Further experimentations in the field of yum science

last night I decided to do some cooking experimentation. I took a rather plain Mac and Cheese recipie from the box of muller elbow noodles and spiced it up a bit.

The recipe calls for a rue of butter and flour. I used flour seasoned with BBQ and Mesquite spices, as well as some salt/pepper and oregano, which gave my rue this amazing color and smell. After mixing in some milk for the cheese sauce I added the bacon I had chopped and cooked earlier with a similar spice mixture. After boiling the mixture and simmering I added the cheese, just a simple mild chedder and added it to the already boild macaroni. Baked it with a topping of italian breadcrumbs.

it was quite possibly one of the more delicious things I have ever produced.

Genius and madness, a fine Culinary line

In the ever increasing war on food boredom I have added a few recipes to my stable. Please indulge and elaborate at your leisure

Sosage Mc. Pasta
1 package Johnsonville Sweet Basil Italian Sausage
1 jar Classico Traditional Sweet Basil sauce

Cut the sausage into small pieces ~4 per link and cook thoroughly in oil in a fry pan (I dont fuck around with pork so mine are 90% done with a decent crust before I take them off)

Simmer in the sauce with additional oregano till your satisfied in its doneness

serve over pasta of your choice

Omega's Universal Marinade
I use this on chicken, pork, beef, what have you, anything in small pieces to be fried in a pan w/oil

Teriyaki Sauce
Worcestershire
Barbecue Sauce (this is where I lose a lot of people Im sure, I only use Bone Sucking Sauce)

its pretty tasty, toss the remnants in towards the end of cooking for a good coat.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_25143,00.html
this is fantastic btw I use baby portabella for the mushrooms though
ProTip, dont use a high wall pan or you end up simmering instead of thickening the sauce at the end

The Spaghetti Chronicles

Since I moved into my apartment over 6 months ago, I've been attempting to "fend for myself" with the few culinary arts that I learned in my years at home with family. If there is anything that I can say I know how to do with the utmost certainty its boil pasta.

This seemed to change when I moved to New Bern. Any pasta that I have made since I started living here has been, in a word, slimy. Normally drained pasta dries rather quickly after boiling...mine however gets very sticky...like the gluten from the wheat is sticking to the outside and making it well, slimy. It even leaves a residue on my colander. Its been a baffling case I've been attempting to solve for going on 6 months now.

Experiments thus far:

1. Your Colander Sux
While I didn't find the root cause in this experiment I did what types of colanders do and dont suck. Avoid cheap plastic ones if you can, they drain poorly and are a bitch to clean. Same goes for small holed metal as well...I dumped a potful into some cheapo i got at wal-mart and it took 5 mins to drain fully. The best I've found is a wire mesh, and you can use it to strain as well if it pleases you. But sadly, the colander was not the root cause of my slime problem.


2. A water problem?
I had thought that because I was on city water there could be impurities fuxing up my pasta. So I tried spaghetti using filtered tap water. Unfortunately, this didn't solve the problem (///.-)

Future experiments:

Hard/soft.
I have no idea if we use any sort of water softening device here at the APT so I'm actually considering buying some bottled water and using that...see if it makes any difference. If it doesn't, then I think I will have come to the inevitable conclusion...

ITS THE POT
When I knew I'd be moving out I bought a relatively cheap cookware set from target. Everything is this non-stick crap but IDK what it is since its certainly not teflon. ANYWAY, I was used to boiling pasta in a big ol stainless pot back home so I may have to venture to replicate said pot for another experiment.


Yes. I am a little bit strange aren't I? Well this is what happens when you live alone...your mind...wanders

Bachelor Gourmet

Since I knew I would eventually be moving out of my parents house I began to learn how to cook at the beginning of junior year. Now that I live alone, I have the opportunity to expand my culinary skills and its been quite fun. Here is a selection of "reciepies" (more like variations on a theme right now) that I would put in a cookbook called "the bachelor gourmet" If you try them I want to know what you think. Comments, Emails, AIM is all accepted tender.

Chicken Variation:
Use in salads, sitrfry's, basically anything non-baked.

Boneless chicken breasts sliced to strips.
Marinate for at least one hour in a bowl with "Barbecue" Seasoning (a spice blend in your grocery) and Teriyaki sauce. To conserve resources, use less sauce and toss regularly.
Cook in skillet till done. Just before plating or using, toss the rest of the marinade in the skillet and let it cook onto the chicken


Roasted Potatoes:

Roast one head of garlic by slicing it in half horizontally and wrap in tinfoil doused in oil with salt and pepper (roast in oven at 350 for about 45 minutes)

Cut potatoes into quarters or smaller
in a large bowl toss the potato pieces, some oil, barbecue seasoning (its really this awesome) and the roasted garlic (after a good smashing)
roast in oven at 350 for about an hour, +/- 15 mins.

you can also cut into smaller pieces and fry in skillet, I haven't nailed down the timing yet


Mock pepper steak:

Use top sirloin cut and slice into fairly thin strips
Marinate in a combination of Worcestershire and Teriyaki sauce
Slice one (or one half depending on size) of a vidalia (sweet) onion and a pepper (any color but green)
fry onion and pepper in oil till onion is translucent
Add meat and cook till done

Omega's beef stroganouf:

Top Sirloin cut into thinish strips
Slice one onion and cook in a pan with butter till translucent
at the same time cook a package of mushrooms (I like sliced baby portabello's best) in butter, cook until significantly reduced
combine meat and mushrooms in main pan
once meat is cooked turn heat off and empty one 8oz of sour cream in main pan
toss until evenly distributed.
serve on top of cooked egg noodles

thats all I have for now, I'll edit this post if I come up with more, I tagged it "cooking" for easy future reference