Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon

vuk83 posted:

I have a whole cauliflower and half a butternut squash. Any good ideas for dinner tomorrow night.

Lebanese baked caramelized cauliflower with lemony tahini sauce

The butternut squash I'd just cube and roast with olive oil and sea salt, and scarf immediately.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon

dino. posted:

I’m a filthy vegan. You don’t want me at your potlucks. lol

Good vegan cooks are worth their weight in gold, filthy or not

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon

Suspect Bucket posted:

How do you guys store your rice? The bags they come in are quite ponderous. Should I go for giant square Tupperware?

Glass jars for varieties that I buy in smaller quantities. For the bulk stuff like brown rice, I offload it from the big bag into several repurposed bpa-free nut jars that I've accumulated. Each one holds several pounds, and the narrower grip area on the back makes the jar easier to handle. The labels come off, and you end up with a nice transparent/lightweight/sealable container. They look nice all lined up in the pantry closet, and the contents stay fresh.

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon

Nephzinho posted:

Where does everyone go for inspiration for new poo poo? After a year I finished my renovation of consolidating all of my cookbooks. Then moved on to a bunch of cookbook adjacent things I had bookmarked. Then moved on to learning a bunch of German food for my wife's family. I'm spending the next few weeks doing some mexican (not really mexican, more SF mission burritos) -- but at that point I'm literally out of ideas. Do I just start watching tv and making notes if I see anything interesting, or start going back through cookbooks I'd shelved after taking 2-3 things, or start looking at BA youtube channel outside of Gourmet Makes? What do you do when you are looking for inspiration? Taking "time off" from new stuff is a valid answer, seeing as its almost soup weather.

I tend to go to a grocery store or farmers' market to spot ingredients that I haven't used before, and then have a grand old time figuring out what to do with them.

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon
If you're cooking at your parents' place and they have a yard or garden, you could rent a really big grill. My next door neighbors do this a couple of times each year. The local rental places around here all seem to have them, ranging from super elaborate propane ones to a huge but simple charcoal-fired Big John.

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon

Scientastic posted:

Let’s all mock poor Scottish people for cooking something hearty and warming, lol who doesn’t have time after slaving away on the moors all day to brown their meat and use paprika?

Not to say the recipe couldn’t be improved, but when you’ve been outdoors in loving Scotland all day, you care more that your food is hot and filling than anything else. I’ve had stovies just like that quite a few times, and I’ve enjoyed them every time because I’ve been knackered and frozen and they’ve filled/warmed me up.

Let's see... a one-pot dish that lets the flavor of the ingredients shine through without a lot of spice or fuss? Yes please. I like my curries and herbs as well as the next person, but this looks amazing.

Would move to Scotland in a heartbeat if I could.

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon

prayer group posted:

The point I want to make here is that cheap comfort food doesn't have to be bland necessarily, and in fact I think it's kind of condescending toward disadvantaged people to insist so. Salt is extremely cheap. So is black pepper. Using those in that dish would make it orders of magnitude better, while costing only pennies more (or I guess pence, since we're in Scotland here). It is truly baffling that I'm getting blowback on the food subforum for saying that food can and should be seasoned.

Not everyone is accustomed to (or desires) added salt in food, and if you don't habitually use it in everything, then the flavor of the other ingredients becomes more pronounced to you. I stopped salting stuff routinely years ago. True that a lot of people do add salt as a default, but if you don't habitually use it, then it can taste unpleasant when you do.

It might be worth thinking about why "bland" should have any negative connotation in the first place? I'd like to think there's room on the cuisine spectrum for mild things as well as highly seasoned things. Personally I like both, and I like to switch them up.

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon

SymmetryrtemmyS posted:

yeah, I agree, it would be quicker and really very easy to use the same ingredients and make a really tasty dish. instead, it gets boiled into mush. if that's what you like, fine, but I'm gonna dunk on you about it

Dunk away! I'll just be over here enjoying my mush.

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon

His Divine Shadow posted:

Anyone have got a favorite lasagna recipe of the ricotta type? I've been meaning to make it ever since I saw ricotta cheese is a thing we now have in stores here.

Well, mine is probably non-canonical in some ways, but it uses homemade noodles and sauce, and I've been making it for decades and people always like it, so here goes.

