Cooking

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Re: Cooking

Postby OrangeEyebrows » Thu Jul 25, 2013 10:17 pm

I actually don't add any liquid at all when cooking a chicken or a ham, unless I'm adding something for flavour, of course. But with a chicken I generally just bung a load of fresh herbs in there And put a lemon in the cavity (stab the lemon with a knife a bit so the juice can get out). It's really good.
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Re: Cooking

Postby LaChaise » Thu Aug 01, 2013 1:06 am

(I don't really know what's best between here and the "from the web" section, don't hesitate to move this as you see fit, beings of power.)

If you never heard about it, http://www.theydrawandcook.com/ is a pretty cool website. The title is self-explanatory: plenty of recipes illustrated in a sweet way. The recipes are usually quite simple, as the format doesn't really allow complex stuff. They usually publish several illustrated recipes around one theme (I think it's hot dogs and burgers this week), so there's room for a couple variations on a common base.
All this means that it's quite an interesting site, for experienced cooks as well as newbies *coughlazycough*

Have fun!
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Re: Cooking

Postby CarrieVS » Mon Aug 05, 2013 6:35 pm

I am going to share with you the secret of delicious crispy roast potatoes. When I've done them using this method, they have never once failed to turn out really well.

    You will need:
  • Potatoes. They say that some varieties are better for roasting. Personally I've only tried this recipe with King Edwards (which my parents have always sworn by as the best variety for roasting, followed by Maris Piper).
  • Seasoning. Whatever you like. Salt and pepper if you like them, herbs if you want (rosemary is good).
  • Fat. Do not listen to anyone who says that you need goose fat, or any special kind of fat. Use whatever you like to use for frying; I use vegetable oil.
  • Saucepan. Big enough to contain all your potatoes with a good bit of room to spare.
  • Roasting tin. Not a baking tray. It needs to be a sturdy, solid tin (so it won't buckle in the oven) with deep sides.
  • Kettle. I am given to understand that electric kettles are rare luxuries in the US; you could of course boil the water on the stove, although that takes quite a long time. You could also put the potatoes into cold water and heat it up, but then you will need to adjust the timing.
  • Oven, oven gloves. But you knew that, right?

Note that absent from this list is any kind of coating such as flour or semolina. You don't want to add a crunchy coating, you want to make the actual potato crisp up, and if anybody says otherwise they know nothing about roast potatoes.

  • Peel the potatoes (cut surfaces go crispier), and cut them into even-sized pieces. Large pieces are roughly 3-4cm in all directions, small pieces about 2cm. You can do either but not both in the same batch. Put the cut potatoes in a saucepan.
  • Fill the kettle and turn it on.
  • Fill the roasting tin with oil to a depth of about 1/4 - 1/2 cm, put it in the oven (top or middle shelf) and turn it to 220C, 425F, or gas mark 7. If you have a fan oven, you may need it a little lower.
  • When the kettle boils, cover the potatoes with boiling water and immediately turn on the stove. For small pieces of potato: begin timing immediately and boil for a bare ten minutes (i.e. have the burner turned off by the time the ten minutes is up). For large pieces: begin timing when the water comes back to the boil and boil for ten minutes. No longer or they will fall apart.
  • Drain the potatoes very well, then return them to/leave them in the pan.
  • Put the lid back on the pan, and gently shake it so that the outsides of the potatoes go fluffy. Do not skip this step, but also do not go overboard and shake them to pieces.
  • (Using oven gloves, of course) Remove the hot tin of hot fat from the oven. As quickly as you can while still being careful with the hot fat, tip the potatoes into the tin. The oil should sizzle and spit. If it doesn't, preheat the oil for longer next time.
  • Spread the potatoes evenly around the tin. Use a spoon to turn each one over so that they are coated in fat. Season to taste.
  • Return the tin to the oven as soon as possible, so it doesn't cool down any more than necessary.
  • Roast for 40-50 minutes, until crispy and golden all over. Smaller potatoes will take nearer the lower end of that, larger nearer the upper end. Take them out and turn them over about halfway through.
  • Eat your delicious crispy potatoes.
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Re: Cooking

Postby OrangeEyebrows » Thu Sep 05, 2013 7:55 pm

So, I'm a bit fussy when it comes to taste combinations, and a bit OCD when it comes to sandwiches. If you have walnut bread, you make ham sandwiches. If you have tomato bread, you make chicken sandwiches. If you have olive bread, you make roast beef or corned beef sandwiches. To do otherwise would be unthinkable.

Anyway, I've acquired some red Leicester cheese and sunflower seed bread. It was on offer and it smells delicious. But I don't know what the sandwich law is when it comes to cheese bread. Obviously it can't be anything too salty, because that wouldn't work with the cheese, so ham and corned beef are out. I suppose chicken might work, but chicken is what you put in tomato bread. Tuna would be far too salty. Cheese would be silly. Egg salad / egg mayonnaise would have the wrong texture. HELP ME!!!
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Re: Cooking

Postby CarrieVS » Thu Sep 05, 2013 8:20 pm

I'd probably just have the bread. It's like an all-in-one cheese sandwich or something. But then I'm kinda funny about eating things by themselves, and usually end up dismantling a sandwich and eating the components separately.

