Appetizers and Hors D'oeuvres Index: 2019 Edition

The Index is a vital part of this project.  Since I started this project with the 2006 edition, some of the blogs linked are from that edition and I'm not guaranteeing that there have been no changes at all.  You can ask, though, and I probably know the answer.  Starred items are new in the 2019 edition (or at least they weren't in the 2006 version) and ^ are recipes that have a visible change--some have a more descriptive name, some are combined, fairly minor changes.

Look for the "Index 2019" keyword to get to the newer version, "Round 1" to get the original version of the index.

If you found this page on Google because you were searching for a specific recipe that isn't linked, make sure to search for it. I'm usually several months behind updating the indexes.

**Disclaimer!  The recipes cooked in Round 1 might be mildly different--I don't know.  You can let me know in the comments if you catch one that is significantly different.  How will you know the difference?  If it's labeled "Round 1" or the post was written about ten years ago**

My thoughts on the update at the bottom.

Appetizers and Hors D'Oeuvres:
Number of recipes: 112
Number of recipes in the 2019 edition previously made: 32 or 28.6%

Roasted nuts
Curried nuts
Rosemary and brown sugar nuts
Crisp spicy pecans
*Thai-spiced peanuts
*Boiled peanuts
Roasted chestnuts
Toasted pumpkin or squash seeds
*Roasted chickpeas
*Edamame
Toasted sunflower seeds
Popcorn
Savory additions to popcorn
*Kale chips
*Party mix
Spanish style marinated olives
Potato or root vegetable chips
Tortilla chips (fried)
*Tortilla chips (baked)
^Bagel or pita chips
*Crostini
Soda crackers
*Olive oil or flatbread crackers
*Brown butter-hazelnut crackers
*Rye crackers
Becker sour cream dip
Red onion dip
Guacamole
^Spinach dip(formerly in a bread bowl)
^Beer cheese dip in a bread bowl (formerly in a bread bowl)
^Queso fundido (hot chorizo and cheese dip) (formerly: Hot chorizo and cheese dip)
Hot crab dip
Baked artichoke dip
Seven-layer dip
Texas caviar
Hummus
White bean dip with rosemary and garlic
*Tangy black bean dip
*Any bean dip
Baba ghanoush (roasted eggplant dip) (description was added)
*Muhammara (roasted red pepper and walnut dip)
^Caponata (eggplant relish) formerly Eggplant caviar
^Tapenade (olive caper spread) (description was added)
*Anchoiade (anchovy dip)
*Brandade de Morue (creamy salt cod dip)
*Smoked salmon or trout spread
Cream cheese ball
Cheddar cheese ball
*Treva's pimiento cheese
*Fromage fort (strong cheese)
Blue cheese spread with walnuts
Roasted garlic and parmesan spread
*Marinated cheese
Fried mozzarella sticks
*Fried halloumi with honey and walnuts
Brie baked in pastry
*Cheese fondue
Nachos
^Quesadillas (formerly "cheese quesadillas")
*Bacon-wrapped dates
*Melon and prosciutto
*Watermelon and goat cheese
Bagna cauda
^Marinated vegetables (formerly separated)
Broiled stuffed mushrooms cockaigne
^Stuffed raw vegetables (formerly "Stuffed raw vegetables 1-5)
New potatoes stuffed with sour cream and caviar
Crispy potato skins
*Patatas or papas bravas (Spanish fried potatoes)
*Jalapeno poppers
^Buffalo chicken wings (fried) (separated into fried and baked)
^Buffalo chicken wings (baked)
*Thai-style chicken wings
Lemon rosemary chicken or skewers
Five-spice ribs
*Satay skewers
^Deviled ham (switched chapters so I'll make it again)
*Chicken liver pate
Cocktail meatballs
*Keftedes (Greek meatballs)
*Pork and mushroom lettuce wraps
^Dolmas (Stuffed grape leaves) (description added)
^Pot stickers or gyoza (description added)
Steak tartare
Rumaki
^Negimaki (Beef and scallion rolls) (description added)
Grilled or broiled shrimp cockaigne
Baked honey shrimp
Cajun popcorn shrimp
*Pickled shrimp
Angels on horseback
Oysters Rockefeller
Clams casino
Canapes
Tea sandwiches
Benedictine sandwiches
^Bruschetta (formerly bruschetta with tomatoes and basil)
Cheese puff canapes
Ham biscuits
*Spinach or mushroom phyllo triangles
*Quick phyllo samosas with potatoes and peas
^Miniature turnovers or tartlets I (turnovers) (I made these but now that they are combined, I'll make them again)
^Miniature turnovers or tartlets II (tartlets)
Miniature quiches
Stuffed choux puffs
^Gougeres (Cheese puffs) (added the fancy name!)
Pigs in a blanket
Puff pastry cheese straws
Quick cheese straws or wafers
Summer rolls
Egg rolls
Fried wontons


