Kitchen and Cooking Thread

[Shazam]

Table salt has iodine in it, and usually some sort of filler to keep it from clumping.

[redforever]

I have a lot of corn and tomatoes right now from my garden. This is one of my favorite recipes to use those two ingredients.

Grilled Corn, Avocado and Tomato Salad



Salad Ingredients:
1 pint grape tomatoes, or equivalent in firm diced tomatoes
1 large ripe avocado
2 large ears of fresh sweet corn, husked
2 Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped

Put the corn cobs in a skillet with 1 tsp oil over medium heat. Cook and turn for 10 minutes or until golden spots appear. Cool and cut the corn kernels off the cob. If using frozen kernel corn, thaw and sauté in 1 tsp oil until partially cooked and a bit golden in color. Halve the tomatoes. Peel and dice the avocado. Chop the cilantro.

Honey Lime Dressing:
Juice of 1 large lime
3 Tbsp oil
1 Tbsp honey
Sea salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste
1 clove garlic, finely minced
Dash or two of cayenne pepper

Whisk to combine all the dressing ingredients. Put the prepared vegetables in an appropriate sized bowl. Pour the honey lime dressing over the vegetables and mix gently until evenly coated. Add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Be careful not to mash the avocados when mixing. Cover and refrigerate for 30 to 60 minutes to allow the flavors to mingle.

[redforever]

And I have had an unreal amount of beans from my garden, both yellow and green. They are delicious just blanched, I have pickled a lot of them, and then for a change, I make this recipe. So easy and simple to make, few ingredients, great taste. You can make this with either green or yellow beans, or sugar snap peas.

Beans with Feta Cheese and Dill



1 pound or 500 grams fresh beans
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp minced shallot or mild onion
1 clove garlic, finely minced
6 Tbsp oil
1/4 tsp sugar
Sea salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste
1/3 red onion, sliced lengthwise and very thinly
1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled
2 Tbsp fresh dill, chopped

1 In a small bowl add the chopped shallot and minced garlic along with the red wine vinegar, oil and sugar. Whisk well and set aside to let the flavors mingle.

2 Trim the stem end of the green beans. Either leave the beans whole or cut them into even lengths, whichever you prefer. Place in a pot of boiling water for 3-4 minutes. Test the beans to see if they are tender but still crisp. Drain and place in ice cold water to stop them from further cooking and to keep them bright green. When completely cool, drain well and place in a bowl. Note: If using sugar snap peas, do not blanch as long as for beans.

3 Add the sliced onion, fresh dill and salad dressing. Toss until evenly coated. Add freshly ground salt and pepper to taste. Cover and refrigerate for an hour.

4 Before serving, adjust taste for salt and pepper if necessary. To serve, place beans in a flat serving dish and sprinkle feta cheese over the top.

[Playfair's Hairgel]

marinate a steak in plain yogurt with salt, pepper and some red chilli powder and add some lime to it.

let it sit over night in the fridge and than either bbq it or steak it..

and you have heaven

[GreenTeaFrapp]

I bought a deepfryer a few weeks ago. Tons of fun! Homemade french fries are fantastic. I tried making deep fried Snickers bar and while the bottom coating stuck to the bottom of my basket, they were still pretty tasty.

[Methanolic]

Question for you Pros:

I have been using "sea salt" to cook with because I heard Iodized was sub-par and maybe even harmful.

The sea salt I've been using comes in a disposable bottle with the grinder built in.

But where can I buy sea salt in a bag? (like sugar) in bulk?

I've seen "kosher salt" for sale at the grocery store in a bag,,,,,is that the same as sea salt?

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I would dearly love to NOT be dependant on these disposable grinders.

And do I need to buy another pepper Mill for the sea salt?

[redforever]

Originally Posted by Methanolic

Question for you Pros:

I have been using "sea salt" to cook with because I heard Iodized was sub-par and maybe even harmful.

The sea salt I've been using comes in a disposable bottle with the grinder built in.

But where can I buy sea salt in a bag? (like sugar) in bulk?

I've seen "kosher salt" for sale at the grocery store in a bag,,,,,is that the same as sea salt?


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I would dearly love to NOT be dependant on these disposable grinders.

And do I need to buy another pepper Mill for the sea salt?

Kosher salt usually implies organic so should not be iodized. You can buy small bags at Kitchen Specialty stores like Happy Cookers. Usually Superstore carries bags, although not as big as bags of sugar.

Some sea salt is iodized as well, read your labels. You can buy coarse pickling salt in bags, not quite as chunky though, but it can be put in a salt grinder too.

I believe that pepper mills and salt mills have different grinder mechanisms, but don't quote me on that.

[Jedi Ninja]

Originally Posted by Methanolic

Question for you Pros:

I have been using "sea salt" to cook with because I heard Iodized was sub-par and maybe even harmful.

The sea salt I've been using comes in a disposable bottle with the grinder built in.

But where can I buy sea salt in a bag? (like sugar) in bulk?

