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Life is too short to do it the right way...


Fat Guy

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I don't truss chickens before roasting: saves work and saves cooking time.

Trussing take not even a minute to do.

Rubbish! First you have to dig around in the giant wasteland of a kitchen drawer that holds the things suitable for trussing recalcitrant poultry. Once you find something to keep said poultry legs from flying out willy-nilly and destroying your self-delusional Martha psychosis you must disinfect and bandage the wounds sustained from random poky things found in said hell-dimension drawer. The trussing may begin at this point (making allowances for frustrated detanglements) but it is a well known fact that trussing anything other than a calf at a rodeo takes a period of time that can only be an exponential multiple of the time taken on an average cooking programme. Trussing complete, the aforementioned wounds must be re-disinfected and re-bandaged to prevent icky mess from festering in them. (optional extra time allowance for a desperate search for a clean tea towel). At this point you may bung the damn thing into oven, but will more likely drop it on the floor due to hands still being slippery from not having been dried on a clean tea towel, but hopefully shaken into the sink instead.

Total time: apparently infinite.

Never mind though, as you likely forgot to turn on the oven, so have plenty of time to rinse the damn thing and fend off marauding cats while waiting for it to heat up.

Edited for grammar and 4-th dimension errors.

All you need to truss a chicken is a knife.

Back in the day, we used to spit roast 40-60 chickens every Sat night. The birds would get a spice rub, the wings folded behind the back, and two small slits made in the skin of the chest cavity. Grab a leg and stuff the first inch or so through the slit. Legs are now secured and don't flop all over the plae when the spit is rotated. Works well for regular Tue. night dinners at home too....

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I like doing things the long way, and have a freezer full of homemade stock to prove i...

I tried making my own stocks for over 20 years and finally cried uncle. I don't use stocks that often and the stuff Trader Joes sells tastes better than my best effort so I just don't bother anymore. I have, however, no quibble with those who can make good homemade stock. I just suck at it.

Porthos Potwatcher
The Once and Future Cook

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I use packaged cole slaw mix to make egg rolls. :shock:

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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I do not remove the seeds from tomatoes.

well at least I hope you peel them...

I don't. I don't peel fresh tomatoes for salad or slicing because I like the 'pop' of the skins--the heel is the best part of a sliced tomato!

I make a ton of sauce/salsa every summer--I roast the tomatoes and other veggies so I don't have to simmer (and scorch). I don't peel the tomatoes--I use an immersion blender or the food processor.

I figure I need the fiber, and no one has ever fussed.

sparrowgrass
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I neither seed nor peel tomatoes, ever, for anything. If the recipe demands peeled and it really makes a difference to have them peeled then I use canned. If the recipe demands seeded then I ignore the instruction or don't make the recipe.

In terms of the dishwasher, have there been tests done on high-quality knives, wooden implements and nonstick cookware? I wonder, are we talking about 1,000 washes before degradation, 100 washes, 1 wash? Compared to hand washing? Is there a way to reduce the impact of the dishwasher on these items? Do I care? Is this a new topic?

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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I neither seed nor peel tomatoes, ever, for anything. If the recipe demands peeled and it really makes a difference to have them peeled then I use canned. If the recipe demands seeded then I ignore the instruction or don't make the recipe.

In terms of the dishwasher, have there been tests done on high-quality knives, wooden implements and nonstick cookware? I wonder, are we talking about 1,000 washes before degradation, 100 washes, 1 wash? Compared to hand washing? Is there a way to reduce the impact of the dishwasher on these items? Do I care? Is this a new topic?

I care. I think the thing with wood is that it absorbs the soap and you eat it. Is that right?

As for knives they supposedly dull, right? I try not to put my knives in because I'd rather wash them than use a dull knife. But when I've used them on something like raw chicken I might be inclined to put them in the dishwasher.

Edited by ambra (log)
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I use packaged cole slaw mix to make egg rolls. :shock:

Now this IS brilliant. :wub: We have a Chinese Feast coming up and there is simply too much work to be done. This short cut could be terrific.

Do you reshred the mix to make it finer or do you find it's fine the way it is?

Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

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I use packaged cole slaw mix to make egg rolls. :shock:

Now this IS brilliant. :wub: We have a Chinese Feast coming up and there is simply too much work to be done. This short cut could be terrific.

Do you reshred the mix to make it finer or do you find it's fine the way it is?

Nope. Use it as it is after a rinse and spin in the salad spinner. Started with this recipe and modified to my own taste.

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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I neither seed nor peel tomatoes, ever, for anything. If the recipe demands peeled and it really makes a difference to have them peeled then I use canned. If the recipe demands seeded then I ignore the instruction or don't make the recipe.

Same Here - my basic easy tomato sauce is usually made with whole, peeled canned tomatoes and I don't bother to de-seed them. Once I hit it with the immersion blender I can't distinguish the seeds. And when I make a fresh tomato sauce in the summer I really don't care all that much about the skins.

I use Penzey's stock bases instead of even using store-bought broth. Just have to remember to be very cafeful with additional salt.

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I do not remove the seeds from tomatoes.

well at least I hope you peel them...

I have never peeled a tomato..

"...which usually means underflavored, undersalted modern French cooking hidden under edible flowers and Mexican fruits."

- Jeffrey Steingarten, in reference to "California Cuisine".

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I use packaged cole slaw mix to make egg rolls. :shock:

Ha! I do this, too.

Figured I couldn't be the only "sinner"! :biggrin:

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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I do make stock a few times a year, but often for small quantities or last minute cooking, TJ's stock does just fine. Also, for stews and Korean jjigae-type things, frozen, in-shell clams from the Korean supermarket are a godsend. And, while I've made pizza from scratch, and done the self-cleaner trick to get my oven up to 900º, 90% of the time I just make pizza on barbari bread (AKA "Afghan bread").

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Wondra flour to thicken sauces.

Please explain. This sounds useful.

This is my skillet. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My skillet is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it, as I must master my life. Without me my skillet is useless. Without my skillet, I am useless. I must season my skillet well. I will. Before God I swear this creed. My skillet and myself are the makers of my meal. We are the masters of our kitchen. So be it, until there are no ingredients, but dinner. Amen.

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Unless it's vitally important to maintain the correct oven temperature for the entire period of baking (eg. for cookies and cakes), I never pre-heat the oven. Savoury foods go in when the oven gets turned on, and they can heat up at the same time as the oven does. That goes for frozen foods too.

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Wondra flour to thicken sauces.

Please explain. This sounds useful.

Wondra is a superfine flour that is sold in a canister. It thickens quickly without a raw taste and doesn't need to be mixed with cold water like cornstarch. It also doesn't turn glossy.

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Nice. Wish I'd heard about this last week, when I was in USA. Now to source it in Mexico.

This is my skillet. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My skillet is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it, as I must master my life. Without me my skillet is useless. Without my skillet, I am useless. I must season my skillet well. I will. Before God I swear this creed. My skillet and myself are the makers of my meal. We are the masters of our kitchen. So be it, until there are no ingredients, but dinner. Amen.

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Wondra flour to thicken sauces.

Please explain. This sounds useful.

Wondra is a superfine flour that is sold in a canister. It thickens quickly without a raw taste and doesn't need to be mixed with cold water like cornstarch. It also doesn't turn glossy.

Ohhhhh I love Wondra. Makes the best gravy.

Edited by Shelby (log)
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