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Bob Morales posted:Real butter, sugar and eggs are the most important ingredients to a cookie. I've tried a ton of vegan or alternative chocolate chip cookies and they're all missing taste, texture, or both. All this cookie talk and I wanted to weigh in, with the caveat that I don't bake cookies (currently). But I've eaten a lot of cookies and the best bakers I know, who supplied me with the best cookies, have all (ok, both) said that BUTTER was the secret ingredient. More specifically, real butter like you would get from some nearby Amish people, or from some place that is not FDA approved, or from those expensive sticks at the grocer that I think is imported from Ireland. They said that next-level cookies are not possible from over-the-counter butter.
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May 7, 2013 18:42
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Very Strange Things posted:All this cookie talk and I wanted to weigh in, with the caveat that I don't bake cookies (currently). But I've eaten a lot of cookies and the best bakers I know, who supplied me with the best cookies, have all (ok, both) said that BUTTER was the secret ingredient. More specifically, real butter like you would get from some nearby Amish people, or from some place that is not FDA approved, or from those expensive sticks at the grocer that I think is imported from Ireland. Fancier butter does make a nicer cookie sure but I've always found that a mixture of butter and lard works pretty close.
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May 7, 2013 19:00
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squigadoo posted:Eggs benedict questions: Shouldn't need to cut down the heat but also 2 things: 1. Don't crowd the pan, use a big thick pan and not too large of a pancake. 2. Don't make the pancake too thick. Too thin and it will burn but you'll be ok if you flip it fast, too thick and the center just gets mushy and oily.
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May 7, 2013 19:07
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I may be alone in this, but almost all my favorite cookie recipes call for shortening instead of butter (or I sub it, like in the Toll House recipe). Sugar cookies are really the only exception. I find cookies made with butter to be very heavy-tasting, and they brown a lot more, which is less appealing to me. Maybe I'm crazy, I don't know.
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May 7, 2013 19:13
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FishBulb posted:Fancier butter does make a nicer cookie sure but I've always found that a mixture of butter and lard works pretty close. When I've used the imported irish butter, it has made a tremendous difference. But the biggest difference I see between my cookies and those my wife or father makes, is that they don't cream the butter and sugar long enough. That's where most of the leavening for the cookie is coming in to play, in the form of air bubbles. If you don't do this, then you end up with flat cookies and I've even seen the butter break when it bakes and the cookie takes on a greasy texture. The corollary to this is once you add the flour, you just want to mix long enough to incorporate it. Too much mixing makes the dough dense again (why, I'm not sure) and you will once again have cookies of failure.
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May 7, 2013 19:58
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squigadoo posted:Eggs benedict questions: It is super hard to reheat hollandaise without breaking it. the exception is if you've stabilized it with something, then you might be ok. I used half or one percent xantham gum one time, and that worked really well and I was even able to reheat it in the microwave. But your best bet is to make blender hollandaise a la minute. Have everything ready to go, then its just a matter of microwaving your butter to melt it and assembling the sauce in the blender, which takes a minute or two.
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May 7, 2013 20:01
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Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:When I've used the imported irish butter, it has made a tremendous difference. But the biggest difference I see between my cookies and those my wife or father makes, is that they don't cream the butter and sugar long enough. That's where most of the leavening for the cookie is coming in to play, in the form of air bubbles. If you don't do this, then you end up with flat cookies and I've even seen the butter break when it bakes and the cookie takes on a greasy texture. The corollary to this is once you add the flour, you just want to mix long enough to incorporate it. Too much mixing makes the dough dense again (why, I'm not sure) and you will once again have cookies of failure. Yeah creaming is very important and creaming exactly right is one of those things you just have to do a few times to get a feel for it. All that is solid advice.
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May 7, 2013 20:50
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Breaky posted:Shouldn't need to cut down the heat but also 2 things: Great, thank you. Going to do one more test run before Sunday. I just wish I had a griddle so I could cook 3 pancakes at once instead of 1. Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:It is super hard to reheat hollandaise without breaking it. the exception is if you've stabilized it with something, then you might be ok. I used half or one percent xantham gum one time, and that worked really well and I was even able to reheat it in the microwave. But your best bet is to make blender hollandaise a la minute. Have everything ready to go, then its just a matter of microwaving your butter to melt it and assembling the sauce in the blender, which takes a minute or two. I just googled blender hollandaise and I will be trying this, thank you.
