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Finally... => Creative Projects => Topic started by: SirHoneyBadger on May 19, 2009, 02:32:47 am

Title: Cooking advice.
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on May 19, 2009, 02:32:47 am: So, I like to cook, and I've noticed there's quite a few people on these boards who don't seem to know how to.

So this is the thread for you!

If you have any questions, or just want to talk about food and/or food making, go right ahead and post, and I'll try to get back to you--hopefully in time to prevent you from starving to death and/or setting yourself on fire, but I make no guarantees.

I'm also interested in authentic ethnic cuisine from around the world, so if you already know how to cook, and want to talk about that, that's cool too.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Enzo on May 19, 2009, 03:18:36 am: First the beer thread, now this? You're quite the gourmet, ain'tcha SHB? I'm not complaining.
I mostly only cook pasta, stirfry, and curry. But my curry is so good it'll make you indian. Easy too, I don't fully understand people who go on the ramen noodle diet for any reason beside financial...
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Apsu on May 19, 2009, 03:21:57 am: Does this cooking include baking? Salty or sweet, bread or cakes.

I enjoy cooking but I'm a bit too lazy to do anything special, making my own bread is more fun because you really don't have to do it. You don't usually start baking bread when you're hungry so baking is mostly for fun.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on May 19, 2009, 03:58:02 am: Yeah, I cook almost every day, and in general I think it's a good thing for everyone to learn atleast the basics.

I brew my own beer (although I'm still just learning), and I also grow my own veggies. ;D

Baking's great, although my wife's really the baker. The closest I get to baking is pie crust, and the occasional Yorkshire pudding.

I love home made curry, by the way. My "standard" curry is passable, but it used to be a lot better, and I'm not quite sure why... Although, lately I'm more interested in Middle Eastern influenced curries (by way of Thailand), like 'Massaman', than strictly Indian ones (although Punjabi cuisine is a favorite of mine), so maybe it's just a question of passion.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Maggarg - Eater of chicke on May 19, 2009, 09:59:23 am: I can cook stuff. Not by memory, because I don't really cook enough stuff.
I can make Beer Soup though.
It contains beer along with anything I happen to have in the kitchen.
Generally of a vegetable nature.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: viskaslietuvai on May 19, 2009, 10:20:16 am: Quote from: kinseti on May 19, 2009, 03:18:36 am
I mostly only cook pasta, stirfry, and curry. But my curry is so good it'll make you indian. Easy too, I don't fully understand people who go on the ramen noodle diet for any reason beside financial...

Those are my main dishes as well, though sometimes I'll do something that'll have leftovers, scalloped potatoes, meatloaf etc. but I have to plan those ahead of time as I can't make them off the top of my head. I gotta say though that Thai curries beat Indian every day of the week. That's just me though. Sorry, no food questions for you good Sir.
My family breathes food. My dad owned a Japanese restaurant for 20 years, my mom had a small (relatively unsuccessful) cafe for 3 and now my brother just opened a sandwich soup shop in Kaohsiung, Taiwan (drop a line if you're in the area) plus I've worked in restaurant kitchens on the line.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Yanlin on May 19, 2009, 10:46:45 am: Dwarven roast
Pour 5 bottles of liquor into a pot and bring to a boil. Serve warm.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Rysith on May 19, 2009, 03:00:48 pm: Quote from: kinseti on May 19, 2009, 03:18:36 am
I mostly only cook pasta, stirfry, and curry.

Ah, my three staples of cooking when I was in college. Well, those and some of the middle eastern stews that you throw a bunch of stuff into a slow cooker in the morning and return after class to have hot stew waiting for you. Mostly Thai curries for me, since coconut milk is delicious.

On questions, I've been trying to find a decent vindaloo recipe for a while, since I have had good vindaloo before but my attempts thus far have come out entirely too acidic. Does anyone have any pointers for that?
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Enzo on May 19, 2009, 03:15:17 pm: Damnit Yanlin, you forgot to mince the wine! Now the roast is ruined.

Thai curry is good too, but I make the least authentic thai curry ever. It's essentially indian curry with coconut milk. Coconut milk does make things delicious though. In terms of the spices, does anyone know what's in thai green curry? I've been meaning to make my own curry powder for a while...

Quote from: Rysith on May 19, 2009, 03:00:48 pm
On questions, I've been trying to find a decent vindaloo recipe for a while, since I have had good vindaloo before but my attempts thus far have come out entirely too acidic. Does anyone have any pointers for that?
Hmm...do you know what's making it so acidic? The only thing I can think of off the top of my head is that you're using crappy onions. If your onions are super acidic and/or you don't cook them long enough this would happen. I guess some recipes call for vinegar too but that seems pretty obvious. Also, make it spicier. That fixes all indian food.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Rysith on May 19, 2009, 06:09:11 pm: Quote from: kinseti on May 19, 2009, 03:15:17 pm
Thai curry is good too, but I make the least authentic thai curry ever. It's essentially indian curry with coconut milk. Coconut milk does make things delicious though. In terms of the spices, does anyone know what's in thai green curry? I've been meaning to make my own curry powder for a while...

Though I'm not entirely sure of all of the ingredients, I know that the major source of spicy in green curry is the ground chili seeds. Use Thai ones for the most authentic flavor, of course.

Quote
Quote from: Rysith on May 19, 2009, 03:00:48 pm
On questions, I've been trying to find a decent vindaloo recipe for a while, since I have had good vindaloo before but my attempts thus far have come out entirely too acidic. Does anyone have any pointers for that?
Hmm...do you know what's making it so acidic? The only thing I can think of off the top of my head is that you're using crappy onions. If your onions are super acidic and/or you don't cook them long enough this would happen. I guess some recipes call for vinegar too but that seems pretty obvious. Also, make it spicier. That fixes all indian food.

Yeah, it's the vinegar. The recipes I found said you wanted to use vinegar to help the marinade penetrate, but using the ratios of vinegar to water to spices that they recommended made it too acidic, and now that I'm not just cooking for myself I'm a bit hesitant to experiment with things until i get it right without some kind of reasonable base.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Armok on May 20, 2009, 12:40:24 am: I'm not sure if I could describe myself as good at cooking or not, I consider myself decently knowledgeable in the lore and theory, and I have in fact invented some receipt on my own (not many, but including Bearnaise soup. yes, Bearnaise soup, as in the sauce, except its a soup. sadly I don't have the receipt here at the moment. It's actually good), I also do some simple cooking regularly. However, I'm really never cook anything advanced, and I don't really enjoy practice itself, nor the subtilities of eating the result enough to get very good...

Anyway, my tip for you today is this thing I'm not exactly sure what to call in English. According to what I find on wikipedia Toffee, Fudge, or Knäck comes the closest.
To make it is simple: Mix 33% cream, 33% syrup, and 33% sugar (by volume), you may also ad some butter and something (test something: vanilla, spices, cacao, or something other random experimentally) for taste, and boil it (I think it's still called boil even if there is no water involved?) for a while. Depending how you want it, you cook it different amounts of time: short time and you get a sauce-like thing delicious on icecream, a bit longer, and you get a chewy candy, and last you may get a brittle candy, similar to the inside of dime bars, called Knäck, but going that long is risky and hard.
I'm not sure if you can count this as Swedish cosine, but all examples I've seen are Swedish.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on May 20, 2009, 12:56:47 am: Armok, that's the recipe (more or less) for butterscotch.

