To Serve Man - It's a Cookbook!

[SciFlyBoy]

Good work. Tasty cheap meals are the best!

[Vol]

Got 2 meals, 4 plates, for less than $2 each. Not bad at all. You cook anything interesting lately?

[SciFlyBoy]

Got 2 meals, 4 plates, for less than $2 each. Not bad at all. You cook anything interesting lately?

I had some ham and broccoli on hand, so I cooked them up separately then threw a can of cream of potato soup and cheddar cheese soup together, mixed everything all up, added some garlic and other seasonings, (lemon juice really helped bring the flavors together) topped with bread crumbs and baked for a bit. It was nice. Like a casserole version of a ham and broccoli baked potato. It needed some rice though.

[Vol]

Lanceman is well trained in the ways of casserole, being in the midwest for like a decade now. Finished the curry with some mini ziti for starch. Does seem like there's a missing "kick," beyond the heat, from restaurant Jappo curry. No idea what it could be.

Always wary of lemon juice, since I know it ruins certain ingredients.

[SciFlyBoy]

Lanceman is well trained in the ways of casserole, being in the midwest for like a decade now. Finished the curry with some mini ziti for starch. Does seem like there's a missing "kick," beyond the heat, from restaurant Jappo curry. No idea what it could be.

Always wary of lemon juice, since I know it ruins certain ingredients.

I've been watching videos on incorporating acids into your cooking to bring a brightness to the pallet. For instance, my mom always added white wine to tuna casserole and there's no other way to eat that now. It's actually bland and tasteless without it.

Acids are what makes the mouth water. Here's a video about pickled onions and he talks about the science behind acids in our pallet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4HbmPu_M_4

A little lemon juice on roasted vegetables goes a long way. So I'm conscious now on trying to use it when I'm building flavors.

[Vol]

Weirdly enough, I really like acids, lemon juice in particular, but not wines/vinegars. Other than this one wine sauce that always comes with mussels. Not sure what it is, but it's _delicious. My dad would love pickled onions, guy likes to go to a local pickling warehouse to get industrial buckets of the things. Should set him up with the stuff to do some home pickling, think he'd like it.

[SciFlyBoy]

Home pickling and home fermenting. I'm sure they're more than similar, though I've never had anything fermented besides sauerkraut.

[Vol]

I bought a bag of mussels at CostCo while getting staples. Half of them were dead outright. After letting them purge in salt water for a bit, another half died. I tossed the rest, because seafood poisoning is no joke. At least they were cheap, because I'd be very upset otherwise. Sniff your seafood, boys.

[Deano]

Made some grilled cheese today, Sourdough Bread, one with just cheese, one with Black Garlic Chutney & one with Sweet Chilli Habanero jam. Apologies if this offends our friends in the US.

[Vol]

That looks absolutely delicious and needs to be at least four times the portion size, because I'm an American.

How'd the habanero work out? Seems unorthodox for a grilled cheese.

[Deano]

That looks absolutely delicious and needs to be at least four times the portion size, because I'm an American.

How'd the habanero work out? Seems unorthodox for a grilled cheese.

Haha, the sourdough was only so big.

It was good, I did it because I use the same jam to make cheese paninis which are obviously quite similar.

[Vol]

I got a free (cheap) panini press actually. Quickly learned you need a firmer bread to make it work properly, though quickly toasting cheap white/wheat is doable. Suppose the cheese would mute the burn quite a bit too.

On that note, any of youz guyz like a fried egg on your burger? Did that tonight, but it almost too dominant a flavor. Which was odd, because I used MSG on the ground beef too.

[SciFlyBoy]

... Apologies if this offends our friends in the US.

US friends are salivating... oh that looks so delicious. Habanero jam one would have been my favorite. Which was your favorite?

Fried egg on borgar?

Absolutely yes. Yes yes yes!!! A burger I made once at a build it yourself restaurant was a cheddar cheese bacon, crispy onion, chipotle mayo and fried egg burger. A patty melt with an egg is the perfect burger/grilled cheese hybrid.

I made that Japanese curry again that one of you shared. maybe the forth time so far. It's really good. Used a can of coconut milk instead of cream because I had one and not the other.

[Deano]

US friends are salivating... oh that looks so delicious. Habanero jam one would have been my favorite. Which was your favorite?

It's been a little while, but I'd probably just say the standard grilled cheese. Though I think that might have been because it was the first I had!

The habanero jam is delicious, it's made fairly locally to me as well which just adds to it.

