Cooking

A lot of good cooking is in technique. What's something that you discovered or was told that really changed something meaningful for you? For me, I had struggled a lot to make omelettes. They always wound up becoming scrambled eggs because I sucked at flipping them over to cook on the other side (I like my eggs cooked pretty well so this was important to me.) Finally, watching someone else make an omelette, I noticed they didn't flip it. They put a lid on the pan, turned the heat down, and let the top cook that way. I tried it myself and now I make almost perfect omelettes every time. Have you had anything like this happen to you? If so, what was it?

RIP to the best yum-yum sauce recipe I have found, https://japanese-steakhouse-white-sauce.com/home/ (working wayback machine link). In its honor I'm posting the recipe here, along with my family's modifications.

OG recipe:

• Mayonnaise (Hellman's), 1-1/4 cup
• Water, 1/4 cup
• Tomato paste, 1 teaspoon
• Melted butter, 1 tablespoon
• Garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon
• Sugar, 1 teaspoon
• Paprika, 1/4 teaspoon
• Cayenne pepper, dash

You can just mix everything together in this version, no particular order. The author stresses that it won't taste right if you use a different brand of mayo. He says it makes it taste too strongly of mayo. He particularly cautions the use of low fat or reduced calorie mayo, and the substitution of ketchup for the tomato paste. Once mixed the sauce should be refrigerated immediately and allowed to chill overnight for best results. Best within 7-10 days.

OG "from scratch":

• Soybean oil, 3/4 cup
• Egg, 1
• Dry mustard powder, 1/2 teaspoon
• Salt, 1/2 teaspoon
• Sugar, 2 teaspoon
• Cayenne pepper, dash
• White vinegar, 1-1/2 tablespoons
• Cayenne pepper, dash (duplicate line is reflective of his recipe. It's unclear if this is a typo or he adds it twice in different stages, although the written instructions don't indicate that.)
• Tomato paste, 1-1/2 teaspoons
• Melted butter, 1 tablespoon
• Garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon
• Paprika, 1/4 teaspoon
• Water, 1/4 cup

Copypasta instructions:

Set up blender. Put 1/4 cup (only) of the oil along with the egg, vinegar, mustard powder, salt, cayenne and 1 teaspoon of the sugar in the blender and place the lid on the blender. Turn it on and let everything mix well for about 5-10 seconds. Turn off the blender.

Open the pouring hole in the blender lid or take off the small removable center piece. Turn the blender back on, and very slowly drizzle the remaining 1/2 cup oil through the hole into the mixture while it is blending. It should take 30 seconds or so – if not, you are pouring too fast!

*** If you add the oil too fast, it will not emulsify (come together) properly, and will not be the consistency of mayo – it will be more like white oil and you will need to throw it away! ***

Once the mixture has emulsified, turn off the blender. Empty the contents into a mixing bowl. Using a fork or a whisk, mix in the remaining 1 teaspoon sugar along with the tomato paste, melted butter, garlic powder and paprika. Mix throughly until the sauce is smooth. If it is too thick, add some of the water (up to 1/4 cup) to get it to the desired consistency. Refrigerate overnight to allow flavors to blend. Bring to room temperature before serving.

And finally, my family's take! Our changes deepen the flavor a bit and increase the kick. Note that this recipe is based on a double portion. YMMV trying to make more or less, I've found that the proportions don't always scale properly. We typically use Duke's mayo, just because it's what we keep in the fridge. I suggest starting with 2 cups of mayo and the water, mixing, and slowly adding mayo until you reach your preferred consistency. We tend to make it pretty thick because we mix it into white rice.

• mayo, 2 - 2.5 cups
• water, 1/2 cup
• tomato paste, 3 tsp
• melted butter, 2 tbs
• garlic powder, 1.25 tsp
• sugar, 2 tsp
• paprika, 1.5 tsp
• cayenne, .5 tsp
• OPTIONAL mirin or rice wine vinegar to taste
  • vinegar adds tang
  • mirin adds smoothness

As per the title, what is a food that crunches/is hard to bite, but is also savory and sour?

