December 30, 2005

• Last night I made a dish with beef stew meat that turned out right well, all things considered.

  The primary "thing" considered being one of the ingredients:  a can of lemon-lime soda such as 7-Up. 

  Take a couple of pounds of stew meat, layer it in the bottom of a 13" x 9" pan, spread a can of mushroom soup over it, then a small can of mushrooms, then sprinkle an envelope of dry onion soup mix over it, and finally pour a can of a Spritelike soda over the whole thing.  Cover it with foil and bake it in a 350° oven for three hours (and NO PEEKING, the recipe sternly warns).

  Served it over brown rice and everyone liked it.  Fortunately no one asked what was in it.  This is what puzzles me....who on earth first thought it up?  Who mentally assembled stew meat, mushroom gravy and onion soup mix then thought, "Huzzah!  What this concoction needs is a can of Sprite!"

  It's a constant source of amazement to me  -  my being fairly easily amazed  -  how many recipes contain really quite bizarre ingredients.  The fact they work is immaterial; it's like the first person to eat a lobster...who looked at one of those big, ugly critters and mulled, "I'll bet that's good eating"? 

  • 9:10 am
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