Cooking

I've eaten many a pancake in my life, so you'd think I would have a pretty good idea on what it should be like. But once I started making my own, it was like all my accrued pancake knowledge went right out the window.

What else would be good to cook on a griddle? It'd be good for grilled cheese sandwiches, but probably makes for a shitty frying pan considering the sides are so low. Hmmm.

what does this mean? tasty crust sounds good

One of my favorite ways to get this is London Broil. Use flank steak, which is fairly lean and will be tough if overcooked, but thin, which means you don't have any excuse to overcook it. Marinate for a few hours (marinade contents for another time) then broil for just a few minutes on a side. Flank steak has a very pronounced, fibrous grain, so you absolutely have to slice it against the grain. Let the meat rest for a few minutes while you turn the juices and crusty bits (fond) in the broiler pan into gravy(or, less hectic, have some gravy ready to go from beef stock). Slice very thin and serve with potatoes and steamed asparagus or broccoli. Schwing!

now i have this thing of extra firm tofu. what do i do with it? fry it or boil it or bake it or i dunno

is there anything more awful than planning and preparing food

every once and a while it can be fun but overall it is just a drag

I think the 70 watt stick blender I bought is a bit too powerful. You need a welder's mask when pureeing scorching onion curry bases in the pan ffs!

Really need to find a way to reduce time in chopping for a stir fry. Got a lot of veg stuff and it takes me forever. Much lonfger prep time than actual cooking.
Is it just something that will speed up with practise?

practice, properly sharp knife and it's worth looking at youtube vids for julienning or chopping generally if you haven't already done so. i'm really cackhanded but learning and regularly using a proper method with a sharp knife will soon make it much less painful.

lol calzino - i did spectacular j pollock of curried parsnip soup all over my kitchen once for the same reason.

mandoline?

^

I don’t know how to cook or grocery shop and I’m nearly 30 years old. Whenever I go grocery shopping all the food goes to waste and it’s more expensive than doing seamless. I need some resources—i googled but every recipe calls for bay leaves and bouillon cubes and other things that i don’t really know what they are.

Thank u in advance if u can help. Maybe this is beyond my ability—i’d like to eat a diet rich in vegetables and low in refined grains.

I don't think I have ever used a bay leaf or bouillon cube. Have you watched Top Chef before? That got me super interested in cooking. It was a great thing to watch before bed every night and you really start to absorb how ingredients work together and how to season.

You need to make a grocery list and stick to it and accumulate spices/long shelf life pantry things. We buy the same things every week and pretty much only eat out once a week so I stick to what I buy and actually eat it because I hate food waste. youtube is so good for learning things like knife skills and making simple dishes. Start with something you really like to eat and make that from scratch.

We always have a lot of quinoa, black beans, sushi rice, chickpeas, canned tomatoes, sardines in our pantry as staples. I try to buy 3 green veg every week without thinking and force myself to eat them (kale, brocolli, spinach are usually my defaults (just so quick to steam or sautee them) and then add in bok choy, radishes, brussel sprouts when I see them). We always have fresh garlic and shallots and cilantro on hand. Half of the time I will spend most of Sunday prepping food for the week. Washing and cutting all the vegetables, cooking a big batch of something like quinoa and that helps a lot.

I am very bad with online recipes and usually change half of it because I either don't have all the ingredients or because I tend to like thing spicier, more acidic and drier so don't be put off by the bay leaf thing.

I know buzzfeed have much better list that this but here is one. They do a lot of quick lists for basic cooking.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/maitlandquitmeyer/cooking-basics-you-should-probably-know-by-now

This is pretty helpful, thank you. That’s the thing I need to figure out—what my staples need to be so I can throw something together with seasonal vegetables etc. i’ll watch some top chef to see if i can get inspired. I have some spices but need to take an inventory of whats all there

I find jotting down my own simplified version* of the recipe in my little food stained a4 book helps.

i.e. written in a fluent style of idiotese I can easily understand. And then you can add any modifications you make as you become more confident and comfortable with the recipe.

