Food & Cooking

[whm1974]

51 minutes ago, Bitter said:

And drilling into everyone for 2 or 3 generations that you have to go to college and get "a good job" doesn't help. Being a butcher or store manager or fast food worker or garbage truck driver or bus driver or store clerk aren't "good" jobs. If everyone is an executive or works in an office or has a job with college degree then there's no one to work the "bad" jobs and the people that do work them are looked down upon and CLEARLY DON'T WANT TO BE POOPED ON for having those jobs but that's what we do as a society. No one values the butcher and milk man anymore, we just expect them to be there and do their job for as little pay as possible. It's no wonder no one wants 'menial' jobs when we've made them so derogatory and the literal butt of our jokes.

there is no such thing as a Milk Man anymore in the US. Butchers are still around with at least one shop in my City.

[wasab]

4 hours ago, Donut417 said:

Snip

Fertility rate might be shrinking but this is easily offset by automation and immigrant workers from abroad. 

 

United States economy still has plenty room to grow due to these factors, unlike other country facing demographic crisis. For example, I am pretty sure in another 5 decades, Japanese society and economy will collapse with 3 elderly citizens for every one working age person. 

[Bitter]

5 minutes ago, whm1974 said:

there is no such thing as a Milk Man anymore in the US. Butchers are still around with at least one shop in my City.

Stereotypical 'classic American job', and actually several companies do milk delivery still. Oberweis comes to mind but that may be strictly regional.

[whm1974]

16 minutes ago, Bitter said:

Stereotypical 'classic American job', and actually several companies do milk delivery still. Oberweis comes to mind but that may be strictly regional.

Takes some Skill and bit of Education to be a Butcher. So pays more then Janitor does.

[Bitter]

20 minutes ago, whm1974 said:

Takes some Skill and bit of Education to be a Butcher. So pays more then Janitor does.

Did you know there's degree's for Janitorial work and a some jobs actually prefer of require them? Yeah, crazy.

I still stand by my we're all shooting ourselves in the foot by demeaning 'low skill' jobs for the past couple generations. Without those workers our modern lives would grind to a halt. Prime example is during the past couple of years everyone is cheering on these 'essential' workers calling them heroes, but are most people willing to pay them a living wage or give them some benefits to help them live outside of poverty or almost poverty? Turns out most people are not because those 'essential' jobs are all those people no one thinks about doing the things we all take for granted and have demeaned for decades. Garbage collectors, nurses*, janitors, store clerks, carpenters and framers, electricians, plumbers, mechanics, truck drivers, bus drivers, vet techs, grocery store employees, child care workers, farm workers, all deemed essential workers and all generally considered undesirable jobs with poor pay and poor benefits. We've built our educational system on tearing down those jobs and insisting that everyone has to go to college and get 'good job' and absolutely shitting on everyone who doesn't follow that path as lazy or stupid or incompetent or unmotivated. We've done this to ourselves and we're reaping what we've sown. Everyone doesn't want those critical jobs anymore and we've demeaned them down to the lowest wages. You get what you pay for, you pay minimum wage you get minimum effort and minimum competency.

*yes, there's a wide gamut of nurses from a LPN on down to Unskilled Nurse. Unskilled covers things like nurses who care for the elderly and other patients in a non medical capacity and are a critical cog in our aging society and they're generally the worst paid and most understaffed positions.

[Donut417]

1 hour ago, wasab said:

immigrant workers from abroad. 

The process to do such things is long and expensive. The previous administration tried walling off the southern boarder. 

[whm1974]

2 minutes ago, Bitter said:

Did you know there's degree's for Janitorial work and a some jobs actually prefer of require them? Yeah, crazy.

I still stand by my we're all shooting ourselves in the foot by demeaning 'low skill' jobs for the past couple generations. Without those workers our modern lives would grind to a halt. Prime example is during the past couple of years everyone is cheering on these 'essential' workers calling them heroes, but are most people willing to pay them a living wage or give them some benefits to help them live outside of poverty or almost poverty? Turns out most people are not because those 'essential' jobs are all those people no one thinks about doing the things we all take for granted and have demeaned for decades. Garbage collectors, nurses*, janitors, store clerks, carpenters and framers, electricians, plumbers, mechanics, truck drivers, bus drivers, vet techs, grocery store employees, child care workers, farm workers, all deemed essential workers and all generally considered undesirable jobs with poor pay and poor benefits. We've built our educational system on tearing down those jobs and insisting that everyone has to go to college and get 'good job' and absolutely shitting on everyone who doesn't follow that path as lazy or stupid or incompetent or unmotivated. We've done this to ourselves and we're reaping what we've sown. Everyone doesn't want those critical jobs anymore and we've demeaned them down to the lowest wages. You get what you pay for, you pay minimum wage you get minimum effort and minimum competency.

