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.

«‹›2 »

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

Let's take a pass on the :biotruths:

version of food profiles, guys.

# ¿ Nov 4, 2017 06:53

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 13, 2024 01:54

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

Tired Moritz posted:

do you guys put salt in the water before you cook rice

Nah. The stuff I put on my rice is usually salty enough.

# ¿ Nov 7, 2017 05:49

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

Suspect Bucket posted:

Are we doing GBS Secret Santa this year? It's basically the only part of Christmas I enjoy any more.

Is there interest?

Liquid Communism fucked around with this message at 13:11 on Nov 9, 2017

# ¿ Nov 9, 2017 12:26

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

wormil posted:

I also often make a chicken thigh curry in my Instant Pot, better with boneless.

Truth. Once I started using thigh for curry, I never bothered with breast again. It just tastes so much better.

# ¿ Nov 10, 2017 07:00

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

K posted:

I volunteer at a homeless shelter and I'm going to be running a meal service to prepare about 30 lbs of chicken breasts (thawed). I don't know if they're bone in or boneless.

My plan is to braise the breasts in broth, white wine vinegar, and vegetables. I'll brine the meat ahead of time for 3 hours or so.

I'm concerned about total cooking time. I think they have more than one oven, which is good, but I haven't quite done anything on this scale. If this were 10 pounds of breasts I think I could roast then at 500 for 30 minutes and then finish them off at 350 degrees for 2 hours (2.5 hours total). But for 30 breasts, and am I then looking at 7.5 hours of cooking time?

I guess I don't quite know how it works at this scale. My thinking is that the oven will try to maintain the temperature setting and I won't see a huge increase in cooking time, but logically I know that I'm missing something here.

Am I dramatically increasing my cooking time here? If so, is there a better option for this much food? Is there a way I can viably prepare this amount of chicken breast in about 3-4 hours?

That seems like vastly too much time. Like double what I'd figure for roasting two 15lb turkeys.

Further, what are you actually doing, braising these breasts or roasting them? I get the impression you're thinking something like braising in a hotel pan, at which point I'd be figuring chicken breasts in a single layer, foiled pan, braise at 325 for ~3 hours or until an instant-read stick on the thickest bit clears 165.

Liquid Communism fucked around with this message at 20:03 on Nov 18, 2017

# ¿ Nov 18, 2017 19:56

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

Scientastic posted:

Just drink enormous quantities of black coffee until you like it. During the summer between school and university, I convinced myself that no-one would think I was cool unless I drank coffee, so I just had two cups of black instant crap coffee every morning (because that's all that was available), and it took me about a week to start liking it, and seeking it out

That'll do the job.

Spend a couple weeks where your only access to caffeine is coffee, and you'll adapt to the taste really fast.

The bakery got me going on it, because we had a trade going for a custom roast with a coffee shop in town and it was amazing.

# ¿ Nov 19, 2017 17:26

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

Pork butt has a ton of fat and connective tissue in it that will liquefy. I dry rub mine and toss it in the crock, and it half fills in six-eight hours.

# ¿ Jan 6, 2018 05:49

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

Mordiceius posted:

Trying to plan breakfast meals are loving hard when you can't eat eggs.

My wife is trying to find a nice meal that is easy to prep before hand for breakfasts. She's looking for something high protein, low carbs, low sugar, and with no eggs. Sweet things make her gag in the mornings, and all the other stuff we've thought of takes time to make in the mornings. So we're trying to figure out something that would be easy to prep either the night before or on the weekends. Any suggestions?

How's she on just eating a bowl of meat? Most easy breakfast staples I can think of need either eggs or carbs.

# ¿ Jan 15, 2018 11:22

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

al-azad posted:

Regular brain: Tuna fish with celery
Big brain: Tuna fish with relish
Galaxy brain: Tuna fish with capers and green olives

Universe brain: Tuna fish with sardines and balsamic.

# ¿ Mar 1, 2018 14:53

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

Qubee posted:

can I shove them into the next bolognese sauce I make?

Go one better and use em in your tuna salad. It adds just the right funk.

# ¿ Sep 8, 2018 15:46

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

IIRC specifically bulgur is parboiled and regular cracked wheat isn't.

# ¿ Sep 9, 2018 22:30

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

Mr. Wiggles posted:

If it's dry a d not clumpy, yes. It doesn't really go bad.

Yup. West that happens is it picks up off flavors from being stored with other stuff or loses thickening power.

That said it is dirt cheap, so if in doubt swap it out.

# ¿ Mar 27, 2019 12:18

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

Submarine Sandpaper posted:

I've never seen okra cooked, drained, then cooked again. I assume it's to get rid of the "slime" of it but seriously wtf.

But the slime is part of why you're using it, to make up for a brick roux losing most of it's thickening abilities. :psyduck:

Try this instead: https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/03/chicken-and-smoked-sausage-gumbo-recipe.html

# ¿ Apr 3, 2019 20:58

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

Okra's delicious, and yes, a thickener. It's an alternative to using fil� powder at the table, which is ground sassafras leaves and does a similar thing.

