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.

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Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

Cool, thanks!

# ¿ Dec 24, 2011 08:29

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# ¿ May 11, 2024 07:14

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

Dry marjoram seems very faint to me compared to other herbs

# ¿ Dec 24, 2011 20:27

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

You got zillions of bread options.

With attachments you can grind meat, fill sausage and make pasta

Steve Yun fucked around with this message at 07:11 on Dec 27, 2011

# ¿ Dec 27, 2011 07:06

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

Mustard also acts as an emulsifier... not sure how important that is to BBQ sauce, but if the BBQ sauce is having trouble staying together I think you can use egg yolk or honey as substitute emulsifiers.

# ¿ Jan 3, 2012 23:44

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

I freeze single servings of rice all the time, so convenient.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2012 07:02

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

geetee posted:

I never bought fish before. I usually go food shopping at 7 or 8pm because of work and it avoids the soccer moms, but the seafood counter is closed by then. The refrigerator case has store-packaged cuts of fresh salmon that look fine. Is there anything wrong with buying those? I obviously can't smell them, but that wouldn't do much for me anyway since I can't tell bad from good.

If it says it's fresh and was never frozen, perfect.

Frozen is also good, but keep in mind the cheaper frozen fish will have sodium tripolyphosphate as a preservative, which kind of degrades the flavor and texture. Not a deal killer on a weeknight, but not something you'd use if you're cooking to impress someone.

Everything I read says to avoid anything that's not frozen but says "previously frozen"

# ¿ Jan 4, 2012 10:50

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

Modern gas cooktops have different size caps on them so that you know which ones are stronger or weaker, maybe they didn't do that for older ones

# ¿ Jan 4, 2012 23:05

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

WELL, according to CI... you should get pointy teeth and not rounded scallops, with the teeth being an average/medium distance apart, slightly flexible and about 9-10 inches if possible.

Which describes the Victorinox anyways.

# ¿ Jan 5, 2012 03:16

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

Call back and ask, what's the worst that could happen?

# ¿ Jan 7, 2012 05:18

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

Pre-seasoned means it's a good primer but it won't be non-stick until you cook fatty stuff in it for a few weeks.

The heat of cooking binds the grease/oil from your food to the pan. You can either leave the extra grease in there so that the next time you cook it's already greasy or you can clean all the grease off and just add oil every time you cook. Either way.

MAINTENANCE:

Wash with hot water and scrubbing with a bristle brush.

Dry it off completely before shelving/hanging it. Water won't hurt it right away but a few hours of it might.

No soap

REPAIR:

If it ever flakes off, just cook more fatty stuff in it and the seasoning will rebuild eventually

If it ever gets left overnight in soapy water or left outside in the rain and rusts up completely, scrub it down with steel wool, coat very lightly in vegetable oil and bake at 350-500 degrees for an hour. After that, cook lots of bacon.

That's about all you really need to know.

Steve Yun fucked around with this message at 22:58 on Jan 7, 2012

# ¿ Jan 7, 2012 22:30

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

Before it became common knowledge that granite and glass are bad for knives, people used to use them a lot. They still do, in fact.

# ¿ Jan 9, 2012 09:21

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

Eden posted:

Everything I've heard/read about it is that it's great for using over a super high heat, however the paperwork that came with it said not to do this and to only use it on low-med. It's enamelled on the bottom (but not the cooking surface), is this why? Should I heed or ignore this advice? I was really looking forward to making some awesome steaks in it.

Yes, that is why. People here have complained about their enamel bubbling up and flaking off, and it's probably because of high heat. High heat is for regular cast iron.

quote:

Further to that, are there any downsides to cast-iron that's enamelled on the bottom (realising I should have looked into this earlier but didn't even think about it)? Googling only tends to bring up results on bare cast iron vs fully enamelled, which this isn't, so I'd be really interested in people's opinions.

It gets scratched if you move it around alot on a stove, so don't move it if you don't have to.

# ¿ Jan 10, 2012 11:33

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

GrAviTy84 posted:

Daikokuya in Little Tokyo or Santouka in the Santa Monica Mitsuwa are both great ramen stops.

There is a Holy Trinity of ramen shops in LA, they are Santouka, Daikokuya and Shinsengumi. It's probably best to go to whichever one is closest (Santouka on the west, Daikokuya in the middle in Little Tokyo, Shinsengumi to the east)

Also, for Chinese food I would recommend Din Tai Fung in Arcadia, their xiao long bao is a huge hit.

# ¿ Jan 11, 2012 18:50

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

Shinsengumi has the added bonus of 99 cent noodle refills if you finish your noodles and have too much broth left over.

# ¿ Jan 11, 2012 20:47

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

Do we not have an LA thread?

