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BastardAus posted:Not swimming in fat though I think is the point. That's not country gravy.
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# ? Jan 11, 2012 15:19 |
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# ? May 21, 2024 15:40 |
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Mr. Wiggles posted:That's not country gravy. Not your country indeed. Makes no difference to the flavour though, it's a binding ingredient in the English recipe. You can stop adding liquid when it reaches the required consistency. The pan scrapings provide the flavour. BastardAus fucked around with this message at 16:04 on Jan 11, 2012 |
# ? Jan 11, 2012 15:59 |
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It don't matter to Jesus. You got a date Wednesday, baby!
BastardAus fucked around with this message at 16:07 on Jan 11, 2012 |
# ? Jan 11, 2012 16:02 |
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BastardAus posted:Not your country indeed. Makes no difference to the flavour though, it's a binding ingredient in the English recipe. You can stop adding liquid when it reaches the required consistency. The pan scrapings provide the flavour. In the American " country gravy", you have pork fat in some form providing the flavor to a thick, milk based sauce. As such, the fat is necessary no only for the roux, but also for the primary flavor. That's why you can make county gravy starting from sausage grease, bacon grease, lard, fatty parts of last night's roast, etc. That's also why it became such a staple in rural American cookery - it's a great way to extend the use of things already on hand, and it's a way to pack more calories into a meal; both important if you're trying to stretch your food budget.
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# ? Jan 11, 2012 16:23 |
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No sure this is the right place for this question but I'll post it here anyway. I'm poor. Pork chops are quite often ridiculously cheap. This means that I want to eat pork chops. The problem is that every single time I've eaten pork chops in my life they were horrible. It's always tough and a pain to eat. What am I doing wrong? How do you make pork chops delicious?
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# ? Jan 12, 2012 00:49 |
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I like to start by cooking down some mushrooms and onions in a little butter. Either get a 2nd pan or wait until that is done. Salt the chop, sear on both sides. Pour cream and mushrooms over the chop and simmer until pork is done & cream is reduced. (Flip the pork and stir a couple times while simmering.) The last time I made this, I think I added some garlic, thyme and pepper to the cream as it simmered.
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# ? Jan 12, 2012 01:08 |
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KingColliwog posted:No sure this is the right place for this question but I'll post it here anyway. They're just overcooked. 60-65 degrees is sufficient for pork, though the slight pink will weird out older people and people that were taught that pork will murder your whole family and your dog if it's pink even a tiny bit.
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# ? Jan 12, 2012 01:22 |
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I cook some ramen noodles, put in some cheese, diced hot dogs or spam and crushed potato chips. Dirt cheap and oh so delicious
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# ? Jan 12, 2012 02:25 |
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PlasticPaddy posted:I cook some ramen noodles, put in some cheese, diced hot dogs or spam and crushed potato chips. Dirt cheap and oh so delicious The idea of the thread is to make good food sir. That's just calories and salt with some protein and no fiber. edit for content: I bought 1 and 1/4 pounds of flank stank for $9, and some broccoli for $3. Granted I had the soy sauce, wine, corn starch, and oyster sauce on hand, I got 4 meals out of $12 roughly. indoflaven fucked around with this message at 02:55 on Jan 12, 2012 |
# ? Jan 12, 2012 02:48 |
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Iron Chef Ricola posted:They're just overcooked. 60-65 degrees is sufficient for pork, though the slight pink will weird out older people and people that were taught that pork will murder your whole family and your dog if it's pink even a tiny bit. That's what I thought, but last time I'm pretty sure it wasn't over cooked... What's the best, most fail-proof method of cooking pork chops that aren't horrible piece of shits you want to throw in the trash and forget you ever made? I like to think I'm pretty good in the kitchen for a casual cook, but pork chops are a mistery to me for some reason. I usually either marinate them (in the hope that it will be less tough and horrible) or simply salt-peper them, pan sear the chops andmake a sauce with what sticked to the pan. I'll give it another go anyway, using a thermomether if I must... But chops are pretty thin so that might not work all that well. -- To contribute something, buying a pork shoulder and making pulled pork is really easy and super cheap. Also feeds you for a while and can be eaten in a lot of different ways if you keep some meat without sauce added to it. Near the holidays, some "ready to roast" frozen turkey are very inexpensive. We like to buy a whole turkey for 99¢ a pound and roast it. We never eat any of it during the holiday, but shred it and portion it into ziploc bags that go to the freezer. Having a neverending supply of precooked, preshredded poultry is really awesome to make fried rice, "chinese noodles", soups and many other thing. Basically anything that you roast will probably be really inexpensive and give you a bunch of food for very little effort. KingColliwog fucked around with this message at 03:20 on Jan 12, 2012 |
# ? Jan 12, 2012 03:13 |
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KingColliwog posted:But chops are pretty thin so that might not work all that well. I started buying thicker cut chops, searing the gently caress out of them and then tossing them in a hot oven til just done. Much better results.
