The Food and Drink Thread

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I have a nice stone one that I use rather a lot. :thumbsup: Worth the price of admission.
I have a stone one as well. I am a little skeptical of wood ones as they seem more decorative and lack the weight to effectively grind spices, tough fibrous material, dried seed pods, etc
 
I have a stone one as well. I am a little skeptical of wood ones as they seem more decorative and lack the weight to effectively grind spices, tough fibrous material, dried seed pods, etc
Yeah, I hear ya. The stone one I have is hefty AF so I don't worry much about cracking or damaging it.
 
I have a stone one as well. I am a little skeptical of wood ones as they seem more decorative and lack the weight to effectively grind spices, tough fibrous material, dried seed pods, etc
It's a good point. This mortar was my mom's, and it was used for mashing softer ingredients like garlic, sweet peppers with a little salt and oil to make rubs for roasts. I use a food processor instead nowadays.
 
It's a good point. This mortar was my mom's, and it was used for mashing softer ingredients like garlic, sweet peppers with a little salt and oil to make rubs for roasts. I use a food processor instead nowadays.
There are reasons to use a mortar and pestle instead. FPs don't necessarily grind things down as far, or as completely, and this can mean less taste and aroma, especially if you're making spice mixes for something like curry. It's not a huge deal, but it does make a difference in some cases. On the aesthetic side I quite like the tactile feel of a mortar and pestle, but that very much a YMMV sort of deal.
 
There are reasons to use a mortar and pestle instead. FPs don't necessarily grind things down as far, or as completely, and this can mean less taste and aroma, especially if you're making spice mixes for something like curry. It's not a huge deal, but it does make a difference in some cases. On the aesthetic side I quite like the tactile feel of a mortar and pestle, but that very much a YMMV sort of deal.

We got a vitamix blender and found it was the best way to prepare bumbu (spices, whizzed up chillies etc.) for rendang and suchlike. The resulting mix came out really smooth. A mortar and pestle is quite good for grinding small amounts of stuff, though. The ones they use in Indonesia look like this.

indo300-jpg.jpg
 
First attempt at homemade butter chicken was mediocre, but not terrible: if Chef Boy-ar-Dee sold it for two dollars a can, I wouldn't be disappointed. Too bland, too sweet, and still too much of something else, but I suspect my second attempt-- when I have more energy-- will be much better.
 
First attempt at homemade butter chicken was mediocre, but not terrible: if Chef Boy-ar-Dee sold it for two dollars a can, I wouldn't be disappointed. Too bland, too sweet, and still too much of something else, but I suspect my second attempt-- when I have more energy-- will be much better.
What was the recipe and process? I might be able to give you some ideas about how to improve the results.
 
What was the recipe and process? I might be able to give you some ideas about how to improve the results.
That's tricky. I eyeballed three or four recipes on Yummly, then included a commercial sauce that Wal-Mart sold me instead of the spice mix I requested, and then ran out of gas before I could adjust the seasoning.

Part of "getting it right next time" is going to be making sure I have the stamina to finish the job before I start it.
 
That's tricky. I eyeballed three or four recipes on Yummly, then included a commercial sauce that Wal-Mart sold me instead of the spice mix I requested, and then ran out of gas before I could adjust the seasoning.

Part of "getting it right next time" is going to be making sure I have the stamina to finish the job before I start it.
There are a lot of bought curry sauces that I find enormously underwhelming. There are some gems too, but I haven't found those to be the rule.
 
Like Yan.


I thought that said Human Beef with Broccoli.

I went back home for a day last week and we were talking about the food we had when I was a kid. Apart from minced beef, which is still my favourite meal, I used to love Baked Taters. In the nearby town they called in Hock and Dough, or 'Ock and Do'. Potatoes, skinned and sliced, boiled for 10 minutes, then put into a baking tray with meat, onions, and enough gravy to cover them, then put into the oven, on a low heat, to simmer away. Lovely.
 
Fried rice continues to mystify me. The results are universally delicious, but not even remotely like what I'm trying to make.
What ingredients and method are you using (and what outcome are you looking for I suppose)? I'm an aficionado myself and I may have suggestions.
 
I stick to low prep, easy meals that are reasonably healthy. Turkey taco salads fit the bill except for high sodium (due to the seasoning and canned vegetables). Like most salads, I find higher quality ingredients can improve taste but even the cheap stuff works well enough. For example I prefer to make my own taco seasoning from the spice rack but the dollar packets at the grocery store get the job done too. We usually have it for dinner and then refrigerate for lunch the following day.

Turkey Taco Salad

1 lb 93% ground lean turkey meat
can of corn, drained
can of black beans, drained
can of black olives, drained
one large head Romaine lettuce, cleaned and chopped
taco seasoning
  1. Add cleaned and chopped romaine lettuce to large salad bowl.
  2. Add drained canned black beans, corn, and olives to large salad bowl.
  3. Cook the ground turkey and add the taco seasoning.
  4. Add the cooked seasoned ground turkey to large salad bowl.
  5. Toss and serve.
 
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What ingredients and method are you using (and what outcome are you looking for I suppose)? I'm an aficionado myself and I may have suggestions.

