In a Stew

MMMM,Chilli

.....and then there was the butcher,backed into the meat grinder,....got a little behind in his work.....ba  dump, bump...

I'm  afraid  that  as  a  single  male  I  have  to  confess  that  my  primary  culinary  skills  consist  of  mastery  of  the  microwave's  defrost  &  cook  cycles.....lol    Mercifully  frozen  products  have  made  enormous  leaps,   and  now  it  is  possible  to  acquire  truly  quality
and  even  premium  entrees  and  soups,   assuming  you  are  willing  to  pay  the  price  for
premium  prepared  frozen  items.   Obviously  the  other  alternative  is  to  acquire  premium  fresh  entrees  and  soups  in  quantities  larger  than  you  immediately  plan  to  serve,  and  then  freeze  the  remainder  in  appropriate  meal  size  portions.    I  do  not  have  a  phobia  regarding  cooking,  but  with  a  job  55  miles  away  in  the  city,  and  a  residence  in  the  country  far  from local  sources  of  premium  prepared  fresh  &  frozen  foods,  I  need  to  compromise.   Putting  it   bluntly,   after  a  hard  day  and  a  long  commute,   I  am  in  no  shape  to  sit  down  and  start  gourmet  cooking  from  scratch.   I  will,  however,  dutifully  and  faithfully  read  the  posts  of  others  more  skillful  and  creative  than  myself.   My  personal  motivation  to  readjust  my  schedules  and  learn  to  formally  cook  might  change,  if  my  16  year  old  daughter  had  a  willingness  to  appreciate  what  healthy  home  made  cooking  can  produce.  

Greetings:  Chili, my dad used to always start with a "pot of day old coffee".  Works for me.

I love to make a good stew. Venison chili is one of my specialities. Or a steak and tomato stew with a bit of pasta and cheese.

But the best I ever had was in a little pub in Ireland. Lamb stew. Don't know why I was the only person out of our group of 15 or so that ordered it.

And now, to bed. Perhaps I will have a bit more wisdom tomorrow. But don't count on it.

Michael:   Tell  me  if  the  venison  tenderizes  when  you  make  your  specialty  chili.   Lots  of  my  neighbors  hunt  with  either  guns  or  bows  &  arrows,   a  good  thing  since  without  them  to  thin  out  the  herds  we  would  have  deer  starving  every  Winter.   So  I  get  donations  of  venison,  sometimes  in  exchange  for  a  few  minutes  of  unbilled  legal  advice,  and  I  hate  to  waste,  but  venison  isn't   anywhere  near  as  tender  as  premium  beef.
 
I  love  lamb  stew!!!   Perhaps  someone  could  tell  me  if  I  could  make  Irish  lamb  stew  by  slow  cooking  it  in  a  crock  pot.   That  is  well  within  my  current  range  of  competence,  and  it  fits  my  criterion  that  the  cooking  must  not  require  hour  after  hour  of  careful  attention  to  detail.   I  could  get  the  crock  pot  up  &  running  in  the  morning,  get  my  kid  safely  off  to  school  on  the  bus,  and  drive  to  work,  knowing  that  when  I   returned  home  I  would  have  waiting  for  me  authentic  Irish  style  lamb  stew.   If  I  am  daydreaming  as  to  my  prognosis,  anyone  please  volunteer  &  tell  me  that  this  isn't  a  good  plan.   I  respect  everyone's  judgment,  and  I  remember  that  our  "regulars"  include  men  &  women  with  culinary  eloquence  &  expertise. 

Every week I spend a day at a Manhattan soup kitchen.  We make a minimun of 4 large pots of soup from scratch.  Some people have great recipes but because all of the food is donated we are forced to come up with some creative variations every week.  Sometimes I think that the chefs on reality TV should design a challange with the most common items found in a food pantry. 
 
Fortunately, stew, chili and soup are easy to make in massive amounts.  You can get away with a lot if you start with either a good chicken stock or a fresh tomato base.   A handful of powdered milk works wonders when someone adds too much pepper.    
 
 

With the bungalow all buttoned up, the stew aroma permeates the whole house. Couple that with the smell of fresh cornbread & you have yourself the ingredients for a hearty meal. Put a glass in the freezer in advance so that the milk is ice cold to serve with it and the fresh brownies that follow.
 Finally watch an old classic, The African Queen or Jeremiah Johnson on AMC and indulge in a moment of self sufficiency as you stew in your own juices.    

