The FOOD (& Drink) Thread

Xprimentyl

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I should have taken a picture, made my Thanksgiving shepard's pie last weekend. Uncooked sage bread stuffing lining the bottom of an oiled pan. Layer of fresh peas, green beans, corn, and carrots. Latticed with marinated turkey breast strips and topped with a layer of mashed potatoes. Bake until potatoes go golden brown on top. Rest for 5-10 minutes. Slice and serve... awesome.
Sounds amazing. Similarly, we made "Thanksgiving in a Crockpot" a few weeks ago. It's basically every staple from a traditional Thanksgiving dinner: turkey (though we opted for chicken,) mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing, gravy, and some other stuff I can't recall, all layered in a crockpot making for effectively a hearty Thanksgiving stew. I was skeptical, but it turned out REALLY good, and it was easy to make. We'll do it again, for sure. I wouldn't mind it replacing our actual Thanksgiving meal from now on, but trying to sell our relatives on such heresy would be a tall order.
 

XsjadoBlaydette

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promise it isn't just another weird human heart experiment this time, but first time attempt at slow-cooked mutton shoulder stuffed with garlic n rosemary! (sourced locally through actual vegans' am acquainted with who know ppl, if you can believe it lol - wouldn't be able to get it by myself, nor on demand)
IMG20240127223613.jpg

though has gone through multiple, less photogenic stages since
 
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Kyrian007

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First time I've cooked something from scratch in a long time: Fajita chicken mix and brown rice with my new rice cooker. Turned out pretty good!

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Maybe it's just me, but I've never understood the idea of a rice cooker. I already have a very well-seasoned nonstick saucepan with a lid. It does exactly what a rice cooker does, but doesn't leave a layer of rice stuck to the bottom of it like a rice cooker does. I get it for like a college student in a dorm and who can't have an oven. But otherwise I don't get just not making rice in a saucepan and not having to buy a one trick pony appliance taking up cupboard space.
 

The Rogue Wolf

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Maybe it's just me, but I've never understood the idea of a rice cooker. I already have a very well-seasoned nonstick saucepan with a lid. It does exactly what a rice cooker does, but doesn't leave a layer of rice stuck to the bottom of it like a rice cooker does. I get it for like a college student in a dorm and who can't have an oven. But otherwise I don't get just not making rice in a saucepan and not having to buy a one trick pony appliance taking up cupboard space.
A rice cooker can stop cooking when the rice is done. I am extraordinarily lazy and don't feel like standing next to a saucepan.
 

Kyrian007

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The final step when cooking rice in a saucepan is to turn the burner down to the lowest setting and let the residual heat from boiling cook it. As long as the low setting on a cooktop is low enough to not burn rice (most are) that is pretty much exactly what a rice cooker does. The one extra step is when the water boils, you have to turn the heat down. I'm not buying an extra appliance (that's 5x harder to clean than the alternative) to save me one step that happens 2 minutes into the process. I'm fairly lazy myself, and being able to wipe clean a saucepan with a paper towel and just some hot water saves me effort. The alternative for me was made clear watching my roommate having to scrape and scrub the pot on his rice cooker after every use to get enough of the stuck-on rice off for the dishwasher to do the rest.

Now, it does occur to me... maybe if you seasoned a rice cooker pot with 5 or 10 layers until it became completely non-stick. I'm not entirely sure a rice cooker would heat evenly enough to not damage such a finish. But if it worked... well, still kind of a one-trick-pony but it would be much easier to clean and less wasteful. I don't know that I'd ever really have need for it. But one that wasn't a bear to clean does make some sense.
 
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Chimpzy

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Pasta hack, but apparently legit with Italians -
Yup, that's how you do a proper Alfredo. No cream. Likewise, Carbonara also doesn't have cream in it. Just guanciale, pecorino, (not parm), egg yolks and black pepper.

With a few exceptions (like Bolognese sauce), Italian pasta dishes tend to be quite simple, focusing on only a couple ingredients
 
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Yup, that's how you do a proper Alfredo. No cream. Likewise, Carbonara also doesn't have cream in it. Just guanciale, pecorino, (not parm), egg yolks and black pepper.

