The Cooking Thread
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@Dreikin No idea what you're talking about, I totally finished typing that post the first time!
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@Weng There are curries that do well with potato; anything with “aloo” in the name will do (it just means “potato”). Pineapple can work in a curry, but it's a much less common ingredient as pineapples aren't really too happy in the Indian climate. (They must not like the monsoon all that much I suppose.) I guess something like a Korma would work best there; I usually avoid those as I prefer things a little less rich and more spicy.
So… Salmon Aloo Korma? Something like that.
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So I was looking up powdered eggs (wondered if it'd be cheaper to make dry pancake mix with eggs already in it, or mix without and add fresh eggs to the mix along with the other wet ingredients when making it). Turns out it's significantly more expensive than fresh eggs, but the packaging really takes the whole "Serving Suggestion" thing just a bit far, I thought...
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@anotherusername said in The Cooking Thread:
wondered if it'd be cheaper to make dry pancake mix with eggs already in it, or mix without and add fresh eggs to the mix along with the other wet ingredients when making it
Use fresh eggs. If you are going to use powdered eggs, you may as well just purchase store bought mix. It does not add much time on to the process.
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@Polygeekery TBH, if you come at it from how much time it adds on, pancake mix is kind of pointless anyway. It doesn't take that long to mix up -- what, just some flour, milk, eggs, oil, sugar, salt, and baking powder; the proportions don't even really need to be very exact.
It takes more time just getting all the ingredients out and putting them back away again than it does to actually mix them up. So I guess the mix has that much going in its advantage.
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@anotherusername Yeah, and depending on how quickly you use it up it can be a real loss anyway. Pancake mix has baking powder in it. As soon as you open the packaging, the baking powder starts going south. It is much better to mix it up fresh, especially considering how easy it is to make.
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@anotherusername said in The Cooking Thread:
It doesn't take that long to mix up -- what, just some flour, milk, eggs,
oil, sugar, salt, and baking powder; the proportions don't even really need to be very exact.That's what we did in college (the milk may have been water, too long ago...) - and usually with some whole wheat flour. I really should go back to that - those were way better than any of the mixes I'm buying now...
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@dcon it was the DeLuxe version.
You probably do need some kind of oil, though, unless you have a really pristine non-stick pan.
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@Polygeekery So what you're telling me is that I should throw away the tin of baking powder I've been working my way through for 3 years?
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@Weng Yes. You should have thrown it out 2 years ago. :p
The shelf life of baking powder is ~1 year after it is opened.
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@Polygeekery @Weng make sure it's baking powder (mixture of sodium bicarbonate and one or more different acids in powdered form), not baking soda (pure sodium bocarbonate), though.
Baking powder has a shelf life because when it absorbs moisture, the acid and base start to react, so it gradually loses potency over time. Baking soda won't react unless you add an acid to it, so its shelf life should be significantly longer unless you're storing it in really awful conditions.
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@anotherusername said in The Cooking Thread:
Baking soda won't react unless you add an acid to it, so its shelf life should be significantly longer unless you're storing it in really awful conditions.
Sort of. Baking soda also absorbs organic compounds (to my understanding, but I am not a chemist, there is likely a more correct way to state it, pendantic bastards) such as smells. So, while it does not lose potency, it will introduce off flavors to your food if you keep it around too long, and especially so if you store it next to the onions. ;)
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@Polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
store it next to the onions
Why would you do that? They really want different conditions (onions cool, baking powder/soda dry).
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@dkf You shouldn't, which is why it was tongue in cheek. But, if you did, the sulfurous odors would get absorbed in to the baking soda and then your baked goods would get funky flavors.
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@Polygeekery
Bug report: recent change to baking sofa storage location has removed the onion flavoring from chocolate chip cookies that I relied on to contain my voracious eating habits. Please to revert change.
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@Maciejasjmj
when you try to make an XKCD joke and mess it up with an @accalia
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Forgot to mention my Markham Fair entries.
Chocolate Flourless Torte (in GF Chocolate Cake category) got a ribbon! 4th place.
Cooking live, I finished second. Winner was a mac-and-cheese with veggies. Lost by one point-- I fucked up the liquid-to-rice ratio (did 1:1 instead of 2:1 oops), so the rice came out a bit al dente. Lots of fun though.
Question though-- my Pineapple Upside Down cake didn't place, which was disappointing. But I did notice that all the other pineapple upside cakes were done in a flat, square pan.
I always always ALWAYS do mine in a bunt pan so it has that nice round shape. I though that's the natural and correct shape for a pineapple upside cake. What's your experience?