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# ? Jan 12, 2012 03:20 |
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Buy super chick chops if possible, season them with salt (more than you think you need), put a non-nonstick pan on the stove on high heat, add in a thin layer of neutral oil (canola, peanut, sunflower) and sear the heck out of it at high heat on both sides to brown it all awesomely. If it's very thick, you might need to throw it in the oven for a few minutes afterwards. Use a thermometer the first few times until you get the hang of it.
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# ? Jan 12, 2012 03:42 |
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Bone in chops taste better and are cheaper.
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# ? Jan 12, 2012 03:52 |
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untitled posted:I started buying thicker cut chops, searing the gently caress out of them and then tossing them in a hot oven til just done. Much better results. Iron Chef Ricola posted:Buy super chick chops if possible, season them with salt (more than you think you need), put a non-nonstick pan on the stove on high heat, add in a thin layer of neutral oil (canola, peanut, sunflower) and sear the heck out of it at high heat on both sides to brown it all awesomely. If it's very thick, you might need to throw it in the oven for a few minutes afterwards. Use a thermometer the first few times until you get the hang of it. I think I found my problem. I don't remember seeing pork chops that were thicker than the... Well normal pork chop the look like that (http://www.cuisinmania.com/images/viandes/cote_porc.jpg). I'll take a closer look next time and ask the butcher if I don't find anything. I really want to like them since they frequently are just under 2$ a pound for pure meat. KingColliwog fucked around with this message at 03:57 on Jan 12, 2012 |
# ? Jan 12, 2012 03:53 |
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KingColliwog posted:But chops are pretty thin so that might not work all that well. Pork chops are tough when cooked well done, I prefer mine medium, even just med-well is okay. Treat your chops like a steak, trim, allow them to come up to room temp, salt, pepper, sear and finish in the oven if really thick. For thin chops you can't get a crust without making shoe leather, sort of a tan color is the best I can do. Always buy bone-in if you can. Pork chops make the best pan gravy, even better than steak. Sometimes instead of making a pan sauce, I'll finish my vegetables in the meat skillet. The moisture loosens the fond and cleans the pan while making the veggies absolutely delicious. Works best with corn. With green vegetables like peas you have to be careful not to overcook them or you lose all the flavor.
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# ? Jan 12, 2012 03:58 |
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If you trust your pork, and no getting it from the supermarket or discount store doesn't count, try your chops rare. Rare pork is a revelation if you've been having dried out overcooked pork your whole life.
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# ? Jan 12, 2012 04:26 |
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Bone in chop, come to room temp while prepping the grill, add fresh groundpepper+olive oil, add salt right before grilling, grill to no more than medium. Choose the cheapest roasting veg available, and have that roast with salt and butter and oil while the grill goes. For dessert, grill a banana. Assuming you have oil, butter, salt, and pepper on hand, all you have to do is buy the pork, the roasting veg (which can be freakin potatoes!), and a banana or two- so this can be VERY cheap depending on the pork price and really loving delicious and simple to prepare-and really healthy to boot (assuming you're okay with the sugar in the banana). edit- healthier if veg is green like asparagus rather than starchy like potatoe, but meh, check the price! edit2- one person on the grill and a roommate/friend/lover in the kitchen makes this FAST, but it could be annoying with 1 person only. Yehudis Basya fucked around with this message at 08:37 on Jan 12, 2012 |
# ? Jan 12, 2012 08:33 |
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KingColliwog posted:No sure this is the right place for this question but I'll post it here anyway. If I have thin pork chops, I pound them thinner, season with salt and pepper, flour them, egg them, breadcrumb them, and fry. Some times, I cut out the bone and excess fat, flour, egg, and panko them. I try to save at least 3 to make a bowl of katsudon the next day. If the chops are thicker, brine -> pat dry. Sautee onions in a pan and lay them on a foiled roasting pan. Sear the porkchops, stick in 375F oven on top of onions til done. Eat pork chop and pork-y caramelized onions on rice.
