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nielsm posted:Get some bacon. Packs of bacon ends. Not the best bacon, but really if you are not needing it is perfect strips, the end packs are awesome. I love bacon.
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Jul 30, 2012 19:13
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neogeo0823 posted:Crap! I just realized that the beef stew thread I bookmarked, which had an amazing recipe, has apparently fallen off the bottom of the board! gently caress, I can't even find the print out of the recipe I had. I'm gonna really miss that stew. I'm looking at it right now, which recipe do you want copied? The O.P., Kenyan? Edit: About to head to work, have the recipe from the O.P. CuddleChunks posted:Upgraded Beef Stew 2.0 - Enterprise Edition Butch Cassidy fucked around with this message at 19:31 on Jul 30, 2012 |
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Jul 30, 2012 19:17
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Butch Cassidy posted:I'm looking at it right now, which recipe do you want copied? The O.P., Kenyan? gently caress. Yes. That is the one right there. I've had that recipe exactly as-is and it's absolutely amazing! The beef stock base is a bit expensive, but you can easily make 3 or 4 batches of stew with one jar. Everything else is stuff you should generally have anyway.
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Jul 30, 2012 19:38
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OK, my stew looked absolutely disgusting. Like, if someone else were to have cooked this and served it to me I'm not sure if I would have eaten it. That said, it didn't taste bad though, a bit bland, I think from the water cause it didn't do anything. Next time I'll try with less carrots because it seemed really crowded there, maybe more meat too (used 0.5 kg). I added cut up potatoes at the end but I'm not sure if I'll do this again. So, next time, how do I make it more flavorful? Use beef broth I'm assuming? Dunno why I didn't think of doing that this time (we have the powdered kind, I'll keep it in mind to keep bones to make broth with but I don't really buy beef with bones that much (actually don't buy beef that much at all)). Also, how do I make it not look like poo poo?
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Jul 30, 2012 21:40
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Boris Galerkin posted:That said, it didn't taste bad though, a bit bland, I think from the water cause it didn't do anything. Next time I'll try with less carrots because it seemed really crowded there, maybe more meat too (used 0.5 kg). I added cut up potatoes at the end but I'm not sure if I'll do this again. Did you salt? Sounds like you didn't salt aggressively enough. Also, ~1 lb of meat for a whole stew is almost nothing. Should be closer to ~5lb, depending on vessel size of course. More beef, more fond, bones, more salt will all give you a more flavorful stew. More bones will give you more gelatin, too, which will make your broth look less watery and more glazey. You can also assist this by building a roux on the fat.
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Jul 30, 2012 21:50
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It's a stew. It's never going to win the Dinner I'd Put My Dick In 2012 award. That said, how exactly did it look awful? Was it watery, fatty, purpley, did it curl and writhe into obscene shapes as it lay on your plate? As for flavour, do what other people have suggested and save vegetable scraps to make stock. Next time buy some slow-cooking beef on the bone like shin or something and use the bone and scraps to make stock first. Also, add your potatoes a bit earlier. Also also, are you seasoning with salt and pepper or adding herbs? e: roux is also a very good idea.
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Jul 30, 2012 21:53
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Anyone have some good bean recipes? I was out of town for a couple weeks, and when I got back my husband's grocery shopping had consisted almost entirely of canned beans. Related, here's a realy simple chickpea recipe that I like: 1 can chickpeas 1/2 red onion 1/2 green bell pepper 1 small hot pepper salt, pepper, cilantro, curry powder, garlic, etc to taste Cut the onion and pepper thin. Saute them in a little oil. When they're about done, add the can of chick peas and the seasonings. Cook until the chickpeas are done.
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Aug 8, 2012 17:19
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pile of brown posted:do up a bunch of mise en place for a slaw (cabbage, onions, shredded carrot, rice noodles) I admit I'm kind of intrigued by noodles in slaw (although I loving hate coleslaw in the first place), but that isn't mise en place. Mise en place refers to having all your gear where you need it to be before you start cooking, which makes the whole process a lot easier and more foolproof as you're not going to be missing something vital during a delicate process.
