Pasta?

[tenngun]

We do know that tomatoes made it in to diets in south Europe and wide spread in Spanish America. I don’t know how wide spread the tomatoes were poisonous belief was. Tomatoes were being used in American cooking by early nineteenth century.
I know since tomatoes are nightshade it was associated with poison, but so were potatoes that were quickly accepted ( not to mention tobacco)

 

[NeilMacleod]

I just cut them into stripes, was nice, needed to make them thinner though.
This is the second batch, used Sprouted millet flour and spinach powder.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Interesting.... :thumbsup: :hatsoff:

 

[Vaino]

My Finnish Gmother wouldn't allow a tomato in the house and thought they were poisonous. How this came about I don't know.....could have been related to nightshade or the fact that the acid in tomatoes attacked the lead in pewter plates and utensils.

One of my cooking enjoyments is making lasagna for one or 2 meals and freezing the rest. Lasagna withstands freezing, thawing and microwaving quite well.

My lasagna sauce is similar to spaghetti sauce but w/ a stronger flavoring of oregano. Bulk Italian sausage imparts a very Italian taste.

Bought some lasagna "noodles" that don't require boiling but am hesitant to use them. Anyone used them and how did it work out?

Awhile back substituted provolone for the mozzarella but it over whelmed the sauce and is no longer used. Some parmesan is sprinkled on the top layer. Many use risotto but I have never tried it.

The pan is quite large .......11.5" X 16.5" X 3" deep and enables 4 layers and a lot for freezing.

This recipe is from the lasagna served in my Mother's restaurant and it was a big seller.

Anyone have some info on a lasagna recipe they'd like to share?......Fred

 

[coloradoclyde]

I don't follow a recipe for lasagna I just make it with what I have available.
But, one thing I like to do is mix ricotta, parmesan, shredded mozzarella, beer,( cheap American lite) Mrs. Dash, Italian seasoning, and Garlic(all to taste), and maybe some other spices all together and spread the resultant mixture between layers..
This mixture also works well in ravioli, shells, manicotti.

I also make it in a pyrex bread pan...perfect size for two people.

 

[Vaino]

Making lasagna according to my Mother's recipe every time yields a predictable taste treat and straying from the list of ingredients would just "screw it up" in plain words.

Using available ingredients doesn't produce a consistent lasagna, if it can even be called a lasagna. Sounds more like a "slumgullion" which I occasionally make, but which usually doesn't have a name.

Using a recipe ensures a repeatable taste treat, otherwise why make it?

I truly look forward to my Mother's lasagna that I make and my family and friends would be disappointed if they're invited to a "lasagna" dinner made from available ingredients.

I improvise on many dishes and especially my stews vary in taste, but some dishes should be made to a strict recipe so the diners are served a dish that they expect and relish.....Fred

 

[coloradoclyde]

I improvise on many dishes and especially my stews vary in taste, but some dishes should be made to a strict recipe so the diners are served a dish that they expect and relish.....Fred

And yet you bought no-boil lasagna noodles?...and posted

Anyone have some info on a lasagna recipe they'd like to share?......Fred

:rotf:
My creations do not stray that far from conventional norms...

Cooks follow recipes....Chefs create flavor using creativity, knowledge and techniques.

I agree! you mother's recipe should be made exactly as she made it but, you can also have your own recipe....

 

[Loyalist Dave]

We do know that tomatoes made it in to diets in south Europe and wide spread in Spanish America. I don’t know how wide spread the tomatoes were poisonous belief was. Tomatoes were being used in American cooking by early nineteenth century.
I know since tomatoes are nightshade it was associated with poison, but so were potatoes that were quickly accepted

Actually the reason neither caught on well in some areas was that the fruit or the root were edible, while the plants contained atropine and other stuff one does not want to eat. Peasants not knowing what they were supposed to consume and what to avoid on each of the plants apparently ate the plant as well. I have read where in the 1500's to get the peasants to grow potatoes in Germany, a prince had to order them grown and then had to travel to different towns eating them to ensure they had been grown and to demonstrate they were fine for eating. In the mid 18th century in Germany, the root was only for the very poor or for hogs, until Frederick the Great pushed for more cultivation..., his army needed the food, and the climate in the mid 18th century went cool for a while and the wheat crop suffered.

