|
Hi, I'm nooner and o don't k ow poo poo about cooking (other than grilling I'm good at that) so I thought it would be fun to share my adventures in dinner and hopefully learn a thing or two along the way! As I said, I don't really know poo poo so I just kinda wing it in the kitchendoing what makes sense at the time and hope for the best, so if you see anything confusing or plain out stupid af let me know and I can explain my reasoning. Anyway here is post one! Veggies Tofu and Noodles Okay so this seems simple enough, the idea was some really good pad see ew so figured how hard can it be, cook up some veggies with Asian sauces and dump on rice! Here is my starting point  Got some carrots, broccoli, onion, green beans, and jalapeño. Not pictures is Tofu and udon noodles cause I didn't see the ones that looked like pad see ew in the Asian section.  Fukkkkk out of oil, rekt.... So after trip to the liquor store for a drat $5 bottle of oil (gently caress could have gotten a pint of Evan Williams for that) Time to fry the Tofu  It got kinda smashed cause I accidentally pushed too hard on it trying to squeeze more of the water out of it. Here are all the cut veggies, into some hot oil they go too!   Here is the stuff I'm going to use to make the sauce. Basically just grabbed all the different Asian things my girlfriend had in the cabinet. Essentially the most used was the ponzu sauce, poured a ton of that in, then a dash of rice wine vinegar, dash of the seasame stuff, good squirt of the fish sauce and e ptyed out the last of the oyster sauce, 1/4 of the garlic chili container and a little squirt of siracha just cause. I also squeezed a whole lime over it (no cilantro though was looking for a dish with more,of an "asian" slant than a "latin" kick!)  No idea how to tell when the Tofu was do e so I took it off when it looked like this  It was kinda crumbly from me hulking out on it earlier.  Finished cooking now its simmering while I wait for noodles. Tofu was pretty hosed at this point not a lot of pieces held together even though I tried to stir real gentile ):  Noodles cookin'  Draining the noodles Toss all that isht together  Now nothing left to do but plate, serve, and enjoy. Don't forget to crack a cold one (especially one named after your favorite poster!!!)  So that was my dinner. It turned out really good overall I think it turned out really well! It didn't taste anything like the pad see ew that inspired it, but had a nice asiany sauce by the end and I enjoyed all of the veggies. My biggest issue was the Tofu which disintegrated which was disappointing since you'd just find tiny little chunks here and there instead of nice big pieces. That's it for this post, let me know what you think and any advice! See you next time!!
Nooner fucked around with this message at 03:50 on Oct 1, 2015 |
#
?
Oct 1, 2015 03:47
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 6, 2024 01:38 |
|
|
Nooner you actually did a really good job with this compared to your usual "contributions" to Something Offal, so I'm proud of you. Rather than pan-fry your tofu next time, just cube it (you don't need to hulk out to remove allllll the water, just keep an eye on it in the oven), toss it with some neutral oil, salt and pepper and roast it in the oven at 400 for ~20 minutes. Keep an eye on it!! Also, looking for an "Asian slant" is actually super racist, so stop that. In all seriousness, keep it up! Post your cooking experiences so you can broaden your skillset outside of grilling.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2015 04:44
|
|
|
Slicing and salting the tofu and laying it on a towel in a single layer with another towel over top and a weighted cookie sheet (weights can be tinned goods from the pantry, liquor bottles, bags of dried beans, whatever) for a little while is my usual method when getting ready to fry. I'd gladly eat your pile of steamed-more-than-braised veg with noodles and tofu, though.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2015 05:39
|
|
|
yours looks like food, but stirfrys reach next level status when you individually cook each ingredient. if you have a large enough pan or wok, you can do this by adding your ingredients in order of longest to shortest cooking time. or if you just have a small pan like you're working with, just cooking each thing by itself and then setting it aside works well. usually when I stirfry (I have a large wok), I'll do my meat (or tofu) first to get a good sear, then set it aside, then do the longest cooking veg to shortest, then at the very last second add back the meat and sauce ingredients, bring it to a boil to thicken up, and plate. that way everything's not all mushy and uniformly colored and gloopy, and your tofu will stay mostly whole or whatever. season everything as you go with salt and pepper or whatever, so the sauce at the end is really just flavoring more than seasoning the actual food if that makes sense. I can't believe I'm seriously posting in a nooner thread.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2015 05:45
|
|
|
Wow thats a lot of good advice, thank you guys! how does the bakes vs fried tofu stack up? I've always thought it was generally fried since it doesnt have that much flavor on its own so you want to do everything you can to liven it up while it cooks, but I also imagine a nice crunch to it with the baked option. mindphlux posted:usually when I stirfry (I have a large wok), I'll do my meat (or tofu) first to get a good sear, then set it aside, then do the longest cooking veg to shortest, then at the very last second add back the meat and sauce ingredients, bring it to a boil to thicken up, and plate. this sounds like a lot better method than what i was doing since yeah, everythign kinda cooked way differently and bell peppers/jalapenos/onions ended up pretty mushy by the end. How long do you cook it in the sauce, just to a boil and done? Does that give it enough time to soak in to everything?
