jrshaul

It seems the rate of sweet potato consumption was higher than I originally thought. People will often throw a few in here or there to help stretch the food supply, and I'm wondering if the lack of enthusiasm is just due to overexposure. Making a sweet potato curry would be a refreshing change of pace. I'm well aware of this. I've had some pretty good luck stir-frying on my electric stove at home - I usually do a tofu and broccoli that's a lot like a de-greased version of Chinese takeout. It's not going to win any authenticity awards, but it's tasty. I'm not an expert on stir-fry, but I do know that the pan should be at well over 270F. My infrared thermometer suggests the pan is usually closer to 350 at home. Can anyone elaborate on how to make huge quantities of fried rice? I was under the impression that this was inefficient.

Pumpkin. Lots and lots of pumpkin - in cans, and a few lonely gourds in the root cellar. Also, sweet potatoes, onions, and a few conventional spuds. As a rule of thumb, anything that can't be eaten instantly isn't consumed for the DIY breakfast or lunch, and no one seems to do much with sweet potatoes. Thanks for the tofu tips! I've had some surprisingly good luck cooking tofu at home with relatively little oil, though I have a small cast-iron pan (not a wok) and a big electric burner. I also drain it really well. Pre-baking the stuff might be interesting, and it should throw off a lot of water - perhaps making it more suitable to fry? I suspect phase-change heat loss is dropping the heat of the pan to unsuitable levels. On a totally unrelated note, I've found that, when cooking in large batches, it's practical to put a lid on a pan and slowly render the fat out of the chicken skin. It tastes fantastic, and gives a powerful chicken-y flavor to a dish where you can't have quite enough meat. Anyway, on the List of Stuff to Learn: 1. Hummus. Hummus consumption at peak is over 20 pounds per week, and at $4.50/lb, that's not really sustainable. I figure I can make it for 1/4 that. I found a Vita-Mix without a lid; hopefully, once restored, this should make hummus prep a lot easier. Due to my inexperience with dried beans, I soaked them overnight, washed them, then did the "rapid soak" procedure where you briefly simmer them then leave them in water some more. This is overkill, but as someone who has great difficulty with improperly cooked beans, I'd rather not have to make anyone else suffer. 2. Tofu dengaku. I think I've had this before, and the recipe's great: Chop tofu into bits, broil, apply easy sauce, broil more. I'm not a fan of tofu outside of Asian food, and most of the other food co-oppers aren't either; however, I think they'll like this a lot. The only catch is finding a vegan egg substitute (or just making something else for the vegans.) Also, mirin and daishi are unpleasantly expensive; I'm hoping to use mushroom broth for the latter. Here's a recipe that seems pretty safe to me, though any comments would be welcome. http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2009/07/seriously-asian-tofu-dengaku-recipe.html 3. Chili and cornbread. I think I'm set on this one. 4. Pumpkin stew. Someone has to eat that pumpkin! Probably with peanuts. One batch will have heat and meat; the others will be for the non-adventurous and the vegans. 5. Mapo dofu. Eating tofu with pork sauce changed the way I thought about tofu. Also, there's a grad student from China who's quite keen on more spicy food.

You need to rub the skins off? I wasn't aware of that. Well, that's one crisis averted...

Do you need to rinse/drain chickpeas like other beans? When I said I'm a newbie cook, I wasn't kidding... On a related note, can anyone suggest things that only make sense in foodservice-size quantities? High-gluten flour starts to make sense when bread is baked on a weekly basis - and everyone likes pizza!

Good news! I've found that the house actually has a lot of unused food on scheduled deliveries. While the fresh vegetables tend to be exhausted well before the weekly delivery, there's quite a lot of stuff at a tremendous surplus, including a whopping five gallons of tahini paste and a lot of root vegetables no one can be bothered to cook. Speaking of tahini, the house eats an absolutely insane amount of hummus - something on the order of ten pounds a week. They're paying $4.50 for itty-bitty tubs of the stuff, and I'd like to start producing it en masse. I've made hummus before, but never from dry garbanzo beans - any thoughts? Also, beyond the roasted red pepper and roasted garlic, any ideas for alternative flavorings? Another "freebie food" is tofu, which nobody else cooks. I've had some good luck at home stir-frying it in smoking hot peanut oil, but I just can't seem to get the temperature of the wok or frying pan up high enough to keep it from sticking. I'm pretty new to stir-frying, but I'm fairly sure the issue is temperature related; at home, I make enough smoke to fill the apartment but in the co-op kitchen my infrared thermometer measured the pan at a lowly 280F! Maybe something could be done with the broiler? It's an industrial unit that also heats the griddle above it; it actually doesn't seem to get very hot under it but it does toast the top very well. I can take pictures if my description isn't helping. EDIT: Apparently, what I'm looking for is "tofu dengaku," broiled tofu in miso sauce. The wide-area broiler should make these pretty well, and I can add some heat to the sauce for a few of them. The better recipes all seem to use egg whites, though - is there a decent vegan and gluten-free alternative? Also, anyone know where I can buy cheap mirin and dashi stock? The guy who does food purchasing is a peach, but he has some trouble with the exotics. I've heard that fungi soaked in water make a pretty decent substitute, and I can get a big package of "dried black forest mushrooms" for $3. I have no idea what they are, but the Chinese students could probably tell me. Agreed 100%. There's one former resident who frequently visits for dinner who is very seriously allergic to lactose and gluten - the narcolepsy is not an exaggeration. He's now a happy and successful individual who politely turns down pie when offered. For the longest time, I thought he just didn't like the food. Fun fact I learned from him: Commercial butter has a sufficiently small amount of lactose that many celiacs can have small amounts of it. Same with a few hard cheeses. On average, it's more like 16 on most days. However, it can be much higher at times. Sometimes people just go make PB&Js to make up the slack, but this just seems inadequate.

