Cooking

So I have absolutely boofed up a lasagna. It’s an old Margaret Fulton recipe and I was really looking forward to making it for the first time in ages.

The cheese mix was perfect, and the meat had cooked down fantastically. I must have had a brain fart though, because instead of just a sprinkle of mozzarella in between the middle layer and on top, I seem to have totally overdone it - it’s basically a mozzarella pile that just tastes like it’s been in the same room as the meat sauce. Pretty much a salty inedible blob.

So instead of wasting it, I wanted to ask if anyone has any ideas of how to salvage this mess? Recook with extra sauce? Scrap off the top and hope for the best? Anyway to save it!?

A lot of recipes suggest adding corn syrup or honey to the sugar in order to make crystallization less likely. I'm not in the US, so corn syrup pretty much doesn't exist, but I have a jar of raw and therefore very crystalized honey that I got from a friend who keeps bees. Will using that still help? I'm thinking that all the imperfections like pollen or wax in raw honey will just make the caramel even more likely to crystalize.

So I'm very sure the only original things with cooking is the mix of ingredients,

So with being said, I wanted to know if there's already a name to this.

What I do is take canned tuna, strain it and then add 2 tbsp of flour. I give it a good stir and then let it sit for 20 minutes. Once the 20 minutes is up, I'll throw a raw egg and 3 tbsp of flour and then I'll shake the container so there's a nice doughy layer over the tuna. I'll then fry it at roughly 425°F until golden brown (usually only takes a minute two). I'll remove from the oil and then put over rice or Asian noodles. It's a great lunch and you can add any sauce that you want to it (even though I recommend sweet or Asian sauces).

So is there an actual name to the tuna i fried? Or is it just a "wing it" kind of thing?

🌱 #vegan #cooking #spaetzle @[email protected]

Recipe from America's Test Kitchen:

2 cups (8 oz) whole wheat flour
1 cup (4.25 oz.) unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup of wheat bran
1/4 cup wheat germ
2 teaspoons of sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt
2 cups of buttermilk

375° middle rack, 40-45 minutes, rotate 1/2 way through. 185° internal temp. Cool for 1 hr.

I found, on initial mix, the dough was far, far, too dry. It kept crumbling apart and WOULD NOT hold together.

I kept adding splashes of buttermilk until I could get a loaf that would hang together.

Baking time had to go a little longer too, after 45 minutes it was only 145°. Maybe because of the added buttermilk. Running another 15 minutes brought it up to temp.

America's Test Kitchen has some good videos on cooking technique. This one covers food (mostly meat) sticking to metal pans, how to prevent it and some cases when there are advantages to allow sticking.

Let me know if you're interested!

Recently I've been buying a few cookbooks from the thrift shop. Saves money over getting the new ones, saves second-hand goods from being tossed, and does the job I need in finding recipe ideas.

One of the cookbooks I got is a cookbook on pasta sauces. I've been holding off on making pasta until I could portion the servings properly, and I recently just got a portioning tool to help me with that. However, when I wanted to try a recipe from the book, I found surprisingly that the recipes called for fresh tomatoes.

Now, the cookbook is by no means new, seeing how the publication date is 1987. From what I've heard, canned tomatoes are actually preferred over fresh, though I can't recall the reasoning as to why. I was curious about whether culinary knowledge has evolved since the publication of this book where common practice has changed to prefer canned tomatoes over fresh, or if the differences I've heard about are unfounded or incorrect.

On top of that, I was curious about other aspects. Would making pasta sauce with fresh tomatoes (namely Roma tomatoes) be cheaper than using canned? Also, since I'm trying to be more environmentally conscious, would canned tomatoes have a higher carbon footprint than fresh, or would the differences be negligible?

Thanks in advance! I likely won't be able to respond to comments right away, but I do appreciate any and all help.

They have really good sales almost all the time, their spices are extremely high quality, and they are politically active as anti-fascist leftists....what's not to love?

Following up on the "Baking in the American South" post, I picked up some Nordic Ware pans today for bundt cakes and pound cakes.

Included was a Angel Food cake recipe requiring 12 egg WHITES.

I have no problem separating, but it seems a waste of a DOZEN egg yolks.

Any ideas on what to put them in?

I guess I could make the egg sauce bottle here, but I'd have to buy a Sou Vide machine. :(

https://youtu.be/KL4PDa6PpLQ

The title says it short, this says it all, I want hot cereals! Breakfast, lunch, dinner, sweet, savory, wheat, oats, rice, you name it I want it! Give me your best cereal grain recipes!

I'll start with a old family classic! cracked wheat cooked with brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, golden raisins and chopped pecans!

I usually just toss stuff together till it tastes good but roughly it's one cup cracked wheat to three cups boiling water and a pinch of salt. simmer in a saucepan for about 20 minutes adding cinnamon, vanilla, golden raisins, pecans, brown sugar, and milk about 5 minutes before the end to let things heat up and soften and blend. I like golden raisins but craisins, regular raisins, dried dates, dried apricots or whatever fruits you want, it's all good. Awesome on a cold morning with a nice hot chai.

First 100 pages are cornbread and biscuits.

I want some help, according to what I did, this sauce seems to work but, from what I read, it seems like it shouldn't and I want to understand why it worked so I can duplicate the process.

I made some spicy chicken and fried it, recipe included sliced chichen breasts, seasonings and mayo, to keep it from drying out. Then when cooked, tossed them in a pot, added more mayo, flour, a bit of Red Oil, and milk.

Added some LKK chilli sauce, ginger, scallions and stirred. That chicken tasted glorious, but according to what I read, it should be curdling, not creamy.

In your opinion, Would this work or just be an abomination?

I know, cool dry place, and it depends on your climate, etc. But what is your experience?

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):

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?