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TeeMerk posted:I have enjoyed reading this thread on and off for awhile but I have a question about spices. If at all possible, buy spices from the bulk section. Not buying the bottle over and over (except maybe the first time just so you have something to keep them in) will save you a shitton of money.
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Nov 19, 2015 11:46
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Tendales posted:If at all possible, buy spices from the bulk section. Not buying the bottle over and over (except maybe the first time just so you have something to keep them in) will save you a shitton of money. Also buy them from the non-white aisle, you'll get the same stuff (sometimes honestly better) for waaay cheaper. In the bottle "spice" aisle near baking a few sticks of cinnamon would be about $5 In the "Hispanic" aisle a giant container of the same cinnamon sticks is $3 It's kind of crazy Nerdfest X posted:Several grocery stores in my area sell chicken leg quarters or drumsticks for 0.39 cents a lb.(sometimes less). My deep freezer currently is about 50% full of chicken because of this. See, I don't see drumsticks as being worth it due to the amount of bone you deal with. They're my roommates go-to part of the chicken and he will buy the big packs of them and eats them all in 2 days just as dinner.
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Nov 19, 2015 17:03
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Buy super cheap brands, see if you use them a lot. If you use them a lot, you now have an empty jar, and rather than buy the expensive brands go to an ethnic store and buy bulk. Freshness and price is king, more important than stale old expensive brands nobody else buys.
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Nov 24, 2015 18:55
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Adult Sword Owner posted:See, I don't see drumsticks as being worth it due to the amount of bone you deal with. They're my roommates go-to part of the chicken and he will buy the big packs of them and eats them all in 2 days just as dinner. The bones are worth several more square meals in the form of a big pot of stock. A chicken to me is worth two days of meat, a pot of soup, a base for some kind of bean stew and a little for a pan sauce or whatever. That's good eatin' for two for most of the week!
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Nov 25, 2015 21:15
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Adult Sword Owner posted:See, I don't see drumsticks as being worth it due to the amount of bone you deal with. They're my roommates go-to part of the chicken and he will buy the big packs of them and eats them all in 2 days just as dinner. At 0.39 cents a lb, it's still a bargain.
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Nov 26, 2015 14:22
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Jose posted:also for any poor people who want to eat steak, buy skirt steak. its cheap as gently caress compared to traditional steak cuts. it needs to be sliced across the grain before being eaten but has an incredibly obvious grain and its really nice It's also ideal for (proper, marinaded, non-el-Paso) fajitas. Cook whole then slice.
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Nov 26, 2015 14:31
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Nerdfest X posted:At 0.39 cents a lb, it's still a bargain. Where the gently caress do you live that drumsticks are $.39/lb?
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Nov 26, 2015 17:09
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Most of the ~1 lb packages of meat at the local grocery store are marked down to a dollar, today. Wife realized she hadn't made enough roast squash and ran out to get a few more to roast. Came back with a bag full of meat to include package of lamb. 
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Nov 26, 2015 17:26
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Kenning posted:Where the gently caress do you live that drumsticks are $.39/lb? SW suburbs of Chicago. Many of the markets in the area have this price. They also alternate between leg quarters and drumsticks week to week. Normal price $1.29 to $1.79 Nerdfest X fucked around with this message at 15:45 on Dec 6, 2015 |
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Nov 26, 2015 18:15
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I am currently in the south suburbs of Chicago. Is this at Jewel?
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Nov 26, 2015 18:18
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I'm in Romeoville and the Caputo's near here often has chicken that cheap, as does the Meijer.
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Nov 26, 2015 18:37
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Eponine posted:I am currently in the south suburbs of Chicago. Is this at Jewel? Joe and Frank's, corner of Archer and Harlem
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Nov 26, 2015 19:18
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Suspect Bucket posted:Freezer quesadillas are also great if the fixins goes on sale. I make chicken (cheese) spinach ones, nice and mild so mom can always have one if she wants ( much less spice tolerant then me). Cook, slice into quarters, freeze. Reheat in microwave, and a minute in the toaster if you can, top with spicy condiment of choice. TeeMerk posted:Is the quality of basic spices like garlic powder, nutmeg, paprika etc worth the difference in price from say the very basic and super cheap value brand compared to others I see at the grocer? A lot of the times the cost is 3x. First things first - get one of everything, as cheap as you like. Then you can move up when you get a feel for which ones you want to be better/stronger. A lot of the times the cost from one brand to another is 3x-5x because of their stupid packaging, not really due to exceptional quality and freshness. coyo7e fucked around with this message at 23:58 on Nov 26, 2015 |
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Nov 26, 2015 23:55
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coyo7e posted:Putting poo poo like pre-cut quesadillas in the toaster is why some of my roommates' bodies were never found. Unfortunately for them my knives were all dulled by their misuse as well. Toaster OVEN! Sorry, oven! Not like the upright bread and bagel model, but the box thing on the counter.