It's a process. Start with one dish you really like to eat a lot. Even if no cooking is involved. Like how to make a nice salad with dressing from scratch. Or hummus. We don't eat a lot/any meat so I am sure someone else will have better tips for learning how to cook meat. This past year I pretty much added in 4 indian dishes, naan and two different pasta shapes from scratch to my repertoire just from cross referencing a couple of videos.

I was super bored one cold cold winter and had run out of things to watch so I ended up watching 8 seasons of top chef in one month. It was ridiculous. But it totally changed how I cook.

I also am super boring so I will make a spinach salad the night before work and take that in religiously. Basically because I hate salads so if it's already at work, I am super lazy and will end up eating it instead of spending $10 on lunch out.

If you get into making soups no veg should go to waste, and it is the easiest cooking you'll ever learn.

friend of mine took a cooking class last year - was once a week for a month or two, and he seemed to enjoy it and learn quite a bit.

another thing i like to do is go to the library and poke around. i spent like 2 hours going through a gigantic book on Yucatan yesterday and jotted down some simple recipes. even a recipe for a simple pot of beans included a step that i think is more interesting than how i've made them in the past. sry if this is useless for your purposes though

some basic dried spices I keep around:

cumin
"Italian Seasoning" or "Herb de Provence" (needs to have thyme and rosemary at a minimum)
salt
pepper
chili powder
chinese 5-spice
bay leaves

Soup is really easy and keeps for days even if you don't freeze it (which you can).

You will need a stock pot, a ladle and a wooden spoon. Have a sharp knife for cutting veg. Also, measuring spoons and a cup measure.

some liquid ingredients to have around

vinegar
unsalted soup stock
and chili garlic sauce

https://d2ln0cvn4pv5w2.cloudfront.net/unsafe/fit-in/512x400/filters:quality(100):max_bytes(200000):fill(white)/http://dcmzfk78s4reh.cloudfront.net/1434325312624.jpg

this is all good advice. building a pantry is really important.

i learned to cook by starting with cooking light and martha stewart 5-ingredient recipe books, building up my pantry, and practicing a lot. from there i was able to figure out what i was really interested in making and was off and running in most respects.

one thing that's nice to have around based on what you're describing is a basic homemade stir-fry sauce: https://www.recipetineats.com/real-chinese-purpose-stir-fry-sauce/

I watched Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat on Netflix not long ago and it seemed to have a good mix of explaining why things work together and showing how to gather and prepare them. I remember thinking "no shit" a lot when she was explaining some things then realizing that a lot of them were things I had to trial and error my way to over 20 years of cooking.

Learning a dish you like and being able to make it the same (or close) every time from memory is really rewarding, and if you do this enough you'll have a good library of things to choose from. Then you can start to mix and match preparations and ingredients and seasonings and freestyle knowing which things work together, what order to do things in so they'll all be ready at the same time, etc.

I always keep olive oil, peanut oil, sesame oil, soy sauce, fish sauce, rice and sherry vinegar, hot pepper sauce/flakes/powder, cumin, coriander, sugar, salt, and pepper around in my pantry and all will last for ages. I regularly buy ginger, green onions, onions, garlic, lemons, limes, thyme, and cilantro and with all those can probably cook about 85% of the things I make regularly.

Be creative. When I make salads for myself I basically only dress it with grey poupon. It's quick, no calories and gives me that creamy acid that I like. I think I always have 4 mustards, 4 hot sauces, lemons and 3 types of vinegar around. I end up putting balsamic in a lot of things. and since I am half asian we always have those types of foodstuffs around. I think I get anxiety if I don't have eggs in the house because if I am lazy in the evening I will just make a quick omelette or black beans with a fried egg on top.

yeah and salt, fat, acid ^^^ was very good.

i think Treeship is too noob for salt fat acid heat though. it’s good for an amateur chef but not pure beginner

imo this is the learn to cook algorithm
1. look up recipe
2. buy ingredients
3. make it
4. repeat
eventually you drop step 1. it’ll be expensive at first because you won’t have expensive storable like olive oil, but it’ll quickly get cheaper over time. bay leaves and bouillon cubes aren’t as pricy but v important storables that make food tasty.

if your groceries are spoiling in your fridge you either need to cook more frequently or refrigerate. buy some tupperware. also don’t buy too many salad vegetables at once, if it’s easy to pick up fresh produce on your way home. also if you can tell something isn’t gonna make it rub some olive oil salt and pepper on it and roast it in your oven

buy a rice cooker and crock pot/slow cooker at a charity shop. almost impossible to fuck up with these two, and you can make large quantities of stews or chillis in the slow cooker.

rice cookers are great for when you make a curry/chilli type dish and can't arsed with any extra complications to think about.

