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[Cooking Thread] Burning questions and searing remarks

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Posts

  • VishNubVishNub Registered User regular
    Candied salmon is a delight. Though not really even sound vide adjacent.

  • ChanusChanus Harbinger of the Spicy Rooster Apocalypse The Flames of a Thousand Collapsed StarsRegistered User regular
    using oil/butter in the sous vide actually works against your end result because the flavor of the meat or your herbs dissolve into the oil/butter and it ends up actually extracting flavor instead of adding anything

    Allegedly a voice of reason.
  • bowenbowen How you doin'? Registered User regular
    Chanus wrote: »
    using oil/butter in the sous vide actually works against your end result because the flavor of the meat or your herbs dissolve into the oil/butter and it ends up actually extracting flavor instead of adding anything

    Yeah sous vide everything did a video on butter. Everyone seemed to like the non butter one better:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNtqr8x_u7I

    not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
  • azith28azith28 Registered User regular
    So, I made salmon burgers last night...I did some things wrong. Help me figure out where i went wrong pls...

    I use to buy these premade fresh salmon burgers at my local grocery...they had a flavor they called firecracker that i loved, but they stopped making it a while back. When they stopped i managed to get the butcher counter to give me the receipe they used to make it, and the weekend was my first attempt. The problem was that the photocopy they gave me is missing some details.
    (Going by memory but i think its accurate)
    3 lbs of ground salmon
    2 Tblsps of Chipotle powder
    1 Tblsps of Garlic powder
    1 Tblsps of Paparika
    then comes the mystery:
    .3 breadcrumbs
    .6 Mayonnase

    I'm assuming that .6 and .3 is 'of a pound?'

    So i take the ground salmon i got, put it in a bowl, roughly halved the amounts since it was only about 1-1.5 lbs of salmon, and kinda just eyeballed the mayo and breadcrumbs.

    I also used mccormicks Chipotle pepper powder. I'm assuming this is the same thing. is there a difference between Chipotle pepper and Chipotle?

    The problem is that they came out with much more heat to them then i remember, and beside the heat, I didnt really get much flavor out of them. The Salmon was rather on the bland side for some reason.

    Stercus, Stercus, Stercus, Morituri Sum
  • Steel AngelSteel Angel Registered User regular
    bowen wrote: »
    Chanus wrote: »
    using oil/butter in the sous vide actually works against your end result because the flavor of the meat or your herbs dissolve into the oil/butter and it ends up actually extracting flavor instead of adding anything

    Yeah sous vide everything did a video on butter. Everyone seemed to like the non butter one better:

    Note that this was a test on steak.

    A lot of people that won't add fat to the bag in sous vide steak will for seafood as fish is a lot more permeable than meat so the fat with the flavors does a much better job of flavoring the fish.

    Salmon is a firmer fleshed fish than most though so it may not see as much benefit as white fish like cod. Still, Kenji does put olive oil in the bag in the Food Lab writeup of sous vide salmon.

    Big Dookie wrote: »
    I found that tilting it doesn't work very well, and once I started jerking it, I got much better results.

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  • Steel AngelSteel Angel Registered User regular
    edited September 2018
    azith28 wrote: »
    So, I made salmon burgers last night...I did some things wrong. Help me figure out where i went wrong pls...

    I use to buy these premade fresh salmon burgers at my local grocery...they had a flavor they called firecracker that i loved, but they stopped making it a while back. When they stopped i managed to get the butcher counter to give me the receipe they used to make it, and the weekend was my first attempt. The problem was that the photocopy they gave me is missing some details.
    (Going by memory but i think its accurate)
    3 lbs of ground salmon
    2 Tblsps of Chipotle powder
    1 Tblsps of Garlic powder
    1 Tblsps of Paparika
    then comes the mystery:
    .3 breadcrumbs
    .6 Mayonnase

    I'm assuming that .6 and .3 is 'of a pound?'

    So i take the ground salmon i got, put it in a bowl, roughly halved the amounts since it was only about 1-1.5 lbs of salmon, and kinda just eyeballed the mayo and breadcrumbs.

