Jerk Marinade

Jerk Marinade
From: Dolores Reborn

It's very forgiving, and I substitute or omit stuff if I don't have it.

2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ground allspice
1/4 c soy sauce
1 c orange juice
juice of 1 lime
3 green onions, chopped
1/4 red onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 inch of ginger, chopped
1 habanero pepper, optional!!! (I leave it out)
pinch of salt
small pinch of black pepper

Blend (in a blender or food processor) all ingredients. Marinade shrimp only 30 minutes. Chicken can be marinaded for a couple of hours.

swampbear suggested that jalapeño might work instead of habanero.

Ersatz Scotch Eggs, Part Deux

Ersatz Scotch Eggs, Part Deux
From: VunderBob
Here's the link to Part One, which didn't really work out to Bobbio's satisfaction.

Time for an update. I've made this following version a couple of times now. It has all of the structural integrity of the original, plus it's spicy enough that you don't have to choose between boredom from blandness vs. starvation.


4 hardboiled eggs
1 raw egg
1/4 cup bread crumbs, or similar amount of crushed saltine crackers
1 lb hot bulk sausage
powdered garlic
rubbed sage
black pepper

Mix the bread crumbs with the sausage and raw egg. Divide the mixture into 4 parts, forming into patties. Dust the sausage patties with the sage, pepper, and garlic to suit your taste. Take a hardboiled egg, place it in the middle of the sausage patty, and cover the egg evenly. Put in a baking dish (elevate on a rack if you desire) and bake at 400 degrees F for 30 minutes.

I make a batch on Sunday night, and carry one to work Monday-Thursday, so they keep well. I eat them cold; never tried nuking them for some reason probably related to testosterone.

Cielito Lindo (Puerto Rican Taco Salad/Dip)

Cielito Lindo
From: gardentraveler

One of the benefits of having had a Puerto Rican roommate for a number of years is that I have several authentic Puerto Rican recipes. This is one that there are lots of variations on. It's very popular at work. The fresh stuff makes it seem almost healthy. The original only has sour cream. I mix half sour cream and half fat-free ricotta and it works really well.

To make it really Puerto Rican, you want to start with some sofrito, then brown the ground beef and add some sazón and/or adobo as well as the taco seasoning to the ground beef. You can find sazón with Hispanic groceries (it's a premixed blend of spices; be forewarned: it often includes MSG). Sofrito is a puree of onion, peppers, garlic and herbs. I buy it frozen. Goya is a good brand for either of these. Other variations are to add a layer of refried beans and/or a layer of guacamole. Anyhoo, this is a party-sized version. You can scale it back to fit the size of the group you need to feed. I tend to make it a little bit different every time.

This fills two large disposable aluminum trays (maybe 13" x 15" each).

2 lbs ground beef
1 package Old El Paso taco seasoning
2 16 oz.containers sour cream
2 15 oz. containers ricotta cheese
3 c grated cheese - cheddar, Monterey Jack, any kind you like
1 16 oz bottle salsa (La Victoria - salsa suprema, mild)
1 7 oz.can Herdez salsa casera (You can substitute any bottled/canned salsa that you like.)
2 chopped tomatoes
1/2 c. chopped onions or scallions
1/4 c. chopped cilantro
3 cups chopped romaine Lettuce

Brown ground beef (with sofrito, if desired). Add taco seasoning (and optional sazón). Let cool. Drain excess liquid.
Mix sour cream and ricotta together and set aside.
Combine salsas and set aside.
Combine chopped tomato, onion and cilantro, and set aside.

Spread sour cream mixture in the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with ground beef. Sprinkle 2 1/2 cups of cheese over beef. Add layer of salsa, then lettuce, then fresh tomato salsa. Sprinkle last 1/2 c of cheese on top.

Serve this with your favorite corn chips.

Knives and sharpening... (Links)

Video on how to hold a knife.
Shared by: Tupug Anachi

Commentary and caution from Cervaise.

And additional comments from Soul Brother Number Two.

Further advice from Cervaise.

Alton demonstrates how to hone. (YouTube link)
Shared by: Cervaise.