Which explains why it's so good on icecream. 8)

Also great in coffee, by the way.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: inaluct on May 20, 2009, 12:57:18 am: Quote from: Armok on May 20, 2009, 12:40:24 am
going that long is risky

Inaluct puts on his sunglasses and cooking hat.

It's go time. This weekend.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Armok on May 20, 2009, 01:27:49 am: risky as in: it's supposed to cook for a really long time, then if you are a minute to slow you'll not be able to distinguish the results from obsidian. You may well attempt it, but at least get a receipt first. I have never tried it, only watched my mum do it, and she never fails, so the accuracy of these horror stories are questionable.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Enzo on May 20, 2009, 02:05:17 am: Quote from: Armok on May 20, 2009, 01:27:49 am
risky as in: it's supposed to cook for a really long time, then if you are a minute to slow you'll not be able to distinguish the results from obsidian.
I've heard this too. The difference between brittle and a slab of burned sugar is about 45 seconds.

Quote from: Rysith on May 19, 2009, 06:09:11 pm
Yeah, it's the vinegar. The recipes I found said you wanted to use vinegar to help the marinade penetrate, but using the ratios of vinegar to water to spices that they recommended made it too acidic, and now that I'm not just cooking for myself I'm a bit hesitant to experiment with things until i get it right without some kind of reasonable base.
Can of diced tomatoes works. Less acidic but still helps break down the meat a bit. Indian food is pretty forgiving towards experimentation :) Partly why I like it.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on May 20, 2009, 02:31:54 am: Tomatoes are a good suggestion. I'd suggest trying to find "petite diced" tomatoes, if you're going to use canned.

I find the texture to be better, and they break down a little faster than the regular dice, too.

For breaking down meat in Indian cuisine, you might also experiment with kiwi fruit and pineapples. Both of them are relatively inexpensive, and both contain meat tenderizing enzymes.

Milk will also work as a tenderizer, in a pinch (we've been baking hams in whole milk for a couple of generations now, and it works great).

I would think you could also probably find a cheap wine (red for vindaloo) that'll work in the place of vinegar...or maybe go half wine, half vinegar?

Speaking of acidic ingredients, if anyone access to green grapes and a juicer, you could try verjuice. It was an extremely common ingredient in the Middle Ages, that has since almost disappeared:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verjuice
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Awayfarer on May 20, 2009, 06:37:08 am: If you can find the Fannie Farmer cookbook, by all means pick up a copy. There's a good mix of easy and slightly more complex recipes. The only thing my fiance and I haven't really liked thus far were the crab cakes.

A little miscellaneous seafood advice.

Swordfish is a steaky/chicken-y meat that is good with anchovies. Try broiling a few on top for about a minute before the steaks are finished.

You can get away with leaving salmon a little raw in the center. This will ensure that it's nice and moist. Salmon should be flaky enough that it will fall apart with only a little pressure from a fork. If your salmon is tougher than this, try taking it out of the oven a bit earlier. The exception here is sockeye, which is tougher and meatier than most varieties. It also lends itself pretty well to sweet, smoky marinades IME.

Cod and most whitefish should be baked at fairly low temperatures, generally around 300-350 degrees. Anything more and they'll dry out.

Crab cakes go really well with remoulade.

I'm a New Englander and a Bay State resident. We know fish.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Hawkfrost on May 20, 2009, 02:03:12 pm: What are some things to make for a complete beginner(me), and how do you make them?
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: viskaslietuvai on May 20, 2009, 02:24:22 pm: When it comes to breaking down tough meat braising is the awesome. When I'm poor (frequently) and need protein, I just get the cheapest stuff make it smallish pieces, though that's not even necessary and slow cook that thing in spices and liquid for a few hours. Good times. Incidentally, putting coke in the liquid mixture is like magic for flavor. Braised beef or pork is especially good for burritos, tacos, curries, sandwiches, dumplings all kinds of great stuff.
To tenderize you can also boil (not exciting) and as the badger said, use high acid type marinades. Pineapple works wonders.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Maggarg - Eater of chicke on May 20, 2009, 02:33:00 pm: Quote from: Hawkfrost on May 20, 2009, 02:03:12 pm
What are some things to make for a complete beginner(me), and how do you make them?

Beer Soup a la Maggarg

Some beer.
Lots of vegetables
Probably some salt.
Possibly some water.

Stick the beer in a pan with the vegetables and salt. Cook it somehow, if the vegetables go gooey and it smells good you're doing it right. When it looks good, take it off the hob and eat it.
Traditionally eaten straight from the pan with a spoon.
Leave pan to "soak" for some weeks.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Rysith on May 20, 2009, 04:46:10 pm: Quote from: Hawkfrost on May 20, 2009, 02:03:12 pm
What are some things to make for a complete beginner(me), and how do you make them?

Complete beginner with a budget, or complete beginner with no money? I ask just because the first time many people realize that they are complete beginners is right around college/moving out, and they often have no money then, either. Anyway, some of my college favorites:

pasta with egg sauce (It has some other name, but I forget how to spell it)
Code: [Select]
1/4 lb pasta one egg 1/4 cup milk 1/4 cup powdered Parmesan/Romano cheese 1/4 cup crumbled bacon (cooked until crispy, then crumbled/chopped) ground pepper to taste boil water for pasta, combine other ingredients and mix until well blended. Once pasta is cooked, drain well and rinse in boiling water if desired. Return Pasta to cooking pot and pour the egg mixture over is, then mix thoroughly to coat the pasta and cook the egg. Serve hot
Stir Fry of Doom
Code: [Select]
Vegetable frying oil Soy sauce 1 tsp Sesame oil 1/2 tsp corn starch 1 tsp cold water 1 tsp finely chopped ginger At least three of the following: thinly sliced beef or chicken sliced mushrooms Boy Choy (Chinese Cabbage) Chinese egg noodles (substitute ramen if desired), cooked and coated in oil. Spinach Carrots Extra Firm tofu, sliced into cubes and marinated overnight in soy sauce, sesame oil and/or honey Snow peas Shelled Soybeans Combine 1 tablespoon soy sauce with sesame oil, water, and corn starch, mix well, and set aside. Heat enough oil to cover the bottom of a frying pan (or Wok if you have one) over high heat. Wait until a chunk of ginger thrown in sizzles immediately. Add ginger and stir-fry (keep in constant motion with a wooden spatula) for 30 seconds or so. Add meat (if using), mushrooms, Boy Choy, carrots, and/or Tofu and a bit of soy sauce. Stir-fry one minute, making sure meat is fully cooked on the outside. Add other ingredients, stir-fry until well mixed. Stir the corn starch sauce briefly, then pour over stir fry. Reduce heat and stir until the liquid at the bottom is thickened. Serve over rice if not using noodles.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Enzo on May 20, 2009, 09:13:09 pm: Quote from: viskaslietuvai on May 20, 2009, 02:24:22 pm
Incidentally, putting coke in the liquid mixture is like magic for flavor.
I know what you mean, but I still have to say it...enough coke will make anything magic.

