Please give me cooking topics to write about?

[minoanmiss]

As is obvious (ahahah) I've been writing a lot about US politics lately. I want to leaven that. So may I have sixteen cooking topics to write about across the next month or so? A recipe, method, ingredient, cuisine, substitution, whatever.

Comments

[julian]

Do you like cooking with other people, or are you solo only?

[minoanmiss]

Answwered!

https://minoanmiss.dreamwidth.org/1541519.html?

[lunabee34]

What's your favorite soup to cook?

[minoanmiss]

This is a really interesting question.

https://minoanmiss.dreamwidth.org/1543421.html

[anna_wing]

Cherries.

[minoanmiss]

Cherry Sugar Plums!

https://minoanmiss.dreamwidth.org/1546240.html

[totient]

Rice!

[minoanmiss]

I got a little fierce on the subject

https://minoanmiss.dreamwidth.org/1547775.html

[cmcmck]

Aubergines!

[minoanmiss]

I really should eat them more often. They're delicious and nutritious. Why don't I cook with them more often? Hmh.

[dine]

opinions on braising?

Braising!

[minoanmiss]

https://minoanmiss.dreamwidth.org/1549260.html

[dissectionist]

My current conundrum is that I have very energy left over after getting my work done and spending 30-60 mins in the kitchen dinner just can’t happen. Any recommendations for dinners that don’t require a lot of fancy ingredients and can be thrown together in 15 mins or less of actual work (it’s okay if there’s baking or roasting or whatever time after that)? (Bonus if Tex-Mex or pasta-based because then my kids will actually eat it.)

[minoanmiss]

augh the first version of this got eaten

anyway. I'm going to write a lot about casseroles and other hands off cooking, but I wanted to say two things now

1) flat enchiladas are a lot easier than rolled ones and just as tasty

2) my simplest casserole:

1 24 oz jar pasta sauce 1 24 oz package of frozen tortellini or small ravioli 8 oz cheese, cubed, any kind you like up to 8 oz vegetables, cut into bite size pieces (optional) up to 8 oz meat or sausage ow whatnot cut into bite ssize pieces (optional)

Put all ingredients into a large bow. Rinse pasta sauce jar with 1/2 cup water and add rinsing to bowl. Stir well to coat pasta. Pour into a greased 8x8 or 9x9 pan. Scrapee as much sauce out of the bowl on top of the pasta mix. Cover with a sheet of parchment or greased foil and bake at 400 degrees for 1 hour (you can put the pasta in a cold oven and turn it to 400). Let cool 15 minutes before serving.

Yes, you don't have to cook the pasta beforehand at all -- it cooks in the sauce. And baking instead of stovetop cooking makes it hands-off, no stirrring needed.

[teenybuffalo]

Please talk more about your favorite salads! I like the look of your take on Waldorf salad and would like to try making it sometime.

[minoanmiss]

https://minoanmiss.dreamwidth.org/1552114.html

I didn't write all that much, being at work. Feel free to ask more!

[goss]

Do you know how to make any Jamaican snacks, like savoury finger foods or sweet childhood treats?

Also, I'm curious to know which are your favourites? :)

I'm looking to make some snacks over my vacation, rather than buy. Right now, I'm eyeing this recipe for Guyanese cheese straws (Youtube), which looks soooo goood. ^__^

[minoanmiss]

This article reminded me to answer this question!

https://minoanmiss.dreamwidth.org/1552371.html

Did you make the cheese straws?

[acelightning73]

I don't know very much about Jamaican (and other Caribbean) cuisine. How about some of the basics - commonly used ingredients, cooking techniques I'm not familiar with. How would a Jamaican prepare and cook a large bird like a capon or turkey, or even a duck or a goose? What are some favorite Jamaican dishes (we Yankees have only heard of jerk meat, poultry, or fish).

One island-type food I have tried and enjoy a lot is fried green plantains - I like them better than french fried potatoes. Some Chinese takeout places in the city whose customers include African-American neighborhoods, sell fried chicken, and sometimes you can get it with fries or with platanos. I used to eat them as my starch when I ordered a spicy dish. They're rather complicated to make at home, though.

[minoanmiss]

https://minoanmiss.dreamwidth.org/1563504.html

Fried green plantains, sometimes called "tostones", are a Spanish Caribbean speciality. As a Jamaican I feel slightly disloyal to eat them. grin

[musesfool]

any recommendations on vegan baking, e.g., preferred butter substitutes?

[minoanmiss]

Alas my few attempts at vegan baking were disastrous and research was unhelpful. I remember reading an essay about why it was Morally Wrong to make a cake using coconut cream and Earth Balance margarine that would vaguely resemble non-vegan baked goods, because that would show children that it was okay to break the rules in times of celebration. I think I gave up there.

