[andrzejpw]

My parents are masters of the bbq. I mean masters. Yes, masters. My mom's specialty is the marinade, while my dad grills. I'm pretty sure they could make **** taste good. . .

Oh, and my mom cooks anything/everything else. It's that whole Polish family thing. Back in Poland where we come from, my mom was taught amazing from scratch cooking. She thinks it's a crime to eat anything that's not made from scratch. Heck, the only time I tasted ramen was on a camping trip, and I still don't know what cambell's soup tastes like. . .

 

[eric343]

How exactly do you make an omelette?

What can I say, I'm still in school...

 

[neil]

Quote:

Originally posted by eric343 How exactly do you make an omelette?

I take three eggs (by the way, I only cook with either farm-fresh or Horizon Organic fed-hen eggs), beat them in a bowl with a fork. Heat up the fry pan medium-high until butter or oil sizzles -- put enough olive-oil in there so that nothing sticks. Pour my eggs in, let it cook until the top is bubbling. Then I give it the "shove" test.. where I jerk the pan really fast -- and if it slides around, the bottom's cooked. I dump in my dry ingredients (usually some cheese, diced tomatoes, or even some turkey-slices). Then I do the "fold", where I take my spatula, lift around the edges of one half, and then flip over that half, encapsulating the dry ingredients I just put in -- and now it looks like a crescent.

At the local coney (short-order food joint) here in town, he does a double fold, so it looks more like a big-ass burrito, instead of a crescent -- me? I prefer the crescent.

I'll have to photo my stuff tomorrow morning and post it here.

 

[eric343]

Hmm... thanks for the tip. Maybe it'll help get rid of the "brown bottom" problem - where the bottom of the omlette gets a uniform, very fine bubbled brownish surface, which tastes awful/. I think it's due to overcooking, although it's better with nonstick pans (we used to use non-nonstick pans, and the oil resulted in the "brown bottom" problem sometimes being a green bottom problem).

 

[Gallaine]

Quote:

Originally posted by M Rael p.s. to clean vegetables and meats you can add a cap full of Clorox bleach into a gallon of water and let the food soak in it for about 15 minutes. Drain the sink and rinse the food well with fresh water. most foods need some sort of cleaning before being cooked. personally i never cook grocery store meat without soaking it first.

Ummm....where exactly did you learn this technique?

Actually, I do about 90% of the cooking in my household. Putting together a good dinner or lunch is very satisfying. And yes, I generally cook "fancy" stuff like Lamb Biriyani and Beef Fillet Provencale. I spend about 1 to 1.5 hours a day in the kitchen.

For succulent chicken try soaking chicken parts (you can buy a chicken already cut up - but wheres the fun in that

) in a brine solution overnight, pan frying them in a little butter until brown, and then finish cooking them in the oven. I use about 1/4 cp Kosher salt per quart of water for the brine solution.

I agree that well-seaonsed cast iron is a great cooking tool and inexpensive to boot; I also have Calphalon. If you are interested in a good cookbook try The New Joy of Cooking by Irma S. Rombauer. I also like Cooks Illustrated magazine; their articles cover the science behind cooking and food preparation.

 

[KurtW]

You can't have good food without good ingredients.

You are what you eat.

 

[neil]

So eating Clorox turns you into a blonde, eh? (I'm tired, stupid humor) But really, Clorox on meat? Dude, that just don't sound good -- reminds me of that Saturday Night Live skit where they had that blue anti-bacterial glop that they'd mix in with their food.

 

[taipeileviathan]

Quote:

Originally posted by legoman One day, when I am rich and famous I am going to get myself one of those fuzzy-logic super-hyper-miracle Japanese rice cookers. But it doesn't look like that will be anytime soon.

i want one of those almost as much as i want a new pcdp, and that should say a LOT...

what can i say? food is my greatest passion, perhaps even greater than music...

i used to spend hours in the kitchen, researching the perfect way to fry chinese turnip cakes (should u bread them first as small cubes then fry, or fry straight up? in cubes or as slices? how thick for the perfect balance between a crunchy/crispy outside with tender and moist inside? how should u control the fire?) *sigh*... i miss those days of oblivious bliss in the kitchen...

 

[HighwayStar]

Quote:

Originally posted by lextek We do whole chickens on the Weber. They stuffed with lemons, rubbed with oil and seasoned with taragon. Awesome. The Webber website (weird) has a recipe for beer can chicken. I think it's half a can of beer you stand the chicken up on it and cook it that way. Have yet to try that one. http://www.weber.com/Public_Weber/homepage.asp Can you tell I love my Weber???

