Cooking Thread~ Recipes & Things

MizMahem · Jul 1, 2021

Tomato Lemon Salmon with Broccoli
Serves 2

So I don't just cook vegetarian. I'm really more of a pescatarian who also sometimes occasionally eats pork or beef. So you know, basically just a regular person who is trying to cut down on the meet portion of my diet. And so today I've got for you a seafood dish. Simple and not many ingredients and pretty easy to make. It also scales up and down pretty easily if you are cooking for more or less than two people.

Ingredient	Amount	Notes
Broccoli	1 Head (I dunno, this is maybe 3/4 pounds?)	Chop Coarsely
Butter	2 tbsp
Lemon	1	We are just using this for lemon juice so you can just use lemon juice instead.
Salmon	2 Fillets maybe 6 oz each?	I mean you can use bigger pieces if you like
Shallot	1	Slice or Chop Coarsely You can also use like half a regular onion. You can omit if you don't like onion.
Sour Cream	4 tbsp
Tomato Pesto	4 tbsp	I just buy this at the store. This is the secret ingredient so if you want to get a fancy kind, you can/should.

You will also need:

A chef's knife.
A cutting board.
A frying pan (preferably non-stick)
Measuring utensils
A stove
An oven
A couple of mixing bowls.
Olive Oil (flavored/infused oil works well for this dish)
Salt and Pepper

Roast Broccoli
1. There is actually way more Broccoli than this, I underestimated the size of the container I needed. Pretty foolish.
  
  I should have sliced the shallots finer. Whoops.
2. These could have stood to stay in the oven just a little longer.
3. Chop up the broccoli. You are aiming for bite-sized pieces.
4. Slice the shallots/onions. You want these a bit smaller than bite-size, you know usual dice size or whatever.
5. Toss the broccoli and onions with 2 tsp olive oil (like always, a flavored oil works well here, like a basil or lemon oil) and half a tsp of salt or so, plus some pepper.
6. Roast broccoli at 400°F for like 15 minutes. The broccoli should be a little browned and tender.
Make sauces
1. Lemon Sour Cream
  
  Butter Tomato Pesto (Ideally this would be a bit more combined but it will melt on the fish so it is fine)
2. Combine the sour cream and juice from like half/quarter of the lemon (to your taste), and some pepper. This is the topping for the broccoli.
3. Combine the butter with the pesto, and like half/quarter of the lemon (to your taste). If the butter is to stiff you can zap it in a microwave for a sec. You want it creamy but not melted. Don't stress if it doesn't completely mix though, it will melt on the fish. This is the topping for the salmon.
4. Don't let the portions fool you, you don't need much for the fish. You can make a larger portion of the sour cream if you want though, though it was plenty for us.
Cook the Salmon
2. Bonus Video!
  
  Cook one side. Then the other! (Nailed the color here I think)
3. Pat the salmon dry if necessary with some paper towels.
4. Season the flesh side of salmon with some salt, pepper, and other seasonings if you like (maybe some basil or oregano, you can also never go wrong with that greek seasoning). That said, you probably don't want to overpower the butter, so take it easy.
5. Prep a frying pan with 1 tsp olive oil (unlike other times just regular oil is fine here, save the fancy stuff... though lemon oil would be good too ).
6. Cook the Salmon over medium heat, starting with the skin side up. Time is hard to predict because it depends on the thickness of your fillets, but it should be golden brown. But shouldn't take long, maybe 5 minutes a side.
Eat and Enjoy!
2. Top the broccoli with the sour cream and the fish with the butter pesto.

The final product!

MizMahem · Jul 12, 2021

Roasted Creamy Pesto Gnocchi with Peppers

Today I have another tasty vegetarian dish for you, Roasted Gnocchi in a Creamy Pesto sauce plus peppers and other veggies. Gnocchi is a kind of Italian potato pasta, much heartier than regular noodles. Usually it is boiled but today we will be roasting it. This dish is a lot of fun and is actually really easy to make, and ends up looking really colorful and beautiful. A delight to eat with the eyes, but tastes good too!

Note that the pictures are from when I made a double portion (well more like 2 and half), which serves 4 people. The cook times should remain basically the same.

All measurements in US. (though in this dish you do not have to be really precise with anything, pretty much all ingredients can be done to taste)

Ingredient	Amount	Notes
Basil Pesto	1 tbsp	You could use more or a different kind if you like.
Lemon	1	You can also use lemon juice.
Butter	1 tbsp	Salted or Unsalted, doesn't really matter
Flour	1 tbsp	White
Milk	2/3 Cup	Whole preferably, but skim or anything else in between will work fine as well.
Seasoning	2 tsp	I used my favorite Greek Seasoning along with some garlic powder, but you can use any flavor combinations you like.
Parmesan	1 oz	You can totally use the kind from a can, but shredded parmesan is better for this.
Gnocchi	~1 lb	You could probably use a little less of this. The kind I get is shelf-stable and you can use right out of the package. If you get dried gnocchi you will need to boil it first.
Peas	3 oz	You can use canned or frozen (or fresh if you can get them). I prefer frozen.
Shallot	1	Peel and Slice into strips. You can also use like half a regular (yellow) onion. You can omit if you don't like onion.
Bell Pepper	1	Any kind of non-green bell pepper will work. Red, yellow, or orange. Green will work as well, but they are sweeter and a little tougher and not preferred for this dish. Seed and slice into strips.

