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Is your cooking improving in isolation?

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Old Jun 27, 2020 | 5:01 pm
  #436  
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Originally Posted by Finkface
What is your recipe for caesar salad dressing?
Actually, I kind of wing it without using a recipe but I will try to piece it together. I use half olive oil and half grapeseed oil as I find the olive oil kind of takes over. And I like lots of lemon. I will have to come back with amounts. I do it in the blender.
Of course the salad is just romaine, croutons, parmesan.
I really good way to make it is to cut a head of romaine in half lengthwise and brush with oil and grill it...then put the dressing, shaved parm and croutons on the grilled romaine. Works best with the baby heads.
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Old Jun 27, 2020 | 6:02 pm
  #437  
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Originally Posted by corky
Actually, I kind of wing it without using a recipe but I will try to piece it together. I use half olive oil and half grapeseed oil as I find the olive oil kind of takes over. And I like lots of lemon. I will have to come back with amounts. I do it in the blender.
Of course the salad is just romaine, croutons, parmesan.
I really good way to make it is to cut a head of romaine in half lengthwise and brush with oil and grill it...then put the dressing, shaved parm and croutons on the grilled romaine. Works best with the baby heads.
Yum! Never thought of grilling it. Ill try it when you post the amounts. My favorite one at our local restaurant adds crispy capers. So good.
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Old Jun 27, 2020 | 6:24 pm
  #438  
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Originally Posted by Badenoch
No garlic?
I also like to throw in a little Dijon mustard.
garlic is part of the recipe but my spouse is a vampire so no garlic. When solo, I would use garlic often. I do use garlic croutons by Semifreddi as opposed to making my own croutons.

Originally Posted by corky
Oh yeah...didn't notice that.
The oil to lemon ratio seems a bit off but oh well...he likes it so that's what matters.
im positive that new best recipe is 4 tsp lemon which works to a half lemon. I have that half lemon in my memory as opposed to the exact terms used by new best recipe.

Originally Posted by Finkface
Yum! Never thought of grilling it. Ill try it when you post the amounts. My favorite one at our local restaurant adds crispy capers. So good.
ive heard of the grilled Caesar but just havent tried it.

I definitely add Parmesan with the Caesar but I mix everything so I am pretty sure that the cheese is within the dressing.
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Old Jun 27, 2020 | 7:45 pm
  #439  
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Originally Posted by corky
Actually, I kind of wing it without using a recipe but I will try to piece it together..
Yeah, I just sort of eyeball it. I'd be interested in how often other posters follow recipes v tasting as you cook. The person who really taught me how to cook was my Neapolitan uncle. There was never a recipe in sight, just a little bit of this a little bit of that. Most of his recipes were dead simple, but the flavours were astounding. You can look like a superstar with 3-4 ingredients. When I'm trying something new, I usually look at a few recipes just to see what the flavours are then adjust to my own taste.

How about everyone else?
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Old Jun 27, 2020 | 11:14 pm
  #440  
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Originally Posted by bensyd
Yeah, I just sort of eyeball it. I'd be interested in how often other posters follow recipes v tasting as you cook. The person who really taught me how to cook was my Neapolitan uncle. There was never a recipe in sight, just a little bit of this a little bit of that. Most of his recipes were dead simple, but the flavours were astounding. You can look like a superstar with 3-4 ingredients. When I'm trying something new, I usually look at a few recipes just to see what the flavours are then adjust to my own taste.

