| A place for stupid cooking questions
Posted: 3/11/2008 6:27:40 PM | No like chemistry u cannot mix certain things the way one please they will react u must follow the recipe.. for best results..
Seems like a logical solution ...:)
For best results when cooking u must be patient but than u could experiment see what comes up or if whatever u are baking blows up in your oven... | |
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| A place for stupid cooking questions
Posted: 3/11/2008 6:48:08 PM | Oil helps keep the water from boiling up and over the edges of the pan. I boil my pasta in just enough water to cover the dry noodles--and I don't drain them. This works fine for me--my rationale is that B vitamins (those found in pasta) are water soluble, so I figure everyone else is pouring these vitamins down the drain.
As for salt in the water or not: you can't add saltiness to pasta AFTER it's cooked--I've tried it and I agree.
Olive oil vs. butter...both tend to burn at higher temperatures, but in boiling water, I'm not sure--that's below the scorch factor. They both reduce the boiling up and over the top of thepan. | |
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atlast
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Joined: 2/25/2007
Msg: 55 | |
| A place for stupid cooking questions
Posted: 3/12/2008 11:26:50 AM | | Self rising flour saves a few steps when baking. I like my Ramen noodles stir fried, like fried rice only with noodles. | |
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| A place for stupid cooking questions
Posted: 3/12/2008 4:35:39 PM | Yes, I would have to agree...a different oil, for different tastes.
If you are talking deep frying, peanut oil is best. It has a high smoke point, makes things crispier faster and tasty.
If you are talking pan fried pork chops, I like corn oil for taste. The temp isn't as high as for deep frying, but corn oil holds up pretty well for deep fried potatoes too. I also use corn oil for cornbread.
For sauteing, I too, use olive oil and butter. I have also used olive oil for frying potatoes and it was fine.
Canola (rapeseed), Sunflower, safflower, grapeseed oil, all are good oils for frying as well, but each, including peanut and corn, have different characteristics depending on what you want to acheive.
For instance, coconut oil is excellent for frying, but has bad press for it's high saturated fat content. It is very bad to refry with it, but it is now known that because of it's structure, virgin coconut oil is actually very good for you. It does not affect you like other saturated fats. Too much info for this forum, you can read it here
http://www.coconut-connections.com/
I use coconut oil when frying dessert foods, because of the very good taste it imparts.
Dessert foods such as Nutella in a wonton wrapper, fried and sprinkled with powdered sugar.
All fast food places have traditionally used coconut oil on fries because of the flavor, but have stopped because of bad press. Also, they reused it, which changes the molecular structure and makes it bad for you.
Oils really are a matter of taste and function. I hope I helped. | |
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| A place for stupid cooking questions
Posted: 3/12/2008 4:44:08 PM | | Because the higher temperature makes the outside of what you are cooking brown too fast, and the inside doesn't get done. | |
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| A place for stupid cooking questions
Posted: 3/12/2008 5:18:07 PM | Great idea for a thread.
When a recipe says use 3 tablespoons of oil, you can just fill your spoon with oil and know you got the right amount. However, if it says 3 tablespoons of flour, well, you can get a huge amount of flour on a spoon. 4 or 5 times the volume of oil. Flour makes a big pile on the spoon. Sometimes it says level tablespoon and sometimes it says heaped tablespoon. Most often it says neither.
So how much is a tablespoon of flour? | |
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| A place for stupid cooking questions
Posted: 3/12/2008 5:42:02 PM | satsumo
Always use measuring spoons, and unless it specifies heaping, use a level measurement. (Don't pack it though either) | |
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| A place for stupid cooking questions
Posted: 3/12/2008 6:40:09 PM | Okay...I cooked out today, on a grill with charcoal. I had everything ready and went to get the grill started when I discovered I had no starter fluid. I was tempted to use gasoline because I did not want to run to the store. I was a little concerned about doing this so I took my lazy self to the store.
Would it have been okay to use the gas? Wouldn't it all burn off? If you waited until your charcoal was completely ashed over (white) would it be safe? | |
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| A place for stupid cooking questions
Posted: 3/12/2008 6:53:18 PM | Naughtical..
I would think that using gasoline to start a charcoal grill might be very dangerous when you go to light it, but I am certainly NO expert when it comes to charcoal grilling as I have a Weber gas grill; however,
if I DID have a charcoal grill, I would keep a couple of bags of self-lighting charcoal on hand for those times I want to grill. NO need for lighter fluid..YES..they are a bit more pricey, but does the trick and faster and without too much trouble. Just light and that's it., but that's JUST ME....LOL.
So what did you end up making? A "Pittsburgh style" steak? LOL Yummy.....my favoriteeeeeeeee
~~Beth~~ | |
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| A place for stupid cooking questions
Posted: 3/12/2008 7:12:21 PM | Hey Beth...
Yeah...I did decided against it because of the danger and I was worried about any lingering fumes getting on the food. The self-lighting charcoal is a little pricier (as you said) but what I really don't like about it is it burns way too fast.
I haven't yet had a Pittsburgh style steak but I plan on it. I like my steak kinda on the rare side but if I bit into it and it was still cold in the middle that would just be too gross.
