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Xandu posted:Thanks. I was thinking about chili specifically, so the meat should already be basically cooked by the time I add everything else to the pot? Nah. It doesn't matter how cooked it is for something like chili, all you care about it getting it all maillard-y. Heat up your pan on medium-high heat, throw in a thin layer of peanut, sunflower or canola oil, wait until the oil is all shimmery and barely below smoking, then put your meat in in batches. Do not crowd it or it'll just steam and be terrible.
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Jan 28, 2012 21:38
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On the subject of browning / searing meat, how do you avoid splatter getting EVERYWHERE on your cooking surface? I'm currently living in an apartment with a glass (ceramic?) cooktop, and that makes cleaning easier than having drip pans and varied surfaces, but I would rather not have oil mini-droplets end up everywhere. Am I cooking too hot? Too much oil? Too little oil? This obviously isn't as much of a problem if I crowd the pan and have the meat steam/boil itself into gross oblivion...but clearly I would like to avoid that. Any suggestions besides "That's why they invented splatter covers" would be helpful, as I could never keep the cheap ones from rusting and they ultimately never seemed to help.
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Jan 28, 2012 22:42
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Iron Chef Ricola posted:Nah. It doesn't matter how cooked it is for something like chili, all you care about it getting it all maillard-y. Okay, that makes sense. Thanks.
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Jan 28, 2012 22:44
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IanCaw posted:On the subject of browning / searing meat, how do you avoid splatter getting EVERYWHERE on your cooking surface? I'm currently living in an apartment with a glass (ceramic?) cooktop, and that makes cleaning easier than having drip pans and varied surfaces, but I would rather not have oil mini-droplets end up everywhere.
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Jan 28, 2012 22:46
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Got a couple of gluten-free coworkers, and I wanted to bring in some baked treats for them. Was thinking macaroons, but wanted to make them a little fancier. I was pondering adding some Eastern spices--cardamom or saffron or lemongrass. Any thoughts on this?
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Jan 28, 2012 22:52
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Iron Chef Ricola posted:It's going to splatter, there's nothing you can do to stop it, use a deeper pot or a splatter cover. That's actually awesome. If I'm not screwing up by having this happen, I honestly don't mind the cleanup. Now just to figure how to keep the heat consistent on a stupid electric burner.
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Jan 28, 2012 23:07
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I decided to try preparing dried beans, as I eat a lot of beans and I'm getting tired of canned. This way I can have healthier beans, and I'll freeze them in small portions so they'll be handy for the next few weeks. I got a bunch of dried black beans and soaked them overnight. Now cooking them on low heat, in a big pot with bay leaves, shallots, garlic, a couple habanero peppers, and a little dried cumin. The thing is, the broth smells delicious, and over the course of the last couple hours I've decided I must save it and do something with it. So any ideas for what to do with a spicy black bean vegetable stock?
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Jan 29, 2012 00:39
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anachrodragon posted:I decided to try preparing dried beans, as I eat a lot of beans and I'm getting tired of canned. This way I can have healthier beans, and I'll freeze them in small portions so they'll be handy for the next few weeks. I got a bunch of dried black beans and soaked them overnight. Now cooking them on low heat, in a big pot with bay leaves, shallots, garlic, a couple habanero peppers, and a little dried cumin. The thing is, the broth smells delicious, and over the course of the last couple hours I've decided I must save it and do something with it. Honestly you should just cook it down until the beans are almost dry so that your delicious spicy bean stock adds its flavor to the beans.
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Jan 29, 2012 00:53
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Psychobabble posted:Honestly you should just cook it down until the beans are almost dry so that your delicious spicy bean stock adds its flavor to the beans. That works. I thought you were supposed to drain them when they were "done", but maybe I'll just keep an eye on them and let the liquid cook down a while.
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Jan 29, 2012 01:19
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It depends on how you cook them, I usually throw them on the back burner and top them off with more water depending on where they are at and the let them reduce down until they are almost dry.
Psychobabble fucked around with this message at 01:50 on Jan 29, 2012 |
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Jan 29, 2012 01:47
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Has anybody used an "all edge" brownie pan before? I made brownies, and I realized I really only like the edges. I don't know if these products are gimmicky nonsense or actually work. Crispy Corners Brownie Pan http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?sku=17604449&utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=shopping  Baker's Edge Nonstick Edge Brownie Pan http://www.amazon.com/Bakers-Edge-Nonstick-Brownie-Pan/dp/B000MMK448 
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Jan 29, 2012 08:07
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particle409 posted:Has anybody used an "all edge" brownie pan before? I made brownies, and I realized I really only like the edges. I don't know if these products are gimmicky nonsense or actually work. Just use a cupcake pan.
