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[codswallop]

Does anyone know how to remove oil burn stains from a stainless steel pan?

And if you can't find Bar Keeper's Friend in your area (e.g. doesn't seem to be available in Australia), visit your local homebrew store (if you have one!) and buy some PBW (Powdered Brewery Wash), works pretty well if left overnight. Just remember to heat up some water in the pan afterward to prevent staining immediately after.

 

[Cindres]

So I've had my free time back in the evening again so I've got back into cooking. Mostly pasta and rice dishes because I'm still very much a learner and I'm running on a pretty tight budget so I can't do anything too fancy. Made an incredible butternut squash and sage risotto tonight but I didn't take a decent picture.

Also thought I'd expand my breakfast repertoire beyond pancakes and omlettes and other easy stuff. So I whipped up some eggs benedict from scratch at the weekend. Only had it once before in a cafe and I wasn't impressed because it was just some runny, vinegary sauce that it came with, after I made it I can only assume they used regular vinegar instead of white wine.
Anyway, here's a picture of that, because I was really happy with it, absolutely delicious (there were no english muffins at the shop so I had to make do with a crusty breadroll).

Also, googling "budget meals" is total BS because it's always some chef's recipe with a shitload of ingredients I just don't have/meals full of meat that I can't afford at the moment. Anyone got a good source on some recipes for genuinely cheap meals? I mean the risotto only cost me £3 to make tonight and that's gonna last me a couple of days.

 

[Gr1mLock]

Meats and veggies. Avoid sugars, grains, pasta. For things like rice you could use quinoa as an alternative.

Try making a stir fry with quinoa?

Wouldn't recommend it. Not all grains are equally as bad but imo all grains are pretty bad.

 

[codswallop]

Also, googling "budget meals" is total BS because it's always some chef's recipe with a shitload of ingredients I just don't have/meals full of meat that I can't afford at the moment. Anyone got a good source on some recipes for genuinely cheap meals? I mean the risotto only cost me £3 to make tonight and that's gonna last me a couple of days.

It really depends on 1) your location, 2) what you're willing to eat, 3) what constitutes 'budget' for you and 4) how big your serves are.

I find that making things in bulk ends up reasonably cheap (around AU$3-4 per serve, so £1.5-2) and that's not skimping on ingredients. e.g. I spent probably $25-35 on making paella over the weekend and got 16 serves out of that.

 

[Cindres]

It really depends on 1) your location, 2) what you're willing to eat, 3) what constitutes 'budget' for you and 4) how big your serves are.

I find that making things in bulk ends up reasonably cheap (around AU$3-4 per serve, so £1.5-2) and that's not skimping on ingredients. e.g. I spent probably $25-35 on making paella over the weekend and got 16 serves out of that.

I guess it's because I'm generally making meals that serve 2-4 but I'll be eating it myself as I'm a student. Sometimes my housemate and I will share but generally I'm just eating it myself.

 

[BriareosGAF]

I guess it's because I'm generally making meals that serve 2-4 but I'll be eating it myself as I'm a student. Sometimes my housemate and I will share but generally I'm just eating it myself.

I was a vegan in college so it's skewed, but I bought a lot of rice, beans and pasta in bulk and found interesting ways to cook them with cheap vegetables I'd buy at the end of the day at the farmer's market once a week. Beans and rice itself has thousands of variations from cajun style red beans & rice to Lebanese foul to long-simmered refried pinto beans and rice. Pasta is similar, once you learn a dozen sauces/preparations it's very easy to put together carbonara, pesto, arrabiata, vodka cream tomato, etc. If you've got the money, figure out ways to get some pork fat in those dishes for extra flavor, or interesting cheeses like cotija. Buy cheap udon noodles and cook them up with whatever vegetables you have laying around, simple broths of miso, tamari, mushroom stock (and pork if you eat it). And you can always put a soft fried egg on top of almost anything to make it better, from kim-chi and rice to simple quesadilla...

I could go on and on .

