Cooking meme via Oursin

[arkessian]

 HAVE YOU EVER: COOKING EDITION

This is rather USAian in its expectations and language

1. Made biscuits from scratch? Yes, for the UK usage of biscuit.
2. Fried fresh okra? Can't stand the stuff.
3. Made sourdough bread? Yes.
4. Fried chicken? Yes. but not with breadcrumbs or batter, if that matters.
5. Made spaghetti sauce from scratch? Often. As in, never done anything else for spaghetti.
6. Made any kind of yeast bread? Yes, but not since I started making sourdough.
7. Baked a cake from scratch? Yes, but not in maybe 20 years -- life and tastes change.
8. Made icing from scratch? In my teens, at school. Mrs Etheridge approved it greatly.
9. Cooked a pot roast with all the veg? Yes, though it depends a bit on what 'all the veg' means. Ditto pot roast.
10. Made chili from scratch? Yes.
11. Made a meatloaf? No.
12. Made scalloped potatoes? If scalloped potatoes mean potato gratin? Yes, often. If they mean the potatoes in batter that kids used to get fobbed off with from the chip shop when their parents got fish? No.
13. Made mac/cheese from scratch? Never seen the point.
14. Made a jello salad? Duh, what? Salad computes, but jello?
15. Made peanut brittle? Never.
16. Made fudge? Another childhood achievement. Never wanted to ruin my teeth once I got to the age of independence.
17. Made cookies from scratch? See above, 'biscuits'.
18. Cooked a pot of beans from dried beans? Chickpeas and/or lentils, if they qualify.
19. Cooked a pot of greens? Brain going uhhh? Greens are a part of every meal. I suspect this means a particular kind of greens, but... what exactly?
20. Made cornbread from scratch? No.
21. Made a pie dough from scratch? I'm going to assume you mean pastry. Yes.
22. Cooked a whole turkey? Why? 
23. Snapped green beans and cooked them? We need to discuss the beans. French? Runner? What, exactly?
24. Made mashed potatoes from scratch? On request -- I'm not keen, but will make it with mustard or cheese through it for particular dishes.
25. What’s the most people you have (alone) prepared a whole meal for? When I was cooking tea for my family every night (aged 12-18), 6 people.
26. Poached an egg? Yes. The traditional method is rubbish -- use a microwave.
27. Made pancakes from scratch? Yes, but not recently.
28. Roasted vegetables in the oven instead of boiling them? Is boiling an option? Always roast. Or steamed.
29. Made fresh pasta? You're having a laugh. (I don't eat much pasta if any, so no point in making it myself).
30. Made croissants from scratch? No. And don't intend to.
31. Made tuna salad? Ick.
32. Fried fish? Yes. No breadcrumbs or batter, again.
33. Made baked beans? Ick again. Why would I?
34. Made ice cream from scratch? Too much work.
35. Made jam or jelly? Aubergine jam, which turned out pretty well, but that was the one year when I had a decent aubergine harvest..
36. Zested an orange or lemon? Yes.
37. Made grits from scratch? Grits? ???
38. Made an omelette? Often. Sometimes even Spanish Omelette.
39. Lived in a house without a dishwasher? Yes.
40. Eaten a bowl of cereal for supper? I don't think I've ever eaten a bowl of cereal for breakfast since it was the only option in my mother's house , 44 years ago.

Comments

[malkingrey]

Salad computes, but jello?

Jell-o brand flavored gelatin or one of its clones, done in a mold with various fruits suspended therein. (Versions with suspended vegetables also exist, but they're much less common.) The trick is to get the bits of fruit evenly suspended throughout the molded Jell-o, rather than having them all sink to the bottom. I think it involves letting the gelatin partially set first, but I'm not sure, because while I have eaten Jell-o salads, I have never made one.

More info, with pictures, here.

[arkessian]

Thank you. Sounds somewhat like a layered fruit trifle I've seen made -- layer of fruit; some jelly left to set; layer of fruit; some jelly left to set etc. An all day endeavour for something that frankly wasn't worth it.

[malkingrey]

It's a show-off piece, meant to let others know you've got not only the skill but the time to make something like that.  Church-supper and potluck material, competitive subdivision.

[arkessian]

Advanced housewifery, 50s vintage.

[malkingrey]

Very much so.

[mrissa]

Some of them also mix other things with the gelatin, such as whipped cream. My grandmother does the only one I like, which mixes in applesauce and pecans with raspberry gelatin--the texture varies a great deal more than just "fruit in gelatin."

[arkessian]

My mother used to feed us Bird's Eye trifle (Bird's Eye was a brand). It was a kit that had to be assembled as per https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNu52lx0Dh8. I always insisted she made a separate portion for me without the custard because the so-called custard was disgusting.

[malkingrey]

"Fruit in gelatin" is the basic entry-level form.  Beyond that, things can get decidedly baroque. I have a sneaking fondness for the ones that incorporate things like whipped cream, thus changing the texture of the dish completely . . . but my fondness is not so great that I've ever felt the urge to make one for myself.