Post by sunnysally on Nov 24, 2020 23:11:51 GMT -5
I have accepted that it is not worth it to make everything from scratch. I was going to make paneer, but by the time I bought all the milk and made it, I may as well buy the two pound block at Costco for less than $10.
I cook a lot so if I want a gadget, I buy it. I love my KitchenAid mixer, Instant Pot, sous vide, food processor, and really nice knives that fit my hand.
I also just bought a very large bench scraper and seriously don't know why I didn't do this years ago. It's my favorite tool ever. I used to use the side of my knife to gather up food to toss in the pan. Bench scraper has way more surface area and is so much more efficient.
thanks for this! i'll be getting one for H's stocking. we're forever using our good knives to scrape along the cutting board and I always cringe at the blade dragging.
I have an organization system for my spice cabinet that makes sense to me (but probably no one else) and saves me tons of time.
Top Shelf R to L: vinegars front to back sign most often used in front, then oils (same), liquids for Asian cooking (e.g., sesame oil, soy sauce, etc.)
Middle Shelf R to L: Bulk spices (mostly big bags from Penzeys I use to fill the bottom shelf jars) and hot sauces
Bottom Shelf R to L: all of the salts, all of the peppers, sweet spices (nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon, etc.), spices for chili and Tex-Mex dishes, spices for Indian dishes, spices for Italian dishes, other spice blends (e.g., Bavarian blend, Parisian blend,) individual one-off spices (rosemary, thyme, etc.)
Since there’s overlap in some of the categories (e.g., I’m a monster who adds a kick of cinnamon to my chili and cumin goes in both my Tex-Mex and Indian food) I save a lot of time when I go to grab items for cooking. And, since I wing it most of the time, I have spices that blend well next to one another.
I keep a list on the computer of about 30 meals I know we like. When I get stuck meal planning, I just snag meals off that list.
I always have the ingredients on hand for some kind of fajitas because I know I can make them happen in less than 15 minutes.
Friday night is take out and Saturday night is appetizer night- that’s all that’s for dinner. Add a salad or piece of fruit if you want.
I pull all my spices and tools out before I start a recipe. I don't know if everyone else does that though. It saves me from having to hunt for what I need right in the middle of putting it all together.
I created my own proofing bread box with a collapsible foam cooler and a seed mat. I've used it twice now, and it works very well. (And it was $60 vs $170 of the commercial box)
I do the spice thing as well. I put them in order they are in the recipe, so that easy to check that I have things AND easier to follow down the list on the recipe.
I always buy the pre minced and chopped garlic in a jar. It saves me hours of peeling and chopping.
I have a spice drawer and keep the most used on the top shelf’s, closet to the stove for easy access while cooking. I also keep the evoo near the stove vs in the pantry.
I let bread rise in the oven set on “warm” in the mixing bowl.
I had to Google "mise en place" so I should see myself out but I actually do this for some recipes as well.
Me too. But I never do this. I hate using extra dishes and will do the math to use as few measuring cups as possible when making things. For example with Nestle tollhouse cookies you can use only the 3/4 c and 1 tsp and have fewer dishes after. I hate dishes.
I recently found out that some people don’t pre-heat their ovens.
In a rare pandemic gathering of 4 people, I volunteered to make Chicken Parmigiana. I love cooking for people and we were celebrating at a friend’s house (a promotion, my boss got a new job, also sad).
I brought a tray of Chicken Parmigiana and a salad. I thought it would be easy for the host to heat and serve. It was. Except when it came time to heat the chicken parm., the host did not know about pre-heating the oven.
So, the host wanted to put the chicken in a cold oven and I hesitated and said ‘wait until it ‘375’ - enough to warm the dinner and melt the cheese.
He doesn’t usually pre-heat his oven but did when I requested it. Turns out, he looked up the benefits of pre-heating an oven and shared it with me. So, pro tip, pre-heat your ovens (especially for breads).
lol yeah my tip was going to be marrying a man who likes to cook and is good at it. He's doing a whole Thanksgiving dinner for just the two of us.
And spoiler alert, you don’t even have to be married for this to happen
Not gonna lie, one of the worse parts above Covid is not just not seeing him, but not having his cooking on a weekly basis lol. I miss the days of laying on the couch reading while he cooks for 2 hours.
This might be well known, but it's not in recipe books and I only figured it out recently.
For pumpkin pie, turn off the oven at the end of the baking time but leave the pie in the oven to slowly cool for a 2-3 hours. This keeps the filling from cracking.
Post by shamrockshake on Nov 25, 2020 9:04:25 GMT -5
I keep a bag in the freezer for vegetable trimmings, when I’m chopping anything that can be used to make stock the ends go in the bag (carrots/ celery/onions etc). Every trip to Costco we get a rotisserie chicken, once we eat the meat, the carcass goes in the freezer. When I need more stock I pull the chicken and veggie bag out and replenish our homemade stock
lol yeah my tip was going to be marrying a man who likes to cook and is good at it. He's doing a whole Thanksgiving dinner for just the two of us.
