To Serve Man - It's a Cookbook!

[Alienmorph]

Let's see... a few examples:

4 cheese sauce:



Take some gorgonzola, taleggio, parmeasan, and emmenthal (or similar cheeses) more or less in similar quantities (80-100 g each) grate the hard cheese, put all the cheese and some milk or milk cream in a pan, put it on the fire and mix with a wooden spoon or similar until you have a white homogenous cream. Then just pour it on you pasta and bon apetit, literally takes 5-10 minutes total.

Mushrooms sauce:



Get 400g of mushrooms, some olive oil, abit of butter, a few fresh tomatoes (NO SAUCE), some parsley and a small bit of garlic. Put the oil and butter (about 30g of it) in a pan and let if cook for abit. Add the garlic and let if fry/toast abit. Add the mushrooms (after having cleaned them up in water) and let things cook for 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes, after peeling them off and cutting them into small cubes (make sure you take out the seeds as well) then add them in the pan, with one or two spoons of waters to make sure the sauce doesn't dry out too much. Let it cook for a few more minutes, add the parsley (super-finely chopped) and salt and pepper as you see fit.

Pesto:



For this one you need basil, olive oil, parmeasan, pine nuts, garlic and salt. For this recipe you're gonna need a mortar and pestle, or a pan and a blunt object to serve the same function. Take the garlic and a few grains of salt and mach them almost 'till you have abit of a cream (don't exaggerate with the garlic, a couple pieces should be enough) then add the pine nuts, about two-three spoons or a big handful and keep mashing. After awhile add about 40-50g of basil leaves (which you need to wash in water and let them dry abit previously) and mash some more, doing circular movements to squeeze the leaves rather than chopping them. Then add the parmeasan and... guess what... keep mashing, and at last abit of olive oil and keep mashing some more. This sauce is the most dense out of the three, so don't be upest if it isn't super-creamy because it's not supposed to be.

I guess you will have to go shop for any of these, but these are all generally good alternatives for not-spicy and not heavy in moeat and tomato sauces. So maybe not for this specific occasion, but in general if you want to try something different, here we go.

[SciFlyBoy]

Man that looks good. Never tried making pesto.

On another note, just got a huge craving for steamed pork buns. Maybe I'll make some on Saturday.

[Alienmorph]

Tried to pick a few that were NOT meat or spicy based and that could be done somewhat decently even without the uber-specific tools. Hope I succeeded.

[Deano]

I hadn't noticed this thread, I'll be making chicken and garlicky greens tomorrow (it's healthy) so I'll try and remember to snap a pic.

[SciFlyBoy]

You know what's great to do? Left over mash potatoes, in a non-stick pan with your favorite fat. Let it sit until it's a nice golden color, then flip like an omelet, cheese the hell out of it and put green onions on top. Did just that for dinner tonight.

[Vol]

Yes! My grandmother is an old Dutch woman, so naturally we have potato in surplus, and day after frying is fantastic. Though I need some damn peppers and good cheese so I can do it up right.

On that note, I cleaned out my deep fryer a little while ago. It's been long overdue, since I normally do it every few weeks. Any good ideas for getting out older, thicker oil spots? Soap, hot water, and a hard scrubbing can only do so much.

[SciFlyBoy]

Um, baking soda. I'd say fill it with some water and add a little of the ol' BS then let it sit for a bit.

[Deano]

Turkey and Beans on toast

[TheodoricFriede]

Not much of a recipe, but yesterday i mixed some horseradish in with the Mayonnaise I before I put on my hamburger. It was quite good.

[SciFlyBoy]

^There's so much you can do with mayo-mixes.

I bought a frozen three cheese pizza at Vons (The one their parent company makes, not in the frozen pizza isle) and put onions and turkey spam on it. It was alright.

[Alienmorph]

We tested the ice cream machine I bought my parents and little brother for Xmas the other day. Preeetty happy with the results...

[SciFlyBoy]

We tested the ice cream machine I bought my parents and little brother for Xmas the other day. Preeetty happy with the results...

What new flavors did you invent? Peanut butter avocado? BBQ strawberry?

