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Food & Recipes

You are here: Home / Archives for Food & Recipes

Years and Years (Open Thread)

by Betty Cracker|  July 12, 20253:08 pm| 96 Comments

This post is in: Food, Open Threads, Politics, TV & Movies

I’ve been dealing with a particularly persistent and annoying bout of insomnia (a lifelong problem). Sometimes I’ll reread favorite books and rewatch movies and TV series when sleep is hopelessly elusive.

Recently, I rewatched BBC/HBO’s six-part series “Years and Years,” which stars Emma Thompson, Rory Kinnear, Anne Reid and other notables. If I recall correctly, we discussed it here in comments several years back, when it was current in the U.S.?

I may even have shared a link to the clip below? I can’t remember and can’t be arsed to look it up.

Anyway, for those who haven’t seen it, “Years and Years” is a dystopian drama that follows an extended family through 15 years of political, social and economic turmoil. The action opens the year of the series’ real-life release, 2019.

I think I first saw it in 2020-2021 or thereabouts because I think I remember being smugly relieved that they got the 2020 U.S. election wrong (they had Trump winning reelection). In the series, Emma Thompson plays a corrupt, Trump-style clown who becomes the UK’s PM.

Each episode contains scenes that set the timeline, which extends to 2034. One shows the family matriarch (Reid) sadly watching TV coverage of the 2022 death of Queen Elizabeth II. Remember, the series was released in 2019, so the writers correctly predicted the year the Queen would die. Given QE2’s advanced years, I put that down to a lucky guess.

That said, having just watched it again, I’m impressed anew by how much they got right about the ensuing years. God help us, Trump is back. The world is going to shit in all kinds of ways, what with corrupt oligarchs consolidating power, climate change, conspiracy theory madness, technological advances that outstrip humanity’s ability to handle the fallout, social fragmentation, etc.

The following scene contains at least one major spoiler, but I include it because the family matriarch sums up her view of how we weaved the handbasket that’s currently conveying us all to hell.

She’s not wrong. Anyway, it sure as fuck didn’t help lull me to sleep, watching that damn show again.

So, I’m going to go make a giant tray of lasagna. It is my firm opinion that a dystopian timeline cries out for lasagna. I’ll share a pic later, if it’s a photogenic lasagna.

For now, here’s a photo of an extremely photogenic gopher tortoise I met on the trail earlier today. As you can see, it is not worried a bit about anything. I wished it a good day, and we went our separate ways.

Gopher tortoise on a dusty trail.

Open thread!

Years and Years (Open Thread)Post + Comments (96)

Tuesday Afternoon Open Thread: Natural History

by Anne Laurie|  May 27, 20253:07 pm| 115 Comments

This post is in: Food, Open Threads

The only reason you love chocolate is because of FUNGUS.
Cacao seeds contain high amounts of polyphenols, making them intensely bitter & unpleasant. There are two natural fungi that do the heavy lifting in turning them into chocolate.
Let's do a quick tour of the process of chocolate making.

[image or embed]

— c0nc0rdance (@c0nc0rdance.bsky.social) May 26, 2025 at 5:19 PM

Seed pods grow directly on the trunk or main branches of the Theobroma cacao (unlike most fruit that grows on branch-ends).
Pods are broken open & pulp allowed to liquefy on grates ("sweating"). Then a fermentation in piles or tubs for 3-7 days.
The final step is sun-drying then shipment.

[image or embed]

— c0nc0rdance (@c0nc0rdance.bsky.social) May 26, 2025 at 5:19 PM

There are two fungi naturally found on seed pods:
1. Picha kudriavzevii (a unicellular yeast)
2. Geotrichum candidum (multicellular fungus)
Also present are lactic acid & acetic acid bacteria. Between them all they acidify & break down as much as 90% of the bitter polyphenols.

[image or embed]

— c0nc0rdance (@c0nc0rdance.bsky.social) May 26, 2025 at 5:19 PM

Along the way, they kill the plant embryo, preventing germination. They also release peptides & amino acids from the seed, adding flavor elements.
The result of this fermentation is a smooth-tasting, high-fat seed that doesn't rot easily & won't germinate in transport.

[image or embed]

— c0nc0rdance (@c0nc0rdance.bsky.social) May 26, 2025 at 5:19 PM

After roasting, grinding, mixing with sugar, 'conching' (mixing & aeration), and tempering… we have the delicious taste & texture we love.
But we haven't explored the *dark side* of these lovable fungi yet!

[image or embed]

— c0nc0rdance (@c0nc0rdance.bsky.social) May 26, 2025 at 5:19 PM

show full post on front page

P. kudriavzevii is ALSO an emerging human pathogen & is naturally resistant to standard anti-fungal therapy.
Most disease is associated with newborns, those with immunocompromise, the elderly. It's an opportunist: as happy to eat YOU as a cacao pod.

