Poll: Food! Cooking! Us!

[DefunctTheory]

As a big person, I love food. And for the last two years, I've been trying to teach myself how to cook. For the longest time, I failed miserably, but recently, I've started to get the hang of it. I can make a pretty decent roast, and my tuna, salmon, and shark isn't bad.

Tonight, I managed to get a thumbs up from my Father, which is pretty good. I'm finally becoming a person you can trust to, at the very least, not poison you. My current goal is to get a few Korean dishes down. I hate kimchi, but I like just about everything else they make.

In anycase, I'd like to make a thread about cooking. What do you like to cook? Are you any good? Trying your hand at it? Got any tips or recipes? Post them! Post pictures!

Lets talk about food!

Spoiler: Stir Fry Seasoning (Korean)

Stir Fry Seasoning, Korean (5 minutes)

Sesame Oil (2 Tps)
Soy Sauce (1 Tbps)
Salt (½ Tps)
Sugar (½ Tps)
Red Cayenne Pepper (½ Tps)

1. Multiply ingredients to get desired amount. Mix in bowl
2. Coat ingredients by either tossing in bowl, or add into stir fry while hot
A. If seasoning meat, coat all sides prior to stir fry. Sit for 10-30 minutes (Depending on meat thickness) to allow flavors to penetrate

Spoiler: Rice with Mushrooms and Onions

Rice with Mushrooms and Onions (30 Minutes)

Lean Beef, Shredded (2 oz)
Sesame Oil (1 tbps) (Substitutes: Vegetable Oil)
Vegetable Oil (1 tbps)
Onion, White (1)
Mushrooms, White (4 ½ oz)
Rice, White, Long Grain (Substitutes: Short Grain)
Water, Warm (1 ½ Cup)
Salt (1 tps)
Soy Sauce (2 tbps)
Black Pepper (¼ tps)
Sesame Seeds, Toasted, Crushed (1 tbps) (Optional)

1. If using sesame seeds, toast and crush prior to cooking. Out on a skillet at low heat, occasional shaking the seeds, until they release an aroma. Crush
2. Take a large, deep pan with a lid and apply medium heat. Add sesame oil and vegetable oil
3. Once the pan is hot, add the onion (Chopped), shredded lean beef, and mushrooms. Stir-fry for 2 minutes
4. Add rice, and stir-fry for 2 minutes
5. Add water, salt, soy sauce, black pepper, and sesame seeds. Spread the seasoning out over the skillet. Increase heat to bring the water to a boil. While waiting for boil, stir to mix seasoning and make sure all the rice is submerged
6. Once boiling, put heat to low-medium, and cover. Leave for 15 minutes. Do not stir
7. Remove lid and stir. Make sure all rice is moist and cooked - If not, add water as needed and replace the lid. Check for taste - if desired, add a small amount of soy sauce, mix, and taste again. Check to make sure there is no standing water - If the rice is cooked, and water remains, leave on heat without lid until water is gone.
9. Once done, remove from heat and replace lid until served

Spoiler: Pulled Pork

Pulled Pork (8-9 Hours)

4-6 Pound Pork Shoulder Roast (Deskinned)
Apple Vinegar (¼ Cup)
BBQ Sauce (Non-Sweet/Honey) (1 ½ Cups)
Cummin
Garlic Salt
Celery Salt
Onion, Large, White (1)
Vegetable Stock (2 Cups)
Ginger Ale (2 Cups)

