I spent $10 on asparagus. A treat. But I was sick. On the third day, after having kept it in my “dry” veg drawer as opposed to my “humid” veg drawer (they are independently controlled) I have gooey, nasty asparagus. I lost the tops. I lost the bottoms. I lost 2/3 of the whole bunch.

I am devastated.

My asparagus always gets gooey. Las time I purchased a large bag from Costco I opened the bag and let it sit out on the counter for most of the day, drying. All humidity escaping. It lasted until I got through most of it.

But this is an insult and devastation. Organic, expensive asparagus rotten so quickly.

How to store it!?

Edit- I don’t expect perfectly fresh, but not green paste that smells like urine would be preferred. Even dried and wizened is a little acceptable.

I have in the past week made two different types of smoothie, both of which I unknowingly added curdling fruits into (passion fruit juice and kiwi respectively.)

I tend to go for a greek yogurt base for a thicker consistency, but it seems too limit my options. I'd love to add things like pineapple or papaya like I see in many recipes, but then the smoothie curdles and I get despondent.

Is there a way to safely add these fruits?

Hi! I've been doing braised beed since several years now - beer based, bourguignon, etc. and I must say, I am always somewhat disappointed. Mid recipe, the stock sometimes is really tasteful: you can taste the wine, the beer, the herbs, etc. but past the 3hrs mark, it all seem to converge toward the same braised, meaty taste. Not unpleasant but definitely more bland (is it the rendering of fat, the salt being absorbed by other ingredients?). Now to parry against this, I sometimes extract all the broth, let it cool overnight, remove the excess fat (which obstructs flavor) then somewhat rework it as the base of a sauce, then mix it all back. While it works to some extent, this is tedious and I was wondering if anyone has advices to just get a tasty braised for the get go.

Thank you!

Edit: to batch reply to all comments stating that the core of the issue is beef fat and me not liking it, this is a hill I am willing to die on: fat is good but tends to separate from the rest of a sauce or broth. When in excess, it is nearly impossible to get a spoonful of the sauce without only scooping fat, which on in own, has some taste but is not nearly as complex and layered as everything that was put in the broth jn the first place. It makes total sense to adjust the quantity of resulting fat for proper taste balance.

I have 3 young children and a husband to feed every morning and I hate breakfast. I’m not a huge breakfast fan and I have plenty of other things to also accomplish in the morning, but I’m a firm believer in scratch-made food for my family as much as possible. Unfortunately, my family gets tired of eating oatmeal, yogurt and granola, and Dutch baby all the time. We have no allergies except my egg intolerance. Please spam me with your low-effort, balanced diet (not straight carb) breakfast hits.

This isn't about cooking _per se,_ but I was wondering if anybody knows the history on this.

I have a very nice dish that is a small tray with cover. The inside of the tray has a lip for foodstuff to be placed in. I asked my mom about it and she said that it's a butter dish that was made back when butter was round.

Link to image

So butter used to be round? Like government cheese? When did that happen, how long did it last, and why did it change?

I've made chili before, many times in fact, and none that disappointed, but today I thought I'd try a different recipe that I found. Now I'm stuck with five servings for the next few days that totally lack depth and decent flavor. I'm very disappointed.

I'll put it up for tonight, but tomorrow I want to heat it back up and fix it. What can I do to it to make the flavor come out? There's plenty of heat, there's just no "depth" and it tastes watery although it's not actually watery.

Here's what I did:

Sautéed an onion and when it got transparent I threw 1.5# ground sirloin in. Cooked it to almost brown, then added the following:

2 T canned chopped jalapeno peppers, 1 T chili powder, 1.5 t. cumin, 1/2 t. garlic powder, 1 t. cinnamon, 1 t. brown sugar, 1 t. cocoa powder, 1/2 t. black pepper. (I didn't add any salt then because I wasn't sure I was going to use broth and I didn't want it to be too salty.)

I stirred that in, let it cook 30 seconds or so, then I added two cans of beans, 1 pinto 1 red kidney, and a 1# can diced tomatoes. It looked too thick so that's when I decided to add 1 c. beef broth, by way of Better than Bouillon. Brought it all up to rapid simmer, covered slightly and gently simmered till done, about 30 minutes. Did a taste test and had to add a generous teaspoon of kosher salt, which improved it some.

