Cooking tips you picked up from others or figured out on your own

[UTUSN]

* "Don't eat FRIED foods!1" - the next-to-last gasp of the Counter-culture, after everything else had petered out. The last gasp was when Jane FONDA discovered the fitness video industry. And the ban on FRIED was also the first tip DITCHED!1

* Spread the condiment and filling to the EDGE of the bread of sandwiches, so as not to chew into bread on its own.

* After peeling hard boiled eggs RINSE them to wash out stray 'shell bits.

* (learned here from a DUer: ) Heat the pan FIRST. Then add the oil and heat it till the little waves appear: "This is the correct temperature." Corrollary: Do NOT heat the oil until it SMOKES - this releases carcinogens!1 (Where do the carcinogens go otherwise?!1)

* Act as if you've got all the time in the world. If you rush and are pressured, it will FAIL.

* Cut corners somewhere else, NOT on much-used pans and utensils. Also goes for dog food: Don't skimp on things like this.

* Precious family recipes can be TINKERED with, updated, made "healthier" (but not more delicious).

[Arugula Latte]

1. With scrambled eggs, the secret is low heat.

Be patient, let them solidify slowly; they will be soft and tender.

[triguy46]

11. Try cooking them in a double boiler:

Set up your double boiler and begin heating it. Toss in 1 or 2 tbsp butter and cover(less if just a few eggs, more for up to a dozen). As the butter melts, beat eggs is a separate bowl. When butter is melted, and water boiling, pour in the eggs and cover and leave them alone for 4-5 minutes. gently turn them, then cover again. peek in every minute or two (use your judgement). Do not over cook, they should be soft. With the lower cooking temp (212 degrees) they will not get hard. Best eggs ever.

[Captain Hilts]

20. YES!!!! And, if possible, cook them covered. nt

[TommyO]

50. I was never a fan of anything but dry (overcooked) scrambled eggs

I wasn't until very recently that I acquired the like for the texture of moist, tender eggs, not runny, not even wet, but ever so slightly glistening so they're done enough for me, but still wonderful. It's what I had for dinner tonight and my taste buds and tummy thanked me.

[Arugula Latte]

53. Avocado has an affinity for scrambled eggs, too.

Something to keep in mind. :)

[begin_within]

58. I put it on top at the end.

I sauté finely chopped onion and broccoli in a little butter, then take some of the extra butter out with a paper towel to make it less fattening. I blend the eggs with a little milk or water. (Melinda Lee says to use 1 tablespoon of water per egg, but I only use 1 teaspoon). The water creates steam which makes the cooked egg lighter and fluffier. I pour the egg mixture in and stir quickly to distribute the cooked broccoli and onion through it. Then I let it sit and cook slowly over low heat, stirring a couple of times. When it's cooked I sprinkle shredded cheddar cheese and stir lightly to distribute. The heat from the eggs melts the cheese. Then I serve it out on plates, and sprinkle chopped avocado on top, and a little seasoning salt, then serve it.

[Arugula Latte]

64. Yum!

Sounds deeeelish. :9

I always add a bit of milk to my eggs, too.

[crim son]

69. Avocado has an affinity with virtually everything, IMHO. n/t

[Arugula Latte]

77. This is true.

Food of the gods. :9

[Duer 157099]

2. The "brown bits" is where all the flavor is

Don't ever ever ever leave those in the pan to be discarded later. Ever.

Also:

* Don't just rinse the hard boiled egg after peeling, peel it under running water

* Taste as you go along, when possible

* Learn to use a cast iron pan and how to care for it properly

* All ingredients are not created equal. Learn to tell the difference, and when it will make a difference and when it won't

[hobbit709]

78. Yep, the BCB's are the best part.

[Inspired]

3. It's simple but it took me years to understand why.

Don't over crowd your pan when browning meat. You end up steaming it and lose a lot of that great carmelization.

[pscot]

4. A peanut butter, bacon and banana

sandwich combines four major food groups. Five if you add cheeze whiz.

[Lars39]

5. Do all the measuring and assembling of ingredients beforehand.

You find out for sure if you have all you need and it makes cooking less hectic.

[TommyO]

51. Ye olde Mise en place!

I do this regularly now, even if it's for something simple requiring less than a handful of ingredients.

