what's cooking? part 5: 2017-2027

not because it really needs to go to 2027 because we'll all be under the ocean by then but because part 4 started in 2007

i made some pretty great tomato soup yesterday

san marzano toms + butter in pressure cooker w salt and baking soda
veggie stock + drained liquid from toms + a few bags of lapsang souchong
puree toms w stick blender, drain through sieve, combine with liquid ingredients
maple syrup + fish sauce to taste

how do you get to the point in life where you're putting heterodox ingredients like tea, maple syrup and fish sauce in tomato soup? is this entirely your own invention or are you following some unknown and wild tradition?

its the food of my people

bored single men who spend a lot of time on food blogs

well I am impressed, it sounds delicious (though not sure about the tea). how long did you cook it for?

toms were in the pressure cooker for 20mins, which is the bulk of the cooking time

in the context of bold tomato flavor and stock, the tea adds primarily smokiness and some sweetness. it's worth trying, i think!

Were these canned whole toms? Why pressure cooker? Why baking soda???

whole canned toms

pressure cooker reaches higher temperatures, which, in combination with the increased pH you get with baking soda, leads to caramelization that would be impossible otherwise

i actually made a batch earlier in the week that i forgot to add baking soda to and the difference is pretty noticeable --- w/o it the soup is much brighter and more acidic/tomato-y (which might be what you want!)

i have a bream in the oven, stuffed it with lemon, garlic and parsley, threw a few slices of potato around it and i've got cabbage braising in some stock on the hob. been roasting fish a lot in the last few months, feels like one of the nicest things to eat without much effort.

Making a lamb shoulder tonight with broccoli and the serious eats roasted potatoes that I believe somebody posted on the other thread and have been intriguing me since.

how do you get to the point in life where you're putting heterodox ingredients like tea, maple syrup and fish sauce in tomato soup?

otm

its the food of my people

bored single men who spend a lot of time on food blogs

loltm

What are these blogs? Are they instant pot propagandists?

hey gbx do you do a natural release or quick release on the p.c. with this method?

mine's electric so i just do a slow release

should I get an instant pot? it seems like more like an appliance of convenience rather than one of, like, some crazy new benefit (like sous vide)

rfi: what is yr favorite way to prepare fennel?
preferably side dish but i'll take all comers

one place i worked at useda make a potato, fennel and leek gratin that was nice. other ideas: superthin sliced and put in a salad is great, too. or "melted", cooked slowly in olive oil with onions and garlic to get it really soft and borderline carmelised could be a nice side?

fennel is nice roasted

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2015/02/vegan-ramen-miso-creamy-vegan-vegetarian-food-lab-recipe.html

going to cook this at the weekend

I like fennel raw in salads, sautéed with leeks & green beans, roasted & carved up with a piece of meat or fish

Jim: it's good. Double and freeze, for all the effort.

thanks everyone! pretty new to fennel. i tried braising it in stock & vermouth last night & it turned out delicious, keen to try some of these recommendations

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2015/02/vegan-ramen-miso-creamy-vegan-vegetarian-food-lab-recipe.html

going to cook this at the weekend

― Islamic State of Mind (jim in vancouver), Tuesday, January 10, 2017 5:28 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oh man i've been wanting to try that but its daunting --- soda, you've done it? how long did it take?

i like fennel here are some things

fen risotto, maybe w/ salami
fen & chickpea broth w/ lemon zest and chilli
fen & potato soup
baked fen in like a puttanesca sauce w/ orange zest and feta
roast pork w fen (add fen seeds to pork herb rub too)
any bit of wite fish w/ fen, thyme, rosemary, lemon zest, capers etc

pernod good to have around just for fen

also if u ever want to parboil fen for anything do it in milk, or mostly milk, and keep for mash potato or gratin later

I don't like fennel because it is anise-y. I feel like I need to broaden my horizons tho w/r/t winter vegetables, I can't only eat potatoes all year, and I love kale but let's be honest it's not in season in February.

A friend is coming over on Sat bc she wants advice on cooking large hunks of meat. Considering a pot roast alongside a rolled stuffed pork loin -- one easy, one complicated.

try parsnips! one of our favorite winter things is just roasted winter veggies (beets, onions, carrots, garlic, parsnips, turnips, potatoes) mixed up with some olive oil, rosemary, and a bit of sausage, cover and bake.

best way to enjoy fennel is to throw it in the damn garbage bcz it tastes like licorice and it is GROSS

I made a great pork dish with star anise the other night and the first time I made it I used like one star anise (recipe says 5) because I hate licorice but actually it's so subtle it's really good so I always use 5 now

THANK U STEVIE YOU <---> ME = SAME TEAM

anise and fennel are wonderful flavors

that said i have bought fennel bulbs in the past and they have rotted in my fridge bc i couldn't decide what to do with them fast enough :/

tbh I wish I didnt' loathe anise/fennel bcz it wd make things a lot easier but welp here we are, what can ya do

parsnips are the devil fyi

hmph

parsnips are fine, they're sweet and a lil weird but they're fine

quickest way to ruin a soup imo

THE DEVIL

parsnips are good caramelized together with other vegetables as the base for a winter soup stock, they contribute a lot of complexity and are similar to carrots w/ their sweetness. im not a fan of plain parsnips though

for burly winter root vegetables i prefer celeriac

I stand with VG.