Make Your Own Hot Cocoa Mix

Make Your Own Hot Cocoa Mix
From: SpazCat

1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
(you can also add powdered milk here iffin you want)

Mix together, keep in a can. When it's time to make a cup add

hot water (of course)
sugar to taste
milk to taste
a dash of vanilla or an Adult Flavoring if that's what the situation calls for

Mix it up and drink. The best part is you can make this as chocolatey or dilute as you want with each cup. Down with the tyranny of Swiss Miss!

Roasted Garlic Paste

Roasted Garlic Paste
From: SmartAleq
Also includes a tip on how to use the garlic paste in onion soup.

You may stand upwind in awe of me for I am Allium Woman! I bought a HUGE bag (like 5-6 lbs for 6.99, w00t!) of peeled garlic cloves from the local veggie stand. In order to use up that huge bag I tossed those cloves in olive oil, tossed them into baking pans, sprinkled them with a bit of kosher salt and baked them, stirring them around every ten minutes or so to make sure they didn't stick. Then I shoveled them into the Magic Bullet thingie and turned them all into a sticky melty garlicky paste suitable for dipping ice cream into... Well, maybe not that but I definitely dipped some baguette into it. I have a lot of it in the fridge but the majority of it is in ice cube trays in the freezer. I'm going to make a whole shitload of 2 tablespoon or so ice cubes of frozen roasted garlic that can be easily chucked into hot pasta or nuked back to squishiness.

Then, since the house already smelled like that I made onion soup for dinner--well, allium soup, really, since I used Walla Walla sweet onions, shallots and leeks in a peppery beef stock--I also added a dollop of the roasted garlic paste toward the end of the simmering time. The croutons were slices of baguette soaked in the leftover oil the garlic was roasting in then baked crispy, then smeared with roast garlic and baked a while longer. Floated croutons in soup, topped with shredded gruyere and slid under the broiler for a minute to bubble up. I feel as though I shouldn't speak directly to anyone until I've chewed a large bouquet of parsley but I don't care, it was faaaaabulous!

Frying, the Spanish way

Frying, the Spanish way
Or, reduce, reuse, recycle.
From: Nava

The secret is not a secret at all: use reusable vegetable oils. That's olive, corn or sunflower; those three are the oils that are highest in oleic acid (therefore lower in "any other fatty acids"), it's about 99.99% of the fatty acids in olive oil and upwards of 90% in the other two (if memory serves, I'm writing offline and don't have my "natural chemistry" classnotes here). Oleic acid can be heated a lot more than other oils, it doesn't "coagulate" with itself and can be reused; it's also good for your cholesterol - well, that's how the olive industry says it, in reality it's at least less bad than fatty acids with several double bonds (found in "lesser oils" and animal fat) or, worse, with trans- bonds (found in hydrogenated fats). The only times myself, my grandmothers or Mom have ever thrown used oil away it was because we were moving house: that's a combined 250 years of cooking. And it's one of the reasons why a single liter of olive oil can last yours truly half a year or more, in spite of not using any other oils.

When you're done using these oils for frying, you do not throw them away, but store them. If you have a small pan (a handspan in diameter from edge to edge) that you use exclusively to fry eggs and single-person omelettes, as most Spanish households do (I've never been to one which didn't, "frying an egg" being defined as the lowest common denominator of cooking), then you just leave your eggs oil in the eggs pan.

You need to keep between one and three enameled jars or cups for your used oil. Pour your oil there through a thin-metal-mesh colander when you're done frying. Most veggies won't leave any taste to the oil. Meat will and its own fats transfer to the oil, so oil from meat must be reused either for the same kind of meat or for things like soup, mashed potatoes (instead of gravy, add a tiny tiny bit of used oil) or tomato sauce. Fish transfers a lot of taste, specially blue fish: you can separate it (and use it for your fish stock, rice, pasta) or you can fry some leaves of lettuce before transferring it to the common jar, you may need to change the leaves a couple times until the oil passes the "ok, this doesn't smell like fish at all any more" test.