Crackers

Recipes: 20 Cracker Recipes

1. Cheddar Crackers
2. Whole Wheat Crackers
3. Coffee Crackers
4. Wheat Germ Crackers
5. Soda Crackers
6. Vegetable-Flecked Semolina Crackers
7. Homemade Graham Crackers
8. Vermont Cheddar and Maple Crackers
9. Homemade Crackers
10. Whole-Grain Crackers
11. Jalepeno Cheese Crackers
12. Banana Crackers
13. Barley-Oat Crackers
14. Yam Crackers
15. Walnut Crackers
16. Vanilla Crackers
17. Oatmeal Crackers
18. V-8 Crackers
19. Oat Crackers
20. Granola Crackers

Recipe: Olive Oil Crackers Recipe

What kind of cracker? The cracker recipe I'm featuring today makes thin, snappy, rustic crackers. Though they are sturdy enough to stand up to a hearty dip. The technique is simple and straightforward (utilizing just a few ingredients) and the dough is a welcoming canvas to all manner of seeds, salts, cheeses, spices, or flavored oils that you might want to use as accents.

Recipe: To make the perfect cracker, add cheese

If you think of crackers as little bits of pie crust, or fast-cooking bread, you quickly comprehend why they're so easy to make. Which only makes it more befuddling that no one does, since packaged crackers are universally overpriced and often contain ingredients with which you'd never cook.

Crackers can be made with just flour and water, but like almost everything else, they're better with richer ingredients. These, typically, are butter, oil and milk or cheese, or both, along with seeds, herbs and spices.

St. Patrick's Day. Seasoning.

Recipes: St Patrick's Day

A collection of "editor's favourite" Irish-Australian St. Patrick's Day recipes.

Beef and Guinness stew ... Boxties with creme fraiche & smoked trout ... Colcannon with Guinness stew ... Irish coffee ... Irish soda bread ... Colcannon ... Treacle tart ... Beef & Guinness pasties ... Layered potato cake ... Mini Baileys cheesecakes ... Bitter chocolate tart with Irish Cream ... Pea & mint mash ... Steak & kidney tartlets ... Nutty Irishman ... Potato pancakes with smoked salmon ... Sauteed brussels sprouts with bacon ... Beef, stout & potato pies ... Baileys rocky road fudge ... Minted pea soup with smoked salmon and cream cheese toasts ... Baileys chocolate fudge

Article: A splash of seasoning can be better than a shake

When most cooks read "season to taste," they automatically reach for the salt shaker. That's not a bad start: A judicious sprinkling with salt will awaken many a dull dish. But if you stop there, many times you'll be missing a key ingredient. Because just as a little salt unlocks flavor, so can a few drops of acidity.

...

Though the results may be similar, salt and acidity work slightly differently. Salt is a flavor potentiator -- in other words, it works chemically to make other flavors taste more of themselves. Acidity works as seasoning by giving a dish backbone or structure, which allows other flavors to stand out and shine.

Nettle Soup. Basil.

Recipe: Food for free: how to make nettle soup from foraging

Making soup out of foraged nettles in the UK. Read down a little to find a link to a recipe for nettle tagliatelle.

Article & Recipe: Tastes as good as it smells

Basil is perhaps the only herb that tastes as good as it smells, according to the International Herb Society, which back in 2003 named it herb of the year.

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Robyn uses it in a simple dish that could be part of nibbles or a light lunch. In this case, a tricolour flag is formed by basil, smoked buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes, and perhaps the flagpole, loosely speaking, could be a loaf of ciabatta bread.

Bacon

Blog: Bacon Porn.

Maple Bacon Frozen Yogurt ... Bacon lamp shade ... Bacon ‘Oozy’ Bread ... 500 Club Bacon Bloody Mary ... Bacon-wrapped Tater Tots ... Emily’s Bacon Vodka ...

Recipe: Bacon Pops! Goat Cheese Pops with Herbs, Pecans, & Bacon

Oh yes. All the cuteness of a cake pop, all the fun of an easy appetizer, and it's all wrapped up in bacon.

Meat on the Bone. Sprouted Bread. Boiled Octopus. Breakfast biscuits, US style

Article & Recipes: The Lovely Bones

There is much sense to cooking our meat on the bone. A bone's presence will moisten and enrich the flesh, lubricating our supper as it cooks. Look beyond the fillets and steaks and boneless breast meat sold for quick-hit meals and we have a choice of chops, legs, loins, even tails, that come with their own built-in succulence.

Article & Recipe: Ancient bread sprouts anew

Check the sidebar for a link to the recipe.

According to some, sprouted bread has been around since biblical times. Witness a couple of sprouted bread bestsellers named after holy scripture. (Ezekiel 4:9 reads: "Take also unto thee Wheat, and Barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and Spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make bread of it.") To the more romantically inclined, those are sprouting instructions and a recipe with one seriously long pedigree. Meanwhile, the cynics in the crowd suspect this is a fad concocted by a few crafty marketers.

Article & Recipe: Breakfast biscuits, US style

An Australian asks how to make biscuits.

They look like scones but are firmer in texture and were usually served with eggs, sausages or gravy as a breakfast savoury.

Since I got back have had a look on the internet for a recipe but have been overwhelmed firstly by the huge selection and secondly by the ingredients – what is all purpose flour?

Also, some tips re. cooking octopus.

Wine with Ethiopian food.