    I also used mccormicks Chipotle pepper powder. I'm assuming this is the same thing. is there a difference between Chipotle pepper and Chipotle?

    The problem is that they came out with much more heat to them then i remember, and beside the heat, I didnt really get much flavor out of them. The Salmon was rather on the bland side for some reason.

    Never done fish burgers but done a lot of fish so . . .

    The heat can be dealt with by reducing how much chipotle powder gets used.

    As for the salmon, a few things can affect the flavor.

    Was the salmon salted and allowed to dry brine in the salt for a bit before cooking? Not sure how pronounced an effect there is on ground fish compared to fillets/whole fish but there's still going to be some benefit from letting salt sit on the fish for at least half an hour before cooking.

    There's also the matter of the fish itself.

    We're not really in peak salmon season anymore. A lot of what's available now is farmed salmon too which is blander than wild caught salmon. While I wouldn't advise turning more flavorful types like Sockeye or King Salmon/Chinook into burgers, you'd still get better taste from the less expensive Coho salmon than farmed salmon. If you're grinding the fish yourself you can still probably find wild salmon that's been frozen but otherwise welcome to the months where eating gets more and more depressing for seafood lovers for a while.

    Steel Angel on
    Big Dookie wrote: »
    I found that tilting it doesn't work very well, and once I started jerking it, I got much better results.

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  • Banzai5150Banzai5150 Registered User regular
    edited September 2018
    ChaosHat wrote: »
    Anyone have a good recipe for a solid tempura batter? Was thinking about just gathering up a variety of vegetables and shrimp (are there other good proteins for tempura?) and going to town one evening for dinner.

    1 cup Flour (sifted for crispier crunch)
    1large egg
    1 cup water

    The colder the water the better. I use carbonated water and it comes out great. Stir batter with chopsticks to not incorporate as much air and over mix. Don’t make ahead. Prep everything beforehand then make your batter and immediately fry.

    Banzai5150 on
    50433.png?1708759015
  • Steel AngelSteel Angel Registered User regular
    Discovered a Trader Joe's opened almost next to where I live recently. That has enabled some nice extremely lazy dinners this past week. While what is in stock any given day can vary, their frozen seafood section can be a godsend if one is doing cooking that is less reliant on browning.

    Steel's Lazy Sous Vide Cod

    Take one or two frozen cod fillets. Ask yourself when dinner needs to be ready. Is it within the next hour? Then heat up a sous vide water bath to 120 F and drop the frozen cod in while still in the individual bag.
    Got more time? Remove the fillets from the bag, let them thaw out a bit so you can rub salt into them, and then bag them in a ziplock bag before heating up the water bath.
    Cook between 30 minutes if fillets are fully thawed up to 50 minutes if they were dropped in frozen. Something in between will cook for something in between.
    Remove fish from bags, reserve liquid in bags.

    In a small mixing bowl, add a dollop of mustard (whole grain mustard is prettiest), some pickle brine, and extra virgin olive oil, and the juice from the bag. Capers and caper brine are also a good add especially if the fillets went in frozen without salt of their own. You could add in some salt too but there should be enough between the two brines.
    Whisk into a vinaigrette.

    Serve cod alongside whatever greens you have around with the vinaigrette.

    gCD9

    Big Dookie wrote: »
    I found that tilting it doesn't work very well, and once I started jerking it, I got much better results.

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  • DoodmannDoodmann Registered User regular
    Cod seems like an unnecessary use of a sous vide.

    Pan, oil, salt/pepper, 5-7 min total.

    Whippy wrote: »
    nope nope nope nope abort abort talk about anime
    Sometimes I sell my stuff on Ebay
  • Steel AngelSteel Angel Registered User regular
    edited September 2018
    Doodmann wrote: »
    Cod seems like an unnecessary use of a sous vide.

    Pan, oil, salt/pepper, 5-7 min total.

    You generally don't get good results with rare white fish in a pan.

    Sous vide fish is often about being able to do temperatures lower than conventional methods so you get something between sushi and light poaching in terms of texture.

