/ck/ - Food & Cooking

[Anonymous No.6122185]

Food hack thread

Never tried this one

[Anonymous No.6122191]

>>6122185
You never cut clay with a wire in art class?

[Anonymous No.6122197]

>>6122191
>art class
What the shit?

[Anonymous No.6122198]

>>6122197
Y'know, second grade? You made it that far didn't you?

[Anonymous No.6122203]

>>6122198
Are art classes mandatory in US?

[Anonymous No.6122205]

>>6122185

>never heard of a cheese wire

it's like they grew up in an uncultured society

[Anonymous No.6122210]

>>6122203
Did they send you to math for 8 hours a day in elementary?

[Anonymous No.6122211]

[Anonymous No.6122213]

>>6122210
I don't remember elemntary at all to be honest. "Closest" thing to art was technical drawing in the late school and I'm not sure that exist in US schools.

[Anonymous No.6122215]

OK, I don't want to go against this thread, because people might learn some interesting techniques.

Here are some basic "food hacks" in cooking

>seasoning
Buy kosher salt and keep it in a ramekin by your range. It has a graininess to it that makes it easy to handle and measure, unlike table salt. Salt makes food taste more like itself. Use it.

>squeezing citrus fruit
After halving a lemon or whatever, use tongs to ring out the juice. Put the citrus about half way down the tong. one hand on the hinge, and the other squeezing the two open ends together.

>choosing oil
Extra virgin olive oil is key for dipping, dressing, or finishing vegetables, salads, savory pastries, and so on. It is not good for high-heat cooking. Choose a neutral high-heat oil for searing meats, roasting vegetables, sauteeing, and so on. Grapeseed oil is great. I personally don't like vegetable oil, as it can taste odd.

>dispensing oil
If you use the kitchen a lot, put some of your grapeseed oil in a cheap plastic squeeze bottle. These can be found at restaurant supply stores and sometimes walmart, won't be more than a buck or two. This way, you have the oil on hand. Since light causes oil to deteriorate and go rancid, you can wrap a paper towel around the squeeze bottle and rubber band it tight.

>cooking for dinner parties
Cooking for other people is as much about hospitality as it is flavor. If your kitchen is messy and chaotic when guests arrive, it will feel inhospitable. So, make things in advance, and quickly warm them to serve. Mashed potatoes? Make them well in advance, and put them in a covered pot. When it's time to serve, add a little bit of milk or whatever liquid you're using in your mash and rewarm. Vegetables? Blanch them well in advance, and hold them in the fridge. When it's getting close to dinner time, put them in a bowl by your range. This is "mise en place" in restaurant kitchens, "put in place". When it's time to serve, rewarm or your vegetables in a bit of oil (cont)

[Anonymous No.6122216]

>>6122213
Well, I had a class for an hour a day that taught me I was a terrible painter and how cut things with a wire.

[Anonymous No.6122220]

>>6122215
>Since light causes oil to deteriorate and go rancid, you can wrap a paper towel around the squeeze bottle and rubber band it tight.

Just put your oil in a wine bottle (dark glass) with a "speed pourer" stuck in the top of it.

[Anonymous No.6122221]

>>6122215

your tip for squeezing citrus fruit is interesting but unfortunately won't work if there are seeds which is usually the case with lemons.

Roll limes on a hard surface several time to loosen the insides before squeezing, it makes it much easier to get the juice out.

[Anonymous No.6122223]

>>6122215
>kosher salt

[Anonymous No.6122225]

>>6122220

have one of these and it makes using oil so much easier.

[Anonymous No.6122230]

>>6122215
>Buy kosher salt and keep it in a ramekin by your range.
Fucking Christ, we've all seen Good Eats

[Anonymous No.6122232]

>>6122221
>won't work if there are seeds

How is that a problem? Put a sieve on top of your dish. Squeeze lemon above sieve. Juice falls into dish, seeds get caught in sieve.

[Anonymous No.6122234]

>>6122225

Yeah, that's what I meant exactly. You can buy them like that or just get a spout and stick it in a liquor or wine bottle. Either way they're cheap and very handy.

[Anonymous No.6122236]

>>6122232

more washing up, you can squeeze a lemon with your hands and simply rinse them off afterwards.

You're proposing using 2 utensils to replace what your hands are easily capable of.

[Anonymous No.6122240]

Instead of holding the bowl up to your face and drinking soup or eating cereal, use a spoon!

[Anonymous No.6122242]

>>6122232
>>6122221

Guys, hold the citrus half upside down.

