The Cooking Thread
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@anotherusername said in The Cooking Thread:
The canned ones have a rather peculiar flavor to them, in my opinion. They're alright, but the difference is noticeable.
Agreed. I've always chalked that up to some fake butter flavoring. Mind you, I'll still eat them...
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@dcon said in The Cooking Thread:
@anotherusername said in The Cooking Thread:
The canned ones have a rather peculiar flavor to them, in my opinion. They're alright, but the difference is noticeable.
Agreed. I've always chalked that up to some fake butter flavoring. Mind you, I'll still eat them...
If it's like the other kind of pre-made pastries, IME that comes from using various oils instead of butter (which is more expensive!). Pre-made shortcrust or puff pastry made with oil taste a bit different to me, I'd say more acidic or something like that. It's not necessarily a worse taste, but it is slightly different from all-butter ones.
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@remi said in The Cooking Thread:
@dcon said in The Cooking Thread:
@anotherusername said in The Cooking Thread:
The canned ones have a rather peculiar flavor to them, in my opinion. They're alright, but the difference is noticeable.
Agreed. I've always chalked that up to some fake butter flavoring. Mind you, I'll still eat them...
If it's like the other kind of pre-made pastries, IME that comes from using various oils instead of butter (which is more expensive!). Pre-made shortcrust or puff pastry made with oil taste a bit different to me, I'd say more acidic or something like that. It's not necessarily a worse taste, but it is slightly different from all-butter ones.
Butter also has issues with shelf-stability and processing since it has a narrower range of tolerable conditions.
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@benjamin-hall True. Although pre-made pastries sold here are in the cold aisle and with relatively short shelves lives anyway (and some of them manage to be all-butter, without having a significantly shorter life), so I guess it's a secondary factor. It probably plays a role in the overall "butter is more expensive" thing.
Speaking of pastries, on Saturday we made the traditional cake of that day. As we were in the middle of moving house, we bought the puff pastry (it's a bit long to make otherwise), but we only got one pack instead of the two (one for the base and one for the top). So we decided to make a half-cake instead of a full one, but then forgot about it and still made the right amount of filling for a full one. Duh.
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Also, the Christmas cake I did:
We have a running joke (since at least 20 years...) in the family that this one can only ever be served on that specific ugly yellow plate, which is not used for anything else (because it's so ugly!). The cake was as good as ever, plate notwithstanding.
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Last Thursday I decided to try making a breakfast pizza for supper.
I used my regular pizza crust recipe, but I didn't develop the gluten as much as usual (partly because I was in a hurry; letting the dough rise was critical path; partly also because I thought a slightly softer crust would work well for this particular pizza). The raw dough ended up being pretty sticky, and not as stretchy, but it was fine after cooking.
While the dough was rising, I cooked up a pound of pork sausage, to which I added a grated potato about halfway through. Cooked that until it browned, then transferred it into a bowl and cooked 4 strips of thick bacon (the rest of the package that was in the fridge) in the same pan. Beat 3 eggs, with a splash of milk, until they were thoroughly scrambled.
Once the dough was finished rising I put it in a rectangular pan, sprinkled some shredded cheddar directly on, then poured the egg/milk mixture evenly across; next, the layer of crumbled up sausage, and then I crumbled the bacon and sprinkled it on top. Last, a pretty decent layer of shredded cheddar.
It turned out quite well. I think if I do it again, I'll need to add some salt to the egg mixture... I thought that with the sausage it'd be salty enough, and it mostly was, but the egg mixture was just a little bit noticeably bland by comparison.
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@japonicus said in The Cooking Thread:
After more than a week of indecision the snails began to putrefy. A bit of a waste.
Not necessarily. Your garden was probably thanking you.
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@Polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
For Thanksgiving I always do as much cooking as possible on the day before.
Some of my family has decided to do the same thing, but we'd have the "big meal" then, too, so Thursday would be a nice day of relaxation and browsing over (tons†of) leftovers.
†Seriously, one year we counted over 20 pies‡. For about as many people.
‡ That's in addition to the turkey, ham, stuffing, cranberry jelly, biscuits, rolls, and other food.
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@Polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
got cold coffee instead.
