The Quintessential eG Kitchen Tips/Trucs

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, jmacnaughtan said:

Thanks for resuscitating this thread

 

I've started warming plates in the microwave.  It doesn't seem to damage them and is quicker than the oven.

 

Yeah. I've been doing that for decades.

[Anna N]

 I can barely contain my excitement about this next tip that I am going to share. It will be of interest to those who like to make cabbage rolls.  There is an easier way to get those leaves to separate!   I just did it and it works.

 

It requires patience, gentleness and running water. Think in terms of peeling hard boiled eggs under the tap. 

 

You will have to wade your way down to the appropriate section in this recipe link.

 

Here.

 

Although the instructions here suggest that you aim the water stream at the stem end of the leaves, I found it went faster if I attempted to aim the stream at any part of the leaf that was showing a willingness to separate. 

 

 It does require patience but I found it so much better than dealing with hot water or hot cabbage leaves.

 

 After you separate the leaves you still need to blanch them and soften them before you can roll them. 

 

My suspicion is that a savoy cabbage would work even easier with this method. But it’s just a suspicion. I have savoy cabbage on my next grocery list.

 

[gfweb]

@Anna N what do you fill them with?

[Anna N]

4 minutes ago, gfweb said:

@Anna N what do you fill them with?

 On this occasion I only wanted to test the theory. The cabbage was used for a quick pickle. But I will be making the cabbage rolls as per the recipe  I linked to a soon as I can get the necessary other ingredients. I have made traditional European type cabbage rolls filled with beef and/or pork and I have made Japanese style filled with ground chicken. 

Edited October 7, 2018 by Anna N (log)

[Anna N]

On 10/6/2018 at 3:21 PM, Anna N said:

My suspicion is that a savoy cabbage would work even easier with this method. But it’s just a suspicion. I have savoy cabbage on my next grocery list.

 

So I am back to report that with a savoy cabbage, at least the one that I had this morning, there is no reason to use water. By just cutting through the centre vein at the stalk end of the cabbage the leaves almost fell off on their own.

 

If you do need to encourage a leaf to peel off you  do have to trace the tip of the leaf back to the stalk to make sure you are attempting to remove the leaf that you have loosened from the stalk. 

 

 Never found cabbage rolls this easy to make in my life. But then I’ve never used savoy cabbage before.  Was I just lucky?

[BeeZee]

Coworker said he dehydrates chili peppers in an air fryer, 20 minutes does the trick.

[dcarch]

On 10/6/2018 at 3:21 PM, Anna N said:

 I can barely contain my excitement about this next tip that I am going to share. It will be of interest to those who like to make cabbage rolls.  There is an easier way to get those leaves to separate!   I just did it and it works.

It requires patience, gentleness and running water. Think in terms of peeling hard boiled eggs under the tap. 

You will have to wade your way down to the appropriate section in this recipe link.

 

Here.

 

Although the instructions here suggest that you aim the water stream at the stem end of the leaves, I found it went faster if I attempted to aim the stream at any part of the leaf that was showing a willingness to separate. 

 It does require patience but I found it so much better than dealing with hot water or hot cabbage leaves.

 After you separate the leaves you still need to blanch them and soften them before you can roll them. 

My suspicion is that a savoy cabbage would work even easier with this method. But it’s just a suspicion. I have savoy cabbage on my next grocery list.

 

This is what I do. I also work from the stem end, but I dump the cabbage in boiling water first to soften the leaves first. This way they will not crack.

 

Or,

I use napa cabbage, much much easier.

dcarch 

[Anna N]

3 hours ago, dcarch said:

This is what I do. I also work from the stem end, but I dump the cabbage in boiling water first to soften the leaves first. 

Interesting. But my goal was to avoid the whole cabbage in boiling water scenario. 

[chromedome]

19 hours ago, Anna N said:

Interesting. But my goal was to avoid the whole cabbage in boiling water scenario. 

It's not as simple as just buying a savoy-type cabbage, but I think a few minutes in an IP would probably serve the same purpose with a lot less mess.

 

Maybe someone who has an IP would take one for the team and give it a shot (or perhaps already has...  @Mmmpompslives in cabbage roll country, and is one of the most-active IP users).

[gfweb]

I've been dissatisfied with the mushroom flavor in mushroom risotto. Not strong enough. 

 

So I made mushroom broth to rehydrate the risotto. Just boiled about six cut up mushrooms in water and got a well flavored broth. Made a big difference in the flavor. 

 

Not a breakthrough, but useful at least to me. 