I looked back ITT and oddly people don't seem to post actual recipes very much, but I guess they can scroll past if they want to!

Lasagna:

Noodles:

1-3/4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 large eggs, beaten

Sift flour with salt and baking powder. Make a well in the center, add eggs, coax flour into the eggs, and fold until thoroughly blended. Gather into a claggy dough and knead on a floured board just until smooth. (A bench knife is helpful at the start.) Roll very thin (1 to 2 mm), keeping as rectangular as is possible, on floured board; let rest for 20 minutes. Cut into strips 3 inches wide and about 11 inches long. Toss gently to separate the noodles from each other, and allow to dry on a floured muslin towel for 3 to 4 hours. (Top with another muslin if you'll be leaving them for longer.)

Sauce:

10 cups canned crushed tomatoes
2/3 cup tomato paste
1 large onion, chopped fine
3 cloves garlic, chopped fine
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon salt
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp dried basil
2 tablespoons snipped parsley
2 cups water (use less if crushed tomatoes have a lot of juice)

Sauté onion and garlic in oil. Add tomato paste and continue sautéing. Add crushed tomatoes, salt, water, and fennel seeds. Simmer uncovered, stirring often, for one hour or until nicely thickened. Add basil and parsley.

(Note, if you want to add meat to this recipe, you could brown it and add it to the sauce before the final simmer.)

Cheese:

3 lbs ricotta
4 eggs
¼ cup snipped parsley
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
1 tablespoon salt
2 tsp or more black pepper (adjust as desired)
2 tsp or more cayenne
1 lb mozzarella, shredded
1 cup Romano or parmesan, shredded

Keep mozzarella and Romano separate. About two hours before you want to serve, mix ricotta, eggs, herbs, and spices.

Assembly and baking:

1. Cook noodles in simmering well salted water until toothsome. Quench each one quickly in ice water. Hang cooked noodles over edge of pasta basket to drain so that they don’t stick together.
2. Layer in large flat pan, oiled (mine is 14x10x3 inches), beginning with sauce, then noodles, then ricotta, then mozzarella, lastly parmesan. Repeat layering until pan is nearly full, ending with mozzarella and parmesan on top.
3. Bake in 400 F oven for one hour, then let rest on top of stove for 15-30 minutes to set for cutting. Garnish with extra snipped parsley if desired.

Note that the proportions for the sauce can be adjusted to your preference, there's nothing magic about them. You can add an extra onion, more fennel, or change up the spices if you wish. The fennel seed does give a good umami kick, so it's good to have it in there.

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon

Steve Yun posted:



I bought grains of paradise, cubeb peppers and long peppercorns to use in a tepache recipe. Is there something else I can use these spices for? I’m running out of room

I'd put the grains of paradise in a good pepper grinder and use them to top dress eggs, potatoes, or rice.

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon

Jaded Burnout posted:

I'm trying to make a palatable (to me, a green-thing disliker) smoothie with as much veg as I can reasonably cram into it.

Here's my favorite green smoothie:

Very large handful of spinach (like Flash said)
5 sprigs parsley, big stems removed
1/2 lemon with pulp but no rind
1 small apple
1 small banana
1-2 inches of a peeled cucumber
2 tablespoons flax seed (crushed if you've got 'em, but the crushed ones go rancid quickly so I usually only keep whole seed on hand)
1 cup water
5 ice cubes
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger, optional

I can say with all honesty that this is very tasty.

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon

legendof posted:

Is there such a thing as a tall cake carrier? I bake fancy-rear end cakes for friends' birthdays (who usually have parties at bars or the like) and can't find one that's taller than about 8" inside. I can't figure out where to look for a taller cake carrier, or if they even exist. If not I'm going to need to figure out some annoying way to safely take a giant cake in a Lyft without disaster, so I suppose I'd also accept suggestions for how to do that.

Depending upon how tall it needs to be, you might check for vintage cake carriers on ebay. I have a tin one from the 1940's that is 14 inches tall, and Tupperware used to make them in varying heights. You can also get tall cardboard cake boxes (Amazon has them). Some hatboxes are tall enough too.

