brown sugar – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

8-28: Flemish Beef Casserole

Jamie Martin Group 08: Beef, Section 2: Main Courses November 16, 2022November 16, 2022bay leaves, beef, beef bouillon, beef broth, beer, Belgian, black pepper, boiled, bouquet garni, brown sugar, canola oil, casserole, chuck roast, cornstarch, dairy-free, deglazed, dinner, Dutch, Dutch oven, egg-free, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, Flemish, French, garlic, herbs and spices, Italian parsley, lunch, minced, rosemary, round steak, salt, sautéed, simmered, slurry, strained, thyme, untested, vegetable oil, vinegar, yellow onions

Another day, another Simply Delicious casserole. Today’s version is 8-28: Flemish Beef Casserole, which doesn’t tell you much other than it’s going to involve beef and will be somewhat Flemish in nature. I didn’t grow up with a lot of casseroles (especially not Flemish beef ones), but they were (and still are, for the most part) popular because they are cheap, easy, and feed a lot of people.

Interesting that they claim it’s a family recipe, but it includes beer. Doesn’t bother me personally, but I know that doesn’t fly for some folks (mostly due to religious or other exceptions). I suppose most of the alcohol would cook off and not really have any effect, but even the mere inclusion of it can be a no-go for some.

8-45: Korean Sautéed Beef

Jamie Martin Group 08: Beef, Section 2: Main Courses April 22, 2022April 22, 2022Asian, beef, black pepper, brown sugar, canola oil, dinner, easy, garlic, green bell peppers, inexpensive, julienned, Korean, lamb, lunch, marinated, minced, peeled, pork, red bell peppers, sautéed, sesame seeds, sirloin, sliced, soy sauce, stir-fry, untested, veal, vegetable oil, white onions, wok

Hi there, back again with another “Asian” dish for you today. It’s interesting that Simply Delicious didn’t choose to name 8-45: Korean Sauteed Beef “Korean Beef Stir-Fry” instead (maybe because 8-25: Stir-Fried Beef is already in the book) —stir-fries seemed like they were all the rage in the late 20th century as a “healthy” dinner option. I suppose they still are popular today, but they don’t seem as “unusual” to make for dinner at home as they did back then.

I remember when my mom would bust out her wok every so often for a stir-fry back in the 1990s–it always seemed so much more interesting than when we would just cook in a regular pan on the stove. The blurb above suggests to serve it with noodles, but you can also do rice (or veggies, if you’re one of those actually healthy people–I clearly am not).

8-42: Beef Tenderloin Deluxe

Jamie Martin Group 08: Beef, Section 2: Main Courses December 25, 2021December 23, 2021beef, beef bouillon, beef broth, beef tenderloin, black pepper, brown sugar, butter, canola oil, carrots, celery, celery root, Christmas, Christmas Eve, dinner, egg wash, eggs, fairly expensive, fairly hard, julienned, mushrooms, parsnips, party food, peeled, peppercorns, puff pastry, salt, sautéed, sliced, stuffed, untested, vegetable oil, vegetables, yellow onions

Merry Christmas! In honor of the holiday, I’ve chosen to share a “fancy” one with you today: 8-42: Beef Tenderloin Deluxe. I’ve had requests for this recipe in the past (prior to posting it) from folks preparing for holiday meals, so now it’s time to share it with all of you. Consider these essentially individual Beef Wellingtons–perfect for a special occasion.

This is one of those recipes that you plan for in advance and cook to impress your family and friends–it’s not just for another Wednesday night dinner.

14-24: Wine-Baked Apples

Jamie Martin Group 14: Hot Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods December 27, 2020December 26, 2020almonds, apple cider, apples, autumn, bread crumbs, brown sugar, butter, chopped, cored, dessert, easy, egg-free, fall, filling, gluten-free, golden raisins, grated, hot desserts, inexpensive, lemon juice, lemon peel, melted, orange juice, orange peel, peeled, raisins, twice-baked, untested, vegetarian, white wine, winter, zested

Yet another apple dessert recipe for you today. I made 14-24: Wine-Baked Apples at the same time as 14-2: Apple Strudel, since if I’m going through the work of breaking down apples, I’m getting at least two entries out of it.

The blurb above mentions this being a “new” way to bake apples–it doesn’t seem that far off from the “old” ways, to be quite honest.

14-17: Pears with Mint Chocolate

Jamie Martin Group 14: Hot Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods December 1, 2020December 1, 2020broiled, brown sugar, chocolate, dessert, dollop, easy, fairly inexpensive, fruit, garnish, ginger, Grand Marnier, granulated sugar, grapes, hot desserts, liqueur, mint, pears, poached, untested, walnuts, whipping cream

In case you hadn’t had your fill of weird pear desserts with 15-41: Pear Halves with Chocolate Topping and 14-21: Pear Pandowdy, I have a third one for you: 14-17: Pears with Mint Chocolate. To add to the weirdness, even Food Network considers this a recipe.

It does look nice, but I don’t know about the taste claims. Is it the pear that they think makes this taste so good, or the mint chocolate/whipped cream/liqueur?

