October 22, 2007

Grilled Cheese and Bacon Throw Down - Win a Cookbook!

A challenge was issued and has been answered. Now we shall finally know which Grilled Cheese and Bacon Sandwich is best, and you, dear readers will make that determination. If you don’t know the backstory you can go to my earlier post in which I challenged Jenn’s impertinent additon of Miracle Whip to the perfect Grilled Cheese and Bacon Sandwich. While we waited for Jenn’s reply, Charlotte chimed in with her own “version” of the masterpiece (Hah! There are no “versions.” There are only my way the correct way and inferior imitations.) I am supremely confident that when the dust has settled you will have all come to the same conclusion. You are invited to be a judge in the Throw Down.

The Rules:1. Go to each of the recipe links:

Jenn: How Do You Make a Grilled Cheese?

Charlotte: Grilled Cheese and Bacon Sandwich

Skeet: Grilled Cheese and Bacon Sandwich Illustrated

2. Make the sandwiches.

3. Write a post about your experience and name the recipe that you think is best.

4. Go to all three contest announcements and give a link to your post in the comments for each one: (I’ll link the other contest posts as soon as they’re up.)

Jenn: A Contest and a Challenge - Win a Cookbook

Charlotte: the Best Grilled Cheese and Bacon Sandwich - Win a Cookbook

Skeet: This post that you are currently reading.

Deadline:
You must complete the process by posting your comments to each of our blogs by midnight EST on Sunday, November 4th.

Prizes:
Charlotte, Jenn and Skeet will each draw a name from among the entrants and will reward a cookbook to that lucky winner. Bonus! Want an extra entry? When you write your post, include a picture of at least one of the sandwiches you made.

Eligibility:
The contest is open to anyone with a US or Canadian mailing address. We have nothing against the rest of you, but postage, taxes and customs requirements could turn this into a major hassle instead of a fun contest.

Are we clear? Let the cooking begin!

I’ve already selected a cookbook to award to one lucky winner. Island Cooks is a collection of the recipes for the foods we eat in Hawaii. Jenn and Charlotte will each select cookbooks related either to their regions or to the contest, so that’s three great cookbooks up for grabs. My blog uses the do-follow plug-in, so you’ll get a link from skeet’s stuff just for entering. Let’s review the benefits you’ll gain from entering the contest:

1. You’ll learn the proper way to make a Grilled Cheese and Bacon Sandwich.
2. You’ll have a chance to win a free cookbook (two chances if you post a photo!)
3. You’ll get a linkback from my fabulous PR4 blog.
4. You can attend this recipe roundup without having to dress up in horse riding apparel.
5. You’ll be able to win friends and influence people with your amazing Grilled Cheese and Bacon sandwiches.

Now wouldn’t you agree that it’s a winning situation all around? Well, what are you waiting for? Get cooking!

Technorati Tags: challenge, Grilled Cheese and Bacon sandwich, recipe, recipe challenge, Throw Down

October 19, 2007

The Great Grilled Cheese and Bacon Cookoff

Who knew that a post about a simple sandwich could generate so much interest and not a little controversy? It started back in March when I posted the instructions for making a proper Grilled Cheese and Bacon Sandwich. There were a few dissenting opinions (see the comment string) but I thought the issue had been laid to rest. I was wrong. Last week Jenn posted her recipe for a grilled cheese sandwich (no bacon.) Now, you would think, since my instructions were so clear, that she would get it right. Just follow my recipe and leave off the bacon (though why you would want to do that I can’t imagine.) Did Jenn do that? No! She added alien ingredients. I gave prompt notice that such alterations were unacceptable and submitted my own recipe (illustrated this time, for clarity) to her Recipe Challenge, wherein she is committed to executing any recipe submitted. I was convinced that once she’d tasted the real deal she’d understand, but alas, our Jenn is one hard-headed gal. Yes, she tried my recipe. A bit of fumbling can be excused - she is, after all, a fairly new cook. She followed the instructions and produced a passable replication of the masterpiece. So far, so good. Then she blew it! She once again tampered with perfection!