Recipes from 2006 edition not in 2019 edition:
Roasted sunflower seeds
Sour cream dip
Clam dip
Shrimp dip
Half moon hummus
Taramasalata
Roquefort cheese balls
Liptauer cheese spread
Chutney cheese spread
Garlic cheese spread
Pesto cheesecake
Marinated goat cheese with fresh thyme
Marinated mozzarella
Honey yogurt dip
Crudites
Marinated green beans
Marinated mushrooms
Chicken fingers
Chicken liver mousse
Beef satay with peanut sauce
Salami rolls
Smoked turkey and arugula rolls
Beer-batter shrimp
Coconut shrimp
Salmon pate
Salmon Mousse
Smoked salmon rolls
Smoked trout on cucumber rounds
Marinated herring on toast
Smoked salmon canapes
Anchovy toasts
Beef or pork tenderloin canapes
Turkey biscuits with chutney butter
Mushroom triangles
Spinach and feta triangles
Party piroshki
Samosas with potatoes and peas
Samosas with ground beef
Miniature tartlet shells or turnovers
Cocktail tartlets
Miniature turnovers with sun-dried tomatoes and pesto
Miniature turnovers with caramelized onions and blue cheese


Thoughts on the update: People are a lot more adventurous with flavors than they were.  I'm glad they removed most of the fish and shellfish appetizers, they were extremely dated.  Actually, most of the removed recipes were either bland or dated.

Thanksgiving 2011 Post 1: Rumaki (p. 83) and Clam dip (p. 72)

Thanksgiving!  And, yes, I realize this just shows how amazingly behind I am but, hey, I'm catching up!  Thanksgiving has started becoming a problem but I will get to that in future post.  (Note from Future Jessica in 2019: I never finished this set of blog posts but I remember what the problem was.  I had made every normal Thanksgiving recipe in the book and I was starting to have to branch out into stranger recipes nobody was excited about.  Taking a break for a decade really helped with that).

Those of you who have read the blog for a while know that for Thanksgiving at our house, I cook an appetizer-style lunch.  This has been getting more difficult because I have made so many of the TJOC appetizer recipes already.

Rumaki (p. 83) is not one of my favorite things.  That's likely because I really don't like liver.  TJOC pointed out that I could use whole water chestnuts instead of chicken livers, so that's what I decided to do for half the rumaki.  I thought it was a decent compromise.

I needed to grate ginger so I used the world's tiniest shredder.  I put it next to the water chestnuts so that you could see how truly tiny the shredder really was.

I mixed together soy sauce, dry sherry, the grated ginger, and brown sugar:

The whole chestnuts went into half the marinade and the livers went into the other half (I didn't want the livery flavors to go into the water chestnuts), where they sat for a few hours:

I made some of the rumaki the real way and some of them without liver.  If the rumaki included liver, I used just a slice of water chestnut and a quarter of a chicken liver.  For the rumaki without liver, I used a whole water chestnut.  I wrapped them in a half slice of bacon and skewered them with a toothpick:

They went in to the over for about ten minutes:

Rumaki is (are?  I'm not sure if we are talking singular or plural here) super common appetizers, so it was fun to try my hand at making it.  Super easy.  And strangely delicious--it has bacon so it's hard to go wrong.  People who don't have my hatred of liver thought they were both equally good.  And the toothpick made them easy to handle and easy to eat.

