How many of you make a recipe once...

[Tesha]

really like it, then never make it again? cbayer reminded me of a dish I must have made 20 years ago but just forgot about it.
And if you don't have that problem - because I really thinks it's a problem - how do you avoid it?

So, when you hear "what's for dinner?" how do you decide, and how do you remember so many wonderful options?

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

1. I have definitely made a good recipe once but not again

the reason is that usually I want to make yet more new recipes. BUT, if something is really really good and I want to make sure that I make it again, I move it to my favorites folder. This is an actual physical manila folder that I keep in my kitchen. I have 2- One is a folder of recipes I have printed out that I want to try and one is for ones that I have tried and are worth making again and again.

After that, I think a lot of people establish a rotation of dishes that they can make at the drop of a hat, but then it's easy to start falling into ruts. That's why I have to keep introducing new things.

[Tesha]

3. do you use cookbooks too?

and how do you put those great recipes into rotation?

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

4. I do use cookbooks. I love to read them like novels

Right now the one I use the most is the Cooks Illustrated America's New Best Recipe. Very comprehensive and has just about anything anyone needs to find. I like their recipes because they are neither dumbed down nor overly elaborate unless they have to be and then they tell you why you must do it their way. I think their hand with spices is just about right too, at least for my taste. I always get the annual America's Test Kitchen Cookbook as well. I have only been let down once, and that was the macaroni and cheese recipe I posted about a while ago.

Once you have you folder of tried and trues, it's pretty easy. And after you have made something a number of times, you are barely referring to the recipe - it's just there to remind you. In my house I try pretty hard to rotate our meals based on the protein and try not to have the same protein in a row, plus many days vegetarian dispersed throughout.

The place that I am NOT at is planning a week's worth of meals, because I am always a "what do I feel like cooking today?" type. I can think 2 days in advance at the max. What are we having today and what are we probably having tomorrow.

[Arkansas Granny]

2. I do this all the time. I guess I need something to jog my brain or I just forget

about them. I've gotten some good recipes off the internet before and then lost the copy I printed out and can't find it again online. I like Phoebe's idea with the folders and will probably start doing that. It would be easy to make notes right on the recipe as far as any changes you made or would like to try or even the occassion when you fixed the dish.

[Tesha]

6. My folder is full...

I need to go back over it and throw out all the one's I've never used - or use them and find out if I like the dish - or just looking at the recipe...

I like the idea of notes, I'm going to use that, thanks!

[Arkansas Granny]

9. I sometimes make notes in the margins of my cookbooks to rate a recipe

or note any changes that I made to it. It helps me when I want to make it again and one of these days they will probably wind up in my daughter's kitchen. It might make a nice surprise to find Mom's take on a recipe even if I'm not there to consult. She shares my love of cooking and cookbooks.

[ginnyinWI]

5. If it is really really good,

write it on a recipe card, even though you might have it in a cookbook that you own. Then once in a while, go through the file and pull out the cards that look good that you haven't made in a while. Work on that stack until they are all back in the file box.

I also put a check mark next to recipes in cookbooks that I own that I definitely want to make again.

[Tesha]

7. I wonder...

If I kept a list of the interesting dishes on the outside of a folder and refer to the book or website or even inside the folder if I printed it...

I have a gazillion cookbooks, and have actually used most of them, but can never find which one has which recipe! Drives Me Nuts!!!

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

8. That would work. nt.

[ginnyinWI]

18. yup--

it would work as an index to all your favorites. Better than post-it notes stuck in all of your cookbooks!

Or how about this: you could make a sort of card catalog for your cookbook collection--have 3x5 cards in an A-Z recipe box, but on them print only the cookbook and page number of the dish, not the recipe itself. For example, one card might say "Potato Salad" and then under that list where to find recipes for potato salads that you've tried and liked in your cookbooks.

It might be a beast to set up, but you could just do it as you went along and it wouldn't be too hard.

[Tesha]

19. I think you've got my solution there

I'll just ease into it, start from today.

[troubleinwinter]

10. I made a WONDERFUL recipe and SWORE I'd NEVER make it again

25 years ago or so, from Gourmet or Bon Apetite magazine. A sort of 'southwest' version of tortellini with pesto.

