Cooking For Noobs

[Raja]

1 minute ago, DanteGabriel said:

Daaahl? You mean lentil chowdah?

In all seriousness I just enjoy that recipe, but I have no idea how far it deviates from the traditional dish. I haven't tried to cook it for any of my South Asian friends.

Hahah - I'm mostly teasing. I'll post later when I'm home

[maarsen]

1 minute ago, Larry of the Lake said:

Probably the case most places in the states as well, but .ost restaurants here have cat h bins outside to dump oil in.  It's cheaper than paying for the trap cleaning (or at least extends the interval between cleanings).  I cleaned out the grease trap at my ex gfs bagel shop (I think I even posted about it here) and it was the single grossest moment of my life, with nothing else even coming close.  A paragon for all other moments of disgust to aspire to.  

Working in a hospital I can attest to the fact that cleaning a grease trap is extremely gross. Of course hospitals also have autopsy rooms and pathology labs where waste is disposed of down drains. And where maintenance is occasionally required.

[IheartIheartTesla]

On 1/31/2023 at 7:19 PM, Deadlines? What Deadlines? said:

Science! Now if only they could explain what "degradation" means.

https://www.americastestkitchen.com/articles/1733-how-many-times-can-you-reuse-frying-oil

Mostly oxidation of the fatty acids present in the oils, accelerated by the high temperature. The degree of unsaturation of the oil can also affect the oxidation (more C=C bonds implies faster oxidation, so the time of cooking is also important). I dont know what the health effects of the degradation products are though, and what levels they reach on multiple heat cycles.

[MercenaryChef]

all i can say is i love seeing civilians offer tips as they are living the real life.

that and learn to enjoy cooking or the food is a chore. you have to enjoy the cooking to enjoy the eating. 

[Durckad]

3 hours ago, DanteGabriel said:

Yeah, if they were good patriotic red-blooded Americans, they'd lube up with corn oil.

Red-blooded? That implies you're eating something other than bacon and/or bacon grease. My blood has a nice, dull brown color. Like gravy. Like a real patriot.

[Durckad]

Double post, but this is extremely important:

On 1/30/2023 at 3:54 PM, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Hum, no. 

The greatest cooking tip ever is, clean your hands thoroughly after handling dried chilli peppers. 

If you fail to do so and touch your face in proximity to your eyes... Trust me, that's no fund at all. 

Or your junk. Trust me. Did that once after chopping and seeding some jalapenos and thought I had washed my hands enough and went to the bathroom. 5 minutes later and I felt a burning down there that was getting gradually worse. Thankfully, I had some milk on hand and had to take a break from cooking to... um... steep the beans for a bit.

Moral of the story: just wear gloves when dealing with hot peppers. Especially if you're chopping a lot of them.

Also, a good, relatively quick and easy recipe I made recently is a spicy, sheet pan gnocchi. Basically it boils down to gnocchi, + some chopped red, orange, yellow or green peppers + some cherry tomatoes + a couple of chopped chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. Mix all together with olive oil on an oven safe pan or dish, bake for 30 minutes at 450.

It's very good and extremely flexible. Add more chipotle peppers if you want more heat and you can add more vegetables to spruce it up if you want. I added onions and garlic (of course).

Also, I've been trying to cook for myself more over the past couple of years and I signed up and paid for a subscription to the new york times cooking website. It's not free, but you get sent recipes daily that can, at the very least, spur your imagination or give you ideas on what you want to cook. The gnocchi recipe above is from the site and I've had pretty good luck with it so far. Also, generally the comments on the recipes can be fairly helpful in making the recipes better or giving alternatives to some ingredients or help on the actual cooking part.

If you don't want to pay for it, then I would at the very least recommend finding something similar. There are quite a few recipes that I don't think I would've ever thought to look up, but I ended up making because I saw it in my inbox and thought "Huh, that looks pretty good."

[Myrddin]

We bought an air fryer last year and love it. Crisps up fries and chicken really well in half the time as the oven. I can even make decent chicken wings. 

[Castellan]

On 1/31/2023 at 6:12 AM, Relic said:

So, 4 decades into this life ive decided that it's time to learn how to feed myself without outside help. 

 

Anyone got any lactose free recipes for healthy meals (that an idiot can make) to share?

 

Edit - i currently know how to make - 

- tomato sauce from scratch

- a decent beef with broccoli stir fry 

- friend chicken sandwich (not healthy)

- lentil soup

- toast (barely)

After decades of learning to cook other things, my core skills are about tthe same as yours (minus the sandwich), which I had developed by about 21. Honestly if you just rotated them and added some salad and fruit you'd be OK!

If you have the principles of stir fry you can easily choose recipes off the web. Try a chicken of fish stir fry. Likewise if you can make a tomato pasta sauce you can make cannelloni and lasagne, which can be based on beef or spinach.

Things that can be added to a basic tomato sauce: mushrooms, salami, olives, artichokes, capers, carrots(!), whatever...

There are nice ways of just tossing tasty things on the pasta without a tomato sauce, I am trying to remember what, I haven't done this in a while, I think capers and or artichokes and tuna, with feta cheese or sour cream or you could just use olive oil.

The main skill I added is how to fry fish. Baking it is also easy. Also its pretty simple to just have it with salad or steamed or boiled vegetables. Unfortunately where I am fish is really expensive and just unavailable now.