    Plus this stuff was frozen and went to a cooked dinner in under an hour. Even with more time to thaw it, it takes a lot of paper towels to draw out enough water from thawed fish to remove enough surface moisture to get good browning in a pan. Sous vide with frozen fish can remove a lot of the prep work needed for a dry surface by working with the moisture instead of against it. The water you'd have to wring out for cooking in the pan ends up flavoring the sauce here.

    Steel Angel on
    Big Dookie wrote: »
    I found that tilting it doesn't work very well, and once I started jerking it, I got much better results.

    Steam Profile
    3DS: 3454-0268-5595 Battle.net: SteelAngel#1772
  • VishNubVishNub Registered User regular
    edited October 2018
    I’m not a baker. I don’t have the patience or precision for that shit. But as I will happily tell anyone who listens, bread need not be difficult or even time consuming! Behold the magic of the no-knead/6-3-3-13 bread. In this case the base recipe is modified by addition of some hatch chili and cheddar, but plain is also great.

    It’s just

    6 cups water
    3 tbsp yeast
    3 tbsp salt

    Mix to dissolve the yeast

    13 cups flour over the top. Mix just enough to combine so all the flour is wet, like 30 seconds. Then stop. You’re done. I mixed in some cheese chunks and chopped broiled chilis, but again it’s great plain.

    1eyzdwxhadqc.jpeg

    Throw it in the fridge at least overnight, but up to two weeks is fine.

    glh9f0s1ugr4.jpeg

    Form a loaf using a minimal amount of flour over the top, and try not to work it more then necessary. I had some trouble getting a good distribution of the cheese on my first effort, but one fold and some poking improved the second batch. Score the top to make it pretty.

    450, 40m. Done and delicious!

    x32kb6j63t2c.jpeg

    Seriously it’s so fucking easy you have no excuse and fresh bread is 1000x better than any grocery store.

    Also google no knead bread or 6-3-3-13 bread for the many zillions if variants.

    VishNub on
  • NSDFRandNSDFRand FloridaRegistered User regular
    My second try on this recipe for penne pasta with butternut squash and cremini mushrooms turned out much better than the first. The first time I didn't cut the butternut squash into small enough pieces, didn't get enough mushrooms or cheese, and used too much pasta and squash to strictly follow the recipe. This time I increased all the other ingredients, diced the squash into smaller pieces, upped the spices, and it turned out much better.

    I ordered a case of S&B Japanese style curry because even though I like making it from paste and it tastes amazing, I really like Japanese style curry. So I will be making it with black beans (dry, I soaked and cooked them already), yellow squash, zuchinni, bell pepper, onion, frozen mixed vegetables (carrots, corn, peas), and I think I will also put lentils in. Typically I make a huge amount at once and eat on it for a week or so. I usually just put it over white rice.

    I also have more eggplant cutlets to make that I will try eating with the curry as well. I typically don't even make the full eggplant parmesan. I put pasta salad on them or even just eat them straight out of the fridge like a snack. I also like to mix in this cajun spice mix into the bread crumbs to make them hot.

  • SchrodingerSchrodinger Registered User regular
    Amazon has the 8 qt Instant Pot ultra for $50 off for the next 3 hours.

  • kilnbornkilnborn Registered User regular
    edited October 2018
    I did Sichuan dry-fried beef from J. Kenji López-Alt's recipe (available here) and oh man was that good. Some alterations: only 1 lb of beef, and bottom round instead of flank (sliced on a bias as thin as I could, then pounded to half the thickness), same soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and rice wine amounts, but half the chili bean paste and sichuan peppercorns).