# ¿ Jan 11, 2012 21:13

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

That... sounds very LA.

# ¿ Jan 11, 2012 22:40

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

squigadoo posted:

The problem is, I've never made a pork loin roast that didn't come out slightly dry. I want moist and delicious.

Did you brine?

# ¿ Jan 12, 2012 21:51

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

squigadoo posted:

Yes.

re temperatures:

Aha. I will go for 138 or thereabouts, and tent. If it's too pink, I'll have to put it back in so I don't freak out the boyfriend's family.

re the 165F: That must be why my pork tends to be dry, but the one with the porkbelly on top was moist and delicious. It would be good to take the fat out, though, since there will be dessert.

Thank you!

Yeah, I'll defer to FGR's knowledge on this. I did "all of the above" for my crown roast and it turned out great, but if you're brining and still getting dry meat it would appear that the temperature is the crucial factor.

# ¿ Jan 13, 2012 00:07

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

User-Friendly posted:

Is there any way to get rice to retain moisture, or to return moisture to cooked rice? Every time I make rice, it turns out great but I still haven't really figured out how to store it so it doesn't just turn hard.

Freeze single portions in plastic ziploc bags shortly after its done cooking

Steve Yun fucked around with this message at 09:41 on Jan 15, 2012

# ¿ Jan 15, 2012 07:10

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

Wroughtirony posted:

DO NOT PUT HARD BOILED EGGS IN THE MICROWAVE. (Not even for ten seconds)

I warmed up a hard boiled egg in the microwave, opened the door, looked at it, no cracks, no signs of cracking, bursting, anything. Took it back to my desk, started browsing the web and then cracked into the shell using my thumb.

POOF

The soft muffled sound of a magician's smoke bomb as the top half exploded in my face. The particles of egg that were projected were incredibly fine, like dust almost. I opened my eyes (my lashes coated in egg bits like they were snowflakes) and realized that the explosion wasn't just powerful enough to coat my face, it had powdered my desk and the walls with egg. I frantically spent an hour cleaning that poo poo up, terrified of what my room would smell like if I didn't find and clean up every single last bit.

# ¿ Jan 16, 2012 23:44

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

That was about 3 years ago. I didn't know how to operate a rice cooker until I started browsing this forum a little over a year ago.

# ¿ Jan 17, 2012 01:40

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:

They will be crazy mushy. You shouldn't even refrigerate them. I freeze and thaw them when I make banana ice cream though. Hell, you can even puree a frozen banana to make an ice cream like treat.

Or eat them frozen like popsicles with a little chocolate syrup

Even better: Magic Shell instead of syrup

Steve Yun fucked around with this message at 04:36 on Jan 18, 2012

# ¿ Jan 18, 2012 04:29

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

No, frozen bananas are awesome. You just need to make sure it stays frozen.

# ¿ Jan 18, 2012 07:07

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

His hyuk hyuk comedy is easy to look past

I'm new to cooking (started a year ago) and my favorite resource has been getting a subscription to America's Test Kitchen. It's focused on being practical, unlike Good Eats which is a lot of food theory (although still very interesting), and they test dozens of recipes in order to find out which worked best for any particular dish. They have their entire history of episodes on their website which makes it a lot easier to follow as they go along.

After you get your sea legs you can drop it and switch to Cook's Illustrated which is the Big Kids version of ATK, owned by the same people. It has a lot more recipes and reviews, but doesn't have the nice follow-as-you-cook videos.

Steve Yun fucked around with this message at 23:32 on Jan 18, 2012

# ¿ Jan 18, 2012 23:10

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

Fluffy Bunnies posted:

I want an ice crusher. A manual ice crusher.

http://www.amazon.com/Metrokane-Retro-Crusher-Stainless-Steel-Chrome/dp/B000YDCWDQ/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1326936525&sr=8-11

Like that. Only I want one that doesn't suck rear end and doesn't cost $50. Am I hosed? All I want to do is chew on ice. I just hate giant chunks and I'm tired of bashing my counter with a hammer.

For the same money you can get a blender that crushes ice and also does other stuff

edit: oh yeah, and ice cubette trays would work too

# ¿ Jan 19, 2012 02:40

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

Fluffy Bunnies posted:

We have a blender. I suppose it wouldn't damage the blades then?

Most will crush ice just fine

# ¿ Jan 19, 2012 03:18

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

Fuzzy Pipe Wrench posted:

Just cleaned my cabinets out. Turns out I have several pounds of linguine and spaghetti that I did not know I had. Anything unusual I can do with these? Maybe some desserts or breakfasty type things?

