The Oscars Experiment: "An Education"

Our fifth night together proved to be the most challenging for all participants. A smaller group than what we had previously had, there was a bit more space in the kitchen and plenty of time to contemplate the finer points of the recipes we were following. It was an English night and we had chosen an ambitious menu: A Crabmeat appetizer, Roast beef with Yorkshire Pudding, boiled veggies and a Port and Prune Fool for dessert. We thought it fitting for a typical English meal...but there were to be many surprises in store for us!

RECIPES

OLD ENGLISH CRABMEAT APPETIZERS (VERY EASY)


Ingredients :

1 (5 ounce) jar Kraft Old English cheese spread
1 (6 ounce) can crabmeat, drained
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 dash garlic powder
1 dash salt
1 dash pepper
1 (8 count) package English muffins

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Loosely combine all ingredients except English muffins in bowl.

3. Split muffins & spread mixture onto each English muffin half then arrange face up onto baking sheet.

4. Bake 20 minute until toasted/bubbling. When slightly cooled, cut each muffin into 4 pieces and serve.
Crabmeat Appetizers


Note on the Crabmeat Appetizers:

We could not find Kraft Old English Cheese Spread, so we used Philadelphia Cream Cheese Spread instead. The appetizers were fairly bland, so it would be advisable to add more spice (whatever strikes you) to make it more appetizing. None of us would remake this recipe, however.


ROAST BEEF and YORKSHIRE PUDDING

Ingredients (Roast Beef):

1.4kg / 3lbs joint of sirloin of beef
50g / 2oz beef dripping

YORKSHIRE PUDDING:

However you serve Yorkshire Pudding there are two essentials to remember when cooking them:
- A HOT oven
- VERY hot fat covering the floor of the cake tin / tray where they are cooked.

Ingredients:

110g / 10oz of plain flour (sifted)
1 large egg
A large pinch of salt
150ml / 5oz water
150ml / 5oz milk
Beef dripping or cooking fat

Combined method for cooking the Roast Beef and the Yorkshire Pudding:

1. Heat the oven to 180ºC / 350ºF / gas mark 4.

2. Put the joint of beef into a shallow baking tray or tin.

3. Season the meat to taste with a little salt or a sprinkle of rosemary or a little black pepper.

4. Melt half of the beef dripping and pour over the meat and seasoning.

5. Place in the middle of the oven for 70 minutes.

6. After 70 minutes, keep the meet in the oven, but turn up the heat to 220ºC / 425ºF / gas mark 7.

7. Pour the remainder of the beef dripping into a cake baking tray (The type of baking tray used to make small cakes / muffins). Put the tray, with a little bit of dripping in each of the depressions in the tray, into the oven for 3 minutes or until you see the dripping smoke.

8. Remove from the oven and pour 2 tablespoons of the Yorkshire Pudding batter (see below for batter recipe) into each cake depression and bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the same oven as the beef.

9. 10 minutes after you have taken out the cooked Yorkshire puddings you can take out the beef. Leave to stand another 10 minutes to allow to cool a little before carving.

Roast Beef(ish)

Note on the Roast Beef:

We totally destroyed the meat and for that, we are truly sad. Severely overcooked, the meat was tough and unappetizing for most of us. Our problem was that we had three cuts of meat, none of them the required Roast Beef for the recipe. We used a Portuguese cut (the large piece) and two smaller French cut pieces. Each piece cooked at a different rate. We were able to somewhat salvage the larger piece, but the smaller pieces (though we ate them) were really "unfun" to eat. No one was able to find Roast Beef (although I did find it in a Provigo a few weeks later). For future reference, use only one cut of meat so that there is less worry with regards to different cooking speeds.

YORKSHIRE PUDDING MIXTURE (BATTER):

(This will make about 6 or so puddings).

1. Sift the flour into a large bowl

2. Break the egg into the centre of the heap of flour.

3. Mix the water and the milk together in a jug. Pour the mixture slowly onto the flour and egg. As you start to pour the water/milk slowly beat the mixture together with a whisk. Add the salt and continue to beat. The puddings will be lighter if the batter includes a little air.