Article: Finding the right wine for Ethiopian spice

The question is: What sort of wine to pour with Ethiopia's highly seasoned meat and vegetable dishes, most of which are served on rounds of injera, the tart Ethiopian flat bread made from teff flour.

Tom Benezra ... wants a wine with an "earthy minerality" alongside the fruitiness to enliven the food. That's why he goes with Old World or Old World-influenced white wines.

Kumquats. Pies. Goat's Cheese.

Article: Kumquats: Big flavor in a small package

How to select: Look for firm fruits with glossy orange skins that are free of blemishes. Will Brokaw, who sell kumquats at several local farmers' markets, suggests, "Go for plumpest, most beautiful kumquat with the deepest color and you'll get the best one." The firmer the kumquat, the more recently it has been picked - older specimens will be softer.

Article & Recipes: Game pie voted Britain's best

Scroll down for links to several pie recipes.

Keystone game pie : Ashley Robins

Beef and Guiness pie : Gordon Ramsay

Steak and kidney pie : Lindsey Bareham

Chicken, leek and tarragon pie : Lucas Hollwegg

Turkey and ham pie : Gordon Ramsay

Deep-filled apple and blackberry pies : Gordon Ramsay

Minted courgette pies with tomato and coriander relish : Lindsey Bareham

Raised game pie : Gordon Ramsay

Article: Five ways with... goat's cheese

Make tarts

Roll puff pastry into rounds about 2cm bigger than your goat's cheese,and with the tip of a knife score a border 1cm in from the edge. Spoon over some caramelised onions, top with a thick slice of goat's cheese and bake at 200C/Gas 6 for about 15 minutes.

Bake with herbs

Brush thick slices of cheese with olive oil and scatter with thyme leaves. Put into the fridge for a couple of hours, then roll gently in breadcrumbs and bake in the oven at 200C/Gas 6 for about 6-10 minutes, until golden. Serve with a salad of mixed leaves and herbs, combined with slices of pear and walnuts and tossed in vinaigrette.

Some Irish Recipes

Recipe: Soda Bread

Recipe: Boxty (Potato Griddle Cakes) Recipe

Recipe: Colcannon

A mashed potato side dish, Colcannon was traditionally served, with coins hidden inside, at Halloween. Ours has cream, instead.

Recipe: Barmbrack

An authentic recipe for the classic Irish fruit bread.

Recipe: Drisheen

2 pt Milk
1 pt Water
2 pt Sheep's blood
1/4 lb Breadcrumbs
1 lb Mutton suet
2 ts Salt

Recipe: Dublin Coddle

It consists of layers of roughly sliced pork sausages and rashers (thinly sliced, somewhat fatty back bacon) with sliced potatoes, and onions. Traditionally, it can also include optional barley.

Recipe: Champ

Colcannon is made in much the same way as champ, but with the addition of cabbage. In parts of the country white cabbage is always used. In any case, shred and chop a small cabbage (discard the stump) and cook until tender. Beat into the potato mixture and serve as above.

... and some Irish-Americana posing as "authentic Irish dishes" --

Recipes: St. Patrick's Day recipes

Smoked salmon with arugula salad and citrus-cilantro dressing


Beef tenderloin with roasted mushrooms, champ and rosemary-whiskey gravy


Chicken breasts with wild mushrooms, potato cake, thyme butter and herb jus


Sticky toffee pudding with bushmills toffee sauce


Date Bread and Butter Pudding with Boozy Toffee Sauce


Colcannon


Ploughman's Sandwich

St. David's Day

Recipes: Welsh Icons -- Food and Drink

Click on the links for recipes or places where you can buy the brands.

Clark’s Pies ... Cawl ... Cockles ... Brains Beer ... Welsh Rarebit ... Felinfoel Beer ... Crempog ... Glengettie Tea ... Leeks ... Caerphilly Cheese ... Bara Brith ... Welsh Cakes ... Lava Bread ... Penderyn Whisky ... Faggot and Peas

Recipes: Leek Recipes.org

* Asparagus and Leek Soup
* Braised Leeks
* Champagne Grilled Leeks
* Creamed Leeks
* Grilled Leeks
* Leek and Mushroom Risotto
* Leek and Onion Bisque
* Leek and Pear Soup
* Leek and Zucchini Pasta
* Leek Soup
* Leek Tart
* Simple Cream of Leek Soup

Recipe: Barabrith (Welsh Tea Bread)

Barabrith is an old Welsh family recipe; it's easy to follow and the end product is simply delicious. Please measure using a normal-size coffee mug.

Crempog - Welsh Pancake Recipe

Welsh pancakes - Crempog - are different to the traditional British 'crepe' normally eaten on Pancake Day. The pancakes are thicker and slightly risen and cooked on a griddle.

Budget Cooking. Avocado pits. Herbs and spices.

Article: Do the maths (or how to have supper with Nigel Slater for 31p)

Video: How to Remove the pit from an avocado

An avocado pit just sits there, practically laughing at you, as you struggle to release it from the slippery grasp of the delicious fruit. Chef Deborah Schneider ... shows how easily it can be removed. She also shares two ways of prepping the avocado: the cube and the flare.

Article: When to ditch old spices, herbs

Although the terms are often used interchangeably, they refer to two distinct types of seasonings. Herbs are the aromatic leaves of nonwoody plants - parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, etc. Many fresh herbs are widely available, and there are some whose dried forms are, I think, a lamentable waste of money. I would never use dried parsley, basil or cilantro in my cooking; a dish would be better off herbless.