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[GiglameshDespair]

Look at it. Does it look bad? Is the texture different, when you feel it, than you expected?Smell it. I can't smell, so I can't help you there. Generally bad meat has a sharp smell if not the outright stench, or so I am told.

Wash it, then cook it well, and you'll probably be fine. Raw chicken and pork are a lot worse than, say, raw beef, considering a lot of people eat steaks almost raw anyway.

[BurnedToast]

How do you guys pick your vegetables or, especially, meat? I'm extremely paranoid about any contaminants since I had a bad case of chestburster as a kid and my parents' approach to teaching me any skill was to not to, then yell at me for not knowing how to do it, so right now I spend half a day picking, then pray.

Meat - look at the "sell by" date. It's usually good for a day or two after that, though I try and use it all up by that date just to be safe.

If there's no sell by date, or you're not sure, just give it a good sniff - your nose is very good at detecting rotting meat (cavemen didn't have supermarkets or refrigerators) so if it smells "off" or "sharp" it's probably best to toss it.

Veggies - Check to see if they are firm and free of wilting or obvious defects/rotten spots.  The risk of contamination is just from stuff on the outside, so either get a vegetable brush (not too expensive) and rinse/scrub them good, or just peel them.

You don't have to worry quite as much about them spoiling as you do with meat, just toss them out when they get too wilted to be appealing anymore. As long as they aren't slimy they are still edible so it's mostly just whenever they get too gross for you

For both - cooking it completely is the absolute best way to be safe. Most cases of food poisoning are from improper cooking (or improper washing for veggies that don't get cooked). Cook and wash your food thoroughly and you don't have to worry too much about it.

[Cryxis, Prince of Doom]

Tried making teriyaki sauce for some chiken and rice
I don't think it should be this consistency

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[scrdest]

How do you guys pick your vegetables or, especially, meat? I'm extremely paranoid about any contaminants since I had a bad case of chestburster as a kid and my parents' approach to teaching me any skill was to not to, then yell at me for not knowing how to do it, so right now I spend half a day picking, then pray.

Meat - look at the "sell by" date. It's usually good for a day or two after that, though I try and use it all up by that date just to be safe.

If there's no sell by date, or you're not sure, just give it a good sniff - your nose is very good at detecting rotting meat (cavemen didn't have supermarkets or refrigerators) so if it smells "off" or "sharp" it's probably best to toss it.

Veggies - Check to see if they are firm and free of wilting or obvious defects/rotten spots.  The risk of contamination is just from stuff on the outside, so either get a vegetable brush (not too expensive) and rinse/scrub them good, or just peel them.

You don't have to worry quite as much about them spoiling as you do with meat, just toss them out when they get too wilted to be appealing anymore. As long as they aren't slimy they are still edible so it's mostly just whenever they get too gross for you

For both - cooking it completely is the absolute best way to be safe. Most cases of food poisoning are from improper cooking (or improper washing for veggies that don't get cooked). Cook and wash your food thoroughly and you don't have to worry too much about it.

There is an issue with the sell-by - there has been several notorious cases in which supermarkets would wash the spoiling meat, re-tag it to a new sell-by and call it a day.

The thing is, I know to look for signs of spoilage - it's just that I'm way too paranoid about them. Black spot on a veggie? CALL THE NOPEDUCTOR, BOARD THE NOPE TRAIN AND NOPE OUTTA THERE. The advice about the meat seems good, though.

[Cryxis, Prince of Doom]

Now I'm using my extra rice to make rice pudding

Being home alone is boring guys

My dad better like this pudding

E:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

It's not half bad

[RedKing]

So, I'm making chicken and cauliflower balti again, and I had three ginormous sweet potatoes (seriously, the largest could be considered a deadly weapon -- 8 inches long and over a foot in circumference) sitting around that needed to get used. Took the smallest one and chunked it to go in the balti, and took the other two and made steak fries out of them. Gonna toss them with olive oil and curry powder (I was out of garam masala) and bake them.

I'll post photos when all is said and done.

Also, I haven't forgotten my promise to do an experimental satay peanut sauce, it's just that I have forgotten the face of my father and allowed the pantry to run out of coconut milk. And I'm pretty sure I'm gonna want coconut milk for consistency and to bind the flavors together.


