One problem plaguing a lot of people these days, especially burgers like myself, is that many people eat out at restaurants too much instead of preparing home cooked meals. Eating out is frequently both more expensive and less healthy for you than a home cooked meal. Furthermore, many people live with a limited library of meals that they know how to prepare and don't realize the culinary possibilities that are right in front of them.
The purpose of this thread is to try to break that habit of eating out and to make cooking at home become the norm in our lives. Please share meal ideas and how to prepare them here. All meals are welcome, although preferably we should post meals that are easy to prepare so that novice cooks will not be intimidated by the prospect of preparing them for themselves. Even simple sandwiches are fair game. Sometimes that may mean cutting corners with pre-made mixes instead of preparing everything from scratch.
Remember that the goal isn't necessarily to post the most inexpensive meals or the healthiest meals, although those meals are certainly very welcome. The goal is to encourage people to dust off their kitchen appliances and flex their atrophied cooking muscles. I realize that this opens the door to culinary nightmares like /tg/'s infamous meat-bread, but so be it. Let's get cooking!
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>>8079This is a testament to how you can absolutrly nail every aspect. The fat is gummy and gelatinous, the meat is crumbly/spicy- coarse on the outside.
But the salt is a little heavy. Its plenty edible, butbthis COULD be an S rank. And its a B
(its kinda like raising chocobo)
Zomg, if you like delicious sauces that burn both ways, come check this one out. Its flavor is amazing, and the spiciness is really next level, even for this brand (I have several already). Highly recommended for spicelords
Smokin some chiggun fighs,... smokin some chiggun fighs

Final skin-crisp at 500 deg
Also. Chatgpt confirms, the "shut it off and let it rest in the heated metal" method is peak efficiency
Heres to all the faggots out there doing your
thang today.
https://youtube.com/shorts/QXqUSEn4zlo?si=riNSu42GyrHS1zR1Happy Thanksgiving!
<Remember 6 years ago when we cooked a WHOLE Roc in the forge?<Eh, ye pruly fooked eet up
OMFG SMASHED BROCOLLI CHIPS. OMFG SMASHED BROCOLLI CHIPS.
Bruh. Smashed broccoli chips, try it.
>>8150Looks bretty gud, they need more cheese though.
>>8151Agreed, but for a tictok trend, this one has merit
>>8150eew, broccoli, the most detestable vegetable of them all.
>>8150probably well-cooked though, for people who like evil vegetables
>>8153I know, but its crispy n shit.
>>8153Yes, but in the unterest of not-dying-scale, it could do worse
This evening I made some spicy beans-n-rice with chorizo. I browned a pound of chorizo with a chopped onion, a chopped bulb of garlic, and six chopped jalapenos, with a little salt and pepper. I added two cups of chicken stock and brought it to a boil and added a little can of tomato paste, whisked in. Then I looked over the shelves and poured in an assortment of canned sauces with labels in Spanish that were marked down at a local supermarket--salsa taquera, salsa de jalapeno, and I can't even remember what else. When all of this came to a boil I added a can of mixed vegetables, two cans of beans, two cups of water, and a cup of brown rice. I brought all of this back to a boil. Then I put it in the oven at 275 for an hour, to simmer it without scorching. It's nice and spicy, very piquant and savory. One of the sauces had a smoky chipotle flavor that went really well with the chorizo, and I think it may have been the one labeled "taquera." Most of the leftovers are now in the freezer, but I'll eat some more tomorrow. In retrospect I should have gotten some white button mushrooms and sliced them up to brown with the onions and peppers at the beginning. I should also have gotten some oyster crackers. 8/10, not the best thing I've ever made, but it was cheap and filling, and has protein.
We smoking short rib bitches!
And not just ordinary short ribs, nut coot-cowe-Ipetted-and-handfed tillmit died shirteib.
Its the good shit
>>8171"But coot cowe, grain fjnished and grassfed" was what I meant to say. Touchscreens are ass and its gen y's fault btw
About an hour on, almost rdy to pull and braise :3
>>8173That looks really nice
Alright, let's talk Christmas dinner.
Alton Brown has a technique for a prime rib that works really well: you unpackage the roast 4 days before cooking and let it sit for 2 days in the fridge, wrapped in cheese cloth, and then for the next 2 day you dry rub/brine.
But I have a brisket. So lets get fancy
The plan
- Comprehensive red wine and spice marination, 18 hrs
- S/low cook in marinade until 165
- Pat dry, binder with smoked lard, and season
- Texas crutch, onto the smoker for like 6 hours, basting with compound butter every 15-20 mins
- after internals at 205, baste with a creme bruglee-esque glaze/paste, and crisp with a blowtorch
Plan includes cloves in the fat cap during the butter basting stage, for extra extra (it works for ham)
The Marinade
1 bottle dry Merloy
1 roasted shallots
3 bulbs roasted garlic
2-3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 small sprig fresh sage
½ cup fresh or cranberries
1 cinnamon stick
1 tbsp black peppercorns
1 tbsp kosher salt
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
>>8174Fun fact about country livestock butchers versus city/production butchers. See that hazy membrane that looks like silverskin? Thats not silverskin. Conventional butchers trim that off and mix it in with their ground beef cuz it looks off.