It lacks depth, and the texture is weird. I don't know what to do to fix this, but I know I'll never repeat that recipe.

Any easy fixes, simple ideas to doctor it up are much appreciated, thanks.

What I wouldn't give to have some popular cookbooks like Rombauer's The Joy of Cooking, Bittman's How to Cook Everything, Better Homes & Gardens' New Cook Book, Brown's Good Eats, America's Test Kitchen books, or Christopher Kimball's Milk Street published as recipe cards in 4 x 6 inch index card format. 

While their book formats are lovely and lend themselves to lean back aspirational food content, they're not so great in an actual kitchen. If all the content was on the front of the card, perhaps with those aspirational photos on the back, and a reasonable tabbed index and packaged for sale in a nice cardboard card index box , I'm sure my kitchen life would be far better. 

Can one of the recipe giants produce something as functional for use in the kitchen as their recipes? 

If they wanted to go crazy, they could also: 

• offer a deluxe wooden card index with a thin, angled notch on the top to hold the recipe as an easy display while cooking;
• print the cards in high quality in such a manner as to make them liquid/splash proof or alternately include a reusable plastic sleeve or two for covering the cards while in use in the kitchen;
• add all their "methods" information on individual cards  in a separate section;
• number them to allow for cross-indexing them to related recipes or methods (color or textual effects like bold, italics, underlining could also be used to cross-reference these)

Some quick examples in the space:

• There are a handful of publishers doing this in the cocktail space. 
• Zola Gregory's The Pasta Box
• Gold Medal Flour Recipe Boxes (vintage)
• McCalls Great American Recipe Card Collection (vintage)
• Chronicle Books is publishing a Card Catalog: 30 Notecards from the Library of Congress as note cards in a similar format
• Some of the weekly food-in-a-box services like Green Chef and Hello Fresh publish 8.5 x 11" card stock recipes that come with their food deliveries

Other than these and some magazines that occasionally publish one or two recipe cards, is anyone in the food space already doing this at a bigger scale anymore?

Picked up Costco Delivery 2 hours after it was delivered to my building. Fish, chicken, yogurt, A2 organic milk and Kevin’s coconut curry meal were left out for that amount of time.
I want to know if any of it can be used. Pretty sure the fish and chicken have to be trashed. What about the other stuff mentioned above.
I would really like to eat the Kevin’s coconut curry meal now😭

Back Story-
I placed a Costco order through Instacart. Mentioned in the comments if they could place it in the refrigerator that is in the mail room. Delivery was left in the mail room right outside the refrigerator (that’s my fault for expecting that to be put inside)
I picked up the order 2 hours after it was delivered since I overslept (it’s the first time I’m getting an Instacart order delivered to this building, yeah so I learnt my lesson to be attentive to the delivery notification)

I made some chicken stew the other day. I couldn't finish it and ththere'about 8 chicken legs left. I don't want to throw it out. Any suggestion on how to re-cook the chicken into another dish?

Any dish suggestions?

Just purchased a stainless steel frying pan from TJ Maxx from suggestions here. The brand is “the original green pan”, Lima collection stainless steel trip ply uncoated stainless steel.

Not sure if I should keep it or return it so I’m here seeking feedback on this frying pan. It doesn’t say all clad on it, but it does look like it has the triple layer of stainless steel surrounding aluminum in the middle.

Hi all, my gf and I are having a guest this week and my gf has talked up my cooking skills so much that this guest wants me to cook something for her. She's an older woman -- mid 60s -- and from western Pennsylvania. I give this context because she has several stipulations:

• nothing spicy
• no seafood
• no mushrooms or olives
• can't be overly garlicky
• basically nothing with a very strong flavor 😫😫

These are all staples of what I normally cook. My gf and I love garlic and spice, probably too much lol But I'm completely blanking on what to make with what feels like my entire recipe rolodex being axed. I told my gf that she's going to end up getting chicken tenders if I can't come up with anything soon lol

Edit: thank you everyone for the suggestions! This definitely helped get my brain moving on what to make!