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Nov 27, 2015 01:37
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TeeMerk posted:Is the quality of basic spices like garlic powder, nutmeg, paprika etc worth the difference in price from say the very basic and super cheap value brand compared to others I see at the grocer? A lot of the times the cost is 3x. I would say, wherever possible, ditch the preground spices and go for whole. Whole nutmeg can be ground on a box grater and the difference between whole and preground is way more significant than any brand difference. Paprika you can't get whole, but I would go for whatever is cheapest and smells freshest. Bulk spices + airtight containers (even if its the super cheap containers) is the best way to go. As for garlic, fresh heads if garlic will keep on the counter for weeks. There is occasional need for granulated but fresh is so cheap in terms of flavor per dollar that granulated is pretty obsolete in my kitchen.
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Nov 27, 2015 05:55
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Nicol Bolas posted:I would say, wherever possible, ditch the preground spices and go for whole. Whole nutmeg can be ground on a box grater and the difference between whole and preground is way more significant than any brand difference. Paprika you can't get whole, but I would go for whatever is cheapest and smells freshest. Bulk spices + airtight containers (even if its the super cheap containers) is the best way to go. As for garlic, fresh heads if garlic will keep on the counter for weeks. There is occasional need for granulated but fresh is so cheap in terms of flavor per dollar that granulated is pretty obsolete in my kitchen. Same here for garlic. If you have the means I would say to get both a standard paprika and a smoked paprika as I find different uses for these at times. Also while garlic powder is largely obsolete, onion powder is still a good thing to keep on hand in bulk mainly used in dry rubs on meats and has been something more or less indispensable.
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Nov 27, 2015 13:53
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That Works posted:Same here for garlic. It's tough to mix fresh-chopped garlic into a flour mix to dredge jojos or fish or chicken, for instance.
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Nov 29, 2015 00:06
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coyo7e posted:On the other hand garlic powder is cheap as dirt and keeps somewhat indefinitely if properly stored, and a generous pinch can really be a huge change in a dish, whather or not you've added fresh garlic already or not. That's fair. I guess I just find myself using onion powder in a lot of different recipes fairly often and go for garlic powder only 1-2x a year at most. It's so cheap and indestructible though might as well have some.
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Nov 29, 2015 00:28
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Bought a chicken for $5 today. Gonna roast it and eat the white mean tomorrow, then shred the rest and mix it with BBQ sauce for pulled chicken and eat that over nachos or in tacos. Then I'll cook the bones until it makes water taste delicious and make some delicious rice or soup or something. For $5.
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Nov 29, 2015 05:37
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detectivemonkey posted:Bought a chicken for $5 today. Gonna roast it and eat the white mean tomorrow, then shred the rest and mix it with BBQ sauce for pulled chicken and eat that over nachos or in tacos. Then I'll cook the bones until it makes water taste delicious and make some delicious rice or soup or something. Make sure you season the chicken well when you roast it, and save the skin, fat, and any other bits that you don't eat to make the water taste even better. Some of my favorites are seasoning heavily with a coffee based bbq dry rub, or with a creole seasoning mix made with crushed whole spices that are just not quite fully powder yet. Bonus points if, during the roasting process, you can somehow add smoke into the mix. Smokey bones make delicious bone water. Another favorite of mine is to get some boneless chicken thighs, or debone your own, and then marinade them overnight in pickle juice. Trader Joe's has whiskey sour mash pickles that are a bit expensive, but throw this one into a whole other dimension. Afterward, take some flour, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and add buttermilk to just get the dry ingredients moist. You want it to be clumpy and fall-apart-y, like biscuit dough, not be a batter, like cookie dough. Take your cold chicken, dredge in cold buttermilk, then press into the dough and coat both sides. Gently shake off the really-easy-to-shake-off bits, then shallow fry for like 3-4 minutes on each side till golden brown. Toss on a burger bun with a bit of mayo and some sliced pickles and you've got a chicken sandwich that's better than anything Chick Fil A could ever throw at you.