I have also used a 5-gallon plastic beer brewing bucket for really tall things (e.g. a croquembouche). If you put the cake plate on the lid, you can lower the bucket over it and seal it. It might get you some funny looks if you carry an upside-down beer bucket into a bar, though.


Eta that picnic coolers (styrofoam or Coleman-type) work also

TofuDiva fucked around with this message at 04:02 on Oct 9, 2019

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon

Jaded Burnout posted:

OK so I did a modified version of this, and we got closer. Perhaps y'all can suggest some tweaks.



Half a banana, half an apple, shitloads of spinach, parsley *with* stems, water, ice, chunk o' lemon, tbsp of chia & flax seed mix.



Certainly very green.

Issues:
- Spongy texture, maybe I need to stop using banana?
- Strong smell of cut grass
- Powerful cold hit on upper-back of palate, maybe ingredients already too cold to need ice

Got most of the way through it, but not quite all the way.

Glad you're getting closer! I think the thing with any of these is to end up with something that is healthful and that you'll actually consume and be willing to make again, and you'll always be able to add more of the green stuff as you get used to it, if you want to. With the parsley, one thing I found out is that freshness makes a huge, huge difference. Really fresh parsley doesn't have as much of the grassy or bitter notes; when freshly picked, I find that it is snackable by itself. I eventually ended up growing my own in a little Aerogarden for that reason.

Also in my recipe, "peeled" cucumber definitely means take the peel off. I forget sometimes that "peeled" can mean opposite things to different people.

Also, if you ever happen across swiss chard in the market, give it a try - it's a bit milder even than spinach, and it packs the same nutritional wallop.

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon

Rocko Bonaparte posted:

Has anybody here dabbled with thickeners in cobbler? I find mine are too runny and the standard tricks affect the flavor or don't work to the level I want. There's a barbecue place I passed through today whose cobbler gelled on the sides of the bowl like it was Jello, and I'm starting to wonder if they're using gelatin. I've tried cornstarch and getting to the level I want affects the flavor. Flour affects the flavor even sooner before it thickens. I've tried pectin and not had much success. For example, I used that with a 9x13 for some blueberry cobbler I mashed up beforehand as well as with trying to do a blueberry pie and neither really tightened up like I wanted.

Have you tried ClearJel? It is essentially cornstarch that's been treated with a bit of acid, and that treatment makes it really good for setting fruit pies and cobblers, even ones with acidic fruits that other thickeners can't handle. It doesn't affect the flavor, and it stays really clear.

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon

Rocko Bonaparte posted:

I had never even heard of it! Is that something that is in a typical supermarket baking aisle or do I need to nab it online? I'd want to try it.

I've never seen it in a supermarket, more's the pity. I first found it on the King Arthur website that I linked, and I see that Amazon also has it now (although the price seems to be much higher on Amazon).

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon

dino. posted:

Any Latino market will carry it. It’s a fairly common ingredient.

That is welcome news! Shopping trip coming up.

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon

angor posted:

13 years ago, in the infancy of this subforum, I posted a cake I made for a friend. But it wasn't just any cake, it was a cake of stature. Of heft.

3 tiers of lovely meatloaf encased in hilariously colored and terribly piped (ziplock bag with a hole in the corner) instant mashed potatoes with a ketchup glaze in between the layers. Proof: https://imgur.com/a/zJoYo

So here we are 13 years later, and that same friend is turning 36, and Meatcake v2.0 is becoming a reality. However, this one has to not suck, so I need your help!

This time I'm going to make the meatloaf MUCH better. Leaning towards Kenji's meatloaf recipe unless anyone has a better one: https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2015/08/the-food-lab-all-american-meatloaf-excerpt-recipe.html

For the 'icing', I'm using real mashed potatoes. I did a test batch yesterday because I've never properly piped anything before and I needed the practice. I think I've gotten my mash close to where it needs to be. I used butter and milk to make them creamy, but they seem to want to collapse onto themselves a little bit when I pipe rosettes (and you bet your rear end I'm putting rosettes on this cake). I think skipping the milk and going with cream may help, and I might whip in some cream cheese to help with definition as well. Any ideas here?

This was from the test yesterday:


Wow! This should be spectacular :allears:

Back in the day, we'd beat egg yolks into the hot mash to help with definition and hold while adding richness - something like two yolks to three cups of mash.

