Kitchen Hacks & Cooking Tips: An Ideas Thread

[dpupenya]

To avoid sizzling edges and cold centers when microwaving leftovers, arrange the food on the plate like a donut, leaving a hole in the center. This will help ensure to get an even reheat

[dpupenya]

When peeling ginger, instead of a knife, use a spoon. Less waste and super easy.


Verified with the other nights Blue Apron, worked perfect

[Monkey_Driven]

To avoid sizzling edges and cold centers when microwaving leftovers, arrange the food on the plate like a donut, leaving a hole in the center. This will help ensure to get an even reheat

Been doing this for years. Works wonders.

[tragabigzanda]

best way to store hard cheese like romano or parmesan: wrapped tightly in parchment paper; wrap that tightly in tin foil; put the whole thing in a plastic container on your fridge. Got a block of romani that's like four months old but still eats like it's brand new.

[Balki]

When reheating a sandwhich or a cheese steak type thang:
-Disassemble it
-Heat the different parts of it in a microwave separately
-Retoast the bread in a toaster oven or in a hot pan
-Reassemble

It's actually really done by feel. Last night I took all of the meat out of a leftover cheese steak and refried it in a pan. Added some more cheese, and then retoasted the bread. Put it back together and added some thinly sliced pickles and banana peppers. It was better than the original!

[Monkey_Driven]

Any leftover that involves bread is warmed up in the toaster oven. I'm not eating any microwaved sogginess.

[tree_]

Posting here from a Trag referral.

As some of you know, since last May I've been living in close proximity to a lake good for fishing. This year, I've decided to man up and learn to fillet and fry. After two solid attempts with red worms and nightcrawlers, I've caught a good amount of blue gill. I would love to catch bass with spinner baits, but no luck. I watched a youtube video and recollected watching my cousin and dad fillet and I dove right in. The first try a week ago wasn't very successful and I wasted a good amount of meat which made me feel terrible but I learned quite a bit and got much better on the second attempt, yesterday evening. I ended up with smaller meat pieces as opposed to the ideally sized fillets, cause of my lack of skill. Anyway, to the cooking part. I prepared a mixture of about half bread crumbs and half flour, covered the cleaned fish meat and fried in a pan of preheated olive oil and butter. I think I might have put in too much butter this last time cause it wasn't as crispy as before. It was delicious, nonetheless. The wife seasoned, as this is her specialty, with a variety of shit. Please offer any frying/seasoning/prep tips, comments, or advice as this is an entirely new thing for me.

[washing machine]

That looks like it would be enhanced by cooking with coconut oil.

[tree_]

That looks like it would be enhanced by cooking with coconut oil.

What sort of enhancements should I expect? Should I add butter?

[washing machine]

That looks like it would be enhanced by cooking with coconut oil.

What sort of enhancements should I expect? Should I add butter?

Coconut flavors should be expected.

[tree_]

That looks like it would be enhanced by cooking with coconut oil.

What sort of enhancements should I expect? Should I add butter?

Coconut flavors should be expected.

Haha ok... I thought there might be some other effect, also

[tragabigzanda]

i got you tree, just need to get back to my laptop

[tragabigzanda]

Lose the butter and olive oil. When you're frying a breadcrumb coating, you want an oil that can take a very high heat without smoking. Neither olive oil nor butter can do that, so you're not able to get your fat hot enough to make the coating bind to the protein. Also, stop mixing your flour and breadcrumbs, those go on separately. And understand that moisture is the enemy of frying.

1. Dry your fish chunks well with paper towels. Meanwhile, get your oil (I'd suggest vegetable oil or peanut) very hot over med-high heat. You're aiming for 375-400°F if you're using a thermometer.

2. Set up three separate bowls in this order: A) flour; B) a beaten egg; C) breadcrumbs, salt, and seasoning.

3. Dredge your dried fish chunks in the flour, shaking off the excess. Then dunk them in the beaten egg, again shaking off the excess. Finally, dredge them in the breadcrumbs & seasoning, again shaking off the excess.

