What's cooking? part 4

I've been pondering the role of an egg dip in fried foods -- fried chicken, chicken fried steak, onion rings, etc. The egg helps hold the flour/crumb coating to the payload, but it sucks up a lot more oil as well -- I think it's the protein in the egg that grabs the fats, but I'm not 100% sure of my kitchen science there. Does ILC have some received wisdom on this, or tips on great fried-food coatings? I'm planning on making chicken fried steak tonight, is why I ask.

From this page, I learned that the flour enables the egg to stick to the food, but I don't know how much more oil it retains. Guess it would depend on the temperature of the oil?

One thing I learned last night, panko does not make for a good schnitzel coating :(

I usually don't use egg - just the moisture already on the meat, or a little water/seltzer/marinade, or buttermilk for chicken. doo dah's otm about the oil temp. If it's not hot enough, it will just get absorbed into the coating without frying, then the steam from the interior sogs up the breading from the inside out.

I think I'm going to go buttermilk > seasoned flour with these dudes. Thanks, doo dah and Jaq!

guys so apparently i am doing valentine's this year for the first time in basically forever and i don't know what to make for dinner :-/

Make things you can do ahead of time so you have time for pre-dinner makeouts. Start a beef bourguinon today, good loaf of bread, bottle of wine, profit.

I've soaked the chicken in soured milk for a couple of hours in advance when I've done fried chicken before, not sure whether this would work for beef but it means I don't have to use egg.

oh man i've been trying to figure out how to get stuff to stick to tofu! i always marinate it first but then if i dip it in the breading or whatever it just falls right off. so i tried egg replacer (i have to find vegan ways around everything) which initially seemed to work but once the tofu was in the pan the breading slid right off.

justine! i made cornflour crusted tofu the other night and here's what worked: almond milk + flour (sub'd cuz i didn't have cornstarch) before breading

worked amazingly well

yeah that was on my list for the next thing to try (just the cornstarch), since i saw it in a recipe recently.

what's the difference btw cornflour and cornstarch?

actually that reminds: i think i read recently that cornstarch coating provides a barrier against the oil being absorbed into the tofu, so the same thing might apply with meat? (xp to pixel farmer)

sorry i meant cornMEAL

that is: milk + normal flour, then dredged in cornmeal (and spices)

it was dope

what's the difference btw cornflour and cornstarch?

I think they are the same thing - US doesn't use the term cornflour. We have cornmeal (which is like sand) and cornstarch (which is like powder).

i have this recipe:

6 baby bok choy
1 to 2 Tbsp. oyster sauce
1 Tbsp. rice vinegar
1 tsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. grated ginger
2 cloved minced garlic
½ tsp. chili garlic paste
~ sugar to taste
Steps

1. Whisk together the dressing ingredients.
2. Trim ends off the bok choy and cut them in half. Place them in steamer basket and drizzle with about a quarter of the dressing. Steam for 5 minutes, or until tender. When done, toss with the rest of the dressing and serve.

but i don't have "chili garlic paste" - i think i have red chili flakes, and i def have garlic, and i maybe have chili powder... can i jut sub these in?

red chile flakes should do it, since you're adding garlic and vinegar already in the recipe. Chili powder usually has a bunch of other more tex-mex spices in it, like cumin etc that might mess up the flavor you'd be going for.

you can get chili garlic paste at any asian grocery and it is great stuff.

^yes! Chili flakes wld taste fine in that recipe but that chili garlic paste is fucking tasty.

made the Paella de cerdo con chorizo y espinaca (Rice with pork, chorizo and spinach) from here last night. really great...

i made this cod with herbed white wine lemon sauce last night. i used less butter and had no capers, but it was still really delicious. served with roasted asparagus and some herb/garlic mashed potatoes. it was all sort of spur of the moment but came out really delicious.

I got some good-looking ribeyes yesterday, planning to grill them tomorrow. Decided not to wait and grilled them today...the best steak I've ever made, and in the top 2 or 3 I've ever eaten. With roasted potatoes/carrots and roasted mushrooms.

as usual i've been cooking a lot, but this puff pastry with grilled zucchini & portabello & goat chz was particularly (1) easy (2) delicious and (3) kept well. ate it room temp the next day for lunch and another leftover bit for my midnight snack. Confirms my hypothesis that puff pastry makes everything taste both delicious and fancy.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5132/5472358285_0bcda5d7e7.jpg

before cooking: http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5012/5472356591_498d43f4d5.jpg
after cooking, before cutting: http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5055/5472950328_f5f4b8456b.jpg

the vegetables were leftover from the previous night's dinner so there was really very little "cooking" involved
mostly assembly

that looks super tasty!

Gorgeous!

thanks guys
it was super easy -- i can't recommend trader joe's big flat sheets of puff pastry enough for this sort of thing

you can make sweet or savory, small or large

roast chicken, a healthy version of janssen's temptation, no cream, little bit of soy milk, and rocket salad. ready in about 5 mins.

Have been f/w Joy of Cooking's 14-in-1 cookie base recipe and this most recent time I subbed almond butter for peanut butter and added tiny semisweet chocolate chips (I like really small cookies, so the regular sized chips are too overpowering) and WOW they are good!! Almond butter cookies.

My favorite variation so far was tiny candied ginger nibs, pumpkin pie spice, orange zest, and toasted sliced almonds, but they've all been pretty good.

I usually refrigerate, then make little balls, then freeze. That way when I defrost the dough, all I have to do to make fresh cookies is squash and bake. The little balls thaw faster than a giant block of dough too.

Cookies.

