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See the new cooking blog here!
There's really no hugely important reason to post these recipes here. However, if for some reason the little box of 3x5 recipe cards gets lost or is destroyed in some catastrophic event, it would be nice to have a few "secret family recipes" left. None of these recipes are really big secrets. In fact, no one in my family would care if the whole world knew these recipes. I just refer to them as "secret" to add more excitement to the page. That's why they are "Not So Secret".
I find that a lot of men are afraid to cook either because they are just bad at it, or they are afraid that they will be called a "girly man." Personally, I've never thought of cooking as a "woman only" activity. Both men and women need food to survive, so both men and women should know how to cook properly. Hopefully some of you crazy people who think that I'm effeminate because I like to cook will understand now.
Please keep in mind that this listing is incomplete. It is by no means sufficiently representative of the 3x5 card recipe box. More recipes will be added as time goes on, as they become more important, or as new ones are discovered. Also, please note that metric equivalent measurements are given in parenthesis following the ingredient. So don't freak out if you find yourself saying, "what is this 2 Cups of Milk (475 mL) stuff?" The (475 mL) refers to the volume of 2 cups. If you don't use metric measurments, then please ignore the numbers in parenthesis. Also, the "~" (tilde) character refers to "approximately" or "circa". Thus, "~1 cup" would mean "approximately 1 cup".
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Swedish Pancakes
Swedish people love their Swedish pancakes. Being that I am an ethnic Swede (though not full blooded), I also love Swedish pancakes. Personally, I hate normal pancakes more than almost anything in the whole world, but I really like Swedish pancakes. Despite what people will tell you, Swedish pancakes are not difficult to make. For Swedish pancakes, you will need the following ingredients:
Recipe for ~7 Pancakes
- 2 Cups of Milk (475 mL)
- 4 Tbsp. of Butter (60 g)
- 1 Cup of Flour, sifted (110 g)
- 2 Tsp. Baking Powder (10 mL)
- 1 Tsp. Salt (5 mL)
- 4 Eggs, beaten
IMPORTANT: DON'T MIX ANYTHING YET!
As the old adage says, "haste makes waste."
Put the butter and the milk into a pan and heat it until the butter has melted. Pour the milk mixture into a large bowl with the flour, the baking powder, the salt, and the eggs. Mix the batter with a whisk until it is smooth.
Place a greased 9 inch (~23 cm) frying pan onto the stove at medium to medium-high heat. For each pancake, pour slightly less than 1/2 cup (120 mL) of batter into the pan. Fry the first side of the pancake until the top no longer has the consistency of batter. Flip the pancake over and fry the other side.
Place jam, syrup, or powdered sugar on top of the pancake, and roll it up using a fork. Enjoy.
Silly Superstition:
The first pancake is always ruined. I am sure that there is a good convincing scientific explanation for it, but I have yet to see it. Being someone who is not superstitious in the least, I was very skeptical of this "the first pancake is always ruined" claim. However, now that I have cooked Swedish pancakes myself, I have realize that it is very plausible, if not actually true.
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Cheese Witches
Cheese witches are not what they sound like. They're not cheese sandwiches nor are they witches made of cheese. Cheese witches are a sort of pizza made from toast ... well not exactly, it's a little hard to explain -- but they're easy to make and very delicious.
Recipe for ~4 Cheese Witches
- 1 Cups of Grated Cheese (475 mL)
- 4 Tbsp. of Ketchup (60 mL)
- 1 Tsp. Worchestershire Sauce (5 mL)
- 1/2 Tsp. Onion Powder (2.5 mL)
- 2 Hamburger or Hotdog Buns
IMPORTANT: DON'T COMPACT CHEESE WHEN MEASURING!
If you compact the cheese, you'll have way too much. To avoid this, when measuring cheese, shake the measuring cup a little so that the cheese settles. This way you'll get a ballpark measurement without messing up the recipe.
Set the hamburger/hotdog buns aside. Mix the remaining ingredients in a bowl until even. Separate the two hamburger/hotdog buns so that you have four halves. Place about one quarter of the mixture on each bun-half. Set the oven (or toaster oven) to broil and broil until cheese is melted and edges of buns begin to turn brown.
Watch Out! They cook quickly!
Variations:
There are a few variations of this recipe. One is to use 2 Tsp. (10 mL) of minced onion (either dried or fresh) instead of 1/2 Tsp. of onion powder. Also, if you cannot find Worchestershire sauce, Japanese Tonkatsu sauce (トンカツソース) works as a substitute so long as you double it to 2 Tsp. (10 mL). A final variation is to place crumbled Fritos on top and bake. However, when using this variation it's sometimes difficult to melt the cheese without burning your buns!
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