this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2023
15 points (100.0% liked)

Cooking

8562 readers
444 users here now

Lemmy

Welcome to LW Cooking, a community for discussing all things related to food and cooking! We want this to be a place for members to feel safe to discuss and share everything they love about the culinary arts. Please feel free to take part and help our community grow!

Taken a nice photo of your creation? We highly encourage sharing with our friends over at [email protected].


Posts in this community must be food/cooking related and must have one of the "tags" below in the title.

We would like the use and number of tags to grow organically. For now, feel free to use a tag that isn't listed if you think it makes sense to do so. We are encouraging using tags to help organize and make browsing easier. As time goes on and users get used to tagging, we may be more strict but for now please use your best judgement. We will ask you to add a tag if you forget and we reserve the right to remove posts that aren't tagged after a time.

TAGS:

FORMAT:

[QUESTION] What are your favorite spices to use in soups?

Other Cooking Communities:

[email protected] - Lemmy.world's home for BBQ.

[email protected] - Showcasing your best culinary creations.

[email protected] - All things sous vide precision cooking.

[email protected] - Celebrating Korean cuisine!


While posting and commenting in this community, you must abide by the Lemmy.World Terms of Service: https://legal.lemmy.world/tos/

  1. Posts or comments that are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist, ableist, or advocating violence will be removed.
  2. Be civil: disagreements happen, but that doesn’t provide the right to personally insult others.
  3. Spam, self promotion, trolling, and bots are not allowed
  4. Shitposts and memes are allowed until they prove to be a problem.

Failure to follow these guidelines will result in your post/comment being removed and/or more severe actions. All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users. We ask that the users report any comment or post that violates the rules, and to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

What are the best practices you've learned to save time or make a meal better.

(page 2) 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Clean as you go, don't just leave it all for the end. Onions are sauteing and you're done chopping everything? Good, wash your cutting board and knife and clean up any messes before the next step. Sausage is done browning and you're dumping it in with the onions for a minute with the garlic and some herbs? Great, wash that pan and spoon and set it down to dry and wipe up all the oil splashes.

Just makes clean up so much easier after you've eaten and you're much more efficiently using your time.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Every time I try to do this I burn my onions.

In I'm sure TOTALLY unrelated news I'm also getting screened for ADHD...

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

Adding Knorr brand Caldo de Tomate to your rice cooker turns your plain old rice into Spanish rice. Blew my mind when I tried it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Butter makes everything better

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago

This is why restaurant food tastes so good. Fat is flavor. But beware, restaurants don't give a shit about your cholesterol. They want you to have good food that you want to come back for. They'll give you butter and grease all day long. You can cook tasty food at home that won't clog your heart, but it takes a lot to meet the flavor standards of bacon or butter using poultry or vegetable oil. The trick is moderation. Not every meal needs to be a greasy bacon cheeseburger, but you don't have to completely boycott that either.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

deglazing. it's when you use an acid to pull all the glaze off the bottom of a pan. it flavors the dish and makes cleaning your pan easier.

rice vinegar and red or white wines are favorites

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

I also like to freeze leftover stock into an ice cube tray for deglazing, when I just need a little but and not have to open a whole new carton.

If you can take 1 or 2 cubes (or how many you need) out before cooking so they're melted before, great, but I've also had success just throwing the frozen cubes directly into the pan in a pinch.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago (3 children)

To get a good sear on a steak in a pan, the pan doesn't have to be super hot, you just have to make sure the contact surfaces are as dry as possible.

If your stew tastes like it's missing something, it's bay leaf.

Don't buy hyperspecialized tools for cooking if you can use more generalized tool for the task with the same amount of effort. You can do a lot with a good chef's knife.

Cut through greasiness with a bit of acid.