 

[Cindres]

I was a vegan in college so it's skewed, but I bought a lot of rice, beans and pasta in bulk and found interesting ways to cook them with cheap vegetables I'd buy at the end of the day at the farmer's market once a week. Beans and rice itself has thousands of variations from cajun style red beans & rice to Lebanese foul to long-simmered refried pinto beans and rice. Pasta is similar, once you learn a dozen sauces/preparations it's very easy to put together carbonara, pesto, arrabiata, vodka cream tomato, etc. If you've got the money, figure out ways to get some pork fat in those dishes for extra flavor, or interesting cheeses like cotija. Buy cheap udon noodles and cook them up with whatever vegetables you have laying around, simple broths of miso, tamari, mushroom stock (and pork if you eat it). And you can always put a soft fried egg on top of almost anything to make it better, from kim-chi and rice to simple quesadilla...

I could go on and on .

That's exactly what I need. I learned carbonara a couple of weeks back but I'm definitely looking to improve it. I'll keep all this in mind.

 

[Metroid Killer]

What BriareosGAF said. Beans, pasta and cheap veggies are the way to Cook cheap. Then you need to learn how to deal with leftovers so that you can start cooking in bulks.

A Classic trick I revert back to whenever I lose any creativy to make for the coming dinners:
Day 1 - Spaghetti bolognese. Huge batch of the sauce, just spaghetti for one day.
Day 2 - Pizza with meatsauce. Either make your own pizza dough, or buy those cheap ready-made doughs from your grocery. Only need tomato sauce and cheese to make it into a pizza, sprinkle with some basil if available.
Day 3 - Add some 'mexican' spices, and for example corn to the remaining meatsauce. And wrap it into totilla, and supply with iceberg salad.

Every ingredient(save for the cheese perhaps) is dirt cheap and the variety is just big enough so that you don't get sick tired of the meatsauce on day 3.

I don't have an oven right now but I want to participate so this are some cookies I baked a while ago

Looking good! Now I want to make some chocolate chip cookies.

Last night, the girlfriend and I melted chocolate and dipped various fruit in it. Cheap date, but awesome sweet dessert. Banana + Melted chocolate is just too good!

 

[ElectricThunder]

Sigh...

I lost my other kitchen buddy upon a gruesome discovery this past Thursday morning---ambushed and killed by some still-to-be-determined asshole's pack of dogs sometime the prior night. It was rough enough losing the other cat early on back in 2013 that "assisted" me, but the circumstances this time are just so very different with a far worse result. Whole time there today I couldn't help but look over to where he'd lay on the floor and watch me wrangle pizzas, or be scratching at the door to come in to do so, or to get out so I'd put some fresh food in his dish so he could eat the same time I did.

I don't think I can really eat in that kitchen anymore---at least not for the immediate future ahead.

Just some Whisky Porter Irish Cheddar---it melted fine and seemed like a good cheese, but my taste buds are dulled from the loss of my good company so...yeah.

He was scared to death of technology that most animals are OK with, save for our car, his heater, and the stove---so this is the only pic I'd managed to sneak on him while he was out there distracted by the flowers one afternoon before we got started on the pizzas.

 

[Thezez]

Really sorry to hear that ElectricThunder

 

[Metroid Killer]

Wow, that's really horrible. I'm truly sorry.

 

[Ether_Snake]

Sorry for your cat Thunder:|

I'm going to make a lasagna, but man what a truckload of ingredients. At least it should cover all my lunches and then some for the week.

 

[ElectricThunder]

Thanks for the condolences all---just gotta try and get through it one day at a time...maybe try to entreat one or both of our remaining cats to keep me company when it is pizza time.

Insane to think how different things can pan out in terms of taste and whatnot under different circumstances even if you prepare everything the same and all the ingredients are as they should be.


I hope your Lasagna turns out well Ether---I'd fade into the distance up against that much/pretty well any Ricotta en masse.

 

[DietRob]

Sorry for your cat Thunder:|

I'm going to make a lasagna, but man what a truckload of ingredients. At least it should cover all my lunches and then some for the week.

What a delicious coincidence I made lasagna yesterday too. Here it is on the reheat:

I'm going to be eating lasagna the rest of the week.

 

[Ether_Snake]

Same for me, I didn't even make as much as the recipe called for (actually I have no idea why it requires that much cheese, I used half as much). I will have to eat lasagna all week too now. I'll post a picture tomorrow.

 

[Metroid Killer]

So as most of you probably know(or would have guessed) I'm a pretty big fan of all things Metroid. Today is the 20th anniversary of Super Metroid and to celebrate I decided to utilize my kitchen skills disregarding the hygiene test we took today(I mean I took it and aced it, I just didn't read up on it... I baked instead.)

