it is weird everyone here being so pro-salt. i love salt, it is my favourite food, & w/cooking - especially basic stuff, rice or w/e - i feel like you just have to add incrementally more until something ends up being delicious & salty. but i figured most people disagreed, or thought this was illicit, or thought you shouldn't go so crazy with the salt, or had alternative, more complicated strategies. the saltiness + the deliciousness of food is an arrow streaking directly & diagonally forwards on a graph, to me.
i really like the stage of needing to do a bunch of shit at once when cooking. like ideally if it's only for a couple of people, & the kitchen isn't too hot, but having to chop the fuck out of a pepper while being conscious of the rice having absorbed its water & being in danger of burning, hearing mustard seeds pop & having to draw water from the tap at maximum speed to boil a kettle - it is the feeling of being alive.
― unprotectable tweetz (schlump), Monday, 1 October 2012 03:13 (eleven years ago) link
Last night I overcooked a really nice tuna steak -- it was very thick, and I pan-seared it a few minutes on each side then gave it a couple minutes the oven. Came out, was VERY red in the middle, let it sit a bit to continue cooking a little from its own heat, just let it sit a bit too long and it got completely overdone.
― has important things to say about gangnam style (Hurting 2), Monday, 1 October 2012 20:23 (eleven years ago) link
agh I feel your pain
― obliquity of the ecliptic (rrrobyn), Monday, 1 October 2012 20:24 (eleven years ago) link
I wonder if maybe tuna retains heat better than steak, or maybe just cooks faster? I've done that with steak before and never saw it go from red to completely cooked inside.
― has important things to say about gangnam style (Hurting 2), Monday, 1 October 2012 20:28 (eleven years ago) link
steak like beef?
― call all destroyer, Monday, 1 October 2012 20:29 (eleven years ago) link
tasting is 100% key to soup, la lechera otm...especially bc you're usually salting as you go, or towards the end. you may not need it, but you won't know unless you're tasting.
schlump otm -- I love having a few things on the go and moving from one to the other as I cook. the only time I hate it is when I'm cooking an unfamiliar recipe and it becomes a mad panic of doing all the things all at once and doing them all half-assed/too fast/badly. but when you're in your relaxed natural state of cooking it's the best feeling.
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 1 October 2012 20:31 (eleven years ago) link
well, fish does cook faster than beef so I would expect that's why!
mmm now I want steak
xp
― obliquity of the ecliptic (rrrobyn), Monday, 1 October 2012 20:32 (eleven years ago) link
yeah i was gonna say...
also i basically always want steak, it's a bad way to be
― call all destroyer, Monday, 1 October 2012 20:33 (eleven years ago) link
Another thing I have been doing a lot lately -- creating huge amounts of smoke and setting off my alarm whenever I broil or sear. Maybe my range hood is just not that good.
― has important things to say about gangnam style (Hurting 2), Monday, 1 October 2012 20:42 (eleven years ago) link
ughhhhghgh why i hate cooking in one sentence.
― We demand justice: who murdered Chanel? (Matt P), Monday, 1 October 2012 20:43 (eleven years ago) link
+why it takes me three hours and i make 1-2 dishes max.
xxpost hurting I hear you on the smoke thing. Our kitchen doesn't have a range so I have to remember to open the windows, and/or put on the whole-house fan otherwise I set off the smoke alarm doing something cook sausages, lol
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 1 October 2012 20:45 (eleven years ago) link
^^ Why we don't have a smoke alarm in our exhaust-fan-less kitchen.
― purveyor of generations (in orbit), Monday, 1 October 2012 20:46 (eleven years ago) link
we had to take the one out of the kitchen for that reason, but there's still one in the adjoining computer room that'll go off
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 1 October 2012 20:47 (eleven years ago) link
I have definitely found that reducing the amount of oil/fat you cook with can help -- that's what smokes.
― has important things to say about gangnam style (Hurting 2), Monday, 1 October 2012 20:50 (eleven years ago) link
I like having a bunch of dishes going at once, but I try to have all the meez done for them before I start. Nothing like the OH SHIIIIII of getting to the last crucial moment when the sauce has reduced to the perfect consistency and realizing I hadn't chopped the finishing fresh herbs yet.
― Death Grits 2 (WmC), Monday, 1 October 2012 20:51 (eleven years ago) link
sausages are just a pain in the ass to cook without some smoke, because you want the browning and blehhh I mostly make Mr Veg to do them outside. we don't have them very often, thankfully
the few times I've had to do a high temperature oven roasting is just "BE READY WITH THE BROOMSTICK TO SWITCH OFF THE SMOKE DETECTOR IN 3 2 1"...ugh
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 1 October 2012 20:53 (eleven years ago) link
― Death Grits 2 (WmC), Monday, October 1, 2012 4:51 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
yeah it was pretty revelatory when i realized i needed to do ALL THE PREP first
― call all destroyer, Monday, 1 October 2012 20:55 (eleven years ago) link
yeah I'm kind of ocd about doing all of my meez. especially for long involved dishes
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 1 October 2012 20:56 (eleven years ago) link
btw for the budget-minded, my knife-collecting father-in-law just got us a pair of nogent micro-serrated knives, which are holy shit the best inexpensive knives ever. They're very light weight and don't have the forged look/feel but they are SO sharp and apparently never need sharpening.
― has important things to say about gangnam style (Hurting 2), Monday, 1 October 2012 20:57 (eleven years ago) link
Now that I've inherited a dishwasher and I can just throw a bunch of empty small prep bowls in the top rack, I can look a big meal's worth of meez and say "nyah nyah"
― Death Grits 2 (WmC), Monday, 1 October 2012 21:03 (eleven years ago) link
Salt and acid (lemon, vinegar) will fix just about any blandness imo. Also something for subtle umami (couple of drops of Worcester or fish sauce, or some anchovy).