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Nov 29, 2015 06:01
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detectivemonkey posted:Bought a chicken for $5 today. Gonna roast it and eat the white mean tomorrow, then shred the rest and mix it with BBQ sauce for pulled chicken and eat that over nachos or in tacos. Then I'll cook the bones until it makes water taste delicious and make some delicious rice or soup or something. 
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Nov 29, 2015 06:35
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Gonna have to try those chicken thighs. My husband and I both prefer white meat, so the dark meat usually get shredded and heavily seasoned somehow. coyo7e posted:Add some onion butts and carrot stalks (or just carrots if you don't have the greens) and a couple pieces of celery to that water. I usually go with something like this recipe (with some smashed garlic added and usually a longer cooking time), although I don't have many herbs this time around. I do have roasted versions of most of those vegetables in the freezer that I usually use for vegetable broth, so I might try those instead.
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Nov 29, 2015 06:48
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If you use Peapod, they currently have a pretty large 50% off sale, that includes a lot of things I hate spending money on, like detergent. Also $1.40 jars of quality pasta sauce, which is good to stock up on for fast meals.
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Nov 30, 2015 18:10
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Woke up this morning and had to chip a quarter-inch of freezing rain off my car, so I'm thinking soup. Since it's post-thanksgiving, full bone-in hams are selling for just over $1/lb, so I got a nice "little" 8-10 lb one for breakfasts and soups. Potato-leek soup with ham, it is! 
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Nov 30, 2015 18:38
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coyo7e posted:Woke up this morning and had to chip a quarter-inch of freezing rain off my car, so I'm thinking soup. Since it's post-thanksgiving, full bone-in hams are selling for just over $1/lb, so I got a nice "little" 8-10 lb one for breakfasts and soups. Potato-leek soup with ham, it is! That is a badass idea I am totally stealing
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Nov 30, 2015 21:05
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neogeo0823 posted:Trader Joe's has whiskey sour mash pickles The one by me does not have these. Words cannot express my rage. Anyone have tips on shallow-frying? It shames me, but it's something I cannot seem to get right with any regularity.
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Dec 4, 2015 20:06
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TheNothingNew posted:The one by me does not have these. Words cannot express my rage. That sucks for you. They're slightly spicy, very tangy, and delicious as hell. And shallow frying what, exactly? and what exactly is tripping you up? For the most part, it's a lot like deep frying, but with a bit of pan searing thrown in. Pour oil into the pan, at least enough to cover the bottom, but up to half an inch, depending on the thickness of the thing you're frying. Usually enough to cover the lower 1/3rd of the item is good. Get your heat on and get the oil to the right temp, usually around 350F. If you're frying something that's breaded, test the oil by dropping a bit of the batter/dredge in there and see if it bubbles. You can also sprinkle a tiny bit of flour in there as well and look for those bubbles. When the oil is hot enough, drop your items in there and leave enough room between them to flip with a spatula. Then let it wait for a couple minutes. Usually 3-4 is enough. Gently lift up the side of one thing to check how brown it is. Flip when the underside is golden brown. Let it sit on the other side for 2-3 minutes before checking that side. Once that side's done, take it out and set it on a paper towel to drain any leftover oil. If the item is really thick, like a chicken breast or something, definitely try to pound it flatter before adding it to the oil. You want to shallow fry thin-ish things, no thicker than an inch or so. This is because the thicker it gets, the harder it is for the oil's heat to penetrate and cook the inside without burning the outside. If the item is thin, the oil will cook it all the way through no problem. When starting out, it's easier to work on a small-medium pan in small batches that leave lots of room. It'll be easier to control everything, and you'll be able to burn your first batch or two and still have leftovers to make when you get the hang of it. EDIT: vvv Yeah, I didn't actually mean to literally drop it in the oil. I should've been less snarky there. vvv neogeo0823 fucked around with this message at 05:54 on Dec 5, 2015 |
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Dec 4, 2015 21:51
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Also consider that however you bread or coat things that you're dredging it well and absorbed pockets of errant water/moisture/egg/whatever that could pop and splatter oil. In my experience I always plan to make a mess since I sure do, but if you rinsed some craggly food and didn't dry it well before coating, there can be some splatters. Also where neogeo says drop it in the oil, lay it in the oil. I know that's what's meant but hot oil feels tubular when you get it on your skin and fries you - a lesson learned promptly. Watch as well if you're metering your oil temperature that if your oil is sloooooooowly creeping up to 350 it's going to drop when you add the food. I like to run cast iron and run it closer to 5/6 on my electric stove for deeper frying, 4/5 on shallow. Left unattended it will run right up to smoking and on fire, but by adding heat to the pan (cast iron) it will drop some and stay about where you want it rather than sinking and letting your food sog. Something firm to remove whatever from the oil is important too, dropping it back into the pan because of a crappy spatula or tongs will result in the above splatters and a bad time. Otherwise it is really generally harmless to do.
