oz.)
Sundried Tomato Garlic Gray Salt (4.5 oz.)
Roasted Garlic Gray Salt (4.5 oz.)
Gray Salt (4.5 oz.)
Toasted Spice Rub (4.2 oz.)
Fennel Spice Rub (4.2 oz.)
Roasted Garlic Rubs (4.2 oz.)



What'd you get???

A lump of coal.

Actually, I bought myself a semi-nice Wusthoff carving knife so that my wife could give it to me. Needed it to properly carve up the $110 hunk of prime rib.

Received this tome from my Mom this Christmas:



Delightful reading, and you gotta love a cookbook that begins every recipe with a "1/4 pound of smoked slab bacon."

BTW, "cathead" biscuits were so-named because Southerners appreciate biscuits the size of a cat's head. And apparently there is a HUGE difference between NORTH Carolina-style hushpuppies and those that are fried in SOUTH Carolina. Happy to post the recipes if anyone cares...

...And here I thought I had a grip on Southern cooking....

Those two dorks don't look like they actually eat much southern cooking...

nice job mentioning every price of a gift you gave/received from your silver spooned, blown out and fat cunt of a wife. did you guys exchange any presents that cost three figures AND were going to be used more than a handful of times in a calendar year? yeah, i get it: you like making your twat specialty coffees. i get that. $78 for a spice rack? give me a fucking break. materialism is nowhere in either of your thought processes.

it was completely unnecessary for you to include the prices, yet you felt a need to provide that information. nice going you cuntry club pile of shit. an A&M degree AND indiana residency is a fatal, yet spectacular combination of suck. good job, tards.

Truman wrote:Received this tome from my Mom this Christmas:



Delightful reading, and you gotta love a cookbook that begins every recipe with a "1/4 pound of smoked slab bacon."

Tru,
Let me suggest another cookbook- Anthony Bourdain's. Can't remember what the name of it is, but it's his only one, so there's that. Anyways, you've gotta love a cookbook that when a recipe asks for fresh rosemary, he parenthetically comments, "Don't get that dried shit anywhere NEAR my bird" or liberally sprinkles 'fuck', 'fucking', 'fucked' throughout the book.

"Do I need to repeat this? NEVER boil the fucking stock."

Before the recipe portion of his cookbook, there's 40 pages broken into five or six chapters (I think)- one on knives, one on his restaurant (Les Halles) and how he came to be the chef there, and a couple others on general cooking, preparation, and how to, generally speaking, not be a complete dumbshit in the kitchen. The chapter on stock, the root of french cuisine, is amazing. The entire 40 pages before the recipes begin are truly mesmerizing reading.

Seriously, anyone who enjoys cooking needs this book, even if just to read through it and revel in his 'in your face', but oddly caring/helpful style. But if you would blush at pearl onions being called "little fuckers", this cookbook ain't for you.

Ken wrote:Let me suggest another cookbook- Anthony Bourdain's. Can't remember what the name of it is, but it's his only one, so there's that. Anyways, you've gotta love a cookbook that when a recipe asks for fresh rosemary, he parenthetically comments, "Don't get that dried shit anywhere NEAR my bird" or liberally sprinkles 'fuck', 'fucking', 'fucked' throughout the book.

"Do I need to repeat this? NEVER boil the fucking stock."

Before the recipe portion of his cookbook, there's 40 pages broken into five or six chapters (I think)- one on knives, one on his restaurant (Les Halles) and how he came to be the chef there, and a couple others on general cooking, preparation, and how to, generally speaking, not be a complete dumbshit in the kitchen. The chapter on stock, the root of french cuisine, is amazing. The entire 40 pages before the recipes begin are truly mesmerizing reading.

Seriously, anyone who enjoys cooking needs this book, even if just to read through it and revel in his 'in your face', but oddly caring/helpful style. But if you would blush at pearl onions being called "little fuckers", this cookbook ain't for you.

I had no idea who the dude was until I stumbled upon his show on cable. It was showing him bopping about Sicily (and other parts of Italy). He was out in the field picking capers with these grizzled old Sicilians, then they ate a freaking awesome rustic meal...and then they kicked his ass back into the field to pick more capers. I was laughing my ass off - he kept getting bleeped out every other word. I ended up watching another couple of episodes and totally dug his "no bullshit" attitude. Funny and entertaining as hell, but there's no way in hell that I'd have the time or patience to follow his recipes.

