Poll: The lost art of cooking?

[Souschef]

My wife is a frequent contributor to a sister site, Discuss Cooking, which is where I learned about this site.
We basically cook only dinner. Breakfast and lunch we are on our own, e.g. leftovers, sandwiches, etc.
Since we are both retired, we have the time for preparation. As my screen name indicates, I am the sous chef. I do most of the preparation and all of the cleanup.
Right now for Christmas dinner at son's house we are cooking 4 ducks simultaneously

 

[ArkTinkerer]

How many of you roast the bones before making broth (or stock)? I will usually use bones from items we already cooked to eat but don't usually use deer bones to make stock. Ran across a website where someone was roasting the leg bones, adding some vegetables and then using that to make stock. I have usually found I don't like the flavor of deer marrow but have not tried roasting the bones first.

 

[MRG]

I haven't roasted the bones but mainly do chicken stock. Not sure if you roast chicken bones? Might try it.
Never tried version stock, I like the marrow from steaks.

 

[tmm99]

I like it better if I make chicken broth with roast chicken bones - the color of the broth comes out white and the broth is richer.

 

[MRG]

Thank you, I'll try that in a few weeks.

 

[cyber888]

I prepare 2 meals - my breakfast (includes coffee) + dinner (sandwich, scramble eggs, avocado, salad, etc). My wife normally prepares my lunch.

 

[marko]

Almost everything from scratch with maybe a short cut at times. Seldom anything prepackaged.

Typical:
Breakfast: eggs any style with english muffin, home fries, bacon
Lunch: we usually skip lunch or will make a sandwich
Dinner: chicken saltimboca/parm/picatta/fried, steak on the grill, shrimp scampi, roast lamb/prime rib, pasta (no, we don't make it from scratch) with home made sauce, etc.

 

[HFWR]

I both grow, and thrash, my own wheat. Have to thrash by hand, because a combine won't fit through the gate...



I do often cook from "scratch", in the sense that I use minimal pre-packaged ingredients. But I use canned broth, canned tomatoes, canned beans (if an ingredient, not as a main dish), and frozen vegetables regularly, both for convenience, and to reduce waste.

 

[marko]

I both grow, and thrash, my own wheat. Have to thrash by hand, because a combine won't fit through the gate...

Now that's hard-core "made from scratch"!

Reminds me of a friend's DW who weaves her own table cloths!

 

[Chuckanut]

I do often cook from "scratch", in the sense that I use minimal pre-packaged ingredients. But I use canned broth, canned tomatoes, canned beans (if an ingredient, not as a main dish), and frozen vegetables regularly, both for convenience, and to reduce waste.

+1

Like my old grand pappy used to say "Never let the perfect become the enemy of the good".

 

[splitwdw]

I both grow, and thrash, my own wheat. Have to thrash by hand, because a combine won't fit through the gate...



I do often cook from "scratch", in the sense that I use minimal pre-packaged ingredients. But I use canned broth, canned tomatoes, canned beans (if an ingredient, not as a main dish), and frozen vegetables regularly, both for convenience, and to reduce waste.

What kind of wheat do you grow and what type of mill do you use? Always thought this process was interesting but I just buy flour from health food store or local mill.

 

[NW-Bound]

How many of you roast the bones before making broth (or stock)? I will usually use bones from items we already cooked to eat but don't usually use deer bones to make stock. Ran across a website where someone was roasting the leg bones, adding some vegetables and then using that to make stock. I have usually found I don't like the flavor of deer marrow but have not tried roasting the bones first.

Roasting beef bones then making stock with vegetables gives a nice brown stock to use in soups or reduce to make sauce.

On the other hand, broth or stock in many Oriental noddle soups is clear or very light in color, and one does not roast the bones.

 

[DayDreaming]

I have recently read that you can reuse the same bones to make the bone broth (You don't have to throw it away after one cooking.) I am not sure about chicken, but for sure beef bones. You probably knew this, but put a little vinegar when cooking - it is supposed to leach out more minerals from the bones.

This is true if you want to get mineral and calcium from the bones. However, that taste of umami or je ne sais quoi fades out. Hence, I use the bones only once. And that taste comes from the porous bone ends more than the bone itself. Hence, the soup bone packages that they sell for $2/lb have more of the ends, and they are often sawed into slices to make it easier to leach out all that goodness.

I reuse bones, but mix them with some fresh bones for the next batch. My thinking is that the new bones will give me the flavor and gelatin, the old bones might add a little extra mineral content.

After a few cycles of doing this, I discard bones that have been through the cycle a few times - they appear very porous and brittle and are easy to pick out from the newer bones. And I do this mainly with chicken bones.

