Topic: A Cooking Thread? (Read 472609 times)

~~GarandMarine~~ · « **Reply #1900 on:** 12 Nov 2013, 06:42 »

It's fucking cold. Time for soup recipes!

Thrillho · « **Reply #1901 on:** 12 Nov 2013, 08:34 »

I am on a kick lately of buying super cheap foods, and then adding other quite cheap but tasty components to make them taste better.

My trick at the minute is to get a budget pizza (I think they're £1 from Asda) and adding some extra cheese and oregano. That's really all it takes to make it so much tastier.

lepetitfromage · « **Reply #1902 on:** 12 Nov 2013, 09:29 »

Quote from: Carl-E on 11 Nov 2013, 05:21

Apple picking? Last weekend?

How far south are you? We lost all the fruit off the trees here over a month ago...

Not that far! We're about 80 miles north of NYC. I was surprised by how much fruit was left as well but we've had pretty mild weather lately so I figured we'd be in the clear. Although....it did snow for the first time yesterday. Just a dusting, but still...UGH.

Carl-E · « **Reply #1903 on:** 14 Nov 2013, 19:05 »

Wait, we've had this discussion before - you're up in the hudson river valley somewhere? I used to live in Rhinebeck...

And I'm guessing it's the mountains here making the fruit go earlier, because lattitudinally we're actually south of NYC!

lepetitfromage · « **Reply #1904 on:** 15 Nov 2013, 05:46 »

Haha yep! I'm in good ol' po-town, we went apple picking in New Paltz.

Re- Apple: That is so odd!

Lines · « **Reply #1905 on:** 18 Nov 2013, 17:19 »

Making curry using this recipe... Waiting on the rice to be done and then I get to eat some! Hopefully it tastes yummy, because it smells amazing. Also this is the first time I've used fresh ginger in anything and I really should do that more often. Fresh ginger smells omgzdelish.

Edit: freaking delicious. Could have used more meat and other veggies though...

Lines · « **Reply #1906 on:** 22 Nov 2013, 18:54 »

PIE!

Apple-Buttermilk Custard Pie to be specific. Let's make a pie!

First, slice some apples and gather supplies. Also pour a glass hard cider and drink throughout cooking.

Cook said apples with cinnamon and sugar until soft.

When soft, spoon apples into pie crust and then pour custard mixture that you mixed while cooking apples over top.

Bake pie in oven for a while, then sprinkle a crumble mixture on top, and then bake some more.

Once it's done, pull it out, let cool for an hour, and bask in the deliciously glorious smells.

God I can't wait to eat this tomorrow. I want to devour the whole thing now, but no, I'll be good and maybe even share.

~~GarandMarine~~ · « **Reply #1907 on:** 23 Nov 2013, 04:14 »

*victory theme music*

GM won the battle!
12xp
100gp
1x 20lb Turkey

waitaminute...

So I have a 20lb turkey thawing in my fridge. Right now. Herr Birde is a big bastard. Apparently my work gives out free turkeys to the staff every year. So I grabbed stuffing, mashed potatoes, got the recipe for my mom's corned casserole and some cranberry sauce (my addiction) and I'm going to be cooking like a motherfucker on thanksgiving. No. No one's coming over, but the leftovers can probably last me till Christmas.

lepetitfromage · « **Reply #1908 on:** 23 Nov 2013, 17:11 »

Nice!

.....I may or may not have just eaten a whole plate of mashed potatoes.

~~GarandMarine~~ · « **Reply #1909 on:** 29 Nov 2013, 11:34 »

Mmm. I am a fuck mothering awesome cook. Holy shit. It might not compare to my co-worker's wife's spread yesterday on some level, namely my lack of actual serving trays but I just made a killer meal centered around a large, dead bird.

Aimless · « **Reply #1910 on:** 09 Dec 2013, 12:55 »

So this thing works:

Got a nice large cooler for cheap, once I have the workflow optimized this will be not only the best way to make steak but also one of the most convenient! It really is perfectly pink all the way through and the water temperature was very stable.

Barmymoo · « **Reply #1911 on:** 10 Dec 2013, 15:18 »

I went to a cooking class this evening and made the most delicious food. One thing involved a small red chilli. I used my fingers to get the seeds out, because no one warned me not to. I keep touching my eyes and then regretting it badly.

~~GarandMarine~~ · « **Reply #1912 on:** 10 Dec 2013, 16:35 »

So learning has occurred then?

