The General Questions thread - for quick questions, recipe requests, help.

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Paperhouse: Dec 31, 2008; I think
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Ekster posted:

Given that it's tomato season I'm thinking about making full use of fresh tomatoes. I ofcourse plan to make a simple tomato sauce for pasta dishes and some tomato soup but I can't think of other dishes where fresh tomatoes will make a big difference.

Anyone know any other dishes that really benefit from fresh tomatoes? For example, I'm afraid most curries would overpower that herby smell of fresh tomatoes but I could be completely wrong about that.

Make some real good salsa and tabbouleh

# ¿ Jul 27, 2015 22:05

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# ¿ May 17, 2024 07:14

Paperhouse: Dec 31, 2008; I think
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Do you guys fry eggs in cast iron pans? I'm annoyed that the non stick pans I buy don't stay non stick, but I want to be able to fry eggs easily and am not sure if cast iron is right for this

# ¿ Aug 19, 2015 19:05

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spankmeister posted:

So baking and pasta it is.

Oh and some shakshuka of course.

Make some menemen and eat it with fresh crusty bread

# ¿ Dec 11, 2015 00:41

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22 Eargesplitten posted:

I have a big container of marinara because the dickhead cookbook said to make 3 cups worth and only use a few ounces. What can I do with it that's simple and not pasta?

Maybe I will try polenta and meatballs again.

Turn some into a relish/chutney using vinegar/sugar/spices

# ¿ Dec 17, 2015 02:41

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nwin posted:

Not enough fat maybe?

Regardless, that video is driving me insane due to the fact that he uses nothing but metal utensils on his nonstick.

I've seen him do it on other recipes as well, it always winds me up. I can only imagine that he just doesn't give a poo poo and buys new pans all the time because he's rich

# ¿ Feb 24, 2016 00:31

Paperhouse: Dec 31, 2008; I think
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Gerblyn posted:

It's hard to be sure, but if I were to guess I'd say that you used ground meat which has a lot of fat in it and you didn't drain the excess fat before adding the tomatoes. The molten fat sat in the sauce, making it look very runny, but when it cooled it hardened, which is why there's no sauce visible in the photo you posted. To fix it you'd either want to use leaner mince, or fry off the meat in a separate pan and drain off some (but not all) of the liquid that comes out of it before adding it to the rest of the ingredients.

From the photo, I'd guess 1.5 teaspoons of oregano and the same for dried parsley, with salt and pepper to taste.

Also, to all you guys making meat and tomato mince sauce, this is the best bolognese recipe I've ever tasted:

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1502640/the-best-spaghetti-bolognese

That's pretty much how I do it, the carrot and celery at the start really make a difference over just having onion and garlic as your base ingredients

# ¿ Mar 20, 2016 12:26

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FaradayCage posted:

I tried to figure out whether you can freeze Thai curry and not have it become terrible, but it's evidently not a question a lot of people have wondered.

I'm okay with the vegetables getting a bit mushy. I'm mostly wondering if something freakish would happen to the coconut milk/oil & curry paste broth. (There is no rice to be concerned with in this equation).

(And a followup question: would it make sense to just make the broth and cook meat with it, freeze it in tupperware with some space on top, and then fill the rest of the space with flash-frozen vegetables for an easy frozen meal that could be reheated on the stovetop?)

I've frozen Thai curry and reheated it and it was absolutely fine. It wasn't frozen for long, but I can't see why it would go bad

# ¿ Aug 6, 2016 04:06

Paperhouse: Dec 31, 2008; I think
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I just made a katsu curry sauce to serve for dinner tomorrow, but I'm not sure there's enough of it. The recipe I followed says serves 4, and I actually used extra because there's a possibility I'll be serving 5, but there's really not much sauce there once it all got reduced. I've never made it before, though I am aware that it's a thick sauce and probably you don't serve a lot of it per portion. Am I overthinking it? And how difficult would it be to increase the amount of it by just adding some more stuff and a thickener? I can't get a picture unfortunately

# ¿ Aug 6, 2016 20:00

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Tendales posted:

The recipe probably assumes fairly modest portions. The easiest solution is to just make more rice and maybe an extra side to go with it. I'm a fan of stir-fried cabbage next to japanese curry.

The recipe assumes a chicken breast each, though probably a fairly small portion of rice. I don't think making more rice would help, since there'd be even less sauce to go with it. Having some kind of cabbage side is a good idea though, I had been wondering about a veg accompaniment.

