The mayo tip that comes to mind that is not mentioned is to use Kewpie mayo. It’s just better than other mayo I’ve used (but Duke’s is good too). I didn’t know until I just looked it up now but it has some MSG (good thing) and uses egg yolks. I picked some up at Costco and I’m fully converted.
Thin coating all around, 30s per side including all around. It gives the crustiest of crusts, caramelized af and utterly delicious, while barely reheating the insides. It’s magic.
Hey friend, it is absolutely not bad, as long as youre cooking properly and stiring when needed its perfectly fine. And im sure amazon has some indiction stoves, if you buy one be careful
I agree with the other commenter, but I’m sure if helps I’d your pot has a laminated construction, or is made out of something very conductive like aluminum. You’re less likely to have a problem with a hot spot in a fully clad pan where there’s a layer of aluminum sandwiched between layers of steel (which helps conduct the heat more evenly), or with nonstick aluminum pan, than with single ply stainless (a single thinner layer the pot has been formed out of, usually very cheap. They’re not super common) or like enameled cast iron, which will be more prone to the middle being hotter with the outer edges
But with a pot, stirring is a pretty straightforward way to minimize one spot in the middle getting a bit hotter than the outside edges. Its worth paying attention to how it cooks and you’ll find there may be better ways to go about making your food (like being mindful to stir more) depending on how different cookware performs for you :)
Probably not. Could kinda depend on what kind of pot, and how hot you crank the burner. And also what kind of “burner” it is. But probably not. Electric coil and induction I would imagine are more likely to warp a pan, probably moreso induction than electric coil.
And single ply stainless and carbon steel seem like they’d be more prone to warping. But pots don’t really warp much, unlike pans which sometimes do. Cast iron definitely won’t warp, and a gas stove is unlikely to warp anything because the radiant nature of the heat it produces is less prone to creating hotspots
If a pot/pan is gonna warp, usually unless you MASSIVELY overheated it, it will return to shape after it cools down: so pay attention to the pot if its somewhat cheaply made and if you notice its not sitting flat while cooking, maybe be mindful not to crank the heat super duper hot with that pot
Ultimately, its extremely unlikely you have anything to worry about, and any potential issues can be managed by paying a little attention
Make flour tortillas instead. Masa harina comes from corn that has undergone the nixtamalization process which dramatically alters the flavor as well as the texture of the resulting dough you get.
Where do you live? You might be able to find it. I’m in small town Canada and I can find it at the grocery store. Check in the international or Mexican aisles if your stores have them. The most common brand near me is maseca or something like that. If you’re across the ocean, maaaybe you have an American aisle that might have it?
Personally, I prefer eating flour tortillas, but they are a little annoying to roll out with a rolling pin vs just pressing corn ones. I don’t think you can use a press for flour tortillas since gluten makes the dough behave differently than a corn dough would. You can roll out all the dough though and keep it in the fridge, just make sure to separate them with parchment or wax paper. I use wine bottles when my children have lost my rolling pin.
Flour tortillas are usually just ap flour, salt, lard or oil, and water. I haven’t made them in forever so I don’t have a recipe recommendation, but look around for one with those ingredients.
Even with flour tortilla dough, I’ve had success pressing them. I think the trick is not to over-knead because that develops the gluten. And also work in the lard by hand or with a pastry cutter, which also tamps down gluten. The tortillas I get this way aren’t super duper thin, but that’s fine by me given the ease of making them. FYI I use the bottom of a pot, not a real press.
I’ve tried to use different types of corn flour, but it’s never quite right. The nixtamilization process dramatically changes the texture of the resulting masa. Fresh masa is even better, and can be made yourself if you’re up for a project day.
I agree that flour tortillas may be your best bet if you can’t find maseca. A wine or round liquor bottle with the label removed makes a great impromptu rolling pin.
Even better than (or in combination with) a rolling pin: Squash your dough ball with a flat-bottomed pot or pan. Easier with plastic on either side of the dough… I cut open a gallon storage bag.
I don’t know about the quantities, recipes may vary but should be broadly available. In my experience, pesto spoils pretty quickly even in the fridge. So I would freeze it in small-ish portions if that is available to you.
Another cool way if you don’t want to use ice trays is placing it in a plastic bag and separating it with folds. Ethan Chlebowski has a good demonstration here.
Ingredients -1kg fresh basil leaves, packed (can sub half the basil leaves with baby spinach) -1.4kg freshly grated romano or parmesan-reggiano cheese (about 49 ⅞ ounces) -2.95l extra virgin olive oil -1.24kg pine nuts (can sub chopped walnuts) -74.8 garlic cloves, minced (about 299g) -35g salt, more to taste -8g freshly ground black pepper, more to taste
Directions
Pulse the basil and pine nuts: Place the basil leaves and pine nuts into the bowl of a food processor and pulse several times.
Add the garlic and cheese: Add the garlic and Parmesan or Romano cheese and pulse several times more. Scrape down the sides of the food processor with a rubber spatula.
