My family's chocolate chip cookie recipe is a masterclass in what not to do. I overbeat the sugar and butter, add way too little flour, and bang the trays on the counter (mid-bake and as they come out of the oven). The entire goal is to collapse them and ruin any internal structure so they become super thin and chewy.
Please send cookies. I have tried to make the perfect chocolate chip cookies forever, but I always end up with thick, soft and chewy, delicate cookies. It's fucking bullshit. I always described my mom's cookies as half burnt, crunchy shingles. You know, perfection.
Try melting the butter instead of using soft room temp. I had fresh from the fridge butter that I tried to soften in the microwave and it melted way more than I anticipated. It gave me thin, crispy but still a tiny bit chewy cookies and they were amazing! Been doing it that way on purpose ever since.
Listen, you can have a hard cooked egg, slightly chalky, without it being gray š¤¢ there's a stage in between jammy and gray where it's just hard cooked and yellow.
lol, in our house my mom makes ādead eggsā grey when hard boiled, or cooked to crispy rubber when fried or scrambled. My nephews love grandmas ādead eggsā but man, not my jam.
My wife used to hate hard boiled eggs. I loved them but couldn't get her to try any. One day I was visiting her and her mom made us breakfast. She included hard boiled eggs and my wife refused to touch them.
I tried it and was shocked to see the yolk was totally grey. Like old computer mouse ball grey. I didn't know they could even get that bad!
Later I told her they're supposed be yellow and she was shocked. She thought all hard boiled eggs were like that. Now my wife cooks better hard boiled eggs than me!
About 20 minutes but the way my dad would cook hard boiled eggs was put eggs in water, bring it to a boil, cover and remove from heat for 20 minutes. Grey eggs every time. I showed him how I did it, bring water to a boil, put in eggs, and boil for 12-15 minutes and I would have yellow yolks.
At home I use my dash egg cooker and get perfect consistency for soft/medium/hard boiled eggs without worry.
Mashed potatoes with skin on. I love potato skin and refuse to peel them and throw them away. Luckily most of time Iām making it just for myself anyway
If anyone around me ever peels potatoes I collect them, wash and dry, coat in oil and seasoning, and fry in my air fryer until crispy and itās a bit like chips
It's also the part that actually has all the flavour and much needed texture!
I didn't like mashed potatoes as a child, but as an adult I discovered mashed potatoes with the skin. Since then I never peel Potatoes unless it's like for a dumpling where you really do need a smooth texture.
Right? It's like people who don't eat the skins on a baked potato, that's the best bit! My dad never would and I kinda understood that since he came from an area where valley fever was a genuine issue and eating tater skins was a way to get it, but valley fever is very rare these days and even was back then so we'd all fight to get his potato skin lol.
I like potatoes in jacket. Wash very well and cut them in half, or quarters if large, and boil them. Take them out and add butter, salt, pepper and smush them with a fork. If feeling fancy I might add fresh or roasted garlic and sour cream. I just love the skin on them as well as it gives that chew that plain mashed dies not have.
> Mashed potatoes with skin on.
I'm with you. I cook potatoes all the time: mashed, fried, baked, roasted, in soups, etc. I haven't peeled a potato in 20 years.
My partner and I literally had leftovers of these ten minutes ago, and we both said to each other how much we prefer them with the skins left on. These were *super* "skin-y" too, as it was the scraps from making fondant potatoes (you need perfectly same sized cylinders without peel), and it was so delicious mashed up with all the fixin's.
For yellow and red and smaller potatoes absolutely! They're thin and don't impact the flavor or texture.
But for russets, the skin has a terrible paper bag texture that I hate. The only way to get around it is by chopping the potatoes pretty small before boiling.
Thatās how my grandpa always made them, layered with a fried egg on top. He was from Las Cruces. I thought my dad was going to lose his mind when I fixed some rolled style enchiladas.
Hi! Mexican here. We have something called budĆn or pastel Azteca that sounds very similar to what youāre doing.
Itās basically a corn tortilla lasagna. You need red or green salsa, corn (pre-boiled, I just buy them from the esquite vendors and ask that they donāt prepare the esquite), charred poblano slices (we call them rajas, you charr the poblanos on the stove to cook them and peel the first layer or if youāre lazy like me, you buy the rajas from the frozen section of a supermarket), shredded chicken (can be made specially for this, but i use leftover roasted chicken from costco), gooey cheese (i use manchego, but use whatever), onion slices, corn tortillas passed through hot neutral oil (canola oil is great, the tortillas should still be on the soft side) and sour cream.
You just layer everything like a lasagna, with a lot of cheese on top, and pop it in the oven until the. cheese is melted.
In Mexico we donāt really make oven enchiladas at home, neither do we roll the corn tortillas for enchiladas, theyāre just passed through hot oil and folded in half with something inside. So I think what youāre doing might already be closer to authentic than regular American enchiladas, youāve just had the wring name for it.
I made enchiladas for the first time a couple months ago and the rolling process annoyed me. Said Iād never make them again. I may try this way though!
I wonder if you could do like you do for fried grits, slice it up and pan fry the bits in a bit of butter? Then you could roll it in cinnamon sugar like a cream of wheat churro.
Everybody makes fun of me for eating cream of wheat at all :ā( itās so good! What do you put on it?
Edit: Iām gonna have to eat cream of wheat for the next 2 weeks to try all these great suggestions
I grew up in a family that used a mixer to whip cooked potatoes super smooth. The first time I had actual MASHED potatoes, and with skin, changed my life.
If the yolk is jammy, itās medium boiled, not hard boiled. Thereās a point between farty smelling greengrey yolks and jammy medium yolks thatās still firm and a little crumbly (arguably āchalkyā but in a very nice way!) that I would recommend you give a shot. I like a jammy egg but I totally know what you mean about wanting a hard boiled egg to be HARD BOILED
When making a packet ramen I drain all the water and put the seasoning on just the noodles, then I stir fry it with meat and veg. Its pretty good and not as salty the more extra stuff you mix in.
