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Mmmm, that sounds good. I may have to try that.

Pithecanthropus wrote:

Inspired by Iron Chef America's Battle Beer, which I watched (most of) last night (in my own beer induced stupor), I am planning a movie-related menu tonight.

Chicken breasts stuffed with a paste made of spinach, jack cheese and pale ale, coated in chopped popcorn and fried
Honeyed pineapple, plantain, apple, red onion stir fry thing (like vegetable matter Ju-Ju Bees)
Some sort of rice, because I like having a starch

And a movie... a classic I think.

What worked and what didn't:

The spinach, jack cheese & pale ale "stuffing" came out waaaaay too watery (but a really cool color).  Too much beer in the mix, not enough in the cook.  The popcorn made for a very interesting coating for the chicken, you just can't hide the flavor of popcorn.

Next time, no red onion in the fruit mix, blech! 

Rice is good.

Oh, and we watched V for Vendetta, which I hadn't seen.  Pretty good.

I feel like making lasagna, but with new ingredients.   Suggestions ?   Shrimp lasagna ?

I made this cake yesterday, and it turned out really really good. I didn't use walnuts, though, because they were too expensive.

Banana Sour Cream Cake

1 pkg. (2-layer size) yellow cake mix
3   eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 3 bananas)
1 cup  BREAKSTONE'S or KNUDSEN Sour Cream
1/4 cup oil
1 pkg.  (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 pkg.  (16 oz.) powdered sugar (about 4 cups)
1 cup PLANTERS Walnut Pieces, finely chopped
Make It

HEAT oven to 350°F. Beat cake mix, eggs, bananas, sour cream and oil with mixer on low until moistened, scraping bottom of bowl often. Beat on medium 2 min. Pour into greased and floured 13x9-inch pan.

BAKE 35 min. or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake completely in pan on wire rack.

BEAT cream cheese and butter with mixer on medium until blended. Gradually add sugar, beating well after each addition.

REMOVE cake from pan. Carefully cut cake crosswise in half using serrated knife. Place 1 cake half, top-side down, on plate; spread top with frosting. Top with remaining cake half, top side up. Frost top and sides. Press nuts onto sides. Refrigerate leftovers.

Fresh ground pepper for one thing.   The fresher the spice, the better.    How about some Worcestershire sauce ?

If you put onions in, fine chopped is best and not too many.   Otherwise, the hamburger tends to fall apart.   Egg seems to be the best binder.

Are you going put these burgers between bread (buns or whatever), or are you going to bread the meat ?

One thing I've noticed, is that home made burgers always tend to shrink in diameter and thicken (sometimes quite substantially) when grilled.  Keep that in mind when you form them.

Also, anyone here make their own prepared horseradish?  My grandma used to make it, according to my dad, but he can't remember all the ingredients.  He does remember vinegar and salt being added to the ground roots, but there was more.  Any ideas on that?

I've always found lots of help on food network's website. However, I got a nice article on mixing fresh horseradish root with vinegar here:
http://www.globalgourmet.com/food/egg/e … phors.html

As for added spices, some use garlic or mustard.

That might be something fun to grow this year in my garden.

Last edited by geekette28 (2009-02-15 9:31 am)

http://www.care2.com/c2c/groups/disc.ht … st=1020513

Marinating Meat In Wine/Beer Destroys Chemicals That Cause Cancer



Marinating steak in beer or wine before cooking it dramatically reduces levels of chemicals that can cause cancer. Beer is more effective than wine at lowering the cancer-forming chemicals (and also apparently often makes for a better-looking and tastier meal.)

Cooking food increases its levels of chemical compounds called heterocyclic amines (HA’s), which can cause cancerous tumors. Frying and grilling meat is particularly dangerous, because the intense heat turns sugars and amino acids into high levels of the compounds.

However, scientists are gathering increasing amounts of evidence to show that the levels of HA’s in cooked meat can be lowered by treating the food beforehand. Marinating steak in red wine or beer for six hours before frying can cut levels of two types of HA by up to 90 percent compared. Beer was also efficient at reducing a third type of HA, cutting levels significantly in just four hours.

Now we know what Coors is good for.   

Putting out a call for BBQ roasts techniques.   I saw a couple old threads on this, but they don't match up with what I want.   

Here's what happened last time.    I had some pork ribs.   I threw in a bottle of BBQ sauce to let them marinate.    I only had time to let them marinate for an hour.    I put the pot (the ribs were in a cast iron pot)  with the cover on in the oven at 325 for 90 minutes.   The result is that the sauce gets watery and thinned down.   The meat was dry in spite of being covered.  The sauce didn't penetrate very much.

Nefarious wrote:

Putting out a call for BBQ roasts techniques.   I saw a couple old threads on this, but they don't match up with what I want.   

Here's what happened last time.    I had some pork ribs.   I threw in a bottle of BBQ sauce to let them marinate.    I only had time to let them marinate for an hour.    I put the pot (the ribs were in a cast iron pot)  with the cover on in the oven at 325 for 90 minutes.   The result is that the sauce gets watery and thinned down.   The meat was dry in spite of being covered.  The sauce didn't penetrate very much.

http://homepage.mac.com/oatmeal/MAF/maxes/nodsad.gif

My neighbor says the common method is to marinate, slow boil and then put on the BBQ with the final sauces.

Salad:   lettuce in a bag, chick peas (garbanzo beans), pineapple or slices of oranges or strawberries, olives, feta cheese, shrimp or tenderloin tips, garlic salad dressing.

Here's to hoping that this thread never truly dies.