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[bucknuticus]

Speaking of rice, i usually make jasmine rice but I bought a big ass bag of koshihikari rice because it was on sale.

Ive made it 3 times now and every single time its all mushed together and not good at all.

Any suggestions?

 

[Dereck]

Skinless AND saltless? Why not just eat a handful of sawdust =( ?

Not really sure how to season things without ANY salt. Maybe marinating it in a thick slather of dijon mustard? Does BBQ sauce count as salt b/c it has salt in it?

LOL, I am trying to lower my sodium intake tremendously.

 

[Melchiah]

be sure to mix the bacon fat after cooking the bacon in with the cheese for extra bacon-ness, and then be sure not to accidentally serve one's without bacon wrapping (but with filling) to your kosher friends at your superbowl party..... no reason

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately a little too late to do them for our cassette demo tape party tonight.

 

[Mario]

be sure to mix the bacon fat after cooking the bacon in with the cheese for extra bacon-ness, and then be sure not to accidentally serve one's without bacon wrapping (but with filling) to your kosher friends at your superbowl party..... no reason

?

I just cut the peppers open and took out the seeds and white flesh, inserted the cheese, wrapped the peppers tightly in bacon then baked in the oven.

Is there another way to make these?

 

[thespot84]

?

I just cut the peppers open and took out the seeds and white flesh, inserted the cheese, wrapped the peppers tightly in bacon then baked in the oven.

Is there another way to make these?

that's the way to make them basically. All I was saying is you can, for extra flavor, mix the bacon fat in with the filling. tastes damn good.

 

[CrankyJay]

I'm a bit of a lazy shit.

Can someone in this thread please give me a good way of seasoning baked skinless chicken thighs without the use of salt at all.

Garlic powder, cumin, chili powder, thyme, sage....not all together. Just saying you could use nearly anything.

 

[BriareosGAF]

Speaking of rice, i usually make jasmine rice but I bought a big ass bag of koshihikari rice because it was on sale.

Ive made it 3 times now and every single time its all mushed together and not good at all.

Any suggestions?

It comes down to three things in my experience: how much you rinse to remove starch, your water to rice ratio, and how long you cook the rice. For my usual go-to, Nishiki, I rinse once in cold water, drain, use a ratio of 3 C rice to scant 4 C water (since there's moisture from the rinsing still), bring to boil, lower to simmer, cook 20 minutes, let rest 10 minutes, then fluff and let moisture escape, serve.

 

[bucknuticus]

It comes down to three things in my experience: how much you rinse to remove starch, your water to rice ratio, and how long you cook the rice. For my usual go-to, Nishiki, I rinse once in cold water, drain, use a ratio of 3 C rice to scant 4 C water (since there's moisture from the rinsing still), bring to boil, lower to simmer, cook 20 minutes, let rest 10 minutes, then fluff and let moisture escape, serve.

I should note ive tried both in pot and rice cooker, and both ways have gone exactly the same. Awful

 

[Metroid Killer]

----~ 1 from IronGaf ~---- (January)

Beef Wellington by Zyzyxxz

I've really looking forward to making and eating beef wellington. Except for the mushrooms, everything about this dish caters to my preferences. I only eat organic meat, which made the price for the filet mignon go pretty damn high. At the butcher they also had a jar of duck fat which was the last ingredient I needed for my dinner.

Seared the meat in duck fat, lined out a layer of wild boar paté and wrapped it in puff pastry. Had I had more time I would have made the puff pastry myself, but sometimes you gotta skip corners to stay sane.

While the wellington baked in the oven, I boiled some potatoes and fried asparagus in duck fat on a frying pan.
And now, as Zyzyxxz said in his original post, the moment of truth. Did I just waste 100 bucks on ruining my dinner or did it turn out perfect?

I think I landed somewhere between rare and medium rare, which I'm very happy with. The meal was awesome, incredible tender meat, loved the taste from the paté and duck fat. There was a lot of myoglobin which made the bottom part of the pastry soggy, so perhaps I will need to reinforce the bottom the next time.

 

[Keen]

Made the other half of the Porchetta I bought yesterday. Today's sandwiches was probably among the best I've ever made.

First one had pork, pickled red onions, cornichons, cheese, whiskey and chili mustard (made by my sister).