First I made the pasta dough, the most BEAUTIFUL perfect color of terra cotta from the spices in it, and deliciously flavored.

Then made the filling... I don't recall what was in it, but pinenuts, olives and a million other things.

Then filling and folding all the little (tortellini) "sombreros"!

Then a sort of creamy pesto sauce, using garlic, pinenuts, cilantro in lieu of basil.

As I set it on the table, I said, "It doesn't matter if it's good or not. I'm not going to make it again. It took ALL day."

It was fantastic. And beautiful. And I haven't made it since, and never will.

[eleny]

11. And it takes about 10 minutes to eat

That's where I draw the line. If it takes a very long time to prepare and a flash to eat, then that's usually off my list.

[Tesha]

12. I understand...

I love making recipes that take all day... once. I'll do this for big dinners for my entertainment, or for saying I did it. But to spend that kind of time all the time? I just can't - I'm a big proponent of spending as little of my time as possible to put together a dinner. It can cook all day, but I don't want to have to be there every minute...
know what I mean?

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

13. I had EXACTLY the same Bon Appetite experience from the eighties

Mine was a Hungarian chicken paprikash recipe that was presented in crepes (only they didn't call them crepes) Number one, you know you have a problem when any recipe starts "the day before". I now know they may as well say "one year in advance . . "

Anyway, there were the crepes, there was some kind of 2 stage cooking of the chicken, there was the sauce, there was the assembling, and then there were mandatory side accompaniments. I served it. It was absolutely incredible and I was too tired to enjoy more than a couple of mouthfuls. Never again.

[troubleinwinter]

25. Reminds me of the yogurt maker.

20-25 yrs ago, my mother bought me a yogurt maker. I made a recipe that involved boning chicken parts and stuffing with sauted vegetables and home-made yogurt, wrapping it all in a pastry crust, and a cream sauce made with yogurt. It took all damned day (not counting the days making the yogurt).

As we sat and ate it, I said, "Well, this is OK, it tastes exactly like a 69 cent frozen chicken pot pie."

Another one I never made again.

[grasswire]

34. palascinta

Hungarian pancakes.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

36. Yes! That is what they were called. I knew it sounded like placenta

Thanks. It was actually pretty good. I was very inexperienced back then. Maybe the recipe wouldn't seem so daunting now.

[Warpy]

17. Restaurantitis

A lot of those recipes were developed in restaurants with sous chefs to do all the grunt work of making the pasta, mixing the filling, and assembling the damned things.

I learned to avoid that stuff like the plague very early on, along with recipes that have specialized sauces, see page whatever, or fillings or pasta doughs or other crapola the staff is supposed to be doing in the background.

[cbayer]

14. I love recipes and I love trying new things, but there are a few dishes I love so much

that I make them again and again.

Tomato Basil Tart

Cold noodles with sesame and chicken

Chuck roast with star anise

But there are many others that I never do again or try variations.

:hi:

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

20. Quite a few years ago I made Pot Roast with 5 Spice Powder

It was a chuck roast and I remember it had 5 Spice powder ( the major component of which is star anise) plus broccoli. It was terrific.I have long since lost the recipe.

Could you possibly share your recipe that has stood the test of time and made it into your permanent rotation?

[cbayer]

22. Very simple.

Buy a cheap cut of chuck roast - about 4 pounds - bone in is best.

Brown it quickly in oil, then add water to cover. I add soy sauce (half cup), dry sherry (a few tablespoons), a few cloves of garlic, a few slices of ginger and 3-4 star anise (or the 5 spice powder).

Simmer on very low, uncovered, for about 3 hours, or until it is just falling apart. I usually throw in some small potatoes and carrots for the last hour or so.

The liquid should cook off enough to leave you a wonderful sauce.

There will be a lot of fat on top of the sauce to skim off, but what is underneath is super delicious.

Yum, Yum. And the leftovers are good heated up or cold.

Let me know how it comes out if you make it!