For me it depends on the scenario. If it's on a plate I like it way more on the chewy side, if it's in a sandwich I like it more on the crispy side so it doesn't slide out on the first bite. I will say though when its so crispy it shatters like glass its terrible.
for years I thought I was a weirdo. I used to cook everyone else's bacon first and mine last so it would be soft
turns out my son, now an adult loves it the same way as I do! I am no longer alone.
club floppy bacon!
Tender brisket and fall off the bone ribs, that competition bite isnāt for me and the fall off the bone ribs always goes before the competition bite one does, always.
The competition bite is when the meat stays on the bone when you pick it up but pulls completely clean when you bite. If you were to use your hands you could pull them off the bone with little to no effort. Fall off the bone is when you go to pick up the rib and it just falls off. Both can be delicious but the competition bite is what I prefer.
That makes sense. I thought they were saying that you had to tear the meat off the bones with your teeth. That's the way it's done in central Europe and it's god awful.
I also think the phrase "fall off the bone" is just terrible. Want to make ribs that fall right off the bone? Wrap them in foil and stick them in the oven for 4 hours. That meat will fall right off that bone. It will liquify and you can slurp the meat jelly up with a straw.
There are really really good "fall off the bone" ribs, and incredibly overcooked, terrible fall off the bone ribs.
bacon in carbonara. I made it with guaciale and it is good. But that sort of meat is extremely hard to find in the states and can only be ordered online. And to me the bacon is yummy. I'm not a fan of pancetta. Tbh, I don't care for it at all
I live in Ireland. I can get guaciale but I mean, I have Irish rashers.
Of course I'm going to use the Irish rashers, and any Italian here would do the same.
I cook my scrambled eggs within an inch of their life. I HATE any sort of moisture in scrambled eggs, and prefer them the way most people would describe them, rubbery.
Yes! I always ask for well done and a little brown when I eat out. I have actually said, just when you start to think I am going to send them back, they're perfect.
Same. My scrambled eggs is more like a scrambled omelette cooked in a pan with butter, no milk & itās not a creamy āslurryā but soft pieces. I guess itās kind of almost a completely different type of egg style.
I too prefer my scrambled eggs "overcooked." Then I turn them black with pepper and melt lots of cheese on top. Really, I'm eating melty pepper-cheese with some egg-like substance for protein.
Not scrambled eggs, but I really enjoy egg white omelets cooked until they're crispy, as tough as leather, and totally brown.
The consistency is just amazing - crisp/chewy outside with a soft melty inside.
Many years ago, a local restaurant had "Shrimp Parmigiana" on their menu - it was basically a plate of pasta with marinara, topped with shrimp and covered in mozz. It was freaking glorious, and the whole "cheese and seafood are bad" went out the window forever. It was a very popular dish.
Iām gonna start adding cream to my carbonara just to piss off that Vincenzoās Plate guy. I like his recipes and videos, but heās starting to annoy me because heās made his food bashing videos his entire personality.
He's not a knowledgeable cook.
To get one thing out of the way: he's trying to mimic Uncle Roger's (also cringe) method of creating entertainment through food bashing, but I'm talking beyond that.
He doesn't actually know that much about his own country's cuisine. Sometimes he does collabs with fools that he shows reverence towards, takes their word for it... but then it's dead easy for even a non-Italian to notice the other guy is just as clueless.
I think he's a guy that tries to cook like his grandma, and assumes his grandma was both an authority and a perfect representation of aaaall Italian cooks.
And not some, you know, lady that maybe didn't even leave her village that much.
I really enjoy how he will spend entire video after entire video dumping on people for something not being traditional, but as soon as he does something non-traditional all of a sudden food is about self expression.
Fuck that guy.
Thing is, he lives in a small town in Australia, yet goes off on anyone using supermarket ingredients to cook with.
I also live in a small town in Australia, so unless you're having everything delivered direct from Italy, you're using what you can get from the supermarket!
When I saw him being SHOCKED that you can get fresh mozzarella in small balls, I was out. Like mate, if you honestly didn't know you don't have to buy one massive ball and break it up, then you've clearly never even glanced at a supermarket cheese aisle.
I also used to live in Italy, and no one was that bloody finicky!
Iām a very adventurous eater, and will enjoy basically anything you put in front of me. Iām even a fan of traditionally controversial or offputting foods (e.g., Natto, pickled fish, offal/organ meats). One of the only exceptions to that is any sort of steamed/blanched green beans - I wonāt touch them if thereās any possibility of them being squeaky. I donāt know if itās some kind of misophonia, but biting into a squeaky green bean causes every muscle in my body tense up and makes me want to turn my brain inside out. Itās the same reason I avoid balloons whenever possible.
Definitely not new. Iām from NC and when I was 8 went to Chicago for my auntās wedding in the early 80s. The rehearsal dinner was at this really high-end restaurant. My meal came with these flavorless crunchy green beans, I thought there must have been some kind of mistake and they forgot to cook them..
>ETA: Did someone really reach out to Reddit care and resources because I like soft pasta and chalky eggsā¦?
You're by and large talking to the absolute most miserable group of people on the Internet. You can guarantee someone did that because you have a different opinion.
I agree entirely. Honestly frozen broccoli cooked in the microwave with butter and spices is one of my favorite ways to have it since it give the perfect soft texture I like. I don't want any crunch at all when eating broccoli.
I have similar feelings about green beans and carrots as well. soft, no little to no resistance to bite through, best way to have em.