[Anonymous No.6122243]

>>6122232
>>6122236

The equivalent would be that you're Edward Scissorhands and you buy garden trimmers to trim your hedge.

Theres no need.

[Anonymous No.6122247]

>>6122197
>>6122203

where the fuck are you from?

[Anonymous No.6122250]

>>6122242
Huh.

[Anonymous No.6122252]

[Anonymous No.6122254]

>>6122250

[Anonymous No.6122255]

[Anonymous No.6122256]

>>6122236
>You're proposing using 2 utensils to replace what your hands are easily capable of.

Actually, no. I'm proposing that IF you want to use the earlier suggestion of using tongs as a makeshift squeezer but you are worried about seeds, a sieve can solve that problem.

I agree with you, hands are all you need. I was just offering a suggestion for those who like gadgets (or who have weak hands)

[Anonymous No.6122258]

>>6122215
(cont) rewarm your blanched vegetables in a bit of oil, salt, and vinegar or citrus juice. The zest of the citrus can also be used here. Lemon zest and asparagus pair wonderfully, for example.

>making stock
Making stock is a pleasure if you like to be methodical. Being methodical means keeping timing in mind. While beef bones take a very long time to infuse the water in the stock pot, vegetables take an hour, top. So, if you are making a stock with bones and vegetables, you'll add the vegetables on the tail end. This is especially true of cooking with fresh herbs. You may think that simmering thyme or parsley will make for a full infusion, but it doesn't. It will completely kill the freshness of the herbs. Add herbs on the tail end. This goes for other areas of savory cooking too, like sauteeing.

>useful kitchen equipment
There are very useful tools you ought to have in your kitchen beyond standard things like skillets, pots, tongs, and so on. Here are some examples.

"spiders", or wire mesh webs on a handle. These are somewhat similar to a slotted spoon in effect, but have a bigger surface area. Use your spider to fish out vegetables and pasta from the boiling pot.

Plates. Not just plates for serving, plates for cooking. Small, cheap plates that you designate to the range are useful for holding, resting, and drying food. You can take this a step further to the restaurant chef style cake rack on a sheet tray.

Thermometer. A thermometer is the key tool for precision cooking. For example, crack an egg into the slotted spoon or spider over the sink, draining off the excess water. Drop it in a pot of water held at 175degF for four minutes. Bam, perfectly poached egg. If the surface of the pot is cooler than the bottom, drop an overturned plate in the bottom of the pot to avoid direct heat on the egg. (I can't take credit for this one, it's Heston Blumenthal's. On that note, youtube is the by far the best educational tool for a contemporary cook.)

[Anonymous No.6122263]

[Anonymous No.6122313]

>>6122230
Then why do you go into so many people's kitchens to find them seasoning food with expensive sea salt in a plastic grinder, or table salt from a table shaker, or forgetting to season food altogether?

>>6122258
(cont)

Pressure cooker. A pressure cooker is a great tool if you have the money for it. They cook food at well above boiling temperature, around 250 degF. It's gonna reduce the cooking time on your vegetable stock or beans or whatever massively. And, it locks in aroma.

Metal wire "scrubbies". These are those little wiry balls you see in the home cleaning department at the store. These are obviously great tools for cleaning metal cookware and utensils, as well as cutting boards, stone countertops, and so on. Do the dirty work with these before you go for a sponge. Your sponges will stay nicer.

Plastic "sani-tuff" cutting boards. Wooden cutting boards are nice to look at, and make for a nice decorative element in your kitchen, but they tend to absorb, and they must be maintained with oil. Save your wooden cutting board for slicing and presenting bread and such. Get thick plastic cutting boards for knifework. Do get these from a restaurant supply store, because the ones from consumer markets can be expensive or coarse or thin. These are the proper boards for food prep, as they can be thoroughly sanitized, and even put in the dishwasher if you have one.

>keeping a cutting board from sliding around

Take a couple of squares of paper towel folded flat. Dampen lightly with water. Put it under the board. There you go.

>searing, sauteeing, etc.

The more you cook, the more you will get a feel for this. Use the smoke point of your oil as a measure of your pan's heat. Keep it right on the edge of smoking. Just adjust the heat accordingly. Your food won't start to brown until the water has steamed out of it. So, you will first see steam coming from the food. Then, you will hear the bubble and crack of the food starting to fry.

[Anonymous No.6122328]

>>6122313
(cont)

Frying is easy, just use your ears. When the crackling sound is dying down, the food is sufficiently fried. If you take it further, the food will either burn or become grease logged. Ever eat a fry that's soggy? Grease logged, left in the fryer too long. Same principle applies across the board. Water escapes, food starts to fry.