[rug]

6. No matter the time of day, the pizza will not arrive for 20 minutes.

[lunatica]

7. Great cooks like to experiment with taste and texture and aroma

And are willing to create an occasional culinary mistake just to have 10 culinary delights. And spices are the stuff of life

Clean up as you go and you'll have a spotless kitchen and a great meal at the same time.

[UTUSN]

9. As Poster 2 and you said, tasting as you go. I don't do that (yet) & don't know why.

I do a "layer" seasoning over all of salt, pepper - & depending on the dish (garlic power & cumin). then mix it up, then do a second layer.

& somehow this seems to me (irrationally) to be the correct thing and should end up correct (I avoid the word "Right"). Sometimes I'm surprised for good or ill when we all take the first mouthful.


P.S., I have NO illusions about being "a great cook." My mother and grandmother (and their antecedents, probably) were, yet when doing things THEIR way, I have been corrected by others AND figured out SOME things that weren't their way, too.

[Quantess]

8. Orange grease is the sign of a delicious dish.

Adding garlic will only improve the taste.

[KG]

10. there is nothing that can't be made more awesome by just adding bacon. also

don't fry chicken while nekkid.

[UTUSN]

15. O.K., this strikes a cord: bacon. One of my mother's recipes was squash with bacon.

It was delicious whenever it happened all my growing up. Late, when I took down her recipes and did this one a few times, I figured to substitute pork chop chunks (same pig as bacon). It became a more substantial deal. Still, there's no meal like the original one.

[Dr Morbius]

27. I employ the CCG rule

There is no food which cannot be improved by adding either chocolate, cheese, or garlic.

Seriously. From apples to zucchini, you can't name a food which won't be better with one or more of these. Sometimes it's knowing to brown the garlic first so the flavor's more subtle; sometimes it's knowing which kind of cheese; and one should always remember there are many kinds of chocolate (the darker the chocolate, the better it works with orange slices).

Bacon, hmm? I like bacon in spaghetti sauce. I buy the three pound package of bacon ends, trim off much of the fat (because when it comes to the ends, the fat and the meat are pretty well separated), brown it just a bit and simmer in tomato sauce for an hour and a half (add some onion, some garlic, some oregano, some basil; this is spaghetti sauce after all). I wouldn't use more than half a pound or so for enough sauce to cover a pound of pasta; bacon contains a ton of sodium so if you use too much bacon the meal tastes salty. But with just a little bacon flavor in that sauce, it tastes incredibly good. This kind of sauce works very well in a baked dish with a blend of cheeses.

Chocolate, cheese, or garlic. CCG.

[Rabrrrrrr]

12. Never trust anyone who thinks cooking is opening a box or can or nuking something in a bag

Never eat someone's house who doesn't shop only on the outside aisles of the grocery store.

That person has no taste, and it's not worth eating their food. If they are a friend, and they invite you over for some time together, suggest instead that you are busy at meal time but would love to come over later for a cocktail and conversation. Although the chances of these types of tasteless shitwits actually knowing how to make a cocktail is pretty fucking slim, so be prepared for a lower-class mixed drink or shitty industrial beer or bottle of wine they bought at their local chain grocery store.

[Rabrrrrrr]

13. Season the food as you cook; don't wait until it's cooked and think you can salt and herb it then.

You can't.

[TommyO]

19. Excellent point!

Another: Don't fear salt, there's nothing worse than absolutely bland anything.

[Rabrrrrrr]

14. When pan-frying or sauteeing something, don't be afraid to leave it to be and not turn it

until it's actually time to turn it.

When I first started cooking, the sound of the sizzling would make me so paranoid, that I was flipping the steaks or fish or whatever every 30 seconds for fear that it was burning - it isn't burning. It's making a wonderful brown outside that will be tastier than youc can possibly imagine!

It's only burning if it's actually tossing out smoke that smells like something is burning.

Took me about a year to really get a handle on this, and for a while I was always scared shitless doing it - now I've got it down pat, and it doesn't scare me at all to let a steak sizzle and pop for four or five minutes. And, oh My God, the taste is soooo amazing!

