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Two quick questions: Aside from a cast-iron skillet, a 12-inch stainless steel pan, and a stock pot, what else should I be looking at to round out my cookware? Is a non-stick saute pan an absolute necessity? I've got a tiny (guessing 6-inch) non-stick pan, but it's starting to chip and wear so I'm curious if I need to replace it or if I can just get by with what I've already got. And if I do replace it, should I get a larger one? Also: Is there any trick to getting rid of the metallic taste of canned tomatoes? Any time I buy tomatoes in a can, whether it's sauce or crushed or chopped, there's always a really noticeable tinny taste that I assume comes from the can. Is that just something I have to live with when I don't have access to good fresh tomatoes, or is it just a lovely brand that I'm buying, or what?
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Sep 18, 2014 19:54
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DerLeo posted:Are there any interesting things I can do with a pomegranate that aren't: eat it, make a lamb glaze, or use for salad? Make homemade grenadine?
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Sep 18, 2014 19:58
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Grizzled Patriarch posted:Two quick questions: Do you make eggs? If so get a small non-stick pan. If your current one is flaking/peeling/chipping, get a new one. 9-10 inch should be fine. If you don't do eggs often, you should be fine with what you have, though I sometimes wish I had a small pot for heating up soups, sauces or gravies. quote:Also: Is there any trick to getting rid of the metallic taste of canned tomatoes? Any time I buy tomatoes in a can, whether it's sauce or crushed or chopped, there's always a really noticeable tinny taste that I assume comes from the can. Is that just something I have to live with when I don't have access to good fresh tomatoes, or is it just a lovely brand that I'm buying, or what? I haven't noticed any tinny flavors from the canned tomatoes I get (Red Gold), but I never eat them straight out of the can. I make pasta sauce or bruschetta if I use canned tomatoes for anything.
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Sep 18, 2014 20:06
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DerLeo posted:Are there any interesting things I can do with a pomegranate that aren't: eat it, make a lamb glaze, or use for salad? Ice cream edit: VVV that too
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Sep 18, 2014 20:10
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DerLeo posted:Are there any interesting things I can do with a pomegranate that aren't: eat it, make a lamb glaze, or use for salad?
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Sep 18, 2014 20:10
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Grizzled Patriarch posted:Two quick questions: Just get whole canned tomatoes instead. The less processing the better. You could also try to hide or balance that tinny taste with a bit of sugar or even try baking soda. Some people suggest lemon zest or a bit of apple cider vinegar to cover it up. But I think you should switch to whole tomatoes of your normal brand first, and crush them on your own, and then try a different brand to see if there are different levels of the metallic tang. As far as rounding out your cookware, do you cook often? Do you live alone? What are you looking to cook? I'd recommend something stainless on the smaller-medium side to steam vegetables, maybe, which could double as something you'd cook rice or pasta or sauce in, among other things. I also love my cast-iron dutch oven. You don't really need a shitton of pans if you're cooking one or two course meals most of the time.
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Sep 18, 2014 20:11
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Grizzled Patriarch posted:Two quick questions: Non stick for pancakes, omelettes, eggs, etc. Dutch Oven for stews, roasts, chili, etc. Checks cooks illustrated before buying any equipment. I've used Thomas Kellers Tomato Sauce recipe to fix this. I've always had this very acidic/metallic taste to any other tomato sauce I've made. His sauce is easy to make and comes out sweet and flavorful.
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Sep 18, 2014 21:19
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Steve yun posted:Are you talking about the aged eggnog?
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Sep 18, 2014 21:35
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Grizzled Patriarch posted:Is there any trick to getting rid of the metallic taste of canned tomatoes? Isn't the old solution to add a spoonful of sugar to your sauce? I'd just add a couple anchovies 
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Sep 18, 2014 21:44
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Nicol Bolas posted:I use a box grater, but I also freeze my ginger, which makes it much easier to grate. Am I a freak of nature who loves pain? I only own a box grater, so I'll definitely try freezing next time.
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Sep 18, 2014 21:49
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5MinuteButtermilk posted:I only own a box grater, so I'll definitely try freezing next time. Just make sure you peel it first! Honestly, you don't really need to peel the whole thing, just the end you intend to start grating on. Or just break off the fingers or chop it in half or something. Grating through frozen peel to begin with sucks, and is the only way I've hurt myself grating frozen ginger.
