What are you eating?

[bhodges]

He recommended I download Firefox in the mean time!

(Sorry to briefly continue off-topic)  Lis, I just had an experience that sold me further on Firefox.  I was trying to listen to some of the commissions on Carnegie Hall's website, which are free for the clicking.  For some reason I couldn't get the links to work with Internet Explorer, but with Firefox, they work just fine. 

On topic:

That dinner and lunch look delicious.  I'll be right over...

--Bruce

[jlaurson]

I go for the simple Hausmannskost, like what I had today: Steamed cauliflower with breadcrumbs browned in unsalted butter, mashed potatoes made with Greek yoghurt - I didn't have milk! -, a Bavarian Knackwurst from the Illinois Bavarian Sausage company and for dessert more fresh fruit: Sliced nectarine with Greek Honey Yoghurt. Same white Italian wine left over from yesterday.

Lovely Dinner & good depiction. But, oh my... dear... what a rather unflattering picture of you on the sidebar. Haven't you something where you look less like it's taken from a Hieronymus Bosch painting?  

P.S. Firefox is easily superior to MS Explorer.

[Brünnhilde ewig]

Jens, Dear: What you got against Hieronymus? Have you any idea how painful the sitting was for me, he insisted on the tight bodice!

Actually there is one more flattering one in the bowels of the old GMG, I think, could be Rob removed it, too many calls to the moderators complaining about sunbathing images. 

[DavidRoss]

Jens, Dear: What you got against Hieronymus? Have you any idea how painful the sitting was for me, he insisted on the tight bodice!

Actually there is one more flattering one in the bowels of the old GMG, I think, could be Rob removed it, too many calls to the moderators complaining about sunbathing images. 

No complaints from me, my dear--nor anyone else I know. 

[matti]

Some day, my dear Matti, some day, I hope to eat YOUR native bread after having fished in YOUR lake! 

You are invited, Lis! I'll serve you FIVE breads. (And two fishes of course, from the lake  )

[SonicMan46]

Yummy looking crab dinner, Dave! What an inventive and efficient cook you are. I'd never attempt to do any crustation meal, too complicated......

Lis - well, if I put that dinner together, can't be too complicated!   

The King Crab simply comes frozen in a bag - simply put on my lobster pot (BIG) on the stove and brought a few inches on water to a boil; then added the 'frozen' crab - set a timer for 12 minutes, and what came out was shown on the plate - hard to beat that for simplicity; now, I'll do the same for a lobster (of course, the animal is 'alive' when put in the pot) - 

[Brünnhilde ewig]

Nobody has been eating since the 4th of June? Everybody on a diet? You are welcome at my place if you have the stomach to eat my minor mistake.

I have the reputation making the meat best sauce - Neighbour Ed calls it Lis's Killer Sauce - always using Mexican Hot Ground beef. When shopping I saw a new product: Italian Hot Sausage, made be a local company. Why not try that one, I thought and I did; the whole process taking me close to two hours. And only at the very end did I taste it - and I am still gasping for breath! 

I know there are many good cooks here at GMG - Allan? You here? - and I would be grateful to whoever will come up with an antidote to this triple-hot Lis's Killer Sauce! Is there anything that can be added to dilute the heat?

Thank you all! 

[bhodges]

Nobody has been eating since the 4th of June? Everybody on a diet? You are welcome at my place if you have the stomach to eat my minor mistake.

I have the reputation making the meat best sauce - Neighbour Ed calls it Lis's Killer Sauce - always using Mexican Hot Ground beef. When shopping I saw a new product: Italian Hot Sausage, made be a local company. Why not try that one, I thought and I did; the whole process taking me close to two hours. And only at the very end did I taste it - and I am still gasping for breath! 

I know there are many good cooks here at GMG - Allan? You here? - and I would be grateful to whoever will come up with an antidote to this triple-hot Lis's Killer Sauce! Is there anything that can be added to dilute the heat?

Thank you all! 

I'm not Allan, and I don't have a quick fix, but I bet you could find one in Shirley Corriher's book, CookWise.  I heard her once on National Public Radio and was in awe: she was talking about food and chemistry, why certain cooking processes work for certain foods, what ingredients are compatible, etc.-- all very "nuts and bolts" stuff.  I would bet she would have a solution.