[Vol]

Absolutely yes. Yes yes yes!!! A burger I made once at a build it yourself restaurant was a cheddar cheese bacon, crispy onion, chipotle mayo and fried egg burger. A patty melt with an egg is the perfect burger/grilled cheese hybrid.

I made that Japanese curry again that one of you shared. maybe the forth time so far. It's really good. Used a can of coconut milk instead of cream because I had one and not the other.

Unf. I made some "poverty" burgers tonight for dinner, with undercooked onions, and I'd shank a man for what you're describing. Minus the mayo. What's the best way to crisp onion on that note? I usually cook them low and slow in butter, until they're caramelized all over. Don't bother with batters much, so I don't deep fry them.

Oh, the Japanese bullion stuff? Yeah, it's quite nice, but I'd like to add more flavors, and heat, if I were cooking only for myself. How's the cream work?

It's been a little while, but I'd probably just say the standard grilled cheese. Though I think that might have been because it was the first I had!

The habanero jam is delicious, it's made fairly locally to me as well which just adds to it.

There's a local farmer's market about a mile down the road from me, in the town hall parking lot. Tiny, only ever a half dozen or so tents, but whenever I take a walk those days, tons and tons of homemade hot sauces, jams, and such. Really should stop by and see what's up.

[SciFlyBoy]

Crispy onions I was describing you'd call shoestring onions. Onion rings work, but really any crispy onion. You can cut up a handful of thin rings and quickly fry them in oil for a minute to get them close.

Cream works like any cream. It's there to mellow out the color, take the edge off the spices and add a velvety texture to it.

[Vol]

What kind of knife do you use to chop? I try to keep the two best ones I have sharpened, but they're a world apart from what I see in videos with chefs bisecting 5" thick root vegetables like it was air.

[SciFlyBoy]

I mainly use a 7 inch Nakiri, which desperately needs sharpening. Other than that I use a pairing knife.

[Vol]

Ah, yes, I'd like to get one of those eventually. Nice, flat, heavy blade. I'm sure I'm doing it totally wrong, but I use that metal pole dealie and swipe the knives I do have down it at an acute angle a few times. Seems to help a bit, somehow. Was chopping an onion for burgers last night, and it only took muscling through on the sides, where I can't have my fingers.

[SciFlyBoy]

Korean hotdogs are something else. They come on sticks. I got mine as a cheddar cheese wrapped hot dog. Then I chose to have the white batter and sweet potato/regular potato mix wrapped around and deep fried with sugar coating. Mmmm. Wow.

[Vol]

What sort of Christmas feasts you all doing? I have a ham, and honey, so I'll see what can be done with that. Tired of rotating potato/rice/spaghetti for starch, but might do potato au gratin for the indulgence. Think I still have some active yeast, wouldn't mind trying bread again.

[SciFlyBoy]

Oh, I made Xmas rolls and they came out excellent! Sourdough from a mother I created over a year ago. Bread is so freakin hard for me. That's why I'm so glad it came out nice.

Made some Hawaiian Garlic Shrimp from Chef John's video for my parents this week. It's a great recipe to have, if you love garlic, butter and shrimp.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9r_EWx06Wdg

[Vol]

I _do_ love garlic, butter, and shrimp in fact. On that note, had a (free) bag of fresh scallops.

Apparently, gauging pan heat is my current biggest weakness. "Heat pan over medium-high. Add your butter. If it sizzles immediately, it's too hot, it should melt. As soon as the butter begins to smoke, add the scallops for 1.5 minutes per side."

Somehow, I got the butter part right, but the pan was not nearly hot enough to cook the scallops in 3 minutes, much less sear them. Logically, I needed to let the pan heat more, because a lot of time was spent boiling off the water in the scallops. But then the butter would sizzled immediately and burn.

[SciFlyBoy]

Two things;

1) I wish they gave a pan temperature. They measure everything else, doneness temp and even weighing items to the gram, but let us decide what medium high is. A simple laser thermometer to aim at the pan should be well enough.

2) If you're not getting browning it might be because of over crowding. Too many items cooking at once means too much steam between items and steaming isn't browning. It's the same with mushrooms and chunks of meat. In fact, what you described is a lot of my issues. I have a lot of meat in a pan (chicken mostly) and instead of searing and browning it just boils. I didn't even add water.

It's frustrating. But cook them in smaller batches and see if there's a difference.

[Vol]

I think you're dead on with the overcrowding. Because in my head, if 50% of a dish can reasonably fit in the pan and cook properly, then surely 60%, even 75% would work, and surely it would be a waste to set up another pan, or reuse this one, for a measly 25%!

