The 'I Need a Recipe' Thread

[Zohar]

I want to make brioche sometime soon (might have to wait until I get back from my business trip though). The recipe I have requires 6 egg yolks. Any ideas on what to do with the whites, except for mountains upon mountains of meringue?

[AntonGarou]

cake.there are several cake recipes that call for whipping only the whites of eggs, IIRC

[Amarantha]

Gin sours (or spirit of your choice)
Friands
Pavlova (ok, that's kind of like a big meringue. in which case, also Lemon Meringue Pie)

Also, thanks for the inspiration I was wondering where I could get a decent brioche to go with this truffled pâté that the inlaws brought us from Europe. Hadn't occurred to me to try making my own. And my folks have chooks, so they keep bringing us free eggs.

[poxic]

Toss an egg white into a fruit smoothie for extra protein and frothiness?

[Decker]

Toss an egg white into a fruit smoothie for extra protein and frothiness?

...I know that there's raw eggs in things like mayo and cookie dough, but yuck.

[PAstrychef]

I usually use whole eggs in my brioche.
You can use extra whites to make chiffon and angel food cakes, to clarify stock into connsumme, to keep sherbet from being grainy, as a binder in meatballs or meat loaf, as a glue for gold leaf in Illumination, to coat grapes that you then roll in sugar or to do the same to edible flowers. For the flowers use a brush.

[pooteeweet]

I believe coconut macaroons use only the whites. They can also be used (beaten stiff) instead of leavening in pancake batter.

The skin of the cucumbers was included, that was probably to blame.

[Zohar]

I'm sorta in a dessert competition, me against someone else who'll be making chocolate truffles. I'm thinking of making tarte tatin with some creme patissier. What do you think? Is it too heavy? Should I go for basic vanilla sauce?

[PAstrychef]

What you do is make your pastry cream, then just before serving lighten it with a bit of whipped cream folded in. Add some Calvados to the whipped cream if you can/want to, and also a bit of cinnamon. This has it's own name in French but I can't be arsed to go downstairs and look it up in the big pastry books.
It's hard to win against chocolate.

[Zohar]

My recipe for it called for this as well, I think it would lighten it. I think considering my cake will be hot straight from the oven, it won't be too difficult to win against it.

[Bakemaster]

In comparison to chocolate truffles, your dessert will probably seem light no matter how dense it turns out.

[Zohar]

That's part of what I was thinking as well.

[Enid]

Hello! As a child one of my favorite comfort foods was beef stew over rice. These days I do not eat beef but still have that hankering for the taste I remember and the nostalgia/memories of my mom. I think trying to eat beef or pork at this point would just make me sick, and I I have no desire to eat it. So I am looking for some sort of stew, preferably vegetarian, but can include chicken or turkey, that mimics the savory awesomeness. If possible. A lot of vegetarian options are kinda meh. I know I won't get an exact replica, but something would be nice.

Forgive the rambling please, I am not running on very much sleep!

[poxic]

Hmm, I've tried mushroom-based recipes in the past that were satisfyingly meaty-ish. Are you good with mushrooms? I'll see if I can dig up any I've tried...

[Enid]

I love me some mushrooms! That sounds wonderful if you would be so kind.

[poxic]

I ... lost my cookbooks. I just finished a small renovation in my apartment, replacing old furniture with new stuff and cramming reams of dusty old crap (including books) into the new cupboards. I've gone through the cupboards twice and can't find my cookbooks. Whatthehell did I do with them?

So yeah, I'll have to dig up some stuff online. This is the 21st century, after all. Dead tree editions are so 1995 (when I bought most of my cookbooks >.> ).

http://www.molliekatzen.com/recipes/recipe.php?recipe=asparagus_crepes
This recipe is mostly irrelevant, but it has a mushroom sauce that makes a decent gravy. You'll probably want to make it a few times to figure out what proportions of things you like best.

I have also found that adding a bit of miso paste, if you have any, can add some yummy to vegetarian gravies. Miso paste doesn't like to be cooked a lot, but you can stir in a bit just before cooking is done or just after, and all is well. Take about a teaspoon per two cups of gravy (two teaspoons if you decide you like it), whip it up in a bit of water until smooth, then stir it into the gravy-or-other-thingy when it comes off the stove.

http://www.indiadivine.org/audarya/vegetarian-forum/1284152-mushroom-nuggets.html
This recipe seems to be the same as the one from "Voluptuous Vegan", a book with stunning but labour- and ingredient-intensive vegan menus. Really awesome recipes, but holy hells, they're a lot of work. The results are restaurant-worthy, though. Delicious and inventive.