Lines · « **Reply #1913 on:** 10 Dec 2013, 17:25 »

Making quinoa for the first time. I want to know what all the fuss is about.

lepetitfromage · « **Reply #1914 on:** 11 Dec 2013, 06:10 »

I've eaten quinoa before and it is delicious!

.......But I have a package of it in my pantry right now that has been there for 2 weeks. Let us know how it turned out! I'm afraid to make it myself.

I made another one-dish concoction last night that was AWESOME. I didn't feel like cooking at all but I'm glad I did- even if it was only another semi-homemade thing. Took some cooked chicken and leftover pasta (ditalini-my newest love lol), mixed it up with some frozen veg (baby carrots, snap peas and cauliflower) and tossed it with some gravy. Took a whopping 10 minutes and I could see it becoming a go-to meal for busy evenings. After making stuffed peppers the night before, I needed a quick dinner. Also- I've decided that I don't use gravy enough and need to remedy that situation.

Lines · « **Reply #1915 on:** 11 Dec 2013, 12:19 »

It cooks just like rice. I had a recipe that was a version of mac and cheese and it was... bland. Very bland. With more seasoning it could have been good, but it wasn't. The texture was good though, and I have a lot left, so I'll try again.

It gets everywhere though. Be warned. Freaking tiny ass things.

Barmymoo · « **Reply #1916 on:** 11 Dec 2013, 13:22 »

Yeah that sounds awfully bland. I would use quinoa with strongly-flavoured things, like maybe some kind of tomato sauce dish. It also adds texture to salads

pwhodges · « **Reply #1917 on:** 11 Dec 2013, 14:24 »

Quote from: Linds on 11 Dec 2013, 12:19

It gets everywhere though. Be warned. Freaking tiny ass things.

It also dries hard onto the pan surprisingly quickly if you leave it... (will soak off, of course).

Lines · « **Reply #1918 on:** 11 Dec 2013, 14:48 »

Quote from: Barmymoo on 11 Dec 2013, 13:22

Yeah that sounds awfully bland. I would use quinoa with strongly-flavoured things, like maybe some kind of tomato sauce dish. It also adds texture to salads

Well, it was cooked with peppers and garlic and I used a Vermont White Extra Sharp Cheddar, a Bourbon Aged Cheddar, and Gouda. But then I realized the recipe called for no salt whatsoever and I think that was the major downfall. But whatever. If I do that again, I'll use my own mac and cheese recipe and swap out the pasta for quinoa because my recipe has never let me down. I'm just mad I wasted such good cheeses. At least there's a little left.

henri bemis · « **Reply #1919 on:** 31 Dec 2013, 14:21 »

This isn't cooking so much as just food-related, but I bought some goat cheese yesterday and forgot to put it in the fridge, so it was at room temp for about 20 hours. The package is still sealed, and I tried googling an answer, but I got everything from "yeah, it's fine" to "IF YOU LEAVE IT OUT FOR TWO HOURS, IT WILL KILL YOU."

Does anyone actually know, or is this just a case of "kinda shady, might be ok, won't really know until you throw up or not."?

More related, I found out that I make some pretty badass homefries. They're ridiculously easy, but we gave our kitchen a deep clean recently, and its been awhile since I had room to cook anything that didn't just need to be heated in the oven or boiled in a pot.

pwhodges · « **Reply #1920 on:** 31 Dec 2013, 14:56 »

I would have no concern. There's no reason to think of it differently from cow's milk cheese.

henri bemis · « **Reply #1921 on:** 31 Dec 2013, 19:46 »

Thanks! I wasn't really thinking of it as different from cow's milk cheese, but because it's a soft cheese, I wasn't as confident as if it were a cheddar or parmesan or something.

Anyway, I got home fries to eat.

LTK · « **Reply #1922 on:** 01 Jan 2014, 06:41 »

My rule of thumb is: If it smells okay. Try it. If it tastes okay, eat it. Hasn't failed me yet!

Aimless · « **Reply #1923 on:** 02 Jan 2014, 17:21 »

So for my birthday lunch I made an elk's neck stew, a sort of dip thing with grilled paprikas and feta, a Bengali variation on (i guess) baba ganoush and served it up with some flatbread.

The neck was braised (more like stewed) with onions, garlic, marrow-bones, spices (including a large piece of cinnamon), bay-leaves and wild mushrooms for thirteen hours and mixed with roasted veggies towards the end.

