Topic: A Cooking Thread? (Read 529238 times)

Omega Entity · « **Reply #1500 on:** 29 Aug 2012, 18:34 »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQfOO4wKrrA

Be patient! 1:18 is when the good part is

ackblom12 · « **Reply #1501 on:** 05 Sep 2012, 15:43 »

Delicious!

Carl-E · « **Reply #1502 on:** 14 Sep 2012, 09:30 »

So, what should I do with all the concord grapes in the fridge? Picked 'em last weekend... about two grocery bags full. Not enough for wine, though.

Papersatan · « **Reply #1503 on:** 14 Sep 2012, 09:32 »

Jam, or pie?

Redball · « **Reply #1504 on:** 14 Sep 2012, 09:38 »

Can you pick some more, then make wine? I recall that wine recipes call for 3 lbs per gallon for generic flavor, 6 lbs per gallon for fruity flavor, 9 lbs per gallon for pronounced fruity flavor. I can look that up if you wish.

LTK · « **Reply #1505 on:** 14 Sep 2012, 10:40 »

I invited some fellow students over for dinner yesterday. I stir-fried a cabbage (the pointy kind) with curry, cashews, coconut, and uh... capples and conions. Then for dessert, I wanted to make a pie, but the only pre-made pie crust that I could find was more like a pack of three flat, round cakes. So I went ahead and bought those. On the first layer I put a half-litre bucket of vanilla quark, on the second layer an entire pureed mango (fresh: skinned, cut, blender'd), sprinkled with cinnamon, and that was topped off with the final cake layer. It was then cooled in the fridge for an hour and a half or so, and subsequently covered in whipped cream. I never imagined something so easily thrown together could be so tasty.

lepetitfromage · « **Reply #1506 on:** 16 Sep 2012, 11:03 »

Quote from: Carl-E on 14 Sep 2012, 09:30

So, what should I do with all the concord grapes in the fridge? Picked 'em last weekend... about two grocery bags full. Not enough for wine, though.

Freeze them. Frozen grapes are delicious (and make great ice cubes in wine haha).

Carl-E · « **Reply #1507 on:** 29 Sep 2012, 20:27 »

ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce....

Red Concord Grape Pie!

Surprisingly delicious! Not at all like jam. For one thing, you skin the grapes and just cook the insides to deseed them. Then you mix the green pulp back in with the skins, put into a shell and bake - the color bleeds from the skins. The texture is very close to cherry pie, but the flavor - well, concord grapes are quite tart, and that's not lost, but enough sugar's added to cut the pucker effect. But not enough to make it taste like jelly or jam.

It took the better part of one of the two bags of grapes. I think I'll have to do this again...

Oh, and my daughter taught me an easy way to weave a real lattice crust!

Lines · « **Reply #1508 on:** 29 Sep 2012, 21:22 »

Interesting! I've never heard of a grape pie. Where'd you get the recipe?

Carl-E · « **Reply #1509 on:** 29 Sep 2012, 22:21 »

Here. I looked at other ones, too. They're all pretty much the same. I cut back on the sugar some because I used red concord grapes, which are a good bit sweeter than regular dark (almost blue) concord grapes. Those are the ones used for commercial grape jellies, that dark purple stuff.

lepetitfromage · « **Reply #1510 on:** 30 Sep 2012, 07:28 »

Oooooh, that sounds really good!

In other food related news- I got a crock pot for my birthday! I am SO EXCITED. Favorite crock pot recipes, anyone?

bainidhe_dub · « **Reply #1511 on:** 30 Sep 2012, 08:05 »

Today I'm trying out my idea for a fruitcake/bread recipe! I'm starting with banana bread, going to sub some of the banana+yogurt for canned pumpkin, and add all the stuff I thought sounded good: dried apple, craisins, dates, crystallized ginger, and pumpkin seeds. May also put chopped pecans and/or a sugar frosting drizzle on the top. I'm still trying to figure out if I need to be using more or less flour & stuff (more to hold up all the additions, or less so it will fit in the pan, or no change?), and what kind of spices to add, if any.

Papersatan · « **Reply #1512 on:** 30 Sep 2012, 08:42 »

I'd replace the banana, but lave the yogurt. the sour of the yogurt is acting as the catalyst for the baking soda to leaven the bread.. If you replace banana in a 1 to 1 ratio you shouldn't have to change the flour. You may end up with extra batter, but just fill your pan to its normal height and then put the extra in another little pan to bake.