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@Lorne-Kates said in The Cooking Thread:
I always always ALWAYS do mine in a bunt pan so it has that nice round shape. I though that's the natural and correct shape for a pineapple upside cake. What's your experience?
I have always done mine in a cast iron skillet. I make the caramel type syrup (I am sure there is a name for it, I don't know it though) right in the skillet, then poach the fresh pineapple in the syrup, pour the batter over the top and in to the oven. Easy peasy.
But, I always had it made by my grandmother and my grandparents lived on a farm. There was not much that wasn't made in a cast iron skillet.
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@Polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
I make the caramel type syrup (I am sure there is a name for it, I don't know it though) right in the skillet, then poach the fresh pineapple in the syrup, pour the batter over the top and in to the oven.
Same method I use, just with a heavy bundt pan.
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Tonight I made a favorite of ours, that is also super easy and does not have a lot of ingredients. Pan seared pork chops with pesto cannellini beans.
Start with a good cut of pork chop (chicken also works, beef flavors are a little heavy for the beans) season it well with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Get a skillet that is not non-stick good and hot and add some olive oil. Cook the pork chops over med-high to high heat until they are ~140F internal temperature and make sure you get good color on both sides and on the edges. These pork chops were really thick, so I had already preheated my oven to 450F and finished them in there. Too thick to cook through on the stove very easily.
As soon as the pork chops are up to temp, remove them and keep warm (I put them on a plate and then back in to the oven after I burped most of the heat from it). In the skillet that is still hot and has a good fond on it, add one small-medium sized chopped red onion and some sort of spicy pepper thinly sliced and seeds removed and a sprinkle of kosher salt. Pepper type is not too crucial, I have used fresno, jalapeno, serrano, etc. Saute for a few minutes until all of the fond comes off of the pan and the onions and pepper gets good color and maybe charred around the edges. Dump in a can of undrained cannellini beans (lima beans also work well, if you use those add a little dried oregano) and reduce heat to medium and reduce the beans and liquid just a little bit. When it has reduced to your liking, stir in a couple of big spoonfuls of pesto (store bought is fine, homemade is always better), taste for seasoning. Your pork chops may have accumulated some juices on the plate you are keeping them on, stir that in to the beans and plate everything up.
Simple, quick and doesn't require any exotic ingredients and amazingly tasty. In you use canned pesto and freeze your pork chops, you can keep everything on hand for a quick meal without worrying about groceries going bad on you.
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@Polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
I love cast iron cookware. It is like magic.
Once again: when you find me and @Polygeekery in full agreement on any topic, you can take that opinion to the bank.
As well as being superb to cook with, the stuff is just nice to hold. Cleaning up steel or aluminium cookware is a chore. Cleaning up cast iron with hot hot water and then towelling it off and rubbing it over with a little linseed oil is a sensual joy.
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@Lorne-Kates said in The Cooking Thread:
Question though-- my Pineapple Upside Down cake didn't place, which was disappointing. But I did notice that all the other pineapple upside cakes were done in a flat, square pan.
I always always ALWAYS do mine in a bunt pan so it has that nice round shape. I though that's the natural and correct shape for a pineapple upside cake. What's your experience?
Flat.
What's a bunt pan?
I expect the cake to pineapple ratio would probably be way high if you did it in a bundt pan.
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@anotherusername said in The Cooking Thread:
What's a bunt pan?
That batter is going for a full swing, not a bunt.
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@Lorne-Kates Nonsense; he hasn't begun his swing yet. If he's bunting, he'll slide that upper hand up the bat mid-swing, so he doesn't give his plan away before he begins.
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@anotherusername said in The Cooking Thread:
What's a bunt pan?
That's where you forget to grease and flour it, so all the cake sticks to the bottom and gets bunt.
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@flabdablet You should be ashamed of yourself. That joke would make @Groaner groan.
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Status: Seems to me that cream cheese is not a good substitute for butter...
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@Tsaukpaetra said in The Cooking Thread:
Status: Seems to me that cream cheese is not a good substitute for butter...
Depends. It's a better substitute when it goes on bagels!
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@dcon said in The Cooking Thread:
@Tsaukpaetra said in The Cooking Thread:
Status: Seems to me that cream cheese is not a good substitute for butter...
Depends. It's a better substitute when it goes on bagels!
You're right, I should have qualified that: Cream cheese doesn't seem to substitute well on these
Belgium█████ waffles...
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@Tsaukpaetra said in The Cooking Thread:
cream cheese is not a good substitute for butter...