[Mopar151]

16. Perfect Microwave hot dog, & other cooking thermodynamics

Perfect micro-dog - place the hot dog in the bun, roll up in a paper towel or napkin, tuck or fold the ends in. Microwave for 1 minute. A HOT hot dog, in a warm, fresh roll. (from the Kahn's package)

Grilling to medium: Medium flame or heat, 1/2" patty or 3/4 to 1" steak. Grill 1 side until blood comes from tne top, turn, cook other side to same appearance. Do not flip repeatedly, squeeze, spank, or otherwise abuse the meat.

Awesome roast beef, bottom round to prime rib: Season outside with salt or natural meat tenderizer, pepper, garlic powder if you like it. Place on rack in pan Preheat oven to 500 degrees. In 15-20 minutes, reduce heat setting to 250 deg. DO NOT OPEN DOOR YET! Wait about 45 minutes. Check with meat thermometer to just short of your desired doneness - remove from oven, wrap quickly in foil, rest for 1/2 hour. Slice with SHARP knife - the cheaper the cut, the thinner the slice. Delay slicing the leftovers until chilled - makes it easier to slice very thin.

[noamnety]

17. oven thermometers

It's well worth spending 10-15 bucks on one of those oven thermometers with a cord, so you can leave it in a roast and read the current temp without having to open the oven door. This was the beginning of a new era of no overcooked meat for me.

[TommyO]

18. Don't use too small of a pan/pot

If you're browning meat, it needs room; if you're boiling pasta, it needs room.

[Rabrrrrrr]

34. And also don't use one that's too big.

You'll either waste time trying to boil too much water or heat up too much pan, or you'll burn shit by having a small thing cooking in the middle of a fry pan while another 50 square inches of metal gets hotter and hotter because nothing is taking the heat away.

[TommyO]

48. Good points!

[Dora]

21. Need to boil water? Put a lid on it. A watched pot never boils. nt

[struggle4progress]

24. A WATCHED pot never boils? Are you sure? I thought it was, a WASHED pot never boils.

[MajorChode]

22. The flavor of garlic is quite different depending on how you prepared it

First, use only the number of cloves the recipe calls for, regardless of how big they are. A small clove will have a much stronger garlic flavor than a big one. If you crush the garlic with the flat of your knife before mincing, it will release the oils inside the clove and will produce a slightly different result as compared to just mincing the clove without crushing.

Fresh garlic will have the strongest taste. You can use fresh garlic in things like salsa, but do so very sparingly because it will quickly overpower everything else.

You can insert whole cloves of garlic inside meat before dry roasting and it will flavor the entire roast. Do so sparingly. 2 cloves of garlic is enough for a 5 lbs standing rib roast.

Pan fry garlic at low temperatures. Do not brown it as it will produce a very bad taste. The longer you cook it, the milder the flavor will be.

Roasting garlic produces a very mild and unique flavor. Saw the top of the head off with a serrated knife and wrap it in aluminum foil. Just before you close it up, drizzle olive oil over the top. Roast in the oven at 400 degrees for about 35 minutes. The heads will be very soft when done. To remove the garlic simply squeeze and the cloves will pop out of their skins. I typically use an entire head of garlic in the recipe when I do this as the flavor is quite mild. This works great in mashed potatoes.

Garlic can also be boiled in recipes like soups and stews. You can either mince them or throw them in whole. Again, since this is a different cooking method, you will get a different taste compared to say pan frying it first and then throwing it in the pot.

Other than roasted garlic, use it sparingly. Garlic easily overpowers the subtle flavors of many dishes. If you use too much garlic all the time, all of your dishes will taste the same. This may or may not be a good thing depending on your cooking skills.

[WinkyDink]

79. And the smaller the bits, the more powerful the garlicky flavor.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

23. Here's what I have to offer;

it's always possible to add MORE of anything but once in, it's never out. So season to taste, not to eye or recipe or hearsay.

keep you knives sharp. Dull blades will be the reason you can't work quickly and lead to cutting your self.

I cook my bacon in the oven. A trick I learned as a hotel cook while going to school. On a cookie sheet, temp about 375, turn once.

Buy real vanilla, don't worry about the cost. It's worth it.

Learn about broth and stock. Makes a big difference cooking rice using one of them rather than water.

:)

[struggle4progress]

25. You really can't cook bacon in the toaster

[Rabrrrrrr]

28. You can, but you have to take it in the bath with you - the water helps float the grease away.

And it's the grease that fucks up the toaster when you make bacon on the counter with it.