And spoiler alert, you don’t even have to be married for this to happen
Not gonna lie, one of the worse parts above Covid is not just not seeing him, but not having his cooking on a weekly basis lol. I miss the days of laying on the couch reading while he cooks for 2 hours.
Very true! I should have just said "find". Doesn't even have to be a romantic partner, really. Roommate, good friend willing to come over a lot, lol. Nor a man. I guess really, my tip is "find someone else willing to do it for you."
And spoiler alert, you don’t even have to be married for this to happen
Not gonna lie, one of the worse parts above Covid is not just not seeing him, but not having his cooking on a weekly basis lol. I miss the days of laying on the couch reading while he cooks for 2 hours.
Very true! I should have just said "find". Doesn't even have to be a romantic partner, really. Roommate, good friend willing to come over a lot, lol. Nor a man. I guess really, my tip is "find someone else willing to do it for you."
One of my good friends loves to cook. She lives out of the country now but will usually stay with me. She’ll cook amazing meals without a recipe. Thanks to COVID, I don’t know when I’ll see her again. I miss her but also miss having someone to cook. lol.
I use a lot of the tips I've seen in here! One of my favorite baking tricks for adding flour to a stand mixer is to put it on a sheet of parchment and slowly add to the mixer while it's going. No miss, no mess. It's my absolute most useful hack - thanks, Bobby Flay!
You can refrigerate/freeze most batters and doughs. So you can make everything ahead of time but bake fresh when you need cookies, cakes, quick breads, etc.. I’m guessing it’ll work for yeast bread doughs too. I haven’t personally tried it though.
Scoop drop cookies for faster baking or you can leave it in a Tupperware and let it thaw in the fridge for a day. For sliced cookies, cut when the dough is cold but not frozen. For cake batters and quick breads, you can put them directly in the pan and let them thaw on the counter and come to room temp before baking. I don’t flour/grease pans. I just line the bottom of cake pans or bottoms/sides of loaf pans.
Ditto the garbage bowl. Makes it so much easier to keep my space clean, even though my kitchen isn’t that big, so the trash can isn’t far away.
I am now tempted to buy a bench scraper.
For hard boiled eggs, use your pressure cooker if you have one. I promise you, they are the easiest to peel of any method, no matter how fresh the eggs are.
I proof bread in my microwave. I stick the bread in the there along with a mug of scalding hot water.
I've tried that. High altitude, cold house, and super dry climate make it so that it doesn't work. The homemade proofer is the first thing that's ever allowed my yeast creations to rise correctly.
When I make chicken stock, after straining it I boil it down to reduce the liquid substantially. Once cooled I portion it into an ice cube tray, and when I use them add a cup of water for each cube I use. Saves me a ton of freezer space.
I keep a bag in the freezer for vegetable trimmings, when I’m chopping anything that can be used to make stock the ends go in the bag (carrots/ celery/onions etc). Every trip to Costco we get a rotisserie chicken, once we eat the meat, the carcass goes in the freezer. When I need more stock I pull the chicken and veggie bag out and replenish our homemade stock
I thought I wrote this and couldn't remember when I did. LOL This is what I do, and I get such a thrill out of making soup out of, basically, garbage.
I pull all my spices and tools out before I start a recipe. I don't know if everyone else does that though. It saves me from having to hunt for what I need right in the middle of putting it all together.
I created my own proofing bread box with a collapsible foam cooler and a seed mat. I've used it twice now, and it works very well. (And it was $60 vs $170 of the commercial box)
OMG. I love this! I wish I'd thought of this before getting the one I bought. I could have spent my gift card on something else.
I proof bread in my microwave. I stick the bread in the there along with a mug of scalding hot water.
I've tried that. High altitude, cold house, and super dry climate make it so that it doesn't work. The homemade proofer is the first thing that's ever allowed my yeast creations to rise correctly.
I’m in Salt Lake, so similar temp/altitude to you. I generally pre-heat my oven to 350, make my dough, and put the container on top of the range while it cools. My rise is similar to what I’d get closer to sea level on the East Coast when I do it this way.
I keep a bag in the freezer for vegetable trimmings, when I’m chopping anything that can be used to make stock the ends go in the bag (carrots/ celery/onions etc). Every trip to Costco we get a rotisserie chicken, once we eat the meat, the carcass goes in the freezer. When I need more stock I pull the chicken and veggie bag out and replenish our homemade stock
I thought I wrote this and couldn't remember when I did. LOL This is what I do, and I get such a thrill out of making soup out of, basically, garbage.
I call it garbage soup. Like, DH asks what’s for dinner and I say “garbage soup”. It makes me so happy to make dinner for no money