Best Recipes (ingredients, ground beef, chicken breast, sugar)

[NCN]

We were coming home from the aquatic center and I was running several things through my mind that might be good to prepare for our dinner. My next thought was "Why am I always doing this?" Why don't I figure out the very best way to prepare different meals and make a book of it so I don't have to spend so much time on these decisions.

Then came the idea of posting a thread and letting everyone help with the project.

What I am looking for is the best recipe you have ever made with a chicken breast, a pork chop, ham, ground beef, other beef, barbecue anything, etc. Really mouth watering food made with ingredients as natural as possible. I like Farm Journal type recipes that start from scratch and are made from things that are available on a farm, so they will be healthy.

But if you live in another country or New York City and like things made with really strange spices, etc. someone else might like your recipe, so go for it. I eat mostly English and German foods that are plain and easy.

[PennyLane2]

Plain and simple Old Fashioned Mustard Greens:



2 bunches of mustard greens
3/4 of a medium white onion, chopped
1 T bacon fat
1 ham hock
1 T apple cider vinegar
1 tsp sugar
2 Knorr's chicken bouillon cubes (the large ones)

In a dutch oven, cook the onions in the bacon fat until translucent and just beginning to brown on the edges. Add the ham hock and enough water to just cover the top of the hock. Simmer for about an hour.

Meanwhile, clean the mustard greens. I took the entire stem from the middle of the greens because some of them were pretty big. Fill the sink with about 5" of water and add the de-stemmed greens. Swish the greens around in the water so that the grit falls to the bottom of the sink. Drain and repeat this process two more times . You've got to get all the grit out. Rough chop the greens.

Add the vinegar, sugar, and bouillon cubes to the water/ham hock. Add the greens and simmer for about another hour and 1/2 to 2 hours. I just threw the ham hock away because there was not enough meat on it to mess with. If you get a meaty hock, pull the meat off and add it to the greens.

I like to sprinkle on some vinegar-based hot sauce, like Trappey's.

[20yrsinBranson]

Personally, I find that the more plain the food, the better I like it. As for things like chicken breasts, pork chops, etc., my advice is just to throw them in a fry pan with some butter and let them cook. Meat that tastes just like what it is cannot be improved upon, in my opinion. To me, there is nothing more heinous than making the taste of *anything* unrecognizable by dousing it in "flavors". I don't even put butter on my corn because I like the taste of corn without it.

So, my advice for the best recipe is "cook it in a pan". If you *must* season, season lightly with a little salt and pepper and accompany with perhaps a salad or a side dish of some fresh vegetable (asparagus is especially nice when it is in season).

You cannot improve on nature.

20yrsinBranson

[jasper12]

I find, that adding wine to anything makes it taste better...sauteing mushrooms? Throw in some wine, red or white...I made some fantastic stir fried veggies the other day, with a red wine sauce...over rice...uymmmmy....