The Cooking Thread
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@boomzilla you should probably grab the fire extinguisher and not your camera.
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Zuurkoolschotel. That is, a mix of sauerkraut, onion, and minced meat, covered with mashed potato, 15min in the oven.
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@Polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
@DogsB said in The Cooking Thread:
My attempt at sausage stew might end up a watery soup.
Instant mashed potatoes, masa (which is just the flour used to make tortillas), crushed up tortilla chips, grated potato and numerous other things you may have around the kitchen can be used to thicken up a soup or stew that ends up too thin.
Forgot to say thanks. I added some leftover mash. Worked great.
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@PleegWat said in The Cooking Thread:
Zuurkoolschotel. That is, a mix of sauerkraut, onion, and minced meat, covered with mashed potato, 15min in the oven.
Sounds good, but do I see raisins in it?
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@MrL Yes, there are raisins. I forgot to mention the raisins. And the thyme. And the rosemary. And the paprika.
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@PleegWat said in The Cooking Thread:
@MrL Yes, there are raisins.
O... o my...
Way to go, to ruin a perfectly good sauerkraut.
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@PleegWat said in The Cooking Thread:
Zuurkoolschotel. That is, a mix of sauerkraut, onion, and minced meat, covered with mashed potato, 15min in the oven.
Sounds like a German/Austrian version of shepherd's/cottage pie. I like sauerkraut so I might have to give that a try.
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@DogsB said in The Cooking Thread:
Forgot to say thanks. I added some leftover mash. Worked great.
No worries. Glad to help. Give yourself some credit for realizing that leftover mashed potatoes will work in place of the instant mashed potatoes that I mentioned. You may or may not be surprised to realize that a fair amount of people would not have made that connection.
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@Polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
@PleegWat said in The Cooking Thread:
Zuurkoolschotel. That is, a mix of sauerkraut, onion, and minced meat, covered with mashed potato, 15min in the oven.
Sounds like a German/Austrian version of shepherd's/cottage pie. I like sauerkraut so I might have to give that a try.
I've heard of those, but had never seen a recipe. After some research, does seem similar. We also know jachtschotel (lit: hunting dish) which is more similar to shepherd's/cottage pie. And I'm sure there are plenty of other mixes you can use.
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@Polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
you should probably grab the fire extinguisher and not your camera.
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@Polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
Give yourself some credit for realizing that leftover mashed potatoes will work in place of the instant mashed potatoes that I mentioned. You may or may not be surprised to realize that a fair amount of people would not have made that connection.
BTW, other suitable thickening agents that people may have in their kitchen include:
- Cassava, which can be grated or you may have tapioca flour (made from cassava) which will work if you whisk it with some liquid before adding to your stew or soup
- Taro, just be careful of how the flavor may interact with your dish
- Sweet potatoes, grated or leftover and mashed, same warning about flavor but also color. A soup that is supposed to be pale or milky in color would look a bit odd if you serve it with an orange color.
- Fresh corn, cut from the cob and then pureed in a blender. The starch content is relatively low so it will not thicken as well as other alternatives. After you cut it from the cob be sure to rake the back of your knife over the cob to smush out the "milk" from what remains as there is a fair amount of starch in that, but also a lot of sugar so take that into account in your recipe.
- Various squashes are high in starch, just keep in mind the prior warnings about color and possibly flavor.
- Beans can be mashed up or pureed in a blender with some stock, wine or water. The flavors are usually pretty neutral and most people have canned beans in their pantry. No need to drain or rinse them. The liquid in the can is basically starch water.
- Parsnips have a ton of starch but their flavor may clash or overpower lots of soups. Proceed with caution.
- Peas surprisingly have a lot of starch. Almost as much as potatoes. But if you puree them and add them to a soup or stew it will turn green. It might work if you are serving something for Halloween.
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@Polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
Peas surprisingly have a lot of starch.
I'll refer you back to Dutch pea soup. If you're splitting it in smaller portions for reheating, you can let it cool down first and you don't need to bother with watertight containers. And that's all the peas working.
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@Zerosquare said in The Cooking Thread:
@Polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
you should probably grab the fire extinguisher and not your camera.
I love the flair and dramaticism of the flambe technique on the stove. Adding booze to a pan, giving it a second and then tipping the pan and pulling it towards you so the gas flame lights off the alcohol vapors. It is totally unnecessary but it impresses people.
That being said I would be lying by omission if I did not admit that a few times the flames were a hell of a lot larger than I thought they would be leading me to wonder:
@polygeekery: "Fucking hell, am I going to burn the house down?"
And:
@polygeekery: "Do I still have eyebrows?"
The most important thing is to not freak out and overreact. Partially because you run the chance of making it much worse if you spill flaming booze all over the place, but mostly because if you play it cool everyone thinks you meant to do that and you look like more of a rockstar.
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@Polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
if you play it cool everyone thinks you meant to do that and you look like more of a rockstar.
