How do you cook it?

[BMAN]

Thanks to a crazy schedule picking my boys up from school after work, I really only cook something of note twice or so a week. The rest of time time I take shortcuts like ordering something or picking something out of the frozen food section. Prepared bagged salad is a miracle worker for somebody who wants a real meal but don't have time.

What kind of meals are you looking to create here?

I guess just meals during the week and have leftovers for lunches. Nicer dishes for weekends. I workout and everything so something that isn’t healthy for me.

I finally have a grill and trying to learn the way through that too.

 

[BMAN]

Not sure where you're at as far as cooking skills go, but one thing that helped jump my skills up quickly were meal prep services like Hello Fresh or Blue Apron.

I was getting those, but was too pricey at the time. I could revisit now that a lot of my debt was paid off.

 

[BMAN]

So I guess just maybe new ideas?

 

[FiveThous]

I was getting those, but was too pricey at the time. I could revisit now that a lot of my debt was paid off.

I hear ya, there's a lot of cooks now that post videos/recipes on YouTube. FoodWishes is solid, Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver have good channels. Brothers Green and Hilah Cooking are good channels too.

 

[BMAN]

I hear ya, there's a lot of cooks now that post videos/recipes on YouTube. FoodWishes is solid, Gordan Ramsay and Jamie Oliver have good channels. Brothers Green and Hilah Cooking are good channels too.

That’s probably more what I’m looking for. I did just discover Gordon Ramsay’s. I like it a lot.

 

[Sebastian]

I was getting those, but was too pricey at the time. I could revisit now that a lot of my debt was paid off.

I signed up for Blue Apron for a couple weeks. Since I shop a lot at the grocers I am familiar with prices and boy howdy, they mark the living shit out of everything. Like 300%.

 

[Jack Brickman]

So how does one learn how to cook and shit? Look up recipes and everything on google? Cooking classes? What?

I'm not much of a chef, in that I'm not good at creating my own meals or recipes from scratch. However, you can go a long way just by following recipes online. I've been doing that for years and it's really all you need if you're not a natural at it.

Pinterest is actually a great app for finding recipes. You can just search for what you're looking for and you'll get thousands upon thousands of recipe options for it. There are also a billion cooking sites out there ran by people who post their own recipes. I'd recommend finding a few that have a bunch of recipes you like the look of and trying them out.

 

[Randolphkeys]

I guess just meals during the week and have leftovers for lunches. Nicer dishes for weekends. I workout and everything so something that isn’t healthy for me.

I finally have a grill and trying to learn the way through that too.

You are in luck... I'm at the DMV waiting for my number to call up. I've got the time.

It's still warm outside so I'm giving you my summer specialty: Marinated chicken for the BBQ and pasta salad. I have chicken waiting for me in a Ziploc right now with a homemade orange thyme marinade. Goddamn DMV. Now serving G219...

When picking chicken to grill or smoke, bone-in is your friend. The boneless chicken dries out faster, the bone gives you more leeway for mistakes. Start out with a store bought teriyaki sauce. When you want to branch out into homemade marinades we will go there. Put the meat in a plastic ziploc with enough marinade to coat the meat. Let all the air escape before closing. One way to do that is lower the bag in a large pot of water to displace the air until you get to the liquid. Marinate for at least a day. If you go two or three days it will be amazing. When you take the chicken out Pat it dry with a paper towel. Use a little cooking spray or oil on it afterward and let the chicken sit for half an hour. If it is closer to room temperature you won't get that raw chicken on the inside with the overdone outside.

Don't use high temperature on the grill. I go with 300-350 max. If you want to be safe use a thermometer and wait until the inside of your chicken hits 160.