Slow Cooker (Pressure)
Tongs
Measuring Cups
Small Pot

1. Begin to boil water, adding vegetable bouillon to make broth
2. Dry pork shoulder with paper towels
3. Moderately season all exposed parts of the pork shoulder with Garlic Salt, Celery Salt, and Cumin
4. Peel and dice the onion. Coat the bottom of the slow cooker in a layer of onion. Put leftover onion in the refrigerator
5. Put pork shoulder into the slow cooker, and turn it to High heat. Add vegetable broth, ¼ cup of apple vinegar, and 2 cups ginger ale. Drizzle BBQ sauce over the top of the pork shoulder, and mix some into the broth. Cover the slow cooker
6. Check every two hours, rotating the roast and drizzling a BBQ sauce on the fresh side.
7. When the pork shoulder begins to fall apart, remove the bone and set aside. Pick up the larger pieces of the pork shoulder with tongs, allowing the pork to fall apart. Continue until pork shoulder no longer falls apart on its own - Do not force it
8. Continue to come back and check on the pork shoulder, testing it with the tongs, adding BBQ sauce until none remains. Once pork shoulder is sufficiently rendered into pulled pork, take a large ladle and remove any excess fluids that rise above the pork. The top of the pork should stand ½-1 inch above the remain fluid level. Leave the slow cooker on High, and leave the lid off to allow the fluids to reduce. Mix the pulled pork periodically, to insure proper moisture and to make sure the onions are properly mixed in
9. When ready to eat, check the fluid level in the slow cook by moving all the pork to one side with the tongs. You should be able to see the bottom of the slow cooker, with no fluid covering it. Remove fluids until you can. Put the slow cooker on warm, and add BBQ to taste if required. Remove onions from the refrigerator, and either top pulled pork with it raw, or saute the onions lightly in a saute pan, using the removed fluid from the pork shoulder roast removed earlier
10. Store leftovers in plastic or glass containers. Mix lightly with some of the remaining fluids kept in the small pot, to ensure the pulled pork can still be re-heated and remain moist.

 

[Twintix]

I love cooking! I find it to be a relaxing activity, not to mention that I get to be a bit creative. I'll post some recipes later.

My dad makes amazing chili. I unfortunately don't remember the recipe for that...

I'm also quite an avid baker, evidenced by the group I created recently. This cake is one I bake whenever the local soccer team is playing. I always sell out of them.

Spoiler: False Tosca Cake

OK, so there's no guarantee that you know what "Tosca Cake" is, or why this one is false, so let me explain. Tosca Cake is a cake with a sponge-like base and covered with a caramel sauce with almonds in it. This one is false because the base is a sticky chocolate cake and the caramel sauce has coconut. The recipe is converted into American measurements for your convenience, with the original measurements on the side.

Ingredients
Cake
4 eggs
2.4 cups of sugar (6 dl)
1.2 cups of flour (3 dl)
8 tbsp of cocoa powder
2 tsp of vanilla (extract or sugar; I usually use vanilla-flavored sugar that I make myself)
2 tsp of baking powder
6.17 oz of butter (175 g)
Optional: A splash of cold coffee
Caramel Sauce
2.6 oz of butter (75 g)
0.8 cups of sugar (2 dl)
0.6 cups of cream (1 1/2 dl)
0.4 cups of syrup (1 dl)
7.05 oz of coconut (200 g)

Cake
Pre-heat the oven to about 390 degrees Fahrenheit (or 200 degrees Celsius).
Melt the butter. Beat the eggs and sugar until light and foamy.
Add the flour, cocoa, vanilla, cold coffee and baking powder. Mix until it's all combined, but be careful to not overmix it.
Pour in the butter and mix until combined.
Pour the batter in a sheet pan lined with baking sheets. The batter is rather thick and sticky, so you'll have to spread it out with a spatula.
Bake in the middle of the oven for about 12-15 minutes. Take it out, but leave the oven turned on.

Caramel Sauce
Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add sugar, syrup and cream and bring to a simmer.
Pour in the coconut and stir until combined.
Pour the caramel sauce over the cake and put it back in the oven for another 10 minutes, or until the surface becomes a nice shade of golden brown.

Let it cool, and then cut it into squares.