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# ? Jan 12, 2012 18:37 |
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I think it has been mentioned before, but have you considered Dal (Lentils)? They are very nutritious, are apparently a very good nutritional match with rice, are cheap, and in the following recipe insanely delicious if you like a lot of toasted garlic. 1 cup Red lentils 3 cups water 2 tbsps vegetable/sunflower/canola cooking oil Salt to taste 1 onion chopped fine 3 tomatoes chopped fine (or 1/2 a can of plain tomatoes) 1/2 tsp turmeric powder 1/2 tsp red chilli powder 3 tbsps ghee (clarified butter) or oil 3 dry red chillies stalks removed and broken into small pieces 1 tsp cumin seeds 8-10 cloves of garlic (personally I use about 3/4 of a cup, but I love garlic) 5-10 curry leaves if you can get them Wash the lentils thoroughly, then soak for about 1/2 an hour. Fry the onions in some oil until soft and add the spices. Add the tomatoes and stir well, then add the lentils and water. Cook until the lentils are very mushy. When this is done, in another small pan, heat the ghee well (you can use oil for this but if at all possible get ghee, it is 100% better) and add the cumin seeds which will sizzle. When they stop sizzling add the garlic and dry red chillies and fry till the garlic is light brown. Add the curry leaves and fry for about a minute. Quickly add this ghee and spice mixture to the boiled lentils and stir well. Makes about 6 decent helpings. Can be frozen and reheated from frozen successfully. I;ve made this with no dried chillis and just added more chilli powder at the lentil cooking stage and it was delicious. I've also made it with half red, half yellow lentils and it was great. Pookah fucked around with this message at 21:50 on Jan 13, 2012 |
# ? Jan 13, 2012 21:42 |
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PlasticPaddy posted:I cook some ramen noodles, put in some cheese, diced hot dogs or spam and crushed potato chips. Dirt cheap and oh so delicious Ramen + Cheese. Use tortilla chips to scoop up the ramen.
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# ? Jan 14, 2012 06:39 |
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Moey posted:Ramen + Cheese. Use tortilla chips to scoop up the ramen. Don't do this it's not good food.
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# ? Jan 14, 2012 07:27 |
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Poor != malnourished. Feed your body good things or get the diabetes and then be more poor.
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# ? Jan 14, 2012 18:43 |
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Have a pressure cooker? Make a chicken cous cous! Let's just say you want to do 4lbs worth of chicken: 4lbs boneless chicken thighs (breast will work but dark meat is tastier) 2-3 bunches of leeks 3 zucchini 3 yellow Squash 5-6 medium-large carrots 4-6 cloves of garlic Several small cans tomato paste (you should always have these on hand anyway) 2 cans garbanzo beans several things of beef/chicken/vegetable bouillon salt and pepper to taste various other spices to taste (play around) 1 or 2 boxes of cous cous Cut the chicken into halves or quarters (though this really isn't necessary, I just do it anyways), cut the white part of the leeks into 1/4" - 1/3" slices, and slice the zucchini, squash, and carrots to around the same size. Mince the garlic. Throw all the ingredients in a pressure cooker, add a small can or two of tomato paste, add salt and pepper liberally, add any other spices you feel like, add enough water to cover everything about a half inch over, then bring to a rolling boil. Once boiling, throw in several cubes of bouillon while stirring, then once fully dissolved throw the lid on that sonnabitch. Start timing once the pressure reaches max, then after 45 minutes turn off the flame and In another pot, get the cous cous started. Bring 1 cup water for every 1 cup cous cous to a boil (add some bouillon if you wish) with a smidgen of butter, and once boiling add the cous cous, cover, and turn off the heat. It will be done in 5 minutes. With the lid of the pressure cooker removed, turn the heat back on, add the two cans of garbanzo beans, bring to a boil, wait another 5 minutes (ideally the same amount of time as it takes for the cous cous to finish if you time everything right), then turn the heat off. While it's cooking taste it and tweak the salt/pepper/spice levels to satisfaction. It is now ready to serve! Grab a bowl, throw some cous cous in there, scoop up some of the delicious stew and plop it on top, stir it around and EAT! Stupidly simple, easy, cheap, and most of all loving delicious. This will make way more food than you need so you will have leftovers for quite a while. What I like to do is throw the leftovers in the fridge, let it settle for a day (and as cliche as it is, it really does taste better the next day), then portion out meals into individual smaller tupperware containers and freeze it. That way, if you're hungry and lazy but don't want to eat fast food or ramen, just microwave a frozen thing of this and voila, you're not eating like poo poo with no effort! Jesus Christ fucked around with this message at 18:56 on Jan 14, 2012 |