Barmymoo · « **Reply #1513 on:** 30 Sep 2012, 13:17 »

I just did a bit of an epic cooking session and made four portions of spaghetti bolognese sauce, one leftover portion of risotto after dinner (desperately needed flavour - I hadn't got any cheese, butter, yeast extract or salt, all the things I usually use for flavouring, so I added herbes de provence) and in the oven I've got four portions of "chicken" chausseur which looks rather odd and too onion-y, but we'll see.

My room is still an absolute bombsite, mostly with random kitchen stuff I can't find a home for. Have yet to discover the whereabouts of the lids for my freezer boxes, which is an issue given that I've got all these boxes of food to freeze...

Barmymoo · « **Reply #1514 on:** 30 Sep 2012, 14:30 »

The Quorn chasseur was a disaster. I put it in a Pyrex dish with a plastic lid. Duh. Thankfully one portion was in a separate casserole so I do get to taste it. Hm. More details in my cooking blog, I can't bear to write about it twice! I'm going to the bar

Carl-E · « **Reply #1515 on:** 30 Sep 2012, 17:47 »

I hope the food at the bar's decent!

Hoist a few for me.

Barmymoo · « **Reply #1516 on:** 01 Oct 2012, 01:26 »

I neither ate nor drank at the bar - it's the regular hangout for the college's lesbian crowd and we spent several hours laughing about various things and entertaining freshers. Then somehow it was 1am.

bainidhe_dub · « **Reply #1517 on:** 01 Oct 2012, 14:34 »

I ended up using a boxed mix I had around (Pillsbury's Pumpkin Quick Bread) and added about 3/4 cup total of fruit, no extra spices, and sprinkled with pecan bits on top. It turned out really well, and now I have all these bags of stuff, so I got 3 more boxes of mix last night. I'm going to try making little loaves to give people around Christmas or whatever.

TheEvilDog · « **Reply #1518 on:** 11 Oct 2012, 10:38 »

Don't have any photos for these yet, but I do like making them.

Salmon and Hake fish cakes.
Serves 4

450g of floury potatoes, cut into chunks
450g of mixed fish fillets (I went with Hake and Salmon), skinned.
Small dash of tarragon
2 tbsp of milk
1 tbsp plain flour
1 tbsp butter
1 egg, beaten
115g of breadcrumbs
4 tsbp of vegetable oil for shallow frying
Salt and pepper

1. Cook the potatoes in boiling water for about 15-20 minutes (I poke a chunk with a steak knife and lift it out. If it falls off by itself, its done). Drain well and mash them until smooth, using the butter, milk, salt and pepper.
2. Put the fish into a frying pan and pour in just enough water to cover the fish. Bring the water to boil and then let it simmer for 5 minutes (Honestly, I let it boil until the salmon has noticeable changes colour). When its done, remove the fish from the heat and let it cool. When its cool enough, break it into chunks.
3. Mix the fish, potatoes and tarragon together and form into either 4 large patties or 8 smaller ones.
4. Dust the fish cakes with flour, then dip them into the beaten egg, then dredge it in the breadcrumbs. Put the fish cakes into the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
5. Heat a frying pan to a medium heat with the oil and fry the fish cakes for 5 minutes each side, until the breadcrumb coating is browned.
6. Serve with a salad of your choice and lemon slices and then scoff them down.

The Seldom Killer · « **Reply #1519 on:** 11 Oct 2012, 22:42 »

Was making lemon curd last night and had some left over after filling two jars. Added a bit of cooking whiskey. Quite nice indeed.

Have also put down some garlic to pickle. It's just with peppercorns, mustard seeds and lemon peel. Am thinking about another more adventurous version, maybe with anchovies and some herbs. Alternatively I might go down the route of a roast garlic chutney.

Barmymoo · « **Reply #1520 on:** 12 Oct 2012, 04:47 »

I have enough packet mixes (the packets of spices etc that you add to actual food when you're too lazy/poor/single to justify making your own spice mixes) for a month of meals, and probably other than the fresh veg enough food to make them up. My freezer is stuffed with food that was on special offer and basically I should not need to spend more than £10 a week on food until the new year.

