Food! Food! Food! The Good, Bad, Ugly, and Tasty steampunk treats and drinks

[J. Wilhelm]

In another "Tactile" thread, I was suggesting the creation if an electric Steampunk heating stove/furnace (using quartz lamps/elements as opposed to using wood or coal ), but in a style much like those used for camping or as in the 19th C. period.   As my mind explored the concept I realized I may want to re-integrate the cooking capacity of the stove, perhaps with electric resistive elements and such - why not cook in my room? 

  Today, I was walking through my local supermarket, and I found that $20 will buy you a small electric roasting oven (very Diesel/Atomic Age IMHO), similar to this:

http://m.sears.com/productdetails.do?partNumber=SPM6207691302P&sid=IDx20101019x00001a

Now I'm thinking of incorporating such a device into my design, but besides the apparatus itself, do any of you fine ladies and gentlemen care to share an appropriate recipe for such a device?

[CapnHarlock]

Please try this, even if you believe you do not like some of the individual ingredients - absolutely amazing - I have no words.

1)  Peel. quarter and roast some fresh beets ( a little salt, pepper, olive oil, 375F for about 15-20 minutes) until caramelized.  Cool and refrigerate overnight. These taste NOTHING like those canned atrocities, I promise.

2) Peel and de-vein some fresh shrimp/prawns.  cut into approx 1/4inch pieces.Put into a sealable container or a zip-bag. Season w/some kosher salt, black pepper, a few shakes of hot sauce. Toss to coat.

3) Fine-dice half a medium  red onion, and a clove or 2 or garlic. Add to the shrimp mix.

4) Cover shrimp with lime juice and refrigerate overnight. (The acid will 'cook' the shrimp = ceviche)

5) When nearly time to serve, chop up the beets and add to the shrimp mix.

6) Fine-chop some flat-leaf parsley and add, then mix again and refrigerate for another hour.

Best ceviche I ever tried - even the "Leche de Tigre" liquid was delicious - "Hungover Breakfast of Champions" (even thought I wasn't, and it was dinner)

[Angus A Fitziron]

That just has to be tried and may be the basis of this years bucket list entry! (I have list of things to do that I have never done before each year since my 50th birthday - 2012 may be the year of the airship voyage but if that proves impossible then a ceviche sounds like an opportunity not to be missed)

Cap'n Harlock, just noticed the reference to the Albion's Dancing Under the Rose - seems we have more in common than BrassGoggles and good food!

[CapnHarlock]

Mr. Fairbrass,

*shakes your hand* Well met, again, my friend

I have enjoyed 'rock versions of traditional British music' (as well as traditional British) ever since my first exposure to Steeleye Span on radio  and John Roberts and Tony Barrand (live, in a university coffee house in the early 70's). That particular quote has been a .sig for over 20 years. 

Ceviche need not be at all scary. I grew up in a mostly-Hispanic neighborhood, with friends whose parents could actually cook, so I got spoiled early, but if you  (or, more likely squeamish family members) need a "gentle" introduction, drain off the liquid, stir-fry on high heat for about 45 seconds - it will then look (as well as feel) 'cooked' , and be hot, thus less scary.

Don't toss out the liquid. Esp. with the beets to balance the acid of the citrus, it is great, either on its own, or as a sauce base for other dishes.

[Dangerdean]

I've decided to go a bit Victorian for the holidays and make a traditional(ish) Christmas pudding with hard sauce. I will, however, be untraditional and use butter instead of suet. I understand the functional reasons for using suet (melts at a higher temperature, adding some air to the pudding) but I just can't wrap my brain around it.

I've read about a few pudding-related traditions, but wondered if anybody had any they'd like to share?

[Kryss LaBryn]

This is pretty cool: Parks Canada has released seventy-something historical recipes to the general public in their first-ever app. Even better, they're also up on their website!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

http://www.pc.gc.ca/media/gourmand-gourmet/recettes-recipes.aspx

All the recipes have been updated for modern ingredients and measurements, etc, and each has some kind of connection with one of Canada's national historic sites. Pretty cool!

[Strapped-4-Cache]

Dangerdean - The only tradition I can remember associated with Christmas pudding was one of needing a LOT of hard sauce to cover the taste of the pudding.   Of course, the alcohol aftertaste in the hard sauce didn't appeal to me either, so I didn't really eat that much.  I was much younger back then.

Our holiday party is this Thursday, and the employees have been asked to bring in sides and desserts.  I've decided to bring a figgy pudding with hard sauce.  This will give everyone a chance to try it since they hear about it every year in song.  It's currently sitting tightly wrapped in brandy-soaked cheesecloth, then in foil.  I plan to mist it with brandy tonight and tomorrow night to make sure it will be plenty moist and flavorful.  A side bonus is that the house smells like molasses and figs.  Even better than gingerbread!