    Excellent dish, with some white rice.

    kilnborn on
  • Gabriel_PittGabriel_Pitt (effective against Russian warships) Registered User regular
    I'm putting together a menu for a surf & turf dinner - Pan seared scallops and small, seared NY strip steak (just easoning, no sauce). My tongue is telling me that the side should be brown rice, but I want to do something a little more interesting than plain rice, without interfering with the meats. It's also telling me that I should pair this with a white wine, but I would be open to recommendations if anyone has any.
    Vic_Hazard wrote: »
    Does anyone know of a good app to compile your recipes complete with pictures so you'll remember it well? Most apps I find that have simple recipe building functions are also essentially social media, so I'm beaming any little thing I make around the world.
    Response to old post, but I just safe everything to a Dropbox folder shared between my desktop, phone, and tablet. :3 That pepperplate app mentioned later does sound interesting though, so I will have to check it out.

  • CormacCormac Registered User regular
    I'm putting together a menu for a surf & turf dinner - Pan seared scallops and small, seared NY strip steak (just easoning, no sauce). My tongue is telling me that the side should be brown rice, but I want to do something a little more interesting than plain rice, without interfering with the meats. It's also telling me that I should pair this with a white wine, but I would be open to recommendations if anyone has any.
    Vic_Hazard wrote: »
    Does anyone know of a good app to compile your recipes complete with pictures so you'll remember it well? Most apps I find that have simple recipe building functions are also essentially social media, so I'm beaming any little thing I make around the world.
    Response to old post, but I just safe everything to a Dropbox folder shared between my desktop, phone, and tablet. :3 That pepperplate app mentioned later does sound interesting though, so I will have to check it out.

    What about a risotto as a side dish?

    Steam: Gridlynk | PSN: Gridlynk | FFXIV: Jarvellis Mika
  • SchrodingerSchrodinger Registered User regular
    So i decided to finally get around to ordering a chamber vacuum, and apparently the price had nearly doubled because of tariffs.

  • V1mV1m Registered User regular
    I'm putting together a menu for a surf & turf dinner - Pan seared scallops and small, seared NY strip steak (just easoning, no sauce). My tongue is telling me that the side should be brown rice, but I want to do something a little more interesting than plain rice, without interfering with the meats. It's also telling me that I should pair this with a white wine, but I would be open to recommendations if anyone has any.

    Butter been puree with olive oil, lemon zest and a smidgen of fresh thyme.

  • ChanusChanus Harbinger of the Spicy Rooster Apocalypse The Flames of a Thousand Collapsed StarsRegistered User regular
    risotto is good

    or wild rice with a good amount of butter i enjoy

    Allegedly a voice of reason.
  • Gabriel_PittGabriel_Pitt (effective against Russian warships) Registered User regular
    Like, risotto is just a thing I'd have lying around or something. :biggrin:

    A brown rice risotto with mushrooms sounds like _just_ the thing, actually. Include a few cloves of my roasted garlic recipe, and I think I have it made!

    I still know nothing about white wines though. :pop:

  • ChanusChanus Harbinger of the Spicy Rooster Apocalypse The Flames of a Thousand Collapsed StarsRegistered User regular
    all i know is i find white wines to be garbage so

    probably not gonna be much help on that one heh

    Allegedly a voice of reason.
  • VishNubVishNub Registered User regular
    Steak usually goes with red?

  • NSDFRandNSDFRand FloridaRegistered User regular
    I made hummus from scratch last week, it turned out really good. I used canned garbanzo beans, tahini, lemon, garlic, a little salt, a lot of pepper, then added in a chopped bunch of cilantro and some chopped green onions. Then I added pickles on top. 3 cans of Goya garbanzo beans made a rather large batch.

  • So It GoesSo It Goes We keep moving...Registered User regular
    do a Pinot Gris, usually those are good

  • Steel AngelSteel Angel Registered User regular
    Like, risotto is just a thing I'd have lying around or something. :biggrin:

    A brown rice risotto with mushrooms sounds like _just_ the thing, actually. Include a few cloves of my roasted garlic recipe, and I think I have it made!

    I still know nothing about white wines though. :pop:

    Risotto is one of those things that's actually pretty simple with modern equipment (e.g. not using a traditional risotto pan with an uneven bottom that is the cause of the of constant stirring needed in old school recipes). And once you buy the rice you'll have enough for multiple servings with the rest of the key parts being common things (butter, shallots, stock, white wine).