Why can't you have ham with cheese? I have ham and cheese sandwiches quite often and sometimes I even eat them intact.
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Re: Cooking

Postby OrangeEyebrows » Thu Sep 05, 2013 8:24 pm

Because it's too salty and also ham sandwiches have to go in walnut bread if you're insane, which I am. I think maybe cold sausages and onion would work?

Edit: Or something with sliced apple? Or would apple sauce sandwiches made with cheese bread work, or would that be disgusting? I don't like apple sauce, but my husband does and I'll have a lot of sandwiches to make for packed lunches now he's back at college.

On which note, any suggestions for dinner boxes that are more exciting than "a sandwich, a yoghurt and a bag of crisps" would be appreciated. In the winter, I'll probably send him with a flask of home-made soup. Any other ideas?
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Re: Cooking

Postby CarrieVS » Thu Sep 05, 2013 10:31 pm

Woah! Back up here. Are you saying ham and cheese sandwiches (or the combination of ham and cheese in general) are a bad thing? What is wrong with you?

Sausage and onion could work. Apple could too, I guess. Don't think I'd choose apple sandwiches though.
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Re: Cooking

Postby OrangeEyebrows » Thu Sep 05, 2013 10:36 pm

No, ham and cheese are a fine combination in plain bread, because then the yeasty flavour of the bread offsets the saltiness (likewise with the starchiness of pasta). With a salty bread and a salty filling, though, there's nothing to cut it.
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Re: Cooking

Postby CarrieVS » Thu Sep 05, 2013 11:03 pm

Cheese bread is salty and not yeasty? Shows how much I know.
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Re: Cooking

Postby OrangeEyebrows » Thu Sep 05, 2013 11:10 pm

Well it's yeasty but it's ALSO salty. The balance won't work. Like I said, I'm picky.
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Re: Cooking

Postby Marcuse » Thu Sep 05, 2013 11:52 pm

Orange, I hate to be the one to say it, but just put something on it and take a bite. You might enjoy the spontaneity.
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Re: Cooking

Postby OrangeEyebrows » Thu Sep 05, 2013 11:57 pm

Marcuse, I love you to death, but you clearly don't understand how insane I am when it comes to sandwiches. And taste combinations in general, actually. I literally, in one of the senses in which it's now apparently acceptable, murdered my husband when he suggested putting tomato pesto on rice. On RICE!
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Re: Cooking

Postby Marcuse » Fri Sep 06, 2013 12:11 am

Oh I know exactly how insane you are about everything.

I'm just hoping I can precipitate the Sandwich Singularity.

Pesto on rice is heresy though. I have your back there.
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Re: Cooking

Postby Matthew Notch » Fri Sep 06, 2013 12:22 am

Yes, but TOMATO PESTO on rice sounds fabulous. The trick is to mix a bit of butter in with the rice to make it creamy, not just fluffy. Yogurt is good in that capacity as well. Actually basil pesto would be good on rice too, as long as you mix in some Parmesan cheese.

As far as your blasted cheese sandwich, since you aren't going to take Marcuse's EXCELLENT advice, I recommend roasted red pepper. You can buy them in jars if you don't have the time or patience to roast fresh peppers and then pack them in olive oil for later. They are sweet and very slightly unctuous owing to the oil, which is a boon for any sandwich—let's face it, if you spend an hour gnawing on your bread, your sandwich is pointless. The sweetness also plays very well with nuttier flavors like pasta or couscous, or in your case, sunflower seed bread. I recommend sprinkling just a couple dashes of ground black pepper as well to add fullness, and if it isn't too much trouble, toasting the bread with butter.

As far as other bagged lunches, I enjoy buying a little box of sushi sometimes (keep your ice pack on top of it and it will stay cool until lunchtime), or how about a tub of hummus with some pita chips? Salads are also helpful if you're willing to eat salad. If you're awesome and enjoy a good peanut butter jelly, do what my wife does: spread the peanut butter on both slices, so that the jelly doesn't soak into the bread and make a turble mess everywhere.

Also take Marcuse's advice. When they say "Variety is the spice of life", sometimes the proverbial "they" are referring to actual spices.
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Re: Cooking

Postby OrangeEyebrows » Fri Sep 06, 2013 12:35 am

JugularNotch wrote:Yes, but TOMATO PESTO on rice sounds fabulous. The trick is to mix a bit of butter in with the rice to make it creamy, not just fluffy. Yogurt is good in that capacity as well. Actually basil pesto would be good on rice too, as long as you mix in some Parmesan cheese.


No. None of those things are good. I will allow yoghurt or creme fraiche with rice ONLY in a pseudo kedgeree where there's some very strongly flavoured smoked fish action happening. Parmesan is acceptable with rice only in the presence of a strongish stock, e.g. in a risotto.

I recommend roasted red pepper.


Oh, yes. Roasted veggies could work. Thanks! Sushi and hummus are good ideas too. But we don't really do peanut butter and jelly in the UK. In fact I'm still not really clear on what you mean by jelly, since it's not what you call jello and it's not what we call jam.
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