You will also need:

A knife or other sharp cutting implement
Something to cut on
An oven of some other enclosed box which gets hot and with which you can control the temperature. (Even a little toaster oven can work for this dish)
A pan that can fit in said oven. (Actually, a cooking sheet is more appropriate, not sure why I called it a pan, well, I'm to lazy to fix it, you can figure it out I'm sure)
Measuring utensils (maybe)
A pot (preferably metal)
A stove or something else that gets hot.
Maybe a bowl, maybe not, depends on how you want to serve the dish.
Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil Fancy oil not that necessary for this dish.

How to Make It!
Unlike some of my other dishes, this one isn't much prep-work and is mostly waiting on things to cook.

Roast the Gnocchi
- So as mentioned in the ingredients section, the kind of Gnocchi I get is 'shelf-stable which is basically like fresh gnocchi which they do some kind of food science magic to that makes it keep. This kind of Gnocchi can be used straight out the package. I have also seen dried gnocchi sold. This kind you will probably need to boil at least briefly before using. If you make fresh gnocchi (you bad-ass, you) you can also just use that right after you finish it.
- Spread the gnocchi out on a pan optionally hitting it with some non-stick spray first. I sometimes line the pan with aluminum foil first, it makes clean-up easier.
- Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of olive oil on the gnocchi and mix it up to get it all nice and coated. Using some flavored oil is okay here, but not necessary.
- Put it in the oven at 425°F for about 20-25 minutes.
- About halfway through that time, open it up and give it a good mix.
- When the gnocchi is done it should be crispy on the outside but still soft inside. Parts of it may turn golden brown, but not all of it. That is okay.
- Spread it out on a pan.
  
  Add oil and Shove it in the oven.
  
  Roasted Gnocchi
Prep Work
- Seed the bell pepper and optionally cut out the little ribs. Then slice it into well, slices. You could dice it up if you like, but with gnocchi, I think it is better to have larger pieces. Doing it horizontally would be cool, make some nice shapes!
- Peel and slice the shallot. Again we are opting for larger slices rather than dicing it. Additionally, these onions will not be cooked as much as normal, only roasted briefly. So a larger size makes sense. That said, if you don't like onions, now is the time to cut them out of the dish. While you can always substitute a regular onion for a shallot, shallots work nicely in this dish as they have a more mild flavor then regular onions I think.
- I was making a larger portion so used multiple peppers. I got a red, yellow, and orange one, but if I was to do it over again, I would have just gotten red. Strictly because I think the yellow and orange color did not stand out as much as I would have liked in the end.
Make the sauce.
- Again we are making a bechamel sauce. This is the most difficult part of the dish to make. There is no shame in using like a cream soup as a substitute instead here if you like. You need ~4oz.
  - Melt the butter in a saucepan on medium-ish heat.
  - Stir in the flour with the melted butter and stir it constantly, so it doesn't brown. Keep going till it bubbles a little, ~2 minutes.
  - Add the milk and keep stirring while it thickens and continue until it boils.
  - Add salt and pepper to taste. It should taste kinda like a creamy soup base.
  - Reduce to just below a simmer, and stir for a couple more minutes. The sauce should be reduced slightly.
  - Melt the butter.
    
    Add in the flour. Honestly, I messed up a bit here and added too much flour. Or maybe I should have cooked it a little longer. Not that big a deal, just added more milk later. Ideally, it wouldn't get this clumpy though. Add the milk and stir I dunno, learning how to make this sauce is tough, and I'm no expert. Watch a youtube video or something.
    
    But here is a video giving an idea of the consistency you should end up with.
- Add in the Pesto and the juice of like one half a lemon, as well as the seasoning you are going to use (we used greek seasoning and garlic powder).
- Don't be afraid to be liberal with the seasonings in this dish, unlike other pastas, gnocchi has a significant potato flavor (which gets even stronger when roasted like this) so a nicely seasoned sauce goes well with it.
- Lemon Juice
  
  Pesto! MY FAVORITE
  
  Finished sauce.
Roast the vegetables
- Spread the peppers, frozen peas and onions out on a pan. As before you can zap it with some cooking spray and line it with aluminum foil to make cleanup easier.
- sprinkle 2 tsp of olive oil on the vegetables and season with salt and pepper to taste (again don't be shy with the pepper, salt you can take it easy on though).
- Mix the vegetables up and shove them in the oven at 425°F for about 20 minutes
- If you are using frozen peas you can just dump 'em in at the start. If using fresh or canned peas, wait until the vegetables are about 3/4 done (about 12 minutes or so) before you add them. Obviously drain canned peas first.
- Depending on how long the other steps took the gnocchi may be done before this point or not. Doesn't really matter. If you only have one pan you can set the gnocchi aside and use the same pan to cook this one.
- Vegetables in a pan
Mix it all together!
- Once the vegetables, gnocchi, and sauce are done we will mix 'em all together.
- Combine the gnocchi and the vegetables together on one pan (just dump one on top of the other).
- Pour the sauce mix on top.
- Add the parmesan cheese on top of this mix. Use as much as you like, but you know, cheese makes you fat .
- Put it back in the oven at 425°F for about 5 minutes. The cheese should be melted.
- Gnocchi and roasted vegetables, together at last!
  
  Add the sauce.
  
  Mix.
  
  And the cheeeese!
  
  Put in Oven
  
  DONE!
Dish it up and eat it!

The final Result!