This is good because I still have £1200 less than I need to pay my rent...

bainidhe_dub · « **Reply #1521 on:** 12 Oct 2012, 05:07 »

Question for people who know how to do these things: Last night I made scalloped potatoes and something went wrong with the sauce. The directions said:

"In a medium-size saucepan, melt 1.5T butter over medium heat. Mix in 1.5T flour and 1/4t salt, and stir constantly with a whisk for one minute. Stir in 1c milk. Cook until mixture has thickened. Stir in 3/4c cheese all at once, and continue stirring until melted, about 30 to 60 seconds."

There's no mention of how long it should take to thicken after adding the milk, so I gave it about 5 minutes, maybe more like 10? (I had second thoughts about the amount of onion and was fishing it out of the casserole dish with one hand while stirring with the other.) There was absolutely zero sign of thickening, just a tan layer forming on top - the butter, I guess? So I went ahead and added the cheese (from a bag of shredded, not off a block, so this may also be part of the problem) which melted but took more than 30-60 seconds and didn't seem to really dissolve and "become one with" the not-thickened milk.

So given that description maybe it's no shock that what I ended up with was potato slices in melted butter and melted cheese. It still smelled & tasted right, but the consistency was not right. Where did I screw it up?

Barmymoo · « **Reply #1522 on:** 12 Oct 2012, 05:11 »

Did you add the flour all at once, or bit by bit? I think you add it slowly and mix it in, then add a bit more.

bainidhe_dub · « **Reply #1523 on:** 12 Oct 2012, 05:16 »

I had the flour and salt measured into a cup and dumped it in all at once when the butter was completely melted. It mixed up into a light brown goo.
What's weird is this is completely the opposite experience from the couple times I've tried to make bechamel sauce - those basically turned into thick paste no matter what I did.

pwhodges · « **Reply #1524 on:** 12 Oct 2012, 05:46 »

The key word to look up for explanation is roux. You can combine the flour into the melted fat all at once - this is not a problem*. You can then cook it a little before starting to add liquid. The liquid should then be added slowly, incorporating each addition before moving on to the next, otherwise you get lumpiness (and the lumps reduce the overall thickening effect, by concentrating it). It is very hard to get the same effect just by whisking, and I wouldn't do it that way. Similarly, you must heat slowly enough that your stirring can keep ahead of the tendency for the thickening mixture to form lumps.

Basically, it's a knack which you will just get the hang of in time. Oh, and flours do vary somewhat in their thickening power as well.

* It is difficult to mix flour directly into water - this can be achieved by adding it extremely slowly, while stirring vigorously or preferably whisking. Going the roux route is far preferable.

Barmymoo · « **Reply #1525 on:** 12 Oct 2012, 06:28 »

Roux is the word I had in mind, but I have never successfully made one either! And usually for that reason - I add the liquid too quickly. But it didn't sound like that was the stage at which the issue occurred.

Edith · « **Reply #1526 on:** 12 Oct 2012, 06:38 »

It sounds to me like you should have added the liquid bit by bit, and then cooked it longer. You don't have to stir it every second, you can be still for up to 45 seconds or so and then stir again, scraping up anything that was truong to brown on the bottom. Are you cooking on electricity or gas? I find it harder to thicken a white sauce on gas, for some reason.

TheEvilDog · « **Reply #1527 on:** 12 Oct 2012, 07:18 »

Bear in mind as well that if you are making a roux, all the flour must be mixed into the butter and dissolved before you add any liquid. This is vital because if you all the milk and there are still clumps of flour in the mix, you are going to end up with a sauce that is going to have a very strong flour taste to it.

As well as that, I find it helps if you remove the pan from the heat as you add the flour to the butter. It usually makes a big difference when I make a mornay sauce.

Lines · « **Reply #1528 on:** 12 Oct 2012, 07:21 »

Adding the milk ver slowly is how I usually get the best roux. And sometimes, it takes a lot longer than you'd think for it to thicken. I make mac and cheese from scratch a lot and to get it to the best consistency, yeah, I stand at the stove stirring on and off for about 10-15 minutes usually.

bainidhe_dub · « **Reply #1529 on:** 12 Oct 2012, 07:28 »

Eed- I have a glass top electric stove.
Linds- What really shocked me was when I got to the end and it said it had to bake for an hour and a half. We didn't eat dinner til like 9pm. I have been wanting to try mac n cheese from scratch too, so this is good to know.
Everybody- thank you! I think I'll just have to try it again - oh darn, more scalloped potatoes, whatever shall we do?

