OFFICIAL THREAD: General Cookery and Discussion

[reidd]

Went for some South Asian flavors tonight. Salad with more garden cantaloupe, mint, yogurt and some toasted cashews.

Improvised an ultra hot curry with some garden chili’s and some lamb shoulder.

 

[Lizard23]

Went for some South Asian flavors tonight. Salad with more garden cantaloupe, mint, yogurt and some toasted cashews.

Improvised an ultra hot curry with some garden chili’s and some lamb shoulder.
View attachment 1441579
View attachment 1441580

this looks great. Details on the curry?

 

[Omega Male]

Went for some South Asian flavors tonight. Salad with more garden cantaloupe, mint, yogurt and some toasted cashews.

Improvised an ultra hot curry with some garden chili’s and some lamb shoulder.

View attachment 1441580

I wish I still had long, luxuriant hairs like that.

 

[Piobaire]

I have never weighed any ingredients, and I’m still alive at 44.

Making sausage I weigh out the spice mix, the meat, and the fat. I will actually weigh salt when I make a cure for bacon.

For the following pic all measurements were volumetric.

 

[Lizard23]

Making sausage I weigh out the spice mix, the meat, and the fat. I will actually weigh salt when I make a cure for bacon.

For the following pic all measurements were volumetric.

View attachment 1441603

Looks great!

 

[Lizard23]

Strip steak with baked potato and mixed greens with bacon shallot vinaigrette.

 

[Fueco]

well then, that settles it. Weighing ingredients has no useful purpose because you have never done it and you are still alive... QED.

I didn’t f_____g say that it held no useful purpose, I merely hinted that it wasn’t necessary.

 

[Lizard23]

I didn’t f_____g say that it held no useful purpose, I merely hinted that it wasn’t necessary.

Fair enough.

I get irrationally irritated by the argument that is a variant of “i havent done x and I am fine”. My comment was before dinner and I was grouchy.

But it does beg the question of what is necessary? Most technique associated with cooking isnt strictly “necessary”. For me, technique is about achieving a result that is incrementally better than what preceded.

 

[Fueco]

Fair enough.

I get irrationally irritated by the argument that is a variant of “i havent done x and I am fine”. My comment was before dinner and I was grouchy.

But it does beg the question of what is necessary? Most technique associated with cooking isnt strictly “necessary”. For me, technique is about achieving a result that is incrementally better than what preceded.

Sorry for the aggrieved reply. I was irrationally irritated by the shoppers at Safeway who can’t be bothered to follow arrows on the floor.

Maybe I don’t know what I’m missing, but I did learn to cook from my grandma and mom, both of whom knew/know their way around the kitchen.

 

[Fueco]

A friend post this pic on Facebook. If anyone needs this, go to Whole Foods.

Spoiler: “NSFW if you have prudish coworkers”

 

[Lizard23]

I learned from my mother and grandma as well and as previously mentioned, for most things I dont measure at all.

My teachers were fantastic cooks, but that doesnt mean there isnt room to take what I learned from them and progress. For example, they both cooked all proteins medium well to well. I dont do that. My grandmother made gnocchi with semolina flour, eggs, and potato. I use all purpose flour with potato and omit the egg... it goes on, but their teachings are a starting point and perhaps the most important thing they taught me is the great feeling you get when you prepare a meal for someone, especially when done “with care”... whatever that might mean to you.

*** coincidentally, I never weigh anything when making gnocchi (where the ratio of flour to potato is paramount) because the water content of potato is so variable. Instead i do it by feel which i suppose is analogous to baking by volume and adjusting by feel. But when i make cream biscuits i weigh the flour, tare the scale and add the exact same amount of cream, by weight. I guess i could do that by feel, but i find weighing easier and it yields consistent results.

I am now rambling but it also occurs to me that if you always weigh, you will never develop the feel... food for thought (pun intended).

 

[Piobaire]

Gents, we have Edina to thank for this discord. Otherwise we're all, as usual, in general agreement.

 

[Texasmade]

I have never weighed any ingredients, and I’m still alive at 44.

So brave...

 

[Lizard23]

While we are on the subject of precise measurement, who uses a thermometer to temp their proteins?

For a long time i used to do it by feel and was actually pretty good at it. I felt it was a badge of honor. Now I almost always use my thermapen. The results are definitely more consistent AND i can be lazier. I am sure if I tried to do a perfect medium rare by feel now, I wouldnt hit the mark.

 

[Piobaire]

Sous vide I leave it to the machine. Just about everything else gets a temp. Brisket? Two or three probes depending on size, pork butt two probes, etc. Rotisserie will get Thermapen'ed.