# ? Jan 14, 2012 18:48 |
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Being as this is a 'I'm poor thread' and just for the sake of (you should never use bouillon cubes), you should make your own chicken stock instead of using bouillon cubes. Better yet, don't get boneless, debone your chicken, make stock, use meat.
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# ? Jan 14, 2012 18:55 |
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Rurutia posted:Being as this is a 'I'm poor thread' and just for the sake of (you should never use bouillon cubes), you should make your own chicken stock instead of using bouillon cubes. Better yet, don't get boneless, debone your chicken, make stock, use meat. What you said is what I do in practice, but for practicality it's easier and cheaper just to go with cubes.
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# ? Jan 14, 2012 18:57 |
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Jesus Christ posted:What you said is what I do in practice, but for practicality it's easier and cheaper just to go with cubes. I'm not sure why it would be cheaper. Buying bone-in chicken will always be cheaper than already deboned (as illustrated in this thread with multiple recommendations for buying a whole chicken), and then from there making a stock is just putting it on the stove with some water, with some bits and ends from your vegetables that you'd throw out anyways. This tastes 1000x better than the cubes, as in it actually tastes like chicken stock.
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# ? Jan 14, 2012 19:03 |
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Rurutia posted:I'm not sure why it would be cheaper. Buying bone-in chicken will always be cheaper than already deboned (as illustrated in this thread with multiple recommendations for buying a whole chicken), and then from there making a stock is just putting it on the stove with some water, with some bits and ends from your vegetables that you'd throw out anyways. This tastes 1000x better than the cubes, as in it actually tastes like chicken stock. Everyone knows this is true, but if you live in a small apartment with a small fridge and freezer, you can only freeze so many things. One must decide between bargains that must be frozen, and space hogging things like bags of stock cubes. Our freezer has pork, beef, frozen corn and spinach, and chicken parts that I broke down when whole chickens were on sale. Also, our ice rack because I am very grumpy if I don't have ice cold drinks. As a result, I cannot store more than one container of stock without the contents sliding out of the freezer. For the most part, I have powdered chicken stock for daily use. If chicken is on sale, I make a pot of chicken soup and try to freeze whatever I can fit.
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# ? Jan 14, 2012 19:17 |
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Have you tried freezing them flat as some have recommended? My boyfriend's fridge is tiny but I manage to keep about 3 months worth of sealed food/meat in there. But, in the end, the best way to store stock is to freeze the bones/carcasses. I usually have 1-2 carcasses in the freezer, shrimp shells, and recently I've kept some crab shells we had earlier this year for when I want to make bisque. We always have keep standard stock veggies in the fridge, so when I need stock, I make it the day before. Use what you want, but to recommend it as part of the recipe seems to go against what this thread is about. edit Also wanted to add that this is another reason why having a vacuum sealer really will save you a lot of money in the long run. Rurutia fucked around with this message at 19:27 on Jan 14, 2012 |
# ? Jan 14, 2012 19:23 |
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Rurutia posted:I'm not sure why it would be cheaper. Buying bone-in chicken will always be cheaper than already deboned (as illustrated in this thread with multiple recommendations for buying a whole chicken), and then from there making a stock is just putting it on the stove with some water, with some bits and ends from your vegetables that you'd throw out anyways. This tastes 1000x better than the cubes, as in it actually tastes like chicken stock. This. It's the main reason I wished for a deboner for Christmas
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# ? Jan 14, 2012 19:25 |
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Darval posted:This. It's the main reason I wished for a deboner for Christmas What's a deboner? It sounds like some horrible chicken-sludge-making machine, and google agrees: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eAc5DC1KE0 I've started collecting bones and veggy scraps in the freezer, making stock out of them on the weekend. Somehow the thought of freezing carcasses had never occured to me until I read this forum - I always just chucked them if I didn't have the time to cook stock there and then..
