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True Kitchen Confessions

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1. I've been doing without an oven for like four months...and I haven't missed it!

― teeny (teeny), Saturday, 25 February 2006 17:41 (nineteen years ago)

2. I have acquired the acquired taste of Provel cheese, which makes Velveeta look artisanal.

― teeny (teeny), Saturday, 25 February 2006 17:43 (nineteen years ago)

3. I wash the dishes with the water running the whole time for rinsing, instead of having a sinkful of soapy for washing and a sinkful of clean for rinsing.

(I got to get me some of that Provel stuff next time I'm in St. Louis.)

― pixel farmer (Rock Hardy), Saturday, 25 February 2006 20:13 (nineteen years ago)

4. I buy preshredded cheese. Parmesan from Trader Joe's (10 bags whenever we get in range of one) and Tillamook sharp cheddar. It freezes well.

― Jaq (Jaq), Sunday, 26 February 2006 00:29 (nineteen years ago)

5. I only rinse my wooden chopping boards in very hot (not boiling) water. I never use bleach or anything like people seem to say you should.

I've never gotten food poisoning though...

― Trayce (trayce), Monday, 27 February 2006 04:26 (nineteen years ago)

6. Bless you, economy-sized jar of pre-minced garlic.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 27 February 2006 05:12 (nineteen years ago)

I am so going to ask my St. Louis friends about Provel cheese! I bet my drummer (who, on tour, has been known to forsake whatever veggie-friendly place we pick in favor for whatever he can pick up at the nearest gas station) has countless experiences with it.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 27 February 2006 07:15 (nineteen years ago)

let me know what they say, it's such an odd and localized phenomenon. I'm used to st louis pizza with it but I *really* like it on salads! I still find it kind of gross on pasta though.

― teeny (teeny), Monday, 27 February 2006 14:36 (nineteen years ago)

7. Like a few Italian mamas I have known, I used canned tomatoes, not fresh. They actually impart a stronger tomato flavour.

(that one's probably not as OMG as I think, is it?)

― Trayce (trayce), Monday, 27 February 2006 23:20 (nineteen years ago)

I don't think so — if it is, I be illin' too. I don't mess with too many fresh tomatoes between Labor Day and Memorial Day, and even during the summer, if I'm making a pasta sauce, I use canned.

― pixel farmer (Rock Hardy), Monday, 27 February 2006 23:59 (nineteen years ago)

I think fresh ripe tomatoes are too good to waste cooking, unless you've got 10 lbs starting to turn nasty. Canned, diced, peeled tomatoes rule for pasta sauce. Also, tomato paste and sun-dried tomatoes. All good things.

― Jaq (Jaq), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 00:13 (nineteen years ago)

a fresh tomato sauce is so good though! some nice diced romas cooked very lightly with olive oil and garlic are one of the world's most heavenly pleasures!

if you're going to make a more regular sauce though, i agree, canned is better and easier.

― AaronK (AaronK), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 04:35 (nineteen years ago)

8. When I'm cooking I sometimes make myself something to eat just to "keep me going". So I'm standing in the kitchen with food cooking all around and stuffing my face with a toasted sandwich...I feel like my alcholic uncle who used to go to the bar order a double whiskey and then the drinks that he really wanted and then another double whisky to help him get back to his table.

― Ned T.Rifle (nedtrifle), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 12:30 (nineteen years ago)

I do exactly the same thing, though not as full on as a toasted sarnie.

See also: Copious amounts of red wine.

― Porkpie (porkpie), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 12:36 (nineteen years ago)

Yes, I am also guilty of the sardines on toast while stew is on the go habit.

― Pete (Pete), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 14:12 (nineteen years ago)

i'm guilty as well. i had to seriously start watching myself with the drinking while cooking (usually for dinner parties) because i would get through so much wine that i could barely keep my head up during the meal let alone eat it.

― lauren (laurenp), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 14:24 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, I do that quite regularly too, the several glasses of wine with no food in me at all cooking extravaganza. How this never ends in horrible food is actually a mystery.

TRUE CONFESSION: despite all warnings, I do sometimes use cooking wine while cooking. I justify this because I am very conservative with salt, if I even add any at all, when I cook anything, so the oversaltiness problem that you have with salted cooking wine is no danger. No one has noticed or complained yet, I'm waiting for someone very classy to eat my food and bitch, and then I will go proper.

― Allyzay Rofflesberger (allyzay), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 15:01 (nineteen years ago)

Lauren, a number of times I've cooked full on meals, big ones and remembered very very little about eating them - it gets hot in the kitchen and I need to drink, oops, maybe I should try water.

― Porkpie (porkpie), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 15:14 (nineteen years ago)

i think the thing is that while i love to cook, i start resenting everyone else having fun in another room without me and decide to have my own party. usually in that condition i turn into justin what's-his-name, the cajun cook, and start dumping whatever i'm drinking into whatever i'm cooking. as ally said, i have no idea why disasters haven't occurred more often.

― lauren (laurenp), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 15:22 (nineteen years ago)

I'm totally guilty of kitchen drinking - I blame it on Graham Kerr's early influence. Galloping Gourmet is one of the first tv shows I remember watching.

We had a lovely roast last night, which reminded of me of my worst kitchen shame - eating the dripping straight from the pan. I LOVE IT! This is why I never make gravy. I don't even use bread, just fingers. Truly shameless. But I will always volunteer to clean up if there was roast meat!