Ilikebob · Jul 16, 2021

The instruction made it seems like it came straight from a Cooking Mama game.

Biigoh · Jul 17, 2021

Biigoh · Jul 17, 2021

Biigoh · Jul 19, 2021

This recipe is... simple.
Ingredient : Onion
Cooking : Roast
Serve : Salt and Butter, maybe some pepper for fancy.

XD

Daonexus · Jul 19, 2021

Does anyone know a good vanilla microwave sponge cake recipes?

MizMahem · Jul 27, 2021

Mexican Risotto
Risotto is one of my favorite dishes, and once you get used to it, is fairly easy to make. The only secrets are A. Use the right kind of rice. and B. Keep stirring. This version I pretty much invented/adapted myself and is a more 'Mexican' take on Risotto. Unfortunately, you don't get as precise measurements then, but you should still be able to follow along. This amount serves two.

Ingredients All measurements in US.
Not that many different ingredients in this one.

Ingredient	Amount	Notes
Poblano Peppers	2	The most important ingredient! We will roast these. There are several ways to do this, but we will cover it in the oven.
Cherry Tomatoes	1/2 cup	This is about 8-10 cherry tomatoes. You can use more.
Shallot	1	Peel and Coarsely Chop You can also use like half a regular (yellow) onion. You can omit it if you don't like onion.
Arborio Rice	1 Cup	Using Arborio Rice really will work best here. But you could maybe substitute some other kind of short-grained rice.
Vegetable Broth	3 Cups	So you have several options here. They sell this just in like a box/can. You could also use like a chicken/beef broth or a vegetable soup or even just water.
Mexican Seasoning	enough	I primarily used Cayenne Pepper here as well as some garlic powder, and pepper. Onion powder would be okay. You could also use some cumin, coriander, and cilantro.
Lemon	1/2	You can also use just like lemon juice.
Shrimp	1/2 lb	You can obviously use more if you want, but this was just about the perfect amount for two portions. Size doesn't really matter if you go by weight.

Non-shrimp things. You may notice there is only one poblano here. Use two. The shallot is already peeled.

Shrimp.

These were some Argentine shrimp or something which were very tasty.

You will also need:

An oven
A sheet that can go in that oven, and maybe some aluminum foil to line it with
A plastic bag (yes really!) Or some plastic wrap or something to seal a bowl with.
A stove.
A pot that can go on that stove. The bigger the better.
A frying pan of some sort.
Stirring utensils.
A knife and something to cut on.
Measuring utensils.
Olive Oil - Fancy Olive oil is not necessary for this recipe.
Salt and Pepper

Instructions
So not a lot of prep work in this recipe. Basically, you will cook the three sets of ingredients, the rice and onions, the shrimp, and the peppers/tomatoes, and then you will combine them. Luckily cooking all these takes about the same amount of time so this whole recipe can be made in about half an hour or so if you manage it right.

Roast the Peppers and Tomatoes.
1. The seasoned pepper and tomatoes going into the oven. Again, use two peppers, not one. If you want to use more tomatoes, that is fine too.
  
