guys that cook

[sawguy21]

I learned to cook a reasonable meal in the name of survival, I could not afford to eat out everyday and really didn't want to. After being on the road with a steady diet of restaurants and hotel rooms, a plate of chops, spuds and a salad in my own kitchen tasted mighty fine.
I do tend to be lazy in the kitchen though, quick with minimal cleanup. Karen loves to cook and is DanG good at it. She can make a fine meal out of just about anything. Now I am training myself to push away from the table after one plate. :D

[Coon]

I have survived my own cooking a time or three..... I'll cook any day of the week as long as someone else does the cleaning.   My favorite is fresh fried fish.... If I catch it, I'll clean it, and I'll cook it.... and nobody is gonna stop me from eatin' it.   :D  One thing I learned with cooking meat is that if it don't taste good then you haven't put enough garlic in/on it.   :D 

A clerk at the grocery store asked me one time if I was buying enough garlic..... I told her NO, that's all there was in the store.   :D  She just rolled her eyes at me.  :D  I said what's wrong with garlic?  It's good for coughs, colds, sores, and pimples on your.......  :D

[WildDog]

When I 1st left home and working on a cattle/sheep station I only knew how to BBQ, for rations we were given 1 sheep a week and 4 steers a year. Out of the sheep I could get 48 chops with a cleaver (that went on the BBQ) and 2 legs, 2 shoulders, the dogs got the shoulders and I paid my gym membership and saddle repairs with the legs. When I killed/butchered my steers I only kept the good cuts like rump and fillet and the working dogs got the rest.

This all changed when my then Girlfriend moved in and we had roasts, stews, sausages, corned meat for lunches...poor dogs went back to eating biscuitsand roo meat  :D.

These days I like to get in the kitchen and cook basic things like pan fried fish, pizzas, tacos, stews and chunky beef pies.

[Norm]

When I moved into a rental house with three roommates they thought the same of me Adam. They bought boxed food that cost a fortune and I'd buy essentials for much less. It wasn't long that the agreement was they'd buy the groceries if I'd do the cooking.  :D

[LOGDOG]

I have to say my wife and I both love to cook. Me a little more than her. When we first got married she really didn't know how to cook. So we made the deal that Jeff and Tammy have. I cook and she cleans. I really dislike doing dishes. Don't know why, just do. So it worked out. My whole life people have told me I should start a restaurant because of how well I cook. I worked in the kitchen with my mom from probably the age of 5 onward. I took Home-Ec in school, mostly for the girls but I picked up a few things there too. I've always liked to entertain and cook for large groups of people. Food is such a common denominator with people. Everyone likes to eat good food and I enjoy seeing people eat and enjoy the food I make for them. We do eat out, mostly during the weekdays. I try to take my wife to lunch every other day at least. But that's mostly a reason to see each other and give her a break from the bank. Otherwise she tends to not get lunch because there's so much to do at work. Outside of that though, we really prefer to eat at home. It's hard to find food that's any better.

In our house the Food Channel stays on most all day. On our computers, I'm on the Forestry Forum or FoodGawker.com or YouTube watching the BBQ PIT BOYZ or something like that. Have you seen those guys? I think a group of Forum members here ought to team up and give them a run for their money. Wife favors similar sites along with CowGirl's site.

Smoking meats is my next project. My first wife's grandfather used to smoke whole salmon. They were out of this world good! I haven't had a whole, smoked salmon in 10 years since I moved down here to LA. I may slip up near Arky's place and catch some trout in the White River. For those of you who don't know, Arky lives right in the middle of some of the finest trout fishing in the world. Google "Gaston's Resort" to see photos. I just got an email from them showing an 18 lb Brown Trout that a girl had caught and released.

One thing I'll say about cooking that I've found beneficial, especially with seafood, is to make sure that the food is clean. Rinse, rinse, rinse and pat dry with paper towels to get the funk off of it. Any fish that has what I call a "mud line" in it's fillet between the skin and the meat like a salmon that has that gray, brown ribbon along the fillet or a Northern Pike/Musky .... fillet that offand it will taste so much better. Normally I remove the skin from fish when cooking unless they are panfish that I've scaled or fresh caught trout. I've cooked fish for women that "don't eat fish" and the next thing you know, they LOVE it. Clean it well and season it well.

Also this year we're thinking about adding sheep and goats to the place here. They interest me. I've never eatne goat but it looks amazing from what I've seen. Lamb is delicious and my wife and I are both fans. Anyone here have experience with raising either for the meat and which breeds make the table fare?