For the exotic -- beef tagine with preserved kumquats -- yummy with pita bread to scoop up the thick juices. 
 
Why did they call some parts of London "stews"? 

Right now, looking at yet again another snow covering my driveway, my very steep driveway, my now impassable driveway, chili sounds and feels really good.
 
My mother's vegetable soup was more like a stew than a soup.  Thick and full of vegetables, cooked for hours and yes, it coated a wooden spoon; in fact that spoon would stand up in it.

Bert - you are in luck.  In my experience, stew is the ONLY thing that a crockpot is good for! 
 
Dozens of crockpot-specific cookbooks exist and your local library likely has many of these titles free for the asking.  Try online recipe sites like AllRecipes or MyRecipes, where folks post reviews and improvements of recipes.  And despite what Peterman says, herbs do count.  Throw in twice as much spices/herbs as the recipe calls for and you'll be much happier with the result.
 
Stew is the easiest thing in the world to master.  If the crockpot fails you, I have an Algerian Lamb Stew, taken from the Williams Sonoma catalog, that will knock you sock off.  It takes a few hours on the stove but worth every second of it.

Crockpots rule.
 
Stews, soups, chili, bean casseroles and things like swiss steak and potroast are easy, economical, and good for you. When I was young and single and discovered just how easy, economical and good they are, I called 'em "grunt meals"--cook once, eat all week. Little did I know that I'd be making and eating them for the next 30+ years, and I still love 'em.
 
Then there's the fancy stuff, like pork tenderloin medallions with calvados, wild rice, pears and parsnips.
 
If I didn't have (and use) my crockpot, I'd either have to  eat out all the time, hire a cook, starve, or move back home to my mother. 
 
Perish the thought...

BERT- I was going to give you some advice, but everyone beat me to it. Make the crockpot experience even easier by doing all the work the night before & then just start it in the morning. My brother loves venison & cooks w/ it alot- his secret is to marinate, marinate, marinate- a little soy sauce, a little oil, some citrus or vinegar, whatever spices, garlic, salt, pepper, maybe a little brown sugar. It really works to tenderize the meat.
 
JULIA- I made the ravioli from the 21 Club cookbook last night. They came out perfect & using wonton skins is GENIUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Have a cozy, comfort day everyone.

My son Jonathan just made a delicious beef stew in his new Crock Pot!  It was great.  In Central Florida the weather never seems to get that cold....but the past week it has been treacherous.  Tomorrow they are actually predicting snow flurries.   This reminds me of my earlier life in Upstate New York...Rochester to be exact. "Rottenchester " as it is fondly referred to, where it snows from October to May (yes, sometimes it has been known to snow in May.)

My dad usually comes home, turns on the grill, changes his clothes, goes back and puts some vegetables and meat on, a pot of rice, cous cous, pasta, etc on the stove, checks his email, then gets it all and puts it on the table.
Sometimes he just puts every old bean mix in a pot with some water

Schools are closed here today due to icy roads. It's time to breakout the well seasoned cast iron stew pot.

The only thing I miss about heating with a wood burning stove, is cooking up a tasty stew on it in my big iron pot. I have an iron spider, however, that when placed in the fireplace, will do the trick.

Shandonista, one of our favorite stews includes lamb, white beans and the homegrown roasted tomatoes I freeze every summer.

Another favorite; a simple oysters stew .Plump salts, bobbing in a sea of buttery milk, clinging to rafts of broken saltines....

MISS BLUE- Stop, you are soooooooooo rude!!!!!!!!!!!! Making my mouth water w/ your description of oyster stew & me w/out any...
 
We too are out of school today also- may go into town for lunch. The roads are ok- especially if you drive carefully.