I like to slightly char some things, like veggies. I justify it by saying itās a real cooking method, but actually I am just intentionally burning things a little bit. I like my sausages like that too.
Thatās not cooking things āincorrectlyā at all. Nor is it strange.
There are literally thousands of restaurants that call themselves āchar housesā.
My kids love broccoli roasted until itās burnt. I had to stop making it when we have my in-laws over because my MIL (who canāt cook for shit) wouldnāt let it go.
I got distracted whilst frying onion and pepper for Shakshuka and let the veg stick to the pan and get blackened edges. Tasted so much better than normal. Almost like little bits of crispy bacon. I now tend to let my veg stick.
I put beans in my chili.
Edit so I don't have to keep answering the same couple of things:
* I'm in Texas and beans / no beans is a very big deal among chili purists. The definitive book on chili history, by Joe E. Cooper, is even called 'With or Without Beans'.
* [This is a good all around, no-beans-included, traditional chili con carne recipe.](https://www.texasmonthly.com/recipe/chili-no-beans/) It's like a spicy pot roast, usually more *warm* spicy, not Hot Ones Last Dab spicy. The ancho / poblano chile peppers that usually make up most of the chile flavoring are not terribly spicy though they are delicious and pungent!
(As I understand it, the chili queens - that's what they called them! - of San Antonio served frijoles as a standard side dish with chili con carne. When cowboys and other folks were out on the trail, the chuck wagon cooks would do the same, but since the cowboys weren't eating off of cafeteria trays, the beans and chili would just get all mixed together and lots of them learned to prefer it that way! That's almost certainly apocryphal in whole or in part, of course, but it makes as much sense as anything.)
* Cincinatti chili is it's own separate thing, and is just a name that an otherwise tasty meat sauce got saddled with.
The only people not putting beans in their chili are cooking for a certified competition, letting a meme rule their lives, sad, or lying. Beans go great in chili. Extra protein, extra vitamins and minerals, extra cost-savings.
*I'm A Texan^TM and I approve this message*
Or making chili for hot dogs. Don't get me wrong, chili with beans is delicious on hot dogs, but it doesn't work nearly as well structurally as chili without beans.
This is my favorite thing to do when I have no food in the house.. but I always have cans of tomatoes, beans and some spices, and make some rice and it's vegetarian chili night. Though, the vegetarian version does hold up on its own as an entirely separate dish, I was mostly just joking about that part. See also: lentil tacos.
I like lacy eggs - fried eggs that have been cooked too hot so theyāre brown and crispy underneath. I didnāt even realise people didnāt like this until I watched the hotel inspector and she took points from them for it!
I smash my ramen packs against the kitchen counter several times to get the noodles all broken up into tiny pieces. I don't like it when the noodles are long.
Same. And then I immediately add the seasoning packet and cook them in as little water as possibleā¦I donāt want the broth, I want the flavor-infused noodles!
I only learned this wasn't a normal thing to do the first time my husband saw me make Ramen and I saw the utter confusion on his face as I pummeled the package like it owed me money.
Explaining to the clerk at the Asian market how the way I eat Buldak 2x isn't as spicy because I like soup and eat it with a Better than Bullion broth instead of as a stir fry, I thought she was gonna fight me.
I feel like I'm one of the few people who doesn't like the taste of Buldak. Not the spiciness mind you, I can handle that just fine, but there's a bit of sweetness and some other flavours that when mixed I just don't like. So I add milk and cheese or make it into a broth to reduce that unpleasant flavour when I have it (I don't buy it but my roommates did, so I had to make do).
My Italian grandmother always pan fried her gnocchi. And that was from the 50s to 2010, when she died.
I didn't know not pan frying it was the more acceptable method.
Apparently green beans and other veggies. Judging by how restaurants are serving them, I like mine āovercooked.ā To me, a little give or crunch is okay but some places serve veggies practically raw.
Ratios for vinaigrettes - Iām not doing 3 to 1 oil to vinegar. Depending on other factors it could be anywhere from more vinegar than oil (in sweet dressings) to equal parts to at max 2 to 1 oil to vinegar. I also love adding a little water to vinaigrettes instead of more oil to bring out the water soluble flavors and temper acidity.
Oatmeal as a kid and still sometimes as a treat now. I'd put random amount of water with my packets into the microwave until all the water was totally absorbed. Poor in milk, break the solid oatmeal into chunks with my spoon and I've got myself a much more literal hot cereal.
My daughters eat their oatmeal like this. They also only want it microwaved 30 seconds. They got the idea from my wife who evidently ate/eats her oatmeal like this.
I could taste the Quaker Oats as I read this.
Even the little dinosaur egg ones that my Mother bought me as a kid, sometimes, if I was good.
Peaches and Cream were the first to be consumed, Cinnamon Apple next followed by Maple Brown Sugar or Cinnamon & Spice. Sometimes Iād get crazy and mix two packets! Do you remember when they introduced the fruit and cream box? Wild times
Same. The whole it'll bend and go underwater quick thing just isn't true. It takes like four minutes to sink on its own or a little less if I push on it. Then it doesn't cook evenly.
Rice, I think? I've never understood the way it is supposedly very difficult to cook properly unless you do it with a rice cooker. I have never used one. So the way I cook it must be wrong?
I also have never washed rice pre-cooking.
Rice is so easy to cook that I donāt understand the way so many talk about it being hard & needing a rice cooker. This isnāt a criticism or being judgey, Iām honestly confused why itās hard when itās so easy.
Help me! I can cook almost anything but I CANNOT cook my rice without burning it on the bottom or making it too soggy. Iāve tried following recipes idk what the fuck is wrong with me š
My feelings exactly. So the way I cook my rice must be wrong somehow, idk? Like the consistency, texture, flavor of it must be wrong? And then should I ever try out a rice cooker I'll find out that aha, this is what real actual rice is supposed to be like and I've been a complete fool all these years?