*yes, there's a wide gamut of nurses from a LPN on down to Unskilled Nurse. Unskilled covers things like nurses who care for the elderly and other patients in a non medical capacity and are a critical cog in our aging society and they're generally the worst paid and most understaffed positions.

When I was a Child in School I kept hearing that will be very few Manufacturing Jobs if any Left after We finished High School. So you dropped out of HS you will doomed to work asking "Do you want Fries with that?" Later after HS They said almost the same about Welders...

 

Yet there were still Welding Jobs widely available when I still working.

[whm1974]

I've heard about Stuffed Grape Leaves but never had them. Recently I read about stuffing Fig Leaves. Not really Stuffed at all, but wrapped around a filling instead. Aside from stuffed cabbage, it just sounds weird.

 

So those who enjoy them, how you do so, hot or cold?

[greenhorn]

I have had stuffed grape leaves several times with different stuffings and both hot and cold. I think I prefer them cold because the flavours turn out differently.

When it comes to fig leaves, I am more skeptical (didn't try it yet). Those leaves should be quite difficult to chew and also when you break off a fig leaf, there is a milky, sticky liquid with a distinct odour coming out of the stem. I'm not sure how that tastes. Maybe they are ok if you cook them long enough.

[whm1974]

1 hour ago, greenhorn said:

I have had stuffed grape leaves several times with different stuffings and both hot and cold. I think I prefer them cold because the flavours turn out differently.

When it comes to fig leaves, I am more skeptical (didn't try it yet). Those leaves should be quite difficult to chew and also when you break off a fig leaf, there is a milky, sticky liquid with a distinct odour coming out of the stem. I'm not sure how that tastes. Maybe they are ok if you cook them long enough.

Strange enough or maybe not, I had never seen either one of these leaves in person. Of Course I've smack in the middle of the US so... Would know who sells these locally.

 

I love figs however. Have a bag of dried mission figs on my desk.

[adarw]

i havent tired stuffed fig leaves, but man oh man, when it comes to grape leaves, its the best there is out there, its super tiring to make but its worth it. i cant recommend a place i haven't tried, now there are 2 kinds of stuffed grade leaves, there's stuffed grape leaves with meat, and without meat, (not fully meat, just a little ground meat, and rice and other stuff, but there's also meat in that you cook with the stuffed leaves) and theres stuffed leaves without any meat, you cant eat the one with meat cold but you can with the one that isnt. i like the meat one more but its preference. 

 

 

sry that was probly confusing, i just woke up.

[whm1974]

35 minutes ago, adarw said:

i havent tired stuffed fig leaves, but man oh man, when it comes to grape leaves, its the best there is out there, its super tiring to make but its worth it. i cant recommend a place i haven't tried, now there are 2 kinds of stuffed grade leaves, there's stuffed grape leaves with meat, and without meat, (not fully meat, just a little ground meat, and rice and other stuff, but there's also meat in that you cook with the stuffed leaves) and theres stuffed leaves without any meat, you cant eat the one with meat cold but you can with the one that isnt. i like the meat one more but its preference. 

 

 

sry that was probly confusing, i just woke up.

Just like I told @greenhorn I never a single fig or grape leave let alone eaten any stuffed ones.

[whm1974]

Here in the US Stuffed Cabbage is far more common then using Grape Leaves. I can imagine it is the same around the world, since after all Cabbage can be nearly all over Earth, but not grape vines. Do Bell and Jalapenos Peppers count? 

[greenhorn]

9 hours ago, whm1974 said:

snip

Yes, here in Europe I have seen stuffed cabbage, stuffed bell peppers, stuffed tomatoes, they are not that difficult to find. Stuffed grape leaves are quite different though in my opinion, both in terms of texture and taste.
You can easily find recipes for stuffed grape leaves in Greek, Persian and Turkish cuisine (and probably in many others as well). Sometimes, shops also sell canned grape leaves in salt water that you can use to make that dish. The alternative would be to find a restaurant in your area that has stuffed grape leaves on their menu.