[struggle4progress]

30. You're just hopin you can trick me into tryin that so you can laugh tomorrow

when I bitch that optimistic puppies and kittens and raccoons and possums and rats and all are following my bacon-scented self wheresoever I goeth

[Rabrrrrrr]

33. Damn! For six years I've been working on my "get struggle4progress eaten by raccoons" agenda,

and now it's shot to hell.

I thought the toaster move was the final move to the denouement.

x(

[trackfan]

26. The best fat for frying eggs is....

clarified butter.

[trof]

40. For me it's sausage grease. Grandpa taught me 'basted eggs'.

First he cooked the patty sausage.
It rendered lot more fat back then than now.
After he removed the cooked patties from the cast iron pan, he fried the eggs, one at a time.

Never flipped them, just ladled the hot grease over them until the yolks were opaque. Sunny side up, but with no runny white.
DEE-licious!
:-)

[Manifestor_of_Light]

29. When you scramble eggs, add some milk and a bit of baking powder.

So they will rise and be fluffy. Cook slowly as others have said. I put in powdered garlic and dried chopped onion and dried parsley and salt free Spike.

Got that tip from Mom, who taught me some great things about cooking and gardening.

[Dr Morbius]

35. I never heard of using baking powder in eggs.

At my house we drink skim milk, so I'll use half-and-half in omelettes or scrambled eggs.

Here's a quickie: my Mom called this "Yayufka":

Brown smoked polish sausage with a bit of green onions, and pour scrambled eggs right into the same pan and cook it together. Serve on fresh onion rolls; spectacularly good.

[PufPuf23]

31. Shallots are a subtle magic; fresh cilantro is magic but less subtle

recipe for wild mushroom soup (I usually use Matusake but sometimes morels)

soften shallots and garlic in butter

add fresh sliced mushrooms and soften

add half-half and cream sherry (I use Christian Bros) in a 2:1 ratio

bring to boil and it is done

I like a slight sprinkle of cyanne pepper on top

Edit to add: don't wash the mushrooms in water but scrape and/or brush debris

[trof]

43. Cilantro tastes like chorine to me.

Like getting water up your nose in a chlorinated swimming pool.
I'm told it's a genetic condition.
:shrug:

[Captain Hilts]

46. Just had some echalotts!

[Richardo]

32. May I just say that this is one of the most interesting Lounge threads in a long time?

I'm learning a lot. Please proceed. :patriot:

[Dr Morbius]

36. Ten things I have learned about about cooking:

1. If you like what you cooked, you did fine. I see a lot of cooks starting out, at whatever age, worrying about whether or not they got it "right." Well, does it taste good?

2. Curl your fingers under when you hold something to cut it. Like chopping carrots, or whatever. Get into the habit of curling your fingers, because that makes it much harder to cut yourself.

3. Recipes are guidelines. On some things, like pancakes, you want to be careful (get some experience in) before mucking about with the recipe. On other things, like a casserole, feel free to substitute different cheeses or omit one spice or change the seasoning entirely.

4. Many cooks add sugar to spaghetti sauce to counteract the natural acidity of tomato sauce. I add about 1/3 cup of chianti instead. The alcohol in the wine breaks down into sugars so the acidity goes away... but the sauce does not taste sweet! This will work with any red wine except the fruity stuff, like merlot.

5. In terms of herbs and spices, less is more. Especially with particularly strong herbs like thyme; too much thyme overwhelms a dish. Rosemary, too, but sometimes you'll want to overwhelm a dish with rosemary. Good stuff. Also, some dishes suffer if you use too many spices, as opposed to too much; in my spaghetti, I use basil and oregano and once in a blue moon, maybe rosemary. Nothing else. No pepper. No Tabasco. No marjoram.

6. Remember the old Simon and Garfunkel song, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme? Turns out if you combine these four spices and add some bay leaf (and garlic powder, if you want) and grind it all together, it makes a very good poultry rub for roasting turkey or chicken. I've found no other use for this particular combination of spices.

7. Dried herbs and spices eventually do go stale. If it's been in your house a couple years, it's probably very weak. Accordingly, even if it does seem cheaper, it's probably not a good idea to buy spices in bulk unless you're planning to use that much in six months to a year. And fresh herbs, available from some grocery stores, are worth the extra cost or trouble.