4. Once all the ingredients have been beaten together leave to stand, covered by a cloth, for 40 minutes or so.

5. Now you are at 'step 8' in the main cooking method. Your oven should be very hot and your tray for the puddings very hot. Yorkshire Pudding

Note on the Yorkshire Pudding:

This was a first for everyone involved. It didn't end up looking like the pictures we had seen on the Internet, but we did our best! The flavor was actually quite flavorless: kind of like an eggy batter...hard to describe (Leita's comments).

SPECIAL GRAVY

Ingredients:

50g or 2oz of beef dripping (or use about ¾ cup of juices from cooked beef).
1 finely chopped onion
2 large rashers of bacon that has had its rind removed
2 tablespoons of dry sherry
2 tablespoons vinegar
1 finely chopped carrot
50g or 2 oz plain flour
1 bouquet garni
1 tablespoon tomato puree
600ml or 1 pint of beef or lamb or pork stock (use stock cubes).
1 teaspoon of coarse ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Chop the bacon into small pieces.

2. Melt the dripping in a saucepan and keep it liquid.

3. Now add the onion pieces, bacon pieces and carrot pieces and fry in the dripping in the saucepan until the onions are light brown. This should take about 10 minutes maximum on a medium heat.

4. Add the sherry and the vinegar and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes.

5. Carefully blend in the flour, adding a little at a time to prevent lumps forming, and stir until this mixture goes brown. This will take about 10 minutes.

6. Pour in half of the stock, stirring all the time. Keep heating on a medium heat and keep stirring until the mixture starts to thicken.

7. Bring the mixture to the boil and add the bouquet garni leaving the pan to simmer on a low heat for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.

8. Stir in the tomato puree, the other half of the stock and the pepper. Add salt to taste.

9. When you are happy with the taste then strain through a gauze or plastic (never a metal) sieve to remove any lumps / the garni / carrot and onion pieces.

10. Let the resulting gravy stand in a dish or gravy boat and pour off any fat or grease from the surface. Keep warm (do not cook) and place in the gravy boat for serving at the table.

Gravy

Note on the Gravy:

It was impossible to find beef dripping, so we used the only other alternative we could think of: pork lard! Strange but true. In addition to that, we had neither a gauze nor a plastic strainer, so we decided to keep the gravy chunky. The flavor was quite good and as you will have seen from the video, we almost came to blows about the thickness of the gravy. A very interesting debate!

To keep with the theme of the English meal, we boiled up some baby carrots and peas to go along with the meal. We couldn't screw that up!

Veggies


The Final Look: Our complete meal (Looked better than it tasted!)


PORT AND PRUNE FOOL

Ingredients:

10 fl oz (284 ml) of double cream
15½ ozs (439 g) sized tin of prunes, without stones
4 tablespoons of Port
2 ozs (50g) soft brown sugar
A pinch of grated nutmeg
Chopped nuts for decoration

Serves 4.

Method:

1. Whip the double cream until it is stiff.

2. Drain any syrup from the prunes then chop them into small pieces.

3. Fold the chopped prunes into the cream, then add the brown sugar and the port.

4. Fold in a pinch of nutmeg to taste.

5. Spoon the mixture into chilled individual serving glasses and sprinkle with chopped nuts - but just before you start your meal.

6. Keep cool until you are ready to serve.

Note on the Port and Prune Fool:

No one found the dessert to be anything special. We added extra port to give it more flavor. The whipped cream made it a bit thick, it might have been nicer as cream, actually. Sorry, no final pictures for this one.

DISCUSSION HIGHLIGHTS ON THE MOVIE "AN EDUCATION":

- Some felt the movie started a bit too slowly and were waiting for it to get cohesive and though it did, it was not enough to save the movie

- Many thought the movie was too perfect, too clichéd; there was a feeling that we had seen this movie too many times before; it would have been more successful had the ending been more "realistic" or open-ended

- There was an almost unanimous consensus that from the second half on, the movie completely fell apart and for these reasons:

• 
  
  The voice-over was completely unnecessary; it changed the tone of the film for the worse
• 
  
  The montage with her reading and studying was really bad

• 
  
  The ending was too didactic

• 
  
  When she found out the man's dark secret, the movie disintegrated

Some Questions/Thoughts:

- This was set in the 60s: is it realistic that the parents be so okay with their daughter dating such an older man?