The Seldom Killer · « **Reply #1530 on:** 12 Oct 2012, 08:57 »

On an electric hob, put the heat on the lowest setting and get the butter in straight away to start melting. Add the butter almost before it's finished melting and bump the heat up to half way whilst you fry the flour. Stir gently and slowly to make sure you have no lumps and ignore any timing advice in your recipe book. You want the roux to darken a bit (more if you want a darker sauce). Add a small amount of milk (just a splash, maybe a tbsp worth) and stir quickly, but not too madly, until the consistency events out. Repeat this process. As you go on you will be able to add greater quantities of milk. However, always stir until the consistency is evened out. The heat on the electric hob should be high enough to get the mixture back to a simmer fairly quickly at the start. If you do get lumps, don't bother trying to whisk them out, this just leads to lots of small lumps. keep simmering and stirring until the mixture reduces enough that the lumps just break out.

Incidentally, use of a roux is also the correct way to start a proper gravy, just substitute milk for stock.

Scalloped potatoes shouldn't need an hour and a half. Easiest way to reduce the cooking time is to blanche the sliced potatoes first. After that I would think about 30 minutes bake covered and then 15 uncovered on a higher heat to get you that lovely crispy topping, maybe a quick blast under the grill if necessary.

TheEvilDog · « **Reply #1531 on:** 18 Oct 2012, 11:43 »

Salmon and mornay pots.

Serves 3

Ingredients
2 large salmon darnes, deboned
6 Filo pastry sheets
Butter
Flour
Milk (semi-skimmed or normal, doesn't matter)
Cheese
Salt and pepper for seasoning

1. Preheat the oven to approximately 200 celcius
2. Take the filo sheets and lay them out. Cut a third off the sheets, these will be the top of the pot. The rest of the sheets should be folded over and placed into a muffin tin or similar. Put the tin into the oven to blind bake the filo for 5 minutes.
3. Cut the salmon into chunks and fry on a high heat with vegetable oil and a small amount of butter until the salmon starts breaking apart. Leave to drain on kitchen paper.
4. Make a mornay sauce (a roux with milk and cheese of choice, I usually use a mature cheddar cheese, but gouda also works).
5. Take the pots and spoon in the salmon and mornay sauce (I tend to put the two in a bowl and mix them together). Cap the pots with the remainder of the filo pastry and top with a small bit of butter.
6. Put into the oven again for 15-20 minutes, or until the tops have become golden brown.
7. Serve with a salad or steam vegetables of choice. If you have any sauce left over, spread it over the tops of the pots or on the vegetables.

Not the best photo, but thats the kind of colour you want to go for

Papersatan · « **Reply #1532 on:** 21 Oct 2012, 19:23 »

Steve and I made these today:

O
M
G

That is peanut butter in the middle.

idontunderstand · « **Reply #1533 on:** 22 Oct 2012, 00:28 »

Are they covered in sugar? Makes my teeth tighten looking at it..

Lines · « **Reply #1534 on:** 22 Oct 2012, 06:20 »

Ooo! I think I've made cookies similar to those before! I think I got the recipe from a former forumite (Liz maybe?) and if they're the same cookie, just coated in sugar, those things are so freaking good.

Papersatan · « **Reply #1535 on:** 22 Oct 2012, 07:33 »

They are coated in sugar. It makes them a little crunchy.

Edith · « **Reply #1536 on:** 26 Oct 2012, 09:58 »

Dang, I thought it was cheesecake in the middle. Now that, I would eat.

Peanut butter, not so much.

Papersatan · « **Reply #1537 on:** 27 Oct 2012, 14:16 »

I am cooking a cheese sauce and was reminded of the problem mentioned earlier of a sauce that will not thicken and my similar problem a few years ago.
Stephen and I were living upstairs from my best friend and we both had an open door policy, and would freely borrow ingredients and the like from each other. A few times I tried to make a cheese sauce and just about the point when it looked like it would get thick it would break and get thin and never recover. It took a few times before I made the connection between this problem and borrowing my friend's milk. She was lactose intolerant and was buying reduced lactose milk. They reduce the lactose in milk by adding enzymes which digest it for you. As soon as the milk would get up to temp to get thick, the enzymes would activate and start to digest the dairy.

lepetitfromage · « **Reply #1538 on:** 29 Oct 2012, 11:24 »

Dear Cooking Thread,

When you peel butternut squash, don't forget to wear gloves. You'll thank me later.