So yeah, I made the "mushroom nuggets" once. I messed up somewhere and ended up with "mushroom paste", but it tasted fabulous. So I put it in a bowl, served it with crackers, and called it "mushroom dip". I imagine that you can mix this recipe, pasty or otherwise, with other things to come up with a gravy or a chunky stew of sorts. (I wouldn't cook successfully formed mushroom balls in a liquid -- they'd probably disintegrate quickly -- but they could be chopped a bit or left whole and added on top of a mushroom gravy of sorts. The whole thing would take experimentation.)

And after typing all that, I thought "hey, why not goog "vegetarian beef stew"? I found some interesting-looking links:

http://vegetarian.about.com/od/soupssalads/r/GuinnessStew.htm
Seitan is basically wheat gluten that's chewy. You could probably substitute turkey sausage or whatever you like.

http://www.theveggietable.com/recipes/seitanbeefstew.html
A variation on the same. Any time you read seitan or tofu or a reference to meat substitutes, go ahead and use whatever real-meat things you'd prefer. In fact, go ahead and do the goog on "beefless stew" or something like that, and see what matches your tastes and available ingredients.

It's all about playing with your food. In a non-toddler-messy way. Mostly. Have fun!

[semicharmed]

If you eat chicken/turkey, substituting dark meat for beef might be savory enough, especially if you also use mushrooms.
Browning the mushrooms beforehand, and then combining in a crockpot with potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, de-boned chicken thighs and then salt & pepper to taste, especially if you use a good vegetable or chicken stock as the cooking liquid would probably hit a lot of the same taste notes.
And would also be really satisfying served over a big bowl of egg noodles, which is how I always eat stews.

[pooteeweet]

Try seeing if your local delis or groceries with deli sections sell "scrap" bags of cheese rinds. Parmesan rinds impart a surprisingly rich, meaty flavor to stew IIRC. Just pull the rinds out at the end, like bay leaves.

[dubsola]

I second the cheese recommendation: sometimes I fry halumi and add that at the last minute.

I made a vegetable stew earlier this week, but roasted the vegetables first. Roasting gives it a meatier flavour.

Spoiler:

So, I chopped up my root veg, put a bit of oil on them, then put them in the oven. I then chopped up an onion, fried it in a little oil, then added a can of tomatoes, and my herbs (rosemary and dried oregano for this one), and let that go a while. I then peeled some garlic and threw that in with some cherry tomatoes in with the roasting vegetables, and left them in for another 20 minutes or so. I think added all the roast vegetables to my stew, added some butter beans, stirred it all up, and that it. Delicious, hearty stew.

[dubsola]

I've got loads of apples. What should I make with them?

[PAstrychef]

Apple sauce.
Upside down apple muffins.
Brie and apple and turkey on a roll sandwiches.
Baked apples filled with pistachios and raisins and cream cheese.
Apple pies.
Pork tenderloin with apples and onions and sage.

[bigglesworth]

Apple Crumble.

[dubsola]

Biggles, apple crumble is first on the list! Goes without saying, IMO.

Thanks PA. I like the baked apple idea, my mum used to make that and I'd forgotten about them. Quite delicious! Sometimes she'd put a bit of chocolate in there, which is also excellent.

[pooteeweet]

Pie is superior.

[Lady Freya]

for the meaty soups/stews question, I recommend marmite in the broth - that is if you are english. Vege mite if you are aussie (I didnt check your location before I wrote this sorry!) If you are neither, perhaps you can get some from a specialist place or someone can send you some?

For the apples question I would like to add applesauce, since my cursory glance at other people's suggestions didn't reveal that as an option (Edit: sorry pastrychef I see that you said this already) it uses up a lot of apples and tastes great.

I myself have a metric fucktonne of pumpkin left over from halloween. I have so far roasted the seeds, made pies and pumpkin soup. I still have a lot left. All ideas welcome (no meat accompaniments if possible)

[PictureSarah]

Muffins, bread, cookies? Grate the pumpkin and make latke-like things...some curry powder and brown sugar in the egg mix?

[Bakemaster]

Three years ago for halloween I made one of the Pumpkin Roll recipes on Allrecipes.com with a buttercup squash (more flavorful than a pie pumpkin, but tastes almost the same) and a bunch of coconut in the filling and ohmygod it was so good. I don't at all remember which version of the recipe it was, though. There are several on that site.