[TheodoricFriede]

avocado?

Avocado lime ice cream is fucking delicious.

[Alienmorph]

It was a first try, so we just did some easy-peasy stracciatella =P I have a few ideas I might wanna try in the future tho 83

[SciFlyBoy]

@Alien, you might either love or hate this,

I mixed and matched some Campbell's recipes last night and got this

1lb ground beef
Some onion
garlic

Brown the beef and chopped onion in a skillet with some Italian seasonings. I had oregano, basil and fennel seed then garlic powder.

Spaghetti sauce or red sauce or tomato soup
Water

I had left over Prego, so I added about 2 cups of that with about 2 cups of water.

dried pasta shells

Added maybe 2 cups of dried penne pasta, i used what ever I had.

Mixed together until it boiled then lowered the heat and let it simmer for about 20 mins while stirring quite frequently.

When pasta was 'to the tooth' added salt, pepper and then two handfuls of shredded cheddar cheese.

I'm upset I didn't take a picture, but it was a fabulous meal.

[SciFlyBoy]

If you guys find yourself with pork shoulder steaks, with the bone in, there's a great simple recipe to make.

Get your favorite pan out and heat it up with equal parts butter and soy sauce. A table spoon's worth or two. Put the steaks in and cover. Cook 8-10 minutes each side then add cut up green onions and cook a few minutes longer. Great tasting steaks and a great texture. I want more.

And of course...I forgot to take a picture.

[Vol]

Hm. Tried a new brand of sardines today, "Wild Planet," packed in marinara. Not bad. Bit bitter, compared to the usual ones in olive oil. Feels like I need to put them on something rather than eat them straight. Any ideas?

[SciFlyBoy]

Sardines, you eat them whole, right? I'd chop them up and use them in a pasta. Put some Parm on top.

[SciFlyBoy]

Making bread today. Wheat bread with oats. Found a recipe here.
https://smittenkitchen.com/2015/09/oat- ... ich-bread/
Let you know if it's good.

[SciFlyBoy]

Um, gentlemen and gentleladies, here's a lesson in cooking. When making bread, never forget the salt. If you want to know what bread tastes like without salt, then imagine that bread has emotions and you bit into a slice of bread that can actually feel sad. That's what bread without salt taste like. It's just a mouthful of sad.

[Alienmorph]

That is very accurate. Around here there are a few varieties of bread that are made with little to no salt, and thei're just like eating a tastless sponge. You could make some bruschettas out of them though:



Basically just cut the bread in thic-ish sclices, add some salt and oil on them and then make them warm and crispy putting either toasting them or slapping them on a warm metal plate for cooking. Then put ontop whatever you want or have at hand. Usually tho cooked fresh vegetables and abit of cheese. Though there's a tone of tasty variations. They make great appetizers, and save you from wasting the bread just because you didn't use enough salt.

[Vol]

Huh. Normally I cook burgers in a pan. First I chop up an onion or two, drizzle olive oil, salt, pepper, and fry them until they start to brown, then toss the seasoned patties on top. Then my family enjoys the fried onions while I enjoy the imparted flavor.

Today I pan fried some burgers without the onions, and they were way better, because I could actually taste the seasoning.

This is how cooking by trial and error works.

[TheodoricFriede]

Life Hack:

Put sour cream in your split pea soup.

[SciFlyBoy]

Yup!

[SciFlyBoy]

Plain doughnut.

Split in half.

Toasted.

With peanut butter.

Yum.

[Vol]

Made pork chops, potato slices, and green beans.

Am I doing it wrong, or is the best way to handle frying meat to cook the exterior really quick on med-high, then toss it in an oven for like 10-15 minutes to finish the center?

Potatoes, I was winging it. Boiled them for 15 minutes first, then sliced and tossed in oil. Seemed to be alright, though it felt like I was missing something.

[SciFlyBoy]

Made pork chops, potato slices, and green beans.

Am I doing it wrong, or is the best way to handle frying meat to cook the exterior really quick on med-high, then toss it in an oven for like 10-15 minutes to finish the center?