I am a huge fan of stews and the way all the different flavors meld into one pot of deliciousness...and only one pot to clean-up!
Several times during the year, I make pots and pots full of chili, for our local high school. It's a basic, everyday kind of chili, meant to be easy to put together and to appeal to as many people as possible; since it's purpose is to sell it to help raise funds. At home, for my family, I prefer something more involved. (And, yes, herbs and seasonings do make a difference! Their subtle flavors always come through in any dish! I can only believe a non-cook would say such a thing!) I have coveted recipes for a chili made with shallots and saffron, one made with ground buffalo, and a marvelous white turkey chili.
Personally, however, I am not the biggest chili fan - that would be my husband - but instead I prefer the old rustic type of stews, with chunks of meat and vegetables, slowly simmered in a rich, savory liquid.
Bert, I have never found a recipe for stew that can't be put in a crock pot. It is so nice to come home to a hot meal, ready and waiting, at the end of a long day. Earlier this week, I put a Provencal Beef Stew into a crock pot with great success. It was a tasty concoction of beef, garlic, mushrooms, red wine, zucchini, tomatoes, onions,carrots...a traditional mirepoix (onions, carrots and celery) is not always necessary...and herbs and spices. Served with a red wine and homemade rosemary bread, it was a great way to warm body and soul in this winter weather.
That particular recipe did not contain potatoes, which I do love (boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew), but was saving for tonight's meal - a quick to cook chicken stew: diced chicken, onions, scallions, jalapeno pepper, celery, golden potatoes, sweet potatoes, and seasonings.
Soups and stews are a fun and easy way to be creative in the kitchen, and a good way to use up leftovers, too.

Yummy, I want the braiser in the photograph for my next beef stew! I love the idea of starting off with yesterdays coffee..I would think marinating venison in the coffee would help tenderize and soften the tannic flavor.
 
 

 
 
Kindlee
 

I yam happy to see the addition of sweet potatoes to your stew recipe. I usually add those or Haymans( white yams) pumpkin, acorn  and or butternut to our soups and stews. Parsnips are another often overlooked veggie that are  a wonderful addition.

Mr Peterman, please add a" recipes "tab at the top of the page.

MISS BLUE: Each of those ingredients you mention are Standard Fare in Jewish Households, and especially those of us who do Gulyash ... These items are plentiful and are overlooked by a lot of Shoppers because they were never introduced to them when they were children ... But they all make a mighty fine Stews and are Nutritional Bonuses ...  Down in Jamaica we dessicate Haymans and turn them into Flour ... A great Cash Crop, and they grow like weeds everywhere ... Makes delicious Breads and most interesting Johnny-Cakes .......

Mmmm....a topic we can sink our teeth into.
 
Oyster stew just moved onto the menu, thanks Miss Blue!  Spot on about the parsnips, too. They are delightful roasted with olive oil and sea salt.
 
bebe and Julia - I have a 21 Club cookbook, it's a few years old, though.  I hope it's the same one you've got (how many could they have?) because I'd like to try that recipe.  My hubby makes the steak diane and it's divine and easy.
 
 

bert - I think cooking might be just the thing to help you relax in the evening after a hard day in the trenches. 

If you can find it, both root parsley and celery root (celeriac) make flavorful additions to stews and soups, too.

Ivan

Goulash, paprikash and cholent....

Let's add a little Memphis Soul Stew

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Loy55z4GpA

And, I  have attended many a Sauce Boss "Gumbo Communion"

The best secret ingredient....Love in the Pot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6rCqDV5XQU

btw....Happy birthday Elvis !!!

MISS BLUE:  Count me in ... With You all the Way, Paddle in hand !!!!!!!

Bert: Venison shouldn't be too tough, unless you're getting a really elderly deer. But it might depend on which part you get. If anyone asks you what you want, tell them you want the back-strap cut into butterfly steaks.

If it is tough, you need to cook it slower and longer. Put the chunks (slabs, roast, whatever) into the crockpot on a low heat for about 5-6 hours. Pour in about 1 cup of liquid (red wine or dark beer work wonders), 1-2 cloves of garlic, and whatever herbs you happen to like. By the time you're ready to eat, you should be able to cut it with a spoon.

On the topic of venison...deer are what they eat, evidently. I'd always had "hardwood forest" venison (think lots of acorns in the diet) and it was usually dry and somewhat stong-tasting no matter how nicely prepared it was. In the last few years, all my venison has come from a local orchard, where the farmer has a special "anti-predation" hunting permit, which entitles him to take as many deer as he feels necessary off his own property in order to save his livlihood, which is growing berries and a variety of tree fruit. His venison is uniformly moist, tender and delicious--even the "stew cuts" are better than the steaks I used to eat. 