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Dec 5, 2015 00:27
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We have bone-in ham most every Christmas, and always save the bone for beans on New Year's Day (usually black-eyed peas). Beans and rice is super-cheap if you buy it by the 10 lb bag. At least once a month, I'll fry up some bacon, and use it for beans. If I don't make rice, a box of Jiffy corn bread is about 75 cents if not cheaper. Bacon ends are the least expensive option, but I often just use regular bacon because I have it on hand. Other options are smoked ham, pork butt, jowl meat, salt pork/fatback, or ham hocks. Very easy recipe: If it's a raw bacon-like meat, cut it up and fry until almost desired doneness. Then I add onions and garlic, sweat these a few minutes, then add liquid. (add more liquid than what you think it should be. The excess will boil off) Use stock for richer flavor instead of water. For other spices/flavorings, the list is up to you. I like a sweet/hot combo: brown sugar + cayenne/chile. If it's leftover ham, or hocks, even easier: throw everything in the pot at once, put on low simmer, and allow to cook a few hours. I always start mine before noon, and let cook until 6 or 7pm Super easy, super cheap, and the whole house smells wonderful all day
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Dec 5, 2015 02:05
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neogeo0823 posted:And shallow frying what, exactly? and what exactly is tripping you up? Usually chicken Parmesan. Problem is usually the breading coming off, or sticking to the bottom of the skillet, or oil smoking up a storm. I should get a temperature gauge for the last thing. Thanks for the walkthrough, I'll give it another shot. What does everyone do with their leftover oil? Leaving it on the stove in a can like grandma used to isn't an option with cats around.
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Dec 6, 2015 06:48
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Strain it well and then use it in cooking. Like I'll only make beans with fry oil because it tastes great.
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Dec 6, 2015 15:15
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TheNothingNew posted:Usually chicken Parmesan. Problem is usually the breading coming off, or sticking to the bottom of the skillet, or oil smoking up a storm. I should get a temperature gauge for the last thing. How are you preparing the breading? The three step method seems finicky, but it's essential. Flour, then egg, then flour/bread crumbs and shake off the excess.
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Dec 6, 2015 16:36
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Nerdfest X posted:We have bone-in ham most every Christmas, and always save the bone for beans on New Year's Day (usually black-eyed peas). I don't know what it is but I just cannot bring myself to really enjoy "beans and rice". I have never really liked red beans and rice, especially - probably because I've yet to make it right. That said however, I love rice and I love beans, and have no problem eating a rice and bean burrito or something. Not sure what the difference is, but I really prefer my beans to be beans and my rice to be rice, and never the two shall be prepared together..? I dunno it strikes me as odd.. I made some "spanish rice" (I dunno what real spanish rice is, but my mom used to cook rice with a can of tomato sauce and some hamburger) with a can of stewed tomatoes and heated up some beans and have been eating burritos for days, but the thought of mixing them together in the pot just doesn't fly to me. Also on the storage side of things, I used to have a coworker who'd bring in big grocery bags of empty 64 oz yogurt (Nancy's) tubs, and after two years of regular use in the fridge and freezer they started breaking, so I bit the bullet and got a 64 oz tub of plain yogurt, and have been eating it with granola and jam, and exploring the ways I can use yogurt in cooking in lieu of sour cream, buttermilk, milk, etc.. The tang from the yogurt can really set off or gently caress up a dish but it's expanding my repertoire and I'm on my second tub of yogurt now.. I'm really weirded out by the idea of a yogurt marinade for meat though, although I wanna try it. Adult Sword Owner posted:That is a badass idea I am totally stealing coyo7e fucked around with this message at 17:40 on Dec 6, 2015 |
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Dec 6, 2015 17:28
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If you've eaten kabob, you've had yogurt marinade on meat before, don't worry 
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Dec 6, 2015 17:47
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Every time I've made a recipe calling for a yogurt marinade for meat, I've been worried and every time it's been great.