[adarw]

10 hours ago, whm1974 said:

Here in the US Stuffed Cabbage is far more common then using Grape Leaves. I can imagine it is the same around the world, since after all Cabbage can be nearly all over Earth, but not grape vines. Do Bell and Jalapenos Peppers count? 

countries in the Middle East and around there have grape leaves more often than cabbage.

[mariushm]

In Romania, there's a classic, "sarmale in foi de viță de vie"   - viță de vie is grape vines, the bush or whatever is called, foi is leaves so basically Sarmale in grape leaves.

If the're cooked right and the recipe is good, they're excellent ... and I'm leaning towards best served warm. 

The leaves are not bad, a very tiny bit stringy, you'd feel those "branches" in the leaves but they break in pieces easily.

 

Here's a recipe, the ingredients are easy to figure out.

 

 

The "pickled cabbage" / sauerkraut variety is more common  , same for regular cabbage varieties ..

Here's a recipe with pickled cabbage - this one has english subtitles so it's easier to follow : 

 

 

[whm1974]

1 hour ago, mariushm said:

The "pickled cabbage" / sauerkraut variety is more common  , same for regular cabbage varieties ..

Here's a recipe with pickled cabbage - this one has english subtitles so it's easier to follow :

So does the Sauerkraut variety taste better?

[mariushm]

1 hour ago, whm1974 said:

So does the Sauerkraut variety taste better?

I'd choose the grape leaves variety over the sauerkraut ones but they're both great.

The grape vine ones are more rare or let's say more seasonal ... the grape leaves are collected in late summer - autumn after the grapes are harvested, and either use it in this period or preserve some in salted water and bottles and make this for Christmas or some family dinners, not an every week thing.

There's a bunch of wine grape plantations here and less  "for food, regular consumption" varieties of grapes here, so they don't strip grape vines of leaves until after harvests. 

 

[whm1974]

18 hours ago, mariushm said:

I'd choose the grape leaves variety over the sauerkraut ones but they're both great.

The grape vine ones are more rare or let's say more seasonal ... the grape leaves are collected in late summer - autumn after the grapes are harvested, and either use it in this period or preserve some in salted water and bottles and make this for Christmas or some family dinners, not an every week thing.

There's a bunch of wine grape plantations here and less  "for food, regular consumption" varieties of grapes here, so they don't strip grape vines of leaves until after harvests.

Here in the smack middle of the US, whole Sauerkraut Leaves would be hard to find. They are all chopped including any Korean Kimchi you may run across.

[Wictorian]

Regular figs are much better than dried figs.

 

The dish can be awesome and horrible too. Depends on the cook but should be fairly easy.

[whm1974]

1 minute ago, Wictorian said:

Regular figs are much better than dried figs.

 

The dish can be awesome and horrible too. Depends on the cook but should be fairly easy.

Is Stuffed Lettuce a thing? I've heard of Lettuce Wraps before but not stuffed...

[Wictorian]

1 minute ago, whm1974 said:

Is Stuffed Lettuce a thing? I've heard of Lettuce Wraps before but not stuffed...

I don’t think so. Probably it is different than other stuffed foods.

[whm1974]

1 minute ago, Wictorian said:

I don’t think so. Probably it is different than other stuffed foods.

I supposed I try it and Post about it including Pictures.

[whm1974]

I my not so humbled Opinion Added Sugars Do not Belong in Foods or Drinks that already sweet enough. Such as Fruit Juices and anything with Molasses for example. My Beef ATM is Golden Barrel Blackstrap, which they add sugar to this for some strange reason. For those of you who don't know Blackstrap is, it is the third or last stage of sugar production from Sugar cane. It is sweet enough to use as natural sweetener. Basically it is the leftovers. Due to that it was taxed at much lower rates. Sugar itself was historically imported with high Tariffs.  

 

There are plenty of other Foodstuffs I can name if I look them them... Would the other Posters be so kind to list some?

 

 

[Middcore]

You did this one. https://linustechtips.com/topic/1403904-adding-sugars-to-foods-that-dont-need-it/