food

ISTG It takes a ages to cook water in the can down now. Are they watering them down?

i do not want to make the soup

how do

theyre white yellow sorts btw not red

The argie version, not the it*lian pot-of-warm-oil one

Ouch my liver

https://bsky.app/profile/discontinuedfoods.bsky.social/post/3lmzhj7wixk2m

The account is a great Bluesky follow if you like this kind of stuff.

That is carrots, mushrooms, asparagus (not shown), squash, and tofu with a side of rice pilaf topped with some soy sauce and nutritional yeast.

https://www.midstory.org/the-mystery-of-the-midwest-jell-o-salad//

The Mystery of the Midwest Jell-O Salad

Jell-O salad, a staple of the Midwest potluck or holiday dinner table, has acquired an undesirable reputation outside of America's heartland. But with ancient origins and immense impact on American culinary culture, there's more to the Midwest salad beneath its jiggly surface. That is, if you can stomach it.

There are few foods as divisive as the Jell-O salad.

For some, it elicits a warm feeling of nostalgia for a childhood full of church potlucks and holiday gatherings. For others, the thought of tuna fish and cucumber suspended in lime-flavored gelatin has them reaching for a trash can instead of a fork.

Most people today would likely fall into the latter camp. That is, unless they live in the Midwest, where locals continue to make the salads, Lime Jell-O and tuna in hand, despite a downward trend in popularity. And by some measures, they might even be ahead of their time. Ring-Around-the-Tuna recipe from “Joys of Jell-O,” 1962. Image courtesy of General Foods Corporation via Vintage Recipes.

People started eating gelatin long before Jell-O became a cupboard staple.

“The first recipes go back to the Middle East, in the Middle Ages, around the year 1000 or so,” Ken Albala, culinary historian and author of “The Great Gelatin Revival: Savory Aspics, Jiggly Shots, and Outrageous Desserts,” said.

Initial gelatin recipes were typically only available to the wealthy, as the labor involved in making gelatin was intense: Collagen would be extracted from animal bones and skin and then undergo a lengthy clarification process, involving continuous straining and scraping that would be impractical for a home cook without a kitchen staff. This difficult process did not deter enterprising medieval chefs, whose gelatin recipes started to appear during the 12th and 13th centuries. By the time of the Renaissance, gelatin recipes were all the rage.

“They’re multicolored and layered. They’re flavored with all sorts of exotic spices and floral scents, and they’re really magnificent,” Albala said.

These recipes were also largely savory, or some mixture of savory and sweet, including ingredients like fish, vinegar and pork.

Despite their popularity, gelatin recipes faded into obscurity in the 1600s.

“Gelatin is one of those things that I would say, one of the few ingredients that goes so radically in and out of fashion over the years,” Albala said. “There are some periods that want things to be very simple and natural … and then there are some periods that want things that are technologically driven, with bright colors and bold flavors.”

It was technology that led to the re-emergence of gelatin in 20th-century America, when Peter Cooper was granted a patent for powdered gelatin in 1845. His powder was innovative — it was easier to produce and to cook than gelatins of the past — but it did not fly off of store shelves: It took widespread adoption of refrigeration and a massive marketing push starting in the early 1900s for name-brand Jell-O to take hold with consumers.

While home chefs experimented with their own recipes, the most widespread Jell-O salad recipes actually came from the company itself. Jell-O’s sponsored recipes helped Americans acclimate to savory foods mixed with sweet gelatin, including chicken suspended in lemon Jell-O and tomatoes suspended in orange Jell-O, served with lettuce and mayonnaise.

Other companies also had success in integrating their own product through Jell-O salad recipes, with 7-Up promoting 7-Up salad in 1953. The salad dipped into the dessert-like territory occupied by strawberry pretzel salad and watergate salad, both of which were also popularized by the Jell-O company. Together, these sweet recipes and others like them blurred the lines of what a salad could be, becoming a broader category of Jell-O-based food.

While gelatin saw wider adoption during this period, it maintained its status as a class-indicator food. Refrigerators were expensive and required up-to-date electrical systems, meaning only around 8% of Americans owned one by the early 1930s. Jell-O — which must be chilled to hold its shape — signaled to others that you could afford modern conveniences.