By today's safety standards you'd maybe want to use pasteurized eggs, although I haven't made them that way and don't know if pasteurized yolks would affect the results.

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon

Steve Yun posted:

How much is 1lb of 80/20 ground beef where you guys are? $3? $4?

$4.95/lb here (US East Coast)

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon
Long shot, I suppose, but how about a steel toolbox?

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon

Rocko Bonaparte posted:

Type 1 firebricks really do drink up water so they would give me a decent amount of moisture, but I'd be having to place these things after starting the fire and using a tool to do it, which I'm having a hard time imagining. The internal oven diameter is 42" and I built it with a longer entrance so that I could have a second cooking zone, so I'd have to reach over five feet for some of it. Or else I'm trying to slide these bricks down delicately with a hoe or whatever. If I had a longer log grabber then maybe, but that's another tool situation I'm dealing with (I do want a longer log grabber).

Also, I might be dismantling that setup if I had to add some more fuel or I'd have to be generally pretty delicate about keeping that side open enough to sneak wood in. With a single vessel, I could grab the back of it with a hoe and slide it out.

The height issue comes from two factors. The first is I get my best burns from using a fireplace grate, so the action is already a bit off the floor. If I disregard that, I'm dealing with a mix of ashes piled on top of the fire that still props it up a few inches. So I'm trying to make sure I'm covered either way. Six inches is too low. Eight inches is looking nice. I can still comfortably move a vessel that is 12 inches tall without banging into the entrance roof, and I fixated on that since I was thinking that maybe something that is a foot tall would be more standard (?).

Sounds like an awesome setup. This may be a silly question, but is there a reason that the fire barrier and water source have to be the same piece of equipment? Could you have a barrier of, say, fire bricks or metal, and put a separate container of water nearer the door where you can move or refill it easily?

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon

Steve Yun posted:

Anyone got a good chili recipe since serious eats’ is way fiddly

It turns out that there is an entire chili thread

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon

Stringent posted:

Any of y'all know anything to do with Japanese Persimmons (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diospyros_kaki)? I floated the idea of preserves or jam but nobody was interested.

Maybe a savory/sweet chutney that you could serve with meats or with cheese on crostini?

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon

That Works posted:

Anyone pickle green tomatoes that has a good recipe to share?

Genuine old family recipes, for whatever that's worth. We like the relish version better than the slices, but here are both:

Pickled Green Tomato Relish:

2 lbs cucumbers, peels removed
2 lbs green tomatoes
4-1/2 teaspoons salt
2 cups finely cut celery or cabbage
1 cup ground onion
1-1/2 cup very finely chopped bell peppers (red or green)
2 tablespoons finely chopped hot peppers (your choice)
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 cups cider vinegar
2-1/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup white mustard seed
2 teaspoons celery seed
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/8 teaspoon each of fresh ground cloves, mace, and nutmeg

1. Wash all of the veggies before chopping, removing stems, cores, and any blemishes.
2. Put tomatoes and cucumber through a food chopper, using a coarse blade.
3. Place into a glass bowl or crock. Add salt and let stand overnight.
4. Next morning, drain/squeeze excess liquid. Add the cabbage/celery, onion, bell peppers, and hot peppers.
5. Add the remaining ingredients and mix gently.
6. Heat to just simmering, and cook slowly for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
7. Pack and seal into hot, sterilized jars.

Makes 4-1/2 pints.


Pickled green tomato slices:

12 lbs green tomatoes
6 large onions, peels removed
1 cup salt
1 quart vinegar
4 lbs brown sugar
3 tablespoons mixed pickling spice (commercial blend or mix your own)

1. Wash tomatoes and onions and slice into thin slices.
2. Layer into a large crock, salting each layer as you go.
3. Top with a platter and a heavy weight on top of the platter. Let stand overnight.
4. Drain and then scald in boiling water.
5. Remove from the water and combine with remaining ingredients.
6. Bring to a boil and cook until just tender.
7. Pack and seal in hot sterilized jars.

Makes about 12 pints.

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon

Oxyclean posted:

Someone give me a good mashed potato recipe that makes 1-2 portions. Just had a wisdom tooth removed and need some good (not too hot) soft foods.