# ¿ Aug 7, 2016 00:18

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You could potentially add water/stock and blend the sauce into a spicy tomato/vegetable soup. Less spice per mouthful because of the dilution and if you can eat bread you wouldn't need to eat as much of the sauce, either

# ¿ Aug 16, 2016 23:18

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What are some good, healthier things to do with potatoes? My mum grows them and keeps giving them to me, but I've never really made them in any way that doesn't involve large amounts of butter/oil and I'm trying to not be a fat person.

# ¿ Aug 31, 2016 18:27

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hogmartin posted:

Poor Paperhouse, who just wanted to eat some potatoes, is probably running screaming off into the darkness after this, apologies for my part in the derail

I've read every single word, and i still don't know how to eat a potato

# ¿ Sep 1, 2016 21:40

Paperhouse: Dec 31, 2008; I think
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j/k I made some lovely potatoes yesterday, using substantially less oil wasn't really as bad as I had imagined it might be. my one weird trick also was mixing a poo poo load of other vegetables into the roasting dish with some herbs and spices so that one portion of this potato thing was really half Good poo poo like courgettes and peppers and tomatoes. It beats eating just a big portion of mash or chips or something. I will probably make a soup soon

# ¿ Sep 1, 2016 21:45

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UnfurledSails posted:

I'm a newbie trying to add some veggies to his diet. Today I diced some mushrooms, green bell peppers, onions, and tomatoes and added them to my usual scrambled eggs and cheese, but there is a bunch left over. Can I pre-dice everything and store them in the fridge so that I don't have to bother doing it every breakfast? If so, what is the best way to store them?

If the tomatoes are cut up I would recommend storing them separately, or putting them on top of paper towels. They make anything they touch go soggy

# ¿ Sep 5, 2016 12:34

Paperhouse: Dec 31, 2008; I think
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I doubt anything is going to go bad in the 4 hours between work starting and lunch time, tbh. As long as you work in a normal temperature. This is probably "unsafe" advice but I've eaten stuff left out overnight countless times and never had a problem

# ¿ Sep 18, 2016 17:35

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I've been told by an Italian girl that they (Italians) fry whole cloves of garlic in olive oil when beginning a pasta sauce, then remove the garlic once the oil is infused. I've also seen this in a few videos. Does this actually make any difference to if you just chop the garlic and leave it in? Other than there obviously being bits of garlic or no bits of garlic in the finished sauce

# ¿ Sep 28, 2016 20:22

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Bob Saget IRL posted:

I accidentally bought salted butter, and i don't understand how people use this stuff. Why does it exist?

Toast, sandwiches etc are 10 times better with salted rather than unsalted butter. I personally get extremely annoyed when I've got unsalted by mistake, it tastes bad

# ¿ Oct 9, 2016 17:45

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22 Eargesplitten posted:

I made lasagna and didn't consider that the huge amount of leftovers contain tomatoes. As I understand it, tomatoes taste like crap if you refridgerate them while hot. How should I handle this?

Err.. leave it to cool beforehand? I've never heard that tomatoes taste bad after they go into a fridge hot either, and I doubt it's true. I'm sure I've done that a number of times after making a sauce, and I've never noticed anything. Lasagne is a classic "make tons and have leftovers" kind of dish

# ¿ Oct 12, 2016 04:44

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spankmeister posted:

I accidentally left a cooked potato gratin out overnight. It smells okay. I put it in the fridge now.

I can probably still eat it, right?

I would

# ¿ Oct 12, 2016 15:06

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al-azad posted:

Reading about traditional Xmas Pud is like a horror story. It dangles in your pantry for a month, you moisten it liquor, talks about a skin and plums-that-are-actually-raisins and chunks of fat. And festive blessings to ye if you bite in and pull out a loving wishbone.

I... think I'm going to make this.

e: Don't forget to top your pud with toxic holly berries!

Hmm hmm, there's nothing more traditional than the holiday squirts after I eat my prune and rum spiced pudding!

Remember to put a coin into the mixture when you're making it. Then remember not to swallow the coin months later when you eat it!

# ¿ Oct 26, 2016 19:38

Paperhouse: Dec 31, 2008; I think
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So I'm probably going to make this recipe soon because it looks delicious and is really simple, but I'm just wondering about the time in the oven. He says to roast chicken thighs for 1 hour at 450 F, which seems like a long time to me as I'm sure I've roasted chicken thighs in about half that time before. I know chef John is an actual chef and all, but I still worry it would overcook. Or is that not something to really worry about with thighs?

obviously I can just keep an eye on it but I'm a big fan of "put in oven and leave until done"

# ¿ Nov 10, 2016 21:45

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JawKnee posted:

The way this guy speaks is maddeningly weird to listen to. Like the video is fine, the meal looks good... why does he keep putting a higher emphasis on the penultimate word in every sentence?