Tips!
Whenever I make this cake, I rarely use just caster sugar. I often use ratios of other sugars like 2 parts unrefined sugar, 2 parts brown sugar and 2 parts caster sugar, or 3:2:1. This makes for a slightly less sweet cake, and it brings out the chocolate.

The coffee is optional, but it really brings out the chocolate flavor, and I sometimes pour in about a teaspoon of espresso powder when I have it on hand.

To save time, I make the caramel sauce while the cake is in the oven, so that I can pour it over the cake immediately and have the cake done a bit faster. When you take the cake out of the oven, it'll have some air bubbles, and those make it hard to distribute the caramel sauce evenly. The air bubbles should disappear once the cake is out of the oven and the caramel sauce is done if you wait to make it, but if your cake is bubbly, you can gently slam the pan down to knock out the air.

Allergic to coconut? You can replace the coconut with some other nut that you like. I wouldn't recommend leaving them out entirely, though, as the sauce is rather thin and might not set as it should.

Maybe you don't like caramel? No problem! Leaving the caramel sauce out makes for a delicious brownie as well. Just keep it in the oven for about 25 minutes. (Or a little bit more - depends on your oven)

(By the way, if you're interested in Japanese cooking, I can recommend the Youtube channel Cooking With Dog. (I know what you're thinking, and no: The host is a dog) The food they make tastes awesome, from the sweet to the savory, and a new video is uploaded every Friday)

 

[Scarim Coral]

Yes I like food and yes I like to cook too since it taste alot nice knowing that I created it in the first place!

 

[Cowabungaa]

I would love to cook if I had better equipment and actual people to cook for and with. I see cooking, and obviously eating, as something very communal. I'd love to do it with loved ones or a group of good friends. But I neither have the space nor loved ones around nor that type of friends, sadly. Maybe when I'm older.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

It's kind of odd saying you like Korean food while also voicing your distaste for kimchi but hey, you don't need to include kimchi with your bolgolgi bowl and to each their own. I can't really cook and have never been in an environment when I've had the freedom to go all-out when it comes to experimentation...I like the idea of cooking and given time I could probably do really well (not professionally just well on my own). As for food though, I love most food. I wouldn't eat kimchi straight-up but I do enjoy it as a side to something else. There are some foods/components that I absolutely can NOT stand and refuse to eat; basically if it's got bananas or green peppers in it, I just can't eat it.

The best I can do on my own is make scrambled eggs. I can also do sunny-side up for the most part...then there's the super basic things like boiling water for soup, toasting bread for awesome sandwiches, etc...

 

[Ryotknife]

As a big person, I love food. And for the last two years, I've been trying to teach myself how to cook. For the longest time, I failed miserably, but recently, I've started to get the hang of it. I can make a pretty decent roast, and my tuna, salmon, and shark isn't bad.

Tonight, I managed to get a thumbs up from my Father, which is pretty good. I'm finally becoming a person you can trust to, at the very least, not poison you. My current goal is to get a few Korean dishes down. I hate kimchi, but I like just about everything else they make.

In anycase, I'd like to make a thread about cooking. What do you like to cook? Are you any good? Trying your hand at it? Got any tips or recipes? Post them! Post pictures!

Lets talk about food!

Spoiler: Stir Fry Seasoning (Korean)

Stir Fry Seasoning, Korean (5 minutes)

Sesame Oil (2 Tps)
Soy Sauce (1 Tbps)
Salt (½ Tps)
Sugar (½ Tps)
Red Cayenne Pepper (½ Tps)

1. Multiply ingredients to get desired amount. Mix in bowl
2. Coat ingredients by either tossing in bowl, or add into stir fry while hot
A. If seasoning meat, coat all sides prior to stir fry. Sit for 10-30 minutes (Depending on meat thickness) to allow flavors to penetrate

Spoiler: Rice with Mushrooms and Onions

Rice with Mushrooms and Onions (30 Minutes)