15-41: Pear Halves with Chocolate Topping

Jamie Martin Group 15: Cold Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods November 14, 2020November 14, 2020boiled, bread crumbs, brown sugar, chilled, chocolate, cold desserts, dark chocolate, dessert, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, fruit, ginger, grated, layers, pears, poached, rye bread, semisweet, simmered, toppings, untested, vanilla extract, vegetarian, whipped, whipping cream

I often wonder when I “evaluate” these recipes if I’m biased in my ratings/attitude towards them because of my own personal feelings about their contents. If I don’t personally like pears, does that unfairly impact my review of 15-41: Pear Halves with Chocolate Topping? Probably. Just a thought.

I’m not a huge pear fan, so if you haven’t figured it out by now, pear halves with weird chocolate bread topping wasn’t my jam. But if months of quarantine have you curious about weird desserts from the 80s, read on.

14-21: Pear Pandowdy

Jamie Martin Group 14: Hot Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods October 13, 2020October 12, 2020all-purpose flour, American, apples, autumn, baked goods, baking powder, blackberries, blueberries, brown sugar, butter, cherries, cinnamon, dessert, easy, fairly inexpensive, filling, frozen, fruit, granulated sugar, hot desserts, lemon juice, nutmeg, peaches, pears, pie crust, plums, raspberries, salt, strawberries, toppings, vegetarian

Here’s a very basic dessert recipe: 14-21: Pear Pandowdy. Pandowdies are typically made with apples, but Simply Delicious offers a pear variation which is also popular. Both are in season right now, so either one would work for this recipe if you’re looking for something to do with all of that fall produce.

Here’s more info on pandowdies, courtesy of New England.com:

An old-fashioned favorite, the pandowdy is, by definition, a cooked fruit dessert sweetened with maple syrup or molasses and topped with a pie pastry. The name refers to the act of “dowdying” the crust — that is, breaking it up with a knife and pressing it into the bubbling juices — midway through baking. While it’s not the prettiest of pastries, what it lacks in streamlined good looks it more than makes up for in rich flavor.
Yankee Magazine, August 2020

Let’s see how close Simply Delicious gets to their definition. They sell this thing much better than I do.

7-37: Easy Sweet-and-Sour Pork

Jamie Martin Group 07: Pork, Section 2: Main Courses April 13, 2020April 13, 2020Asian, black pepper, boneless, brown sugar, carrots, Chinese, cornstarch, dairy-free, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, frozen, garlic, ginger, gluten-free, green bell peppers, green onions, leeks, marinated, minced, pan-fried, peeled, pineapple, pork, pork loin, pork shoulder, red wine vinegar, salt, sautéed, scallions, sherry, sliced, slurry, snow peas, soy sauce, stir-fry, sweet peas, sweet-and-sour, sweet-and-sour sauce, tamari, tender-crisp, untested, vegetable oil, vegetables

Sweet-and-sour is not new for Simply Delicious–there’s already 6-27: Sweet-and-Sour Chicken and 11-6: Sweet and Sour Shrimp if you’re in the mood for a different protein besides pork. However, 7-37: Easy Sweet-and-Sour Pork is the only one to advertise itself as “easy”.

Pork is probably the most common version of sweet-and-sour that you see in Chinese restaurants–there’s even a vegan version of it you can buy in most stores. In case you’re looking for something more refined (but maybe not as easy or meatless), here’s Serious Eats’ take on it.

15-20: Apple Compôte

Jamie Martin Group 15: Cold Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods April 1, 2020April 1, 2020almonds, apple cider, applejack, apples, basted, brandy, brown sugar, Calvados, cold desserts, compôte, dessert, easy, egg yolks, eggs, granulated sugar, inexpensive, meringue, mint, nuts, sliced, stiff peaks, toasted, untested, vegan, vegetarian, wax paper

Let’s get the first question out of the way right now. Compôte means “mixture” in French, so 15-20: Apple Compôte is essentially fancy applesauce. Don’t even worry about exerting the effort to mash the apples–these are just syrupy slices.

Some of you might have thought of pie filling when you saw “compôte”–I know I did. There’s actually differences between jam, jelly, preserves, conserves, and compote–I still don’t know if this iteration matches up with their definition, but here’s a recipe from my same trusted source (Serious Eats/Stella Parks) for essentially the same thing we’re making here.

1-15: Chinese Spring Rolls

Jamie Martin Group 01: Hot & Cold Appetizers, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters November 5, 2019January 27, 2020all-purpose flour, appetizers, Asian, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, brown sugar, butter, canola oil, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, Chinese, Chinese cabbage, cornstarch, deep fryer, deep-fried, egg wash, eggrolls, eggs, fairly hard, fairly inexpensive, filling, griddle, ground meat, ground pork, hors d'oeuvres, mushrooms, pancakes, party food, salt, sautéed, sherry, soy sauce, spring rolls, sweet-and-sour, untested, vegetable bouillon, vegetable broth, vegetable oil

Simply Delicious has made numerous attempts at Chinese-American cuisine, and we can add 1-15: Chinese Spring Rolls to that list as well. There’s some interesting history behind the terms spring roll and egg roll–it goes much deeper than just what the wrapper is made of.

The terms are used interchangeably here, and seemingly in most other places as well. The biggest takeaway from the spring vs. egg roll debate is that spring rolls are originally from China, but have been Americanized along the way (while egg rolls were always American).

They tend to have a thinner wrapper than egg rolls, and are often also associated with the transparent rice paper rolls you tend to see in Vietnamese and Thai restaurants.

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