Do you have any cooking tips or tricks?
I just have the usual home cook stuff. Let’s see. Um. Giving cooking advice is always slightly controversial. For example, I do not cook our pan-seared steaks in a bath of butter. One, we don’t need the extra calories and saturated fats and especially lactose; two, steak is delicious on its own and all the aromatics in the world stuffed into that butter do not significantly alter the taste; and three, it requires two different pans because cast iron is way too hot after searing and would burn the butter and I’m too lazy to wash two pans.
::pauses for a chorus of “How dare you!” from the comments::
I stand by my statement. Don’t link videos to me about bathing steak in a pound of butter with crushed garlic and rosemary. I have tried it, and I won’t be doing it. If I want a flavored steak, I’ll either marinade it or mix my homemade teriyaki sauce and pour it on in the last 30 seconds of cooking.
Homemade teriyaki sauce:
- 1 cup soy sauce
- 1 cup mirin
- 1/3 cup brown sugar or honey
Heat everything, reduce to desired consistency. Can be cooked in advance. Just before cooking with it, I like to add crushed garlic and powdered ginger and heat it up for a few minutes to let the flavors blend.
You can also buy the Sweet Soy Sauce by Kikkoman. It does the job.
In the last 30 seconds of cooking, pour some over the steak. Flip the steak a couple of times to get the sauce to caramelize.
So, tips and tricks. Right.
Salt your steak.
Always salt your steak prior to searing. Salt both sides and let the salt sit on there for about 30-40 minutes. Salt will draw out the juices in the meat, dissolve into it, and form a brine. The brine will tenderize the meat and flavor it once reabsorbed. It will also give the steak a better sear. The sear is the result of a Maillard reaction, which requires high heat and dry surfaces. Kosher salt is best for this. On the geeky side, what we perceive as browning actually rearranges amino acids and some simple sugars into circular formations. You can find a cool chart about it at Food Chemistry.
Brine your chicken.
The other day Gordon wanted roasted chicken and potatoes. My go-to for roasted chicken is skin on chicken thighs and drumsticks. However, due to a shopping oversight, I only had boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Boneless chicken can go dry during roasting. I defrosted them in the microwave and stuck them into brine for a couple of hours. It made all the difference. The chicken thighs were moist, flavorful, and tender, and I even nuked them with the broiler toward the end because even if I cook the meat to the perfect temperature, my husband will maintain that it is undercooked unless there is a brown crust on top of it.
Basic brine recipe:
- 8 cups of water
- 8 pieces of chicken (about 3 lbs with bone in) or a single chicken cut up
- 1/4 cup of salt
- ¼ cup of sugar
- Aromatics and herbs that float your boat: bay leaf, rosemary, tarragon, fennel for basic European-savory taste, or you can mess with it and add cloves, chili, cinnamon, and nutmeg for a different take, or chili, cumin, cilantro for a South-Western spin, etc. It depends on what kind of chicken you are aiming for. I usually stick to bay leaf, coriander, and then go with whatever smells good.
Mix everything together, making sure the salt and sugar are dissolved, add chicken, refrigerate for 2 hours. Afterward, bake like normal. The chicken will release a lot of liquid during baking.
For potatoes, I cut them into pieces, tossed them with sunflower oil, salt, paprika, and some fresh dill and stuck them in the oven. Also broiled them a tiny bit before the end, so they would look brown enough.
Kale salad
Kale is good for you. Kale also has a tendency to taste like weeds. Not like soft weeds either. However, if you ever bought a prepared kale salad at store, it actually tastes decent. Kale also has the fun quality of keeping well. You can make a salad base with kale ahead of time and it will happily sit in your fridge for 3 days or so. You can take it out as needed and add perishables like tomatoes.
Get a bag of washed kale. Dump it into a large bowl. Add a splash of olive oil, preferably light-tasting, unless you really love the olive oil and want it in your salad for three days straight. I prefer sunflower oil, actually. I was raised with sunflower oil, it has a very high smoking point, and I love it, but not everyone does. Once you splashed the olive oil in, get in there with your hands, and really rub the oil into the kale. Squish it. It’s almost a kneading motion. The kale will wilt a little bit and decrease in size, but it will remain green and pretty.
I’ve looked it up and apparently the technical term is “massaging.” Massage your kale, heh.
Throw some sun-dried tomatoes in there, some slivered or sliced almonds, and other fun stuff like golden raisins or cranberries. Mix everything. Separate into containers, if you are me, or just cover the bowl and stick it in the fridge.