Here are the end products. Recipes will be added in a couple of days.

Metroid Cake Pops!

These small red velvet cakes covered in green chocolate are some of the most expressive cakes I've made yet. As well as my first time dipping my feet in the whole cake pop fad. And honestly while the taste does take a small step back, I can see why they have become so popular as you can realize your ideas down to tiny details. What I didn't expect was the hard work making these. Now this batch was pretty big with nearly 50 pops, and I worked rather slow in the beginning to make sure I got everything right. I suggest just making half a batch if you just want to make these for fun. Now I mentioned that the taste was less than perfect, well it was actually better than I expected. Velvet cakes have a reputation of having a bland taste because of their identity crisis of being somewhere between a vanilla and a chocolate cake, I used my favourite red velvet cake, but it had to paired with frosting and the green chocolate melts are based on white chocolate which is my least favourite type of chocolate so I was a bit iffy about these tame mismatches. But the first bite actually revealed a pretty good cake, nothing mind blowing for your taste buds, but something I could imagine, at a party, being ripped away, faster than you can say 'squee!'

Metroid Fruit Cake

I've had the idea for this cake for almost half a year I think, and what better reason other than the 20th anniversary of Super Metroid to unveils this monster of a cake.. I've made quite a handful of joconde imprime cakes before, but they have all been simple patterns of lines and shapes, nothing as detailed as the title creature from a videogame franchise. It was actually easier than I feared, as you can see from the pictures I trapped a bit more air bubbles than I like, but nothing too terrible. I also tried to loosely capture the appearance of a Metroid with the fruit garnish on top of the cake. With inside layers of mixed berry mouse and rhubarb mousse, it is one fresh cake, one when I personally cut the next slice of cake before I'm even done chewing the first.

I also made a thread over at gaming.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Is this a good set of knives?

 

[thespot84]

Is this a good set of knives?

what's your budget?

Also, metroid, those look amazing.

 

[magnificent83]

So as most of you probably know(or would have guessed) I'm a pretty big fan of all things Metroid. Today is the 20th anniversary of Super Metroid and to celebrate I decided to utilize my kitchen skills disregarding the hygiene test we took today(I mean I took it and aced it, I just didn't read up on it... I baked instead.)

Here are the end products. Recipes will be added in a couple of days.

Metroid Cake Pops!

These small red velvet cakes covered in green chocolate are some of the most expressive cakes I've made yet. As well as my first time dipping my feet in the whole cake pop fad. And honestly while the taste does take a small step back, I can see why they have become so popular as you can realize your ideas down to tiny details. What I didn't expect was the hard work making these. Now this batch was pretty big with nearly 50 pops, and I worked rather slow in the beginning to make sure I got everything right. I suggest just making half a batch if you just want to make these for fun. Now I mentioned that the taste was less than perfect, well it was actually better than I expected. Velvet cakes have a reputation of having a bland taste because of their identity crisis of being somewhere between a vanilla and a chocolate cake, I used my favourite red velvet cake, but it had to paired with frosting and the green chocolate melts are based on white chocolate which is my least favourite type of chocolate so I was a bit iffy about these tame mismatches. But the first bite actually revealed a pretty good cake, nothing mind blowing for your taste buds, but something I could imagine, at a party, being ripped away, faster than you can say 'squee!'

Metroid Fruit Cake

I've had the idea for this cake for almost half a year I think, and what better reason other than the 20th anniversary of Super Metroid to unveils this monster of a cake.. I've made quite a handful of joconde imprime cakes before, but they have all been simple patterns of lines and shapes, nothing as detailed as the title creature from a videogame franchise. It was actually easier than I feared, as you can see from the pictures I trapped a bit more air bubbles than I like, but nothing too terrible. I also tried to loosely capture the appearance of a Metroid with the fruit garnish on top of the cake. With inside layers of mixed berry mouse and rhubarb mousse, it is one fresh cake, one when I personally cut the next slice of cake before I'm even done chewing the first.

I also made a thread over at gaming.

Just amazing

 

[Kaako]

Metroid :bow:
You are freaking amazing! Never stop with them quality posts in this thread with great pictures. Same goes to everyone...this thread is the best.

 

[DietRob]

Anyone have an awesome recipe they recommend for cornbread?