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2015 21:01
|
|
|
Generic Asian sauces tend to have little liquid and are added at tue very end just long enough to thicken up a touch to cling to and lightly coat everything in flavor.
Butch Cassidy fucked around with this message at 21:42 on Oct 1, 2015 |
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2015 21:39
|
|
|
Tonight I....I did a terrible thing.. My roommates are out of town and my girlfriend is working late so I... I bought a frozen pizza instead of making dinner 
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2015 04:13
|
|
|
Nooner posted:Tonight I....I did a terrible thing.. also you made this post
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2015 08:02
|
|
|
mindphlux posted:also you made this post  Alright guys, stay tuned it's Friday and I've got something big planned for tonight  
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2015 17:14
|
|
|
Okay tonight I wanted to make something tasty and with give it a "latin" kick so I tried to make Beef milanesa and cilantro "pesto" So the idea is bread and fry some thin steaks and make a pesto sauce but use cilantro instead of basil. Here are the ingredients  Oh yeah plus this  This was first time I've ever tried to bread and fry something but concept seemed simple enough  For the flour I mixed in some Tony's Chacere and fresh black pepper.  Breaded steaks  Cilantro and garlic into the ninja chop (didn't want to buy pine nuts that I'd never wear again)  All blended up with olive oil and some lime juice e for that authentic " latin" kick  I had to look up how to know if oil was hot. I threw a,grain of rice in and it floated up and popped so I guess that's good. I looked up how long to fry and thing said 4 min a side but that burnt the gently caress outta first one so second two I just filled when they looked goldenish  Finished product! Final thoughts: I don't know if I needed more spices in the flour or what, but overall meat was just meh. Not bad but kinda bland. Pasta turned out fine but again nothing special. Overall a decent meal but no where near as good as I had hoped it would be 6/10 Any tips for frying like this or where I may have gone wrong? Edit: UPDATE -- had some more and grated some Kerrygold Dubliner cheese on top of steak and pasta and it was remarkably better, flavors really complemented eachother Nooner fucked around with this message at 04:25 on Oct 3, 2015 |
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2015 04:03
|
|
|
Nooner posted:Any tips for frying like this or where I may have gone wrong? Any cheap IR thermometer would give you an easy way to judge oil temp. You can also look at shimmer and smoke on oil, but that's way less precise and requires experience versus just looking at a number. If your meat lacked "kick" you might consider some traditional "Latin" spices like ground loving peppers of any sort.
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2015 04:26
|
|
|
A healthy bit of salt in the flour would help season the steak. And pine nuts are a massively important part of pesto. Don't skip them.
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2015 04:57
|
|
|
Butch Cassidy posted:A healthy bit of salt in the flour would help season the steak. I figured the Tony's would cover the salt since that stuff is somehow saltier than salt, haha. I will not be a cheapass and get the pine nuts next time litany of gulps posted:
That's what the cilantro and lime is for, you must be new here  But yeah you're right, I'd never breaded anything before and did this safe/dumbly, but a lot more spices in the flour would have been huge improvement in retrospect
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2015 05:32
|
|
|
Not sure if you seasoned the meat itself before breading it but that's important to do too. It doesn't have to be pine nuts in the pesto, other nuts like walnuts can be substituted and can often be bought in smaller quantities in the baking section of the store. It looks like you don't have cheese in your pesto either? That will give it more flavor as well. Parmesan is generally used, to go with your theme you could use some cotija in it.
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2015 05:54
|
|
|
Also when doing things "Milanese" the concept implied there is Parmesan+herbs. So like, a bunch of Parmesan cheese (use Kraft parm if you want, in a breading using the real stuff won't make a huge difference), along with oregano, basil, salt and pepper. That'll help out a lot.
