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I am making Lasagne for A GIRL on Sunday, is there any better recipe out there than the one in The Silver Spoon? (I have the book) Not looking for anything mind blowing, just a nice, tasty Lasagne.
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May 10, 2012 21:45
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What are cool things to do with cauliflower?
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May 10, 2012 21:52
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Roast it. Or boil and puree it with the water it boiled in for soup. Or puree it without the water and serve your protein on top of it.
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May 10, 2012 21:55
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Nifty posted:What are cool things to do with cauliflower? Soup with cheese and potatoes. Curry, for instance aloo gobi. Cook and puree. Slice thin and make a gratin. Make pakora. Sautee with garlic, capers, and finish with lemon. Grate and treat like cous cous. off the top of my head.
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May 10, 2012 21:55
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Stalizard posted:The sharpmaker is used for sharpening knives, rather than honing them. It's a completely foolproof way to take the dullest knife and make it shaving sharp in just a few minutes, and it doesn't completely destroy your blade like one of those drag through a V sharpeners. I'll try this again, I usually wash with ajax but I guess I should be rubbing together.
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May 10, 2012 21:56
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Nifty posted:What are cool things to do with cauliflower? Mash it with some other vegetable or by itself. Use some salt and lots of pepper if its by itself
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May 10, 2012 22:00
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Dead Goon posted:I am making Lasagne for A GIRL on Sunday, is there any better recipe out there than the one in The Silver Spoon? (I have the book) Silver spoon is very good, generally with pasta dishes the best way to improve them is with fresh pasta. That's why I love the silver spoon version. If I had a pasta roller I'd make it more often seeing as doing it all by hand is so frustrating.
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May 10, 2012 22:00
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HClChicken posted:Silver spoon is very good, generally with pasta dishes the best way to improve them is with fresh pasta. That's why I love the silver spoon version. If I had a pasta roller I'd make it more often seeing as doing it all by hand is so frustrating. Nice one, thank you. I was gonna give fresh pasta a try so hopefully it turns out well!
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May 10, 2012 22:29
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Nifty posted:What are cool things to do with cauliflower? I haven't run into a Brassica that doesn't work in kimchi, and it ain't for lack of trying.
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May 11, 2012 00:38
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Nifty posted:What are cool things to do with cauliflower? Cut into smallish pieces (2 bites or so per piece), blanch briefly, dip in seasoned flour then egg wash then bread crumbs, and deep fry. For ultimate central European authenticity, serve with tartar sauce and shaved raw onion. Personally I like it on its own or with a squeeze of lemon juice on top.
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May 11, 2012 01:03
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Merou posted:Sometimes I get it, but it has to be really simple. Like a bit of salt sprinkled ontop of chocolate chip cookies. I get that. Seasoning a piece of meat I don't know what the gently caress is happening. The more seasoning the more confused I get. Do you smoke? Do you have any allergies or problems that impact your sense of smell or taste? Any of these could dramatically alter your interaction with spices and seasonings to the point that you won't get much out of these things. If you have a pretty normal sense of smell and taste then the suggestions in starting small and trying things out one by one are great. A lot of the experience of eating is bound up in how food smells and many of these strong spices add a huge amount of scent - that's their trick. Now, when do you use basil or oregano or thyme? What about marjoram or coriander or savory? Aw man, who the hell knows? That's what you're asking but for me I found that starting out by following recipes carefully and noticing how much of any particular item they used got me thinking about what was considered appropriate for the dish. Then I'd make it again and try using more or less of the same. Sometimes it was good, sometimes bad. Go ahead and try things out, cooking is wonderful fun.
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May 11, 2012 02:08
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Last night, I made vangi bhat from Julie Sahni's Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking, which is spicy eggplant and rice. Since I've only done a tiny bit of Indian cooking, I followed the recipe fairly closely. I've got a question about the first cooking step, the tarka. Sahni doesn't name it as such, but I saved one of dino.'s posts about this (see below). However, when making the vangi bhat, I followed Sahni's directions: I heated up sesame oil to medium-high heat, then simultaneously added black mustard seeds and black cumin. The seeds popped but not vigorously, and took nearly 4 minutes to do so! Was the oil not hot enough? Or did the actual choice of oil interfere with the splattering? She recommended a mild sesame oil, but I didn't want to buy another bottle of oil when I already had toasted sesame oil (Japanese, according to the bottle). I also cooked it in the only cooking vessel I own large enough to accommodate the full recipe, a 5.5 quart enameled dutch oven. Perhaps I should have followed dino.'s post (bolding mine) from the thread about eating well without lots of money: dino. posted:In a wok or large skillet, heat the oil over highest heat. When the oil shimmers and moves around the pan easily, sprinkle in the mustard seed evenly across the surface of the oil, and STEP BACK. The mustard seeds will pop, and try to escape the pan. This is normal. To corral them in, slap on a splatter guard or the lid for the pot. Wait about 15 - 30 seconds for the popping noise to subside, and add the cumin seeds. Stir lightly for 15 seconds, and add the sesame seeds, the pinch or two of turmeric, and the chopped vegetables. Stir well. If you take too long to add your chopped vegetables, the sesame seeds will fly all over your kitchen, and the turmeric will burn, as will the rest of the spices. Be quick about it, and you're fine. Still tasted AMAZING though, so fragrant and spicy, especially with the homemade curry powder!