I'm steaming long-grain white rice in water and butter, chilling it for a few hours, and then putting a little oil in the bottom of my wok and frying it. I've already learned not to put the other ingredients in the rice until the rice is done frying... but I just can not get the rice dry enough before or during the frying process so I end up with a weird risotto instead of a proper fried rice.

Other ingredients will vary by my mood, but you can almost always count on egg, shrimp, hot sauce, tomato paste, and pineapple. I know, I know, the that everything but the egg has to go in last.
 
When you chill it do you spread it out on a pan? That helps excess moisture evaporate. You could also try dialing back the steaming time a little. On a related note, do you scramble the egg seperately or mix it into the rice raw and then cook it?
 
When you chill it do you spread it out on a pan? That helps excess moisture evaporate. You could also try dialing back the steaming time a little. On a related note, do you scramble the egg seperately or mix it into the rice raw and then cook it?

When I watch Indonesian street food vendors make nasi goreng (fried rice) they tend to make an omelette of the egg first and then add the rice. In Indonesia, as with most of Asia, the rice would be done in a rice cooker. You can make drier rice in one of those by just putting less water in. The cooker will cook it automatically and stop when the water is all absorbed as the rice will then rise above 100 deg C - the switch works by having a magnet made from an alloy with a curie point of 100 deg.

Once they've cooked the omelette they chop it up and add the rice and other ingredients. I think with fried rice you also need to use less glutinous rice (i.e. avoid Jasmine or sticky rice).

Unfortunately fried rice gives me terrible reflux so I have to be a bit circumspect with eating it.
 
Cooking the egg separately is the right way to go, yeah. I've used steamed rice to make fried many times, so it's not the cooking process, but it could be the cooking time - overcooked rice won't make nice fired rice regardless (and here I mean overcooked for this use). I can also speak from personal experience that Jasmine makes wonderful fired rice (thank-you Pinoy colleagues). That said, rinsing the rice before cooking might be a factor as well as that tends to make things less 'sticky' (I wouldn't use sticky rice regardless, mind).

The ideal chill time is more like over-night as well, although that matters less with small batches of rice. The time takes away the heat, but it also allows for evaporation of excess water. I usually cover mine with a damp cloth and then plastic wrap so that the excess water doesn't drip back into the rice.
 
Washing the rice before you cook it to remove loose starch is essential to getting rice that doesn't stick. Do it thoroughly. Then do it again, thoroughly. Then do it again. The girlfriend who taught me Indian cooking insisted that the rice be washed three times, and would often send me back to wash the rice again because I hadn't taken long enough.

Then for fried rice, spread it out after cooking in a baking pan, no more than 30mm deep to let the steam rise out of it so that it can dry. Or put in in a colander to dry. Some people say that fried rice is best made with rice left over from last night that has had plenty of time to dry. If you are going to put it in the fridge cover it with a clean tea towel or paper towels to absorb the vapour so that it doesn't condense and fall back into the rice.
In Indonesia, as with most of Asia, the rice would be done in a rice cooker. You can make drier rice in one of those by just putting less water in. The cooker will cook it automatically and stop when the water is all absorbed as the rice will then rise above 100 deg C - the switch works by having a magnet made from an alloy with a curie point of 100 deg.
Interesting. That must mean that they don't work at high altitude because of the low air pressure: water boils at 95 C at 1500 m.

I thought they worked like electric kettles, which have a tube to pass steam over a thermocouple once steam starts to be produced in volume.
 
Interesting. That must mean that they don't work at high altitude because of the low air pressure: water boils at 95 C at 1500 m.

I think it would likely still work. Once the rice has absorbed the water the temperature can rise above 100C, I guess because the absorption has some effect that changes the boiling point, maybe something dissolved in the water at that point. I don't think it matters if the water boils at a lower temperature.
 
I'm supposed to be on vacation this coming week. I may cancel & just work, but if I do take the vacation, I think I'll cook up some large batches of yummy stuff that I can portion out and freeze.
 
Washing the rice before you cook it to remove loose starch is essential to getting rice that doesn't stick. Do it thoroughly. Then do it again, thoroughly. Then do it again. The girlfriend who taught me Indian cooking insisted that the rice be washed three times, and would often send me back to wash the rice again because I hadn't taken long enough.

Agreed. I use a rice cooker, and I have since I met a person from Hong Kong when at university. We wash the rice three or four times, until it runs clear, pop the required amount of water in, turn the rice cooker on and wait for 40 minutes. Perfect rice every time.
 
I found something in the supermarket something I haven't seen in years, mostly green plantains. Tomorrow I'm going to see if I can still make a good batch of tostones. Pics only if it isn't a disaster. :hehe:
 
So I've prepped everything that can be prepped in advance for tomorrow's dinner party-- butter chicken and saag. I've finally the former down pat and the latter.... well, we'll see. I've got a number of other creamed spinach recipes in my repertoire, so I think I've got the gist of it, but... we'll see.

If this were that other thread, I'd be talking about how many people I'm going to expose to Koi... Mil Gaya for the first time.
 
