Do you know how to cook?
Me? I only prepare food from scratch when I'm feeling suicidal. :P Seriously. I've been known to set a bonfire on cold water.
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I'm quite good at cooking!! =) I wouldn't say everyone in Italy is good at cooking but we're close, especially far from the biggest cities like Milan =P I prepared a nice first course with pasta and various kinds of cheese yesterday! I like cooking even if I'm not a professional =P I'm good at baking sweets too and many other things! it's funny =)
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I don't like cheese itself but somehow I always try to add it to dishes I cook =)
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yeah there are many kinds of cheese that I don't like too, but here in Northern Italy and also in France we have literally hundreds of different kinds of cheese so we can go with anything we want! =P just don't buy the fake Italian cheese they sell outside Europe ahah
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yeah there are many kinds of cheese that I don't like too, but here in Northern Italy and also in France we have literally hundreds of different kinds of cheese so we can go with anything we want!
Yep. It's literally impossible for anyone to not find one cheese that they like in Italy or France. Unless you're lactose intolerant of course lol
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Why do you even ask? It was potatoes, of course. Fried.
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I came up with this hobby where every few months I start a couple of topics that promote community bonding, and then measure how many days they stay active.
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I make myself a small "sandwich" (2 pieces of toasted bread, butter and cheese) every morning time I wake up if there's nothing else to eat for breakfast. Does that count? ^_^'
(If not, then boiled eggs... ~2 years ago or something.)
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Spaghetto, as in singular? :D
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In Italy as colloquial form, you can use spaghetto and mean "a dish where you use spaghetti".
Btw, it's a great recepy, you all should try it.
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Nice to know!
I´d love to make some Fettucine al Fredo (or Pasta bianco) from scratch since i´ve seen a YT vid demonstrating how damn easy it is. Missing a pasta machine though, and it´s unlikely i´m gonna buy one just for the lulz :E
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As an italian I am obliged to state that fettuccine Alfredo is not a proper italian dish, nor are pasta with meatballs 😥
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That looks great.
Last meal I prepared from scratch was a chickpea curry - chickpeas cooked with onions, garlic, ginger, turmeric, cumin, crushed red pepper, and spinach in a mix of coconut milk and chicken broth, with greek yogurt and mint as a garnish and garlic pita bread on the side.
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Thank you. It actually turned out that I didn't have any coconut milk at home, but I improvised with some coconut oil and regular milk and it turns out really good. :)
I was meaning to ask you if you have any advice on how to learn knife skills? I feel like mine are severely lacking, and thus it takes me way longer than it should to prep anything.
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Thank you. It actually turned out that I didn't have any coconut milk at home, but I improvised with some coconut oil and regular milk and it turns out really good. :)
Improvisation is the best part of cooking!
I was meaning to ask you if you have any advice on how to learn knife skills? I feel like mine are severely lacking, and thus it takes me way longer than it should to prep anything.
Yeah it's a pain when you need to prep a lot of things. I learned the hard way: I was a prep cook for about a year. I cut so many onions, I can't even feel them anymore.
I wish there was a quick shortcut I could give you but the sad truth is practice is the only way to learn.
- Just find a good video on basic knives skill to get the right position (believe me, that's essential because if you don't hold your knife right or if you don't have a proper grip, you'll hurt yourself)
- Make sure you have a good knife and that it's sharp (a good knife doesn't mean an expensive knife btw, you can get a good chef knife for 20 bucks)
- Get a dish towel or something like that under a good cutting board
- buy a kilo of cheap veggies like carrots or potatoes and practice, practice, practice.
Eventually you'll pick up the craddle movement and the claw and get much faster and much more agile. Just don't try to go too fast and try to be precise instead. Speed will come naturally once you can cut with precision.
Slicing and dicing is the way to go.
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My knives are in dire need of sharpening, and I seem to struggle with my left hand. I know I'm supposed to curl my fingers in, but it makes it hard to hold what I'm chopping together.
But now I'm starting to realize that chefs dice onions and mince shallots completely differently from how I've been doing it, leaving one end to hold the thing together, which eliminates the issue I've had with trying to hold a bunch of pieces in one bundle with my fingers turned in.
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My knives are in dire need of sharpening
That's never good because it puts a lot of strain on your wrist and it definitely will slow you down. If you can't do it yourself, there are places where you can get your blades sharpened. I'd still recommend a standard sharpener like this or this. Makes a big difference just to use it once a week depending on your usage and they're very easy to use.
Just as a side point, stay away from ceramic knives. They're advertised as not ever needing sharpening, which is untrue, and the blades chip very easily so you may get tiny blade bits in your food. Not good.