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May 7, 2013 20:57
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Affi posted:Bought three kilos of sweet potatoes on a sale. I've never used it before. What do I do with it? cube, boil for about 20 minutes, drain, add salt and pepper, butter and brown sugar, cook until they get fork-tender, dump into a casserole dish, top with crushed pecans + cinnamon and broil
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May 7, 2013 21:08
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Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:It is super hard to reheat hollandaise without breaking it. the exception is if you've stabilized it with something, then you might be ok.
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May 7, 2013 21:10
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If I mix Greek yogurt with self-rising flour and bake it, will I end up with ~biscuits or something bad?
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May 7, 2013 21:25
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Ron Don Volante posted:If I mix Greek yogurt with self-rising flour and bake it, will I end up with ~biscuits or something bad? You need more moisture and a lot more fat. And some salt. But you can kinda make drop biscuits with that approach.
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May 7, 2013 21:41
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Ron Don Volante posted:If I mix Greek yogurt with self-rising flour and bake it, will I end up with ~biscuits or something bad? I've made this and it was wonderful. Leave out the lemon if you like. As far as just yogurt and flour...you could make a tasty warm gruel, or boring flatbread.
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May 7, 2013 21:43
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I want to make beef and barley soup, basic plan is to saute the meat and veggies, deglaze with some red wine, but then should I add water or stock?
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May 7, 2013 22:09
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OtherworldlyInvader posted:I want to make beef and barley soup, basic plan is to saute the meat and veggies, deglaze with some red wine, but then should I add water or stock? Depends on the cut of beef you use and how deeply you brown it. If you add some cuts with bones and give it a nice deep browning you can use straight water. If it's just chuck it might be a bit thin on the palate.
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May 7, 2013 22:11
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Its going to be lean boneless meat this time, I'll go with the stock. Thanks!
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May 7, 2013 22:20
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GrAviTy84 posted:You need more moisture and a lot more fat. And some salt. But you can kinda make drop biscuits with that approach. I added a little bit of canola oil and some milk and baking powder and they ended up decent. Didn't get the biscuit texture though.
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May 7, 2013 23:22
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You aren't going to get the flaky biscuit texture without somehow getting thin layers of a solid fat. I've been draining some yogurt to make Greek yogurt, is there something interesting that can be done with the leftover liquid? I was just going to toss it into my next batch of bread but curious what my other options are/
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May 7, 2013 23:27
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Yeah drop biscuits aren't really similar to cut biscuits. They're more like baked dumplings.
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May 7, 2013 23:38
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Slifter posted:You aren't going to get the flaky biscuit texture without somehow getting thin layers of a solid fat. Use it as a milk or water replacement. 1:1 ratio. I'd also recommend if you have a lot of it, instead of just throwing it out, use the whey to soak beans and junk. edit: I did a quick little search and came up with this webpage filled with some really neat uses in recipes. Check it out, see if any of them suit your tastes.
Also, I just made a batch of chocolate chip cookies, halved the sugar (it still tastes great, thanks for that) and used more butter instead of shortening, but the cookies came out super soft and...dry. They're not crumbly, they're nice and soft, but they're dry. I've used 1:1 for shortening to butter, online it says to use 1 short:1 butter + 2 extra Tbsp butter. Is that why it's not moist? I still like them and it's a really weird sensation, but I prefer soft AND moist cookies. I'm still going to eat the hell out of these, though. I shouldn't ever bake again. Drifter fucked around with this message at 00:11 on May 8, 2013 |
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May 7, 2013 23:57
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SubG posted:I know this doesn't apply to most people asking in the general questions thread, but a puddle machine makes putting together a Hollandaise (or Béarnaise or crème fleurette or whatever) dead loving simple. Yolk, water, butter in a bag at 148 F/64 C for around 45 minutes give or take. Comes out looking like rear end, but hand whisking will put it together in no time. I haven't actually forced a Hollandaise to break to try to bring it back together this way, but presumably if the sauce wasn't overheated first time around it'll work exactly the same way, since the sauce is an emulsion. Where do you get numbers like this? One thing with sous vizzling is that I find myself collecting text snippets from this forum for temps and holding times for avocados, sauces, and meringues. I guess thinking about it, I am just trying to decouple killing bugs versus breaking enzymes or setting proteins. I have plenty of books with tables for the former, but no real guide for the other stuff.