Enough! Would you attach prosthetics to Venus diMilo? Alter Mona Lisa’s smile? Enhance a Faberge egg with glitter? NO! Sublime art requires no editing, no “improving.” I am so sure of the superiority and correctness of the only true recipe for a Grilled Cheese and Bacon Sandwich that I’m calling out a challenge of my own. This issue must be settled once and for all. Jenn and I both have our prejudices, so I think we should let the readers decide!

What do you say, Jenn? Are you up for a Throw Down? Are you willing to put your money where your mouth is, quite literally? We’ll invite our readers to try both recipes and then vote on the one that is superior. When I win When a winner is declared, the matter will be settled, never to be revisited. We’ll set up a few simple rules and a voting system and let our reading public show you the error of your ways make the final call. I’m even willing to make it interesting by selecting a prize to be awarded to one voter. It won’t be as classy as a Bluetooth headset, but maybe a Hawaiian cookbook? What have you got? Are you sure enough of the superiority of your recipe to put yourself out there, allow the public to decide and even reward them for their service? Just say the word and we’ll do this thing!

Readers? Are you up for the task? Pop over to Jenn Cooks and urge her to to face up to the Throw Down!

Technorati Tags: challenge, Grilled Cheese and Bacon sandwich, recipe, recipe challenge, Throw Down

October 17, 2007

Making a classic (but easier!)

Have you ever made a cake from scratch? I know there’s a whole generation out there (or maybe even two) who have never made a cake without using a mix. Cake mixes were available when I was young, but Mom just didn’t believe in using them. She made her cakes the old-fashioned way, and she taught me to do the same. All four of us (two brothers, one sister and I) cooked at an early age, but I was the one who really took to it. I know I cooked my first full family meal when I was about seven, but I don’t remember when I first baked a cake. What I do know is that it was a 1-2-3-4 Cake. That’s the one Mom made most frequently, and I always asked for it on my birthday. I haven’t made one in a few years, but it’s still my favorite. The name comes from the main ingredients: 1 cup of shortening, 2 cups of sugar, 3 cups of flour and 4 eggs. It’s a very rich cake, denser and a little grainier than the cakes you’re probably used to. Did I mention it’s my favorite non-chocolate dessert? That’s why I still make it from time to time, even though it’s time-consuming and mixes are easier. If you’d like to try it be prepared to spend a little more time than you’d use for a mix, and be prepared for your hands to be completely worn out from all the mixing (unless you have a Hamilton Beach® Stand Mixer!) Here’s how:

1-2-3-4 Cake

3 cups sifted cake flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup shortening
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 eggs, separated
1 cup milk

Sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Cream shortening with sugar and vanilla until fluffy. Add beaten egg yolks and beat thoroughly. Add sifted dry ingredients and milk alternately in small amounts, beating well after each addition. Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry and fold into batter. Pour into greased pans and bake in a moderate oven (375 degrees F) about thirty minutes. Makes 3 (9-inch ) layers.

You see what I mean about all of the mixing? I have a condition in my hands called deQuervain’s Tendonitis. Over-using my hands brings on exruciating pain which feels as though my wrists and hands are packed with broken glass. After the pain comes numbness severe enough that I can’t control my hands. A recipe like the one above is tough on healthy hands. It’s more than I can handle these days, even with my little hand-mixer, which vibrates horribly and cripples my hands if I use it for more than a minute or so. What I need is a Hamilton Beach® Mixer, which will not only save my hands, it will also make all of the juggling of ingredients much easier (since I won’t have to hold onto the bowl with one hand while holding the mixer with the other hand and wishing for a third hand to add the ingredients as I mix.)

Now I don’t want to send you into shock, but it’s not too early to be thinking about Christmas shopping. Y’all know that my son goes out of his way to get me wonderful presents. I usually hem and haw when he asks what I want, but now that I’ve had a good look at the Eclectrics® Mixer I know one thing I’d really like him to give his old mom this year. Just so I can make a 1-2-3-4 cake for him, of course.

* Don’t even think of going to all this trouble and then slapping frosting from a can or a mix on this delectable cake. I recommend and old-fashioned Seven Minute or Caramel Icing. Hey, you’re in the kitchen anyway. Do it right!