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Aug 8, 2012 19:53
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redmercer posted:I admit I'm kind of intrigued by noodles in slaw (although I loving hate coleslaw in the first place), but that isn't mise en place. Mise en place also isn't very good for individual preparation. If you're cooking for less than 40 people, clean as you prep. Mise en place is more for if you're making many many of the same dishes at different times. Also, you need a ton of containers to really set up a good mise station.
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Aug 8, 2012 23:19
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Mise isn't just for when you're cooking for 40. Having your mise is also important for things like stir fry, where once you start you can't stop and do more prep. It's also useful when you're following a recipe with many ingredients, or making multiple dishes. In short, get your poo poo together before anything hits the heat.
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Aug 8, 2012 23:32
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Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:Mise isn't just for when you're cooking for 40. Having your mise is also important for things like stir fry, where once you start you can't stop and do more prep. It's also useful when you're following a recipe with many ingredients, or making multiple dishes. My bad, I was thinking of the more industrial mise setups where you have a bajillion containers full of pre-diced onions, garlic, shallots, herbs, stock etc.
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Aug 8, 2012 23:35
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Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:In short, get your poo poo together before anything hits the heat. This x100. I have found that having everything prepped and ready to go enables me to concentrate on what I am actually cooking, as opposed to madly chopping things with one eye on the stove. Years ago when I was young and had cable, I always thought it was just a TV chef thing to have all of the ingredients per-measured and ready to go in cute little bowls. Now I realize that poo poo helps a ton and should be done whenever possible. Might generate more dishes but drat does it help me focus on the food.
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Aug 8, 2012 23:48
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miryei posted:Anyone have some good bean recipes? My roommate and I have been trying to make our own Pinto beans and just cant get it right, there's just not much flavor. Does anyone have some recipes?
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Aug 9, 2012 00:20
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KoB posted:My roommate and I have been trying to make our own Pinto beans and just cant get it right, there's just not much flavor. Does anyone have some recipes? What do you want them to taste like?
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Aug 9, 2012 00:22
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KoB posted:My roommate and I have been trying to make our own Pinto beans and just cant get it right, there's just not much flavor. Does anyone have some recipes? What have you tried so far?
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Aug 9, 2012 00:43
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GrAviTy84 posted:What have you tried so far? Onion powder, chili powder, bacon fat, salt/pepper, and a few other things I cant remember without being at home, just some other spices.
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Aug 9, 2012 00:49
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switch out onion powder for real onions, switch out chile powder for real chiles. Mince them and saute in a generous amount of oil (or lard/baco fat) (no salt yet!) before adding the soaked beans. Cover with the appropriate amount of water and cook or pressure cook until completely tender, you can add a bay leaf or two if you want, too. When completely tender, I like to mash a few for texture. Then stir up the mash and beans and reduce to the desired texture. You then will have to salt very aggressively. Starches and beans need a lot of salt. I'm willing to bet that the majority of your earlier problems was not enough salt.
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Aug 9, 2012 00:55
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In a related note, if you're buying a lot of bulk dried beans know that that some kinds of beans (eg kidney and related) become harder and harder to soften as they get old, even when fully cooked. I've boiled old beans all drat day and they stayed hard little nuggets. Edible, but still... Either make sure you're using new beans or use a pressure cooker - I've never used one but supposedly the higher temps they reach will tenderize even the most ancient of beans (and cook them much faster, too). Or you can grind old beans to a powder and add to soups, breads, etc. for added body, nutrition, and flavor.
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Aug 9, 2012 02:56
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Bacon fat isn't all that flavorful when it comes to flavoring starches. You actually need a bit of the bacon bits, not just the grease to get the nice bacony tang. I'm not sure how cheap it is in your area, but I can get rendered duck fat, pork fat and beef suet at the local farmers market and those go a long way toward flavoring dishes. Also, one of the cheapest, most drastic improvements to taste can be done by upgrading your salt. Switch to sea salt, or himalayan pink, or whatever exotic salt you can find or be bothered to buy. The taste difference between good salt and Morton's is immense. Same applies for peppercorns, but those are a bit more expensive .
