987 replies to this topic

[universal_justin]

i recently discovered the faster i can get meat done all the way through the juicier it is if im grilling... so now im chopping all my ground beef into little tiny chunks and blasting my stove and its done in like 3 minutes and is waaaaaaay more moist. same with burgers, ive been really flattening them out and trying to get them as hot as possible without burning. all of a sudden im eating a lot of stir fry, as i found there's a lot of veggies that taste great cooked fast.

quicker the better? is this true with most other meats on the grill? i know you can really get some juiciness with slow-cooking but as far as non-soaking on a grill... quicker the better right?

[Omigadrive]

It really depends on the cut of meat and what you're going for but yeah, you're right. When it comes to meat, faster and thinner is actually a better way to cook it (Unless you have the ability to cook Sous-vide which beats anything) to keep it juicy. I actually had to prove that to one of my old head chefs who thought cutting something insanely thick obviously meant it would stay juicier.

That being said it depends how you cook it. For example cooking a rack of lamb or anything that really can't be helped in being thick if you want it the way it is often served, a grill simply isn't a good choice. For things like that you want to try cooking it in a pan first to colour your skin/surface area and then the oven (Stick with 350f or 180c). The simple trick is to just make sure it's never overcooked which with a few word changes applies to everything in cooking ever and is probably the first thing anyone needs to learn. Undercooking is fine since then you can slice the rack down and finish it under what I think in America you guys call a broiler is it?

As for veggies, Al dente is the way to go but there are 1001 different ways to cook just about every vegetable that give you very different effects and it's all down to preference really.

[Paragon]

So I had a few habaneros and two of those ghost chilis from the grocery store. I followed a recipe online (sorry for ignoring your advice Omigadrive), except using way fewer peppers than it called for.

I boiled them in 2c apple cider vinegar for a few minutes, added a bunch of brown sugar, blended with a few cloves of garlic and some onion powder. WAY TOO HOT! Blended with a big-ass can of tomatoes, still too hot, though not as bad!

Oh well, haha. Should I salvage it by adding more vinegar?

[armor]

Just eat some yogurt or sour cream with it so it doesn't burn your butthole.

[matsunami]

Made homemade split pea soup with onions, carrots, turnips and delicious ham shank. It is so damn good!

[Pongball]

So I had a few habaneros and two of those ghost chilis from the grocery store. I followed a recipe online (sorry for ignoring your advice Omigadrive), except using way fewer peppers than it called for.

I boiled them in 2c apple cider vinegar for a few minutes, added a bunch of brown sugar, blended with a few cloves of garlic and some onion powder. WAY TOO HOT! Blended with a big-ass can of tomatoes, still too hot, though not as bad!

Oh well, haha. Should I salvage it by adding more vinegar?

Oh man, I bought habaneros for the first time recently and chopped one up into super-fine pieces, tasted a minuscule amount to test how hot it was (the actual pepper, not the seeds), SUFFERED EXTREME PAIN!!!, decided not to use it in the meal, continued chopping vegetables... And after all that, the meal was STILL almost unbearably hot, just from the contact my knife and cutting board had had with the peppers. I seriously do not understand how people actually eat these things. :((((

[Zoast]

Hot peppers are like a drug. First, your friend convinces you to try some cayennes from his garden, and you start liking them and eating them with your food. Then that's not enough and you start putting jalapenos in your spaghetti. Then

Well, then you burn out by getting acid reflux, if you're me.

My parents gave me some leftover fried chicken, the type with bones in it. I started saving my table scraps when I eat something like this ... it's about time to make some stock and vegetable soup again : )

[armor]

I save all the bones, I'm building a pretty big stash will grind em up someday to use in the garden, or maybe to supplement mushroom growth. Not sure yet, but hey these animals died so I can eat, might as well make use of all their resources instead buying a bucket of bonemeal.

I also have about 5 litres of bacon lard. I figure perhaps I can try to make it into soap someday, or maybe they'll be survival calories.

Garbage is what's on TV, that shit you've been putting out to the curb all yer lives, that's resources.

I sound like a crazy person.

[Magicalyardgnome]

One time last summer I went to a produce market and a vendor trolled me with a banana pepper that was so hot I thought I was going to hallucinate. He was saying he grew bell peppers next to jalapenos and they ended up hot, I think he must have grown his banana peppers next to habaneros.

[Paragon]

I want to make "healthy" oatmeal cookies, like Kashi TLC Oatmeal Dark Chocolate cookies. Ideally with oil and honey instead of butter and sugar. Any recommendations/tips?

