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

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

«‹›5 »

Hauki: May 11, 2010

Squashy Nipples posted:

Totally subjective. With beef, there is a bit of a trade off: you can have either buttery soft, or a lot of flavor.

GoWithChrist ruined my only decent sauce pot (my pots and pans are a motley collection). There are mountains of black carbon all over the bottom, and they are as hard as concrete.

My usual trick is to soak overnight in a concentrated solution of dish washer detergent, but that did nothing. Anything other then a wire wheel I could try?

Fill it with water, pour a fair bit of baking soda in there and bring it a boil.
Scrub and continue until black disappears. I've cleaned a lot of burnt-to-poo poo pots at work this way, it might take a few tries and some elbow grease though.

# ¿ Sep 25, 2011 00:04

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 10, 2024 17:52

Hauki: May 11, 2010

The Macaroni posted:

Edit 2: And I never, ever buy fresh seafood except from an "off the boat" fishmonger or Whole Foods.

Huh.
I've gotten burned the two times I tried to buy fish at Whole Foods (whole yellowtail snapper, and salmon I think) - the dude behind the counter wouldn't let me smell it or inspect it closely, and lo and behold, when I get it home it smells fishy as gently caress and is clearly past it's prime.
I also bought a bunch of chicken thighs there that I recall smelled/looked fine, but they turned the next day.
I don't buy meat or fish there anymore.

# ¿ Oct 6, 2011 23:55

Hauki: May 11, 2010

Safety Dance posted:

I'm making some 48 hour pork chops in a vinegar-based barbecue sauce. I know ribs are supposed to get super tender at that time/temp, and I know chops are a similar cut. Any predictions?

I predict that the texture will be pretty gross after 48h for a pork chop.

fake edit: especially with a vinegar-based sauce.

# ¿ Sep 13, 2012 00:46

Hauki: May 11, 2010

Happy Hat posted:

So basically there's no real reason to eat your pork well done?

I suppose there is if you enjoy gumming on a flavourless cud of meat.

# ¿ Nov 17, 2012 22:47

Hauki: May 11, 2010

The Geoff posted:

I've just made some tomato salsa (cooked, not pico de gallo) for the first time and I'm wondering how/where to store it. Should I keep it in the fridge or will it retain flavour better at room temperature? Does anyone know how long this sort of thing lasts?

It will go bad quickly kept at room temperature. Do not store cooked grains, veg, etc. at room temperature for any length of time.

# ¿ Dec 3, 2012 10:00

Hauki: May 11, 2010

Nicol Bolas posted:

Michael Ruhlman's method for making zucchini "noodles" is definitely my favorite. Lots of recipes will have you blanching zucchini or cooking it in the sauce, which can quickly turn it to mush if you're not careful. Ruhlman just suggest julienning (with a mandolin) and then tossing with copious salt in a colander and allowing that to drain into your sink for 5-15 minutes (depending on the size of your julienne), similar to the way you do for eggplant. This turns the zucchini into something pliable and excellent and ready for pretty much any sauce, after you rinse off the excess salt.

I've done this with daikon and it turned out pretty well.
Cut them sort of like slightly thinner udon, treated them similarly and put them in a sauce like ma jiang mian.

# ¿ Jul 18, 2013 21:50

Hauki: May 11, 2010

squigadoo posted:

Can you do this with long, thin pieces of daikon, or is this purely as a julienned thing? Just so I get this straight, you cut the daikon, salted it, rinsed, then stir-fried?

Yeah, I've done it with a peeler too and they basically turn out like linguine. Just trim up a long cylinder and use a knife or peeler to cut 1/8"-3/16" wide strips, moving around the body of the radish as you go. Uh, I think as I cut them I put them in to a salted ice bath, then drained and stir-fried for like 30s tops. I think the water's mostly just to keep them from wilting as you work. They may discolor too? It's been a few years and I can't remember what I was following at the time.

# ¿ Jul 19, 2013 17:05

Hauki: May 11, 2010

paraquat posted:

Over here they sell "American style pizza's", which are about four times as thick as the normal pizza's, and preferably feature corn (amongst the usual ingredients of course) and a lot of cheese.

(they're not bad tasting or anything, but ehm...I guess this is kinda racist! :-P )

Who the gently caress puts corn on a pizza? :smith:

# ¿ Jul 25, 2013 18:12

Hauki: May 11, 2010

Psychobabble posted:

Collard greens! Remove the center stem and blanch briefly then wrap away.

Ditto with chard, kale, beet greens, etc.

If you have some titanic bordeaux spinach like we do here, that would probably work too.

