Hobbies Smogon Food & Cooking Thread 2

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Vegan peanut noodles from https://www.purelykaylie.com/vegan-peanut-noodles/. These were ridiculously good and super easy to make - just a simple sauce, some stir-fried veggies, and noodles. Amazing 10/10 will be making this again!

Update: The sauce is actually quite thick. I would recommend watering it down and/or using less peanut butter.
 
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Second time I followed J. Kenji Lopez recipe for baked potatoes. I swear to God, it's absolutely insane how good it tastes

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I didn't peel the potatoes because I want the nutrients, it's less crispy this way but still tastes divine. I put dill, rosemary and garlic in the olive oil. It was very beautiful
 
How would you guys prepare Tofu? I used to press it but I was told that people in asia don't actually do that, so I started putting it in the freezer because that should be more proper but I don't like how it tastes at all after a trip to the freezer. The pressed product is much better to me

Is it cringe to press it or acceptable?
 
Local Dog said:
How would you guys prepare Tofu? I used to press it but I was told that people in asia don't actually do that, so I started putting it in the freezer because that should be more proper but I don't like how it tastes at all after a trip to the freezer. The pressed product is much better to me

Is it cringe to press it or acceptable?
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according to the cutting edge youtube theory pressing and cornstarch coating tofu is unnecessary (deepfrying w a starch coat still tasty tho). instead try cooking them for longer to get them browned, when u first put them in the hot pan just let them sit, don't move em for the first few minutes of cooking, this will help (according to the theory) the water evaporate.


maybe useful to get a view of the meta
 
Earlier this month while I was at home from school for... I think it was Spring Break?, me and some of my family was eating dinner together and having a conversation about different kinds of food. I can't remember when the conversation took place or what specifically we ended up talking about as we enjoyed dinner, but I do remember that at one point I made up my own "new" word, that let's face it, I'm probably not the only person that's ever come up with this idea. Historically I haven't been the biggest fan of traditional Mexican food, although I've recently decided I want to try and branch out a bit more whenever possible. One type of food I'll never get tired of, though, is Italian food. Whether you're talking the off-brand "Italian" food that's still great that we have so much of here in the United States (apparently we make our pizzas different or something, idk I'm not a tourist) or genuine actual Italian cooking from some recipe book, I struggle to think of a time when I haven't enjoyed eating anything with the word "Italian" in the name somewhere.

At some point while I was trying to think of new Mexican foods I wanted to try, I came up with the idea for the word "Mexitalian", when referring to food and cooking would be... pretty much exactly what it sounds like. I've always been a fan of combining something I dislike with something I enjoy in an effort to make the disliked product more enjoyable, so in my head, this sounded like a perfect idea, even if it's probably not very original. I decided to add in this idea to our conversation, to which my brother's girlfriend responds with what might be one of the single greatest recipe ideas I've ever heard.

Her idea was to create something along the lines of a meat-based Fajita Pasta dish. I have to admit I found it kind of strange that she of all people suggested that knowing she enjoys a vegetarian diet, but going off of just those two words, I suddenly found myself on a roll with ideas for recipes even an inexperienced "chef" like me could try and make. That brings us to the present day- my summer break will be coming up in a few weeks after I post this, and I really want to try and take the Mexitalian idea the distance and see what I can come up with. I plan on doing some more looking into it on my own once final exams are past, but for the time being, I was wondering if any of you had any ideas I could share with the family or even some of my college friends. I was thinking about starting my experimentation this summer with dishes that have different kinds of rice and beans in them, if you need anything specific to go off of. Any and all ideas are appreciated :)
 
bdt2002 said:
words
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You could make traditional Italian beef ragu, toast a tortilla in olive oil, fill it with the ragu, mozzarella, basil, roman beans, maybe some chopped tomatoes and olives too. Mediterranean burrito. Or you could make a Bolognese were you use beans, corn, chilis in addition (or replacing) the meat and put this on pasta. If you were really insane, you could try make pasta from a 80/20 mix of corn and wheat flour. I don't know if that could work, but I would expect the gluten from the wheat being enough to keep it together

I think however that best course of action would be to find spice mixes between Italian and Mexican spices and use these in dishes involving tomatoes, a major ingredient in both Italian and Mexican cuisine, and just going from there using ingredients used in these cuisines. This might be a bit tricky, they are quite different after all despite having similar origins

Edit: on second thought, the burrito may be soggy from the ragu. Maybe just pan fry some ground beef and add Italian spices

You could maybe cook Italian ragu and bechamel and put this in between layers of corn tortillas, topping it with one of these whacky Mexican cheeses and a mix of basil and cilantro. Pastas with lemons could also be a great opportunity to insert acidic aspects of Mexican cuisine

Just be warned that no Italian should ever see you do so. They consider putting garlic in Carbonara to be as to spit on their grandmother's grave. If you were to make a lasagne with Mexican ingredients, they would see it as if you would drag the corpse of their nonna out of the ground and play weekend at Bernie's with her. And if you ever were to visit Italy, do keep in mind that they will lynch you if they hear of your attempts to fuse Mexican and Italian
 
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Local Dog said:
Just be warned that no Italian should ever see you do so. They consider putting garlic in Carbonara to be as to spit on their grandmother's grave. If you were to make a lasagne with Mexican ingredients, they would see it as if you would drag the corpse of their nonna out of the ground and play weekend at Bernie's with her. And if you ever were to visit Italy, do keep in mind that they will lynch you if they hear of your attempts to fuse Mexican and Italian
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With all due respect to the Italian population, I admire certain parts of their culture and lifestyle enough to where I’d still probably enjoy the existing dishes we all know and love, especially if these experiments happen to fail. On that note, Italy is up there as one of the few countries at the moment I’d actually be really interested in visiting in X amount of years, so I appreciate the warning. A few of my relatives have gone there and absolutely loved it, so that’s got to count for something, right?
 
No one told me there's a cooking thread!

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Made homemade ramen tonight and added bean sprouts, mushrooms, chicken, seaweed, and bok choy. The broth was also homemade chicken broth, made with the carcass of one of those $5 Costco rotisserie chickens.
 
Theia said:
No one told me there's a cooking thread!

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Made homemade ramen tonight and added bean sprouts, mushrooms, chicken, seaweed, and bok choy. The broth was also homemade chicken broth, made with the carcass of one of those $5 Costco rotisserie chickens.
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Kudos for going through all the effort of making a homemade broth! How did it taste?
 
Celebiii said:
Kudos for going through all the effort of making a homemade broth! How did it taste?
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It was pretty good for a first attempt I think, though definitely needed a little more salt.

The broth was actually insanely easy to make - I just threw the carcass, some carrots, celery, ginger, mushrooms, and peppercorns in the slow cooker with enough water to cover it all and left it on low for 24 hours.
 
I am deathly allergic to fish and shellfish (yeah yeah I know it's embarrassing) and does someone know how/if I can make tasty dashi without any seafood component? If I have vegetable stock that has good umami flavor, is that an acceptable substitute?
 
Afaik there's a few vegan Dashi options out there, both pre-made and home-made. I don't have a great recommendation for any of them, as well, I'm not seafood allergic, but may be worth checking out. The only thing is that I think most of them end up using Kombu, so well, unsure if somehow kelp is an issue for you as well. I've certainly seen vegan dashi at my local asian market, and you can check amazon as well.
 
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