Cooking and food thread

[jerseydevil]

Originally Posted by Nurvingiel

Just so you know, if you use older flour, use much less than what the recepie calls for because it soaks up the moisture much more. Let the dough speak to you. Only enough flour to make the dough not sticky is needed. If it's not sticking to your hands, stop adding flour, even if you've added much less than what the recepie calls for.

I never measure - I go by feel and taste. That's why it's so difficult for me to give people recipes. I do have a ton of pictures of recipes - such as homemade pizza and stuff which I want to make into an online recipe thing.

Here are some of the pics of my various recipes I have taken. I take step-by-step pictures really - but I'll just show the finished food here. NOTE: most of what I have online right now is italian.



Lasagna & Meatballs


Baked Ziti


Chicken Parmesan and Spaghetti



Homemade Pepperoni & Hot italian Sausage Pizza (dough and everything)


Brocholli Oreganato


Linguini & White Clam Sauce with Flounder


Thanksgiving Dinner (Turkey, Gravy, Stuffing, Brocholli Oreganato and Mashed Potatoes)


Turkey Soup

[Nurvingiel]

Excuse me while I wipe the drool off my keyboard... That pizza looks so good, and the turkey soup... mmmm...

Bread-making certainly seems to be half recepie, or at least knowing the right proportions of say, milk and salt, and half feel and instinct. It's more feel than specifics with flour, you just have to add it until the dough has the right consistency. Too much flour or not enough yeast though, and your dough will turn out like the lump of suck I had to throw out. What better way to learn though...

[jerseydevil]

Originally Posted by Nurvingiel

Excuse me while I wipe the drool off my keyboard... That pizza looks so good, and the turkey soup... mmmm...

In order to make good pizza though you NEED a pizza stone. Without a pizza stone the crust won't come out right. If you will notice - after Thanksgiving comes the Turkey Soup.

And thanks.

Bread-making certainly seems to be half recepie, or at least knowing the right proportions of say, milk and salt, and half feel and instinct. It's more feel than specifics with flour, you just have to add it until the dough has the right consistency. Too much flour or not enough yeast though, and your dough will turn out like the lump of suck I had to throw out. What better way to learn though...

Actually I think that's the only way to learn to cook - that and watching. I learned to cook by watching. My father and mother never actually "showed me" how to cook. But when I was in 8th grade I was making Chicken Cordon Bleu from scratch.

[Nurvingiel]

Originally Posted by jerseydevil

In order to make good pizza though you NEED a pizza stone. Without a pizza stone the crust won't come out right. If you will notice - after Thanksgiving comes the Turkey Soup.

And thanks.

No worries, they did look tasty. What is a pizza stone anyway?

Turkey sandwiches, with mayonnaise, cranberry sauce, stuffing and a little pepper is our post Thanksgiving (and Christmas) fare. I never get tired of those, no matter how big our turkey is.

Originally Posted by jerseydevil

Actually I think that's the only way to learn to cook - that and watching. I learned to cook by watching. My father and mother never actually "showed me" how to cook. But when I was in 8th grade I was making Chicken Cordon Bleu from scratch.

I agree, except it does partly depend on how you learn. I learn by doing, and I really don't absorb anything by watching - at karate, in labs, or anything. I learned how to cook by helping my parents, and they gave me more and more things to do as my interest grew.

I've also learned a lot by royally screwing up things in the kitchen (as you mentioned), narrowly avoiding disaster, or doing something difficult well (the first time I made bread was brilliant, even though I came close to disaster a couple times). If something is remarkable, you'll remember what you did, or what you should avoid.

I think that you get a certain instinct for cooking. If my grandma is cooking a roast or a turkey, she might take it out of the oven random minutes before the timer rings. It appears random, but she just knows it's finished. Every time, it's cooked to perfection.

There is an epilogue to my disaster bread story. I was disappointed with my adding too much flour and decided to screw around with it. I can't believe it worked, but I somewhat resurrected half the dough! The bread is not only edible, but somewhat tasty! (I needed this bread, and I had put a lot of effort into it too.)

However, our oven, unlike the ones I'm used to, has this quick heat up feature, but you have to make sure to turn it to normal when you're actually cooking. I forgot, for the first time ever since I moved here. This resulted in the top of the bread, in the middle, being burned to absolute crap, even though the rest is fine.