That membrane turns into beef jelly. Its incredible. But they cut it off for the store cuz ppl don't know what it is. So sad.
>>8194As a last-minute
wild hair addition, decided to smoke roast a bell pepper and throw in a pinch of food-grade lavendar. Hush, If you're straining the solids, it doesnt matter.
>tfw the next step is waiting 15 hours
58 minutes until the marinade starts
Foggy cuz theres lard residue, but sealed at 1:01 am. Now, just gotta toss it a few times until 11pm
Yes, theres a peak timing to marinades: 18 hours
For the record, the broth/braise/etc is goddamn amazing...
Ever cook something, and as its going ur tasting sauces and whatnot, and you're like "Fuck me, this is one of the most amazing things Ive ever tasted, let alone made"?
>tfw Im only NOW being advised to call it "Mare"-inade
Bap
BRED INFO
Messing around in the kitchen and getting results out of it is fun. Here are some observations and notes from what I've picked up here and there.
>The more moist the dough, the better the bread, usually.
>Gluten for good structure develops over time.
>>That's how you can set up a very moist dough and just let it proof overnight without kneading, if you want easy bread dough.
>Start the bread dough with your measured liquid amount with sugar and yeast, then add flour gradually as you mix it up.
Other things to consider adding to bread:
-Oil or fat of some kind
-An Egg or two
--Egg yolk is like a big spoonful of butter as far as macronutrients, flavour and bread structure is concerned.
---Use the leftover egg white as your egg wash,
---Or add a touch of sugar and vanilla, beat it for several minutes until you get soft peaks, and bake these into a merange
----Many things are done cooking when you see it start to take on a golden brown colour. Don't let it get too dark, or it'll lose out.
>To get a great structure of buns, do the following with your dough:
>>Knead the dough for several minutes
>>Let it proof for 45m-1hr
>>Knead it again for a brief time to knock out the air and re-orient the gluten strands
>>Cut the dough into equal portions
>>Form these portions into dough balls, and place them on a baking tray.
>>Let them relax the gluten fibers and proof a little more
>>>At this stage, you'll easily be able to work these buns into some kind of stuffed breakfast bun
Recipe for a good bun filling:
>Scrambled eggs cooked to a velvety consistency.
>>Bias towards under-cooking them slightly. They'll still cook when you're baking the bun, don't worry
>>Add some crumbled cheese to the eggs
>>Salt and pepper
>Chopped onions
>>Cook them low and slow in some oil or butter on the stove with a pinch of salt while you're working on kneading the bread so that your time working is more rewarding and less boring. This is an extra step, but pre-cooking them gets much better flavour if you have the time.
>Chopped other vegetables, like red, green, or yellow peppers.
>>Pre-cook just like the onions if time permits
>>If using fast-cooking vegetables like the heads of broccoli, then do not pre-cook them, else they might end up overcooking.
Eggs first, then the veggies on top. When you make the buns, the veggies will release some more liquid and make steam. We want the steam and bubbling liquid to escape from the top. The oil and melted cheese from the soft cooked scrambled eggs will keep the texture of the inner filling of the buns moist enough.
Forming the dough balls into breakfast buns can be done a variety of ways, but I generally suggest you try to make the dough ball small enough that the whole thing, before cooking and before being pushed outwards to flatten it, can fit comfortably in the palm of your hand. They'll be about the size of a hamburger bun after cooking. The bigger the bun, usually the bigger the ratio of bread to filling.
Forming the buns can be a bit tricky. Accept the practice. You want to flatten the dough and put some water around the edges before trying to fold it up. You can just fold it over on the side like a pizza pocket, but remember that, depending on what you put inside of it, it might need some steam to escape.
>To make it a touch better, beat a single egg in a bowl and use a brush to slap the egg mixture on to the buns before baking them. It's not quite as good as cooking with steam (achievable through several tricks, but not something I consider really worth the effort due to inconvenience), but it adds a lot to the effect.
>>Reclaim the remaining unused egg wash by adding flour to it and forming a basic bread. Cook this small loaf with your various buns. There will almost certainly be many awkwardly shaped ones in your first few batches, and the wonderful effects of using pre-cooked fillings and cooking stuff that is inside of bread to help use the bread as a protective coating gives you a good window of "good enough" cooking
Make a big batch, and store them in freezer bags. They're great reheated in an air fryer from the fridge. My batch did not last long enough to make it to the freezer.
>Note: When baking in general, try to bake on parchment paper. It makes everything better. I'm not entirely sure how to articulate why.
>>8209Parchment paper allows for a more even distribution of heat and evaporation of moisture than direct contact with a pan, causing better crust and more consistent browning
fuck it, i need to start eating better this year
and a great way to do that is by making my own meals, here at home
i shall post in this thread whenever i make anything i deem post worthy!