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Jan 29, 2012 08:12
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Iron Chef Ricola posted:Just use a cupcake pan. They won't come out square though. I know it sounds silly, but I really like those straight edges and corners. Worth a try though, thanks.
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Jan 29, 2012 08:30
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I have the crispy corners. I imagine it's more work to distribute batter and to wash compared to the bakers edge, but also gets more edge. Personally if I could decide again I would've gotten the BE. It seems like a good compromise on edge and ease.
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Jan 29, 2012 09:47
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My boss wants me to show her how to cook soon so I thought about walking her through a meal preparation. I asked her to pick a culinary style and she wants rustic italian or something. I'm planning on going through all of the basic stuff like knife skills and terminolgy and ingredient utility, but I haven't officially done this kind of thing in a while and she is my boss so I don't want to gently caress it up or sperg out and she gets lost or something. Does anybody have any advice or tips for this kind of thing?
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Jan 29, 2012 11:53
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IanCaw posted:That's actually awesome. If I'm not screwing up by having this happen, I honestly don't mind the cleanup. Electric sucks but a decent thick and heavy base pot/pan helps. Gas for life. Ill never use electric.
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Jan 29, 2012 12:20
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I hard-boiled a bunch of eggs and one of them was really weird. The yolk had a strange texture, almost like a sponge and was oddly chewy. It wasn't creamy and smooth like a normal yolk. What could have caused it to be like that? The eggs came from a lady in town with backyard chickens, not from a store. I've eaten dozens of eggs from this lady and this was the first one that was weird.
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Jan 29, 2012 15:32
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particle409 posted:They won't come out square though. I know it sounds silly, but I really like those straight edges and corners. Worth a try though, thanks. for sale posted:My boss wants me to show her how to cook soon so I thought about walking her through a meal preparation. I asked her to pick a culinary style and she wants rustic italian or something. I'm planning on going through all of the basic stuff like knife skills and terminolgy and ingredient utility, but I haven't officially done this kind of thing in a while and she is my boss so I don't want to gently caress it up or sperg out and she gets lost or something. Does anybody have any advice or tips for this kind of thing? Just make carbonara and panna cotta with her as a first attempt so that you can show her how cooking is "easy", do something more complex next time. All you need to do is show her how to render pancetta properly and how not to brutally overcook pasta. particle409 posted:They won't come out square though. I know it sounds silly, but I really like those straight edges and corners. Worth a try though, thanks. A tiny loaf pan maybe, then? People loving love having a whole cake to themselves. razz posted:
Were they chalky? Might have accidentally overcooked them. EAT THE EGGS RICOLA fucked around with this message at 17:48 on Jan 29, 2012 |
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Jan 29, 2012 17:27
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Iron Chef Ricola posted:Were they chalky? Might have accidentally overcooked them. No, not chalky. It was just one of the eggs, and I boiled 5-6 all together at the same time. The rest of them had a normal yolk.
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Jan 29, 2012 18:30
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Does anyone have a tried and tested beef wellington recipe? Should I sear the meat before wrapping for extra flavour? Can I skip the refrigiration?
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Jan 29, 2012 19:13
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Cowcatcher posted:Does anyone have a tried and tested beef wellington recipe? I don't have a recipe, but you most definitely need to sear the meat. You could skip the refrigeration, but only if you're looking for a medium-well to well done piece of meat. Warm meat will also gently caress up your pastry, the butter will start to melt from the residual heat before the heat from the oven can set/puff the layers.
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Jan 29, 2012 19:18
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Cowcatcher posted:Does anyone have a tried and tested beef wellington recipe? You should sear every meat ever before you do other things. You need to refrigerate it after you sear it just so that it's not hot when you wrap it in pastry/brioche/whatever.
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Jan 29, 2012 19:19
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particle409 posted:Baker's Edge Nonstick Edge Brownie Pan I got my parents have the Baker's Edge pan a few years ago and that is all they use to make brownies now. It actually works out great, I recommend it.