I can spend a few hours watching the Travel channel the night of the week that Bourdain is on. Generally the same night Andrew Zimmern is on. Zimmern is a pudgy fucker who travels the world eating bugs and worms, and constantly proclaims how stupid the rest of us are for not eating bugs and worms.

Love it when tards try to smack with trolls because their sack is too small to post with their normal shit nick. Then again, the person behind AP's Self of Steam is on par with Paul or Kaley as far as these boards go so no sweat off my sack.

Guess I'll just tell my Rumplewife ( ) "no thanks" to all my gifts. And by trhe way, she dropped about $650 on me for Christmas this year. While that's no chump change, it ain't a lot. I'm not "bragging" about $650 of gifts. Screw trolls and their lack of sack.

So Indy, get any attachments with the Mixer?

I've got a pro 6 575 Watt mother scratcher that I've had for several years. Love that fucker.

I'm also an attachment whore. So here's what I'd suggest.


Food grinder. If you don't already have a stand alone, this is a MUST! Specifically if you make dumplings with that dumpling maker. I make a pretty mean pork & shrimp dumpling. it takes about 5 minutes to run a few pounds of pork and shrimp with all the garlic, basil, cilantro, Green onions, and Viola. Instant dumpling mix.

Pasta rollers. Makes fettuccine and Lasagna noodles so freaking easy. Great for Ravioli. Homemade pasta is the bomb! Also pretty fly for making your own dumpling wrappers.

The Pasta Makers (an add-on to the food grinder) this is great for making angel hair, macaroni, etc that the pasta rollers will not.

Fruit and veggie strainer. (an add-on to the food grinder - This is why you buy the food grinder first) Great for making tomato pastes, jellies. Makes de-seeding raspberries (a thankless, Arduous manual task) effortless. If you're into baking, this one will make the fruit portions almost effortless.


I also bough the Ice Cream attachment, But I wound up taking it back. The Ice Cream would never set up properly. not sure if that was a bad unit, or a result of Houston's humidity. I'm going to buy one that has a refrigeration unit built in someday, but those are kind of pricey. I wasn't happy with this at all.


Also, if you don't have the pouring shield, make that high on the list. Keeps flour from covering your kitchen, and makes adding ingredients a lot easier.

They have a lot of other little things like slicers, juicers, etc. But I have those capabilities elsewhere (food processor/Stand alone appliances), but the ones I listed above, I would not live without.

Headhunter wrote:So Indy, get any attachments with the Mixer?

Didn't get any new ones, but all the attachments I had for my previous Kitchen Aid mixer are compatible. I would have stuck with my old mixer until it croaked had the attachments not worked with the new one.

Food grinder. If you don't already have a stand alone, this is a MUST! Specifically if you make dumplings with that dumpling maker. I make a pretty mean pork & shrimp dumpling. it takes about 5 minutes to run a few pounds of pork and shrimp with all the garlic, basil, cilantro, Green onions, and Viola. Instant dumpling mix.

I already got that one. It does work great. I make turkey burgers all the time. Gind up the turkey as well as some bacon and add all the spices and make the patties. Great tool to have.

Pasta rollers. Makes fettuccine and Lasagna noodles so freaking easy. Great for Ravioli. Homemade pasta is the bomb! Also pretty fly for making your own dumpling wrappers.

I have this already too. I have only used it once and just not taken the time to go back to it. I really want to, but I can't get the dough "right". I used the suggested recipe for the dough with the manual but it came out the suck. Any suggestions on a pasta dough? I'm dying to make some homemade pasta, but am a little disheartened by my previous failure.

The Pasta Makers (an add-on to the food grinder) this is great for making angel hair, macaroni, etc that the pasta rollers will not.

I have this too. See above for lack of use. Any suggestions here would be good too, but I assume you probably use the same kind of dough for both.

Fruit and veggie strainer. (an add-on to the food grinder - This is why you buy the food grinder first) Great for making tomato pastes, jellies. Makes de-seeding raspberries (a thankless, Arduous manual task) effortless. If you're into baking, this one will make the fruit portions almost effortless.