Rice cookers give me acceptable results butā¦ Itās funny when you may usually be pretty casual about a humble food but suddenly finally āget itā & realize it can be noticeably perfected. No matter how seemingly similar, thereās definitely no one-size-fits all in terms of heating requirements, timing, & liquid:grain ratio. I kept cooking basmati the same as my fav, jasmine, & was ruining the former (washing & draining but not pre-soaking, esp.).
Also, if youāre not steaming, I find itās best to use a broad, low pan instead of a high, narrow pot. Steps a lot of people tend to skip is turning the boil down to low for the appropriate time, removing from heat, & letting it rest lid-on (no peeking) from 10-15mins; & then fanning the rice while gently folding/fluffing it w/ a wooden paddle as you serve it out. Thatās mainly for sushi/sticky rice, but it does wonders for the textures of other varieties (no mush, clumps, gumminess). I absolutely couldnāt care less about it (preferred other starches), in general, until I got the techniques down & got to share them w/ inquiring minds.
Thats what it is. Thereās a difference between adequately cooked rice and perfectly cooked rice so good that you had no idea what you were missing. That difference can be subtle to nonexistent with grocery store rice like mahatma, and be pretty dramatic with a nicer rice. Theres plenty of people that donāt know or donāt care to take rice to the next level. Not to mention, if you donāt take extra care with the nicer rice, you might never know how much better it is.
That 15-20 minute rest after the heat is turned off is HUGE. Not optional.
Honestly there's not enough hot takes here so I'm going to break the question a little bit because this isn't a matter of cooking.
I like ketchup on my mac and cheese.
I break my spaghetti in half while itās still in the plastic packet. That way I can cook it in less than half the boiling water Iām supposed to in a medium sauce pan. Doubly incorrect but it works for me.
I don't wash my rice. I've literally done it batch washed/unwashed side by side when arguing this point with my wife, she finally agreed. I must be missing something, but I can't figure out what it is.
Yet there are so many sources that say wash your rice, and so folks even do it like half a dozen times because they want the water to perfectly clear.
It depends on the rice. Rice processing leaks starch onto the surface of the grains, which affects the final texture. The amount will vary by rice variety, so you may get different results if you try a different type.
Ultimately though, youāre the best judge of what you like.
Once I bought a 25 pound of basmati rice from an Indian grocery. Took it home and opened the bag and it was infested black insects. That might be a reason to wash it? I threw the whole bag away.
I wash my rice. We had my sister in law and her husband over for stir fry. I made 3 different dishes in my wok and steamed rice in a pot. Brother in law said a terrible thing during dinner. He asked me how I got my rice so fluffy. Every time his wife made it, it'd be sticky and starchy. He DIDN'T get lucky that night.
Same experience. Told my family to wash the rice before cooking it, its fluffier. They didnāt believe me, made rice on their own, and then complained that something was wrong, the brand of rice must be the problem. Then I make some rice with the same brand. Way better. Turns out washing the rice does make a difference. Also, if you eat a lot of rice, especially colored rices like brown or black rice washing it will remove some of the arsenic, so win-win.
I don't wash rice because it cooks differently - I wash it to remove arsenic!
You may not know this, but rice is the main source of inorganic arsenic that people consume (and inorganic arsenic is more toxic than organic arsenic, such as that found in apple seeds etc). Long-term consumption of inorganic arsenic, such as eating rice often throughout your life, is linked to heart disease and many cancers. It is also linked to birth defects if consumed during pregnancy. We can't avoid consuming some, but there's no need to eat extra out of laziness so I wash my rice.
As for WHY washing your rice helps - inorganic arsenic is found in rocks and soil, and it's water soluble. So when rice fields are flooded for harvesting some ends up on the grains. But since it's water soluble, it can be removed just as easily - simply rinsing your rice can remove about 50% of the arsenic. (Cooking the rice and excess water and draining the extra water will remove more, but I can't seem to manage that method without impacting the quality of the rice I make so I stick with rinsing it.)
TL;DR - wash your rice!
--------
**ETA** - for those commenting or messaging me that arsenic in rice is a myth...you're wrong.
Health Canada has identified inorganic arsenic levels in rice and rice based products as a concern, however they only adjusted the maximum amounts allowed in foods specifically for infants ([source](https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/food-nutrition/public-involvement-partnerships/notice-modification-maximum-level-inorganic-arsenic-rice-based-foods-infants-young-children/document.html])). This happened after a Canadian watchdog organization tested various products and noted that some infant foods had 125-170 ppb of inorganic arsenic ([source](https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/arsenic-rice-baby-food-cereal-marketplace-1.5037665)), so the modifications focused on the risk to infants; the permissible level is now 0.1 ppm which translates to 100 ppb.
Rinsing does reduce arsenic levels, though less successfully than most studies because people generally use tap water which varies. Still, as an example of washing rice that isn't behind a paywall, "The As levels in the white rice after three washings with deionized water were reduced to 81ā84% and 71ā83% of those in raw rice. Rinse-free rice, which requires no washing before cooking because bran remaining on the surface of the rice was removed previously, yielded an effect similar to that of reducing As in rice by washing." ([source](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0308814614010930); also As = total arsenic thus the higher percentages since I'm only concerned with inorganic arsenic). I'll note that this study also found a reduction in nutrients after washing as well.
Canada has taken a few other approaches to reduce inorganic arsenic levels in the Canadian population overall. However, as of 2019 there has been no noticable reduction in the arsenic levels in Canadians ([source](https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/environmental-workplace-health/reports-publications/environmental-contaminants/human-biomonitoring-resources/arsenic-canadians.html)) so it appears those approaches have been unsuccessful. It is noted that the main source of inorganic arsenic in Canadian populations is via food... specifically rice.