Not potato, but savory oat bran is soft and can be really nice

• 120 grams oat bran (about 3/4 cup)
• 2 cups water
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• Black pepper, to taste

Combine everything in a heavy pan, bring to a simmer and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Top with a poached (or fried) egg, sliced green onion, soy sauce, and drizzle with a little toasted sesame oil or truffle oil. Add crushed hot pepper if you want some heat.

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon

Doom Rooster posted:

I've got a bunch of friends coming over tomorrow to all carve jack-o-lanterns and am looking for a good batch drink. We'll be outside, and it should be mid 60s-low 70s, so not sure it will really be mulled wine weather, but something "festive" would be ideal.

Any suggestions for a batch cocktail/punch?


Edit: Looking to serve 8-10

Cider!

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon
Or slice them in half and put them in a pan cut side down, with a little olive oil to roast low on the stovetop. Cover the pan at first if they are large. Move them around and turn them over when the cut side is brown, until they're as tender as you want them to be. (Add garlic, lemon, teriyaki sauce or other seasonings as you wish.)

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon

Chinatown posted:

I have my own apartment now and I have a hodge podge of old mismatched pots and pans. Time for new.

Whats the best nonstick set for..eh...$200? Flying blind here.

You might also consider cast iron ware, which behaves like nonstick if you keep it properly seasoned. Not everybody likes it, but if you take to it, it's really good stuff.

I bought a set more decades ago than I'd care to admit, and it still looks and works like new even though it has seen daily use for all that time.

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon
Or add a dollop of apple butter or lekvar to make up the difference, or buy the big can of pumpkin and use only 15 oz of it

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon

DasNeonLicht posted:

This looks terrific.

Will someone please reassure me, though? My brother bought me a 12-inch Lodge cast-iron skillet last Christmas and I have still never used it. Part of my fear is that I love recipes like the one above that call for some sort of partially acidic deglazing or braising and that cooking like I would like to will gently caress up my pan.

They say the way to season cast iron is to just start cooking with it, but should I go gentle on it at first? Or can I jump right in with a few *acidic braises and pan sauces?

Congrats on the Lodge skillet! If you find that you like it, you'll use it for many decades. It is actually really hard to ruin them, as long as you do two things: season the pan well, and never wash it with soap or detergent.

My approach is probably not considered orthodoxy, but I use my cast iron ware (purchased in 1977) daily, for almost everything except making marinara sauce or boiling pasta. (I have a graniteware pan and a large stainless kettle for those.)

I think Lodge comes pre-seasoned, but even so, it is important to season it: rinse it, dry thoroughly, put a generous amount of coarse salt in and scrub with a rag (not an abrasive pad), tip out the excess salt but don't worry about getting it all, rub it inside and out with fat (lard is traditional but a high-temp vegetable oil like peanut works fine too), and put it in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes or so. Then while the pan is still warm, rub the fat in some more, and it's ready to use.

To clean it after use, just wipe it out, scrubbing with more salt and oil if need be. (On rare occasions,I'll put a bit of water in the pan and heat to boiling, then scrape, drain, and rub with lots more oil to remove really stuck detritus.)


tl:dr - go forth and cook. Season your pan well to start, then make that chicken without worry; just clean the pan properly (and promptly) afterward. And remember that if it ever starts looking dull, you can always repeat the initial seasoning process to get it back to like new.

edit to add that there is one more thing to do but it applies to all cookware, I think: don't drop it or subject it to thermal shocks.

TofuDiva fucked around with this message at 16:34 on Nov 12, 2019

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon

Eeyo posted:

At least it's not whistles in Indian pressure cooker recipes. My pressure cooker doesn't even whistle!

This is fascinating, and I'd like to hear more about it if you have time

Weltlich posted:

I like to use them as part of butternut squash or pumpkin puddings. As in an english style pudding, not a jell-o pudding. This is sort of a sweet & savory recipe that I like making during the winter months.