Adding a little bit of sugar, but not so much you can taste the sweetness, to otherwise salty dishes will mellow out and enhance the flavor of the dish.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Sorry for the off topic, but do I understand correctly that this account is being used by multiple people on Margot Robbie's team to post and comment, and ultimately attract attention for the Barbie movie? If I have that right, that's a really great marketing strategy that I haven't seen before. It would be cool if you could find a way to let us know how it works out.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

How can you be so sure of anything you read on the Internet?

What do you think the point I'm trying to make is here?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

How can you be so sure of anything you read on the Internet?

I can't be, which is why I was asking.

What do you think the point I’m trying to make is here?

I scanned through your profile, comments, and posts. The profile itself says it's staffed by a team to market the movie. You made a whole bunch of posts without commenting on them initially, so I assume it was to get conversation going. Some of the comments reference the movie, but most are like the one above that seem to be good faith attempts to answer questions.

So I don't know, but there's at least an implication that the account is designed to get people talking, and maybe notice the account name, getting some attention for her work. The other leading option would be that you have no association with Margot Robbie at all and are just screwing with people.

But that's all just me reading and guessing. You're the one who can actually answer: what is the point you're trying to make?

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

You don't need to slave over a stove for 3 hours to get caramelized onion. Here's what you do. After slicing the onion, get the pan up to a medium heat with a splash of oil. Toss in the onions and add a bit of salt to make them sweat. Once they start to dry out, go golden at the edges, and even stick to the pan a bit, add a splash of water. You do have to stir continuously for this method as well, but it takes much less time. Do this process a few times where you add water, cook it until its dry, another splash of water, cook it until it dries out again, etc. Sometimes I'll even alternate in a splash of white wine for fun. You should have beautiful caramelized onions in 30 min with this method.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

Alternately, a mandolin, slow cooker, and an ice cube tray are amazing.

Mando up a 5lb bag of onions, toss in the slow cooker, & 6 hours later you have the most delectable flavors.

I usually take half the onions and make French onion soup, and the rest into the ice box. They thaw perfect in the fridge, or a sauté pan.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago

Mine is, don’t eat anything solid, hold your poop for 3-days. When the redditors arrive why won’t understand, but whatever food you eat will be the best you ever tasted, they also will remain confused about why there is so much karma on your foodporn posts!

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago

Always keep canned tomatoes in the pantry. Particularly tomato paste. It's a great ingredient that can add a depth of flavor to a variety of dishes.

Whole spices really do make a big difference and it's worth knowing how to use them even if you don't make them part of your everyday cooking. When its time to make a special dish, using whole spicessl that you grind fresh will be worth it.

Use acid in your cooking. Citrus, viniger, wine, yogurt, etc will often upgrade a dish.

Parchment paper/aluminum foil is your friend. Minimize your time scrubbing dishes by minimizing the mess you make when baking food.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago

Reverse taring - instead of placing the bowl on the scale and taring before weighing, place your ingredients on the scale and tare, and you can then scoop out and see the negative weight of how much you have used. This is especially helpful if you are trying to weigh an ingredient into a hot pan you can’t just set on the scale

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago

When slow cooking a roast lay it on a bed of potatoes or whatever other sides you want, fill the water to the top of the veggies (or taters) then soak the roast in your sauce of choice. Gravity and heat will help the sauce work into the veggies giving them a nice flavor. The roast pretty much always comes out perfectly moist and you get amazing veggies out of the deal.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Ah, the alchemy of the kitchen! A dash of efficiency, a sprinkle of passion, and a dollop of savviness. First off, mise en place - French for 'put in place.' Prepare your ingredients ahead of time, it can help remove a loot of stress.

Secondly, invest in a sharp knife - it's the Excalibur of the culinary world, turning the toughest veggies into paper.

Lastly, experiment! Like any good inventor, a chef isn't afraid of a few mishaps; it happens to the best of us! You'll surprise yourself with some of things you may come up with 😉

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago

First off, mise en place - French for ‘put in place.’ Prepare your ingredients ahead of time, it can help remove a loot of stress.

