ICSA 64: Homogenous Mess in a Bowl

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Goons with Spoons > ICSA 64: Homogenous Mess in a Bowl

kinmik: Jul 17, 2011; Dog, what are you doing? Get away from there.
You don't even have thumbs.

For this challenge, I wanted to do a balanced meal, balanced only in the sense that I would do two or three "courses", one from my family and one from his.

The first is less an inherited recipe than a fond childhood memory shared with my family sitting on the floor of the living room in front of the TV, rolling and eating temaki sushi. Despite growing up on an island literally surrounded by the bounty of the ocean, I hated and continue to hate most seafood, and thus would turn my nose up at the more traditional sashimi. My parents thankfully figured that I would accept flaked tinned tuna as long as there were a couple sticks of cucumber stuck in, which I loving loved.

Drain the tuna, rough chop your capers, and add enough mayo that it's spreadable but not gloppy.

Looks like tuna salad, alright.

Tempt the fickleness of your gods.

Layer it on and roll it up.

This second one is passed down from my ~~grandfather~~ great-grandmother to my grandpa to my father to his children. Stubborn as a mule and proud to boot, he had his 93rd birthday this year. He was born on Maui and was, like many others his age, forced from youth to learn to live by his own two hands. He built the house my dad and his sister were born and raised in and grew an expansive garden in the backyard that I remember running through and learned to care for the different plants from him. Mango, sweet potato, cucumber, papaya, noni, ginger, eggplant. It was like an edible jungle to a little kid.
He and my dad call these ~~hash browns, though I know that very few of you would identify it as the hash browns you're familiar with~~ corn beef hash. If I get the chance, this recipe will endure through to a fourth generation, unusual it may be.

Shred your potatoes, salt liberally, and leave to drain in a colander.

Aaaw yeah. So satisfying.

But so gross.

Dice the onion, squeeze out as much liquid from the potatoes as you can, and throw everything together.

Throw that hot mess in a pan and burn it up.

Plate it and eat it smothered in ketchup because that's how we do.

Dessert is actually one of the first things my husband's grandmother requested of me as soon as she found out I worked at a bakery. I didn't find out until after we were married (my husband and I, not me and her) that pineapple upside down cake was one of her favorite foods and something her deceased husband made all the time for her. She was born in New York sometime during WWII and has that slight Brooklyn accent that only makes her more adorable. She raved about that cake for days. :3:

No pics of the progress because it's unremarkable and my stomach was clamoring for the end result anyway.

I regret not putting any glaze on the finished product.

Let me tell you about this cake stand. Shortly after we moved into our current place, his grandmother sent us a huge package. Inside were several quality springform cake pans, a glass pie plate, and this beautiful stand. After her husband died, she shut down emotionally and put away most of the things that reminded her of him. She couldn't even cook. Several months later, while getting ready to move from New York, she came across the cookware and thought of me. The fact that she even considered me, someone she had only met in person once, to be the recipient of such sentiment-laden items is something that will stick with me forever.

I thought of her the entire time I made this.

Teach your families to cook and do it with them just about any day you can. They'll appreciate it.

kinmik fucked around with this message at 01:32 on Nov 19, 2014

# ? Nov 18, 2014 04:01

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That is a bomb-rear end cakestand. And a bomb-rear end cake. But why not fresh pineapple? No longer in the land of bros (bromeliads)?

# ? Nov 18, 2014 05:13

kinmik: Jul 17, 2011; Dog, what are you doing? Get away from there.
You don't even have thumbs.

Thanks! I'm a long way from home on the east coast with primary access to a military commissary, neither of which are renowned for a good fresh pineapple. At least their fall produce selection will be good now. :unsmith:

# ? Nov 18, 2014 14:56

Mr. Wiggles: Dec 1, 2003; We are all drinking from the highball glass of ideology.

That's awesome, brings back some memories from the other side of my family (my mother's side has some Hawaii history). Pineapple was a thing we could almost never have, because my mother's mother lived with us for a while and she worked at a Dole factory processing pineapple for like a thousand years, so she ever after banished the fruit from her presence. Your cake looks great, though, and so do your hashbrowns.

# ? Nov 18, 2014 16:10

The Midniter: Jul 9, 2001

Those hash browns, holy poo poo...