Second one had the same, but with mayonnaise and chipotle tabasco instead of the mustard.

Also, chips with chipotle tabasco work really really well.

 

[sharkmuncher]

So I finally got around to getting a decent knife and grabbed a Wustoff 10in classic chef's.
Next question is I need a honing steel. I was wondering if it matters if I grab a $10 Kitchenaid at Target, or should I look for something else?

I'm eventually going to grab a DMT stone to do my own sharpening, but for now I just need to keep it honed.

For anyone curious, the difference between a $30 Victorinox and a $110 Wustoff is absolutely worth every penny...wow.

To contribute pretty pictures, I did some low-temp cooking of double cut, bone in pork chops last night. Cooked the chops at 60C for 2 hours, then put on a good sear. Pork is magical at medium rare --> medium.

 

[FartOfWar]

I'm a bit of a lazy shit.

Can someone in this thread please give me a good way of seasoning baked skinless chicken thighs without the use of salt at all.

Make a quick marinade: Mince garlic, then toss that in olive oil with some curry powder, mint, oregano, lemon, pepper, anything that fits the profile including yogurt or labneh.

 

[nakedsushi]

Made the other half of the Porchetta I bought yesterday. Today's sandwiches was probably among the best I've ever made.

Looks great. I can just imagine how juicy that sandwich was. Jealous.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

----~ 1 from IronGaf ~---- (January)

Beef Wellington by Zyzyxxz
.

Wow can't believe you went back 4 years. Much has changed since then, in fact I was barely starting my career as a cook back then. I actually made beef wellington again recently because I got a hold of foie gras and I did the mushroom duxelles as well while wrapping it in prosciutto. I basically followed the same steps as this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uXIPhxL5XA

Only thing I would change is that to prevent a soggy bottom you can but a rectangle of puff pastry and pre-bake it separately then wrap it inside the big puff pastry sheet as an adsorbent pad to prevent teh outside from soggying up and falling apart.

 

[Facetime with Dr. Bruce]

To contribute pretty pictures, I did some low-temp cooking of double cut, bone in pork chops last night. Cooked the chops at 60C for 2 hours, then put on a good sear. Pork is magical at medium rare --> medium.

Looking gorgeous. How does that setup work for you? I figure the water would heat too unevenly to do precise sous vide cooking.

 

[sharkmuncher]

Looking gorgeous. How does that setup work for you? I figure the water would heat too unevenly to do precise sous vide cooking.

It works great actually. That circulator has a pump and a 1000W heater, combined with the thermal mass of ~4 gallons of water, it hits with ~0.1 degree C without much problem. It's usually covered with foil during longer cooks to make it more efficient (evaporative cooling can cause cooler pockets I've heard).

 

[Metroid Killer]

Wow can't believe you went back 4 years. Much has changed since then, in fact I was barely starting my career as a cook back then. I actually made beef wellington again recently because I got a hold of foie gras and I did the mushroom duxelles as well while wrapping it in prosciutto. I basically followed the same steps as this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uXIPhxL5XA

Only thing I would change is that to prevent a soggy bottom you can but a rectangle of puff pastry and pre-bake it separately then wrap it inside the big puff pastry sheet as an adsorbent pad to prevent teh outside from soggying up and falling apart.

Hmm the extra layer of puff pastry at the bottom seems to be the solution, though I was just reminded from watching the video that I didn't overlap the ends at the bottom which would had created double the amount of layers as well.

Funny that you made this back when your career started, as I just began pastry school last week. Beef Wellington, a sign of greatness to come??? Oh and today we actually made puff pastry at school, it came out perfect, so now I got no problem trying at home.

Oh and homemade burgers for dinner last night

 

[Funky Papa]

"are... are you going to eat all of that?"

 

[Cosmic Bus]

Made dinner for myself and the boyfriend. Seared scallops, white bean, roasted pepper puree, white balsamic, nice olive oil, capers, tomatoes...

 

[Zyzyxxz]

Made dinner for myself and the boyfriend. Seared scallops, white bean, roasted pepper puree, white balsamic, nice olive oil, capers, tomatoes...

Wow looks great.

 

[Bright Side of Life]

This was not a day for me to make something but I did anyway.