I couldn't find anything (except Lemons!) matching this criteria, but it's an interesting combination of tastes.

Edit: Thanks for the answers! I'm gonna try out some new foods

Looking for some inspiration, my wife's out of town this week babysitting he grandmother with dementia, so she's been eating a lot of very bland, old-white-lady-palate-approved meals (her grandmother once described some jarred vodka sauce as being "too spicy")

We're both pretty adventurous eaters and spice-lovers, and I know it's driving her mad by now, so I figured I'd welcome her home in a couple days with a dinner full of all the biggest flavor bombs I can find

Help me light her taste buds on fire, decimated my spice cabinet, and make my toilet tremble in fear of what is to come.

I was frustrated earlier trying to figure out what to cook for dinner for a few picky eaters, so I typed:

chicken no strawberry no gravy no olives rice noodles spices onion garlic

into Goblin Tools. The recipe it came back with is delicious. I cooked it and got no complaints from anyone, which impressed me so I figured I'd share it. I added 1/2 teaspoon of garam masala to the spice mixture but other than that I cooked it exactly how it says to in the recipe.

The recipe (exactly as returned):

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Dish Name: Spiced Chicken and Rice Pilaf

Serving Size: 4

Ingredients:

• 500 g (1 lb) chicken, cut into pieces
• 250 g (1 1/4 cups) rice
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 750 ml (3 cups) chicken broth or water
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tbsp oil

Instructions: Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and sauté until translucent. Add the minced garlic and cook for another minute. Add the chicken pieces and cook until browned on all sides. Stir in the cumin, paprika, turmeric, salt, and pepper. Add the rice and stir to coat. Pour in the chicken broth or water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for about 20 minutes, until the rice is cooked and has absorbed the liquid. Fluff with a fork before serving. Enjoy your Spiced Chicken and Rice Pilaf!

For dietary purposes, I’ve been told to start including probiotic rich food in my diet and I figure since people in my house already like yogurt that’s the best way to go. But I absolutely hate the texture of yogurt. How can I change it and still enjoy the health benefits? I don’t love smoothies, but I’ll make one occasionally with yogurt. But I’d prefer to have some variety with this. Adding granola is alright, and definitely helps but even still I find myself just grossed out after two spoonfuls. Is there anything I can do? Is freezing it and turning it into something like frozen yogurt going to kill the cultures? It’s sad, because this is the only food I absolutely cannot seem to find a way to enjoy!

I put some asparagus in vinegar with garlic, red pepper flakes, and pickling spice a couple weeks ago. I just cracked it open, and they're fantastic!

I also started a batch of sauerkraut today with garlic and caraway seeds in a brine. Gonna keep an eye on it and hope it comes out alright. I like that it's a live fermentation, and will hopefully be full of good probiotics.

What's your favorite thing to pickle, and in what?

I have made chicken adobo (with coconut milk) many times with very good results. This last week, I tried the following recipe for pork adobo:

https://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Pork-Adobo/

And I was not very pleased with it. I thought it would be a slam dunk, but it just disappointed me.

Does anyone know of a good pork adobo recipe they can point me to?

I have a recipe that calls for a dough to be autolysed (long bulk ferment while stretching and folding the dough). I'm fortunate to have access to a stand mixer. Is their any advantage to doing the autolyse? Should I just kneed it in the mixer to save time?

Presumably either a terrible idea or already a thing, not sure which.

I'm thinking crispy-fried-aromatics-in-oil, Mediterranean edition. Garlic, eschalots (aka scallions), thyme/rosemary/etc, vast quantity of parsley, peppercorns, lemon zest, fine-diced rye sourdough.

Jar of that in the fridge, use it like chilli crisp but for white-people food.

Is this a thing? Should it be a thing?

Experimenting with fries 🍟

\#food @foodnoms #health #photography #homemade @cooking @mastodonindians

Hey, I’m trying to make fried chicken. I MUST today, for the sake of my future confidence and the joy of my day TODAY. I want to use chicken breast, thighs are too fatty for me.