Lean Beef, Shredded (2 oz)
Sesame Oil (1 tbps) (Substitutes: Vegetable Oil)
Vegetable Oil (1 tbps)
Onion, White (1)
Mushrooms, White (4 ½ oz)
Rice, White, Long Grain (Substitutes: Short Grain)
Water, Warm (1 ½ Cup)
Salt (1 tps)
Soy Sauce (2 tbps)
Black Pepper (¼ tps)
Sesame Seeds, Toasted, Crushed (1 tbps) (Optional)

1. If using sesame seeds, toast and crush prior to cooking. Out on a skillet at low heat, occasional shaking the seeds, until they release an aroma. Crush
2. Take a large, deep pan with a lid and apply medium heat. Add sesame oil and vegetable oil
3. Once the pan is hot, add the onion (Chopped), shredded lean beef, and mushrooms. Stir-fry for 2 minutes
4. Add rice, and stir-fry for 2 minutes
5. Add water, salt, soy sauce, black pepper, and sesame seeds. Spread the seasoning out over the skillet. Increase heat to bring the water to a boil. While waiting for boil, stir to mix seasoning and make sure all the rice is submerged
6. Once boiling, put heat to low-medium, and cover. Leave for 15 minutes. Do not stir
7. Remove lid and stir. Make sure all rice is moist and cooked - If not, add water as needed and replace the lid. Check for taste - if desired, add a small amount of soy sauce, mix, and taste again. Check to make sure there is no standing water - If the rice is cooked, and water remains, leave on heat without lid until water is gone.
9. Once done, remove from heat and replace lid until served

Spoiler: Pulled Pork

Pulled Pork (8-9 Hours)

4-6 Pound Pork Shoulder Roast (Deskinned)
Apple Vinegar (¼ Cup)
BBQ Sauce (Non-Sweet/Honey) (1 ½ Cups)
Cummin
Garlic Salt
Celery Salt
Onion, Large, White (1)
Vegetable Stock (2 Cups)
Ginger Ale (2 Cups)

Slow Cooker (Pressure)
Tongs
Measuring Cups
Small Pot

1. Begin to boil water, adding vegetable bouillon to make broth
2. Dry pork shoulder with paper towels
3. Moderately season all exposed parts of the pork shoulder with Garlic Salt, Celery Salt, and Cumin
4. Peel and dice the onion. Coat the bottom of the slow cooker in a layer of onion. Put leftover onion in the refrigerator
5. Put pork shoulder into the slow cooker, and turn it to High heat. Add vegetable broth, ¼ cup of apple vinegar, and 2 cups ginger ale. Drizzle BBQ sauce over the top of the pork shoulder, and mix some into the broth. Cover the slow cooker
6. Check every two hours, rotating the roast and drizzling a BBQ sauce on the fresh side.
7. When the pork shoulder begins to fall apart, remove the bone and set aside. Pick up the larger pieces of the pork shoulder with tongs, allowing the pork to fall apart. Continue until pork shoulder no longer falls apart on its own - Do not force it
8. Continue to come back and check on the pork shoulder, testing it with the tongs, adding BBQ sauce until none remains. Once pork shoulder is sufficiently rendered into pulled pork, take a large ladle and remove any excess fluids that rise above the pork. The top of the pork should stand ½-1 inch above the remain fluid level. Leave the slow cooker on High, and leave the lid off to allow the fluids to reduce. Mix the pulled pork periodically, to insure proper moisture and to make sure the onions are properly mixed in
9. When ready to eat, check the fluid level in the slow cook by moving all the pork to one side with the tongs. You should be able to see the bottom of the slow cooker, with no fluid covering it. Remove fluids until you can. Put the slow cooker on warm, and add BBQ to taste if required. Remove onions from the refrigerator, and either top pulled pork with it raw, or saute the onions lightly in a saute pan, using the removed fluid from the pork shoulder roast removed earlier
10. Store leftovers in plastic or glass containers. Mix lightly with some of the remaining fluids kept in the small pot, to ensure the pulled pork can still be re-heated and remain moist.

you piqued my curiosity, how do you prepare your shark? Ive always wanted to tackle that dish

 

[Trippy Turtle]

The only thing I will ever cook well is the fabled Noodle Omelette.
I don't mind food otherwise, but I have other things I like more and cooking isn't really for me.