“You could show the people what you have without saying ‘I have a refrigerator at home’ by bringing a gelatin dessert in the middle of summer,” Catherine Lambrecht, a culinary historian who specializes in midwestern cuisine, said.

Jell-O’s status signaling was especially important for the Midwest, where rural areas lagged behind other regions in refrigeration. This made Jell-O-based dishes especially popular to bring to potlucks, maximizing the display of wealth.

Over time, though, refrigeration became commonplace; by 1960, 83% of Americans owned one. The novelty of Jell-O salads and the technology that enabled them had worn off, and with it, preferences started to shift.

“My generation was like ‘I don’t want to get that stuff, I want natural food,’” Albala said.

While Jell-O salads fell out of vogue with much of the U.S., they remained common in the Midwest, enough to earn the nickname “Midwest Salad,” a distinction it shares with a few other decidedly non-leafy dishes. Why they remain specifically in the Midwest is unclear, though there are some theories. A savory Jell-O salad from a 1930s cookbook recipe. Image courtesy of Science History Institute via Wikimedia Commons.

Bringing a Jell-O salad to a potluck may not hold as much social cache as it once did, but it remains a dish that’s easy to make and easy to share. Jell-O salads may also present fewer food safety concerns than hot savory dishes.

“I used to help manage a potluck picnic,” Lambrecht said. “We brought in lots of ice so cold food had the ability to stay cold. And the hot food, well, we just kept telling people ‘Either bring it really hot, or maybe just leave it at home for another day.’”

Albala has another theory: that Jell-O has a tendency to be popular with politically conservative people, which also makes up a majority of the Midwestern population.

“I think it actually charts pretty close to politics, because conservative-minded places like the Midwest and South still do Jell-O salads and still take it seriously,” he said. “Not that people’s taste follows their politics, but this one is pretty close.”

One other theory (one that was rejected by both Albala and Lambrecht) is that midwesterners’ taste for savory Jell-O might be inspired by the popularity of another gelatinous dish from Norway: Lutefisk.

“That makes absolutely no sense,” Albala said. “There are obviously pockets of Scandinavians in the Midwest, but that doesn’t account for Jell-O [salad] popularity at all.”

Regardless of how it came to be, the modern association between Jell-O salad and the Midwest appears to be fairly accurate — at least anecdotally.

“I can tell you that [Jell-O salad] disappears [from] my family table very fast, and nobody thinks of it as dessert,” Lambrecht said.

And Jell-O (with or without fish and nuts) may not be just for midwesterners much longer.

“My prediction is that it’s going to come back,” Albala said, citing the rise in lab-grown meat as potential evidence that Americans are ready to embrace futuristic foods yet again.

Between google trends data indicating a rise in popularity of searches for “Midwest Salad,” popular social media accounts extolling the virtues of Jell-O salads, and the adoption of savory Jell-O based dishes by some fancy restaurants, Jell-O salad really could be on a comeback.

But that doesn’t mean that it’s going to be for everyone.

“Ironically, I don’t like it at all,” Albala said. “Actually, it’s okay — but you have to add alcohol.”

It's some rice cake pudding here

Weird lightning, I know

Also, all microwaved shit... because y'know

How I did the mushroom:

• I chopped up a portobello mushroom
• Put it in a microwave-safe container with soy sauce, garlic salt, and olive oil.
• Microwaved the whole container for 5 minutes with the lid only tight on one side
• Added parsley as a garnish

How I did the beanis:

• It's a can of chili beanis that already comes in a sauce but I added 2 tbsp of extra tomato sauce, 1 tbsp of agave, and sprinkled some garlic salt over it.
• I stir it and then microwave it for about 2 minutes.
• I stir it one more time.

How I did the spaghetti:

• I broke it up into smaller pieces so it could fit in a microwave safe bowl of mine
• I used like a 2 to 1 water to pasta ratio.
• I put the container in the microwave within a bowl and the bowl has a more flat container underneath.
• I use 3 different dishes because it will boil over if you cook it in a microwave, but the bowl and the container below automatically catch any of it.
• I took it out the microwave, drained it, and then added the following before giving it a good stir:

1. 1 tbsp of EVOO
2. sprinkle of garlic salt
3. sprinkle of red pepper flakes
4. I grabbed 1/4 a cup of the pasta water that spilled into the bowl/container.