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May 8, 2013 00:32
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Hed posted:Where do you get numbers like this? When you do something like a steak you can just set your puddle machine for your target temperature, throw it in, and come back hours later and it'll be fine. You can't really do that with eggs, because the consistency keeps changing as you hold it at any temperature over about 60 C. Typically when you're doing an egg in the puddle machine you're aiming for an egg temperature of, canonically, 62.5 C---at that stage it's no longer raw, but it's still runny and hasn't started to set. You can certainly sous vide eggs in lots of different ways, up to and including hard boiling them, but most of the time if you're loving around with eggs in the puddle machine it's because you want that elusive consistency you get when they're around 62.5 C. But if you set your puddle machine at 62.5 C and your fridge is set for around 4.4 C, then you're looking at between 60 and 90 minutes. And, sure, you can certainly do that. But for me, with something like putting together a sauce I want to be finishing it up right before I'm plating and serving. So that means I start with when I'm planning to serve and walking back from there, so I end up wanting to get the eggs for a Hollandaise done in between 30 and 45 minutes---throw them in when I'm setting about whatever else I'm doing before serving, and pull them right when everything else is done. That means I can't have the puddle machine at 62.5 C, but rather at something higher. If your personal workflow looks different, you might want to adjust the temperature up or down. From a food safety standpoint you really don't have to worry about it---if you're heating eggs at all you're going to be taking them over 60 C/140 F because below that you're not affecting their consistency. And you're pasteurising them if you're holding them over 60 C/140 F for more than around 12 minutes, which is way the gently caress shorter than any length of time you're looking at to accomplish anything via sous vide. If you're just looking to pick up a feel for it, just experiment with different times and temperatures. Eggs are pretty loving cheap, and even the fuckups will still be edible (particularly if you just turn them into omelettes, ouefs en coquette, or just loving scramble them or something).
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May 8, 2013 07:35
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Safety Dance posted:Amazon.co.uk? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Texturas-Citras/dp/B002X8168W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367947046&sr=8-1&keywords=sodium+citrate I saw that but I wasn't entirely sure it was the right thing. In the US store there are loads of things just labelled Sodium Citrate. I may purchase that and see if it's the right thing.
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May 8, 2013 10:08
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1) Is there a French word for the process of cooking on only half the eye of a stove? 2) How can I decrease the prep time required to make something? One of my drink recipes uses the zest of lemon and lime as well as the juices and pulp. The longest prep time for it is zesting the fruit. Is there a faster way to zest lemons/limes other than a zester or box grater that has those small holes?
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May 8, 2013 14:51
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SlayVus posted:2) How can I decrease the prep time required to make something? One of my drink recipes uses the zest of lemon and lime as well as the juices and pulp. The longest prep time for it is zesting the fruit. Is there a faster way to zest lemons/limes other than a zester or box grater that has those small holes? get a microplane.
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May 8, 2013 14:56
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Affi posted:Bought three kilos of sweet potatoes on a sale. I've never used it before. What do I do with it? They are super easy to mash with a microwave. Cook whole for about 10 minutes on high until they are soft. Peel off hot skins. mash soft, steaming sweet flesh with butter, add S&P. So much easier than mashing regular potatoes, and really delicious. Japanese dish (I made last night, actually): peel and cube them, then cook in a covered pan with a little bit of water and some fine-grated ginger. Finish with mirin and soy, serve with rice and other dishes.
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May 8, 2013 15:21
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Put me down for butter in cookies, and butter only.  And yes, creaming the gently caress out it in your Kitchenaide is key to the process. SubG posted:I know this doesn't apply to most people asking in the general questions thread, but a puddle machine makes putting together a Hollandaise (or Béarnaise or crème fleurette or whatever) dead loving simple. Yolk, water, butter in a bag at 148 F/64 C for around 45 minutes give or take. Comes out looking like rear end, but hand whisking will put it together in no time. I haven't actually forced a Hollandaise to break to try to bring it back together this way, but presumably if the sauce wasn't overheated first time around it'll work exactly the same way, since the sauce is an emulsion. You've done it again, my mind is totally blown. I've always assumed that the traditional way done right before serving was the only way.
