Gram’s Fryin’ Pan
I spent a lot of
money buying pots and pans promoted by celebrities such as Martha Stewart,
Paula Dean and Rachael Ray, but I push them all aside when I want to cook.
Almost everything I ate while growing up originated in this pan. My mother was
the second best cook on planet earth, second only to her mother, my Granny.
I remember this pan
from the early fifties, and it traveled around the world several times.
It was my job (most
of the time) to wash the dishes, and I was instructed to take special care
cleaning the copper bottom, and I remember having “Comet Cleanser”
with bleach, that worked really well. Mom’s gone now, and there’s
no one to nag me to clean the copper bottom, anymore, so, as you might imagine,
the bottom looks like crap, but it still cooks, so there!, Mom.
Thanks to my
charming personality, I got to spend a lot of time by myself, and I either had
to learn to cook, or starve. I also usually had a dog to feed, which, oddly
enough, never ate dog food.
My sons are raising
(as of now) a total of four bachelors, and I am writing this for them.
You guys, pay
attention! You don’t have to starve just ‘cause
some girl is pissed at you.
Three
ingredient skeddy sauce.
#1. Meat, browned
#2. Tomatoes
#3. Onion
Put the top on for
two hours, and simmer.
Voila!
Skeddy Sauce.
Kick it up
with:
Kick
it way
up with:
Tbs bullion
Mushrooms
Tbs tom. paste
Bell pepper
Tbs lemon juice
Italian herbs (Oregano)
Salt and
pepper
Italian sausage with fennel
WOW! Now all you
have to do is find some kind of noodle, (or not).
One Pan Chicken Dinner
A couple ounces of bacon cut small
Fried dark brown, add two tbsp flour,
tbsp chicken bullion, and cup water to
make thin gravy.
Peel some carrots, and add to gravy.
a couple ‘taters, and a couple boneless
skinless chicken breasts.
cut into
fingers and laid on top, and
sprinkled with coarse pepper, and a
seafood/chicken rub.
Top on, low simmer for about an hour.
Everything should be tender, if it is done.
Make a
pretty plate for your “baby”
and one for yourself.
YUMMY
If
you don’t eat it all,
you can put the whole pan in the fridge,
and whip it out and reheat it, anytime. J
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Rye bread from scratch.
There
is nothing better than home made bread, hot out of the oven. White bread is
really simple, and only contains six ingredients. Rye bread is a little more fussy, but if you like rye bread, this is my best
recipe to date.
I
bought a hand crank grain mill, with steel rollers (adjustable). I also bought
a forty two pound bucket of whole rye (seeds with husks). I also bought a five
pound bag of whole caraway seeds.
Most
people don’t realize that the familiar taste that rye bread has,
isn’t really rye, at all, but caraway.
At
first, I was throwing a handful of caraway seeds into my dough, but the flavor
was almost unnoticeable, so I sent a handful of caraway seeds through the
grinder with the rye, and that really improved that “classic”
taste. Now when I bake for myself, I don’t add whole seeds, as I know
it’s there.
I
have fiddled and tweaked this recipe until today (7-26-13). Today I combined
all the things I learned, and made my best loaves, ever.
Ingredients:
Two
cups hot water. (out of tap) This is a minimum. You
will adjust upward, to make a fairly stiff dough, that
wants to fall away from the mixing hook.
Half
cup of sugar
Five heaping teaspoons of fresh yeast.
Four
cups “best for bread” flour.
Ten ounces (by weight) of whole rye seeds, ground into
flour.
Two to four ounces of whole caraway seeds. It’s
nice to taste them, but it’s nice to see them too. Grind half into flour,
and add half of them whole.
Two tablespoons of salt.
Three ounces of olive oil.
The
total weight of all the ingredients will be a little over three pounds. I
divide the dough, and make two loaves. The pan size is four by eight, by two
and one half inches deep. The greatest challenge (to me) to making rye bread is
a proper rise. Rye bread can be a heavy brick if is
isn’t risen properly. (Too much or too little).