That was not expected, nor wanted.
One of my brothers got a SodaStream as a birthday gift, and he has had a lot of fun carbonating various beverages. Our dad loves Coca-Cola, so for a practical joke, my brother carbonated some cold coffee and put it into a Coke bottle for Dad. I wish I could have been there to see his face, but Dad was totally not expecting what he got. I think they tossed the rest of the fizzy coffee, though.
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Status: Ribs are in the oven!
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@boomzilla said in The Cooking Thread:
Status: Ribs are in the oven!
it's dangerous to lean that far in.
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@japonicus said in The Cooking Thread:
@boomzilla said in The Cooking Thread:
Status: Ribs are in the oven!
it's dangerous to lean that far in.
Infants fit just fine.
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@boomzilla I've never actually had ribs that impressed me. Racks, however
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@benjamin-hall said in The Cooking Thread:
I've never actually had ribs that impressed me.
Talk to your butcher. Good ribs can have over an inch of meat on them. Also try not to dry them out when cooking; the meat should be succulent, not like leather…
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@polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
@boomzilla said in The Cooking Thread:
Now they're out!
Just don't call them bar-b-q.
I call them delicious.
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Potato slices, fried onion, and cheese sauce: a flour and butter roux plus milk, salt and pepper, and cheddar. I cooked the roux to a light caramel color before adding the milk. Once it simmered down a bit and thickened, I added the rest of the ingredients to the sauce. I sliced a medium onion and fried in hot oil until they were beginning to get brown, sprinkled the onion on top of the potato slices, and poured on the sauce. Sprinkled one more handful of cheddar cheese on top.
It would've gotten more eaten, but wife brought home some leftover homemade lasagna so we also had some of that.
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@anotherusername so...scalloped potatoes?
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@polygeekery No, there's no seafood in there.
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@masonwheeler shut up Wesley.
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Made deep dish pizza this weekend. A combination of ATK recipe and Chef John. ATK dough as it is super buttery and flaky. Chef John for the sauce.
Turned out rather well.
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Ah, Welsh Rabbit. It's been too long since I last made this.
Unfortunately, that lack of recent practice is evident in the use of too much beer, and the fact that the sauce broke just a bit. Still, it came out OK, so all good.
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Homemade biscuits and gravy for Sunday breakfast. It really is the perfect Sunday breakfast because after you are done eating you feel like going back to bed.
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This was supper:
Ribeye topped with mushrooms in a white wine sauce, with a side of green beans sauteed with soy sauce and garlic.
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@polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
@anotherusername said in The Cooking Thread:
Ribeye
Where??
CAME HERE TO POST THAT.
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Well, I just usually use my hands.
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@polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
@anotherusername said in The Cooking Thread:
Ribeye
Where??
It was like an inch thick, so it wasn't overwhemed in the least. And we like mushrooms. I could've eaten those with or without the steak.
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Larry would fit in here.
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@boomzilla Ha. Well, the OP is an easy target, it must be said. The quote that most blew me away was:
but setting up a working kitchen can easily cost as much as a used car depending on where you start from.
... Forget dollar stores, does Walmart not exist in his little world? The only option he can see is Williams Sonoma, apparently.
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@heterodox said in The Cooking Thread:
... Forget dollar stores, does Walmart not exist in his little world? The only option he can see is Williams Sonoma, apparently.
They also apparently think you must do it all at once. You can cook a hell of a lot of food with a bare minimum of equipment.
I mean, I shudder to think of the amount of money I have wrapped up in my kitchen currently. But I could and have cooked great food with a lot less. When we vacation we usually rent houses or condos and a couple of them have been outfitted with the shittiest, cheapest stuff you could buy at WalMart and I still cooked good food with it.
Hell, back in my bachelor days I did a lot of cooking with a set of Teflon cookware from the local department store, cheap knives and a couple of pieces of vintage cast iron cookware that I picked up at flea markets for dirt cheap. I still have the cast iron stuff and the 10" Piquaware skillet that I bought for $5 is still one of my favorites.
Hell, my big cast iron dutch oven was bought on clearance at a farm store. It was not until I went to use it the first time that I realized it was meant for campfire usage. I took it out to the garage and cut the little feet off with an angle grinder and used it anyway.