Let's have a "Stone Soup" party in the Club Car tonight.

I lived in an old rundown apartment on the Norfolk Hague back in the 70's.

Times were pretty tough for most of us in that building the winter of 1977-78.

The construction workers and brick layers were laid off due to lousy weather, the newly graduated and employed were trying to pay off student loans etc.

I was down to a bag of Manischewitz bean soup mix and an onion, a little garlic ,a little this and that and a can of tomatoes. Everyone rummaged through their cabinets, freezers and refrigerators and brought what they had to my little 2 room apartment. My stove was still working as I was one of the few up to date on their gas bill. Long story short, we ended up with a large, hearty, tasty pot of stew and fed everyone in the building that night. We passed the hat and came up with enough change for a mag of Mateus.

This became a regular event with the stew morphing with what was available in the marked down produce rack, and the dented and day old isle of the grocery.

Just took my snow blower for a walk around the block..... I'll be quite happy to sit my butt down on the stove with the oven cranked up .. .. .. food later.  I'm dreaming of pot roast, whole carrots, halved onions, potatoes and any other ground veggie just a cookin' away all day long turning my home into a house of drool until dinner.  Don't forget the hot rolls to mop it all up..... the dinner that is; not the drool.

If someone could figure out a way to peel a potato more easily than the traditional way (and not one of those you-saw-it-on-teevee gadgets), and even better: peel an onion fast and painlessly in a few seconds -- this would be my favorite way to cook. 
 
Some vegetables just need to be washed, granted, (but not onions, they need peeling) -- so I guess I need someone to invent an quick and painless way to scrub vegetables. 
 
Until that happens and I'm not holding my breath I need a kitchen helper to do this sort of work for me.   
 
Which is I guess where all you wonderful guys who love to cook come in.  I'll start the dinner, if you peel.  My knuckles can't take another beating from a potato peeler.  And if you need a band aid applied from a peeler attack:  that I can do.

I'll peel the onions and scrub the taters ral good but the skins gotta stay on; its the best part don'tcha know.

I forgot the gravy baby..... never forget the lumpy gravy with lots of pepper....

My deer are birdseed and peanut and apple deer (see photos).
 
I guarantee they taste terrible so please just leave them alone.
 
Hardwood venison!
 
 
Just because you can doesn't mean you should hunt animals like cowboys and indians of old.  Give the deer a rifle and a tree stand, and then go out and try to kill them.  Until that time, it's just a horrible one-sided bloodsport.
 
 
 

Ladies  &  Gentlemen:   I  have  never  before  felt  so  LOVED.....lol.      As  I  have  gotten  "gently  more  mature"  {translation:  older},   I  still  have  the  youthful  desire  to  chase  after  single  women,  but  I  confess  that  I  no   longer  am  able  to  maintain  the  SPEED.  Perhaps  my  solution  will  be  to  lure  suitable  companions  into  my  lair,   with  offers   of   exotic  cooking  creations.   Heck,  fully  3/4  of  my  female  friends  would  come,  just  to  see  the  anticipated  disaster  in  the  kitchen,   and  take  cell  phone  photos.
Seriously,  though,  there  was  a  time  in  my  youth  when  simple  cooking  that  TASTED  exotic  was  the  ticket,   it  made  what  started  out  as  a  "mere"  date  morph  into  an  extended  weekend.     I  am  going  to  attempt  to  do  a  download  of  the  many  fine  suggestions,  so  that  your  compassion  for  my  plight  will  not  be  seen  as  unappreciated.   Heck,   if  I  ratchet  up  my  skill  level,   my  kid  might  even  get  hooked  on  my  cooking.  Should  the  bait  fail  for  her,   her  young  man  {1st   one  I've  liked  in  some  time,  he's  got  ambition,   calls  me  "Sir,"    and  stands  up  when  ladies  enter   the  room!}    plays  football  in  the  Fall  and  baseball  in  the  Spring,   and  his  parents  serve  "real  food,"  stoking  him  like  the  boiler  of  Casey  Jones'  Illinois  Central  steam  locomotive  as  Jones played  fast  &  loose  with  the  laws  of  physics  {coefficient  of  friction  measures  time  required  to  stop  should   track  be  obstructed}.
 