Cheap and absolute beginner recipes? Bean Burritos.

Code: [Select]
1 can of kidney beans 1/4 of an onion Tortilla's of any variety Salt (to taste) Chili powder (to taste) Salsa, Cheese, Peppers, Lettuce, Yogurt, Hotsauce or whatever it is you put on burritos. Add a small amount of butter and a 1/4 of an onion to a frying pan, turn on medium/low heat. Wait 2 minutes or until the onions start to brown a little. Dump in can of beans (and liquid) and turn up heat slightly. Mash the beans with a fork while they're frying, add half a teaspoon of salt and a few tablespoons of chili powder. Cook for about 5 minutes or until it's a nice thick paste, stirring constantly, then remove from heat. And that's about it. If you can't wrap a tortilla yourself you're probably beyond my help. The beans will probably stick pretty badly despite your best efforts so you'll have to soak the pan afterwards.
Admittedly doesn't look very good on paper, but it's pretty delicious for a can of beans and 15 minutes.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on May 20, 2009, 09:35:26 pm: Quote from: Rysith on May 20, 2009, 04:46:10 pm
Quote from: Hawkfrost on May 20, 2009, 02:03:12 pm
What are some things to make for a complete beginner(me), and how do you make them?

Complete beginner with a budget, or complete beginner with no money? I ask just because the first time many people realize that they are complete beginners is right around college/moving out, and they often have no money then, either. Anyway, some of my college favorites:

pasta with egg sauce (It has some other name, but I forget how to spell it)
Code: [Select]
1/4 lb pasta one egg 1/4 cup milk 1/4 cup powdered Parmesan/Romano cheese 1/4 cup crumbled bacon (cooked until crispy, then crumbled/chopped) ground pepper to taste boil water for pasta, combine other ingredients and mix until well blended. Once pasta is cooked, drain well and rinse in boiling water if desired. Return Pasta to cooking pot and pour the egg mixture over is, then mix thoroughly to coat the pasta and cook the egg. Serve hot

Rysith-'Carbonara'.

One of my favorites, that I cook a couple of times a year. 8)

A lot of recipes will call for proscutto. American bacon is much better, in my opinion, especially if you can get good, thick-cut bacon. Sometimes this comes covered in cracked black pepper (I've bought it before, in the supermarket). The pepper mentioned is integral to the dish, so this would be ideal.

The only problem I have with Carbonara is that it always comes out a little bland for my tastes...so I tend to add other ingredients. I always add lots of garlic.

Mushrooms (the cheap white ones, thick sliced and cooked separately, on very high heat, which intensifies their flavor. You could use portabello/crimini, or any kind of edible mushroom, really) are good, spinach or Swiss chard-preferrably fresh-is also good, precooked just until it wilts, beforehand.

Both of these, I'd add at the very end, as a "topping".
I'd also probably serve this with sauteed chicken livers on the side, if I had any handy.

I've also seen recipes which add meatballs, chicken, Italian sausage.

Hawkfrost: What sort of things do you like to eat? If you'll let me know, I'll try to find you some easy recipes.

The nice thing about just learning to cook is you can experiment around and figure out what you like to eat, and then learn how to cook those things, before branching out.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Mr Tk on May 20, 2009, 11:24:34 pm: Cooking with Dave (http://www.proatcooking.com/)

He's pro at cooking.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Enzo on May 20, 2009, 11:45:04 pm: Quote from: SirHoneyBadger on May 20, 2009, 09:35:26 pm
A lot of recipes will call for proscutto. American bacon is much better, in my opinion, especially if you can get good, thick-cut bacon.

...what? I have nothing bad to say about bacon, but Proscutto is...godly. Westphalia ham is closer to it than bacon, too.
Sorry, I just had to jump in with that, I think I would get flogged if I told my parents bacon was better than proscutto. They are all about the proscutto. It's expensive, but not too bad if you get it ricepaper thin. Now I want pork.

Also that link is pretty funny.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on May 21, 2009, 02:58:49 am: kinseti, I'm just saying for the carbonara. Proscutto is good stuff, but it's a little too mild for an already bland dish.

Aside from the flavor, yeah it's about 10 times as expensive as bacon, so why waste it in a recipe where bacon will perform better?
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Maggarg - Eater of chicke on May 21, 2009, 05:41:41 am: carbonara is kind of bland alone, but if you throw in bacon and stuff it becomes this godly bacony dish with an awesome flavour and texture.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on May 21, 2009, 05:56:08 am: It's filling--and tasty enough the first time you eat it, but after a while, it just gets boring by itself.

Considering the huge amount of fat and carbs in the dish, it's just not worth it, if it doesn't taste really good.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: viskaslietuvai on May 21, 2009, 11:37:58 am: Quote from: Maggarg - Eater of chicke on May 21, 2009, 05:41:41 am
carbonara is kind of bland alone, but if you throw in bacon and stuff it becomes this godly bacony dish with an awesome flavour and texture.

I always understood carbonara to be traditionally made with bacon, or rather, probably prosciutto. My personal favorite, pancetta. At this one spot in San Diego, we made a Roqueforte Caesar salad and it was finished with crispy pancetta. It was delicious.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Enzo on May 21, 2009, 01:20:44 pm: SHB : ah. Seemed worded as a general statement. Also I like to argue lately, apparently. I don't really cook carbonara because yeah, it's dairy, carbs, and bacon.

Bring on more questions! Only people who know how to cook seem to be posting here... which is nice, but wasn't the stated purpose.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Maggarg - Eater of chicke on May 21, 2009, 01:23:22 pm: Fried bread.
Bread
Fat of choice (preferably something tasty)

Heat the fat in a pan until it begins bubbling and stuff.
Get your big thick slab of unhealthy white bread and stick it in your pan of unhealthy fat.
Fry bread on one side until golden brown.

Eat with other greasy fried stuff.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Wiles on May 21, 2009, 01:25:15 pm: There's a place near my university that makes sweet potato burritos. They are oh so good. I am going to need to make an attempt to replicate it at home sometime.

I like to cook but my menu is not very diverse. Any suggestions for a tasty (milk free) pasta dish on a students budget? The only pasta dish I make regularly is spaghetti.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on May 21, 2009, 03:07:50 pm: You could try making pasta aioli.

It's pretty cheap, although you're going to want to spring for a bottle of olive oil. You can use the cheapest one available though. It doesn't need to be extra virgin as long as it's 100% olive oil, and even a small bottle will be enough to make the dish several times.

Then, you'll want some fresh garlic and some Italian herbs. Fresh herbs are ofcourse better, but dried will work if that's what you can afford. You'll also want some parmezan or romano cheese. The grated stuff in a plastic can will again work.

