Cooking thread

Quote: Nareed

I really should write down the recipes I make up on the fly. I recall what I used, but not how much (though come to think of it, I think I never measured anything).

People used to write in to the Urban Peasant in Vancouver, CA complaining that he never measured ingredients so one show he put the ingredients onto plates while live and then measured them on live tv to show people he really was a good judge of quantities.

I got to thinking about a tip for late night meals provided by Patrick Smith in his book "Cockpit Confidential." Mr. Smith recommends carrying along a packet or two of Ramen noodles (the crappy kind sold in supermarkets), and "cooking" them in the hotel room's coffee maker (which are common outside of Vegas, I take it). This is proposed as a last resort meal, for times when one arrives very late and nothing nearby is open.

I had a different idea.

Could you turn a coffee maker into a poor-man's version of a sous vide? Not for cooking (who has the time), but for heating a meal.

First you need a meal. Many things I cook can be vacuum-packed and frozen. they'd be perfectly viable for consumption, if carried in a Styrofoam container, for about 12 hours or so, without need for additional refrigeration.

That's a far better meal that supermarket Ramen. In fact, wouldn't you like a home-cooked meal on the road, late at night regardless of whether there's anything else open?

But the typical hotel coffee maker isn't big enough (not most kinds I've seen). that's too bad, as they can keep hot water for a long time.

There's hope, and alternatives. A heating element, essentially a resistor encased in metal, is very cheap, easy to use, and can heat up water in a relatively short time. The problem is a portable container for the water (the sink is a terrible idea). I'm thinking about that, but likely a rectangular, collapsible, thin sheet-metal container of some kind.

Its far easier to find a microwave than to lug some contraption around particularly one that would never make it thru TSA screening. I mean face it, how many hotels don't have a microwave available somewhere, perhaps in a popcorn vending area if not in a room? How many hotel bars are without some sort of microwave device?

Should I try to make homemade Greek yogurt?

Apparently it's easy, though time-consuming, and the investment is only one pot, some cheesecloth and a food thermometer.

As I understand it, all yogurt contains live bacteria. Therefore if you add some to milk at the right temperature, it's kind of self-perpetuating.

I believe it is critical as to the type of milk involved.
Also the types of bacteria and the temperatures involved. You want viable bacteria getting into your gut. As for taste, which is mainly texture, when it comes to fats the best milk is, as I believe I've posted somewhere before, teh milk of somewhat domesticated animals fed what is left over from the production of opium from poppies.
It is ofcourse very expensive and does not store well at all. It practically has the consistency of butter.

Nesso is I believe an Australian yoghurt very much hyped but with some value to it.

The Scandinavia Skyr is a high quality yoghurt available in this country from an upstate NY production facility. They use zero percent mllk fats, two percent milk fats and four percent milkfats. Ofcourse the critical component is the amount of sugar since that is what keeps the bacteria alive.

Greek yoghurt is a name given to high protein content yoghurt. It is a bit of a marketing term.

Low Fat yoghurt is an example of mixed emotions.

Non Fat yoghurt is an abomination. Unpalatable and virtually useless. Certainly not healthy.

Much of the 'long life' amongst yoghurt eaters is pure utter hype from poorly conducted studies involving countries with inadequate birth records and considerable incentive to distort ages of males of military age. Two studies, five years apart, had identical subjects. In those five years, the subjects had aged fifteen years.

New idea: mix fresh strawberries in a blender with coconut milk, next mix with melted chocolate (zero sugar) and spread on top of cheesecake as a topping.

I'll try it sometime in July, probably after failing with the Greek yogurt...

Got some packaged lettuce mixes, what can I use for salad dressing.
Would a fresh squeezed lime be suitable?
Yogurt?
apple vinegar?

Quote: Fleastiff

Got some packaged lettuce mixes, what can I use for salad dressing.
Would a fresh squeezed lime be suitable?
Yogurt?
apple vinegar?

Seeing that you're trying to lose weight I would suggest some blue cheese mixed into some mayo and thinned with a little whipping cream. Delish.

Another thing I want to try is homemade cheese. One method for making cottage and ricotta seems too simple to be real: heat the milk, add vinegar, let it cool and separate, drain with a cheesecloth, done.

Can it be that simple?

Quote: pew

Seeing that you're trying to lose weight I would suggest some blue cheese mixed into some mayo and thinned with a little whipping cream. Delish.

Yeah, Jack. Like I'm really the type to have blue cheese and whipping cream laying around the house.

With starving feral cats, I had to throw some meat directly into the garbage as the truck approached. You know my cooking is bad when I won't even toss it to the animals.