[image or embed]

— c0nc0rdance (@c0nc0rdance.bsky.social) May 26, 2025 at 5:19 PM

Geotrichum is well established as a fungus of aged cheese rinds & there are >100 species in the genus… but some of them are opportunistic pathogens with mortality rates above 70%, especially in cancer patients & the immunocompromised.

[image or embed]

— c0nc0rdance (@c0nc0rdance.bsky.social) May 26, 2025 at 5:19 PM

That's the bargain we make with fungi: they make things more edible or tasty for us, but it's a Faustian deal with a devil that would just as happily eat US.
For now, however, victory is ours!

[image or embed]

— c0nc0rdance (@c0nc0rdance.bsky.social) May 26, 2025 at 5:19 PM

Tuesday Afternoon Open Thread: Natural HistoryPost + Comments (115)

Lunch Among the Ruins (Open Thread)

by Betty Cracker|  May 16, 202511:14 am| 251 Comments

This post is in: Food & Recipes, Open Threads, Politics

I met some family for lunch in Cedar Key, a remote coastal community that was devastated by a brush with Hurricane Helene last year while still recovering from the walloping it received the season before from Hurricane Idalia. The town is slowly recovering.

The storm surge washed out a bridge that leads to the main waterfront drag, Dock Street. Workers were paving the rebuilt bridge yesterday, so that’s progress.

Some buildings containing restaurants, shops, etc., on the Gulf (of MEXICO) side are still in shambles, but a few places have reopened.

Empty piers in the water where a wooden building once stood. Adjacent buildings have visible damage.

Dog help Cedar Key if it gets hit again this year. The malicious, corrupt idiot Trump put in charge of DHS immediately gutted FEMA, and the agency is wholly unprepared for hurricane season. It starts in two weeks.

***

On the way there, I listened to a This American Life episode that originally aired a few months ago called “Ten Things I Don’t Want to Hate About You.” It was about a son’s wager with his delusional Trumpist father.

In January 2024, the father bet the son $10K that 10 predictions the dad made would happen by December 31, 2024. The predictions were kooky stuff like Biden, Obama and the Clintons would be convicted of treason, martial law would be declared in the U.S., etc.

The son took the bet hoping that when the dad’s delusions were revealed as false, he would finally have an epiphany. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to reveal that the scales did not fall from the dad’s eyes.

He concluded his timing was just off, though, to his credit, he gamely paid up. Meanwhile, over the course of that year, the family basically fell apart due to the father’s pig-headed delusions.

It reminded me a little of a conversation in comments here recently. Those of us with MAGA family members know — there’s no changing their minds. The question is will you disown your relatives or not. Some do, some don’t. Same with the family in the podcast episode.

***

Speaking of family, my spouse and I have an anniversary coming up at the end of the month. It’s not a big-deal round number anniversary, but we are planning to throw a small party anyway, just a few friends and family members here at the swamp compound.

We have many talented cooks among the commentariat, so I thought I’d ask y’all for hors d’oeuvres suggestions. It will mostly be outdoors, and I don’t want to spend a lot of time fussing over things when guests are here, so I’m thinking room temperature things that can be made in advance would be ideal.

Thanks in advance!

Open thread.

Lunch Among the Ruins (Open Thread)Post + Comments (251)

Reading and Eating

by Tom Levenson|  April 29, 20256:11 pm| 34 Comments

This post is in: Cooking, Food & Recipes, Open Threads

Welp…

So Very Small went on sale today.

I put a post last week that talked about the book (and its imminent arrival) in some detail, so I won’t repeat all that here. Instead, I’ll just say that the editor of my last four books thinks it’s my best work to date, and I believe–more with each passing day that RFK Jr. remains the top US health official–that it’s my most important.

What I do want to do here is make good on a promise I made in that earlier post: to provide a food/cooking interlude at some later date. (I’m much later than I’d suggested, but I’m hoping that the thought counts.)

So two recent cooking experiences/suggestions.

1: This (with a slight variation).

That’s a Yotam Ottolenghi recipe for spatchcocked chicken cooked with butter beans and shallots, recently published in The Guardian. My cousin, a former producer on the BBC 4 Food Programme (now there’s a gig!) made it for me a few weeks ago when I blew through London for a few days, and I really liked it.  I came home, tried it once; thought it was good but could be better, and just this weekend made it again, and nailed it.

Reading and Eating

My variations on Ottolenghi’s original:

First, I used a much smaller bird than he prescribes. I like 3.5 to 4 lb birds (~1.6 to 1.9 kg); my cousin had made her version with a chicken on the larger end of what Ottolenghi suggests and it was tasty, but the texture wasn’t right and I think it’s easier to control the doneness of the whole dish with the smaller options.

