In the Kitchen with DKDetective and InCali: All Things Food, Wine, and Spirits, Etc.

I had a vision of some little, unused, 4 burner electric stove that sat unnoticed in the corner of @flickchick85 s kitchen. I have a 48", 6 burner Thermador with a griddle (only the griddle is electric) and with 2 ovens (which comes in handy sometimes). The burner output is almost 20,000 BTU which comes in really handy when you want to flash-fry.

I sound like some car guy. LOL. I could care less about cars.

 

how much would that be?

 

It depends on how much you're making. I usually use about 3 cloves. I put the finishing touches on after the tomato is added. It usually needs a little fine tuning. It just depends how much you like garlic.

 

I wonder what your arteries look like.

 

Oh hell no I ain't vegan. The meal service just so happens to be vegan. But when I'm not eating that, I'm eating regular ol' meaty take-out.

Not even a little! I'm sure it's delicious, though.

 

This joke writes itself...

But I'm too classy to make it.

 

When everybody left the nest to spread your wings and fly anyone do what I did and get a crash course from mom and grandma on all your favorite home cooked meals?

 

I like just a hint of it, not eating the whole bunch of cloves. The problem with garlic is not only the heartburn (in my case) but also the dragon breath.

Particularly, one of my friends always dresses nice, smells nice, she's always looking flawless but you can tell that she eats garlic on a regular basis. Guuurl, you may want to stop eating it.

Same happens when people that eat too much onion, even raw onions.

 

I've never had heartburn, but probably wouldn't know if I had garlic breath (I brushed my teeth after I got your message LOL). Like I said, to taste.

This recipe makes quite a lot of sauce. It basically fills a large skillet so it doesn't seem like a lot to me (but might seem like a lot to people when I'm talking to them ).

 

ahha well done, but it comes from the stomach

I can't deny that the smell of oil/garlic is mouthwatering! Also butter/garlic combination is a very good one too.

 

Since when?

 

I got spoiled.....

They're pretty expensive, but if you use it a lot. It's worth it. We've had ours for about 12 years or so. They also usually come with discounts and rebates and so forth.

 

...

...

...

I...

...

...

...

The truth hurts.

(Cries in corner.)

 

Nope, but I wish I had! I had a few crying episodes over uncooked meat/pasta/potatoes. unsalted dishes, I still don't know how much rice I am supposed to cook for ONE, or pasta - for that matter.

There are a lot of tricks that mums know, like: don't buy regular/cheap minced meat and get the expensive one because it doesn't have that much grease. Don't get the light green broccoli that's gonna taste bitter because the little flowers are open. You get the picture.

 

My family as a child was very concentrated in the brownstone my parents owned. My dad and mom, grandma and then myself and my brother and sister... But also two of my mother's unmarried sisters, her married sister and her two kids and husband, and my grandmother's youngest son.

So you can imagine what shopping was like. We were guaranteed two full shopping carts of foodstuff after coming back from Pathmark each week.

So grams was way used to cooking with giant amounts. She also raised 7 kids of her own. She never cooked for less than 6 people at any meal.

Fast forward to my highschool years. Now it is just mom, dad, gram and me living in another state. Well... This was a huge adjustment for grandma. She needed time to get used to cooking smaller amounts in smaller pots and pans.

She did it all (and still does) everything by eye and to taste. Nothing is written down. That precision is what makes a difference. Cooks like grandma just DO. Tell 'em how many people generally and they can wing it no problem. But if you have the full portion amounts of ingredients available with a little math you can adjust with a lot more precision.


*Edit.

I just read that last part again. I think I'm not clear.

What I mean is cooks like my grandma learned by doing from their mothers. As such it's more osmosis so to speak than following a recipe to a T. The thing is when you do it all by eye adjusting for the amount you want to make can get tricky especially going down in the amount made. With recipes you can just do some simple math with the amount of ingredients listed.

 

Heard the term before but honestly never knew what it was.

Thanks Mr. Wizard.

 

Thank you, guys! You have some good tips.

 

Tell me about it!

 

See it is funny you mention picking it up from paying attention in the kitchen. When I left home I told mom and grandma to give me lessons on how to cook my favorites, as I said. I didn't tell you grandma's answer though.

"You should have been paying attention all this time."

Well... She got me on that one.

 

Lyon?