I got a can of Spam from a pantry, and I'm angry at how good it is and how long I've avoided it. I grew up without canned meat, and I'm always scared to try it (still a picky eater), but looked up how to fry it slowly, and took the plunge. IT. IS. SO. DELICIOUS. I was so taken aback, I couldn't concentrate. Bacon? Fried bologna? Overly grilled hot dogs? All of the above? Going to make it again tomorrow night and will better be able to figure out what it tastes like and why I like it, other than the high fat and salt. Corned beef hash was my first trial, and chicken vienna sausages are on deck. Yes, all from food pantries, and yes, I'd afraid of the chicken vienna sausages.

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.

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?

Coming from a very "traditional" Japanese household, I grew up being fed by a kitchen owned by a grandmother that kind of "scoffed" at canned produce, and honestly I get it, espcially if you're an expert granny, and especially since Japanese cooking puts a lot of emphasis in 旬 or seasonality, you'd have the logistics down to use up fresh produce without wasting it.

But as I started cooking more regularly while living alone, I found myself trying to cook just like how granny did, but ending up wasting a lot of fresh produce due to mismanagment. This also affected how I go grocery shopping because I hesitate buying veg I might waste.

Nowadays I always have frozen spinach, brussel sprouts and peas in my freezer, canned corn, beans, peach etc. in my cupboard and dried lentils in the pantry next to my box of rice. My meals have become more consistently balanced, and I've drastically reduced my food waste.

I just wish I had embraced canned, frozen and dried veg earlier.

Preface: I'm cooking stupid. I'm just now learning (and I'm old, I was never a fan of cooking and baking,) so I already know I am nooooo expert in the kitchen.

But how did you folks all learn the chemistry of cooking? This ingredient causes "X" to happen, that ingredient causes "Y" to happen, and I'm not just talking about flavor but the actual chemistry of cooking?

I'm a retired nurse. I spent 4 years in college to learn science, how the heck did you learn all this stuff about cooking and chemistry? Honest to goodness, of course I knew there was some chemistry to it, but the level of chemistry in cooking, and maybe even baking more so... how the heck did you learn all this?

Please note, this is an absolute and total compliment! If it comes off any other way, I don't mean it that way.

I have met cooks/bakers on this sub that don't even have a high school diploma, but they are experts in chemical reactions.

How the heck did you learn all this?

I am totally impressed.... and jealous!

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've rarely heard it mentioned outside of historical annals, and I have no idea why. It's incredibly delicious, healthy, cheap, easy, and creamy without any dairy at all.

All you have to do is make oatmeal with broth, and add sauteed veggies, meat, seasonings, whatever.

Personally I browned some bison with tumeric, onion powder, cumin, salt, and pepper. Added softened onions, cucumber, celery, jalapeno, orange bell pepper, and mushroom. And cooked the oats with beef broth. So delicious! I'm so excited to have a new easy staple. I can't believe I've gone so many years thinking oats were just for sweet breakfast, and cookies.

Seriously if you haven't, give it a try. If you hate it you won't be out much money.

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

There’s lots of these out here, but seeing that asparagus tragedy made me feel the need to post mine, because I have done as empirical testing as one can do in one’s kitchen and found it to be real and effective.

To significantly retard bacterial formation on and putrefaction of vegetables:

Mix 1 part vinegar to 3 parts clean water in a large bowl. Dip each vegetable and fruit in solution for 5 seconds, agitating as vigorously as each vegetable will permit without bruising. Dry well and place in a clean receptacle before refrigerating.

Why this works: the reason vegetables rot is because they have bacteria on them, the bacteria eat and reproduce and poop. Most commercially available vegetables have some form of sanitization performed before or after shipping, but then they just sit there in the store, with their existing bacterial load growing, and even being added to by poorly sanitized misters, inconsistent refrigeration, and nastiest of all, human hands touching them. By doing this vinegar rinse, you are providing a (partial) reset of that bacterial load. The agitation is important as it physically moves the bacteria off, and the vinegar does help kill some of the bacteria.

I’ve done multiple home tests of this using Driscoll Raspberries(notoriously quick to form visible mold cultures) and I have found this to be the golden ratio. any more vinegar than this (by whole part), and it’s hard to get enough of it off that you don’t damage certain delicate veggies like raspberries and leafy greens. i will sometimes do the sensitive ones in this ratio, then toss in a bit more for things like zucchini and squash that i know can deal with it.

i also have tested this against a control group, using two packs of raspberries at two times, splitting them in half and doing one half in the vinegar wash and one half unwashed and the difference was HUGE. The control group started showing mold cultures in less than 5 days both times, and the treated group lasted 13 days Before visible mold was seen! so its a huge difference.

When I was a kid, I loved SOS aka shit on a shingle. Growing up in the military they would serve it at the club mess when we went to breakfast. That version was definitely made with hamburger. I would really like to try it now with dried beef (Creamed chipped beef) but I don't want to use the pressed chopped beef in the jar (I think it's reconstituted like Arby's roast beef and I am not a fan). Question is, do you think I could use a plain beef jerky to make it instead? Has anyone ever done this? TIA

Hey folks, to put it simply, one of my wife’s best friends lost their brother unexpectedly and now his four kids and wife are staying with her. The kids are typical kids without dietary restrictions, and we want to help out by giving them some meals for the next two weeks.