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Dec 6, 2015 18:02
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Veritek83 posted:Every time I've made a recipe calling for a yogurt marinade for meat, I've been worried and every time it's been great. I need to do something like this. http://www.onceuponachef.com/2012/09/middle-eastern-chicken-kebabs.html detectivemonkey posted:If you've eaten kabob, you've had yogurt marinade on meat before, don't worry  There's a couple greek places and stuff but I'm not super into pitas stuffed with grilled lamb. I don't know that I've ever seen kebab in my city, unless it was on the menu of some fusion place.
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Dec 6, 2015 18:15
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TheNothingNew posted:Usually chicken Parmesan. Problem is usually the breading coming off, or sticking to the bottom of the skillet, or oil smoking up a storm. I should get a temperature gauge for the last thing. Ah, for the breading, there's a few things you can do. First, take your chicken and pat it dry with a paper towel. excess water/chicken sludge/whatever the hell is in the pack will not help the breading stick to the meat. Next, do your dredging, just like Robo Boogie Bot said. Flour, egg, dredge. If you didn't dry the meat properly, the flour will soak up the liquid, thereby missing the egg, and subsequently the dredge will not stick either. One thing I also like to do is dredge the meat, place it on a plate so that nothing's overlapping, and then chuck it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes before frying. You know how when you deep fry cheese sticks, onion rings, and jalapeno poppers straight from the freezer, the breading doesn't fall off? Yeah, same principle. I don't know the science behind it, but letting the breading soak up the egg and then sit and chill makes it stick to the food much more easily. When you're actually frying, make sure you've got enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan. keep the heat up around 350F-400F. You want the oil to be hot. Cool oil just soaks into the dredge and makes it fall off. Hot oil fries things crispy without soaking too much into it. As long as it's below the smoke point, and you're watching it so it doesn't burn, the hotter you can go, the better. When you lay your food in the pan, lay it into a small puddle of oil, not a dry spot with the oil sitting off to the side. You want the oil between the pan and your food to help it not stick. Lay your food down, then gently tilt the pan to one side and swirl the oil around what you just laid down. Think of it like basting the bottom of the food in oil so it cooks more evenly and doesn't stick. I might just be in the habit of doing that because my stove leans to the back right, but it's helpful anyway. If the food does stick directly after laying it down, it's not the end of the world. Swirl the oil around it, let it sit for a minute, swirl again, then very gently try to shake the pan or nudge the food with a spatula to loosen it. You obviously don't want to spill searing hot oil everywhere, but you also don't want to rip the breading off your food. Also, yes, definitely get yourself a candy, or other high temp, thermometer. It will save you a ton of trouble. Also, get different oils. Different oils have different smoke points. The smoke point is the temperature where, duh, the oil begins to burn and smoke. Use high smoke point oils, like canola, peanut, or vegetable oil for frying of any sort. Low smoke point oils like butter and olive oil are used more for flavoring the food that's being cooked. As for cleanup, take a coffee filter and a funnel, place filter in funnel in oil bottle, and pour a small batch at a time into the filter to let it strain into the bottle. You'll now have a bottle of frying oil that'll get slightly darker the more it's used, but will still be relatively free of debris and the like.
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Dec 6, 2015 19:15
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coyo7e posted:paki. Just FYI, you probably shouldn't say that. Do you have Indian restaurants? Tandoori is usually prepared with a yogurt marinade and is delicious.
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Dec 6, 2015 19:34
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Robo Boogie Bot posted:How are you preparing the breading? The three step method seems finicky, but it's essential. Flour, then egg, then flour/bread crumbs and shake off the excess. Aaand I think I just got the source of the problem. I was going egg first, then the flour or breadcrumbs. Came off on the pan every time. neogeo0823 posted:more helpful stuff And the oil not hot enough is I think the rest of it. Candy thermometer it is, then. Yeah, I use peanut oil for almost everything now. Thank you both!
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Dec 6, 2015 19:34
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TheNothingNew posted:Aaand I think I just got the source of the problem. I was going egg first, then the flour or breadcrumbs. Came off on the pan every time. Good luck! Let us know how it turns out. One little thing you can try, if you're feeling adventurous: cut your chicken breast into bite sized chunks. dredge in flour, egg, then bread with a mix of finely crushed corn tortilla chips, flour, and a bit of cornmeal. Freeze for 20 minutes before frying. Enjoy your Chicken Mcnuggets with your favorite dipping sauce.
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Dec 6, 2015 20:00
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