- Some were hoping to see what happened to Graham

- What was the point of the engagement?

Some Redeemable Qualities:

- The acting and characterization were good, albeit generic

- Someone felt the father was annoying; he felt he was watching him act at the beginning of the film but liked him in the end; everyone else thought his character was flawlessly played

- The shot and angle when the mother is at the bottom of the stairs is well done

-The dialogue was quite good, and in the first half of the movie several people laughed out loud (witty)

- Good soundtrack

Individual scores:

- 7
- 6.5
- 3
- 6.5
- 5
- 4.5
- 8

Final Score: 5.79/10

The Oscars Experiment: "The Hurt Locker"

Our nights are becoming more and more popular. We continue to cook new and exotic meals and our post-movie discussions are developing into heated debates, filled with both raucous laughter and diverging perspectives.

Last Sunday we attacked our night with the fervor of war. As the start of the movie indicated, "War is a drug." Our nights have become a drug and we welcome each and every moment we can assemble our little community.

As we were starting our cooking process, we put out some Zatar with olive oil and some pita bread to nibble on while we prepared our wonderful meal.

Zatar is made up of basil, oregano, savory and thyme. It's a delicious snack.

RECIPES

Timman Z'affaran (Iraqi Saffron Rice With Meat)

SERVES 5 -6

Ingredients:

2 cups Basmati rice
1/2 teaspoon saffron thread
2 tablespoons rose water
1/3 cup oil (or ghee)
1/4 cup blanched split almonds (don't leave these out please)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
275 g ground lamb or beef
3/4 teaspoon Baharat mixed spice (Baharat Aka Middle East Mixed Spices - the Real Mix)
salt
1/4 cup raisins
3 cups chicken stock

Directions:

1.Wash rice until water runs clear.

2.Cover with cold water and leave to soak for 30 minutes.

3.Pound saffron threads, place in a small bowl and add the rose water, leaving to steep until required.

4.Heat half the oil or ghee in a frying pan (this part tastes better with ghee or butter), add the almonds and fry until becoming golden making sure not to burn them by watching them until done.

Toasted Almonds

5.Remove to a plate with a slotted spoon and reserve.

6.Add onion to pan and fry gently until transparent.

7.Increase heat, add meat and cook, stirring often to make meat crumbly. Fry until the juices evaporate, add Baharat, 1/2 tsp salt and raisins and fry for 1 minute longer. Remove pan from heat, cover and leave aside.

8.Heat remaining oil or ghee in a deep large bottomed pot and add 2 tsp of the saffron-rosewater mixture and the chicken stock. Bring to a boil.

9.Drain the rice and add it to the boiling stock with salt to taste. Stir occasionally until rice returns to a boil.

10.Reduce heat to low and cover pan tightly. Simmer gently until rice is done.

11.Fold the meat mixture gently through the rice, cover rim of the pan with two paper towels and set lid on tightly. Leave on low heat for 5 minutes or longer if necessary. Rice should not spoil, though this depends on its quality.

12.Pile rice in serving dish or platter and sprinkle with browned almonds and the rest of the saffron-rosewater.
Timman Z'affaran

Note on the Timman Z'affaran:

We doubled the recipe to accommodate the 9 people we were expecting for the meal. As it turns out, we ended up being 12 people and were still able to fill everyone's belly! We tripled the amount of meat and it was just enough. We also used ghee, to try to adhere to the authenticity of the dish. Due to our inability to find Baharat Aka, we decided to make it from scratch. Below, the recipe for this wonderfully fragrant mixed spice.


We added Shish Taouk (store bought) as a side to the rice dish, just in case we were short on food. Such was not the case, but it was delicious nonetheless.

Shish Taouk


BAHARAT AKA

Ingredients:

1/2 cup whole black peppercorn
1/4 cup whole coriander seed
1/4 cup cassia or cinnamon bark
1/4 cup whole cloves
1/3 cup cumin seed
2 teaspoons whole cardamom seeds
4 whole whole nutmegs
1/2 cup ground paprika

Directions:

1.Basically, just place all the spices except the paprika and nutmeg in a blender or adequate grinder and process until it becomes a powder.