From Scratch Mac and Cheese (hate the box crap)

The most annoying thing was I could not find our kitchen knife anywhere, searched 45 min. and all I found was a paring knife tucked away in a cubby under the oven. My mom has a thing about knives being out in the open at night, thinks someone's gonna stab us or something, so yeah that's why I actually look for a knife. Anyway prep took much longer than necessary because smashing and chopping carrots and garlic is pretty difficult when your blade is less than 3in.

The cheese sauce had a very mild cheese flavor probably because:
a. I used soy milk, less fat content
b. Used 1 1/4 cup of italian cheese mix (Asaigo, Fontina, Mozzarella, etc) and 3/4 spicy colby cheddar
I tempered an egg in successfully so I got nice thick sauce to dump all the noodles, chicken, and veg into then something happened...

I baked it, cooled, and ate it...but huh, maybe it was all the veggies (raw carrot and celery, roasted tomato, grilled onion, olives) but the sauce was thinner and got even milder.

=_=

Will make homemade mac again but this time without chicken and with sharper cheese and broccoli.

 

[DJ_Lae]

I just made homemade mac and cheese the other day and had the same issue with too mild a sauce. I know my problem, though, and that was the only cheese in my fridge being a bag of half-eaten grated cheddar and mozza mix. The sharper the better when you're already diluting the cheese taste with bechamel.

Somehow I also didn't cook the butter/flour long enough so it had a slight raw taste too, though I have no idea how this happened as it was good and bubbly when I added the milk.

 

[nakedsushi]

Made a huge bowl of kale and quinoa salad. Enough for 3 people and then some.


Kale, quinoa, pears, roasted tomatoes, avocado, pecans, mustard-lemon dressing.


The leftover kale salad, some blanched winter broccoli and a fried egg on top for lunch.

 

[Metroid Killer]

----~ Season's Sweet ~---- (January)

Tropical Entremet

Making entremets can often be a daring and scary process, involving a lot of elements and precision in the making. So my goal back when I first created this entremet was to have a pretty entremet, yet easy to assemble. And it is very easy to assemble. It's just a matter of stacking all the elements on top of each other, and even if you manage to do that wrong, you just stack them from the beginning again, it's a very forgiving desserts with a design meant to cover any bad spots.
As you can see compared to the last picture of this entry, this is a slightly revision, splitting the cake layers into two. It doesn't change much, still the same amount of ingredients just a more refined appearance in my opinion. If you want to stick with just one cake layer though, bake the cake in a small tray(but big enough to cut out 6 round cakes) and it'll give the cake a bit more height.
The combination of fresh juicy pineapple, bittersweet chocolate, and sweet and soft mango mousse is an explosion of flavours as it all melts in your mouth. You won’t use all the chocolate mousse as it's difficult to make smaller batches, so just keep it in mind if you want to make more than 6 servings, you don't need to multiply the chocolate mousse as much.

~Recipe~
6 servings

Ingredients

6 slices of pineapple

Mango Mousse
150 g mango flesh
60 g sugar
3 sheets of gelatin
½ lemon
200 ml cream

Chocolate Spongecake
50 g sugar
30 g flour
7 g cocoa
Pinch of salt
2 eggs
20 ml warm cream

Chocolate Mousse
50 g 70% chocolate
100 ml cream
1 tbsp sugar​

Directions

Mango Mousse
- Bloom the gelatin sheets in cold water for 15 minutes.
- Cut the mango into small pieces and blend with sugar. Pour into a large bowl. Set aside
- Whip the cream to soft peaks.
- Take the gelatin sheets out of the water and melt them together with lemon juice over a hot waterbath. Once melted, mix with the mango purée.
- Fold in 1/3 of the whipped cream, then gently fold the remaining whipped cream.
- Pour into the silicone mold and freeze for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Chocolate Spongecake
- Preheat the oven to 180°C. Prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper and grease it..
- Beat the eggs, then gradually add the sugar. Continue beating till you reach soft ribbon stage (~5 minutes) .
- Take around 60 ml egg mixture and fold into the warm cream, then fold it all back into the whipped egg.
- Sift the dry ingredients into the eggs and fold gently. Pour on to the cookie sheet making sure that it covers an area large enough for 12 round cakes.
- Bake at 180°C for 10-12 minutes, or until the cake springs back when touched. Cool on wire rack.
- Use a 7 cm cookie cutter(it depends on the size of your silicone dome molds) to cut out 12 round cakes.

