recipe

Jim Varney’s Curry Pepper Steak

~ mpklamerus ~ 1 Comment

Between my own collection and the one at my parents, there are plenty of random old cookbooks I can flip through. One I stumbled across today was A Little Cooking, a Little Talking, and a Whole Lot of Fun, a cookbook by Florence Henderson based off a television show she had in the 80’s, sometime after The Brady Bunch had ended. I’m sorry if you follow this blog for posts about old technology and video games.

cover of the cookbook which shows Florence Henderson cooking with a variety of celebrities

The book itself is pretty straightforward. It has a variety of recipes from celebrities and before each recipe is a page or two talking about the celebrity and their accomplishments. These photos I took with my phone aren’t the highest quality, but you can see all the recipes and who they’re from.

one part of the table of contents showing a listing of celebrities and their recipes like Country Gravy from Willie Nelson
part two of the table of contents showing recipes like Barbecued Spareribs from Jimmy Walker

The one that immediately stood out to me was the Curry Pepper Steak from Jim Varney. Jim was most known for playing Ernest P. Worrell is a series of films that include Ernest Goes to Camp and Ernest Scared Stupid (ok, and Slinky Dog in Toy Story 1 and 2). I haven’t seen any of them in decades so I’m guessing these films don’t hold up but they were popular with kids in the 90’s. So here you have it, Jim Varney’s Curry Pepper Steak, first in photos from the book and then reprinted here so it’s easier to read. I have not actually made it (yet) and cannot vouch for the quality of the final product. You can also watch a video on YouTube of him cooking it

a photo of Jim Varney and a description of his career up until 1988
a description of the recipe, full text follows the image

Ingredients

2 tbsp. Wesson Oil
2 lbs. steak, cut into strips
1 onion, cut into strips
1 tsp. corn starch
1 tsp. curry
1 clove garlic
1 green and 1 yellow pepper cut into strips
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cups uncooked rice

Directions

  1. Cut steak into strips. Cut onions and peppers into strips.
  2. Saute meat in oil, add onion strips, then add corn starch and stir, cook until browned over low heat.
  3. Add curry, garlic, peppers, water, and cover. Simmer over low heat until boiling.
  4. Prepare rice according to directions on package, and serve meat mixture over rice.

Caramelized Onion Dip from Edward’s Cafe in Northville, Michigan

~ mpklamerus ~ Leave a comment

Ok, so this might be a weird one given that this blog is mostly about technology but it was too important for me to not post. The TLDR is that I found a recipe I like from a place that used to be near me but closed a few years ago, skip to the end for the recipe.

the inside of Edwards showing the counter where people ordered food

For a few decades, there was a cafe in Northville, Michigan called Edward’s Cafe and Catering that I enjoyed going to when I lived there for a few years. They mostly focused on sandwiches and desserts but one thing I really enjoyed from them was the caramelized onion dip for the chips that would come with the sandwich orders. They closed early on during the pandemic so I assumed I would never get to have it again until I saw a recipe for it at my parents’ house a few days ago. I’m not completely sure how my mom got it. I’m guessing she just asked for it during a cooking class, since she took a few of them there, and wrote it on a scrap piece of paper along with some other Edward’s recipes I saw in her collection. I just made it earlier today and it tastes just like I remember it so I’m sharing it here for anyone doing a Google search for this place. I probably could have made any caramelized onion dip recipe and roughly get the same thing but I’m very happy to have this recipe preserved.

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 3 yellow onions, pulsed in processor
  • 3 tablespoons beef paste (The recipe says Karlsburger but I used something else and it seemed fine)
  • 4 1/2 cups sour cream (The recipe says to use Guernsey)
  • 2 1/2 cups mayonnaise
  • 1 teaspoon white pepper
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder

Directions

  1. Caramelize onions in oil until golden. The longer and slower, the better.
  2. Add beef base and cook for five minutes.
  3. Add remaining ingredients and mix well
  4. Serve with chips