The color they finally took on, after over 6 minutes, was more burnt butter than a lovely browned crust. Steaming out the fluids definitely retarded the cook time. I'll have to keep that in mind then, smaller batchers, smaller batches...

[Vol]

Made a simple slow cooker pot on my grandma's request. Chunk of London broil, potato, onion, carrot, beef bullion, salt, pepper, steak rub. Was alright, but badly needed a sharp flavor. If I were making it for myself, would've loaded up the garlic, some chili, maybe a splash of red wine because someone once told me that's always good for beef.

Other than garlic, what flavors would go really well with that simple stew?

[Deano]

Made a simple slow cooker pot on my grandma's request. Chunk of London broil, potato, onion, carrot, beef bullion, salt, pepper, steak rub. Was alright, but badly needed a sharp flavor. If I were making it for myself, would've loaded up the garlic, some chili, maybe a splash of red wine because someone once told me that's always good for beef.

Other than garlic, what flavors would go really well with that simple stew?

Not a lot but a little bit of Thyme enhances a slow cooked dish I find.

[Vol]

Thyme you say...

I'd like to get a small herb garden setup, likely in one of those electric hydroponics dealies, sometime this year. But I know very little about what herbs go on which dish. Oregano, thyme, mint...hm.

[SciFlyBoy]

Herbs are simple...ish. Get some seeds from one or two you like, put them in a pot and let them get some sun. Some of them you can ignore and they'll grow vigorously.

I'm trying, in my garden, to grow each in a separate pot. That way I don't have to dig up a well established, high producing plant to transplant it because it shares a pot with another that had died.

Right now my oregano is doing great!!! Dark leaves, it's sprawling so it has nice cover. I'm told you can ignore it, as in not have to water it all the time. Oregano is great in greek dishes. I'm currently pulling some leaves off here and there and throwing them on my morning eggs.

Parsley can grow quite large, put it in it's own pot. That can go in everything and is a great topper for any dish. Adds great freshness and color.

Basil is great too, put it in it's own pot as well. Cut back often (as in harvest the leaves frequently) and it'll be a nice bushy plant.

Dill is great, really great. Nothing beats fresh dill. Tuna, mayo, some chopped red onions and fresh dill...you got a great sandwich. Boil potatoes, mix some sour cream, mayo, garlic, salt and pepper and throw in a handful of dill...best potato salad.

Cilantro, oh that's nice if you like it. I hate going to the store to buy it, but that's a great one too.

The key is to harvest leaves and cut back routinely, as that promotes growth. If you don't then you'll get a long, spindly plant that quickly goes to seed and stops producing what you got the plant for. Most herbs should be fine in a pint sized pot. You can keep it on a counter top, or a window sill or outside. Got a small place like mine? Get a small 5lb bag of potting soil and some seeds or buy the plants at the hardware store and start there. Should be cheap. Plus herbs smell good and they'll make your place smell good to. Experiment and use them in everything. Throw them in your sandwich, and sauces, rub them on your meats. Boiled potatoes with mayo + sourcream and any herb will taste great.

DON'T PLANT MINT IN THE GROWND! YOU'LL HAVE A MINT AMUSEMENT PARK AT YOUR PLACE AND ALL THE NEIGHBORHOOD KIDS WILL POINT AT YOU AND CALL YOU 'THAT MINT GUY'.

[SciFlyBoy]

Deano was right about the thyme. That would be perfect in that dish.

[Vol]

@Sci: To put my incompetence into perspective, I've managed to kill a trio of succulents somehow. Despite exactly the amount of sunlight and water and temperature as listed on the tag, they grew for a while, then within a week all died, but for one sprout of one plant.

So I was looking at something even more foolproof like this: https://www.amazon.com/iDOO-Hydroponics ... B08DLMRKHM

Though grabbing some of the spare planting pots around here is a darn good idea...set them out when it warms up a bit, doing things the "natural" way is much more appealing. Your warning about the plague of mint is taken, heh.

Roughly how much excess do you end up with of herbs? Do you dry them out and grind them up?

[Mazder]

Made a simple slow cooker pot on my grandma's request. Chunk of London broil, potato, onion, carrot, beef bullion, salt, pepper, steak rub. Was alright, but badly needed a sharp flavor. If I were making it for myself, would've loaded up the garlic, some chili, maybe a splash of red wine because someone once told me that's always good for beef.

Other than garlic, what flavors would go really well with that simple stew?

Not a lot but a little bit of Thyme enhances a slow cooked dish I find.

Some Rosemary as well would add a little something.

Or MSG if you're after a deeper Umami taste.