I've seen "kosher salt" for sale at the grocery store in a bag,,,,,is that the same as sea salt?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

I would dearly love to NOT be dependant on these disposable grinders.

And do I need to buy another pepper Mill for the sea salt?

Costco sells sea salt in 1L jugs, but it is preground. And, really, when it comes to salt, I really don't know what the benefit of the grinder is. (Unlike, pepper, which stays fresher if you leave it as peppercorns and grind it fresh.)

[redforever]

Originally Posted by Jedi Ninja

Costco sells sea salt in 1L jugs, but it is preground. And, really, when it comes to salt, I really don't know what the benefit of the grinder is. (Unlike, pepper, which stays fresher if you leave it as peppercorns and grind it fresh.)

You can set the grinder to the fineness that you wish and thus, you are able to get better control over the amounts you use.

And, sometimes you want a coarser grind, like on top of pretzels, on top of steaks etc.

[Methanolic]

OK Great.

I've seen the bags of "kosher salt" at super store, so that's what I'll go for I guess.

The issue of the "salt grinder" has now opened a can of worms, I'm thinking I will take some advice from you guys, I'll just get another pepper mill.....different (obviously) from my current pepper mill, and I'll put the kosher salt in it and adjust the grinder (coarse/fine) to what ever the situation requires!!

Thanks very much!!!


.....again, CP rivals freakin' Google!!

[GreenTeaFrapp]

I don't really understand the need to grind your salt. If it doesn't dissolve in what you're cooking, you're using too much.

[Methanolic]

Originally Posted by GreenTeaFrapp

I don't really understand the need to grind your salt. If it doesn't dissolve in what you're cooking, you're using too much.

Salads, Pasta, Grilled Meat, Etc.... It's nice to be able to choose how fine or coarse you apply the salt.

[TSXCman]

For the salt conversation:

I use sea salt, seasoning salt, and garlic salt through cooking.

Maldon salt (huge crystals that you break up in your hands with a pinch) for any finishings. Salads, meat, anything that is done cookin and on your place that needs salt.

[yads]

Given our cold weather, here's a fantastic Borcht recipe:
Take a medium sized steak, use a cheap one since it will be getting boiled. Put steak in a deep pot and fill pot with water. Add salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer the stock for 1.5-2 hours, making sure to skim off the scum. You can cook for longer to get an even tastier stock, but I've found that a few hours is sufficient.

You'll need the following:
4 cloves of garlic, 1 medium onion, 3 beets, 1/3-1/2 head of cabbage, whatever other veggies are in your fridge. I like to use peppers, carrots, celery. The key is the soup should have the consistency somewhere between a regular soup and a stew so use that as a guideline for how much veggies to put in.

Mince the garlic, chop the onions. Add some oil to a pan and bring to a medium-high heat. Add garlic onions and some salt. When the onions have browned add peeled and sliced beets and other veggies except for the cabbage. Cover and cook on medium for 5-10 minutes. Chop up the cabbage.
Remove steak from stock and add all veggies and cabbage. Add several stalks of dill and season to taste. Cook until cabbage and veggies are tender. Dice up the steak and add to the soup. Enjoy plain or with sour creme and like all soups, tastes much better the next day.

[Berger_4_]

Borscht requires no meat! It's vegetable soup. My grandmother would kill you if she saw that haha.

Love borscht, but holy crap does it ever scare me when I take a leak the next day. Especially when I forget that I ate such food haha.

[yads]

Originally Posted by Berger_4_

Borscht requires no meat! It's vegetable soup. My grandmother would kill you if she saw that haha.

Love borscht, but holy crap does it ever scare me when I take a leak the next day. Especially when I forget that I ate such food haha.

Russian borscht almost always has meat. But like the old saying goes, every kitchen has it's own borscht.

[Berger_4_]

Oh those Russians.

It's all about the Uke food! Damn Commies kept all the meat for themselves, while we had to struggle with beets and potatoes!

[BuzzardsWife]

Originally Posted by Tower

Though we could see the cooking prowess of the CP community. From things like keeping food longer and tasty cooking ideas.


I don't know about you but I really get annoyed when my popcorn seeds only pop 50/70 percent of the time.

Try soaking your seeds 5 to 10 minutes before popping them.

Also wrap your celery in Tin Foil and it will remain crisp for much longer.

Anyone have a good way to cook pork tenderloin?

I have a delicious recipe for pork tenderloin and its very low fat:
rub a bit of oil on meat..roll in thyme and salt and pepper, squeeze fresh lemon all over it and wrap in foil..bbq for 1/2 hour

[BuzzardsWife]

Originally Posted by yads

Russian borscht almost always has meat. But like the old saying goes, every kitchen has it's own borscht.

my Polish born gramma always made the soup base with a ham bone and her borscht had little bits of ham in it..and sour cream of course.yum..you can buy a really good bottled borscht at Polcan Meats on Fairmont dr.

[SteveToms]

In Russia, Borscht eats you.