Cooking and food thread

[Lotesse]

Since this is a cooking thread, I thought I'd ask around - does anyone know a really good devilled or stuffed eggs recipe?

[Tessar]

*wiggles eyebrows*

Boil the eggs, then do the whole slice-em-in-half-and-scoop-out-their-guts
-with-much-wailing-and-gnashing-of-teeth thang.

Then put in a weeee bit of grated lemon-skin, a bit of the juice from the lemon, some spicy mustard, some ranch dressing (the white kind with the little green flecks), some pickle relish (the sweet kind), and then some basil and thyme .

Put the mix back inside the halfed eggs, and eat.

*weeps at the very thought of the taste*

It's soooooooooooooooooooo good. Trust me.

[Lotesse]

I'm gonna make them tomorrow; gotta ride my bike to the store & get the herbs and ranch. That DOES sound good - Thanx, Tessar!

[Lotesse]

Oh! Tessar, what's the best ranch dressing to get? So many of them taste radically different, one from the next. Should I get the powdered-in-a-packet kind, or is there a brand you recommend?

[Spock]

L- let me put my dressing in here , I believe its Krafts-the pic. on the bottle has a long green farm on it.....I'm out now. If you happen to like Italian, an oldie but goodie is Newmans Own. Currently I'm trying Kens Steakhouse Italian and it really is good.
yawn, time to hit the hay..........grabs for bat

[Spock]

oh, now I see the deviled egg request: Here's ours. bring a pot of water to a boil and put the room temp. eggs in so that the water covers them. Boil 'em for 15 min.
Dump out the water, run COLD water in...then after a min or two take out eggs, peel off shell, cut the egg lengthwise in half and scoop out yolk. Put yolk in small bowl with about 1 tsp. mayo, 1 tsp. dijon mustard, dash of salt and dash of paprika, and blend together. Take the mixture and place in the empty halfs. YUM.

[Lotesse]

Yeah, I gotta go to bed too, so tired tonight. Well, I made the stuffed eggs today, but I did them a la Frank Sinatra - 'my way'. I used organic canola mayonnaise for the dressing. I boiled 6 eggs, minced half a sweet Vidalia onion in the food processor, added the scooped-out boiled yolks, a dash of sea salt, 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard, and 2 or 3 teaspoons of the mayo, then processed it all together to make a nice semi-smooth filling. Then I filled the empty egg-white halves with the mixture & refirigerated them for an hour, to firm them up a bit, et voila! Stuffed eggs a la Lotesse! I don't have any paprika, but if I did I'd have sprinkled some paprika over the tops of the eggs right before serving.
They were really yummy, albeit a bit oniony.

[Spock]

..hey, that sounds good, I'm going to try 'em that way next time........

[Spock]

..."fly me to the moon" Ol' Blue Eyes is a long time fav. w/me ....................'k I'm goin

[Lotesse]

Hi, you all, just wanted to ask - does anybody have any good ideas for how to marinate and cook a steak? I'm not great at cooking beef, but I want to learn. I've got this George Forman grill thingie, but I don't like how it makes the steaks sort of tough. What I need to learn is marinades, and how to cook steaks in a pan or in the oven.

Recipes, anyone?

[Spock]

McCormack has an envelope of steak seasonings that really is good. You just gently poke with a fork the rub the herbs in, both sides. I you pound it with a mallet the steak breaks down too much. I let it sit for at least an hr. but have other maranades I use for 24hrs. This is just then easiest.

[Lotesse]

What are some of the other 24 hour marinades, Spock? I'm patient!

[Spock]

1st. see the FOTR II post I just made.

2nd. again slightly prick the surface of the steak, rub Worchester sauce on it, sprinkle chopped onions (spice rack type is fine) and roasted garlic spice or garlic powder if you don't have the other. Do this to both sides, put a cover over it, pref. aluminum foil. Let it set in the frige overnight. It's worth it.
That's all I've time for tonight, Morpheus awaits.

[Lotesse]

Thank you! That sounds exactly like my boyfriend'll like it - simple, wholesome, yummy.

[Snowdog]

Spock's method sounds good and I may try that. One of my favorites is using some olive oil, red wine vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, scallions and fresh thyme. It works well if you marinate for at least one hour and as much as overnight like Spock said.

Another thing is how the steak is cooked. I think the George Forman grill works well for burgers, but it doesn't really do the trick for steaks. If you have a broiler in your stove, use that or if its one of those hot summer days, use an outdoor grill (on high if gas grill). Searing the meat is important to keep the juices in it. Drop it on the grill and don't move it until you turn it over. For a thick steak (1 ½ to 2 inches thick), turn it after say 10 minutes. Sear the steak on the other side. The steak is done when you place your index finger onto the surface and you feel resistance. The less resistance, the more rare the steak. Remember that your steak will continue to cook after you remove it from the grill, so for a juicy steak, remove it from the heat before you feel it is done.

[Lotesse]

Molto Grazie 4 this info, Snowdog! Searing means in a frying pan on high, right? To seal in the juices? I have a question, though: My boyfriend says he generally doesn't care for the way marinades make meat taste, and I'm wondering if the vinegar & worchestershire will really be able to be detected in the flavour once the steak's done. Also, if not using the outdoor grill, can I broil it under the oven broiler instead, after the searing thing?

[Snowdog]

Usually a broiler or outdoor grill will 'sear' just fine. You could do it in a frypan first but usually it doesn't need that much.

As for the maranide issue... try using less Worcestershire and more olive oil which is pretty neutral. Alos, you could use a bit, and I mean a bit of Teriyaki instead of the Worcestershire. Others I have used is A-1, and/or a bit of my favorite BBQ sauce (Armidillo), or any combination of the above.

[Lotesse]

Thanx man, all great info that I'll make use of tonight!

[Snowdog]

Let me know how it goes and how he liked/didn't like it!

[Lotesse]

Well, I was GONNA make steaks last night - I bought the marinade ingredients but I always leave the actual buying of the steak to my boyfriend, because I have no idea how to buy steak. I grew up pretty much a vegetarian, I'm still learning steak. Anyway, he neglected to buy them, but probably he'll get them tonight, so... we'll see! I'm integrating both yours and Spock's marinade ideas. I'll let you all know how they come out!