Recipes and Cooking Tips

  • Thread starter Thread starter oldgraymare2
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
O

oldgraymare2

Guest
Another forum friend and I thought that it might be fun to try and start another cooking and recipe thread, so here I am, starting it off.

This is the thread where we can share recipes and cooking tips and ideas.

Even if you feel like you’re not the greatest cook or baker and your idea of cooking is to doctor up a frozen meal like I do at times, then please share those ideas, too! 😎
 
Roast Leg of Lamb

This is general information that I have adapted for roasting a leg of lamb.

Please adjust for your own oven, and for the size of the lamb that you are cooking, and for the preference of doneness that you prefer.

I am cooking for temperatures indicated here in the U.S., which is for Fahrenheit.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Prepare your lamb as desired, with whatever seasonings and herbs you would like on it.

I marinated a leg of lamb that was already a bit marinated and seasoned.

I added some olive oil to it, and some oregano, and some onion powder and garlic powder to taste. I let the lamb marinate and come to room temperature before cooking, probably at least 30 minutes or so.

I oven roasted the lamb uncovered for approximately 20 minutes at 425 degrees. Then I removed the lamb and covered it with foil.

I then turned the oven back down to 325 degrees.

You want to then cook it for your desired degree of doneness, and check this with a meat thermometer.

Cook at 20 minutes per pound, until done for the size of the leg of lamb.

I like to cover my leg of lamb with foil then, and finish cooking that way, but you can leave it uncovered and finish cooking that way.

If you like your lamb rare, cook until 130-135 degrees. If you like it less rare, cook until 140 degrees.

Let it sit for about 15 minutes, before slicing.

Remember that it will continue to cook when it is removed from the oven.

Cooking it at a high heat first will break down the tougher fibers in the meat, and will make it more tender as it cooks.
 
Last edited:
Marinating the leg sounds delicious OGM 🙂
My mum used to lift the leg out afterwards,drain the hot fat off then add water to the rich gravy in the bottom of the pan .Enough to dilute it and blend in some plain flour with a fork.
She would keep swiftly stirring as it slowly heated up on the stove top and make a tasty pourable gravy to have with the leg.Salt if needed and ground black pepper to taste.
 
Greenfields said:
Marinating the leg sounds delicious OGM 🙂
My mum used to lift the leg out afterwards,drain the hot fat off then add water to the rich gravy in the bottom of the pan .Enough to dilute it and blend in some plain flour with a fork.
She would keep swiftly stirring as it slowly heated up on the stove top and make a tasty pourable gravy to have with the leg.Salt if needed and ground black pepper to taste.
Click to expand...
I love using the drippings for pan gravy.

One short-cut that I’ve learned to use, is to take either dry packaged gravy or canned/tinned/jarred premade gravy, and to take about 1/4 cup of pan drippings, and to mix that in to your dry/tinned/jarred gravy to give it a richer homemade taste, if you don’t feel like making your gravy from scratch.

If you are using dry packet gravy, you would just follow along with the directions and add the drippings in as directed, and then add your water in to make up the rest of the liquid, and then heat as directed.

This tastes really good, and is a nice way to add some flavor in, while still cutting the fat, as many of the packet gravies that I’ve used are low in fat. 🙂
 
Pour water into cube tray.

Place in freezer until it isolates.

Add to cold drink and enjoy.
 
Speaking of ice cubes…

Has anyone tried to make any freezer pops with those plastic molds that you can buy and then fill with juice, for example, and then freeze?

I have a couple of molds, but haven’t used them yet.

I have some lemonade that I could use that’s a frozen concentrate that you can thaw out and mix with water to drink, and I think that it would taste good as a frozen juice bar. 🙂
 
I used to years ago…now it’s just lemon juice I freeze into cubes when given a bag full.Lemons can grow really well here
 
Greenfields said:
I used to years ago…now it’s just lemon juice I freeze into cubes when given a bag full.Lemons can grow really well here
Click to expand...
That sounds like a great idea. I haven’t really thought about freezing the juice.

