Food and drink from scratch - what do you make?

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**Mad Doc Grotsnik**

Yay! Another thread for the Dakka League of Fatties!

For no particular reason, I enjoy pottering about in my kitchen, making stuff from scratch.

Current interests are Bacon and Bread. Nothing to too fancy, but usually comes out more cost effective. Not to mention a damned sight tastier than most mass produced stuff.

Of course I'm taking some liberty with the defintion of 'from scratch'. I don't raise my own Pigs, nor grow my own wheat etc. But it's the effort that counts.

Kick off a batch of Bacon on the Monday, and you know come Saturday you'll have some very tasty breakfast the following weekend, especially if you whacked a loaf in the oven on the Friday or Saturday.

But what sort of stuff do other Dakkanauts like to make from scratch? Not so much complete dishes, but general comestibles.

**chromedog**

I can make filo pastry from scratch (it's rather time-intensive and I only do it maybe once a year - it's just easier to buy it pre-made).

Breads of various kinds, I've made (including the kneading, proving, etc - we got given a breadmaker for xmas one year, but the "bake" setting trips the circuit breaker, so it sits in the shed, ignored and I do it by hand and bake in the oven, instead)

Other than that, I do most of the cooking at home (the wife can cook, but she says I cook better, so I get the job).

**Mad Doc Grotsnik**

I used to make sausages, but the machine got a bit manky, despite fastidious cleaning after every use.

Wouldn't mind getting another one.

**Bi'ios**

I enjoy hand making noodles, sausages, and several other Italian foods. My great grandparents came over here from Italy, and over the years my great grandmother passed along recipes for dishes that she had known from the Old World. Eventually, her handwritten recipe book made its way into my possession, and I've taken to preparing the dishes in it for my family. I went to culinary school, and learned cooking in the classical French tradition, so I was always the one who was destined to receive it.

As an aside, I had to learn to read Italian to figure it out, but that was just an added bonus.

**Freddy Kruger**

From scratch spaghetti with bolognaise sauce is my go to dish.
I cheat a little with a herb packet and uncooked spaghetti, but everything else is from scratch.

**daedalus**

Some of the more unusual things I make: "bread", beer, wine, sauerkraut, corned beef and beef jerky. My girlfriend makes kimchi on a nearly weekly basis.

When I say "bread", I mean to include biscuits, cookies, hoagies, and pretzels in addition to "regular" loaves of bread.

I've got a batch of cherry wine in a fermenter right now. It's got about another 2 1/2 months before its done.

**Mad Doc Grotsnik**

Nice!

Should probably try Sauerkraut. Doesn't seem terribly tricksy to not get wrong (which isn't the same as producing top quality of course).

Hmmmm....

**daedalus**

The sauerkraut is silly easy to do. I'm sure everyone has their own recipe, but at a minimum all you need is cabbage, salt, and water. And caraway seeds, if you're a gentleman of refinement, of course. But that's a pretty easy list of ingredients, and it tastes delicious.

I should probably throw hot dill pickles on the list. I made them once, last fall, but I made so many jars of them that I think we still have some leftover.

**Mad Doc Grotsnik**

Just strike me as solid LARP foodfare.

If I can source small glass jars cheaply enough, could hawk that round for in-character cash.

Bit of Sauerkraut, assorted other pickle type things. Just nice little snackfoods which don't need any further preparation.

**mrhappyface**

The only things I really make from scratch are what I bake, on those rare occasions when I'm not being too lazy. When I do bake, I usually make some form of sponge cake like Coffee, Chocolate, Lemon Drizzle, etc.

(I normally would be far too lazy to ever bake but my friends found out that I could make cake for them, so I am obliged to bring the cake if they'll buy me more cider and ginger beer)

**OrlandotheTechnicoloured**

I used to do a fair bit of bread baking but that stopped when my heating system changed meaning no more reliable places for the dough to rise,

but I do a bit of pickling, mainly onions but a bit of other veg too

**Dreadclaw69**

I like to bake wheaten bread, some soups, and Yellowman;

**MechaEmperor7000**

Aside from various meals, I've also made my own jam (Cranberry, Grape and chinese hawthorn). The most complex thing I ever made was a beef wellington, which took me about 6 hours from start to finish due to trying to get all of the layers just right.