Now for the pasta salad. Buy whatever bite sized pasta you want: bowties, fusilli, orzo, whatever you prefer. Buy vinegar based dressing like Newman's Own Ceasar, Citrus Splash, Greek Vinagrette, Italian, whatever is on sale. Green onions and cucumbers are a must. Outside of those veggies you can go with whatever is fresh and crunchy: sliced peppers, sliced fennel bulb, celery, halved grape tomatoes, whatever is firm and bite sized. Then you raid the jarred area of the grocery store for whatever you like. Pitted kalamata olives, jarred mushrooms, artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes... again, whatever is on sale or fits your taste buds. The key here is pairing your fresh veggies with marinated veggies. I buy crumbled feta cheese to tie it all together but shredded mozzarella is acceptable.

Boil up half the package of pasta in salt water for 8-11 minutes. Depends on the directions on the box. While it's cooking, drop the marinated veggies with some of the brine and a good squeeze of the dressing into a large sealable salad bowl. When the pasta is done, dump it in the salad bowl and turn it over gently with a wooden spoon. Get that pasta coated for about five to ten minutes. Add the chopped up fresh veggies and feta when it cools down and seal the pasta salad up.

The reason pasta salad is a hit at a deli is it can sit for a week in a fridge and only get better as the flavors hang out. Leftover grilled chicken and pasta salad is a great dish for the work week, you don't even have to warm it up. If a few days in the pasta salad is drying up, give it a little more dressing.

Let me know how that goes @BMAN. If you can handle that one I'll raise the difficulty level for you.

Now serving G234...

 

[Sebastian]

You are in luck... I'm at the DMV waiting for my number to call up. I've got the time.

It's still warm outside so I'm giving you my summer specialty: Marinated chicken for the BBQ and pasta salad. I have chicken waiting for me in a Ziploc right now with a homemade orange thyme marinade. Goddamn DMV. Now serving G219...

When picking chicken to grill or smoke, bone-in is your friend. The boneless chicken dries out faster, the bone gives you more leeway for mistakes. Start out with a store bought teriyaki sauce. When you want to branch out into homemade marinades we will go there. Put the meat in a plastic ziploc with enough marinade to coat the meat. Let all the air escape before closing. One way to do that is lower the bag in a large pot of water to displace the air until you get to the liquid. Marinate for at least a day. If you go two or three days it will be amazing. When you take the chicken out Pat it dry with a paper towel. Use a little cooking spray or oil on it afterward and let the chicken sit for half an hour. If it is closer to room temperature you won't get that raw chicken on the inside with the overdone outside.

Don't use high temperature on the grill. I go with 300-350 max. If you want to be safe use a thermometer and wait until the inside of your chicken hits 160.

Now for the pasta salad. Buy whatever bite sized pasta you want: bowties, fusilli, orzo, whatever you prefer. Buy vinegar based dressing like Newman's Own Ceasar, Citrus Splash, Greek Vinagrette, Italian, whatever is on sale. Green onions and cucumbers are a must. Outside of those veggies you can go with whatever is fresh and crunchy: sliced peppers, sliced fennel bulb, celery, halved grape tomatoes, whatever is firm and bite sized. Then you raid the jarred area of the grocery store for whatever you like. Pitted kalamata olives, jarred mushrooms, artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes... again, whatever is on sale or fits your taste buds. The key here is pairing your fresh veggies with marinated veggies. I buy crumbled feta cheese to tie it all together but shredded mozzarella is acceptable.

Boil up half the package of pasta in salt water for 8-11 minutes. Depends on the directions on the box. While it's cooking, drop the marinated veggies with some of the brine and a good squeeze of the dressing into a large sealable salad bowl. When the pasta is done, dump it in the salad bowl and turn it over gently with a wooden spoon. Get that pasta coated for about five to ten minutes. Add the chopped up fresh veggies and feta when it cools down and seal the pasta salad up.

The reason pasta salad is a hit at a deli is it can sit for a week in a fridge and only get better as the flavors hang out. Leftover grilled chicken and pasta salad is a great dish for the work week, you don't even have to warm it up. If a few days in the pasta salad is drying up, give it a little more dressing.

Let me know how that goes @BMAN. If you can handle that one I'll raise the difficulty level for you.

Now serving G234...

Did you make an appointment? The last time I was there, the one by Divisidaro, the line was around the block.