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Sep 18, 2014 22:09
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Drifter posted:Just get whole canned tomatoes instead. The less processing the better. You could also try to hide or balance that tinny taste with a bit of sugar or even try baking soda. Some people suggest lemon zest or a bit of apple cider vinegar to cover it up. Good to know! I'll give a couple of these tips a try. I usually do end up adding sugar, but I don't like my sauce too sweet and it seems to take a lot of sugar before I stop noticing it. Definitely going to switch to whole and see if that does the trick, and otherwise I'll just switch brands. I generally use either Hunt's or Contadina. I do cook a lot, pretty much every day. Really the only thing I use my current small non-stick for is eggs and as a saucepan when I'm just doing something small like a reduction or a glaze. I cook all sorts of things, and generally I don't have much trouble. I have an electric range, which makes certain food (especially anything Asian) kind of a pain in the rear end, but I dunno if a non-stick would make much of a difference with a stir-fry or anything. I probably do need a dutch oven, I generally use my stock pot when making chili or anything like that. I cook for two people total and most of the meals are meat + vegetables, sometimes with a starch on the side if I feel like I can handle everything at once.
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Sep 18, 2014 22:33
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I find Hunt's to be kinda gross and metallic, yeah; if you can, try to get San Marzano tomatoes. Those are the best canned tomatoes in my opinion.
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Sep 18, 2014 22:41
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Another quick question while I'm here: I'm finally to the point where I've got a moderate stable of recipes that I can tackle by memory, and I can play around with ingredients, etc., but I'm really interested in learning new techniques that would give me more room for creativity. Are there any good books that are basically just a compendium of cooking techniques? Ideally something that covers everything from basics to more advanced techniques (or as advanced as a typical home kitchen is going to accommodate). I think I recall someone recommending Pepin's book(s), but I wanted to make sure, and of course I'd love to hear any other recommendations as well.
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Sep 19, 2014 03:25
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Grizzled Patriarch posted:Another quick question while I'm here: I only really know of recipe books, but why don't you go on youtube and check out Pepin's Fast Food My Way (and everything else he does  ), and Gordon Ramsey's Ultimate Cookery Course. And then also watch Good Eats -except I don't know where you can find good copies of that, and I'm not sure it's legal for me to upload my copy of the series onto piratebay or anything.
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Sep 19, 2014 04:10
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I think it was this thread that had the homemade mustard discussion; either this or the general GWS chat thread. I made homemade mustard today for a dinner party I'm going to this weekend, and it's amazing, so I thought I would share. The recipe made mustard so good and so cheap (compared to how much it costs to buy a jar of mustard) that I'm never buying mustard again. Roman Mustard (various recipe sources online, I mostly followed this one: http://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/roman-mustard) About 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon (5 ounces) brown mustard seed (I used black mustard seed for more heat) 1/2 cup red wine vinegar (I used cider vinegar) 3/4 cup unsweetened red grape juice (I used a lager beer) 1 1/2 teaspoons very coarse salt, such as Maldon 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, finely ground 1/4 cup (1 ounce) flaked almonds 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon (1½ ounces) untoasted pine nuts Soak the mustard seeds: Place the mustard seeds in a medium glass or ceramic bowl along with the vinegar and grape juice. Mix in the salt and cumin seeds. Set aside, covered (but not sealed airtight), for 36 to 48 hours. Place the mixture in a food processor and process for 1 to 2 minutes until the seeds are coarsely ground. Add the almonds and pine nuts and pulse a few times just until the nuts are completely broken up, careful not to over-process. This makes about 2 1/2 cups mustard.
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Sep 19, 2014 04:28
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Grizzled Patriarch posted:Another quick question while I'm here: He also has a book called The Elements of Cooking, which I haven't personally read, but I hear it's fantastic (and sounds maybe more like what you were initially asking for).