I think the best stuff in the world are things you bought cheaply and have a good story.
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@boomzilla said in The Cooking Thread:
Larry would fit in here.
I finally read the article in its entirety. This fucking twit...Jesus Christ.
But that brings us into a final discussion: time. You know why people go through KFC? Because, in terms of total resources it is the most efficient family meal you can provide in a 20-minute timespan.
Buy a Crock-Pot. If you do not have time at the end of your day to get dinner on the table at a reasonable hour...buy a fucking Crock-Pot. Dinner will be ready when you get home. Crock-Pots are cheap. Name brand, $24 delivered:
Buy some beans for $2 for a pound, soak them overnight (in the Crock-Pot), the next morning you can add whatever veggies you want (chop them the night before to save time if you wish) and start them on low. By the time you get home you will have very nearly a gallon of healthy and delicious food. Add some cheap ham shanks or whatever meat is cheap and for another couple of bucks you make it even better.
Throw in a rice cooker for $18
And you have something that will cook rice for you while you shower or bathe the kids or do homework or whatever. Rice is healthy and for all intensive porpoises within a rounding error of free on a per serving basis. Take the leftover rice and add a little milk, a pat of butter some sugar and cinnamon and simmer for 10-15 minutes and you have rice pudding for dessert.
So many of the things that we eat on a regular basis here at our house are cheap. We have the means to eat whatever we want and I still love beans and rice. Spaghetti is also extremely cheap and can be made with a minimal level of cookware. That same Crock Pot from earlier can take a cheap cut of beef or pork and turn it to a wonderful roast while you are at work.
This whole "poor people can't cook" premise is really annoying. If you want the tastiest food from any region or culture then you look for the "peasant food". There is something about a recipe born out of adversity that makes for really good food. One of my all-time favorite recipes to prepare and serve is Spaghetti Puttanesca. Roughly translated "whore's spaghetti". I am willing to wager it did not come in to being in the upper crust of Italian society.
End note: Yeah yeah, better translation is "spaghetti in the style of a prostitute", but I like my way better.
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@boomzilla said in The Cooking Thread:
Larry would fit in here.
Mom too.
(Mom’s comment, “what is wrong with this asshole?)
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@polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
vintage cast iron cookware
Care for that stuff properly and your great-great-...-grandkids will still be using it.
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@polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
Buy a Crock-Pot. If you do not have time at the end of your day to get dinner on the table at a reasonable hour...buy a fucking Crock-Pot. Dinner will be ready when you get home. Crock-Pots are cheap. Name brand, $24 delivered:
I am constantly amazed at what I can make in one, hell you can make bread in them.
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@dragoon said in The Cooking Thread:
you can make bread in them.
Have you ever tried that? It does not seem as though it could develop the temperatures necessary to make good bread.
I have made bread several times in a dutch oven though, and that turned out well, but the temperatures were a lot higher.
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I have not actually. Closest I have done is banana bread (without yeast), which doesn't really count. However, that turned out great.
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Talking of slow cookers--I knew some people who managed to set the crockery on fire in one of those. Turns out that a resistive heating device made for 110 V AC doesn't take kindly to being plugged straight into a 220 V socket.
And that was in Latvia where getting your hands on a good slow cooker was expensive.
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@benjamin-hall said in The Cooking Thread:
Turns out that a resistive heating device made for 110 V AC doesn't take kindly to being plugged straight into a 220 V socket.
Make it idiot-proof and the world will make a better idiot.
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@timebandit said in The Cooking Thread:
@benjamin-hall said in The Cooking Thread:
Turns out that a resistive heating device made for 110 V AC doesn't take kindly to being plugged straight into a 220 V socket.
Make it idiot-proof and the world will make a better idiot.
Yup. As I read once--
There's a competition going on between engineers, who try to make things idiot proof, and the universe, who's trying to make a better idiot. So far, the universe is winning.
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@benjamin-hall said in The Cooking Thread:
@timebandit said in The Cooking Thread:
@benjamin-hall said in The Cooking Thread:
Turns out that a resistive heating device made for 110 V AC doesn't take kindly to being plugged straight into a 220 V socket.