Apparently when Julia Child had a cooking problem or question, Corriher is the person she would call to fix it.

(And PS, the sauce sounds delicious, even if slightly spicier than you intended!)

--Bruce

[Jay F]

Nobody has been eating since the 4th of June? Everybody on a diet? You are welcome at my place if you have the stomach to eat my minor mistake.

I have the reputation making the meat best sauce - Neighbour Ed calls it Lis's Killer Sauce - always using Mexican Hot Ground beef. When shopping I saw a new product: Italian Hot Sausage, made be a local company. Why not try that one, I thought and I did; the whole process taking me close to two hours. And only at the very end did I taste it - and I am still gasping for breath! 

I know there are many good cooks here at GMG - Allan? You here? - and I would be grateful to whoever will come up with an antidote to this triple-hot Lis's Killer Sauce! Is there anything that can be added to dilute the heat?

Thank you all! 

Simple. Don't start with "Mexican Hot Ground Beef." Choose another kind of ground meat, and season it yourself. I generally use a combo of two meats when I make Bolognese, choosing from ground pork, beef, and turkey. If I wanted to spice it up in a non-Italian way, i.e., using some kind of chili, I would use ground ancho powder, which I buy from Penzey's Spices. It's not hot unless you use a lot of it.

http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/p-penzeysancho.html

I add it right after the onions, before I brown the meat itself. (If you find you really like the flavor of ancho, you can reconstitute whole dried anchos in boiling stock, thickened with masa harina, but that's another recipe, another process.)

I'm not sure what all you put in your sauce, so I'll stop there.

[bhodges]

Simple. Don't start with "Mexican Hot Ground Beef." Choose another kind of ground meat, and season it yourself. I generally use a combo of two meats when I make Bolognese, choosing from ground pork, beef, and turkey. If I wanted to spice it up in a non-Italian way, i.e., using some kind of chili, I would use ground ancho powder, which I buy from Penzey's Spices. It's not hot unless you use a lot of it.

http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/p-penzeysancho.html

I add it right after the onions, before I brown the meat itself. (If you find you really like the flavor of ancho, you can reconstitute whole dried anchos in boiling stock, thickened with masa harina, but that's another recipe, another process.)

I'm not sure what all you put in your sauce, so I'll stop there.

Yes, good suggestions, since you never know how commercially prepared meats are seasoned.  I love chorizo, for example, but there seems to be a wide variance in the amount of spice (and salt) that are used.  Some brands will blow your head off; others are pleasantly spicy without being lethal.

But back to fixing your current dilemma, here is a thread on Chowhound, from a reader trying to tone down some chili that went awry.  The replies seem to like either a little peanut butter or sour cream (or crème fraîche, but who has time to find that? ).

--Bruce

[Brünnhilde ewig]

So many replies and so much help, thank you all!  


nicht schleppend: Your advise makes most sense, to not buy prepared meat concoctions, unfortunately I am not as skilled a cook as you are, making up my own mix of meats, etc., that would avoid any heat problems, I grant you. I concentrate on the additions of herbs, mostly homegrown ones, like lovage, lots of that in the sauce. Thyme, rosemary and parsley too. I always add a piece of sugar-free chocolate to any tomato dish, cuts down on the acidity. My mistake was falling for the Italian mix; I have lived in Northern Italy and never encountered any 'hot' dishes, nicely seasoned, yes, but no palate searing stuff!

The dish of sliced melons with Greek yogurt had a pleasant cooling effect!  

P.S.: Forgot to list the onions, garlic and one stalk of cellery.

[Brünnhilde ewig]

Bruce, you sure were busy in your search for a remedy. Did you by any chance plan on coming over to taste it yourself? This lady's cookbooks sound very helpful, unfortunately all the first page of hits deal with where to buy the books, nothing about heat-reducing hints. I tried the other one you found, most of them about Chili, should be the same for tomato sauce. I tried the sour cream advise, but only on the first batch, what I intended to eat right now, and it didn't do any harm, but not much good either.

I have at least ten servings left, which will go in the freezer and then during winter time I'll appreciate my nice hot Killer Sauce! As I read in your links, the heat improves - improves?? - with age. Gonna be a nice cozy winter here! 