Technorati Tags: cake recipe, stand mixer, Hamilton Beach Eclectrics® Mixer, kitchen appliances, memories, nostalgia

October 11, 2007

Grilled cheese and bacon sandwich illustrated

It seems I need to clear up some confusion for my friends. A few months ago I explained about the purity and sanctity of a well-made grilled cheese and bacon sandwich. It’s a simple thing, really, just four rather ordinary ingredients which come together with a synergy that creates a sum greater (so much greater!) than its parts.

Clockwise from the top, the ingredients are cheese, bread, softened butter and cooked bacon. That’s all. Here’s what you do with them:

Spread one side of each slice of bread generously with butter (Remember: Fat is your friend. Don’t scrimp!)

Heat up a frying pan or grill and put in the first slice of bread, butter side down. Heap half of the cheese on top.

Now pile the bacon on top of the cheese.

Cover the bacon with the rest of the cheese and the second slice of bread, butter side up this time.

Your sandwich will be bulky and unwieldy at this pont. Smash it. Allow it to keep cooking until brown on the underside.

Hold the top of your sandwich with your fingertips, flip it over and smash it again.

When the second side is brown and the cheese is a melted mass of goo, remove from the pan, slice (diagonally please!) and enjoy!

As you can see, there’s nothing difficult about making a proper grilled cheese and bacon sandwich. One would think that my previous post would have supplied the information you need to create this masterpiece. Alas, some of you either forgot or didn’t take the lesson to heart. I’m a little flabbergasted that Jenn claims to be wanting to learn to cook yet she has ignored one of the most important cooking lessons: Don’t mess with a classic! Don’t add, don’t take away, don’t change a thing! I’m going to take Jenn at her word when she says that she’ll attempt every submission to her recipe challenge, so here ya go, Jenn - the perfect grilled cheese and bacon sandwich, illustrated this time to avoid confusion. Put away the Miracle Whip and pickles, put on your apron and do it right this time.

Update: We’re having a Throw Down! Help us decide which recipe is a true winner! We’re even giving away cookbooks to sweeten the deal.

Technorati Tags: blogs, cooking blogs, grilled cheese and bacon sandwich, recipes

August 18, 2007

Retro Food

A couple of months ago my friend TW tried to pass off a phony recipe over at Retro-Food.com . If it had been, say, a recipe for spinach and rutabaga casserole, her prank might have gone unnoticed, but she chose to tinker with the most sublime food creation ever, so I had to set her straight. She capitulated to my superiority in this one matter, was promptly forgiven and the rest is grilled cheese and bacon sandwich history. She’s behaving much more respectfully these days, so it’s okay for y’all to start visiting her again.

Most of Retro-Food’s recipes are classics from the days before microwaves and instant this-and-that. My contemporaries will recall many of them from church dinners and neighborhood potlucks. I realize there’s a whole generation out there who think Cheese Biscuits can only be made from a mix, but TWs recipe is, I think, the same one my mother taught me, and is even sloppily typed on an index card just like Mom’s old recipes. If you remember when the most festive foods of summer all started with Jello, you’ll want to spend at least a few nostalgic hours rediscovering them at Retro-Foods. TW lives in a semi-vegetarian household, so you non-carnivores will find plenty of creative, old-fashioned ways to serve whatever is in season at the farmer’s markets and whatever you have on the shelf in cans. I recently saved her Dutch Baked Corn souffle/casserole/pudding thingie and need to remember to pick up the ingredients so I can try it soon. Look for pot roasts and meat loaf, pineapple upside down cakes and the appetizers that Mom served to the bridge club. They’re all here, and most are accompanied by TWs commentary, memories and personal experiences.

Retro-Foods.com is a visual treat, from its eye-pleasing retro theme to its reproductions of old recipe books and personal card files. It’s true pleasure, though, is in the recipes from the days when we mostly believed that a woman’s place was in the kitchen. Go. Read. Enjoy. Be prepared to lose a few hours. The place is a total time suck.