Filed under: sayings that also apply to IT
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@Polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
- Beans can be mashed up or pureed in a blender with some stock, wine or water. The flavors are usually pretty neutral and most people have canned beans in their pantry. No need to drain or rinse them. The liquid in the can is basically starch water.
- Peas surprisingly have a lot of starch. Almost as much as potatoes. But if you puree them and add them to a soup or stew it will turn green. It might work if you are serving something for Halloween.
Peas and beans are closely related (see also: lentils) so it isn't surprising that they behave similarly, and some peas are available as fully ripe golden peas. I've a recipe somewhere for a soup made with golden yellow peas and ham (and ham stock) and it is a wonderful thing.
Finding suitable hams isn't so easy these days. Too many low sodium ones, which are none too wonderful for making a good stock...
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@dkf said in The Cooking Thread:
Finding suitable hams isn't so easy these days. Too many low sodium ones, which are none too wonderful for making a good stock...
We have the same problem here with hams and also canned soups. Canned soup with a sandwich makes for a quick lunch when you are around home but years ago there was a mild outrage over the sodium content of them, because humans are very poor at evaluating risk or even basic logic. If you do not have high blood pressure and have two working kidneys then any sane sodium content is of little worry. But because of the fuss that was raised now all of our canned soups have significantly reduced sodium and because of that you either need to add salt or eat bland and tasteless soup.
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@boomzilla said in The Cooking Thread:
Is Sharon trying to sear a steak?
We've got a different thread for that though...
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@JBert said in The Cooking Thread:
Is Sharon trying to sear a steak?
I was on the phone with a friend and as we were talking I hear his wife in the background.
-to his wife- "You're kidding me? Damnit." -to me- "I will call you back in a few." -hangs up-
All of this was remarkably calm so I didn't think much of it.
He calls me back 5-10 minutes later and tells me that his wife was grilling steaks and the entire grill caught on fire and scorched the siding and paint on their home. He is still remarkably calm for his house almost burning down and dinner being ruined along with who knows what dollar value of inflation steak being turned to charcoal.
Although, now that I think about it, he was roughly as calm as I was when the hounds turned on the cooktop and lit all of the pizza boxes on fire and nearly burned down our house.
That was well over a year ago and I still give her a raft of shit about whenever I can work it into the conversation.
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@Polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
Peas
we have a bag of pea protein powder, great in soup. It circumvents the color issue but does have a small flavor.
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@Polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
Taro
First time I hear about this one, it's definitely not common around here. Is it something common in the US?
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@remi said in The Cooking Thread:
Is it something common in the US?
Not super common. You can find it at Asian grocery stores and you will likely encounter it in Asian recipes if you venture off of the beaten path.
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@Polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
@remi said in The Cooking Thread:
Is it something common in the US?
Not super common. You can find it at Asian grocery stores and you will likely encounter it in Asian recipes if you venture off of the beaten path.
I saw it a lot when I went to Hawaii. Never seen it here in the states...
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@dcon said in The Cooking Thread:
I saw it a lot when I went to Hawaii. Never seen it here in the states...
Hawaii is one of the states.
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@HardwareGeek said in The Cooking Thread:
@dcon said in The Cooking Thread:
I saw it a lot when I went to Hawaii. Never seen it here in the states...
Hawaii is one of the states.
Floating not far from the coast of Texas
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@HardwareGeek said in The Cooking Thread:
@dcon said in The Cooking Thread:
I saw it a lot when I went to Hawaii. Never seen it here in the states...
Hawaii is one of the states.
Yeah yeah. Meant to say mainland, but didn't feel like editing. Knew I'd be called out on it!
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@dcon said in The Cooking Thread:
Knew I'd be called out on it!
You can always count on TDWTF members.
Except to do actual work
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Unless said "work" is to avoid doing real work.
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@Zerosquare said in The Cooking Thread:
Unless said "work" is to avoid doing real work.
I can be convinced to put some effort in cooking, though only a few times per week and only if I get to eat it too.
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@Polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
@HardwareGeek said in The Cooking Thread:
Hawaii is one of the states.
It fucking shouldn't be.
At least a fraction of its residents would say so as well. Okay, probably not for the same reasons as you. But still.
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@Zerosquare we can agree on the best outcome for everyone without getting bogged down in individual details. Also, I thought that I was in the garage but this one isn't too bad so I'm going to leave it.
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@boomzilla Are the top and bottom layers tortillas? I'd eat that if I could, but gluten. I'd eat a gluten-free version, but they'd have to be corn tortillas.
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@HardwareGeek yes...got that on FB from an account calling itself something like "White people cooking Mexican food."
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hipsters will eat anything we double the price have.
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My son sent this to me. (Note that I haven't actually tried it, and probably won't, because too much sugar, but it looks good.)
Poached pears:
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@HardwareGeek
Pears made with red wine is a classic
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@HardwareGeek I like pears poached in light sugar syrup with cardamom and saffron. Red wine is another classic thing to poach pears in.
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