[Kryss LaBryn]

Dangerdean - The only tradition I can remember associated with Christmas pudding was one of needing a LOT of hard sauce to cover the taste of the pudding.   Of course, the alcohol aftertaste in the hard sauce didn't appeal to me either, so I didn't really eat that much.  I was much younger back then.

I really never liked the Christmas pudding Mum would get (even with all the brandy on it-- oh, btw: you have to heat the brandy up before you light it or it may not catch fire), but I LOVED the brandy butter. Soft unsalted butter, brown sugar, and brandy-- what wasn't to love? XD Plus it made us kids reeeaaally sleepy afterwards so that may have been a side bonus for the folks after a frenetic day with the presents, ha ha.

Our holiday party is this Thursday, and the employees have been asked to bring in sides and desserts.  I've decided to bring a figgy pudding with hard sauce.  This will give everyone a chance to try it since they hear about it every year in song.  It's currently sitting tightly wrapped in brandy-soaked cheesecloth, then in foil.  I plan to mist it with brandy tonight and tomorrow night to make sure it will be plenty moist and flavorful.  A side bonus is that the house smells like molasses and figs.  Even better than gingerbread!

That sounds fantastic! Now I want to try some too. XD

[Guinevere Meander]

Grin. I seemed to be the only one totally liking the taste of traditional british Christmas pudding with flaming brandy, hard sauce and whipped cream (or some vanilla ice-cream as an american way to dish), then again,





I'm different anyway

[Strapped-4-Cache]

We have discovered that, although most people aren't crazy for the flavor of the figgy pudding, the hard sauce is good on just about anything.

So far it's been tried with breakfast biscuits, vanilla wafers, slices of bread, and the remains of Santa's sugar cookies.  Wishing I had some pumpkin pie to try it on, as suggested on one of the cooking sites I visited.

[Guinevere Meander]

I baked 9 different cookie recipes for the holidays this year, most of them traditional german (Pfeffernuesse, Lebkuchen, Zimtsterne, Walnussplatzchen etc).
Today, I need to bake 2 appetizers for tonight's New Year's party and I'm already killed dead by my Fibromyalgia.

Yeah!

Happy New Year, Cheers!

[CapnHarlock]

I already have Blackeyed Peas made for New Year's Day but the NY Eve meal is quite amazing, as well as quite easy.

A Mr. Jamie Oliver (of all people) recipe shown to me by by boss.

preheat oven to 350F (180C)

put some olive oil i a roasting pan, cover bottom with bacon, (he used panchetta- I had none)  roast until it begins to get crisp.

core some ripe fresh tomatoes while your bacon cooks. When ready put whole tomatoes in pan, core side down and roast 5-10 minutes, until the skin begins to peel. remove from heat, pinch off and discard skins (WEAR A GLOVE!!) toss gently w/ the bacon and oil.

rub some sweet Italian sausage  in olive oil , push into the tomatoes, sprinkle on some chopped fresh rosemary, thyme and a few torn up bay leaves.

top with a whole head worth  of peeled garlic cloves.  Roast for approx 1 hour, turning the sausage a few times. let everything mix together and soften/roast.

serve over a few big chunks of fresh Italian bread.

This is just unspeakably tasty.

I think next time I will add some white wine for steam when the sausage is nearly done, and some fresh mussels and shrimp for a total 'foodgasm'

Mr.Oliver's original measured recipe can be found by searching on the terms "jamie oliver baked sausage ragu". It is worth trying.

A Happy New Year to all of you, my friends.

[Kryss LaBryn]

This isn't really quite Steampunk (a bit too late by 50ish years? It might be Dieselpunk though, given the era and the poor kid's expression lol) but as I was out and about today I saw that Kellogg's has a limited edition Cornflakes box out. Sixty-nine cents at the dollar store, a buck at Walmart.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I bought several boxes (hey, it's cheap!) and I fully intend to hang onto one of them when empty to add to my (currently very small) collection of old-fashioned kitchen packaging stuffs. Someday when I have my dream house and my old-fashioned-looking gas stove, I'm gonna have some neat stuff like this around where you can see it.

[Will Howard]

This isn't really quite Steampunk (a bit too late by 50ish years? It might be Dieselpunk though, given the era and the poor kid's expression lol) but as I was out and about today I saw that Kellogg's has a limited edition Cornflakes box out. Sixty-nine cents at the dollar store, a buck at Walmart.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I bought several boxes (hey, it's cheap!) and I fully intend to hang onto one of them when empty to add to my (currently very small) collection of old-fashioned kitchen packaging stuffs. Someday when I have my dream house and my old-fashioned-looking gas stove, I'm gonna have some neat stuff like this around where you can see it.

