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[edbrat]

Pan sauces. Do you make them? How?

I think the basic technique you're referring to is making a sauce from the pan a piece of meat has been cooked in - if so, there is likely to be a load of crust on the cooking surface from the meat. This can be used to flavour a sauce - in a medium hot pan you've cooked meat in, add something to deglaze the pan - pour a little in and agitate the surface with a wooden spoon so the meaty crust is absorbed by the liquid. The liquid you use will depend on the recipe, common agents are water, stocks, wine, beer. Then check how intense the sauce is, loosen by adding more liquid or water / strengthen by reducing further, check seasoning, finish with any herbs / flavourings, thicken with cream or an other if thats what you want, serve.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

Yeah, I do that on my weber all the time. I just started using a water pan, though I am not sure if it has any real effect on the cooking. The ribs I made before without using the water pan were just as tender. It does keep a layer of food-related grime off the side of the grill though.

I really do like the weber. I usedd an expensive gas grill before. Using the cheap kettle style has been alot more fun.

The water in a pan is meant as a means of temperature control, its suppose to keep your smoking process around 220 F.

 

[otake]

I think the basic technique you're referring to is making a sauce from the pan a piece of meat has been cooked in - if so, there is likely to be a load of crust on the cooking surface from the meat. This can be used to flavour a sauce - in a medium hot pan you've cooked meat in, add something to deglaze the pan - pour a little in and agitate the surface with a wooden spoon so the meaty crust is absorbed by the liquid. The liquid you use will depend on the recipe, common agents are water, stocks, wine, beer. Then check how intense the sauce is, loosen by adding more liquid or water / strengthen by reducing further, check seasoning, finish with any herbs / flavourings, thicken with cream or an other if thats what you want, serve.

So I don't need to use stock exclusively. What has turned out well for you in the past?

I can see making pan sauces with wine, we drink a lot of wine in my house .

 

[Stalfos]

So I don't need to use stock exclusively. What has turned out well for you in the past?

I can see making pan sauces with wine, we drink a lot of wine in my house .

Pan sauces are very commonly made with wine, both red and white work well depending on what you are going for.

 

[trancekr]

Just want to make something for Beer

 

[otake]

Pan sauces are very commonly made with wine, both red and white work well depending on what you are going for.

How do you keep it thick and dense?

 

[HiResDes]

How do you keep it thick and dense?

Flour?

 

[Zyzyxxz]

How do you keep it thick and dense?

You can always make a roux which is equal parts butter to flour in tablespoons. Just melt butter and then whisk in flour until it cooks together and then add it to your pan sauce.

Or if you want to go high end you can use xanthan gum which thickens liquids without affecting taste. Unlike cornstarch or flour based roux it wont give it a pastier taste.

 

[Stalfos]

How do you keep it thick and dense?

Not all sauces need to be thick, but as mentioned before there are several thickening agents you can use. I've used flour in a roux to make a pan gravys.

 

[OnkelC]

why use a thickening agent? reduce on high heat to 1/3 of original amount, and you are set. If you feel adventurous, add a spoon of creme fraiche.

 

[otake]

why use a thickening agent? reduce on high heat to 1/3 of original amount, and you are set. If you feel adventurous, add a spoon of creme fraiche.

I like this idea better. I've used flour, and mashed potato powder (tell no one), as thickening agents with mixed results. I wanted to see what others do. Thanks for the info.

 

[OnkelC]

off topic:
a really nice ipad app was released recently, at least it's aesthetically pleasing
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gourmet-live/id391597058?mt=8

share your app recommendations!

 

[Zoe]

If you feel adventurous, add a spoon of creme fraiche.

What's a good American equivalent of this?

 

[OnkelC]

What's a good American equivalent of this?

there's no creme fraiche in the usa?
i am seriously baffled.
sour cream would be the closest equivalent, but creme fraiche has a much more sophisticated taste. it would be worth hunting down imho.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crème_fraiche

 

[Cosmic Bus]

What's a good American equivalent of this?

Creme fraiche is available in practically any grocery store you might go into across the entire US, but if you're adamant about having an alternative, equal parts sour cream and heavy cream works well.

 

[HappyBivouac]

Guys.

Oven-baked chorizo quesadillas.

So good.

