Stupid food questions

[GenYus234]

I'd try defrosting it before you begin cooking it.

[Arriah]

Every one of those I've ever had (which is a vast quantity) has been engineered to cook pretty fast. We've done them in a pan on medium heat, in a George Foreman type grill on medium and on an outdoor charcoal grill with good success. They tend to cook faster than handmade patties just because they're far more uniform.

[Beachlife!]

Originally Posted by Die Capacitrix

Substitute fudge for Creme Brulee and you have our New Year's Day and day after activities (3rd batch was the charm). I hope some one has some tips because I think Creme Brulee's next challenge. The last time we were in NJ we stopped at a favorite restaurant just for their Creme Brulee, which they made daily, with different flavors (traditional, chocolate, peanut butter, egg nog are a few I remember), depending on the season. Very disappointed that they no longer served it.

The local version is not the same - they don't do the sugar the same.

A good Creme Brulee is magic, a bad one is sooo bad though. I am pretty sure our issue was that we were making too much in one dish and the broiler did not give us the precision needed to properly harden the sugar on top.

Originally Posted by Saint James

How do you cook a burger (preformed, frozen) so that it isn't charcoal on the outside yet raw on the inside? Do I need to turn the heat down and cook longer, flip it more often, or what?

I make em all the time, I think what I have are 1/4 pound patties. I put em on my griddle on medium to high heat, six minutes a side.

[Hero_Mike]

The only goat I've ever had was curried or jerked - long cooking time with strong spices. Couldn't really tell if it had that much of a unique taste - but the texture was much better than most long-cooked meat. It wasn't stringy or tough.

[Morgaine]

There's a local Indian restaurant that serves goat. I've not had it but hubby has & liked it enough to order again. It was in a pretty spicy dish so I think that helped.

[quink]

Can anyone give me the rundown on foil packets? I've tried a couple times, but I never seem to get the cooking times right. I'd like to do something different with potatoes tomorrow, and I'm thinking of tossing some chunks with olive oil and herbs (rosemary, salt, pepper?), then roasting them. I was thinking it might be nice to mix in some carrots and onions (and maybe lemon slices? I think I've seen it done that way) and cook them in foil packets. Last time I tried something similar, I was following cooking directions on a website but my potatoes where nowhere near done in time and dinner was getting cold.

What method, times and temps would you use?

(This would be in a regular electric stove)

[Avril]

How large are you cutting the potatoes? What kind of potatoes are they?

Potatoes are lovely when roasted, but they do tend to take forever.

[quink]

Red potatoes, and I'm flexible on the size of the pieces (I was thinking quarters might be too big, so I could go sixths). I've got plenty of time tomorrow, as long as I have a general idea of when to get them in the oven.

I usually just steam up baby potatoes, so I'd love to expand on that. I've also got the timing down for baking, but I'd love to figure out some roast veggie mixes.

[knurd]

You could try steaming them beforehand, they don't need to be totally cooked through, just softened. Then put them in the foil to finish cooking and soak up the flavours. This is quite often recommended for roasties.

If you just want to make the packet up & bung it in the oven it could be at least an hour to get them cooked, more if you're doing lots or with big chunks. I usually get my (unsteamed) roasties in first, as they take a long time & don't overcook (unless you leave them in for ages). I don't put them in foil though - just a rosting tin.

As for flavours I quite like olive oil / rosemary / pepper with a little bit of garlic. Or the good old traditional fat - you can cook them hotter with the fat instead of the oil & they get crispier. Tasty, but very bad for you.

[thorny locust]

I haven't done the foil packets, because I don't like either washing or throwing out aluminum foil; but I would think that anything cooked in them would have the flavor and texture of steamed, not roasted, food.

You can coat your potatoes and whatever else you want to cook with them with olive oil and roast the combination in an open pan. I know that works well. If the potatoes etc. are cut about bite size this should take less than half an hour to cook.

The combination of vegetables and herbs you suggest sounds good. All sorts of combinations will work. Mine generally include onions, garlic, potatoes, and whatever else is around -- carrots, sweet potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, bulb fennel, turnips, kohlrabi, lima or shelly beans -- probably not all of that at once, though. You can also add snap beans or shelled, snap, or snow peas; but add those for about the last ten minutes or so, they'll be overcooked (to my taste, at least) if you put them in at the beginning.

[Morgaine]

Could you sub yogurt for milk in a from scratch muffin recipe? It's flavored yogurt if that makes a difference.

[Bettie Page Turner]

The cornbread recipe I use calls for a cup of buttermilk or plain yogurt, and I've always used the yogurt with great success. I've never used flavored yogurt, though.

[Morgaine]

Tried the flavored yogurt & it was a success. Just made the batter a little stiffer.

[Pudding Crawl]

All the goat dishes I know of need long stewing times, but that seems to be partly due to the tough nature of the meat and partly to the type of dish.
It's mainly curry goat tbh, but I can't think of a more excellent way to prepare goat meat.

[crescent]

Originally Posted by Pudding Crawl

All the goat dishes I know of need long stewing times, ...

I have seen it done in a pressure cooker - it takes much less time, but the taste and texture end up very similar.

(This works for a lot of slow cooker type foods - I made a killer beef stew a few weeks ago, in about an hour. It had the same taste and consistency as traditional slow cooked stew.)

[WildaBeast]

What's the proper way to use a pizza stone? I know you're supposed to heat the stone up in the oven before putting the pizza crust on it. But the instructions that came with the crust recommend using a "lightly oiled" pizza stone. Am I supposed to oil it before or after I heat it up? When I tried oiling it before putting it in the oven it set off my smoke alarm...

[curlygirl]

Originally Posted by WildaBeast

What's the proper way to use a pizza stone?

The instructions on my stones say they can be heated or not depending on the recipe you use. I don't heat mine. Trying to put a hot stone fully loaded in the oven just seems a disaster in waiting to me. I use a very hot oven (~225C), top shelf, and it takes 15-20 mins depending on how much I load it up (usually lots). If you had one of those board things to make the pizza on and then slide it onto the stone that's already in the oven it might be differerent though.

Also I don't oil my stone, I give it a generous dusting of flour before I roll my dough onto the cold stone and have never had a problem with the base sticking (but sometimes some cheese will spill over the edges and stick). Though I imagine that if you preheat a floured stone that would smoke too.

[Sooeygun]

Originally Posted by WildaBeast

What's the proper way to use a pizza stone?

I have never oiled mine. I heat it at about 500F for 30 minutes or so. I slide the pizza onto it using a pizza peel (before getting a peel, I would slide it from the back of a baking sheet or from a cutting board). I spread a little cornmeal on the peel before putting the dough on it and adding toppings. The pizza slides off nicely. Then I turn the oven down to 475 or so.

If the stone is nice and hot, the dough won't stick to it. It will immediately start forming a crust. If you don't pre-heat the stone, you are less likely to get a crisp bottom crust.

Baking tip: I always pre-heat my oven to 25F over the required temp. After putting whatever it is into the oven, I turn it to the correct temp. That way, with the cooling from opening the door, the oven doesn't have to re-heat as much, or at all, making for more even baking temp.

[WildaBeast]

Now that I think about it I may have misinterpreted the instructions that came with the crust. What it actually said was "lightly oiled pan or pizza stone". Now that I think about it the part about oil may have only been meant to apply if you're using a pan. It's a bit ambiguous. It still seems like I've hears people recommend rubbing a little olive oil on their stone, though.

[Morgaine]

Anyone have a good vegetarian chili recipe? Bonus points if it contains no faux meàt & can go in a crockpot.

ETA: I don't mind if it takes dried beans.