I'm currently trying my hand at baking; gonna make some soft pretzels tomorrow and maybe pizza. Then after that gonna try making my own italian pasta (dad already makes chinese noodles. You know, the kind you stretch out).

**jmurph**

I like scratch making ice cream. But I totally cheat and use an ice cream maker. The good thing is that you can make any flavor you want. The downside is my wife only likes Blue Bell....

Homemade sausage and bread products, if made right, are usually far superior to any store bought products. I would love to do some brewing/distilling, but the time and space requirements put me off.

**MechaEmperor7000**

My dad tried making his own wine once.

HE calls it wine. I call it "Toxic swill just barely resembling vinegar". Granted, he had no problem drinking it. As long as he's the only one that drinks it I guess it's fine?

**daedalus**

Generally the yeast consumes the majority of the sugar from the fruit/juice. I let mine sit for a solid 3 months minimum. Sometimes a little longer. It's quite dry at that point. From there, I usually have to kill the yeast and add sugar back into the wine to sweeten it to the proper consistency. I usually have a target gravity I try to hit for the wine, and I adjust from there by my girlfriend's sweet tooth. Gotta kill the yeast first though, otherwise you'll be back where you started in a month or so.

Wine is weird. It's almost more chemistry and bookkeeping than it is anything else.

**Necros**

The one thing I can make from memory totally from scratch is tomato sauce, and it's a recent skill I picked up. Start with around 2 pounds of plum tomatoes. Wash em good, no need to peel them but you can if you want if you blanch them real quick and throw them into icewater, then the skin should come right off (I'm too lazy).

Chop up your tomatoes, throw em in a blender and puree them. Then you pretty much have the same thing you would get in a can, only it's all fresh.

Then to cook it, I bring that to a simmer and add in 4-5 cloves of chopped garlic, salt n pepper and simmer it for a good 2-3 hours. Last hour or so, I'll throw in half-cooked meatballs or italian sausage and let them finish in the pot. At the end, if I have it on hand, I'll slice up fresh basil and throw that in too. Not dried basil though, just doesn't taste right.

You can save it about a week in the fridge, or a few months in the freezer. Mine usually doesn't last that long, cuz my house loves pasta.

It's extra work, but not too bad, probably best to do around now when tomatoes are more in season. Hmm, guess I just decided what I'm gonna make for sunday dinner.

**daedalus**

Yeah, that actually sounds really tasty.

**BigWaaagh**

I make a gumbo from scratch that stands up to any restaurant. LOTS of crab, crawfish, shrimp, oysters and andouille. Homemade seafood stock is the key. We've got a excellent fishmonger about a mile from our house and he's gotten used to my "heads-up" notice when I'm getting ready to make gumbo, and he'll start setting aside the fish carcasses and shells from shucking, for my stock needs. It stinks up the house something awful for 12 hours...I love the smell, but it's ripe...but the end result is a winter tradition that my family, friends and neighbors look forward to sampling. Now I'm hungry.

**hotsauceman1**

Been making my own chili pwoder by hand
grew some habeneros, dehyrated them, then put them in the coffee grinder. We use it for alot, from eggs, to part of a steak rub.
Next up, ghost peppers

**lord_blackfang**

I make a lot of pizza. This includes the dough from scratch, obviously. Used to bake muffins, pies and the like, but I'm trying to cut down on starch.

**Mad Doc Grotsnik**

BigWaaagh wrote:
I make a gumbo from scratch that stands up to any restaurant. LOTS of crab, crawfish, shrimp, oysters and andouille. Homemade seafood stock is the key. We've got a excellent fishmonger about a mile from our house and he's gotten used to my "heads-up" notice when I'm getting ready to make gumbo, and he'll start setting aside the fish carcasses and shells from shucking, for my stock needs. It stinks up the house something awful for 12 hours...I love the smell, but it's ripe...but the end result is a winter tradition that my family, friends and neighbors look forward to sampling. Now I'm hungry.

Nice! I love a bit of cajun/creole/I don't know the difference I'm sorry please don't burn me.

I make what's called a Jambalaya, but can't vouch for its authenticity. Still warming a tasty!

**Desubot**

French onion soup

nothing like cutting 9 pounds of onions :'D

**curran12**

Sausage and fennel risotto. <3

**Marxist artist**

Pasta