With these size pans, and this amount of ingredients, you may allow the dough
to rise slightly above the sides of the pan. (3/4 to 1-1/4
inches). If you wait too long, the dough will over-rise, and collapse. (deflate)
It
goes together like this:
My
dear friends gave me a kitchen aid mixer, one of the expensive ones. I use it
with the dough hook.
Add
one cup of hot water to your mixing bowl.
Add
half cup sugar. The bowl and the sugar will draw out enough heat so as not to
kill the yeast. Turn on low mix speed.
Add
five tsp. fresh yeast while mixer runs. Run until it gets foamy.
Shut
off and add white flour. This will make a loose dough,
that sticks to side of bowl. Let it mix until smoothe.
Add
ground rye, and all of the caraway seeds. This will make a
very dry dough.
With
mixer running, drizzle in olive oil. This causes the dough to slide in the
bowl. Add the salt, and the dough will begin to knead again.
This
is where you adjust the water. If dough is too dry, add a little water
carefully, until the desired consistency is achieved. Stop mixer and let
everything rest for ten minutes.
Start
mixer and allow to knead for ten to fifteen minutes.
Divide
dough in half and put in pans sprayed with non-stick. (I like canola oil) If
dough is proper consistency, (Dry enough) you will need to slightly pre-form
the dough to fit the pan.
I
have no patience to wait for bread to rise, or for grass to grow, or for paint
to dry. I preheat my oven to 170 degrees Fahrenheit. I turn off the power, and
let the dough rise in the warm oven. Watch it! It only takes fifteen to thirty
minutes to rise. There is no reason to preheat the oven. Simply set it for 350
degrees, and forty five minutes later, turn off heat. Allow to coast in hot
oven for ten to fifteen more minutes to make sure dough is all the way, done.
Remove
pans from oven, and remove bread from pan as soon as possible. If it wants to
stick, let it cool a little.
After
it is out of the pan, allow the loaves to cool on a clean towel. Rotate to
avoid the soggies. You should sample at least one
piece while it is hot. Slather with real butter.
When
barely warm, store in a zip lock. Every time you open the bag, be sure to
reclose it. Rye bread dries out faster than anything I know.
This
recipe is put here mostly for me, because I have so many files, it is difficult
to find anything. J
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English
Muffins;
One
of my favorite shows on the food network is “Good Eats”, with Alton
Brown. I tried this recipe, and I loved it.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/english-muffins-recipe/index.html
Total Time: 57 min
Prep: 15 min
Inactive: 30 min
Cook: 12 min
Yield: 8 to 10 muffins
Level: Intermediate
Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/english-muffins-recipe/index.html?oc=linkback
Ingredients
1/2 cup non-fat powdered milk
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon shortening
1 cup hot water
1 envelope dry yeast
1/8 teaspoon sugar
1/3 cup warm water
2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
Non-stick vegetable spray
Special equipment: electric griddle, 3-inch metal rings, see Cook's
Note*
Directions
In a bowl combine the powdered milk, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1/2
teaspoon of salt, shortening, and hot water, stir until the sugar and salt are
dissolved. Let cool. In a separate bowl combine the yeast and 1/8 teaspoon of
sugar in 1/3 cup of warm water and rest until yeast has dissolved. Add this to
the dry milk mixture. Add the sifted flour and beat thoroughly with wooden
spoon. Cover the bowl and let it rest in a warm spot for 30 minutes.
Preheat the griddle to 300 degrees F.
Add the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of salt to mixture and beat
thoroughly. Place metal rings onto the griddle and coat lightly with vegetable
spray. Using #20 ice cream scoop, place 2 scoops into each
ring and cover with a pot lid or cookie sheet and cook for 5 to 6 minutes.
Remove the lid and flip rings using tongs. Cover with the lid and cook for
another 5 to 6 minutes or until golden brown. Place on a cooling rack, remove
rings and cool. Split with fork and serve.
*Cook's Note: Small tuna cans with tops and bottoms removed work
well for metal rings.
Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/english-muffins-recipe/index.html?oc=linkback