I know I'm supposed to curl my fingers in, but it makes it hard to hold what I'm chopping together.
That's because you're not using your left hand correctly. You shouldn't be holding what you're chopping. you're keeping it in place and guiding it it toward your blade as it moves. You shouldn't have to apply a lot of pressure. Minimum pressure should do.
But now I'm starting to realize that chefs dice onions and mince shallots completely differently from how I've been doing it, leaving one end to hold the thing together,
Ah now I see why you say "hold together". Yeah. The best way to cut an onion is to make a cut to make one side flat, then you make some perpendicular cuts just to "pre-dice" your onion (without going all the way), than just slice away. Leaving the root intact helps tremendously to keep it all together. If you have to struggle with your onion while you chop, you won't get much speed and you may get hurt.
That's also why I recommended using potatoes for practice. They're cheap, they don't make you cry and they can be used for slicing, dicing and julienne.
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I tried using a 1000 grit sharpening wet stone today. But then we went out for dinner, so I'm not sure if my sharpening worked out or not. I'll have to test it tomorrow, and see if I did a decent job of it or if I need to do it again.
Yeah, I think my technique was completely wrong, which is why I was having such a hard time of it. I now have a better idea of how you're supposed to dice onions and mince garlic and shallots, so I think I'll be able to do a better job of it next time.
One thing I'm still not sure of is how to thinly slice onions and tomatoes. Specifically, for making bagels I want to get thin onion slices parallel to the equator and thin tomato slices. I don't know if there's a special way to hold the items, or if my difficulty is due to really dull knives that haven't been sharpened in years.
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I tried using a 1000 grit sharpening wet stone today
That should help if you used the proper angle. You can test it right after you're done by slicing paper. That's how I check.
Yeah, I think my technique was completely wrong, which is why I was having such a hard time of it. I now have a better idea of how you're supposed to dice onions and mince garlic and shallots, so I think I'll be able to do a better job of it next time.
There is no substitute for studying how the big pros work. I won't get you to do it as they do it right away but at least you can see what you're doing wrong.
One thing I'm still not sure of is how to thinly slice onions and tomatoes. Specifically, for making bagels I want to get thin onion slices parallel to the equator and thin tomato slices
Yeah that's totally impossible to do with less than razor sharp knives, especially the tomatoes. In most restaurants, onion slices like that would be done on a sharp sharp mandolin. Sure, you always have guys with great knife skills on prep but that still takes a lot more time than the mandolin.
For tomatoes, just use a sharp knife and don't try to go too fast. In one of my first jobs in Toronto, I was working a fancy sandwich place and we had this upscale BLT with compressed tomato slices you could see through. The trick we used was partially freezing very ripe tomatoes so they'd be harder and then slicing away with a good sharp knife. Maybe you can try that.
I don't know if it'll work for your purpose because after that, we compressed the slices sous vide so the texture didn't suffer from the freezing but I don't know what it'd be like without the compression.
Worth a try though.
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I don't need paper sharp slices, I think a sharp knife is likely what I need.
I'm curious about this sous vide compression, can you explain what you you mean by that and how it is done? I've only ever used sous vide for protein (I do love it for protein).
I guess I should look up a video of a sharp knife slicing paper so that I know how that should look. :)
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I don't need paper sharp slices, I think a sharp knife is likely what I need.
Heh well you'll get both :P
I tried to find a good video but there are so many crap videos on youtube now, it's hard to find the good ones. Kinda like a needle in a haystack. Anyway this guy does pretty much what I do. I've had colleagues who just tested the blade on their hair of their arms to see if it was razor sharp but I think that's pretty stupid. The best that can happen is you look like a rabid dog that's been shaved in patches. The worst thing that can happen is you cut yourself and end up in a waiting room all night until you can get your stitches so nope.
I'm curious about this sous vide compression, can you explain what you you mean by that and how it is done? I've only ever used sous vide for protein (I do love it for protein).
It's not a very widely known technique but I've used it since then with great results. Basically you use the vacuum created by your sous vide machine to change the texture of fruits (and/or veggies) and/or to infuse them with flavors. What you do is simply concentrate the texture and flavor.
The technique is simple. You put a few slices (or small cubes but I find it works best with slices) of tomatoes (I've also done it with watermelon, apple, melon, kiwi, squash etc, watery fruit/veggies work beautifully) in a sous vide bag, then some flavoring into the bag then you use your machine to vacuum it and seal it. You let it marinate in the fridge for a few hours (or more if you made big cubes)
The idea is that putting the fruit under pressure with the vacuum causes the air and water in its tissue to expand and to break the cell membranes, collapsing the structure of the fruit on a cellular level, which results in a denser texture. The fruit also becomes translucent because of the change in structure.
