Microplane graters are amazing for garlic.
(And ginger and wasabi, zesting citrus…)(onions, too. If your a masochist.)
(also in most stores, fresh whole cloves cost less and are better quality - and much more potent- than other options.)
The simplest is to just lower the heat. Set the steak in there and let it get its crust by letting it… sit there.
Don’t keep flipping it. A good sear comes from good, even heating and the time+temperature. Lower the temperature and increase the time.
The caveat to that is it may come out slightly more well done. Especially particularly thin cuts. To solve that, instead start with canola and add butter after the sear. (Sear one side, reduce temp, add butter and cook the other side without flipping.)
Any kind of custard or pastry cream. (Excuse me… crème patisserie)
You can mix with sweetened whip cream for a cake topping, too.
I bet it was better than when it was first canned.
In the same way that roasted beef is better a day or two later, canned goods develop in ways you can’t get any other way.
depending on how fine you took it in the food processsor, the only difference is the crying.
what ‘unlocks the sweetness’ in onions is being cut or otherwise mashed very finely so it more or less melts into the food. (the finer it is, the more ‘melty’ it gets.) it’s similar to garlic and other aromatics in that respect; and it doesn’t really quite matter how you get there.
I would not suggest huffing the bowl when you’re done, though. Unless… you know. I won’t judge.
i know it doesn’t. that is an important thing to remember. the 15 psi is needed for very-long-term storage.
The best jams and pickles I have ever had have been out of someone’s garden.
yup. I have fond memories spending my summers with grandma and grandpa. she always maintained a garden… blackberries, strawberries, musk melons. Tomatoes (3 different kind, including cherry tomatoes for snacking- important lesson that,) green beans
When I say I pressure can in the electric… for the record there’s exactly one mason jar in there… It’s definitely not got the through-put of grandmas; but there’s something about the canning and storing for a month that just makes the sauce that much more.
Also, pressure cooker risotto might be cheating, but if you can nail it, it’s an easy risotto. (though I kinda like doing it the old way. it might take longer, but I enjoy the process.)
Historically, pressure cookers were used for canning things to be preserved, and it works better for that.
Unfortunately, grandma’s pressure cook can’t even get used on my induction stove top- it’s just too heavy, too bulky and since i force my veggies in a greenhouse, I don’t really need to preserve them. (Trying to explain aeroponics to grandma was fun! Even more fun was bringing harvest-fresh tomatoes and green beans on the tag end of winter/early spring.)
There was a gap in generations that stored things like that, and as large and bulky as the stovetops usually are… they really weren’t worth the storage space.
That said I do use a smaller electric counter top pressure cooker (ninja?) and where it’s useful, it’s definitely useful. Stay away from the ones that do more (parents got one that did air frying and it was awful. Tried to do too much and none of it well.)
I use it to brown protein and then braise (pulled pork, carnitas, roast chicken, shredded/bbq beef, etc) as well as for canning tomatoes or beans as gifts. (Seriously… red sauce from canned tomatoes? Nothing better.)
The Abuela next door and I have a very lovely relationship…. I give her fresh tomatoes and she gives me some salsa. (We split the batches 50/50, and yes. That salsa is amazing.)
It may not stick, but it’s a texture and flavor issue, (which is probably the weird texture cropping up for OP,)
If you want eggs without added fat, i recommend poaching.
That’s an example of an overpriced Japanese knife, yes.
That doesn’t mean all knives more than $20 bucks are overpriced, however. I would also contend that the modifications you made; make it no longer a MAC.
Bread flour contains a lot of gluten. There’s also specialty flour for making pasta, usually “00” flour. Surprisingly, it has less gluten than bread flour.
american flours are graded by their gluten content. Bread, being higher gluten than AP, which is higher than pastry or cake. Italian (eurpean?) flours are graded by fineness, and 00 is a finer powder than what you’d see in typical american flours. I would suggest using AP over Bread- the gluten will make it somewhat difficult to roll out since it’ll stretch out and spring back.
Unless OP is talking about asian noddles, particularly hand pulled noodles…
I had a pair of $40 knives from ikea that lasted years (more than a decade, maybe close to two). They were moly steel so they didn’t loose edge quickly, and had decent balance.
I eventually upgraded to Whustoff ikon classics (the POM handle,) for the 3 knives I use (8” chef, boning, pairing.)
The reality is you can sharpen a shitty Walmart butter knife to a razor’s edge very easily. Being sharp doesn’t make a good knife- it’s the steel quality that affects edge retention; as well as the balance and the grip’s contour/shape; the stiffness and thickness of the blade, etc.
Imo, the cheapo ikea knives performed just fine. For their value… they’re quite probably better than whustoffs, no question. They’re both made with reasonable quality steel, both full tang, with similar contours in the blade profile and handle, etc.