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May 11, 2012 19:25
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Steve Yun posted:1) Either, 2) either, 3) umm... up to intermediate level I guess? Okay, is this a dish that is to be served to a lot of people? Or as a part of a potluck or similar?
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May 11, 2012 21:35
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Everyone in the class is making a dish
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May 11, 2012 22:05
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I've got a request for people who are better at cooking than I am. I love southern style chicken and dumplings. Right now mine involves cooking a chicken in water with mirepoix and whatever herbs I feel like that day. I use a cheese cloth bag for the vegetables so they're easy to remove with the chicken afterward, and then I thicken the broth with roux. Dumplings are a simple biscuit dough turned into thicken glutenous noodles. I want to make this the best possible chicken and dumplings, but I really don't know how I should go about gussying it up. I've tried pan frying the dumplings for some extra flavor, but it didn't seem to do much. I've tried various herbs and that adds some complexity, but beyond that I'm kind of lost. My idea right now to make it better is to just make the components separately. This means baking the dumplings a little for color, making a legit veloute, and roasting the chicken with some kind of herb but I'm not sure what. I want the star flavors to be chicken and black pepper in a creamy sauce with a dumpling of some kind. And at the end of the day, to me, it's like chili in that more effort with ingredients results in a better final product. Is this all I can do? Can I get some suggestions as far as little boosts I can give it to push this dumb dish I love into something more interesting?
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May 12, 2012 18:56
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So I picked up this half chicken because it looked tasty as hell and was on special: http://i.imgur.com/LHr1Z.jpg However I don't know how to cook it (there were no cooking instructions on it). How would I go about baking it in the oven?
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May 12, 2012 19:26
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Yehudis Basya posted:Last night, I made vangi bhat from Julie Sahni's Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking, which is spicy eggplant and rice. Since I've only done a tiny bit of Indian cooking, I followed the recipe fairly closely. Couple of things to note: Indian sesame oil should NEVER be substituted with any other sesame oil. It's got a very particular flavour, and any other sesame oil will overpower the final taste, especially smoked sesame oil. If you don't have it, use regular cooking oil (canola, peanut, corn, etc), and add a few drops of the smoked stuff at the very end to give the flavour of the sesame. Til oil (also called "gingelly oil") which is Indian sesame oil, will stand up to more heat than the Japanese stuff. Smoked sesame oil's flavour is extremely powerful, and it doesn't care for high heats. I wish I'd explained this more in detail at some other point. If I haven't, let me say it now: don't trust anyone asking you to do a tarka that involves mustard seeds with any other fat except a high-heat fat. My sister-in-law uses Indian sesame oil for her cooking, and I frequently dislike the amount of smoke that her tarka produces. It shouldn't smoke that much. However, she feels like the sesame oil gives better flavour, and doesn't care about the masses of smoke. I prefer to have an oil that can stand up to the heat, and then add the sesame oil for flavouring at the end, which is what it's best suited for doing in the first place. Second. In most South Indian cooking, you don't cook the actual sesame oil itself, as the South Indian tarka involves mustard seed, which requires very high heat to pop sufficiently. North Indians, on the other hand, only have a passing acquaintance with mustard seed, which is why they tell you to do asinine things like heating up sesame oil for a tarka involving mustard seed, and adding both mustard seed and cumin seed at the same time. Mustard seed should always go first (when it's being used), and then anything else goes in, because they take so much longer to pop than any other seed. If they don't pop fully, the final dish turns out too strong and off-tasting. Finally, doing any kind of tarka over a medium high heat assumes that you've got a super powerful flame that's sitting underneath a fairly thin kadai (or wok). Trying that mess over medium with a giant hulking brute of an enamelled Dutch Oven is asking for the thing to take forever and a day. Whenever I or my mother are doing a South Indian type tarka, we'll put the pan over bare heat, while gathering the spices and the curry leaves, and giving the ginger a quick grate. Then, when the pan smokes, in with some fat, and lift off the heat. The fat of choice needs to be canola, peanut, or corn. It needs to be able to stand up to very high heat. Then, in with mustard seeds, swirl, and wait for about 10 - 30 seconds; swirl again. They will splutter, they will pop, and get all over the place. It's fine. Put the pan back on the stove. Then in with any other spice, like cumin, coriander, asafoetida, etc. Then in with the curry leaves. Then in with the ginger. FINALLY now you can add any powdered spices, like turmeric, paprika, ground red chile, etc. Why? Because the aromatics prevent the powdered spices from burning. Bla bla more than one way to make a tarka, bla bla differences of opinion. There is a right way and the North Indian way to do things. :P dino. fucked around with this message at 22:01 on May 12, 2012 |