Potatoes, I was winging it. Boiled them for 15 minutes first, then sliced and tossed in oil. Seemed to be alright, though it felt like I was missing something.

I hear for chops 7 mins each side in a hot pan wields a nice crust with a tender, fall apart meat. If they are thick enough. That's what my butcher recommends. Thinner would be less time. Just let it sit for a few minutes before serving. You can cook the chop on one side, flip then finish off in an oven, usually works best if you are basting it in a sauce.

Sounds like you made potato salad, which is usually boiling the spuds then mixing with whatever dressing you have, you used oil, sometimes it could be mayonnaise. Nothing wrong with that, but aromatics are good with it too, like celery, garlic or fennel. Something that will bring aroma to the dish. Add salt/pepper and you have a simple potato salad.

Sounds like a good meal, was your pork over done or too tough?

[TheodoricFriede]

Turns out making a pot-roast in a dutch oven instead of a crock pot means you have an equally as delicious roast in literally a 4th of the time.

Buy a dutch oven people.

[Vol]

That's the thing, the outside cooks way before the inside even starts. Since warm oil just soaks in, gotta keep it hot, but the chops were crisp and done on the outside in a few minutes, but the center was still raw as could be. Makes sense, since it takes time for heat to permeate, but having to use a 2-step heating solution seems like I was fucking up.

Oh, no, can't eat potato salad. Regular potato, cut into slices, then fried. Boiled them on my grandmother's advice, guess to break down the chemical bonds first. She has a simple palette, so salt was all she wanted on them.

Pork was fine, actually. Nice, crispy crust, inside was a hair past medium. Cheap cuts, but tasted fine, cut fairly easily. I'd rather eat undercooked meat than overcooked, so it's rarely an issue of too tough. Think I need one of those mallet dealies, since she does insist we buy the cheapest meat we can find, and I keep having this issue with the center needing oven time.

[SciFlyBoy]

Classically, cheaper cuts of meats are better for stews and longer cooking times since their cheapness comes from the meat having extra connective tissues and such and it takes time to break that down (like with the pot roast Theo made). More expensive meats are that way because they can be cooked and are delicate to eat in a short amount of cooking time. However if it's cheap because it's just marked down, I buy those all the time too. Mallet is to help break down the connective tissue and 'tenderize' the meat. You could also buy a tenderizer liquid, but use those cuts for stews, not steaks.

When I tried the 7 min a side method for the chop about a month ago I was on edge. Pan was hot the whole time and I thought I was going to severely burn the chop, but when the timer was done and I flipped it wasn't burnt. Middle was perfect and outside was crispy. So try for a longer cooking time to get the center properly heated if you want to keep it in the pan.

145 degrees for pork to be done, at least. They have a worm that lives in the meat and you don't want it living inside of you. One method is to buy a digital probe thermometer and stick it in and monitor the heat. Take it out before it reaches the desired temp and let it rest for a few and carry over will rasie the temp. Best way to prevent overcooking.

Your grandma was right. That's how hash is made. Boiled potatoes that are sliced then fried in a pan. S/P is all you really need.

[Vol]

I ordered a mallet, since we do get cheap cuts, and I can't easily slice up a chicken breast all that well with dull knives. Should help a ton. Though I made chicken parm last night, and it came out really good. Sauce was some cheap, sugary crap, but I nailed the chicken. On a hunch, after breading the meat, I put it back in the fridge for an hour, and it seemed to cook through much better, since the surface took longer to heat. Still put in the oven to finish, since it needed to get drenched in sauce and cheese, but I think that might be helpful.

Learning by guesswork!

I was looking at digital thermometers, but it seemed like cheating. Wouldn't I be better off learning to tell a meat's doneness with my own senses? Like eyeballing ingredient amounts.

Oh. Well, chalk one up for the Dutch. I thought it was an unnecessary step. Good to know.

[SciFlyBoy]

I ordered a mallet, since we do get cheap cuts, and I can't easily slice up a chicken breast all that well with dull knives. Should help a ton. Though I made chicken parm last night, and it came out really good. Sauce was some cheap, sugary crap, but I nailed the chicken. On a hunch, after breading the meat, I put it back in the fridge for an hour, and it seemed to cook through much better, since the surface took longer to heat. Still put in the oven to finish, since it needed to get drenched in sauce and cheese, but I think that might be helpful.