[Okanagancook]

You could also add some mushroom powder made out of dried porchini

[heidih]

Piggy-backing on gfweb and shrooms. I have a jar of dried mushrooms step-brother brought back from Poland.  You read directions about re-hydrating at a particular temperture and having to plan. Heck - if you are making a soup or stew you can just toss in a few of those powerhouse flavor bombs. KISS  (keep it simple stupid)

[liuzhou]

I always keep any water that I rehydrate mushrooms in, reduce it and freeze it for much the same purpose.

[chromedome]

On 10/11/2018 at 9:03 AM, chromedome said:

It's not as simple as just buying a savoy-type cabbage, but I think a few minutes in an IP would probably serve the same purpose with a lot less mess.

 

Maybe someone who has an IP would take one for the team and give it a shot (or perhaps already has...  @Mmmpompslives in cabbage roll country, and is one of the most-active IP users).

 

So, it occurred to me belatedly that I, uh (cough cough) have an IP myself, now. [/sheepish]

 

There were lots of locally grown cabbages at the farmstand this week, so I bought one and gave it a shot. A bit of Googling resulted in a recommendation of cutting out the core and giving the cabbage 5 minutes with quick release (on the trivet, cut-out core facing downwards).

 

In the event I had to cut down the cabbage a bit to make it fit, because it was a 7-pound behemoth, but I reckoned that a) this would create more opportunity for the steam to get in between the leaves, and b) it was a humungous cabbage, so the leaves would still be plenty big. I gave it a half-hour to cool (ie, I went for a nap) and then set about peeling off the leaves.

The outer few were pretty thoroughly cooked and a bit fragile, but I was able to coax them off more or less intact. The remainder came away easily. The inner half or so of the cabbage was not visibly cooked at all, but the leaves still separated easily enough. They weren't as pliable as the outer leaves, but were still perfectly usable. I would call the experiment reasonably successful, though perhaps for a cabbage that size the low pressure setting for a few minutes longer would be a better option.

 

It's easier than the traditional "go boil your head" method, if less convenient than @Anna N's "just buy a Savoy and use it as-is."

[lindag]

@chromedome

Would you say the flavor of both cabbages is the same?

 

 

Edited October 15, 2018 by lindag (log)

[chromedome]

Both cabbages? I only used one.

 

I doubt there'd be much difference between a boiled, steamed or IP'd cabbage at the end of the day, if you're doing cabbage rolls in tomato sauce anyway (I presume that's what you're asking). Done Japanese-style, as per Anna, might be different.

[lindag]

2 hours ago, chromedome said:

Both cabbages? I only used one.

 

I doubt there'd be much difference between a boiled, steamed or IP'd cabbage at the end of the day, if you're doing cabbage rolls in tomato sauce anyway (I presume that's what you're asking). Done Japanese-style, as per Anna, might be different.

I meant the difference between ordinary green cabbage and the savoy type.

 

[chromedome]

It was Anna who'd used the Savoy type cabbage. To the best of my recollection, I've not used one for cabbage rolls. In general its flavor is a bit sweeter and milder, but (again) I doubt it'd matter much in a traditional cabbage rolls recipe.

[chromedome]

The jar lifter that comes with your canning kit is ideal for lifting ramekins out of a water bath without poaching your fingertips.

 

I know you can also tip out the water first, and perhaps other people can do that successfully, but I usually manage to waterlog one or more of my custards instead.

[chromedome]

Host's note: this post, and the ensuing conversation, were moved from the Food Funnies topic.

 

 

Not so much a "funny" as a (facepalm) "Why did I never think of this...?"

Edited February 4, 2019 by Smithy
Added host's note (log)

[ElsieD]

Off to get a clothes hanger..........

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Not everyone has pull-knobs on her cabinets.

 

[Darienne]

25 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Not everyone has pull-knobs on her cabinets.

 

But what about a metal above the stove fan?  Won't hold a cookbook, but my earth magnet (Lee Valley) will hold a few pieces of paper and lots of my recipes are computer downloads and print-outs. 

Edited February 3, 2019 by Darienne (log)

[rotuts]

do love Lee Valley or what ?

 

a bazillion years ago when they started out I used to get some very fine wood working tools from them

 

in Canada , but sent to USA.

 

including Earth Magnets 

 

there was the usual effective  20 % real money discount based on the Loonie

 

then they Wised Up  

 

and had a place in NYS I think

 

good for them !

[Porthos]

Our "Recipe Holder."  Please note that often-used recipes get laminated. More and more, however, I use my Samsung tablet after making a PDF and copying it to my tablet. My DW still prefers paper.