2.If necessary you can grind 1/2 cup at a time.

3.Grate the nutmeg and blend this with the paprika into the spices.

4.Store in an airtight jar.

5.Generally in some areas, they lightly toast the spices in an oven to bring out more flavor.

6.You can gain this also by putting the amount you're going to use, on a hot dry frying pan and toast it for a few seconds before using.

7.This not only makes the kitchen smell good, but brings out a richer flavor of any spice.

8.*Note* You can also use ground spices, but using them whole is the authentic way.

9.Four nutmegs come to about 1/4 cup ground.

10.Be careful how much nutmeg you use; it's toxic in large doses.

Note about the Baharat Aka:

We halved the recipe and still had tons of spice left! We weren't able to find everything in its whole form. Cumin was used in its powder form, and the coriander, cut up, but not powdered. We used a coffee grinder to grind up the spices. It worked beautifully, but we had to break up the cinnamon sticks into smaller pieces in order for them to be ground properly. People were wondering if I had put some incense in the apartment because the whole place smelled like an exotic incense stick from India was burning. Not so! It was the spices! We also went all out and toasted the spices for that extra bit of fragrance before adding them to the Timman Z'affaran.

IRAQI 'SUMMAG' SALAD- SUMAC SALAD

This is a recipe for a very tasty salad using the Middle Eastern spice Sumac / Sumaq. In Iraq, it is known as Summag - hence the name Summag salad. It is easy to make.

SERVES 4 -6

Ingredients:

2 large cucumbers
1 large tomato
1/4 medium onion
1 tablespoon sumac
salt
olive oil

1.Peel the cucumbers in stripes. Slice the cucumbers in half, length-wise. Slice these halves into semi-circles, each no more than 1-2 mm thick. Put the cucumbers in the salad bowl.

The biggest cucumbers I've ever seen!

2.Chop the tomato into 'salad size' pieces- not too large and not too small. Add to the cucumber.

3.Slice the onion into long, pieces and add to the tomato and cucumber.

4.Drizzle about 1 tablespoon of olive oil over the salad and add the sumac and salt to taste. Mix well. Enjoy.
Summag Salad

Note about the Summag Salad:

We doubled the recipe. It was light and a nice contrast to the rice dish, though some thought it didn't have much flavor. Decidedly, the sumac has a subtle taste. I would add some lemon and freshly ground pepper for the next time, or some kind of vinegar.

HOLWAH TAMAR (IRAQI DATE SWEETMEAT)

SERVES 20 , 20 pieces

Ingredients:

1 lb dates, dried and pitted
1/4 cup ghee
2 cups walnut pieces
2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted

Directions:

Dates "fresh" out of the box

1.Chop dates roughly and place in a heavy pan with the ghee.

2.Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until dates soften, and are combined with the ghee.

3.Spread half the date mixture in a 9 in (23 cm) square pan.

4.Sprinkle walnut pieces over the dates, pressing them in lightly. Place remaining date mixture on top, spreading it evenly.

5.Sprinkle evenly with toasted sesame seeds, pressing them on lightly.

6.Leave until cool and cut into small squares or diamond shapes.

7.Store in a sealed container and serve as a sweetmeat.

Holwah Tamar

Note about the Holwah Tamar:

We stuck to the recipe here because we knew it would be sweet and that most people would have only one or two pieces. No sugar is added because dates are incredibly sweet all on their own! It was very sticky, but quite tasty. I would add more walnuts next time. We didn't use nearly as many walnuts as the recipe suggested. Successful dessert!

The complete meal!

AN ASIDE:

We had quite the discussion with regards to the difference between ground meat and minced meat and what sweetmeats actually are. A very complex thing...

From WiseGeek: "The term sweetmeats usually refers to candy or sweet confections. It has often been shortened simply to sweets, as in “Sweets to the Sweet.” Sweetmeats likely first began as a way of preserving fruit and/or nuts with sugar. Since sugars act as a preservative, the process of making candied fruit or nuts might aid in keeping some food items past the point when they would naturally decay."

From Wikipedia: Ground meat is meat finely chopped by a meat grinder. It is called mince or mince(d) meat outside North America.

