Kitchen Hacks & Cooking Tips: An Ideas Thread

[tragabigzanda]

I got a fantastic way to cook salmon. It turns out amazing.

You gonna keep it to yourself? I'll show you mine if you show me yours.

It's not really a recipe. But I brine the fish with a 1/4 cup of salt dissolved in a quart of room temperature water for 15 minutes. Pat dry. Sprinkle a 1/4 teaspoon of salt and pepper on the bottom of a cold skillet. Put the salmon skin side down in the cold pan and turn up heat to medium high. Cook for 6-8 minutes until the skin is browned and crisp and without moving. Flip and cook until the temp registers 140(about 6 minutes), again without moving.

Super easy. Done perfectly. Moist and awesome.

Have never brined a fish before, but just read about it. Looks like it also minimizes the albumen that pours out -- cool tip, thanks!

It does indeed. Soaking in milk for 10 minutes also does the trick.

Ah, that makes sense -- that's what one does with sweetbreads and milk, too.

So I had one filet of sockeye left from my winter fish share. I had been holding off, because it was the one vacuum-sealed filet that had been punctured somewhere along the way; the filet had been frost-bitten, so I had been avoiding using it. Going to try your salt brine tonight, then grill it. Hopefully I can pump a little life back into her.

Nice. Let us know how it turned out.

I did your brine, then marinated in soy, sake, Worcestershire, brown sugar, and sri racha. Because I wasn't sure when the damage to the bag occurred, I was intending to cook the fish longer than I would normally -- I was in serious danger of eating a dry, flavorless piece of salmon cardboard. But this worked wonders! The brine removed the albumen and injected a lot of moisture into the fish, and the marinade was the perfect lipstick for the pig. Grilled it to medium (I would normally do my salmon rare), and all things considered, it was a good piece of fish.

Thanks Chris -- this brine trick is gonna be foundational moving forward.

This is going to be the worst fucking ice cream ever.

[dpupenya]

Not quite cooking but a hack none the less......

If you burn your tongue sprinkle some sugar on it and the burning will go away

[Norris]

where else do you sprinkle sugar?

[spike]

I got a fantastic way to cook salmon. It turns out amazing.

You gonna keep it to yourself? I'll show you mine if you show me yours.

It's not really a recipe. But I brine the fish with a 1/4 cup of salt dissolved in a quart of room temperature water for 15 minutes. Pat dry. Sprinkle a 1/4 teaspoon of salt and pepper on the bottom of a cold skillet. Put the salmon skin side down in the cold pan and turn up heat to medium high. Cook for 6-8 minutes until the skin is browned and crisp and without moving. Flip and cook until the temp registers 140(about 6 minutes), again without moving.

Super easy. Done perfectly. Moist and awesome.

Have never brined a fish before, but just read about it. Looks like it also minimizes the albumen that pours out -- cool tip, thanks!

It does indeed. Soaking in milk for 10 minutes also does the trick.

Ah, that makes sense -- that's what one does with sweetbreads and milk, too.

So I had one filet of sockeye left from my winter fish share. I had been holding off, because it was the one vacuum-sealed filet that had been punctured somewhere along the way; the filet had been frost-bitten, so I had been avoiding using it. Going to try your salt brine tonight, then grill it. Hopefully I can pump a little life back into her.

Nice. Let us know how it turned out.

I did your brine, then marinated in soy, sake, Worcestershire, brown sugar, and sri racha. Because I wasn't sure when the damage to the bag occurred, I was intending to cook the fish longer than I would normally -- I was in serious danger of eating a dry, flavorless piece of salmon cardboard. But this worked wonders! The brine removed the albumen and injected a lot of moisture into the fish, and the marinade was the perfect lipstick for the pig. Grilled it to medium (I would normally do my salmon rare), and all things considered, it was a good piece of fish.

Thanks Chris -- this brine trick is gonna be foundational moving forward.

This is going to be the worst fucking ice cream ever.

[dpupenya]

where else do you sprinkle sugar?

[wease]

i put this tip in the crockpot thread but when making roasts or stew use a pot of strong coffee..its a natural tenderizer

Wouldn't that make the meat and vegetables taste like coffee?

[doug rr]

i put this tip in the crockpot thread but when making roasts or stew use a pot of strong coffee..its a natural tenderizer

Wouldn't that make the meat and vegetables taste like coffee?

surprisingly no

[dimejinky99]

Peanut butter is great in stir fry dishes.

[Bammer]

From scratch, cobbler is significantly easier to make than pie, and while it might not be quite as good, it's damn close to the same thing and I totally prefer it because of all the time it saves.

[spike]

Lots in here: http://twentytwowords.com/simple-things ... s+-+M+35UP

[tragabigzanda]

After baking a cake for Mrs. Trag's birthday last weekend, I had some leftover evaporated milk I wanted to use. I cooked my oatmeal in it (1/4 cup steel cut oats, 1/2 cup water, 1/4 cup evaporated milk). Holy jeez, is it good this way.

[dimejinky99]

If you want to get the skin off tomatoes easily cut a little x on the bottom of each one.
Drop them into boiling water for 25 seconds and take out straight into some freezing cold water. They'll peel right off for you.

[tragabigzanda]

Great tip, dime!

[Bammer]

Food related hack:

Taco Time is a local chain but I'm sure you have something near you that is similar. Tonight my wife wanted to make a salad, I wanted Taco Time. So she asked me to just get her a side of chicken to put in her salad.

It's not on the menu but I asked, and sure enough, it is a thing.

They charged me $0.79 for the same amount of chicken that would have been in a $4+ burrito.

Do what you want to with this gamechanging information.

[E.H. Ruddock]

I love Taco Time

[doug rr]

anyone here ever use one of those giant himalayan salt blocks? I'm thinking of getting one and see if theres any difference in taste for grilling ribeye...

[E.H. Ruddock]

anyone here ever use one of those giant himalayan salt blocks? I'm thinking of getting one and see if theres any difference in taste for grilling ribeye...

Not the block but I use the salt for a lot of cooking.

[tragabigzanda]

anyone here ever use one of those giant himalayan salt blocks? I'm thinking of getting one and see if theres any difference in taste for grilling ribeye...

A chef I worked for used one briefly on his tasting menus. IIRC, he deemed it useless and gimmicky and moved on pretty quickly.

[lennytheweedwhacker]

any tips on grilling a pork tenderloin?

[doug rr]

any tips on grilling a pork tenderloin?

plenty