:hi:

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

23. Thanks! The next time I do a chuck roast I will do your way.

I'll have to locate the star anise first.:hi:

[Tab]

15. Two reasons

One, as mentioned, if it takes forever to cook. Sometimes I get in the mood where I like to spend a whole day cooking (since I've been sick I don't even like spending 20 minutes cooking, but I used to.

Second, if I make something wonderful - truly wonderful - I might write it down (actually I have a folder on my computer, so I type it down) but since I cook improvisationally, the chances that I could actually replicate the experience is unlikely, so I don't try it ever again, or at least not for many years, lest I fail to replicate the wonder of it all and ruin my original memory of the dish. Plus I like to invent new things. Only for a more formal dinner might I fall back on tried and true successes, but I'll still toss in something new.

As far as advanced preparation, I'm trying to find for everyone a recording of Isaiah Sheffer (of NPR's Selected Shorts) reading "Country Cooking from Central France: Roast Boned Rolled Stuffed Shoulder of Lamb (Farce Double)," Harry Mathews' apocryphal tale of a French recipe that goes on forever; I've heard it twice - I'm sure some on this list have heard it (they just replayed it this weekend) but I'm having trouble getting my hands on a recording of it.

- Tab

[troubleinwinter]

28. I don't mind "cooking all day"

I mind spending stupid time all day on my feet doing foolish things.

I also "cook improvisationally". I have a couple of recipes that I am known for among family and friends, and am required to make them often. I have been asked so many times for the recipes. I have TRIED to write them for people. I cannot do it. I taste. I look. I throw more of this to balance that... many times. I just "know".

Someone close to me asked for one of the recipes, and after writing three pages, decided it was just stupid. I could SHOW, in the kitchen, a person how to make it.... but they'd have to go to the market with me too. I cannot say "three pounds of Roma tomatoes" WTF!!?? It depends on the tomatoes, and I haven't a clue what tomatoes weigh. I cannot say "a cup of cream"... sometimes it's 3/4 cup, sometimes it's 2 cups... it depends, and I cannot measure... it depends. Sometimes wine, sometimes not, it depends on how it's coming along. I have never measured "a SHIT-LOAD" of fresh garlic. How does one measure "heaps of basil at the beginning, middle and end"?

It wouldn't be meaningful for me to write it for myself, either. No clue what the proportions are, I just KNOW by smell and sight and texture and tasting.

The other recipe... a DUer here asked for it. I simply could not write it. I have to taste. A simple recipe for Sauer Bratten with few ingredients, but I have never measured ANYTHING, I always have to taste to know, and add whatever to make it right.

Maybe before I'm dead I should figure out these two recipes and leave 'em on a piece of paper. But I am a contrary sort and lazy. And I like cooking by taste and feel.

The only times I cook from a measured recipe is when I make pot au choix or Ain5 bread. I am not much for baking. Baking needs accuracy.

If I made curry last year, it won't be precisely the same this time. I'll likely throw more ginger in it. Lordy knows what veggies. More or less coconut milk... depends on what it seems to need.

I'm a 'fly-by-the-seat-of-yer-pants' cook.

"Recipes" to me are nothing more than inspirations.

[Arkansas Granny]

33. It sound like you cook the way I do. If someone asks me for a recipe

I am likely to have a list of possible ingredients and the instructions. I rarely make something the same way twice. A recipe is just a basic guidline.

The only time I'm likely to measure anything accurately is when I'm baking, but even then, I find that you can make some changes as long as the ratio of flour, liquid and leavening agent stay the same.

[Tab]

37. If something is successful, I might write a couple of things down

just so I know roughly what I put into it. Usually not any real instructions, and certainly almost never measurements. No one else (except maybe for people here like you and I) would get far with it. Certainly no one that relies on recipes.

For a short example, one evening I made cheese crisps. Here's what I wrote down...

Hard cheese, scraped
Flour it
Coat with melted butter, and herbs and pepper if desired
Toast/cook in oven

I'm sure you could wing it, but if a relative asked for "the recipe", that's all they'd get. Whatever herbs I'm in the mood for and/or have. However much pepper I feel like. Whatever hard cheese I either have or are in the mood for. Etc., etc.