Honey roast parsnips are my secret ingredient in a veggie soup

monsters, all of u

mushroom pizza that has a bunch of rehydrated porcinis sauteed with a load of criminis and garlic, on top of fontina, carmelized onions with rosemary playing the role of sauce on some bland-o plain white dough i made

haven't had farinata in years, might attempt this recipe for saturday lunch http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/05/how-to-make-farinata-italian-chickpea-pancake.html

we had my brother and his family over for dinner the other night. they love cooking indian and so do we, so we made a huge feast. i haven't cooked this much food in a while:

masoor dal
benghali green beans and potatoes
tomato sambal
summer squash w/ mustard seeds
saag tofu

All the way at the other end of the vegetarian-omnivore spectrum, I'm making beef stock today.

I agree with VG that parsnips would not work well in any soup I know about, but they roast well and were quite acceptable in a beef and peanut stew recipe my wife made just a few days ago.

I really like roasted parsnips but they are such a damn awkward shape--the top fat part and the itty bitty skinny end make it diffcult to get evenly-roasting pieces.

when done right it is absolutely lovely. I think the mandolin is a definite requirement, otherwise it will take too long or you will end up with unsatisfyingly oversized, undercooked chunks of spud rather than layered delicate wilts of spud with a bit more substance than mash.

seeing as though I am genetically predisposed to spuds I am going to spend some more time on Poppy's potatocentric YT. She seems to be in the potato zone.

I was craving my mom's Kahlua pork chops (with lots of mashed potatoes) so that's what was for lunch. I may go back for seconds.

(Season your pork chops, pan sear them, add a 1:1 mix of Kahula and water, cover and let them braise however long you like, remove the chops. At this point either let the sauce reduce to thicken, or even better thicken with cornstarch slurry so you have more saucy sauce to go over the chops and mashed potatoes.)

the coffee liqueur?

yes -- the sauce turns out pretty sweet, but very tasty

OK so I grew up knowing this dish as "scalloped potatoes." My mom's execution sadly came out like kinder's mum's.

^^^

The Betty Crocker box mix with the dehydrated potato discs was in heavy rotation (along with the au gratin version) when I was growing up.

I think the mandolin is a definite requirement

A food processor with the slicer attachment works too, though that's a much bigger and more expensive piece of equipment.

is there any food processor that doesn't take up too much space and isn't a pain to wash after every use? I try to get by with a stick blender, which obviously has its limitations

Depends on whether you need to slice, dice, or shred things on a larger scale I guess.

I have an ancient Kenwood and apart from a small crack in the top of the plastic jug it works fine and isn't hard to clean. It has an egg beater attachment which is pretty key. It does take up a bit of space though.

I do have an oxo good grips hand processor, which takes a bit of elbow power if you really want to process the shit out of something. And you need to keep shaking and rotating it if you don't want big lumps of whatever. Sometimes I see fancy looking food processors on food vids and I'm jealous tbh.

I had a mini cuisinart food processor for years and it was an excellent tool for most jobs when I only had to worry about feeding myself.

also jealous of the nice food processors. you really need them for some things afaic. i'll get by with just buying pesto or curry paste on occasion but those are nice to make from scratch sometimes.

i have a normcore classic cuisinart food processor that i got as a wedding present 20+ yes ago & it is a workhorse, i love it. yes, a bit annoying to wash but components are dishwashable & blades stay sharp, motor is nice & powerful, no notes.

for grating cauliflower alone, which i seem to do now weekly, it is a blessing. that shit is so messy otherwise! like dealing with styrofoam snow

things i use mine for

- hummus
- pesto
- egg whites
- whipped cream
- any kind of puree eg mashed potatoes etc
- chili powder for the Moodles ChiliTM
- COLESLAW

coleslaw + hummus cosign

- Grating anything at scale, be it carrots, shredded potatoes, cauli like vege said, cabbage.
- Similarly slicing things quickly without a mandolin at no risk to your fingers. Classic use case is quickly slicing like a dozen apples for making multiple pies at once, or again potatoes for a whole casserole.
- Things that are sludge, ie hummus and pesto, that a blender struggles with or does badly.

