Recipes - Basic and Advanced

[TooFineAPoint]

I second the Silver Spoon recommendation, but it is very much a map (and not the territory). I would say it is not for the novice cook because it only gives you the bare bones and the English translation (although a beautiful book) leaves out a ton of explanation.

The "French Cooking Academy" Youtube channel has several easy to follow recipes that will yield quality meals and give you lots of insight into the strategies and tactics to improve your food prep skills.

Two mini-series recommendations are "Two Greedy Italians" and "Marco's Great British Feast". Food and culture are inseparable and these shows do a great job of giving you background and color that will (believe it or not) make you into a better cook.

I urge everyone to be thoughtful about purchasing ingredients, source quality products and befriend local farmers or market distributors, learn about olive oil and butter production, make your own sauces and condiments. Rather than a waste of time it's all very meditative and of course healthier and more satisfying.

Here is a very simple and delicious lamb stew recipe that I have made for nearly every dinner guest and they have all enjoyed:

 

[JCSteel]

My father made some amazing fried turkey yesterday. He brined it for days- it was more moist than usual, and he used bread crumbs instead of flour, which gave it more flavor.

 

[DanielH]

Hamburger steak. My favorite cheap meal that tastes good.

Small batch
1 lb 80 20
1 piece of bread
1/2 an onion
1 egg
Salt pepper to taste


Toast or airfry the bread until it is very dry
Crumble it up

Chop up onion very fine

Mix all together in a bowl

Form into patties, makes 4 but you can do it smaller if you want

Use big glob of lard in the pan

Pan fry 6 minutes a side at about 5 out of 10 on the stove

Give the patty a squish when you flip

Eat

I recently made almost this exact recipe but doubled. It was a Greek version (Bifteki), where you take what you have, add some garlic powder or minced garlic, oregano (could probably use Italian), and diced onions, then sear each side, then to that add sauteed onions and a can of diced tomatoes. Slow cook that for 15 minutes, then you can serve as is with a side of your choice or on a bun with cheese. You can find more gourmet versions online that add feta to the burger mix but that's what I made.

 

[Hannibal]

I recently made almost this exact recipe but doubled. It was a Greek version (Bifteki), where you take what you have, add some garlic powder or minced garlic, oregano (could probably use Italian), and diced onions, then sear each side, then to that add sauteed onions and a can of diced tomatoes. Slow cook that for 15 minutes, then you can serve as is with a side of your choice or on a bun with cheese. You can find more gourmet versions online that add feta to the burger mix but that's what I made.

I'll have to give that a try. Looks good. Generally, adding garlic, spices, and tomato improves every dish.

Where I'm at in the midwest, we have a handful of small convenience stores that sell the basics, ground beef, bread, eggs, milk, cheese, onions, potatoes etc. Many of my fast, cheap, amd easy recipes revolve around a 5 minute stop after work at one of these stores.

 

[stadtaffe]

@Brewer thanks for all the detail look forward to trying this. Will stick with butter for the frying..

For oven temp: something in the range of 425ºF, it's not critical.

220ºC

There's another technique you can try, which is called the reverse sear.

That is interesting but I'll stick with sear first oven second for the moment.

Can see there is yet another method, 'sous-vide'

Sous Vide Steaks Recipe

Thanks to the precise temperature control of an immersion circulator, sous vide steak turns out more consistently cooked than traditional steak, every time.

www.seriouseats.com

..but I can't get into so much complexity with it for the moment.

A note on steak quality: it's important. Nice restaurants generally have access to a higher grade of steak than what you'll find packaged in your local supermarket, which is part of why they're more flavorful.

I do not really try to outdo restaurants at home, I enjoy the magic that they do.

Still, I look forward to my home cooked steak being that bit better than it has been up till now.

 

[Brewer]

@Brewer thanks for all the detail look forward to trying this. Will stick with butter for the frying..

220ºC

That is interesting but I'll stick with sear first oven second for the moment.

Can see there is yet another method, 'sous-vide'

Sous Vide Steaks Recipe

Thanks to the precise temperature control of an immersion circulator, sous vide steak turns out more consistently cooked than traditional steak, every time.

www.seriouseats.com

..but I can't get into so much complexity with it for the moment.

I do not really try to outdo restaurants at home, I enjoy the magic that they do.

Still, I look forward to my home cooked steak being that bit better than it has been up till now.

Sounds sensible to me... keep it simple and have fun, you can always try new techniques later.