Peal and chop up as much garlic as you want, and set aside.

Cook the pasta until al dente (it'll typically have instructions on the box, if not, boil about a gallon of water--add about a 4th of a cup of salt to it and a teaspoon of oil (doesn't have to be the olive oil), if you want--and then cook the pasta in the water for 8 to 10 minutes, until al dente, stirring once every minute or two, and drain.), and set the pasta aside to drain.

Put about 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a largeish frying pan, and set the heat on the stove to medium. Let the oil heat for 3 minutes, and then add the garlic and the Italian herbs to it, and stir. Cook them together for another 5 minutes, stirring frequently, and then raise the heat to high, for 1 to 2 minutes (until the burner turns red), while continuing to stir continuously. Be careful, because the oil will be very hot. Then turn the heat off (but leave the pan on the burner), and immediately add the pasta. Stir the oil and herbs into the pasta, thoroughly, and then take off the heat and serve immediately with the grated cheese on top (about 1/4th of a cup or so).

It'll serve from 2 to 4 people, depending on how hungry everybody is.

This dish is good because it's tasty by itself (also filling, and relatively healthy), and you can also do a lot of things with it. You can top it with cooked chicken, or add a-thoroughly drained-can of tuna, or peppers, or capers to the oil (infact, tuna with this dish is particularly good. Just don't add more than a half a cup of extras to the oil), so it's a good opportunity to experiment, without breaking your budget.

It'll also keep slightly better than most other pastas, because of the oil, but you might just want to warm it up and then top it with spaghetti sauce.

It takes some skill to get it right-and it's potentially somewhat dangerous, since you'll be working quickly with hot oil-but if you do it carefully, you can learn as you go.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Hawkfrost on May 21, 2009, 05:29:04 pm: Quote from: SirHoneyBadger on May 20, 2009, 09:35:26 pm
Hawkfrost: What sort of things do you like to eat? If you'll let me know, I'll try to find you some easy recipes.

The nice thing about just learning to cook is you can experiment around and figure out what you like to eat, and then learn how to cook those things, before branching out.

I like most kinds of food, I'm up for anything.
Italian and Chinese are my favorites though.

I'm 16 and living at home, so I don't have a budget problem, and we already have most of the ingredients needed for most things (We are a very food loving family considering how we are all skinny. My mom is a great cook but has no time to teach me properly.)
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on May 22, 2009, 04:38:01 am: Italian and Chinese are great places to start.

For Italian, an easy thing to start with would be lasagna.

You can make all the parts individually, and then just layer them and bake. Each layer can pretty much be as simple, or as complex, as you want it to be.

Lasagna at it's most basic is just red sauce, ricotta cheese, lasagna noodles, and mozzarella. That's it.

Cook the lasagna noodles as instructed on the box, and set aside. I definitely recommend adding some oil to the water when you cook them, by the way, as it'll keep them from sticking to each other, when you've set them aside.

If you feel like making your own noodles from scratch, more power to you. I suck at it, personally.

Layer noodles, ricotta cheese, sauce, mozzarella, and repeat.

The fun (as it is with most recipes I really enjoy) is in adding things, and making the basic stuff more complex.
It makes it a creative act.

I like to add (as separate layers) cooked Italian sausage (cased, cut into inch long pieces), pieces of chicken, beef, and pork (again, each meat in a separate layer), which have been breaded and fried separately, peeled and sliced eggplant, zucchini, whole mushrooms (separate layers), and even fresh baby spinach.

A good version is spinach and Italian sausage.

To the redsauce I'll add burgundy wine. The wine thins it out, and also adds a lot of flavor, and some acidity. I can make a passable redsauce from scratch, but I don't have a big problem with the stuff that comes in a jar, when it comes to lasagna, as long as it's of decent quality. The best thing about the jar stuff is knowing beforehand exactly what the consistency is going to be. I find that's important for this dish.

In addition to redsauce, a good Bolognese is also a possibility, but it's pretty advanced, and because of the complexity of Bolognese, it's harder to add to it, profitably. I really am not that fond of it in lasagna, but it's a great sauce. I'll write up a recipe for it sometime, though. Maybe next time I make it.

To the ricotta cheese, I add chopped herbs (fresh basil and parsley, if I have them. I rarely use much oregano, except in hummus, because it upsets my stomach, but your mileage may vary.), melted butter, crushed garlic, egg yolk, and a little sugar. The sugar helps the ricotta cheese stand out, while the egg helps it "set up" while baking.

In addition to mozzarella (but not replacing it), you could also use provalone, asiago, and fresh parmezan. I'd suggest no more than 1 part other types of cheese to 2 parts mozzarella.

If you're going to use romano (and I love romano), I'd suggest just putting it on top, because it's got a lot of salt, which might throw off some of the internal flavors going on.

When baking, 350 degrees (Farenheit) for 45 minutes for 1 box of noodles is about right. It might need an hour, depending on the thickness. You want the cheese on top to start getting brown--part of the purpose of the cheese on top, by the way, is keeping the sauce from overflowing.

It's easy to fill the baking dish too full, so try to leave a little room on the top, to prevent the lasagna overflowing while it cooks.

If it's *really* thick, you could maybe reduce the heat to 275 degrees, and cook it for an hour, then raise the heat up to 350, and cook it for another 15-20 minutes.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Hawkfrost on May 22, 2009, 02:53:26 pm: Damn, now you got me hungry.

On the plus side, I made macaroni with redsauce last night, and it came out beautifully.
My recipe includes generous amounts of chili garlic sauce, hot sauce, garlic, and about a half a dozen spices. And then more hot sauce.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on June 05, 2009, 05:44:14 am: Hotsauce is good for everything. I've made a couple different kinds before. My favorite's just habanero (has to be home grown, though, and left on the vine until completely ripe) that's been boiled in white vinegar, and then jarred for atleast a year, but I tend to just buy the Louisiana redsauce from the store. I like tobasco, too.

I roasted a ham tonight, and made (Still making, actually--apparently, my grandmother's recipe requires 24 hours cooking time. I haven't had it, let alone made it, for years.) baked beans.

The baked bean recipe (cooking time aside) is extremely easy:

Soak 2 pounds of great northern beans overnight (following the instructions on the bag), then drain enough water off the beans (I used filtered water to soak them) that water is just covering the beans to a depth of maybe half an inch. Add 1 pound of hickory smoked bacon, that's been sliced into inch wide pieces (doesn't have to be exact), add 1 cup molasses, 1 cup of honey, and 1 cup of brown sugar, then bake at 250 degrees, for, well, 24 hours.

Then, if you're bacon-crazy, top the beans with another pound of bacon, and cook for another hour, at 350 degrees, until the bacon's nice and brown, but not burned.

I'm not that bacon crazy, not when I've got ham instead, but I do love baked beans with (piled on top of) potato salad.

