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Opinions and thoughts about cooking and food and related subjects.
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Opinions and thoughts about cooking and food and related subjects.
I avoid buying food that is packaged in smaller quantities than was formerly customary, such as: mayonnaise in 30-ounce jars instead of full quart jars; ice cream in 48- to 56-ounce quantities instead of half gallons; spaghetti sauce in 24-ounce jars or cans instead of at least 26-ounce or larger sizes; tuna fish in 5-ounce cans instead of 6-ounce cans. (In fact, tuna fish used to be packed in 7-ounce cans.) The manufacturers of these products have changed the quantities without significantly changing the prices--if at all; and they have not, in my opinion, given adequately obvious notice of the changes. I look for, and buy, food packaged by companies that still use the former, larger sizes.
Food combinations that go well together.
I am a fan of fast food. I do not eat it all the time--I like to cook!--but I do not think that there is more wrong with fast food than there is with any other kind of food. Most regular hamburgers are made of some or most of the following: bread, hamburger, ketchup, mustard, pickles, onions, lettuce, tomatoes, salt, and pepper; none of these ingredients are unusual or unheard-of at home. French fries are just potatoes. Usually "special sauces" are predominantly mayonnaise. American cheese is a little more complicated but certainly something that many people eat at home. Most other fast food can be analyzed similarly.
Of those items in fast food restaurants that are not particularly good for you, soda pop is a major one; but it is not unique to them; and it is widely consumed almost everywhere. And about deep-fried food: If it is cooked properly and the oil is allowed to drain off sufficiently, it is often less greasy than surface-fried foods.
There are some relatively healthy menu items at fast food restaurants. Milk and orange juice and just plain water are usually available--you do not have to drink soda; and milk shakes are not completely lethal. Good salads are common.
For a very healthy, balanced diet you simply need to cook at home. Do not expect to get all you need in any fast food restaurant. But it is wrong to think that the food there is always unhealthy. You need to make good food choices overall, and stay away from food that you believe is bad for you--but be fair and correct about what is good or bad about the food you eat.
What bread is the best to buy? For everyday use, I usually buy whatever is the cheapest; I have reasons for doing so. Sometimes I try the really good bread--and notice that it is sometimes not much different than the cheap stuff. One good thing that can be said about the cheapest bread in the store is that it is likely to have the best combination of freshness and shelf life. French bread is great the day that you buy it, OK the second day, and hard as rock after that. Some bread never does taste good. And about that bread that contains whole grain, seeds, glass, and wood chunks--it is OK, but not hugely better, in my opinion, than regular bread; I still want to know how long it has been on the shelf and if it will still taste good in lunches a week from now. I would rather eat an "unhealthy" Twinkie® than a piece of old, 100% "natural" bread; certainly a few boxes of Twinkies® would be more useful on a deserted island than a few loaves of the "good" bread.
So here is my bread-buying advice: First buy the bread that moves fastest off the store shelves. It is likely to be the freshest and the cheapest to begin with. Try some of the other bread, but do not be misled by higher price, "100% natural" ingredients, or famous name brands; those attributes do not necessarily make it better. Buy what you like.Recently I made my best-ever batch of brownies--and I have struggled to make them turn out the way I like them. I do not like them too cakey or too dense; just chewy without being an underdone or sludgey mass. And it is always a bonus if I can actually get them out of the pan. Here is what I did differently this time--and it should be applicable to almost any homemade brownie recipe:
Toast 101: Put the bread in a toaster and toast the bread until it pops up. If it is too light or dark, adjust the dials on the toaster accordingly and start again. Butter the toast. You are done.
Toast 102: Spread jam or peanut butter or honey on the toast.
Toast 103: Mix a little cinnamon with sugar and sprinkle it on the toast.
Just take things step-by-step--and you too can cook!
Peas and carrots: How to cook them: My first thought is how very awful they are together; they should always be cooked separately. And the idea that either of them should be just barely cooked? Wrong. Raw is just fine; but if they are to be cooked, then they should be well-cooked--until the carrots are soft and the peas are almost mushy. Long-cooking brings out the natural sweetness in these two vegetables that you just cannot get any other way. More about carrots: Buy them with the tops still on if you have a choice; they are sweeter that way--I think the tops draw bitterness out of them. And do not peel carrots--just clean them and cut off the ends.
Cocada pudding is coconut pudding. I have only seen it in TV dinners. I created this recipe because I could not find a decent recipe for it. I put it here for free since it is one of my most searched-for (on Google) recipes; in fact, I have found my own (uncredited) recipe for cocada pudding in searches for it on the Internet . Maybe if people like it enough they will decide to buy my cookbook! Here is the link to the recipe:
Cocada Pudding
There is a way to make chocolate milk. First of all, use powdered chocolate milk mix if you plan to drink very much of it--chocolate syrup is usually much more expensive and it has relatively more sugar in it, which you will notice if you drink much of it. If you put the chocolate in the bottom of a glass and add the milk--or if you put the milk in first and then add the chocolate--no matter how long you stir it, it will not be completely mixed. What you need to do is to put the milk and the chocolate in a blender and blend it. There is no better way to mix it. Put in the milk and then the chocolate and blend it briefly to get it mixed up; let it sit for about half a minute to allow the chocolate to begin to dissolve in the milk; then blend it for about 20 to 30 seconds. It will be as smooth and perfect as it can be.
And about the powdered chocolate milk mix: I buy the local store brand. Most of the major name-brands are vitamin-fortified--and I do not think we need all those vitamins when we are already drinking milk! I doubt that many people who drink chocolate milk are vitamin-deficient; you should rather expect that of those who drink soda pop all the time.
Homemade chocolate chip cookies get crunchy after they cool down. Some people cook them for less time to make a softer cookie, but I think that is dishonest--they should just make something else. Now, I will admit that it is possible to overcook them on an air-bake pan--without actually burning them--and they may turn out like hardtack (I have done this). But to expect them to be "soft and chewy" is like expecting ice to be warm.
I do not have my own recipe for chocolate chip cookies. When I make them, I use the Neiman Marcus recipe. It works the best for me--and I make them frequently. And do not be deceived by the fake Neiman Marcus chocolate chip cookie recipes that you can find on the Internet. If you want to be sure to get the real thing, then either go to their website or get the recipes here. There are two almost-identical versions--here they are:
The Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe - 1999
The Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe - 2006
Well, since I have already written the cookbook, I guess I must have been qualified to do so--and you are reading the blog. My official cooking resumé includes 8 years working full time for McDonald's and 12 years working full time and part time for Domino's Pizza. Now, you may think that that is not a strong resumé; but the longer I worked for them, the more I wondered: How could I do that differently? Or: What else could I make from these ingredients? Or: What cooking method that is used here can be applied to other cooking? So I have always been an experimental cook--and the more I have tried different ways to make food, the more I have learned what works and what does not work; what goes together and what does not--theory versus experience. And I have fun cooking and writing recipes and writing about it all.
In addition to this blog, I have written a cookbook. Please see it in detail here: Old And New Recipes.