# ¿ Apr 3, 2019 21:04

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

Oddly enough it kinda tastes like root beer, since sassafras is one of the roots often used to make it, but it's not terribly strong.

# ¿ Apr 4, 2019 01:59

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

Weltlich posted:

Bacon subbed out for lardons is completely acceptable. As for a recipe, I've settled into a variation of Alton Brown's recipe

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/coq-au-vin-recipe-1952021

I tend to start with a whole chicken instead of 4 leg quarters, but go with what you like.

This.

It is difficult to get a metal pan to totally burn through unless you aren't paying any attention at all, but at the same time the little jet boil stoves are designed for boiling water fast in a small pot, not for pan work.

It's best to think of those as water boilers for rehydrating freeze dried trail meals rather than cooking tools.

# ¿ Apr 5, 2019 21:53

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

They're never going to come all the way back, but toss 'em in a bowl, cover with boiling water, and let sit 10-15 minutes.

If you want better flavor out of it, dump them in a jar, add brandy, rum, or bourbon to cover, apply lid, shake, and let sit overnight.

# ¿ Apr 7, 2019 01:25

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

Doom Rooster posted:

This was an excellent idea, thanks! One packet of powdered gelatin gave me the PERFECT texture. Sliceable, but luxuriously soft and smooth. Not gummy at all.

That's some pretty curd. Talk to me about the cake under it, I have a potluck this weekend and my friends are huge nerds, so I want to stealth GoT reference them.

Usually I'd just do almond cake under lemon curd, but I'm wondering what you did.

# ¿ Apr 17, 2019 07:21

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

Eeyo posted:

Pretty much all fruit trees are grafted. Even if it's a single variety, the fruiting part will be grafted on to a rootstock, since the rootstock gives a strong plant with disease resistance and then you're guaranteed fruit that is true to type since it's a clone.

Yup. Super common in most fruit tress, and the entire way apple varieties exist, because most apple trees aren't self-pollinating, so the seeds in the fruit will be a mixture of whatever variety the tree was cross-pollinated by. True to varietal apple trees come from grafts.

Stark Bros has an article on the basics for those interested.

# ¿ Apr 19, 2019 07:12

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

Bagheera posted:

My two favorite lemon square recipes are from New York Times cooking. Your preference will depend on how much you like pistachios:

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/6960-pistachio-lemon-bars
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1725-lemon-squares

I ended up doing classic lemon bars, but with a ginger shortbread crust.

I didn't have any to bring home, so they clearly worked out. :v:

# ¿ Apr 23, 2019 04:05

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

pidan posted:

Do you have a good recipe that uses strawberry puree? I pureed some strawberries this morning but then I remembered I washed some eggs in that bowl last week, so I want to heat it up before I eat it just to be safe.

My first thought was mixing it into pancake dough, but the internet says that's a bad idea.

Make danishes? Hit that puree with some sugar and starch to thicken it up and it'll survive as a baked filling.

# ¿ Apr 27, 2019 11:05

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

Bagheera posted:

Thanks. I'm skimming a sample of The Flavor Bible now.

An observation and tip for beginner cooks (please discuss): Recipes with very few ingredients are often harder to make than recipes with many ingredients. Cacio E Pepe; most souffles; almost any kind of yeast bread; all of these are much more difficult to make than lasagna, chicken salad, or a chocolate cake.

With just a few ingredients, the recipe relies heavily on technique, and any flaws in your technique (didn't emulsify the cheese and water; eggs whisked too much; didn't knead properly) are magnified. When you have a huge number of ingredients (the Guy Fieri technique), the variety of spices, meats, and other ingredients masks any over- or undercooked items.

There are lots of exceptions to this rule, of course. Generally speaking, however, I advise cooking newbies to avoid clickbait like "Thie dish comes together with just four ingredients!"and instead go full Fieri.

Your thoughts?

I tend to think yeast bread is one of the easiest of human cuisines. Doing it -well- takes a lot of time and effort to get your technique, but doing it in a way that is edible is incredibly easy. It's four ingredients in a fairly forgiving ratio, and if you can measure and operate a timer you're golden.

# ¿ Apr 29, 2019 07:26

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

spankmeister posted:

If you get frozen fries they will have been fried once already.

Frying twice beats fresh cut any day of the week, imo.

Always be par-frying.

Back at the bar, my process was cut, soak overnight to bleed off some of the starch, par-fry, freeze, and then finish in half peanut oil half regular fryer oil right before serving.

Worked out a treat, although they eventually cut the peanut oil for cost and allergen reasons.

Liquid Communism fucked around with this message at 04:59 on May 2, 2019

# ¿ May 2, 2019 04:56

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

Scientastic posted:

I�m going to make cauliflower cheese today, and I�ve forgotten which recipe I used last time: all the ones I can see online recommend boiling the cauliflower for five minutes before baking in the cheese sauce: that sounds like a good way to have mushy cauliflower... What does everyone else do?

Depends on how fine the cauliflower's cut, but I usually steam it for a few minutes as it makes the whole process faster.