If you want to save time or plan on eating this as a meal, I also cook a small bag of tortellini – al dente – drain, wash to cool, allow to dry a bit, and I add that to the base.
I know most of us are conditioned to add acid to salad, but unless you are planning on eating it immediately, I would resist the urge to reach for vinegar. Acid will start breaking things down and you will get mush over time. So no vinegar at this stage, but you can add it before serving.
This salad base is edible by itself. However, it’s boring to just eat it nonstop, so that’s when we can get creative. Take out a portion of salad. Add tomatoes, shredded Parmesan, a bit of basil, and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Mix. You have an Italian-inspired salad. Or add boiled egg, onion, tomatoes, and a bit of bacon. A Cobb-inspired salad. You get my drift. You can flavor it with a little bit of store-made dressing like Ranch – and you only need a small amount because the oil is already in there flavoring things. That steak we cooked earlier – if there is any of it left, you could slice that in there. Hehe.
And now it’s your turn to share cooking tips. I have to go and keep company with Curran and Kate.
Kale is ok. Hubs loves it. I grow some in the summer for salads.
Now the best thing imo is slow roasted prime rib. Rub an herb butter all over the prime rib and cook at 500 for 20 min then drop temp to 200 for 3 hours. And don’t peek.
my friend would marinade his chicken breasts in cheap beer for an hour or two. I like butter for steaks in a cast iron pan, but you only need a tablespoon or so. Bacon grease is also good. Dad would cook a huge amount of bacon every sunday and the grease was saved in grammas 1940s aluminium grease keeper with a built in strainer. Potatoes fried in bacon grease. My parents would be 98 this year, they were not into modern healthy cooking. I see people mentioning cabbage so here is mom’s cabbage soup: In your soup pot, lightly brown some bacon bits, add onions, saute untli translucent, add a whole or half chopped cabbage, depending on how much you want to make, and put in just enough water or stock to barely cover the cabbage. Cook until cabbage is just done, add 3 or 4 cups of half and half or whole milk, as much as you need to make the quantity you want, heat til hot but not boiling. Top off with pats of butter. Salt to taste, add a few drops of tobasco.
I think we all want to go keep company with Kate and Curran.
Absolutely!
worlds best roast chicken. coat chicken in mayo. stuff with lemon. roast.
the best cooking idea I’ve ever had is creaming all the butter to make biscuits, cookies all together then weight out the batches. then it’s ready to go as you bake. and for icings to.
that is in a mixer like 1kg of butter.
Vegetarian burritos:
“Refried” beans for burritos: use a double boiler; mash the drained beans in the top pan of the double boiler and stir well. Put on top of the bottom pan and bring the water to a medium boil. You will have to watch the beans and keep stirring frequently to prevent scorching.
Use your favorite taco toppings – lettuce, shredded cheese, diced tomatoes, chopped onions, chopped ripe olives, sour cream, diced sweet peppers (green, red, yellow, orange), salsa, taco sauce. To add variety to the lettuce, use a bagged salad mix with red and purple cabbage, carrots, and radishes.
(Prep the veggies before heating the beans.)
(Buy the pre-packaged shredded cheese unless you have a really good cheese shredder.)
It can be vegan if you omit the cheese and the sour cream.
When I Brine: Organic=O. Apple Juice, O. Garlic, granules & crushed/minced fresh, relatively small amount of Himalayan Salt(seems more ‘salty’ than others, so less goes further) and which ever other spices is called(feel) for, sometimes vinegar is added for a slight tang-no water. I saw the American Test Kitchen’s prep of kale and almost everyone I’ve made it for, says it tastes sweeter(cut, hot water soak,drain & dry). I’m looking forward to making Bacon Fried Rice, though want to prep the rice to reduce the arsenic, via boil for 10 min., drain?rinse and boil again with fresh water; might add a little bit of chopped White onion, to a portion, to see which we like better.
I’m not a devotee of butter on my steak either. But occasionally I put a slice of Boursin garlic and herb on the hot steak right after removing it from the grill. it gets all melty and flavorful as the steak rests for 5 minutes or so. We use Monterrey steak seasoning and a splash of red wine and occasionally Worcestershire sauce to marinade the steaks on a cookie sheet for 15-20 minutes before grilling. That’s pretty much it. Have never tried pan searing to be honest but it sounds like something I’ll try come next winter. Grilling season is already here heh.