(had the my kids over...and their friends, cooked out barbque ribs and chicken, sausage, hamburgers and hot dogs...I'm stuffed!) | |
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| A place for stupid cooking questions
Posted: 3/12/2008 9:19:25 PM | | ...Never use gasoline to light a fire..it's too "volatile"..it will blow your head off if you're not careful....on the other hand.. Kerosene...or some Diesel Fuel...isn't so bad...but they do leave a slight smell untill the briquets get completely ashen...If you run out of lighter fluid again....see if you have some candles in the house...melt one real quick..and pour it over some paper toweling wadded into a short tuna can or cat food can...put it under the charcoal...and light it up... | |
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| A place for stupid cooking questions
Posted: 3/12/2008 9:22:28 PM | | ...I learned the wax trick in 1973..before the National Boy Scout Jamboree in Moraine State Park in Pennsylvania...they made us cook with charcoal...and they wouldn't let you use lighter fluid to light it...so we took lengths of manila rope...untwisted them a bit...and soaked them im parafin...them made pretty good fire starters... | |
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| A place for stupid cooking questions
Posted: 3/12/2008 9:25:39 PM | | ...Oh..and you can actually make your own self-starting charcoal...just take a glass jar...put some briquets in it...and douse them with enough lighter fluid so that they actually soak in it....Screw on the cap..and you're ready to go the next time you want to BBQ...it only takes 4 or 5 of them to really get a fire going that way... | |
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| A place for stupid cooking questions
Posted: 3/12/2008 9:39:03 PM | | Thanks, Pupdaddy...I really like your last tip, I can't wait to try it out. The candle thing sounds pretty neat, too. | |
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| A place for stupid cooking questions
Posted: 3/12/2008 10:20:00 PM | A stack/layers of tightly wadded paper w/ the charcoal on top will start them easily.
Purists wont use fluids because it imparts an oily flavor to the food. | |
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| A place for stupid cooking questions
Posted: 3/13/2008 6:10:03 AM | LOL pupdaddy, as usual great posts.
I have known a lot of boy scouts in my life and one thing they and the people that hang around them have in common is THEY ARE ALL PYRO'S
LOLOL I know, I am one.
I spent a summer at a huge boy scout camp one summer a few years ago, teaching them how to cook good and nutritious meals over a camp fire. They actually paid me for this.....I got to hang out in one of the last virgin forests in this country, go to sleep in a haunted mansion to the sound of loons every night, when I wasn't at a camp fire, play with fire and cook AND was attended by 600 helpful boy scouts. There were fiddlehead ferns and wild spearmint galore, as well as good mushrooms and morels. The 685 acres was owned originally by Henry Ford's mafia body guard and the furniture that hid weapons and secret passageways were still in the (bullet proof) concrete log mansion built on the island surrounded by a moat. This place is heaven. | |
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| A place for stupid cooking questions
Posted: 3/13/2008 6:43:08 AM | In a pinch I've used paint thinner and let it soak in a minute or two, THAT is really the trick to safely starting a charcoal fire no matter what fluid you use, then make sure ALL of it burns off before any food is put on. It won't flash up this way -- it will light just as easily as match light.
Also put 6-8 match light at the bottom then use regular charcoal atop that.
Most of the time I don't use fluid anymore. I use newpaper and twigs and bark that are always in the yard falling off the massive trees all around. It does double duty --saves fluid, its healthier, and yard clean up all in one step!
Those chimney fireplace starters work well -- in fact you can cut them down and use just a fourth of one.
Sometimes I use candle stubs.
Does anyone use one of those electric plug in charcoal lighters? I've been tempted because then one never runs out of fluid (which is like 12-20 dollars a gallon! Makes gas look cheap by comparison.)
Any particular electric models better than other models?
In the long run it'd seem to pay for itself in under a season. I've been really tempted but I never ever heard or seen anyone use one so I have my doubts if it is just a gimmick. | |
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| A place for stupid cooking questions
Posted: 3/13/2008 7:31:18 AM |
Does anyone use one of those electric plug in charcoal lighters?
I didn't even know such a thing existed. I will definitely look for one. May not be handy when
camping out but I would love it for at home.
Billethekidd: I agree with you...I hope everyone knows the question was meant kinda tongue in cheek.
I hope you come back and look at what you did to this page. I am assuming you did not mean to do it, hopefully we have learned something here. | |
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| A place for stupid cooking questions
Posted: 3/13/2008 8:09:59 AM | RE- Electric Charcoal starters... I had one of the medium-priced ones from the home center. It worked just fine, took longer to get things going than open flames or the chimney starter, needed to be CONSTANTLY WATCHED and monitored. Use is simple- small pile of coals, lay in the electric starter, cover with more coals, plug it in. Wait. Wait some more while it heats up. Wait until it gets red hot. Coals will start going into gray from center out, then remove and readjust the coals. Reminder: CONSTANTLY WATCHED!!!
I stopped using it when one of the dogs was running through the yard and her tail caught the wire and flipped it out of the grill. There's this red-hot hoop of 1/4" diameter metal burning a hole into the deck, dog getting ready to "taste it" and very young son going after it to pick it up (by the hot wire). That's when I went back to gas, ceramic and lava stones, and lots of wood chips. The gas lights the wood chips and heats the lava/ceramic stones, so I get the same taste as charcoal. | |
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| A place for stupid cooking questions
Posted: 3/13/2008 9:59:05 AM | | ...I've always used a gallon can when starting charcoal..if you put a few briquettes soaked in the lighter fluid on the bottom..or some wadded up newspaper...you can fill it up...Then you pull up the can a bit (the bottom has been cut out) let the air into the bottom..and fire it up... | |
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| A place for stupid cooking questions
Posted: 3/13/2008 2:50:04 PM | My thanks to the moderator who deleted the post that threw this page out of whack.
Thanks for all the tips on charcoal lighting! | |
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| A place for stupid cooking questions
Posted: 3/13/2008 4:28:48 PM | | When I was a kid grilling season was 12 months a year in Santa Barbara. My dad had a couple of the electric starters and they always seems to crack or other wise die in less than a year. The most economical charcoal starter was a one lb coffee can with several church key holes in the bottom. Toss in half dozen briquettes place over gas burner stove in kitchen. After they get going use a pair of water pump pliers to move them out to the grill, dump them out and cover them with more briquettes. | |
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