Especially if there are green olives involved, and the potato salad is home made, and not that sickly sweet stuff you get at the grocery store (Potato salad should not be sweet, as far as I'm concerned, unless it's German hot potato salad, and only occasionally should it have any mustard in it.).

Not healthy, not in the least, but very tasty, and very filling.

The ham I marinated in milk overnight, and then basted with a combination of butter, more milk, garlic, honey, and black pepper, every half hour, for 6-7 hours, at 250 degrees while the beans cooked.

The pan drippings I made into ham gravy with just the addition of a brown roux. To make redeye gravy, I would just add a cup of strong black coffee to the gravy I have now, and cook it till it thickened up again. That'll go good sometime next week or so (I might freeze it), with a pot of greens from my garden, rice, and leftover ham.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Awayfarer on June 07, 2009, 12:09:02 pm: Just discovered this: Wasabi makes cole slaw palatable. I'm not generally a fan of cole slaw; seems to me like somebody started to make a salad and just got lazy. Of course, usually when you have slaw at a meal you're not likely to have wasabi around, but it's still nifty to know.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Enzo on June 07, 2009, 04:34:57 pm: I abandoned this thread. But I am back. I made vindaloo the other day because I've been wanting it since it came up on here.

Quote from: SirHoneyBadger on June 05, 2009, 05:44:14 am
Hotsauce is good for everything. I've made a couple different kinds before. My favorite's just habanero...

Agreed. But you should probably mention that Habanero hotsauce is strictly for badasses. Habs are milder when grown in a cooler climate (my dad used to grow em) but they're still incredibly deadly little peppers. Busha Brownes and Devils Revenge : Beyond Hell are both stupidly-hot habanero sauces...I've never bothered making my own.

Also, wasabi cole slaw sounds very, very good to me.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on June 07, 2009, 04:58:33 pm: Yeah, habaneros aren't for the weak of colon.

It sounds good to me, too.

My mother makes the best coleslaw there is. I know, because I keep trying other kinds. Most other kinds (the cheesecake factory's version is a pleasant exception) just aren't edible.

A truly great sandwitch is my mom's coleslaw and rare, thinly sliced venison, on toasted rye.

Wasabi's also good on fresh strawberries.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Sowelu on June 08, 2009, 03:20:27 pm: I just wanted to share a peanut sauce recipe from when I made thai stirfry every week for a long time:

- Get a sizable bowl or pan.
- Put smooth peanut butter into it, from one of the normal boring store brands, not something fancy like Adams. I dunno, 2, 3 cups?
- Put some water in. Stir. Put some more water in. Stir. For about five minutes, until the mixture starts to turn a bit little white but the water all disappears. Don't add too much.
- Hot sauce! I use chili oil but it's not the best choice, because it only burns on the back of your tongue, not the front, and that means you will be suffering. It takes a LOT of any sauce to override the peanut butter flavor to make it flavorful, but chili oil will all add up and burn your tongue even if you barely taste it. Keep taste testing. It's okay to use one of those soy-based hot sauces you can find, or anything else like that (ie a very tiny bit of Dave's)...just make sure it's real hot, and for god's sake stop before you add so much it will combust you. Make sure it's mixed in well before you decide to keep adding more!
- Mince like three cloves of garlic into it, all tiny and stuff. Yum!
- Sugar. After you've mixed in all the other stuff, mix in sugar until it's actually a little bit sweet to the taste. I use white sugar mostly, but brown sugar is also okay for a different taste.
- Too solid? Add more water and keep stirring, until it's just barely at the 'turning white' stage. Don't overstir.
- Heat on low until it starts to bubble a little bit, then put on top of stirfry broccoli, carrots, bok choy (yum!), mushrooms (yum!), white rice...

I don't like soy based peanut sauce (I hate it actually) but this is quite good. :D It's a bit brutal on the calories though... I can't figure out how to make it more of a sauce and less of a 'sits on top and tastes delicious'.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on June 08, 2009, 03:28:48 pm: That sounds really, really good, Sowelu. I want. Esp. on broccoli and bok choy.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: umiman on June 09, 2009, 04:50:28 am: Quote from: kinseti on June 07, 2009, 04:34:57 pm
I abandoned this thread. But I am back. I made vindaloo the other day because I've been wanting it since it came up on here.

Quote from: SirHoneyBadger on June 05, 2009, 05:44:14 am
Hotsauce is good for everything. I've made a couple different kinds before. My favorite's just habanero...

Agreed. But you should probably mention that Habanero hotsauce is strictly for badasses. Habs are milder when grown in a cooler climate (my dad used to grow em) but they're still incredibly deadly little peppers. Busha Brownes and Devils Revenge : Beyond Hell are both stupidly-hot habanero sauces...I've never bothered making my own.

Also, wasabi cole slaw sounds very, very good to me.
Your habanero hotsauce is nothing but ketchup to us Malaysians.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on June 09, 2009, 05:00:05 am: umiman: Yeah, you guys have the right idea. I admire the Malay culture for a lot of reasons (despite not knowing a great deal about it), and your peppers are definitely one of those reasons.

I wish I knew more about it-and your cuisine-than I do, to be honest.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Labs on June 10, 2009, 06:54:34 pm: I love cooking aswell. Anyone interested in a chili recipie?
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on June 10, 2009, 07:30:31 pm: Yeah, chili is yum.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Labs on June 10, 2009, 09:36:09 pm: Alright, I'll post it tomorrow after I get back from the hospital. Bed time.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Labs on June 11, 2009, 07:25:18 am: Guess I have time this morning, here goes:

Ingredients:
8 cloves of garlic 2.5 large onions .3-.5 kilogram of ground beef 4 pablano peppers Spices(will outline later) 2 cans of whole, peeled, tomatoes
3-4 cans of beans (any kind)

Utensils:
Large pot stirring impliment knife

Mince the onions, peppers, and garlic. Put the onions and beef in a pot and cook until the meat begins to brown. Add the garlic and peppers and cook them until the meat is brown. Add the tomatoes and beans along with .35 litres of water. Let them simmer for a bit and then add the spice; I used 3 types of cajun spice, salt, pepper, 2 kinds of chili powder, 5 kinds of hot sauce, creole, and some kind of texas grilling spice. Let the medly of ingredients simmer for a few hours, stirring occasionaly. You are done, best served with cheese. This recipie is very malleable and can be made quite a few different ways. Hope you enjoy it. ;D
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: uttaku on June 24, 2009, 01:37:48 pm: Quote from: Maggarg - Eater of chicke on May 20, 2009, 02:33:00 pm

Beer Soup a la Maggarg

Some beer.
Lots of vegetables
Probably some salt.
Possibly some water.