I’ll have to try brining the skinless chicken breasts before grilling them. That sounds like they’d stay moister. Thanks!
In the teriyaki sauce, instead of brown sugar or honey, you can use maple syrup… mmmmmm… (yes, I’m Canadian 😀 ).
I think this kale popularity is so funny. Where I am from, in Northern Germany, we have been eating it for a long time. But cooked and with rallye fatty meat and potatoes 😀 my grandmother would be astonished that people eat it raw : D
Kale – bleaaach! I think it’s a marketing ploy. Who wants to eat that instead of, say, baby bok choy? I’ll stick to tasty greens.
I’m in Oregon, and there is a brand here called Sun Luck. They have a number of sauces that not only are delicious but half the price of everyone else. Restaurant style Sweet & sour & Hot & Spicy Stir Fry sauces to name 2.
I can’t use brines d/t salt but cooking sherry tenderizes meat nicely!
I’m a purist for steaks, don’t add anything & bar b q to RARE, I want it to moo when I poke it! My dad taught me to cook, his philosophy was to taste the food, not the additives.
Happy cooking! I am really enjoying your posts.
Mmm. Baby bok choi lightly sautéed with minimum butter. Mmm. Craved it all through my pregnancy. Still love it and it is so fast.
Instant honey and mustard sauce to add to chicken (makes enough for 1 small chicken breast or thigh): 1 tsp mustard, 3 tsp honey, dash of Worcestershire sauce*, dash of soy sauce. Sometimes I also add a couple of teaspoons of teriyaki sauce. And just pour it over a cooked chicken breast and serve. It seems really sophisticated so you can serve it at a dinner party even though it takes a few seconds to throw together.
When making coleslaw/Russian salad: half finely shredded cabbage, half grated carrot, add enough mayo JUST to coat all the cabbage/carrot shreds, and then add a tablespoon of salad cream*.
Egg mayonnaise: mash boiled eggs until they are really finely mixed and the pieces of egg white are very small, then add a small amount of equal parts mayonnaise and salad cream until it makes a paste (not too much as you don’t want it too wet and sloppy, it needs to be a stiff paste).
Perfect poached eggs: you need your eggs to be really fresh. Eggs have two different kinds of white, a thick inner portion that makes up most of the white, and a thinner outer bit. The thick inner bit needs to be really thick for good poached eggs, so the egg needs to be very fresh, only a few days old. If it’s a week or more old then it won’t work as well. Just simmer the water, crack the egg into a cup or soup ladle, and VERY carefully and slowly slide it into the water. You don’t need to stir the water or put vinegar in it or anything. When the egg is cooked remove it with a slotted spoon.
Scrambled eggs: don’t add milk to the egg mixture. I have no idea why people do this. It dilutes the eggs and makes them less fluffy than if you just mix up eggs by themselves. Maybe it’s a holdover from war rationing when people didn’t have enough eggs to go round.
Instead of bread or rolls with soup, make British scones. (Look up the Delia Smith recipe online). The secret is to make them very short – when you have the crumble mixture dribble in the milk in little bits until it goes into bigger clumps, then compress the dough with your hand and it will suddenly become a thick dough. Make sure you roll it out, then cut the scones out very thick (an inch high) with a proper round cutter. Delicious with butter and honey, or jam and whipped or clotted cream, but you can also serve them with butter and cheese or ham. In the UK, old fashioned country people sometimes used to make scones instead of bread.
*Worcestershire sauce is a fermented sauce that adds depth and flavour in the same way that e.g. tobasco does (although it’s not spicy). Salad cream is a more piquant and tangy version of mayonnaise. They’re British, but I’ve seen them both in American supermarkets.
Oh, I forgot instant mousse.
150g thick yoghurt
150ml double cream (or heavy cream I think, in the US)
Some jam/lemon curd/dark brown sugar
Whip the double cream to soft peaks, then fold in the yoghurt and enough jam/lemon curd/sugar until it turns slightly pink/yellow/golden and tastes sweet, creamy and fruity/caramelly.
Serve by itself, or with oaty biscuits and bananas.
I think UK double cream is considerably thicker and richer than US heavy whipping cream.
But while on great UK dishes, Eton Mess is luscious. Mix crumbled cooked meringues, whipped cream and sliced strawberries. What could be yummier? In the UK you can buy decent cooked meringues. In the US you will have to make them. The hard-as-rocks meringue cookies won’t work. Not even Trader Joe’s
You can poach slightly older eggs too, by first breaking it in a little tea strainer sieve and letting the liquidy white go through. After a few seconds you’re left with the yolk and the thicker albumen ????.