While that particular box may or may not be Steampunk, Kellogg's Cornflakes themselves ARE- & CERTAINLY late Victorian!  The patent for Kellog's Cornflakes was filed May 31, 1895, & issued on April 14, 1896- WELL within our period!

[Kryss LaBryn]

Actually, I should have known that! Silly me.

I have a very interesting book written by Dr. Kellogg from the late 1890s. He was a loony. 

Very ahead of his time on some things, like his attitude towards corsets (should never be worn ever by anyone as they compressed the organs and were terribly bad for you) and smoking (which he said was a terrible habit, very bad for you, and that it caused cancer), but an absolute loony on others. He thought that spices were very bad for you too (even pepper and mustard, let alone, gasp, horror, curries) and should be stringently avoided. He thought that masturbation was terribly bad for you, depriving men of vital force and generally making them weak and weedy (the pics he uses to contrast a healthy, robust young man, and a "mastubator", who looks like the Victorian version of the stereotypical skinny gaming nerd, are pretty hilarious). He thought that regular bowel movements were terribly important, to the point that if one hadn't had one by noon, one ought to have an enema. Retaining fecal matter within the bowels was, once again, everyone all together now, terribly bad for you. He's rather obsessed with masturbation and bowel movements, actually.

But it's a fascinating read for some other reasons, too; it's a wonderful insight into the time. He says that the best underthings are woolen, and everyone ought to have two pairs, so that twice a week one can change them. The ones one just doffed aren't washed but simply hung out to air for a few days until it's time to swap them again.

His attitude towards women seems to be very period: women are wonderful saintly creatures who shouldn't be taxed overmuch and shouldn't have their awful, brutish husbands make too many animal demands upon them, poor things. Now, about bowel movements... Really, he only touches upon women in passing, and mostly to tell their husbands to keep it in their pants. I suppose sex is also terribly bad for you. Honestly, so far as I can tell, all he was actually in favour of was exercise and bowel movements.

To sort of try to wrestle this post back to the topic at hand, more or less, he does espouse a diet rich in whole grains and vegetables (probably lightly boiled, knowing him). Meat ought to be done away with entirely, as I recall (been a while since I've read it; not even entirely sure where it ended up after the last move!), as it was difficult for humans to digest, gave us a foul odour, impaired the proper functioning of our bowels  and was terribly bad for you.

He says a good treatment for a cold, though, is to sit the sufferer upon a wooden chair, well-wrapped in blankets, and put a steaming bowl of water beneath the chair. One swaps it out every so often when it stops steaming. As someone who didn't have running water in the house at the time and loved to have hot baths when ill, it sounded a good way to have a nice steam bath instead!

--He did make good cereal, though, I'll give him that (think I'll go have a bowl now!). But he's still a loony. 

[CapnHarlock]

A major-league loony, indeed

If you are in the mood for a good  laugh, the  comedy film "The Road To Wellville' (1994) about Dr. Kellogg, some of his hapless patients and his rather unsavory family is really quite funny, though occasionally NSFW (but not in a porn-nudity way) .

[Kryss LaBryn]

Ah, yes, I remember that one.

Kind of trying to forget it, though. XD Too many times I just wanted to slap him upside the head! "Your lion is a carnivore and if he isn't acting like a regular meat-fed lion it's because the poor animal is horribly malnourished and is sick, not because meat = aggression. Moron."  "Fine, so the raw steak is crawling with something-or-other. Let's take a look at that lovely steak after it's been cooked, shall we? There's a reason even a blue steak is singed on the outside for a bit!"  "You honestly believe that any shellfish that feeds y opening wide and letting the sea carry particles to it is actually full of 'piss', to use the vernacular, my 'good lady'? Fine, then. My reply to you is going to be 'Hm. Guess that's why they taste so good!' Also, you're an idiot."

Blarghbrarghblagh. So much stupidity. It makes me want to punch things, haha. I have a fairly low rant threshold so, uh, that's one of those movies I don't think I should watch a second time. Heh. All his totally appalled vegetarian syncophants in the hall. Heh. I wanted so much to point out to them what the fertilizer they were growing their vegetables in actually was... 