I dunno, at first it bugged me but now I kind of like it. It's not as prevalent in his older videos

# ¿ Nov 11, 2016 00:05

Paperhouse: Dec 31, 2008; I think
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I don't really know how anyone can tell for sure just by looking but it looks like a bird's eye chili to me

# ¿ Dec 2, 2016 14:42

Paperhouse: Dec 31, 2008; I think
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I have a question that's more just out of curiosity than anything - I made a sauce a few days ago that I thickened with flour and it was all fine, took it out of the fridge today and heated it up in the microwave and it was no longer thick. Like, at all. It was as if all the flour had been taken out of it. I didn't expect this to happen and it wasn't really a problem, but why did it happen? This was the second time I had reheated it, the first time it was still thick afterwards (I definitely heated it way longer this time though)

# ¿ Dec 8, 2016 23:39

Paperhouse: Dec 31, 2008; I think
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The best way I've found to cook them is shredded and fried with soy sauce, garlic and ginger. I bet fish sauce would be good as well

# ¿ Dec 12, 2016 14:52

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AnonSpore posted:

I like how nobody paid attention to this and continues to insist it's just the cooking method that's flawed

PS brussels sprouts own

In fairness I think that people definitely DO cook them badly and some may enjoy them prepared another way. I love them when prepared well, but I can even remember less than a year ago being served some pretty horrible sprouts by my friend who is a chef and usually a very good cook

# ¿ Dec 12, 2016 23:19

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I'm teaching in Austria and at some of the schools they're giving us the lunch that the kids get, and I have probably a dumb question. On a number of occasions I've been served vegetables as a side dish and they're really tasty, but I can't work out what it is exactly. The veg has been literally just a bowl of lettuce, peppers and courgettes, salad veg and baby carrots and broccoli, but in all cases they've had this kind of savoury and also sour flavour. Are they just slightly pickled or something? I'm assuming this is a common thing since I keep eating it but it's pretty new to me. There hasn't been any obvious dressing any time

# ¿ Feb 11, 2017 00:12

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Lichtenstein posted:

Hi guys, are induction stoves worth a drat?

In the past, I've been forced to use electric stoves (both hotplates and glass-ceramic) for some year and a half and it was so miserable I have flashbacks whenever I see a non-gas stove.

Now, the flat I'm considering moving in has one of those terrible glass-ceramic pieces of trash and, regrettably, switching it for a gas stove would be a major hassle for various logistical reasons. One possible solution would be to switch it for an induction stove, which I heard good things about - although from normie friends, so gently caress it, I'm not getting lead on into yet another hotplate nightmare.

So, dear goons, would I regret doing that? Any things I should bear in mind? Any things that would be off-limits that I could pull off with gas?

I've used all three quite a lot and honestly I like induction hobs the best. They heat pans up really quickly and you have way more control over the temperature compared to what you get with electric hobs, so they're like gas hobs in that respect except also so much easier to clean. In my mind they are comfortably better than electric hobs which I also really don't like

# ¿ Mar 1, 2017 19:04

Paperhouse: Dec 31, 2008; I think
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Knifegrab posted:

I'm always nervous to post these because I am a lazy cooker and I'm sure someone will say its not "real chicken tikka masala" but I used the following recipe:

http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-slow-cooker-chicken-tikka-masala-recipes-from-the-kitchn-211284

I used heavy whipping cream on accident instead of heavy cream (not much difference).

I also used a large yellow onion but wasn't sure if that is the right kind for indian cusine (and yes I did soften them up in a pan with olive oil).

I also did do the optional step of marinating the chicken overnight in greek yogurt.

I also also learned that garam masala differs wildly depending on where you get it. Buyer beware some garam masala's totally suck.

Finally I used two teaspoons of cayenne pepper powder for kick, cause I like spicy.

WHy whole peeled as opposed to peeled? I am nervous using anything that could end up giving me anything but a smooth texture.

Probably not really ideal if you want to use a slow cooker, but I often use a stick blender to get my curry sauce really smooth before then poaching the chicken in it. I guess for slow cooking you could still do it the way you have done, then fish out the meat bits to blend the sauce, then put the meat back in. I also like smooth curries with no vegetable lumps as that's what I generally ate at British curry houses when growing up. gently caress knows if this is authentic at all but I feel like I've definitely had curries that had to have been blended somewhat

# ¿ Mar 22, 2017 22:45

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FishBulb posted:

Learn to poach

Never done that. Seems weird to me. Is it a British thing or something?