Make it idiot-proof and the world will make a better idiot.
Yup. As I read once--
There's a competition going on between engineers, who try to make things idiot proof, and the universe, who's trying to make a better idiot. So far, the universe is winning.
We had a customer demand that the three connectors on a product (with high and low-voltage domains) be the same connector. Guess what happened with the first bloody prototype we sent them.
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The weather was unseasonably pleasant yesterday so last night we grilled out. Grilled thick cut pork chops along with a wedge salad with homemade blue cheese dressing. Super simple, very tasty and not at all expensive.
Blue cheese dressing recipe:
1 cup mayo
1 cup sour cream
1 cup buttermilk
5oz tub of crumbled blue cheese
1/2 - 1 tsp of ground mustard
~1 tsp minced garlic
~1 tsp sugar
~1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to tasteEverything is basically to taste, but that will get you in the ballpark. Makes enough dressing for many salads. If you don't have buttermilk you can substitute milk with a tsp of lemon juice. You will want to use less milk as it is less viscous than buttermilk is. Start with half and add more until the consistency is right. I prefer dressings to be significantly thinner than the gloppy stuff you buy in a bottle at the store.
Rough cost for a really good meal for two was $6-$7. You could make the entire meal with a mixing bowl, measuring cups and spoons, a knife, a whisk and something to cook the pork chops with (grill, skillet, grill pan, anything really). Like I said before, good meals do not need to be expensive and there is no reason that lower income people cannot cook. The ingredients were inexpensive and the necessary cookware was very minimal.
Chicken would also work if that is more your taste.
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@polygeekery *droool* sounds delicious
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@doctorjones it was. We might do it again tonight. It makes a lot of dressing.
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@doctorjones said in The Cooking Thread:
@polygeekery *droool* sounds delicious
I made our other favorite salad last night.
Video:
The Brutus Salad - How to Make America's Next Caesar Salad – 07:43
— Food WishesRecipe:
If anyone decides to make it be sure you get good hot Dijon mustard. You could make it with cheap Dijon, but it is much better with the good stuff.
The technique of candying your own pecans is a good one also. I like the way they turn out. Store bought candied pecans are too sweet for my taste. Sometimes I will add a pinch of cayenne or chipotle chili powder to them in the skillet.
We served the salad with pork chops, but this time cooked in a skillet instead of grilled. The weather has turned to shit again.
Other interesting things I have cooked lately include:
Picadillo
Very interesting food. Another one that goes in the stack of cheap recipes. No exotic ingredients. Also, I like the colloquial and possibly casually racist other name for it, "Sloppy Jose". :)
Joe's Special
This was phenomenal. The ingredients and description might make you think that it is just OK, but it is really good. The fresh herbs in the eggs are what set it off. Use fresh herbs, dried will not do it justice. It is versatile also. You could easily serve it for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It also comes together really quickly.
Tonight we are doing wedge salads again. This time with chicken. I picked up some gigantic chicken breasts at the grocery. I will split them down the middle and pound them out in to cutlets. Three breasts should make six cutlets so we will have leftovers for lunches and such.
While in the meat department they had beef short ribs 50% off so I picked them up to freeze. I might make that this weekend if I can find a recipe I like.
That article about how poor people cannot cook really rustled my jimmies.
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@polygeekery said in The Cooking Thread:
Picadillo
Very interesting food. Another one that goes in the stack of cheap recipes. No exotic ingredients. Also, I like the colloquial and possibly casually racist other name for it, "Sloppy Jose". :)
Ain't no way in hell I'm putting raisins in ground beef. Fuck no. I'd try it without them.
The beef and spinach scramble looks good though.
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@anotherusername said in The Cooking Thread:
Ain't no way in hell I'm putting raisins in ground beef. Fuck no. I'd try it without them.
Honestly you could probably leave them out with no real flavor change. Using Zante Currants (they are raisins of the Black Corinth grape, and are very small in comparison) makes them sort of non-point. I use them in rice pudding also, because I don't like the texture and such of large grapes added to hot dishes.
To each their own though. You can get Zante Currants in the same location you get regular raisins in most good grocery stores. I probably would not like it with full-size raisins either.