 

[bluepotatosack]

I need to get another baked mac and cheese going. Thinking I need to throw some smoked gouda in there this time around. Of course, the secret to a good mac and cheese is to get the roux going for the cheese sauce. And once you know how to make roux, you can make gumbo!

 

[DefunctTheory]

Spoiler: Monster Post, Spoiler So You Only Have to Scroll Over It Once

I love cooking! I find it to be a relaxing activity, not to mention that I get to be a bit creative. I'll post some recipes later.

My dad makes amazing chili. I unfortunately don't remember the recipe for that...

I recently made an excellent chili, but I lost all my seasoning measurements (I usually write it all down beforehand, make it, get comments and suggestions, and then upload it all into Google Docs for later). This weekend I'll probably do a run down and recreate the recipe.

It was a pretty good one. Chunk beef, kidney beans, no chili powder (Used a lot of mild peppers to give it the pepper taste, without the huge bite that my mother dislikes), hand crushed grape tomatoes... it was good stuff.

I'm also quite an avid baker, evidenced by the group I created recently. This cake is one I bake whenever the local soccer team is playing. I always sell out of them.

Spoiler: False Tosca Cake

OK, so there's no guarantee that you know what "Tosca Cake" is, or why this one is false, so let me explain. Tosca Cake is a cake with a sponge-like base and covered with a caramel sauce with almonds in it. This one is false because the base is a sticky chocolate cake and the caramel sauce has coconut. The recipe is converted into American measurements for your convenience, with the original measurements on the side.

Ingredients
Cake
4 eggs
2.4 cups of sugar (6 dl)
1.2 cups of flour (3 dl)
8 tbsp of cocoa powder
2 tsp of vanilla (extract or sugar; I usually use vanilla-flavored sugar that I make myself)
2 tsp of baking powder
6.17 oz of butter (175 g)
Optional: A splash of cold coffee
Caramel Sauce
2.6 oz of butter (75 g)
0.8 cups of sugar (2 dl)
0.6 cups of cream (1 1/2 dl)
0.4 cups of syrup (1 dl)
7.05 oz of coconut (200 g)

Cake
Pre-heat the oven to about 390 degrees Fahrenheit (or 200 degrees Celsius).
Melt the butter. Beat the eggs and sugar until light and foamy.
Add the flour, cocoa, vanilla, cold coffee and baking powder. Mix until it's all combined, but be careful to not overmix it.
Pour in the butter and mix until combined.
Pour the batter in a sheet pan lined with baking sheets. The batter is rather thick and sticky, so you'll have to spread it out with a spatula.
Bake in the middle of the oven for about 12-15 minutes. Take it out, but leave the oven turned on.

Caramel Sauce
Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add sugar, syrup and cream and bring to a simmer.
Pour in the coconut and stir until combined.
Pour the caramel sauce over the cake and put it back in the oven for another 10 minutes, or until the surface becomes a nice shade of golden brown.

Let it cool, and then cut it into squares.

Tips!
Whenever I make this cake, I rarely use just caster sugar. I often use ratios of other sugars like 2 parts unrefined sugar, 2 parts brown sugar and 2 parts caster sugar, or 3:2:1. This makes for a slightly less sweet cake, and it brings out the chocolate.

The coffee is optional, but it really brings out the chocolate flavor, and I sometimes pour in about a teaspoon of espresso powder when I have it on hand.