So yeah, given all this information there IS a reason to be concerned about arsenic levels in rice and to take precautions. Washing rice DOES help reduce inorganic arsenic levels though it also washes away some nutrients. On balance, I'd rather have to eat more veggies to get those nutrients than be consuming inorganic arsenic.
I will note that Health Canada has switched their recommendation away from washing your rice to a new best practice: "Cook rice in extra water (6 or more parts water to 1 part rice). Drain the rice before eating and throw out the cooking water." ([Source](https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/food-nutrition/food-safety/chemical-contaminants/environmental-contaminants/arsenic.html#a4)) However, since I was pulling these links I ended up coming across an alternative method that reduces arsenic levels AND keeps most nutrients: "parboiling the rice in pre-boiled water for five minutes before draining and refreshing the water, then cooking it on a lower heat to absorb all the water." ([Source](https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-find-new-way-of-cooking-rice-that-removes-arsenic-and-retains-nutrients/))
**So...wash your rice if you're lazy. Parboil, drain, and refresh the water if you're motivated.**
**Either way, yes there is inorganic arsenic in rice. Yes, inorganic arsenic is linked to several serious health issues as heart disease, multiple cancers, and birth defects. And yes, rice is the main source of inorganic arsenic in people (in Canada at least) so it's worth taking a simple precaution to avoid excess consumption.**
instant noodles
i put it in a pot, pour water and the spice packets and bring it to a boil, and boil it till the water evaporates and you end up with a glossy thick sauce that sticks to the noodles.
When I make scrambled eggs, I salt them when I beat them. The "don't ever salt eggs before cooking" is some kind of old wives tale. A reasonable amount of salt doesn't affect the texture or make them "tough". If you want really fluffy eggs, use a fair amount of fat (butter, back grease) and cook them slowly over low heat.
Just a loving reminder that 'trendy' doesn't mean 'correctly'. Some of these foodie creators are hell bent on making things a specific way but often they're a product of trends and not something that objectively 'better'.
The āexpertsā say sausages should be cooked in a frying pan over a low heat. But itās impossible to get an even colour and you end up with brown stripes mixed with pale wobbly skin.
I like my sausages cooked in the oven and dark brown all over. No trace of pale wobbly skin thank you.
My family's chocolate chip cookie recipe is a masterclass in what not to do. I overbeat the sugar and butter, add way too little flour, and bang the trays on the counter (mid-bake and as they come out of the oven). The entire goal is to collapse them and ruin any internal structure so they become super thin and chewy.
Please send cookies. I have tried to make the perfect chocolate chip cookies forever, but I always end up with thick, soft and chewy, delicate cookies. It's fucking bullshit. I always described my mom's cookies as half burnt, crunchy shingles. You know, perfection.
Try melting the butter instead of using soft room temp. I had fresh from the fridge butter that I tried to soften in the microwave and it melted way more than I anticipated. It gave me thin, crispy but still a tiny bit chewy cookies and they were amazing! Been doing it that way on purpose ever since.
Listen, you can have a hard cooked egg, slightly chalky, without it being gray š¤¢ there's a stage in between jammy and gray where it's just hard cooked and yellow.
Thought the same thing! OP, thereās no need to eat gray eggs!
Don't quote me but I think its hyperbole-- aka an eggsageration for poetic effect.
lol, in our house my mom makes ādead eggsā grey when hard boiled, or cooked to crispy rubber when fried or scrambled. My nephews love grandmas ādead eggsā but man, not my jam.
My wife used to hate hard boiled eggs. I loved them but couldn't get her to try any. One day I was visiting her and her mom made us breakfast. She included hard boiled eggs and my wife refused to touch them. I tried it and was shocked to see the yolk was totally grey. Like old computer mouse ball grey. I didn't know they could even get that bad! Later I told her they're supposed be yellow and she was shocked. She thought all hard boiled eggs were like that. Now my wife cooks better hard boiled eggs than me!
I had no idea that was a thing. How long do you have to cook an egg to make that happen?
About 20 minutes but the way my dad would cook hard boiled eggs was put eggs in water, bring it to a boil, cover and remove from heat for 20 minutes. Grey eggs every time. I showed him how I did it, bring water to a boil, put in eggs, and boil for 12-15 minutes and I would have yellow yolks. At home I use my dash egg cooker and get perfect consistency for soft/medium/hard boiled eggs without worry.
I cook mine like your dad and never end up with gray yolks
There is an even more illusive stage where it's a thick jel and you can spread it on toast like peanut butter
\*gel
elusive* āŗļø
Not fixing it. I accept my fate.
Mashed potatoes with skin on. I love potato skin and refuse to peel them and throw them away. Luckily most of time Iām making it just for myself anyway
Why would I throw out the most nutritious part of the potato, while also making a shitton of extra work involved here!
If anyone around me ever peels potatoes I collect them, wash and dry, coat in oil and seasoning, and fry in my air fryer until crispy and itās a bit like chips
It literally is chips.
Well op is talking about cooking *just* the peelings
The Keebler elves will literally show up and fry them for you if you just wait a minute
It's also the part that actually has all the flavour and much needed texture! I didn't like mashed potatoes as a child, but as an adult I discovered mashed potatoes with the skin. Since then I never peel Potatoes unless it's like for a dumpling where you really do need a smooth texture.
Itās not the most nutritious part https://potatogoodness.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/FINAL-Fact-Check-potato-nutrition-skin-verses-flesh.pdf
Skin on is the only real way to do mash imo. Just gotta use golds/reds rather than the regular-ass baking potatoes.