  The Peppers when they come out of the oven. Put 'em in a bag.
2. So to roast the peppers there are several techniques you can use. You can put them directly on the flames of a grill/burner, broil them, or roast them in the oven. Basically what we are doing here is roasting them and then removing the skin of the peppers. Since I only have a gas grill outside and because I am doing tomatoes as well, we will use the oven. You can google the other techniques if you want though.
3. Line a pan with some aluminum foil, this makes it way quicker to clean up, and heat your oven to 400°F.
4. Coat the tomatoes and peppers liberally with some olive oil and spray the pan with some cooking spray. Season the tomatoes liberally with some salt and pepper and maybe some other more savory-ish seasonings. Not cayenne pepper, as these will be sweet, but maybe garlic or cumin or something. I wouldn't bother adding extra seasonings to the poblanos as we will remove the skin and most of the seasoning with it.
5. Put them in the oven for 20 minutes.
6. When they come out, put the poblano peppers in a plastic bag or a bowl or something that you can seal with plastic wrap. The peppers will steam and we will remove the skin later. The tomatoes you can just set aside for now.
Marinate the Shrimp.
2. So when we made this dish the primary source of seasonings was in this shrimp, which worked out well for us. One of the fun things about Risotto is how it can be a fun way to meld different flavors together, but you could make do it other ways.
3. If you need to defrost the shrimp, it really is best to just let them soak in some water for twenty minutes or so. If you microwave them or something to make it go faster, you can damage and cook the shrimp a bit, so avoid doing this. You'll have time. While letting them marinate is best, so long as they get a couple of minutes in the mixture, it should work fine.
4. Peel the shrimp and season them liberally with salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, and possibly other seasonings (I hit them with my ever favorite season, Greek Seasoning). I don't really have measurements here, but as this is the primary way we are introducing seasoning, don't be shy. At least a half teaspoon each I would say, but you could do more. The only seasoning to be cautious of is the cayenne. You definitely want some, but don't make it more spicey than you can eat.
5. Juice like half a lemon, and leave the shrimp to soak in the juice.
Make the Risotto.
1. So to start we are going to cook up some onions in like the biggest pot you have. This is not because risotto will take up a lot of space in the pot, it won't. But because the bigger the pot, the faster the risotto will cook. However, you can totally do this with a more medium-sized pan, just be sure to keep stirring it. I used a medium-sized pot this time. It's kind of a tradeoff between how long it takes and how much you have to monitor it. A big pot will require a lot of monitoring but will cook faster. A medium pot requires less, but still a lot of monitoring.
2. Anyways, yeah, dice up your shallot/onion into small pieces and dump it into the pot with a good amount of olive oil. A couple of tablespoons at least. You could add some garlic powder I guess if you want, but I wouldn't. For a more Mexican flavor you don't want the garlic to be overpowering.
3. Cook the onions over medium heat until they are nice and golden. This will take 5 minutes or so. Cooking the onions (they are well done here).
4. Dump in the rice and stir it around. We want to do two things here. #1. Toast it up a bit. #2. Get it nicely coated in the oil. This one is hard to tell when it is done, but the rice should get a deeper white color I guess. Shouldn't take long, only a couple of minutes. Roasting the Rice. Here is it when it is done.
5. You can add some seasoning at this point, though as I said most of the seasoning in this dish comes from the shrimp. So I only added a little pepper. A small amount of savoring seasonings, garlic, et al wouldn't be bad, but is unnecessary. You shouldn't need to add any salt as the vegetable broth you are adding should have plenty. If you aren't using a vegetable broth or a smaller amount of it, then maybe season it more heavily. If not using vegetable stock, some sort of bullion or flavor concentrate would be great here, mirepoix or something like that idealy, but whatever.
6. Traditionally at this point in a risotto, you would add some like white wine here and boil that off. We won't be doing that, but you still could do it. Hell you could use tequila if you wanted!
7. Okay finally add like 1 cup of the vegetable stock. This is where the 'art' of making risotto comes in. It really isn't that complicated. For this first portion, you want to add enough to completely cover the rice. I find 1 cup to be about perfect for me. Then stir it around until it is all either boiled or absorbed. Keep stirring it, not like vigorously, but constantly. Adding the broth!
8. When all the stock is boiled away or absorbed, add some more, only like 1/2 cup this time. Keep adding and stirring.
9. Rinse and repeat. (don't actually rinse, just do the previous step again). This will take a while, like twenty to twenty-five minutes, depending on how you manage your heat and your pot. Idealy you want your pot hot enough that the stock starts to boil away very soon after adding but no hotter. If you are using water, what I would do is set another pot to boil to scoop water out of. But since stock isn't cheap as water, I don't want to waste it so I don't do it with that. Keep going.
10. The risotto is done when it no longer really absorbers any stock and is nice and creamy to taste. It shouldn't really have any bite to it at all. When I did this it used spot on three cups of stock. If you aren't sure if it is done, taste it. If it looks done but still has a bit of bite to the taste, go ahead and add some more stock. The last half-cup can be a bit deceptive. The finished Risotto.
11. You may be tempted to just ignore these instructions and just dump all the stock in at once. Don't do that.
12. When done, set it aside. The timing is a bit tricky here, you don't want this to wait forever, so if you can start on some other steps in the meantime. This works better if you have an assistant to help you. If you don't, do the risotto last. If it waits a little while (5-10 minutes or so) it's fine though.
Finish the other ingredients.
1. Remove your peppers from the bag, and peel off the skins. This is a little tricky, but not too bad. For the most part, you should be peeling off like a semi-clear outer skin, which is pretty thin. You don't want to be getting too much of the fleshy 'skin.' If you get a little it is okay though. We are going to dice these anyways.
2. Dice and seed the peppers. Sadly this is a bit of a pain to do with the roasted peppers, but you can still manage. If you don't get all the seeds it is okay, just get most of them. Dice them into small-ish chunks, and dump in with the risotto. Go ahead and drain any pepper juices from your board down on them too.
3. Remove your shrimp from the marinade and pat them dry.
4. Prep a skillet with a good amount of olive oil, a couple of tablespoons at least. Get it nice and hot.
5. Throw the shrimp in and cook them. Shouldn't take long, although the exact time is going to depend on what kind of shrimp you got. 1-2 minutes per side though probably. If you want to throw some more seasoning on them here, maybe some pepper flakes or something, you can, but if you did a good marinade it isn't necessary.
6. Now, when we did this my assistant made the mistake of pouring in the marinade with the shrimp when we cooked it. This also turned out good, though the shrimp were a bit more poached then grilled, and it took a little longer. But it was still fine. Frying/Poaching the shrimp.
Mix it all together!
1. Throw in the shrimp, the peppers, and the tomatoes in with the risotto and give it a good mix so that it is all mixed up. If you poached-grilled the shrimp like we did, go ahead and pour in the marinade too, why not!
2. Traditionally in a risotto, we would add some butter or some cheese here to mix in, or maybe some oil. I didn't find it was necessary for this dish.
3. Top with some cilantro if you like I guess, and serve! Enjoy!

The finished result!

MizMahem · Aug 12, 2021

Pineapple Lime Teriyaki Tofu Poke Bowl
It isn't all Mexican/Italian/French fusion stuff over here, this time let's head west for some Hawaiian/Asain action! This dish packs a nice combination of different flavors, sharp citrus from the lime, sweetness from the pineapple and teriyaki, and some spicy punch from red pepper flakes. And while traditionally poke is made with some sort of seafood, in this dish we will be using fried tofu instead-

"But Miz!" I already hear you cry, "I am a meat-atarian, who eats meat with meat on meat with meat! TOFU BAD. GRR. ARRGH! More angry words at vegetarianism! GIVE ME MY MEATS."