How about everyone else?
This
It is rare that I follow a recipe and get out the measuring spoons etc. Recipes to me are more like suggestions and I always mess with them. You get a feel for what flavors work with others. You should be fearless when you cook....what's the worst that could happen? The worst is that you won't like it and have to throw it out. It is highly unlikely that you will kill anyone with your cooking.
You can't do this with baking which is why I don't bake...too many rules to follow and having to be precise.
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Old Jun 28, 2020 | 12:21 am
  #441  
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Originally Posted by gaobest
garlic is part of the recipe but my spouse is a vampire so no garlic. When solo, I would use garlic often. I do use garlic croutons by Semifreddi as opposed to making my own croutons..
Have you tried removing the garlic germ and seeing if that makes it more palatable to your partner? It can mellow the flavour depending on the age of the garlic you're using.
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Old Jun 28, 2020 | 12:30 am
  #442  
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Originally Posted by corky
This
It is rare that I follow a recipe and get out the measuring spoons etc. Recipes to me are more like suggestions and I always mess with them. You get a feel for what flavors work with others. You should be fearless when you cook....what's the worst that could happen? The worst is that you won't like it and have to throw it out. It is highly unlikely that you will kill anyone with your cooking.
You can't do this with baking which is why I don't bake...too many rules to follow and having to be precise.
LOL. Don't ever let me father near your kitchen. He doesn't read a recipe, could burn water, but fancies himself a bit of a gastronaut. He literally can do not much more than fry an egg, but he tries all these weird combinations and tends to find an ingredient and then use it on absolutely everything (hi, truffle oil). When I visit him, I insist we go out for dinner or I cook.

I also don't like baking. Too much patience and preciseness required. I've been pretty impressed with the home baking some guys are doing on here. I think I'd need to be at lockdown level 9 to really get into it.
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Old Jun 28, 2020 | 9:57 am
  #443  
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Originally Posted by bensyd
LOL. Don't ever let me father near your kitchen. He doesn't read a recipe, could burn water, but fancies himself a bit of a gastronaut. He literally can do not much more than fry an egg, but he tries all these weird combinations and tends to find an ingredient and then use it on absolutely everything (hi, truffle oil). When I visit him, I insist we go out for dinner or I cook.

I also don't like baking. Too much patience and preciseness required. I've been pretty impressed with the home baking some guys are doing on here. I think I'd need to be at lockdown level 9 to really get into it.
HAHA....your father . Well I admire the guy's confidence! I know people who get obsessed with one ingredient too...so funny.
Here's the thing ...if lockdown level 9 and you start baking then you will also be eating the baked goods. I don't need to be polishing off a pan full of lemon bars or carrot muffins or chocolate bundt cake myself .
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Old Jun 28, 2020 | 10:34 am
  #444  
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Originally Posted by corky
... pan full of lemon bars or carrot muffins or chocolate bundt cake myself .
just bake a fractional amount and itll be less to eat. Or freeze dough if you have the freezer space. Then enjoy. Yummy yum yum. You deserve the yummy treats.
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Old Jun 28, 2020 | 12:45 pm
  #445  
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Originally Posted by gaobest
just bake a fractional amount and itll be less to eat. Or freeze dough if you have the freezer space. Then enjoy. Yummy yum yum. You deserve the yummy treats.
Freezing doesn't stop me if I know something is in there. And I wouldn't go to the trouble of baking and only making a small amount. I am best just leaving well enough alone especially since I am well into the covid 15lbs and the gym is closed. And I have girl scout cookies in the freezer that call my name. This week a box of Tag-A-Longs called out to me.
And actually since I do not have a cute red freezer in the garage space is limited!
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Old Jun 28, 2020 | 3:16 pm
  #446  
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Originally Posted by corky
This
It is rare that I follow a recipe and get out the measuring spoons etc. Recipes to me are more like suggestions and I always mess with them. You get a feel for what flavors work with others. You should be fearless when you cook....what's the worst that could happen? The worst is that you won't like it and have to throw it out. It is highly unlikely that you will kill anyone with your cooking.
You can't do this with baking which is why I don't bake...too many rules to follow and having to be precise.
Same. I figure they are recommendations and not specific amounts.
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Old Jun 28, 2020 | 7:50 pm
  #447  
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Tossed some ripe peach slices into melted butter, sugar, cinnamon, pinch of salt on stovetop. On vanilla ice cream was very yummy. Perfect for hot summer day. And super easy.
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Old Jun 29, 2020 | 7:01 am
  #448  
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Originally Posted by corky
and brush with oil and grill it...then put the dressing, shaved parm and croutons on the grilled romaine. Works best with the baby heads.
This is my favorite method too. It seems to bring it up to a slightly higher level...not transformational, but a little extra. I only do it when I'm grilling other items too.