Chocolate Mousse
- Chop the chocolate fine and melt over a hot waterbath. Once melted, remove from the the bath to cool off slightly.
- Whip the cream and sugar into whipped cream.
- Pour the chocolate into the whipped cream while folding.

Assembly
- Place a round cake on a serving plate, fit the pineapple slice on top. Spoon chocolate mousse into the center of the pineapple slice and cover with the second layer of spongecake. Brush with some syrup which acts as a glue for the domes. Take out the mango domes from the freezer and place them firmly on top.
- Let them thaw in the refrigerator for 4 hours and decorate with freeze-dried pineapple or dyed coconut shreds.​

 

[Metroid Killer]

----~ Season's Sweet ~---- (January)

Upside-down Pineapple Cake with Lime Syrup

A classic upside-down pineapple cake with a twist! In my opinion these smaller cakes look slightly more appetising than the typical normal-sized upside-down pineapple cake bound to scare off any guest with trypophobia. I would have made them even smaller had I had the proper cake forms. Each slice also look very cute, and for this rare occasion it never felt like being overpowered by too much cake, or perhaps I'm just learning some restraint?
All spice is one of my favorite spices and together with ginger it really lift the cake into an interesting taste which suits the pineapples. The syrup is the extra cherry(extra extra cherry in this case) that really sells this cake.

~Recipe~
2 x 16 cm cakes / 3 x 10 cm cakes

Ingredients

Upside-down Pineapple Cake
3 or 6 slices of pineapple
3 tsp brown sugar
3 or more sweetened red cherries
125 g butter, room temperature
170 g sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
160 g flour
½ tsp ginger powder
1 tsp all spice powder
1 tsp baking powder
125 ml milk
40 g mixed peel

Lime Syrup
250 ml pineapple juice
1 lime
1 tsp brown sugar
A splash of rum​

Directions

Upside-down Pineapple Cake
- Heat the oven to 180°C. Grease the cake forms. Sprinkle a tsp of brown sugar in each and place one pineapple slice in each if using small forms(~10 cm) or add extra halved slices if using bigger forms(~16 cm). Place in oven for 8-10 minutes, until the sugar has caramelized. Keep an eye on them so you don't burn the sugar.
- While the forms are in the oven make the batter.
- Cream butter and sugar at high speed until light and fluffy(~5 minutes). Continue beating adding one egg at a time. Be sure to scrape any unmixed ingredients down the sides. Add vanilla and mix it in.
- Sift flour, ginger, all spice and baking powder and work it in at low speed. Then add milk and incorporate it until the batter is uniform. Finally fold in the mixed peel.
- Add a cherry in the middle of each pineapple slice and pour in the batter evenly divide between the forms.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Test with a wooden tooth pick which should come out almost clean when inserted into the finished cakes. Cool slightly on a rack.

Lime Syrup
- Add the zest and juice from the lime together with the pineapple juice in a small saucepan and bring it to a boil.
- Add sugar and let it simmer for 5 minutes. Add rum and simmer for another 5 minutes or till the syrup is thick yet still pourable. If the syrup becomes too thick you can add more pineapple juice to adjust the consistency.
- Serve cake warm and drizzle with syrup.
​

Recipe adapted from Createastir.wordpress.com

 

[Dom Brunt]

Looking good MK as usual, but raspberries for mango mousse? Could you fix the recipe please But raspberry mousse sounds tempting too...

 

[Silkworm]

I made some chocolate-stout brownies as my contribution to a Super Bowl party I went to yesterday. Unfortunately I was pressed for time, so I didn't take any pictures of the result but they seemed to go over pretty well with everyone (uses 16 oz of chocolate for a 9x9 pan of brownies so if you are a fan of chocolate this may be up your alley). If anyone is interested the recipe I used is at Chocolate-Stout Brownies. They were pretty difficult to get off of the aluminum foil I used to line the pan I baked them in, so coating the foil with nonstick spray might be a better way to go. Also I only used the minimum 40 minutes post glazing and they were still warm and not the easiest to cut so if you have more time to let them cool, I'd advise it to save yourself some frustration.