Chill. I'm not here to take your meats away from you. Tofu isn't in this dish because you should or shouldn't eat meat. Tofu is in this dish because it makes a good combination with these other ingredients. Yes, it does not have a strong flavor, but so do many things. I don't hear many people complaining about how they don't eat other mild-flavored foods like rice or bread because of their lack of 'taste.' Sometimes a lack of strong flavor is what you want in an ingredient because it can then soak up the flavors from other ingredients. Like bread or rice, tofu is good at this, while bringing a different flavor and some protein richness to the dish, making it perfect for this occasion.

Anyways, on with the dish. This one is pretty simple to make and doesn't take many ingredients. This time I'll include a rough price of what I paid when shopping for it.

Ingredients! Measures are in US. Serves 4.

Ingredient	Amount	Notes	Price
Long Grained Rice	1 1/2 cup	We used Jasmine rice, which is supposed to have a more fragrant taste.	~$1.00
Tofu - Extra Firm	Two Packages ~14oz	The packages we got were 14oz. You could use slightly more or less. Dice into 1" cubes.	~$5.00
Green Onions	~4	Slice thinly. Separate white parts from green. We are eating these raw this time, so substituting them is not a great idea. You can omit if you don't like onions though.	~$0.50
Limes	1 or 2	I used the second lime as a garnish, you can omit.	~$0.50
Pineapple Slices	1 Can	You need 2 or so slices per serving. So 8 total. Can use more or less.	~$1.50
Coleslaw	1/2 bag 7-8 oz		~$1.00
Cornstarch	~1/4 cup	Enough to coat the tofu.	>$0.10
Mayo	~1/4 cup		~$0.20
Teriyaki Sauce	~1/2 cup	Use a flavor you like, a nice thick one works best	~$0.50
Red Pepper Flakes	~1/2 tsp	You can use more! But don't make it hotter than you can eat.	>$0.10
Olive Oil	~5 tbsp	just included this here for the price, since you use a fair amount you could use a cheaper oil for the frying	~$0.50

All told this runs about ~$2.60 a serving making this a pretty cheap dish.

In addition, you also need:

Salt and Pepper
A stove to cook things on.
A frying pan of some sort
A pot to cook rice in
mixing bowls
cutting tool and thing to cut on
Measuring utensils.

Instructions!
This dish is pretty simple. We will basically be making the four different components (rice, coleslaw, pineapple, and tofu) separately, then combining them together. So these steps could be done in any order and split between different people (many hands make light work!). I'll list them in what seems the most logical order to me.

Cook the Rice
1. Pretty standard. 1-1/2 cups rice + 3 cups water, and a healthy pinch of salt. (Twice the dry volume of rice in water is the general way to cook rice). Bring it to boil in a pot on high heat. Don't stir it, let it sit. Once it boils reduce to a simmer until all the water is gone then remove from the heat. Takes about 20 minutes.
2. If you have a different way you like to cook it, in the microwave or a rice cooker or whatever, that is fine.
3. You could use chicken or vegetable stock instead of the water for a richer taste, though if you are using jasmine rice it has a nice flavor all its own.
4. Once done, give it a good fluff with a fork.
Make the Coleslaw
1. Thinly slice the green onions. Keep all of the "white parts" aside. For me, this is basically all the way up until the onion turns 'hollow' inside. We will use the green parts for a garnish.
2. Juice one whole lime.
3. Combine the coleslaw (half a package), with the mayonnaise (I go light on this, I don't care for mayo), lime juice, and green onions.
4. Add a splash or two of olive oil. A couple of tsp. If you want to use a fancy oil with this dish, this is the place to use it. None of the fancy flavors I had would have gone well so I just used the regular stuff. You might even try sesame oil instead if you were feeling adventurous.
5. Season with salt and pepper to taste, usually a pinch or so of each.
6. Mix well and set aside.
Sear the Pineapple
1. This part is so easy but looks so fancy it is almost cheating.
2. Pat dry the pineapple rings well with a paper towel. You could season them now with some salt/pepper maybe, or even the red pepper, but I didn't. Part of the fun of this dish is the distinct flavors of the different ingredients.
3. Just drop the pineapple rings in a hot pan with a splash (~1tsp) of olive oil, and just let them sit for ~3 minutes per side. The sugar with caramelize and you'll get a nice char and an even sweeter flavor plus a little smoke.
  
  Video at the Start
  
  Video at the End
4. Decide how you want to serve the pineapple. I recommend leaving one ring as a pretty garnish and dicing up the other ring. If you are really fancy you can even leave both rings as is and score them so they can come apart easy at the table. I'm not this talent though.
5. Set aside. If you haven't cooked to tofu yet, you can use the same pan without cleaning.
Cook the tofu.
1. Open the tofu package and drain out all the water. Then pat it down again with a paper towel and give it a good firm press to get more water out.
2. Give it a few minutes to drain. Getting it super dry isn't essential, but will make frying it easier and gives it a firmer texture.
3. Dice the tofu into 1" cubes. Try to keep them as evenly sized as possible, it will make frying easier.
4. In a mixing bowl combine the tofu with the cornstarch and mix them together so that the tofu is well coated. Season well with salt and pepper, another pinch each.
5. Fry the tofu in a generous quantity of olive oil (or another oil I suppose) in your frying pan. About 5 tbsp or more. We aren't exactly deep frying the tofu, but we are frying it in the oil, so you need quite a lot.
  
