Subj : Re: Greasy Spoons
To : Ruth Haffly
From : Dave Drum
Date : Sat Mar 08 2025 04:13:00
-=> Ruth Haffly wrote to Dave Drum <=-
DD> regular sized bottlem of Hunt's Catsup into his pot just before "turn
DD> in". He may have won the trophy and the $$$$ but he didn't get a
DD> single "People's Choice" vote.
RH> Doesn't sound like anything I'd vote for. I'm not much of a ketchup
RH> eater to begin with, and knowing that there was a bottle of it in the
RH> pot of chili would have turned me off, fast!
DD> Unless you saw him doing it you'd not know. But he was seen - and
DD> ratted out. Chilli cooks are a big a bunch of gossips as a ladies
DD> knitting club.
RH> There had to have been somewhat of a ketchup taste, using that much of
RH> it. Plus, that much ketchup would have added extra sweetness, something
RH> else that doesn't really belong in chili, IMO.
A lot of chilli cooks put sugar in their chilli. White or brown. Or some
will do molasses - which results in a barbeque sauce undertone. And I
knew one lady who used honey. Bv)=
DD> She started to ask "What's that ... " which was as far as she got when
DD> I saw her "get it" and she turned and left. Bv)=
RH> Makes you wonder, sometimes, how they got to be food inspectors. The
RH> VFW post here runs a chuck wagon at community events as a fund raiser.
RH> All who are involved with running it in any form have to go thru the
RH> county food handler's certification class. AFAIK, it has never been
RH> "audited" but I'm sure it would pass.
DD> I have always had a food handlers certification when required. But
DD> never, in 82 years been asked to show it to an inspector or other food
DD> cop.
RH> They probably just presume you have it, especially if they've seen you
RH> at various competitions. Better to have and not need than to not have
RH> and need.
Probably because the business is known for following the "rules".
DD> How high is the cap? If it will fit under a drive-thru awning it will
DD> go nicely through most of the car washes around here. Most of them
RH> We don't do drive thru awnings. The truck and cap would probably fit
RH> but we've got radio antennas that would not fit. Having done the drive
RH> thru at the bank a few times, we know not to try it at a fast food
RH> place.
DD> All of the banks I've used in this are have covers over all but the
DD> drive-up window. But the covers are necessary because of the pneumatic
DD> tubing that shuffles the paparwork back and forth.
RH> Yes, the bank one is usually high enough but it reminds us that not all
RH> places that have a cover are that high. We usually prefer to go in and
RH> sit down anyways, or go in, get it to go and eat in the camper,
RH> especially if the place is croweded.
The drive-thru is a matter of convenience for me. I score my grub and take
it either home or to work where it is eaten. Once in a very great while I'll
drive thru Hardee's if I'm running late for work and score a couple of their
nice biscuit sandwiches - eating them on the way to work.
DD> The pixture accompanying the original recipe was nice. I'd probably
DD> enjoy eating it. Doubt I'll ever make it, though.
RH> I've come to that realisation with a lot of recipies. Went thru a stack
RH> of saved newspaper food sections over the past week or so, think I
RH> saved maybe a dozen recipies to try.
DD> One of the reasons I like Taste of Home recipes is that they are by
DD> home cooks and doable in most kitchens. Even the T.O.H. Test Kitchen
DD> recipes are aimed at the home cook. I still collect stuff I might make
DD> in my kitchen from Saveur, New York Times, Simply Recipes, etc.
DD> And once in a while I hit a gem I've not made before that gets made
DD> right away ....
RH> I've done that--pulled out from a cook book, stack of print outs or
RH> whatever, something that looks good, try it and it becomes something
RH> we'll re do on a semi regular basis. The spicy Moroccan chicken recipe
RH> was in a magazine at my in-laws house in Florida one time when we were
RH> visiting. It came home with us and I probably make it at least once a
RH> year, making enough to put extra into the freezer to enjoy a couple
RH> more times.
That's how I made my first "new to me" recipe. My mother gave me a New
York Times cookbook and I was browsing through the page when BINGO. One
jumped off the page into my lap and said "Let's go to the kitchen".
And that's how I was introduced to fish Parmesan. Bv)=
DD> Made this one yesterday and sent half of it home with my brother who
DD> spent the day Ubering his wife and daughter to various medical deals.
DD> Got requests for the recipe from both Vicky (S-I-L) and her daughter,
DD> Robin.
DD> I was sensitised to it by the similar recipe I posted to you earlier
DD> this week. Never had a bad shrimp dish. Bv)=
RH> Something I would definatly try. We had lunch with some of Steve's
RH> fellow hams today at a Thai restaurant. I had cashew chicken--would
RH> have been better with a lighter sauce and not cooking the chicken quite
RH> so long. Chicken pieces were quite dry and the brown sauce overpowered
RH> other tastes.
Here's that fish parm recipe in its original form:
2 lb Fish filets or steaks
26 oz Jar Onofrio's Basilico sauce
- or Marinara sauce *
Salt & fresh black pepper
1 lb Mozzarella or Provolone;
- sliced or shredded
1 lb Crimini/Swiss Brown button
- mushrooms, cleaned, sliced
- reserving 8 buttons
Fresh grated or shaved
- Parmesan cheese
8 tb Butter; melted
Set oven @ 425ºF/220ºC.
Spread a thin layer of sauce over bottom of baking dish
place a layer of firm whitefish filets on the sauce. Salt
and pepper the fish. Sprinkle some sliced mushrooms over
fish and place cheese in a layer over the mushrooms.
Spread a layer of sauce over the cheese and repeat the
fish, mushroom, cheese layers until the baking dish is
near full or you run out of fish.
Top the last layer with cheese, the remaining sauce in
the jar and the 8 reserved mushroom buttons. Grate or
shave Parmesan over until you are ashamed of yourself or
until you run out of cheese.
Drizzle the melted butter over the cheese and bake until
fish is done - 15 to 20 minutes
* Available from www.onofrios.com. Or you may use Rao's,
Filippo Berio, Classico, etc.
I like the addition of the basil in the Basilico sauce. If
you don't care for basil with your fish use the straight
marinara. - UDD
Adapted from a NYT Cookbook recipe and served many times
from Dirty Dave's Kitchen.
MM Format by Dave Drum - 10 June 1997
MMMMM
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