With a few exceptions (like Bolognese sauce), Italian pasta dishes tend to be quite simple, focusing on only a couple ingredients
So first time I tried this the freshly grated cheese wound up all gummy and stuck to the plate moreso than the pasta. Maybe I had too much water for a personal serving and didn’t use enough butter. Regardless it still tasted good.
 

Chimpzy

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So first time I tried this the freshly grated cheese wound up all gummy and stuck to the plate moreso than the pasta. Maybe I had too much water for a personal serving and didn’t use enough butter. Regardless it still tasted good.
Hmm, that can have a number of causes. Maybe your parm was too aged, Alfledo is easier to make with young parm. Maybe you didn't work the pasta either fast or long enough for the butter, parm and pasta water to properly emulsify. Maybe either the pasta or pasta water was still too hot. Shouldn't be more than 180°F or 80°C.
 
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Hmm, that can have a number of causes. Maybe your parm was too aged, Alfledo is easier to make with young parm. Maybe you didn't work the pasta either fast or long enough for the butter, parm and pasta water to properly emulsify. Maybe either the pasta or pasta water was still too hot. Shouldn't be more than 180°F or 80°C.

Guessing right off the bat it was the extra aged parmesan then lol.
 

Kyrian007

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Guessing right off the bat it was the extra aged parmesan then lol.
OK, speaking of parmesan... I have a real food gripe that's been going on for the last several years. I thought that making a proper Chicken Parmesan was fairly easy and had a widely accepted process. Everybody knew the correct way to assemble a chicken parm. I remember in fact, seeing it done wrong for the first time. Mom wanted to go to an Olive Garden (I know they're awful... but she seems to like them,) so we went. She had a chicken parm, and I had to restrain myself from insisting that it be sent back to be done right. I figured, "oh well, the 'chef' is probably just some 19 year old kid working a joe job for the summer. But now... I see the exact same mistake everywhere. At places that EASILY should know better. Hell, type "best chicken parm" into a google search. Every one of the top image or video results are making chicken parm WRONG. And looking at the comments, no one is calling them out on the GLARING fundamental mistake. I can't be the only person that remembers how to make a decent chicken parm... right?

Every single one of them is pouring sauce DIRECTLY onto fried chicken cutlets. Some of them are pouring sauce directly onto a plate and putting the cutlet ON the sauce and then pouring more sauce ON the cutlet. WTF? Do they not even understand WHY the dish is called "chicken parmesan?" It's not just that its 2 of the ingredients... the parmesan is a STRUCTURALLY NECESSARY part of the dish. Correctly assembled; breaded and fried cutlet on a plate, LAYER of parmesan on the cutlet, mozzarella on the parmesan, then broiled or torched to melt... and ONLY THEN do you cover in sauce before serving. The parmesan is necessary to insulate the breading from sauce, melted mozzarella seals the edges, making sure that none of the sauce gets under the cutlet before serving.

The only reason to deep or pan fry the cutlet is so that you get the crunchy breading as an added texture. Putting sauce directly on that breading... might as well have used shake and bake and an oven. That would be as soggy a mess as sauce directly on the breaded cutlet.

So, if this is a tip that is really on the way to becoming forgotten, just remember... sauce goes on last. And never on exposed cutlet. Imagine a parm that's last bite has as much crunch as the first bite. A parm that could sit plated until it totally cools... and still have that fried chicken crunch.
 
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Phoenixmgs

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OK, speaking of parmesan... I have a real food gripe that's been going on for the last several years. I thought that making a proper Chicken Parmesan was fairly easy and had a widely accepted process. Everybody knew the correct way to assemble a chicken parm. I remember in fact, seeing it done wrong for the first time. Mom wanted to go to an Olive Garden (I know they're awful... but she seems to like them,) so we went. She had a chicken parm, and I had to restrain myself from insisting that it be sent back to be done right. I figured, "oh well, the 'chef' is probably just some 19 year old kid working a joe job for the summer. But now... I see the exact same mistake everywhere. At places that EASILY should know better. Hell, type "best chicken parm" into a google search. Every one of the top image or video results are making chicken parm WRONG. And looking at the comments, no one is calling them out on the GLARING fundamental mistake. I can't be the only person that remembers how to make a decent chicken parm... right?