I love, love, love my modified version of the Becker sour cream dip, so I was confident that Clam dip (p. 72) would also be delicious (since it's essentially the exact same thing, with clams). That's exactly what it was--the sour cream dip with Worcestershire sauce and canned clams:

You almost can't go wrong with that dip recipe, it's that good, so, although I don't think the clams added anything, they didn't subtract either.

The easiest way to feel popular?

Cook.  All of a sudden everyone wants to be hanging around with you!

November party post 7: Party piroshki (p. 89)

Every now and then I have to make something that is totally mysterious to me.  Party piroshki (p. 89) was one of these items.  I had no idea what a piroshki even was and what made it "party"?  Confetti and balloons?  I was hopeful.

I sauteed onion in oil and added beef and salt.  After the meat started to brown, I added beef broth, pepper, sugar, and rice.  That was covered and allowed to cook:

I rolled out puff pastry (even TJOC says not to bother making your own puff pastry--just buy it.  And it's a bazillion times easier to work with than phyllo, so don't be scared).  I dumped the filling in the middle (actually, the recipe makes two, so the filling was halved):

The dough was rolled in to a pocked:

They were brushed with an egg wash:

And popped in the oven:

The rolls were then sliced:

These were great for a party!  They were the perfect size for an easy appetizer.  That being said, the piroshki were bland.  Which isn't a surprise because spices weren't added at all other than salt and pepper, which isn't enough for me.  I think it need at least garlic--at the very minimum.  Any other ideas?  I've never had a piroshki so I'm not sure if the recipe was accurate or not.  The pictures on Wikipedia are pretty similar to what I made--anyone had one before?  I imagine they were "party" because they were big, sadly, there were no balloons or banners involved.

November party post 6: Crisp spicy pecans (p. 70), bagel chips (p. 93), and Anchovy toasts (p. 87)

I am still blogging my way through the November party!  It's truly amazing I cooked so much for it!  Start with Post 1.  I honestly think that 3 more posts should finish this out.  

I'd been meaning to make Crisp spicy pecans (p. 70) for a long time.  Honestly, they have been on my list to make at least 25 times and I've never gotten around to making them for some reason (probably because I needed to whip egg whites and I balk at doing that most of the time).  So I whipped an egg white with salt until foamy.  I added sugar and beat until the soft peaks formed:

I mixed melted butter, paprika, Worcestershire sauce, and ground red pepper together:

I folded the butter mixture into the egg mixture along with the nuts:

And they were baked for about a half hour.  They went from this:

To this:

It's hard to explain these strange little nuts.  They were really good and amazingly addictive.  Totally savory.  The paprika and hot pepper gave them a surprisingly little kick and the egg helped the spice mixture stick to the nuts.  I noticed myself going back for more and more of these.

Another recipe I had meant to make FOREVER were bagel chips (p. 93).  I don't have a full complement of pictures for this one, which shouldn't surprise you, because I made SO MANY things for this party.  Frankly, it's amazing I kept up on the pictures as well as I did!

I sliced a bagel (realizing that I probably shouldn't have used pre-sliced bagels much too late).  I brushed them with olive oil and sprinkled salt and garlic powder over them:

I only have a before picture, no after, but imagine all the bagel chips you've ever seen and that's what they were like.  They were good!  They were pretty much like every other bagel chip, which I consider a good thing.  This is a perfect recipe to make if you have too many bagels and you know you aren't going to get through them all before they start to stale.  This is also a good recipe for a group because almost everybody likes them.  Plus they were cheap and easy and you could customize them easily by switching toppings.

I was concerned about making Anchovy toasts (p. 87) for a party.  Almost everyone out there lists anchovies at the top of the list of foods they hate and I didn't think the group coming to my party was any different.  Regardless, I had warned the group that I would be making strange foods so they were prepared.

I soaked the anchovies in cold water for ten minutes:

I toasted some baguette slices (you don't have a picture of that because it wasn't very interesting).  I minced the anchovies and combined the fish with olive oil, red wine vinegar, parsley, garlic cloves, and pepper.  The toast was spread with the fish mixture and broiled until warm.

I was actually really, really proud of myself with the night of cooking.  I managed to get every single thing done within ten minutes of the last guest showing up, so I wasn't in the kitchen cooking almost at all.  I pulled these out and served them right away.  They were actually a really big hit!  The anchovies were salty and the garlic and vinegar cut through the fishy flavor.  I honestly think almost everybody ate one and was pleasantly surprised!