[bhodges]

Oh no problem, Lis!    (Your crack researcher knows how to do these things quickly.) Wish I could drop by to erm, "test" your success, but alas...    But if portions are being frozen I will consider a future date.

Meanwhile, I have some fellow spicy food lovers whose brains I could pick...will let you know if any of them have any additional suggestions.  (Now I'm curious myself.)

Of course you could just chew on a raw habanero pepper for a few minutes...then your sauce will seem positively bland in comparison. 

--Bruce

[jlaurson]

Nobody has been eating since the 4th of June? Everybody on a diet? You are welcome at my place if you have the stomach to eat my minor mistake.

I know there are many good cooks here at GMG - Allan? You here? - and I would be grateful to whoever will come up with an antidote to this triple-hot Lis's Killer Sauce! Is there anything that can be added to dilute the heat?

1.) Eating, and plenty. Just haven't remembered to make pictures, which is sad and keeps me from posting here. Especially since the results have been perfectly picturesque, too.

Found myself a cooking-lass and together to get things cookin' with... Results have been utterly pleasing, and the food's been great, too.

(No, seriously, folks... I just flew in from Las Vegas, and boy are my jokes lame.)

I usually do the main course and she works on the deserts which I would never bother with.

Made "Topfenpalatschinken" a few days ago and a Rhubarb/Quark/Orange Tiramisu last night.

Last night's main dish was a Multiple-Mushroom-Oyster-Mushroom-Shitake Risotto with my self-made stock (which is key, I think). Shallots, white wine, some buttermilk early on, lots of Parmigiano R. toward the end... 40 minutes of stirring (on and off... not that big a deal, really). Very pleased with the result.

A huge Endive/mixed greens/Arugula salad the other day with my warm red beets / warm sheep cheese / warm cherry tomatoes dressing. Looks incredibly pink.


2.) These foods cool your too-hot-too-handle sauces.

Of course you will have to decide which ones work... you can ruin your sauces in more way than one.

Yogurt, Tomatoes (raw, unsalted), Cucumber (raw, unsalted).

[toledobass]

chew on a raw habenero....ha!!!!  Funniest thing I've read in a while. 

I would try adding some more tomato and some honey as well. Something sweet may temper the hot a little.


I made a vietnamese dish tonight.  Pork ribs braised in carmel sauce. 

[Brünnhilde ewig]

I think it's a blessing I don't know what a habenero is! 

Another can of diced tomatoes with a slurp of honey sounds much better than Bruce's suggestion. - Hello Bruce!  -

Romaine lettuce, rice, sliced tomatoes, English cucumbers and - sliced okra? Or is that a habenero pepper? Looks very good, Allan. 

[toledobass]

Just serrano pepper there Lis,  it's a mild one when compared to the habenero!!!

Allan

[toledobass]

........ with my self-made stock (which is key, I think).

Totally....Michael Ruhlman would even rather use water than canned stocks and I at this point I agree.

Allan

[Brünnhilde ewig]

Is there any other stock than the self-made one? Beef, chicken, vegetable, fish, all in my freezer. 

Topfenpalatschinken! Next your - Jens - lass will present you with Topfenkipferl for breakfast. 

I had the thought of making my own Topfen because it's not available here, but I am lacking the main ingredient: Raw milk! The sale of it is regulated so strictly it's not worth the effort. 

[jlaurson]

Is there any other stock than the self-made one? Beef, chicken, vegetable, fish, all in my freezer. 

Topfenpalatschinken! Next your - Jens - lass will present you with Topfenkipferl for breakfast. 

I will suggest that at a strategic moment when she accompanies me to the Fazil Say concert (Ravel Piano Concerto, then Messiaen's "Et expecto") this Friday. :-)

I had the thought of making my own Topfen because it's not available here, but I am lacking the main ingredient: Raw milk! The sale of it is regulated so strictly it's not worth the effort. 

Yes... the Federal Government needs to protect you from your milk-choices! How could you NOT be a libertarian when we live in a state that criminalizes the sale and purchase of fresh f&*(#) milk.

Topfen or Quark is sometimes sold directly from dairies as "Farmer's Cheese". No luck?