# ¿ Jul 29, 2013 17:05

Hauki: May 11, 2010

KingColliwog posted:

Sooooo, I'm looking for a enameled dutch oven but I can't justify the expense of a great Staub or Creuset one. I was about to pull the trigger on a Lodge one, but I've read a lot of review of them chipping after less than 6 months of use which seems quite ridiculous if you ask me. I have no interest in buying anything that won't last at the very least 5 years. I know I could just buy a cast iron one, but the whole seasonning and can't use soap on them doesn't seem so great. Any thread about this or just suggestions?

Also, looking for a griddle pan. Is worth having one if I don't already have a regular cast iron pan or are my priorities wrong.

I got mine at some sort of clearance shop like Ross or something, was an Emerilware. I think it cost me... $38? Well worth it, it's held up for the few years I've had it.

# ¿ Jul 31, 2013 22:54

Hauki: May 11, 2010

Scientastic posted:

What what what? Does this really work? Are they good?

I tried it yesterday in duck fat for :science:

after seeing that link and yeah, they actually turned out pretty well. I cut them in wedges and used a mix of random not-russets, but they were still pretty good.

# ¿ Aug 2, 2013 05:18

Hauki: May 11, 2010

Entenzahn posted:

I've only started cooking three weeks ago and in a somewhat sad moment I just made one of my first milestones: I threw away an unedible dish.

I tried to recreate the Stuffed Flank Steak I found, but the recipe is American and I'm in Austria so something like a flank steak doesn't really exist here. We cut our beef differently. I asked around at the butcher in the supermarket and eventually I was recommended Tafelspitz (not to be confused with the Austrian dish of the same name). Basically it's the tip of the butt.

Being the trusting noob that I am I gave this slab of meat a whirl. In retrospective I think the butcher may not exactly have given me the best advice. I tried it twice. The first time I cooked it until through, and while it was a little hard and dry on the outside, it was still edible. Today I took it out while still medium and the thing was so stringy I eventually had to stop at the halfway mark because my jaw hurt so much from all the chewing. I think it also tastes kinda weird.

Long story short, what's a good continental European substitute for flank steak? I need to butterfly it and roll it up.

I don't know about names of cuts there, but usually cuts from that part of a cow are best for braising or slow roasting, and the flank is from a totally different part of the animal. Maybe show him (or a different butcher) this diagram or something?Also check out matambre if you're interested in that sort of thing.

# ¿ Sep 12, 2013 15:24

Hauki: May 11, 2010

Turkeybone posted:

Does anyone know when quince are ripe? I mean.. I know quince are generally bricks and you need to cook them anyway, and I've cooked a bazillion in my lifetime, but this is the first time I have some quince bushes outside and I have no idea when they're ready to take from the bush, besides when they fall off.

Uh, they get more fragrant? I dunno. We used to have a couple trees and you could smell single fruits from like a yard away when they were ripe.

# ¿ Sep 16, 2013 03:09

Hauki: May 11, 2010

nielsm posted:

I see there's already some bean talk here...
I've been soaking some black beans today and went to cook them a little while ago. I'm not used to cooking beans so I just did what I assumed correct, added a bunch of fresh water and salt. Then I google up just to check, and find a load of recommendations to not add salt to the water as it will harden the beans. At that point the beans have already boiled for 10-12 minutes; I pour the water and replace it with fresh, cold water (and no salt), and place it back on the heat.
How hosed are my beans?

The salt thing's been proven to be bullshit, so not at all?

Edit: it has more to do with mineral content of your water and acidity vs alkalinity.

Hauki fucked around with this message at 22:17 on Oct 20, 2013

# ¿ Oct 20, 2013 22:09

Hauki: May 11, 2010

Turkeybone posted:

Hello old friends,

So I'm flying out to Boulder for a weekend right before Thanksgiving. I've never stepped foot in Colorado before. Where should I eat? I'll have transportation and such.

I could give pointers in Denver, not so much boulder. All I can say is avoid black cat grille in boulder, appetizers were actually pretty good but holy poo poo the entrees were mediocre to bad and the desserts were worse. For a place that grows their own produce, raises their own meat, etc, etc. the place was horrendously disappointing.

# ¿ Nov 1, 2013 01:54

Hauki: May 11, 2010

Steve Yun posted:

Drink cocktails? Make a white lady or a white spider

http://www.saveur.com/article/Wine-and-Drink/White-Spider

Posting to confirm that white spiders own and are the best use of egg whites.

# ¿ Nov 9, 2013 17:18

Hauki: May 11, 2010

Scott Bakula posted:

Yeah I'm definitely making this

Rendang owns and I'm pretty sure I've used that exact recipe before too.

Edit: VV - I have a wooden cutting board that's permanently stained yellow too.