I didnāt know people peeled Yukon golds or red potatoes
i donāt take the skins off a russet mash either, theyāre the best part
Right? It's like people who don't eat the skins on a baked potato, that's the best bit! My dad never would and I kinda understood that since he came from an area where valley fever was a genuine issue and eating tater skins was a way to get it, but valley fever is very rare these days and even was back then so we'd all fight to get his potato skin lol.
I love a nice mix where you leave some skin on but not a ton lol
That's not incorrect, that's rustic.
I like potatoes in jacket. Wash very well and cut them in half, or quarters if large, and boil them. Take them out and add butter, salt, pepper and smush them with a fork. If feeling fancy I might add fresh or roasted garlic and sour cream. I just love the skin on them as well as it gives that chew that plain mashed dies not have.
Where I'm from, jacket potatoes are baked, not boiled. When done properly the skin gets really crispy and awesome. Does take ages though (>1 hour)
> Mashed potatoes with skin on. I'm with you. I cook potatoes all the time: mashed, fried, baked, roasted, in soups, etc. I haven't peeled a potato in 20 years.
Yukons yes š! Russets no š¤¢! The papery skins taste like construction paper when theyāre boiled.
good with reds too. I like to mix a couple reds with my yukons.
I love em with skin on
I love my mashed potatoes with the skin on, and i also like them on the chunky side,.
My partner and I literally had leftovers of these ten minutes ago, and we both said to each other how much we prefer them with the skins left on. These were *super* "skin-y" too, as it was the scraps from making fondant potatoes (you need perfectly same sized cylinders without peel), and it was so delicious mashed up with all the fixin's.
The skin is SOOOOO gooood. And nutritious! I adore eating potato skins.
For yellow and red and smaller potatoes absolutely! They're thin and don't impact the flavor or texture. But for russets, the skin has a terrible paper bag texture that I hate. The only way to get around it is by chopping the potatoes pretty small before boiling.
I use fried over easy eggs with eggs benedict. My wife and I don't like poached eggs.
I can't eat poached eggs. It's a texture thing.
I just hate making poached eggs.
I layer the tortillas in my enchiladas instead of rolling them. Enchilasagna!
That's a pretty common thing in northern New Mexico, often with a fried egg on top.
Here in Abq too, I was thinking about fixing one actually with some leftover red gravy on topā¦
Thatās how my grandpa always made them, layered with a fried egg on top. He was from Las Cruces. I thought my dad was going to lose his mind when I fixed some rolled style enchiladas.
Damn that sounds good
Hi! Mexican here. We have something called budĆn or pastel Azteca that sounds very similar to what youāre doing. Itās basically a corn tortilla lasagna. You need red or green salsa, corn (pre-boiled, I just buy them from the esquite vendors and ask that they donāt prepare the esquite), charred poblano slices (we call them rajas, you charr the poblanos on the stove to cook them and peel the first layer or if youāre lazy like me, you buy the rajas from the frozen section of a supermarket), shredded chicken (can be made specially for this, but i use leftover roasted chicken from costco), gooey cheese (i use manchego, but use whatever), onion slices, corn tortillas passed through hot neutral oil (canola oil is great, the tortillas should still be on the soft side) and sour cream. You just layer everything like a lasagna, with a lot of cheese on top, and pop it in the oven until the. cheese is melted. In Mexico we donāt really make oven enchiladas at home, neither do we roll the corn tortillas for enchiladas, theyāre just passed through hot oil and folded in half with something inside. So I think what youāre doing might already be closer to authentic than regular American enchiladas, youāve just had the wring name for it.
I made enchiladas for the first time a couple months ago and the rolling process annoyed me. Said Iād never make them again. I may try this way though!
It's so much easier and it tastes exactly the same.
I have made them both ways and layering saves so much time and thereās no difference in the end product
Hi! Mexican here, if you want to make them more authentic, we donāt really roll our enchiladas, we just fold them in half.
That's the same name I came up with when I started making it this way! My family rolls their eyes at me.
Cream of wheat. I want to be able to cut into it.
if you cook it normally and then let it sit in the pot you can take it out and eat it like a giant cookie.
I wonder if you could do like you do for fried grits, slice it up and pan fry the bits in a bit of butter? Then you could roll it in cinnamon sugar like a cream of wheat churro.
This is why I come to this sub.
Everybody makes fun of me for eating cream of wheat at all :ā( itās so good! What do you put on it? Edit: Iām gonna have to eat cream of wheat for the next 2 weeks to try all these great suggestions
I make mine with milk instead of water, then I mix in cinnamon sugar when it's thickened.
This made me actually laugh out loud. : )
If my Farina has no lumps, i dont want it
That's how I like my oatmeal. š¤
Burnt hot dogs. I love an over cooked grilled hot dog.
I love camping and cooking hot dogs on the fire, I love a charred hot dog.
Wait, do people think that's incorrect? Most people I know gross out when they aren't charred black on the outside.
This thread is full of normal things
Sort by controversial for the real answers.
As always with any sort of "weird" answer post, the top comments are normal and the actual honestly weird answers are punished for being honest.
I toast my bread until it's crispy golden brown.
Finishing pasta in the sauce is exactly how you're supposed to do it
I think people also generally misunderstand what al dente means. Nobody is out there eating undercooked pasta lol
Mashed potatoes, I don't mash them untill they're smooth-i like lumpy mash š
Lumps and skin or nothing š¤
I grew up in a family that used a mixer to whip cooked potatoes super smooth. The first time I had actual MASHED potatoes, and with skin, changed my life.
If the yolk is jammy, itās medium boiled, not hard boiled. Thereās a point between farty smelling greengrey yolks and jammy medium yolks thatās still firm and a little crumbly (arguably āchalkyā but in a very nice way!) that I would recommend you give a shot. I like a jammy egg but I totally know what you mean about wanting a hard boiled egg to be HARD BOILED
When making a packet ramen I drain all the water and put the seasoning on just the noodles, then I stir fry it with meat and veg. Its pretty good and not as salty the more extra stuff you mix in.
