"Secret" recipes?

Parent Cafe
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@lookingforward Here’s the recipe:

2 cups cider vinegar
1 1/2 cup water
1/2 cup plus 2TBS ketchup
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar (or more to taste)
5 tsp salt, or more to taste
4 tsp hot red pepper flakes
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp freshly ground whtie pepper (I just use all black if I don’t have white at hand)

Combine all ingredients and whisk until dissolved. Taste and adjust as noted. makes about 4 cups

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No tomatoes in the eastern NC barbecue I grew up eating, but lots of red pepper flakes. I use apple cider vinegar, salt and red pepper over pork shoulder in the crockpot. You can add a bit of sugar if the vinegar is too strong for you. No smoke flavor, no mustard, no ketchup, no tomatoes!! (I imagine white vinegar is the traditional way.)

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According to Raichlen, the tomato creeps in in the western part of the state. This recipe is for a pulled pork cooked with indirect heat on a grill, with a rub. The sauce is added after it’s pulled, by the individual eater.

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The consensus seems to be that “Carolina” does vary by parts of the state, down to nooks and corners. I did just google Raichlen’s and that recipe looks on the sweet side with the cider vin and brown sugar- ? (Am I alone in finding ACV a touch sweeter?) Also, thicker.

Know how, for some, it’s the vinegar in hot sauce, not as much the peppery? That’s how this was. Gotta say, this is one of my Holy Grail quests. As is the right recipe for real, bar-style pickled eggs.

I’ll try Raichlen’s and then some version of yours, Tired. Thx.

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I find it at most sweet and sour, with a strong emphasis on the sour. And it is not at all thick. Very vinegary and peppery. I would suggest starting with perhaps half the amount of brown sugar, or less, or none if you want it even more vinegary. You can always add more. :slight_smile:

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I don’t add any sugar. Sometimes the vinegar takes my breath away, then I add a little more water. I bet the grilling would be better than the crockpot, but it’s not going to approach the bbq from those old guys who know what they’re doing. At least mine doesn’t! But when you have a craving for home, it’ll do. Served on a hamburger bun with cole slaw and Texas Pete (not Tabasco).

BBQ is a fascinating regional phenomenon! I love it all, but only vinegar with pork, no tomatoes, tastes like home.

147

@redpoodles <<<My friend makes a 1970’s style casserole that is surprisingly good. It’s ground beef and onions, browned, then 1 can cream of mushroom soup, 1 can cream of chicken soup, and 1 can tomato soup (all Campbell’s), all mixed together, and egg noodles. Before I saw her make it I liked it a lot!
<<<

Are those egg noodles pre-cooked? I think my kids would like this…lol.

148

What are calico beans?

149

So–something I will keep “secret” from now in my housekeeper’s name!
I had a wonderful person. I gave 3 family and friends who began using her.
She decided that my house was too far away (the others are very close to her neighborhood).
The silver lining is I have a new person who did about 97% as well as the other.
Also, this new person looks as if she will be more reliable
But no way am I giving her name out… [-X

150

“@redpoodles <<<My friend makes a 1970’s style casserole that is surprisingly good. It’s ground beef and onions, browned, then 1 can cream of mushroom soup, 1 can cream of chicken soup, and 1 can tomato soup (all Campbell’s), all mixed together, and egg noodles.”

I have a similar recipe that also has cream cheese and sour cream in it with cheddar on top. It is very good and very filling.

ETA: I just read the quote again. My recipe only uses mushroom soup and tomato sauce, I think. I had completely forgotten about it. It makes a ton and I only cook for one or two nowadays.

151

@oregon101 That’s unfortunate that your first housekeeper doesn’t value your loyalty and reference by dropping you. I’ve had my housekeeper for 15 years and have referred her many times to fill spots in her schedule over the years. She’s very appreciative and loyal back because of that. It’s a mutual admiration society. (the generous Christmas bonus never hurts, either) :slight_smile:

152

This is worth a try. I already alluded to one of (well, two of) the ingredients in an earlier post – it’s a combo Bolognese/Alfredo lasagna. Eat in moderation!

You do the normal lasagna things:

  • Mix up some ricotta, an egg, some parm, maybe a little chopped spinach, garlic, a little S&P, and a little mozzarella -- the Cheese Layer(s).
  • You cook the noodles maybe 2/3 of the way through. They'll finish cooking in the oven and they are less likely to break (not fully cooked) when you handle them.
  • Dry the noodles before you put them in the baking dish -- unwanted water can ruin sauces.
  • Make a bolognese (cliff's notes recipe below). Make an Alfredo (ditto). They are your sauces. You can combine them into a Rosatella sauce (i think that's what it's called....) or swirl them around, or do A on one layer, B on the next, etc. Anyway, since the Bolognese is by definition a meat sauce, you have both your meat and your sauce layers.
  • The final layer is, of course, cheese (mozzarella, maybe a little parm sprinkled in too). Drizzle some olive oil over the top to help it brown nicely.
  • The bottom layer should be a little bit of sauce. Then noodles. Then cheese mixture or sauce(s), then the other. Repeat until you run out of ingredients or room.