- Tab

[Warpy]

16. I was a new veg head 40 years ago

and made a kidney bean based lasagna for a crowd. People are still talking about that one and in a good way, it was delicious.

I just can't remember for the life of me what I put into the damned thing to make it taste like lasagna instead of refried beans with a lot of cheese.

It's just one more example of remembering the 60s means you weren't there.

[pengillian101]

26. It's just one more example of remembering the 60s means you weren't there.

HA!

kidney bean based lasagna, now that is something I never heard of.

It so intrigued me, I had to google it. Maybe your recipe is here somewhere.

http://www.google.com/search?q=kidney%20bean%20based%20lasagna&hl=en&ned=us&tab=nw

:hi:

[Warpy]

27. not a chance

I vaguely remember partially mashing the beans and throwing stuff in until it was a lot less sweet. I seem to remember cumin, a little ground allspice, lots of garlic, oregano, onion...and then it gets really hazy.

I might have put some soaked bulgur in there to give it a little more "bite," a favorite trick to fool people into thinking there was meat in something.

I also remember spiking the sauce with a little cayenne.

The point was that it tasted like lasagna and nobody would believe that "meat" layer was BEANS.

[troubleinwinter]

29. "tasted like lasagna"

I wonder if the mystery "meat" could have had fennel seed... an ingredient in Italian sausage?

It all sounds pretty good!!!

[Warpy]

30. I'm sure it did

either in the beans or in the sauce. I was on a fennel kick at the time, especially when it came to cutting the gas from beans.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

31. Soaked bulgur is brilliant. I really dislike that textured soy stuff

but bulgur would be perfect.

[Warpy]

32. You'd actually want to use both

Bulgur supplies "bite," but that soy will supply your protein.

[TreasonousBastard]

21. All the time, but not just food, it's kind of my life...

been there, done that-- there are too many new things to try...

[Mind_your_head]

24. Well, I made this recipe ONCE.......*TRULY* the best cake I have ever ever had

But, it literally took all day. I 'pine' for this cake often and just never quite work up enough gumption to actually make it again.

I guess part of me is afraid that it won't be quite as good as I remember it being the first time....or I'll screw it up somehow/some way and it will ruin my memory of how ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS that cake was the first time I made it (it was the dessert after a 'truly memorable'/gut-busting/outstanding full cajun dinner that my old "gourmet group" did years ago).....but it took ALL DAY TO MAKE.

Paul Prudhomme's Spiced Pecan Cake with Pecan Icing
Ingredients

Cake
2 cups coarsely chopped pecans, see note
1/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed,see note
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon, see note
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg, see note
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature,see note
3 tablespoons vanilla extract, see note
2 cups sugar
3 cups sifted unbleached flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 cup milk, plus
2 tablespoons milk
3 egg whites, room temperature (save yolks for frosting)

Cake Glaze
1 cup water
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup water
8 egg yolks, room temperature (lightly beat all but 3 extra whites with pinch salt and freeze for other use)
1 1/2 cups butter or margarine, cut into pieces,room temperature
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
4 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups coarsely chopped pecans, toasted
heavy cream, if needed to thin
pecan halves