From Wikipedia: Mincemeat is a mixture of chopped dried fruit, distilled spirits and spices, and sometimes beef suet, beef, or venison. Originally, mincemeat always contained meat.[1] Many modern recipes contain beef suet, though vegetable shortening is sometimes used in its place. Variants of mincemeat are found in the UK, Ireland, Brittany, northern Europe, the United States and Canada. In some countries the term mincemeat refers to minced or ground meat.

DISCUSSION HIGHLIGHTS ON THE MOVIE "THE HURT LOCKER":

- There were two camps that were clearly delineated that night. Some loved the movie, others thought it was far from a "great movie" and certainly not worth the Oscar

- Many thought some of the scenes were decidedly unrealistic and very Hollywood

- Several people expressed disappointment because the opening sequence of the film was very well done and the rest of the movie fell short, was very standard

- Some asked why the director chose to purposefully add Hollywood elements to the movie when it didn’t help the plot

- Some of the Hollywood elements/clichés we noticed include the following:
o The main character as a red-neck “hero”
o The music was, at times, very Hollywood, with the intention of creating drama
o The scene in the grocery store has been done, most notably, in "Heaven and Earth"
o The scene in the car when one of the soldiers talks about wanting a son

- There was mention that the movie had the elements of a western

- One of our members has experienced "war" and was very much affected by the movie; he thought the grocery store scene was very realistic, The quote “war is a drug” is true, according to him

- Some believed that movies can very effectively take a series of cliches and still make a good movie; this one's use of cliches was unsuccessful

- Some felt there was a distinct lack of character development, that we were not privy to the motivations behind their actions, that the characters were one-dimensional; others felt the characters were sufficiently developed and were not bothered by the lack of context

- There was the feeling that to see a redeeming quality in the main character was actually disappointing

- Others felt the movie took a “Reality Show” kind of approach which is very hard to judge

- Many people felt that the director took scenes from a lot of other war movies and cut and pasted them into this one; there was little originality

- People were split on the idea of what constituted a successful movie: was it its artistic/aesthetic quality, or how one reacted to it emotionally? There was some disappointment as to the artistic choices within the movie

- There was a heated debate concerning realism vs. accuracy and the fact that though it may be an accurate movie, it had unrealistic characters

- The night scene when they split up hunting for the bombers was unrealistic and in reality, the man would have been taken out of the field and sent back home for violating protocol so blatantly

- Some were wondering what the point of the horseplay scene in the barracks was about; it was very Hollywood and added nothing to the movie

- As we wrapped up the discussion, one of our members mentioned that the question as to what constitutes a good movie is “Are any of us going to remember this movie a year from now?”Most felt they wouldn't.

Final Rating: 6.6/10

How to make Awesome Bread

The following is Jasminka's recipe for bread:

Ingredients:

3 cups of warm water

1 teaspoon of salt

2 table spoons of vegetabel oil

1.5 - 2 teaspoons of active yeast

A mixture of white and whole wheat flour

Directions:

I mix white and whole wheat flour together and add it in to the mixuture above.

Now, as I don't know the precise amounts of all the ingredients that I put in, I keep adding water or flour until I reach a certain consistency, not too hard not too soft, (it can't be as hard as when you make dough for pie, it has to be a little bit watery, but again, not too much). I know this sounds totally undefined, but you have to go with your gut...

Next, the mixture has to stay in a bowl at room temperature (21+C) for at least 3 hours to rise. Once it rises you need to flip the mixture a couple of times and leave it for another 45 min to rise again. After that, you transfer it to the pan which has been layered thinly with oil, and then let it rise again. Later you bake it in the oven for about 35 minutes at 450F and than you turn off the oven but leave the bread inside for another 20 min. and it's done!

Happy baking everyone!

The Oscars Experiment: "Inglorious Basterds"

Our third night together had a better turnout than any of us could have expected. We had, yes, count them, 12 people! The movie of the night: Inglorious Basterds. More than half of us had yet to see this movie, so there was excitement in the air. In addition, we had a secret weapon by the name of Heike. A lovely German frau, she helped us immensely in choosing our menu for the night.