The one other time I had a trainwreck of a kitchen distaster (the muffin batter incident), only one person was there. Well this same guy was the only one in the kitchen when the top of my bread was burned. He must think I'm the worst cook ever. Oh well.

I'm happy I salvaged that bread. Somehow. My goal next weekend is to make really good bread, not just snatching it from the jaws of defeat.

[Sister Golden Hair]

Originally posted by jerseydevil

In order to make good pizza though you NEED a pizza stone. Without a pizza stone the crust won't come out right

Ahhh, pizza stone, shmitza shtone. In order to make good pizza all you need is a box of Chef-Bouyardee.

But all your fixens look good there JD.

[jerseydevil]

Originally Posted by Sister Golden Hair

Ahhh, pizza stone, shmitza shtone. In order to make good pizza all you need is a box of Chef-Bouyardee.

You wouldn't be saying that if you had REAL pizza. Then you would know the difference. I suppose ignorance is bliss though - because then you don't know what you're missing.

[Sister Golden Hair]

Originally Posted by jerseydevil

You wouldn't be saying that if you had REAL pizza. Then you would know the difference. I suppose ignorance is bliss though - because then you don't know what you're missing.

Yeah, yeah. Well let me tell you, you get a box of that stuff and it has the best sauce ever, and once you add your toppings and cheese, it's some good eaten, crust included. Plus, it only takes 20 minutes.

[jerseydevil]

Originally Posted by Sister Golden Hair

Yeah, yeah. Well let me tell you, you get a box of that stuff and it has the best sauce ever, and once you add your toppings and cheese, it's some good eaten, crust included. Plus, it only takes 20 minutes.

So basically - what you are saying is that it's the McDonalds of pizza - fast and easy. - No thanks - I'll stick to my homemade pizza.

[jerseydevil]

Originally Posted by Nurvingiel

No worries, they did look tasty. What is a pizza stone anyway?

I'm going to answer this and then I'll get on with the rest of your post later. A pizza stone is a flat stone (usually round or square) that you put in the oven. You heat the oven to 500 degrees - making sure the pizza stone gets tht hot - I usually let the ocven preheat for 15 minutes or even longer. You cook the pizza right on the stone so the pizza cooks from the bottom and it gets a nice crust.

Here is the pizza before it's cooked, when I first put it on the pizza stone.



What is basically does is it makes your conventional oven into a brick oven.

[Sister Golden Hair]

Originally Posted by jerseydevil

So basically - what you are saying is that it's the McDonalds of pizza - fast and easy. - No thanks - I'll stick to my homemade pizza.

Hey, mine is homemade.

[jerseydevil]

Originally Posted by Sister Golden Hair

Hey, mine is homemade.

Hey - so is my mac and cheese - right out of the box.

[Nurvingiel]

Bwahaha, I actually make homemade mac and cheese, with a tomato and bread crumb topping, and aged Canadian cheddar. Nothin' but the best! It's been a while since I made that. (Cheese is so expensive here! )

I think I'll wait until I have my own house to get something as specialized as a pizza stone. Same with a double boiler, a large stock pot, a lemon zester, melon baller... all those useful little tools that are only needed for a few dishes.

Right now, aside from using the common pots, pans and knives (we have a pretty well-equipped kitchen) I own a quality 8" Global cook knife, a standard sized loaf pan, and a coffee spoon. The essentials! (I'll leave the loaf pan here though.)

[Rían]

Originally Posted by Nurvingiel

Bread-making certainly seems to be half recepie, or at least knowing the right proportions of say, milk and salt, and half feel and instinct. It's more feel than specifics with flour, you just have to add it until the dough has the right consistency. Too much flour or not enough yeast though, and your dough will turn out like the lump of suck I had to throw out. What better way to learn though...

I've found that the weather affects how much flour you have to add to bread doughs.

[jerseydevil]

Originally Posted by RÃ*an

I've found that the weather affects how much flour you have to add to bread doughs.

So does altitude. It affects how well the bread rises also.

[Nurvingiel]

Altitude and weather? Holy crap. Suddenly I want to go eat a piece of my bread now...

I guess that's all the more reason to let the dough speak to you! Be one with the flour...

[jerseydevil]

Originally Posted by Nurvingiel

Altitude and weather? Holy crap. Suddenly I want to go eat a piece of my bread now...

I guess that's all the more reason to let the dough speak to you! Be one with the flour...

