The Priest OT ThreadFollow

I wish I could join in on the food battle but I can't :(

All we have around here is norwegian food.

LUTEFISK ANYONE!?!?!?!

You can't even really get those where I live.

Though, I'll have to check the local Wal-Mart to see if they have any just to be sure. I've always wanted to try a Mars Bar.

But by mentioning Fried food, you have opened a huge can of worms.

Look upon our works, ye mighty, and despair. When it comes to fried foods, the Texas State Fair wins. Period.

Yes, you read that right. Chicken Fried Bacon and Deep Fried Butter. You can feel your arteries clogging just by reading that page.

And let me tell you, that stuff is good.

Edited, Feb 13th 2010 6:29pm by IDrownFish

I live in a region whose biggest claims to food related fame are barbeque (the good kind) and pimento cheese (I make awesome pimento cheese). I win.

\


It's this disgusting (but so delicious) unhealthy mass of cheese, mayo, pimentos, and some spices. Serve on crackers or in a Pimento Cheese BLT.

That's your challenge? Ew. Next thing a Scot will be coming along claiming haggis is good stuff.

Alright, enough with the sweets! What you guys need is some stick-to-your-ribs food. So in the interest of keeping priesty bellies warm (and hopefully coaxing some cookie recipes fom certain posters here), I present you with my thirty minute biscuit and gravy breakfast.

... Awaken from a disturbing dream to a growling stomach. Hrmmm, cold cereal ain't gonna cut it today, needs me some victuals.

Bounce off several pieces of furniture on way to kitchen. Mindlessly start pot o' coffee.

Preheat oven to 450F (230C) for biscuits. (Whatever the package says is wrong, I haven't the time or inclination for reading in the morning.)

Assemble the gear: One big ol' pan for the sausage gravy, one baking sheet for the biscuits, one smaller pan for the roux. Tube of breakfast sausage, Cannister of biscuits, butter (or your favorite cooking fat), flour, chile powder, cayenne pepper, sugar, 4.5 cups (1l) milk (I have used heavy cream in the past, but that would require a trip to the market today, which ain't gonna happen.)

I haven't listed exact measurements for the various ingredients because some of them are for taste and will change according to yours while others are for the roux, which I will cover in a bit.

Coffee should be done by now, pour a cup, take a swig and a deep breath... here we go!

Toss big ol' pan and smaller pan on stove, turn up heat all the way for sausage pan, medium heat for smaller pan. Toss sausage in big ol' pan (remove packaging first.) I favor JB Rice medium, but any breakfast sausage will do. If the sausage was frozen, cover the pan to help it thaw. If not, smush up sausage in the pan and fry away. Keep smushing and turning sausage from time to time, the smaller the clumps of sausage the better. Toss biscuits in oven that should be heated up by now. Set timer. Oh crap, the sausage pan is too hot! Turn down heat to medium on sausage now to allow it to cook a bit slower. Once it is browned, remove excess fat and add the milk. Return heat to high. Add seasoning. I normally put in a teaspoon or two of sugar and chile powder, and just a smattering of cayenne pepper, but you can change these to taste. Allow the sausage pan to heat up to boiling, stirring as necessary while you start the next stage: The Roux

As any cook knows, you must combine both science and art to become skilled in the kitchen. Baking is a good example of the science part. Deviating from a recipe can result in a nuclear disaster that may require a call to haz-mat for removal (Baking Powder is not the same as Baking Soda!). One of the arts of cooking is preparing a roux. Even with exact measurements, a roux can fail depending on various issues. Much of the success of the roux depends on heat and time. So instead of giving you exact measurements and directions, I will walk through my roux prep, ymmv.

The thickness of your sausage gravy depends on how much flour is added. If you desire thinner or thicker gravy adjust both the amount of fat and flour.

Toss about 4 tb (1/4 cup, not sure of the metric equiv D:) of butter in the small pan. (Advanced move: Forgo butter and use sausage fat spooned from big ol' pan; However I do not recommend mixing fats to make roux!) If the pan is the right temperature, the butter should sizzle until melted. Adjust heat if needed, too hot and the fat will burn, too cold and the roux will not take proper shape. Here is the art part: you are going to add flour to the melted fat until you reach the proper consistency for the roux. It normally takes around half the amount of fat you have i.e. if you used 4 tb of butter, the roux should thicken with around 2 tb of flour. Add the flour gradually, melting it into the fat. It will thicken as you add more flour. You want the roux to reach a point that it still drips off the spoon (slowly) and not become a solid mass. If the coloring darkens too much, the heat is a bit high, a blonde roux is what we are going for here.

Once your roux is in shape, blend it into the sausage pan. The milk needs be hot enough to melt the roux or you will have lumpy gravy (this is bad!). Maintain heat while occasionally stirring. Sauce will thicken with time.

Biscuits should be done by now. As the gravy thickens, this is a good time to fry a couple eggs. If you time it right, all are ready at the same time.

Open biscuits on plate. Slather with generous amount of sausage gravy. Slide eggs on top...
Now go fill that belly!

Who me? >.>
I'm from the southernmost northern town and the westernmost eastern town...

But yeah, I like southern cooking. =)

Which of course is true of nearly anything.

Again with the deep-fried mars bar. I have got to see if I can find any locally.

And I still stand by the Deep Fried Peaches and Cream. Next summer when the peaches are in season I'm going to have to make some. Assuming of course I can track down a recipe.

Gosh darn you, overly creative food makers and your tightly-guarded secrets!

Edited, Feb 17th 2010 9:16pm by IDrownFish

We never learned this in housekeeping school in Germany.

Also, Woodruff flavoured anything is amazing. And Mozzarella with Lea&Perrins.

I don't trust Marmite, though. It sounds odd. I don't think I want to try it.


Also, if all else fails, I will move to Edinburgh. Amsterdam, Dublin, Southampton and Cardiff are higher up my list, though. Although with Soton I think, I don't want to live in the same county in England for more than half a decade. That is just lame. Hell, living in one country for that long is boring enough.

I am ranting. Meh.

People from Amsterdam tell me the same of their city.

It's just that I feel like I was a gipsy in a past life, and I can't stand the thought of living in the same country for a long time. I've never been farther north in Britain than York, but that still seemed pretty British and while I <3 the British, I'd rather move to a different place before I start hating you guys. Therefore, Ireland and the Netherlands are actually higher up my list. Maybe I'll return some day.

Yeah, don't get me wrong, I love the UK. More than any country I've lived in so far - because the two other countries I've lived in, I experienced for so long that I got annoyed at all the little flaws far too much. I'd still enjoy visiting them, especially the United States (it's not all Jackson County, FL, after all), but I wouldn't want to live there again. I plan on staying mostly in Europe (because no visa requirements are a huge bonus), at least till I've finished my studies, and anything south of France is definitely too hot for me, too.

I also love languages, so non-English speaking countries are nice for learning new ones. And France is scary. So the best options I have for Uni (after looking at study programmes all over the continent) are both in Amsterdam. So the Priest Forum Dutch People are preparing me for that now.

I think a large part is that I've never really had a home, though. I mean, I did live where my mother happened to live till 2004, but it didn't feel like a true home at all and I've spent my free time and money on travelling all over the place on my own since I was 13.

Oh, also, I think I'll visit Scotland at some point but probably not while I actually live in Britain. It's that thing about not being a tourist in your own country, and for now, the UK is my own country. Before I moved here, I spent lots of time travelling the country, I just never really had the time and money to go all the way from my base of operations (Hampshire) all the way up north.

Also, I do not mind places with high crime rates. Love Nottingham. Nonetheless, Edinburgh sounds way lovelier than Glasgow.