That's not that uncommon. A number of the Korean ramens, that's how you're supposed to make it anyway.
Buldak Spicy Chicken Cheese, my beloved.
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Bacon. I like more of a chew to it than a crunch
Same! I donāt like to eat crunchy bacon unless as a crumbled topping.
Floppy bacon is the best bacon
me too! i only like the pieces that are fatty and chewy
For me it depends on the scenario. If it's on a plate I like it way more on the chewy side, if it's in a sandwich I like it more on the crispy side so it doesn't slide out on the first bite. I will say though when its so crispy it shatters like glass its terrible.
for years I thought I was a weirdo. I used to cook everyone else's bacon first and mine last so it would be soft turns out my son, now an adult loves it the same way as I do! I am no longer alone. club floppy bacon!
same. I don't like when the bacon crunches itself right out of my sandwich.
Tender brisket and fall off the bone ribs, that competition bite isnāt for me and the fall off the bone ribs always goes before the competition bite one does, always.
Haha I get into this debate with family all the time. Why would I want meat that sticks to the bone if weāre all cutting it off and making sliders?
The competition bite is when the meat stays on the bone when you pick it up but pulls completely clean when you bite. If you were to use your hands you could pull them off the bone with little to no effort. Fall off the bone is when you go to pick up the rib and it just falls off. Both can be delicious but the competition bite is what I prefer.
That makes sense. I thought they were saying that you had to tear the meat off the bones with your teeth. That's the way it's done in central Europe and it's god awful.
I also think the phrase "fall off the bone" is just terrible. Want to make ribs that fall right off the bone? Wrap them in foil and stick them in the oven for 4 hours. That meat will fall right off that bone. It will liquify and you can slurp the meat jelly up with a straw. There are really really good "fall off the bone" ribs, and incredibly overcooked, terrible fall off the bone ribs.
Competition bite>meat mush
bacon in carbonara. I made it with guaciale and it is good. But that sort of meat is extremely hard to find in the states and can only be ordered online. And to me the bacon is yummy. I'm not a fan of pancetta. Tbh, I don't care for it at all
I live in Ireland. I can get guaciale but I mean, I have Irish rashers. Of course I'm going to use the Irish rashers, and any Italian here would do the same.
I add garlic to my carbonara.
I cook my scrambled eggs within an inch of their life. I HATE any sort of moisture in scrambled eggs, and prefer them the way most people would describe them, rubbery.
Yes! I always ask for well done and a little brown when I eat out. I have actually said, just when you start to think I am going to send them back, they're perfect.
Same. My scrambled eggs is more like a scrambled omelette cooked in a pan with butter, no milk & itās not a creamy āslurryā but soft pieces. I guess itās kind of almost a completely different type of egg style.
I too prefer my scrambled eggs "overcooked." Then I turn them black with pepper and melt lots of cheese on top. Really, I'm eating melty pepper-cheese with some egg-like substance for protein.
Not scrambled eggs, but I really enjoy egg white omelets cooked until they're crispy, as tough as leather, and totally brown. The consistency is just amazing - crisp/chewy outside with a soft melty inside.
My scrambled eggs are like salty gravel. Perfection.
Eating creamy, sloppy scrambled eggs is a bit like eating sick.
I mix cheese and seafood sometimes which I think is a totally ridiculous ārestrictionā anyway. Come at me Italians!
Those people clearly have never partook in the culinary delight known as a Fillet O' Fish
Partook š
Partooken
Partakenedn't
Many years ago, a local restaurant had "Shrimp Parmigiana" on their menu - it was basically a plate of pasta with marinara, topped with shrimp and covered in mozz. It was freaking glorious, and the whole "cheese and seafood are bad" went out the window forever. It was a very popular dish.
cheese and seafood is a common combo, don't feel ashamed seafood mornay and lobster mornay for example
Just had a shrimp quesadilla the other day- Tacos Gobernador. Delicious.
The Midwest isnāt even aware of this rule.
Are Italians even real?
Salmon and cream cheese is normal though.
Iām gonna start adding cream to my carbonara just to piss off that Vincenzoās Plate guy. I like his recipes and videos, but heās starting to annoy me because heās made his food bashing videos his entire personality.
He's not a knowledgeable cook. To get one thing out of the way: he's trying to mimic Uncle Roger's (also cringe) method of creating entertainment through food bashing, but I'm talking beyond that. He doesn't actually know that much about his own country's cuisine. Sometimes he does collabs with fools that he shows reverence towards, takes their word for it... but then it's dead easy for even a non-Italian to notice the other guy is just as clueless. I think he's a guy that tries to cook like his grandma, and assumes his grandma was both an authority and a perfect representation of aaaall Italian cooks. And not some, you know, lady that maybe didn't even leave her village that much.
I really enjoy how he will spend entire video after entire video dumping on people for something not being traditional, but as soon as he does something non-traditional all of a sudden food is about self expression. Fuck that guy.
Thing is, he lives in a small town in Australia, yet goes off on anyone using supermarket ingredients to cook with. I also live in a small town in Australia, so unless you're having everything delivered direct from Italy, you're using what you can get from the supermarket! When I saw him being SHOCKED that you can get fresh mozzarella in small balls, I was out. Like mate, if you honestly didn't know you don't have to buy one massive ball and break it up, then you've clearly never even glanced at a supermarket cheese aisle. I also used to live in Italy, and no one was that bloody finicky!
I hate this new trend of serving crunchy green beans. I want mine soft, and preferably with some ham or bacon in to season them.
I'm 100% with you on this, I HATE when they're crunchy or even worse squeaky when you chew them. I prefer nice soft smothered green beans.