  Video
6. Periodically flip and stir the tofu with a spatula or something so you get it cooked well on all sides. Tricky to do, I know! Idealy you want to get it to a nice golden brown. But you can go less long if you don't like the coating so crisp. Takes about 8 minutes.
Combine the Dish!
1. The fun part. Divide the rice into four portions then top with the coleslaw, red-pepper flakes, teriyaki sauce, tofu, and pineapple in that order, and serve! Don't forget the red-pepper flakes, they are an important part. In fact, you may want to serve with the red-pepper flakes, teriyaki sauce, and limes at the table in case people want more.
2. Alternatively, you could mix some or all of these ingredients before serving I suppose. The above is just the traditional way of serving it, and looks nice. But it's going to be a tasty dish no matter how you serve it.
3. Enjoy!

If you have any leftover pineapple you can throw it in some tea for a nice drink or make a nice rum cocktail or even both like we did!

The finished result!

Snake/Eater · Aug 12, 2021

I am starting to save up to build a collection of cookbooks.

does anyone have a favorite recommendation for me to check out?

Raven1138 · Aug 12, 2021

Snake/Eater said:
I am starting to save up to build a collection of cookbooks.

does anyone have a favorite recommendation for me to check out?

If you like gaming and cooking, Victoria Rosenthall's series of official cookbooks for Fallout, Destiny, Street Fighter and the upcoming Final Fantasy XIV cookbooks are pretty good. They are a wide variety of recipes from staples to electic fair (like Bhan'mi burgers and duck poutine from the Destiny Cookbook to a fusion take on carbonara in the Street Fighter cookbook) and the first chapter explains some of the more unfamiliar ingredients and where to find them. Several of those recipes like the Braised Deathclaw (pork belly) and a Festival of the Lost themed Chilies en Nogalas have become personal favorites of mine.

ExquisiteTopHat · Aug 12, 2021

Snake/Eater said:
I am starting to save up to build a collection of cookbooks.

does anyone have a favorite recommendation for me to check out?

"The Flavor Bible" by Karen Page and Andrew Dorenburg is an absolute necessity, as is "The Food Lab" by J. Kenji Lopez Alt. As far as cookbooks themselves... John Besh's "My New Orleans Cookbook", "The Fanny Farmer Cookbook", and Michel Roux's book on sauces, titled "Sauces". If you want a bit of history with your food, good things to eat as suggested by rufus is incredible, though you have to pick through it for stuff more suited to the modern palate. That one's free on project gutenberg. Lemme toss you a link. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/18435/18435-h/18435-h.htm

Stephen the barbarian · Aug 12, 2021

Snake/Eater said:
I am starting to save up to build a collection of cookbooks.

does anyone have a favorite recommendation for me to check out?

i'd start with something like the betty crocker, better homes and gardens, or America's test kitchen cook books.
they're big, with plenty of easy recipes and how to guides, but not very adventurous.
it's good way to cover your bases, and then you can branch out into more exotic/advanced cook books.

MizMahem · Aug 12, 2021

Snake/Eater said:
I am starting to save up to build a collection of cookbooks.

does anyone have a favorite recommendation for me to check out?

My two recommendations for getting started would be The Joy of Cooking and the Betty Crocker Cookbook. The former is pretty comprehensive of most things you could want to cook in most "American" cuisine. The latter is also a good sample, probably more contemporary, and is more beginner-friendly. Those two remain my "go-to" for general cooking today.

Beyond that, well there is a wide world of foods, so it more depends on what exactly you are looking at cooking.

Aleh · Aug 12, 2021

Snake/Eater said:
I am starting to save up to build a collection of cookbooks.

does anyone have a favorite recommendation for me to check out?

I don't know all of the books on ExquisiteTopHat's list, but I have a personal trinity of books that I think cover almost all the bases. One of them's even a very strong recommendation overlap.

Please note that these three will teach you damn near everything you need to know... although there are also things like the basics of food safety or how to properly operate a stove, so maybe not quite so much.

Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking is a classic, a practical (and literal in many cooking schools) textbook on damn near every cooking technique and practice there is. It covers not only what to do, but the "hows" and "whys" of each technique as applied to, again, damn near everything. It even includes sections on various ingredients, how to pick them out, what to do with them, etc. It is, however, dense as ever-loving fuck, as you might expect out of an 883-page textbook that covers, or attempts to cover, everything. It contains few illustrations, and the text is pretty small.

It's an amazing reference, though.

The second book I'll rec is Wiley Publishing, Inc's The Visual Food Encyclopedia. This is, simply put, an ingredient book -- and a very good one at that. The organization is a bit iffy, more optimized for browsing than for looking things up, meaning that I usually need the index to help me find things, but the entries provide extensive information on what to do with various ingredients -- how to pick good ones at the market, a few suggestions on how to use them in cooking, how to properly store things, basic nutrition information -- along with illustrations that really can help with questions like, "When is this ripe?"

(Although, unfortunately, not all of the illustrations are perfect that way.)

Obviously it's not comprehensive -- it's only 685 pages and mostly covers ingredients that are commonly used in at least one major national cuisine somewhere in the world -- but it's still a very, very useful reference for those times when you're working with an ingredient that you don't normally use much. It's also good for ideas and for showing people who don't know what you used in that recipe just what you did.

