Cooking For Engineers

[John M]

This method is also good for uncut okra pods. I leave out the pepper, and eat them as a finger food.

[Trip D]

It takes another 5 minutes of prep time, but try peeling the stalks before the oil and salt treatment. What you lose in mass you'll get back twofold in tenderness. Really makes them melt in your mouth.

[THE T]

My oven doesn't reach 500dF according to my thermocouple; but acording to its lights it does. Common?

Now for who cares conversation...

I do not feel that it makes a big difference if I read 487dF. Nor do I really care if I read dC, dF. dK or dR in posts. I think the sensible thing is to use your countrie's, states's or what ever's is prevailant system.

I don't really care if we use hexidecima lor octal for assembly programming. Or KIPS or KPSI. Also I prefer linear sliderules, I only have 1 Post Versilog Bamboo, 2 Plasic and 5 circular.

I am fine with us using what ever SL or cpu or calc u want.

My COCO and Timex(Sinclair) still works. I know a little about electrinics, software, Iowa farming, being University Proffessor, and determining what is in the ground and how to identify it.

But I want to know about how to cook!

[Guest]

For a slight protein boost, you can also put some cheese on top before baking/roasting.

I think mozerella would be the best although I'm usually quite the lazy poke and go with the kraft cheddar slices I find in the fridge. Add in only after about 5 mins if you prefer your cheese a little more 'wet' than crispy.

I've done this in the regular toaster oven too if you don't have a regular oven. Toasting time will need to be a little longer though.

The aluminium foil is a great idea too! Esp when trying to clean out crusted cheese!

- Geri

[woodNfish]

Hey, I love roasted and grilled asparagus, but the way I learned to cook it from my mom was to give it an egg bath then coat it with corn meal and fry it in a pan of shallow oil. It's delicious with a crispy nutty flavor. the only thing I do differently now is mix 50 % corn meal and 50% flour, then spice it with garlic powder, salt, pepper and oregano. Delicious!

[herbalista]

This is so good! And olive oil is good for your skin, so use your hands to oil the stalks.
I've been wanting to try this for a long time. I've always butter-steamed and served with mayo, which was great, but oh my.
I finally did this tonight, expecting a lot of family resistance of the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" variety. I got it until they tasted it, now this is all they want. I cooked one bunch, with 4 kept back to take for family dinner tomorrow. We'll be taking 3 because I had to cook another bunch.
This is just asparagus to the highest power.

BTW, I save the bottoms in a freezer bag. When I get enough, I buy another fresh bunch for the tops and cook all the bottoms in stock, blend it, strain it, mix in the tops and chopped stalks, add cream, butter, whatever...it's a wing-it recipe for cream of asparagus soup. I've even done it with soy milk and flour for vegan friends.

[Chicago Ski]

To grill asparagus, take some wooden skewers and make small fences of asparagus. Usually, I put about 4-5 stalks together. Easy to grill, turn and won't fall through the grates.

[Angelika]

I'll never make asparagus any other way!

[newbee]

We usually add not just the juice of a half lemon (more or less) but also a good deal of the zest from that lemon. We also prefer to roast them until they are somewhat crisp at the pointy end. One of us believes that zesting the lemon 'deep' gives a bitter flavor, so stick to just the first yellow layer.

[Lubos]

Hi Michael, I recently started a website where I post step-by-step instructions for making Slovak food, www . slovakcooking . com. When I showed it to some folks at work (NASA Goddard), they mentioned that I should visit CookingForEngineers. We engineers really do think alike! Great site, by the way.

[Beaglefun]

I loved all the suggestions for fixing Asparagus. I generally steam cook it with a little salt, then sprinkle some lemons juice on it.

Another twist on this is to fix eggplant, zucchini, and peppers the same way. I like to add garlic powder to it. Very good!!!