Any flavoring liquid you add in the bag is going to replace some of the water/juice that was expelled from the fruit so it also helps infuse it with other flavors.
I've done tomatoes infused with a basil syrup, or balsamic vinegar. I've infused cucumber sticks with gin (actually I use my siphon for that because my sous vide machine at home is not powerful enough for anything bigger than a slice). I've done caramelized rum in pineapple slices for garnish. I've even done liquid smoke infused mushroom slices to top a burger.
You can find more about compression in Sous Vide Mag or at Chefsteps.
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Oh, so that's using a vacuum sealer, and not a sous vide circulator. I don't actually have a vacuum sealer - I've always just used the water displacement method with zip lock bags for sous vide. It's pretty cool, though.
I did some more sharpening today - I didn't realize just how dull the knives I was starting out with were, and all I had was a 1000 grit stone, so it took a while. I've got my main knife pretty sharp now, the others are at least better than what they were before. But now my hand and back are killing me, so I think I'm going to hold off on any more sharpening for a week. By then I'll have a 300 grit stone which will should make the initial edging much easier and faster, and I'll watch some more videos on sharpening techniques - I think there may be better ones than the one I was using that will be easier on my hand.
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Heh, damn I should have asked! Yeah "sous vide" is just a generic term now for the circulator but honestly the water displacement trick works for me too. I don't want to spend my dough on sous vide bags every time I want to cook fish.
If you have a siphon, you can do it too (and carbonate fruit!) but yeah you need a good one because the cheap ones are dangerous.
I did some more sharpening today - I didn't realize just how dull the knives I was starting out with were, and all I had was a 1000 grit stone, so it took a while.
Yup. 1000 is good for maintaining blades but you need a bigger grain when you almost start from scratch.
And that wasn't worth an injury :P
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A siphon? I don't have one, and don't even know what I would do with one.
I think I hurt my thumb just from holding the knife for so long. I don't know how long it took me to actually get a burr, but it was a while - I lost count after 40 strokes, and feel it may have taken closer to 100. I'll watch some more videos on how to hold the knife and what kind of stroke to use - I was using the western way, but I may switch to the Japanese way as I think it may be easier on my hand. Though with a 300 grit stone, hopefully I won't have to spend half an hour just to get a burr anymore. :)
But using the knife today, it's definitely way better. It's not 100%, and the tip and area closes to the bolster could use some more work, but it passed the paper test without issue and, more importantly, slicing thin tomato slices was easy.
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A siphon? I don't have one, and don't even know what I would do with one.
Loooots but yeah most people have them just for decorating cakes or whatever. It's not worth getting a good one if you don't have the use for it.
I was using the western way, but I may switch to the Japanese way as I think it may be easier on my hand.
The Japanese know what they're doing with knives, for sure. My best gift was a Japanese knife. You wouldn't believe how awesome, light and balanced that blade is.
But using the knife today, it's definitely way better. It's not 100%, and the tip and area closes to the bolster could use some more work, but it passed the paper test without issue and, more importantly, slicing thin tomato slices was easy.
Success! At least those hours were not wasted ;) but seriously this will definitely get you on your way to easier prep.
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Loooots but yeah most people have them just for decorating cakes or whatever. It's not worth getting a good one if you don't have the use for it.
I'm now even more confused as to what you're talking about. Do you have a picture of what this siphon looks like?
I've heard great things about Japanese knives, but I also know that we're lazy and there's no way we would wash and dry a knife after each use - more like rinse it off and leave it on the cutting board until we do dishes at the end of the day. I really want a new knife, but I would need something with a low maintenance steel - none of that carbon stuff. My main knife right now is a big and heavy western chef's knife - I use it primarily like one would a santoku knife, but it's the most comfortable knife I have (and now also the sharpest). I have a cheap santoku we got as a set years ago, but it doesn't feel nearly as comfortable to hold, and needs to be sharpened despite us never using it. I think a Japanese style chef's knife or a decent santoku may be much better for me than the knife I'm using now.
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Sorry we call them that because it's the French word and the cooking world is pedantic lol but there you go
but I also know that we're lazy and there's no way we would wash and dry a knife after each use - more like rinse it off and leave it on the cutting board until we do dishes at the end of the day
That's what most people do. Best thing to do is to wipe it with some alcohol and leave it to wash later. At least if you used it for meat or fish. Anything else, a quick paper towel wipe and then you can clean it whenever. Japanese blades are sensitive though, and quite expensive too.