Equipment: Cast Iron Skillet, steamer basket, saucepot with lid, electric mixer (stand or hand), parchment paper, cutting board

1 medium sized butternut squash, peeled and gutted, chopped into 1" cubes
1 cup oat flour (you can use AP, too)
5 large eggs
1/4 cup maple syrup (could use brown sugar or sorghum molasses as well)
2 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
1 cup cranberries, 3/4 cup to mix and 1/4 cup reserved
1/2 cup gorgonzola or bleu cheese crumbles
1/2 tsp fresh grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 oz rum
Oil (coconut or vegetable)

Preheat oven to 375

1) If you have a steamer basket, then steam the squash until it is soft in texture and forks apart easily. You can boil it if you don't have a steamer basket, but I find the flavor is better when steamed.
2) Put all ingredients except the apple and 1/4 cup of cranberries into a large mixing bowl and blend together until a smooth batter forms. Depending on the size of the squash, add a little more flour if it's too runny, or another egg or more rum if it's too stiff.
3) Lightly oil the bottom of the skillet, then cut a sheet of parchment into a circle that can sit on the bottom of the skillet.
4) Arrange the apple slices and cranberries into a pretty design on the parchment. I like to do geometric patterns. Get creative.
5) Pour the batter into the skillet carefully so that it doesn't dislodge your apple and berry pattern
6) Bake for roughly 1 hour. A toothpick inserted into the pudding should come back fairly "clean" with no big clumps of batter hanging on it.
7) Allow to cool completely.
8) Slide a knife around the edge of the pudding to release it from the skillet. Then cover the top of the skillet with the cutting board and invert while holding a hand to keep the two together, so the pudding drop neatly onto the board.
9) Peel the parchment from the top of the pudding to reveal the apple and berry pattern on top. Slice and serve.

What a beautiful recipe! I will try this this coming weekend.

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon

Mr. Wiggles posted:

Strong disagree on your last point - land is not land is not land. Sheep and goats can be efficiently raised on marginal land which is not suitable for cattle. It is the ability of cattle to exist in a feed lot that gives them the efficiency advantage, but that's not necessarily an ecologically friendly efficiency. It makes more sense to use the soybeans we feed to cows to feed humans, and raise goats in deserts where we can't grow soybeans.

Friendly amendment - deserts and drylands are ecologically extremely sensitive, and important to the planet's heat balance. Goats are well adapted for those regions, but they can't be allowed to eat whatever they want to; they have to be managed carefully to be sustainable, and that is a challenge for goatkeepers everywhere.

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon
Chances are that if the family has never used the smoker they were given, they have no clues as to what's involved and how much time it takes. If you explain it, maybe they'll back off.

But if you really want to do it - do you need to fly? If you could drive and therefore control how the bird is keeping, you could smoke it where you are, then double bag and put it in one of those styro boxes with the really tight fitting lids, and dry ice it (or even regular ice) while you travel.

I took a bunch of delicate family-recipe pies across country once like that, checking seals and replenishing the ice every time I stopped at a motel for the night.

(Those more familiar with smoked turkey may say this won't work - I have no direct knowledge of smoked turkey, so listen to them not me if they say this is a Not Good Idea.)

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon
Hey one last thought on smoked turkey: what if you did two or three turkey breasts instead of a whole bird? You could fit those in a carry-on. Just a thought.

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon

barkbell posted:

So I got drunk last night and ordered 50 bux of whole spices of like every flavor of cardamom and blade mace and whatever else. What are some bomb curry recipes I can do?

I'll be looking forward to curry recipes too, but in the meantime, put some of that cardamom in your tea, and grind some up and put it in homemade bread rolls.

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon

barkbell posted:

green pods, black pods, or the seeds? i got all 3 now

Nifty! I'd go with black pods in black tea, green pods in delicate teas (green or white). If by seeds you mean you've got the innards of cardamom pods already out of their shells, just grind those up and use them in a rich bread dough. I like about a teaspoon of ground cardamom per 3 cups of flour for a good but not overpowering flavor, but you can adjust that up or down to suit your preference.

Consider yourself lucky btw - when I was recovering from major surgery a few years ago and on strong pain stuff, I ordered sewing machines.

Yes. Plural.

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon

hooah posted:

My wife makes these Oreo truffles that are delicious, but coating then in chocolate is currently a huge pain in the rear end. The way we're currently doing it is to melt some chocolate chips in the microwave with a little vegetable oil. The main problem is the chocolate stiffens up after just a few truffles, so it's got to be reheated. Also, trying to dip them in a bowl and use spoons to coat them is tedious. Is there anything we could do to make the process easier?