Every single one of them is pouring sauce DIRECTLY onto fried chicken cutlets. Some of them are pouring sauce directly onto a plate and putting the cutlet ON the sauce and then pouring more sauce ON the cutlet. WTF? Do they not even understand WHY the dish is called "chicken parmesan?" It's not just that its 2 of the ingredients... the parmesan is a STRUCTURALLY NECESSARY part of the dish. Correctly assembled; breaded and fried cutlet on a plate, LAYER of parmesan on the cutlet, mozzarella on the parmesan, then broiled or torched to melt... and ONLY THEN do you cover in sauce before serving. The parmesan is necessary to insulate the breading from sauce, melted mozzarella seals the edges, making sure that none of the sauce gets under the cutlet before serving.

The only reason to deep or pan fry the cutlet is so that you get the crunchy breading as an added texture. Putting sauce directly on that breading... might as well have used shake and bake and an oven. That would be as soggy a mess as sauce directly on the breaded cutlet.

So, if this is a tip that is really on the way to becoming forgotten, just remember... sauce goes on last. And never on exposed cutlet. Imagine a parm that's last bite has as much crunch as the first bite. A parm that could sit plated until it totally cools... and still have that fried chicken crunch.
Well, I always prefer mine to be grilled chicken because of how much healthier it is than fried. I even order chicken parm sandwiches grilled as well. There was one family restaurant as a kid that would load up the spaghetti and sauce on top of the fried chicken but it was always crispy when eating it, maybe they did the whole sealing thing you're talking about.
 

Bob_McMillan

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OK, speaking of parmesan... I have a real food gripe that's been going on for the last several years. I thought that making a proper Chicken Parmesan was fairly easy and had a widely accepted process. Everybody knew the correct way to assemble a chicken parm. I remember in fact, seeing it done wrong for the first time. Mom wanted to go to an Olive Garden (I know they're awful... but she seems to like them,) so we went. She had a chicken parm, and I had to restrain myself from insisting that it be sent back to be done right. I figured, "oh well, the 'chef' is probably just some 19 year old kid working a joe job for the summer. But now... I see the exact same mistake everywhere. At places that EASILY should know better. Hell, type "best chicken parm" into a google search. Every one of the top image or video results are making chicken parm WRONG. And looking at the comments, no one is calling them out on the GLARING fundamental mistake. I can't be the only person that remembers how to make a decent chicken parm... right?

Every single one of them is pouring sauce DIRECTLY onto fried chicken cutlets. Some of them are pouring sauce directly onto a plate and putting the cutlet ON the sauce and then pouring more sauce ON the cutlet. WTF? Do they not even understand WHY the dish is called "chicken parmesan?" It's not just that its 2 of the ingredients... the parmesan is a STRUCTURALLY NECESSARY part of the dish. Correctly assembled; breaded and fried cutlet on a plate, LAYER of parmesan on the cutlet, mozzarella on the parmesan, then broiled or torched to melt... and ONLY THEN do you cover in sauce before serving. The parmesan is necessary to insulate the breading from sauce, melted mozzarella seals the edges, making sure that none of the sauce gets under the cutlet before serving.

The only reason to deep or pan fry the cutlet is so that you get the crunchy breading as an added texture. Putting sauce directly on that breading... might as well have used shake and bake and an oven. That would be as soggy a mess as sauce directly on the breaded cutlet.

So, if this is a tip that is really on the way to becoming forgotten, just remember... sauce goes on last. And never on exposed cutlet. Imagine a parm that's last bite has as much crunch as the first bite. A parm that could sit plated until it totally cools... and still have that fried chicken crunch.
Huh. I've watched a bunch of chicken parm videos on YouTube, and the methods that put the sauce over the cheese present it as their own personal twist or non-traditional. Did you learn this method formally somewhere? From an Italian granny perhaps? Or are you just saying that you believe this is the right way to do it?

Not that I disagree, here at home we don't even bother serving the sauce on the chicken anymore. Just the cheese, then the sauce on the side to be applied as desired. My mother used to bake the fried chicken IN the sauce, which is just as soggy as you can imagine. The sauce did taste better though...
 