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Jan 29, 2012 19:26
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Are there any simple guidelines for using real spices for foods? I'm stuck with whatever I can cook in a crockpot or microwave right now, so obviously I am using the crockpot a hell of a lot. Unfortunately, drat near every single crock pot recipe I come across is a) unhealthy as poo poo and b) full of terrible pre-mixed poo poo like onion soup powder, chili mix, gravy mix, cream of mushroom soup, etc. I try to stick to a roughly Paleo-style diet, though I'm not a fanatic about it or anything. Basically I try to keep my food as close to "natural" as I can by avoiding processed and pre-made stuff whenever possible. I pretty much want to toss some meat, veggies, and spices (either fresh or ground, as long as it is a real spice and not just flavored powders) in the crock pot and let it cook for a few hours. Are there any good resources for recipes like this? Seems like a crockpot should be able to do a lot of different things but all I ever find are disgusting bubba chili, pot roast, and "barbeque" recipes.
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Jan 30, 2012 01:49
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Honey Badger posted:I try to stick to a roughly Paleo-style diet, though I'm not a fanatic about it or anything. Basically I try to keep my food as close to "natural" as I can by avoiding processed and pre-made stuff whenever possible. I pretty much want to toss some meat, veggies, and spices (either fresh or ground, as long as it is a real spice and not just flavored powders) in the crock pot and let it cook for a few hours. Please expand on both 'paleo' and 'natural' a bit, as those words don't really mean all that much by themselves. We can help you more if we know a bit more about what your restrictions are.
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Jan 30, 2012 02:02
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Honey Badger posted:I try to stick to a roughly Paleo-style diet, though I'm not a fanatic about it or anything. Basically I try to keep my food as close to "natural" as I can by avoiding processed and pre-made stuff whenever possible. I pretty much want to toss some meat, veggies, and spices (either fresh or ground, as long as it is a real spice and not just flavored powders) in the crock pot and let it cook for a few hours. What is your diet, exactly?
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Jan 30, 2012 02:06
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Honey Badger posted:Are there any simple guidelines for using real spices for foods? I'm stuck with whatever I can cook in a crockpot or microwave right now, so obviously I am using the crockpot a hell of a lot. Unfortunately, drat near every single crock pot recipe I come across is a) unhealthy as poo poo and b) full of terrible pre-mixed poo poo like onion soup powder, chili mix, gravy mix, cream of mushroom soup, etc. http://nomnompaleo.com/ I've spent inordinate amounts of time drooling over this blog before; it seems as though the owner is constantly using a crock pot for recipes. Check it out!
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Jan 30, 2012 02:08
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Honey Badger posted:Are there any good resources for recipes like this? Seems like a crockpot should be able to do a lot of different things but all I ever find are disgusting bubba chili, pot roast, and "barbeque" recipes. You must not be looking very hard. I have a couple slow cooker books from thrift stores that I've bought and never used. If you PM me your address, I will send them to you. Also, there's white bean salad, slow cooker carnitas, braised short ribs, corn and poblano braised chicken, chickpea and spinach curry, ropa vieja (shredded beef and peppers), split pea soup, moroccan chicken with apricots, olives, and almonds, and now I'm tired of looking. You look.
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Jan 30, 2012 02:17
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SoundMonkey posted:Please expand on both 'paleo' and 'natural' a bit, as those words don't really mean all that much by themselves. We can help you more if we know a bit more about what your restrictions are. Basically I just try to eliminate processed or manufactured foods and stick to foods that would be available in nature. i.e. stuff like milk, meats, nuts, veggies, fruits, grains, etc. are okay, but refined sugars, "enriched" or bleached grains and such aren't. I try to stick to fresh ingredients and stay away from canned goods and stuff like that as much as I can, and if I have the option I like to go for local and clean stuff that is as free from pesticides as possible. I'm also more than happy to eat things derived entirely from natural sources like cheeses and butter and such, as long as it isn't packed in processed garbage. Pretty much I just don't want to slap some meat in a pot with "cream of x" soup, some flavored spice powder with 65% of my daily sodium, and a bunch of other random poo poo and call it a day. edit: ^ Appreciate those links, kiteless, that is the kind of stuff I was looking for. I was mostly browsing allrecipes.com and looking for the highest rated stuff, and I couldn't find any way to narrow down the searches to the specifics I was looking for. Unfortunately I don't have PMs or I'd take you up on the offer, but thank you regardless. Honey Badger fucked around with this message at 02:23 on Jan 30, 2012 |
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Jan 30, 2012 02:20
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Breadgoons: I'm working my way through a couple of new baking books: Beranbaum's Bread Bible and the King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion, and they seem to contradict each other in a few spots. In the Bread Bible she says never to add salt until right before kneading, since it supposedly kills yeast. The Bakers Companion says it doesn't really matter when you add the salt, and usually has you mix all the dry ingredients together at once, before adding liquid and mixing, kneading, etc. Most of their recipes don't mention an autolyse, either, whereas Beranbaum gives almost every dough in her book a 20 minute rest before kneading. Is there a correct answer here or is it all just preference?
