Cooking secrets you wished you'd known about sooner.

[keybored]

Unless the cube has gone soggy via humidity

They never hang around long enough to do that here.

 

[klang]

i don't use them for stock, I sprinkle them onto hot buttery toast.

 

[Private Storm]

i don't use them for stock, I sprinkle them onto hot buttery toast.

This is making me reassess my life choices and I just don't know what to think any more

 

[klang]

This is making me reassess my life choices and I just don't know what to think any more

see it as a reset / start from scratch opportunity. be positive about it. embrace it and enjoy being born again. from now it's all downhill again.

 

[gentlegreen]

but just in case you or anyone else reading would be interested you can often do short (couple of hours / half day) knife skills courses at either proper cooking schools or community kitchen type places, where you'll get to try a few techniques with properly sharp knives under supervision with qualified first aiders on hand, and often get to eat the dishes you've cooked at the end.

I own one blunt chef's knife and hold it in peculiar ways ... I once had a Chinese cleaver , but that ended up getting used to hack down bamboo - got left outside and ended up as scrap metal ...

I don't in any case do much preparing of my veggies ...
I seem to manage to slice carrots length-wise without getting my fingers in the way ...

Mushrooms go in whole or torn into chunks and at the last minute - I was shocked to find some people don't eat the stalks...

With peppers I tear out the stalk/ core, slice them down the middle and whack them upside down with the knife so most of the seeds fall out then chop them crudely and recover any edible bits that came out with the stalk.

 

[mojo pixy]

i don't use them for stock, I sprinkle them onto hot buttery toast.

When I was young I was given bovril on toast when I was expecting marmite on toast, and the experience put me off bovril for life. Even now the memory of it makes my throat phlegm up.

Oxo, on the other hand... hmm.

I'm at once terrified and fascinated.

 

[klang]

When I was young I was given bovril on toast when I was expecting marmite on toast, and the experience put me off bovril for life. Even now the memory of it makes my throat phlegm up.

Oxo, on the other hand... hmm.

I'm at once terrified and fascinated.

one bottle of ketchup to one can of stella. stir thoroughly, heat up in microwave. serve with penne or spaghetti.

 

[Saffy]

I was given an Oxo cube to nibble on as a kid when I had a poorly tummy. It's oddly comforting.

 

[klang]

I was given an Oxo cube to nibble on as a kid when I had a poorly tummy. It's oddly comforting.

got a tummy ache, child? have a dry oxo!

 

[Private Storm]

one bottle of ketchup to one can of stella. stir thoroughly, heat up in microwave. serve with penne or spaghetti.

OK, now I know you're messing with us. You'll be recommending pineapple on pizza next.

 

[BassJunkie]

Home made stock is the secret to flavourful curries, chilli's, risottos etc.

I'm fortunate that my family tolerate me filling the freezer with bones and carcasses.

 

[The39thStep]

I don't make a lot of food with gravy over here and Portuguese cuisine is pretty much gravy free . However, occasionally I make liver and onions and have always put a splash of vinegar in the gravy after once asking , decades ago, the landlord in a Camden boozer why his gravy was so good

 

[Orang Utan]

Use cookery books

 

[newme]

I don't make a lot of food with gravy over here and Portuguese cuisine is pretty much gravy free . However, occasionally I make liver and onions and have always put a splash of vinegar in the gravy after once asking , decades ago, the landlord in a Camden boozer why his gravy was so good

Yeh just about every time if a sauce seems like its missing something, its an acid, as a result we have 6 types of vinegar as well as lemon and lime juice.

 

[AnnaKarpik]

If you need vegetarian gravy and don't have onion or similar to hand you can boil some carrots, make a roux and add carrots plus water plus any fresh or dry herbs you like and Marmite. Blend the lot and it is surprisingly good. Honest. As a bonus, it avoids a 90 minute round trip to a supermarket on a Sunday night when you've already started on the wine.

 

[Saul Goodman]

Not a recent one but It's worth mentioning.
Boiled rice, the easy way(s)... 1 cup of rice to 1 and 1/4 cups of water. Put a lid on the pan and bring to the boil. Turn off heat. Leave for 20 minutes. Fluff and serve.
Or 20 minutes in a plastic bowl in the microwave (cover with cling film with a stab hole)

And keep fresh ginger in the freezer, it lasts forever... and grate it when needed.

And blunt knives have no place in a kitchen, unless you're using them as a spatula. If your knife wont cut through a ripe tomato with ease, your knife needs sharpening/honing.

 

[nottsgirl]

Rice cooker. That is all.

 

[Saul Goodman]

Rice cooker. That is all.

Gratuitous decadence

 

[prunus]

It's recently come to my attention that I cut peppers different to pretty much most of the population, using neither of the above methods.

I stick a knife in at the top by the edge of the green stem, and cut around the stem. Then make a vertical cut down one side of the pepper and up the other side.
Pull one side off the stem, then the other.
All the seeds stay on the core bit of it, there's virtually no wastage, and you've got 2 equal shaped pepper halves which are good for stuffing if you want a big surface area for cheese.

I’ve always done this as well; was taught by my stepmother, who was a chef. Then trim the pith from the insides. I assumed it was the standard way to do it.

Don’t get me started on people who peel avocados though…

 

[spudulike]

It's really difficult to find carraway seeds.

Grape Tree stock them, not too expensive

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

You don't need to peel garlic. Crush each clove just once with the back of something hard (I use an old glass pudding ramekin that I also store veg and teabags waste in before I transport it to the food waste bin). The outer husk then just falls off in one or two bits.

 

[Artaxerxes]

Gratuitous decadence

Tell that to half of SE Asia

 

[Saul Goodman]

Tell that to half of SE Asia

I don't have the time right now.

 

[DotCommunist]

If you buy tescos finest gravy granules and add a splash of wine when making it up you can almost convince yourself you made a proper gravy, the taste is very close

 

[klang]

If you buy tescos finest gravy granules and add a splash of wine when making it up you can almost convince yourself you made a proper gravy, the taste is very close

gravy granules also work well as a cheap, no frills stuffing for birds, esp ducks and geese.

 

[philosophical]

You can do a lot with a cheap roll of puff pastry from Lidl or Aldi.

 

[newme]

Rice cooker. That is all.

I just rememberedr/found out my instant pot has a rice setting. This changes everything

 

[Spymaster]

gravy granules also work well as a cheap, no frills stuffing for birds, esp ducks and geese.

 

[Spymaster]

You can do a lot with a cheap roll of puff pastry from Lidl or Aldi.

You certainly can.

 

[Elpenor]

That’s a link to an email address Spymaster