Directions
1Cake: Position rack in upper third of oven and preheat to 425 degrees F.
2To candy pecans, place on a large ungreased metal baking sheet.
3Roast 10 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes.
4Combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a medium bowl.
5Mix in 1/4 cup butter, and stir in hot pecans to coat thoroughly.
6Return mixture to pan and roast 10 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes.
7Mix in 2 Tbsp vanilla, and roast another 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
8Cool candied pecans to room temperature.
9See bottom Note!
10Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
11Grease and flour three 8" round cake pans.
12Cream remaining 3/4 cup butter with 1-1/2 cups sugar in large bowl of electric mixer at high speed until very light and fluffy, about 6 minutes.
13Sift flour and baking soda into another bowl.
14Combine milk and remaining 1 Tbsp vanilla in measuring cup.
15Add dry ingredients and milk mixture alternately to butter mixture, beating at high speed until well blended, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally.
16Gently stir in candied pecans.
17Beat egg whites until frothy.
18Add remaining 1/2 cup sugar 1 Tbsp at a time, beating at high speed until mixture is stiff but not dry, about 2 minutes.
19Gently fold beaten egg whites into batter in three additions.
20Divide batter among prepared pans, forming a slight depression in the center of each.
21Bake until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean, about 40 minutes.
22Cool 10 minutes in pans, then invert onto wire racks, and cool to room temperature.
23Cake Glaze: Heat water and sugar in heavy small saucepan over low heat until sugar dissolves, swirling pan occasionally.
24Increase heat, and bring mixture to a full boil.
25Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla.
26Immediately brush hot glaze over top and sides of each cake layer.
27Frosting: Heat sugar and water in heavy 1 quart saucepan over low heat, swirling pan occasionally, until sugar dissolves.
28Increase heat and boil without stirring until mixture registers 230 degrees F (thread stage) on candy thermometer, swirling pan occasionally, about 15 minutes.
29Blend egg yolks in the large bowl of an electric mixer at high speed for 5 seconds.
30Decrease speed to low, and add hot syrup in a thin stream, and then beat at high speed until cool, about 10 minutes.
31DO NOT SCRAPE DOWN SIDES OF BOWL.
32Gradually add butter or margarine, beating at medium speed until smooth, about 5 minutes.
33Reduce speed to low, and blend in powdered sugar and vanilla.
34Add chopped pecans and beat at high speed until mixture is very thick.
35Thin frosting with cream if necessary.
36Stack cake layers on a serving platter, spreading 1 cup of frosting between each, refrigerating frosting as necessary to keep it firm.
37Smooth remaining frosting on sides and top of cake.
38Arrange pecan halves around top edge.
39Serve at room temperature.
40Note: If this does not sound rich enough for you, it can be made even richer.
41To do so, increase all ingredients used to candy the pecans by one half.
42After cooling, reserve one cup of the candied pecans and add these to the icing at the same time as the toasted pecans are added.

http://www.recipezaar.com/Spiced-Pecan-Cake-With-Pecan-Icing-94079

Lots of good comments/reviews/thoughts about this most excellent cake:
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4ADBF_enUS313US314&q=Paul+Prudhomme+pecan+cake

[grasswire]

35. I used to do that kind of stuff

A cake shaped like a cabbage, with chocolate leaves that are molded off real cabbage leaves. A White House Fancy Cake. An authentic Dobos Torte. A sit-down tempura dinner for 40 people.

It's heady stuff.

[csziggy]

38. That recipe reminds me of Feud Cake - I made it twice, once for each family

Wonderful, very rich and one cake that serves a lot of people.

Feud Cake

Makes 12 to 15 Servings
6 Egg Yolks
6 Egg Whites
3/4 cup Granulated sugar
3/4 cup Confectioner's or Powdered sugar
2 tsp. Baking powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
5 cups Pecans, finely chopped
4 tbsp. All-purpose flour
2 tsp. Vanilla
TOPPING


Preheat the oven to 350º. Beat egg whites until foamy - add powdered sugar to make a meringue or beat until it stands in peaks. In separate bowl beat egg yolks with granulated sugar for about 10 minutes, add the flour, baking powder, pecans and vanilla. Remove to larger bowl and fold in meringue by hand until well mixed. Pour into 3 greased and floured 9 inch cake pans. Bake it for about 10 to 12 minutes. Remove immediately from pans onto wire cake racks and cool.

Topping
1 1/2 qt. Whipping Cream or Dessert Topping (Non Dairy Whip)
1 cup Confectioner's or Powdered sugar
Pecans, chopped


Whip 1-1/2 Qt. Whipping Cream or Dessert Topping -- if whipping cream is used add 1 cup powdered sugar (add none to the dessert topping). Frost Layers, top and sides of cake and sprinkle generously with chopped pecans.

http://www.jonrachel.com/cooking/feudcake.asp

When I made it, I found ground pecans at the store and used them - the cake had a finer texture than when I ate it at the restaurant in Panama City, Florida that serves it (7 Seas Restaurant, now closed). I totally disagree about using the non-dairy topping. If you are going to make this cake, use the real whipped cream!