I was in and out after 20 minutes with an appointment.

 

[Randolphkeys]

Did you make an appointment? The last time I was there, the one by Divisidaro, the line was around the block.

I was in and out after 20 minutes with an appointment.

I'm at the very same one. Made an appointment, hope to be out of here in under two hours. Now serving G250. I'm G276. A woman with blue hair brought her yappy dog with her and it just took a shit five feet in front of me. Never change, DMV!

 

[FiveThous]

Whole chickens are a really easy thing to cook.

Rub the bird down with olive oil.
Season with salt and pepper all over the chicken.
Cut a yellow onion and a lemon in half. Squirt some lemon juice on the chicken and then put the halved onion and lemon in the body cavity. You can also add thyme or rosemary inside if you want.

A 4-5 pound chicken usually takes around 60-70 minutes to bake at 350. It's also extremely easy to break down the chicken, just make sure you have a sharp knife.

@BMAN


Edit: http://youtu.be/N1dc_gGZIbM

 

[gourimoko]

So how does one learn how to cook and shit? Look up recipes and everything on google? Cooking classes? What?

@King Stannis @gourimoko @Randolphkeys

As @King Stannis already suggested, a cooking class will go a very long way. I took cooking classes in college.. I briefly considered becoming a chef, until I realized it was way too much fucking work and went back to my maths, lmao!

But I never lost what I picked up in that very brief time... I think just a single semester, two days a week would go a long way for folks who want to learn the fundamentals...

Also, Cooks Illustrated; the black and white sort of hand-drawn magazine... I've been reading them for well over a decade. They're phenomenal resources...

 

[gourimoko]

Does anyone have an easy good recipes for crock pot meals that don’t have corn, rice, or beans? Struggling. Sick of pot roast.

Pulled pork, beef bolognese, shoyu/tonkotsu ramen (pork) soup base, char-siu pork (for aforementioned ramen), pho (beef bone) soup base (the meat is rare when you serve it), umm... I'm sure there's more but that's what we use our slow/pressure cooker for when we use it.

Keep in mind, you make these soup bases waay ahead of time... So you could cook it on Sunday, freeze it, and heat it up on the stove and in 10 minutes have delicious ramen soup at home just as good or better than your nearest ramen joint.

Also add a basic chicken broth, which you can make hot pot and (oddly enough) Chinese beef noodle soup with...

 

[Sebastian]

So, I am re-reading Seven Pillars of Wisdom, and re-watched Lawrence of Arabia.

It inspired me to make a hybrid rice dish that is a combination of Lebanese Hashweh and Arab Mujaddara.

I call it: "Pilaf ala El Aurens."

Also, for all serious chefs, you are (mostly) only as good as your tools.

These are one of the two best electric pepper and salt grinders available (the other is the Peugeot Elis set). They have ceramic blades and the salt grinder is designed specifically for rock salt. Don't get fooled by the Cuisenart or others that range in the $40-$65 range. They fall apart after a year and have cheap parts. You'll buy a new set over and over. Even the Cole & Masons are noisy and underpowered.

Highly recommended (Peugeot Alaska).

 

[FiveThous]

Whole chickens are a really easy thing to cook.

Rub the bird down with olive oil.
Season with salt and pepper all over the chicken.
Cut a yellow onion and a lemon in half. Squirt some lemon juice on the chicken and then put the halved onion and lemon in the body cavity. You can also add thyme or rosemary inside if you want.

A 4-5 pound chicken usually takes around 60-70 minutes to bake at 350. It's also extremely easy to break down the chicken, just make sure you have a sharp knife.

@BMAN


Edit: http://youtu.be/N1dc_gGZIbM

Oh ya, after you break down the chicken, you can boil the carcass in a large pot for 30 monutes with herbs, celery, carrots, and jalapenos (if you like spicy). Then you can let it simmer a on low for a couple hours, strain the veggies and herbs and you have a delicious chicken stock you can freeze or use for soups afterwards.