[Vol]

Rosemary is...pork, no?

I have a big thing of MSG, always forget to use in lieu of (or addition to) salt, but it's wonderful on beef. The exact ratio of salt:MSG, less clear, heh.

[SciFlyBoy]

Rosemary is Italian. There's a good pasta and bean recipe that starts with you frying garlic and rosemary in oil, then adding in all the ingredients and it's great and smells amazing.

You can dry out extra herbs and keep them. Sometimes plants die because they're Voled (wink) and it's good to have extras to save you from immediately having to go to the store. And it saves you money versus buying dried from the store.

[Mazder]

Rosemary is...pork, no?

I have a big thing of MSG, always forget to use in lieu of (or addition to) salt, but it's wonderful on beef. The exact ratio of salt:MSG, less clear, heh.

It can work with Pork but I have always liked a little of it with beef products as well.

A good pasta dish, like a bolognese, is served just fine by it, as Sci said.

MSG, the king of flavour, FUIYOOOOOOH!!!
Uncle Roger would be proud.

[Vol]

Rosemary is Italian. There's a good pasta and bean recipe that starts with you frying garlic and rosemary in oil, then adding in all the ingredients and it's great and smells amazing.

You can dry out extra herbs and keep them. Sometimes plants die because they're Voled (wink) and it's good to have extras to save you from immediately having to go to the store. And it saves you money versus buying dried from the store.

You had me at "frying garlic." I love garlic, but I use it so sparingly, since my grandmother doesn't. Whenever I buy cloves, usually for that chili recipe you gave me, there's always so much left to waste. Hm. I assume since garlic powder exists, there's a way to safely dry out the excess and blitz to a powder...

There's a stamen joke in there, but I'll spare you it, heh.

It can work with Pork but I have always liked a little of it with beef products as well.

A good pasta dish, like a bolognese, is served just fine by it, as Sci said.

MSG, the king of flavour, FUIYOOOOOOH!!!
Uncle Roger would be proud.

Really...I don't actually know what rosemary tastes like, though I'm sure I've had it before, but the first dish that came to mind was one of those "rolled up piece of pork with a stuffing in it" things. Good to know.

Granted, I'd rather use mushrooms if possible, umami + fiber, but I need to _remember_ I have my bottle of flavor dust instead of defaulting to the salt.

[Mazder]

Really...I don't actually know what rosemary tastes like, though I'm sure I've had it before, but the first dish that came to mind was one of those "rolled up piece of pork with a stuffing in it" things. Good to know.

Granted, I'd rather use mushrooms if possible, umami + fiber, but I need to _remember_ I have my bottle of flavor dust instead of defaulting to the salt.

It's in most mixed herbs mixes.

As far as MSG goes, don't make Uncle Roger sad.

[Vol]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGocVXRGz68

Mazder, as representative of all Brits, I demand an answer as to why your people enjoyed vinegar jelly and butter.

[Mazder]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGocVXRGz68

Mazder, as representative of all Brits, I demand an answer as to why your people enjoyed vinegar jelly and butter.

Because we were copying the French at the time.
I mean it's a dark time in our history but, yeah, the times before refrigeration were a thing is just not great.
Don't forget we also had fuck all in our local area, and by the time we got the stuff from elsewhere in the world it was for the rich only (and we have had a really bad problem with class for most of our history which you guys are copying right now) and if not it was likely half spoiled already.
You can tell we'd never eat this crap today.
And, well, WW2 rationing lingering on into the 60's kinda exacerbated our ability to innovate as a nation and we're slowly crawling our way out of it now, but we might've just undone it with Brexit.

[SciFlyBoy]

And, well, WW2 rationing lingering on into the 60's kinda exacerbated our ability to innovate as a nation and we're slowly crawling our way out of it now...

That's where beans on bread came from, right?

[Mazder]

And, well, WW2 rationing lingering on into the 60's kinda exacerbated our ability to innovate as a nation and we're slowly crawling our way out of it now...

That's where beans on bread came from, right?

Okay so to be fair, tinned Yank beans sauces are sweeter (far sweeter) than UK ones. Ours are more savoury.
Beans on Toast is a savoury dish and it's more like a quick lunch more than a proper full meal, unless you are small (like a kid).

And it's kind of thought to have been invented by the head of Heinz in the UK as a way to encourage more sales of tinned beans.
Plus the beans are different
We use Haricot beans, yours seem to use others, and usually a mix/different kinds per brand.