On an only partially-related note, are any of you from NYC? I'm looking for restaurant recommendations. Please don't let my poor thread die before it gets anywhere: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=408671

 

[Cosmic Bus]

I've been thinking about what to send a friend for Christmas instead of the usual types of things, and it occurred to me to try something along the lines of those cookie/muffin mixes in a jar (where all the necessary dry ingredients are layered into a decorated jar along with a little recipe card).

He's young and since his family doesn't ever seem to eat together -- or even keep the kitchen very well-stocked -- his idea of dinner usually consists of stuff like McDonalds, a bag of chips, ramen, etc. His metabolism allows for such lousy eating habits, but I'd like to give him the option to have something homemade once in a while, along with nurturing some desire to cook because he'll be moving out on his own next year.

Any suggestions for small "almost complete" meals I could package together? Needing some fresh ingredients would be inevitable (mostly meats) but I think if he's got a container with practically everything else and only needs to toss it into a skillet for a few minutes, that would be sufficient to break the fast food and snacking cycle, even if it's just once or twice a week.

 

[n0b]

Steak tacos with some fresh homemade salsa, except I didn't have actual tacos so I just cut a big (spinach) tortilla into 4.

 

[tsigo]

Just want to make something for Beer

Looks good. What kind of cheese did you use?

 

[Raide]

I just tried the "Cut hole in bread, pour in egg, fry and consume" recipe.

Delicious! UK here but where have these things been all my life??

 

[otake]

You guys make my cooking seem to amateurish and redundant. You also make my camera look like it's worth $10.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

You guys make my cooking seem to amateurish and redundant. You also make my camera look like it's worth $10.

everybody starts somewhere and redundancy is not a bad thing. Famous chefs like Thomas Keller started in a lowly kitchen making hollandaise sauce everyday. It is with a conscious strive to perfect it did he truly develop his cooking skills.

You don't have to have a wide knowledge in cuisine to be a good homecook but cook what you like (as long as its not too unhealthy) as much as possible and try to make it better than the last.

 

[PartlyCloudlike]

Also took mom to Alexander's Steakhouse in Cupertino for her birthday. Great food with equally good service. Tried aged beef for the first time too!

I had the greatest steak of my life at Alexander's. It was the Wagyu Ribeye, medium rare. Generously marbled, perfectly seared and crispy on the outside, and the damn thing just melted in your mouth. Tasting that piece of meat made me feel privileged, even more when they handed me a certificate of authenticity for that cut! On the certificate was the cow's nose print, it's origin, and a family tree to trace back the cow in case I don't believe it is real Wagyu. The experience blew me away. I must go back!!!

 

[Althane]

So I recently started actually cooking for myself, and (sorry, no pictures since I didn't think of posting in here until now) here's what I did:

I took a frozen chicken breast (since I'm really irregular about what I'm going to eat, frozen works better for me), thawed it, and then while the oven was heating, rubbed in olive oil onto both sides, and put cayenne pepper, lemon pepper (with garlic seasoning), and regular salt on both sides (not a whole lot, maybe a tap or two of the bottles). Then, I cooked for 7 minutes at 450 degrees, and another 5 after flipping them. At the end of the five, I put some pepper jack cheese on top of the chicken, and finished with 2 more minutes of cooking.

At the end of that, I had it with carrots (what I did was I took the cheese that had melted off the chicken onto the tin-foil and put it on top of the carrots... kind of greasy and not very good, I'll have to think of a more interesting way to present raw carrots (hate cooked veggies)), and some Mike's hard lemonade.

It was actually really, really good. You can adjust the cayenne pepper as you desire for a proper level of spicy, the chicken was not dry at all (wonder if I just got lucky with the cooking, or if the cheese had anything to do with that, or what?), and it made an excellent meal.

What's on my agenda next? Well, I'm looking for a way to do red meat (preferably lean steaks (I'm not a fan of fatty meats)) with only an oven, a frying pan, and a microwave (obviously, using only one of them). Fish is a next, although I like it less than red meat.

If anyone has suggestions for good recipes for either that I could cook with my available tools, could you please PM them to me? I'm very new at this, so the simpler ones would probably be best.

 

[Xelinis]

Also took mom to Alexander's Steakhouse in Cupertino for her birthday. Great food with equally good service. Tried aged beef for the first time too!

Ahh, I've been meaning to go there!! It's a matter of finding the time and the money for it.

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

Hey all,

What are your best cheap, easy, and fairly healthy recipes?

Lately I have been making stir fry with rice noodles, but am looking for more. Also any stir fry sauce recipes?