Being from Cajun country and learning to cook from my Grandmother I've done my fair share of stews. Which is to say I'm making one tonight. Or maybe a gumbo...I haven't decided yet. But if it is a gumbo there is sure to also be potato salad for including in the bowl. A little bread for whatever's left over and there you go!!!

BOEUF BOURGUIGNON!!!

Too bad I almost never have enough time to make it.  Goes perfect with mashed potatoes or noodles and a crusty baguette.  Almost as good as onion soup gratinee...dang now I'm hungry...as per usual.

Can someone explain the recent fad of deconstructing everything from ratatouille and Coq au Vin to Osso buco and bouillabaisse? On second thought, maybe that's what shepherd's pie is...a deconstructed reconstructed beef stew.

Robert, the potato salad in the bowl with the gumbo is new to me.I always use rice, What type of potato salad?

 
 
 
wow....just looked that up...it's traditional!

Vbaker220: The venison I get is almost exclusively corn-fed. Very tasty, very lean.

I have that wonderful FoodSaver gadget. I make tose great stews and gravies,waaay more than I can eat and share, and freeze 'em into meal size bags. Ya just pop a bag from the freezer into a pot of water,bring it up to a slow boil and....here's a really good part....spaghetti squash...pop it into the 'wave,let it soften, split it,spoon out the seeds for the squirrels to plant for 'ya, and put it back  in with a little olive oil rubed,covered dish....by the time the sauce is warmed thru, drag a fork thru the squash for s'ghetti.....garlic bread a plus,chianti, a willing companion....you're all welcome at the yacht

PARK4 said:
 
Just because you can doesn't mean you should hunt animals like cowboys and indians of old.  Give the deer a rifle and a tree stand, and then go out and try to kill them.  Until that time, it's just a horrible one-sided bloodsport.

Not that many years ago, when my husband was unemployed for 6 months, we lived off of the venison he hunted that fall.  We had just enough income to keep the roof over our heads, but if it weren't for that buck that happened to be in the right place at the right time on the first day of hunting season, my kids would have been at severe risk of protein deficiency over the months that followed until he finally got hired.

Not everyone hunts "for bloodsport"--some of us hunt to feed our families, even in this day and age.

I would take the venison tenderloin and slice it into medallions for quick pan-searing, then braise them along with onions and carrots from the garden.  Even just spiced with salt and pepper, it was a delicious meal.  I'd slow cook the roasts in my crock pot, and most of the rest of the meat was ground up into burger--most of which was the main ingredient in our family chili recipe.  Anything left over was marinated and dried for jerky.  By the time we were done our butchering, there wasn't much left but bones and the hide.

While I don't miss the economic uncertainty of those days, I really do miss having venison to add to my menu planning these days.  But since we moved to Ohio, my husband hasn't had the opportunity to go hunting... and while I'd have liked to have revenged myself on the 6-point buck that ruined the front end of my minivan last year, it just wasn't feasible to haul the remains 50 miles back home to cook... *wry grin*

kindlee, when's dinner?

Miss Blue, I am intrigued by your interpretation of shepards pie. I love shepards pie. Its never been served in my home So about a month ago I brought home a couple pounds of lamb.

Wife: whats that for
Me: I am making shepards pie
wife: Claire (our daughter, 13 and in charge of all things) doesn't like lamb
Me: You can tell her its hamburger
Wife: I'll tell her you ruined it
Me: perfect....that will work!!!!

Since then my wife is johny on the spot with what shes making for dinner.   The lamb is now in the freezer.

So am I missing something?

I've never made shepards pie.  But then again I never made my family famous chili, speghetti, or pizza.   I wonder if they are just sayin they like it.

 I better make that pie so I can move on...this isn't good.

Bert is so right...My husband simply wowed me when he invited me on our first "date" to have his homemade beef stew. With dumplings. That was nearly 13 years ago. We had a "slow cooker romance" in that it took us 7 years to get from that date to our wedding day...he says, "love in the food, love in the heart".

Paul Murphy

I should have referred to the deconstructed reconstructed beef stew as "Cottage Pie".