 

[karen1972]

I find this whole thread funny.. lets outdo each other on "scratch". btw, went to a culinary boot camp, given by professional chefs and THEY don't even make their own dough.. so we made stock from scratch, cut our own beef tenderloin, made calamari from scratch, fillet fish, etc, but when it came to beef wellington, they pulled out packaged dough and wrapped it up. I'm like ummmmm.. and that's when you learn they consider cooking and baking 2 totally different things.

 

[HFWR]

What kind of wheat do you grow and what type of mill do you use? Always thought this process was interesting but I just buy flour from health food store or local mill.

That was (allegedly) humor...

 

[athena53]

DH and I both enjoy food preparation. We do have a bad tendency to rely on canned soups for lunch but I always stir-fry a bunch of veggies to throw into mine. DH makes his own pancake batter and corn bread. I eat a lot of fresh veggies and typically buy what's in season or cheap (more cabbage, onions and turnip greens this time of year).


I used to clip grocery coupons but, other than canned soup, most of them apply to things we never buy- candy, dessert mixes, prepared dinner entrees, etc.

 

[Meadbh]

I used to clip grocery coupons but, other than canned soup, most of them apply to things we never buy- candy, dessert mixes, prepared dinner entrees, etc.

Most coupons and special offers seem to apply to processed foods, probably because the profit margin is higher than on fresh produce. I don't chase coupons, but rather, when I shop at the supermarket where I have a loyalty card, I go with a list, and compare the best deals in store. I buy what I need, but I don't buy items just because they are on sale.

 

[ArkTinkerer]

I find this whole thread funny.. lets outdo each other on "scratch". btw, went to a culinary boot camp, given by professional chefs and THEY don't even make their own dough.. so we made stock from scratch, cut our own beef tenderloin, made calamari from scratch, fillet fish, etc, but when it came to beef wellington, they pulled out packaged dough and wrapped it up. I'm like ummmmm.. and that's when you learn they consider cooking and baking 2 totally different things.

Its not about outdoing anyone. I enjoy hunting and gardening and it does make a big difference in flavor. Homemade pizza dough makes a huge (thats a Trump size huuuge) difference in taste compared to a purchased pizza crust. I'd do that and throw purchased pasta sauce, grated cheese, and frozen peppers and onions on it. I'll grow peppers but I've given up on some things like onions as not worth the time and effort. I'm sure it varies from place to place and person to person. I really enjoy home made bread but others may not care a bit for it.

Now as for growing and threshing my own wheat--I can't say it would be worth the time, effort, or garden space! I'm not really that much into growing my own corn though that should do well here.

 

[NW-Bound]

Posters are not trying to outdo each other. In many cases, it was just a joke, like growing one's wheat.

On the other hand, I really harvested about 20 lbs of yam off my backyard garden, but this crop was unintentional.

PS. A bit of explanation is in order here. My wife read that the young shoot of the yam vine is nutritious, so she grew it and used the stems as one would use spinach. At the end of the season when the vine died, I turned the soil to prepare for the next growing season, and discovered the yummy and sweet yam.

 

[W2R]

That was (allegedly) humor...

You GOT me!!!!

I honestly thought you were serious, and thought to myself, wide-eyed, "Gosh, all these years and I had no idea HFWR was the kind of guy who would grow his own wheat!".

 

[ArkTinkerer]

Posters are not trying to outdo each other. In many cases, it was just a joke, like growing one's wheat.

On the other hand, I really harvested about 20 lbs of yam off my backyard garden, but this crop was unintentional.

PS. A bit of explanation is in order here. My wife read that the young shoots of the yam vine is nutritious, so she grew it and used the stems as one would use spinach. At the end of the season when the vine died, I turned the soil to prepare for the next growing season, and discovered the yummy and sweet yam.

You had better luck not trying than I had when I wanted to grow sweet potatoes! Vines took over. Roots, not so much.

 

[harley]

You GOT me!!!!

I honestly thought you were serious, and thought to myself, wide-eyed, "Gosh, all these years and I had no idea HFWR was the kind of guy who would grow his own wheat!".

Me too! I totally believed he would grow his own.

 

[NW-Bound]

You had better luck not trying than I had when I wanted to grow sweet potatoes! Vines took over. Roots, not so much.

You would be able to declare your planting effort a success if you had eaten the vines instead of the tubers.

See this: Sweet Potato Greens - Information About Eating Potato Vine Leaves.

Excerpt: ... the leaves are an excellent source of antioxidants and contain high levels of vitamin A and C, as well as riboflavin, thiamin, folic acid and niacin. Sweet potato vine leaves also provide impressive amounts of fiber, along with calcium, magnesium, manganese, zinc, copper, potassium and iron.

 

[Meadbh]

Beet leaves are excellent, too. And to think I used to throw them out!!!

 

[HFWR]

Me too! I totally believed he would grow his own.

Different crop...