Or if you want less wastage, squeeze a little lemon juice over the raw egg when you have it in your teapot or ladle- it will instantly make the egg white recover its youth hehe.
Ah, good tips if you can’t get hold of fresh eggs!
When sautéing mushrooms, start in a dry pan to get all the moisture out first. Then add the fats and seasonings.
Save/freeze your [washed] vegetable scraps for easy veggie broth. It’s so much more flavorful than store bought. (I live on it when I’m sick and have trouble swallowing.)
When making soup, chop the potatoes first. Let them soak in cool/cold water while you chop the rest of the veggies. This will remove some of the starch. The potato water can be thicken the soup later or used on your plants.
I can get lovely bunches of fresh parsley fairly cheap at one of the grocery stores near me, and I’ve started considering it a vegetable.
Parsley sauce
This is my go-to thing to do with parsley. Throw in a blender: fresh parsley, including stems (helps if you chop it up some); avocado; olive oil; lime juice; salt; and, if desired, a little pasta water. I try to use the smallest amount of oil that will allow the sauce to blend. I think I usually end up using 1-2 avocados per bunch of parsley. I use plenty of lime both for flavor and to keep the sauce from going brown. Pasta water will help the sauce stick to pasta. The parsley stems have lots of flavor, so don’t leave them out! This freezes and thaws well — I like to make a big batch and freeze the extra in small containers or an ice cube tray.
Parsley in skillet
One time my parsley was wilting and I didn’t feel like using the blender, so I chopped it up and threw it into a frying pan on some beans. It came out quite well, with less bite to the greens than I expected. The beans were kidney beans; I forget what seasonings I used. Throw the parsley in once the beans are cooked, mix it around, and let it get thoroughly wilted.
There are several brands of Root Beer available in our area. I like A & W Root Beer best and the best way to consume it is in a tall glass with a couple of scoops of vanilla ice cream.
Thank you!
We are having friends for steak. We are cooking it on a charcoal grill. I will remember your salting advice!
This might be too basic for most, but it took me over 50 years to figure out that you have to cook meat using a thermometer instead of trying to rely on time in recipes. No more complaints about dry meat, no more stress about under cooked meat. Also slow roasting a bottom round roast after searing. (https://daysofjay.com/2020/11/28/perfect-slow-roast-beef/
And on the kale theme if anyone goes to First Watch restaurant, they will recognize this as a juice. I make a smoothie in my ninja blender instead. one fuji apple, 1\2 to one lemon, quarter cucumber and as much kale as I can fit in there with room for ice.
I didn’t say, but I dislike kale intensely, so this is the only way I have found to consume it. perfect blend of sweet sour bitter smooth. it has to be a Fuji apple and you have to play a little with proportions and really this is best for those addicted to the First Watch juice as I was.
Mix equally parts heavy cream and shredded parmesan cheese. Warm on low heat stirring constantly until the cheese melts and makes Alfredo sauce. Add sautéed garlic for garlic Alfredo. Add nutmeg or other aromatic herbs to taste. Serve over pasta, chicken, and/or veggies like broccoli or kale. I suspect many people have never had good kale. It’s one of my favorite vegetables. It’s delicious, especially fresh from the cold frame in the middle of winter. The cold makes all of the leafy greens slightly sweet.
When I’m not lazy, I use clarified butter to sear steaks since it has a higher smoke point, then pop them in the oven. Don’t know if the lactose is still there, though. Otherwise, I just use avocado oil.
when cooking steaks on a gas grill. Pre heat very hot.
Sear each side for 30 sec or so, then turn down burners and grill
searing this way gives a juicier steak
Pulled pork in a crock pot is ridiculously easy. big chunk of cheap pork, cup of water or vinegar. skin if necessary. heat 6-10 hours (if from frozen, heat for awhile, then skin) remove bones. pull. Buy high quality barbeque sauce not designed for ribs.
Place chicken breasts (thighs, whatever chicken you prefer) in Lemon juice and sunflower oil for an hour (ish-cause sometimes i forget or run late…..yep) before baking, especially if you are going to herb and panko crust the chicken. What ever herbs you want.
The lemon juice and oil is key to keeping the chicken from drying out, maybe. At least I think so, I could be wrong and there is some actual reason that this works but that’s what I’m going with.