How I did the carrots:

• I added canned carrots to a container
• Added 1 tbsp of agave, 1 tbsp of olive oil and a tiny pinch of apple cider vinegar
• I sprinkled garlic powder, smoked paprika, thyme, salt, and pepper
• I stirred it and microwaved it for about 1 minute
• I added some dill on top

And of course... the nutritional yeast all over. It was not optional.

(No, I'm not from the I just started saying "crisps" because I'm goofy)

Started making these at home very recently

It's a very good, cheap, and vegan take on deli sandwiches.

The sandwich here has:

• Hummus ( I specifically used this green chile hummus I found. It's not my go-to, but the most common kind of hummus I use, which is dill pickle flavored, was not available.)
• Nutritional yeast sprinkled into the hummus
• Dill pickle spear
• Green leaf lettuce
• Tomato
• Red onion
• Banana pepper
• A slice of a portobello mushroom (seasoned with garlic salt, soy sauce, and olive oil. After I put that, I microwave it for about 2 and a half minutes.)
• Sriracha to finish it off

It's a very neat and convenient meal. I'd definitely recommend. I'm a huge fan of deli-style sandwiches but the mock deli slices and mock cheeses are hella pricey. This helps keep it just as tasty while keeping the price low.

this has been our lunch for the past few days but it's all gone now. i already want to make more! i think this is my favorite sandwich and it's so easy to make too! 😋

trying out some vegan products! This is black rice with mung bean based eggs in a carton and a vegan spam. There's broccoli, lentils, zucchini, white beans and bulgur wheat for nutrition. Topped with green onion and tamari, i forgot the sesame seeds!

It was pretty good, the mung bean eggs cook a little different than chicken egg so i would do them differently next time to get a better curd. Otherwise really delicious!

Keshek el Fouqara, a Lebanese recipe for vegan cheese made from lacto-fermented bulgar wheat.

After fermenting the wheat, you press water out, roll it into balls, and coat with herbs and spices, and jar in olive oil. I did fireball, galric onion herb, and black sesame pepper mustard for the three batches.

Has a smooth texture, and tangy, funky taste, to be used like a goat chevre.

fillet o fish

chocolate shake

fries

and it's vegan

https://www.eatyellowstone.com/products/

Learning that i need to eat a lot of protein to thrive i am trying all sorts of ways to make daily tofu and other beans. These panko crusted air fried tofu squares I made let me put down 8oz of tofu and feel like i'm getting a treat! The peanut dipping sauce even has a couple extra grams of protein as well.

It pays to take a few minutes when preparing this one, if i try to rush these I don't get an even coating and browning.

this is probably one of the top ways i have found to just consume tofu bricks pretty much straight.

BBQ Sauce:

• 1/2 cup vegan BBQ sauce
• 2 tbsp agave syrup (use less if you don't want it too sweet)
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar

Just mix it all nicely and give it a good stir!

Tofu:

• 1 block of super firm tofu
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• The entire thing of BBQ sauce
• 1 tbsp olive oil (it should work with any oil for pan frying)

I added red pepper flakes as a garnish.

1. I used super firm tofu, but if you have a less firm version, it's a good idea to press it. You can do this by wrapping it in a clean kitchen towel and letting a heavy object like a pan or a book sit on it for 15 to 30 minutes. Put a plate underneath to keep things clean!
2. I sliced the tofu into triangles. Do whatever shape you'd like!
3. Coat it with the cornstarch.
4. Pan-fry it with the oil on medium-high heat. I did about 3 minutes on each side.
5. Lower the heat and add the BBQ sauce. Move it around and get it coated really well. Let it sit for maybe about 1 to 2 minutes when you get the tofu nicely sauced up.
6. Add whatever garnish you want. Like I said, I used red pepper flakes, but things like green onions and sesame seeds would probably work well too.

Ranch:

• 1/2 cup vegan mayo (I used store-bought)
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp dried dill
• 1 tsp parsley
• salt and pepper
• 1 tbsp water (I added this to adjust the consistency a bit)

Mix it all together really nicely. Adjust each ingredient to whatever amount you fancy.

Dat shit was bussing!