Cooking thread

I made (deep breath) coconut and strawberry cottage cheesecake topped with strawberry and coconut jell-o (exhale).

The end result is delicious, but I have a problem. I poured the unset jell-o on top of the cheesecake, and it soaked the inside, rendering it something close to mush. As I said, it tastes really good, but I was aiming for a cake and jell-o composite.

So for the next try I'm thinking of adding an impermeable layer between the cake and the jell-o. What that will be, I've no idea. Thus far all I can think of is melted chocolate.

An hour ago, give or take, I mixed the yogurt with the warm milk. Tomorrow morning I find out whether it worked, or I just ruined 2 liters of milk...

My attempt to make yogurt failed.

Something worked, no question. The milk did change radically. But I was left with yogurt soup, thinner even than regular yogurt, no matter how long it was strained.

I've no idea what went wrong.

the process is like this: heat the milk to about 85 C (I forget the exact numbers), let it cool to about 45 C, add some yogurt to act as starter culture (yogurt contains live bacteria), stir gently, let it alone in a warm place away from drafts (I placed mine in the turned-off oven) for 12-14 hours. By then you should have a thick, lumpy mix, and the whey ought to be separate from the yogurt (whey is another milk protein). Mine was thicker than milk, but not thick, and the whey hadn't separated.

The next step is to strain it with a cheesecloth until it reaches the right consistency. ideally most of the whey will pass through and leave mostly thick, Greek-like yogurt behind. I did get some separation, though at first it seemed like all the yogurt was draining slowly. Later more whey than yogurt came through.

The end product was edible, but far from appetizing.

I've no idea what went wrong. perhaps the temps were off, or not uniform enough. perhaps the yogurt I used as a starter wasn't the best for the job. perhaps I sued too little. perhaps I did the conversion from a recipe using a gallon to one for half a gallon wrong. perhaps the conversion can't work. Perhaps at high altitude the culture needs more time to eat the milk. Perhaps low-fat milk ins't the way to go (though there are low-fat and zero-fat yogurts everywhere, and bacteria consume sugars, not fat). Who knows.

I felt so dejected, I haven't tried it again. I didn't even try to make cheese.

I expect I'll try again...

A lot of yogurt on the market contains very few or even absolutely no live cultures by the time it is purchased at retail. For about `110.00 dollars you can get a specialty yogurt maker or you can do it yourself but you shuld obtain real live virulent cultures as a starter, not some random yogurt that may have had none or far too few.

My latest problem is making roasted potatoes.

Oh, they come out well, but the non-stick pan for some reason kind of burns off a potato imprint on itself. It takes much scrubbing to get it out. this is regardless of whether I use oil, butter, or nothing. It's happened with potato wedges, cubed potatoes, and hash browns.

Any ideas? I think I'll wind up baking the potato wedges this weekend...

On other things, does anyone know how to remove strawberry seeds? I want to make a double-deck strawberry and coconut jell-o (bottom layer is -yogurt jell-o with coconut milk, the upper one water jell-o with coconut essence) In spite of using flavored gelatin, I like to mix blended strawberries for extra flavor. That's fine, except the seeds go all over the jell-o, with some congregating at the bottom.

I thought about using a coffee filter, but that would surely trap the pureed strawberries along with the seeds. the damned things are so small.

they don't affect the flavor, but they don't look good.

I made a double deck coconut strawberry jell-o. I found a fine mesh strainer. It works a bit, but it keeps out as much pulp as seeds, and lets through about as many seeds as pulp. So there you have it: any strawberry concoction that has no seeds also probably has no natural strawberries in it.

I also made chicken breast medallions in mustard sauce. I love the medallions. They're thicker than milanesas, but not as thick as a whole breast of chicken.

The mustard sauce is very simple, though I didn't even make an attempt at measuring it:

After sauteing the onions and cooking the chicken, turn off the flame and add mustard and natural, non-sweetened regular yogurt (Greek is too thick for this). Stir and turn on the heat to minimum. add a little bit of pepper, and about a tablespoon of paprika and half a tablespoon of garlic powder. Stir well. Add the onions and stir. When it begins to bubble, turn off the heat. Pour over the chicken medallions.

I meant to add a little grated cheese, but I forgot. So I just sprinkled it over the cooked chicken with the mustard sauce. It melted rather well.

Quote: Nareed

My latest problem is making roasted potatoes.

Oh, they come out well, but the non-stick pan for some reason kind of burns off a potato imprint on itself. It takes much scrubbing to get it out. this is regardless of whether I use oil, butter, or nothing. It's happened with potato wedges, cubed potatoes, and hash browns.

.

I cube up the potatoes cover them with olive oil and sprinkle on a packet of Italian seasonings. I then bake them for about 45 minutes at 450 on a cookie sheet lined with foil. They generally come out very well..

Quote: DRich

I cube up the potatoes cover them with olive oil and sprinkle on a packet of Italian seasonings. I then bake them for about 45 minutes at 450 on a cookie sheet lined with foil. They generally come out very well..

I also made potato wedges yesterday. I tosed them in olive oil and garlic, and put them in the oven at 200C for about an hour. I got lazy, though, and simply heaped them in a baking dish, so they didn't come off as well as they could have (I know to put them on baking sheets and to turn them, but I got lazy).

Anybody try those home delivery meal services
I need to eat better and not so much fast food
I checked out Hello Fresh
The meals look great, really great
Getting my 1st meals tomorrow to cook this week

Lobster Ravioli and Shrimp
with Tomatoes and Tarragon Cream Sauce

Honey Mustard Chicken
with Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Zucchini, and Onion

Winner Winner Chicken Orzo Dinner
with Cheesy Roasted Zucchini and Tomatoes

Looking forward to cooking and eating well :-)

Quote: terapined

Anybody try those home delivery meal services

No, but I've been hearing much about them.

Quote:

I checked out Hello Fresh

Did you get a discount or free meals? Lots of the podcasts I listen to have offers like that. Offhand the last few esp of Gladwell's Revisionist History with something called Blue Apron.

Quote:

Lobster Ravioli and Shrimp

Yuck!


Sometimes when i'm tired or not feeling well, I wouldn't mind having the prepped ingredients at hand. But imagine how much my reading would suffer if I didn't spend any time chopping onions, potatoes, carrots, etc.

On the other hand, these types of services might be good for really complicated recipes.