So, an expat-in-NZ channel popped up on my YT recommendations for some reason, talking about strange NZ foods. Wondering what somebody could possibly find to write about New Zealand cuisine, I watched a bit of the video and . . . mince on toast.

Now, this is a sort of staple convenience food I suppose, and I've had it enough in the past. However, it did trigger a hankering, as I haven't had it in something like 20 years. So I made mince on toast for lunch today.

Apparently the Poms consider this to be exotic, so if you haven't experienced Kiwi comfort food, here's a recipe. This is enough for about two servings so scale as appropriate. It should take about 15-20 minutes to prepare.
  • Beef mince - 500g
  • Frozen mixed vegetables - 1 cup
  • 3-4 medium sized mushrooms, chopped finely.
  • Half an onion, chopped finely
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • Two slices of toasted bread
  • Seasoning - salt, pepper, soy sauce, a bit of cumin, or whatever takes your fancy. You can also add a bit of tomato sauce. Wattie's is preferred of course, although for those living in heathen lands, Heinz can be substituted.
Procedure
  1. Heat a frying pan to a medium-high heat. Sautee the onions with a little bit of oil until they start to go translucent.
  2. Add the mince and garlic, stir until it starts to brown
  3. Add the rest of the ingredients. Cook until the liquid that comes off the mince has reduced.
  4. Toast two slices of bread and butter the toast. Put the toast onto the plates and cover with the mince.
 
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So, an expat-in-NZ channel popped up on my YT recommendations for some reason, talking about strange NZ foods. Wondering what somebody could possibly find to write about New Zealand cuisine, I watched a bit of the video and . . . mince on toast.

Now, this is a sort of staple convenience food I suppose, and I've had it enough in the past. However, it did trigger a hankering, as I haven't had it in something like 20 years. So I made mince on toast for lunch today.

Apparently the Poms consider this to be exotic, so if you haven't experienced Kiwi comfort food, here's the recipe. This is enough for about two servings so scale as appropriate. It should take about 15-20 minutes to prepare.
  • Beef mince - 500g
  • Frozen mixed vegetables - 1 cup
  • 3-4 medium sized mushrooms, chopped finely.
  • Half an onion, chopped finely
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • Two slices of toasted bread
  • Seasoning - salt, pepper, soy sauce, a bit of cumin, or whatever takes your fancy. You can also add a bit of tomato sauce. Wattie's is preferred of course, although for those living in heathen lands, Heinz can be substituted.
Procedure
  1. Heat a frying pan to a medium-high heat. Sautee the onions with a little bit of oil until they start to go translucent.
  2. Add the mince and garlic, stir until it starts to brown
  3. Add the rest of the ingredients. Cook until the liquid that comes off the mince has reduced.
  4. Toast two slices of bread and butter the toast. Put the toast onto the plates and cover with the mince.
My mum used to skip the mushrooms and stir in a couple tablespoons of flour. It gave the mince a coating, which made it easier to manage while serving up.
 
So, I have been dutifully tasting my work-in-progress to ensure that it'll be fit to serve to my guests-- fine line between quality assurance and embezzlement-- and my butter chicken is pretty good, and I'm proud to serve it to my friends and loved ones, but once again I find that my impulsive errors and hasty overcorrections have produced a much finer creamed spinach than I'd even intended... and much more reproducibly than my last happy catastrophe.

If you don't have paneer, turns out that cottage cheese and Italian cheese blend will do just nicely.
 
Still can't fry a steak worth a damn, but the beans and tostones were terrific.
View attachment 42642
Mmm, tostones…

Steak: cast-iron pan, hot like hell, steak as close as possible to room temperature and seasoned at least one hour in advance (or else season during frying). At least a minute each side, or as long as it takes to give it a nice crust. Thin filets may necessitate removal even before that, while thicker steaks might even benefit from being finished in the oven. Basting with butter is bullshit and I’ll fight anyone who says otherwise.
 
Some tips for pan frying steak:
  1. make sue the meat is at room temperature - rest for an hour before cooking ideally
  2. Cooking is done on high, preferably in a cast-iron pan - heat the pan for 5-10 minutes until is starts to smoke a little
  3. Then add the oil
  4. initial sear takes about a minute a side, total cook time will be 5 or 6 minutes
  5. add butter and herbs for basting mid-cook if you like (careful here, butter has a low smoke point)
  6. Let the steak rest for 5 minutes before cutting into it
 
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Dinner for this evening: Mushroom and walnut stuffed roast chicken breast with a white wine and tarragon cream sauce served atop a bed of steamed rice and with a side of garlic-roasted broccoli.

There are some perks to working from home. :thumbsup:
 
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Dinner for this evening: Mushroom and walnut stuffed roast chicken breast with a white wine and tarragon cream sauce served atop a bed of steamed rice and with a side of garlic-roasted broccoli.

There are some perks to working from home. :thumbsup:

Beats my stir fried beef and broccoli, which came out OK but nothing special.
 
Beats my stir fried beef and broccoli, which came out OK but nothing special.
Well, we were going to have a date night dinner, but reservations weren't going to happen, so I'll cook date dinner at home.
 
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