The cookery thread

[Keith Houchen]

Wouldn't that be over egging the pudding?

[SuperBacon]

I bought a 1.5k bag of cooked pasta yesterday from Morrisons for 9p. It's from their salad/pasta bar so it's that kind of weird salad-y pasta if that makes sense so my question is, how long can I keep it for in the fridge? Any ideas on how to prolong it? Can I freeze it etc? Cheers in advance 

[Onyx2]

1 hour ago, SuperBacon said:

I bought a 1.5k bag of cooked pasta yesterday from Morrisons for 9p. It's from their salad/pasta bar so it's that kind of weird salad-y pasta if that makes sense so my question is, how long can I keep it for in the fridge? Any ideas on how to prolong it? Can I freeze it etc? Cheers in advance 

Is it in a sauce (usually astringent mayo) ?

[SuperBacon]

14 minutes ago, Onyx2 said:

Is it in a sauce (usually astringent mayo) ?

Nope, as far as I can tell, it's not covered in anything, just plain. I've had two huge bowls of it already but I'm loathe to throw it as I'm skint and need the food..

 

[Onyx2]

Just now, SuperBacon said:

Nope, as far as I can tell, it's not covered in anything, just plain. I've had two huge bowls of it already but I'm loathe to throw it as I'm skint and need the food..

Freeze it in portion sizes you're likely to use (use sandwich bags or tupperware if poss), make sure it is well-sealed. If the air gets in pasta is rotten for freezer burn.

Cook it from frozen directly in boiling water.

[SuperBacon]

Just now, Onyx2 said:

Freeze it in portion sizes you're likely to use (use sandwich bags or tupperware if poss), make sure it is well-sealed. If the air gets in pasta is rotten for freezer burn.

Cook it from frozen directly in boiling water.

Awesome!!! Thanks so much. Loads of tupperware pots around so will use up those. Think i'll have one more bowl for dinner than freeze the rest. Cheers buddy

[Carbomb]

So @Ralphy's been mentioning meal prep. It's definitely a useful thing to do if you want to make tasty meals fresh and don't want to have to spend ages cooking, especially if you've a busy lifestyle.

Here are some of the things I have already prepped when I cook:

1. Garlic & ginger paste. Mauritian food uses a lot of this as its base, but I find it makes most savoury dishes taste great. Just get a load of garlic bulbs and ginger root, peel them, stick them in a RoboChef, put in a jar. Depends on your taste, but I find that two medium-sized roots of ginger and 4-5 whole bulbs of garlic are good proportions, and will make you a huge jar that will last you a couple of weeks provided you keep it well refrigerated.

Same can also go for just garlic.

2. Frozen chopped herbs. Again, Mauritian cooking uses a lot of fresh coriander, but this also works with parsley as well. When you want to cook with herbs but don't want to spend time chopping them, just buy a load, spend some time at the weekend chopping the whole lot, stick them in a plastic tub, and freeze them. When you're cooking, you can chuck them in from frozen, as they'll defrost in a hot dish in no time. Obviously, if you're using them as garnish, probably best to put some in a sieve and hold it over steam from the kettle.

3. Ready-made soffrito. This is particularly essential when making most Italian sauces: it's a base of finely-chopped carrot, onion, and celery. You tend to fry these up in a little oil before putting in stuff like tomato or meat stock. 

I found that I was using a lot of it, so what I did was mulch it all up in a blender and put it in a jar, but mixed it with olive oil all the way through to prevent it from going off quickly (which will happen, even when refrigerated). Also, I found that it's a great base for even non-Italian food, if you like your food flavoursome in general. I tried it as a base for scrambled eggs, and it tasted lovely.

 

Y'know who also knows about prepping? @Thunderplex. When I picked up his Chinese cooking recipe book a few years ago, there was a lot of stuff about prep, especially for chicken stock and char siu pork. I can tell you the char siu was certainly worth it. I'm sure he can give some tips.

 

 

[Thunderplex]

21 hours ago, Carbomb said:

Y'know who also knows about prepping? @Thunderplex. When I picked up his Chinese cooking recipe book a few years ago, there was a lot of stuff about prep, especially for chicken stock and char siu pork. I can tell you the char siu was certainly worth it. I'm sure he can give some tips.