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# ? Jan 14, 2012 19:45 |
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I'm hoping that "deboner" means "boning knife", which is a fairly thin, often flexible knife which is more effective/precise than other types of knife for this purpose.
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# ? Jan 14, 2012 19:54 |
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Mr. Wiggles posted:Don't do this it's not good food. It is defiantly not for everyone, but it is cheap and enjoyable (at least for me), so I don't mind it every once in a while if I don't prepare a lunch for work. And there is no arguing that it is healthy for you in any way either.
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# ? Jan 14, 2012 19:55 |
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pim01 posted:What's a deboner? It sounds like some horrible chicken-sludge-making machine, and google agrees: No this is exactly what I got for Christmas. It fits nicely in the corner of my dorm room. Either that, or this. I can't remember 100%.
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# ? Jan 14, 2012 21:01 |
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It'd be nice to have chicken bones laying around all the time so I didn't have to use bouillon cubes but it's just not practical. Chicken is expensive 'round here.
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# ? Jan 15, 2012 03:22 |
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Douche Bag posted:It'd be nice to have chicken bones laying around all the time so I didn't have to use bouillon cubes but it's just not practical. Chicken is expensive 'round here. Yeah, it's crazy how expensive chicken can be. I can't exactly justify spending top dollar at the local butcher on a frequent weekly basis ($8/lb of deliciousness), but I also refuse to buy the 89cents/lb factory farmed stuff. So, I just don't make chicken all that often. Beef and pork are much cheaper around here anyways, so they make the rotation more! They taste better anyways. That said, when I do buy chicken, it is 99% of the time a whole one plus a few chicken backs (usually, those aren't out in the front, but if you ask the butcher, they'll get it for you from the back area- and that stuff is CHEAP!) so I can make lots and lots of stock, which lives in the freezer. The boullion or boxed stock is just revolting to taste, and I'd rather just substitute it with a much cheaper vegetable stock- which solves any potential freezer capacity problems.
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# ? Jan 15, 2012 03:58 |
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If you have the space, the most economical thing is o raise your own chickens. They eat chicken scraps and bugs in your yard, they give you eggs, and when they've gotten a bit older you can turn them into delicious suppers.
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# ? Jan 15, 2012 04:04 |
If you are going to eat ramen, just cook it as instructed, toss in some fish sauce and one or two poached eggs in the ramen "broth" or cook it in as little liquid as possible and just cook the eggs dirrectly to the noodle. I am refering to fake ramen of course.
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# ? Jan 15, 2012 05:48 |
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Mr. Wiggles posted:If you have the space, the most economical thing is o raise your own chickens. They eat chicken scraps and bugs in your yard, they give you eggs, and when they've gotten a bit older you can turn them into delicious suppers. Also, entertainment because chickens are downright hilarious.
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# ? Jan 15, 2012 16:28 |
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I eat a lot of Wal-Mart brand spam. Can't tell the difference between it and the real stuff. Corn bread is dirt cheap. Recipes from the Depression Era are obviously going to be made with frugality in mind. There's an incredibly old lady who has a Youtube channel dedicated to it: http://www.youtube.com/show?p=1lVxGiRwvU0&tracker=show0
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# ? Jan 15, 2012 23:36 |
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# ? May 21, 2024 15:40 |
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I got faster at breaking down chickens, and vs boneless-skinless breasts, I can look at it as paying myself $30 an hour and getting free legs, thighs, wings, backs, and breast skins. I'm also told that they're about 36 hours fresher than the b-s breasts.
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# ? Jan 16, 2012 00:15 |