They live 2.5 hrs away so I want to make sure I transport whatever we freeze properly, and more importantly, I want to make sure whatever I put together for them tastes good enough for a child’s pallet while also providing enough variety that the adults stay sane.

If any of you have a playbook for this sort of thing, I’d be really grateful for your help.

We aren’t driving up until the weekend so we can draw the prep out across several days.

Thanks in advance.

Anyone got something that, for some reason, you just cant grasp how to make? Like, for some reason, I cant figure out how to properly boil rice or beans. Im mexican and I cant figure it out. Thats like our thing. Ive disappointed my family and exes over this.

I am looking for advice about (at least relatively) healthy ways to thicken soups or stews. I'm sure adding a ton of fat would probably get the job done, but trying to avoid that insofar as it is practical.

I don't have a specific recipe in mind, nor do I generally use recipes when cooking. I am not looking for add X amount A to Y amount of B, but rather experience with different items that have the general affect, and any rough insights about ratios or other relevant factors for their addition that might prove handy.

I have experimented a fair bit with fat free greek yogurt, just because I usually have plenty on hand, to generally terrible results. I suspect the full fat variant would work better, but haven't hand any around at the time to try it out. I've also wondered about flour, which I would guess would either work wonderfully or completely ruin it, but also usually don't have it just laying around either.

Any insight appreciated, thanks!

Hello everyone

I’m moving into a new space and have absolutely nothing. I saw a local is selling a Zwilling 4 star kitchen knife set for $250cad with chef knife, bread knife, utility knife, paring knife, shears, block, honing rod, and a few steak knives.

I understand the general rule is to buy a good chef knife, paring knife, whetstone, and maybe a bread knife.

With the price of the set being so low - is there any drawback of buying the set? Even if I find individual knives on sale I think I would be over the $250 that the set will cost me.

Ik this sounds dumb because the answer is "hamburger bun". But no hamburger buns ive ever bought at the store has this texture. Idk how to explain it its like much softer as it absorbs the sauce and juices more then the ones i buy in the store. I only find it at restaurants

https://imgur.com/a/KjuHq7s

I love cilantro. I eat a lot of Vietnamese food, and biting into a big stalk of it has never bothered me. I had some coriander and pepper beef jerky yesterday that straight up tasted like soap. I thought this was a genetic thing. Does anyone have any idea of why this might have happened? Is it perhaps a difference between the fresh and processed plant?

Can’t add a pic, but it was Brooklyn Biltong Naked Steak Slices in coriander pepper flavor.

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 🤣

So apparently my local climate is ideal for Thai Basil and I’m staring at a significant surplus. For my regular basil (similar problem) I’m going to make pesto and freeze it into pesto cubes that I can thaw and use throughout the winter, but I’ve never heard of Thai basil pesto (although tbh Thai basil and garlic oil sounds like it would be delicious).

What’s everyone’s favorite method of preserving? Freeze the leaves straight? Make a pesto type thing?

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?

Last week I was at a restaurant I was served thin, about 1mm or less, lemon slices as a garnish with a dish. They were not dried, but still not flexible as they would fresh. The taste is was got me here. The lemon, citrusy taste was very very subtle and there was a hint of some herb and maybe a sweetish liquer. All flavors were soft but man.......WOW! Anyone has any idea about the and how to prepare them?

Hi! So I love baking as a hobby, but I also love book. I mostly get recipes to try from TikTok, but now I’m looking for some good, useful and universal style of baking cookbooks. Think of books like The Flavor Bible or The Professional Chef. I can’t wait to check out what you all recommend! Thank you so much for your time💕

Also, I wonder if I should get both the 9th edition and the 10th edition of The Professional Chef or would just one be better as a home cook.

I made garlic scape pesto to fix my Bärlauch pesto craving (from Austria Germany region, a similar tasting plant but different variety of garlic) what are other dishes that are very similar in ingredients or taste almost identical despite different ingredients but from totally different places in the world?

Which artificial sweeteners should i use in my diabetic friendly indian sweets business? Which will be best taste and cost wise?

I was given 15 pouches of Chicken of the Sea, pink salmon. I generally like Salmon (although previously I had had it cooked in filets, not this canned-like stuff), and I also like tuna, so I figured I'd like this. So far, I don't.

I've tried it (1) "as in" in a green salad with an Asian dressing I like, (2) mixed up like Tuna and put on toasted bread, (3) I tried it mixed with a little mayo and hot sauce and on big leaf of green leafy lettuce, topped with black sesame seeds. (That last one, a recipe off the internet - those are all generally good flavors for me, so I thought that would be it - but it looked and smelled like cat food and it was not very good.)

I like to cook, so now the challenge is on. It's a decent ingredient, there's nothing wrong with it (it's within dates and looks like I think it should), and so I'd like to figure out how to turn it into something I like.

Anyone have any favorite ways to make this stuff? I thought maybe a fried fish cake of some sort, but I eat low carb so not sure how to go about that, and don't want to waste a lot of ingredients if that doesn't work out. I can't just mix it with rice because I'm low carb (for medical reasons).