Cooking used to be all about making food that tasted good. But somewhere along the way, we seem to have decided the diet-of-the-week was more important.
How to Cook Like Your Grandmother is a return to recipes and techniques that are based on what tastes good, not on junk science and fad diets. You won't find the words lite, low, lean, free or skim anywhere. This is all real food, cooked the way Grandma would have done it.
People have been making and eating food as long as there have been people. And food. But somehow we've let ourselves believe that it's something only experts can do "right". That's where
Starting From Scratch comes in. I'm not saying you'll go from zero to hero just by reading it, but at least now you'll know what those self-proclaimed experts are talking about.
18 Comments
This is beautiful-looking stuff. I’d think even if you just use it to polish your glassware (though making a vinaigrette sounds tastier) it’d still be nice to have a bottle like this hanging out on the countertop.
So you think making shallot blossom vinegar might be ill-advised? Now that I’ve discovered how ridiculously SPICY shallot blossoms are, I mean.
I did make some mulberry vinegar. It’s steeping right now. Perhaps I will post a picture when it’s done–I bet it’ll be a great color. I’m also making mulberry liqueur, but that’s too wild for a family friendly site like this.
I don’t know that I’d like onion-scented glassware. I imagine it would clash with milk. Ecch.
I’d still do the shallot blossom vinegar for two reasons. 1) You can always use a smaller amount of it. Just like you wouldn’t use a cup of Tabasco sauce, don’t use a cup of shallot (or chive) vinegar. 2) How much would the vinegar cost, maybe a buck? I’d spend that for an interesting experiment.
I love making flavored vinegar, this looks awesome! We have maybe half a dozen green onion blossoms outside at the moment. I’m so disappointed that we don’t have a bunch!
I use our flavored vinegars and our regular vinegar in our stir-fry sauce. Just a few tablespoons add some wonderful flavor, this might be good for that. I often use flavored vinegar instead of hot sauce on breakfast tacos. Mmmmm.
I’m always looking for ways to use our vinegar so I’ll be watching closely for more ideas. One can only eat so much salad, after all.
Maybe you can take this vinegar and pickle something in it that would be complimented by the intense flavor. There’s SO much you can pickle, after all.
I’m jealous of Kristin’s mulberry vinegar. The frost got our mulberry tree and we didn’t get any fruit this year.
OMG! I’m so gonna do that, squeee!
Ahem.
I’ve got bread-and-butter pickles on the agenda for later this year when the father-in-law’s cukes come in. If any of this is still around, that’s what I’ll use.
I can’t wait to let a bunch of herbs bloom now. The possibilities! It just never occurred to me. This vinegar you’ve made is beautiful!
Probably won’t happen this season, hubby didn’t really start much of a garden this year. Sniff. I won’t have any peppers to dry or pickle this summer.
I just started a blog called mygrandmawasgreen.com I also ordered your cookbook. I am sure it will become a reference throughout my year long adventure!
Everyone reading this should go check out April’s blog, My Grandma Was Green. What an awesome concept.
Holy chive blossoms! This is a great idea. I was just looking at my chive plant earlier wondering what I should do with all those blossoms…and here you are with this fantastic idea. I’m heading to the restaurant supply store tomorrow to get a jar to start steeping!
I love restaurant supply stores. I have to get cash and leave the plastic at home or I’ll spend the rent.
Hi Drew,
My Chive Blossom Vinegar came out great too! (and oniony). I put mine through a coffee filter prior to using it. Thanks for the great idea. One question, did you wash/rinse your blossoms before using them or just check to make sure there were no bugs? I just checked mine but I wonder if that was enough…
I’ll let you in on a secret if you promise not to tell anyone. It had just rained the night before, so I figured they were about as clean as I could get them without destroying them. And anything that was left, I trusted the vinegar to take care of it.
And before anyone decides to tell me how unsanitary I’m being, ask yourself if you’d eat an apple from a tree without first taking it home and washing it off. Yeah, that’s what I thought.
Anything grown at a factory farm, I’m going to wash it thoroughly to remove the pesticides. Grown in the back yard? I’ll take the risk.
Oh, and Nancy, did you make a dressing with it, or just pour it right onto the salad with some olive oil?
PS: This is my absolute favorite kind of comment. The idea that someone went and made something because I said it was good, and they liked it … that is just so cool. Thanks for taking the time to tell me about it. You made my day.
I just put it on my salad with olive oil and sea salt and fresh ground pepper. I love onions so the flavor was not an issue for me, but I did not use alot of it. A definite keeper!
Regarding your secret, Drew, I never wash anything from hubby’s garden if we’ve had a rain because he never uses any pesticides. If it hasn’t rained, I give them a bit of a rinse for the bugs, that’s it. I think we can live TOO clean an existence and I think that, ultimately, makes us more unhealthy.
If the mother in law is visiting, however, EVERYTHING gets washed carefully. Whatever. I have to wash her garden veggies, she douses everything with Seven Dust.
I knew Seven Dust sounded familiar, but couldn’t figure out why. Turns out there’s a band called Sevendust, and a pesticide called Sevin. Are they actually named after a pesticide? Hah!
Ah, SevIn dust. Didn’t even know how it was spelled. There’s a band called Sevendust?? Not a name I would ever pick!
I just picked as many chive blossoms as the honey bees would allow me. I gave them several good rinses in a bowl of cold water for bugs and trapped sand. Just fill your bowl with cold water and agitate with your hand like a washer and then pour it all out into a colander. I'm making this batch with white wine vinegar. If I forget to come back and let you know how it turns out you are welcome to email me.
babette@jetup.net
Babs, did you use a wide-mouth bottle, or spend a silly amount of time stuffing it through a narrow neck like I did?