So, the other week, Mr. Chat made a lamb roast. And though the lamb was stupidly expensive for being so out-of-season, we rubbed it with herbs and lemon juice, pushed garlic into it, and roasted it, and it was quite good. But then we were left with two meaty lamb bones just chock full of flavor.

I decided this was the perfect excuse to learn to cook with a soup bone. You're supposed to put them in a pot (since mine were pre-roasted, no additional roasting was required) and cover them with cold water, bring to a boil, simmer for a while, pull out the bones and scrape and chop off the meat, and then put everything back and cook it some more. Then you can go ahead and add the rest of the soup ingredients.

I thought I'd do that, and then use the stock to make this beef soup recipe I found (cheaper by far than getting more lamb). Except I decided to use the biggest pot that I own, because I was cooking for six, and it took so much water to cover the bones initially that when the stock was supposedly done, it didn't really taste of much except vaguely lamby, herby water. Figuring I could adjust seasoning as I went (I watch cooking shows, dang it!) I just increased my ingredient amount and made the beef soup (with beef stew meat, yukon gold potatoes, carrots, peas, garlic, and barley).

Alas, when all was supposed to be done, the broth tasted of nothing but a touch of salty, vaguely meaty water.

Crap.

Now I was in full rescue mode. In order to bring the flavor up to par and thicken the consistency, I added the following, one at a time, until I had achieved a richy, flavorful, meaty broth.

8 packets of Swanson's beef broth booster
4 chicken bullion cubes
Many shakings of onion salt
Many shakings of pepper
Heaping quarter cup of flour
A full tube of double-concentrated tomato paste
Using the broth from the pot, I turned two cups of the broth into thick gravy with a packet and stirred it back in
More onion salt and pepper
A handful of flour

The gravy packet and the flour I think were the real saviors for richness and thickness, and the tomato paste saved the flavor and added good color.

The result was the "best beef stew I'd ever tasted," from some friends who have had a lot of stew in their life. Huzzah!

The lesson learned here is, when life throws you watery soup, throw gravy back at it! :D

Ok, so I do like to try new recipes every now and then. This is one I found over at WIN! (The WIN! section of failblog.org.) It's for bacon-wrapped eggs. Allow me to repeated that. Bacon-wrapped eggs. Observe below in the link below, with food-porn music!

Bacon-Wrapped Eggs!

And the really great thing? You know how when you make something you see on TV, it never looks as good? These looked as good or better than the video. That almost never happens. w00t!

I used both goat cheese and cheddar on my eggs. The goat cheese added this great tangyness. I used rosemary, thyme, and dill, and the herby flavor really made this dish great. It like a quiche, except the crust is made of bacon. What's not to love? NOTHING! :D

So, ok, here's a confession - I watch a few reality TV shows. Project Runway, Top Chef, and I started sporadically watching Face Off. I also watch a few more cooking shows that could be considered same: Chopped and Iron Chef America. I learn a lot from my cooking shows. Different kinds of ingredients, the names of some famous chefs and restaurants, and the extistance of all sorts of different cooking techniques. (Since the shows I watch are competition-driven, I don't get to learn said techniques, but they're fun to look up later.) Overall, I find them entertaining and they give me some great ideas.

But every now and then I find myself watching these shows and just want to smack the chefs over the head with a rubber fish.

Not because of personality or behavior (though that can grate: remember folks, if it gets caught on camera, it's there forever for your future employers to review) but because of their reactions to certain challenges. Namely, what I call the "Real Person's Cupboard" challenges.

Now I know that most professional chefs working in fine dining restaurants want the freshest ingredients they can lay their hands on. Fresh fish, fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, fresh herbs, locally-raised meat and dairy, the works. I totally understand and support that decision. It makes the food taste better, and no artist wants to work with inferior materials.

I, however, am not a professional chef. I am Jane Q. Public, and I tend to buy whatever's cheapest and most convenient at my local grocery store. This is what I eat on a day-to-day basis.

I recall a challenge on Top Chef (in Season 3) where the chefs were challenged to make a gourmet entree using... CANNED FOOD! When the sheet was whipped off the table and the canned food revealed, the resulting moans, groans, and disgusted snears would have made me think they were being told to cook with fresh horse manure.

That wasn't the last time I've seen that reaction either. Whenever the contestents on Chopped are given a processed ingredient to use, someone always bitches and moans about it. Iron Chef does this less often, but whenever they do, the chefs always find in inordinately challenging.

I'm sorry, what? What do you think most people eat from day to day? Given a much larger budget, infinite time, and superior cooking skill, I could cook with just fresh ingredients too, but that's not going to happen. What happened to these skilled chefs? Did they never eat canned tuna growing up? Never had canned green beans? You're in a bloody cooking competition! Let me know how I can take my can of chili and turn it into something fabulous! I should not have to look at my cupboard in shame.

I don't expect the whole competition to be about what to do with canned ham. Truly it's more fun to watch chefs cook with fabulous fresh ingredients. But canned food is not crap. It's what most of us eat. Don't disparage my tinned peas!