I have seen recipes that use either beef or lamb, but technically mine was not a correct usage. In fact,I don't see why you couldn't use chicken or seafood.

But are you still starving, and in need of venison? (Ryselle)
 
Or are you simply missing its flavor and can't do without it?
 
Or do you really want to revenge the buck who got in the way of your car -- or perhaps your car got in the way of the buck?  <knowing smile>
 
We have a right to do a lot of things in this country that I don't find civilized or kind.  Hunting with a rifle and all other tricks of the slaughter is one of them.
 
Interesting how when you needed to eat and you were broke an accomodating deer appeared.
When we were broke, Kraft macaroni and cheese appeared.  Every night for a long while.
 
To each their own.
As for me, I'd rather eat the Yellow Death than a deer.

Vbaker220:   I  can  already  feel  the  old  self-confidence  returning!    Thanks.

I took a snowmobile trip outside of Park City, UT and at the end, we had a cup of beef stew right out of the can I am sure with a steaming cup of hot chocolate and nothing has ever tasted better especially as the sun set over the mountains. Mac & Cheese, a PB&J, or a can of stew is sometimes all we need. And all we need is sometimes all we want. What was that Hollies song?-Sometimes all I need is the air that I breathe. I know those moments don't last but the memory of them does. Funny how our sense of smell and taste are associated with such times.  

Thank you for the spark that jostled my memory and brought me back to the time when my Polish grandmother used to make Bigos.
Grandpa used to go hunting, but more often than not he would only catch a cold, my grandmother used to say...
When he did come back with something; rabbits usually, a pheasant now and again, a deer rarely, she would take out her big, heavy, black pot and put in the ingredients layer by layer. The meat was first, browned very quickly in salt pork, or bacon - a combination of rabbit, pork, beef, venison, pheasant - whatever was caught, plus what was on sale at the Butcher's. Onions and some freshly shredded cabbage went in next. She would put in the best kielbasa she could afford. The sauerkraut came from the Butcher, too, out of the big crocks standing by the cash register, and would be rinsed well before going into the pot. Dried mushrooms and prunes would be soaked in some boiling water and added to the mix. I saw her put in some dried apple, in place of the prunes, a time or two. She used enough of the soaking water to barely cover the ingredients, and maybe a little red wine, too, if she had some. A handful of peppercorns and some bay leaves, and sometimes a pinch or two of paprika, would complete the pot.
Then, she would cook it for two days...
I recall that it would simmer oh so slowly, on a very low flame of her gas stove, for a few hours, then she would take it off the heat, cover it and put it out on the cold back porch over night. In the morning, the lid would come off, the fat was skimmed from the top, a little liquid added if necessary (the idea was for it to be very thick and never watery), then it was back on the stove for another few hours of simmering, stirring only sparingly throughout the entire cooking process, so as to not break up the pieces of meat. I think it was quite an art to balance the proper amount of liquid to the simmering and stirring, so nothing would stick to the bottom of the pot and the meat didn't end up in shreds. After another night on the porch, it was ready to be devoured once it was again reheated.
She always served it with boiled potatoes, sour cream, thick slabs of rye bread and a good piwo - which grandma wouldn't let us kids have, but grandpa would give us sips of when she wasn't looking.
I'm sure I could never come close to recreating it, but eating a warm bowlful of it, in her cozy kitchen, is so nice to remember...

 
Tzimmes.... I like mine sans the meat.....a wonderful fruit stew. I'm headed to kitchen to make some now.

PARK4 - I'm with you deer - I'd rather eat Crap Macaroni & Cheese or Ramen Noodles than venison.  I know that is hypocritical of me 'cos I don't think twice about chowin' on a cheeseburger.  Maybe if I had seen a movie about a cow named Bambi I wouldn't feel this way...... but I can live with it. Peace out

Happy Birthday to Stephen Hawking, who's favorite dish is Chicken Jalfrezi, a spicy curry stew!