# ¿ May 5, 2019 15:16

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

poverty goat posted:

What should I do with 10 pounds of leftover raw zucchini and yellow squash

Shred it and make zucchini bread.

Steve Yun posted:

Hey am I imagining things or did vanilla beans quintuple in price over the last year

Yeah, that poo poo happened. The Singing Dog vanilla I like to use is up to $22 a pint.

Liquid Communism fucked around with this message at 16:54 on May 13, 2019

# ¿ May 13, 2019 16:51

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

C-Euro posted:

Yeah last time we got rhubarb I made strawberry rhubarb pie for the first time. The filling was good, shame that the pastry didn't really hold together. I need to think of another way to use that filling.

We also got a bunch of red beets, with the leaves still attached. Anything useful I can do with those?

Make danishes, and cobbler. Rhubarb cobbler is glorious.

# ¿ May 15, 2019 05:02

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

A Proper Uppercut posted:

Buttermilk is not being used. It's a little bit of both, I'm slightly lactose intolerant so don't have milk in the house, but I do occasionally buy some for baking. I'll just give it a shot

On a side note, try the Lactaid lactose-free milk. It's a little sweeter tasting then regular milk, but works fine in most recipes and tastes a lot closer.

# ¿ Aug 27, 2019 11:07

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

Zenithe posted:

I just got a massive bag of jalapenos that are on their way out, what do?

Pickle them with garlic.

# ¿ Nov 27, 2019 12:05

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

Pie crust is a skill.

You'll be confident around pie 100. You'll be actually good at it around 500.

# ¿ Nov 28, 2019 07:13

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

TofuDiva posted:

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

Yeah, water bath is the way to go, and then a quick knife around the inside of the mold when you take it out so the sides don't stick and pull when cooling. Also pull it a little early, when it's still a little soft in the center, and it will finish on the pan. If you can't stand the look of any that crack, just pipe the cracks full of fruit gel or garnish over.

# ¿ Nov 29, 2019 06:25

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

TofuDiva posted:

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?

I like it wilted into a tofu and chickpea curry.

# ¿ Dec 4, 2019 00:46

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

Mr. Wiggles posted:

Thank goodness for tater mits!

On the too many vegetables, thing, though - remember that there is not a single vegetable that exists which cannot be stir fried or kimcheed to great effect.

Pickling is always a good answer. Haven't tried celery, but pickled carrots are good in a weird way.

# ¿ Dec 9, 2019 16:31

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

TofuDiva posted:

Pickled carrots are just plain good

Yeah. I like doing a rice vinegar quick pickle with sliced cucumbers and shredded carrots and onions.

# ¿ Dec 9, 2019 17:47

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

bartlebee posted:

What are y�all�s favorite trashy appetizer or potluck dishes? Like, on the level of little smokies, pigs in a blanket, cheese balls, biscuit dough pizza knots, etc. We�ve done classier recipes for game nights before but the trashy stuff is always more popular.

Ham balls. Quick ground ham & ground pork meatballs in a tomato&vinegar-based sauce. We always threw in chunk pineapple when baking them as well, because ham and roasted pineapple is a thing (a very 1950's thing).

https://www.pork.org/blog/iowa-ham-balls/

Liquid Communism fucked around with this message at 00:31 on Dec 10, 2019

# ¿ Dec 10, 2019 00:26

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

Chex Mix is also like that. It is nigh zero effort but people love the poo poo out of it.

# ¿ Dec 10, 2019 00:52

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

McCracAttack posted:

That's actually a relief. I have a long history of thinking I've found something useful and then OOPS there's a problem. Good to know they don't steal recipes from other people or some-such.

I feel like I've seen Serious Eats recommended before and they have a respectable vegetarian section so I guess I can add that to the pile. Though all their Asian style recipes involve "a wok over high heat" which make sense but man I am not ready to live the wok life. Too much stuff in my small kitchen already.

We actually have a fair number of vegan/vegetarian cooks running around here. Check out the Vegan Thread and they should be able to provide more specific resources.

# ¿ Dec 17, 2019 01:47

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

Happiness Commando posted:

What vegetables belong in tom kha?

Mushrooms are all I use, it's pretty simple as a soup. Coconut milk, water, galangal if you can get it, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, straw mushrooms, chicken, fish sauce, chilis (fresh is great, paste is fine). Cilantro if you like it, bit of palm or brown sugar if it's not sweet enough to taste.

# ¿ Dec 20, 2019 19:27

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

Pan sauce with mustard and rosemary, perhaps?

# ¿ Dec 24, 2019 01:39

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

C-Euro posted:

Is there anything more creative and/or appetizing that I could do with a 1/2-carton of leftover eggnog than just living on nog & bourbons until it runs out?

French toast. Or use it in a batter to do a monte christo.

# ¿ Dec 30, 2019 05:29

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 13, 2024 01:54

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

Eight years and 1255 pages has made this thread a bit intimidating for new users. As such, with the new year comes a new thread!

# ¿ Jan 3, 2020 06:40

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

«‹›2 »