When I was a child my mom would save the fat from cooking bacon. Didn't know people still did that. I don't, but then I don't do a lot of cooking.
Believe it or not, I also do canning (as in shelf-stable preserving), smoke my own BBQ, make my own pasta (not as hard as it sounds) and will even grind my own meat when needed. Cooking is something I really enjoy.
I obviously enjoy cooking since I spent a decade of my life dedicated to the craft. I really like making my own sausage. I am sure some of you remember I have been curing my own bacon. And I am going to try my hand at curing pepperoni this summer.
What kinds of pasta do you make Ed? Sheets and fettucine are pretty easy with a standard roller. Then orchiette is pretty easy since you can shape them by hand. But the more complex shapes typically require some extrusion to do well.
Not sure why but the last 2-3 months I have been giving my fryer a workout. The kids love fresh chicken strips and I can get pretty creative frying up other delicious tidbits.
Fettuccine, linguine and spaghetti are all standard fare. I do have an extruder for my Kitchen Aid, so penne, macaroni, the little spirals, etc. are all fair game. I also do tagliatelle, pappardelle, orecchiette, but they require manual cuts or shaping. I've been rumored to invent my own shapes, just to see how it turns out. I really like making ravioli, my favorite (and the hardest one) has to be ravioli al uovo. It's the ravioli with the egg yolk inside, surrounded by an herbed ricotta. The trick it to make the pasta really thin and cook it just enough to cook the pasta and heat the cheese, but leave the egg yolk runny.
Oh yeah, I love Italian food. 😉
So, what time is dinner???
Michael, if you two want to drive for 5 hours, I'll be more than happy to make you an Italian feast. Come to think of it, if we ever get around to having a SQL Saturday here, I believe I still owe you a dinner anyway.