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May 8, 2013 18:50
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I want to get into artichokes, but I don't know what they taste like, or even how to prepare them. Online I've found a number of techniques, trim outside leaves, eat outside leaves, scrape out the fuzzy, don't scrape it out, etc etc. All of them recommend a lemon water soak though. What are your favorite recipes for artichoke around these parts? Or maybe a recipe/technique which really brings out the flavor of the artichoke.
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May 8, 2013 19:46
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7 Bowls of Wrath posted:I want to get into artichokes, but I don't know what they taste like, or even how to prepare them. Online I've found a number of techniques, trim outside leaves, eat outside leaves, scrape out the fuzzy, don't scrape it out, etc etc. All of them recommend a lemon water soak though. I like them from the can/jar and put in basically anything, but they're awesome if you grill and dip em http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2013/04/grilled-artichokes-with-yogurt-dill-dipping-sauce
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May 8, 2013 20:36
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I'm planning to make some rabbit pie. I was thinking I'd prepare the rabbit using this method, and then toss in some mushrooms and carmelised onion gravy (instead of the filling in that recipe). Is there anything wrong with this plan? I've never cooked with rabbit, and I'm really nervous about loving it up.
Wheats fucked around with this message at 23:25 on May 8, 2013 |
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May 8, 2013 23:21
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I have one and a half English cucumbers left over that I know won't get used before they get soggy. Does anyone have a very basic, simple no-boil brine recipe that I could follow to make some easy homemade pickles?
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May 9, 2013 01:21
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Are left-handed knives really better for you lefties out there?
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May 9, 2013 01:28
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The Midniter posted:I have one and a half English cucumbers left over that I know won't get used before they get soggy. Does anyone have a very basic, simple no-boil brine recipe that I could follow to make some easy homemade pickles? http://koreanfood.about.com/od/vegetarianrecipes/r/QuickCucumberPickle.htm
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May 9, 2013 01:40
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Recipe for Corn Nuts?
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May 9, 2013 01:51
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eggrolled posted:Any tips for blowtorching protein to finish em' after a nice time in the sous vide apparatus? I would still love some guidance regarding blow-torchery if possible; didn't see a reply  Edit to contribute: larafae31 posted:Are left-handed knives really better for you lefties out there? Speaking as a lefty--I just use the same knives as a right handed person would. Most left handed cooks (pro cooks and home cooks) who I know are the same way. The only time that has been awkward for me was using a Japanese veg knife where the cutting edge had a flat side and a beveled edge, and it was clearly made to be held in the right hand. eggrolled fucked around with this message at 02:20 on May 9, 2013 |
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May 9, 2013 02:06
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I've got some left over smoked pork I want to use in a pasta sauce. I was mainly just thinking of adding it to a standard tomato sauce and using some of the left over fat for frying the onion/garlic in. Can anyone recommend something else I should try or add to it thats relatively quick and easy
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May 9, 2013 10:29
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Scott Bakula posted:I've got some left over smoked pork I want to use in a pasta sauce. I was mainly just thinking of adding it to a standard tomato sauce and using some of the left over fat for frying the onion/garlic in. Can anyone recommend something else I should try or add to it thats relatively quick and easy There's a lasagna waiting to be made there, somewhere
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May 9, 2013 13:43
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Lasagne is a good one as said by Bob Morales How about pasta and beans with a little bit of the pork? Pasta e fagioli and just add the pork. http://norecipes.com/blog/pasta-fazool/#sthash.DukiGOVl.iteG362A.dpbs Depends on how much pork you have, if you have a lot, do lasagne, if you don't have much at all, add it pasta and beans. If you have heaps, do both.
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May 9, 2013 13:50
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Not enough pork for Lasagne unfortunately. The Pasta e fagioli looks good though so I think I'll go with that.
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May 9, 2013 14:18
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Oh my god, I want to say thanks for the catfish recommendation last week. I made it last night in the same manner as the previous tilapia (pistachio crusted) in order to compare, and it was loads better than the tilapia, and at the same price point to boot.
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May 9, 2013 15:34
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