RECIPES

STUFFED MUSHROOMS

Ingredients:

3 packs of white mushrooms
1 small onion
2 or 3 tablespoons of sour cream
Salt and pepper
Parsley
Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Take out the stems of the mushrooms, chop them finely and mix them with the onion (also finely chopped), the sour cream and the spices; then put this paste back in the caps of the mushrooms. Sprinkle some Parmesan - or whatever cheese is handy - over them.

Denuded mushrooms

Place the mushrooms on a rack and place in the oven (180°C) for about 20 minutes, until they are browned.

Note about the stuffed mushrooms:

The ingredients we added to make the paste are not bound by the proportions indicated above. Taste testing is an important factor, as we learned from Heike, who gave us the recipe. Add ingredients according to personal taste.

GERMAN GOULASH SOUP

1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 crushed garlic clove
350g potatoes, peeled and diced
110g tinned chopped tomatoes
75g tomato puree
1 litre beef stock, homemade if possible
150g beef steak, diced
150ml red wine
50g carrots, finely diced
50g red pepper, finely diced
50g green pepper, finely diced
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp cayenne, or to taste
Salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Heat the oil in a pan and fry the onion and garlic for 5 minutes over a gentle heat, without colouring.

Add the potatoes, tomatoes, tomato puree, stock, half of the beef steak, the red wine, carrots, red and green pepper, paprika, cayenne, salt and pepper and simmer gently until the meat and vegetables are tender. Allow to cool and then puree half the soup coarsely and half the soup smoothly in a liquidizer.

If necessary add some water to achieve desired consistency.

Return to a clean saucepan and add the remaining meat. Cook for 15 minutes, taste for seasoning.

If a chunky soup is preferred then don't puree the soup.

Serve with some crusty bread and enjoy this delicious goulash soup with a great meat flavour.

Note about the goulash:

We tripled this recipe for the number of people we had that night. We also added much more meat to the soup than even the tripling of the recipe required. It turned out beautifully and was very nicely spiced. We also all wanted a chunky soup, so we opted out of pureeing half the vegetables. Plus, it would have been yet one more thing to wash afterwards!

GERMAN TOMATO SALAD

500g tomatoes
1 red or white onion, cubed
1 dessert spoon parsley
1 dessert spoon basil
1 dessert spoon red wine vinegar
pinch sugar
3 dessert spoons oil

Wash the tomatoes in lukewarm water and remove the thick stem. Slice the tomatoes thickly or quarter them and place in a deep dish.

Add the chopped onion and finely chopped parsley and basil. Mix the red wine vinegar with the sugar and oil and pour over the salad. Leave to rest for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Note about the tomato salad:

We added the ingredients according to what we thought would be sufficient for the number of people there. The salad dressing would never have been sufficient in terms of what we wanted for taste, so we added ingredients liberally.

DELICIOUS CHOCOLATE CAKE

1/2 cake of Baker's unsweetened chocolate (grated)
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup of milk
1 teaspoonful of vanilla
1/2 cup of butter
1 1/2 - 2 cups of flour
2 eggs
2 teaspoonfuls of baking powder

Boil together chocolate, sugar and milk. Add butter and when cool add yolk of eggs; then the flour, flavoring and stiffly beaten whites of 2 eggs. Beat all thoroughly and bake in a loaf or layers until done.

CHOCOLATE ICING

Boil together 5 tablespoonfuls of grated chocolate, 3/4 cups of granulated sugar, 2 tablespoonfuls of milk, 1 egg. When the mixture begins to thicken and look creamy, spread on cake. If baked in layers, ice on top and between the two layers.

Chocolate cake: finished product

Note about the cake:

We haven't had the best of luck with desserts so far. As you might have also noticed, the recipe was not as detailed as we would have liked. We set the oven to 390 degrees Fahrenheit. Though the flavor of this cake was wonderful in that it was not too sweet, even with the icing on top, we found that the cake was a bit too dry. We had noticed this even before we cooked it and so an extra egg was added, but for future reference, we would add much more milk so that the consistency of the cake may be more moist and creamy.

