(mis)Adventures in Cooking

[StevOz]

Boom 10 minutes later, and we are ready to chew that fat!

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

I've been meaning to post an update on my AF, so I guess here it is:

- The thing is goldurn magic at crisping up stale snacks. Seriously, put them in there at about 2-3 minutes at default temp, and it's crispy-crunchy delicious again! This should work with just about anything, like chips/crisps, pretzels, crackers, etc. Note: careful with stuff that's coated with cheesy powder (etc), as it can burn quickly, i.e. lower temps are needed in those cases.

- Usually I crisp up popcorn, so I'm still trying to build a mesh top-end to prevent any popcorn from flying up in to the heating element & fan. I did go to the hardware store a couple weeks ago, but sadly the only type of meshes (chicken-wire varieties) they had were coated with some sort of carcinogenic compound, so that was a quick pass from me.

Meh... gun-against-my-head, I suppose I might take a disposable aluminum baking pan and perforate it up the wazoo in order to create a cheap mesh substitute.

- I found a better way to make the frozen pastry pizza (pics & example posted formerly), and that's to place it upside-down on a sheet of heavy foil, toast the crust for five minutes at max heat, carefully peel it off the foil, flip it, and toast the top for about 6min more. Adjust to your preferred crispness and you've got exactingly-baked pizza. Note: this may *possibly* work on other pizza-types as well. Note2: The thing that makes pastry pizza pretty unique is that the crust is even lighter and flakier than "thin crust" pizza, meaning it bakes more quickly.

 

[AnonTet]

Getting things on fire is... inspirational :D
Seems to be a great game. Another pearl, thanks.

BTW, i've edited this post i made earlier to include instructions to have a default marquee in case no game has one yet. It'll also show on the 2nd screen while browsing for games in your front end.

Maybe some admin can remove it from here and put it in a separate thread? this one evolved quite a bit...

 

[StevOz]

Morning pan fry up fit for Kings...

Bacon, cheese, tomato sauce and eggs on toast.

 

[GeorgeH]

Morning pan fry up fit for Kings...

Bacon, cheese, tomato sauce and eggs on toast.

Is the bacon fully cooked?

 

[StevOz]

Bacon is actually cooked before you even throw it in the pan, you might say I like my bacon cooked over easy.

 

[xenonph]

Looks good!
You ever hear of Egg in a Hole?
Mom made this for us all the time.
You tear a hole in the center of piece of bread, put the bread in frying pan, and crack an egg in the hole.
Cook like you would cook an egg. And yes you can make it where the yolk is runny. (My fave!)

 

[StevOz]

You ever hear of Egg in a Hole?

Sure have and I think most would have their mum to thank for that. That said it has been awhile, might air fryer one up tomorrow...

Air Fryer Egg Toast

Air Fryer Egg Toast, also called Egg in a Hole or Egg in a Basket, is ready in under 10 minutes and 2 ingredients.

cheesecurdinparadise.com

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

Dang, I thought the egg was a split scone at first.

What kinda cheese you have underneath?

 

[StevOz]

Egg rings my friend now if Robotnik ever discovers these then Sonic maybe doomed!

Also, sunny side down, you need a slightly firmer yolk when you're going sandwich style or things can get ugly.

Cheese, just your supermarket block cheddar cheese thinly sliced.

 

[xenonph]

Yes runny yolk is not good for sandwiches.
When I have bread and eggs, there is something that always gets made before the others.

Crack a couple eggs in bowl and whisk them like scrambled eggs.
Then you dip the bread in egg, until it is totally covered in egg.
Then you cook that on both sides, and add butter to it.
Then pour on some syrup and you got French Toast!!
You can add all sorts of toppings and such, but I like the plain jane French Toast. Eggs, Toast, Syrup.

This is actually one of my favorites for breakfast! (Cheese omelette is a close second!)

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

Cheddar is a super-underrated cheese IMO. Full of umami, bursting with flavor.

By comparison, in the States, some of the worst 'cheeses' you'll ever see are weirdly popular here, namely "American" cheese and "Cheez-Whiz." Eaten on their own, they're not much better than munching on flavored polyurethane as I see it.

BUT!... like a Voldemort spell cast from the depths of the abyss, somehow they're surprisingly good in the right situation! Such as paired with a burger, or on a Philly cheese steak, respectively.

Side note: as a Philly boy, one of the most hilarious things I've ever seen is the number of restaurants around the country who offer a 'Philly cheese steak,' then bring out some abomination of a fried hoagie / sub.

They keep overthinking this shizzle, frankly-- which is to start with a good Italian roll, some SteakUms or if fancy, thinly-sliced ribeye, fry 'em up with some onions maybe mushrooms, top with Cheez Whiz or if fancy, a provolone mix. All while using copious amounts of Scrapple grease as the frying lubricant.