The third book I'll mention is Page and Dorneburg's The Flavor Bible. ExquisiteTopHat mentioned that, and I'll strongly second the recommendation. On Food and Cooking is about techniques, The Visual Food Encyclopedia is about ingredients... The Flavor Bible is about ingredient combinations. Sure, the first 36 pages of the book (which is 380 pages long) are about what goes into the experience of a dish and the things you should take into account when developing a new recipe. Almost all of the rest -- 338 pages of the book -- is dedicated to a lengthy listing of ingredients, quick tips regarding them, techniques to use with them (for instance, tomatoes: Bake, broil, confit, fry, grill, raw, roast, saute, stew), chef's commentaries on using them, and -- for most of the volume -- the other flavors and ingredients that combine well with them.

There's an incredible amount of information packed into each entry. The ingredients most commonly used with whatever you're looking up -- as determined by a survey of restaurants and their recipes -- are bolded. There's even a "flavor affinities" section for common three-or-more ingredient combinations.

When I want to come up with a new recipe, The Flavor Bible is often the first thing I consult. When I want to figure out what to do with some item, it's usually The Visual Food Encyclopedia. When I want to know how to do something, or to understand some recipe, it's On Food and Cooking.

Basically? They're all very strong recs, regardless of what sort of cooking library you're putting together.

Aleh · Aug 13, 2021

So, since I already started on some of the books in my collection, I figured I might as well do a few more.

First: Cook's Illustrated's The Science of Good Cooking, subtitled "Master 50 simple concepts to enjoy a lifetime of success in the kitchen."

The title is accurate. This is a much-expanded take on material that often gets a sentence or two in On Food and Cooking. It's written to a much lower level, with many clearer explanations. It's also far less exhaustive, basically teaching a mere 50 tricks/concepts/techniques... but they were selected to be useful ones.

And yeah, those slashes were necessary. There's not much pragmatic coherence in what counts as a "concept" in that list -- they're generally simple sentences, with detailed explanations which can range from tricks (e.g. #20, "Starch keeps eggs from curdling" in dishes like quiches, soups, and pastry creams) to widely ranging sets of techniques (e.g. #26, "Potato starches can be controlled," which details a number of techniques for getting potatoes to do what you want).

What the book does do, though, is show you a lot of simple things to keep in mind when cooking... and does so in a reasonably instructional manner. On Food and Cooking is a textbook and reference, best used either as something to consult or in conjunction with actual instruction. The Science of Good Cooking is the sort of book you can teach yourself with.

It also includes a number of recipes -- 400, according to the cover -- to illustrate the concepts and show how they play out.

Another book I could mention is Jeff Potter's Cooking for Geeks. The book's highly instructional, but kinda all over the place. Sometimes it reads like a science text, sometimes it reads like a cooking instructional, and sometimes it reads like somebody invited Bill Nye, in his full TV persona, into a kitchen. And while it's not disorganized, its organization is very idiosyncratic and has little to do with anything you'd find elsewhere.

This isn't a bad thing, per se. If you're the sort of person who likes to watch Mythbusters for fun, or if you're working with a kid who enjoys science class, it's a fun way to teach or learn a lot of good material. It also covers a lot of basics that most books won't bother with (e.g. it has a page on knife maintenance and sharpening, and another on the various types of pots and pans). Some people I know swear by the book. I... think it's more a book for beginners (or geeks) to learn from and develop skills with than anything I can use personally.

Samin Nosrat's Salt Fat Acid Heat can fill a similar role, full more of storytelling and practical advice than the science and experimentation than Potter's work. It attempts to reduce the "essence" of cooking to the mastery of four elements (the title tells you what they are), but more as a mnemonic than as a form of reductionism. Its real value is in its attempt to capture -- and teach -- the feel of cooking, and the intuitive understanding and control that real cooks develop over time.

Does it manage to? Dunno. I had that long before I ever touched the thing. It's a good pragmatic book, though, especially for beginners, and it covers a lot of techniques in detail while remaining relatively easy-to-understand and not becoming at all dry.

Then there's Dorenburg and Page's other well-known book on cooking. Unlike the others in the list, Becoming a Chef (I have the Revised Edition, copyright 2003) isn't really about how to work a kitchen (although it does have recipes). Instead, it's about the experience of... well, becoming a professional chef. It's about the paths people take to get there, reflections on the challenges they face (in and out of the kitchen), how they learn the craft, how they think about their customers... and even has an insert on how they deal with cranky asshole customers.

There is a lot of history in that book. Pages 24-27 feature a timeline of various ethnic cuisines... oh, Hell. I'll just quote the introduction:

Becoming a Chef said:
The following list indicates the decade each type of cuisine first received its own heading in the Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature, along with characteristic (not comprehensive!) ingredients and/or flavor combinations represented in the recipes included. All names of the types of cuisine are indicated as originally published, however politically incorrect or inaccurate they may be now--further underscoring the fact that times change!

There's similar discussion of the development of cooking schools as institutions... etc., etc.

I still think it's an awesome book on cooking. It's just... umm... probably not what you're looking for if you want a home cooking library.

I have more books, of course... but there's only one other one I considered putting here, and Cooking Basics for Dummies is... kinda basic. Not a bad introductory book, though... and I think I'm done typing for now. Hopefully this helps, Snake/Eater... or anyone else who's interested in learning?

Rakdos92 · Aug 13, 2021

As an aside, what is it with people who claim they "can't cook"? I'm just standing here, thinking: "Just... just follow the instructions! It's not that hard!" I started cooking for my family when I was thirteen!

