What nationality of food do you cook the most?

[boiler717]

We try to eat low carb so we wind up with a lot of meat + veggie meals. I make a ton of different styles though (Asain marinades, chiptole rub, Mediterran veggies, etc) to keep int interesting.

[jinkies]

Italian and American. I wonder if this is at all regional? I am in the northeast, and was just talking to a recent transplant from the south, and she was marveling at all the italian restaurants in our area. She claimed she didn't really know how to make pasta, and she claimed that most restaurants near her home town are mexican.

That is a tangent, but this thread just reminded me of that conversation.

[protozoa]

We're all over the board (low carb):

Classic American meat and veggie
Tex Mex (taco salad, lettuce wrap fajitas, enchilada bake)
Italian (chicken and eggplant parm, cauliflower crust pizza, zucchini noodles with pesto)
Asian (stir-frys and Thai-style curries - we make cauliflower "rice")
Indian (so far palak paneer and butter chicken, looking to increase this repetoire)

[karinothing]

Aug 27, 2012 10:27:50 GMT -5 jinkies said:

Italian and American. I wonder if this is at all regional? I am in the northeast, and was just talking to a recent transplant from the south, and she was marveling at all the italian restaurants in our area. She claimed she didn't really know how to make pasta, and she claimed that most restaurants near her home town are mexican.

That is a tangent, but this thread just reminded me of that conversation.

I do think it is regional. I grew up in AZ and whenever we had big parties or whatever everyone served Mexican. When we went out to celebrate it was Mexican. When I moved to the NE, everyone seemed use Italian food instead.

But Mexican > Italian IMO ;D

[karinothing]

Aug 27, 2012 10:20:09 GMT -5 fbf2006 said:

Aug 27, 2012 10:11:45 GMT -5 karinothing said:

Do you have any recipes you would like to share? I am not all that familar with Nigerian food, but would be interested in adding it to the mix.

Most Nigerians don't use actual recipes for some reason. I've found this site to be pretty good though, www.motherlandnigeria.com/recipes.html.

Interesting thanks!

[h]

We cook at home 5 nights a week, and generally one night is something Mexican-ish (enchiladas, quesadillas, flautas, tacos), one night is something Italian-ish (pasta, homemade pizza or calzones, chicken parm), one night is a stir-fry or curry, one night is an entree salad (Greek or caesar with grilled chicken), and the other night is seafood or something like grilled chicken.

So I guess we cook Mexican, Italian, Indian, and Chinese in pretty equal measure, but I am sure everything we make is a fairly pathetic, Americanized attempt at ethnic cuisine.

[bliss]

American. I'd love to experiment more but the kitchen and I don't get along. LOL.

[dexteroni]

A lot of people seem to be equating "Italian" with "giant bowl of pasta." There's a vast world of delicious, healthy Italian food that doesn't need to involve pasta at all, or you can just do a tiny portion of it as a side. Check out Lidia Bastianich, Marcella Hazan, and of course Mario Batali for ideas. Even Giada has a lot of good non-pasta dishes.

This recipe is a good example. It's healthy and so easy. I don't use this particular kind of olive - I just get some from the olive bar. And I've made it with all different kinds of fish. As a side I usually steam a vegetable like broccoli or zucchini, drizzle it with olive oil, sprinkle it with bread crumbs and grated parm, and broil it for a minute to brown the top.

This is another good one. I do lighten this one a bit - I don't bread the chicken, and I broil it instead of sauteeing it in butter. But it's just as good with those changes, and a lot healthier. We usually have a salad as the side, and bread to sop up the sauce. You could also add a small amount of pasta to this if you wanted a bit of pasta but not a huge serving.

[noodleoo]

For us it is mostly Asian and Italian. I think I find those the easiest since they often only use one pot. We also do Mexican pretty frequently and American once in a while (fish or steak). It is funny because I'm Indian and I know how to make Indian food, but I just don't crave it as much as Asian or Italian. Maybe eating it every day for 18 years, I just got sick of it (even though it is delicious and every time I have it, I wonder why I don't cook it more often!).