Slowly pour in the olive oil: While the food processor is running, slowly add the olive oil in a steady small stream. Adding the olive oil slowly while the processor is running will help it emulsify and help keep the olive oil from separating. Occasionally, stop to scrape down the sides of the food processor.
Season the pesto sauce: Add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Toss with pasta for a quick sauce, dollop over baked potatoes, or spread onto crackers or toasted slices of bread.
Giallo Zafferano lists it by weight, and it’s generally a reputable site. I’ll scale it up to 1kg of basil for you, provided that this weight is leaves only (no stems):
1kg basil
1L olive oil
715g Parmesan
430g pinoli
430g Sardinian pecorino
30 cloves = ~2.5 heads of garlic
43g salt
Sub the pinoli with walnuts or cooked pinhão/piñón depending on availability and prices. Pecorino can be subbed with a bit more Parm if you want. The garlic should be ideally from a milder variety.
Note: this is a fuckload of pesto. I don’t recommend doing so much; instead you might be better off freezing the basil instead, and making it as you need.
Pesto won’t last very long in the fridge, so plan on freezing most of it. Some sort of freezer safe container, or ice cube trays to easily portion out how much you need is probably a good bet.
I don’t have a go-to pest recipe to share, but there’s a lot of them online, it’s just a matter of scaling them up. It’s basically as simple as throwing the leaves into a food processor with pine nuts, garlic, olive oil, Parmesan cheese, etc.
You’re going to end up with quite a lot of pesto from a whole kg of basil. I’d consider freezing or dehydrating some plain basil to use in other recipes, or making a few other things from it for some variety.
And I’m sure that the economics of this will vary from one region to another, and since you’re using metric units it’s probably a safe bet that you’re not in the US like I am, but I know arround me pine nuts can be pretty pricey. I’d probably be looking at about $40-$50 or so worth of pine nuts for that much pesto, but that may be different where you are, but it’s something to consider. You can usually sub in other cheaper, more readily available nuts for part or all of the pine nuts, I believe walnuts are common, but it will change the flavor a bit.
Even if it’s not necessarily cost effective, self made pesto is definitely worth it. And I would recommend that OP creates different batches, experimenting with ingredients (eg. Adding dried tomatoes, using different nuts, add spinach, etc).
And yeah, it’s probably more practical to just freeze the basil, and then just make ‘fresh’ pesto regularly, especially if you’re still trying to get to grips with getting the recipe just right for your taste, or you want to experiment with ingredients.
Also, probably a useless tip in OPs case, but you can substitute some of the basil with spinach without really affecting the taste, if you want your basil to stretch longer.
I’m not sure that smoking alone will do it sadly. The rendered fat just runs through the meat still. I have tried smoking it with varied success, but after responding to another comment I realized my lesser success may have been tied to a shorter smoke time. There is still hope and will combine both methods.
Defatting and deboning won’t help much, the taste/smell impregnates into the meat. Instead I’d recommend marinading:
add enough water to comfortably cover all the meat
add 10g salt and the juice of half lime for each kilogram of meat plus water
massage the meat a bit in the marinade
leave it overnight, in the fridge for at least 12h
Feel free to add other stuff to the marinade, like herbs, garlic, onions, ginger, oil, etc. Just keep in mind that you’ll need to discard that marinade water, you can’t really reduce it into a sauce, so anything that you add there will go to waste. (If you must, marinade it twice)
Got this trick from helping out rural relatives butchering pigs. They often raised the pigs to adulthood, and sometimes they forgot to castrate a boar or two.
I will happily try this. It’s enough to have filled my 7.1cuft chest freezer to the top so I really want to waste as little as possible. How will I know if I must marinate it twice?
Something I did notice, it’s 90% roasts and chops evenly split. I’ve done a roast (left overnight in the fridge with a mustard binder and dry rub) and then smoke it for maybe 1.5-2 hrs and it was fine. The night before was the same prep but chops and in the air fryer (never again) and it was burning my sinuses. The next time (I may hate myself, I don’t know) I did chops again but in the smoker with no binder, salt bathed for an hour leading up to and just a dry rub and it stank up my grease bucket. ETA: it also was still detectable around the fattier bits. It was a shorter smoke, which is why I was hoping removing the fat beforehand would be sufficient.
It’s been wildly hit or miss. So thank you again for the info!
By “marinading it twice” I mean one marinade to get rid of the smell, another to actually season it. The second one is optional, up to you; you can reuse the liquid of the second marinade for some gravy, or to brush over the meat (never raw, though), but do not reuse the liquid of the first one.
Oh, also! Would you recommend both trimming/boning AND the lime brine?
It is not necessary but since you said that you’re noticing it around the fattier bits, I’d try it. (I never did it though - only the marinade.) Then, as you said, you can always readd some fat, in special lard would be good.
I’ll try it both ways in one cook and see how it pans out. The extra trimming and boning also finally gives me an excuse to splurge on a proper boning knife!
Oh, also! Would you recommend both trimming/boning AND the lime brine? I can add butter or oil to re-up the fats I’m removing for smoking at least. Maybe I’ll try it and follow up if my gold fish dad brain remembers.
cooking
Oldest
This magazine is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.