― Jaq (Jaq), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 15:26 (nineteen years ago)

Oh god yeah the "Hmmm this tastes good in my mouth, it'd probably taste good in...I dunno...cherry pie" dump. xpost

― Allyzay Rofflesberger (allyzay), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 15:26 (nineteen years ago)

If you use cooking wine, it's not so fun to drink in the kitchen :(

― Jaq (Jaq), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 15:31 (nineteen years ago)

Oh that doesn't stop me from drinking regular wine and adding that in too...to be totally honest the evolution of me using cooking wine came from, well, me running out of wine from drinking it while cooking. It was supposed to help me stop doing that...to be young and optimistic again!

― Allyzay Rofflesberger (allyzay), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 15:53 (nineteen years ago)

1) Drinking all the wine / beer / cream sherry (!)
2) Pigging out on peanut butter. Off my finger. Quite a bit.
3) Using my hands (which are, honestly, approaching OCD cleanliness) for mixing a lot more than I should.
4) Alarmingly frequent hand-washing.
5) Wearing headphones and singing to myself like Gideon's calling.
6) Pretending I'm on a cooking show and narrating my activities.

― remy (x Jeremy), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 17:10 (nineteen years ago)

Clean hands for mixing is great, though! The best food processors we have are growing out of our shirtsleeves. I was reminded of this yesterday while forming burger patties for the grill.

― pixel farmer (Rock Hardy), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 17:15 (nineteen years ago)

hahaha I sometimes do the cooking show thing too, especially if I'm by myself for some reason.

― Allyzay Rofflesberger (allyzay), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 17:24 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, why wouldn't you use your hands?

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 17:53 (nineteen years ago)

I'm guilty of economy sized jars of minced garlic.

And ginger (ducks).

― The Milkmaid (of human kindness) (The Milkmaid), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 19:49 (nineteen years ago)

Also: sometimes I buy and enjoy those boxed soups from Trader Joe's.

― The Milkmaid (of human kindness) (The Milkmaid), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 20:39 (nineteen years ago)

Trader Joe's is the king for sauces, imo. We rely on those thai green curry and masala and punjab simmer sauces. I wondered about the soups; they look yummy, but I've never tried any.

― Jaq (Jaq), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 20:48 (nineteen years ago)

They're good! I like the carrot ginger one. I take it to work, keep it in the fridge and it's like 4 lunches worth. That way I only have to bring the accessories (a salad, roll, whatever). You can also spice them up any way you want. I like their lentil soup too - I put garam masala and hot curry in it and it tastes way fancier than it does coming out of the can.

One more confession: I enjoy Nescafe instant coffee because it reminds me of my mom.

― The Milkmaid (of human kindness) (The Milkmaid), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 21:47 (nineteen years ago)

6) Pretending I'm on a cooking show and narrating my activities.

I DO THIS, all the time. And I especially love doing it when Nick is also in the kitchen, cos I'm kind of learnin' him on cooking, so I sort of turn into Keith Floyd and say "now see, cook the onion first for ages, but not the garlic, it tastes bad if you burn it, yeah?"

I do that "yeah?" thing like bloody Jamie Oliver too.

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 2 March 2006 02:30 (nineteen years ago)

Is drinking instant coffee something you have to shamefully confess to round these parts? Or is it just because it's Nescafe (owned by shameful Nestle)?

― ailsa (ailsa), Thursday, 2 March 2006 12:48 (nineteen years ago)

i would say so, but man, instant coffee is so the easy thing to use for iced coffee. plus, and i think this was discussed before, possibly on ILE, certain instant coffees are ridiculously better than average supermarket coffee grounds.

also: ginger and garlic paste are pretty standard and acceptible for indian recipes - but the garlic paste tastes better to me, for some reason, than minced garlic, which has always tasted bitter and stale to me.

i have never tried this narration thing, it sounds fun :)

― AaronK (AaronK), Thursday, 2 March 2006 14:36 (nineteen years ago)

I use instant coffee for coffee ice cream too, so it's not diluted with water and I can tell you -- IT'S GOOD! I can't drink Taster's Choice or Folger's instant, but the real (pre-merger) round container Nescafe is really good. It's almost a different drink than regular coffee. But I like it, I do.

― The Milkmaid (of human kindness) (The Milkmaid), Thursday, 2 March 2006 14:39 (nineteen years ago)

I've been drinking instant this week because I'm out of whole beans and don't want to buy crap beans before a big shopping trip to Memphis this weekend. Also, I'd have to go to The Great Satan (Wal-Mart) because the locally owned grocery I've been trying to patronize sells ABSOLUTELY NO WHOLE BEAN COFFEE.

― pixel farmer (Rock Hardy), Thursday, 2 March 2006 15:05 (nineteen years ago)

Instant coffee is nasty. For iced coffee, I like taking whatever is left over from the pot of normal coffee and adding it to a pitcher filled with ice cubes.

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:35 (nineteen years ago)

You can't make Maple Mountain Cooler w/o instant coffee! Glass of cold milk, slug of maple syrup, spoonful of coffee granules - stir and enjoy. Endorsed by the Cowsills!

― Jaq (Jaq), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:55 (nineteen years ago)


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