I just made a batch and they came out OK, but also kinda shitty.

[Ken Oh]

I should really start posting here more. I do the cooking for my household, and I usually try to cook something to put in a Pyrex bowl to eat at work.

This chicken chickpea tagine has probably been my favorite dish of the last couple years.


I love chicken on the bone. I usually go for drumsticks, since their cheaper and easier to eat.


I've lived in Africa and China, and I love the foods of the world, but I still come back to the meat and potatoes of my childhood. For next Saturday, here's...

Ken Oh's Shepherd's Pie

ingredients
1 lb beef, cubed (this is for "cottage pie", for real shepherd's pie, you need to have lamb)
1 cup pearl onions (or just 1 large onion, diced, if you can't get this)
1 cup carrot, diced
1 cup of peas (still frozen, if you want)
2 cups beef broth (put some flour in while it's still cold, for some thickness)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
thyme
garlic (minced)
salt/pepper
marjoram (this is the key ingredient of my favorite Irish restaurant's shepherd's pie. it took me months to figure it out. you can go heavy on this spice and it'll still be good for this dish)
sage
plus ingredients for mashed potatoes (i.e. butter, milk or however you make them)

directions
-make mashed potatoes (cube potatoes, cover and boil in salted water until soft, drain, add a couple tablespoons butter and a few splashes of milk and then mash)
-in a large pan, cook all vegetables with thyme, sage and marjoram
-add broth and Worcestershire
-add meat and let simmer until done.
-pour into casserole dish or into individual bowls and spread a thick layer of mashed potatoes on top.

Optionally, and for more authenticity, don't cook anything past the vegetables in the pan. Instead, pour all of the mixture into a casserole dish or into individual, oven-safe, bowls and spread with that thick layer of mashed potatoes. Then, bake for 25-30 minutes at 350, and remember to cool before eating.

[marui]

today i made pasta salad with
carrots, lettuce, green onions, parsley,
brussels sprouts, zucchini, cauliflower,
broccoli, celery and green bell pepper.
mmm. (^￢^*)

[Ashane]

My mom gave me her old dehydrator. I'm goin nuts with this thing.. so many fun recipes to make! Definitely an appliance I'd recommend having. I'm going to get more creative with it, but so far I made sun dried tomatoes a couple days ago, celery salt yesterday, and kale chips today. You can also make kale chips in the oven if you can set it to below 200 degrees. I guarantee you'll be surprised with how great these taste...Crispy and delicious!

Celery salt:



- Chop up the celery as you normally would
- Dehydrate for 8-12 hours, rotating trays every couple hours
- It's ready when there's no flexibility left in the celery
- Grind to a powder (I used a coffee grinder)
- Works great as a healthy alternative to salt

Kale chips:



- Remove stems from kale and chop into 1-2" squares
- Toss in a dressing of your choosing. I used lemon, celery salt, and olive oil.
- Dehydrate for 3-10 hours, rotating trays every couple hours
- It's ready when there's no chewiness left in the kale. Should be crispy and almost melt in your mouth! Such a wonderful alternative to potato chips.. My dad/stepmom are hooked on these.

[armor]

That celery salt idea looks good, will have to try it.

Theres a kitchen slicer tool called a mandolin I think, seems like it'd be very useful in tandem with the dehydrator.

Dehys are nice pieces of technology, they pull pretty high wattage so it might be questionable to use them if you're on coal or natural gas power, I'm on hydro and the turbines are spinning whether you use the juice or not.

I have two food dehydrators with extra trays for both so when I want to do dehydrate I go big, if pineapples are half price, might as well stock up.

crushed dried bananas and pineapples are awesome in oatmeal

I've got an apple peeler and corer and am still munching through my apple chip stash from the fall.

I was enjoying awesome canned peaches in January, Rhubarb in february, I've still got lots of carrots and beets from the fall canned.

I'm living with my folks because they're only a couple blocks from the college, I don't pay rent but I save them money on food.

I wish I had more time to dehy and can but I've got so much on my plate already. HA.

I want to make some venison jerky but I've got to wait til fall or I'd be poaching!

Maybe I'll find lots of Boletes and Morels to dehydrate, I haven't found a decent way to cook Boletes besides powdering them and making mushroom gravy.

[matsunami]

Yes, a mandolin is an awesome tool to have for a lot of things. It's great for making homemade slaw.

I grilled steak last night...outside!