I was thinking Top Chef and salt fat heat are good just to get excited about cooking and not think of it as a chore (which it is totally a chore most of the time).

As weird as Alton Brown has gotten in his middle age, his Good Eats is a very good resource for the kitchen beginner, if your library has the DVDs. His approach lines up with mine -- don't focus on recipes, focus on ingredients and techniques. Learn why the building blocks of the meal react as they do -- to salt, fat, acid, heat, etc.

Furikake is a great pantry staple -- a relatively cheap hit of flavor on any plain grain.

I'm pro- bay leaf but the trick is to put a lot more than the number called for.

flopson's algorithm otm. and give yourself enough time to get your mise en place so the cooking part is stress free. read the recipes well in advance and think about what's going on. in my experience, you will have some early failures because you won't know what things like "medium-high heat" mean for your stove and cookware until you get some more experience. buy some cheap wood spoons. many recipes use Diamond Crystal kosher salt, which is half as salty as other table salt. so you have to taste the food. find ways to use up older ingredients. some can be revitalized in an ice water bath. or you can use them to make veg stock that you freeze. cooking is awesome, and learning how will be worth it!

I endorse flopson's algorithm. Here's my cooking tips which are more about technique/approach than what food to cook.

If you're cooking for yourself, plan to waste food. Live with wasting food. Don't, like, try to waste food, but there's only so many days in a row you can eat the same thing and only so many things you can cook where you get strictly one serving out of it.

Cook for others when possible as soon as you're comfortable with it even a little bit. It's incredibly motivating, and people enjoy being fed.

Touch the food with your hands. If you ever feel like what you're doing with a spoon is too fiddly, just use your hands.

Acclimate to heat. Move confidently around your stovetop. You'll burn yourself a little bit on a handle or something every now and then, it'll be ok. Run cold water on it.

You can learn basic knife skills through osmosis by watching cooking shows.

You can never own too many prep bowls.

xps rather than the tv prog, the book of "salt fat acid heat" is great and I absolutely *would* recommend it to a beginner as it explains a lot of stuff really well and with bags of enthusiasm.

What I was trying to say is that the instant pot only works if you're making something with at least a quarter cup of liquid in it, ideally more, and if there's nothing stuck to the pot itself. When in doubt, pour in a little water or broth and stir to make sure nothing is stuck.

It will make a quiet roaring noise as it's getting up to pressure, and it will shoot out steam for a minute as it's getting ready to seal, and you'll wonder if it's supposed to be doing that, and then the noise and the steam will suddenly stop and it will lock down and start counting down the minutes. Mine occasionally does a thing where it fails to do that, and I end up with boiled chicken instead of pressure-cooked chicken, but that only happens when I'm trying variations on recipes and I've messed up.

Hahah that play-by-play is actually very helpful, ty.

That little metal thingie needs to have enough steam under it to push it all the way up and keep it there. It something gums up its movement, it can't seal, so make sure it moves freely before you put the lid on. Also, if it gets a little sideways, it can help to poke it with a chopstick or something long and narrow so you don't get burned, to kind of knock it straight.

yeah my old one used to sometimes fail to seal properly and boil off the water because i was covering the valve up a tiny bit so it couldn't pop up. new one is designed better.

I've just discovered cooked.wiki/ and hoo boy...

It takes out all the rambling and noise of a recipe webpage. Completely life changing.

My Step Mom used to make a appetizer called (salupbow). They were pork filled steamed DUMPLINGS!. Do you know of which I speak

― Sharon Welles, Friday, April 23, 2004 12:12 PM (nineteen years ago)

I believe OP was referring to 小笼包, the mighty xiaolongbao and yes Sharon, I am embarrassingly familiar with that which you speak.

omg brownie thank you - incredible!