It's a great substitute for milk / cream in alfredo sauce.
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Saw this in a video recipe.
Seems like a rather lot of baking soda, I think...
(edit: yes, for food... coffee cake, actually. This is the cooking thread, not the mad kitchen scientist thread... well not exactly.)
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@anotherusername said in The Cooking Thread:
Seems like a rather lot of baking soda, I think...
really depends on what they are making.
what was the recipe for?
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@accalia you can think of a recipe that calls for a cup of baking soda?
...and it fits in that bowl?
Coffee cake... it called for 1.5 teaspoons of baking soda. It called for 3 cups of flour, and based on the jump in the video, what it actually showed was the first and third cups of flour, instead of "flour" and "baking soda".
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@anotherusername said in The Cooking Thread:
@accalia you can think of a recipe that calls for a cup of baking soda?
...and it fits in that bowl?
Coffee cake... it called for 1.5 teaspoons of baking soda. It called for 3 cups of flour, and based on the jump in the video, what it actually showed was the first and third cups of flour, instead of "flour" and "baking soda".
without the second requirement, easily.
with the second requirement, actually yes, but it's not food at that point.
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@anotherusername said in The Cooking Thread:
a recipe that calls for a cup of baking soda?
...and it fits in that bowl?Play-dough?
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@accalia said in The Cooking Thread:
without the second requirement, easily.
Are you counting "well if I 32x this recipe", or "well bakeries probably use that much in a batch of biscuits"?
Either way, it'd be silly to even bother with that little bowl.
with the second requirement, actually yes, but it's not food at that point.
More like a science experiment, I'd think? And I highly doubt it'd fit in the bowl.
@flabdablet said in The Cooking Thread:
@anotherusername said in The Cooking Thread:
a recipe that calls for a cup of baking soda?
...and it fits in that bowl?Play-dough?
AFAIK that doesn't require baking soda.
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@anotherusername said in The Cooking Thread:
AFAIK that doesn't require baking soda.
the recipe i use does.
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@accalia you're sure you're not thinking of something else? I'm seeing recipes that call for salt, cream of tartar, cornstarch, even alum... none of them call for baking soda.
edit: nevermind, I see some do.
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@anotherusername said in The Cooking Thread:
@accalia you're sure you're not thinking of something else? I'm seeing recipes that call for salt, cream of tartar, cornstarch, even alum... none of them call for baking soda.
pretty sure, either way the other use for the 1:1 ratio would be for "lava" from a baking soda folcano. the flour dampens the reaction of the acid a bit and makes it less of a gyser and more of an oozing flow.
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@accalia said in The Cooking Thread:
the other use for the 1:1 ratio would be for "lava" from a baking soda folcano
Which is why I said "I highly doubt it'd fit in the bowl". ;)
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@anotherusername said in The Cooking Thread:
@accalia said in The Cooking Thread:
the other use for the 1:1 ratio would be for "lava" from a baking soda folcano
Which is why I said "I highly doubt it'd fit in the bowl". ;)
well, not for long, but you do want to mix it up a fair bit before you put it in the volcano so you don't get an uneven reaction.
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I just bought a magnetic stirrer for making the iced coffee I mentioned earlier in this thread.
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Failbox failed the video https://m.imgur.com/O9UDXeD?r
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@wharrgarbl Loving the names in that
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@wharrgarbl Nice video, but shouldn't the garlic and onions be cooked through before adding the tomato puree?
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@antiquarian Personally I would sweat them slightly longer, but you got to keep in mind that the sauce supposedly needs to simmer for 10 minutes and then goes in the oven. Any onion in there is likely cooked at that point.
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@JBert said in The Cooking Thread:
@antiquarian Personally I would sweat them slightly longer, but you got to keep in mind that the sauce supposedly needs to simmer for 10 minutes and then goes in the oven. Any onion in there is likely cooked at that point.
That would be a different flavor profile than sauteing though. When you cook the onions and garlic to the point of browning, you caramelize the sugars and significantly change the flavor of the ingredients.
Putting essentially raw onions or garlic in to a sauce will give them much stronger, more raw flavors, than if you sweat or saute them. There is nothing inherently wrong with that, if that is the flavor profile you are going for, but it is not what I would do for a sauce like that. When I make tomato sauce I cook my onions until they have started to nicely brown and develop a fond on the pan, then I add the garlic and cook for a minute or so and then deglaze the pan before I add the tomato products.
To each their own. But, the video is made for entertainment purposes, not as a recipe or how-to.
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@Polygeekery I'd expect that sauce to be really acidic.