It's my Grandparents 50th wedding anniversary and birthday party. They were both born on the same day and got married on that day as well. My Grandpa is a smart man. Only 1 day to have to remember per year. LOL

Anyway. My dad is smoking a pork shoulder so I figured I could do cornbread because my sister is bringing slaw. I know I could just look a recipe up but I'd feel better about a Cornbread recipe that is IronGAF verified.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

what's your budget?

Well, one of the more appealing things about that set is that it's only $43

 

[Cfh123]

Anyone make homemade pasta?

I recently started making it. I found a pasta maker on sale. With a rolling pin I could not get the dough thin enough.

The dough is really easy to make - 2 cups of flour and 3 eggs. For me that makes 3 meals. The dough keeps well in the fridge.

It couldn't be simpler. And it tastes great. Plus it only takes 5 minutes to cook.

 

[nakedsushi]

^-- What a setup! The pasta looks great. I've only made pasta and noodles w/ a roller and it never comes out very thin. I just call it "rustic."

 

[Metroid Killer]

Those pasta looks great! I would love a pasta maker myself, I just don't have anymore space for another kitchen machine...

I thought I better show off some of the stuff I've made at school during the last months, For now we are still at the introductionary stage whenever we have to make a product, it's fun, but I'm looking forward to the more advanced crazy stuff. We have this secret lab which we haven't set foot in yet, and I'm sure you can create some wild things in there.

 

[Cosmic Bus]

Aw, all the pastry school standbys. Brings back memories!

Quiche! Smoked pork shoulder, roasted asparagus, onion, and garlic, gruyere and chevre, thyme, parsley, etc. With some homemade pickled asparagus and red onions.

 

[nakedsushi]

^-- THAT is a beautiful quiche.

 

[Gibbo]

MK. the carrot cake looks amazeballs. would you have the receipe ?

 

[raindoc]

^-- THAT is a beautiful quiche.

!

mind sharing the recipe?

 

[Metroid Killer]

Aw, all the pastry school standbys. Brings back memories!

Really love the colors here, looks really appetizing

MK. the carrot cake looks amazeballs. would you have the receipe ?

I usually keep all papers we get, but for some reason I just couldn't find the one containing the carrot cake recipe. If I remember I can get it on Monday as a group from my class just made the very same carrot cake yesterday. It's a good carrot cake alright. When we made the carrot cake in class our teacher was the coach for the Danish pastry team and he just made the most amazing carrot figures and other garnish.

 

[Thezez]

Anyone make homemade pasta?

I recently started making it. I found a pasta maker on sale. With a rolling pin I could not get the dough thin enough.

The dough is really easy to make - 2 cups of flour and 3 eggs. For me that makes 3 meals. The dough keeps well in the fridge.

It couldn't be simpler. And it tastes great. Plus it only takes 5 minutes to cook.

I have that exact same maker, I've never been able to get the clamp to work right though, did you have to do anything special to get it to hold?

 

[Cosmic Bus]

!

mind sharing the recipe?

Quiche is great because it's so simple: for a standard 9" pie dish, the custard base is 6 whole eggs and 3/4 cup heavy cream. Add a liberal pinch of s&p and that's it. You can add whatever other filling you'd like; I had well over a pound of meat, vegetables and cheese, and actually couldn't fit all the custard into the shell without the risk of it spilling out during baking, hah. It'll take between 20-30 minutes at 375f.

I fiddled around with a pastry crust recipe to add whole wheat, rye, and caraway seeds, but the basic recipe is:

145g AP flour
115g butter, cold and cubed
pinch of salt
3 TB cold water

Cut the flour, salt, and butter together until it's fairly small and crumbly, then add the water (may not even need all of it) until it all loosely comes together. Shape the dough into a small disc, wrap it up and chill for a half hour or so. Later, roll it out and fit into your pie dish, chill it again or even freeze it before blind baking it for about 15 minutes at 375f. Let the crust cool before filling it.

 

[Cfh123]

I have that exact same maker, I've never been able to get the clamp to work right though, did you have to do anything special to get it to hold?

It worked fine for me. I clamped it to my Ikea table.

 

[n0n44m]

decided to make a bit more fancy pizza instead of the regular Margherita + arugula + dried ham variety

these had tomato sauce, shredded (Dutch) cheese, caramelized onions, more cheese, ham, (some cherry tomatoes) and Munster cheese

the ham+Munster+caramelized onions combination was great !