[petra]

When I think of you, I think of quince and Buddha's hand citrons. Either or both would be fun.

[minoanmiss]

Bwee, did you see this post?

https://minoanmiss.dreamwidth.org/1562273.html

HUGE TENTACLE LEMONS

[redbird]

Something to do with chocolate and lemon

[minoanmiss]

Ahahaha I think I may have to write about chocolate and about lemon. I haven't come up with anything with them together except dipped peel.

[elrhiarhodan]

Your favorite food to eat and why - nostalgia, easy to cook, comforting in ways other than nostalgia, transgressive.

Or

A food you hate to eat and why.

[minoanmiss]

Three answers for two excellent questions:
https://minoanmiss.dreamwidth.org/1583339.html

[princessofgeeks]

*raises hand*

I occasionally run across Asian recipes that call for miso paste, but I have only been able to find it in stores in huge quantities (by my standards). What would be a substitution for it?

[full_metal_ox]

To begin with, what do you define as a huge quantity? In my current shopping beat, the one available variety (Miso Master Mellow White) comes in 8-ounce cartons; would small squeeze bottles work better for you?

A lot depends on how you’re using the miso, and what kind—is the consistency important, as in stuffed lotus root or barbecue sauce? What ratio of salt to sweetness to umami do you need? Simple soups with a couple spare solids tend to center the miso itself.

I found this on thestonesoup.com:

https://archive.ph/o3K27

My suggestion will not surprise you

[ororo]

Tinned fish! It's become trendy over the last few years what with the Tinned Fish Date Night TikTok and the proliferation of the Fishwife Brand. I think there's a lot to unpack about it.

While there is a buttload of fashionable high-end seafood in tins out there, I know a lot of people grew up with meals of sardines on toast as something cheap and protein-filled. (yet another example of the class-privileged hijacking food commonly eaten by poorer people) You know that I got into it when I ran out of unemployment and wanted cheap protein.

I remain convinced that nobody's first experience with anchovies should be on cheap pizza and you can quote me on that if you wish.

[full_metal_ox]

Here’s one for you: Rhythm Superfoods’ vegetable snacks were a luxury travel, and then quarantine, comfort snack of mine for some years. The best of all was their Sea Salt Mushroom Crisps, which were not only the Ecstasy of Salt and Umami but somehow managed to possess a potato-chip-like mouthfeel and starchiness—-at a minimal carb count; moreover, a package fulfilled the USD Vitamin D requirement.



(The ingredient list: mushrooms, high oleic sunflower and/or safflower oil, maltodextrin, sea salt.)

Suffice to say that the company folded. How might one go about approximating these?

[minoanmiss]

I would start with freeze dried mushroom slices tossed in soy sauce and other seasonings as desired, with a little neutral oil added, then baked at 250F until dry again. Freeze dried mushrooms are spongy and crisp, ready to soak up liquid seasonings, and a little oil should help achieve the potato-chip mouthfeel and also adhere a nice sprinkle of sea salt.

[full_metal_ox]

Thank you for the tip on recreating the mushroom crisps; I’ll have to give that a try once I have a baking sheet. (I would’ve replied on the thread had it not been frozen.)

[minoanmiss]

Whups I froze it by accident. let me fix that.

[sovay]

Anything to do with goat.

[hitchhiker]

the joys of goat meat (:

[lb_lee]

Mori: PIGEON

[cellio]

Here's another vote for Jamaican favorites (and techniques/ingredients/etc thereof).

I would enjoy reading anything you care to write about the making of fruitcake.

[minoanmiss]

I wrote a bit of a rant about a fruitcake recipe I didn't like, ahahhaha https://minoanmiss.dreamwidth.org/1538364.html

[lokifan]

If you've tried Jamaican food in the UK (or anywhere else), did you notice any differences? I'm always interested in how cuisines change across a diaspora.

Any favourite Indian dishes? (I just made daal, haha.)

Ginger ginger ginger

[jesse_the_k]

I have to eliminate onions and garlic from my cooking (a true hardship) and I find myself leaning heavily on ginger. I'd love any wisdom you have to share.

Re: Ginger ginger ginger

[minoanmiss]

GINGER IS AWESOME

1) ask Acelightning97 for tips. She doesn't cook with alliums. 2) buy freeze dried ginger from Penzeys'. I love freezed dried ginger -- the fresh fflavor in a shelf stable form -- and Penzeys' is the best quality I've found -- litttle cubes that melt rather than jagged splintery pieces. 3) browning is flavor. Whenever you can, sear ingredients. Not just meat -- vegetables sear too.

I'll add more as I think of them!

[med_cat]

If you're taking more topics--

What's your favorite cookie to bake? :D

[minoanmiss]

Of course I'm taking more topics! But you may get more than you asked for with this one :D