Where you will — and won't — cut corners

I always buy Heinz over Hunt's, but will occasionally (once in a blue moon) buy a third-party ketchup.

I am a little aghast at my girlfriend for always buying "Kraft marshmallow creme," and calling it fluff, and not realizing that there is an actual marshmallow product called Fluff, of which others are only imitations. (This was less weird once I realized that they don't sell Fluff here, so it's plausible that she's right when she says they didn't sell it where she grew up, either. But I'm still aghast.)

I do try to buy locally produced stuff whenever possible, and directly from the farmer also.

For some applications, in sauces and baking, there is no substitute for heavy cream. Milk doesn't work. Again, it's not called for very often so this isn't a big inconvenience.

Let's see, what else--Wine. In a time when any human can get a decent wine for under $10 there is no excuse for heat-damaged partially vinegarized crap. I really do read the reviews and seek out decent wine.

Olive oil for cooking everything. Other oils just don't satisfy unless it's peanut oil/sesame oil for a stir fry. I don't use lard though I love the lard concept.

In the backyard, I accept no substitute for Nathan's brand hot dogs.

Now, what *do* I substitute:
I *will* substitute a teaspoon of vinegar in regular milk for buttermilk when baking.

I have no mayonnaise loyalty.

In bisciuts, I substitute Crisco for lard even though I know lard is better tasting. Health and all that.

And

I'm on a new kick where I'm no longer substituting yoghurt for sour cream. I don't like sour cream, but I figure once it's baked into something like coffee cake, it doesn't taste like sour cream any more. So.

I haven't baked in a long time, and I hope I haven't lost my touch for Choc chip scones. Living alone makes baking feel a bit pointless. God that sounds depressing, didn't mean it to! Cooking for myself is kind of like a de-motivator. I need a dinner party or event or something.

I agree about the frozen ones, though, they're great. I've had worse scratch biscuits, and in the South at that -- but more importantly, nine times out of ten when I think to myself, "a biscuit would be nice," I don't secretly mean, "twenty biscuits would be nice." Being able to make one or two or three at a time without the others going to waste, that's perfect (I'm not even taking into account my lack of surface area, rolling pin, or hand durability).

Besides, a biscuit with cane syrup is a perfect late night snack in all the ways that making a batch of biscuits in the middle of the night isn't.

!!!

The general theory is that less yeast with slower rises means tastier bread.

I do buy frozen squash, shrimp, and use tin pumpkin, corn, and various beans if they're ingredients (but not central ones) in various dishes.

-- Casuistry (chri...), October 13th, 2004 7:10 PM. (later)

There are quite a few instances where you'll want a more neutral oil than olive, and I'm a big fan of a high-grade canola for these. It's relatively healthy, inexpensive, and never gets cloudy.

I find that two grades of olive oil and unsalted butter pretty much take care of my cooking needs. I do use canola oil spray (Pam) when baking, though.

I learned the hard way about trying to cook with extra virgin olive oil--I tried to reduce it in a sauce and yuck! Bitter, ew, not even heavy cream could rescue it.

Didn't we have a thread about indispensable cooking gadgets? I couldn't find it. The above thought reminded me of mine. I love my olive oil sprayer with a passion that borders on indecent. http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=185219