Different is Good? Food Edition.

One pound of jumbo shrimp.

One 8" cast iron skillet.

4 shrimp at a time.

Open the seasoning cabinet/pantry and try something. Rinse pan, oil, and try again.

Everything from white wine and olive oil; to butter, paprika, and garlic; to Crisco and teriyaki sauce.

The worst, by far, was the teriyaki sauce. It was too strong for shrimp.

The best? Butter, salt, pepper, dash of white wine and soy sauce.

Different is good.

That is all.

That's taking Made To Order to a whole new level.

Sometimes it's good to experiment.

I failed at dinner last night.

Threw in the towel and took the family for burgers.

Sounds like you did better!

In reply to KyAllroad:

BTDT. More than once.

In reply to Toyman01:

Are we starting a GRM's Test Kitchen thread???

In reply to alfadriver:

Works for me. I like food. I like to experiment.

Tonight, on the spur of the moment, I tried something new again. Since I was making homemade fries, I thought I would try some onion rings.

I was ill prepared, so I threw together a batter using Jiffy Mix, a few eggs and some salt. On a scale from 1 to 10, I'd give them a 2. They were ring shaped and had onions in them. That's the best I can say about them.

Who has a good batter recipe for onion rings.

The best way to get good onion rings is to start off with the right onion. Look for sweet Vidalia onions and get 2 big ones. Next dump 1 cup of all purpose flour in a bowl and make a well. Add 1 cup beer. Stir until the mixture is just combined. Strain the batter through a sieve into a clean bowl and let it rest, covered, for 1 hour.

Dust the onion rings with some additional flour to make it easier for the batter to cling to the onion. Shake off the excess flour and coat them with the batter. Working in batches, fry the onion rings in at least 2 inches of oil, preheated to 370 degrees, until they are golden. Transfer them to paper towels to drain and sprinkle them with salt to taste. Bon Appétit

Best onion rings I ever had I made with a really simple beer batter and a Vidalia onion like EastCoastMojo describes (I think I added some salt), fried in freshly rendered beef tallow. Once you've got a pot of tallow going, original McDonalds fries are easily replicated too, cut potatoes, soak for a few hours in cold water, dry, fry 1 minute, pull and let rest a while, then fry again until golden brown.

In reply to EastCoastMojo:

Thanks, I'll have to give that a try.

Onions make me cry like crazy, but I have found that chopping off the ends and then making one shallow cut just through the outer skin from end to end makes them a cinch to peel. Then immediately rinse with really cold water for about a minute before slicing. Makes dealing with them tolerable for me. Let me know how they turn out.

New York strip soup.

Trim and then 6 lbs of thick cut ny strip steaks to rare. Set aside and let reat for at less an hour. Two is better. Cube the steaks to bite size pieces and toss I crockpot. Add 4 UFO whites one diced onion one each red and yellow peppers chipped in to bite size chunks. Couple carrots celery mini corns eater chestnuts red russet potatoes and summer squash all chopped to bite size pieces. Add Italian seasoning season salt a couple bay leaves and water to cover everything. Cook for 3-4 hours. Salt to taste.

alfadriver wrote: In reply to Toyman01: Are we starting a GRM's Test Kitchen thread???

Let me tell ya about the cranberry-onion cookies I made a little while back...

EastCoastMojo wrote: Onions make me cry like crazy, but I have found that chopping off the ends and then making one shallow cut just through the outer skin from end to end makes them a cinch to peel. Then immediately rinse with really cold water for about a minute before slicing. Makes dealing with them tolerable for me. Let me know how they turn out.

If they really bother you, try chilling the onions before you cut them. I worked at a restaurant where I had to slice onions, 80 pound bags at a time... they were always more tolerable if they just came out of the cooler.

As far as the onion rings themselves.... After the beer batter, try rolling them in Panko bread crumbs, and then fry them. It is Amazing.

i made beer batter the other weekend. we used it on some walleye and onion rings.

1.5 cup good beer

1.5 cup AP Flour

.25 cup corn starch

1 egg season to taste. they came out very well.

My go to, gotta eat now dish:

Shrimp in some kind of bakeable ceramic dish. Add garlic, lots of butter, white wine, paprika or Old Bay, sprinkle with parmesian cheese and bread crumbs.

Bake at 350' until crumbs brown a bit.

Toyman01 wrote: Tonight, on the spur of the moment, I tried something new again. Since I was making homemade fries, I thought I would try some onion rings. I was ill prepared, so I threw together a batter using Jiffy Mix, a few eggs and some salt. On a scale from 1 to 10, I'd give them a 2. They were ring shaped and had onions in them. That's the best I can say about them. Who has a good batter recipe for onion rings.

I'm your...mndsm. you want to wet batter. I usually go with a mix of flour, buttermilk, salt, pepper, paprika, and beer. Yes, beer. Amber's work well. Boutique half a beer, 2-3cups flour, season to taste. Dredge onions in buttermilk, then wet batter. You can do a dry flour beforehand if you want double crispy. I generally don't measure my recipes, but you're looking for rigjt arounder pancake batter consistency.