>>88I Don't cook my own food but I just ate the best salad, I've ever had. it was a Chef's salad. Sadly there are no pics. its long gone.
>>8228Ripe tomatoes, fresh mozzarella basil, olive oil, salt/pepper
Okay, I know the title/theme is "cook your food, but hold on a sec. If food safety standards are in place, you can have a less/not cooked steak; flame kissed (well seared) but otherwise raw in the middle.
Yes, raw. And it was delicious, with only a light dusting of allspice
Trying fermented pickles for my first time. Most store bought pickles are made with vinegar, and heated to kill [healthy] bacteria for a long shelf life.
Fermented pickles, in theory, cultures lactobacilli bacteria found in fresh food, and the bacteria's by-product creates lactic acid that is creates the pickle.
Apparently they can be over-pickled too, letting the bacteria work too long and the flavor becomes too strong or the pickles are too mushy. Also supposedly they get a better flavor if pickled at 60-65degrees, so winter/spring/fall in my area is a good time to do it.
I feel like this specific batch I added a little too much salt, but maybe not. Different places I look suggest a slightly different salt ratio. I'll get a pretty good idea in a week. They might be ready to take with me to harmonycon, which would be fun.
>>8251God I could go for a good pickle right about now
>>8251Based. I've been gearing toward a legit pickle experiment. Lactobascillus? anyway, good luck ^^
>>8251I'm a dumbass and didn't say how much salt I added.
One place I looked at said to use 2% salt of the combined weight of cucumber and water, another said 3%. I used 2.5%.
In my case it was 8lbs of cucumber and water, 8*0.025=0.2lbs of salt. Or 3.2 ounces of salt.
I just used regular sodium chloride salt, they cost about $5 for a 25lb sack of it at Costco. I didn't see a reason to go all fancy with the salt, its just there to keep bacteria away. As long as its not iodized (iodine added) it should be fine™
Technically that is all that's needed, the stuff being pickled, salt, good filtered water, and something to ferment in. Everything else added is for extra flavors.
Most things I read stress about using special more expensive pickling salt or kosher salt and pickling spice mix and distilled water and special pickling cucumbers... bleh, I just want some pickles, sheesh.
They do make a good point that (some? most?) of the larger cucumbers are coated with a thin layer of wax. The wax messes with the pickling process. I assume they mean if the cucumber is pickled whole though, can't imagine it would hurt anything if they are cucumber slices like I did.
Anyway, that is some of the stuff I read and what I did. Figured I'd try it out and see what happens.
>>8254This is also why I dont fuck with bread. Fucking percentages and ratios? If I cant adjust with a pinch of salt, sorry no
An interesting view on food.
The trick to getting 'fermentation' on ground beef is the lactobascillus. The easiest way is to get one of those fermented Leche drinks that mexicans love so much.
Let the meat soak, and then let it re-dry on a cooling rack. It will be fine, it only takes 2-3 days, not near enough for the meat to spoil
>>88Something I did, a neighbor has a bunch of prickly pear cactus on his front lawn and they were all fruiting. I asked him and he let me pick em and I used them for Kompot and Prickly Pear jelly. It was so good, honestly the two are super easy to make with most fruits and I highly recommend it sometime!
Oh something else for everyone that can help with your onions and giving you a growable harvest of em in the future.
If you get grocery store onions and youre gonna cook them, only use the bottom 3/4ths of it and make sure you leave the last 1/4th have the little bits of roots on the top.
If you remove the outer husk and soak it roots down in water until you start to see shoots, you can plant them as some free onion starters and reuse them!
There needs to be an ESRB-type organization in charge of spice-level certification. Sometimes you get something labelled 'spic' and it just tastes like there was once spice involved in the process. Then you get other shit that melts your goddamn face off, and that's coming from a self-described spice lord who eats habaneros like candy.
I'm just saying, scoville units don't work as a standard unless everyone is advertizing it, but if you've every tried all the different ramen and "maybe korean, but also ramen" types, you may know what I'm talking about. It could actually work, in the same way Dave Portnoy did his thing with "one bite" pizza reviews.
Alright you foodie faggots. Its finally happened. There's a youtuber named ChefPK. In addition to having done more Food Wars recipes than anyone on the internet, he also did a complete reaction series to the entirety of Food Wars. But for copywrite reasons, the series was removed years ago. Well, it's back. It's on his patreon, and if you like anime, cooking, and authoritative reactions, check it out.
This is THE way to watch Food Wars
patreon/com/chefpk
>>8383>Food WarsNah, I pass.
When you have an East European granny from the countryside cooking online I would be more interested.
>>8384Suit yourself. There will be a weekly cytube series
https://youtube.com/shorts/fAcLHXdxQW4?si=248s1sKTQ4Sgvgg2While a slight variation on several styles, this is a new one not previously considered
Pleat gained