I do not have this. I do love baking so this may be my next purchase.

I also bough the Ice Cream attachment, But I wound up taking it back. The Ice Cream would never set up properly. not sure if that was a bad unit, or a result of Houston's humidity. I'm going to buy one that has a refrigeration unit built in someday, but those are kind of pricey. I wasn't happy with this at all.

I have this as well. I actually use it a lot and it works great. As you said, it never sets up quite right in the ice cream bowl. However, I throw it in the freezer overnight and it is perfect the next morning. I always do two different kinds. I mix in Oreos for the wife's and I put in Heath for mine. Infinity% better than a DQ Blizzard because you are using very rich vanilla ice cream made with actual cream as opposed to that soft serve shit. Give it another try with my suggestions. To me, it's worth the $.

Also, if you don't have the pouring shield, make that high on the list. Keeps flour from covering your kitchen, and makes adding ingredients a lot easier.

I did not have a pouring shield with my old mixer, but my new one came with it. I have seen a world of difference. Wish I would have bought one a long time ago for the old one for the reasons you have mentioned.

They have a lot of other little things like slicers, juicers, etc. But I have those capabilities elsewhere (food processor/Stand alone appliances), but the ones I listed above, I would not live without.

Same here. I have the Cuisinart for slicing and such. Other appliances as well for other things.

One thing I bought and have not used yet is the sausage maker. It is an attachment for the grinder. I plan to get on this soon as I would love to make my own brats. I buy these garlic sausage brats from the local meat packing company. They are great, but I know I could make some better. Just never think to buy the casings for it at the store.

Look forward to trying out your pasta dough recipe if you're willing to part with it. Let me know the specifics on the types and brands of ingredients, especially the flour.

I don't have a drop dead killer Pasta recipe.

I'm still experimenting. I got spoiled by this shit... http://eccolapasta.com/category.asp?category_id=2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, then the local grocery store stopped carrying it. I should just break down and order it online. It's killer stuff, and you just add water. The Pasta rollers I bought actually came with two bags from Kitchen-Aide, as well as pasta spoons. It was the quickest and best homemade (sort of) pasta I've had.


As for my experiments, I found a 50/50 or 25/75 mix of unbleached flour/duram flour to be the best mix. so basically 2 eggs to 2 1/2 cups flour with a teaspoon of salt and a tablespoon of olive oil.

I also found the first few times I was expecting something more like bread dough (which I work with a lot) and wound up adding more water to get the same consistency. That jammed my pasta maker. The desired consistency is somewhere closer to a pie crust, where it's a bit crumbly and dry. the pasta rolling brings it all together. I didn't think it would bind it as much as it did.

Hope this helps.

PP is a pasta maker as well. Maybe she'll pop in and share some experiences with us.

Thanks for the tips. When I did mine, it was very crumbly as well, but the pasta roller did not bring it together. I was also using a flour and semolina mixture but to no avail. I'll keep practicing in small batches. The ingredients are cheap so failure is not too costly except for the time, which now with a 2 year old and 6 week old is becoming sparse.

Try the ecco La Pasta, or at least look for it in a store. You dump the whole pack in the mixing bowl, ad 3/4 (if I remember right) water, mix, set, and roll/extrude. It really was simple stupid.


My next step is to start weighing ingredients instead of measuring. I just need to hook myself up with a scale capable of a tare weight.

You guys and your power tools.

I've got the scale. MAybe I should try that too. Need a weight recipe though.

Mikey wrote:You guys and your power tools.

Mock all you want, but perfectly kneaded pizza dough at the flip of a switch is worth the cost of this bitch. If there's one thing I hate about cooking, it is kneading dough.

[bad pun]If you got a real job maybe you wouldn't need any dough.[/bad pun]

IndyFrisco wrote:I've got the scale. MAybe I should try that too. Need a weight recipe though.

http://www.coquinaria.nl/english/recipes/pasta.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Just looked it up.


Check your Cake Bible. Rose Levy always has conversions of measure to weight for her recipes. I know you have that book.

R-Jack wrote:

A shit troll directed at Indy wrote:your silver spooned, blown out and fat cunt of a wife.

Please research next time.

You're excused.

Heh...I laughed at that line too.