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2015 06:02
|
|
|
In both meals you're doing the nub thing of focusing way too much on each conceptual item, and not paying enough attention to details. So like you have a giant plate of dull green pesto pasta, but it all is homogeneous and tastes pretty boring. Same for your giant fried meat hockey pucks. Pasta is really hard to nail, so not gonna suggest any magic bullets there, just maybe make sure the pesto tastes loving amazing by itself, and the pasta tastes great on its own because you salted the water or whatever, and you build flavor in from the ground up.
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2015 09:40
|
|
|
If you're gonna fry beef like that, it helps to do it in smaller pieces so they get more of the breading. Like, you could have cut all of those in half. Also you might want to marinate the meat first. Let it sit in the fridge for a day or so in a bag or a tupperware with seasoning and olive oil or something along those lines. That way it won't be so bland.
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2015 10:54
|
|
|
Butch Cassidy posted:And pine nuts are a massively important part of pesto. Don't skip them. I'm fairly sure you can't even legitimately call it "pesto" without the pine nuts.
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2015 10:57
|
|
|
poop dood posted:Also when doing things "Milanese" the concept implied there is Parmesan+herbs. So like, a bunch of Parmesan cheese (use Kraft parm if you want, in a breading using the real stuff won't make a huge difference), along with oregano, basil, salt and pepper. That'll help out a lot. He was going for milanesa, which is a Mexican prep, not Italian
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2015 17:22
|
|
|
This is like a GBS cooking thread ten years ago and you know what? I like it. 
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2015 18:13
|
|
|
Crusty Nutsack posted:He was going for milanesa, which is a Mexican prep, not Italian I was not aware those were two different things!
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2015 19:09
|
|
|
Costolette alla milanese are veal bone-in chops hammered out and dipped in seasoned flour, egg and breadcrumbs and fried. So deep-fried cutlets are inevitably called the same throughout a number of countries, also there's the British/Australian thing called the Parmo which replaces the veal with chicken (or even pork) and then tosses a shitload of cheese and tomato sauce on the finished meat and bakes it. It's glorious but it's basically to the original Milan recipe what a Chicago deep-dish pizza is to a crispy Margherita made by a certified craftsman in some Naples alleyway hole-in-the-wall with a 300 year old brick oven.
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2015 19:37
|
|
|
I like this thread. If you want to ask for tips for the next food you make feel free to ask!
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2015 21:39
|
|
|
poop dood posted:I was not aware those were two different things! yeah like Force de Fappe said pretty much everyone has a variation on fried cutlets, schnitzel, katsu, milanesa, milanese etc etc. But since he was going for his "latin kick" thing and called it milanesa I figured the Mexican version. now I really want some fried meat damnit PS nooner you're a tool but good effort thread. I request a lasagne thread next
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2015 22:17
|
|
|
For guys like Nooner I think the correct term is "lasagna".
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2015 22:19
|
|
|
With all the trimmin's. Sliced provolone, a ton of cottage cheese and/or sour cream and boxed grated parmesan, canned tomato sauce and single-use alufoil dishes and vacuum packed Italian sausage and all that poo poo. Take me back to 2003. I am not being sarcastic here.
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2015 22:21
|
|
|
Like, really not. I wanna see this.
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2015 22:22
|
|
|
Force de Fappe posted:With all the trimmin's. Sliced provolone, a ton of cottage cheese and/or sour cream and boxed grated parmesan, canned tomato sauce and single-use alufoil dishes and vacuum packed Italian sausage and all that poo poo. Take me back to 2003. pretty much there is a time and a place for home cookin' food like this and this is the time and the place don't let us down you beautiful dancing flamingo, you
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2015 22:36
|
|
|
Kenning posted:I like this thread. If you want to ask for tips for the next food you make feel free to ask! I will take any tips and recommendations for recipes as long as they aren't crazy, like I said I want to learn how to actually cook rather than just grill every single day. Keep in mind I am in an apartment so very small kitchen and somewhat limited "tools" to work with, very small like 1 egg sized pan, medium pan, large pan, medium wok, small and large pot, baking pan that might be rusty(?) But if anyone has some rookie ideas to throw out I would love to have them and promise to document my (mis)adventures!