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Sep 19, 2014 04:48
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Grizzled Patriarch posted:Another quick question while I'm here: I will also throw Ruhlman's Twenty into the ring--it's definitely broadened my techniques. It's basically twenty separate techniques or ingredients and a handful of recipes that demonstrate different methods or ways of using the technique or ingredient. For example, in "salt," he shows how to brine something, how to cure something with salt, etc. In "poach" he shows how to poach in oil, how to poach in mounted butter, and how to poach in broth. It's stellar. Nicol Bolas fucked around with this message at 05:04 on Sep 19, 2014 |
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Sep 19, 2014 05:01
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Kalista posted:I think it was this thread that had the homemade mustard discussion; either this or the general GWS chat thread. I made homemade mustard today for a dinner party I'm going to this weekend, and it's amazing, so I thought I would share. The recipe made mustard so good and so cheap (compared to how much it costs to buy a jar of mustard) that I'm never buying mustard again. As long as you're doing this, try homemade mayonnaise
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Sep 19, 2014 06:01
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Drifter posted:I only really know of recipe books, but why don't you go on youtube and check out Pepin's Fast Food My Way (and everything else he does I think almost all the Good Eats episodes are on Youtube. I still watch Martha Stewart every now and again, she has a "Cooking School" series on PBS where she'll take a basic cooking concept, like roasting or braising, or baking and show 3-4 ways to do it. Some episodes online http://video.pbs.org/program/martha-stewarts-cooking-school
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Sep 19, 2014 15:18
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Steve Yun posted:As long as you're doing this, try homemade mayonnaise Having an immersion blender makes homemade mayo almost too easy!
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Sep 19, 2014 16:08
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Kalista posted:Having an immersion blender makes homemade mayo almost too easy! I've been making it with the stick for a while now but lately I keep breaking it for no apparent reason. I always save it with another egg yolk and then adding the broken mixture slowly while i stick blend it, but I can't figure out what the hell I keep doing wrong.
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Sep 19, 2014 16:33
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CzarChasm posted:I think almost all the Good Eats episodes are on Youtube. As of last year Food Network wised up and put them behind a paywall and had most of the free ones taken down. Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:I've been making it with the stick for a while now but lately I keep breaking it for no apparent reason. I always save it with another egg yolk and then adding the broken mixture slowly while i stick blend it, but I can't figure out what the hell I keep doing wrong. I found that they work better with really fresh eggs. Even good eggs that are a couple months old seem to have difficulty coming together.
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Sep 19, 2014 17:10
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I found good eats is good for learning techniques and the why to do something but the recipes aren't as good as other sources. You should consider a free trial to cooks illustrated and grab some recipes.
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Sep 19, 2014 21:21
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Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:I've been making it with the stick for a while now but lately I keep breaking it for no apparent reason. I always save it with another egg yolk and then adding the broken mixture slowly while i stick blend it, but I can't figure out what the hell I keep doing wrong. According to Ruhlman in Ratio, if you're breaking it often, it may be that you have too little water. Doesn't take much lecithin to make and keep the emulsion together, but if the water content is too low it breaks pretty easily. Of course I find a video of him making it, but this recipe doesn't call for the water that his others do.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ7-zn71AzA pr0k fucked around with this message at 21:30 on Sep 19, 2014 |
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Sep 19, 2014 21:26
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I was planning on roasting a chicken tonight so I brined it for 12 hours yesterday, then at 6 pm last night I rinsed it off and put it uncovered in the fridge to air dry overnight. Work ran late tonight so I wasn't able to cook the chicken. Think it will be alright to sit overnight in the fridge again?
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Sep 19, 2014 22:42
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What's a recipe to introduce someone to avacados? I've tried eating avacado twice over the years, and both times was unpleasant (made some guac in food processor, don't remember what else I added). I really want to like them. 
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Sep 19, 2014 22:45
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nwin posted:I was planning on roasting a chicken tonight so I brined it for 12 hours yesterday, then at 6 pm last night I rinsed it off and put it uncovered in the fridge to air dry overnight. You're totally fine. reflex posted:What's a recipe to introduce someone to avacados? I've tried eating avacado twice over the years, and both times was unpleasant (made some guac in food processor, don't remember what else I added). I really want to like them. What don't you like about avocados? Figuring out how to mitigate what you haven't liked about them in the past will make your road to enlightenment easier. Also, guac in a food processor sounds really gross. Guac should be with very very ripe avocados (also potentially an issue with your avocado hate--they should squish a little under your thumb when you push on them) and should be made with a fork in a bowl.