 

[Metroid Killer]

Looking good MK as usual, but raspberries for mango mousse? Could you fix the recipe please But raspberry mousse sounds tempting too...

Thanks a lot for noticing, and sorry about the late reply, my pc broke down throughout the weekend. I'm wonder how many typing mistakes are hidden in the recipes.. We are currently having classes in school were we work on reading and understanding recipes, and small nuances can make a big difference sometimes.

This weekend I used up the rest of a bottle of lavender syrup

Lavender Pannacotta

These panna cottas are soft in every way imaginable. From the silky smooth texture, to the pale purple hue and a floral taste that lingers in the back of your mouth. Lavender is a really unique flavour to add to your food and I'm still experimenting finding out what works and what doesn't. For panna cotta it does, and I actually have a plan to further improve this recipe, but that will wait until my own lavender start blooming in my garden. I used 120 ml of lavender syrup, but if it's your first time tasting lavender infused food you may turn it a notch down to the 100 ml I've written here, to prevent it from overpowering your tastebuds. For me lavender is slowly becoming one of my favourite flavours.

~Recipe~
Yields: 9 servings of 100 ml containers

Ingredients

4 sheets of gelatine
600 ml heavy cream
45 g sugar
100 ml lavender syrup
Purple food coloring​

Directions

- Soak the gelatine in water. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan heat the cream and sugar until it has dissolved. Don't bring it to a boil.
- Remove from the heat. Squeeze the water out of the gelatine and add to the hot cream, stir until dissolved. Add the lavender syrup and stir. Finally add the food coloring, if using a strong purple color dip a wooden tooth pick into the bottle and stir the color into the cream and repeat if you want a stronger color.
- Pour cream into the molds, and set in fridge for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
- To remove from the molds, run the tip of a knife around the edges of the creams then soak the containers in very hot water for 2-3 seconds (depending on the thickness of the material they are in) turn them out onto the plates and give them a good shake.​

With the very last drops of lavender syrup I made Lavender Cupcakes with lavender frosting, decorated with candied violets and fresh blueberries.

 

[nakedsushi]

^-- Pannacotta looks so good and creamy.

 

[DJ_Lae]

Yeah, that pannacotta is gorgeous.

I've always meant to try making it, seems straightforward enough.

 

[BriareosGAF]

Stunning panna cotta, my wife loves using lavender as you may have noticed from some of the cupcake shots. I wonder if we can pull it off with a vegetarian gelatin, perhaps what we use in our marshmallows...

 

[nakedsushi]

^-- Maybe try agar? Be careful how much agar you put in though because that stuff is strong. I tried to make a coconut milk panna cotta with agar once and it was SO firm.

 

[Deleted member 12837]

Anyone have a good recipe for mussels?

I'm cooking for my girlfriend for Valentine's Day and want to make them as an appetizer. Nothing too complicated please - I'm only average in the kitchen and will be juggling a main course and side dishes as well.

Thanks!

 

[tri_willy]

wow at the amazing looking food, metroid never fails to impress. have not posted pics for an eternity here but here it goes!

steak and cheese (buffalo mozzarella)

ribeye with raspberry sauce

prepared some anti pasto with friends

vanilla bean pannacotta with glazed peach & mangoes plus pistachio praline

 

[Silkworm]

Anyone have a good recipe for mussels?

I'm cooking for my girlfriend for Valentine's Day and want to make them as an appetizer. Nothing too complicated please - I'm only average in the kitchen and will be juggling a main course and side dishes as well.

Thanks!

Okay, I've not used this recipe but I've had my eye on it for a while and I'd like to use it one day (especially if I'm in a place where I can get good, fresh mussels). The recipe is from Cook's Illustrated with whom I've had pretty good success with in the past so I'd feel safe trying it (and this recipe is pretty dang straightforward). Recipe is as follows:

Oven-Steamed Mussles

Serves 2 to 4

Discard any mussel with an unpleasant odor or with a cracked or broken shell or a shell that won’t close. Serve with crusty bread.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
Pinch red pepper flakes
1 cup dry white wine
3 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
4 pounds mussels, scrubbed and debearded
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

Instructions

1. Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 500 degrees. Heat oil, garlic, and pepper flakes in large roasting pan over medium heat; cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add wine, thyme sprigs, and bay leaves and bring to boil. Cook until wine is slightly reduced, about 1 minute. Add mussels and salt. Cover pan tightly with aluminum foil and transfer to oven. Cook until most mussels have opened (a few may remain closed), 15 to 18 minutes.