Technorati Tags: foods, recipes, retro, retro-foods, com

May 21, 2007

Family meals

I’ve only just realized today that I didn’t cook about half of the food I had planned for my son’s visit. The only “big meal” I did was a pork roast with fresh herbs from my garden, which I served with baked yams. I didn’t do the Mongolian Beef or Adobo that I had ingredients for. I still have a freezer full of chicken breasts, steaks and enough veggies to last me halfway through the summer. I’ll have to find some way to use up a pantry full of baking ingredients, too. Cookie recipes will have to wait until his next visit, which will hopefully be during the holidays next winter.

It’s not that we didn’t eat while he was here. We ate quite well - at restaurants. I’m not sure if he’s just gotten used to his bachelor way of having most of his meals out or if he was trying to save me from laboring in the kitchen while he was here, but we ate a lot of our meals out. I finished off the last of the “doggie bags” of leftovers last night. I wonder what it will take to convince him that I like to cook and want to do that when he’s around. I can’t imagine having him here for the holidays and not doing all of the traditional cooking that should come with that. Maybe if I start working on him now I’ll be able to bring him around to my way of thinking by then.

Technorati Tags: cooking, family meals, family visits

April 12, 2007

Got shrimp?

S is for spicy, spirited and succulent

H is for hot, which can bring great enjoyment

R is for remoulade, so tart on the tongue

It brings up such memories of when I was young

M is for marinade, where flavors start pimping

P for pirogue, to take us out shrimping!

I’m no poet, but you got the message, right? Since some of you didn’t have my advantage of growing up in a New Orleans-style kitchen, here’s some Shrimp Recipes so you can help cook up the bounty! If you’re not a fan of spicy Southern cookery, that’s okay. Shrimp or so versatile there are dishes to please every palate!

Technorati Tags: shrimp, shrimp recipes, seafood recipes, shellfish recipes, payperpost

April 8, 2007

A holiday tradition - Eggs Goldenrod

Did you spend last night scrubbing food coloring out of your best teacups and trying to soak splashes of red, blue and green dye out of your children’s clothes. Did the kids wake you up early this morning so they could stuff themselves with chocolate eggs and Peeps before the sun rose? Did they stumble around on a dewy lawn looking for treasures deposited by the Easter Bunny? Are you now in possession of a dozen or two multi-hued eggs that need to be worked into your meal plans before they go bad? Have I got a deal for you!

I know what my breakfast will be this morning. I could have told you last week or last month or a year ago what I’ll be having. It’s a dish that I’ve had for Easter breakfast for longer than I can remember. Since I no longer have an obligation to boil up enough eggs to feed an army on Easter eve, I’ll start by boiling two eggs. Those of you celebrating today with little ones have this step already covered, I’m sure. Peel one or two of those hard-boiled eggs for each person you’re feeding. Separate the whites and yolks. Chop the whites up coarsely and drop them into white sauce. I’ll make a cup of white sauce for myself. Adjust your need to the appetites you’ll want to satisfy. I usually add a little sprinkle of garlic powder, too. Serve up the egg-lumped white sauce over toast. Grate the egg yolks over the tops (goldenrod pollen!) and, if you’re feeling fancy, sprinkle a little parsley around the edges of your fabulous creation! A shake of paprika across the top will liven up the color and the taste. There! Wasn’t that easy? It’s a quick and tasty breakfast that will help you use up some of those eggs and will leave you with enough time for photos after you get the kids into their new Easter outfits. Maybe it will become a tradition for your family, too!

Basic white sauce

2 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of flour
1 cup of milk

Melt the butter in a saucepan and immediately add the flour. Stir until you have a smooth consistency, not allowing the mixture to brown. Slowly pour in the milk, stirring constantly. As soon as it begins to thicken, remove it from the heat. It will continue to thicken for a while, so don’t overcook. If it’s a little thin you can always return it to the stove and cook it a little more. If it’s too thick, return it to the heat and gradually stir in a little more milk. Add salt and white or black pepper to taste. Makes one cup.

Technorati Tags: breakfast food, recipes, Eggs goldenrod, Easter, family traditons, holiday traditions, boiled egg recipes