Stick the beer in a pan with the vegetables and salt. Cook it somehow, if the vegetables go gooey and it smells good you're doing it right. When it looks good, take it off the hob and eat it.
Traditionally eaten straight from the pan with a spoon.
Leave pan to "soak" for some weeks.
[/quote]

if you boil that for long enough you can make marmite
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Sowelu on June 26, 2009, 01:01:02 pm: Does anyone have Thai-ish peanut sauce recipes they could share? I'm going to be experimenting with a new one soon using coconut milk. (My old one using water never stays good for long.)
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on June 26, 2009, 08:37:28 pm: My wife loves Thai peanut sauce, so I'm interested if anyone comes up with anything.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Strife26 on June 26, 2009, 11:34:48 pm: Try Chupaquesos!
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on June 27, 2009, 08:41:04 pm: Chupaqueso sounds like a word that could be applied to something edible.

What mean you...Chupaquesos?
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: IndonesiaWarMinister on June 28, 2009, 07:05:52 am: Quote from: umiman on June 09, 2009, 04:50:28 am
Quote from: kinseti on June 07, 2009, 04:34:57 pm
I abandoned this thread. But I am back. I made vindaloo the other day because I've been wanting it since it came up on here.

Quote from: SirHoneyBadger on June 05, 2009, 05:44:14 am
Hotsauce is good for everything. I've made a couple different kinds before. My favorite's just habanero...

Agreed. But you should probably mention that Habanero hotsauce is strictly for badasses. Habs are milder when grown in a cooler climate (my dad used to grow em) but they're still incredibly deadly little peppers. Busha Brownes and Devils Revenge : Beyond Hell are both stupidly-hot habanero sauces...I've never bothered making my own.

Also, wasabi cole slaw sounds very, very good to me.
Your habanero hotsauce is nothing but ketchup to us Malaysians.

Umiman, how is the habanero hotsauce fare against our green, little, chilies? (I don't know it's name in English.)
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: umiman on June 28, 2009, 12:46:01 pm: Cili padi? I don't know what the English name is.

While I often brag that our chillies are hotter than Western ones, you need to understand that they're quite differently made. Western-style chillies focus more on a sort of consistant (if mild) pungent taste while Asian style chillies go for an immediate, more powerful flash. In terms of fresh chillies, we definitely win out though... so if we were to talk about cili padi vs habanero, there'd be no contest.

Haha, reminds me of the time when my father was entertaining this biker dude from Mexico and he accidentally ate a cili padi in the fried rice. The guy was crying.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on June 28, 2009, 05:12:18 pm: In defense of the habanero, I should point out that they have a higher Scoville rating than cili padi--as much as three and a half times, in some cases, with the red savina habanero being upwards of 6 times as hot.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: mendonca on June 29, 2009, 07:05:00 am: Quote from: umiman on June 28, 2009, 12:46:01 pm
Cili padi? I don't know what the English name is.

Might be Bird's Eye Chillis?

So, I cooked a 'bolognese' sauce last night, using 'quorn' instead of beef mince, and it seemed to go down quite well.

Here's how it went:

(this is in no way affiliated with Bologna, Italy, or anything of the sort, but I'll call it bolognese cos it's what I want to call it)

Serves 4 -5

Glug of olive oil
Knob of butter
2 medium onions (roughly chopped)
3 cloves garlic (finely sliced)
3 or 4 carrots, cubed or sliced in 1cm (1/2”) bits.
200g (1/2 lb) mushrooms, finely sliced.
300ml (1/2 pint) Tomato Passata (sieved tomatoes)
450g (1lb) can of chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp Tomato puree
Lemon juice
Red wine vinegar
Pinch sugar
Selection of herbs (I used dried thyme, sage, rosemary, oregano, basil)
Bag of Quorn (meat substitute) mince (454g)
Dried Pasta (100g dry weight (approx 1/4lb) per person)

Slug some oil in a big pan on a stove. Get it hot, then turn the heat down to low. Throw the onions in and stir a bit, listen to them sizzle. Give them 5 or 10 minutes to go nice and golden and soft under a gentle heat.

If you don’t stir them they might go a bit brown. As long as they don’t go black this shouldn’t be an issue. After 5 minutes or so, throw the garlic in, and stir.

Keep an eye on the pan, and a lower heat is a bit more important now as you don’t want to burn the garlic.

After a couple more minutes your crisp onions should now be golden and limp. Throw in the tomato puree and give it all a good mix round. Fry gently for a minute. Throw in the carrots, stir round to coat with the goodness in the pan. Cook (stirring occasionally) for 5 minutes or so.

Now add the chopped mushrooms. At this point add the butter, and season with black pepper and a teaspoons worth of all the different dried herbs (not sure you get a lot of flavour out of these, so don’t worry too much about overdoing it here).

Then do a bit more stirring, coating the mushrooms and carrots with all the lovely juices of the onions, tomato paste, and generous seasoning. Cook this for five minutes.

Now throw in the Passata and a tin of chopped tomatoes, along with a good squeeze of lemon juice (about as much as you might get from half a lemon), with a quick glug of red wine vinegar. Add a couple of hundred ml of water (1/3 pint) to get to the required thickness of sauce (go a little bit thin at this point, it will thicken a little).

Stir this all round, and taste.

If you live in the UK (like me) and have inferior tomatoes, you might need to throw in some sugar to try and sweeten it up. About a teaspoon worth could be about right. Add little bits at a time, and taste. Also season with further additions of sea salt and black pepper. Stir and taste, then when you think you are pretty close throw in the bag of quorn.

This will take twelve minutes to cook so this is the right time to get the pasta on in a big pan of boiling water.

After a further twelve minutes, take the heat off the ‘stew’ pan, and you should probably have cooked your pasta by now, so drain this in a colander over the sink.

Serve in big round bowls, pasta first with the stewed concoction on top. Add generous lashings of shaved parmesan and cracked black pepper if required.

Wear a bib.

Enjoy!
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Sowelu on June 29, 2009, 01:48:26 pm: Quote from: SirHoneyBadger on June 27, 2009, 08:41:04 pm
Chupaqueso sounds like a word that could be applied to something edible.

What mean you...Chupaquesos?

Chupacabras are fictional animals that suck the blood out of goats, their name means "goat sucker".
Queso means "cheese".
Chupaquesos, therefore, are delicious things you are likely to suck the cheese out of.

The general concept is that you put cheese in a pan until it starts to get crispy. LOTS of cheese. A thick layer of cheese.

Then, you put MORE cheese on that, and heat it until it's melted. Then you wrap it up. Cheese inside cheese. A cheese quesadilla in a cheese tortilla.

You don't want to eat it unless you are a mercenary (http://www.schlockmercenary.com) from a future in which cholesterol problems have been eliminated thanks to superior medical technology (and where, being a mercenary, you're not likely to live long enough to have a heart attack anyway).
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: umiman on June 29, 2009, 08:03:33 pm: Cili padi is smaller than bird's eye (which I am eating raw as a snack right now). Actually, I won't really be surprised if they end up to be the same genus as a habanero.

Sowelu: That sounds... unhealthy.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Angellus on July 02, 2009, 08:24:12 pm: half a Madame chanette
two eggs
some 4-season peppers (dried or fresh, you may choose)
slight hint of garlic (remove the center green parts to make you smell less afterwards!)
Butter for the pan!

