Showing posts with label Cookbook Club. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cookbook Club. Show all posts

Monday, December 8, 2014

Cookbook Club Favorites

The Cookbook Club has been meeting at Kirtland Public Library since June, 2012. We meet the fourth Tuesday of the month at 6 pm, except for November and December. (For these months, we meet once in early December.)

So far we've cooked from 25 books and one blog!

Our top three favorite cookbooks so far:


We follow the Cleveland food blogger at http://thisgirlsgottaeat.com/ and were lucky enough to have her as a guest at one of our meetings! Check out this girl's delicious recipes today.  

We've sampled at least 150 dishes and shared many recipes, laughs, and tips. Of the dishes, our favorites have been twice baked potatoes, turkey sandwiches, tomato crostini, and chicken pot pie casserole.

Our favorite ingredients to cook with are chocolate, olive oil, vegetables, and pasta.

Here is a list of our favorite kitchen tools:

immersion blender
Vitamix blender
Kitchen Aid mixer
crockpot liners
good knives
cutting board
wooden spoon

See all of the cookbooks we've used at the Library's website: 

Want to start your own cookbook club? Grab some friends and a cookbook. The Library has cookbooks of all kinds!



Monday, November 18, 2013

A New Spin on Thanksgiving Turkey

So. Full disclosure: I can't cook. 30 something male who plays games and reads comics? I know, it's crazy right? Sadly its true. But that doesn't mean I'm not a fan of spicing up my meal, and for YEARS there has been a recipe that has eluded  me. So when I was elected to do a post about cooking up a turkey, I ventured forth to find it.

To give a little background, I'm a big fan of the people over at RoosterTeeth Productions. I watch their videos, read the comics, and listen to their podcasts. Several years ago while they were still producing a tri-weekly comic, they produced this one...


In the RoosterTeeth podcast, RT founder Burnie Burns has on more than one occasion spoken about his now infamous "Deep Fried Jalapeno Turkey." While discussions of it have taken place, and threads upon threads of RT users have tried to wrestle the recipe out of him, yet to minimal avail.

This is something I need to have. Having already had deep fried turkey, the idea of adding Jalapenos to it is already making my mouth water. Since Burnie has been tight lipped about his recipe, I think I have found something comparable by adding this spin with one of my dad's recipes. 

INGREDIENTS
-10-14 lb Turkey
-2-3 Jalapeno Peppers.
-Inject-able Jalapeno Marinade
-Optional Brine: 5 gallons water, 1lb kosher salt, 1lb brown sugar. (can set 8-16 hours, let set at room temp for 30 mins prior to cook.)
-Roughly 2 gallons of Peanut Oil (or oil of your choosing)

DIRECTIONS
-To start, set your turkey in a 30 quart Aluminum Propane Deep fryer, and fill with water. This is measure how much oil you will need to use to deep fry. You will want to just barely cover the top of the turkey, and leave at least 4 to 5 inches of space from top.
-Remove turkey, rinse, and pat dry.
-Inject marinade. (There are different strategies for this. 3-6 oz. of marinade should be more than sufficient, but the locations and the number of injections is really up to the chef. up to 4 big shots could work, but little pecks all over the bird work too. It all caters to your taste)
-(Pre)cut your Jalapeno Peppers into sliced rings, and make small slices in the skin around the turkey. Neatly slide in your jalapeno rings under the skin around the bird. (Remove the seeds if you want to remove some of the spice kick.)
-Bring oil up to 350 degrees, and gently lower your bird into the oil.
-You will want to maintain the 350 degrees, cook time usually averages about 3 minutes a pound give or take so you can expect an average cook time of about 30-40 minutes or so.
-Using an internal thermometer, you can remove the bird around 151 degrees. The temperature should still rise to 161 after removal.
-Carve bird, serve, and lose yourself in sweet, sweet deep fried bliss.


Not a fan of the deep fried method or don't care for a little spice in your food? Not a problem. The CLEVNET catalog offers a number of different Thanksgiving Cookbooks that you can use to find a traditional cook more your style. Be sure to check them out, or stop in and we will help find one for you!

I am very much looking forward to Thanksgiving this year. Are you?

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Cookbook Club

Last night the Library's Cookbook Club had its third meeting. We meet the fourth Tuesday of the month at 6:00 PM.

The first book we cooked from was How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. We liked beginning with this book because it had recipes for all types of foods and meals and lots of practical kitchen tips.









Our second book was Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld. The recipes in this book use vegetable purees to make the dishes healthful, a good trick for parents of picky eaters. However, we decided we all love vegetables and need no tricks!








For our third meeting, we chose recipes from Southern Living Homestyle Cookbook, our favorite so far. This book had so many appetizing recipes. It is definitely worth checking out.






 





Cookbook Club will meet again on September 25 with dishes from Michael Symon's Live To Cook. Request this book today if you would like to join us!