Xprimentyl

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We visited friends and family in Oklahoma City this weekend, and one of our stops was with my gf's "family" from the Philippines. The food is always amazing, and I'm always extremely grateful, but you cannot tell them "no." Despite any aversions, they will put on your plate what they think you should eat without question. Last time we visited, I was forced to eat oysters... which were amazing; I concede. Before that, it was calamari... which was amazing; I concede. But Saturday, it was chicken feet. I should have known what was about to happen when I walked in and saw the fried CLAWS sitting on the counter. I didn't make any comment hoping they would just be ignored, but sure as shit, I sat for all of two minutes before someone asked if I'd ever had chicken feet. I hesitantly responded that I hadn't, then four Filipino women were in my face with a plate of chicken feet.

They're gross. The flavor is chicken, but there's so little meat, that the effort to eat them felt like an act of desperation. When I thought I was done, it didn't look much different from when I started, but watching them eat them, it was literally skeletal chicken feet in remains. I ate two, and tapped out. That's a NO on chicken feet for me.
 
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OK, speaking of parmesan... I have a real food gripe that's been going on for the last several years. I thought that making a proper Chicken Parmesan was fairly easy and had a widely accepted process. Everybody knew the correct way to assemble a chicken parm. I remember in fact, seeing it done wrong for the first time. Mom wanted to go to an Olive Garden (I know they're awful... but she seems to like them,) so we went. She had a chicken parm, and I had to restrain myself from insisting that it be sent back to be done right. I figured, "oh well, the 'chef' is probably just some 19 year old kid working a joe job for the summer. But now... I see the exact same mistake everywhere. At places that EASILY should know better. Hell, type "best chicken parm" into a google search. Every one of the top image or video results are making chicken parm WRONG. And looking at the comments, no one is calling them out on the GLARING fundamental mistake. I can't be the only person that remembers how to make a decent chicken parm... right?

Every single one of them is pouring sauce DIRECTLY onto fried chicken cutlets. Some of them are pouring sauce directly onto a plate and putting the cutlet ON the sauce and then pouring more sauce ON the cutlet. WTF? Do they not even understand WHY the dish is called "chicken parmesan?" It's not just that its 2 of the ingredients... the parmesan is a STRUCTURALLY NECESSARY part of the dish. Correctly assembled; breaded and fried cutlet on a plate, LAYER of parmesan on the cutlet, mozzarella on the parmesan, then broiled or torched to melt... and ONLY THEN do you cover in sauce before serving. The parmesan is necessary to insulate the breading from sauce, melted mozzarella seals the edges, making sure that none of the sauce gets under the cutlet before serving.

The only reason to deep or pan fry the cutlet is so that you get the crunchy breading as an added texture. Putting sauce directly on that breading... might as well have used shake and bake and an oven. That would be as soggy a mess as sauce directly on the breaded cutlet.

So, if this is a tip that is really on the way to becoming forgotten, just remember... sauce goes on last. And never on exposed cutlet. Imagine a parm that's last bite has as much crunch as the first bite. A parm that could sit plated until it totally cools... and still have that fried chicken crunch.
We typically bread the cutlets and bake separately then add on top of the noodles/sauce when served. Seems to keep them nice and crispy. Or leave completely separate as the kid likes it.
 

Chimpzy

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Guess this belongs here.

So I've got a bit of a respiratory infection problem going right now. First thought it was Covid again, but luckily, test came back negative. Still had to contend with a +39°c fever for a couple days. Luckily, I'm the type for whom being sick means 2-3 days of feeling like absolute crap, but then I'm mostly fine.

Anyway, actual story is that my throat was and still is quite sore. Annoyingly so. I'd heard that ginger-lemon tea with honey is good for your throat, but I never tried it because none of the herbal remedies I've ever tried did much of anything. But I thought, fuck it, bought some, boiled a kettle, slapped in some honey. If it does nothing, maybe I at least got a nice drink out of it.

But yeah, while it probably does jack shit to cure the underlying condition, it does actually soothe the soreness. More so than the throat lozenges I have, tho the effect doesn't last as long. Weirdly it's the taste I'm not a huge fan of, even tho ginger + lemon + honey should be a hit, but I'm not feeling it. Not terrible, mind, just not something I'd drink otherwise.

Taken to drinking it tactically, like 0.5 to 1 hour before meals, make eating those a fair bit more comfortable.
 
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