November party post 5: Miniature quiches (p. 90), Cream cheese dough (p. 666), Miniature tartlet shells or turnovers (p. 90), and Miniature turnovers with caramelized onions and blue cheese (p. 91)

I recommend starting with my November party post 1.  Essentially, I had a big party, cooked a ton of stuff, and need to get the posting on the party finished (especially considering it's nine months later!).

What's better for a party than Miniature quiches (p. 90) made with Miniature tartlet shells or turnovers (p. 90)?  The dough was really easy to make.  I prepared the Cream cheese dough (p. 666). First, I whisked together flour and salt and then added butter and cream cheese.  

It went from this:

To this:

I wrapped the dough in plastic wrap and left it overnight.  This is one of those recipes that you need to think about the night before since the dough takes a night to cure:

The next day I formed some of the dough into little balls (they look like cookies!):

I didn't have a mini muffin pan (I do now but I didn't back then) so these quiches had to be muffin sized (which is still pretty small).  I spread the dough into the cup, which was much more difficult than it seems like it would be:

I baked the shells (as you can see, they got a little overcooked):

I filled the shells with a mixture of eggs, heavy cream, Parmesan, shallot, salt, pepper, and ham.  My thinking was that ham is one of those things that almost everyone likes so it would be a good choice.  I think ham and broccoli would have been even better!

The quiches were popped in the oven:

These were absolutely delicious!  They were also surprisingly filling.  I think these would be a great item to make and eat for breakfast on the go.  Even so, with a lighter hand, these could be interesting and elegant and perfect for any appetizer meal.

I used that same dough to make Miniature turnovers with caramelized onions and blue cheese (p. 91). I love blue cheese but I hate caramelized onions so I thought this would good to make when I had other people to feed.  I sauteed onion, olive oil, and salt in a skillet, and added it to blue cheese, walnuts, and rosemary:

I rolled out the dough and cut it in to circles.  I filled each circle with some of the filling and folded them in half.

After they went through the oven, they looked like this:

These were a HUGE hit.  There is something very fancy about the combination of rosemary, caramelized onions, and blue cheese and the sweetness of the onions cut through the strength of the blue cheese.  These turnovers were actually really easy to make--I really recommend making them.

The dough was tasty, too!  The cream cheese gave the dough a little acidic kick that I really liked and the dough came together much easier than the dough made with only butter.  Has anyone else made both these doughs?  What did you think?

November Party Part 3: Curried apricot chutney (p. 950) and Chutney cheese spread (p. 76)

Make sure to read the first two posts on the November party!  Sadly, I think I have about four more posts to go on this party--I REALLY cooked a lot of food.

 I made Curried apricot chutney (p. 950) but since I wanted to use it immediately I made a few changes and didn't bother with the canning aspect.  

I simmered water, dried apricots, onion, and sugar for a half hour:

In another pan I cooked cider vinegar, ginger, curry powder (I used up all of my homemade curry powder--I need to make more), and a cinnamon stick.  I didn't bother with the canning salts because I wasn't going to can the chutney--I just added some regular salt:

I removed the cinnamon stick and added the vinegar mixture to the apricot mixture, stirring in golden raisins: 

It was delicious!  And easy.  It didn't have the 5000 ingredients of the tropical chutney.  I wish I had more exciting stuff to say about this dish but I my brain isn't totally powered on.  I would make it again, which I can't say about all recipes.

Chutney cheese spread (p. 76) sounded good.  Instead of mango chutney (which I would be severely allergic to) I used the apricot chutney I had just made.  I mixed chutney with cream cheese:

I sprinkled walnuts on the top and called it a day.  It was delicious.  I love cream cheese spreads and the chutney had a nice sweetness to it.  I really like chutney but I think it's under-appreciated by Americans.  Tell me, do you eat chutney?  Can I work chutney into this paragraph a few more times?  

November party post 2: Waldorf salad (p. 169), Carrot and raisin salad (p. 166), Texas caviar (p. 73), and Rosemary pecan butter (p. 179)

This is the second post in a series so make sure to read Post 1 (especially if you like whipped fish [and who doesn't]!).

