New idea - CookingBites dish of the month?

Morning Glory

Morning Glory

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All,

We have a current Cookalong (see here) which is designed to test and extend our cooking skills - so a level of specificity and difficulty is required for the chosen dish. However - as some of you may have noticed, quite a few members are suggesting generic and perhaps simpler dishes as candidates (such as meatballs, frittatas, breakfasts etc.)

I wondered whether members would welcome a CookingBites Dish of the Month thread which focussed on one such dish each month and invited photos (and recipes if appropriate). The Cookalong would still run separately and as is usual, for longer than a month.

What do you think?
 
I think it would need to be specific. If we choose meatballs make it one type of meatball, say Italian style.Then there would be other variations that the category could expand to, like Greek meatballs. Actually, the more I think about it we could concentrate on "one pot/dish meals". That leaves everyone options, especially if we specify something we've never made before.
 
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CraigC said:
I think it would need to be specific. If we choose meatballs make it one type of meatball, say Italian style.Then there would be other variations that the category could expand to, like Greek meatballs. Actually, the more I think about it we could concentrate on "one pot/dish meals". That leaves everyone options, especially if we specify something we've never made before.
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I was trying to suggest the feature as something which wasn't prescriptive and was geared at simply getting everyone cooking and participating whatever their skill levels. Not so much a challenge but more about sharing. So I don't think it should be about cooking things we've never made before (although, of course there wouldn't be anything to stop members joining in with recipes new to them). One pot meals could certainly be a theme for one month.
 
I think something simple like best brekky for the month, I know I'd enter a few. Then best dessert? I'd love to show off my croissant brûlée. Just a thought.

Russ
 
I like the idea, but it needs to be able to include everyone. Meatballs or Italian Meatballs does not even suggest something that includes everyone. A curry on the other hand does. Chicken curry does not.

Several of the recent ingredient or cookalongs have excluded several members including myself simply by the choice of key ingredient (with no vegan/vegetarian alternative every given to the best of my knowledge) and some dishes simply have no vegan/veggie alternative easily created at home (I have recently come across a very convincing fish tofu dish - I didn't like it because it actually tasted fishy! go figure). It is not nice when a significant percentage of the membership are excluded by the choice of ingredient/dish/equipment needing purchasing. Not all of us have $20 (or €/GBP30) readily available to spend on equipment that will get used once and then put in a drawer. I certainly do not have that kind of money available for purchases such as that.

So please think about this carefully.
 
I think its a good idea to have a theme each month but I agree that it needs to be something with a pretty wide scope and relaxed "rules" so that as many people as possible can take part. So something specific like "meatballs" for example should also include any kind of small patty (eg. falafel, faggots), whereas a theme like "pies" is already pretty wide and allows for various interpretations.
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
I like the idea, but it needs to be able to include everyone. Meatballs or Italian Meatballs does not even suggest something that includes everyone. A curry on the other hand does. Chicken curry does not.
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I agree - if we chose meatballs I'd definitely include vegan/vegetarian 'balls' as well, like falafels.
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
Several of the recent ingredient or cookalongs have excluded several members including myself simply by the choice of key ingredient (with no vegan/vegetarian alternative every given to the best of my knowledge)
Click to expand...

The last 4 Cookalongs have all been vegetarian friendly:
Tarte Tatin
Chinese Dumplings
Deep Fried eggs
Soufflés and Fondants
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
I
Several of the recent ingredient or cookalongs have excluded several members including myself simply by the choice of key ingredient (with no vegan/vegetarian alternative every given to the best of my knowledge) and some dishes simply have no vegan/veggie alternative easily created at home (I have recently come across a very convincing fish tofu dish - I didn't like it because it actually tasted fishy! go figure). It is not nice when a significant percentage of the membership are excluded by the choice of ingredient/dish/equipment needing purchasing. Not all of us have $20 (or €/GBP30) readily available to spend on equipment that will get used once and then put in a drawer. I certainly do not have that kind of money available for purchases such as that.

So please think about this carefully.
Click to expand...

I went back and looked, out of the last 11, the only recent recipe challenge that didn't include easy vegan/vegetarian options was mackerel.

The last 3 prize challenges (didn't look back any further) had vegan or vegetarian options.

And the more I look, caviar can be made with things most of us probably already have with the addition of a chemical or 2 depending on method used.
 
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medtran49 said:
The last 3 prize challenges (didn't look back any further) had vegan or vegetarian options.
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Yes - all the Prize challenges have been topics which were suitable for vegetarian/vegan diets.

Anyway - I think the 'sort of' consensus for the idea of a Dish of the Month is to keep it quite general and as vegetarian/vegan friendly as possible.

If we are doing a dish for February - the I propose frittata as mentioned by TodayInTheKitchen
in the Cookalong thread.

Frittata can be made vegan using an egg-replacer and is very often vegetarian. :okay:
 
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SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
Not all of us have $20 (or €/GBP30) readily available to spend on equipment that will get used once and then put in a drawer. I certainly do not have that kind of money available for purchases such as that.
Click to expand...

medtran49 said:
I went back and looked, out of the last 11, the only recent recipe challenge that didn't include easy vegan/vegetarian options was mackerel.

The last 3 prize challenges (didn't look back any further) had vegan or vegetarian options.

And the more I look, caviar can be made with things most of us probably already have with the addition of a chemical or 2 depending on method used.
Click to expand...

We are sliding off topic here... caviar (molecular gastronomy) is a discussion over in the Cookalong thread. :)
 
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