Idle Food - Cooking!

[YoThatLimp]

If I had to guess, it's a texture issue. I love tomatoes, but I've certainly been put off when you get one that's really grainy. I'd rather have an under ripe tomato than one that's all grainy and bad textured.

 

A lot of tomato sauce is also loaded with sugar and many tomato-disguising flavors.

 

 

^^^ Oh hey some confirmation!

 

The texture of (some) tomatoes put me off for ages, so I definitely think this is it!

[Griddlelol]

I've never had a grainy tomato, only under ripe ones, but I can totally understand the texture thing. 

 

A good marinara sauce can turn an average meal into something delicious very easily though.

[Dewar]

I used to love fresh tomato slices on my burgers when I was young, now I can't stand them. It feels like the flavor and texture changed significantly in the mid 90s, but I suppose it might have just been my taste buds maturing.

[Badfinger]

Funny! I used to be all about ketchup on my burgers, and now I would prefer to skip it and just get tomatoes on my burger. So tasty!

[BobbyBesar]

Re:Salt and salads, I used to not understand salads at all (we never ate them growing up, Chinese family, so usually some variant of sauteed chinese cabbage*). It just seemed weird to eat vegetables raw, like eating an ingredient instead of a food. 

 

At some point I read something that noted that "salad" derives from the same root as "salt" (Latin: sal), so by definition a salad is supposed to be salted. Now, I enjoy salads, largely because I specifically toss them with salt and black pepper before applying any dressing (often, this means you need less dressing as well). 

 

So, I still think of lettuce = ingredient, but lettuce + salt = salad = food.

 

 

* It's still almost the only way I cook vegetables. Heat Oil + Garlic, add leafy vegetable + rice wine + salt, saute until wilted.

[Twig]

I'd rather have a rotten tomato than even think about touching ketchup. That shit makes me nauseous.

[Griddlelol]

I'd rather have a rotten tomato than even think about touching ketchup. That shit makes me nauseous.

 

Ketchup is the devil. The smell of it makes me gag. 

 

Hamburgers either have mustard or BBQ sauce. 

[Twig]

wrong they have mayo

[eot]

We got a lot of mulberries this year, so I decided to make a cake and put some (a lot) of them on. I know I'm not exactly breaking new ground by putting berries on a cake but I was honestly surprised how well it went together. I like cake with strawberries, blueberries, raspberries or whatever other berries I can go out and pick, but this was different because it's a taste explosion when you bite into one. Mulberries can be a bit too intense to just eat on their own, not sure why I hadn't tried this sooner. The only downside is that they're a bit too big.

[syntheticgerbil]

I used to love fresh tomato slices on my burgers when I was young, now I can't stand them. It feels like the flavor and texture changed significantly in the mid 90s, but I suppose it might have just been my taste buds maturing.

Haha I read that first as "fresh tomato sauce on my burgers" and was thinking that actually sounds pretty good.

[Dewar]

Haha I read that first as "fresh tomato sauce on my burgers" and was thinking that actually sounds pretty good.

Chicken Parmigiana sand witch with chicken, mozzarella, and spaghetti sauce?

[Badfinger]

wrong they have mayo

 

FUCK no they don't. Mayo on a hamburger is a horrible war crime.

Chicken Parmigiana sand witch with chicken, mozzarella, and spaghetti sauce?

 

A marinara burger, or caprese burger, or whatever you want to call it is really delicious.

[JonCole]

I like mayo on burgers, but I only have kewpie mayo at home which is infinitely superior to any other mayo so I wouldn't blame others for not liking the idea.

[Mangela Lansbury]

I like mayo on burgers, but I only have kewpie mayo at home which is infinitely superior to any other mayo so I wouldn't blame others for not liking the idea.

Duke's rules over the mayonnaise duchy.

I will fight you on this.

[JonCole]

I don't care enough to fight, I'm just happy that there are at least two of us here who appreciate quality mayo.

[Twig]

FUCK no they don't. Mayo on a hamburger is a horrible war crime.

If it's a war crime to be in heaven, then I will go down as the greatest war criminal in history.

[BobbyBesar]

Mayo on a burger is fantastic, although if you're using store bought mayo, I can see the reticence.

Mayo is also the correct condiment for dipping fries into.

Seriously, home made mayo takes about 3 minutes to make.

[osmosisch]

Mayo is also the correct condiment for dipping fries into.

Anyone who's seen Pulp Fiction knows this.

[Griddlelol]

Chicken Parmigiana sand witch with chicken, mozzarella, and spaghetti sauce?

 

Yup, that is just delicious. My Dad used to prep chicken parmigiana and eggplant parmigiana and keep them wrapped up in the fridge. A chicken/eggplant parmigiana sandwich is the best.

 

wrong they have mayo

 

You're disgusting. 

 

After talking about ketchup here I had a flash back to being a kid and having a friend around for a sleep over. He was completely incredulous that we didn't own a bottle of ketchup for him to put on his chips. He told everyone at school and I was treated like a weirdo for a week until everyone forgot about it. 

[Twig]

You're disgusting!

[Badfinger]

SEITAN!

 

My girlfriend is pescatarian, minus a good deal of shellfish. I feel like we sometimes get rote with our meal decisions, or we make a meal that gets created in steps so I have (Meal) With (meat) and she has (Meal) with (meat substitute).  She had a dish with seitan this weekend at a restaurant, and it was really, really good. This creates a load of possibilities where we aren't segregating our food groups or both getting really tired of tofu. I am excited.

 

People who have experience with seitan, where do you like to get it? Do you cook it yourself or buy it premade? Are there brands or varieties to either zero in on, or avoid?

[Erkki]

I want to have a guacamole burger. I've been making a lot of guac recently, and one local burger joint had a guac burger on the menu for one day but I missed it

[osmosisch]

SEITAN!

 

My girlfriend is pescatarian, minus a good deal of shellfish. I feel like we sometimes get rote with our meal decisions, or we make a meal that gets created in steps so I have (Meal) With (meat) and she has (Meal) with (meat substitute).  She had a dish with seitan this weekend at a restaurant, and it was really, really good. This creates a load of possibilities where we aren't segregating our food groups or both getting really tired of tofu. I am excited.

 

People who have experience with seitan, where do you like to get it? Do you cook it yourself or buy it premade? Are there brands or varieties to either zero in on, or avoid?

Seitan is amazing stuff, tied only with quorn for flavour/texture as meat substitute in my opinion. I get it in big jars, marinated. Brand stuff won't be a big use I think for someone overseas I expect.

I treat it kind of like meat. Often it's good to custom-marinade it some more, depending on what you're planning to do with it.

[Badfinger]

So you buy it in already cooked form? I am seeing a number of products that are basically gluten flour that you make into dough yourself and THEN cook in whatever dish you're looking to make.

[osmosisch]

Yeah, the stuff I get has already been boiled; I rarely feel like making my own, I expect the rinsing to remove the starch that they do in the production facility is going to be way more efficient than what I can do myself anyway.

It comes in jars like this:

http://www.galateaorganic.nl/nl/p/producten/421901/artnr-1002/bio-seitan-in-glazen-pot/