Geez! Ya'll are way ahead of me when it comes to cooking.  Braising is a funny word.  Here it's described as simmering, and I'd always thought of it as a very short spell of frying... and so I just checked the wikipedia and it describes it as searing and then pot roasting.  Oh, my!  I think I'll just watch 'The World's Worst Cooks' on the Food Channel and feel smug.  -- Incidentally, I'm planning on a very long hike next summer and one of the scariest things is the idea of eating my own cooking day after day after day.  Even with spices there are only a limited number of ways to cook lentils, noodles, corn meal, beef jerky, rice, instant potatoes, barley, and dried fish and/or squid.  I DO expect to lose a lot of weight, however, on what I'm calling 'The Long March'.   

Fortunately not all foods need to be cooked! (Whew!)  Nothing better late at night than a bowl of bran flakes and milk.... 

Has anyone here ever had Bigos?  If you haven't I suggest you locate the nearest Polish Enclave and look for a good milk bar style restaurant.  Its high up on my favorite soup/stew list.  Another rising favorite is Polish dill pickle soup...sounds really weird, tastes really good.

All of this talk of stew made me think of campfires which led me to cowboys in dusters which led me to our fearless leader the intrepid Mr. Peterman. And this led me to Amazon and I purchased his book today for reading on a future business/pleasure foray. I admire those greatly whose life is like an EKG readout instead of a boring straight line. And I will wear my duster to rehearsals of Footloose tonight for further kicks. Alas those early catalogs were materpieces.   

After seeing the above words"Polish dill pickle soup"  I headed right to bing.com and was amazed at the number of hits that came up.  Who knew?  I'll have to start looking through them and perhaps trying them.  All winter long almost every weekend I do a braised dish of some sort  (I LOVE my Le Creuset cookware, it makes it so easy!) and we can/do eat the leftovers once or twice during the busy weeks when coming home to cooking is daunting.  And the good thing about most braises is they just keep getting better and better.  In fact, right now on the burner is leftover ham stew made from the Christmas ham bone on one of the snow days we've had lately.  Yum, yum and I'm too tired to cook anything else.  Our daughter gave me a crockpot for Christmas (we got married in the fondue era, not the crockpot) so I'll be learning how to utilize that baby.

The second weekend in December (see my profile for pictures) I went Cold Weather Rustic Cabining with a friend. The first night we made beans. The following day we made soup for lunch, in the same unwashed pot. That night for dinner, we made stew. All the seasonings and flavors from the previous meals did something strange to that final woodland meal. Before we knew it, our bodies were warmer and fuller than they had been all weekend, and we both knew that we would never be able to duplicate that delicious last supper. A true stew cannot be planned and only happens wholly by accident, when it's least expected but most needed. But that's just my humble opinion.

My 4-pocket jacket showed up today. It fits great, looks good, and makes me feel like going exploring some ancient ruins!

I also have figured out a downside to making fudge in a non-stick pot . . . no samples.

The pot is a crock-its chili, blow on the dice
Rosemary it's thyme to cumin for sage advice.
Oregano Basil's making a pesto himself.
They'll stir in the stew til they're back on the shelf.
 
Nonsensical spice os the soup of the day
Take it too hot, or take it away
Bring me my bowl and my spoon and my cup
See to me quick or I'll eat you all up!

Miss Blue:  I'm sorry for not being clear about that. I(we back home) do put rice in the gumbo but also potato salad kind of on the side but still in the "juice". The potato salad I make is just boiled potatoes and boiled eggs smushed up all the way (no lumps) with mayo and mustard and a little seasoning. The gumbo bowl looks like this...rice, gumbo and then potato salad on the side but in the bowl.

It has been my experience that adding the dried 'erbs slightly before cooking is finished results in the more flavorful helpings....

Olivia - Beautiful!  Brings a tear to my eye and a smile on my face.

MICHAEL- there's a way to fix that- while you are smoothing it into the pan it will firm up in- you make sure to "ACCIDENTALLY" coat the front & back of your smoothing device. Oh no, guess you'll have to lick it...

bebe: Well, the spoon does have to be cleaned . . .

and you have to gauge the wine index...better lick the spoon again, and then sip the wine again....just to be sure....

What wine goes best with homemade fudge on a wooden spoon?

HMMM...let me try    this one...     and this one    ...ooh,and this one...    need more fudge...darn , where was I....guess I'll have to start over....

Did anyone mention short ribs? Flour. Brown. A little red wine. Two hours of simmering later, perfection. The tenderest of meats.

MICHAEL:  Chianti, of course .......