[HN Gopher] 21 Years. 21 Cooking Lessons
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21 Years. 21 Cooking Lessons
Author : haddadda
Score : 14 points
Date : 2024-02-20 12:43 UTC (2 days ago)
(HTM) web link (misterbranzino.substack.com)
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| reidjs wrote:
| For simple dishes do people still do Mis-en-place? You need to
| warm up the oil anyways, why not have it warm while you chop
| stuff?
| lbotos wrote:
| Yep -- If you think of it as stages of a pipeline, by going
| from prep -> execute your mind is not paying attention to two
| things at once. Helps me enjoy cooking more and avoids "ah F,
| oil is too hot and onions are now burning"
| pingohits wrote:
| if by simple you mean scrambled eggs or sauteed onions, then
| sure, I multitask.
|
| for heavier instruments like cast-iron or dutch ovens, I'd
| actually recommend preheating while chopping. just be mindful
| of the burner and adjust as needed
| iagooar wrote:
| I found that cooking sequentially by doing a strict mis-en-
| place first and only after checking ingredients one more time,
| I will turn on the stove. This makes for a much more pleasant
| cooking experience, you avoid mistakes, messy kitchens and a
| ton of stress.
|
| This works best for me. But IF you are a pro, you do you.
| jfengel wrote:
| It's a good idea -- but I don't do it.
|
| I have a lot of confidence in my cooking. I know how long it
| takes to soften the onions, and I know how long it's going to
| take me to slice the chicken. (And wash my hands, because I
| don't want to cross-contaminate.) So I feel safe doing the
| preparation concurrently.
|
| I know I've actually got cumin on hand, and so there's no
| chance that I'll get to the point where I need to add it and
| discover that I have to run out to the store.
|
| And so on. I get away without doing the mise. Usually. Every
| once in a while, it screws me up, and that's my own damn fault
| for my arrogance.
|
| If you haven't been feeding yourself for three-plus decades,
| it's really good to start by doing the mise. Plus, it's a good
| habit if you were to ever want to take up cooking in a more
| serious environment, where you're doing more dishes at once.
| jofer wrote:
| The issue is that it's easy to let the oil get to hot while
| you're chopping an onion. I also do the "prep while cooking"
| approach if I'm really pressed for time or it's really simple,
| but it always turns out far worse.
|
| Some prep bowls and a bit of time to find things and chop
| before turning on the heat may make for more dishes to wash and
| take longer, but it certainly makes the food a lot more
| consistent and makes cooking less stressful. No more panicking
| that you've burned something while chopping up a garnish or
| letting a pot boil over because your back was turned getting
| something out of the pantry.
| o11c wrote:
| I can only second the blog comment about children.
|
| Particularly, children do not know how to recognize and/or
| express things like "this is setting off my allergies" or "my
| genes make me able to taste this where you can't taste it at
| all", let alone actual age-based differences (fun fact: if you
| tell parents that their children just had a lot of sugar, they
| will judge them to be more hyperactive).
| mbg721 wrote:
| I've had good luck serving basically the same dish I'm making
| for the grown-ups, but keeping the elements separate for their
| portion. No living on pizza and chicken fingers for every meal,
| and they at least need to try a little bite of everything, but
| I'm sympathetic that their palate for spicy mushroom gravy is a
| couple decades behind mine.
| cmclaughlin wrote:
| > Do not keep a sourdough starter. It's a waste of time for a
| busy person like you. Try a poolish instead.
|
| Everything else on the list was good, in my opinion. This one I
| had to look into more...
|
| "Poolish is a preferment where you mix one part flour and one
| part water with a small amount of commercial yeast, resulting in
| a fairly wet sponge that is left to ferment for 6 to 16 hours."
|
| I don't think traditional sour dough actually takes much time at
| all. It's so hands off - I mean sure, I guess I can see the
| point. I'm making pizza tonight and the dough has been cold
| fermenting for many days. But it's so hands off and takes very
| little actual time or effort. Just requires some planning ahead.
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