Mince the madame chanette, the peppers and the garlic in a mortar and pestle, after mashing it thorougly trow what you have with the eggs in an mixer, mix, pre-heat the pan, melt butter, wait till the bubbles set a bit and trow in the egg, SLOWLY and while tilting the pan in several directions, effectively spreading the egg.

This recipie yeilds an compact (and in my opinion very tastefull) egg.
Should you prefer a more 'airy' egg, add some milk before you mix, do note that the egg will be much less hot this way! (milk neutralises) and mix untill there is a lot of air in the mix :)

Have fun, and have a nice lunch! :D
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Blargityblarg on July 02, 2009, 09:51:03 pm: I fancy myself a bit of a cook, and as such:

BlargityBlarg's Thinly Veiled Excuse To Jam Vegetables Into People!

No, not like that.

Anyhow:

You'll want a big onion, preferably red.

You'll want 300-500gm (1/2-1lb) lamb mince (It's that much cheaper than beef, at least in Australia, and there's almost no difference)

You'll want an insane amount of various root vegetables, tubers and squashes: I personally use sweet potato and carrot preferentially, but you can use normal potato, pumpkin or even zucchini if you have them. All grated. I'm think 1-1 1/2 kg (2-3lb) in total, more if you want. For me, that means a sweet potato and a half, and maybe three carrots.

You'll want some shredded, and I mean SHREDDED, spinach. Doesn't have to be particularly much, but a good way to get vegetable into people.

You'll want a good big jar of pureed tomatoes, a can of diced, and a couple tablespoons of tomato paste.

Garlic, naturally.

Dried basil and 'mixed herbs' are good too.

Anyhow.

Dice up the onion, and fry off both it and the garlic until browned and a bit caramelised.

When browned, toss in the mince, brown it too.

After that, toss in your GIGANTIC PILE OF GRATED VEGIES for a little while to soften them, then add your various tomato extracts. Splash in some red wine if you have it handy at this point: I don't notice the flavour, but it makes you look Pro At Cooking.

Once that's bubbling away, toss in your shredded spinach. I get the stuff frozen in a bag in little lozenges, so i toss a few of those in. They basically disintegrate throughout the sauce and become invisible. Jam in your dried herbs too.

Cook for a while until the diced tomatoes have broken down somewhat, and the grated vegetables are falling apart.

Feed it to people.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on July 03, 2009, 01:03:32 pm: That sounds great to me.

Lamb in America is embarassingly expensive. A leg of lamb will set you back over 30$, easily. Too bad, too. For many dishes, I prefer it to beef.

That said, here's a really simple recipe for roasted leg of lamb. My own invention, by the way--kind of my uninformed take on Middle Eastern cuisine:

1 leg of lamb
1/4 cup of clover honey
1/4 cup of good olive oil
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp sea salt
3 or 4 cloves of garlic

Mince and crush the garlic. Mix with remaining ingredients and rub thoroughly into the leg of lamb. Let the lamb sit at room temperature for half an hour (put it in your microwave or something--don't turn the microwave on, and don't forget about the lamb!).

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (177 C). Put the lamb in there and immediately reduce the temperature to 325 (163 C). Every 15 minutes, baste the lamb in it's own juices and the remaining marinade. Roast for one hour.

Carve into thin slices and serve with pita bread, hummus, smoked almonds, cashews, rice (cooked until tender and then simmered with coconut milk and fresh ground nutmeg), plain yogurt mixed with more garlic and lemon juice, dates, sliced raw sweet onions, and fresh limes.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Blargityblarg on July 03, 2009, 10:07:27 pm: I suppose it's only cheap here because we have a much higher proportion of sheep farming than the US. I assume so, anyway. You hear about big cattle ranches, but not about gigantic sheep ranches. Oh well. Use beef, then. Works just as well.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Svampapa on October 19, 2012, 02:57:29 pm: I do realize this is a bit of an epic gravedig, but jebus crikey!

PROTIP OF THE DAY: If you ever use Habañeros in your cooking, be pretty damn sure you wont need to rub your eyes or pick your nose in the next 48 hours. DAMN this shit stings!

Rubbed my eyes during dinner and immediately regretted it. Couldn't see straight for ten minutes, and I even used saline solution to wash the horror out of my eyes!
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Caz on October 20, 2012, 08:06:17 am: Can anyone tell me what the hell to do with squash? I bought a couple last week just because they looked so damn cool. I have no idea what to actually do with them though, except for an ingredient in maybe curry or soup.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: ISP on October 20, 2012, 08:48:27 am: Squash, well you could slice it down the middle rub it with butter and bake it... some of them are pretty tasty on their own... otherwise using it in stuff it depends what kind of squash you have.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Svampapa on October 20, 2012, 10:44:17 am: Squash is oo spongy for my taste, but I've seen some recepies where you slice them thinly lengthwise with a cheese slicer and cook em like pasta. Could be something I guess?
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Akhier the Dragon hearted on October 22, 2012, 12:03:12 pm: Cooking is something I can technically do. I just don't ever really get a chance to do it as my dad likes cooking and he makes all the meals. About the only thing I have actually cooked more than once would be scrambled eggs but I can do that quite well. I add a little bit of warm water to the eggs before mixing the eggs because it helps the yolk and white mix and it seems to result in a more fluffy end result. One other thing I do is when I add chopped onions I put half in the pan to cook first then once translucent add the eggs and the rest of the onions so I get the cooked onion flavor while still having the crunchy texture because of the ones added later.

Also a note on squash, while I don't personally like the things my dad does and one of the ways he fixes them is with yellow squash he slices them longways a little bit more than a quarter inch thick then apply some oil and salt and pepper and then grills them. I don't know the timing though.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on November 17, 2012, 02:54:20 pm: Don't worry about Necroing this thread: as far as I'm concerned, Necroing doesn't apply to any of my threads. It saves space on the Forum, while reducing confusion.

There are two types of squash: Summer squashes are things like zucchini and yellow squash. There aren't that many types of them, but they're really versatile. You can stir-fry, boil, steam, bake, whatever.

Winter squashes, on the other hand, are more problematic to cook because of their toughness, but they often look amazingly weird, and there are dozens and dozens of different kinds.

For winter squash, baking it is always a great place to start figuring out what to do with it. If you don't want to use butter, I've used oil before, although yes, melted butter works great. It's good to rub it with a little salt, too, and you can bake it with things like herbs, spices, onions, celery, whatever you want to flavor the squash with--just don't overdo it, and keep in mind that the more additions you bake the squash with, the more that can burn before your squash is baked through.

They do take flavors well, though, and you can always add more flavor after baking, from hot sauce to soy sauce to maple syrup.

I'd set the oven to 325 degrees F (162 C) and bake the squash in a pie plate or baking dish for 40 minutes to start, and then check it to see if it's soft. Keep checking every 20 minutes after that, and don't cook it longer than an hour and 20 minutes--if it's not cooked yet, I'll need more information on what kind of titanium super-squash you're working with.