8. Frozen vegetables taste much better cooked in the microwave than they do boiled on a stove.

9. It turns out italian sausage contains a surprisingly high amount of salt. I love the flavor of spaghetti sauce when prepared with italian sausage, so I've discovered too much sausage can make the sauce too salty. I wouldn't go above 1.5 pounds sausage for a pot of sauce intended to cover a pound of pasta, and I'd prefer to keep it around one pound.

10. The best tacos you can make start with "pork meat for tacos", which is essentially coarsely ground pork. Simmer this in La Preferida taco seasoning mix and serve on soft, flour tortillas with shredded muenster cheese, shredded lettuce and finely diced tomatoes. Pork and muenster; wouldn't have guessed it myself. But seriously, the best tacos I ever had.

[hunter]

37. It doesn't matter what other food you've got if you've got plenty of rice.

* With rice you can always make something that looks like it was planned. A hard boiled egg from Easter, a few edible weeds from your backyard, a leftover pack of hot sauce from Taco Bell, add rice, and there you go, DINNER!

* Olive oil. It's almost as magic as rice.

* Canola oil. It's almost as magic as olive oil but no so expensive. Add a bit of canola oil to butter in a pan and the butter won't burn so easily.

* Fish, if you like fish. Canned fish like sardines, anchovies, mackerel, add lots of flavor. (Don't use tuna, farmed salmon, etc., please...)

* Bacon, can be used a similar way to fish if you don't happen to like fish. A little goes a long way, don't use so much that you must drain the grease.

* Play, don't worry about what the neighbors will think. Cook meat with fruit, throw lettuce in stews, explore the wonders of canned chili...

[Rabrrrrrr]

38. Seagulls make an utterly non-viable substitute for a shabu-shabu cookpot.

Trust me.

[Rabrrrrrr]

39. No matter how much the asshole at the store tells you the cheap knife is "awesome", he's wrong.

There is no such thing as a cheap knife that is also awesome.

You have two choices: buy a cheap knife (will will be shitty) that will go dull, fall apart, and need to be replaced every couple years for the rest of your life, spending, let's say, X amount of dollars over your life.

OR

you can spend, right now, about 0.1X for a knife that actually works, is solidly made, holds its edge, will help you chop faster (because it's actually fucking sharp), and last until your great-grandchildren die and it gets lost in their estate sale.

Golden rule for all of your life: NEVER skimp on money when buying kitchen tools.

[Dr Morbius]

44. Here's another golden rule:

You may not even need that gadget (or tool). A good chef's knife answers many needs, like being a fine substitute for a garlic press (as you later wrote). I don't even have a food processor.

[Rabrrrrrr]

47. Absolutely damn right! I use my food processor rarely.

I can cut so much faster with my GOOD KNIFE than I can cut with the food processor, esp. if you include the time it takes to take the damn thing out of the closet, fire it up, and then clean the son of a bitch.

Fuck that - I can slice and dice on my own.

And crush garlic.

Although I will pull out of the food process when I make garlic soup and need five bulbs of garlic sliced up. It's worth the time for cleaning it and dicking around to avoid hand-slicing the 120 cloves of garlic or whatever the fuck it is.

And the FP is great for some stuff - like making powdered sugar, or pureeing shit, or quickly mincing a half pound of meat.

[hunter]

62. My wife's a gadget person, I'm not.

This leads to a great deal of conflict in our kitchen.

I'd be happy cooking with sticks and rocks. A cast iron pot and good knives are about as far as I'd go at the market. I doubt I'd even have a refrigerator because in my world leftovers belong to the dogs or the compost heap.

My wife has dozens of tools, special pans, things with electrical cords... It never stops.

[Rabrrrrrr]

41. If you bought a garlic press, laugh at yourself for your gullibility, and throw it away.

Most all of us were fooled by the "garlic press" meme when were in our early twenties and wanted our first "real, bitchin' cool kitchen utensil that KICKS ASS!"

Welcome to the club.

Now, be a decent human being, and take your garlic press to Good Will or a church thrift sale where another early 20s cook-wannabe will buy it - you won't save them from the error, but you'll save them ten bucks, and you'll come out a humanitarian.