I hate Waldorf salad (p. 169). I always have. In fact, I hate it so much that it amazes me that anyone likes it. But people must like it because it's everywhere.

Like all Waldorf salads, I mixed celery, apples, walnuts, and grapes with mayonnaise. *Gag*

Why would anyone voluntarily eat fruit covered in mayonnaise? Look, I like mayonnaise, but that's just going too far. TJOC recommended that you can include marshmallows too--that's horrifying. It tasted just like it looks--crunchy things covered in mayo. If you like Waldorf salad, I would love for you to explain why in the comments. Please.

Texas caviar (p. 73) is one of those items that I had seen on menus before but never ordered. To be honest, I had no idea what was actually in it. It turns out that I don't like real caviar and I don't really like Texas caviar either.

I combined black eyed peas, pimientos, jalapenos, tomatoes, garlic, bell pepper, scallions, parsley, oregano, cilantro, Tabasco sauce, Worcestershire sauce, black pepper, and some vinaigrette:

This recipe makes a TON of food so make sure you have a crowd. I don't really like bean salads but it was a pretty solid salad if you're into that. The vinaigrette really soaked into everything and it was nicely flavored. This is one of those dishes that gets better the longer it sits so if you are going to make it for a party, make it a day or two early.

Carrot and raisin salad (p. 166) is a strange recipe. I combined grated carrots, raisins, pecans, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, and pepper, and tossed that with sour cream and mayonnaise:

It was certainly a simple recipe but, again, I don't understand all the mayonnaise love in the salad chapter of TJOC. I don't really like raisins in savory dishes but that's a personal thing. It was a sweet salad and it would be a good choice if you were going to a potluck and wanted to bring something a little different.

Rosemary pecan butter (p. 179) sounded interesting. I kind of like the idea of savory nut butters (yeah, yeah ::insert innuendo here::) as a spread that's a little different than the norm and I really like rosemary.

I combined toasted pecan pieces, cold butter, rosemary, and brown sugar in my food processor:

Certainly easy. It was good. The rosemary went really well with the pecans. It was particularly tasty on my bagel the next day. I always have trouble with spreads because I can never tell exactly what you are supposed to spread them on--crackers? Bread? Veggies? I think I overthink these things.

There are many more posts coming up about this party so keep checking!

November Party Post 1: Salmon pate (p. 85), Salmon mousse (p. 85), and Smoked salmon rolls (p. 85)

My cousin Erica and her boyfriend Patrick came to visit me in Colorado one last time before I moved to Washington, DC. Erica is one of my most food adventurous friends (or maybe just my most adventurous friends in general) and is always down for trying strange TJOC foods, which is a great feature in a friends. It occurred to me that I could throw a party and make a lot of the weird TJOC foods and big progress on the list. I also invited Julieanna and her boyfriend, as well as Heidi and Ryan. And I cooked a lot. A LOT. In fact, somewhere around the middle of this marathon cooking, I realized that I was cooking a truly stupid amount for someone with a friend in town who she could barely talk to because she was cooking like a maniac. My picture taking suffered, too, because I was cooking so many things at the same time.

That being said, the night was incredibly successful. I managed to have everything finished and on the table within ten minutes of guests arriving, which was perfect, because some of the dishes needed to be served hot. The food was plentiful and tasty and everyone had fun.

I really would like to knock out an entire TJOC chapter. So I set my sights on "Appetizers and Hors D'Oeuvres" as the most likely first chapter to be finished. And I started knocking out appetizers.

I started with Salmon pate (p. 85). In a small saucepan I combined salmon fillet, white wine, olive oil, Cognac, and a little salt and pepper:

This was brought to a boil and cooked until the salmon was opaque. I drained the salmon and threw the liquid away. In another pan I melted butter and added a little sliced smoked salmon, cooking until opaque. This went into the food processor with some butter. Using a fork I combined the two and refrigerated the concoction overnight:

Cat food. It totally looked like cat food. Not very appetizing, right? It tasted okay but I would never bother making it again. It's also possible I'm just not a pate type of girl because I've never found a pate that I've particularly enjoyed. But I would rather just eat the smoked salmon by itself and that's certainly a lot less work.