The prettiest salad you can ever make and it makes that Kale taste amazing: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/aarti-sequeira/massaged-kale-salad-recipe-1952450
I get rave reviews whenever I take it to get-togethers.
Simple French farmers Boeuf Bourgignon. Fry some small bacon cubes. Cut carots very small. Peel shallots and perhaps cut in half. Clean smaller champignons and cut in half. Take big cubes of beef like shoulder or high rib. Now take a big pot. Layering two times as following. Fried bacon, carots, beef cubes, salt and pepper, shallots and champignons. Add crushed garlic. Repeat. Beef to vegetables ratio 1:1. Add rich and heavy red wine preferably burgundy like Pinot Noir. A spanish wine will do as well. Approximately 250 to 300 milliliter for 750 to 1000 grams of beef. Put lid on pot. Lid should close well. Put in the oven by week temperature. Let cook for some hours.
Sounds very much like how I do my chicken soup. I salt and steam my chicken thighs, shred them and set them aside, cook down a bunch of onions and mushrooms and then add them to chicken stock and the steamer water. That is my base for a weeks worth of soup for lunch.
Then every day I add different things to make that days soup. Might be vegetables, greens, noodles, salsa, cheese sauce, pesto, or nothing at all except the chicken. (I add some of the shredded chicken back in after I reheat the soup to maintain the texture). Every day a different bowl of soup.
I have made your Bulgogi recipe numerous times – absolutely love it!!
It is wonderful. Except in our house it now goes by the name of “Beefy Beef”
Stuffed peppers:
We use the same filling as golumkie:
Package of meatloaf mix
Cooked rice (or cooked cauliflower rice to remove excess water for keto)
Chopped onion
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Salt, pepper
6 bell peppers – red or yellow
Big can of tomato sauce
Tip: prepare peppers: cut top off and remove the seeds and veins then parboil the peppers to soften (about 7 – 10 mins)
Fill peppers with meat mixture, put in a deep pan, add tomato sauce and bake at 350 F for 1 hour.
Enjoy!
Should say cook the cauliflower rice on stovetop in a skillet to remove excess water.
Pan searing steak is too much work and too likely to ruin it for me. I season ours with with Bull Shit (yes, it’s an actual seasoning mix) or salt, pepper, powdered garlic and onion, let it sit for an hour, the shove it under the broiler.
My current favorite easy chicken recipe involves marinating it in a bottle of dry white with a good two tablespoons of curry powder/paste, and about a cup of honey. This can be baked, grilled, what have you. Baste with more honey mixed with curry, and it’s amazing.
I like my steak with just salt and garlic, rare to medium rare. My husband likes his with bbq sauce and cooked extremely well done. If we can’t grill them (Canadian winters lol) I put them under the broiler in the oven. My go-to for pork chops is a mix of soya sauce and a touch of worchester sauce. It makes the cheapest cut of pork tender.
Thank you for this post: I just love getting new cooking tips and recipes! My tip to new home cooks is don’t be afraid to experiment with new ingredients. You never know until you try!
My current favorite ingredient is smoked paprika. I’ve been cooking for 50+ years: how did I not know about this until a year ago?? This stuff is great! I add it to so many things (rubs for meat, seasonings for roasted veggies, sprinkle on popcorn, steamed veggies, scrambled eggs, etc.) It adds a lovely smoky flavor without being overwhelming. Yummy!
Fun tip— thanks!
My secret ingredient that I add to everything is Cholula.
I’m sure there’s someone who said these things already, but.
American chickens, most especially the Perdue oven-stuffer roasters, are what I grew up on. It wasn’t until I moved to Europe that I learned that un-warped-chickens run around 3lbs and not 8lbs.
And that just like Butterball turkeys, Perdue 8lb monsters come already brined. I had fortunately switched to TJ’s unbrined turkeys already. So I knew what the problem suddenly was with my chickens. But I also wasn’t willing to put that much time into it.
That’s when I invented steam-brining. Don’t tell me someone else invented it. They probably did. But I don’t know anyone else who did it, so it counts for me.
Butterfly your roast chicken and put it on the rack in the roasting pan. Put whatever aromatics you want in the pan and pour in a pint of totally-sodiumed chicken broth (low and no sodium chicken broths don’t exist in Austria, but I wouldn’t use them for this anyway. The entire point of brining is to get salt into the meat. Use boiling water and salt, if that’s what you want instead).