In other news, is it spring yet? I am really excited about the explosion of fruits and vegetables that is about to happen.

god, i can not wait for veggies! the selection has been so terrible (and expensive!). also kind of tired of visiting 3 stores to get the correct combination of things i need because no one store carries all of my desired veggies at the right price/quality.

have been considering this veggie delivery service based on recommendations by coworkers, but i just don't know if i can justify $30 for a box of veggies that aren't even local. it doesn't seem like that great a value to me...

i bought my first ever kitchen scales! i'm super excited to use them!

also: WmC, i don't know if i ever properly thanked you for your amazing easy-rice recipe but if i didn't - OMG THANK YOU SO MUCH it is by far the most perfect-producing rice advice ever, i even posted it to my ~cooking blog~ bc i think everyone needs to hear it (i specifically credited you for it).

Justin3 I really like your cooking blog!

I forgot how smell-oriented that recipe is. That kind of shit makes me feel hopeless! (Don't actually worry abt this, I am just being a whiner.) I think AURALLY when I am heating up rice in oil, eg for starting up a risotto – when it sounds like marbles clicking around together, I assume it's reached whatever point it is when it unleashes this totally mysterious popcorn smell.

:(

sub "about 3-4 mins" for "popcorn smell". the same recipe works for quinoa too.

Ha! Like I said, srsly do not feel bad...the only person who should ever feel bad abt this is the author of some Indian cookbook I read who had several fucking smell-related instructions in every recipe. I am still afraid of cooking Indian food to this day.

The idea of putting rice in oil is to seal in its starchiness iirc? Maybe something else? Not to release a smell...so a smell-related rule of thumb doesn't bother me. My deaf friend would find my rule of thumb useless, too, dift things work for dift people. IDK why I am being so loquacious abt this.

It never occurred to me to do QUINOA this way. That could be toasty yum. I like to put lots of cumin in my quinoa!

i bought my first ever kitchen scales! i'm super excited to use them!

i had a v basic scale but when i was visiting my friend in nyc i found a sharper image digital scale at this discount store for super cheap and it has renewed my desire to weigh/measure foods (so much healthier this way!)

I use my kitchen scale mostly for weighing yarn tbh! But it is very handy for measuring actual nute facts serving sizes.

oh my desire for one was less about health and more for stupid recipes that insist on using oz for measurements. like, i'm a fucking antipodean, i don't understand ounces!

question: if a recipe calls for 2 tbsp of sesame oil, but i only have toasted sesame oil, can some sort of compromise be reached?

haha i love mine because it measures in ounces or grams! (lol metric)

i think the toasted sesame oil will be a tiny bit stronger in flavor, so maybe mix like 1.5tbsp of it with .5tbsp veg oil?
depends on how it's used though, lots of times sesame oil is thrown in at the end as a flavor enhancer (it has a very low burning point so it's not good to saute/cook with)... in that case i'd just use to taste.

it's part of a marinade for short ribs (i'm subbing in fake beef chunks). yeah, i was thinking of diluting it w/canola or even peanut oil. my TSO is in a tiny wee bottle with a drip dispenser, so i figured 2tbsp sub of that probably wasn't gonna fly.

i dunno i use tso all the time so i would just put the full 2tbsp in for a marinade, but i love the flavor.

also: WmC, i don't know if i ever properly thanked you for your amazing easy-rice recipe but if i didn't - OMG THANK YOU SO MUCH it is by far the most perfect-producing rice advice ever, i even posted it to my ~cooking blog~ bc i think everyone needs to hear it (i specifically credited you for it).

― just1n3, Sunday, March 6, 2011 11:43 AM (1 hour ago)

You're welcome! The easy rice recipe got even easier when I realized there was no need to rinse the rice. I don't know if I mentioned it on this thread or another one, but one time I made rice and left it unwashed because I wanted it starchy — I was going to make rice pudding with it. It turned out just as fluffy as ever.

What's the address for your cooking blog? I don't know if I've seen it before, and haven't looked at many food blogs other than Tep's in the last year or more.

I think the main reason to saute the rice with a bit of oil is the reason to use oil in any cooking — it conducts the heat evenly around the food and keeps it from scorching. I wonder how rice would turn out if I dry-toasted it instead of sauteing? Might try it.

I have never sauteed regular old rice before cooking it! Something I only do when making risotto, pilaf, etc. I only started rinsing when I got a rice cooker bcz it helps stop it from boiling over.

www.vegantester.wordpress.com is my blog.

i've decided to convert to brown jasmine rice, but is it true it takes way way way longer to cook? would yr method need to be modified for it?

Hm that rice tech is basically what I already do with basmatic rice - except for the sauteeing! Interestng. Must try.

it is by far the most perfect-producing rice advice ever

???

My perfect-every-time-rice (no sticking, even in stainless steel):

1. wash a cup of rice if it’s basmati, don’t bother if it’s generic long grain (rinse it in a strainer until the water runs clear)
2. saute the rice in your saucepan with olive oil (or canola I guess) until the rice starts smelling like popcorn
3. add 2 cups of water and a good pinch of salt
4. cover and drop the heat down to VERY LOW
5. set a timer for 20 minutes and fuhgeddaboudit
6. when the timer goes off, turn the heat off, don’t take the lid off, set the timer for 10 more minutes and fuhgeddaboudit
7. PROFIT

― WmC

making this http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/02/chana-masala/ for the 100th time + half can of coconut milk (had available from pumpkin custard this morning) + chopped kale

hmm i don't know about basmati - i accidentally bought basmati awhile ago and it was def NOT cooked in the above-specified 30mins.