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May 12, 2012 21:58
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Thank you SO much, dino.! I've got some follow up questions if that's okay...dino. posted:doing any kind of tarka over a medium high heat assumes that you've got a super powerful flame that's sitting underneath a fairly thin kadai (or wok). Trying that mess over medium with a giant hulking brute of an enamelled Dutch Oven is asking for the thing to take forever and a day.  Do you recommend obtaining a stainless steel pan that's 5-6 quarts in size with a lid that's also NOT heavy-bottomed? I guess I'm nervous about getting something without a heavy bottom because I'm imagining burning rice or something. I'm probably just being stupid. dino. posted:Whenever I or my mother are doing a South Indian type tarka, we'll put the pan over bare heat, while gathering the spices and the curry leaves, and giving the ginger a quick grate. Then, when the pan smokes, in with some fat, and lift off the heat. The fat of choice needs to be canola, peanut, or corn. It needs to be able to stand up to very high heat. Then, in with mustard seeds, swirl, and wait for about 10 - 30 seconds; swirl again. They will splutter, they will pop, and get all over the place. It's fine. Put the pan back on the stove. dino. posted:Put the pan back on the stove. Then in with any other spice, like cumin, coriander, asafoetida, etc. Then in with the curry leaves. Then in with the ginger. FINALLY now you can add any powdered spices, like turmeric, paprika, ground red chile, etc. Why? Because the aromatics prevent the powdered spices from burning. Thank you again for your help and, more importantly, patience. It must seem so simple and obvious to you! The next dish I want to try is tandoo kootoo, which Sahni describes as "Tanjore Broccoli and Mung Bean Stew with Coconut"- I've got nearly all the ingredients already, so it seems a sensible choice.
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May 12, 2012 23:29
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Does anyone know of a food grade glue that can bond metal to plastic and can survive a hot and humid(as in steam) environment? The knob on one of my lids came off and it seems like the screw won't secure it alone.
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May 13, 2012 02:28
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Slightly bigger screw?
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May 13, 2012 02:31
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First and foremost, never feel shy or ashamed of asking questions. The reason it seems so natural and "obvious" to me is because I've been watching my mother do this sort of thing since I was old enough to toddle, and spent hours upon countless hours in her kitchen with her, cooking the entire time. She was trusting me to make meals for the family by the time I was in middle school, and this is a woman who's known far and wide for having exacting standards of taste. If you feel the need to ask more questions, it's because I haven't managed to explain myself clearly enough, so my apologies for that. If there's anything you think of, and you want to poke me personally, just shoot off an email to altveg@me.com and I'll do my best from there as well. quote:1) Alright, I won't use the Dutch oven monster again! The thing with tarka is that you can ostensibly use any pot or pan you have in the house. I've even used cast iron to great results. If you're using a big hulking brute of a pot that takes a long time to have temperature adjustments go through, you'll just need to preheat it more. Let's try this. Suppose I have a tiny little tarka pan. It'll be about 3 - 6 inches in diameter, and hold a total of about 1 cup. I'd put the stove on high flame, pop the tarka pan on, and get to work immediately, because it's going to heat up within seconds of touching the flame. I can easily control the pan itself, because it's faster to move the physical pan than to fiddle with the gas. So, to prevent the fat or the spices from burning, I'd move the pan further away or closer to the flame. That's how I'd control the heat. Suppose I have a wok, or wide shallow skillet with decent handle. Suppose it's got a standard bottom for a wok or fry pan. We're not talking super thin, like the dollar store pans, but not super thick like cast iron. I can actually control the heat of the pot by adjusting the level of the flame, and to lesser extent, the