2. Remove pan from oven. Push mussels to sides of pan. Add butter to center and whisk until melted. Discard thyme sprigs and bay leaves, sprinkle parsley over mussels, and toss to combine. Serve immediately.

 

[Melchiah]

ribeye with raspberry sauce

I'm drooling here.

 

[nakedsushi]

Anyone have a good recipe for mussels?

I'm cooking for my girlfriend for Valentine's Day and want to make them as an appetizer. Nothing too complicated please - I'm only average in the kitchen and will be juggling a main course and side dishes as well.

Thanks!

I like this cauliflower steamed mussels dish from the times. It comes with its own sidedish (cauliflower) so no need to make anything else if you serve it with some crusty bread!

http://www.nytimes.com/recipes/1015280/spicy-mussels-with-cauliflower-basil-and-lime.html

prepared some anti pasto with friends

Yum! One reason I could never go vegetarian: I love cured meats too much.

 

[Deleted member 12837]

Okay, I've not used this recipe but I've had my eye on it for a while and I'd like to use it one day (especially if I'm in a place where I can get good, fresh mussels). The recipe is from Cook's Illustrated with whom I've had pretty good success with in the past so I'd feel safe trying it (and this recipe is pretty dang straightforward). Recipe is as follows:

I like this cauliflower steamed mussels dish from the times. It comes with its own sidedish (cauliflower) so no need to make anything else if you serve it with some crusty bread!

http://www.nytimes.com/recipes/1015280/spicy-mussels-with-cauliflower-basil-and-lime.html

Thank you both! Will look into each : )

 

[nakedsushi]

I don't know what took me so long (Okay, mostly FEAR) to get a pressure cooker, but I'm so glad I got one. Cooking beans and stews during winter take almost no time now!

If you're in LA and you haven't tried it, try the chicken basque stew thing at Lemonade (this cafeteria-style fresh foods restaurant). It's really good! I wanted to make a vegan version, so I subbed out most of the meat stuff and used chickpeas for protein. Served over bulgur wheat for extra protein.

 

[Silkworm]

I don't know what took me so long (Okay, mostly FEAR) to get a pressure cooker, but I'm so glad I got one. Cooking beans and stews during winter take almost no time now!

Interesting. Is it easy enough to figure out what times to convert to working with a pressure cooker? I've been tempted to try it especially when a good one isn't necessarily an expensive investment. However I always think that when I buy another cooking appliance that I need to get a cookbook that features recipes using that appliance otherwise I won't get the necessary mileage out of it. I realize that's not true and that I just have to be willing to "experiment" to modify a recipe to work with a new technique which sadly I'm not very good at. Anyway, congrats on the pressure cooker and the freedom it's given you so far in speeding things up in preparing food.

 

[nakedsushi]

^-- You know, I was super scared of using a pressure cooker and thought that I'd need to follow exact instructions, but other than for things like beans, it hasn't been the case.

My pressure cooker came w/ a manual and mini-cookbook with cooking suggestions, but after the first or second time, I got the hang of it. There's 2 pressure settings: high pressure and low pressure. And it seems like the cooking times are usually 7-10 minutes. I just use a little logic to figure out the cooking times.

For example, for hard things like dried beans, I'll cook it at high pressure for 10 minutes. If it's soaked, I may do high pressure at 7 minutes. For things that are already soft like stews, I'll do low pressure for 10 minutes.

It's easy enough to de-pressurize and then re-pressurize if it's not done, so I'm okay with experimenting.

The hardest part is not to put too much liquid/water in the pot since not much evaporates.

I'm typically not one to get too many kitchen gadgets (that's my husband) but I'm really glad I got the pressure cooker. The other night, my husband made black eyed peas (from dried) and it came out really well in texture.

 

[Silkworm]

^-- You know, I was super scared of using a pressure cooker and thought that I'd need to follow exact instructions, but other than for things like beans, it hasn't been the case.

My pressure cooker came w/ a manual and mini-cookbook with cooking suggestions, but after the first or second time, I got the hang of it. There's 2 pressure settings: high pressure and low pressure. And it seems like the cooking times are usually 7-10 minutes. I just use a little logic to figure out the cooking times.