Aleh · Aug 13, 2021

Rakdos92 said:
As an aside, what is it with people who claim they "can't cook"? I'm just standing here, thinking: "Just... just follow the instructions! It's not that hard!" I started cooking for my family when I was thirteen!

Most people who say that don't mean it in the same sense that I'm used to dealing with it, either.

I mean, I've taught basic cooking to people who never learned (cf. asshole controlling parents) and people with severe disabilities who literally needed adapted instructions or equipment to be able to cook at all. The only people I've recognized as being legitimately unable to cook were either preschoolers or had what I'll politely describe as very, very severe disabilities.

Cooking's a skill like any other. You get out of it what you put in.

Stephen the barbarian · Aug 13, 2021

Rakdos92 said:
As an aside, what is it with people who claim they "can't cook"? I'm just standing here, thinking: "Just... just follow the instructions! It's not that hard!" I started cooking for my family when I was thirteen!

it's a mental block.
there are people out there who've never learned/ been taught how to cook and have internalized the idea that cooking is hard.
some of this is political, some of it's economic, and some of it is a dependence on pre-prepared meals

MizMahem · Aug 14, 2021

So since we are talking about cookbooks, here is most of my collection, that I either acquired, inherited, or was gifted. If you look close, you can even see the different phases of cooking I've gone through. Or well, at least I can see it. I suppose the books are pretty scattered

.

But of all these books, my favorite is probably these (at the moment):

Two of them I mentioned before. The Joy fo Cooking is basically the cooking bible, and contains everything you could want to know about cooking American-ish quisene. And the Betty Crocker book you can see is well worn and well loved. I inherited from my folks, and it's packed full of additions and other recepies.

The other two are good vegetarian cookbooks (or, well, vegetarian-ish) which I am trying to incorporate into my diet more these days. And lastly, the Microwave Cookbook was just a funny one I got with my first microwave a million years ago. Honestly not any great recepies in it I think but fun to have.

Biigoh · Aug 16, 2021

QQmember2021 · Aug 20, 2021

Rakdos92 · Aug 20, 2021

QQmember2021 said:

... there are people who don't know what a bell pepper is?!

Raven1138 · Aug 20, 2021

Rakdos92 said:
... there are people who don't know what a bell pepper is?!

Much less that romesco sauce isn't some grand mystery?

Biigoh · Aug 21, 2021

Skip to 18:35 to go past the history of the sausage and Soviet.

Biigoh · Aug 30, 2021

Biigoh · Sep 5, 2021

https://archive.org/details/McGillLibrary-PN970_H69_T9_1801_003505211-1591/mode/2up

still valid and good advice from 18th century book 'Hannah More's 'The Cottage Cook'' said:
The difference between eating bread new and stale is one loaf in five.
If you turn your meat into broth, it will go much further than if you roast or bake it.
If you have a garden, make the most of it. A bit of leek or an onion makes all dishes savory at little expense.
If the money spent on fresh butter were spent on meat, poor families would be much better fed than they are.
If the money spent on tea were spent on homebrewed beer, the wife would be better fed, the husband better pleased, and both would be healthier.
Keep a little scotch barley, rice, dry peas and oatmeal in the house. They are all cheap and don't spoil. Keep also pepper and ginger.
Pay your debts, serve god, love your neighbour.

Scribe32 · Sep 24, 2021

Does anyone here have any recipes for a good hot chip dip? And I don't mean spicy, I mean fresh out of the oven. I find that while I am okay with some cold dips, the last one that I really liked was hot and I missed the chance to grab the recipe from them.

vyor · Sep 25, 2021

Right, got a good recipe for a bread bowl.

Requirements:
1 Large loaf of bread, a semi-spherical one if possible
Cubed steak
12 oz Sliced Mushrooms
1/2 Small Onion, Diced
1 Cream of Mushroom Soup can
1 tbl spoon Corn Starch(optional)
1/2 cup Beef Broth
2 Cloves of Minced Garlic
1/2 cup of white wine
Dash of Parsley
Salt and Pepper to taste
Steak Seasoning to taste
Garlic Powder
Olive Oil
1 tbl spoon Butter

Preheat oven to 180c(350f)

Sautee onions in butter until soft, usually takes around 3 minutes.
Add mushrooms, salt, and pepper. Cook the mix until the mushrooms have released their juices then add 2 cloves of minced garlic and cook for about 1 minute.
At the same time, start cooking the steak until pink or brown while adding one clove of minced garlic to the pan along with seasoning to taste.
Add wine to the mushroom mix to simmer, cook it down until you feel comfortable with it.
Add the beef broth and the mushroom soup, simmer until the thickness seems right. If necessary, add cornstarch until you feel it's right.
Combine steak and mushroom mix in a bowl, including the drippings from the beef, mix.

With your bread, slice into the top to remove a small plug and use a spoon or icecream scoop to hollow out the loaf until it's about an inch thick on the sides and bottom(precision isn't necessary, just don't puncture it).
Once done, place tinfoil on a baking pan and butter it up, place bread(including what you took out of the newly formed bowl) onto the pan.
Add a light covering of olive oil to the bread then a large amount of garlic powder to the outside of the bowl.
Fill bowl with the mushroom and steak mix.
Place plug into the filled bowl, add garlic to it as well.
Bake in preheated oven until bread is toasted, around 5 minutes.

Cut with a serrated knife and enjoy your messy but delicious meal.

Biigoh · Sep 25, 2021

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