Want your garlic mashed up? Guess what does that real well - smash it with the bottom of a can or a glass. Or, if you followed my advice in the previous post, smash it with your non-shitty knife and cut it up. Add a bit of salt to it to add some roughage, and you can smear it around and make a wonderful paste.

And you'll never scream obscenities again trying to clean that goddamn useless garlic press.

[jgraz]

73. Or, just get a garlic press that comes with its own cleaning utensil

Most of the Zyliss presses come with a cleaner. Personally, I'd much rather rinse out a garlic press than clean sticky garlic off my cutting board and knife.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

42. If you're going to make something spicy like a from scratch

fry the spices before you add the yogurt, coconut milk, or broth.

If you make hot cereal, immediately wash the pot in cold water after you've dished it out.

[Old Troop]

45. Stereotypical grandmas aren't always good cooks

Vet their advice. My grandmother made coffee that tasted like she'd added a pinch of gunpowder (maybe she had). Her most acclaimed meal was Yankee Pot Roast where the vegetables and meat tasted the same. Oh and you always had to cook pork until it was hard and dry to keep out trichinosis.

[TommyO]

49. Another one: electric stoves* suck

* except for induction stoves and cooktops.

[Dappleganger]

52. Real butter, heavy cream and bacon.

This is all you need to know in cooking.

;)

[unpossibles]

54. four tips of knife use

1 - always know where the knife is at all times. Don't assume you do.
2 - always know where your hands are at all times. Ditto.
3 - always use a sharp knife
4 - tuck your fingers under your knuckle on the non-knife hand when cutting - a missing slice of knuckle hurts far less than a fingertip. There's a trick to using this one to help numbers 1 and 2 but that's kind of advanced for this.


And a general rule about cooking: don't be afraid to make a mistake, and even better to eat them. It's how we learn. Dogs can be helpful with this one.

[begin_within]

55. Food tastes better to you when someone else makes it, not you.

[begin_within]

56. To peel garlic,

lay a clove of garlic flat on a plate. Lay a knife with a wide blade flat onto it. (Not cutting into it, just laying flat on top of it. The edge of the blade is off to the side.) Make a fist and bang straight down on the knife. (You are banging on the knife's side, not edge!). That will cause the skin to slip off the clove of garlic.

[begin_within]

57. To peel eggs,

boil the eggs with a little baking soda in the water. This lowers the pH and makes the shell stick to the white less. The fat end of the egg usually has a little air pocket. Crack the egg at the fat end and use that air pocket to start peeling. I hold the egg under a thin stream of water at the sink. Push the white inward to make it separate from the shell. Continue until all of the shell is removed. Rinse to rinse away any remaining tidbits of shell. Dry on a paper towel.

[Dogtown]

59. Sharpen your knives.

A dull knife is much more dangerous than a sharp one.

[Bucky]

60. To test if the spaghetti is done, throw it against the wall. But this does not work with the sauce.

[Dr Morbius]

61. I recommend instead eating a strand of spaghetti.

It's a tad more sanitary. But whatever works for you...

[TommyO]

65. I'm a taster as well

I'll take a few pieces, a few seconds before it should be done, give a quick spritz with cold water so I don't burn my tongue, and give it a go.

[jgraz]

74. I honestly think some crafty Italian thought this up as a joke on the northern Europeans

Just bite the thing. It's called al dente for a reason.

[Inchworm]

63. Cast iron is nearly indestructible

-go the $100 for a real knife

-you can grow hella herbs easily that tastes a kabillion times better, and when you must buy dried look in the spanish aisle

-thermometers are your friend

-there is a time for margarine and a time for butter (salted AND unsalted)

-never buy microwave bags of popcorn

-keep a pair of glasses on the table so expiration dates can be deciphered

-don't just use one kind of hot sauce no matter how much you like it. If you like any you will find that the world has many kinds that do different things.

-Eat at granny's early and stay all day. Ask questions until she runs you off.

-garden veggies taste 100% different than what you can buy in a store.

-vinegar rocks

-powdered milk can do a lot of what store-bought milk can if you aren't a milk drinker.

-clean as you go or all goes south and you'll be slow to cook again.

-duck jelly doesn't go good with peanut butter, nor does popcorn on an omelet.