Learning by guesswork!

I was looking at digital thermometers, but it seemed like cheating. Wouldn't I be better off learning to tell a meat's doneness with my own senses? Like eyeballing ingredient amounts.

Oh. Well, chalk one up for the Dutch. I thought it was an unnecessary step. Good to know.

The chemistry of meat doesn't really change that much unless you brine which adds extra salt and that does something about the boiling point of water, but there's no cheating when a chicken or pork is done since there is no rare or med rare. So a thermometer is an extremely useful tool for those two meats. Same with a candy thermometer when deep frying. Oil has to be hot enough to do the job right.

Usually when the juices run clear that means meat's done. You can slice a chicken breast and see if it's still pink or white in the middle, same with pork although a little pinkness is going to be okay. When you roast a chicken you're looking for how loose the legs move. If you pull on the leg and the bone slips out smoothly you have a done bird. Cooking a pork roast with the bone in? If the bone slips out when you pull on it, pork is done. Some people tap the meat with a spoon to see how the spoon bounces back. There are lots of techniques and ways to guess, but the therms take the guess work out of it. Just a tool that I like to use.

Great work on the guess work learning. A tip, sharpen your knife. A very important tool that could turn very dangerous if dull.

[Vol]

I could use one for frying, actually. I'm terrible at gauging how hot the oil is, I get impatient, and since I learned which oils to use (smoke points) when, it's real easy to go too soon when I'm not using my deep fryer. I discovered why the quality of french fries made in the house improved drastically when I started making them, when I was criticized for how "scary" the reaction of properly heated oil is when potato is introduced.

That's what I end up doing most of the time, eye the piece, gauge how done it _should_ be, give it the firmness test, then cut the middle of the biggest piece just to be sure. I'm getting better at telling without cutting, but doesn't hurt to be sure.

Yes! I need some sharp knives. I've been trying to learn how to cut onions efficiently, but the knives we have are so dull it ends up slipping around unless I really dig it in. Good advice, Sci.

[SciFlyBoy]

I did an experiment where I wanted to see how many turns of my pepper mill make 1 teaspoon of ground pepper. I figured 12 or so. Nope! Not even 20 or 50....80! 80 turns to make 1 tsp of ground pepper. I am totally making my food different now.

Used it when I made a pot roast in my crock pot. 7 hours on high and it was delicious. The book said 6-7 hours on high or 10-11 hours on low for a 3-3.5 lb roast, but to add an hour if I use a frozen roast. Had 2 lbs of regular beef chuck and 1 lb of frozen. Rub was salt/pepper/garlic powder/onion powder, rubbed it all over. Put frozen meat down first then laid other roast directly on top then put one sliced onion and laid the slices on top of the roast. That's it. Checked it after 7 hours and the fork pierced it like butter. Removed the roast and wrapped in foil, then got 1/4 cup of flour and 3/4 cup of water, mixed it together then stirred it into the juices and onions and continued cooking it for about 5 mins. Fantastic gravy. Made some mashed potatoes and poured the gravy and onions over the meat and potatoes and it was killer. Had it for left overs last night and still amazing.

Crock pot was great because I can plug it in and walk away from it. Got work done, shopping done, chores done while dinner cooked all day, no hot ovens.

[TheodoricFriede]

Heres a stupid question.

Condiments.

Ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, hot sauce, and so forth.

What brands does everyone buy?

It sort of dawns on me that my entire life i have only really had one of two brands. Im wondering if anyone knows any hidden gems.

[Mobius_118]

I usually buy Del Monte for ketchup. There's a German brand called Inglehoffer I go to for mustard and horseradish sauce. Kraft Miracle Whip for mayo.

Lately I've been throwing hot sauces on my eggs. Bunch of homebrew ones I get from friends who enjoy not having facial hair due to the heat off the sauce.