No successful joint in Philly has ever gone wrong with that (super-unhealthy) formula, and yet after many decades, I guess it's still a national secret, lol. Go figure.

So every few years I make myself an authentic Philly cheesesteak, and think about where I grew up, in my "yoot" as Joe Pesci liked to say in My Cousin Vinny.

Cheesesteaks are absolutely delicious after all, and my brain just shuts right off while I gobble them up. Later, I get brought down to earth that I've probably just shortened my lifespan by a couple months, but, eh... we all have to get evicted from this planet eventually, no?

 

[StevOz]

mmm...pizza tonight, add extra chopped onions, mussels, bacon, tomato sauce, some turmeric, sliced cheddar and mixed herbs on top.

WIP...

 

[StevOz]

Success, turtles whimper...

 

[StevOz]

It's not Pacman, it's pizza man!

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

Looks scrumptious!

Also brings to mind that old chestnut:
A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips.

 

[StevOz]

Not the raw prawn, no not indeed, cooked on deck snap frozen tiger prawns, $8 KG BARGAIN...prawn curry tonight...500grams of prawns and the pictures tell, the rest. Just finished the bowl, sweet and spicy.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

Looks pretty heavenly, and bonus pts for using garam masala and other classic Asian spices.

Cue a mini-rant!

One thing that's long frustrated me about the American palate is that it's been so slow to embrace various ethnic foods, even though we're arguably the world's most diverse multi-ethnic culture. In some ways that makes sense of course, but in others, it sure doesn't.

The good news is that such has been changing faster in recent decades. Sort of. Shopping in the average American supermarket can still be pretty fluffing disappointing in terms of ingredients.

Or often they might indeed have the ingredients, but at a ridiculously marked-up price, for example Thai curry paste. At the local place it costs like US$5 for a tiny bottle, whereas at an H-mart or similar you can literally buy 4x the amount, at better quality, and pay $1 less. Times like this, I miss Philly quite a bit.

Anyway... my latest air fryer experiment was to toast up a can of chickpeas / garbanzos.

I toasted them at ~5 intervals at 370f / 188c, shaking them around between passes because I was concerned they might get burnt. When I deemed them sufficiently toasted (might have been about 20min total) I spritzed them with butter-oil, then sprinkled on all the seasonings I like (black pepper, grated parm, curry-salt, garlic-lime, chipotle).

Wellsir, they turned out pretty good. For sure I could improve my methodology a bit, but TBH... as a huge popcorn fiend, I think I still prefer fresh popcorn to toasted chickpeas.

Still, it's always nice to experiment and changes things up a bit.
Welcome to my style of learning.

 

[StevOz]

Got some chic peas in the curry, I like the nutty texture and flavour they add.

Speaking of ethnic foods...just yesterday here they published a story about the China chilli queen. A remarkable rags to riches story.

The woman behind your favourite supermarket chilli sauce is one of China's richest women

For decades, Tao Huabi's Lao Gan Ma chilli crisp sauce has dominated China's spicy sauce market but, now, a cloud of competition is looming over her chilli empire.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

I love Chinese food for the most part, but the sauces they have around here are sadly pretty rubbish, loaded right down with palm oil, corn sugar syrup and salt as it were.

Yeah, pardon my linguistics, but F that noise.

Still, I've got my bag of Sichuan Peppercorns, which I got from Amazon before it went to complete crap. They're pretty dang unique, sorta like a cross between a white peppercorn and a mildly-hot chili.

sichuan peppercorns - Google Search

 

[StevOz]

I love Chinese food for the most part, but the sauces they have around here are sadly pretty rubbish, loaded right down with palm oil, corn sugar syrup and salt as it were.

Really, here we have speciality Asian food shops which stock all manner of authentic Asian ingredients. The prices are very reasonable too.

Here is my local Asian shop...

https://m.facebook.com/bunburyasianfoodsupply/

 

[StevOz]

@Isaac Sauvage

Just YouTube surfing today and came across a

Air Fryer Crispy Tofu Recipe...​

 

[GeorgeH]

Have you tried it. It seems like it would be better if it weren't quite so thick.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

Whoa... now that looks amazing!

Is it really just air-frying there, @SteveOz?

Now, I get that an "air fryer" is in fact a small convection oven, and one should not just assume it will "fry" stuff the same way as a classic deep-dryer or even just deep sauteing in big pan.

But as a middle-aged person with vascular/cholesterol issues, deep frying is something I try to studiously avoid, particularly since one could deepfry an old breadcrumb-coated Converse Sneaker, and I'm pretty sure it would STILL taste amazing!

deep fried "sneaker" - Google Search

LOL...

Anyway, I've never liked tofu too much, but I'm willing to give it a shot, breaded, brushed with oil, and air-fried. The button mushrooms came out really nicely last time like that, if you recall...

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

Calling @StevOz...

(click for the message)