Food & Drink Cookery: Lifehacks and Cooking Tips [In Quarantine or Otherwise]

[ThatTabiFromSB]

So, hi you all. Things are looking a bit glum lately; Shelter-In-House orders, quarantine, DOOM, pandemics, DOOM, and all that sort of shittery.

Still, man's gotta eat.

What are you eating? How are you going to stay healthy with all the oncoming food shortages that may or may not happen? What do you do when all the long shelf life items have run out?

What will you do when the Crab People finally rise up to take their rightful place in the world?

As a fully trained Chef (Primarily in Pastry), ask me anything and I will do my best to help you.

 

[Tzeentchean Perspective]

I eat whatever "apocalypse cooking" ideas my mother gets. That means a rotation of Hot dogs, noodles, canned ravioli, and mini-burgers At least we have some weights in this house. Some people are chafing at the inability to hit the gym.
In the event of the Crab people invasion or the much-prophesized Chinese and/or New World Order mark of the beast takeover...I have a BB gun.

 

[ThatTabiFromSB]

I eat whatever "apocalypse cooking" ideas my mother gets. That means a rotation of Hot dogs, noodles, canned ravioli, and mini-burgers

Oh geez man. My condolences. I hope you're at least getting veggies in there?

 

[Tzeentchean Perspective]

We east salads as a side most of the time.

 

[LordSunhawk]

When making steaks, first season liberally with salt and pepper before putting it on rather than do so after, the difference is... palatable.

 

[Bear Ribs]

Chuck roast is a very tough cut of meat but it sometimes gets sliced into it's cousin, chuck steak. I've been consuming this to sate my steak habit while saving money as in addition to tough, it's cheap, and there is an easy trick to soften it.

First get your chuck roast, then pull it apart into steaks. Just take it apart along the muscle seams, you can probably do this just pulling with your hands. Trim the excess fat on the edges. If you want extra tender, beat it a bit with a tenderizer or rolling pin at this point.

Now salt and pepper your chuck steaks, and put them uncovered in the fridge for the next 8 hours. This is important, it draws the moisture and forms a sort of seal that makes it stay moist and soft when cooked. I personally eat my steak at breakfast (I like a light dinner of only vegetables) so I toss mine in right before bed. Obviously if you want steak for supper you'll pick a different time.

Once it's sat and developed the pellicle it's ready to cook. Chuck steak can only be cooked rare to medium, well done is off the table if you want it edible. Turn your oven on 450 degrees. Heat up a cast-iron frying pan very hot and put olive oil in it, and sprinkle the chuck steak with rosemary leaves. Toss the rosemary side down in the pan and sear it for 3 minutes, while putting rosemary on the other side, then flip it and sear 3 more minutes.

Put the entire cast iron pan in the oven and bake 5 minutes. Take it out and let it sit on top of the stove and rest 5 more. If you want even more flavor, spoon the drippings in the pan back onto the meat repeatedly during this time. You'll never cut chuck steak with a fork, but I've gotten if softer and more tender that cuts that cost three times as much this way.

 

[Abhorsen]

For frozen foods, never use the recommended times on the back. You'll almost invariably overcook them. Instead, undercut the times, then check to see if they are done. The oven light is your friend.

In microwaves, don't cook on proper plates. Instead use paper plates or towels. Also, many microwave foods benefit from being flipped half way thru. Finally, note that microwaves don't cook evenly, so don't put the food in the center of the turntable. Or even better, buy a toaster oven.

 

[Senor Hortler]

Made two cheesecakes today. That was on top of building a coffee table yesterday, a shed the day before that, a workout bench and stays two days before that.

Genuinely going insane right now, I'm not used to not going out.

canned tomato's go great in pot roast even if it's not meant to taste of tomato; make sure it's a long cook time though.

 

[Urabrask Revealed]

I've learned that if you want to reduce the oil-splatters that happen while frying meat in a pan, you should bake the meat in the oven first. The recommended heat was 100 °C/210 °F in air circulation for 10 minutes.

 

[Duke Nukem]

If you are making a taco put the cheese on the bottom so it can melt and keep the taco shell stuck together.

 

[Urabrask Revealed]

How do you make a taco anyway? I tried one, but t he hard shell just made it fall apart.

 

[ThatTabiFromSB]

When making steaks, first season liberally with salt and pepper before putting it on rather than do so after, the difference is... palatable.