Guys, neck-meat is just amazing stew-meat! Get it before it becomes trendy

wine Woulda made it even better. Can't wait to nom down the leftovers tomorrow

Barmymoo · « **Reply #1924 on:** 05 Jan 2014, 13:12 »

While I was in Norway, I think I accidentally converted Jens to veganism and also I made a delicious mushroom alfredo sauce using silken tofu and it was awesome - all creamy and nom without being as artery-clogging as the dairy version. Hurrah! Also Jens made some pretty delicious black bean spread which I will be making just as soon as I can buy some black beans (I almost made it with kidney beans instead earlier, but I need those for the chilli later in the week).

This month will be a good month for cooking, I've got a whole load of recipes I want to try.

bainidhe_dub · « **Reply #1925 on:** 05 Jan 2014, 19:13 »

Ooh what's your tofu alfredo recipe? I've done a simple white sauce with cream and parmesan cheese added to drained-but-not-rinsed pasta but that sounds much better.

Barmymoo · « **Reply #1926 on:** 06 Jan 2014, 03:04 »

I used this one, although obviously was unconcerned by the brand of the ingredients. I'm not convinced the cornstarch is essential but it depends on what consistency you like, so maybe try it once as written and decide.

bainidhe_dub · « **Reply #1927 on:** 07 Jan 2014, 03:53 »

Thanks! I've used silken tofu for a baked ziti recipe (x) but that sounds good.

Thrillho · « **Reply #1928 on:** 07 Jan 2014, 05:41 »

Last night I made eight chicken tortilla wraps, aiming to eat a couple and save the rest for this week's lunches.

I ate all of them. Didn't even have the munchies.

Oh lord.

Aimless · « **Reply #1929 on:** 10 Jan 2014, 19:17 »

The freckled one is making Tjälknöl:

http://strictlypaleoish.com/2013/03/02/tjalknol/

Quote

If I would translate “Tjälknöl”, it would be “Frost Lump” (“Tjäle” is the Swedish word for frozen ground, and a “knöl” is a lump), and it’ll all make perfect sense in a bit…

Tjälknöl is a fairly young dish, it was invented in the early 80′s, and as for many great inventions it happened by mistake, here’s the story:

Ragnhild Nilsson, the wife of moose hunter Eskil Nilsson, asked her husband one evening to thaw a frozen moose steak in the oven on low temperature. He did… and forgot about it, and Ragnhild found it still laying in the oven the next day. She understood it would be rather tasteless eating it like that, so in an attempt to save it she placed it in a brine for a few hours. When they later ate it, they both found it to be not only delicious, but also extremely juicy and tender…

A year or so later, she submitted the recipe for a national contest to find new regional signature dishes, and won! Tjälknöl was declared the new signature dish of Medelpad (a region of northern Sweden), and it was spread nation wide.

This was the first thing she ever cooked for me, on our first home-date, but even without the nostalgia it's really freakin' delicious. I can't wait till tomorrow

mmmm... moose

EDIT: Oh god the meat was just so succulent... had it with polenta and some other delicious stuff but the meat just stole the show <3

I imagine beef would be similarly nice, some sorta rosbif kinda thing

Aimless · « **Reply #1930 on:** 19 Jan 2014, 09:47 »

For dinner tonight:

Vichyssoise with delicious gruyère gougéres

Beer-cooler Flat iron steak (tastier than rib-eye, second only to the tenderloin in tenderness, cheaper than both)
served with gnocchi parisienne (more like spätzle parisienne

or gnücchi pariesienne?)
and creamy sautéed wild mushrooms

I've nailed the pâte à choux for the gougéres and the gnocchi and must also say that gruyère is def. the right cheese for these douchy cheese-puffs

if you love steak and haven't tried this method already, try making it in a large beer-cooler in heavy-duty freezer-bags. I had mine in there for a couple of hours at about 55 C and then patted them dry and seared them quickly on each side. They came out juicy, flavourful and perfectly pink all the way through with no darker over-cooked areas. Even the thick seam of connective tissue running through these improperly processed steaks was made pliant by this low-and-slow approach.

Anyway, bon appetit and skål!

cesium133 · « **Reply #1931 on:** 29 Jan 2014, 21:33 »

Made chocolate chip cookies tonight. They turned out pretty good. Would have been a lot easier if I had an electric mixer, though. My arms got a good workout mixing the dough.

Lines · « **Reply #1932 on:** 01 Feb 2014, 10:00 »

M and I will be taking an Indian cooking class in a week and a half, woo! So excited.

bainidhe_dub · « **Reply #1933 on:** 03 Feb 2014, 14:33 »

Oh man so I made the best and easiest dessert for the Superbowl party yesterday. I took two tubes of premade refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough, smushed them out into a baking pan, and covered it with an entire bag of chocolate/peanut butter chips. Baked for a few minutes until the chips melted, then dragged a knife through to marble them, then finished baking. Omnom.