So do I. I've got the large kettle and the bullet smoker. I've make the beer "butt" chicken many a time and it's great. It's a lot of fun experimenting with different wood chunks to throw on the coals too. Depending on what you're smoking of course. Have used mesquite, hickory, hickory and guava (from Hawaii). Might have used apple & cherry, but it's been quite a while since I had a yard. The grills are at my Mom's now, but in about six/seven months we'll have a house with a nice yard, can't wait !

 

[HighwayStar]

Quote:

Originally posted by hongda I like iron skillets. Properly seasoned it's a great non-stick pan. and you can toss it into the oven with no fears.

You got that right. Best way to cook a ribeye or burger.

 

[JMT]

Quote:

Originally posted by andrzejpw: My parents are masters of the bbq. I mean masters. Yes, masters. My mom's specialty is the marinade, while my dad grills. I'm pretty sure they could make **** taste good. . .

Note to self: Decline any dinner invitations to andrzejpw's house.

 

[hongda]

Quote:

i used to spend hours in the kitchen, researching the perfect way to fry chinese turnip cakes (should u bread them first as small cubes then fry, or fry straight up? in cubes or as slices? how thick for the perfect balance between a crunchy/crispy outside with tender and moist inside? how should u control the fire?) *sigh*... i miss those days of oblivious bliss in the kitchen...

I use a iron skillet. Cut the slices about half an inch thick. Low flame. Heat skillet, oil and place the cakes on it. let cook for a few minutes until crispy. Don't touch or else they break. turn over and repeat. Nice and crispy. Ever try it with Vietnamese fish sauce?

 

[AssafL]

My favorite cookware list:

Le Creuset for Dutch ovens and enamelled pots and pans (also make Screwpull - the best wine bottle opener I tried)

Calphalon for stainless stock pots and non stick pans for omlets and pancakes (although Berndes are better)

Mauviel for Copper pots and skillets (the best!!!) I use Dehillerin's version which are way cheaper (in Paris) than the Mauviel brand
Global and Wusthof for knives

Rosle and Kuchenprofi make nice utensils (but I use plastic and wood)

All available at Williams Sonoma and Sur la Table at really "how could they charge so much" prices but are way way way cheaper at restaurant supply houses (like dehillerin). Examples: small sauce Mauviel copper pans cost 130-150 at WS, but cost 20-50 at the Dehillerin shop in Paris.

Of course you would need to fly to Paris (or go online) and nobody wants to do that....

As for cooking? Roasts, Steaks (pan and grill), Pastas, Risottos (see Thomas Keller's book for a great risotto you don't need to stir for 30 minutes), breads (sourdough) etc.

 

[taipeileviathan]

hongda, that sounds exactly like the way i used to do it, until something happened in taipei that would change the way i look at radish cakes forever...

u'know those street vendors who sell fried chicken kinda like kfc's popcorn chicken? they also sell various other food types, all fried in the same blackened oil, including glutinous rice sausages, squid, some veggies, and chinese tempura "tien bu lah"... well, one day i noticed that a lot of stands also had those cakes (are lwoh boh radish or turnip??)... and i ordered it...

well, it wasn't too much of a surprise, the guy just dumped the whole slice into the oil and fried it. but i loved it, and started getting it at every street vendor i saw that carried it...

anyway, once, this street vendor did in fact cut them up into smaller cubes and bread them first before frying them, and i must say, of all the methods to use, this was the absolute best...

the only thing is, u can't reproduce the same effect in a home kitchen cuz u really have to deep fry the cubes (can't just fry individual sides and flip)... so now i usually just go with the half-inch iron skillet method, altho i must say, teflon has its advantages. i also used to find that my cakes broke easily, until i realized that it was simply because we kept them in the freezer. if u think u'll be finishing them anytime soon, keep them in the fridge. the crystallization of water in the freezer really changes the texture of the cakes, and makes them much more looser...

btw, i usually eat them with soy sauce and "mei ling" vinegar... the dark kind that cantonese ppl eat with spring rolls and lwoh bwo gao... never tried it with vietnamese fish sauce, i think i will, i can kinda imagine the taste...

... and now i'm really hungry... ahhhh... i miss home...

 

[kerelybonto]

Dude, you're in Philly. Learn to like cheesesteak.

So far lextex is winning the I-hope-I-get-an-invitation-to-dinner contest. Mmm, swordfish on the grill. ...

kerelybonto