Secret Recipies - Page 2

This is an absolutely brilliant statement. As an example, I have won a bunch of competitions w/ my bbq ribs. Still, every time I want to EAT bbq ribs, I order out. 
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaneohegirlinaz Recipes are unique to each individual. You could give me your version of how to make a sandwich, but it always taste better when someone else makes it for you.

OK. So Thomas Keller has got some cookbooks. So does Emeril Lagasse, Mario Batali, Rick Bayless, John Besh, Michael Chiarello, Bobby Flay, Tyler Florence, Rick Moonen, Masaharu Morimoto, Jamie Oliver, Jacques Pépin, Eric Ripert, Joël Robuchon, Art Smith, ... should I go on? Do you think any of those guys have any concerns about their "secret recipes"? LOL. OK. I'm not saying that anyone shouldn't be concerned about what they do. I'm not telling anyone what they should do either. I just think that "secret recipe" stuff is kinda funny. 

PrarieChef,

  I had something to tell you, but forgot.  Got side tracked when my foot got stuck  half way in my mouth.

The only time I don't share recipes is when it is something that I have come up with on my own and I honestly can't give specific amounts of ingredients as I cook by taste. 

Otherwise I have no problem sharing and I know full well that the person I am sharing it with will put their own spin on it and that's fine with me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by siduri 

 

As for secret (or not) family recipes, i have a recipe for ravioli (tordelli) that my mother's mother used to make, and they are truly exceptional.  They use ground meat (beef, veal and pork) which is cooked with onion and parsley till browned, and then chopped spinach is added, and lots of parmigiano..  The result is more than amazing and very unusual.  It comes from the area around Lucca in Tuscany.  It's a big job, and though i made it for many years every christmas, i've stopped, since it's a huge job.  (Well, it used to be, my mother used to make enough to lay out to dry on a huge dining room table she had, it was completely covered.  If you want the recipe i can dig it up.  

Siduri that ravioli sounds simply delicious!  I would love it if you were able to find and post the recipe! 

Ok,Leeniek, but keep in mind it;s a handed-down recipe and pretty intuitive, not precise. 

Pasta dough:

pour about 4 lb flour on a large board, and make a hole or "well" in the middle

Put in the hole:

6 eggs,

6 tbsp oil

2 tbsp salt

2 cups water. 

Mix gradally starting in the center, with a fork, and gradually add flour - eventually use your hands and get it to a consistency of bread dough. You donl;t need to use all the flour. 

Knead 20 minutes.  Let it rest 1 hour, covered (cover it with a bowl)

then roll out very thinly and make the ravioli (put blops of filling along the edge, about 1/2 inch from edge - leaving space between them.  Brush with water along the edge and between them, then pull the dough with the blops of filling over itself so they're all covered.  Press between them with your finger, and cut with a zigzag roller cutter.  Press around each with a fork to make sure they;re closed. 

Filling:

2 lb ground meat (beef, pork and veal (or chicken)

chop finely:

parsley, garlic, one onion, and salt. 

Brown all this in oil and butter, stirring. 

add chopped spinach (my mother used two packages of frozen chopped spinach, but obviously my grandmother would have used fresh - i think it may not make much difference). 

cook till the spinach is thawed (or blanch the fresh spinach - i imagine you'd need quite a bit) and then squeeze well and chop finely. 

Add 2 eggs,

2 cups grated parmigiano

nutmeg

pepper

When they're all made, lay them on a large floured tablecloth, dusting them with flour or semolino, to dry.  we used to dry overnight.  Then they can be put in the fridge or freezer (typically my mother would make them at christmas and half would be frozen for easter, and we'd be eating the leftovers for a week! 

keep in mind this makes a quantity that will keep you rolling and forming ravioli all day, and feeding many people with it.  There will probably be some dough left over, or some filling - the quantities were all by eye. 

good luck and tell me how it came out (actually, invite me to taste them and i can tell you if they came out right)

Oh my Siduri, that sounds like it would make allot of pasta.  Have you ever counted exactly how many raviolis you get?  And 4 pounds of flour, wow!  What type of flour or mixture of flours does your mother use?  My husband is Italian and simply adores ravioli, he gets me to make it a couple 2 or 3 times a year.  I want to say the recipe I have from my in-laws makes four dozen.  And I was told that I have to do it the same way, lay out a tablecloth on the dinning room table.... Finally my husband got be a KitchenAid stand mixer and the attachment for pasta!!  That made it easier!!

I almost forget, HAPPY MAY DAY, ALL!!  (May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii)

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheSlowCooker 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Granny Smith 

I share all of my recipes, except one, but that's only because it's so involved that nobody will go to the trouble of making it. It takes 2 days to make and you risk burning out your mixer.

 

I have a hobby that involves making copycat recipes for other people. They tell me what they want to duplicate at home and I figure out how to make it. Of course, it has to be something I've tasted (or at least something I can get, so I can try it)

Burning up your mixer? lol What are you making?

It's a meringue, but a very odd way of making it. You have to beat it for more than half an hour. I actually did burn up a mixer making it - it caught on fire.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaneohegirlinaz 

Oh my Siduri, that sounds like it would make allot of pasta.  Have you ever counted exactly how many raviolis you get?  And 4 pounds of flour, wow!  What type of flour or mixture of flours does your mother use?  My husband is Italian and simply adores ravioli, he gets me to make it a couple 2 or 3 times a year.  I want to say the recipe I have from my in-laws makes four dozen.  And I was told that I have to do it the same way, lay out a tablecloth on the dinning room table.... Finally my husband got be a KitchenAid stand mixer and the attachment for pasta!!  That made it easier!!

I almost forget, HAPPY MAY DAY, ALL!!  (May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii)

I never counted them - i don't like numbers and counting and calculating so i do it as little as possible! 

But the dining room table seated ten to twelve (it was huge, and also wide enough that if you wanted you could sit two at each of the two heads of the table.) and the tordelli completely covered the table, lined up and close together if not touching.  therefore just quarter this recipe - or even do a sixth of it or something.  

also keep in mind that my grandmother would make it pouring the flour on the board and my mother tried to measure more or less how much, but whatever was left over of the flour was used for something else.  My grandmother (she died 60 years ago) would only use king arthur unbleached all purpose flour, but i really don;t think it matters much. My mother was not fussy, used whatever she had on hand, pillsbury, cheapo store brand.   Here they have completely different flours that are pretty soft.  It's not rocket science though, nor major chemistry or biology.  It works pretty easily.  Just don;t add too much, just enough to make it not stick to your hands when you knead. 

I think to figure out quantities, use a recipe for normal ravioli and see how much liquid the dough uses for the amount of people you want to feed (though keep in mind that this uses oil and water besides eggs - no reason you can't use any other ravioli pasta dough though. And once i made crepes and made manicotti with this filling, because i didn;t feel like doing all the work, and they were very good.   I haven;t made this since my daughter stopped eating meat about 15 years ago and don;t remember how much i made. 

But it's not that hard, really, just time consuming.  Nice to have some people help you with all the shaping and folding and pressing.  Which people who don;t usually cook are often more than happy to do. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChefHoff 

Well, I know Leeniek asked for the recipe, but thanks for sharing.  It's sounds delicious, and I know the labor involved with fresh ravioli and reserve it for special occasions myself.  If you ever come to Florida, you are invited to try mine.

 

 

 

Hmm, i would love it, though it would be a very expensive meal.  Dish of ravioli, free.  Flight to and from florida, 700 euros.  I'll have to think about it!