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[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

Technically I'm a good cook.
Unfortunately I'm also deeply and fundamentally lazy, so I end up eating bacon out of a 7 day pan.

For the uninitiated, the 7 Day Pan is a flavour enhancer developed first by the first man who couldn't be bothered to wash up.

[nenjin]

That's uhm....that's nasty man. Working as a line cook for a few years, I've seen some short cuts taken, but with your own grub? Blech.

[Footkerchief]

Bacon is pushing it, but if I just used a pan to make eggs or sauteed vegetables or whatever, I'll usually reuse it without washing.  If non-washing is necessary for cast iron, there's really nothing wrong with treating nonstick pans the same way.

[Retro]

Well, if we're just throwing out recipes now, here's my specialty stir-fry recipe that I usually make for big formal-esque meals.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Ingredients: A single diced green pepper, some chopped up green onion, chopped baby corn, diced mushrooms, maybe some snow peas if that's your thing, and some medium shrimp, pref. atlantic.

Sauce:
1/3 cup of water (pref. hot)
1 teaspoon olive oil (or whatever other cooking oil, doesn't matter much)
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
A teeny bit of minced ginger
Some chicken stock (a teaspoon if you just have some powdered, or a small packet if you have those)
1 tablespoon black bean sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon soya sauce
1 teaspoon corn starch
Stir like crazy. You end up with a sorta-thick light brown sauce with chopped garlic chunks floating around in it. If you have a friend sitting around with nothing to do, getting them to casually keep stirring it until you're ready for it is a great boon

Throw all the veggies in the wok (or pan I guess, but it's heavily sauce-based so wok is preferred) with a bit of oil on medium heat, and toss/mix around pretty frequently for the entire cooking period. Toss a few squirts of extra soya sauce on after a minute or two if you like. After 3ish minutes, toss in the shrimp and try to keep them underneath the veggies while you cook them. Once the shrimp look nice and pink again (but before they're totally cooked), pour the sauce in. Crank the heat up to high or med-high and get the food out to the sides while letting the sauce thicken up in the middle. Once the sauce is thick enough to coat all the veggies and shrimp and not pool in the bottom of the wok, it's done. Serve on a bed of buttered, steaming hot spaghetti. If you start boiling the water for the spaghetti as you start preparing, you should start cooking as the water boils and the pasta goes in, and will probably finish the stir-fry just after the pasta is all finished.



Photo is from like, maybe three years ago? Four? Didn't use mushrooms in it at the time

[nenjin]

Frying in bacon fat is ok, or cooking in the juices of other stuff. After it's gotten cold though, no way. I'm pretty anal about dishes though, probably from starting as a dishwasher.

If non-washing is necessary for cast iron, there's really nothing wrong with treating nonstick pans the same way.

Yes and no. They tell you not to wash cast iron because people never season it properly. You can wash a properly seasoned cast iron skillet, as long as you heat dry it and wipe it out, and if you're really anal, reoil it afterward. Non-stick is ok to not wash as long as you wipe it out (that's how line cooks avoid ever washing pans, they have a nappy rag to wipe pans out with), but most people don't like having a pan rag or use paper towels. The first thing on people's mind when they cook usually isn't taking care of dishes.

Well, if we're just throwing out recipes now, here's my specialty stir-fry recipe that I usually make for big formal-esque meals.

I do something like that, never tried Oyster and Black Bean, I should try it. I use honey instead, and hot mustard, and blend it really good. Gives it sort of a sweet and sour kick. I also go for Ramen instead of spaghetti, just tastes better and it's cheaper.

If you start boiling the water for the spaghetti as you start preparing, you should start cooking as the water boils and the pasta goes in, and will probably finish the stir-fry just after the pasta is all finished.

This is sage advice. With stir fry sauces, the longer you cook it, the more in reduces, and if you used a lot of soy, that means it starts getting really, really salty. Timing your noodles for when the sauce is just about done can be tricky if you've never done it.

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

Cleaned out the 7 day pan for another week.
The water in the sink was utterly black. Still need to wash out the coffee pot.

[Osmosis Jones]

Incidentally, another handy little trick? Boil the water in the kettle first. It takes about a quarter the time a large pot does on gas.

[Retro]

If you start boiling the water for the spaghetti as you start preparing, you should start cooking as the water boils and the pasta goes in, and will probably finish the stir-fry just after the pasta is all finished.

This is sage advice. With stir fry sauces, the longer you cook it, the more in reduces, and if you used a lot of soy, that means it starts getting really, really salty. Timing your noodles for when the sauce is just about done can be tricky if you've never done it.

To add to that, I just realized I never mentioned: cleaning up as you cook means that when all's said and done, all you have to do is wash out the wok once everything's done and cooked. Another great tip I got from my dad way back.

Incidentally, another handy little trick? Boil the water in the kettle first. It takes about a quarter the time a large pot does on gas.

That's a new trick to me. Though that'll definitely come in handy a few times, my electric kettle isn't that big. Good tip, though.

[nenjin]

To add to that, I just realized I never mentioned: cleaning up as you cook means that when all's said and done, all you have to do is wash out the wok once everything's done and cooked. Another great tip I got from my dad way back.

This ethos has been burned into my soul after working in kitchens. I have to clean as I go, because 'if you got time to lean, you got time to clean," as the saying goes.

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

I have my siblings to clean for me.
Created a mutant stew last night by assuming that if it was fresh it could go in the pot.
All I know is that I chopped a lot of vegetables. It tasted good, somehow, which was nice.

[G-Flex]

I need to try making chili again (slow-cooked preferably). Last time, I sort of screwed it up by stirring the meat way too much (the recipe had you cook ground beef directly in the sauce), turning it into a sort of slurry. Still tasted good, at least.

At least the chocolate cheesecake I made recently came out delicious. It's expensive to make, though, compared to most baked goods I've done.

[Osmosis Jones]

I've really got to learn to bake sweet things. Was it hard to make?

[G-Flex]

Not that hard at all, really. It was a pretty basic recipe; it consisted of nothing but cream cheese, chocolate, vanilla extract, and sugar, as far as I can remember. Oh, and an Oreo crumb crust, which was more annoying than anything else.

Having a springform pan is neat because otherwise you're pretty limited when it comes to cheesecakes unless you just use one of those pre-made store-bought crusts.

[Osmosis Jones]

Fair enough. I may have to give that a try sometime. Also, springpans for the win. My housemate has a big cake one, which just so happens to be perfect when cooking large loaves of bread

[Neonivek]

If you add milk to the mix you make French Toast with (or Creame) the French Toast can be sweet even without syrup.