 

 

A good stock is always my go to prepped ingredients.  I only need to do it twice a month, and since I got my pressure cooker, it’s a doddle.  Bones are the most important part.  When you have a roast, freeze the bones.  You may want separate stocks, but pork and chicken always go together well.  I’d keep beef and lamb separate.  You can also get bones from your butcher, normally for nothing.  Roast these ones for an hour, the flavour will be even better.  Just throw them in a massive pan with and onion, a couple of stalks of celery, and a couple of carrots, 2 bay leaves, handful of peppercorns and some salt.  Top with cold water till an inch or so over the bones, then slowly bring to a simmer and leave for a minimum of 4 hours, strain, cool, put in the fridge overnight then remove the fat cap in the morning.  The stuck should be thick and jellified.  Portion and freeze.

if you do it in the pressure cooker for 4 hours, the stock is even more intense, and you don’t get the smell infused throughout the house.

Fresh chillies freeze great.  Chop them then stick in ice-cube trays for portions.  

Cooked meat freezes quite well.  If you have some roast left over, slice thinly then seal in a ziplock, getting as much air out as possible, or if you want it saucy, freeze the meat in the gravy.  You can reheat from frozen, just get it to boiling point for at least 3 minutes.

[Carbomb]

See? Told you.

Also, I was given a tip for good vegetable stock: don't throw away peel or other cut-aways, like carrot tops, onion tops, etc. (unless they're mouldy). Collect them all, keep them refrigerated in a tub, and then at the weekend, you can make a stock out of them, probably using a similar technique to the one Thunderplex has described. Apparently tastes great, and saves money too.

 

[mim731]

BBC Good Food is your friend Ralphy, they have recipes ranging from dead simple to properly complicated and everything in between all explained clearly. Plus it has a shed load of How To bits including video tutorials and step-by-step guides. It's a cracking resource. 

[Thunderplex]

1 hour ago, Ralphy said:

I have read through a fair bit of this thread now, and most of the stuff posted sounds amazing, now if only i had the confidence to do the recipes!

Can someone recommend a good site or book, or anything really, where i can learn cooking skills for beginners? Mine are terrible! 

If it’s confidence you are lacking, get one of the Jamie Oliver basic cooking books.  Follow the recipe to the letter and I can guarentee it will work.  Just remember, as long as you don’t undercook chicken or pork, you probrably aren’t going to kill anyone.  Give it a go, it always looks a lot harder than it actually is.

1 hour ago, Carbomb said:

See? Told you.

Also, I was given a tip for good vegetable stock: don't throw away peel or other cut-aways, like carrot tops, onion tops, etc. (unless they're mouldy). Collect them all, keep them refrigerated in a tub, and then at the weekend, you can make a stock out of them, probably using a similar technique to the one Thunderplex has described. Apparently tastes great, and saves money too.

 

That is a cracking tip.  On the same theme, any bits of veg you have that seem to be near turning, soften in a bit of stock, blend and yo7 have a cracking soup which will be a bit different every time.  Also as the slobbering arsehole Jamie Oliver advises, freeze those dog ends of cheese you have.  I do this in a small tub and when it’s full i5 makes the most amazing Welsh rarebit.

[Thunderplex]

For the basics Ministry of Food and Save with Jamie is say are the best.  Save is about £7 on Amazon at the mo, or give your local library a try, but it will be stained.

[Thunderplex]

33 minutes ago, Ralphy said:

Well as long as the pages aint stuck together with suspicious looking substances i think i will be ok..! 

It would be a sorry sign of the times if someone spaffed one off over Jamie Oliver.

[Keith Houchen]

@Ralphy Charity shops are chocka with cookery books.  My girlfriend works in the RSPCA one in Chorlton and they've got about 5 Oliver ones and a shelf full of other ones.

[I Bent My Wookie]

I'd bloody love a Ukff cook book. There'd be no way of running a competition on here about who's the best chef (without a external judge creating recipes using our recipes and judging that way) but a wrestling themed cook book would be pretty banging.