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Jan 30, 2012 02:43
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Honey Badger posted:Are there any simple guidelines for using real spices for foods? I'm stuck with whatever I can cook in a crockpot or microwave right now, so obviously I am using the crockpot a hell of a lot. Unfortunately, drat near every single crock pot recipe I come across is a) unhealthy as poo poo and b) full of terrible pre-mixed poo poo like onion soup powder, chili mix, gravy mix, cream of mushroom soup, etc. You might try searching for "braised (beef/pork/chicken/etc.) recipes" instead of "crockpot recipes." In my experience, this yields better tasting, less-processed food. They will usually be written for a higher temp in the oven but can also be done in the crockpot at a longer time (6-8 hours?).
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Jan 30, 2012 04:34
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Honey Badger posted:Are there any good resources for recipes like this? Seems like a crockpot should be able to do a lot of different things but all I ever find are disgusting bubba chili, pot roast, and "barbeque" recipes. I made this black bean soup earlier (it was actually linked previously in the thread) and thoroughly enjoyed it: http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/01/black-bean-soup-toasted-cumin-seed-crema/. It says to brown the vegetables first, but that's probably not 100% necessary if you don't have the ability right now, just throw in the chopped up vegetables. The rest is slow-cooker only. The only "canned" ingredient is the chipotles en adobo, but that doesn't really count because they may be hard to find not canned, and it's only a tiny amount anyway. This makes a lot though, especially for 1 person. If you are interested in using real spices, whole spices are definitely a good investment (if you have a way to grind them). They'll last longer and be more flavorful. Edit: You mentioned "flavor spice powder". If you're concerned about that, stay away from things labeled "seasoning", they usually are salt with spice added. Most ground up spices or whole spices won't contain salt. If it's just "ground cumin" or something like that it probably won't have salt. Edit2: While I'm editing my post with more advice, I'd suggest also making chicken stock in your crock pot. You can put in some cheap chicken parts with some vegetables for a while and have a less-processed chicken stock for soups and other things. Eeyo fucked around with this message at 04:53 on Jan 30, 2012 |
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Jan 30, 2012 04:46
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Does sriracha sauce need to be refrigerated after opening? It doesn't explicitly say it on the bottle, and I've thrown it in my fridge anyways (better safe, etc.), but I'd like to know for sure, as I'm only used to sauces/condiments needing refrigeration. Especially since not everything in our local asian mart has english text.
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Jan 30, 2012 06:27
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Mister Macys posted:Does sriracha sauce need to be refrigerated after opening? Depends on how quickly you use it. It degrades faster at room temp.
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Jan 30, 2012 07:36
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The Sriracha won't really go "bad" (i.e. rot) but it will definitely lose its zing faster when not refrigerated.
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Jan 30, 2012 14:46
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I'm thinking of getting a meat slicer for the bacon I've made and whatever else I might make in future. What should I go for?
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Jan 30, 2012 15:39
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If you don't refrigerate Sriracha (at least the Huy Fong squeeze bottles) then sometimes gas builds up in them and a crust forms over the hole in the cocksauce nozzle. If one does not exercise caution when opening the spout, this can result in an eye full of chili sauce.
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Jan 30, 2012 15:45
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Very Strange Things posted:If you don't refrigerate Sriracha (at least the Huy Fong squeeze bottles) then sometimes gas builds up in them and a crust forms over the hole in the cocksauce nozzle. I find the crust builds up even in the refrigerator.
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Jan 30, 2012 16:13
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a handful of dust posted:Breadgoons: In regards to salt killing yeast, I've not heard that before and I can't think of any bread recipes that asked me to add it after the rest of the dough comes together. That being said, most yeast bread recipes have you start with warm water and yeast (and sometimes sugar) in a separate bowl to "wake up" the yeast, so adding salt there might impede growth/kill it off. Almost every bread recipe I can recall states to let the dough rest for a little while before kneading. I don't know the real answer why, so for me I just say tradition. There is probably a scientastic reason, but I don't know it.
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Jan 30, 2012 16:32
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I know that if cheese gets moldy, it's perfectly fine to cut off the moldy and eat the cheese. But what about cream cheese, are the rules different because it's so soft? My opened block of cream cheese has a dime-sized patch of blue/green mold on it. Is it safe to eat if I eat around the mold? I hope you guys say yes because I already ate a bunch of it.
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Jan 30, 2012 16:35
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