As far as sous vide, it gives similar results to the reverse sear. The main advantage of sous vide is it's very hard to screw up - you can essentially leave it unattended and it won't overcook, since the water bath is tightly controlled at whatever temperature you want your meat to end up at. This is helpful for doing volume in professional kitchens, or as a cool technique if you're a hobbyist and into tech. Not necessary to get good results unless you want to drop $$ on a sous vide setup.

One final piece of information that may be helpful. Butter has a smoke point of 350ºF/175ºC. When searing a steak, the pan can easily get hotter than that, so the butter can burn.

What chefs will generally do is start searing with a neutral oil with a high smoke point, like canola/rapeseed or grapeseed, and then add a little butter about halfway through the cooking process to get the flavor. (They'll use a spoon to periodically baste the steak with the butter, which really adds some nice flavor.)

I try to avoid seed oils, so I don't use canola or grapeseed. You can try olive oil, which is what I use in combination with butter. Olive oil has a slightly higher smoke point than butter (400ºF/200ºC), and it won't burn as badly. It also has natural antioxidants which help. Opinions vary about whether olive oil is suitable for searing.

If you like butter, the ultimate option might be ghee (clarified butter), which is a healthy saturated fat, but has the milk solids removed so it has a much higher smoke point. You can also try refined coconut oil, which is also a healthy saturated fat and has a high smoke point. Virgin coconut oil is fine too, but has a stronger coconut taste.

 

[Atlas Shrugged]

Does anyone have a recipe for dip they love. I’m looking to try more dips either with tortilla chips or to spread on naan or pita. I’ve only had the basic dips and I’m looking for something with more veggies and spices etc etc. Warm or cold dips. Thank you.

 

[Thomas More]

Does anyone have a recipe for dip they love. I’m looking to try more dips either with tortilla chips or to spread on naan or pita. I’ve only had the basic dips and I’m looking for something with more veggies and spices etc etc. Warm or cold dips. Thank you.

I recently made spanish rice with hamburger, and since I happened to have some salsa con queso, I mixed it in, and ate it as a dip with corn chips. It was fantastic.

I use rice a roni spanish rice, which calls for a can of diced tomatoes. I added chopped onion green pepper, plus a pound of hamburger. I used Tostitos Salsa con Queso.

This recipe is obviously high in processed foods, but I think you could make something similar from scratch with all fresh, organic ingredients.

 

[starlight]

Does anyone have a recipe for dip they love. I’m looking to try more dips either with tortilla chips or to spread on naan or pita. I’ve only had the basic dips and I’m looking for something with more veggies and spices etc etc. Warm or cold dips. Thank you.

This is my all time favorite dip.

Its deliciousness is deceptive in its simplicity...

Recipe:
1 pack cream cheese
1 can Hormel Chili with Beans

Dump the ingredients into a sauce pot and heat over medium heat, stirring constantly until the cheese and chili have incorporated and are warmed through, nice and hot.

Best served with Tostitos Scoops, but any tortilla chip will do. Celery and carrot sticks pair well with this dip too, imo.

 

[SpyofMoses]

There was a recipe I discovered on a trip to Taiwan that I have been practicing. After a near miss and a few *meh* attempts I've got people telling me it tastes great now:

Hard boiled eggs (6 or so)
2/3 cup soy sauce(can be adjusted for taste)
Spoonful of ground cinnamon
Half a spoonful of ground cloves
A few pinches of brown sugar
A pinch of black pepper
5 cloves or so of garlic, finely sliced*
A shallot or two, also finely sliced*

*doesn't have to be the most thin, just sliced, is all

Boil your eggs and let them cool for a bit. They can go in the fridge for a bit, too, in case you have to run to the store for the other ingredients before moving on to the next part or something.

Put your dry ingredients together in a jar. Mason jars or just repurposed Costco-sized jelly jars work well. Pour in soy sauce. 2/3 cup is probably a bit much, but a whole cup is definitely too much; it'll drown out the other flavors. Whisk it up a bit and then from here you have two options:
Crack your eggs, but don't peel them.
-or-
Peel your eggs.

Today I'm trying it with the eggs completely peeled for the first time. We'll see how it turns out. Either way, give it a day or two for those eggs to really soak up the flavor. Great as a snack, or as a side with chicken and rice, or on top of a bowl of Ramen, etc. Oh, I almost forgot- you will have to top off the jar with a bit of water once those eggs are dropped in.

 

[JCSteel]

This looks simple enough even for me. If anyone knows what to do with pasta it's Jacques Pepin.

 

[SpyofMoses]