Chef Loathing

Beginner cooking + resulting self loathing = chef loathing

[chefloathing]

Slacking and My Last Effort

Have been seriously slacking since I started the new job, moved, went on vacation, etc, but I should be back on with my cookingcapades shortly. One (totally unprofessional and non a priori) note: follow your instincts and be flexible when cooking (and, hey, not a bad life rule, also). If a recipe says simmer, but you notice the chicken is no longer pink five minutes ahead of schedule and the sauce still needs to reduce, take the chicken out (keep it warm in the oven), continue reducing, and make notes in your recipe book to "simmer" at a lower heat... in pencil. Because I haven't made this specific recipe again (Madam Jaffrey's Korma chicken), I'm not sure it will work. On that note, "the surface of a liquid which is simmering shows occasional bubbles and some movement, but not much." (http://huff.to/MogOI9) I think in the above recipe, I tried to see more bubbles than necessary, thus the heat was too high. However, shouldn't the higher heat also reduce the sauce faster, or does it need extra time at a low heat to get that thick texture that sticks to the chicken? A question for another time, my fellow grasshoppers. Also, taste while you cook! Nothing is worse than ending up with a bland chili or a blah pasta sauce. Nothing. #firstworldproblems #cooking for beginners

[explore-blog]

Absolutely gorgeous minimalist infographics of when fruits, vegetables, and herbs are in season, also available as prints.

(↬ Chartporn)

[chefloathing]

Marinades and Nightmares

My meals have been pretty nightmarish lately. Fortunately, my boyfriend eats everything and says they're good, which I agree with... But I want great! Irresistible! I told him my scheme is to have late dinners so he's starving by the time we sit down for 30 Rock and whatever horror I've created that evening, so anything tastes great at that point.

Why isn't everything as easy and delicious as Mexican?

Marinating chicken in milk overnight ended up making the chicken moist, but with, as can be expected, not much added flavor.

Verdict: use this method as long as you have some interesting spices going on. Have dinner late if you're a beginner.

[chefloathing]

Trying out chicken marinated overnight in milk... #cooking #potentiallysquishychicken

[chefloathing]

Don't fuck with Betty. 

There was a time when I considered myself a decent cook. Not sure why. Maybe it was my mean grilled cheese. I'm realizing lately that I'm a total beginner, and so begins my obsessive documenting of my culinary endeavors.

I bought the classic red Betty Crocker cookbook a few weeks ago, since that's what my mom and her mom swear by. This is one of the first recipes I tried (side note - a little annoyed that all of the book recipes may be available online - see click-through link). 

I had some disappointments with dry chicken before (see: slow cooking meat), so I thought I would marinate it in the noted sauce overnight to help alleviate this issue. The moisture ended up being great, but the flavor only so-so, because I didn't recreate the sauce then coat it again before cooking. In fact, many recipes call for you to coat the meat multiple times. 

The online recipe says to cook for 45-55 minutes, but the book says 30-35. The chicken was perfect at 35, but the potatoes needed the extra ten minutes (I did use normal potatoes instead of red; maybe I cut them too large).

I'll recreate considering the above notes (and also dijon instead of brown spicy mustard - which I also subbed with this time around), and decide if it's a keeper. 

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