-mortar and pestle is a cool ass toy to bring dried herbs/spices back to life. (once heated)

-don't waste cheap beer (Budweiser) if the recipe calls for it. If you must, buy a good dark beer.

-you can pickle any vegetable in old pickle juice once or twice. Three times is my limit, and asparagus and baby carrots are my favorite.

-if you live in the woods, ask a logger for some hickory rather than paying out the ass for pre-cut wood chips. (smoker)

-you can convert a smoker into a dehydrator with 2 100 watt light bulbs.

-don't give dogs chicken bones unless you boil them. *cough* don't give big dumb dogs *cough* bones larger than the distance between his eyes unless he has learned his lesson.

-flour tortillas <> corn tortillas.

-when making nanner pudding, be patient in the double boiler thingy. If you put the right stuff in there it WILL thicken... eventually.

Ok, that was just off the top of my head. I love cooking stuff :P

:hi:

Edit: Spanish Isle.. yup, I smiled.

[TommyO]

66. Posted in the wrong place

[TommyO]

67. More Pasta tips

We've already seen salt the water and how to check for doneness, here are a few more.

1. Reserve a cup or two of the pasta water to thin down your sauce if necessary.

2. Do not rinse your pasta, the starch left over on it will help your sauce cling to it.

3. Toss your pasta with the warmed sauce in a pan, don't just pour the sauce over the pasta, it will never coat every piece of the pasta evenly.

4. Spaghetti Carbonara rocks, and is so simple to make it's not funny. Try a few recipes until you find one that suits your taste (my favorite is a variation on Anne Burrell's from Food Network: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/anne-burrell/spaghetti-alla-carbonara-recipe/index.html (no it's not too many eggs, just make sure you use large, not extra large)).

5. (edited to add): Don't use cheap, crappy cheese in a can, buy good cheese and grate it yourself.

[Inchworm]

68. kick for teh drunks

:kick:

:hi:

[JCMach1]

70. Stir constantly!

Yeah, I know... this means work...

[jgraz]

71. How to properly season a cast iron pan

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/jgraz/57

[TommyO]

75. Thanks for the link

I have a cast iron pan that a thoughtful family member washed, in hot soapy water of course, so it needs to be re-seasoned, I just haven't gotten around to it yet. I was going to use the tried-and-true veggie shortening route, but I'll give this a try.

[jgraz]

76. You can still use Crisco for this.

Any fat that's solid at room temp will work. It's about the only valid culinary use for Crisco, IMHO.

[jgraz]

72. Guacamole without bacon is a waste of good avocados

From Cook's Illustrated. I usually increase the cumin to at least 1 tsp and toast it in a dry pan before grinding it.

GUACAMOLE WITH BACON, SCALLIONS, AND TOMATO

Makes 2 1/2 to 3 cups.

To minimize the risk of discoloration, prepare the minced ingredients first so they are ready to mix with the avocados as soon as they are cut. Ripe avocados are essential here. To test for ripeness, try to flick the small stem off the end of the avocado. If it comes off easily and you can see green underneath it, the avocado is ripe.


3 medium avocados (preferably Hass)
3 large scallions , thinly sliced (about 1/3 cup)
1 medium clove garlic , minced
1 small jalapeño chile , minced (1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons)
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro leaves
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
6 slices bacon , cooked, drained, and crumbled, reserving 1 teaspoon rendered fat
1/2 medium tomato , seeded and diced small
2 tablespoons lime juice

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Halve one avocado, remove pit, and scoop flesh into medium bowl. Mash flesh lightly with scallions, garlic, jalapeño, cilantro, salt, cumin (if using), crumbled bacon, rendered fat, and tomato with tines of a fork until just combined.

2. Halve and pit remaining two avocados, scoop out flesh in one piece, and cube. Gently add the cubed avocados to the mashed avocado mixture.

3. Sprinkle lime juice over diced avocado and mix entire contents of bowl lightly with fork until combined but still chunky. Adjust seasoning with salt, if necessary, and serve. (Can be covered with plastic wrap, pressed directly onto surface of mixture, and refrigerated up to one day. Return guacamole to room temperature, removing plastic wrap at the last moment, before serving).

[styersc]

80. Kittens will always struggle to get out of the pie crust.

Best to bludgeon first.