EDIT: Changed plans, because the sweet potato fries were so damn thick I was worried about them not cooking properly. So I chopped them up into cubes and tossed them olive oil, sea salt, pepper, and five spice powder (and a small amount of curry powder).

EDIT #2: Forgot the chicken was neither thawed nor cut to bite-size pieces. Plus the pan was running out of space. So I did a vegetarian balti, which is rare for me.

Spoiler: Sweet potato chunks, suitable for tossing in curry or roasting. (click to show/hide)

I wound up using half of one potato for the balti, just because holy shit so much potato.

Spoiler: The aforementioned murderpotato. (click to show/hide)

My significant other took one look at the photo, and said "Wow, that doesn't look phallic at all".

The other two larger sweet potatoes got cubed and tossed with about 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil, 1-1/2 tablespoons of five-spice powder, and some fresh ground sea salt and pepper.

Spoiler: Five-spice roast sweet potatoes. (click to show/hide)

These were laid out in a baking dish and roasted in the oven at 425F for about 30 minutes.



Just before that, I had roasted the cauliflower at 375F for about 10 minutes -- not enough to cook it all the way through, but enough to bring out the nuttiness in the flavor and firm it up a bit so they wouldn't get mushy in liquid.

Spoiler: Lightly toasted cauliflower. (click to show/hide)

After the potatoes had been roasting in the oven for about 10 minutes, I fixed up a balti curry (from packaged spice mix and water -- I'm not hardcore enough to make my own from scratch).

Spoiler: The kitchen smells like pure awesomesauce at this point. You would be tempted to eat the air. (click to show/hide)

Then I tossed in the sweet potatoes and the cauliflower and simmered for about 10 minutes. Fixed up a big batch of medium-grain rice in my rice cooker, and then served the balti over top of a bed of rice.

Spoiler: The finished product. OMNOMNOM. (click to show/hide)

I don't have a separate photo of the finished roast sweet potatoes, because they didn't really change appearance. However, I think five-spice sweet potatoes may be one of the best culinary whims I've ever tried. I may never use plain cinnamon again. Sooooooo goood......

[Helgoland]

Dark Weizen (Bavarian beer) apparently is a great ingredient in lentil soup. Hooray for drunk cooking!

[timferius]

Dark Weizen (Bavarian beer) apparently is a great ingredient in lentil soup. Hooray for drunk cooking!

My favourite part of making cheddar ale soup. Guinness for the soup, Guinness for the cook!

[Bohandas]

Anyone have any ideas on something I could do with a bunch of extra sweet-and-sour sauce?

[Vector]

.

[Bauglir]

Spinach? Kale? An ent assistant?

[Vector]

.

[Bauglir]

That's some good stuff. Makes a fine soup, especially. You dun chose good.

EDIT: I've made something rather like kimchi from sauerkraut, hoisin sauce, and hot sauce. It's not quite right, of course, but it's a lot cheaper than the overpriced kimchi available in grocery stores (though I should try an Asian grocery, honestly), and it's a lot easier than making it from scratch.

[HeroPizza42]

post to watch

[Helgoland]

Did I tell you guys about my Biersuppe - beer soup - yet?

Take a pack of pudding powder and mix it with ~60g (three heaped tablespoons) of sugar, a pinch of salt, a bit of milk to give it a creamy consistency, and an egg yolk. Put a litre of milk in a pot with some cinnamon and a good amount of raisins and bring to a boil. Pour in the pudding mix while stirring rapidly to prevent clumping. Boil for a couple of moments, then pour in half a litre of beer - Weizen works well, though any other sweet-ish beer should be good as well. Guinness could be good, I think, but I don't think a Pils would work well. Malt beer definitely works, and is suitable if you want an alcohol-free version, for example for pregnant women or children.
Make a foam from the white of the egg you got that yolk from and fold (?) it in the soup. If you're afraid of salmonella, boil again, but this might have an impact on the soup's taste.
Serve together with Schwarzbrot (apparently untranslatable), Pumpernickel ideally: When eating the soup, you take a slice of Schwarzbrot, crumble it up and put it in the soup. This part is vital - without the Schwarzbrot, the soup will only taste half as good.

Biersuppe is one of my early childhood memories, and I'm very happy to have rediscovered that recipe. It's also as German as cooking gets, I guess