Lines · « **Reply #1934 on:** 03 Feb 2014, 18:34 »

Ooo, that sounds yummy!

Barmymoo · « **Reply #1935 on:** 07 Feb 2014, 08:43 »

Exciting times afoot in my kitchen - I am making pizza dough with my KitchenAid Stand Mixer for the very first time, and also making refried beans. When my friend arrives for dinner I will give her the choice of quesadillas or pizza, both with vegan cheese which I'm also trying for the first time - whichever we don't have today I'll have another day

Nom nom nom! Stay tuned for updates.

Hmm. First hiccough: the pizza dough recipe calls for fine polenta or semolina. I have in my cupboard what might be coarse polenta, but also might not be because I can't remember what it is. Shall I add it?

Having determined that the mystery store cupboard ingredient is in fact bulgur wheat, I have not added it. I briefly considered adding some couscous as that is semolina, but chose to stick with a standard flour-based dough.

The stand mixer is a marvellous invention. Its leaflet tells me to continue on speed two until the dough cleans the sides of the bowl, but the dough seems to be increasingly sticking to the side of the bowl. Perhaps more flour is needed?

Stand mixer not entirely impressed by addition of flour.

Stand mixer placated by offering of olive oil and redistribution of dough, which has become pleasingly stretchy and smooth. Time to cover it with a teatowel in manner of Italian mama and leave the bowl in front of the radiator of lieu of traditional farmhouse kitchen Aga.

Next up, the refried beans. Instead of soaking them overnight, I earlier boiled them, simmered them and left them to soak for two hours in the warm water which the internet assures me will do just as well. They are now back on the stove, cooking in new water for 45 minutes. At least I hope 45 minutes will do it. I'd forgotten the result of all that simmering earlier wasn't cooked beans, merely soaked beans.

The dough has been rising for half an hour and it smells pleasantly pizza-like in here. The beans are simmering away on the stovetop, and I am canvassing opinions on guacamole recipes despite being somewhat limited by the ingredients I have available (avocadoes, cherry tomatoes, white onions, garlic, dried chilli powder, and fresh but somewhat old limes). The consensus seems to be: my guacamole is not going to be authentic. Ah well.

The pizza dough has doubled in size, the beans are approaching tender, and the avacado is so perfect and delicious that I'm having a hard time resisting eating it on its way to the bowl.

Well, the kitchen is full of half-finished tasks: the cooked beans are blended, the guacamole ingredients are in a bowl but not mixed, onion and mushroom is frying ready to go on the pizza. Just waiting for my friend to arrive to decide what we're eating tonight!

bainidhe_dub · « **Reply #1936 on:** 07 Feb 2014, 10:26 »

If anybody talks bad about your guacamole, throw the avocado pit at them.

Redball · « **Reply #1937 on:** 07 Feb 2014, 16:25 »

Having been canvassed, I want to hear about the guac.

Edith and I were having lunch as May was starting the prep. Edith was wearing a scarf in Fort Wayne's -15C weather. We warned May not to wear a scarf while using that KitchenAid Stand Mixer lest she end up the victim in an industrial accident.

I keep seeing those industrial mixers in stores and always wondered who bought them. Now I know.

Barmymoo · « **Reply #1938 on:** 08 Feb 2014, 02:11 »

Mine isn't the industrial model - the box specifically says it is "For domestic use only". It is still pretty large though.

The guacamole was nice! My friend couldn't eat it because avocadoes make her ill, but I enjoyed it and there's still a fair amount in the fridge for another day. The quesadillas were a learning curve - we badly burnt the first one but scooped out the filling and tried again with a different (better) frying pan which was more successful. The pizza is in the freezer in slices, and there's at least another one and probably another two pizzas worth of dough frozen as well. Successful cooking afternoon

~~GarandMarine~~ · « **Reply #1939 on:** 08 Feb 2014, 12:13 »

Cooking up some pork ribs now!

LTK · « **Reply #1940 on:** 08 Feb 2014, 13:20 »

I felt like I wasn't eating enough vegetables so I made ratatouille, which amounted to chopping up a bunch of veggies and throwing them in a dish with olive oil and into the oven, but I'm pretty sure I can make it better than that. Anyone got any tips?

Lines · « **Reply #1941 on:** 12 Feb 2014, 17:29 »

Michael and I had a fantastic time at our cooking class! The recipe we learned is a base golden curry recipe that can be turned into tikka masala (center) and saag (left - fresh on top, stewed on bottom). It was delicious and fun and I want to take more cooking classes now because it was a really great time.