Hauki fucked around with this message at 22:39 on Dec 4, 2013

# ¿ Dec 4, 2013 21:25

Hauki: May 11, 2010

Going back to the citrate & cheese chat, if I have anhydrous citric acid and sodium carbonate at home, what do I need to do to them to make citrate? I probably only have 4-8 oz of each left at this point.

# ¿ Jan 23, 2014 02:01

Hauki: May 11, 2010

Zerilan posted:

Searched around town today and found galangal and lime leaves. Only thing I could not find were macadamia or candlenuts. (The Asian foodstore I found said they sometimes have candlenuts but were out and were not sure when they'd restock. It was a really small store.)

I imagine I can't fully substitute the taste, but is there anything else I can use instead of those to at least substitute the quantity/texture?

Uh, I would try boiled peanuts if you can get them, maybe dry peanut or water chestnut I suppose. They won't be as buttery as macadamia for sure, but they should approximate the texture.

# ¿ Apr 4, 2014 17:39

Hauki: May 11, 2010

Lucy Heartfilia posted:

In this case FIFO would be more appropriate. First in, first out means the things bought the longest time ago should be used with the highest priority. I dunno if someone uses these is a food business context.

Yes they do. Mostly with regard to stocking walk-ins with produce, dairy, meat, i.e. perishables. It's kind of an important basic principal in running a restaurant or whatever, since you can severely gently caress yourself on spoilage & food cost if you don't manage your inventory in that way.

Hauki fucked around with this message at 11:26 on Apr 7, 2014

# ¿ Apr 7, 2014 11:24

Hauki: May 11, 2010

transfatphobic posted:

Did chicken, onion, and red bell pepper fajitas seasoned with garlic and cumin , served with homemade salsa, radishes, olives.

On another note I have a gigantic amount of vegetables that I need to work through, what's a good use for a ton of radishes? Besides straight up eating them raw. They also have the greens attached if there's anything worthy.

Pickle them. They'll keep forever, and they're awesome.

# ¿ Apr 16, 2014 01:23

Hauki: May 11, 2010

Karl Sharks posted:

Yes, isn't that an integral part of tiramisu? There's no cooking or baking at all.

I think these days most tiramisu is made with a tempered custard or a sabayon.

# ¿ Apr 17, 2014 04:37

Hauki: May 11, 2010

dino. posted:

Nigella Lawson, though a bit free-handed with the expensive ingredients, is always rather entertaining to watch, and I say this as a gay man who isn't watching her breasts jiggle endlessly through the chopping.

If you can get your hands on it, Julia Child and Jacques Pepin are /extremely/ entertaining to watch.

As a straight man, I find Nigella Lawson difficult to watch to any purpose precisely because her breasts jiggle endlessly through the chopping.

Anyway, seconding Jacques and Julia, also Mind of a Chef.

# ¿ Apr 27, 2014 20:02

Hauki: May 11, 2010

net work error posted:

My girlfriend left me with some left over radishes that failed to make it into her posole and I was looking for some ideas on what I could do with them. I've never actually used radishes in a dish before so any handling/cooking tips anyone has would be helpful too.

Roast with other root veg, oil, s + p = p. good.

Also braise with whatever.

Pickled radishes own too.

# ¿ May 5, 2014 02:46

Hauki: May 11, 2010

Senior Funkenstien posted:

I put whole black peppercorns in some vodka I had leftover to see what the infusion tastes like. Is it necessary to break the peppercorns or will whole ones work the same?

Whole will work just fine, filter out easier, and be easier to control in terms of strength.

# ¿ May 8, 2014 01:11

Hauki: May 11, 2010

ibntumart posted:

I'm going to be brave and try making my first risotto sometime in the next few days. But I've noticed most, but not all, risotto recipes seem to call for white wine. How much difference will it make if I don't bother with the wine and does that alter how much stock I'll be ladling in?

I do know how to substitute for wine, but if it's not going to make a big difference to begin with, I'd rather not bother.

Most risotto recipes will have you cook off the wine anyway before you start adding broth, so it's more for flavor. I wouldn't alter the volume of liquid really, but you should be adding incrementally and tasting it anyways near the end. As others mentioned, I would probably add a bit of lemon juice or similar for acidity (I don't really know what vinegars are halal or haram, and lemon juice is an easy out).

# ¿ Jul 25, 2014 00:45

Hauki: May 11, 2010

I like that in his story at the end, "wifey" apparently died just from the 'fumes' of cooking mushrooms? You know, because they weren't completely cooked yet. But the dude who ate them, completely fine.

# ¿ Jul 26, 2014 17:39

Hauki: May 11, 2010

Very Strange Things posted:

I want to can some tomatoes in an hour or so but I am lazy and I also don't have a lot of time but mostly I'm lazy.