How? I’m looking up recipes but they all seem so disingenuous. I know that sounds stupid, but I thought maybe asking real people would give me a better chance.

Chicken breast, buttermilk. Those are the only ingredients I feel like I must use. Anyone have any advice on the fried chicken? I’ve got regular canola oil, olive oil, extra virgin, and I’m waiting to visit the grocery store. I was about to go but I just don’t feel confident. Please, anyone have a list of ingredients worth using together?

My daughter tried to make garlic focaccia and mixed fresh garlic into the dough instead of topping it. Ended up with an oily thick cracker.

!

Welp, I am pleasently surprised. Other than my legs hurting like mad, it really wasn't that difficult to make.

Unfortunately, the past two months my taste has been extremely erratic, so I can't say how this tastes, other than very beany (but I do know it should taste just fine. I've made gorditas with this same sweet bean paste for at least two years now. Tested with the wife, though, and the cinnamon I added is what is the strongest flavor).

As for the mayocoba beans, they were the best for making sweet paste that I could reliably find around our little city.

As for the recipe. Meh, there's nothing really to write down. I have never been a heavy sugar eater, and these health issues have made eating lots of sugar a bloody pain in the arse. So I added just enough sugar...(maybe, as I really can't taste the sugar right now. So I guessed, HAH!). A wee bit of cinnamon, and a pinch of salt.

Now, as for the mochi, I did follow a recipe I found on youtube. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzfKNUL78pY)

12 oz. Water \ 8 oz. Sweet rice flour \ 4 oz. Sugar

mixed the mochi in a skillet, let it soak for a bit and rolled the sweet bean paste into balls, fried on medium heat, then low heat, then placed onto a pile of cornstarch, and went from there.

It really didn't stay as hot as I was afraid it was going to be. The bean paste could have used a light freeze/chill, or drying as most of it was too sticky to form the mochi. Plus, I should have made a slightly larger batch, as I tried to thin the mochi up which tore on several of them. Meh, live and learn.

I wish I could taste them to their fullest, but meh, it's my fault for trusting a doctor, HAH!

!

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Just adding this an hour later to show how bloody erratic my taste is. Now the bean flavor is extremely faint and the sugar is very very strong. Now it's almost sickly sweet, 🙄, and I know I didn't add that much sugar to the bean paste.

Going for a bun cha kind of thing here. Chicken and pork meatballs with lemongrass, fish sauce, and garlic. Pickled carrot and radish (only had red radish so that's what I used), wide rice noodles (again, what I had), and nuoc cham. Pretty tasty for something I threw together quickly!

I've been messing around with my Pizza Dough recipe for the past 3 days 🐱

The goal was to scale the recipe to two portions (∅25cm) that taste best after around 16-24h resting time. I like my dough fairly thin, but more chewy than crispy. I also go heavy on the toppings, so it should have enough structure to hold them up by itself after the first two bites or so. Most Pizzas here are topped with 250-ish grams of chicken, pickles, pickled red onion, bbq sauce and whatever canned corn-mix I had on hand.

!image: Pizza

The first Pizza had way too much dough, and I had it in an initially cold pan on a pizza stone. It stayed very soggy in the middle 😕 I also only put oil in the pan, no flour. So it got super stuck.

!image: Pizza 2

The second one was light years ahead, way thinner dough and I blasted the pan on my induction stove until it sizzled before putting it in the oven without a pizza stone. The bottom turned out exactly how I like it!!

It still got a little stuck in the pan, as I used oil and too little semolina flour.

!image: Pizza 3

Pizza 3 was the best one! I went very heavy when coating the pan in regular flour (instead of semolina, i dont like the texture) and pulled up the crust on all sides so that it wouldn't stick so much. It didn't, and I kinda like the look! This one I also blasted on the stove beforehand and put in the oven with no Pizza stone.