 

[ElectricThunder]

Fine looking pizzas there----especially like the look of the crust on the second one.

 

[Ether_Snake]

I gotta try making those kind of pizzas. Looks so good, and a good way to use ingredients I might otherwise lose.

 

[ElectricThunder]

Not even going to bother with the pic, so consider this a brief PSA:

Simply 7 Cheddar Quinoa Chips = Damn Good

Taupiniere Soreda Cendree Goat Cheese =Bland shit incarnate

 

[n0n44m]

for today's dessert I made some chocolate sauce (by heating cream, chocolate and some cinnamon) and put it over vanilla ice cream with some salted cashew nuts. So good yet so easy. Dangerously easily because I usually don't eat that much ice cream

Fine looking pizzas there----especially like the look of the crust on the second one.

I gotta try making those kind of pizzas. Looks so good, and a good way to use ingredients I might otherwise lose.

yup still my favorite food, pretty easy too make as well. Often I don't even go to the store for ingredients but just throw on everything that was left over from the days before.

I'm using this Jim Lahey recipe http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/03/jim-laheys-no-knead-pizza-dough-recipe.html , you just mix up some stuff in a minute or two, then leave it overnight. After about 18 hours I divide the dough into 3 pieces, fold each piece 4 times, shape them into a ball and leave them covered in a small bowl for another hour.

Then I just gently stretch them into a pizza shape, using my fingers at first, then my knuckles+gravity. Just use enough flour too keep it from sticking to the peel, and work somewhat quickly. And use a stone (or steel) in your oven of course

anyway we have a bunch of pineapple left over from tonight's dish, so I'm probably going to make Pizza Hawaii this week ;D

 

[Ether_Snake]

Gotta get a stone then!

 

[GiJoccin]

Gotta get a stone then!

or pizza steel!

 

[Gr1mLock]

It worked fine for me. I clamped it to my Ikea table.

Is that your pup?

 

[Cfh123]

Is that your pup?

yes

 

[Gr1mLock]

Adorable

 

[nakedsushi]

Now that my daughter (wow, that feels weird to say!) is eating solid food, I've been having fun introducing her to stuff. This was her first try eating eggs. Rolled omelette and some steamed broccoli for breakfast:


I whipped up a quick dinner tonight. Pesto pasta and roasted cauliflower with a Korean-inspired bbq sauce. I was actually trying to make more of a buffalo sauce, but ended up adding way too much sugar.



Washed down with a kumquat lemon soda (lemon, club soda, simple syrup, 3 smashed kumquats)

 

[BriareosGAF]

Now that my daughter (wow, that feels weird to say!) is eating solid food, I've been having fun introducing her to stuff.

Should have started with the pasta, what could possibly go wrong?

Man, it freaks me out that photo is almost six years old. On the flip side, their favorite place to eat right now is a lovely Japanese restaurant in town, so we did something right.

 

[Melchiah]

This dish didn't need much of a cooking, but here it is nonetheless.

Fried chicken, halloumi cheese and zucchini, with romana salad, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, peas, pepper, corn and chives. Yummy.

 

[nakedsushi]

Should have started with the pasta, what could possibly go wrong?

Man, it freaks me out that photo is almost six years old. On the flip side, their favorite place to eat right now is a lovely Japanese restaurant in town, so we did something right.

Aw, cute. Was that her first time eating pasta? I'm trying to stay away from things that stain, or at least not giving her too much saucy stuff. I thought avocado was gonna be easy, but uh....

 

[ameratsu]

Hey cooking gaf. Haven't been too active recently, but it looks like you guys are up to your usual awesomeness. Here's one of my lunch staples that I made today:

Whole wheat tortilla with flax, chicken breast with homemade jerk rub, spicy dijon, spinach, queso fresco.

 

[XenodudeX]

nvm

 

[BriareosGAF]

Aw, cute. Was that her first time eating pasta?

No, I have one somewhere with her entire upper torso and face covered in pesto from months before that one...

I thought avocado was gonna be easy, but uh....

Very good. My eldest used to love avocado and then spent almost four years refusing to eat it before coming around again a couple of years ago. There is no rhyme or reason.

Today's mise en place for curry:

Dessert, a Victorian sponge cake with cream and raspberry jam. Equal weight eggs, butter, flour, mmm. Quite austere, though, not over-bearing, I like it alot.