Allrecipes Home  >  Community  >  Cooks  >  CookyMonky

cook's profile


CookyMonky
 
Home Town: New York, New York, USA
Member Since: May 2002
Cooking Level: Expert
Hobbies: Gardening, Biking, Reading Books, Music, Painting/Drawing
  •    
  • Title
  • Type
  • Overall Rating
  • Member Rating
About this Cook
Retired artist.
My favorite things to cook
depends on what's available in the market...but my all time favorites are breads and cakes. I am a sucker for a good baking recipe.
My favorite family cooking traditions
PIZZA! the grandkids love to make pizza here from scratch. We made a beautiful braided bread for Thanksgiving. They are very proud of their skills and I am proud of them and their adventurous spirit. They've been baking with me since they're old enough to stand on a stepstool and knead. My sons are partial to my meatballs and sauce...my husband loves just about everything I make, with soups made from baked ham scraps being his favorites.
My cooking triumphs
I guess every "mastered" technique is a triumph and every failure is a step towards success. I would say special occasions and big dinners, where I pull out the stops and prep and cook nonstop for days. I enjoy it, I get testy...but I love it none the less.
My cooking tragedies
I can't think of any. It's too fun to be tragic. (Although I'm sure I've wasted tons of foodstuffs in my career...)
Recipe Reviews 3 reviews
See All Reviews 
Buttercream Frosting
Excellent basic buttercream recipe. You need to have the butter at room temp or cool (butter indents when you press)...not warm and runny...the butter needs to have some body to it. I add the sugar a 1/2 cup at a time, tasting all the way. Then some half and half (instead of milk), then more sugar..until it is light, fluffy, tasty and perfect. I have no idea how much sugar I add, but if you add the sugar, THEN the milk, both a little at a time, it will be wonderful. Today I made a chocolate , a vanilla and a cream cheese frosting with this basic recipe. I probably use less sugar so it comes out fluffier and less sweet. Again...the key is the butter...it mustn't be warm..in fact if it's cool it's really perfect, will hold lots of air and become - with each addition and whipping - light and lovely.

3 users found this review helpful
Reviewed On: Jun. 12, 2009
Chile Colorado
spectacular! my husband's from Salinas, a farming city in CA and he LOVES Mexican food, the more authentic the better. We can't get it here in CT so it's up to me. This recipe is a bit of work but it is worth every minute of the effort. I have a huge batch cooking now. I'll freeze it in portions so we have this for a while. My small changes are that I puree a large fresh tomato, 3 cloves of garlic with the chilis. Then add a bay leaf and small pinch of Mexican oregano to the sauce for the first couple of hours of cooking. Also I sprinkle the flour, pepper & salt on the meat...not much...just enough to make a light coating so it browns nicely. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe. :)

2 users found this review helpful
Reviewed On: Nov. 6, 2008
Bananas in Caramel Sauce
I wasn't too pleased with this recipe. The sugar takes a long time to cook depending on the pan. This is NOT a good recipe for small or unsupervised children because in order to caramelize sugar, you have to heat it to over 230 degrees, which is "third degree burn" hot. Plus once the butter sugar mixture begins browning, you still have to add the cream and let that simmer for quite a while to break up the caramel that solidifys when you add the cream. Taste wise, it's very good but its a little grainy.

5 users found this review helpful
Reviewed On: May 12, 2002
 
ADVERTISEMENT
 
Select Your Version:  United States  |  Canada  |  United Kingdom & Ireland  |  Australia & New Zealand  |  Germany  |  France  |  China  |  Japan  |  Quebec  |  SE Asia  |  Netherlands

Frequently Asked Questions What's this?