My partner can't eat alliums (garlic, onion, shallots etc) which is challenging. Recently realized that ginger and lemongrass makes a great alternate flavor base.

nice! have you ever seen the chef's table episode with Jeong Kwan? she doesn't use alliums, so there might be some more ideas there for you.

Holy shit at cooked.wiki!

I haven't seen that episode, but will check it out. Thanks!

talking of garlic - the callouses on my left hand mincing veg fingers have cracked again and feel very sore in contact with wet minced garlic. A minor quibble, but I need to learn how to stop my skin cracking.

BROWNIE YOU LEGEND ILU

^^^

Bon Appetit!

Oh sheesh, my current (terrible) method of saving recipes involves editing the text of the bookmark to mention "add more salt", "too much flour", etc. I'll have to give cooked.wiki a go, looks way better

I got the Paprika recipe when it was on sale for like $2 and it’s amazing - you put the recipe url into the app’s browser and it pulls the ingredients and directions into two separate tabs (and cuts out everything else). It’s been great because I’ve been telling myself for years I’ll write down all these recipes and I never do.

I was in an Asian supermarket earlier and noticed that a mediumish (100g?) sized box of saffron costs £120 these days. I haven't bought any for years and paid about £6 for a tiny matchbox sized supply of it last time, probably ten years ago. It's not like I wasn't aware that it was expensive af. I appreciate it's an ingredient you use sparingly and small amounts go a long way. But still... I think I'll pass.

100g is probably a lifetime supply of saffron.

I used to put a pinch into some warm milk for biriyani. Not used it as an ingredient for years and can't remember if it's worth its weight in gold!

You should always buy it in the smallest quantity possible as freshness matters. That big box will go stale before anyone other than a restaurant could use it up.

For 120$ it must have been ten grams. Saffron is handpicked and only produced in a few countries.

I get the matchbox of saffron every few years but the Il Tre Cuochi brand of sachets are great and if there’s an Italian shop near you, they should have them.

fuck, yeah. 100g was a crazy overestimation of weight. That would be your retirement saffron.

ive got a while off work and i went through my pinned or saved lists of recipes id put aside for when i had the chance and ive done a big shop today to cover:

harissa roast chicken with chickpeas, peach/hot pepper sauce

Basque baked cheesecake

housekeepers cut for slow roast, maybe put into a pie?

normandy cider chicken pot

gruyuere cabbage

when exactly we are going to eat it all idk tbh

normandy cider chicken pot
this sounds intriguing

Dug out the slow cooker this morning: beef, onion, potatoes, carrots & mushrooms in a beef stock, with a half can of diced tomatoes
stole some rosemary from my neighbor... I didn't have any red wine open so I added a little amontillado medium sherry.. some savory, thyme, pepper corns, garlic

Smelling pretty good so far

I'm guessing that's gonna be some combo of chicken, garlic, shallots or onions, cider, cream, Dijon mustard, maybe tarragon or whatever? Can also be done with white wine. You can't really go wrong there.

harissa roast chicken with chickpeas, peach/hot pepper sauce

This sounds tasty, do you remember where you found the recipe? I made something similar last night with harissa-tossed cauliflower and chickpeas, with pomegranate seeds providing the sweetness.

i think its findable under "urfa chicken" but im short on urfa rn

i saw it as a short on Instagram

xp to lg that wouldnt be far off

at the moment I'm doing a lot of a Spanish fried potatoes, bell peppers, onions, garlic and ev olive oil recipe sometimes known as Papas a lo pobre. That title is rather at odds with the extortionate price of extra virgin olive oil at the moment. In terms of the taste quality to minimum effort to cook ratio, it's a winner. It's the perfect side and is so healthy. Also a simple recipe with infinite adaptations you can make. Love this stuff.

It sounds like a twist on what I might call “home fries”? I made some for breakfast today - some paprika, garlic, Old Bay, and er, butter rather than olive oil

yeah this recipe uses sweet paprika as well and I guess most fried potato dishes are samey. But I think the extra virgin olive oil makes a whole lot of difference to taste and cholesterol, not that I'm knocking butter, because I love it and definitely overuse it!

was going to say the low smoke point of extra virgin olive oil means you cook the potatoes slower at a lower heat, but apparently this is a misconception and it actually has a smoke point between 175-210°C.