Folks think it's a wive's tale that a green potato chip is poison..., well OK the green bit on a potato root is from exposure above soil near harvest and the sunlight gets the green to form in the plant, BUT it's quite true that the green plant portion of the potato (the stalk and leaves of the plant) are poisonous. Perhaps the root of the myth???

LD

 

[George]

The skin of green potatoes does contain a toxin which cam make you sick, or if you eat a bunch of it, kill you. The green color is from chlorophyl, which is harmless, but the toxin forms alongside that, and its effect is accentuated by the chlorophyl.

Don't eat the yellow snow or the green potatoes :wink:

Spence

 

[Robert Wolfe]

Fred, the no boil pasta works fine. I've used it at home and camping. It is very convenient camping because you can cut out a step and just load up the dutch oven.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Fred, the no boil pasta works fine. I've used it at home and camping. It is very convenient camping because you can cut out a step and just load up the dutch oven.

I was going to argue with the part about "works fine"....but then I read the part about using it for camping....That won me over. :hatsoff:
Now I have to try it. :haha:

 

[Vaino]

Thanks for the info. Two of my daughters came for the afternoon and stayed for a supper of pot roast w/ veggies cooked in a Dutch oven and while eating, I mentioned the "no boil" lasagna noodles. One daughter said she has tried them but said the noodles have to be completely covered w/ the sauce and cheese which makes sense. She also said there's no difference in using the "no boil" noodles......Fred

 

[Loyalist Dave]

..., the no boil pasta works fine. ...., It is very convenient camping because you can cut out a step and just load up the dutch oven.

So is while camping, firing up the cell phone and ordering a pizza if you have enough signal, and have enough land marks for the guy to find you when he delivers. :shocked2: :haha:

 

[crockett]

Besides pasta, what about German egg noodles? There were a lot of German's in Colonial PA. Any historical references to egg noodles? If I make any such things I usually do the egg noodles simply because I don't have a pasta machine and I can cut out the noodles with a knife. It would seem off hand that using eggs for noodles would be a good way to save eggs before the refrigerator.
If I'm camping I use spaghetti because it packs better.

 

[NeilMacleod]

German egg noodles is basically what I made, general rule 1 egg to 100gr flour, the more rich one is just egg yokes used.
Fresh pasta is great when fried

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Crockett I think the problem you may have is a lot of the early cook books that mention "noodles" don't know a difference between an egg noodle, and Italian pasta, or spaetzle, or kugel, etc as we know them today. So by all means if you were in camp and knew a method of making noodles and the ingredients are similar enough to what they had back then...make them.

HEY you might try making them with Bob's Organic Whole Wheat PASTRY Flour, as that is a lot closer to 18th century wheat than the modern, red wheat, which is often used. I wonder what, if any, difference there would be?

LD

 

[tenngun]

That puts me in mind of Cook and sauerkraut. He tried to get his men to eat it, and they refused. So he forbid it to his men and only let the officers eat it. The officers made a big deal over it and soon the men were demanding it also. No scurvy on Cooks ships :wink:
Today we make a big thing about multicultural foods. It wasn’t to long ago that people refused to eat any new thing. I grew up with goat and mutton served in school at the cafeteria. We had mostly Hispanic and Navajo kids in my school. So I grew up with it. That was back in the days when kids were expected to eat what was served. So I like lamb, mutton and goat. My dad would not even take a bite.

 

[BillinOregon]

Odd that I am having trouble fitting "pasta" into my notions of pre-Civil War America. Not so hard if I substitute "noodles."

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I've heard that some of the Continental regiments would not eat rice, while others were very glad to get it, and when it came to okra, that was hog/slave food..., while now it's a "Southern delicacy" (and I can get it at Cracker Barrel :grin: ).

From 1900 to 1926, a lack of niacin caused pellagra to break out in the Southern states of the United States, which wasn't diet connected until 1926... and was the cause of more than 100,000 deaths in those 26 years. It was worse in Europe (mostly due to the fact that they didn't eat hominy which releases niacin in the corn, but instead ate mostly ground, dried, whole corn.) It wouldn't be until 1938 that the connection to a vitamin deficiency was proved.

LD

 

[crockett]

So.....GRITS ARE GOOD FOR YOU! I knew it had to be true. :grin: (Sorry, couldn't help it)