Easy(ish) semi-homemade Bolognese:

  • Dice some onion, carrot and celery. The carrot should be very finely diced. In a large skillet, in a pat of butter and/or a tablespoon of olive oil, salted, peppered and garlicked, sauté on medium heat until softened - about 6-8 minutes. Remove the veggies from the pan and set aside.
  • In the pan, cook some ground beef (adding some ground pork or bacon is optional). Drain the fat (spoon + coffee cup works) once it’s cooked.
  • Re-add the veggies to the pan (with the meat), drop the heat to med-low, and add some milk. If you have about a pound of meat in the pan, add about 10-12 oz. milk. Whole works best, but 2% or 1% can work too. Stir occasionally, while the meat soaks up most of the milk and gets all nice and tender, for about 30 mins.
  • Add some Italian seasoning (do this at any point…)
  • Add about 8-10 oz of good dry white wine – pinot grigio, chardonnay, riesling all work. Beer (lager) can work too in a pinch. Stir occasionally and cook for, oh, another 10-20 minutes.
  • Finally, add your favorite spaghetti sauce. Stir. Warm it up. Maybe add a little olive oil, a little more garlic – taste and season accordingly.
  • The longer it sits in the pan and all those flavors come together, the better it will be, but probably all you really have to do is heat it up (still med-low) for 10 mins or so and it’ll be good to go. The sauce should be a sort of dark orange-red. Adding parm won’t hurt but (as you’ll see) is probably not necessary. :wink:

Alfredo:

  • Melt (1/2 to a whole stick of) butter in a pan.
  • Add cream (“heavy whipping cream”) – 8-16 oz.
  • Raise temp to medium and bring the liquid to a very soft boil.
  • Remove the pan from the heat and add a couple handfuls of grated parmesan cheese. Stir well,
  • Add S&P and garlic to taste. If you made it too thick – it happens – add a little olive oil to loosen it up a bit.

If you don’t have cream, you can use a roux and milk – add some flour to the melted butter, stir it so that it forms a sort of yellowish paste, and cook that a few minutes. Add the milk, raise the heat to Med, and whisk vigorously to get the lumps out. Once it comes to a soft boil, take it off the heat and add the parm…

153

doschicos, yes, annoying. And I always both gave her a generous Holiday gift as well! as paid when we were on vacation–which none of the other clients have ever done. Still, I was quite a drive in traffic for her. As long as this new person works out I will be fine. But did learn my lesson. Also, she has too many houses and has been standing people up (not ever me).

prez, made me hungry! I have not had lasagna in years. And I love the heavy whipping cream. :x
It really makes things delicious. I do use 1/2 and 1/2 more if it is for family.

154

When are you hosting dinner for your CC friends, @prezbucky?? I’ll bring some tiramisu for dessert.

155

doschicos mentioned the standard Tollhouse cookie recipe many pages back, but I thought I’d post my variation of it: about 1.5 times the chocolate chips and 1.25 times the nuts, 0.25 times the vanilla, make them small, and do not over bake them. (You could probably increase the quantities of chocolate chips and nuts until the dough can barely hold them together.) The suggestion from MotherofDragons about using a stand mixer for a pretty long time sounds very interesting.

156

Nothing wrong with more chocolate, @QuantMech. :slight_smile: I like the way you roll and I, too, always up the chocolate chips and under bake.

157

@QuantMech the tennis team always asks me to make my toll house cookies with pecans, and everyone keeps asking what’s in them. Nothing that different about the ingredients (I do add molasses and pecans), but the beat the hell out of the butter/sugar/eggs technique is the secret, and nobody believes me until they try it. Hand held mixer people need not apply-it’s too arduous.

158

There must be some Alton Brown explanation for that.

Eta: I see thus, frim King Arthur Flour, re cakes:
“In creaming the butter and sugar together, you are using the sugar to aerate the butter and fill it with bubbles that can capture the gasses released by your leavener. The more fine bubbles you have in your network, the lighter in texture your cakes will be and the finer the crumb. This is true for your muffins as well, while it makes your cookies light and crisp instead of hard and dense.”

But they warn against over creaming.

I dunno. One of our fav cookie recipes starts with oil.

159

Toll house cookies; I also increase the brown sugar and decrease the white sugar. I too prefer pecans.

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@mom2collegekids Yes,I believe she precooked the noodles. I bet you could cook them right in the sauce though!

@bookworm we do the same thing with Toll House.

@MotherOfDragons I’m gonna try the super-long beat and see how it is.

@QuantMech Ha, we usually 1/2 the chips and pecans, but I use the big chips or break up a candy bar so they are large chunks! Sometimes I add some orange-infused dried cherries (trader joes) which compliments the chocolate nicely. It’s a tiny bit reminiscent of Orange Milano cookies (but not the same).

One of my friends makes a puffier chocolate chip cookie that is so good and won’t give me the recipe. I’m actually angry at her about it. Light and puffy, not dense and greasy like Toll House. What do you guys think? Any guesses?

Another friend does a variation where she substitutes peanut butter for the butter/shortening in Toll House Cookies. It’s like a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie, but not exactly like either (not crumbly like most peanut butter cookies but not exactly a toll house either).