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The (current) dough recipe:

• 150g Pizza flour
• 150g water
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/8 tsp dry yeast
• 6g salt
• 3 tsp vital wheat gluten (sold as Seitan base)

-> mix everything to a very watery crepe-dough consistency and let sit for 20-30 mins

-> add 100g more flour and knead to a Pizza dough

-> let rest for at least 12h, but 16-24h is even better

-> bake it as hot as your oven will allow, mine has a Pizza setting that does 250°C -----

I'll probably tweak it even more when I get into the mood for half a week of Pizza again 🐱 I'm thinking that I should be able to get the exact same result from using regular 403 flour but with 4 instead of 3 tsp of the vital wheat gluten. But I might have to scale up the water as well in that case, hmm

I'll post recipes later if anyone is interested. The potato salad doesn't look great in the photo, but it was a real winner.

Made 46 total, and I'll make more tomorrow! I did break the ravioli cutter though, so tomorrow's batch will be heart shaped!

So I put 4 cloves in a small batch of salsa. I did roast them with a butane torch and thought that would make the flavor a little milder, nope.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/16622039

> Week 24 - Seasonal ingredients: Many berry pie with rosemary lemon ice cream > > My dad loves berry pies, so had to make him one for Father's Day. Fresh seasonal items used were blueberries and lemons (picked from my tree). The rosemary was from my yard too, but that thing grows year round 😋 > > Other berries used were the frozen Costco mix of blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, cherries and pomegranate, on a homemade crust. > > The ice cream was a custard base, with rosemary steeped in the milk & cream. I like experimenting with unique flavors of ice cream, and this one was a hit with my family. > > [Image description: a close up of a slice of double crust berry pie with a dollop of melting ice cream on top.]

Made this before my mom left back to the states, and had written down the recipe for her.

Cut onions, shallots, sweet onions, and garlic into small pieces. Call

Cut sweet paprika into small pieces separately.

Melt butter in a steel pot on low heat, then add onions, shallots, sweet onions, and garlic to the pot and fry until they sweat. Separate and keep the oil to the side, and put the aromatics back in the pot.

Lower the heat to low, then add smetana, cream of tartar, dill, and a touch of salt, whisking continuously.

Turn off the heat, add a touch of coffee cream to sauce, and continue whisking off heat.

Cut bread loafs and brush them with the oil you set aside earlier, and top them with the cut sweet paprika. Put in an oven preheated to 200°C/390°F and bake until crispy.

Prepare the Brussels sprouts by removing their outer leaves and cutting their ends. Add sesame oil to a small bowl, then add a few drops of truffle oil and 2-4 drops of orange bitters and mix together. Brush the sprouts with the oil mix. Roast in the oven as well, sprinkling some salt on sprouts after they are ready and out of the oven.

Heat a decent amount of rapeseed oil in a pan, and fry fish, flipping only once. Fry skin side first well so it crisps up, then only briefly fry the other side after turning the heat off from the oil.

Plate by adding sauce, and topping it with the fish. Add sauce and bread to the side. You can also garnish the dish with edible flowers.

Has Huy Fong Sriracha changed color?

Saw a bunch of bottles at the store today, but instead of their usual brick-red color, the sauce was almost brown. I checked the expiration dates on a few bottles -- the date was June of 2026 (or there abouts, don't remember the exact date), so they weren't expired. Anyone know if these Sriracha bottles are unusual, or is Sriracha brown now?

Mixed veggies in mango sauce over quinoa and brown rice with tempura tofu

I don't usually write recipes or amounts but recently I've been doing some experiments so I've loosely written what I did at least, in case my wife wants to recreate the dish with my help when going through chemo.

Mix crushed garlic and tomatoes with chipotle, paprika, umami, onion, and garlic powders, citrus pepper, mint, and dried basil. Then mix in some apricot puree.

Cut Golden Squash into discs, leaving skin on.

Melt butter in an enameled cast iron pan or similar until hot, then fry the discs until browned.

Lower temperature to medium-low heat, flip discs, then add sauce mix evenly and simmer for a while.

Make/buy raviolis, preferably a pork with some fresh herb or pine nut filling.

When ravioli is cooked, layer half onto a plate.

Then, add a layer of cheese, preferably kerma, gouda, or port salt.

Turn heat off from the pan with sauce and squash. Layer the squash on top of cheese and cover with half the sauce.

