a thread full of my cooking misconceptions.

[Elesirdur]

Reduced collagen helps thicken the sauce, but any actual liquid fat (ie, oil) should be skimmed off and tossed while cooking. Unless you want to strain your stew liquid entirely and emulsify the oil back in.

[Amelya]

So anyone have some good sites with "everyday" dinner type recipes? I know how to cook decent but I could get better. Just looking to improve my recipes for like spaghetti, kielbasa, etc... there are a million sites and most of the ones I looked at weren't helpful.

http://www.melskitchencafe.com/

^ This is my favorite site for every day type recipes. She has nice pictures and easy to follow directions, and usually the ingredients aren't overly fussy. I've probably made around 20 of her recipes and they've all been very good and didn't keep me in the kitchen for hours.

http://www.howsweeteats.com/

^This blog tends to feature a lot of baking recipes but she has some really good dinner ideas too.

[wyrmtung]

A tip that I learned years ago from a Jamie Oliver show on how to keep spaghetti noodles from sticking together: Put a twist in the middle of your handful of noodles and then drop them directly into the center of the pot. The noodles will fan out into a spiral. As the noodles cook, the ends that are above the water will slowly drop down into the water. There is no need to stir the noodles using this method. Just drop them in and walk away.

[Kerberoz]

...or just use more water.

[wyrmtung]

...because everyone has pots large enough to fit a handful of noodles under water?

[ZarakiKujata]

...because everyone has pots large enough to fit a handful of noodles under water?

what the fuck is so hard about stirring your noodles 1-2 times?

edit: And I mean noodles aren't like eggs/rice etc that you can step away from.

[wyrmtung]

what the fuck is so hard about stirring your noodles 1-2 times?

edit: And I mean noodles aren't like eggs/rice etc that you can step away from.

Relax, buddy. No need to come hard just because someone is offering a friendly tip. Just for you, I'll grant you permission to continue to do it the old way. In fact, since I'm feeling extra generous, I'll even let you use the twist technique just in case you decide to be extra daring.

Isn't that awesome? You actually have a CHOICE now about how to cook your spaghetti noodles. You're a lucky guy.

[Daydreamer]

Reduced collagen helps thicken the sauce, but any actual liquid fat (ie, oil) should be skimmed off and tossed while cooking. Unless you want to strain your stew liquid entirely and emulsify the oil back in.

I most definitely agree with your collagen part, but I find if you have the time (or in the case of a braise) it's easier to just get the the final fat skim off by letting it sit in a fridge overnight so all the fat turns solid on the surface. Then it's just one or two quick strains.

Any fat that isn't strained off then (the initial oil used for cooking you are talking about) is usually skimmed off soon thereafter. I just fine the chill/strain method gets the majority of the solid fat out quickly.

[Plow]

fat ... skimmed off and tossed

Again, doinitrong.

This is amurrica.

[Byrthnoth]

Made a lot of crap this weekend in preparation for being busy during the coming week (aka leftovers). Two kinds of soup, a cake, baked chicken, mashed potatoes, two loaves of bread, two focaccia, various less-exciting vegetable things.

I'm sorry for whoever I will offend with this statement, but of everything I made . . . . the Hershey's cocoa box chocolate cake was my favorite thing both to make and to eat. Dark chocolate, of course.

Dishes made on the way to a cake:
2 Bowls
1 Pan
Eggbeaters (because I'm lazy)
Wooden Spoon (because I got less lazy)
1 cup measuring thing
Teaspoon
Quarter cup measuring thing
... really not bad, considering it was a cake. The two bowls were actually the same bowl twice, but I washed it so I did the same amount of work as if I'd used two.

1 hour to make a cake, including preheating, cleanup, and frosting but not including cooling time. Hard to freaking beat.

[Kerberoz]

Again, doinitrong.

[SamanosukeShiva]

wohoo a cooking thread!
knives I bought a while back (8 months ago)

Spoiler: show

Misono UX10 - Lightest Chef knife and easily the best I've ever work with, tip of the knife is crazy sharp, grip is amazing as well. My old chef knife was a mercer, misono beats it by a mile.


Global Flexible Boning Knife - The name Global really speaks for itself, sharp, handle well. Holds the edge really well, i don't have to sharpen it often, maybe once every 2 weeks with daily usage.


Tojiro DP Paring Knife - Comfortable grip, scary sharp, and doesn't really handle like other paring knives I've work with. It's like a mini chef knife almost, I can brunoise really fast with this. One thing I picked up about this knife, not really made to tourne and if you attempt to tourne with this knife you could hurt yourself. lol

[Halion]

Ok, I'll start. This is a pork tenderloin roast I made for my family for Christmas dinner, garnished with parsley and pomegranate seeds. The pork was a cooked a little more than I would have liked, but my mom is one of those people who have to have their pork cooked all the way through or she refuses to eat it. It still turned out quite well though.

I had to lol when I read this because I made a bone in roast for Christmas and my mother made me put it back in until there was no pink left except on the tenderloin, which she cut off, and the internal temp was up from 140 to 170, because otherwise SALMONELLA AND DEATH OMGZ. (BTW it was overcooked and terrible lol xD)