If you've ever skimed a cookbook then you know everything generaly is reasonibly safe. Exact times, exact measurements, exact temperatures. If you pay attention, you'll do fine. For the adventerous experts, take a peek at this set of online recipes from an 1896 cookbook.
Afraid, be very, very afraid........
1. Forcemeat Balls. I'm so not gonna touch that one.
Cut fine half a pound of veal and the same quantity
of suet, and beat them in a mortar. (You'll go blind beating your meat like that.)
Shred fine a few
sweet herbs, a little dried mace, a small nutmeg grated, a
little lemon-peel cut very fine, some pepper and salt, and
the yolks of two eggs. Mix all well together, then roll
some of it into small balls, and some into long pieces. (Sigmund would have a stroke reading that.)
Roll both in flour, and fry them of a nice brown. (Right, fry your long meat and balls, may I never type that again sober!)
If they are
to be used with white sauce,(heh...)instead of frying them pour a
little water into a stew-pan, and when it boils put them in,
and they will be done in a few minutes.(You really have to wonder how they survived to raise a family, it's no wonder they were so thin in those days. They had to choke the food down.)
This find from The Great Team. They were found via my friend bsti at Chapel Perilous. If you happen to visit bsti, keep in mind that he is no friend to Bush, but he disdains the left with equal ferver, so please keep it friendly. He's a truely unigue individual, and that is a great thing to say of anyone.
Posted by Mark Edwards (puggs) at September 12, 2003 11:30 PM | TrackBackSounds like something my g/f or I would write. I never use measurments, I always say "A pinch of this" or "A palmfull of that".
Posted by: Raging Dave on September 14, 2003 11:22 AMThat's how I learned. I can use measurements, but family recipes are done the old fashioned way. By feel, texture, taste.
If you're comfortable with it, then no recipe scares you. It's all just applied chemistry. When you know what the effect of different proportions is, more sugar means thinner, crispier. More flour means dryer, more fat means moister, more leavening means it rises higher, less you use more salt. The possible combinations are nearly endless.
Posted by: Mark (puggs) on September 14, 2003 11:47 AMWow Puggs, thanks for that.
I really should dig into the left more to make it Fair And Balanced.
Kinda why I asked you to be a Chapeler; I don't read many leftie sites so I never have much to say about them.