[Vol]

Because we were copying the French at the time.
I mean it's a dark time in our history but, yeah, the times before refrigeration were a thing is just not great.
Don't forget we also had fuck all in our local area, and by the time we got the stuff from elsewhere in the world it was for the rich only (and we have had a really bad problem with class for most of our history which you guys are copying right now) and if not it was likely half spoiled already.
You can tell we'd never eat this crap today.
And, well, WW2 rationing lingering on into the 60's kinda exacerbated our ability to innovate as a nation and we're slowly crawling our way out of it now, but we might've just undone it with Brexit.

That's a very serious and thoughtful answer, which makes me feel like a bit of a jerk for making the joke about gross old food.

In the 60s/70s, there was a fad of "put everything in gelatin molds." Such as the following.



I can accept that tastes change over time, and what you're raised on will affect what you like, but there has to be a limit.

[SciFlyBoy]

Yeah, I've seen plenty of 60s-70s cook books that aren't that far off from Star Trek TOS colored cubed food.

A lot more punches were made too. When was the last party you went to where they served a punch?

[Vol]

Hm. Wonder if the ease of instant gelatin, compared to the traditional form which I assume is far more difficult to make, caused this fad as a class-pretentiousness thing.

I can't actually remember ever having punch at a party, now that you mention, even as a kid. Though the number of parties I've been to since then has dropped off a cliff, heh. What liquor traditionally goes in punch, vodka?

[Mazder]

That's a very serious and thoughtful answer, which makes me feel like a bit of a jerk for making the joke about gross old food.

In the 60s/70s, there was a fad of "put everything in gelatin molds." Such as the following.

*snip*

I can accept that tastes change over time, and what you're raised on will affect what you like, but there has to be a limit.

Nah it's fine I just like to fight against the "British food bad" meme as it's all held over from times we had bad food and usually seeing what the very poorest of my society eat.

Also on how tastes change over time, jellied eels.
Used to be a BIG seaside food here, now it's very much a niche.

Hm. Wonder if the ease of instant gelatin, compared to the traditional form which I assume is far more difficult to make, caused this fad as a class-pretentiousness thing.

I can't actually remember ever having punch at a party, now that you mention, even as a kid. Though the number of parties I've been to since then has dropped off a cliff, heh. What liquor traditionally goes in punch, vodka?

100% it's a factor.
It's why jelly (jello for you yanks) became such a treat for kids parties.

Jelly and ice cream motherfuckers!

Nah we didn't really have punch for parties. At least not a big old bowl of it.
We usually had loads of pitchers of juices, if not just fizzy drinks/sodas.

[Vol]

I've had eel all of once. Teriyaki eel bento, from a Japanese place nearby that closed during COVID. Was tasty, but I couldn't get a feel for eel flavor alone with all the sauce. Jelly, however, I doubt would improve it much. Though I'm a tragic case, with my hypersensitivity to vinegar, so I can't enjoy most things anyway, heh.

Speaking of Bri'ish cuisine, I had a small bowl of leftover mashed potato the other day, no idea what to do with it. Today I learn about bubble and squeak. Alas, poor potato, you were wasted on improvised nonsense, when you might have been the glue in a vegetable patty.

[SciFlyBoy]

I like eel. It reminds me of catfish, which I haven't eaten in years, perhaps decades. Fish just isn't really made at my place. Salmon yeah, I'll smoke it or cook some fillets in the pan. Tuna/Sardines I'll make a salad or casserole out of, but that's it besides battered fish at my Dad's house.

Anyone here have a lot of fish in their diet?

Now I'm going to go buy a catfish and possibly flounder and cook it, damnit.

[Vol]

I've had catfish only once too! Was camping at Santee with my family, decades ago (boy that ages me to say), and some good ole' boys shared some of their fried catfish they'd caught that day with us. Delicious, some of the best fish I'd ever had.

From that same show I linked above, they did an episode with fish n' chips, and they used salmon. Everyone was worried it'd be too greasy, but in the panko breading, apparently it came out absolutely fantastic. Could always stand to eat more fish, there's a reason Greeks and Japanese live so much longer than us Burgers, heh.

How'd the fish turn out?!

[Mazder]

Okay my uncle got me some fresh Tuna steaks.
Anyone know a good recipe for these?

Don't want to ruin these things, lol.

[SciFlyBoy]

I think the easiest tuna steak is salt and pepper and grilled/pan fried until white on the outside but pink 80% through. Maybe some soy sauce on the side? I've never handled a tuna steak before.

@Vol, still haven't bought the fillets yet. Funny story related to your story, in 1989 (6 years old) I went to Alaska and ate a flounder my Uncle caught and fried up in a sandwich. Still remember it to this day. Yum!