Chicken Alfredo

Looks good, I like to add sautéed shrimp in butter to mine with a little bit of capers, and artichoke hearts if I have it on hand.
 
That chicken alfredo recipe looks tasty.

I have an observation ... It seems like every dang recipe has garlic in it. I don't like garlic (or at least not when they put so much in there you can taste it in the final product). So, what's up with all the garlic? I don't think my momma or my grandmomma ever used any garlic in anything. Of course, I grew up on (choose one meat from the following list) fried chicken, fried catfish, fried crappie, fried rabbit, fried squirrel, pulled pork ... choose four vegetables from the following list (the supper meal always had four) collards, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, fried okra, pole beans, black-eyed peas, fresh tomato slices, creamed corn, whole corn, kernel corn, steamed carrots, fresh cucumber slices, steamed cabbage/or shredded cabbage, (plus a slew of other stuff out of my grandparent's garden) ... cornbread, and all the sweet tea you could drink. None of that stuff needs garlic to taste good. Garlic in collards? Puhleese. A tablespoon of bacon fat from the coffee can in the cabinet is all you need. Of course, throwing a strip or two of actual bacon into the pot is good too. The fanciest seasonings in my grandmother's cabinet were salt and pepper.
 
SpurgeonH, you can leave the garlic out if you don't like garlic. I like it but only in moderation, it can overpower a dish if you use to much. I tend to eat more of it during flu season, I'm not sure if it has antibiotic properties or if the smell just keeps sick people at a safe distance. :chuckle:
 
Spurgeon, It appears you grew up in a segregated Southern community. There was no French neighborhood, Swedish neighborhood, Italian or German neighborhoods, Cajan or African or Mexican influence on cooking. No oriental or Indian restaurants in the area. Experiencing different ethnic cuisines in the formative years can create appreciation for a variety of flavors and spices not so easily adapted to in later years. If you moved to New Mexico you would not be concerned about garlic, but you would have to hold on to your socks. Garlic can be a flavor enhancer when used correctly or a killer if over used and is not for everything.

Hilditch
 
Haha! Good point!

I wonder if there is an amount, below which, the garlic enhances the other flavors in the food, but doesn't contribute any distinguishable flavor of its own?
 
Um, yeah Spurgeon--just throw in a lot less than the recipe calls for. I cheat with prepared ground garlic in a jar; it's easy to use just a little bit at a time. I grew up with a cuisine similar to your family's, only no rabbit or squirrel, or sweet tea, for that matter. My mom grew up on a farm in West Central Ohio, and thought using garlic in food meant you were from a New York City ghetto or something. My hubby and I eat and love food that would have sent both sets of parents up the wall--especially the hot pepper component! Anyway, just try a little bit of garlic at a time; eventually you'll figure out whether you like it or not. I do like Bonnie's wintertime method of warding off disease.:grin:
 
Subjective call. Varies per dish and cooking style but I find that 1/2 toe per entree serving or 1/4 toe per side serving does not overwhelm the basic flavor. YMMV. It is not required for every dish. I use about 2 or 3 toes per week.

Hilditc
 
Bonnie, that recipe looks great--thanks for the link. Toes, Hilditch??? (I'll laugh a while over that one. Always the humanitarian, that Hilditch!)
 
whrn I first read the "segragated Southern community" I was thinking, I'm from Huntsville, AL! Germans?! We had Dr. Von Braun and all of his rocket scientists! Then I remembered, we didn't have any German restaurants. We had Germans, but no German food. Haha! And all of the "Italians, Swedes, French, Africans," etc. were families who had been in the country for 200 years and ate the same thing we did. We did have pizza places though. Does that count as Italian? And McDonald's. I think that's an Irish restaurant, right? Or is it Scottish?

When I married my wife, in 1984, it took me a long time to get used to her cooking. She's from Mobile, AL and, although she cooked the same foods I was used to eating, she added a ton of spices to them. Must be the Cajun influence on the Gulf Coast.

She says I like boring food. I say I like for the food to taste like it did when God created it. Haha!

Maybe I'll start adding a little garlic. I like the idea about adding a smaller amount than the recipe calls for. Plus, I'm getting kinda old. I could probably use some spice in my life.
 
Sharon, in the late 70’s I got my first New Orleans cookbook. That book and Justin Wilson, one of the first TV cooks doing Cajun food, didn’t use cloves of garlic, just toes. Justin left me with the term “more better” and used numeral ranges backwards. i.e.: Just bake it for 10 to 8 minutes, or this will serve 6 to 3 people.

Also, while we call it a head of garlic other countries call it a foot of garlic.

http://www.chowhound.com/post/louisiana-lingo-toe-garlic-673432

Hilditch
 
Spurgeon, please try this recipe below: http://www.castironcollector.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3262 This is true Italian comfort food and is a perfect example of how garlic can blend in with other flavors to provide a pleasing experience. Don’t cheat on the garlic or anything else here until you have tried it. It ain’t boring but I’ll put it up there with fried chicken done right.

You will be busy for the first half so it is only a two beer cooking time.

Hilditch
 
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