[The Utilitarian]

I need an omlette. I need the omlette to end all omlettes!

It should be suitable for breakfast and contain eggs, as well as some other meat.

bonus points if it's spicy.

Also realize: I have never made an omlette before! This is a treat I'm planning for my girlfriend, and while I have a reasonable amount of cooking experience I have never worked with eggs, as I can't stand the things myself.

Amaze me fora!

[Nath]

There are basically two styles of omelettes that I make.

Standard US folded omelette:
Beat the eggs well to introduce air bubbles, and add to an oiled non-stick pan on medium heat. Cover. When the edges are cooked and the top is still liquid, add salt, pepper and some filling (cheese and/or mushrooms and/or ham and/or whatever; less is more). Cover again (this is to cook the top and warm the filling before the bottom browns). When the top is mostly done but not quite fully solid, poke at the edges with a suitable spatula-type thing, and jiggle the pan to make sure the omelet isn't stuck. Then fold it in half and slide it onto a plate. The internal heat will finish cooking the slightly liquid middle. You want little to no brown on this style of omelet; it should be soft and slightly fluffy.

Indian style:
Heat enough oil to generously cover the pan. Beat eggs; stir in finely chopped vegetables (onions, tomatoes, green chillies, cilantro) and salt. Add to pan and optionally cover briefly. The pan should be hot enough that the egg starts solidifying immediately. When the bottom is properly cooked, flip and cook the other side for a bit. You want a bit of brown; this omelette will be slightly overcooked by western standards. Goes well with buttered bread (and ketchup, oddly enough; better still, find some Maggi tomato-chili sauce). Although meat is not traditional, I don't see why you couldn't throw in a bit of chopped bacon or ham for a more Denver-style omelet. Maybe omit the cilantro and add bell peppers.

Other styles include French (cooked for less than a minute on high heat, jiggled violently) and Spanish (thick omelette made by cooking fillings in a pan and then adding eggs).

[Telchar]

I'd follow the standard US option above and add Red Onions, Green Pepper, and Tomatoes for the veggies. Crispy meat is best imo so I would add bacon or pancetta and use a sharp cheddar or similarly flavored cheese. Season with S&P to taste, cayanne pepper if you want it hot and cilantro if you like it (I really do).

[The Utilitarian]

Thanks Nath! A combination of your first and second choices along with a filling recipe from a friend worked wonders.

[The Utilitarian]

So, with great excitement I report that I got a counter top deep-fryer for Christmas. Already got tempura and fries and wings going but I'm having a rough time finding a good recipe for Chicken Pakouras. I've looked at quite a few and there's a lot of variability in the recipes. Also having a problem in that chick-pea flour is proving more difficult to obtain than I anticipated.

Suggestions?

[Bakemaster]

If you're looking around in small, ethnic groceries, chickpea flour will likely be labeled "Besan". I've only made vegetable pakoras, but the recipes I've used are incredibly simple; you just add spices to the flour and mix with water to the desired consistency. This short article makes chicken pakoras look almost as simple; marinate the chicken however you like, dip it into the batter, fry.

[Zohar]

I want to prepare red velvet cake tomorrow. Does anyone have a good and proven recipe?

[podbaydoor]

I have half a fillet of smoked salmon from Seattle and I need to eat it before it goes bad. Suggestions?

[JBJ]

I have half a fillet of smoked salmon from Seattle and I need to eat it before it goes bad. Suggestions?

Smoked salmon fish dip.

Whatever the salmon fillet weighs, add about 3/4 that weight in softened cream cheese. Mix well in a bowl.
Add lemon juice, salt, pepper, dill, paprika, or Tabasco to taste.

Serve on crackers or on toasted pita. Also awesome on bagels.

[PAstrychef]

I want to prepare red velvet cake tomorrow. Does anyone have a good and proven recipe?

Here's a link to one I've made a few times and liked.
clickety

[blue_eyedspacemonkey]

So my almost mother-in-law has recently been diagnosed as diabetic. She runs a cake shop, and all day has to make yummy things she cannot eat. She's tried to find recipes for cakes/biscuits/cookies but hasn't found anything decent. Does anyone have any ideas I can pass along?

[bigglesworth]

I'm guessing that's Type 2 (The dietary requirements of the two types being rather different).

Ideas I know off the top of my head include using Fructose as a replacement for normal sugar (you end up needing less).

[blue_eyedspacemonkey]

Yeah, type 2 (I probably should have included that) I'm not sure if she is using any sugar substitute (I assume so), I shall have to ask her.