Once you bake them, you can then turn them into soups and stews, you can mash them, bake them into other recipes, and even eat them like you would a baked potato (I grow these tiny pumpkins that taste more or less the same as a baked potato-not sweet, but with a nuttier flavor, and nice texture. They're really good!).

They can also be boiled or steamed, and that can sometimes work better, depending on the squash, or the recipe you're using it for.

A lot depends on the type of squash, though. Those big, funky-looking winter squashes can sometimes be great, but some varieties are tough, kind of bland, and are grown more for looks than edibility, although it's surprising how many of them are really tasty. The smaller they are, the better the flavor tends to be--although that's a big generalization.

Do you have any idea what type of squash it is? If not, can you tell us what it looks like?
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Svampapa on November 17, 2012, 04:27:09 pm: @ akhier: Throw your dad out the kitchen and get stuck in. Cooking is one of those hobbies that just keeps on getting more interesting the more experienced you get. Especially if you are lucky enough to have some schooling in the natural sciences and can theorize about what happens, on a cellular/chemical level, to that bit of squash when you apply your mad experiments to the poor thing. :D
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Caz on November 18, 2012, 12:14:51 am: Wow, thanks for the great advice. Forgot I posted on this thread... ended up making them into 'pumpkin' pies.

Pretty sure they were winter squash. A deep orange 'bulb' shaped one, yellow/cream stripey one and more pumpkin-shaped green+orange one.

Lately I've been making tarka dal. It's stupidly simple and tastes amazing using bread as a spoon.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: goblolo on December 06, 2012, 01:41:46 am: Quote from: Caz on November 18, 2012, 12:14:51 am
Lately I've been making tarka dal. It's stupidly simple and tastes amazing using bread as a spoon.

I've found a recipe of tarka dal in the net and it looks cool! Gonna try it.

Can I ask you to post here where you from and what meals do you eat? Each region have it's common food and I found it difficult to decide what to cook today other than mashed/roasted potatoes or pasta/rice/buckwheat with roasted chicken/fish/beef/meatballs. I ate it 1000 times before and want something new, but don't know what to cook. There are many internet recources with recipes, but most of them are very specific and require lots of rare ingridients or takes several hours to make.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Caz on December 06, 2012, 05:43:36 pm: Quote from: goblolo on December 06, 2012, 01:41:46 am
Quote from: Caz on November 18, 2012, 12:14:51 am
Lately I've been making tarka dal. It's stupidly simple and tastes amazing using bread as a spoon.

I've found a recipe of tarka dal in the net and it looks cool! Gonna try it.

Can I ask you to post here where you from and what meals do you eat? Each region have it's common food and I found it difficult to decide what to cook today other than mashed/roasted potatoes or pasta/rice/buckwheat with roasted chicken/fish/beef/meatballs. I ate it 1000 times before and want something new, but don't know what to cook. There are many internet recources with recipes, but most of them are very specific and require lots of rare ingridients or takes several hours to make.

I'm just Scot person that takes an interest in cooking really, try finding a type of cooking that you like and then start learning a few basic meals you can make and build your way up. Before I was on a Mexican kick which basically devolved into chilli soup and fajitas all the days, (you can make a week's worth of moyettes at a time and freeze them, so good) with other stuff thrown in. Then I got into making curries and a lot of dal lately, pakora, samosas etc. Simpler to choose one type of cooking you want to learn as use the same kind of staples (eg. for indian it's rice, dal and flat bread) and spices so you don't go out buying lemongrass and coconut milk to make one dish. Then if you get used to making and liking the food you can keep your cupboards stocked with that sort of thing and it just becomes another thing to make instead of chicken and mash.

Also ameri-chinese food. Fry everything. It is glorious. (probably not everyday though)
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: FearfulJesuit on December 06, 2012, 05:55:33 pm: For those of you who are really cheap, here is the cheapest and simplest complete diet known to man:

Cow's milk and potatoes.

Bland? Sure. But if it worked for the Irish, up 'till 1845, it'll work for you, too. The Irish before the famine were about the poorest peasants in Europe- but because they were so poor, and this was all they had to eat, they were also among the healthiest. Season as you wish, since, beyond these two, it's all seasoning.

(You can replace the potatoes for rice and beans, as one does in Brazil, for a bit of variety).
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Caz on December 08, 2012, 06:44:40 am: Quote from: dhokarena56 on December 06, 2012, 05:55:33 pm
Cow's milk and potatoes.

That sounds fun.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: PlutoniumApe on December 08, 2012, 07:25:47 am: Quote from: Caz on December 08, 2012, 06:44:40 am
Quote from: dhokarena56 on December 06, 2012, 05:55:33 pm
Cow's milk and potatoes.

That sounds fun.

replace potatoes with bananas and this died is awesome. a big shake a day will keep you going
did it for me when I was an even poorer fuck than I am now

my current fav budget menu: boiled potatoes with curd cheese and chives. melt butter on top and it's perfect
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Urist McScoopbeard on December 08, 2012, 09:49:01 am: Where the hell do you people learn to cook? I don't even have any mandatory life-skills classes in my high school, I haven't one since 6th grade.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Caz on December 08, 2012, 10:26:34 am: Quote from: Urist McScoopbeard on December 08, 2012, 09:49:01 am
Where the hell do you people learn to cook? I don't even have any mandatory life-skills classes in my high school, I haven't one since 6th grade.

Do you have parents?

If not, interwebs.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: majikero on December 08, 2012, 11:03:23 am: We had classes in highschool called "Home Econimics".

It involves cooking, sewing, gardening, basic layout of a fish and chicken farm, cleaning fish, and butchering animals if the school can afford it.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: Caz on December 08, 2012, 11:22:18 am: Quote from: majikero on December 08, 2012, 11:03:23 am
We had classes in highschool called "Home Econimics".

It involves cooking, sewing, gardening, basic layout of a fish and chicken farm, cleaning fish, and butchering animals if the school can afford it.

Basic layout of a fish and chicken farm? Wuh.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: majikero on December 08, 2012, 11:34:10 am: Yes.

You put the chicken cage/pen or whatever it's called above the fish pond so that the chicken poop falls into the water and the fish eats them.
Title: Re: Cooking advice.
Post by: LoSboccacc on December 09, 2012, 09:48:10 am: Quote from: Caz on December 08, 2012, 10:26:34 am
Quote from: Urist McScoopbeard on December 08, 2012, 09:49:01 am
Where the hell do you people learn to cook? I don't even have any mandatory life-skills classes in my high school, I haven't one since 6th grade.

Do you have parents?

If not, interwebs.

Or RTFM, there are plenty around.

If you really are committed, pick a couple recipes you like, simplify them, and make them until you're satisfied. then you can start learning how spices affects the outcome.

Not all of them will be enjoyable, I assure you, but you should eat them anyway and persist, because when you eat something strange you will remember the flavor much easily and it will come useful, because maybe one day you will be cooking something and you'll remember the spice flavor and you'll start coming up with new associations that work.

I have some italian simplified dishes that almost always work wherever you are and you can use as a base to learn your own. Interested?