Sincerely,
Ouch and Ew, this is uncomfortable and gross.

Bluesummers · « **Reply #1539 on:** 29 Oct 2012, 11:39 »

Why do you peel butternut squash? I slice mine in half length-wise, scoop out the seeds, put some butter in, and bake them. They make their own bowls!

Papersatan · « **Reply #1540 on:** 29 Oct 2012, 12:06 »

If you are making a thing which requires cubes of squash you would need to peel it.

lepetitfromage · « **Reply #1541 on:** 29 Oct 2012, 12:11 »

Bluesummers- It is absolutely delicious that way but I've had a serious craving for some soup, so it's cubed up and hanging out in the crock pot now

Bluesummers · « **Reply #1542 on:** 29 Oct 2012, 12:18 »

Ahh, good choice...

I've seen a local kitchen here in CT make an amazing root soup...Beets, turnips, butternut squash, sweet potato, regular potato, carrots, and parsnips. I can't remember where it was...I'd expect it at ION, but I know I was somewhere further north.

TheEvilDog · « **Reply #1543 on:** 29 Oct 2012, 12:22 »

I make butternut squash chips on occasion and it always takes two seconds to peel it. Chop it up, small bit of spray oil on them and on the tray, add a small bit of salt and a lot of paprika and put them in for 20 minutes. They are really tasty.

Papersatan · « **Reply #1544 on:** 29 Oct 2012, 14:02 »

I was also in the mood for soup. I made a broccoli cheddar thing yesterday It has:
1 c. carrots
4 c. broccoli
2 cups potato
a shallot
half an onion
clove of garlic
scoop of "better than bullion"
1.25 cups cheese
salt, white pepper, cayenne pepper.

Latter this week I will do a potato leek. I love smooth and creamy soups. I made such good use of my immersion blender this time of year! It is still my favorite wedding gift. They ain't cheap, but man are they awesome.

Thrillho · « **Reply #1545 on:** 29 Oct 2012, 16:20 »

I make fucking amazing meatballs and spaghetti so one of these days I really should put up a photo and/or the recipe.

Papersatan · « **Reply #1546 on:** 29 Oct 2012, 16:38 »

You should. My meat balls are always, meh. Good but not great.

Thrillho · « **Reply #1547 on:** 29 Oct 2012, 17:01 »

My secret is fresh coriander in the sauce. Also I use no breadcrumbs. I'll say no more for now.

lepetitfromage · « **Reply #1548 on:** 30 Oct 2012, 10:59 »

Quote from: TheEvilDog on 29 Oct 2012, 12:22

I make butternut squash chips on occasion and it always takes two seconds to peel it. Chop it up, small bit of spray oil on them and on the tray, add a small bit of salt and a lot of paprika and put them in for 20 minutes. They are really tasty.

Mmmmmm...that sounds delicious.

And Kat- I am a sucker for creamy soups and chowders. That broccoli cheddar one sounds awesome.

As far as meatballs are concerned, I feel like mine get better each time I make them but I've yet to perfect them. One of my favorite meatball concoctions was stuffed with garlic and herb Laughing Cow cheese, then baked. Only problem was that some of the cheese got too gooey and started to seep out. Still tasty, but not very pretty. I also like using grated Parmesan instead of breadcrumbs.

The Seldom Killer · « **Reply #1549 on:** 30 Oct 2012, 11:22 »

Papersatan - until DynamiteKid comes up with the goods, the lovely Felicity Cloake is your saviour (in meatballs and many other things). http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/nov/03/how-to-cook-perfect-meatballs

For butternut squash, and many of the other hard-skinned varieties. I'd often recommend that you roast it before cooking with it. However, should you need to peel it, gloves are not necessary. Get a large cook's knife which is as sharp as a kitchen knife should be. Cut the bowl off if the fruit has one, stand on end and slice the peel off in strips downwards. Repeat with the bowl, although you'll be cutting off pieces more akin to scales than strips.

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Author Topic: A Cooking Thread? (Read 529238 times)

ackblom12

TheEvilDog

TheEvilDog

TheEvilDog

TheEvilDog