Do you have hot dogs

# ¿ Jan 20, 2012 06:27

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uYLeGaENxug/SfcsCqSiqYI/AAAAAAAAAvA/q_WP0r3SB5E/s400/SpaghettiDogs.jpg

# ¿ Jan 20, 2012 16:10

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

Tots posted:

Is there a name to describe the flavor profile of cinammon/nutmeg/allspice/clove etc...?

The only thing I can think of is 'Christmas' and I'm pretty sure that's not it.

I often see them referred to as holiday spices.

I would also maybe toss out the word "woody" to describe them, maybe.

Anjow posted:

What do Chinese century eggs taste like?

Somewhere between pickle and soy sauce?

# ¿ Jan 20, 2012 21:35

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

Do two 9" pans like the recipe says next time. Geometry makes a huge difference in how the cake bakes.

# ¿ Jan 24, 2012 10:21

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

Xandu posted:

How do I brown meat? Like, how hot should the pan be and how long do I do it for.

350-400 for most things (medium to medium high), maybe 500 for beef.

If defrosted meat, pat it dry so that there's as little water as possible on the surface.

As for time, steaks I'll cook to internal doneness in the oven and then just sear at high heat for 30 secs to a minute per side. Other things are usually done at lower temps and for longer, so I just eyeball it and when the color is browned its done.

Steve Yun fucked around with this message at 21:31 on Jan 28, 2012

# ¿ Jan 28, 2012 21:27

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

I have the crispy corners. I imagine it's more work to distribute batter and to wash compared to the bakers edge, but also gets more edge. Personally if I could decide again I would've gotten the BE. It seems like a good compromise on edge and ease.

# ¿ Jan 29, 2012 09:47

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

Potassium chloride is available at groceries (labeled as NoSalt or some other salt substitute). For some people it tastes close to the real thing, for others it seems to be very bitter.

If not maybe you can just raise the amount of spices/herbs you use to compensate for a lack of salt.

# ¿ Jan 31, 2012 03:59

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

Kenning posted:

Noooo don't get the OXO it's the only product I've bought from them that I had to return because it was such poo poo. The guys designing this squeezer misunderstood how citrus squeezers work. That dimple in the middle makes it so the lemon half doesn't fully invert, which leaves a lot of juice in. Also the arrangement of the holes in the bottom is super bad, so lots of juice squirts out the sides rather than coming out the bottom.

I love OXO and that juicer looks super slick, but one of the cheaper yellow or green ceramic ones is definitely a better choice.

Inversion of the lemon isn't a big deal as long as there's enough pressure across the whole lemon which is what the Oxo achieves.

I've tested motorized reamers, hand reamers, and the Oxo and they all got approximately the same amount of juice. If I visit my parents this weekend I can conduct a comparison test between the Oxo and the Amco, but I really doubt there will be a difference.

The only thing that gets significantly more juice is a motorized masticating juicer, and those run $200.

# ¿ Feb 1, 2012 02:29

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:

You could always take ears down to your local salon and get a full Brazilian.

Costs too much. Nair them at home.

Squashy Nipples posted:

Dumb question of the day: why do (Western) meat cleavers have that hole drilled in them?
Is it just for hanging them up, or does it serve a purpose while in use?

Just to hang them up. They're too big for a lot of knife storage options, so they put the hole there.

# ¿ Feb 1, 2012 18:39

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

You can freeze it till you figure out what you want to do

# ¿ Feb 2, 2012 02:53

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

There are three levels of balsamic vinegar

There's "balsamic vinegar" (cheap grocery stuff)

There's "balsamic vinegar of Modena" that's made in the correct region but not with the traditional process. It's pretty good and what I use most of the time. It should have some yellow/blue sticker that looks like the Obama logo on it that says it's from a protected region. Although it's not the real stuff it's at least made with some quality control.

Then there's "balsamic vinegar tradizionale" which is the real poo poo. It's aged, it's expensive, and tastes so good that I just sip it straight like a scotch instead of wasting it on my salad.

Steve Yun fucked around with this message at 19:34 on Feb 2, 2012

# ¿ Feb 2, 2012 19:29

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

What if it's mixed into some liquid/semiliquid medium? Will that prevent snot?

# ¿ Feb 3, 2012 22:38

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

So what keeps it from snotting up in baking?

# ¿ Feb 3, 2012 22:44

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# ¿ May 11, 2024 07:14

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

razz posted:

I bought lettuce for a salad. But it's about 10x more than I can eat. What's the best way to keep lettuce fresh?

Can I vacuum-seal it? I have a vacuum food saver thing.

If you don't mind being gross, store it in a ziploc bag and breathe into it right before closing it up. The extra carbon dioxide will slow down the wilting of the salad.

WHen the salad is slightly wilted, dunking it into cold water for 5 minutes before serving will make it slightly crisper.

# ¿ Feb 9, 2012 03:57

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

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