    Big Dookie wrote: »
    I found that tilting it doesn't work very well, and once I started jerking it, I got much better results.

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    3DS: 3454-0268-5595 Battle.net: SteelAngel#1772
  • Gabriel_PittGabriel_Pitt (effective against Russian warships) Registered User regular
    VishNub wrote: »
    Steak usually goes with red?
    in the same way that you don't wear white after Labor Day.

    A red would probably be appropriate with a stronger dish, something with a heavy sauce or otherwise stronger, richer taste, and that's one reason I'm going with a fairly simple preparation. Also, I'm going to be putting more focus on the scallops and my tongue is telling me that a white wine is going to have the best fitting flavor. I'm just not a big wine drinker, and so was looking for a little guidance before braving the mammoth wine aisles at Binny's.

    I was going to do a test run of the seared scallops, but at the store decided 'you know what, I want stir fry.' So ended up with scallops in lemon sauce. It was pretty damn good.

    ghddjTk.jpg



  • V1mV1m Registered User regular
    VishNub wrote: »
    Steak usually goes with red?

    Yeah but you don't make risotto with red

  • kilnbornkilnborn Registered User regular
    VishNub wrote: »
    Steak usually goes with red?
    in the same way that you don't wear white after Labor Day.

    A red would probably be appropriate with a stronger dish, something with a heavy sauce or otherwise stronger, richer taste, and that's one reason I'm going with a fairly simple preparation. Also, I'm going to be putting more focus on the scallops and my tongue is telling me that a white wine is going to have the best fitting flavor. I'm just not a big wine drinker, and so was looking for a little guidance before braving the mammoth wine aisles at Binny's.

    I was going to do a test run of the seared scallops, but at the store decided 'you know what, I want stir fry.' So ended up with scallops in lemon sauce. It was pretty damn good.

    Nice gloss from the sauce. Would'a cut the red bell pepper into the same scallop-sized chunks as the green, but that's just personal preference.

  • daveNYCdaveNYC Why universe hate Waspinator? Registered User regular
    V1m wrote: »
    VishNub wrote: »
    Steak usually goes with red?

    Yeah but you don't make risotto with red

    Actually you can, and it can be quite tasty.

    Shut up, Mr. Burton! You were not brought upon this world to get it!
  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    NSDFRand wrote: »
    I made hummus from scratch last week, it turned out really good. I used canned garbanzo beans, tahini, lemon, garlic, a little salt, a lot of pepper, then added in a chopped bunch of cilantro and some chopped green onions. Then I added pickles on top. 3 cans of Goya garbanzo beans made a rather large batch.

    Did you buy them shelled, or did you pick out the shells after you started crushing them?

    Hulls. Membranes. Whatever. The parts that get stuck in between your teeth.

  • ChanusChanus Harbinger of the Spicy Rooster Apocalypse The Flames of a Thousand Collapsed StarsRegistered User regular
    Mugsley wrote: »
    NSDFRand wrote: »
    I made hummus from scratch last week, it turned out really good. I used canned garbanzo beans, tahini, lemon, garlic, a little salt, a lot of pepper, then added in a chopped bunch of cilantro and some chopped green onions. Then I added pickles on top. 3 cans of Goya garbanzo beans made a rather large batch.

    Did you buy them shelled, or did you pick out the shells after you started crushing them?

    Hulls. Membranes. Whatever. The parts that get stuck in between your teeth.

    i just use my food processor and the shells have never been an issue

    and you will never convince me crushing them by hand is worth the effort

    Allegedly a voice of reason.
  • V1mV1m Registered User regular
    Chanus wrote: »
    Mugsley wrote: »
    NSDFRand wrote: »
    I made hummus from scratch last week, it turned out really good. I used canned garbanzo beans, tahini, lemon, garlic, a little salt, a lot of pepper, then added in a chopped bunch of cilantro and some chopped green onions. Then I added pickles on top. 3 cans of Goya garbanzo beans made a rather large batch.

    Did you buy them shelled, or did you pick out the shells after you started crushing them?