I also cooked a lot of basic curries over the years but I seem to have gone off that too.

Frozen spinach is very useful, by the way, and I like this recipe:

https://foodlets.com/2015/01/30/simple-sides-frozen-spinach-garlic-powder-olive-oil/

I add it as a side if I have made some kind of meaty dish with rice.

[Matrim Fox Cauthon]

A fairly useful (and cost-effective) skill worth adding is baking a chicken or other dead bird. In the process you gain skills for cutting up the chicken or using different cuts. You can use the bones, scraps, and innards to make a chicken broth that you can save and use for another recipe, such as a hearty chicken soup. You can use the leftover meat for another meal. 

[litechick]

I'm an enormously fat single lady so I am always trying to be healthy and always cooking a big batch of something I can eat for 2-3 days to cut down on the cooking.

This is one of my favorites:  Chorizo Sweet Potato Skillet  I have tinkered with it and at some point switched from chorizo to turkey sausage.  You will want to skip the cheese to eliminate the lactose, I regretfully omit it to eliminate the calories.  Don't believe that bit about cooking the sweet potato for 5 minutes at the beginning, it will still be hard.  I've been adding a little water to the pan, put on the lid and steam it a bit to soften it up before adding the rest of the ingredients according to the recipe.

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

This might be my favorite cooking video. How long do we fry the haggis? Until it's, "lovely".

 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Darling, I'm sorry, but this might be a problem. Cooking is fun and one of the best parts of a relationship is learning something new together. 

But because I'm from the Midwest and don't like pointless arguments most times, can you at least order from nice Chinese or Thai places? 

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

I have a microwave pasta cooker and it rocks. Dried pasta, water, a bit of salt. Pop it in, set the timer and go. I don’t even have to watch it. I’m experimenting on doing potatoes in it as well.

Edited May 10, 2023 by Deadlines? What Deadlines?

[BigFatCoward]

3 hours ago, Madame deVenoge said:

4. Sliced bananas are pretty good, too. All you have to do is peel and slice, it’s like a self contained food product!

6. If you’re really feeling something special, broccoli florets (pre-sliced, let’s not waste time) roasted at 450 F with some olive oil and salt and pepper, PLUS maybe some pasta (Whole Foods fresh pasta if you’re feeling fancy) on the side, BAM.

 

What's the benefit of slicing rather than just eating a banana?  Is it like how grated cheese tastes better than sliced, and easter egg chocolate tastes better than a bar of chocolate?

Roast Brassicas are one of my favourite things, though I prefer cauliflower to Broccoli.  I work in a very Indian area and the roast cauliflower curry from the local slummy takeaway wouldn't taste out of place at a Michelin starred restaurant, and its only £3. They also do the best Onion Bhaji and Samsosa's for £0.5 each.  I always go fucking mental when i'm in there and buy far far too much. 

 

 

Edited May 10, 2023 by BigFatCoward

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

44 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

What's the benefit of slicing rather than just eating a banana?  Is it like how grated cheese tastes better than sliced, and easter egg chocolate tastes better than a bar of chocolate?

Sliced bananas on cornflakes vastly improve cornflakes.

[BigFatCoward]

7 minutes ago, Deadlines? What Deadlines? said:

Sliced bananas on cornflakes vastly improve cornflakes.

adding cornflakes to banana vastly worsens a banana. 

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

6 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

adding cornflakes to banana vastly worsens a banana. 

Try it. It’s weird how good it is. The banana has just the right amount of sweetness and there’s a textural component as well. Combined with the flakes and milk it’s surprisingly good. I’m not even a fan of breakfast cereal.

[BigFatCoward]

I opened a jar of pesto tonight. It appeared smoke came out of the jar after I opened it and it made a big pop. Seems I nearly got botulism. 

[Phylum of Alexandria]

My wife is a great cook, but I wanted to pitch in more.

I make a decent fried rice, banh mi, chicken tikka masala, and mexican lime chicken, but I needed more ideas, and stuff that wasn't super hard.

This collection had a bunch of stuff that I found easy to make a tasty.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/healthy/packages/healthy-every-week/quick-and-simple/healthy-dinners-in-40-minutes-or-less

Stuff we really liked: 

• Pan-Seared Salmon with Kale and Apple Salad
• Sweet and Tangy Chicken Burgers
• Chili Chicken with Hominy Hash
• Curry Salmon With Mango Chutney
• Healthy Tuna Grain Bowl With Turmeric Sweet Potatoes
• Pork Tenderloin With Seasoned Rub
• Seared Salmon With Ponzu and Baby Bok Choy
• Ribbony Shrimp and Pasta Scamp (my wife liked it more than I did)
• Pasta Puttanesca (I liked it more than my wife did)

 

[Spockydog]

This is pretty easy, and absolutely bloody delicious. And while Delia recommends basmati rice, I much prefer this dish when it's done with paella rice.

CHICKEN BASQUE by Delia Smith

"The delicious combination of chicken and rice, olives and peppers is typical of all the regions around the western Mediterranean but, to my mind, this Spanish version, with the addition of spicy chorizo sausage and a hint of paprika, beats the lot.

My interpretation of it also uses dried tomatoes preserved in oil to give it even more character. This recipe will provide a complete supper for four from the same pot – it needs nothing to accompany it!"