Cheapo Recipes

littlek, I'm not averse to eating beans. I just know nothing about them. Don't know where to begin.

Mame, The first two recipes are keepers. Gonna try the pork chop one tomorrow. Sounds great, and I have everything I need. I'll probably make the chicken one later in the week. I'll report back. I don't have chipolte. Not even sure I know what it is. And salmon is very expensive in this neck of the woods. However, if I see a salmon steak on sale, I'll grab it and try it.

Osso, Yipes, I forgot to mention that I don't like and won't eat sausage. (Yes, I'm a pain in the patoot.) I've never tried canned clams. Willing to give it a go. Not a fan of anchovies. Not sure they're worth buying for the purpose they serve. I found a good meatloaf recipe online. Open to others.

I'm not sure why I'm all-of-a-sudden doing all this cooking. Trying to keep things interesting (and cheap) I guess. BTW, since this campaign has begun, I've lost 12 pounds. Not making a conscious effort to lose, but I'm losing. Might be that since my meals are more interesting, I'm noshing less. Not sure. Also, my tastes have changed. I'm more likely to crave fruit or celery (of all things) rather than chocolate. Maybe my body chemistry is changing.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Heh, I wish salmon was cheap. I'd be eating it every day. It is about $8 a pound here. Good beef is about $5 a pound and chicken is about $4.50 Ground pork and turkey both are about $3.50 a pound. The value-packed 80% beef is about $2.50 a pound and the pork chops are about $2.75 a pound.

I've been eating a lot of oatmeal and beans lately. Dried beans are about 50 cents a pound. Canned beans aren't worth the price or the bad quality.

Adding, I agree with Foxfyre about beans. I happen to love beans, almost all except the sweet 'boston baked' beans, which I was bred to adore. But.. I can see it as an acquired taste. Pintos, that Foxfyre mentioned, are among the tastiest.


I've made pasta e fagioli out of pintos from scratch... but cans are also fine, given the ones where the beans seem to be coated with stuff are rinsed. Thats the oligosaccharides or whatever you call 'em, fart producers.

Pasta e Fagioli is otherwise known, I guess, as pasta fajool? I dunno this NY tawk. The basic dish has no meat but can have a broth or stock base. One can add a sausage or two but you can do that to anything but banana cream pie, eh?


The deal is, don't love pasta e fagioli so much you eat three bowls full. Or at least I won't do that ever again. Not so much from farting, but a certain total body dried out thing.

That all makes sense, butrflynet.

I also remember making "chicken supremes" from the Silver Palate cookbook, and they were hammered too.
Basically you dissect said chicken breast and extract the big muscles, whack them, and saute very shortly in bubbling butter, drain .... (don't remember the rest, but the instructions were short).

Well, I don't despise canned beans but one of my moves for well-being is to have beans soaking..

Sorry about the sausage affrontery, Roberta. Thinking that ehBeth is right in pointing you toward 'stock' re roasting various meaty bones.

Or, bacon...


I won't push anchovies on anyone, fresh, marinated, or imprisoned in tins.

Dried beans are an excellent source of protein, are a complex carbohydrate, and all in all are an excellent food. If you want to try it, Roberta, buy one package of dried pinto beans - should be pretty cheap. Spread them out on a clean counter or paper and remove any bits and pieces that aren't whole beans--we used to call that 'rocking beans' as sometimes tiny pebbles would be mixed in with the beans.

Wash the beans and put in a large stock pot, dutch oven, or other large stove top cooking vessel that has a lid. Cover the beans with clean water and soak 6 to 8 hours or overnight. They will swell up as they absorb the water - be sure there is plenty of water in the pot or add more as it is absorbed by the beans.

Once they are soaked add a tablespoon of meat grease--bacon grease is great or stick in a small ham hock or a few pieces of ham or some bacon pieces. If you are a non-pork eater, use something else or you don't really have to use meat grease at all. Salt and pepper the beans, cover with water so that there is at least an inch of water on top of the beans. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat so the beans are just simmering. Cook for three hours or all day - you can cook soaked beans in a crockpot too but plan to cook 12 or more hours in a crock pot.

There is great controversy re whether to add a teaspoon of sugar or perhaps some molasses--some do and some don't--you can't really taste it in the beans but those who do this swear it improves the flavor and makes the beans less 'gassy'.

Add water as necessary to be sure the beans are covered with water while cooking but don't add too much water and give the beans a stir now and then as this will produce a nice brown broth that adds to the flavor and texture of the beans.

When the beans are tender enjoy with cornbread and almost any side. They make a great meat substitute. If you add a pound of cooked crumbled hamburger they make a filling and tasty entre.

Cost per serving - should be less than 50 cents.