>vinegar

Buy sherry and wine vinegars for deglazing pans after you've fried in them. This is a big step up for home cooks. You'd be surprised just how delicious this can be. You can make quick "gravy" by browning sliced shallots and deglazing the pan with vinegar. Just make sure you actually cook out the raw vinegar aroma. Same principle applies with wine or beer or other flavorful liquids. Don't forget that some liquids have a strong color to them, like balsamic vinegar or red wine. Keep that in mind when you go to deglaze sauteed vegetables so they don't look disgusting.

Gotta go to work, I'll check the thread later.

[Anonymous No.6122339]

>>6122236
>>6122256

You are not going to get nearly the same juice in the same amount of time with your hands as with the tongs.

[Anonymous No.6122343]

>>6122230
Plus alton brown uses a covered ramekin. He's a pleb

[Anonymous No.6122358]

>>6122339

nice trolling

do you have the grip strength of a 9 year old

it takes less than 5 seconds to squeeze every drop of juice by hand, you cannot physicllay get more from a set of tongs if you're not a weak cunt who needs extra leverage to squeeze a fucking lemon

>extra leverage to squeeze a lemon

let that fact sink in

[Anonymous No.6122360]

This thread is embarrassing

[Anonymous No.6122421]

>>6122215
>Buy kosher salt
Yes, goyim, buy our salt! Trust us, don't worry about goiter!

[Anonymous No.6122426]

>>6122421
Lol, the correct term is "koshering salt" and in most countries, refined by the same salt companies that make all the other salt.

[Anonymous No.6122453]

>>6122421

Fuck off /pol/
The term "kosher salt" comes from its use in making meats kosher by removing surface blood, not from its being made in accordance with the guidelines for kosher foods as written in the Torah, as nearly all salt is kosher, including ordinary table salt.

[Anonymous No.6122461]

>>6122230
If OP had seen Good Eats he likely wouldn't be making this thread.

[Anonymous No.6122466]

>>6122421

I don't get why its called kosher salt on murrica

You can only buy "coarse salt" where I come from

[Anonymous No.6122470]

>>6122313
Plastic boards are necessary for restaurants, but the sanitation concerns aren't an issue at home. Use plastic for meat prep and get an end grain cutting board for everything else.

[Anonymous No.6122480]

>>6122453
>Fuck off /pol/
Isn't /pol/ against iodated salt?

[Anonymous No.6122485]

>>6122215
>>squeezing citrus fruit

I disagree and think you're a faggot. Squeeze with one hand so the juice falls into the other, thus you catch the seeds and don't befoul your dish.

>grapeseed

Mr. Moneybags. I use canola. It's adequate.

>suggesting to rewarm food

Troll.

[Anonymous No.6122504]

>>6122466

It's called that to implant the idea that Judaism is good and common and omnipresent as a form of indoctrination so the masses approve of and tolerate Jews, much like a PR service. Salt is tasty. When people associate something tasty with jews at such a large scale on such a common basis, it serves as brainwashing so the masses begin adoring jews, although they bring nothing but suffering to any country so infested.

>>6122480

>using the sodium chloride jew

But no really, it's all the same shit. You shouldn't be using enough salt for it to matter. Try removing your tongue from flaming curry coated assholes long enough for a sense of taste to return, and you'll find yourself needing less salt.

I have a dollar store salt grinder, and it lasts around seven months for all my salt needs. Out of all the seasonings and flavors possible to use, salt is shit tier.

[Anonymous No.6122537]

>>6122466
>I don't get why its called kosher salt on murrica
Because a lot of Jewish immigrants went on to become merchants and butchers.
>Oy gevalt! We have to deliver six million briskets, but we are out of koshering salt! Moshe, go over to Herschel's store and schlep me anutha bag before the customers start to kvetch!
The transformation from koshering salt to kosher salt is of course because Americans are generally lazy and illiterate.

>>6122504
>using the sodium chloride jew
That's the electrolytic jew.

[Anonymous No.6122563]

>>6122216

Don't worry. They do that with all the tards, gets em away from the normal kids for awhile.

[Anonymous No.6122574]

>>6122563
had a teacher in elementary who hated my autism and sent me to the tard class for that section of the day, fucking bitch

[Anonymous No.6122584]

I for one had a genuine interest in art, but all the other kids did with the clay was to make an illustrated guide to the bristol scale, and there was no use asking the teacher, he was almost completely deaf after having spent a whole career having normalfag children scream at the top of their lungs, all day, every day.

[Anonymous No.6122604]

>>6122563
The smart kids got art class where I went.