Tatiana, Mitra and Tijana taking a break and enjoying the moment

DISCUSSION HIGHLIGHTS ON THE MOVIE "INGLORIOUS BASTERDS":

- Some had trouble with the cross between fantasy and reality

- Some thought that the bar scene was too long, but most loved it and thought it was the best scene in the movie

- Some thought the ending was a bit abrupt and contradictory because of the confusion between reality and fantasy

- Many loved the cross between reality and fantasy; to elaborate, the reality being the reference to real events in history and the fantasy being Tarantino's propensity for flair and the fantastic.

- Most thought the movie represented Europe very well and the accents and representation of the countries and their languages were excellent, especially when taking into consideration the fact that it was a "Hollywood" film


Final rating: 8.3/10

The Oscars Experiment: Precious

Our second get-together involved the movie "Precious". And as it is a movie tracing the lives of an African American family living in Harlem, we thought it best to make soul food. I looked up "Harlem Soul Food" online and actually found some recipes! The rest is history!

RECIPES

CRISPY FRIED CHICKEN

Ingredients:

1 (4 pound) chicken, cut into pieces
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups all-purpose flour for coating
1 teaspoon paprika
salt and pepper to taste
2 quarts vegetable oil for frying

Directions:

1.Take your cut up chicken pieces and skin them if you prefer. Put the flour in a large plastic bag (let the amount of chicken you are cooking dictate the amount of flour you use). Season the flour with paprika, salt and pepper to taste (paprika helps to brown the chicken).

2.Dip chicken pieces in buttermilk then, a few at a time, put them in the bag with the flour, seal the bag and shake to coat well. Place the coated chicken on a cookie sheet or tray, and cover with a clean dish towel or waxed paper. LET SIT UNTIL THE FLOUR IS OF A PASTE-LIKE CONSISTENCY. THIS IS CRUCIAL! The chicken acquiring its paste-like consistency

3.Fill a large skillet (cast iron is best) about 1/3 to 1/2 full with vegetable oil. Heat until VERY hot. Put in as many chicken pieces as the skillet can hold. Brown the chicken in HOT oil on both sides. When browned, reduce heat and cover skillet; let cook for 30 minutes (the chicken will be cooked through but not crispy). Remove cover, raise heat again and continue to fry until crispy.

4.Drain the fried chicken on paper towels. Depending on how much chicken you have, you may have to fry in a few shifts. Keep the finished chicken in a slightly warm oven while preparing the rest. Beautiful results!

The chicken was so successful that even vegetarians ate it!

Note about the chicken

Most people loved the chicken, but a few remarked on the lack of distinct flavor. I would respond to that by saying that in the future the flour should be much more spiced with paprika, salt and pepper and maybe even some cayenne pepper.

VEGETABLE - OKRA - TOMATO GUMBO

3/4 - 1 lb. fresh okra, sliced
1 lg. onion or 6 green onions, chopped
2 fresh tomatoes, diced
2 or 3 cloves garlic
Sprinkle of Mrs. Dash
Sprinkle of Gumbo File
Salt to taste
Sm. amount olive oil
1/2 c. rice, uncooked

Start cooking the rice while preparing the Gumbo mixture. Wash and cut okra. Clean and chop onions, also garlic. Wash tomatoes and dice. Use a non stick skillet. Add olive oil. Stir fry the above. Add a small amount of water. Add seasonings. Cook until tender. Serve over cooked rice.

Onions and garlic on the bottom, followed by the tomatoes and then the okra on top

Cooked gumbo after stirring only a few times


Note about the gumbo:

We were unable to find Gumbo File or determine what it was, and were also unable to find Mrs. Dash so we added salt, pepper and cayenne pepper instead. It was delicious. We got some tips on how to cook the dish from the owner of a small grocery store nearby. An Afghan man, he had made gumbo often and suggested that we layer the vegetables. First fry up the onions and garlic, then place the tomatoes on top and let cook. Add the okra after the tomatoes are a bit softened and let cook all together, stirring only a few times to keep the okra from becoming a gluey mess. His tips worked out nicely. It was more detailed than the recipe above, in any case.

PEACH COBBLER

Ingredients:

1 large can of Delmonte® Sliced Peaches
1 stick of butter or margarine
1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla flavor
1 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 box of Pillsbury® pie crust mix - follow the directions to make the pie crust A picture of this dish is available on the CD. Click here for your copy.

