Cooking secrets you'd like revealed

[DarylDixonsHair]

How to make crispy vegetable fritters that you can grab one corner and pick up and eat. Mine are always a soggy, floppy mess that need to be eaten with a spoon.

I don’t eat pork, but apparently brining pork chops before you cook them makes them juicy.

I would like to know how to cook a pork chop so it's juicy and not dry and powdery, with crispy fat.

But pork shoulder steaks instead of chops. They are far nicer. Cook until not quite done then rest.

@AgeLikeWine thank you, I shall give that a go. I think I'm always afraid of undercooking so over cook. I can do a rare steak really well, so shouldn't be a problem doing this.

My Yorkshires always come good, but I am a half arsed cook generally.

Half milk, half water (pint in total)
Two eggs
Hand whisk either plain or self raising flour (both work fine for me) into the mix until it's between single and double cream consistency.
Put in fridge.
Heat fat of choice in bun tin until sizzling, remove from oven -shut door- put pan on hot electric hob, fill bun holes with mix. The sizzlier the better. Bung back in the oven, don't open the door until done 12-15 mins in my oven.

What I need in my life is a decent replacement for Bolst's green masala paste! Other makes haven't been as good. I may have to try making it.

For basmati rice I do similar to above, a mug of rice to 2 mugs of water. When water boils add the rice, lower heat, stir once or twice to stop it sticking then simmer till the water all but disappears. You can tip the pan to see if there's water. Take off the heat and let it sit. It will go on cooking for a bit. When you taste the top grains they will be slightly hard. But when you stir it before serving the lower grains will be very moist so mixing it evens this out. Takes about 10 -15 mins.

Serious Eats is very good for tester methods to cooking perfection. Here he is on steaks.

www.seriouseats.com/2020/02/best-way-to-cook-steak.html

@ShirleyPhallus

Sweet & sour sauce - Equal volumes of tomato sauce, rice wine vinegar and sugar ( I use 6 table spoons of each) and a hint of dark soy (1 tsp), five spice (generous pinch) and white pepper (pinch).
To get the sweet & sour pork / chicken you need to coat he cubes of marinated (tbl sp rice wine, tbl sp light soy, tsp dark soy & 1 tsp of sesame oil) meat in cornflour (season with five spice & white pepper) and egg - lots of flour and crack the egg in....it is messy. Then deep fry the meat cubes. It is the same for crispy chilli beef...
When putting the S&S dish together fry onion in a wok for a minute, add finely chopped spring onions, garlic & ginger. Add chunks of vegetables (peppers, courgette, carrot, water chestnuts) to give crunch. Add the sauce - bring to a fast boil add fried meat ….

@AngelGrinder

For meat (including beef) this of temperatures and timings has not let me down yet. My family now think I am the best Sunday dinner cooker ever.....although that may be because they like lying on the sofa watching TV

I’ve discovered a small jar of umami paste in Waitrose that, when added to a stew or mince, makes a huge difference to the taste. Cooking stews etc the day before also helps.

I’ve got a couple of sweet potatoes in the fridge so will give the wedges a go.

@Strawberrypancakes you need the following:

Bottle of beer
Marmite
Mustard
Oxo Cubes
Gravy Granules.

And, if you can, make the day before you want it!

Aromat is sold near stock cubes etc in supermarkets. It’s MSG based and great for adding that umami/takeaway flavour

I cooked some Indian style food yesterday and the amount of oil/ghee/salt needed to get it right is alarming

Mostly when people like my food it is because I use more butter and salt than they would...

@Unescorted THANK YOU for taking the time to write that all out for a total stranger, very kind of you. I will give it a go!!

Nobody's asked about this and perhaps everybody knew it except me

But I recently discovered that the way you cut onions affects the way they cook.

If you half them, then slice vertically followed by horizontally, they're fine as chopped onions for a soup, casserole etc.

But if you want to have "hot dog" style onions, or cook them into a melty state for onion soup or something, then half them and then cut as-thin-as-possible half-moons.

They cook quite differently.

And the half-moon ones can make crispy onions if you cook them on a high heat.
Don't take your eyes off those for a minute, though.
Unless you want to test your smoke alarms.

Either way, a pinch of salt helps when frying onions (draws the water out) and a pinch of sugar added later on helps caramelisation.

I'd love to be able to cook a steak like in restaurants. Mine are never as tender or meaty tasting. The secret to good steak begins with good shopping! The best steak I have had, consistently the best steak is from a butchers in Northern Ireland - their rib eye is so tender I would have sworn it was fillet and the flavour is amazing! I have eaten a lot of steak - it's the best, always the best!

And onions always, always take longer than the recipe says.

Arrabiatta like they make it in proper Italian restaurants/takeaways (ie not chains) Roasted peppers, skinned and minced, good quality canned tomatoes and seasoned with good quality EVOO. I think it's such a simple dish - the ingredients need to be top notch!

And onions always, always take longer than the recipe says. I agree if you move too fast with the onions, the flavour just doesn't develop properly.

Add salt to onions whilst cooking them - helps to break them down and soften quicker.

Garlic bread - pizza style from Italian restaurants... anyone please???

For steak - remove packaging when you get it home salt it and allow it to air in the fridge so that the surface it dry before you start to cook it - take it out of the fridge at least an hour before cooking.

Salting the meat draws out all the moisture, doesn't it?

strawberry for stew I always add parsnips (must have) carrots and onions. I used a packet of oxtail soup mix for flavour / thick stew.

Quitthat you add the raw wedges when the pile is already very hot.

Salt improves the texture and the flavour, you need to have the surface of the meat dry before you start to fry it. But the main thing is the quality of the meat and that is so hard to get right. I've eaten awful steaks from Hawksmoor and brilliant steaks from Aldi (still the best from a butchers in Northern Ireland) - the steak is everything - how you prepare and cook it will help but the steak itself has to be good. And of course resting the steak is so important too - we always leave ours for 10 mins, covered with foil and oven gloves.

No to parsnips
I am not a fussy eater, but I loathe parsnips. Adding them to a stew would render it inedible to me.