(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Kitchen Table Kibitzing 11/12/2024: Comfort Food [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-11-12 Félix Vallotton: Sunset, Orange Sky (1910) Good evening, Kibitzers! Tonight, Tuesday, it’s cold at last, although who knows how long that’ll go on, but we still have red flag warnings every day because it’s still dry af. Ryan Hall promises the weather pattern’s going to change in another week or two, and I hope he’s right because we need rain. Massachusetts has some wildfires going, and I learn that where I used to live in New Jersey has a big fire pretty nearby. (I learned this by getting an email from someone I hadn't been in touch with for some time, with subject line “Are you okay?”) We’ve all had a crappy week, mostly, punctuated with individual instances of personal good news — yay for those. Speaking as someone who tends (tends! ha!) to stress-eat, I have had a hell of a time trying not to live on complete garbage, which sadly is easy, but not cheap, to have delivered at any time. So maybe, what I need is to just make my own comfort food, which will at least be more healthful than most commercially-prepared comfort food. If you, too, are feeling like this, here is a collection of pretty good cooking videos for making an assortment of popular comfort food. I’m starting with a nice hot chocolate that you can make after dinner and get ready to sleep. In recognition, I busted out the AI-created “hot chocolate in the style of Frederick Childe Hassam” KTK banner for this diary, but your hot chocolate will surely be less unnatural-looking! Italian hot chocolate is seriously about halfway to being chocolate pudding. As Giovanna says, you don't have to be serving it with cookies or anything, because you won't have room for them — it's a freestanding snack. In a later note to this video, her granddaughter Francesca clarifies that you can use any kind of chocolate you want, and any kind of milk you want. Oat milk is shown in the video because Francesca is vegan and her grandmother wants her to be able to drink the hot chocolate. Quantities are in the YouTube description. ❧ Hot chocolate: Kitchen on the Cliff with Giovanna Bellia LaMarca [5:24] The combination of a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup is an iconic American comfort lunch, so let's hit both. ❧ Grilled cheese sandwich: Epicurious 101 with Frank Proto [6:56] ❧ Tomato soup: Preppy Kitchen with John Kanell [6:43] On YouTube, you can find every way to make chicken soup, from starting with a chicken and a pot of water, to the best soup you can pull together in 15 minutes using "speed scratch" techniques (by Brian Lagerstrom). This is a comfortably intermediate-level soup starting with raw chicken pieces but pre-made stock (your own or boxed). I picked it because he puts tomato paste in it, and that's what I do so I consider that "correct". I am sure any greens could stand in for the cabbage. (You could also use already-cooked chicken.) ❧ Chicken soup: Glen and Friends with Glen Powell [8:31] Mac and cheese (Kraft Deluxe version) is what I ate all week in 2001 while sitting on the sofa compulsively watching replays of the World Trade Center falling, so I regard it as maybe the ultimate comfort food. Chef Lish's video is apparently heavily edited, for time I imagine, so we don't actually hear all the quantities she's using, and the recipe's not in the video description. BUT if you go to the page using this link , and scroll down to the comments, you should find that the topmost comment, by @christophervelimahitopoulo8560, contains the written recipe. (And if buildings are collapsing and this version is too complicated, here is an America's Test Kitchen streamlined one-pot deal.) ❧ Mac & cheese: Epicurious 101 with Lish Steiling [7:10] I was looking for a nice pot roast, but this seemed even nicer because it's so autumnal and it looks wonderful. It’s pulled-pork-ish except she chops it rather than pull it. She also adds that you can use the recipe with any meat you’d braise — beef short ribs, lamb shoulder, chicken thighs, anything that you’d like to cook in this lovely sauce. ❧ Cider-braised pork shoulder: Helen's Kitchen with Helen Rennie [11:33] This is a black bean soup made from dried beans that are cooked long rather than pre-soaked, so it should be perfect for the Rancho Gordo beans so beloved in this community. I apologize to side pocket for the cilantro — just leave it out! ❧ Black bean soup: Carla Lalli Music [16:30] Brian Lagerstrom asks: what if you made tuna-noodle casserole, but it was, like, REALLY good? I picked this video for the classic tuna-noodle, but as a bonus, he also makes a cheeseburger casserole that’s better than Hamburger Helper. ❧ Tuna noodle casserole: Brian Lagerstrom [12:31] I realized we were short on vegetables — they’re not very prominent in 21st-century Americans’ idea of comfort food. But I know they have many fans here, so I have sought out this roasted maple-bacon Brussels sprouts dish. I’ve never seen this cook before, but I know a good dish when I see it. ❧ Maple-bacon Brussels sprouts: Nikki's Modern Mediterranean with Nikki Glekas [5:56] Similarly, here's a gorgeous mushroom ragu, shown here over polenta but you could serve it over nearly anything. (There’s a link to a printed recipe, but as sometimes happens, it’s for a rather different treatment, with other ingredients. But it does clarify that we’re looking at two pounds of mushrooms. The rest of it, we can just eyeball from the video.) I’m writing this diary early Monday evening, with the window open because it’s warm. Right about where, in the video, the olive oil is ready and the onions go in, I realized I was smelling the video. It turned out I was apparently smelling some neighbor’s well-timed olive-oil-based frying, but it did take me back to my grandma’s kitchen for a minute. ❧ Mushroom ragu over polenta: Lidia Bastianich [10:15] Dessert time! Chef John makes a classic diner-style rice pudding using a one-pot method. (He is incorrect that no one is ever craving rice pudding.) Recipe quantities here. ❧ Rice pudding: Food Wishes with Chef John Mitzewich [7:39] Since this video is from an America's Test Kitchen series, expect a deep dive into the well-known Tollhouse cookie, with some adjustments applied to the recipe based on the science! I went with the classic here, but if you’re interested in some peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, John Kanell has them. ❧ Chocolate chip cookies: America's Test Kitchen/What's Eating Dan with Dan Souza [6:13] My personal go-to comfort song. If you have one, by all means post it. And if you have another favorite comfort food I’ve left out, post that too! [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/11/12/2285415/-Kitchen-Table-Kibitzing-11-12-2024-Comfort-Food?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/