Oh, wait, in lieu of sausage, just ground pork, beef, turkey, lamb if you can find it, with added spices, made into meatballs with this and that and added to stuff.
Uh oh, or do you avoid ground meats?

Sorry about the salmon - I hate it so I don't buy it. I never know how much it is. I'll take your word for it, though.

What about sole and cod? They're pretty cheap, aren't they?

S& P them, then fry quickly in butter. Under 5 minutes, too, so it's quick.

Sole and cod are cheap but I've had some terrible cod so am sort of wary. On the other hand, I've had some good cod..
(don't you dare make that a signature line, Mame!)


I love wild salmon from north north. Enough said; I remember it as something like $15. a pound even then. Osso goes into salmon tharn.... especially with the particular remoulade (not just any remoulade) from Hurricane Kate's, a remoulade I've been trying to replicate since. Luckily, my mistakes have been tasty, but not RIGHT.


I think I even got them to give me that remoulade recipe once, but it was for dozens of people. I suppose it is still in some manila folder of mine.

I'm in Manhattan. Prices here are probably higher than most other places. Salmon? Maybe $12-$15 a pound.

Mame, I have sole on occasion. Not expensive. I've tried different approaches to cooking. Not bad results.

I'm fine with ground stuff, osso. What spices? On which ground stuff?

Please, I can use specifics.

Foxfyre, Thanks for the bean info. I may actually give them a try. What can I use instead of hamhocks or bacon? I just don't have such things on hand. I also don't have molasses.

Butrflynet, I had chicken livers with onions the other night. $1.99 a pound. Two meals. Not bad.

Does anyone know of an online site that has reliable recipes?

LOL...osso, just about every one of your posts contains something good for a sig line... you da queen

I get the online newsletter from Fine Cooking, a taunton magazine, but not all of the recipes are free. Enough are that I keep getting the newsletter.

One of my favorite sites by far is Mark Bittman's articles in the NY Times and now his new blog, Bitten - I think he posts a recipe a day at this point. (Check the NYT food section). I also sometimes follow stuff in the SF Chronicle, the LA Times, and the Washington Post, including a main blog in the Post, but I forget the woman's name, which is too bad as I mostly agree with what she says.

A friend sends me links from Saveur, a magazine I once subscribed to that in the flesh didn't interest me much, re interesting articles per issue. But I like the links he sends.

On ground meat and flavoring, back manana.

Re RecipeZaar, Epicurious, Cooks.com, and all the others, I'm not sure I've a preference. Lots of stupid stuff on all of them, lots of repetition.

You know I don't think you actually have to have any meat flavoring at all in the beans and a pinch of sweetener is purely optional anyway. My sister in law just added a dash of sugar as she was certain it reduced any tendency of the beans to be 'gassy'. But others add none of that at all. If you add browned seasoned hamburger that would certainly add sufficient flavoring, but I'm think you'll be happy just using salt and pepper to taste.

Adding a side dish of corn fixed any way you like plus the beans does make a perfectly balanced complete protein/meat substitute too.

Mame, 1/2 cup water or beef stock? 1/2 cup of sour cream? I'm defrosting the pork chop as I write.

To one slice of bread add filling then cover with other slice of bread.

Repeat until replete.

Roberta- I know that you had a problem with cooked tuna, but I have a recipe that I use when I am too lazy to make anything else. Combine a can of tuna, green peas, (drain mostly), and cream of mushroom soup. Warm. Serve over a bed of minute rice. I have also used it without the rice, but substituted cream of potato soup for the mushroom.

Dignity precludes me from discussing the name of the dish that was given to it by Mr. P.

Porcupine meatballs is a tasty way to make a pound of beef stretch to its limit.

http://www.minuterice.com/en-us/recipes/2630/PorcupineMeatballs.aspx

Thanks, Phoenix. I might give the tuna thing another try, even though the one that I couldn't eat also had cream of mushroom soup. I've got the stuff in the house though. The porucupine meatballs calls for things I usually don't have around. I might be able to improvise though.

Roberta, I always add stock - beef, veal, chicken... it doesn't really matter.

(I think she was asking about whether the word "cup" was twice missing from your recipe... right now it just says "1/2 water or beef stock" and "1/2 sour cream.")

(Reading with interest...!)

Excellent tip from Julia Child if you have freezer room.

Mr. Noddy wants canned vegetables these days. His mother served a growing boy canned vegetables in the '30's and '40's. I drain the vegetables and put the water in a tub in the freezer. I also save the water from boiling potatoes.

I save dibs and dabs of sauces and runny leftovers in the tub.

Eventually I have the basis for good soup stock.

These days I treat myself to pre-skinned, pre-boned chicken. If you DIY you can boil the skin and bones, strain the pot liquor and have more good soup stock.