Thanks!

 

[CrystalGemini]

Have you tried steamed alternatives as opposed to stir fry? It's way healthier and there's so many different foods you can make. There's a lot of dumpling-type foods you can buy at asian grocery stores that are super easy to make and do not require any oil. You can get a bamboo steamer for super cheap too (shop smart - don't get one from Cost Plus for instance).

Quick Examples:
You can find these really easily in the frozen sections of asian grocery stores.

You can also do steamed proteins and fish.

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

Thanks Crystal, I'll give them a try. I have never been to our Asian grocery so I will have to check it out!

How easy is a bamboo steamer to use?


Anyone else have any quick, healthy, delicious recipes?

 

[trancekr]

Looks good. What kind of cheese did you use?

I used Velveeta and add a little bit of cream mushroom soup.

 

[otake]

Here's something I made last night: pork chops with gava pan sauce.

I took boneless pork chops, out of the fridge about 30 minutes before cooking and wrapped them in paper towels. Then I seasoned them with adobo Goya and black pepper.

I put some peanut oil (i think, definitely expensive oil) in a pan and set it to medium high heat, through some butter in there till it started to bubble. Then I through my chops in the pan. for about 4 minutes.

I flipped the chops and let it burn for a minute, then reduced the heat to medium and let it cook for 4 minutes or so.

I removed the chops, took some canned guava and boiled it in 1/2 cup of water in the microwave. I stirred the guava-water mix till it was even. Then I through it in the pan and let it simmer.

I served with pork chops with the sauce on top, with home made mashed potatoes and asparagus. Am I doing it right?

 

[Maiar_m]

The bamboo steamer is pretty easy to use, but the only thing I do with it (baozi) takes forever to make. Worth it, but long.

Today's treat: millie's cookies. Recipe here.

 

[ElectricThunder]

Those cookies look great Maiar!

 

[Cosmic Bus]

Had some peaches and plums that were getting a little too soft, so I made this oatmeal cookie peach cobbler tonight. Couldn't find my camera to take a picture, but it turned out really well. Nice crustiness to the topping with a soft, slightly undercooked interior that added a creaminess to the juices of the fruit.

 

[Haly]

I don't cook much, but I love food so I was pretty happy with my apartment assignment at college this year, yay home cooked food away from home!

Question about pan frying: It seems I'm frying my stuff unevenly because there's oil pooled around the sides but the center pushes it out, so it usually looks like the outer edges are darker than the center of the coating. How do I get an even color without deepfrying or using too much oil?

 

[TheExodu5]

That T-Bone half a page up looks insanely good. Cooked to perfection.

 

[OnkelC]

Halcyon, the skillet seems to suffer from an uneven bottom. try to replace it with another one.

 

[Meeru]

Haven't made anything noteworthy as of late but I did grab some CREAM PUFFS!!!!

I remember going to beard papas it was awesome in cali

 

[Zyzyxxz]

A bit pricey for what it is though.

 

[OnkelC]

question out of curiosity for US-IronGAF:

How common are bakeries and pastry shops in the US? they can be found around every corner in germany, most are owner-operated, only a few bakery chains in the market.

is it common to buy bread at a bakery or are they bought in supermarkets?

 

[MustacheBandit_]

question out of curiosity for US-IronGAF:

How common are bakeries and pastry shops in the US? they can be found around every corner in germany, most are owner-operated, only a few bakery chains in the market.

is it common to buy bread at a bakery or are they bought in supermarkets?

I don't really follow this thread but I like to click on it once and a while to see some food
pr0n.

I don't see too many bakeries here in the U.S. In the city I live in (20 miles outside of L.A.) there is one bakery in the entire city. It pales in comparison to anywhere in Europe. When I went to France/Italy/Spain there were bakeries EVERYWHERE and the bread was sooooo good. Here in the US we just buy it in the grocery store and let it sit in the cuboard :/

 

[cartoon_soldier]

question out of curiosity for US-IronGAF:

How common are bakeries and pastry shops in the US? they can be found around every corner in germany, most are owner-operated, only a few bakery chains in the market.

is it common to buy bread at a bakery or are they bought in supermarkets?

Bread is mainly bought in supermarkets. Actually, I am pretty sure almost all baked goods are mainly bought in supermarkets.

I would say Bakeries are uncommon in US. All bake stuff is also bought at supermarkets.