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Aug 10, 2012 01:25
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I love this thread. I know it's come up a lot already, but can anyone give me basically an idiot's guide to making rice and beans, with no details spared? I've had very little success so far (sad I know).
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Aug 10, 2012 01:46
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the last signal... posted:I love this thread. I know it's come up a lot already, but can anyone give me basically an idiot's guide to making rice and beans, with no details spared? I've had very little success so far (sad I know). Do you have a ricecooker? That makes rice significantly easier, and you can get a great one for $30 on Amazon. One of the best $30 I've ever spent. As for beans, the key is to soak them for a long time. Buy fresher beans if you can, if not just soak them to oblivion. Boil beans in stock if you're feeling fancy, heavily salted water if not. Sautee onions and or chilis to taste first, then add animal fat of some sort. Lard works great if you can afford the calories. Drain the beans thoroughly, introduce to other ingredients. Cook down to desired texture.
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Aug 10, 2012 01:52
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the last signal... posted:I love this thread. I know it's come up a lot already, but can anyone give me basically an idiot's guide to making rice and beans, with no details spared? I've had very little success so far (sad I know). Rice without a rice cooker: Put rice in the pot. Put almost twice as much water as you did rice (I'll fill a mug with rice, then fill it almost twice with water). Turn the stove on high. Add any flavorings you want (rice by itself is really boring) Combinations of chicken stock, salt, and butter work well as fairly neutral flavors. Stir in anything you decide to add. As soon as the water starts to boil, put a lid on the pot and turn the heat down as low as it will go--not necessarily the lowest numbered setting, but as low as it goes without clicking off. Go wander off for ~20 minutes. Come back, and the rice should be done.
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Aug 10, 2012 02:28
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miryei posted:Rice without a rice cooker: I cannot stress this enough. Soak/wash your rice thoroughly. The starchy dust on the outside is what burns when you use a regular pot. With a rice cooker this is less of an issue, but WASH YOUR RICE THOROUGHLY.
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Aug 10, 2012 02:36
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miryei posted:Put almost twice as much water as you did rice (I'll fill a mug with rice, then fill it almost twice with water). I've found the best water/rice ratio is 1.5 cups water to 1 cup of white rice, or 2 cups water to 1 cup brown rice.
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Aug 10, 2012 02:38
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Also, if you have the time/cooktop space, learn to make your own broths. Buy an old hen or a stock chicken. Stick in a giant pot. Slice a small amount of ginger, about the size of a two quarters. Cover with water. Simmer on low for half an hour to 45 minutes. Take the chicken out, strip the meat. Chuck the carcass back into the stockpot. Simmer another three hours. Take out the carcass. Add two or three pinches of salt. Simmer until you get bored of simmering. Let cool, pour into refrigerator safe container. Stick in fridge, skim off the fat when the fat has solidified. If you want to be really fancy, you can use an egg white raft to clarify the stock. http://culinaryalchemist.blogspot.com/2011/03/commensing-clarification-chicken.html Making your own stock only takes a burner and a minute amount of attention, but the flavor difference with canned or boxed stock is worlds apart.
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Aug 10, 2012 02:45
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The Tinfoil Price posted:Lard works great if you can afford the calories. But lard isn't actually less healthy than butter and stuff, right? I thought that was a lie propagated by Big Udder.
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Aug 10, 2012 02:55
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Mescal posted:But lard isn't actually less healthy than butter and stuff, right? I thought that was a lie propagated by Big Udder. It's not less healthy, it's simply more calorie dense. If you're trying to cut weight, every calorie counts (okay not really, but it's more of a habit building thing).
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Aug 10, 2012 03:00
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The Tinfoil Price posted:It's not less healthy, it's simply more calorie dense. If you're trying to cut weight, every calorie counts (okay not really, but it's more of a habit building thing). I usually use less animal fat than butter for an equivalent dish. Since I cook by taste instead of to recipes. It's like butter vs. cream cheese--cream cheese has a lot less fat than butter, but you use a ton more of it. I think lard is more healthy than butter, because butter is tasteless in comparison. So you'll end up using less of it since a little bit is flavorful.