There's a whole art and a lot of science to this for people who do it often. Keeping the chocolate warm using poeticoddity's method would work well. In my case, I put it on a warming plate (the kind that is sold for people to keep their mug of tea or coffee warm). Possibly the most useful tool to have is a chocolate dipper, which is essentially a coiled wire or a couple of tines with a handle. I prefer the coiled wire. There are commercial ones, but I made mine by re-bending a couple of the egg dippers that come with Easter egg dye packages. The coil just needs to be a little wider than the truffle, and cupped a little bit so that the truffle stays put. With a dipper, you can dip the truffle in, flip it around to cover, and lift it back out with minimal mess.

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon

BrianBoitano posted:

Those all sound like great ideas, but I'd also strongly recommend you switch from chocolate chips to bar chocolate. Chocolate chips are formulated to not melt in the oven, so you're fighting food scientists when you try to force it by adding vegetable oil.

Instead melt a bar of chocolate. My favorite method is to chop fine, melt 90% of it in the microwave in short increments (20 seconds, stir, 15 seconds, stir, 10, stir, 10, stir, etc) then once it's all melted stir in the remaining 10%. Melting slowly is supposed to keep the temper, and adding the 10% is supposed to fix it if you accidentally overheated.

This is a really good point. Depending upon how large a batch of truffles you're making, it might be worth buying chocolate wafers or chunks explicitly for melting and dipping. King Arthur Flour has Valrhona, Guittard and Callebaut as well as some organics. Amazon has some of these too.

FaradayCage posted:

How long can you leave frying oil in a countertop fryer without issues?

I fried a test batch of falafel in canola oil Tuesday morning and I plan to fry another batch tonight. There are some large particles that I didn't fish out and I didn't have any filtering materials on hand.

It looks clear. It smells more strongly than the unused canola oil, but not cheesy or fishy. You have to get your nose pretty close and smell with intent to detect it.

I have absolutely no clue how strongly bad canola oil is supposed to smell.

As others have said, your oil should be fine. The one difference to look out for when you cook your next batch is that your food will brown a little bit faster. There are well-understood food chemistry reasons for this but I don't remember the details; perhaps other goons will remember and chime in if you are interested in the mechanics of it.

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon
A water bath helps with the cracking. I never bother with one; I just treat the crack as an opportunity for some extra fresh fruit garnish before serving :)

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon

GhostofJohnMuir posted:

does anyone have a suggested approach for guava ice cream made from a batch of fresh guavas? i've never really made any flavors other than chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. i'm thinking of scooping out the seeds and pulp and then blending skin and flesh into a puree, then tossing that into my standard ice cream base, but i'm wondering if it would be better to reduce everything to a slightly jam-y consistency before hitting it with an immersion blender. searching online doesn't come up with any recipes that inspire great confidence

Sounds like a delicious thing to make. IIRC, fresh guava does contain substantial amounts of papain which is a protease enzyme, and so you can't add it to recipes that rely on proteins to set up properly unless you cook the fruit to inactivate the papain first. (Gelatin is the classic example of something that won't set up in the presence of papain, which is why one can't successfully put fresh pineapple in gelatin.)

I don't have first-hand experience on how that chemical process would translate for ice cream, but I suspect that if the ice cream base you use is a custard, then it might have an effect. Reducing the guava puree with heat would inactivate the papain, so that would be the safer route. Maybe someone else here has actual first-hand experience with it though and can give you better advice.

TofuDiva fucked around with this message at 21:40 on Nov 28, 2019

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

TofuDiva
Aug 22, 2010

Playin' Possum





Muldoon
Spinach ideas, anyone?

A wonderful family member brought fresh spinach - lots and lots and lots of fresh spinach. We enjoyed salads, smoothies, sauteed it with garlic, put some in soups and ramen, made pesto, stuffed squash with it, and just ate handfuls of it rolled up with a bit of lemon and tahini.

He's now gone back to his island and I still have a couple of generous quarts of the spinach. It's probably past its prime for salads, but would still serve well with light cooking. Anybody have an offbeat favorite that you'd be willing to share?

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply