I ended up buying a Kitchen Aid set when I had to stock a new home and didn’t want to invest in a 100% AllClad/Le Creuset setup, and the whole set was like $140 from Amazon and has been rock solid. Just a note for those that need to get (re)started.
And for knives, I stand by America’s Test Kitchen’s recommendation for Victorinox Forschners.
I use my 8" and 12" cast iron more than anything else, followed by my 5 or 8 qt Le Creuset dutch overs. I don’t bother with a non-stick anything (I use cast iron instead).
Note – only non-stick is the 8" pan. I’ve made that mistake before, and I don’t understand why nearly every set sold (even with the suckiness of sets) are non-stick everything, including a roasting pan. Non-stick roasting pan? Really?
Health thing. During the low-fat crazies of the 80s everyone was trying hard not to cook with oil or butter, so instead we decided that ingesting the chemicals in non-stick cooking was better…
You may want to consider the Tramontina Triply sold at Walmart. The aluminum core goes up the sides like All-Clad pans and is recommended by America’s Test Kitchen.
I don’t have them myself- I have All-Clad.
Some recent stuff:
Crêpe Suzette
First time I’ve had this and it came out amazing.
Indian-inspired venison curry with coriander and Guinness bread
Pretty decent also, but it’s hard to go wrong with a curry if you’re sensible about spices.
Marged
2644
Yeah, definitely check out Tramontina. All Clad is probably overkill/over priced for most home cooks. That said, I love my All Clad skillet and probably wouldn’t trade it for anything. But for other things, if I had to do it over again, I’d go to a restaurant supply store.
interman, how do you thicken your curry? I made some last night, but I was sort of afraid to throw too much into an overly full pot and so wound up with soup. Tasty soup, but still soup.
Dude, you just made yourself a muh-fuhn chorizo corn dog. An awesome one.
CAKE BALLS!
So easy:
1 red velvet cake box mix
1 can of cream cheese frosting
Some chocolate melting bits
Cookie sheets lined with wax paper
Make the cake as instructed on the box. Let the cake cool completely. COMPLETELY. Then break it all up into crumbs with your fingers in a big bowl. The take about 3/4ths of the can of frosting and put it in with the cake. Use your hands to mush it all together until totally mixed. It gets messy! Then break off pieces and roll them into balls, setting them aside on the wax paper. When you’ve rolled them all, put them in the fridge for AT LEAST four hours. You want them to be totally chilled. I left mine in for a good 7 or 8. Then take them out, melt the chocolate, dip them in, and let them rest again on the wax paper.
They are totally easy and super delicious. I ended up making around 170 of these from one cake mix, brought them to a 3rd of July party and they were gone in two hours. I dipped mine in white chocolate and the red cake looked great against it when you bit into it. People also had NO IDEA how I made them–they kept commenting on how the cake was super moist and did I cut circles out of the cake and then dip it in chocolate? Total hit.
Is there another forum game afoot?
Raife
2649
I am cooking a frozen pizza as I type this! It’s some kind of gourmet abomination with chicken and alfredo sauce and probably magic unicorn dust or something. I am going to eat it in the name of science!
Marbas
2650
Simple recipe I use for sauteed vegetables—quick, easy, healthy!
1-2 yellow squash, sliced and halved
1-2 zucchini, sliced and halved
2 bell peppers (different colors, I usually use red and orange), cut into thin strips
4-5 carrots, thinly sliced
2 broccoli crowns (cut as much stem off as possible)
4-5 green onions, thinly sliced (I only use the bases, not the leafy part)
Chop and slice everything beforehand.
Heat a big pan, medium heat.
Add ALL vegetables into the pan, onions last.
Drizzle olive oil over the veggies, about 2T
Stir veggies over medium heat for 2 minutes—add more oil if not all the veggies have a very light coating on them.
Add 1/4 cup water and cover for 4 minutes.
**Check halfway through the time to ensure your heat isn’t too high!
Remove from heat and drizzle a small amount of soy sauce over the veggies, mixing well. (Soy to taste)
Serves 2-4 people.
These veggies go wonderfully with any type chicken or fish.
My father LOVES these veggies leftover for his sandwich wraps–they add a great kick to any sandwich instead of boring lettuce!
JonRowe
2651
I made pan-seared NY Strip steaks tonight. The butcher had thin cut NY Strips, so I figured a pan sear would work good. Rubbed em up with olive oil and some salt and black pepper, and some Montreal steak rub.
Turned out pretty good, though I should have had the heat higher to increase the sear without fully cooking the inside. I made them a little too well done for my tastes, I prefer a medium rare, but they turned out all right in the end. Any steak that tastes good enough to be eaten without any sauce is a win for me.
A little bit of corn starch goes a long way. I start off by sauteeing the spices, adding a paste of fresh ginger and garlic, then adding onion, meat, beans, coconut milk and so on and so on. I leave it for ~45 minutes, checking up on it now and then, and refilling water if needed. Towards the end I adjust for seasoning, and serve.
Yesterday I dug into the freezer and found some nettles, so I made some souffles. Shame they shrank so fast out of the oven.
And for today a Quiche Lorraine, plus a fruit salad and a balsamic reduction. Super nice!
Pulled pork taco’s last weekend, because I’m addicted to them due to a nearby restaurant and for the life of me I -had- to mimic the recipe.
Pulled pork
Corn tortillas
Diced onion
Cilantro (hard to see in the pic)
Chipotle aioli
Lime juice squeezed on top
The whole recipe is quite long.
The sooner you start typing the sooner you will be finished. The sooner you finish, the sooner you can stop fearing what I might do to you if I don’t get that recipe.
Yeah… that looks too amazing not to share.
Lemon-pepper cod fillets and roasted potatoes - roasted in the toaster oven, because it’s too bloody hot here to use the regular oven. The potatoes were delicious, like they always are, but unfortunately this cemented that I really don’t like cod very much.
I made a really good wild boar and porcini mushroom ragu last night. I wish I had a pasta machine, but I had the next best thing: fresh tagliatelle I picked up from the market. Man, there’s nothing quite like a good hearty, earthy meat sauce.
Sarkus
2659
I didn’t cook it but I did come across canned German potato salad at the dollar store the other day and picked some up. Basically its sliced potatoes with some bacon and onion in a vinagrette sauce, which is interesting to say the least. This particular version is very heavy on the vinagrette, but if you cook it (you can eat it cold or hot) I guess some of that would disappear or you can just dump it. Not sure if I like it - the vinagrette is very strong - but its definately interesting and certainly healthier then traditional potato salad.
I was making burritos the other day and realized I had no bulk green veg except cabbage. So I julienned a few leaves and then blanched them in 4:1 water/vinegar with a tsp of dill seed and cumin seed, plus a bit of pepper. Man, you’d be shocked how tasty that cabbage becomes in five minutes. I may never buy lettuce again.
H.