― quincie, Monday, 1 October 2012 21:03 (eleven years ago) link
I lurve my prep bowls except they aren't big enough for piles of chopped veg so I use an extra dinner plate for groups of everything I'm going to add.
― purveyor of generations (in orbit), Monday, 1 October 2012 21:09 (eleven years ago) link
I know they say about "authentic" Italian food that the grandmas who make it don't even use cutting boards, they just cut things up over the bowl with a paring knife, but fuck it, I gotta be ready.
― purveyor of generations (in orbit), Monday, 1 October 2012 21:10 (eleven years ago) link
mr veg found these tiny little stainless steel plates? dishes? about the size of the palm of yr hand that are perfect for spice meez :D
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 1 October 2012 21:11 (eleven years ago) link
http://www.surlatable.com/product/PRO-190188/Sur-La-Table-Sets-of-Five-Prep-Bowls
― call all destroyer, Monday, 1 October 2012 21:13 (eleven years ago) link
meez?
― The Most Typical and Popular Girl Rider (Crabbits), Monday, 1 October 2012 21:36 (eleven years ago) link
meal prep steez?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mise_en_place
― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Monday, 1 October 2012 21:37 (eleven years ago) link
'read more than I talk to people or watch tv' pronunciation curse strikes again
― The Most Typical and Popular Girl Rider (Crabbits), Monday, 1 October 2012 21:38 (eleven years ago) link
pretty sure my mom suffers from the same thing since she calls it her 'mice on place'
― The Most Typical and Popular Girl Rider (Crabbits), Monday, 1 October 2012 21:39 (eleven years ago) link
as do did I
Might start calling it my mice on plates, just because.
― purveyor of generations (in orbit), Monday, 1 October 2012 21:50 (eleven years ago) link
i don't usually call it anything don't even think i've ever said it out loud, in fact!
― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Monday, 1 October 2012 22:05 (eleven years ago) link
I usually just refer to it as "prep" and resent it for taking longer than the actual cooking.
― purveyor of generations (in orbit), Monday, 1 October 2012 22:06 (eleven years ago) link
I learned the term from that first Bourdain article in the New Yorker, way back in prehistory or 2000, whichever came first.
― Death Grits 2 (WmC), Monday, 1 October 2012 22:08 (eleven years ago) link
I learned it from Bourdain too
I only say it online or to Mr Veg bc I think I sound cooler that way
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 1 October 2012 22:20 (eleven years ago) link
*hangs head*
Today my potato leek soup was sort of bland and last night my made from scratch spaghetti sauce that I roasted tomatoes for was also sort of bland. I've been using salt while cooking, fresh herbs, and making everything from quality ingredients, where am I going wrong?
overcooking no doubt
― the late great, Monday, 1 October 2012 22:26 (eleven years ago) link
I love saying it out loud. Meez. MEEEEEEZZZZZZ. Got my meez, gonna turn it into an omelette. Like the "makin' copies" guy from SNL.
― Death Grits 2 (WmC), Monday, 1 October 2012 22:27 (eleven years ago) link
sausages should be boiled in beer - you don't need to cook them that much over boiling so if you cover them on a skillet with just enough water to cover the point where the sausage touches the skillet (so like 1/4 cup or less), beer or anything not oil-based in the bottom of the skillet, and cover it, the steam temperature will be plenty to cook it, then sear with a super-hot grill pan for not very long with the window open, voila not too much smoke. depending on shape/size of grill pan you could do boath in the same pan when the boiling stuff has sizzled off into nothingness
― the late great, Monday, 1 October 2012 22:29 (eleven years ago) link
also the thing about salt is that you don't just add it arbitrarily at certain parts of the cooking
you want to add salt when you want to tenderize meat, so for example in a soup stock you would cook with salt, but throw out the vegetables, because the salt destroys the cell walls of the vegetables
OTOH you want to do that to finished vegetables, so sea salt on top of your finished vegetables is important
my advice to learn how to use salt is to read good recipes and follow them precisely, and you'll get a a sense of when and how much salt to add
― the late great, Monday, 1 October 2012 22:32 (eleven years ago) link
salt pulls juices out of vegetables, so if they're quite dry, like eggplant, you start with salt, but if they're wet, like tomatoes, don't add salt until the end
etc etc etc
― the late great, Monday, 1 October 2012 22:33 (eleven years ago) link
sausages boiled in beer? that is almost as crazy as duck boiled in coke. definitely giving it a go.
― I got the Boyzone, I got the remedy (ledge), Monday, 1 October 2012 22:36 (eleven years ago) link
they're more steamed in beer than boiled
the alcohol tenderizes the skin, the even heat keeps the sausage from cracking and spilling its delicious juice too early
if you want the burned juices crust do that at the last second by mashing into dry sizzling skillet/grill pan with a fork (gently)
― the late great, Monday, 1 October 2012 22:40 (eleven years ago) link
i took joycean pleasure in writing that btw
is that steaming thing applicable to already-cooked sausages?
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 1 October 2012 22:41 (eleven years ago) link
overcooking no doubtI was under the impression the longer you cook a sauce or soup on low heat, the more the bring out the flavors?
― JacobSanders, Monday, 1 October 2012 22:42 (eleven years ago) link
now i want sausagesxps
― obliquity of the ecliptic (rrrobyn), Monday, 1 October 2012 22:42 (eleven years ago) link
and beer
covered, right?
― the late great, Wednesday, 3 October 2012 18:29 (eleven years ago) link