I also made Salmon mousse (p. 85). This recipe has been bothering me for a while because it looked incredibly disgusting. The combination of whipped cream and seafood just turns me off.

I combined lemon juice and unflavored gelatin in a small pan. I let it sit for about five minutes to soften the gelatin and dissolved it over low heat. After it cooled to lukewarm I stirred mayonnaise and sour cream into the gelatin mixture.

I combined canned red salmon (CANNED red salmon. Again, cat food. Honestly, canned seafood is nauseating), dill, shallot, capers, sweet paprika, and white pepper in the tiny food processor and pulsed it until just combined.

I added the gelatin mixture and pulsed a couple more times. In another bowl I whipped cream. I folded the cream into the salmon mixture:

TJOC recommends using a mold shaped like a fish, which, bizarrely, I own but couldn't find the one time I needed it. So I just used a stainless steel bowl. The finished mousse looked like this (the white streaks are from the butter I used to oil the bowl):

I bet you are getting hungry, right? You wish you could dive right into that deliciousness, right? No? At least it unmolded cleanly.

Actually, it wasn't bad. I still think it would be a thousand times better with fresh salmon rather than canned and I wish my mold was shaped like a fish. Even so, it had a nice subtle flavor and tasted delicious on bread or crackers. TJOC mentions that the mousse can be pipped into cucumber cups and that is so incredibly retro. I think that would be another excellent choice for your upcoming Mad Men party.

I had a little bit of smoked salmon left over so I thought I would make Smoked salmon rolls (p. 85) too. I combined cream cheese, dill, minced scallion, and lemon juice. That was spread thinly over sliced smoked salmon and it was rolled up:

Not pretty because of the terrible salmon-slicing job but really delicious. I'm a big fan of dill and cream cheese combinations so it had good odds of being a winner in my book. I would definitely make these again and actually put the effort in to make them attractive.

Hummus (Chickpea and tahini dip) (p. 74)

Ah, Hummus (Chickpea and tahini dip) (p. 74). There are about a thousand variations of hummus and I wasn't very impressed by TJOC's previous hummus recipe (Half moon hummus), which was far too lemony for my liking.

I took my (canned) chickpeas, combined them in the food processor with lemon juice (way less lemon juice than the HMH recipe, thankfully), tahini, garlic, and salt:



Drizzled a little olive oil on top, sprinkled a little paprika, and done!

This was a tasty, simple hummus. Was it my favorite hummus recipe ever? No. But it was super easy. I think it would be a good base recipe for creative cooks--I see myself adding a ton more garlic or black olives or something. It's nice to have hummus on hand since it's a nice, filling snack. And it always seems like a waste to buy since it's so easy to make.

Any favorite hummus recipes out there? Favorite add-ins?

Random facts:

• Hummus comes from the Arabic word for chickpea (Wikipedia). Simple right?
• Chickpeas have much more oil than most other legumes (On Food and Cooking, p. 491)
• Chickpeas and garbanzo beans are the same thing. The word "chickpea" comes from the Latin name and "garbanzo" comes from the Greek name (On Food and Cooking, p. 491)

RCD4: Shellfish cocktails (p. 370), Quick cheese straws or wafers (p. 91) , Remoulade sauce (p. 581), and No-fail boiled shrimp (p. 385)

Rachel Cooking Day Post 4

Rachel pointed out that certain recipes in TJOC are synergistic. In some cases if you make a specific three recipes, TJOC will count them as a fourth recipe. Shellfish cocktails (p. 370) perfectly exemplifies this.

You select a recipe from the shellfish column (No-fail boiled shrimp, raw oysters or clams, cooked crab legs, or cooked lobsters), something out of the sauce section (remoulade sauce, cocktail sauce, mignonette sauce, or tomatillo-horseradish sauce), and a side item to serve (oyster crackers, cheese straws, soda crackers, matzo, rye crackers, garlic bread, or endive leaves) and you have shellfish cocktail (1+1+1=4)!

Quick cheese straws or wafers (p. 91) stood out as looking particularly delicious and they had the advantage of having "quick" in the title which looked even better (SCORE! Especially for when we were cooking a dozen recipes). We combined butter and cheddar in a food processor (we used cheddar instead of blue cheese because blue cheese seemed like it might be a little strong).