electric stove. If I've got the heat so hot that the fat is smoking (specifically, the canola or peanut oil, that is), then I know the stove is on way too high, and I adjust the heat down. However, if I miscalculate my proficiency with my speed, and am moving too slowly, and need to cool down in a hurry, I can lift the whole entire pot off the stove, and move it to a cool spot for a bit to chill out. Because of the medium heat, it's equally efficacious to move the heat or to move the pot. Suppose I have a big monster dutch oven. I know that the pot is not suited to quick changes in temperature either from moving it or from fiddling with the heat. In this case, I will want to err on the side of caution, and heat it up just shy of full blast, so that I can increase the flame if necessary, without risking a burnt mess. I would start the flame at like 7 (out of a possible 10), and let the pot preheat while I gather my ingredients. I pour in the fat, and swirl it around. If it starts smoking copiously and immediately, I've got problems, and need to dump out the fat, drop down the heat, and start over. If, however, when I add the fat, the fat just kind of sits there, and spreads out only slowly, my pot is too cold, and I'll need to let the temperature of the fat and pot increase to the point where the fat is shimmering and almost smoking. This is OK. It'll take a bit, but it'll get there evenutally. I'll increase the flame to a 9 while the fat gets hot. If it's still taking forever for the fat to get hot, I'll crank it up all the way. If my fat isn't hot still, I'll crank up the heat to full blast, and cover the lid for about 30 seconds. At that point, my fat will be hot, and I'll be able to proceed. With a dutch oven, you want the fat and pot to reach temperature before anything happens, because it doesn't like rapid adjustments in temperature. That is, if you want to drop down the temperature rapidly, you need to add more aromatics or water. This isn't necessarily possible or feasible during the tarka. For that reason, you fiddle with the temperatures, and get them just so before adding your spices. That being said, once you're used to your stove and pot arrangement, it becomes a matter of moments with adjusting either variable. It's just more complicated to explain when I can't show you in person. quote:2) So let the mustard seeds pop while the pan ISN'T actively on the burner? The trick about removing the pot from the stove was passed on to me by a friend who used to watch me make my tarka for about two years, and wonder why hers never came out like mine. She finally realised that whenever I make my own, I always pull the pot from the heat just before adding the mustard seeds, which is why mine never burned. Once she cottoned on to that, she told me that I do it without realising, and that I wasn't including that step when explaining to others. quote:If the pan isn't heavy-bottomed, then it seems like heat will be lost too quickly and the mustard seeds won't have sufficient time to do their thing. Along those lines, it is to be expected that the actual sputtering/popping process can take more than 30 seconds? Oh my god I am such an idiot, I am so sorry. quote:3) When adding the cumin, coriander, etc., do you add those one at a time, or is it okay to dump them all in at once? quote:Thank you again for your help and, more importantly, patience. It must seem so simple and obvious to you! The next dish I want to try is tandoo kootoo, which Sahni describes as "Tanjore Broccoli and Mung Bean Stew with Coconut"- I've got nearly all the ingredients already, so it seems a sensible choice. Also, the huge adjustments in temperature are a few degrees here and there. We're not talking about enormous changes, but rather subtleties that most people never bother paying attention to. I've paid attention to them, because I had to when I took on that fool project of writing a cookery book.
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May 13, 2012 03:06
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You're amazing, dino. I can't possibly thank you enough for sharing your experience and knowledge; you've completely destroyed every other food author I am aware of when it comes to explaining this stuff.
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May 13, 2012 03:44
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Aw, shucks. To be fair, most other food authors don't get to talk directly with people, and have a back-and-forth interaction that lets them explain everything. Please, let me know if you have better luck in future.
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May 13, 2012 03:48
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PhazonLink posted:Does anyone know of a food grade glue that can bond metal to plastic and can survive a hot and humid(as in steam) environment? Put a lock washer on http://www.mcmaster.com/#belleville-disc-springs/=hifcv5.
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May 13, 2012 06:38
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I wanna make (flour) torilla chips from scratch. I've got normal baking stuff and good whole wheat flour... where do I go from here?