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2015 23:40
|
|
|
Also, litany of gulps, what do you recommend for an IR thermometer? I'm kinda apprehensive about cheap thermometers since I bought this piece of poo poo  Which will give you a wildly different temperature every time you stick it in a piece of meat
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2015 23:47
|
|
|
risotto is pretty hard to gently caress up and tastes really good
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2015 23:47
|
|
|
Nooner posted:I will take any tips and recommendations for recipes as long as they aren't crazy, like I said I want to learn how to actually cook rather than just grill every single day. You should make Marcella Hazan's ultrabasic tomato sauce. 1 28 oz. can of whole plum tomatoes (if you can get proper San Marzano that is ideal, but it's not crucial) 5 Tbsp butter 1 yellow onion Trim the root and tip of the onion, peel it, and slice it in half. Add the onion, along with the tomatoes and butter to a small saucepan. Heat on medium until the butter is melted and the sauce starts to bubble. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for around 45 minutes. I periodically stir it and break up the tomatoes a bit. I'll also try and remove the stem from some of the tomatoes as they break down, but you don't have to. After 45 minutes or so, remove the onion. You can discard it if you want, but it tastes pretty good on toast or whatever. Now you can bring the heat up just a bit and reduce the sauce down until it's as thick as you like. At this point turn the heat all the way down and season with salt. Do it just a pinch at the time, until the sweet tomato flavor is over the top delicious. At this point, with the sauce barely on any heat, add a bit under a pound of pasta to a large pot of water that you've already gotten boiling and salted liberally. Cook the pasta until it's just under-done (there should just barely be a bit of a crunch in the center of the pasta). Drain the pasta, then pour the sauce over the pasta and toss it around to combine. This works best with a rotini-like pasta.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2015 00:53
|
|
|
Force de Fappe posted:Costolette alla milanese are veal bone-in chops hammered out and dipped in seasoned flour, egg and breadcrumbs and fried. So deep-fried cutlets are inevitably called the same throughout a number of countries, also there's the British/Australian thing called the Parmo which replaces the veal with chicken (or even pork) and then tosses a shitload of cheese and tomato sauce on the finished meat and bakes it. A Parmo in the UK doesn't have tomato, it's named after parmesan cheese instead (normally has a bechamel sauce instead of the tomato sauce a parmigiana has). E: Fun fact: I never had a clue what the hell a chicken fried steak was in the US until a couple of years ago. If we bread meat down here we always call it a schnitzel. Fo3 fucked around with this message at 05:03 on Oct 4, 2015 |
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2015 04:57
|
|
|
Kenning posted:You should make Marcella Hazan's ultrabasic tomato sauce. I tried that tomato sauce once and it was massively underwhelming and I have no idea why it made such a stir on the net 
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2015 07:45
|
|
|
Nooner I like your avatar  And this thread is fun.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2015 11:37
|
|
|
Fo3 posted:A Parmo in the UK doesn't have tomato, it's named after parmesan cheese instead (normally has a bechamel sauce instead of the tomato sauce a parmigiana has). That's nuts. Good to know, if I am ever in the strange situation of eating Italian food in the UK. As opposed to eating it a significantly greater distance away prepared by descendants of people who ran screaming from Italy.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2015 13:53
|
|
|
It's not really Italian food, both the aussie parm/parma and the UK parmo is more local pub/bar/bistro food, which is why they are so bastardized. Good work nooner. I honestly don't understand how people can take photos while they cook. I can't because I'm usually buzzing and flying around the lovely kitchen. Also the only camera I have is on my old scratched up nokia 6120c dumb phone, so it's not worth it. Good advice by mindplux about separating ingredients in a stirfry. Sometimes I even blanch them too before cooking - like green beans or snow peas, to get them in and done faster. Use a smaller pan, get the heat hotter, and batch cook everything. That way you can even serve different flavours too, eg tonight I did a veg stirfry with oyster+dark soy as a side while I did a honey lemon chicken. Obviously works better served with pressure cooked or steamed rice rather than mixed in with noodles. Fo3 fucked around with this message at 14:10 on Oct 4, 2015 |
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2015 13:58
|
|
|
I usually take rice from the day before for stirfry. If yoo do use noodles I'd at least go for something less thick.
|
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2015 14:56
|
|
|
Force de Fappe posted:With all the trimmin's. Sliced provolone, a ton of cottage cheese and/or sour cream and boxed grated parmesan, canned tomato sauce and single-use alufoil dishes and vacuum packed Italian sausage and all that poo poo. Take me back to 2003. My parents sometimes do this for little dinner parties with my sister and her husband and it is a pretty comforting slice of home. Complete with garlic bread of buttered "crusty" bread from the grocery store smeared with butter and dusted with garlic powder before warming over in the oven as the casserole cools. Much like my grandmother's chop suey recipe calling for a bunch of canned tomato soup and served with cold, buttered wheat sandwich bread and tons of coarse ground black pepper.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2015 17:21
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 6, 2024 01:38 |
|
|
Nooner will you please make spaghetti next?
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2015 18:02
|
|