I think it actually goes with anything you cook though. Like IR had asked earlier about calamari - well really it's hard to tell someone how long to cook it. It has this certain point where it's cooked to perfection and if you go beyond that point even slightly - it will be like rubber and chewy. The ame goes for roasting a turkey. Most turkey's today come with that stupid pop-up thing now. I never follow that. If I was to follow that - it would be completely dry. I just know when it's done by the way it looks- espcially around the leg area. I think it's just something you learn through experience.

What I find really funny is my father, who is a really good cook, called me up and asked me about making brisket. I've gone over it several times with him, but he says it doesn't come out as good as mine. So this time I told him - you just cook the hell out of it. Basically you just add water to a pot so it's about covering the brisket and let it simmer for 5 hours straight (first you braise the brisket on the fat side, then turn it over - then add the water, to be exact). His problem was - he wasn't cooking it long enough. To me - brisket is one of EASIEST things in the world to make. You put it on the stove and basically forget about it all day - except to replenish the water that evaborates out.

Here is something I haven't made in a long time, but I would love to have it again. I've really been getting a craving for it.

Cornish Hens a'la Orange

ngredients:
3 hens
1 16oz pkg wild rice
1 4oz can mushrooms
1t finely shredded orange peel
1/4 cup orange peel
3T brown sugar
3T corn starch
2/3 cup water
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2t instant chicken boullion
1T margarine

Recipe:
Prepare the orange peels by slicing away the inside of the orange peel. You should be left with only the outer covering of the orange peel. The inside white area is very sour and should be completely removed.

Cook rice adding the mushrooms and shredded orange peel.

Split cornish hens in half. Stuff each half with the rice mixture and place in a baking dish; rice down. Place a slab of margarine on each half. Cook at 350 until browned and tender. The hens should not be pink on the inside.

Slice the 1/4 cup orange peels into julienne strips. Add the sliced orange peel, the brown sugar, corn starch, water, orange juice and the chicken boullion.
Slowly simmer the mixture and stir constantly until the corn starch and sugar are completely disolved.

Raise the temperature of the sauce until bubbles start to appear and then lower again. The sauce should thicken and become a glistening orange color.

Remove the hens from the oven when done and place one half on a plate. Spoon some orange sauce over the hen and serve!

I used to make that a lot when I lived at home. It's delicious.

[Nurvingiel]

That does look delicous! When's dinner? I'll bring wine. Or beer. (Doesn't really sound like a beer meal though.)

Where do you live now that you can't make it? Do you not have the sort of kitchen equipment you want, like maybe a lemon zester for the orange peel? (That one is an easy fix though. When you need some huge item, then there's problems.)

On the bright side, at least you don't have to eat in a cafeteria. I shudder at the memory. How do you screw up rice? Rice was the third thing I learned how to cook, after fried eggs and real mac and cheese.

[katya]

JD! How do you make "real" pizza? I adore pizza, and I want to know how to make it even better! Do you think you could tell me, or could I find it in a cook book, or what? I usually just make it sort of like SGH does, but I don't get the same brand. I buy the crust and sauce and cheese all separate. So come on, how do you do it for real?

EDIT: and yes, I do have a pizza stone! I don't think I had been using it properly though. *tear*

[jerseydevil]

Originally Posted by Nurvingiel

That does look delicous! When's dinner? I'll bring wine. Or beer. (Doesn't really sound like a beer meal though.)

It's more of a white wine meal.

Where do you live now that you can't make it? Do you not have the sort of kitchen equipment you want, like maybe a lemon zester for the orange peel? (That one is an easy fix though. When you need some huge item, then there's problems.)

It's not the kitchen or the utensils. It's just that it's too much of a pain in the neck to make for one person. Also - you don't use a lemon zester on the orange - you need to julienne them. Bascially you just take a knife and slice off the white part of the orange peel and then slice it into strips. A zester would make them too fine.

[jerseydevil]

Originally Posted by katya

JD! How do you make "real" pizza? I adore pizza, and I want to know how to make it even better! Do you think you could tell me, or could I find it in a cook book, or what? I usually just make it sort of like SGH does, but I don't get the same brand. I buy the crust and sauce and cheese all separate. So come on, how do you do it for real?

EDIT: and yes, I do have a pizza stone! I don't think I had been using it properly though. *tear*

Okay - I can tell you - but it'll have to wait a bit. I don't measure - so I'll have to estimate things.