Instructions:

Mix peaches and other ingredients in a large dutch oven pot, and bring to a boil. Pour ingredients into a large casserole dish. Roll the pie crust into 1 whole sheet to cover the dish, or cut it into strips and place over the peach mixture.

Peach cobbler before adding our crust

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cook until golden brown approximately 1 hour

End results

Best served with vanilla ice cream.

Note about the cobbler:

This cobbler was way, way, way too sweet! The flavor, otherwise, was good, but we all decided that the cobbler needed no more than half the amount of sugar that was suggested. We also found that the cobbler was a bit too liquidy, so we would recommend trying another cobbler recipe for future reference.

We were pleasantly surprised to have another cook among us who arrived later and brought cornbread! Thanks to Mark! Everyone really enjoyed it.

Tried and true cornbread!

DISCUSSION HIGHLIGHTS ON THE MOVIE "PRECIOUS":

- Most people thought that Mo'nique had a stellar performance in the movie and found her very believable

- There was a split opinion on how successful this "grassroots editing" was in the movie. Some found the fantasy scenes to be inappropriate and out of place for the context of the story, others liked those aspects to the film, and felt they showed the urgency in creating such a form of escapism in order to survive

- Leita thought the heavy subject matter was dealt with in a much lighter way than one would imagine you could and that was successful

- Some parts of the plot, according to Tijana, were easily predictable and bordered on "the cheese”

- There was a final question that was raised that merits attention: Does this type of movie cater only to a particular type of audience: young, black single mothers?

Final Rating: 6.3/10

The Oscars Experiment: A Serious Man

This is the start of what will be the viewing of the ten 2010 Oscar nominated films. We will eat, watch and analyze. And most of all, enjoy!

First, the food and its joys!

RECIPES

We have come to a consensus that we should include the recipes of each of our meals throughout this experiment. Here are the recipes for the meal:

Israeli Kibbutz Salad

Recipe Ingredients:
3 medium tomatoes, diced
2 medium cucumbers, diced
1 medium sweet pepper, diced
2 scallions with tops, diced
4-6 radishes, diced
2 medium carrots, coarsely shredded
1/2 of a medium lettuce, coarsely shredded
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
salt and pepper

Put veggies in a bowl. mix lemon juice and oil and pour over salad. Season.

Can be served as a side dish or added to falafel in pita bread.


Baked Fish in Kosher Salt

Recipe Ingredients:
3 to 4 lb whole fish with scales but cleaned inside
4 lb kosher salt
Juice of 1 lemon

SAUCE:
1/2 cup butter or olive oil
2 T chopped parsley
Juice of 1 lemon
Capers, optional
Salt and pepper to taste

Kosher Fish
Wash fish with with lemon. Place half the salt in a baking dish, just big enough to hold the fish. Place fish on top. Cover fish completely with the rest of the salt. Bake in pre-heated 400 degrees oven for 45 minutes. The salt will harden and make a crust. Once cooked remove the crust and the skin should come off.

SAUCE: Melt butter. Add rest of ingredients.

NOTE: In spite of all the salt in the recipe it does not become salty, but moist and tasty.

Not waving, but drowning...in salt.


Our meal was very successful and the best part was that the recipe was correct. The fish was not salty. It was perfectly cooked, the skin peeled off easily and the fish, striped bass, retained its natural flavor which was nicely complemented by the adding of the sauce.

After the meal, we settled down to watch A Serious Man.

MOVIE COMMENTARIES

We all enjoyed the movie. Here are some of our positive comments:

- There were interesting snippets of humor which lightened the otherwise heavy subject matter
- The clichéd representation of Jewish life in the 50s in the US was successful in creating humor
- There was great acting, particularly with the lead character, Michael Stuhlbarg
- The directing was smooth and relatively seamless

We did, however, have a few points of contention.

- There was a lack of cohesion between the opening sequence and the rest of the movie; it was an intriguing beginning, but what did it have to do with the rest of the movie?
- There was also a lack of clarity in the closing scene: what was the significance of the storm? The ending seemed, for some, a bit abrupt and too open-ended. Others liked that aspect.

In conclusion:

A Serious Man directed by the Coen Brothers

Final rating: 7.6/10