There are lots of things that you could do with the frozen cubes then, like put them in a drink, or use them in cooking, too. 🙂
 
I do that all the time. I pour my smoothie recipes in the molds. After they freeze, my tummy thinks it’s getting a high calorie treat.
 
Okay, here are a few I use.

When flavoring for salt, if a more savory flavor is desired over the saltiness, use bullion, chicken or beef, power in place of all or most of the salt. Fish sauce works in some dishes. Using this, one can even make a pan gravy as good as one made from drippings.

Speaking of which, when making gravy (country style), add flour to the grease until it becomes more pasty than runny. If it runs, there is too much grease per flour. You will should have enough flour left over from what was battered. Anyway, cook this paste until it starts to brown. Browning adds flavor. If too much is made, separate some of this cooked pasted (roux) aside for the next batch when you eat left overs. Fresh gravy makes left overs taste like the first time.

Speaking of which, add a little flour into the egg wash when frying to help make a thicker crust.
 
Pan frying. When cooking meats, especially white meats, and too low temperature or altitude causes the water to cook out of the meat, and into a mess around the meat, remove the meat after the water cooks out, instead of letting the meat “boil” in its own juice. Reduce what remains until just the fat from meat remains, then toss the meat back in to this fat/oil to brown.

This works well for vegetables too. I have to do this a lot when cooking fajitas, something that was initially designed for very hot temps over cast iron.
 
Last edited:
Biscuits - When making biscuits, after the dough is flattend and before you cut them, toss a little flour on top of the dough, fold it in half, and flatten it again to the desired thickness. The biscuit will still cook as one, but will twist apart by hand.
 
That sounds like a great idea with the smoothie. I think that that would be really refreshing! Thanks for sharing that tip. 🙂
 
Thanks for your tips too, pnewton. Some of them I have never heard of, and I appreciate everyone sharing what they know and what they do when cooking and baking.

I like to learn new tips, especially when making gravies and roux. 🙂
 
The reason Moses lived so long is that he didn’ live near a grocery store where he could run out and buy a loaf of bread filled with additives and chemicals and artificial flavors. I make my own bread.

Bread for about $25 cents a Loaf

3 cups of bread flour
1cup of milk
2 tbs. of butter
3 tbs of yeast
3Tbs of sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp of salt
1 Tbsp oh honey(optional)
I have run out of milk but you can use water and once I used coffee creamer which was pretty good.
Warm your liquid an put yeas in. Watch it work! Be sure yeast is active and not outdated. Put all ingredients in bread machine. Use standard bread setting. Walk away. Let the machine do the work.
The machine will take about 2 1/2 hrs to do its job, but you will have really good bread. Let it cool before slicing.
P.S. I borrowed this recipe from Prepper Princess who a has a website all about cooking in a frugal manner.

It probably takes less than 15 minutes to put all ingredients together…
 
You’re very welcome. I love smoothies and always make extras for the popsicle molds. So much healthier and less expensive than you find in the stores. And you know they aren’t loaded with preservatives or artificial ingredients.
 
Hi @MaryEstelle2,

Thanks for sharing a bread maker recipe here! That’s really great, and for also mentioning the site where you got it from, too.

I definitely like to be as frugal as possible when I cook, because I am working off of a budget.

I have a T-Fal bread machine that has Chef Emeril’s name on it. It’s a large machine and it has been great over the years, and the smallest loaf that it makes is a 2lb. loaf.

I wanted to ask you what size loaf you get out of your bread recipe, so that I know what setting to put my bread maker at so that I can give your recipe a try in it.

Thanks again for sharing, and God bless you! 😀
 
Anyone who wants to test out their recipes, PM me for shipping instructions. I’ll be happy to test and rate the results.
😄😄😉😄😄
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top