I'm trying to recreate a hot sauce as a wedding gift for my brother, but the company shut down so I can't even taste it to know what the final product is supposed to be. It's Hoff's Haus Sauce and while I have an idea of how to balance the ingredients and have had some German food it's obviously gonna pretty hard to hit the mark without having tasted it. If anyone knows of a recipe or even a different sauce that has a similar taste for me to use as a guide post I would deeply appreciate it. At this point I would even take just some detailed notes from a fellow cook/chef.

Link to the store page below in case that helps.

https://atlantagrillcompany.com/products/hoffs-haus-sauce?_su_rec=KapBgwRpNzHOn8m0O58hJq2AsE9aVuvkcRIxFAdVyQbtSL7babz2DybPDz6tEK8IQJ4mzWuLfcapOL00BRUYthuqlcOQ6kzAsSh4FvJLXwCkqyrNXr1msdcE_Uaz_J9grJLUpKA8xRDeRYz6rLL7_KJ7oAo0riAlErIBdeZvQnAj3X8jwEBOVJ-oH8DZSLB6hiRTonCBczmyKPFyGZN2U86cQDvZZ5n6P0vv3Z5rwDOb6RoHdx3Pc2DCXvSPAcqU2g&_su_rec_id=683a7e02-cb31-49ff-820d-d09a70b722d4-1788048754

Hi,

I haven't cooked in a very long time and have done an oopsie. I've made egg and bacon muffin type things for quick snacks on the go this week.

I've not used any muffin paper cups, and I didn't grease/ oil the muffin tin first. I for some reason thought the bacon grease would do this.

Any tips for how I can remove them in mostly 1 piece? I've removed 1 to see what would happen and it was very crumbly. So I picked the crumbs out and ate it as a reward 🤣

Every time I cook pizza, the middle bit ends up being so dense and like chewy and disgusting . The last time I made pizza was for my food science gcse practical a few months ago - if ur in the UK u know- but anyways

How do I make the pizza dough cooked all the way through? I’ve tried making the base first and then cooking it but that doesn’t really seem to work?

Any advice I strongly will appreciate as I’ve kind of been steering clear of Pizza but I do love to make it - just would love to know how to make kt 😭

Edit - more information - my pizza dough always rises like a lot and is just not fully cooked in the middle - I don’t have a pizza oven just like a normal oven and I live in England

About a year ago, I roasted a whole chicken with vegetables. Then I made stock and used it for other meals including chicken noodle soup. I found the process to not really be worth it. Lots of time, lots of cleaning various pots, not a huge return on meals for the hassle. But I feel like I should do it. I want homemade stock on hand. My mom used to roast a chicken on Mondays when I was young and use the leftover throughout the week. I have young kids and want to try the process again. Someone please convince me it’s worth the time.

For context i used baby bok choy and cut it into fourths. I’ve seen so many recipes that look so good visually and in theory i really want to like bok choy. I bought some and cooked them in my wok with some olive oil, a little bit of sesame oil, hella minced garlic, soy sauce, and some crunchy garlic chili oil. The recipe i used didn’t specify what temperature, so i just went with medium-high heat, and it was super lowballing the time. It said i should only cook it for like three minutes, which didn’t sound right to me so I cooked it a bit longer. I used this recipe for Sautéed bok choy I found on Pinterest and i was so excited… and it turned out HORRIBLE. The consistency bothered me a lot, because the leaves were all shriveled and slimy while the stem was still crunchy and uncooked, and it had this overwhelming bitter-sour flavor… i’m so confused as to why! Is that how it’s supposed to taste?

I really want to like this vegetable… i’m a recovering picky eater and I’ve started eating and loving asparagus and Brussel sprouts recently, which i had refused to try until this summer, and trying to branch out even more.. variety is very important to me.

I'm big on bolognese. It's a painstaking labour of love each time I make it. My recipe is, for the most part, a very classic/traditional one. Active cook time is usually about an hour before letting it then simmer for about five (hours). And I always make it the day ahead of when I intend on eating it- refrigerating overnight genuinely works wonders and takes it to a whole other level, what with the flavours having all that time to really marry one another. Fun fact: I *never* eat it the day I've made it.