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May 13, 2012 08:11
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Cyril Sneer posted:So I picked up this half chicken because it looked tasty as hell and was on special: That does look good! Just to be sure: it's raw meat still, right? If so, and as its already seasoned: stick it in a preheated oven at 360-380 F for 30(-40) minutes
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May 13, 2012 10:18
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mustermark posted:I wanna make (flour) torilla chips from scratch. I've got normal baking stuff and good whole wheat flour... where do I go from here? Next step is buy a tortilla press. I don't have a tortilla recipe personally, I just follow my fiancee's grandmother and buy White Wings. Also after you have homemade tortillas you may never buy another tortilla.
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May 13, 2012 14:24
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Do people use a press for flour tortillas? I always roll them with a rolling pin because the press doesn't make them thin enough. I use the press for corn tortillas and smashing other things though.
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May 13, 2012 16:11
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Okay, this seems like the best place to ask. I have family in my house, and a bottle of vodka. There is condensation in the bottle of vodka (40%/80 proof). Is this because some jerk family member put water in it, and thought that would let them get away with drinking it? I got two different answers googling, and I don't know which are idiot teenagers trying to fool parents or not. One saying water, one saying a more concentrated vodka. Which is right?
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May 13, 2012 16:32
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I'm baking this cake for my mom today. it says to add a package of chocolate pudding mix, but the box of the devil's food cake mix I got claims to have pudding in it already. Should I add the extra package of pudding anyways, or is that somehow going to ruin the cake? Normally I would throw it in there and see what happens, but I don't want to screw this up.
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May 13, 2012 17:10
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mustermark posted:I wanna make (flour) torilla chips from scratch. I've got normal baking stuff and good whole wheat flour... where do I go from here? 2 3/4 cups (3/4 lbs) flour 5 tbsp fat 3/4 tsp salt ~3/4 cup warm water Mix the flour and the fat, then the salt and the water, and add the salted water to the flourfat until everything's damp (you might not need all the water). Knead until smooth then let it rest for half an hour. Split it up into 12 portions, roll them out, then stick them on a hot griddle. Flip them over when the bubbles that form have started to brown (ideally 30-45 seconds) then cook them another 30-45 seconds. Then you can cut them up, salt them, stick them in the oven, and bake them into chips. Possibly you can just make them into chips when first cooking them by keeping the griddle at a lower heat and cooking for longer but I have no idea.
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May 13, 2012 17:13
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You need to griddle fry whole to set the dough, then cut into wedges and deep fry for chips
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May 13, 2012 17:33
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FishBulb posted:Do people use a press for flour tortillas? I always roll them with a rolling pin because the press doesn't make them thin enough. I use the press for corn tortillas and smashing other things though. I prefer them thicker like that and it's what my fiancee's mexican grandmother does, which is as close to legit tortilla info as I can get personally.
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May 13, 2012 17:36
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I just like them really thin and grew up on them that way (southern California) do I guess it's just personal preference.
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May 13, 2012 17:48
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Zira posted:Okay, this seems like the best place to ask. I have a dozen bottles of hard liquor and none of them have condensation. Not conclusive, but I'd be suspicious.
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May 13, 2012 19:08
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Zira posted:Okay, this seems like the best place to ask. Shake it up and Put it in the freezer. If it freezes or gets slushy it is suspect. 80 proof liquor should not freeze and should just get viscous at freezer temps. FishBulb posted:I just like them really thin and grew up on them that way (southern California) do I guess it's just personal preference. Paper thin chips are a sign of machine made. Thicker usually means hand made. Like you said its a matter of opinion, but I'm partial to the more robust texture of a thick chip. GrAviTy84 fucked around with this message at 19:36 on May 13, 2012 |
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May 13, 2012 19:34
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GrAviTy84 posted:Paper thin chips are a sign of machine made. Thicker usually means hand made. Like you said its a matter of opinion, but I'm partial to the more robust texture of a thick chip. I'm not talking about chips, I'm talking about tortillas, I was just curious if people were able to get really thin tortillas with a press since I haven't had much luck. I guess that guy was asking about chips though. Still, I would prefer a thin chip too.
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May 13, 2012 19:41
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Zira posted:I have family in my house, and a bottle of vodka. There is condensation in the bottle of vodka (40%/80 proof). Is this because some jerk family member put water in it, and thought that would let them get away with drinking it? Speaking as a former jerk teen, someone has adulterated your vodka. Gravity84's method of throwing the vodka in the freezer is also an excellent test.
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May 13, 2012 19:41
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Anyone have a really good crabcake recipe?
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May 13, 2012 21:01
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Halalelujah posted:Anyone have a really good crabcake recipe? Doesn't exist. 
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May 13, 2012 21:05
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