I have a cheap santoku we got as a set years ago, but it doesn't feel nearly as comfortable to hold
Yeah those got really popular at some point because it allowed stores to sell sets and to add this "other" big knife that looked quite impressive so with two big ones, people felt they were getting more bang for their buck but they're not usually very well made or balanced. A good Santoku knife is really great, especially if you have smaller hands (which is probably not your case but I have a lot of female colleagues who prefer it or an hybrid over a traditional Chef's knife) but it needs a good balance and a well crafted blade or the loss of the rocking motion you can get with a Chef's is costing you a lot in time and effort when you slice.
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I have never heard of that tool before. I'll have to read up on that.
the loss of the rocking motion you can get with a Chef's is costing you a lot in time and effort when you slice
And that's why I think I may be well served with a Santoku - I rarely use the rocking motion with my chef's knife now, preferring a straight up and down slicing motion instead for most of the stuff I do. I've heard good things about the Tojiro DP Santoku and the Mercer Culinary Genesis Santoku knives. I wish there was a place I could go to actually hold them and try them out, since I think that how they feel in your hand is important. Amazon does offer free return shipping on Mercer knife... A Japanese chef's knife might also work, since I believe they're better suited to downward slices while maintaining some rocking ability.
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It's basically the same as a canister of ReddiWip except you can put anything you like in there and make it fluffy with N20 pressure, or fizzy with Co2. You can also use the vacuum the N20 creates to infuse solids with flavors, which is how I use it primarily.
And that's why I think I may be well served with a Santoku - I rarely use the rocking motion with my chef's knife now, preferring a straight up and down slicing motion instead for most of the stuff I do.
Then the Santoku definitely will feel better for you. I think trying a good one via Amazon is a great idea. Especially but not only for the pricey ones. And it needs less maintenance as the edge is already much sharper. I wouldn't recommend it for anything with a denser texture because you might bend the blade, but fish, veggies and meat, sure.
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Our family has dinner every Sunday night (some come from out of town) and we take turns cooking. I can't cook for squat but I do have a grilled cheese sandwich recipe and a pork sausage recipe I use on occasion. Last time I cooked for us I combined the two to make sort of makeshift patty melts. They went over pretty well.
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i can cook, i just choose to save time and eat basic stuff (less than 3 ingredients)
a normal day would be oatmeal / pasta with no sauce and grilled chicken breast / tuna and yogurt.
but i do have the luxury of visiting family every few days for a full meal <3
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Lasagna. That was many weeks ago though because I have no time whatsoever to cook nowadays
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Pasta carbonara
Ten minutes late for taking a photo (we just ate it). This was the recipe we followed: https://www.rema.no/oppskrifter/spaghetti-alla-carbonara/REC-59519/ (Rema is a local grocery chain in Norway, so the recipe might not be the most authentic one).
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Some spicy sausage jambalaya for dinner last night, and a couple fried eggs over hash browns for breakfast this morning.
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I must ask. What is food cream? (Google was not helpful.)
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It's called "cooking cream" here. I guess as opposite to sour cream.
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Thanks. Don't think we have anything like that, but I bet it's good to use to avoid sauces from curdling like fresh cream is prone to do.
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We cook everything fresh every day, without any finished products. furthermore, we only buy organic products.
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I admit, even though I'm a grown up woman, I can't cook. I suppose I'd be able to boil potatoes or prepare spaghetti if my life depended on it, but other than that... I eat what others cook for me :D
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Fried potatoes with tomatoes, dill and sour cream. Extremely easy to make, yet tasty. What can I say, I don't really cook; that probably comes from living with my mother who's a goddess in the kitchen.
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spaghetti tonno aglio peperoncino fo' when you're very much alone:
- spaghetti (used "squared", but anything goes)
- one little tuna can
- powdered garlic
- powdered pepper
- EVO oil
cook pasta very "al dente", drain it keeping a little of that water (to make it "creamy", in case you need)
pour into tuna, garlic and pepper, add olive oil, mix gently. (add some water if you want it more creamy) fast finish cooking it for 1-2 minutes.
you can also add some fresh persil (or dried oregano as i've done)
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I've made a Coq au vin, that's delicious and easy to cook.
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Spaghetti with minced pork meat and peas and tomato sauce.
Beef fried with vegetables on a pan and than cooked in tomato sauce.
Hummus with spicy peppers and spices and much much garlic.
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What's the latest meal you've prepared from scratch?
(using spice mixes, sauces and similar additions is okay; using frozen pre-made foods doesn't count).
For me, it was yesterdays lunch, it was pork with vegetables and rice in some garlic sauce. It was nice.
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