Originally Posted by corky
This
It is rare that I follow a recipe and get out the measuring spoons etc. Recipes to me are more like suggestions and I always mess with them. You get a feel for what flavors work with others. You should be fearless when you cook....what's the worst that could happen? The worst is that you won't like it and have to throw it out. It is highly unlikely that you will kill anyone with your cooking.
You can't do this with baking which is why I don't bake...too many rules to follow and having to be precise.
Same here. My wife, however, is a recipe follower. She's a very good cook, but occasionally her recipe-following has disastrous outcomes. She made a lasagna once. After it was in the oven, she joined me in the living room and said she thought it was odd that the recipe called for cinnamon. ???. You guessed it, we could taste cinnamon in every bite. I would have just seen it in the recipe and ignored it (and maybe questioned the whole thing).

Surprisingly, given her recipe following, neither of us are really bakers. Although if it must be done, she's the one who bakes.

Originally Posted by bensyd

I also don't like baking. Too much patience and preciseness required. I've been pretty impressed with the home baking some guys are doing on here. I think I'd need to be at lockdown level 9 to really get into it.
I've been silently impressed too. And I'm with you, it would take a lot for me to get to that point. It's not so much the preciseness of the recipes, it's things like repeatedly kneading, or waiting hours for yeast to do something that drive me crazy. Definitely the patience part I guess. We have 2 ovens in our new house (2 months in). One has never been used, and the other has seen a few pizzas and some toasted sandwiches. Come fall, it will likely see some roasted meats and veggies, but not much else.
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Old Jun 29, 2020 | 8:10 am
  #449  
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Originally Posted by bensyd
Have you tried removing the garlic germ and seeing if that makes it more palatable to your partner? It can mellow the flavour depending on the age of the garlic you're using.
The germ is also what gives you gas and general intestinal discomfort. If you remove it you'll never have those issues with garlic.

Originally Posted by corky
This
It is rare that I follow a recipe and get out the measuring spoons etc. Recipes to me are more like suggestions and I always mess with them. You get a feel for what flavors work with others. You should be fearless when you cook....what's the worst that could happen? The worst is that you won't like it and have to throw it out. It is highly unlikely that you will kill anyone with your cooking.
You can't do this with baking which is why I don't bake...too many rules to follow and having to be precise.
Yeah, I usually look at the Joy of Cooking or America's Test Kitchen, or a few random internet recipes, to get the idea of how it's done and then I play around with it. Baking is a chemistry experiment and must be precise, however. I like doing them both but I just don't usually want/need a full batch of baked goods sitting around the house.

My mom is a great baker and used to love baking but hasn't done it in years because she doesn't want all those desserts sitting around the house.
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Old Jun 29, 2020 | 9:39 am
  #450  
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Originally Posted by JBord
... And I'm with you, it would take a lot for me to get to that point. It's not so much the preciseness of the recipes, it's things like repeatedly kneading, or waiting hours for yeast to do something that drive me crazy. Definitely the patience part I guess. We have 2 ovens in our new house (2 months in). One has never been used, and the other has seen a few pizzas and some toasted sandwiches. Come fall, it will likely see some roasted meats and veggies, but not much else.
happy new house! I boosted my cooking due to Covid and societal results. I also think that we save money by supermarket shopping. I also have the time to cook.

Originally Posted by gfunkdave
...Baking is a chemistry experiment and must be precise, however. I like doing them both but I just don't usually want/need a full batch of baked goods sitting around the house.
...My mom is a great baker and used to love baking but hasn't done it in years because she doesn't want all those desserts sitting around the house.
i have frozen dough or things when needed so that theres less pressure to eat something just because its there. Sometimes we are forced to dispose of food. Its not ideal but its not an awful thing to do often.

ok kids what is the garlic germ? Im intrigued.

I always learn good stuff on flyertalk, not just related to airline refunds. But the maui refund truly helped much.
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