I bet if you made them slightly thinner and really crisped the hell out of them, maybe by super-shallow frying them, that they'd be amazing on a burger.

# ? Nov 18, 2014 18:26

kinmik: Jul 17, 2011; Dog, what are you doing? Get away from there.
You don't even have thumbs.

Thanks to you both!

Mr. Wiggles posted:

That's awesome, brings back some memories from the other side of my family (my mother's side has some Hawaii history). Pineapple was a thing we could almost never have, because my mother's mother lived with us for a while and she worked at a Dole factory processing pineapple for like a thousand years, so she ever after banished the fruit from her presence. Your cake looks great, though, and so do your hashbrowns.

Hah, my mom too! She worked at a processing plant for a few summers and would go home with her hands bleeding; it took her a year to regrow her fingerprints. Even now, she has some of the smoothest fingertips of anyone I've ever met. I know there's a bit of an age gap, but was this on Oahu, and around what year(s)?

The Midniter posted:

Those hash browns, holy poo poo...

I bet if you made them slightly thinner and really crisped the hell out of them, maybe by super-shallow frying them, that they'd be amazing on a burger.

Well that's a bit of a game changer. I'm gonna have to shoot this idea to my dad. I know I'm all over it.

# ? Nov 18, 2014 19:48

SymmetryrtemmyS: Jul 13, 2013; I got super tired of seeing your avatar throwing those fuckin' glasses around in the astrology thread so I fixed it to a .jpg

I want to make those hash browns. What spices did you add there? I was thinking cracked pepper and not much else - maybe some Spike, maybe some fresh thyme.

# ? Nov 18, 2014 22:38

Mr. Wiggles: Dec 1, 2003; We are all drinking from the highball glass of ideology.

kinmik posted:

Thanks to you both!

Hah, my mom too! She worked at a processing plant for a few summers and would go home with her hands bleeding; it took her a year to regrow her fingerprints. Even now, she has some of the smoothest fingertips of anyone I've ever met. I know there's a bit of an age gap, but was this on Oahu, and around what year(s)?

Yep, on Oahu, in the 50s and 60s.

# ? Nov 18, 2014 23:44

kinmik: Jul 17, 2011; Dog, what are you doing? Get away from there.
You don't even have thumbs.

^^Aw that's about when my mom was born. That's still cool.

Right guys here's the thing.
:siren:

I FLUBBED UP :siren:

I just got off the phone with my dad (with The Midniter's pitch; he loved it), telling him all about how I entered an internet cooking competition with his "hash browns" and without thinking, what came out of my mouth was "corn beef hash". That's what it's actually called. I lied to you all.

However, a bit of good news that came as a pleasant surprise: That recipe goes back farther than I originally thought, one generation in fact. My great-grandmother came to Hawaii as a picture bride and despite limited resources and money, she cobbled together a meal that somehow her kids and and grandchildren came to love. I was so happy to learn this! :neckbeard:

So yeah, it's actually corn beef hash.

SymmetryrtemmyS posted:

I want to make those hash browns. What spices did you add there? I was thinking cracked pepper and not much else - maybe some Spike, maybe some fresh thyme.

Haha literally just salt and pepper. Not too much salt, maybe a pinch or two because of the salt used to pull the water from the shredded potatoes. I'd never deviate myself, but I'd encourage anyone to experiment.

kinmik fucked around with this message at 01:29 on Nov 19, 2014

# ? Nov 19, 2014 01:06

SymmetryrtemmyS: Jul 13, 2013; I got super tired of seeing your avatar throwing those fuckin' glasses around in the astrology thread so I fixed it to a .jpg

I have never done hash done quite like that, so regardless of name, it'll be a novel experience. I'll definitely give it a try - maybe with a poached egg and some gravy.

# ? Nov 19, 2014 02:08

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# ? Apr 25, 2024 16:11

slinkimalinki: Jan 17, 2010

SymmetryrtemmyS posted:

I have never done hash done quite like that, so regardless of name, it'll be a novel experience. I'll definitely give it a try - maybe with a poached egg and some gravy.

I wanted to make them before, but now I definitely want to make them.

# ? Nov 19, 2014 20:17

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