4. Toss a small piece in the oil to make sure it's hot enough. If it is, it should start frying immediately.

5. Once it's hot enough, put some of your breaded fish in the oil, but be careful not to crowd the pan. Don't move them around at all, just let them sizzle for 2-3 minutes before flipping them over to fry the other side. Transfer to a paper-towel lined plate to dry.

6. Just be mindful that, if you're frying a large amount of fish (say, for 5+ people), you may wind up having to toss your oil partway through, wiping out the pan very well, and putting fresh oil in before your continue. This is because the smoke point of the oil is gradually getting lower as it's being heated, and if you keep working with the same oil it will start to smoke and burn your breadcrumb coating.

Happy frying.

Last edited by tragabigzanda on Mon May 21, 2018 5:24 pm, edited 2 times in total.

[tree_]

Damn. Thanks, Trag.

I will follow every bit of this next time.

[washing machine]

What's the smoke point of coconut oil? Pretty high, I believe. Take Trag's advice (it's good stuff) and do try it with coconut oil. I'd be interested to hear how butter works with that.

You could go all out and make these into fish tacos, by the way. Squeeze some lime and add cilantro and pineapple or mango to it. Flour rather than corn tortillas would probably be best in this situation.

Shit, I might make this tonight.

[tragabigzanda]

What's the smoke point of coconut oil? Pretty high, I believe. Take Trag's advice (it's good stuff) and do try it with coconut oil. I'd be interested to hear how butter works with that.

You could go all out and make these into fish tacos, by the way. Squeeze some lime and add cilantro and pineapple or mango to it. Flour rather than corn tortillas would probably be best in this situation.

Shit, I might make this tonight.

Fish tacos are a big one in the Trag house. Just plain canned pineapple (without added sugar) is great, and you can do a quick pickled red onion (add sugar and vinegar) in like ten minutes.

[tree_]

What's the smoke point of coconut oil? Pretty high, I believe. Take Trag's advice (it's good stuff) and do try it with coconut oil. I'd be interested to hear how butter works with that.

You could go all out and make these into fish tacos, by the way. Squeeze some lime and add cilantro and pineapple or mango to it. Flour rather than corn tortillas would probably be best in this situation.

Shit, I might make this tonight.

Fish tacos are a big one in the Trag house. Just plain canned pineapple (without added sugar) is great, and you can do a quick pickled red onion (add sugar and vinegar) in like ten minutes.

Do you guys ever catch your own fish?

[tragabigzanda]

What's the smoke point of coconut oil? Pretty high, I believe. Take Trag's advice (it's good stuff) and do try it with coconut oil. I'd be interested to hear how butter works with that.

You could go all out and make these into fish tacos, by the way. Squeeze some lime and add cilantro and pineapple or mango to it. Flour rather than corn tortillas would probably be best in this situation.

Shit, I might make this tonight.

Fish tacos are a big one in the Trag house. Just plain canned pineapple (without added sugar) is great, and you can do a quick pickled red onion (add sugar and vinegar) in like ten minutes.

Do you guys ever catch your own fish?

I grew up fishing in the ocean of MA, and ate my catch regularly. I've just started fly-fishing here in MT (completely different level of skill, and quite challenging for me), but it's frowned upon to keep what you catch here. Which is to say that I will definitely keep it and eat it once I'm good enough to go out without a guide and find my own fishing spots, but I am currently surrounded by other fishermen who will give me shit if they see me keep my catch.

Also, while my cooking skills are on point, I am not great at cleaning/dressing fish. I can knock 'em dead and gut them just fine, but my fillet and boning work is pretty shitty.

[E.H. Ruddock]

I miss salmon fishing and then smoking them that day or the following.

[tree_]

Why not keep the catch? Any logic to this?

Filleting definitely ain't easy, especially on tiny ass Blue Gill.