The chicken on the rack doesn’t touch the liquid, the steam gets into the meat while cooking, total prep time for a 3lb chicken is about 10 minutes, and butterflied means it cooks in half the time.
Done. Also, we have an electric oven, so I heat it to highest heat and turn on the lowest broiler setting (our oven has 3 broiler settings, and anything over the First just burns things in minutes), ten minutes, then turn to fan cooking (more even heat) and down to about 375°. Your meat thermometer in the deepest part of the breast will hit 160° in about half an hour (total — this includes the ten minute broiling) and is fully brined with luscious skin. Since I am a junkie for any combination of salt/fat/rosemary, I slather the skin with butter, sprinkle both kosher salt and powdered rosemary, and have sprigs in the chicken broth as well as celery/carrot/onion.
A total of 40 minutes from raw whole unbrined chicken to dinner table.
Sorry, I forgot. The same meat thermometer will take it to 170° easily with carry-over heat. You’re not undercooking your chicken.
I don’t ever eat Kale unless I make Kale chips. I never grew up eating it, and I haven’t taken a liking for it. I do like Trader Joe’s Kale, chicken, broccoli slaw salad though. I have a “Sour cream and onion” Kale chip recipe that uses cashews. I use our dehydrator for it.
As for cooking tips, most of the time I’m trying to get dinner on the table quick and use a wok every day. Meat – sliced against the grain thinly, marinated, and then put some cornstarch on it to seal in the juices. That way the juices don’t ooze out and your meat stays tender. Do the veggies first, remove them from the wok, rinse out the wok, heat it up, add oil, stir fry the meat until done, add in the veggies to the meat. If you want some sauce, add in a cornstarch slurry with oyster sauce or soy sauce or some seasoning. Don’t make it so thick that the cornstarch gets gloopy.
We eat broccoli and cabbage the most. I start the broccoli with a little oil, then add in some water, cover to steam for 3-5 minutes, take out the broccoli, dump any remaining water, put in some oil, add garlic until it gets fragrant but not burned, and then add in the broccoli again. Season with salt or oyster sauce. Cabbage I just slice and straight up stir fry with garlic and salt.
Dinner on the table in 30 minutes.
I’m lazy. I brine my meat in salad dressing. Tuscan italian is really good for chicken, sesame ginger is great for pork or chicken and goddess dressing works wonders on turkey legs. Nice thing about salad dressing is it usually has vinegar, tomato, buttermilk or some other acid in it that breaks down the meat and makes it tender.
Thanks, Ilona, for the kale softening tip. We use it in our blended nutritional drink all the time, but my DH finds it a bit chewy for a whole salad. I love dinosaur kale salad with fresh lemon, garlic, and olive oil, but, again, too chewy. So I’ll try your trick next time and add the lemon when I’m plating. I’m excited to try it!
We get 4 or 5 rotisserie chickens at Costco every month & a half or 2 (because it’s about an 80 mile round trip). We can have sliced chicken breast for dinner and then I debone the rest and chop it into large chunks, portion it into sandwich bags,
put 8 bags each into a zippered freezer bag, and pop them into the freezer.
then I can thaw them a bag at a time and turn them into soup, chicken salad, Kale or any green salad, stir-fry, “spaghetti a-la- scholar”, chicken tacos, chicken chili, stuffed acorn squash, fried rice-like quinoa ( just to name a few) and all in a half hour before dinner.
The chicken tastes no different than the first fresh delicious bite when they get home. I save the jelly in ice cube trays to add extra flavor.
These chickens give a HUGE amount of meat!
What’s spaghetti a la scholar? I need to know, please!
Remember the Scholar from the “Sweep Of The Heart”?
He was a big chicken!????????????
Someone on another thread asked for a tuna casserole recipe. I will give my family’s, which I have been nostalgically craving. My dad only had a couple of ideas for Lenten Fridays, mostly because we just wouldn’t eat most fish and also because fresh fish was expensive. Mostly because we couldn’t afford it. So.
2 cans tuna fish, drained
2 cans Campbell’s Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup — straight from the can, no “uncondensing”
Mustard powder
8oz (maybe? Maybe a pound? I’m experimenting soon based on my memory, but soon is not yet) macaroni noodles, cooked and drained (weight is for uncooked pasta)
Breadcrumbs
Combine everything except the breadcrumbs in a casserole dish. I can’t tell you how much mustard powder to use, because so much depends on the kind. A lot of mild mustard powder, a smaller amount of strong.
Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the top. Cook on 375°. Again, cooking time depends on the depth of the dish. If you’re using a large shallow dish, it’ll take about 30 minutes. A smaller and deeper dish might take an hour. The breadcrumbs should be golden brown and the mushroom soup should be heated through and bubbling.
At some point, my dad got creative* and switched from breadcrumbs to corn flakes. I never liked the cornflakes.
This was way better than fish sticks were 35 years ago.
____
*my dad was actually an amazing cook and I wish I could go back in time and eat fresh fish with him. He cooked by instinct I am the only one of eight children able to reproduce his gravy, and I had to bring science into it.
I massage the kale as well, and that is what the instructions said from a Vegetarian cookbook I got at Christmas (can’t recall the name as at work). Anway, it said to cut up kale, shave Brussell sprouts, shave purple cabbage, shave carrots. Add sea salt, and then throw 1/2 cup of grated fresh parmesan and roast on 425 for 15 minutes. It is a beautiful display of veggies on your plate. HOWEVER, I would take out the kale like within 10 minutes. My word the kale was light and airy. I like to vary it up with mushrooms, and broccoli and sometimes less cheese too. I also love to sprinkle on ALL THE VEGETABLES at any time of with Ms. Dash Table Blend seasoning blend. LOVE IT!
1. Always add chopped anchovies to tomato based sauces or soups to enhance the flavor with umami salty hit.
2. In cakes and desserts I always reduce the recommended sugar by at least one third and add a generous pinch of salt. This reduces the calories but makes little difference to the taste other than allowing the flavoring ingredients to hold their own against the sugar.
3. Parmesan crisis – mix two thirds to half volume of p
Grated Parmesan with one third to half almond meal. Spoon onto prepared baking tray in pile and bake till golden and bubbly with slightly brown edges. The almond meal take the edge off the pure Parmesan bite.
4. Airfryer steaks – this type of cooking isonly success full with really thick cut steak eg 3-4cms thick sirloin.
Pre heat fryer to 200 degree centigrade of the highestsetting, answer salt the meat on all sides to the point of overgenerosity.
Cook in airfryer for about twelve minutes for medium rare, with a good crust, turning 2 or 3 times during cooking. Rest for the same amount of time you cooked it.
Voila perfect steak.
Lets talk more food 🙂 Found a really cool roasted Brussel Sprout dip on Food and Wine site that I am going to make this weekened. I want to see if its a neat twist for an upcoming graduation party. Along with this dip recipe we are going to cook the Food and Wine Three ingredient Coffee Rub recipe for Prime Rib. That is delicious and we are just spoiling ourselves this weekend.
EASY PEASY STEAK Marinade: I got this from a friend whose dad used to run a steak restaurant in Boston. His dad would take any cut of meat, place it down on a bed of rock salt for 10 minutes. Flip it to the other side and let that side rest on the rock salt, then throw the steak on the grill or into the cast iron skillet. ITS WONDERFUL!
Lastly- we have a grilling cookbook that talks about taking a porterhouse steak, grilling it with just salt and pepper. AFTER its cooked and done- place it on a platter that has whatever type of olive oil you want covering the bottom of the platter. In the Olivie oil there is also two sage leaves, and sprigs of Rosmary (keep off if not like) and fresh minced garlic if you like. Thus, place the steak on the platter for about 30 seconds and flip it over and do the same thing on the other side. Then remove it from the platter and serve.
Back to work-Cheers!
About the bed of rock salt marinade, when you flip the first side over brush any rock salt on that side off.
This is one everyone probably knows. I use a big jar of dill pickles to make barbeque. Buy a good 3-4 pound chuck roast and put it in the slow cooker with an entire jar of dill pickles on top (I use whole pickles to make clean-up easier) and cook for 8 hours. I cook it in the garage because the smell is difficult to live with. After cooking, remove the pickle remnants and drain the liquid. The meat will fall apart. Use your own sauce. We used to live in North Carolina so our favorite is vinegar based.
I don’t drown my steak in butter either, when I have it. Just season it. They have all those fancy seasoning packets you can get now. Mostly, if it can go into a Dutch oven, that’s what we cook in the winter: whole chicken, pork tenderloin, pot roast or tri tip. Doesn’t dry out, doesn’t take long, even at lower temperatures. Sometimes smoked pork chops in the sous vide my mom got me for Christmas one year. Summer, it gets cooked outside on the grill. The less cleanup required, the more I like the recipe. If I wasn’t married I’d live off of sandwiches, fajitas, and salads.