Around my house I only have one sort of bakery, even then the main thing they do is cakes.

 

[Alucrid]

question out of curiosity for US-IronGAF:

How common are bakeries and pastry shops in the US? they can be found around every corner in germany, most are owner-operated, only a few bakery chains in the market.

is it common to buy bread at a bakery or are they bought in supermarkets?

Either. In the city they're pretty common...I have at least two or three near me. In the suburbs they have them, but they're generally spaced out more. Normally we'd just buy the bread in the supermarket because they bake their own in addition to whatever they buy, and their fresh bread is awesome.

Then again there's two types really. There's bakeries that serve only restaurants and stores, so they just amass bread and ship em out and then there's mom and pop store. I can usually find a small Italian bakery though where I can get bread.

 

[OnkelC]

thanks for the replies!

 

[SnakeXs]

thanks for the replies!

Here in NYC bakeries are, very thankfully, super common. Of all varieties, too. Sadly across most of the country, as people stated, supermarkets provide most baked goods. Sad, really.

 

[Cosmic Bus]

question out of curiosity for US-IronGAF:

How common are bakeries and pastry shops in the US? is it common to buy bread at a bakery or are they bought in supermarkets?

You'll find neighborhood bakeries scattered throughout the bigger urban areas of the US, and far more sparsely elsewhere in the country, but as a whole, you're more likely to find patisseries or specialized shops (it's been cupcakes for several years, and surely a new trendy treat will come along sooner or later).

I get the impression there isn't much reliance on dealing directly with these small, locally owned shops for everyday breads; they're more of a coincidental stop ("Hey, we need something to go with dinner tonight, let's go in here!") and are largely going to be reliant on cakes and other small pastries for the bulk of their business. These shops can often find a sales boon in aligning with a nearby cafe or restaurant to provide their breads and desserts.

Many supermarkets have in-store bakeries (I work in one) that produce a modest variety of loaves, rolls, bagels, etc, but again, the majority of customers are content to buy the plant-produced breads that are delivered throughout the week and see the fresh items as "occasion" indulgences. The much shorter shelf life of a fresh bread undoubtledy plays into this, as well.

 

[Sumidor]

question out of curiosity for US-IronGAF:

How common are bakeries and pastry shops in the US? they can be found around every corner in germany, most are owner-operated, only a few bakery chains in the market.

is it common to buy bread at a bakery or are they bought in supermarkets?

There's actually quite a few where I live(Portland, OR). I would say most people buy bread from supermarkets, but are pretty busy throughout the day from their other baked goods.

 

[ElectricThunder]

I wish I still had a bakery to patron. : ( Damn you local GA economy! :shakes fist:

Otherwise:

Naanza returns!

Cheese: Aged Swiss

Pretty ho hum in a good way much the same as last week but, that being the case, better than the Baby Swiss from the time before that. Coated the top with the last of this batch of cocktail sauce and some garlic powder/grated Romano----good times.

We've recently attained an ALDI in town that opened up back on Thursday and will be explored by me come Tuesday---I understand it to be a place of much random (good?) foodstuffs originating from Europe? I'm hoping it will allow for more new possibilities without having to resort to long distance and internet ordering just yet...

 

[Zoe]

Nobody goes to specialized stores here unless you're going for some kind of international cuisine. That's pretty typical of cities where you have to take a car to get everywhere.

Just spent the past half hour cutting fat off of chicken breasts and then cutting them into chunks for some chicken adobo. It's the first time I've ever handled raw meat x_x

 

[Zyzyxxz]

question out of curiosity for US-IronGAF:

How common are bakeries and pastry shops in the US? they can be found around every corner in germany, most are owner-operated, only a few bakery chains in the market.

is it common to buy bread at a bakery or are they bought in supermarkets?

that state of bakeries in the United States is sad. People don't eat bread to enjoy it but rather more as a medium to bring slices of meat to the mouth.

I live in a high-density Asian area and I am lucky the Vietnamese (who inherited bread baking from the French) keep the local bakery thing alive with fresh baguettes baked daily.

 

[Maiar_m]

that state of bakeries in the United States is sad. People don't eat bread to enjoy it but rather more as a medium to bring slices of meat to the mouth.

I live in a high-density Asian area and I am lucky the Vietnamese (who inherited bread baking from the French) keep the local bakery thing alive with fresh baguettes baked daily.

I'm glad we french didn't screw everything up.