[LeeB]

The first thing you need to do when building a goat pen is figure where they will get out. You can do this with a bucket of water. Throw the water at the fence. Anywhere the water gets through the goats will too. :D :D :D

[Woodcarver]

My mother taught me a little about cooking when I was growing up.  My folks had a little country store.  I often had to keep an eye on whatever was cooking while she waited on someone in the store.

I worked my way through college.  When I went to register after discharge from the military I asked about work.  They sent me to food service manager.  He told me he needed a person to work the breakfast shift. He said, since you were in the military you are probably accustomed to getting up early, can you come in at 6:00 and work a grill?  The only other opening was washing pots and pans.  After three years in the army you know the answer.  Of course I can work a grill.  :D 

I had to have one of the other guys show me how to set up the grill the first day (there were two other breakfast "chefs".  It all worked out.  I got pretty good at flipping flapjacks and frying eggs.  My future wife was a student at the time. She jokes that she married me for my cooking.

I have graduated to other meals since graduating from college.  I'm not in Norm's league, but I can do a basic meat, vegetable, salad meal and occasionally do some
baking. I like to cook, but there are a lot of other things I like to do and cooking doesn't make the top of the list as often as it might.

[isawlogs]

We have some miniature goats here. What I can tell you about is the only place a goat aint getting out of on its own is the freezer.

[WildDog]

Anyone here have experience with raising either for the meat and which breeds make the table fare?

Some of our does a couple of years back during the breeding upgrade.

Appologies for the length this post is bound to get to ;D

LogDog we run a comercial herd of Boer goats fluctuating between 400 - 600hd. I have upgraded these from from feral does I mustered in from the bush and put to Boer Bucks. They are a soild meat goat. If you train Boers to respect electric fence you will find they test it about as much as a  x-bred sheep (eg Borderleister x Merino) the main presure is placed on the bottom of the fence, bottom wire must be strained well and no more than 4 inches off the ground. Other goats like the Kiko's you guys have over there, Cashmere, Anglo Nubians etc will search for weak spots higher up as well and climb up fence stays etc.

Pros: Excellent weed/brush control, more intelligent than sheep, no need for fly control, excellent healthy meat high in omega 3, will leave clovers and target browse/grasses, run well with cattle.

Cons: poor resistance to stomach worms especially Barbers Pole, infrastructure required, difficult and can inflict pain in the yards when doseing, marking etc, not many parasit drenches registered for use in goats.

Well raised goat is really good eating, finding enough fat for sausages and mince can be difficult but the Boers are prone to lay down a fair amount of fat, legs/shoulders are great baked in an over bag, chops will get tough quick the older they get. We have never fed a roast leg to friends that havn't enjoyed it. I castrate mine between 6 and 12 weeks, I don't like eating anything with stones including deer.

Warning big numbers of goats have the ability to turn a normally sane man into a lunatic. Our family has a saying, "Whats said in the goat yards stays in the goats yards" All our cattle work is done quietly with no raising of voices or dogs" with goats its not usually long before voices get loud and the dogs start cowering. 2 days ago my wife and I with our 4yr old boy and 6months girl, (the older boys have left home) started at 7:30am mustering in the bucks, than a mob of 18month old does/wethers, drafted off the wethers, drenched, put the bucks with the does, than went 2 miles out and mustered in the main mob of does and there kids, drafted off the the kids for weaning and about 40 caste for age does, put the various mobs back to paddocks including the Marrema guard dogs....Rain came in and I took the last mob back at 8pm. My poor wife has bruises from her shins to her back from being raking by horns. :(   
   

[LOGDOG]

Wow, that's a beautiful herd you've got there WildDog. Very healthy and clean looking. Sounds like they can be a handful though to say the least. My Aunt and Uncle had goats when I was growing up. I remember them standing on top of cars, sheds, the house .... they seem very determined. I need to find a source to try the meat before I bail off into raising them.

On the cooking theme .... I talked to a friend/ex-business partner of my mine this afternoon. He took his little guy up to the Little Missouri River in AR trout fishing a couple weeks ago. He said they slayed the trout. They were catching 20-30 an hour. His little guy was determined for all of them (family of four) to catch and keep a limit (20) and put them on the stringer. So they did. Problem is his mom doesn't cook and his daddy doesn't know how to clean or cook trout. So his dad told me that they gave the trout to an older gentleman down at the Family Dollar store on their way home. Now this guy is 40 I guess. He deer hunts, duck hunts like crazy, been doing all of it his whole life and hasn't learned how to cook the game. I just can't believe it. So I told him that I'll go up with him and his son next time and I'll show him how to do a shore lunch. Shore lunches are some of my best memories as a kid. 

[timerover51]

WildDog, I did not know that they ate goat in Australia that much to support a herd of that size.  I think of cattle and sheep for Australia, I guess, at least for domestic stock.  How does goat compare to lamb or mutton?