[CapnHarlock]

"Real Brown Gravy" seems to be a Victorian staple - here is a somewhat-healthier version that is quite delicious:

Ingredients:

carrots, celery, onions, plum tomatoes - whatever quantity you have in your fridge
aprox 1 qt. beef broth, homemade from bones and veg is best, but the stuff from the shops works too
a 3-lb "tender chuck roast"(US name?) trimmed of most fat and silverskin
mushroom-flavored soy sauce
dry rub (1 part kosher salt, 1 part ground black pepper, 1 part granulated garlic, 1 part granulated onion, 1 part Indian paprika)
"Maggi" liquid seasoning (this is the restaurant chef's secret weapon for sauces)


1) Trim your roast, rub with the mushroom soy (check an Asian grocery store) - rub surface w/dry rub, refrigerate overnight.
2) Chop veg, add to bottom of a roasting pan as a base (a rack can help, or just use veggies as a base)
3) Heat a pan medium-high, add small amt of oil, sear the meat heavily- not quite 'blackened'
4) place meat on rack, on on top of veg, barely cover veg w/broth.
5) Roast for approx 1 hr at 375F (internal temp 140F)
6) Remove your meat, wrap in foil and let rest at least 30 minutes
7) continue roasting veg in broth at least another hour, until veg is softened- add more broth if it evaporates
"stab" the foil wrap, and let any juices run out into the roasting pan
9) Let broth and veg cool, skim off any extra fat
10) Blend all veg and broth together, adding hot water and/or more broth if too thick
11) Correct final seasoning w/a shot of "Maggi" liquid seasoning and/or salt/pepper to taste.

A bit sheepish to admit it, but I didn't even carve the roast yet, just ate the gravy with half a loaf of Portugese bread.

Not bad for something with no added fat or flour/roux

[CapnHarlock]

Further advice on gravy-making : when the phone rings, do NOT turn quickly and knock the bowl onto the floor while packaging for refrigeration

[J. Wilhelm]

Further advice on gravy-making : when the phone rings, do NOT turn quickly and knock the bowl onto the floor while packaging for refrigeration

Yeah, that would be bad.  The Maggi called my attention.  It's made by Nestle, very similar to soy sauce.   Knew it from childhood...

In parts of Europe, Mexico, Malaysia, and Brunei, In German-speaking countries as well as the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Slovakia, Poland and France, "Maggi" is still synonymous with the brand's "Maggi-Würze" (Maggi seasoning sauce), a dark, hydrolysed vegetable protein based sauce which is very similar to East Asian soy sauce without actually containing soy.[1

[CapnHarlock]

Mr. Wilhelm,
Every restaurant chef I know uses the "Maggi" liquid seasoning as a "secret weapon" for seasoning/balancing their meat-based sauces/gravies. Good stuff

Absolutely NO clue how this will turn out, I will let the group know later, but currently making a 'slow cooker' version of jambalaya - the roux is turning out surprisingly well, if slow .

[Uncle Arthur]

This morning I am drowning my sorrows in my personal (per) version of bacon and egg pie.
Tinned biscuits pressed into a 9 inch pie pan and lightly baked for crust
Six eggs
A splash of milk
Some shredded sharp cheddar
Six strips of bacon cooked and crumbled.
Dump all but the crust in a frying pan cook until nearly set
Butter in the pan helps prevent sticking if you remember.
Heave the whole works into the crust and chuck it into the oven at 350 until it sets and slightly browns on top.
Cool slightly and pig out.
Salt and pepper may be added to taste when cooking. or hot sauce of what have you.

[Mr Addams]

This morning I am drowning my sorrows in my personal (per) version of bacon and egg pie.
Tinned biscuits pressed into a 9 inch pie pan and lightly baked for crust
Six eggs
A splash of milk
Some shredded sharp cheddar
Six strips of bacon cooked and crumbled.
Dump all but the crust in a frying pan cook until nearly set
Butter in the pan helps prevent sticking if you remember.
Heave the whole works into the crust and chuck it into the oven at 350 until it sets and slightly browns on top.
Cool slightly and pig out.
Salt and pepper may be added to taste when cooking. or hot sauce of what have you.

I am sorry Uncle Arthur, but what you have there, dispite being in fairly basic form, is Quiche Lorraine !!!!

[Uncle Arthur]

I wish Loraine would show up and fix it for me!

[Will Howard]

In another "Tactile" thread, I was suggesting the creation if an electric Steampunk heating stove/furnace (using quartz lamps/elements as opposed to using wood or coal ), but in a style much like those used for camping or as in the 19th C. period.   As my mind explored the concept I realized I may want to re-integrate the cooking capacity of the stove, perhaps with electric resistive elements and such - why not cook in my room? 

  Today, I was walking through my local supermarket, and I found that $20 will buy you a small electric roasting oven (very Diesel/Atomic Age IMHO), similar to this:

http://m.sears.com/productdetails.do?partNumber=SPM6207691302P&sid=IDx20101019x00001a

Now I'm thinking of incorporating such a device into my design, but besides the apparatus itself, do any of you fine ladies and gentlemen care to share an appropriate recipe for such a device?

Back in the late '50s or early '60s one could purchase a "toy" oven that worked off one or more incandescent light bulbs.  The were actually capable of baking small cakes but were discontinued due to the number of children who suffered burns while playing with them.