Things That Go in Your Mouth

[mharr]

Chilli's not really done until it's been frozen overnight and thawed in the slow cooker.

[Mazian]

The silver lining of WFH days is absolutely in cooking things that would otherwise be weekends-only. My chili's improved, and I'm closing in on a really solid frijoles negros recipe as well.

Last batch of muffins needed some improvement, but even a merely okay fresh warm muffin is worth something.

[Silversong]

If you have a copy of Joy of Cooking, the Apple Walnut muffin recipe is super, the batter freezes really well, and the recipe takes well to substituting in some whole wheat flour.

If you don't have a copy of Joy of Cooking, go buy one. It's the only cookbook I trust.

[Yoji]

Today's rice pudding is... well, you can always make it sweeter.

[Yoji]

Has anyone tried those meal services like Dinnerly? Because hey nice coconut curry ramen



...well, not really true ramen. We made it with soba noodles, but still!

[Thad]

Bought raw almonds. Didn't like them. Decided to roast them. (In the convection oven. I have no intention of turning the big oven on until, oh, late September? Whenever it gets down below 90 degrees out.)

Soaked overnight in a bowl with several sprigs of fresh rosemary.
Placed directly in the air-fryer basket.
Put in the convection oven at 250 degrees (the lowest mark on the knob).
Checked every hour to see if they were done yet; stirred them around and put them back if they weren't.

The good news is they came out really well; the bad news is it took 15 hours. So if I ever do this again I'm going to try for higher heat/shorter time. Maybe see if 350 degrees/1 hour will do it?

[Mongrel]

Just put them outside! :V

[mharr]

This sounds like a pizza oven job

[Thad]

Just put them outside! :V

I bet you could. Put them in some kind of metal container and just leave them a couple days, I bet you'd get some pretty decent roasted nuts that way.

Hell, my car's gotta be, what, at least 130 degrees when I first get in it.

[Yoji]

Took a stab at homemade marshmallows the other day. Everyone seemed to like them, but I'm not sure I'm going to make them again. I didn't think something could be gooey and dusty at the same time, and they're basically pure sugar in a diabetic house.

[Yoji]

Took a stab at homemade marshmallows the other day. Everyone seemed to like them, but I'm not sure I'm going to make them again. I didn't think something could be gooey and dusty at the same time, and they're basically pure sugar in a diabetic house.

[François]

Yeah, I made some a while back, and I found that while they were delicious, they were way too much hassle.

[Silversong]

I made some marshmallows once, they killed my stand mixer. It was a good excuse to buy a real KitchenAid. But I haven't tried it again because the tea shop down the street started selling homemade marshmallows in strawberry and lavender flavors. Now I just use the KitchenAid to make mochi from sticky rice.

[François]

I started with vanilla marshmallows just to see if I could successfully make the basic recipe, but what I really wanted to try making afterwards were coffee ones, and orange ones and mint ones. Now that I think about it again though, maybe if I hadn't made them by hand (which is to say, without a mixer) I would have ended up feeling like they were worth the effort, heh.

[nosimpleway]

I mean, you're not wrong, handmade marshmallows are pretty great. But as Silver said you need a mixer with some pretty high horsepower to not blow out the motor.

They're probably not worth blowing several hundred dollars on a KitchenAid if you don't already have one.

[Silversong]

I cannot get over the flavor of the sugar syrup made from this: https://redblossomtea.com/products/wint ... 5623606334

It tastes exactly like the inside of a Taiwan style bubble tea shop smells. And since it's been a long time since I was willing to try to go someplace like a bubble tea shop, I've really been enjoying adding it to iced green tea with a splash of milk.
I don't usually sweeten my tea, but I do love me some bubble tea for dessert. I made a more condensed syrup than they recommended by adding less water, and also threw in a tablespoon of vodka for good measure. It will take me a long time to use it up.

[Niku]

I only recently learned that “winter melon” and “white gourd” are pretty much interchangeable; white gourd drink has been my Asian market vice of choice since I was in school and now I know I’ve been missing out on winter melon tea from basically every boba place I’ve ever frequented.

The idea of just ordering a block of it as sugar and making it into simple syrup feels like forbidden knowledge.

[Yoji]

Speaking of forbidden knowledge: just replace "cook bacon" with "bread stuff."

(my wife has been ordering Dinnerly meals while we're stuck at home, and we're learning some fancy things aren't actually all that fancy)

...wait a sec, you can just make syrup?

[Silversong]

Simple syrup is called that for a reason. You can either make 1:1 or 2:1 sugar to water. I did the latter so it would take up less space in the fridge. I added the tablespoon of vodka to help stave off bacteria, because I knew I wouldn't be using it quickly. I think it being 2:1 makes it less prone to going off, too?

[nosimpleway]

Syrup is hard to spoil. Sugar is so hydrophilic that there's not much water available for bacteria.