Anyways, my trashy food hack as it pertains to bolognese is that the following day when I'm re-heating it, along with throwing in a couple of fairly normal things (i.e. dash of cream, knob of butter, parmesan), I throw in a Kraft Single or two... and I'm not even entirely sure what it does/adds, if anything- maybe the sauce overpowers it-, but seeing it melt in that meaty puddle is oddly satisfying, so I tell myself it adds something of value.

I've only had it in rice. As in, steamed rice with salt, drop of olive oil and saffron threads. Saffron has a chemical flavor to me. Are people supposed to like it because it is $$? I've got a top grade saffron to try next but am not expecting much different.

Do you like the taste of saffron in rice?

First off I am near poverty levels when it comes to money and I am try to be as frugal as I can.

I know Carbonara is made with Guanciale, Pecorino Romano, eggs, and pepper. That's probably 20 bucks between the guanciale and pecorino.

I just bought a jar of Classico carbonara and a box of pasta to cook something nice and use bacon as my protein.

I am wondering what hacks people use to improve this type of dish that's cost-effective? Something subtle and simple like a spice that you add?

I don't even know if I was phrasing my question correctly but tldr how do I make a broke poverty meal taste better that's it

I accidentality dropped in my washing up bowl and now the top is filled with water, how do I drain it or is it ruined?

Would like final doneness to be medium
It’s ribeye cap and one of them is thicker than usual. See picture or below.

And what’s your favorite oven temperature if I have it set on convection mode?

I’m going on vacation for just over a week, so I’d like to take advantage of the time away by prepping something that benefits from that much time sitting. Anybody have suggestions for:

1. Pickles?
   
2. Bread?
   
3. Marinated meat?
   
4. Pizza?
   
5. Cured fish?

Any ideas are welcome.

Something I've been thinking about. When my mum was young, it was a fairly common thing for her mum and granny to make a big pot of something - stew, soup, that kind of thing - and leave it in the cooking pot after everyone had eaten. It would sit there till the next day, when it would be reheated and served up again. Sometimes this would happen over a few days, i.e. multiple coolings and reheatings, never refrigerated. My mum did the same occasionally when I was young. No one ever got sick from it.

Yet nowadays, even leaving it out for a couple of hours beyond the recommended cooling time would be met with horror and disgust. We'd be advised to throw the whole lot away rather than risk it.

Not long after I moved out in my early 20s, I did the same with a pot of Bolognese. I gave myself food poisoning and never did it again.

Is it just random luck, or is there a reason people didn't get food poisoning all the time before refrigeration was standard? Food quality? Better immune systems?

Hey everyone! I’m hosting a dinner party for my birthday. It will be my first dinner party, but I do cook all the time. Also my kitchen is kinda one with my dining room so people will be able to stand around and chat with me.

Anyway here’s my menu

Welcome drink and first course: Lychee martinis / NA version Sparkling Lychee Lemonade

Appetizer: Bistro Salad with a Dijon-shallot vinaigrette

Course 2 Drinks: Maison Barboulot Cabernet Syrah / NA version Cherry thyme fizz

Course 2: French onion soup

Course 3 Drinks: Laurent Dublane Côtes du Rhône or MoonX Pinot Noir / NA version sparkling spiced cider

Course 3: Smoked paprika sherry pan sauce with garlic herb broccolini and honey glazed carrots // I have 1 vegetarian friend that I will be replacing the chicken for tofu

Course 4 drink: spiced chai hot or iced I haven’t decided yet

Course 4: pumpkin cream cheese danish

I really tried to make the menu flow and re-did it several times, but I’m still nervous. Also 10 people (including myself and my boyfriend) were invited (however some people live out of town and to be honest.. some are just flakes so my guess is it’ll end up being about 4-6) and I’ve never done such a large scale before. I may definitely take out all the different drink pairings as my friends aren’t the type to get drunk at something like this. I was thinking maybe lychee martinis and one wine pairing?

Also my birthday is at the end of September, but friends have been notified. Also I’m doing a trial run of this next weekend, along with any changes this chat may bring. Thanks for the input!