[gardengal]

mostly asian. probably b/c it's quick, we like rice a lot and I can throw in a bunch of veggies. Plus, aside from the rice, it's often a 1 pot meal. One pot meals save my sanity.

a runner up would be french probably. crepes, quiches, provencial-esque type dishes. these are also easy to make with minimal meat.

Most of our meals are vegetarian & the ones with meat, it's very rarely a hunk of meat w/ sides.

[whitepicketfence]

We eat a lot of Italian and Mexican. Pasta, beans, and rice are cheap and create a variety of toddler friendly meals.

[karinothing]

Aug 27, 2012 11:18:24 GMT -5 @mx said:

Also I'm kind of laughing that everyone says "Asian" is easy, fast and only requires one pot. Clearly I'm cooking the wrong things. Every time I make Indian, Thai or Chinese my husband is lamenting how many dirty dishes I produce and how long it takes to make the meal (he is in charge of cleaning, but he does love to eat it!).

Ha, well I use multiple pots if I make sides. What are you cooking that requires a lot of pots? Maybe my dishes are just boring

[Deleted]

I hesitate calling any of my food a certain ethnicity. It's all an American slackerized version.

Sometimes I'll find something that I just have to make, but I always drag it out and make it into a long process. I get really hung up on techniques and authenticity and it's all over the map, and I study books and articles about it, and search for the exact authentic ingredients, and then actually making it would be an all day affair. I make everything complicated, but at least the finished product is nearly authentic and I learned something.

[adlove]

Mexican, though more tex-mex. And American with an emphasis on "Cajun" style. Less frequently, Italian.

[hbomdiggity]

American, Italian (what I grew up on), Swiss/german (dh's influence).

[countthestars]

Probably 2-3 times per week American - chicken, chicken sausage, or steak tips with a veggie side, a salad and a starch. Then we mix in stir fry, tacos, pasta dishes, chili, stews, etc. the rest of the week.

[gardengal]

Aug 27, 2012 11:18:24 GMT -5 @mx said:

Also I'm kind of laughing that everyone says "Asian" is easy, fast and only requires one pot. Clearly I'm cooking the wrong things. Every time I make Indian, Thai or Chinese my husband is lamenting how many dirty dishes I produce and how long it takes to make the meal (he is in charge of cleaning, but he does love to eat it!).

i think you're doing it wrong? i've taken cooking classes *in* various asian countries & *one* dish never required much more that 1 pot, measuring utensils, a knife, a cutting surface & something to stir/flip things with. In addition to the rice cooker, of course.

I guess it does take a while to chop things, but I've gotten really fast at that (and I have a huge cutting board, so things can chill on that until they are ready to go in vs. having 1000 prep bowls)

eta: we mostly cook curries (using paste either i've already made & is in the freezer or from the asian food store), kra prow (except & add some eggplant to make it a complete dinner), satay, stir-fries, soup & "fried" rice (this is actually a fairly WASPy recipe, though)

[sporky]

Hmmm. For us it's probably a tie between Mexican and Italian. But we also do a lot of American and Asian style dishes too.

[karinothing]

Aug 27, 2012 11:52:22 GMT -5 @mx said:

I've taken cooking classes *in* Asian countries too, Myanmar, Thailand and India thus far and I learned to cook Sichuan from a friend from Chongqing. I do usually cook more than one dish at a time, but still. If I'm making curry I have to make curry paste, and for some other dishes I have to toast and then grind rice. Don't even get me started on dumplings. My fingers are fast, but not THAT fast! The quickest curry I make requires soaking lentils for 30 minutes, making a paste of garlic, ginger, cilantro roots, onion and chiles, frying mustard seeds, then frying the paste with the mustard seeds, then adding a bunch of dried spices and then finally adding the lentils and water and some tomatoes, cooking that for 30+ minutes and then adding ghee and lime juice.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. But when I think "gosh I need to make a fast and easy dinner I'm thinking frittata more than curry.

I mean yeah, stir fry generally makes few dishes and quick delivery but there is a lot more to Asian food than stir fries!

ha, well see I don't make my own paste! So there you go. And yes dumplings would take more work.