What is the benefit of peeling, coring, and removing seeds before canning?
I don't want to do that.

Texture mostly. The peels come off a lot easier if you blanch the tomatoes in boiling water and shock them in an ice bath. I would probably at least do that before canning personally, the seeds I could care less about.

# ¿ Aug 7, 2014 23:24

Hauki: May 11, 2010

Drifter posted:

Anyone not in a hurry who kneads bread is a poser.

... What? What the hell is wrong with kneading dough?

# ¿ Sep 15, 2014 05:29

Hauki: May 11, 2010

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.

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.

Cardamom is pretty flavorful, especially in whole pod form & crushed. I would start with two to three pods probably.

# ¿ Sep 20, 2014 18:20

Hauki: May 11, 2010

thebigpicture posted:

Well, I guess I did pretty much threw out the idea of kind of staying within the bounds of the original family recipe. But I have to disagree about using pre-spiced tomato sauce. My sauce tastes much different if I only have a can of tomato sauce on hand and use that instead of crushed tomatoes -- but maybe that's because mine is very basic and not heavily spiced anyway.

I'm not sure where this idea that tomato sauce is necessarily spiced comes from. I just pulled four different cans from different companies out of my pantry, two have "tomato pur�e, tomato paste, sea salt" listed as ingredients, one is "tomato pur�e, salt, sugar" and the fourth is "tomato paste, water, red pepper, sea salt"

Edit: I found a fifth that includes citric acid as well

# ¿ Oct 11, 2014 19:43

Hauki: May 11, 2010

Steve Yun posted:

They fry kabocha for tempura

... and it's loving delicious.

# ¿ Dec 5, 2014 04:26

Hauki: May 11, 2010

Zenzirouj posted:

Well sure, that's what I do now whenever I have the odd craving. But what I'm looking to find out is whether there's a variety I could enjoy as-is.

Cherokee purples (as mentioned above), Black Krims and Brandywines are my favourites for super meaty, savory & flavorful tomatoes.

edit: we just ended up planting our own though
sun golds & other smaller indeterminates are better in my experience for hydroponics & indoor growing, the above do way better outdoors in actual soil following an actual season

Hauki fucked around with this message at 04:25 on Jan 7, 2015

# ¿ Jan 7, 2015 04:21

Hauki: May 11, 2010

CzarChasm posted:

I was watching Bizarre Foods the other day and he was in some Texas hill country area. What he had there was a Mexican appetizer of what looked like goad cheese covered in a spiced caramel sauce and served with toast. I thought he said the name of the dish was pillioncillo, but I thought that was the name for those sugar cones. Any idea what this actually was and any good recipes?

It's probably just cajeta on toast with goat cheese, I dunno if there's a specific name for it, but it is a thing people eat and it tastes pretty good. As far as recipes, it's sort of like asking for a pb&j recipe, put thing on top of thing on top of thing according to your own tastes.

# ¿ Jan 20, 2015 18:36

Hauki: May 11, 2010

Adult Sword Owner posted:

Costco is dangerous because a) don't want Wiggles to get upset!!!! 2) I have never ever gone into one and walked away without spending at least 3x what I intended to spend

When I intend to drop $300 on maybe some organic berries, tangerines, nuts, cheese, pork butt and lightbulbs, it works out pretty well.

# ¿ Feb 3, 2015 09:10

Hauki: May 11, 2010

Lucy Heartfilia posted:

Sardines from the tin with crackers.

Or on good crusty bread with a bit of olive oil and red onion.

# ¿ Feb 13, 2015 10:02

Hauki: May 11, 2010

paraquat posted:

Popcorn with cayenne pepper

also popcorn with furikake and chile flakes

# ¿ Feb 13, 2015 10:50

Hauki: May 11, 2010

Hed posted:

When you guys make chicken stock do you hang onto the fat that congeals at the top? Storage: Keep it like bacon grease? Uses: Just use it in anything that needs a chickeny boost of flavor?

It depends, but yes, I often skim it off and save it like I would bacon fat. I was trying a lot of variations on ivan orkin's shio ramen for a while, so I started skimming & saving or rendering chicken fat wherever I could for that and now it's become something I just keep a jar of on hand.

# ¿ Feb 14, 2015 19:58

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 10, 2024 17:52

Hauki: May 11, 2010

GobiasIndustries posted:

Picked up some steaks yesterday with a sell-by date of 2/14. Took them out of the fridge today and both are turning brown/greyish. I opened the wrap on both and neither have an odor unless my nose is like, an inch away from them, and it's nothing that smells unpleasant to me. Slightly slimy but not much moreso than the parts that are still red. Are these good to cook if I do so tonight?

Should be fine.

# ¿ Feb 16, 2015 04:05

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

«‹›5 »