Corollary: as you empty a dirty dish, put it directly into the dishwasher or give it a quick wash and dry while the ingredients sweat/simmer/cook. Nothing is quite as nice as having the kitchen nearly cleaned up as you plate your meals. (my wife taught me this - it only took me 25 years to learn!)

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago

Besides mise en place, also clean as you go. Basically you only have to clean the pot(s) you cook in, everything else has already been cleaned. And invest in a knife sharpener. They go dull very quickly. And a big box of bandaids :-)

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago

Stop mincing garlic and just get a fucking microplane. Thank you Rachel Ray.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago

If you're making rice without using a rice cooker, the amount of water you need is not quite a direct ratio like the package suggests. You need a 1:1 ratio of rice to water plus an additional quarter to half cup of water depending how firm you like your rice.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago (3 children)

@PoodleDoodle

  • when dicing onions cut radially first, then slice across, it saves you that weird half slice that's traditionally used for dicing onions.

  • I use cast iron for nearly everything, it survives a hundred years because it's bulletproof not because it's gingerly handled every time it's removed from it's velvet case. People dragged them around on Chuck wagons, you will not kill it with soap. Worst case it gets a little sticky and now you need to cook some bacon in it.

  • A splash of acid in your soup or stew at the end really wakes it up.

  • Never cook rice without at least a couple bay leaves. Ideally you'll cook it in chicken stock as well, add flavour where you can.

  • The best chicken stock in a jar is Better Than Bullion. Hands down. No contest.

  • With a splash of oil you can cook eggs even in a sticky cast iron pan.

  • Always use hand protection of some kind with a mandolin. I've never seen a non-pro chef go without and not fuck up their hand. Even pros lose the tips of their fingers sometimes too.

  • If you want to recreate movie theater popcorn at home you need the following things:
    A whirlypop or other stovetop cooker
    Coconut oil, refined
    Popcorn kernels, quality varies, find a good brand
    Fine salt
    "Popcorn oil" - this is butter flavored oil sold next to the kernels

Here's what you do, set up a bowl to dump your popcorn in, throw some salt in the whirlypop with a spoon of coconut oil, and just a tiny glug of the popcorn oil, not much just a tad. Add your kernels, crank the heat to high and start cranking. Do. Not. Stop. The popcorn will begin to pop after an interminable wait. Keep cranking until it either gets hard to crank or the popping slows down significantly. Then quickly dump your popcorn into the waiting bowl. Do not add salt, you already did this, the fine salt will be well distributed this way. Add a bit of popcorn oil. Shake the bowl a bit to distribute, add more if desired etc. Then enjoy your movie theater popcorn.

It took me years to work out how to do it without the Naks oil, which I bought from a local popcorn shop for awhile.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago (4 children)

Use a piping bag to fill muffin tins/cupcakes. Saves so much mess and crumpled paper.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago

Save a cut of pasta water to thicken up sauces.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

To actually cook things enough. I wasn't cooking them to unsafe levels before, and please don't cook my steak above medium rare, but some foods just taste better cooked more. Almost no one cooks ground meats enough, who the hell wants grey beef, get some color on that bitch. Also if you cook sausage meat enough it gains color and the flat renders out a little it tastes better. Get some colour on those roast veggies and no one likes a pale insipid fry. A change in color is flavor, use it to your advantage. And yes sometimes you want your veggies firm and for the love of god don't overcook your garlic.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I agree with you on getting color in your food. I think the best way to do that is to cook it at the right temperature (don't be afraid of heat!) and don't crowd the pan. And don't be too stir-happy.

Ground beef, for example. You don't have to cook it long it you start with a hot pan that's big enough. Get a pan with a heavy bottom and heat it up empty for a minute or two on medium or medium- high heat. Plop the meat in. It should sizzle. Break it up enough for it to cover the pan, and then don't stir for a couple minutes. You can stir it when you see some brown forming on the bottom layer.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›