My curries aren't quick (I would say they take abotu an hour) but they do use one pot.

Can I get the recipe for your paste? I am really interesting in making my own paste, but would like to make a large amount and store it. Is this possible?

[gardengal]

Aug 27, 2012 11:55:57 GMT -5 karinothing said:

Can I get the recipe for your paste? I am really interesting in making my own paste, but would like to make a large amount and store it. Is this possible?

I make a large batch & freeze in ice cube trays. Then pop out of trays, put in freezer bag & keep in freezer.

I'm not at home right now but I will try to remember tonight & post recipe.

[mskitkat]

We eat a lot of American, Hungarian, Chinese, and some Filipino thrown in when I get homesick for LA.

[Deleted]

I am amused by the all-encompassing "Asian" designation.

[fbf2006]

Aug 27, 2012 11:15:33 GMT -5 @mx said:

I find "American" food difficult to quantify, but I guess if it's stuff like what people post on their weekly menus (like you are referring to Kari) then we don't really eat much of eat. I am pretty into BBQ, which I do consider very American, but I probably only have the time to smoke a brisket or some ribs 1-2 times a year.

We mostly eat Middle Eastern, Mexican, Indian, Korean, Vietnamese and Thai. I've also gotten more into (and better at!) cooking Sichuan food recently.

For a few years I've been slowly working on a project to cook a meal from every cuisine in the world. It's a slow slow process, but it does mean that we rarely eat what most would consider traditional American food. Every time I find a really standout recipe in this project it kind of ends up in the rotation for weeknight meals.

Also, fbf, if you have a good moi moi recipe I would love to have it. When I'm working in Abuja I eat moi moi with gari for lunch basically every day

Nice! I wish I liked cooking! My husband does most of the cooking and we eat the same foods all the time! Here's a moi-moi recipe from this website www.motherlandnigeria.com/recipes.html#moyin_moyin
I think moi moi takes a lot of time though!!

[karinothing]

Aug 27, 2012 12:02:30 GMT -5 @misoangry said:

I am amused by the all-encompassing "Asian" designation.

Ha ha, to be clear I simply meant dishes from countries that are considered part of Asia. Obviously I know that dishes vary from country to country, region to region, city to city, etc. Sorry if it was offensive.

[Deleted]

Definitely Italian with a lot of American thrown in. Asian once in a whole and some completely non-authentic Mexican sometimes lol.

[cookies]

I guess we eat American the most, but we make something Italian-ish once or twice a week and have Mexican weekly. My husband hates it when I try to cook anything remotely stir-fryish and I have yet to master the art of making rice, so anything Asian is right out for us. We leave that to the experts.

[satama]

I would say American, followed by almost Italian and sort Mexican. Lol. We do grill a lot. I used to do a lot of stir fry, but a lot of veggies I would normally use are off limits for me when nursing or pregnant and I have been nursing or pregnant for all but two months since March of 2009, so I don't make those anymore. Ha.

[Deleted]

Aug 27, 2012 12:09:37 GMT -5 karinothing said:

Aug 27, 2012 12:02:30 GMT -5 @misoangry said:

I am amused by the all-encompassing "Asian" designation.

Ha ha, to be clear I simply meant dishes from countries that are considered part of Asia. Obviously I know that dishes vary from country to country, region to region, city to city, etc. Sorry if it was offensive.

It's not offensive.

Just funny.

[dexteroni]

Aug 27, 2012 11:52:22 GMT -5 @mx said:

there is a lot more to Asian food than stir fries!

Just like there's more to Italian than pasta. I would say most cuisines have fast dishes and more involved ones. I would make a quick fresh marinara on a weeknight, but not a more involved sauce that involves braising whole cuts of meat for hours.

[dexteroni]

Aug 27, 2012 12:13:40 GMT -5 @misoangry said:

Aug 27, 2012 12:09:37 GMT -5 karinothing said:

Ha ha, to be clear I simply meant dishes from countries that are considered part of Asia. Obviously I know that dishes vary from country to country, region to region, city to city, etc. Sorry if it was offensive.

It's not offensive.

Just funny.

Hey, I at least clarified my countries of origin.