For example, for hard things like dried beans, I'll cook it at high pressure for 10 minutes. If it's soaked, I may do high pressure at 7 minutes. For things that are already soft like stews, I'll do low pressure for 10 minutes.

It's easy enough to de-pressurize and then re-pressurize if it's not done, so I'm okay with experimenting.

The hardest part is not to put too much liquid/water in the pot since not much evaporates.

I'm typically not one to get too many kitchen gadgets (that's my husband) but I'm really glad I got the pressure cooker. The other night, my husband made black eyed peas (from dried) and it came out really well in texture.

Thanks for the feedback! Sounds like it can be a real benefit in the kitchen. If I were to get one, I'd think about getting this pressure cooker:

Fagor Duo 8-Quart Stainless Steel Pressure Cooker

 

[nakedsushi]

^-- Good choice. I've heard that the Fagor's are a great value. 8qts seems huge though. I ended up with a 5 1/4 qt pressure cooker which was a good size for my family of 2 people eating.

 

[Silkworm]

^-- Good choice. I've heard that the Fagor's are a great value. 8qts seems huge though. I ended up with a 5 1/4 qt pressure cooker which was a good size for my family of 2 people eating.

Yeah, maybe 8 qts is overdoing it :-D I was wondering whether it was one of things were you can cook things the same regardless of the size so if you went big with the pressure cooker you could cook smaller items and still have the size to accommodate larger dishes (kind of like with a Dutch over -- mines 6.5 qtrs but sometimes I wish it was larger). Of course maybe the considerations are completely different between a Dutch oven and a pressure cooker. Anyway, there is a 6 qts version of the Fagor so maybe that's a more reasonable size

 

[tri_willy]

I like this cauliflower steamed mussels dish from the times. It comes with its own sidedish (cauliflower) so no need to make anything else if you serve it with some crusty bread!

http://www.nytimes.com/recipes/1015280/spicy-mussels-with-cauliflower-basil-and-lime.html



Yum! One reason I could never go vegetarian: I love cured meats too much.

could have sworn you were always vegetarian nakedsushi

I'm drooling here.

haha it was awesome

 

[Zyzyxxz]

Yeah, maybe 8 qts is overdoing it :-D I was wondering whether it was one of things were you can cook things the same regardless of the size so if you went big with the pressure cooker you could cook smaller items and still have the size to accommodate larger dishes (kind of like with a Dutch over -- mines 6.5 qtrs but sometimes I wish it was larger). Of course maybe the considerations are completely different between a Dutch oven and a pressure cooker. Anyway, there is a 6 qts version of the Fagor so maybe that's a more reasonable size

I have an 8 QT and if you are cooking for a family it's a perfect size. I've had a 6qt before and its limiting sometimes especially if I want to make enough stock to make it worth my time.

 

[nakedsushi]

could have sworn you were always vegetarian nakedsushi

I can see where the confusion comes from. I make a lot of vegetarian/vegan meals, but I am definitely not vegetarian. I like non vegan things like cured meats, and cheese too much!

 

[n64coder]

Anyone have recommendations for websites that have good recipes for Chinese & Indian food?

I'm looking to cook more & different recipes from my favorite cuisines since I'm tired of making the same 4-5 dishes that I know. I'm ok with recommendations for a paid site since I already pay for Cooks Illustrated & Fine Cooking.

Regarding the pressure cooker, I also have 2 myself: 8 & 4 QT Fagor. I also have the Miss Vickie, Diane Philips, Lorna Sass, and Cooks Illustrated cookbooks. I've been using the Diane Philips book the most but I sometimes find her recipes to be on the bland side.

Over the weekend, I made a really good basmati rice in the pressure cooker. It came out perfect, nice and fluffy. The method calls for cooking the rice in a bowl inside the pot. In the past, I would use a rice cooker which has the problem of the rice sticking to the pot. Has anyone else done this?

 

[nakedsushi]

How long did it take to cook the rice? I have a rice cooker, so it usually takes 30-45 mins depending on what type of rice I'm cooking, but wondering if the PC is faster?

 

[OnkelC]

rice should be done in 8-15 minutes in a pressure cooker, depending on amount and grain of rice.