But if you consider side by side, the whustoffs do perform much better. It’s not any one thing- the balance is better, the blades are thinner, stiffer where they they’re supposed to be, etc.
There are a lot of small things that add up to that. The distal taper, the taper from spine to edge (in the ikeas they’re flat in both directions,); the steel is better and holds edges longer while being more easily, less strain on my hand;
Ultimately, you don’t need whustoffs or anything expensive- and a lot of your expensive knives are shit knives with marketing (especially “japanese” knives of dubious provenance).
But if you can afford them, they are better. Especially if you cook a lot. If they’re “better enough” to justify their cost is a personal decision. My mom uses Costco steak knives for everything. (And in part because they can’t keep knives sharp so don’t see the point. They float around the sink… get stuffed in the dishwasher, etc,)
for topping, I suggest leaving it a little more liquidy, but you can also heat it up a bit.
also goes great on top of pancakes and waffles if you’re not a fan of straight liquid sugar.
hmmm.
that sounds delicious. gonna have to give a go the next time I have too many grapes. Usually I go with blackberry jam boil the black berries until they’re easily mashed, mash through a fine strainer to get rid of the seeds, then add sugar, a little lemon zest, some cinnamon. some conrstarch. add some water to help things mix, and reduce to the right consistency.
It, ah, also makes an awesome topping for vanilla ice cream, if you add some whole berries back in while it’s reducing.
You can puree them and make jam. Or juice them and make jelly.
Iirc, that’s the old school canning method for preservation
Edit: here is a good set of instructions for jelly. The difference between jam and jelly is that jam uses whole fruit that’s been puréed.
(At least, that’s the distinction in the US. I’m aware euro, jelly=jello in some places… jello sets harder…)
I would suggest straining it for jelly instead. You tend to get a better texture that way, and you can usually find a canning section in most grocery stores with mason jars, rings and lids. Everything gets sterilized in a pressure cooker (or boiled) to help it last. If you don’t want to use the ring-leads, the parrafin wax that’s also right there can be used- melt in a double boiler and pour a 1/2 on top.
(or… if you don’t use gas, just a pan, is fine. To quote my grandma, “It is wax. You can make candles out it. Or a house fire.” She taught me most of what I know about canning)
I use soy sauce as a sort of liquid seasoning. It adds a good amount of salt, when I need it in a marinade. though, mostly, I’ve moved to fish sauce, instead. Fish sauce (and thai food in general) has a lot of similar flavors to mexican food in general, to the point that the Abuela next door uses fish sauce in her cooking… for just about everything.
(She’s a wonderful woman. And I’m not just saying that because she just came over and dropped off about three dozen tammales, or because we have a deal where I give her freshly-grown tomatoes and I get back some salsas and pico.) (though it doesn’t really hurt.)
Depending on the variety you’re growing they can be extremely sweet. Like candy. This is because heirloom varieties in particular, when frozen, will convert their starches to sugars in an attempt to survive.
Most carrots sold to supermarkets or grocers are not able to do this, and they’re less sweet (but still fairly sweet, for a vegetable.).
part of the science of why we’re so keyed for sweet things… is because sweet meant it was ‘in season’.
In addition to what Jet said (agar, xanthan gum, gelatin,); you can add starches like corn starch or potato starch. a little goes a long way.
another thing is, for sauces, you can just cook off most the liquid and call it good. Especially for pan sauces made by deglazing fond- drain off excessive oil/grease and then add in some sort of liquid- vinegar, lime juice, straight water. scrap the pan and whisk until the fond is smooth.
Edit to add: you can also mix and match, to get the texture you want. Like with pie thickeners, it’s usually a mix of sugar, corn starch and some gelatin; to give it the perfect texture
So. I tend to not use store bought sauces, can’t give advice on that.
But, if you haven’t considered it, you can reduce your overall work load by making sauces in bulk, and then freezing them. I got myself some giant icecube-molds to freeze into 1/2 cup blocks, and then transfer them to sealed vacuum bags.
Simply thaw and reheat for use. This also works quite well for stocks, or anything that takes hours of simmering.
I’ve found This KAF recipe to always work.
You can leave the caramel and nuts off, and I prefer to add ~1-2 extra tablespoons of cinnamon to the filling. And some extra butter+sugar to make it extra cinnamony when I do.
(For the record… I’m not paid or anything, but KAF is a flour maker, and they have a lot of wonderful recipes. And if something fails or you have a question… they’ve a hotline with their test bakers…for free.)
Edit: I usually top with an American buttercream- vanilla with just a drop of almond extract.(softened butter, 1 stick, add powdered sugar and milk until it’s light and fluffy whipped at high speed. More sugar makes it more airy, more milk and butter denser)(it’s a very flexible frosting. Chocolate, coffee. You name it. Also if you need a crisp white or brilliant colors; use crisco- but it tastes gross in comparison….)