Today, I helped another co-opper make quinoa and chicken for 26. De-boning chicken legs is significantly more hassle than it's worth when cooking for 26. I also had some trouble stir-frying tofu. The wok in question just wouldn't stay hot with more than a few tiny pieces of tofu in it, and I don't know why. The stove in question is a big gas-burning monstrosity that appears to make a more than adequate flame, but I had a heck of a time cooking it properly. Any suggestions for crispy tofu? I very much appreciated the tips. I have no intention of violating legitimate dietary concerns or religious beliefs; my issue is for those who consider nutritional preferences as a burden to others. There are people who are gluten free because it's trendy, and there are people who are gluten free because it makes them narcoleptic.

Don't worry - I won't. There are a few vegetarians present who have some nutritional issue, and at least one devout buddhist. I'm mostly frustrated that the vegetarian food required will have to be so limited - cooking without dairy or eggs is tricky. The vegetarian food must also be gluten-free.

I've heard as much. The ones I saw at the store say "Just add chocolate chips!," but the owners have verified you need to add a bunch of grease. I'm not entirely discouraged, though. The auger should require lower tolerances than the rotating bowl and scraper if I can find one complete. Another option might be to put a seal around the top of my crock pot sous vide machine and set the water bath at 91F. I'd have to put on a good seal and weigh down the bowl.

I've had really good luck through the years with this recipe for vegetarian chili. Maybe it will give you some ideas and direction. I do use kidney beans, but you could try it with black beans. I can't imagine why they wouldn't work. Vegetarian Chili I requested black beans because I've had nothing but bad vegetarian kidney bean chili, with one exception the creator has never replicated. Good vegetarian chili of any type is always welcome.

Mine (a cheap Chinese knock-off, I suspect) takes a minute or two to readjust. Strictly speaking, a PID controller should keep a pretty accurate hold on temperature even if not precisely calibrated, and 1 degree celsius isn't the end of the world if you're making tea. Given the cost of a good PID controller and the need for a decent SSR, making your temperature controller interchangeable is a good idea.

I apologize for being a broken record, but I could really use a vegetarian black bean chili recipe. Most of what I've had is pretty bad, and I'd like a tested recipe before I make a huge pot of it. It's one of the few things I can guarantee being present. In further news, I've been informed that the budget is actually $10/meal. On the plus side, I can use up to $20 on one meal so long as it averages to $10. I'd like to make something guaranteed (maybe a tofu stir-fry) on one night, and use all $20 to buy meat on the other. On the plus side, I now own a cheap stand mixer (not sharing!) and am looking at building a great big sous-vide bath for cooking pork. In a word, this. There's regular food deliveries in addition to the $10 budget, from which I may use whatever I like. However, the variety is limited, and not all ingredients are available at all times. Making cornbread, black bean soup, or dal using ingredients on hand is a given; however, if I want to include meat, fresh spices, quality cheese, or anything else unusual I have $13 to spend. It doesn't actually make an awful lot of sense or work particularly efficiently, but it's the way things are. In theory, this is the case, and several other co-ops in the area do (I'm told) function in much this way. However, the majority of those living at the co-op are only visiting for a semester, and the whole affair is somewhat shoddy. Vegetable deliveries are on a "When she gets around to it" basis, cooking is done by whoever is unlucky (or mad) enough to be assigned it in a sort of 5-hour marathon, and the kitchen hasn't been updated or repaired since the Bush administration. The first one. It beats eating frozen burritos, though. Cheaper, too. I've so far only been visiting as a guest, but the list includes the following: -Pasta with mild bechamel sauce -Pasta with marinara sauce -Vegan gluten-free gumbo. (I helped with this one. I learned that people have a much lower seasoning tolerance than your average Louisiana resident. I could barely taste it.) -Pao de quejo (required purchase of tapioca flour, used on-hand white cheese) -Potato/sweet potato/ham casserole thing with sour cream. I can't actually spell the name in Finnish. -Not very good stir-fry. I'm not very good at it myself, but I've been practicing. The suggestion of blanching vegetables in water with a little baking soda makes a big difference. -Chicken with rosemary and potatoes. The spuds took forever because they weren't par-boiled. Chicken legs and thighs, especially the cheap ones, often are quite greasy if you leave the skin on. I've had good luck grilling the same meat, though. What do eGulleters think about propping a mesh cookie rack over a pan and letting the grease drain into it?