We also do a lot of potatoes in the oven - pre-boil them and then roast them with plenty of olive oil and you can add you herb of choice (parsley or rosemary). Goes with a lot of things, fish and salad for example.

Since this thread is open, had delicious meatballs yesterday, the new recipe is to add coriander leaves + pods in the meat with the usual (onion, breadcrumbs, egg, garlic). Those pods are the best thing ever. Once the meatballs are fried and removed, you do your sauce in the same pan: onion, tomato, cumin, coriander powder, we used to add yoghurt but that's optional. Usually have them with rice.

at some point I got it in my head that extra virgin olive oil was for drizzling on bread, salads etc and you only should use the lighter coloured higher smoke point olive oil when cooking. I was wrong.

the lovely Emma B frowns on it for cooking but not because of smokepoint but because she says it’s more expensive so it’s a waste to fry with it because you can’t taste the flavour. we have an ongoing low-level feud about this.

I think if I was cooking a steak I'd use groundnut or whatever, for general stuff I use olive oil but not EV cos of the price.

Tho idk frying an egg or something you can do gently and EV can add nice flavour.

*furtively adds lg’s post to the dossier*

A quick fried egg in extra virgin olive oil is so good. No flipping required; just tilt the pan and use a spoon to bath the top in the olive oil just to set it. Takes like 2 minutes total.

xps as Tracer says that's what we call "home fries" in the USA, it is standard Greek-American diner ("greasy spoon") fare. Went through a brief phase of making it for breakfast every day a couple of months back, that was a mistake. I'm up 20 lbs since December.

eggs fried in olive oil is nuts to me. that’s like the one time butter is mandatory

otherwise I agree with this emma person, esp for weeknight dinners where food critics are not involved. any oil will do, the taste is not going to overwhelm provided you’re not overdoing the oil

Butter first, until it starts to foam, then a small splash of olive oil to keep it from burning, then the eggs.

my default recipe these days is something like this:

cabbage (napa, savoy or red), thinly sliced
golden beets, peeled and thinly sliced, grilled on both sides and then matchsticked
chile (serrano, etc.), thinly sliced
shallot or red onion, thinly sliced, rinsed through water
crushed peanuts
cilantro
option carrot and red pepper if they're around

toss all that together, proportion amounts as you see fit, and then dress it with either a olive oil/red wine vinaigrette or go an asian route with sesame oil/fish sauce/etc.

This is the "Patatas a lo Pobre" recipe I got into, for those extra virgin olive oil sceptics - I say try dis!

Ingredients
3 yukon gold potatoes
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
2 small onions
6 cloves garlic
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil 65 ml
sea salt & black pepper
handful freshly chopped parsley
Instructions
Cut 3 yukon gold potatoes into rounds that are a 1/4 inch thick, then cut each slice into 4 evenly sized quarters, add the potatoes into a stock pot, fill with cold water, just enough to cover the potatoes, heat with a high heat

Meanwhile, cut 1 green bell pepper into thin strips, 1 red bell pepper into thin strips, thinly slice 2 small (or 1 large) onions, and cut a slit on 6 cloves of garlic (skins on)

Exactly 10 minutes after turning the heat on the potatoes they should be cooked al dente, you dont want to over cook them, or they will break apart when you fry them, pierce one with a toothpick, if it easily goes in but with resistance, they are perfect, drain into a strainer and run some cold water over the potatoes

Heat a large deep pan with a medium-high heat and add in 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, after 1 minute add in the sliced onion and the cloves of garlic, mix with the olive oil, after 2 to 3 minutes and the onions are translucent, add in the strips of green and red bell pepper, continue to mix with the olive oil, after 6 minutes and the bell peppers are tender, add in the boiled potatoes, gently mix together so the olive oil is coating all the potatoes, mix every 1 to 2 minutes

About 12 to 15 minutes after adding the potatoes and they have developed a light golden color, season everything with sea salt & black pepper, mix together and transfer everything into a large serving dish, sprinkle with freshly chopped parsley.

I don't boil the potatoes for 10 mins, that's effing ridiculous - just 2 minutes is plenty.

2 minutes from rolling boil, that is.

I think tbf if doing a Spanish dish like that I would use EV.