It is popular in Britain but like... it's just eggs and toast

you should try dipping a buttered soldier into a runny boiled egg some time

# ¿ Apr 7, 2017 19:37

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feedmegin posted:

I don't see any mention of onions in there?

You probably want onions.

I imagine that comes under "all the aromatics"

I'm interested in what people have to say about this because the same thing has happened to me before when making curry, it tastes a bit too much of the tomatoes and not so much like a proper curry sauce you'd find in restaurants. I haven't really tried this out but I suspect that the amount of tomatoes in it should be decreased and the amount of onions sharply increased. Also I dunno if you did this as it wasn't mentioned, but adding ground cashews or almonds is very good

# ¿ Aug 7, 2017 14:38

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I'm surprised to hear people saying this about garlic. It's something that can go in basically everything and often it's nice to use a lot of it. And if it is sprouting a bit, who cares, chop the sprouts off and use the good bits. It's still fine to use

# ¿ Oct 17, 2017 01:56

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Scientastic posted:

I'm guessing UK. All the big supermarkets close at 1600 on Sundays because of extremely stupid Sunday trading laws which should be abolished

You can usually find a small Tesco or Sainsbury's that's open till 10 or 11 though

In Austria I experienced NO SHOPS OPEN AT ALL AT ANY TIME on Sundays. I didn't like it.

# ¿ Oct 17, 2017 12:54

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Chef John definitely sounds weird at first, but I actually love the way he talks in his videos now and I find them to be really good

# ¿ Nov 11, 2017 15:34

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Mordiceius posted:

It's not that she doesn't love eggs (actually, she loving loves eggs a ton), it's that as of a couple years ago, eggs started making her terrible ill every time she ate them. She wants to eat eggs for breakfast, but it is that she can't without being sick.

Yeah, that's basically what I figured as well. It's hard because I'm just trying to find a solution for her when she wakes up in the morning thinking "I want breakfast food, but I can't have eggs or anything sweet." It seems like the only breakfasts foods that exist either have eggs or are high in carbs and sweet. She's not trying to do no carbs, she's just trying to reduce her carb intake in general.

Not low carb, but in parts of Turkey they eat a lentil soup (mercimek corbasi) for breakfast that is tasty and would presumably be less carby than whatever bread or cereal type breakfast. Easy thing to heat a portion of in the morning, too

# ¿ Jan 16, 2018 01:43

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Help!

I wanted to make this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNgna9mZoa4

but can't seem to find pork shanks. Or veal shanks, which is how the dish is usually made. Is there a decent alternative? I'm guessing the bones are pretty important here but the only bony stuff I could find was ribs and a much larger joint

# ¿ Jan 19, 2018 20:11

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Squashy Nipples posted:

Am I the only one who thinks marshmallows on top of any kind of casserole is disgusting?

I've never had it since it seems to be a uniquely American thing, but it sounds absolutely insane to me

# ¿ Jan 21, 2018 14:18

Paperhouse: Dec 31, 2008; I think
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Help, I'm still poo poo at making white rice

It seems to always come out kind of sticky and mushy, I never get those separate and defined grains of rice. I don't have a rice cooker but I feel like there should still be some way to achieve this, or get close to it. I've just watched a few youtube videos and A) they say conflicting things and B) in some of them the people are claiming this is how to get rice that isn't sticky or mushy, yet you can see in the video that it obviously is

# ¿ Feb 20, 2018 13:32

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Help I don't know poo poo about meat

I want to make beef bourgignon but beef isn't that popular where I am and I'm not sure I can find a good cut for it. Veal seems to be much more popular and I think I'm more likely to find a variety of cuts of it, but I don't know if substituting it is a good idea since it is different in ways that I really don't know about. I googled veal bourgignon and did not find much information suggesting that people do this

# ¿ Feb 26, 2018 22:55

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# ¿ May 17, 2024 07:14

Paperhouse: Dec 31, 2008; I think
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legendof posted:

In my experience garlic pressing is what people do because they think it'll be faster than chopping the garlic but then it takes a month to clean the press and they are wrong.

It's what lots of celebrity chefs do in their videos because it makes things look quick and easy and they don't have to clean it themselves afterwards. In reality I think it's a pretty pointless device for the exact reason that you said. It's way easier to chop something quickly and then clean a flat knife than it is to clean some devil designed piece of poo poo with a million holes and corners. And you're going to be using a knife anyway so just keep using it

# ¿ Apr 12, 2018 02:42

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Goons with Spoons > The General Questions thread - for quick questions, recipe requests, help.

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