Layer the rest of the ravioli, and add the rest of the squash.

Ingredients: Old-fashioned oats, cinnamon, chopped and crushed walnuts, honey, salt.

I want to put the steak onto a hot pan to get that sear on the outside and uh lock in the flavor or something. But butter burns at high heats and oil doesn't add flavor like butter.

Is there a way I can get the best of both? A nice sear but still cook in butter?

Says it's a stirlon for example.

As is often the case with my meals, this was a "use it up before it turns" meal. Had some beef top round roast, jalapenos, carrots, and cabbage, plus a giant bag of oranges from my parent's tree that need to be eaten, and this is what came out.

General recipe:

• Slice beef into strips, marinate for a few hours in orange juice, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, pepper and garlic powder.
• Stir fry ginger, garlic, and onion, then add julienned carrot, jalapeno, cabbage and roughly chopped mushrooms. Don't over crowd the wok, cook in batches. I added a splash of soy and rice vinegar to the cabbage at the end to steam it at little.
• Pat the beef strips dry before searing in the wok, again working in batches.
• Cook down the marinade, add a corn starch slurry, and keep adding a little bit of soy sauce, rice vinegar, and brown sugar until it hits the right Magic Sauce™ blend of overly sweet, tangy, savory.
• Serve on rice with some green onions.

Still have more beef and more oranges, going to use the same marinade, but add lime and turn it into some carne asada for tomorrow.

[Image description: a blue bowl on a speckled white countertop. Inside the bowl is white rice and mixed sauteed vegetables, topped with small cubes of beef with a drizzle of glossy dark brown sauce, and a sprinkle of sliced green onion.]

This recipe is great to repurpose lunch leftovers for dinner. It's also relatively mess-free. Loosely based on egg-fried rice.

Amounts listed for two servings, but they're eyeballed so use your judgment.

Ingredients:

• Cooked leftover rice. 200~300g (cooked) is probably good enough. It's fine to use pilaf, just make sure that the rice is cold, a bit dry, and that the grains are easy to separate.
• Two eggs. Cracked into a small bowl and whisked with salt, pepper, and MSG. Or the seasoning of your choice.
• Veg oil. For browning.
• Water. Or broth if you want, it's just a bit.
• [OPTIONAL] Meats. Leftover beef, pork, or chicken work well. Supplement it with ham, firmer sausages, and/or bacon; 1/2 cup should be enough for two. Dice them small.
• [OPTIONAL] Vegs. I'd add at least half raw onion; but feel free to use leftover cooked cabbages, peas, bell peppers, etc. Or even raw ones. Also diced small.
• [OPTIONAL] Chives. Mostly as a finishing touch. Sliced thinly.

Preparation:

1. Add a spoonful of veg oil to a wok or similar. Let it heat a bit.
2. If using raw meats: add them to the wok, and let them brown on high fire, stirring constantly. Else, skip this step.
3. If using raw vegs: add them to the wok, and let them it cook on mid-low fire. Else, skip this step.
4. Add the already cooked ingredients (rice, meats, vegs). Medium fire, stirring gentle but constantly; you want to heat them up, not to cook them further. Adjust seasoning if desired.
5. Spread the whisked egg over your heated rice mix, while stirring and folding the rice frenetically. You want the egg to coat the rice grains, but they should be still separated when done. If some whisked egg is sticking to the wok and/or the rice is too dry, drip some water/broth and scrap the bottom of the wok; just don't overdo it (you don't want soggy rice). Anyway, when the egg is cooked this step is done, it'll give the rice grains a nice yellow colour and lots of flavour.
6. If using chives, add them after your turned off the fire (they get sad if cooked). Enjoy your meal.

I was going to share a picture of the final result, but I may or may not have eaten it before thinking about sharing the recipe. Sorry. :#

The best by date is in 2 days. I know about the water test for egg freshness so I'm not super concerned, but please give me ideas for using them up within a week or so 🥺 I've boiled a few and am planning to make some cookie dough, but that only counts for half a dozen.

Sharing this recipe since it is delicious, don't know if I'm breaking any rules here since this is my first time posting