Bit early, aren't you?I should have taken a picture, made my Thanksgiving shepard's pie last weekend.
Bit early, aren't you?I should have taken a picture, made my Thanksgiving shepard's pie last weekend.
Family didn't do a typical Christmas dinner this year. For whatever reason we did a taco bar instead. So, I missed out on my 2nd turkey dish of last year.Bit early, aren't you?
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.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.
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.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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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.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.
My dad will call you a coward for that. He would be joking though.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.
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.Pasta hack, but apparently legit with Italians -
I Tried the Viral Method of Cooking Fettuccine Alfredo and I Feel Like a True Italian
Oh, and it all happens in three minutes!www.thekitchn.com
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.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
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.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.
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?Guessing right off the bat it was the extra aged parmesan then lol.
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.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?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.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.