The Damsel in Dis Dress
Posted in Uncategorized, cooking, thrifty on Tuesday, January 5th, 2010 03:57 pm GMT -6
Oh, beans! Such an old school food. Funny, though, when you look at dry beans, they don’t even look like food. (See this) They’re hard, they don’t really smell good, (or bad) and well, let’s face it. People fear them, even though they are cheap and nutritious. They fear that cooking beans is too tricky [...]
Posted in cooking on Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 03:24 pm GMT -6
Ever forget to take a roast out of the freezer soon enough? The Damsel has committed this crime many times. Here are a couple of tricks that will help thaw that slab. 1. Put the roast, still in its packaging, in a sink of warm water. Turn it now and then so that both sides [...]
Posted in cooking on Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 01:02 pm GMT -6
Nuts at Christmastime is old school as can be. The Damsel guesses one reason might be that in the old days, when food preservation was trickier, nuts were a natural winter food. They sort of preserve themselves. There are lots of recipes for doing stuff to nuts–you can make them spicy or sweet in a [...]
Posted in cooking on Monday, December 21st, 2009 07:03 pm GMT -6
Separating eggs is simple, with just a little practice. You don’t need any special equipment, and after an egg or two, you’ll have the hang of it. Crack an egg carefully in the middle. The Damsel likes a nice firm strike on the side of the bowl the egg is destined for. A big crack [...]
Posted in Uncategorized, cooking, thrifty on Saturday, November 28th, 2009 02:58 pm GMT -6
One of the most old-school things you can do after Thanksgiving is make soup out of the turkey carcass. Please forgive the lack of photos to begin with. The Damsel hates, hates, HATES what she must do to start this, and she couldn’t bring herself to photograph it, either. She sternly reminded herself how delicious [...]
Posted in cooking on Friday, November 20th, 2009 09:36 am GMT -6
The Damsel loves hearing how excited folks are about the doughnut dealio. A nice reader sent the Damsel the following, and she thought in the interest of protecting folks, she’d pass it on to you. “I owned a donut shop for 10 years. The process I used is essentially the same as depicted by your [...]
Posted in cooking on Friday, November 13th, 2009 07:31 pm GMT -6
There are a lot of granola recipes out there. Maybe you’ve even tried one or two. The Damsel doesn’t usually get this worked up about a recipe, but she LOVES this one, adapted from the recipe in one of her favorite cookbooks, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. She loves it so much that [...]
Posted in cooking on Monday, October 5th, 2009 05:16 pm GMT -6
Cast iron pans are definitely old school. But in spite of all the “improvements” in cookware like Teflon, etc. there’s really nothing quite as good. Cast iron heats evenly, acquires its own nonstickiness over time, and is practically indestructable. Plus it even adds iron to your food. They’re reasonable in price, too, compared to nice [...]
Posted in cooking, thrifty on Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 03:47 pm GMT -6
The Damsel wonders what percentage of people prefer Ranch dressing over other types. She thinks it might be 99%, and she likes it quite a lot herself, even though she hates to be a lemming. The Damsel just conducted a scientific poll, which consisted of asking her #3 sprog, who is a waitress, what percentage [...]
Posted in cooking on Monday, September 7th, 2009 11:09 am GMT -6
There are a few ways to make gravy. This method is just one, and it works best for Old School pot roast because of the amount of water you have to work with. Now that the meat and vegetables have cooked for several hours in the liquid, you’ve got a nice beef broth. All you [...]