[WildDog]

G'day timerover51, goat meat is the widest redmeat consumed world wide, approx 75%. Australia's  growing ethnic population has helped to drive the demand in our country. My young females are usually exported to Malasia however this year I retained them for replacements, the wether portion is sold to a local buyer that buys goats country wide, the majority of this meat is exported with a lot going to the US, its a killer at the moment with our dollar running at 105cents to you guys.

There is a lot of much larger opperations than mine, in the western districts (outback) vast numbers of feral goats are mustered/trapped and either slaughtered or shipped live OS. Its not unusual for individual properties to trap 1000's of ferals. Its easier for them in the drier areas where traps are set up around watering points. These ferals are from Cashmere stock. If we didn't have full time off farm jobs we'd run a tighter ship and chase better markets and $$.

Back to food we like it way better than lamb. I am looking forward to getting our smokehouse setup this winter and smoking some goat shoulders.

[thecfarm]

LOGDOG,we had 6-7 goats and never had a problem with them escaping,but we treated them as pets,similar to dogs.We only had 2 at a time. We could let the first 2 out and they would follow us just about every wheres. Just had to move them by the garden at a fast pace. A quick,sharp OUT,OUT,OUT would get them to stop whatever they was doing and they would move on. I left the door open a few times. Found the dog and 2 goats laying on the lawn when we got home.  ;D

[LOGDOG]

That's funny thecfarm ... they were just hangin' out huh?

WildDog, what does goat meat sell for a pound through the various cuts?

[thecfarm]

Once my FIL came into the house through the garage door and said we had to push the goats aside to get into the house.  I did not really understand until I heard something by the garage door. The goats had got out,due to me not making sure the door was latched, and just walked into the garage and was waiting for us to come out. I fixed the door after that and had no problems than. Just be warned you want to get them from a person that handles the goat just about as soon as they are born to get use to humans.We found that out the hard way with 2 that was not. They were no where near as friendly,no matter how hard we tried.

[northwoods1]

I may slip up near Arky's place and catch some trout in the White River. For those of you who don't know, Arky lives right in the middle of some of the finest trout fishing in the world. Google "Gaston's Resort" to see photos.

I'll 2nd that, I stayed there 1 time and fished the White river it was a real nice place.

[northwoods1]

Also this year we're thinking about adding sheep and goats to the place here. They interest me. I've never eatne goat but it looks amazing from what I've seen. Lamb is delicious and my wife and I are both fans. Anyone here have experience with raising either for the meat and which breeds make the table fare?

I have eaten goat many times while in the Southwest, when it is from young goats they call it Cabrito and consider it quite an excellent meal. My family raised a lot of goats when I was younger and people frequently came to buy them for butchering, a lot of ethnic people like Asians, Mexican and Greek. Right now around here the Boer breed is real popular and many people have Nubians which is another good breed for meat or milking. Sheep is another thing we raised and just about any breed is good table fare but the larger breeds like Suffolk I would think would make more sense to raise for meat purposes. I never particularly cared for mutton but the meat from a lamb can be quite excellent in fact properly cooked lamb chops are really hard to beat. Lots of ethnic dishes that you can experiment with one thing I used to make pretty regularly is lamb/rice/herbs mixed together and rolled up in grape leaves, then boiled in a big pot with some water. I would put a plate on top to weigh them down and keep them packed tightly while cooking, in my pantry I have a special rock that goes on top the plate just for this purpose When they are cooked you drain the remaining water and flip the entire works upside down on a platter and then eat with your fingers and sour cream, very good stuff!

[northwoods1]

LogDog we run a comercial herd of Boer goats fluctuating between 400 - 600hd. I have upgraded these from from feral does I mustered in from the bush and put to Boer Bucks. They are a soild meat goat.
   

Wow, you really have quite the herd there :D I always thought goats where quite entertaining to have around they can be pretty hilarious in the way they behave, but 400-600?? Yes that could be a challenge

[Weekend_Sawyer]

 A man is not a good cook unless he knows how to Gibletize it.

you will have to blame Tom.

[Kansas]

Gibletizing is real man cooking. Not some sissy stuff like souffles.

Saw a recipe once that involved a ham and a blowtorch. That was real man cooking too.

[SwampDonkey]

:D

[Weekend_Sawyer]

:D :D :D :D
Dan says, "Shhhh, I'm hidin"

[SwampDonkey]

Tom enjoying a good steak BBQ.

[Tom]

I happened to have been present that day when Dan found that Magnolia Apple.  This particular one was growing on a Magnolia tree.

[Texas Ranger]

DanG, I am glad, looked like a turrible growth on the boys haid.