For those not in the know, the reason you season liberally is that a good amount of the seasoning will be lost in the cooking process or end up in the oil.

How do you make a taco anyway? I tried one, but t he hard shell just made it fall apart.

Clearly you've only ever had TexMex. A real taco uses soft tortillas. XD

 

[Urabrask Revealed]

Clearly you've only ever had TexMex. A real taco uses soft tortillas. XD

I never was to a texmex. My sister wanted to make tacos, bought these hard shell things, and heated them in the oven.
Help a brother out here, what are these hard tortillas intended for?

 

[ThatTabiFromSB]

I never was to a texmex. My sister wanted to make tacos, bought these hard shell things, and heated them in the oven.
Help a brother out here, what are these hard tortillas intended for?

Hard tortillas were only ever used by Americanized Mexican cuisine, most often in Texas, where they are fried or baked hard to provide a textual contrast to all the soft ingredients. Taco Bell then popularized it and Americans then had a very wrong impression what 'Mexican' cuisine was. Actual Mexican cuisine only ever uses soft tortillas.

You can imagine the untold numbers of ignorant American tourists bashing Mexicans for not having 'authentic' cuisine. XD

If you want to make your own tortillas, they are dead easy.

You’ll need a special corn flour called masa harina for making the tortillas.

Masa harina is corn flour that has been treated with calcium hydroxide or 'lime' which makes it more nutritious by releasing the niacin in the corn, and easier to digest.

You'll need equal parts of this flour and warm water. 1:1 ratio, basically. Mix into a thick dough, knead for ten minutes. If the dough seems too dry or too wet, add a little more water or masa to the dough. Once done, let the dough rest for five to ten minutes, portion into 12-16 balls, and roll out into thin pancakes. There's a special press that makes them into very even circles, but I've honestly never needed it. A rolling pin or your hands will make perfectly serviceable pancakes outta them.

If the portioned dough keeps 'pulling away' and retracting, otherwise refusing to be rolled out, let them relax for a few minutes.

Once you've got your pancakes, just toast them in a hot pan on medium heat, thirty seconds each side. You'll see it literally cook and you'll know when to flip.

And there you go, fresh corn tortillas.

You could do the same with AP flour, but it doesn't have the same texture or flavor. Just be sure to add a teaspoon of salt.

 

[Urabrask Revealed]

And there you go, fresh corn tortillas.

Cool, do you have a recipe for filling a tortilla, or is that a freeform thing where you can put near anything on a tortilla?

 

[LordSunhawk]

Butcher counter life hack, do not buy ground beef that's already been ground, it's older meat and overpriced. Instead buy the cut of meat that is cheapest by the pound and have them grind it for you. You get fresh ground beef and pay up to half the price.

 

[Urabrask Revealed]

I need some advice with a new recipe I intend to try out this weekend. It's called "shashlik roast".
The base incredients are three bell peppers, and 1 kg of turkey breast.
For the marinade, the recipe calls for a bundle of thyme, a tablespoon of bell pepper powder, one garlic clove, a red onion, salt, pepper, a tablespoon of olive-oil, and one tablespoon honey. I wanted to know, should I add more honey, or oil, or spices, or is that fine as it is? The recipe includes fresh basil for serving, and a baguette as a side dish.

Butcher counter life hack, do not buy ground beef that's already been ground, it's older meat and overpriced. Instead buy the cut of meat that is cheapest by the pound and have them grind it for you. You get fresh ground beef and pay up to half the price.

Huh? So mince meat/ground beef is not a specific part of the animal, it's just leftovers?

 

[LordSunhawk]

Huh? So mince meat/ground beef is not a specific part of the animal, it's just leftovers?

You can have ground beef from any cut at all. But yeah, whatever doesn't sell on Monday in the meat case or Tuesday in the manager markdown special is ground on Wednesday and sold as ground beef.

Most of the time the London Broil cut is the cheapest, so buy a pound of london broil, have them trim it or not depending on preference, and then have them grind it for you.

 

[Abhorsen]

You can have ground beef from any cut at all. But yeah, whatever doesn't sell on Monday in the meat case or Tuesday in the manager markdown special is ground on Wednesday and sold as ground beef.

Most of the time the London Broil cut is the cheapest, so buy a pound of london broil, have them trim it or not depending on preference, and then have them grind it for you.

Do be careful about how much fat content you want in the beef though.

 

[Urabrask Revealed]

Do be careful about how much fat content you want in the beef though.

How do I check for that?