Then I cheated just a little downward on the amount of turmeric. It’s a very strong spice and I think going a little lighter made the dish a bit more graceful.

I used water as mentioned in the recipe the first time out but on the second I used a 50:50 combo of white wine and home made chicken stock and it was really good.

After the first by-the-book version, I tried slicing the lemon into thin rounds instead of two halves. That was better to my taste, though you give up squeezing the roasted lemon juice, which is fun.

Finally, I think one can play around with the variety of beans. I stuck with butter beans on the first iteration and really enjoyed them; they brown up well and play very nicely with everything else. Second time out, though, the local supermarket was out of them, so I substituted cannelloni beans (I’d been thinking about going this way) and they were great. They hold their shape and texture more than the others, and they tasted great.

2: I think I’ve already commended Yasmin Khan’s sumac-pomegranate chicken thighs to the Jackaltariat. If not, I should have. It’s grand, and I don’t do anything to the recipe. Just rock and roll and eat like a monarch.

What’s new (for me) is that last Friday I found myself with a small piece of boneless leg of lamb–a pound and a quarter, perhaps. I pounded that sucker into a more or less consistent depth, cut cross hatchings top and bottom, and then rubbed the marinade from that chicken recipe all over and into the meat. I let it sit for a little, then roasted it in a 375 degree oven to medium rare (a little closer to medium than I’d like, perhaps)–maybe 20 minutes, maybe a little less. It would have been good if I’d had time to marinate it for a bit, but it was damn fine as it was and was an unbelievably quick turnaround for supper for two.

Reading and Eating 1 Reading and Eating 2

This thread is open–but if you’ve got tales of fun variations on favorite recipes, well…as they say in kindergarten, bring enough for everyone.

 

 

 

Reading and EatingPost + Comments (34)

Puff Pastry, Huge Flour Tortillas and Quiche?

by WaterGirl|  April 11, 20255:20 pm| 87 Comments

This post is in: Food & Recipes, Respite

The farmer I buy from had put TWO humongous heads of broccoli in my bag instead of the one that I planned for.

So I went to the store to pick up some deep dish frozen pie crusts so I could make broccoli quiche.  But I couldn’t find it at first and started to get creative about what I could use instead because the pie crust always ends up mushy.  Even the time I had pre-baked it – that did not work out well at all.

I eventually found the frozen pie crusts, but I decided to try something new because, again, the crust often ends up mushy.

So I came home with a box of puff pastry and some GRANDE Burrito flour tortillas.  My thinking with the flour tortillas is that I could bake the quiche with crust and then serve it with the flour tortilla.  But that doesn’t seem like a great idea after all.

Same with the puff pastry.  Soggy egg and puff pastry sounds disgusting.

So now I’m thinking maybe cherry pie filling using the puff pastry somehow?  I have never used puff pastry – good idea, or terrible idea?

All ideas welcome.

Anyway, I’m probably not the first person to have an idea that “seemed like a good idea at the time”.   So feel free to share your stories, too.

edit: And anything else not related to The Horrors.

Puff Pastry, Huge Flour Tortillas and Quiche?Post + Comments (87)

Something Sweet

by WaterGirl|  February 25, 20258:35 pm| 51 Comments

This post is in: Mostly Open Thread, Recipes

Mousebumples sent us (TaMara and me) this sweet image.

As long as we are talking about something sweet…

Cake! Manhattan Grand Jury Voted to Indict Trump

Someone asked for my recipe for cherry galette awhile ago. Recipe below in .pdf format.

Cherry Galette

Now I want some. :-)

Something SweetPost + Comments (51)

Finally, a Cornbread Recipe that I Love

by WaterGirl|  January 7, 202510:13 am| 109 Comments

This post is in: Food & Recipes, Recipes

Ramalama mentioned Jiffy cornbread in an earlier thread.  I grew up on that, and over the years I must have tried a dozen cornbread recipes – with the results ranging from so awful that I threw it out TO why would anyone want to eat this?

But I finally found a jalapeño cheddar cornbread recipe from Pampered Chef that I absolutely LOVE.

I make it in their little mini 5.5 mini cast iron skillets, which it appears they don’t sell anymore. :-(

Finally, a Cornbread Recipe that I Love

It’s cold and snowy, seems like a good time for a recipe thread.

Definitely hoping that Betty Cracker will share the slow cooker pork recipe she mentioned in the morning thread.  (please please please)  For me, both pork and chicken need to have good spices to make them appealing to me.  Based on the short description from Betty, I have high hopes for that one.

Recipe thread!

 

Finally, a Cornbread Recipe that I LovePost + Comments (109)

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