One of them, apparently, quits the veganism as soon as she goes on vacation. Can't be bothered.

I greatly enjoy making chocolate truffles, but have had relatively poor luck holding chocolate at the correct temperatures for tempering. My standard method of very slowly melting it in a microwave produces chocolate that, while crisp with good mouthfeel, has severe bloom. After seeing some commercial tempering setups on YouTube, I noticed that many of them use a fountain-style setup for circulation and mold filling. I don't have any chocolate molds, but purchasing a secondhand consumer chocolate fountain and integrating a PID controller and thermocouple into the heater is a very viable possibility. Has anyone done anything like this?

I'd be inclined to agree with the bacon fat, but the vegans would kill me. (Apparently, their policy only applies to non-humans.) No one else really does cornbread, so it should go over really well. I've never made non-instant polenta. I'm told it scales well in quantity. Any thoughts on how best to prepare it? Maybe as an entree?

Thanks for the help! What's your favorite thing to do with potatoes?

Thanks for all the tips, everyone. I've actually been informed that the budget is even smaller than I thought, and all of your tips are extremely welcome. (Here's hoping they buy more lentils!) A few more things I'd appreciate: 1. Suggestions for the best cheap brands of useful ingredients, especially: -Anchovies -Thai chili pastes -Sweet soy sauce (haven't used it before, but people say I should) 2. A really good vegetarian black bean chili. I've had a lot of very poor black bean chili. 3. I'm not much of a baker. More importantly, I've never made anything in sheet-pan sizes. Any tips on making cornbread for a small platoon?

Perogies are very nice, but I'm somewhat limited by time. Preparing them for 26 is somewhat beyond me. I've never made paneer before, but I recently found some instructions that show several pounds prepared very quickly. The recipe seems to scale well, too. Has anyone tried this?

All of these are highly variable, which makes the whole affair something of a headache. Aside from processed cornmeal and all-purpose flour, there's whatever pasta is currently available and miscellaneous dried beans of unknown cultivar. Quinoa and similar grains are a rarity, I suspect mostly due to price. Vegetarian, thankfully. There's one hardcore vegan, but she generally just eats toast and salads.

Right. And just to clarify my post, when I said "meat and dried chiles that had been either ground into a powder or paste or reconstituted in some liquid," I was referring to the whole dried chiles. Upon rereading, I realized it could have been misconstrued to mean that both the meat and dried chiles had been ground up together. But, jrshaul, I meant that "Cookie" in his chuckwagon out on the cattle trail, or the vaqueros, or the San Antonio Chili Queens, who usually didn't have regular access to fresh or canned chiles were grinding and reconstituting the whole dried chiles that they did have. Most probably in a manner identical to patrickamory's current avatar. My bad. I misread the recipes. I haven't seen dried versions of some of these chilis. Can anyone suggest an all-pork or pork-heavy recipe using widely available dried peppers? Ground pork or pork shoulder would both be equally suitable.

The eggs idea is a good one. Anyone have a good shakshouka recipe? I've never made it. The pantry in this case includes a generous cache of root vegetables and irregular produce deliveries. There's also milk, supermarket cheese, yogurt, tofu eggs, and for some unknown reason, huge quantities of sour cream. Groceries are purchased in bulk and somewhat irregularly, which is why I'm saving all of these recipes; I have to combine what's on hand with the $13 budget. Most co-op members live in a sort of hippie dorm, hence the unusual cooking arrangements. It's a bit like a low-rent Iron Chef.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the use of whole dried chiles? Many of these recipes call for fresh or powdered spices, but I find the whole dried or smoked variety are very good value for money.

Tapioca flour is funny stuff, but it forms a much more dough-y consistency than cornstarch. I've never used it outside of pao de queijo, but for gluten-free, pao de queijo work pretty darn well.

Microwaved burrito. Maybe next year...

My Foodsaver, admittedly one of the pricier ones (about $130), makes an excellent seal. It even seals effectively if the seal area has some liquid present. I've owned many commercial sealers and the seal on the Foodsaver is every bit as good as the best commercial units I have owned. Mine is somewhat elderly, and the gasket is a DIY hack. What model is yours?

Can anyone suggest a good deal on a very large pressure cooker?