To save time, I make the caramel sauce while the cake is in the oven, so that I can pour it over the cake immediately and have the cake done a bit faster. When you take the cake out of the oven, it'll have some air bubbles, and those make it hard to distribute the caramel sauce evenly. The air bubbles should disappear once the cake is out of the oven and the caramel sauce is done if you wait to make it, but if your cake is bubbly, you can gently slam the pan down to knock out the air.

Allergic to coconut? You can replace the coconut with some other nut that you like. I wouldn't recommend leaving them out entirely, though, as the sauce is rather thin and might not set as it should.

Maybe you don't like caramel? No problem! Leaving the caramel sauce out makes for a delicious brownie as well. Just keep it in the oven for about 25 minutes. (Or a little bit more - depends on your oven)

I am an even worse baker then I am cook, and I've largely given it up for the time being. Making food is something that goes against my temperament, so its a slow road getting it right. One of these days, when I've got cooking down, I'll probably revisit it.

(By the way, if you're interested in Japanese cooking, I can recommend the Youtube channel Cooking With Dog. (I know what you're thinking, and no: The host is a dog) The food they make tastes awesome, from the sweet to the savory, and a new video is uploaded every Friday)

It would be nice to learn some Japanese stuff, but I'm not too worried about it at the moment. I'm not a huge fan of a lot of their stuff. The book I'm using now has Japanese and Korean recipes, but at least 75% of the Japanese stuff is raw fish, cold noodles, or something nasty like cold served beef (A notion I find disgusting beyond words). I am going to be trying my hand at some tempura here soon, at my mother's request (She's a picky eater and a terrible cook, so I take whatever opportunity she gives me to make something she'd like)

It's kind of odd saying you like Korean food while also voicing your distaste for kimchi but hey, you don't need to include kimchi with your bolgolgi bowl and to each their own.

Well, I dislike cabbage in general. But kimchi...

Spoiler: Graphic description of my opinion on kimchi. Do not read if you are hungry, may spoil your appetite

Kimchi is gross. It taste gross, it smells gross, and people who eat it smell gross. It gets in your sweat, in your breath, even your farts. The thing I hated most about Korea was the presence of only two smells - the overwhelming smell of sewage while outside (Their cities have terrible sewage system, and the country side is littered with farms and personal gardens where they use raw fertilizer) and the overwhelm smell of kimchi from people when you were inside. I have a friend that used to eat a whole jar of the stuff right before we went on long road trips, because he knew I could smell it on him the whole way.

I am of course referring to 'regular' kimchi, the red kind Koreans eat at every meal. There's other kinds that aren't so bad. I think I had kimchi soup once that's wasn't too bad. It was green, but I can't recall what kind it was.

The best I can do on my own is make scrambled eggs. I can also do sunny-side up for the most part...then there's the super basic things like boiling water for soup, toasting bread for awesome sandwiches, etc...

Eggs are the best food in the world as far as I'm concerned. If you can only cook one thing, it might as well be eggs.

Fun thing to try - save beef/pork fat run off, and use it instead of oil when you make eggs. Delicious.

you piqued my curiosity, how do you prepare your shark? Ive always wanted to tackle that dish

I really like the taste of fatty fish, so I don't do a lot to it. Shark (And tuna), because of their fat, can be treated kind of like beef (They do not taste the same, however). My Dad and I just like salt and peppering shark/tuna steaks, and then either pan frying it (Use a ridged pan if you have it, for those nice lines), or broiling (I have some shark now, actually. Going to broil it Saturday). You can also grill it.

Here's a site that has instructions on how to do tuna - the methods and timing are the same for shark. It uses a marinade, which I don't, but otherwise this is how I prepare my fatty fish (In fact, its the page I learned how to do tuna on initially).

http://www.wikihow.com/Cook-Tuna-Steak

Also, if you've never had tuna steaks before, you should. It does not taste like canned tuna, and is delicious.

Note: If you get shark with skin still attached, don't bother taking it off. Once cooked, the meat will flake right off. Also, don't feed the skin to an animal - Unlike fish skin which dogs and cats love, shark skin is thick and tough, and will probably kill the animal.