[SciFlyBoy]

Frenches for classic mustard, I really like spicy brown mustard. I think Goulden's makes a fine one. Grey Poupon makes a good dijon mustard. But you can't really go wrong with mustard.
Heinz ketchup usually, but sometimes Hunt's works.
I've never had miracle whip, always used Best Foods.
I want to buy a bottle of HP sauce, which is English ketchup.
Have you ever had dill relish? I bought one by accident and was in for quite a surprise, since I grew up on sweet relish. But I grew to like it and every once in a while go buy a bottle.

[SciFlyBoy]

In case anyone wants a list of copy cat fast food recipes, here's this article.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/r ... tB#image=1

[Mazder]

Frenches for classic mustard, I really like spicy brown mustard. I think Goulden's makes a fine one. Grey Poupon makes a good dijon mustard. But you can't really go wrong with mustard.
Heinz ketchup usually, but sometimes Hunt's works.
I've never had miracle whip, always used Best Foods.
I want to buy a bottle of HP sauce, which is English ketchup.
Have you ever had dill relish? I bought one by accident and was in for quite a surprise, since I grew up on sweet relish. But I grew to like it and every once in a while go buy a bottle.

HP Sauce isn't UK ketchup...
It's a brown sauce with a more vinegary, sugary flavour.
Heinz, the company that makes HP Sauce also makes a traditional ketchup.

I don't usually stick to brands on my condiments but for worcestershire sauce it will always be Lee and Perrin's.

[MeaslyBinkie]

I stick with Daddies for ketchup and brown sauces usually, apart from that I mostly go with Encona's various sauces.

Maille does some decent mustard too.

[SciFlyBoy]

Secrets...tricks...hacks! I'm so sick of how food articles are written these days. It's like everyone they're writing for is aiming to find the easiest way to cut corners while getting a better product. I want to learn techniques, often multiple contradictory techniques to achieve what I want in my food, but the language they use and how the articles are written just turn me off. It's sensationalism and pandering to some idea that an overly familiar tone and bringing out people's emotions will draw people to read their article over another when articles by nature should be objective. I hate it, it makes cooking feel cheap instead of a process that's rewarding earned through trial and error and constant dedication and practice. You can't hack the perfect meat balls, you just treat them delicately when you shape them. There's no secret to making the perfect grilled cheese, just use mustard. Ugh, and I know it's never going to stop.

[TheodoricFriede]

Well, i dont know.

Best Clam Chowder I have ever had was my friends mothers recipe, which is a very simple, very easy, and very efficient. She has the easiest recipe of any I have seen, and its the absolute best.

I feel like the issue is people over-complicate some recipes, and the end result isn't all that different from the simple approach.

[SciFlyBoy]

And I think what gets me the most is the notion that cooking for the most part is too challenging or too complicated for the average person and that it needs to be simplified by some hack or trick. Like you stated, a chowder can be quite simple. You followed a simple recipe. There was no trick or secret to it, you just followed a simple formula. But I take it the food journalism industry thinks people don't have the time to learn or the wherewithal to find a recipe and so they write down to the audience. I don't think that's the best approach to reaching out and getting people interested in improving their cooking.

[TheodoricFriede]

Long and short of it is that some people really like cooking, and some people dont.

[SciFlyBoy]

Yeah.

Anyway, anything interesting anyone is cooking this weekend?

I'm roasting a duck.

[TheodoricFriede]

Possibly seed cakes. We will see.

[SciFlyBoy]

Possibly seed cakes. We will see.

What is a seed cake? Like poppy seed?

[TheodoricFriede]

What is a seed cake? Like poppy seed?

Something that Bilbo has in his hobbit hole the the Hobbit.

Similar to poppy seeds, but im specifically using an older recipe, so its caraway seeds. We will see how it turns out.

[SciFlyBoy]

Made scrambled eggs with shrimp this morning. Highly recommend that.

[Vol]

It's pleasant to crack open a fresh jug of fryer oil. Full gallon in the tank, clean, clear, and pure. A shame I was using cheap, generic french fries.

Also apparently using a cast iron pan causes cheap store-made burger patties to distend with fluids, as not draining it was a painful mistake.