Rachel added flour, salt, red pepper, and Worcestershire sauce and processed until the mixture "came together":



The dough was wrapped in plastic and chilled for a half hour. Rachel divided the dough into quarters and rolled it out:



The dough was cut into strips and twisted:



The straws were baked for about fifteen minutes:



These were so good that I almost don't have words for it. They were spicy and cheesy and totally addictive. The cheese straws were both crisp and soft--they reminded me of Cheez-its but better. They were definitely spicy though--the red pepper and the sharp cheddar definitely gave them a kick. If you make these cheese straws for a party, I guarantee they will be the first thing gone. My only quibble is that they really weren't particularly "quick". In fact, they weren't quick at all.

Rachel pointed out that instead of using store-bought mayonnaise for the remoulade sauce, we could make our own and knock out another recipe. She told me that she had made mayonnaise before but it didn't work perfectly. I had made aioli but I wasn't real impressed with it (I don't think it emulsified correctly). We weren't particularly confident that the TJOC recipe would work but we had backup mayonnaise.

I separated two eggs and left the yolks in a bowl to get to room temperature. I mixed white wine vinegar, salt, and a bit of pepper together in a mixing bowl so we would have everything ready when we started. It's vital when making mayo that all the ingredients are room temperature.



We decided that Rachel would do the whisking (I have bad wrists) and I would very slowly add the vegetable oil. Rachel whisked the eggs and vinegar mixture together until "smooth and light".



Rachel whisked like a fiend as I slowly added the oil:



Success! We made homemade mayonnaise! It was perfect. It was a little underseasoned but it seemed perfect since we were just using it to make a sauce. In fact, we were going to use it to make Remoulade sauce (p. 581). We took the mayonnaise and added minced pickles (we could not find cornichons in Ames--it was frustrating because they are easy to get in Fort Collins), capers, parsley, tarragon, garlic, Dijon, and a little salt and pepper:



So good! It turns out I love remoulade sauce. It was similar to tarter sauce and perfect for fish. Wikipedia tells me that people in other countries use remoulade sauce on their fries and I would love to experience the pure ambrosia that must be. The sauce was quick and easy to whip up.

My first question while making No-fail boiled shrimp (p. 385) was if people often normally fail at correctly making boiled shrimp. I never have. Frankly, shrimp is the easiest shellfish to cook. I particularly like the first sentence, "If desired, simply cook the shrimp in plain water", which totally negates the point of having a recipe.

I added celery, onion, lemon, parsley, peppercorns, bay leaves, salt, red pepper, and water in a big pot:



I simmered it all for ten minutes:



I then strained everything out of the broth and threw it away. I hate these steps in TJOC, it always seems so wasteful. It was quite a bit of stuff!



I popped the shrimp in broth and cooked it for two minutes:



And done!



The shrimp was really good. That being said, I don't think it was any better than shrimp that were simply boiled in water. The broth gave the shrimp a very subtle taste that was evident if you just at the shrimp by itself but who does that? I always eat shrimp with some sort of sauce. I wouldn't bother with this recipe again--just bring water to a boil and pop the shrimp in for two minutes.

The final tabeau:



A strange combination. The shrimp and remoulade sauce go together perfectly. The cheese straws were amazing. All three of them? Odd. As I ate the delicious cheese straws over the next couple days I never thought, "Man, I wish I had some shrimp".

Random food facts that relate to this post:

• Crustaceans are "mobile, carnivorous, and often cannibalistic". Makes those shrimp less sympathetic! (On Food and Cooking, p. 219)
• Fresh shrimp are usually frozen shrimp that are just defrosted in the store (On Food and Cooking, p. 221 and personal experience)
• Shrimp live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards (COOL!) (Wikipedia)
• "Crustacean" and "crystal" share the same root word (On Food and Cooking, p. 220)
• Olive oil can screw up your mayonnaise. If you are convinced you need to use it, use refined olive oil instead of extra virgin (On Food and Cooking, p. 635)
• Other countries use different vinegars in their mayonnaise, such as apple cider or rice vinegar in Japan or sunflower seed oil in Russia, which results in different flavors, (Wikipedia)
• The Creole version of remoulade sauce is usually pink because it includes paprika (Wikipedia)

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