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Sep 19, 2014 23:24
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nwin posted:Work ran late tonight so I wasn't able to cook the chicken. Think it will be alright to sit overnight in the fridge again? Of course. But you should cover it, the skin'll dry out and get hard. reflex posted:What's a recipe to introduce someone to avacados? I've tried eating avacado twice over the years, and both times was unpleasant (made some guac in food processor, don't remember what else I added). I really want to like them. Avocados have a laid back taste, so you can mix it with things and not really taste anything other than a slight aftertaste. There's a lot of stuff that really hides the taste of an avocado - I won't suggest those. A basic sandwich with avocado slices - a simple blt turkey maybe. I mean, you can slice them up and add them to an omelet with your regular ingredients. Those California rolls at sushi places are really good, too - you can just make a stuffed little rice ball if you don't have seaweed to roll with. Replace some (most) of your mayo in an egg salad or tuna salad/sandwich with avocado for a really tasty thing. poo poo like this avocado rice is really good, too. Really, anything you'd use mayo or something, replace half of it with avocados. Another thing I really like is avocado with some heat or some salt. Make a watermelon & avocado salad with either feta or pepperjack(and hot sauce) and it's so good.
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Sep 19, 2014 23:26
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I like avocado on toast (buttered sometimes too) with salt and pepper.
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Sep 19, 2014 23:27
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Avocado goes really well with street tacos.
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Sep 20, 2014 03:00
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Drifter posted:Of course. But you should cover it, the skin'll dry out and get hard. Don't listen to Drifter. Airing out the skin overnight in the fridge means teeth-shatteringly crisp skin when you roast it.
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Sep 20, 2014 04:04
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Put some Hass avocado slices on your next cheeseburger.
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Sep 20, 2014 07:02
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Casu Marzu posted:Don't listen to Drifter. Airing out the skin overnight in the fridge means teeth-shatteringly crisp skin when you roast it. Your bloody gums add extra flavour.
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Sep 20, 2014 14:45
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Snark aside, air drying poultry skin is indeed a technique for achieving that tasty tasty crispy skin. For dishes like Peking duck it is a standard technique to even pump air underneath the skin to separate it from the flesh so that it is more exposed to air for drying out.
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Sep 20, 2014 15:08
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5MinuteButtermilk posted:Is there any way to grate ginger that isn't a complete pain? Food processor.
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Sep 20, 2014 15:13
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My prep skills are coming along, my presentation is improving, I'm pretty comfortable with recipes. I'm now trying to get better at creating dishes from scratch -- I want to be able to look at my available ingredients and put together something that's good and that "makes sense." I'm a home cook, not a pro, and culinary school for funsies is not in my future anytime soon even if that would be awesome. Anyone have a book to recommend? Would the Flavor Bible mentioned a few pages ago be a good resource for this? I don't have a sense for what I should be aiming for with a dish, or acidity, or anything like that. Advice welcome, of course, but I imagine this is too big a topic to cover in a few posts.
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Sep 20, 2014 16:55
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A friend of mine brought me a pumpkin and instructed me to make soup. I've been skimming through old pages of this thread (I've learned so much from it!), and I came across this recipe from dino, which looks perfect.quote:Roast it. Cut it into quarters, then eigths, and roast for 1 hour at 350F. Seriously. It'll totally change the flavour. Also, see if you can get your hands on Kabocha. It's a lot more dense and intense. Then, make pumpkin soup. Sautee off onions until tender, add garlic, and cook until soft. Add roasted pumpkin (scoop out the seeds, and discard, and then just take the flesh off the skin). Add 2 cups of coconut milk, crushed cardamom (remove the hulls), a scrape of nutmeg, some fresh grated ginger, and just enough water to cover the whole lot. Bring to a boil, and turn off the heat. Add a pinch of cinnamon (if you like it), cayenne pepper, and salt. Puree with an immersion blender or actual blender, and serve with toasted bread. It'll be intense pumpkin flavour. My only problem is that I don't think I've ever cooked with cardamom, so I don't really know how strong the taste is compared to the smell or how much should go in there. Any guidance? The pumpkin in question is about 33 inches diameter.
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Sep 20, 2014 18:05
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Esme posted:A friend of mine brought me a pumpkin and instructed me to make soup. I've been skimming through old pages of this thread (I've learned so much from it!), and I came across this recipe from dino, which looks perfect. Cardamom is pretty flavorful, especially in whole pod form & crushed. I would start with two to three pods probably.
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Sep 20, 2014 18:20
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Hauki posted:Cardamom is pretty flavorful, especially in whole pod form & crushed. I would start with two to three pods probably. Okay, thanks!
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Sep 20, 2014 18:29
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