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Aug 10, 2012 03:35
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Mescal posted:I usually use less animal fat than butter for an equivalent dish. Since I cook by taste instead of to recipes. It's like butter vs. cream cheese--cream cheese has a lot less fat than butter, but you use a ton more of it. Spend some money on good butter. Check your local farmer's market. Pasture butter is amazingly flavorful.
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Aug 10, 2012 03:37
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The Tinfoil Price posted:Spend some money on good butter. Check your local farmer's market. Pasture butter is amazingly flavorful. Good advice and I'll try that, but this is the poor chef thread, and animal fat is free.
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Aug 10, 2012 03:49
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An observer posted:I've found the best water/rice ratio is 1.5 cups water to 1 cup of white rice, or 2 cups water to 1 cup brown rice. I've found it to be closer to 1.8/1 for white, and haven't figured out how to consistently cook brown yet. I supposed it depends on how you like your rice, though. My husband likes it slightly crunchy so he uses less water than I do.
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Aug 10, 2012 03:51
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Lemme figure out the logistics of mailing butter. We have a family friend who is a rancher that just left like 5 pounds of amazing pasture butter at home. I will gladly ship you a bar free of charge so you may taste the glory.
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Aug 10, 2012 03:52
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The Tinfoil Price posted:Lemme figure out the logistics of mailing butter. We have a family friend who is a rancher that just left like 5 pounds of amazing pasture butter at home. I will gladly ship you a bar free of charge so you may taste the glory. If you figure out how to do it, I would gladly take a bar as well. I'm extremely sick of the grocery store's cold, yellow oil.
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Aug 10, 2012 14:10
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KoB posted:My roommate and I have been trying to make our own Pinto beans and just cant get it right, there's just not much flavor. Does anyone have some recipes? My recipe for pinto beans: 1 bag of pinto beans (~1 lb I think) - pour out on cookie sheet, pick out the ROCKS, and soak overnight Next day, drain the pinto beans, put in a pressure cooker, cover with water plus a little more then add: 2-3 diced onions 4-5 diced garlic cloves 3 bay leaves 2-3 TBSP veg oil NO SALT YET Cook for ~20 minutes at full pressure. Pop open the top when it's had a chance to cool, add salt to taste. The bay leaves make it extra awesome. For extra extra awesome you can toss in one of those small cans of diced spicy green peppers that are near the refried beans in the grocery. This is a great base refried bean recipe and you can add a lot of random stuff too it. I eat this stuff for all meals, sometimes cold in first thing in the morning. It's delicious. Logiwonk fucked around with this message at 15:30 on Aug 10, 2012 |
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Aug 10, 2012 15:28
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The Tinfoil Price posted:Lemme figure out the logistics of mailing butter. We have a family friend who is a rancher that just left like 5 pounds of amazing pasture butter at home. I will gladly ship you a bar free of charge so you may taste the glory. Wait until the winter.
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Aug 10, 2012 16:09
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The Tinfoil Price posted:Lemme figure out the logistics of mailing butter. We have a family friend who is a rancher that just left like 5 pounds of amazing pasture butter at home. I will gladly ship you a bar free of charge so you may taste the glory. I am all about this when you figure it out. I think it will involve dry ice? Styrofoam?
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Aug 11, 2012 19:15
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The Tinfoil Price posted:I cannot stress this enough. Soak/wash your rice thoroughly. The starchy dust on the outside is what burns when you use a regular pot. To expand on this a bit: the more you wash the rice; the stickier it will be when it's done. So wash the heck out of it if you're molding riceballs or what have you.
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Aug 11, 2012 21:12
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redmercer posted:To expand on this a bit: the more you wash the rice; the stickier it will be when it's done. So wash the heck out of it if you're molding riceballs or what have you. What?  I thought it was the exact opposite. And here I was, wondering why my rice was sticking together so fervently when I tried to make fried rice.
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Aug 11, 2012 22:11
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neogeo0823 posted:What? Are you drying your rice?
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Aug 11, 2012 23:10
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In my experience, the best rice to use for fried rice is day-old, leftover rice kept in the refrigerator.
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Aug 11, 2012 23:16
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