My food processor was my mom's wedding present, it's older than I am. Still runs like a champ even though the handle for the food compartment broke off like 30 years ago.

i have a classic OG cuisinart food processor that i got from a stoop sale for $30 (nearly ran home with it) and it's a wonderful product. even in a new york apartment i don't find it that cumbersome to store, maybe moreso to use in terms of counter space but that is not the food processor's fault. i actually don't find it that annoying to clean, it's really only a few parts. it's not as bad as cleaning most pots and pans, you just have to watch for the blade

i could prob use it more often but for making pesto (or actually one of my fav recipes, the river cafe's kale pasta sauce) it's obv amazing, salsas, thickening soups... tbh i should prob use it more to chop and shred

Our current cuisinart was an unused inheritance from when my mother-in-law passed away and grandpa moved to be closer to us and was cleaning out their old house. The user manual came in the form of a VHS tape.

future-proofed!

i stuck to my stick blender for years and it does most things. i finally bought a food processor and it's pretty useful for, like, a few things. grating cheese in bulk is FUN. pesto, sauces with sausage, or meatball things that I think my stick blender might get stuck in.
I use it enough that it's worth it.

I have ordered a Cuisinart Mini Prep Pro because basically using a hand processor sucks shit and this dog is only £40!

<Influencers of The Cheese Board high-5 each other on our first Influencing>

I think just for the sake of using it. I'm going to do a roman broccoli sauce first. just to be able confirm that it is actually in fact, an amazing product!

welcome to cuisinart hive!

feeling the food processor love

I got my basic cuisinart food processor as a wedding present and it’s def the most useful kitchen gadget I own. Its 16 years old now and I’ve never had a problem with it, still using the original blades, and all components go through the dishwasher just fine.

grating cheese in bulk is FUN.

OMG YES THIS. It's like the tactile version of ASMR.

I have both a full-sized 5 cup Cuisinart AND a Mini Prep Pro, the latter of which is better for really obliterating stuff -- I use it to grind dried peppers to make my own chili blend.

I made a roman broccoli pasta sauce with anchovies, capers and baby spinach. It was a really good and healthy friday night early supper. All credit goes to Cusinart obv. But seriously, I'm really happy this fucker is in my kitchen now.

:D

ONE OF US

Fucking around with slow cooker chili again today. Chopped the vegetables instead of dicing them to see what it does to the texture. Didn’t have the right kind of beer so I threw in a cheap cab sauv instead. Used smoked paprika instead of the plain old stuff. Skipped the dried arbols because I used the new Ro-Tel ghost pepper edition instead of the usual that has hatch chilies. Most importantly, I put some color on the onions and shallots in a frying pan and then added the spices to that to activate everything.

gotta do some bhunaisation to them spices and onions before they go into a crockpot

Exactly my thinking, except I didn’t know the word Bhuna until you just taught it to me

it's my goto curry method, there are so many regional varieties I'm not even going to pretend I know anything about bhunas. But basically onions need to be cooked hard without burning them is a good start to any dish imo.

wanna try this

https://aldonadyephd.wordpress.com/2025/06/13/on-the-hunt-for-goober-sauce/

yum

I'm gonna have my mom send me some Virginia peanuts for that!

boiled peanuts should really be a more widespread bar snack, they are wonderful

I've got an urge to use some cashews for dinner, going to make a Kaju Butter Masala

Ah, been curious about boiled peanuts, but so far been unable to find fresh / non-pre-roasted ones in Norway for me to boil.

That reminds me: when if ever do you find it preferable and/or OK to eat peanuts whole, shell and all? We got deep-fried ones as a bar snack in Spain, were a bit uncertain what to do, but got a hint that we should just scoff them as served – and they were pretty great without shelling actually; crispy and only very slightly stringy.

see the controversial opinions thread

lol wait what xp

today I learned: "Often small, immature peanuts (called "pops") are included; these have even softer shells and can be eaten in their entirety."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiled_peanuts

see the controversial opinions thread

Um which particular one? On a mainboard 8K post thread I found lots about peanut butter but nowt about shells, and Controversial Food Opinions (obviously bookmarked now; thanks!) had no peanut hits at all.

This particular visit to Spain was the shells-n-all trip apparently; the previous day we ordered deep-fried shrimp with our beer and it was obvious that they too (a big bowl; tiny! max 1 inch long; no side dish for refuse) were also meant to be chowed down in their entirety. We'd seen people joyfully devouring deep-fried prawn heads on cooking shows, so we just shrugged and went along with it. Also delicious, btw.

In both cases I'm pretty sure the deep frying is urgent & key, apart possibly from sleeve's younger peanuts.

wow, I live in goober country, have a side hustle making peanut brittle, and had not heard of eating them shell and all

It could be the case, of course, that they are still giggling about the gullible tourists!

I had a coworker from Iowa and he ate peanuts shell-and-all, which I thought absurd. But I tried it and it's not that bad, though when I do it I'm afraid I'm going to get a large sharp piece stuck in my throat (so I rarely eat them that way).

i had a friend who did this. he maintained that it "gives the digestive system a workout"