Listen, I put heavy cream in my tea, believe pork fat is a condiment, and have been known to roast a chicken just to eat the crispy skin — I’m not afraid of animal fat, is what I’m saying. (My cholesterol is fine, thanks. Good genes.) That said, I would never cook steak in butter! Steak is perfect with just a bit of salt.
My garden exploded with kale last fall, so lots of kale with smashed potatoes and gruyere cheese.
Sorry, no steak here. Only steelhead trout cooked 5 minutes on each side in a hot pan. Then I saute greens in the oil left from the fish. Add salt, pepper, and garlic to the greens. I tried it as an experiment & now I’m obsessed.
Thumbs up on the savory oatmeal too. Add cheese, sauteed mushrooms, and greens.
I saw where you can’t do lactose, but soaking just about anything in buttermilk will help to tenderize it. Dump in some hot sauce to really spice up your meat.
As for grilling steaks, my husband does then wonderfully on a grill (move over steakhouses). He has all types of rubs he uses on them, but salt is there in the mix and he lets it set (as mentioned above). I have a recipe where I pan-sear the steaks in an cast iron skillet & then move them to an oven for the last bit of cooking (dear hubby places it in the oven & takes it out for me). Yes, I do make a butter herb sauce using the juices and some beef broth afterward, but it’s not necessary. No, we don’t use steak sauce (heavens no!).
Try butterflying your chicken drumsticks before frying. I did that this past weekend and OH BOY, they we awesome. Of course, I did marinate in them in the refrigerator for HOURS in buttermilk and hot sauce, then breaded them in Louisiana seasoned crispy chicken fry (the SPICY one), and fried them up in a dutch oven.
I could go on and on, but I don’t want anyone falling asleep.
I agree about butter-drowned steak. Not necessary.
Plus save the calories for dessert 😉
Baking is a stress relief but cooking is evil. I’m in grad school so my cooking is mostly getting seasoned chicken and frozen veggies then putting it in the oven or doing soup in the crock pot 🙂 on the other hand I’m excited Pi day is next week and I can use my Pi symbol shaped cookie pan
I’m going to say it. I’m going to be the dissenter: I prefer kale over spinach. I like the crunch. Spinach goes bad too quickly and I don’t have the patience to look at every leaf to see whether it’s gone gross and translucent! Kale is simple. It doesn’t wilt in soup and I think it tastes better after cooking. I would also like to include that my mom would nuke those boxes of frozen spinach and just put butter, salt, and pepper on it and the one time I tried to eat it, I gagged and it almost came out my nose so NO I will not willingly eat spinach. My nose burns thinking about it…
I like to grind dried porcini mushrooms or use some Trader Joe’s Umami seasoning (dried mushrooms) and season the steaks with a good amount. Add black pepper and salt. Grill sear or whatever, it will be Umami yummyness!!
Salad is always better if someone else makes it. ????
We tried an air fryer just to be adventurous. Does a great job on poultry, crispy but still moist, even a 6lb turkey breast for Christmas!
Tip from my MIL: Save the wrappers from the sticks of butter and then use them when you need to grease a pan.
Tip from life experience: elevation matters when making candies like caramel (I knew it affected cakes and cookies, didn’t think about the caramel).
High altitude makes everything a challenge. We are on our 3rd generation of trying to get our family favorite coffee cake recipe to work. We have tried everyone’s hacks. Not looking for help because in fact we all now prefer the slightly reverse coffee cake (topping tends to sink to the bottom). We are only trying to perfect it for guests. Just agreeing that high altitude cooking is an everlasting challenge. You don’t want to know how long it takes to cook a baked potato in the oven in Denver.
Chewing kale reminds me of a cow chewing cud. I’m with you on steak. I don’t marinde, but do let it stand at room temperature for an hour. My hamburgers – I fashion ground beef, not lean, into patties – I do not mix anything into them, but do season outsides. They taste like wonderful, wonderful beef. People always ask me for my recipe – hah! If you have a chuck roast you are cutting up for stew, brown it before you cut it up. It is way easier, and you do not need to brown all the sides of each cube to get the flavor boost browning provides. Two sides is plenty. But don’t forget to scrape up the fond with some wine or broth to add to the stew. If you are converting a recipe to slow cooker, remember to reduce liquids by half. SLow cookers conserve moisture, so you don’t need as much. And if you are using wine in your slow cooker, reduce it by half – it won’t reduce in the slow cooker, will not taste right.