Also now I want to make all of the curries all of the time. Definitely going to have to have a food party soon.

Barmymoo · « **Reply #1942 on:** 21 Feb 2014, 12:37 »

I am cooking all the things again! Today it's vegetable lasagne (a mini one, I only had enough pasta for one layer of each), a sort of shepherd's pie with the same soya mince from the lasagne, and then I've got just enough mince to make pasties tomorrow when the pastry has thawed. I'll also make chocolate, chilli and black bean soup tomorrow - the black beans are soaking overnight. I'd like to make courgette and black bean burgers as well, but I haven't yet got a pestle and mortar to grind the flaxseed which would be the binding agent. My stepmum's mum is giving me one which she got as a free gift with something or other, but I won't be able to pick that up until Redball and I visit next month, so I'll probably use the remaining soaked black beans to make the delicious dip that Jeans made when I visited at Christmas

For anyone who is interested, photos are now on my food blog.

dr. nervioso · « **Reply #1943 on:** 08 May 2014, 17:18 »

So I am dusting off this thread to ask for some cooking/' meal planning advice.

I recently moved off-campus to an apartment,which means I no longer have the convenience of a meal plan. So now I have to plan and make my own food. I am all good with the making, it's the planning part I am having trouble with.

I need help planning for fairly cheap and healthy meals that aren't too intricate. I want to stay away from microwaved stuff and things like ramen, because from my previous experience with that stuff, I would rather not eat that than eat ssomething like that. Not so much a snobbish taste problem, more of a gastrointestinal hell thing with that.

Thrillho · « **Reply #1944 on:** 09 May 2014, 00:47 »

Curry. So, so, so much curry. Anything can go in a curry. It can be as cheap or expensive as you like. You make them super interesting by buying big bags of spice that'll cost you like £1/$2 and the ones I have have so far lasted me well over a year.

jwhouk · « **Reply #1945 on:** 09 May 2014, 06:59 »

Excuse me, Gaz, but your Brit is showing. Curry is hard to come by in the states.

Jalapenos, OTOH....

~~GarandMarine~~ · « **Reply #1946 on:** 09 May 2014, 07:00 »

Curry is not hard to come by in the U.S. please see my previous posts about curry and the making therein.

Thrillho · « **Reply #1947 on:** 09 May 2014, 07:05 »

Quote from: jwhouk on 09 May 2014, 06:59

Excuse me, Gaz, but your Brit is showing. Curry is hard to come by in the states.

Jalapenos, OTOH....

Buying curry means you get shit curry. Making curry from scratch (either off the top of your head like I do or from a recipe) is ridiculously easy, because you just put some shit in a pan and boil and mix it for a while, do some rice with it and you're done. It's exactly that simple and can have as much or as little in it as you want. It's also cheap as fuck. I often make a week's worth of a curry, box it up and take a box and a bag of microwave rice in per day.

~~GarandMarine~~ · « **Reply #1948 on:** 09 May 2014, 07:13 »

Quote from: GarandMarine on 07 Sep 2013, 15:34

Haters are welcome. It's curry time.

Katsu Kare カツカレー

Everything you need to make a basic curry! The little bowl of shrimp is just my own personal touch. Since they're cooked already, I'll toss them in at the end!

I prepared these tiger shrimp and pork cutlets (the "katsu" part of katsu kare) before I started taking pictures. They're flowered, dipped in egg and then rolled in panko (Japanese style bread crumbs).

The meat is browned lightly, then while it's still a bit pink, you add your veggies. Turn regularly then add enough water to cover. (For a large amount like I did, about six cups is what you want)

These are the curry blocks! Just toss'em in. I did a full recipe (roughly) so I used a full box. Which is to say both curry squares. You want to break them into fours, and gently set them in the veggies and meat after the veggies are done cooking. then mix till the blocks disappear. Add a little milk and let simmer!

It's ready, are you?

One of the katsu frying away. I used cooking chopsticks for my frying and I keep finding them more and more useful in the kitchen now that I've tried it.

Two of the katsu and all of the tiger shrimp (minus two that were eaten for taste testing >.> the third katsu is in the pan, and the forth is where there next to my cooking chopsticks.

And it's ready to eat! Itadakimasu! いただきま!

Thought I'd repost this since glorious curry is back on the menu.

Thrillho · « **Reply #1949 on:** 09 May 2014, 07:14 »

That almost says 'Garand'

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Author Topic: A Cooking Thread? (Read 472609 times)