    Hulls. Membranes. Whatever. The parts that get stuck in between your teeth.

    i just use my food processor and the shells have never been an issue

    and you will never convince me crushing them by hand is worth the effort

    One advantage of soaking and cooking them from dried is that a pretty good fraction of the skins just fall off.

  • VishNubVishNub Registered User regular
    How do you cook polenta?

    We bought some from TJs on a lark, and I tried olive oil/frying pan, but it just stuck furiously to the pan and turned into a greasebomb. It still tasted good, but I was hoping for like, some crunch and browning to go on.

  • m!ttensm!ttens he/himRegistered User regular
    Slice a piece off, I go about 1/2" (1.25 cm), make sure your pan is hot and the oil is taking on that shimmery appearance. Place it down and let it sit for at least a minute, don't mess with it. Once it's ready to go it should be able to flip without sticking, and should have that nice crunchy outer texture and the soft creamy interior you're looking for. Do the same with the second side and you're golden (as is your polenta).

  • NSDFRandNSDFRand FloridaRegistered User regular
    edited November 2018
    Mugsley wrote: »
    NSDFRand wrote: »
    I made hummus from scratch last week, it turned out really good. I used canned garbanzo beans, tahini, lemon, garlic, a little salt, a lot of pepper, then added in a chopped bunch of cilantro and some chopped green onions. Then I added pickles on top. 3 cans of Goya garbanzo beans made a rather large batch.

    Did you buy them shelled, or did you pick out the shells after you started crushing them?

    Hulls. Membranes. Whatever. The parts that get stuck in between your teeth.

    I just put them in a blender. I forgot to list it but I also put quite a bit of olive oil in it too to help thin it out some.

    NSDFRand on
  • V1mV1m Registered User regular
    Hummus definitely needs olive oil.

    Per the Serious Eats recipe, I cook the chickpeas with some stock vegetables, and then also add some of the reserved stock into the hummus to add some liquidity without making it even richer.

  • SimpsoniaSimpsonia Registered User regular
    m!ttens wrote: »
    Slice a piece off, I go about 1/2" (1.25 cm), make sure your pan is hot and the oil is taking on that shimmery appearance. Place it down and let it sit for at least a minute, don't mess with it. Once it's ready to go it should be able to flip without sticking, and should have that nice crunchy outer texture and the soft creamy interior you're looking for. Do the same with the second side and you're golden (as is your polenta).

    This is also just a really important cooking tip in general for anyone using something other than non-stick, I'm guessing stainless in this case. First, always use a hot pan and plenty of fat. Second, if the food is sticking, it's just not ready to flip yet. Food will naturally release when it's ready to be flipped, don't try to force it. Lastly, stainless is just gonna have lots of sticking and fond regardless, and some things like eggs or soft starchy things just aren't really suited to stainless. If you want things to stick less, and don't want to use non-stick, then get a carbon steel or cast iron pan.

  • VishNubVishNub Registered User regular
    Ok but the stainless pan was on the stove already and the nonstick was in the cupboard, so it’s not like I had a choice

  • Steel AngelSteel Angel Registered User regular
    The solution then as is often the case with stainless steel pans is to add more oil and get it to a higher temperature for quicker browning on the surface before said surface tries to attach to the pan surface.

    No more than that.

    Keep going.

    Look, just don't stop until you wonder if you might as well quadruple what you have and just deep fry things.

    Big Dookie wrote: »
    I found that tilting it doesn't work very well, and once I started jerking it, I got much better results.

    Steam Profile
    3DS: 3454-0268-5595 Battle.net: SteelAngel#1772
  • kilnbornkilnborn Registered User regular
    I have a couple of pork shoulder blade steaks defrosted, pondering what to do with them. My default option is to make Sichuan dry-fried pork, with some carrot, green onion and celery, in a sauce of douban, sichuan pepper corns, and a bit of soy sauce.

    Alternatively, the local grocery store has various dried mushrooms, like oyster and chanterelle, etc. I have some woodear mushrooms, as well (dried).

    So pork and mushrooms is an option. Any ideas?

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