Another conversation point - Anyone got a good cook book they'd recommend to a friend? I just received this in the mail today (Got it for a steal from Amazon. Thanks, Cyber Monday!)

I love watching The Test Kitchen, and I both love meat, and need help with it, so it was a good fit. Gave it a good once over - Has detailed instructions on how to cook all types of beef, chicken, and pork, and explains everything - no previous knowledge required. The book is divided into the different types of meat, and each section starts with basic preparation, detailed descriptions of all cut types, suggestions on which to get depending on price, and just about everything else you'd need to know.

Loving it. Can't wait to try something from it.

 

[BeeGeenie]

I love cooking

My favorite recipe is "take whatever I have in the fridge and throw it in the slow cooker for a few hours!"

It's the best... stew... casserole... whatever... ever!

 

[Pete Oddly]

I love food, and I love cooking...sometimes.

Most times, I'll just throw veggies in the steamer, put meat in the oven covered in whatever spices and sauce I want, wait 45 minutes, boom, easy meal.

But sometimes...Oh...sometimes...

Two weeks ago I made a bean soup. Eight different types of beans. EIGHT, ************! Garlic, spinach, red onions, flour and cream to thicken it up, cumin and chili and seasoning salt for tastiness, and sloooooooowly cooked in the crock pot over six hours. It. Was. DIVINE.

I think I'm gonna go make a lasagna with linguine and goat's cheese now...I'm hungry.

 

[Evil Smurf]

I love food, and cooking, although I'm better at mixing drinks.

 

[giles]

I like cooking. I don't love food. I like nutrition.

I rarely cook the same dish twice because it's fun to try new stuff and find awesome aromas and flavours. Food is a great social lubricant and cooking/baking is a fun way to show the people around you that you care.
I don't particularly love food, I'm honestly pretty annoyed with having to eat 3000 calories each day with my active lifestyle and if it was just myself I could probably get by on variations of oatmeals, buns and nuts.

 

[Queen Michael]

Cooking? I can't cook. That's what I pay the Thai takeout place for.

Well, I can fry meat and boil spaghetti. That's it, though.

 

[RedDeadFred]

I can make a really good omelette but in general, I suck at cooking.

For omelette tips, I find mixing garlic powder and sriracha sauce into the beaten eggs makes it quite delicious. Also, sprinkling some dill over top is nice too.

My favourite fillings are:
Olives
Sundried tomatos
Aged cheddar
Bacon
Jalapenos
Onion

 

[Guffe]

I know how to cook the normal household foods and make amounts that last for a few days.
I usually need a recipe to remember the details except in a few dishes. My brother is a chef and knows some of the fancy stuff too, which I am not any good at

 

[Twintix]

As I was making dinner today, I just remembered a chicken "stew" that my brother invented. It's not so much a "recipe", as I don't actually use measurements when I make this, as it is a tip. I guess.

Cut up your chicken breasts and fry them.
When the outside has gotten some color (But it should still be raw in the middle), add some concentrated orange juice, (Or, if you don't have that, add some normal orange juice and let it reduce a bit) a little dijon mustard and a dallop of créme fraîche. (Sour cream has a tendency to split when it's heated, so try to find crème fraîche).
Cook until the chicken is done.
Serve with rice.

 

[sanquin]

I have an average weight, and take care of my food intake. But still I absolutely love food. I love trying new things, especially when it results in a pleasant surprise. I like cooking because of that as well, and I consider myself above average for a casual hobbyist. Nothing better than eating something that tastes great, that you made yourself. I like seeing others enjoy my cooking as well.

I remember one particular dish I was first hesitant about. Chicken skewers in a cocoa marinade. Put a salad of lettuce, tomato and cucumber on it, and top it with chocolate sauce and just a little bit of chili sauce. It was...godly. <3