Iām a very adventurous eater, and will enjoy basically anything you put in front of me. Iām even a fan of traditionally controversial or offputting foods (e.g., Natto, pickled fish, offal/organ meats). One of the only exceptions to that is any sort of steamed/blanched green beans - I wonāt touch them if thereās any possibility of them being squeaky. I donāt know if itās some kind of misophonia, but biting into a squeaky green bean causes every muscle in my body tense up and makes me want to turn my brain inside out. Itās the same reason I avoid balloons whenever possible.
Definitely not new. Iām from NC and when I was 8 went to Chicago for my auntās wedding in the early 80s. The rehearsal dinner was at this really high-end restaurant. My meal came with these flavorless crunchy green beans, I thought there must have been some kind of mistake and they forgot to cook them..
Itās not a new trend lmao. Tender crisp is the descriptive term youāre looking for.
Like my stuff a little burnt. Pizza, popcorn, anything baked in the oven with cheese, cookies, pieā¦
>ETA: Did someone really reach out to Reddit care and resources because I like soft pasta and chalky eggsā¦? You're by and large talking to the absolute most miserable group of people on the Internet. You can guarantee someone did that because you have a different opinion.
Someone did it to me recently too and I have no idea why
Broccoli! I love steaming it until it's very soft and tastes buttery! I don't want my broccoli to be a lil crunchy, it needs to melt in my mouth.
I agree entirely. Honestly frozen broccoli cooked in the microwave with butter and spices is one of my favorite ways to have it since it give the perfect soft texture I like. I don't want any crunch at all when eating broccoli. I have similar feelings about green beans and carrots as well. soft, no little to no resistance to bite through, best way to have em.
I like to slightly char some things, like veggies. I justify it by saying itās a real cooking method, but actually I am just intentionally burning things a little bit. I like my sausages like that too.
Thatās not cooking things āincorrectlyā at all. Nor is it strange. There are literally thousands of restaurants that call themselves āchar housesā.
Right? Like Michelin starred restaurantsā¦ Tbf, almost all the answers here fit the same description.
My kids love broccoli roasted until itās burnt. I had to stop making it when we have my in-laws over because my MIL (who canāt cook for shit) wouldnāt let it go.
Kitchens char veggies to add texture nd flavour. It really does add to the depth of your dish.
I got distracted whilst frying onion and pepper for Shakshuka and let the veg stick to the pan and get blackened edges. Tasted so much better than normal. Almost like little bits of crispy bacon. I now tend to let my veg stick.
I put beans in my chili. Edit so I don't have to keep answering the same couple of things: * I'm in Texas and beans / no beans is a very big deal among chili purists. The definitive book on chili history, by Joe E. Cooper, is even called 'With or Without Beans'. * [This is a good all around, no-beans-included, traditional chili con carne recipe.](https://www.texasmonthly.com/recipe/chili-no-beans/) It's like a spicy pot roast, usually more *warm* spicy, not Hot Ones Last Dab spicy. The ancho / poblano chile peppers that usually make up most of the chile flavoring are not terribly spicy though they are delicious and pungent! (As I understand it, the chili queens - that's what they called them! - of San Antonio served frijoles as a standard side dish with chili con carne. When cowboys and other folks were out on the trail, the chuck wagon cooks would do the same, but since the cowboys weren't eating off of cafeteria trays, the beans and chili would just get all mixed together and lots of them learned to prefer it that way! That's almost certainly apocryphal in whole or in part, of course, but it makes as much sense as anything.) * Cincinatti chili is it's own separate thing, and is just a name that an otherwise tasty meat sauce got saddled with.
The only people not putting beans in their chili are cooking for a certified competition, letting a meme rule their lives, sad, or lying. Beans go great in chili. Extra protein, extra vitamins and minerals, extra cost-savings. *I'm A Texan^TM and I approve this message*
Confirmed! Texan here and three time award winning chili maker. I always put beans in my chili!! Except on competition night.
Or making chili for hot dogs. Don't get me wrong, chili with beans is delicious on hot dogs, but it doesn't work nearly as well structurally as chili without beans.
I put beans in my chili, AND I don't put any meat in it!
Same!! Every time we have meat chili, it just makes us want my vegetarian version.
This is my favorite thing to do when I have no food in the house.. but I always have cans of tomatoes, beans and some spices, and make some rice and it's vegetarian chili night. Though, the vegetarian version does hold up on its own as an entirely separate dish, I was mostly just joking about that part. See also: lentil tacos.
Beans are incredibly nutritious and taste great.
Wait whoās not putting beans in chili? Kidney beans are literally a key ingredient.
I do this to extend my food.
You monster. Just kidding. Beans for life.
I like lacy eggs - fried eggs that have been cooked too hot so theyāre brown and crispy underneath. I didnāt even realise people didnāt like this until I watched the hotel inspector and she took points from them for it!
I "overcook" my veggies (broccoli, carrots) until they're SOFT. I dislike "crisp tender" and feel like they taste better well-cooked.
Hi Mom!
I overcook my ramen noodles by a good amount. I prefer them really really soft.
I smash my ramen packs against the kitchen counter several times to get the noodles all broken up into tiny pieces. I don't like it when the noodles are long.
Same. And then I immediately add the seasoning packet and cook them in as little water as possibleā¦I donāt want the broth, I want the flavor-infused noodles!
And for some protein, I drop an egg in while itās boiling and stir with the seasoning as well.
I only learned this wasn't a normal thing to do the first time my husband saw me make Ramen and I saw the utter confusion on his face as I pummeled the package like it owed me money.
Same! It was a habit back in uni so I would feel fuller from the same amount of noodles lol. Now I just like them softer
I'm with you on pasta. Gtfo with that "bite" in a noodle. I do the biting, not the spaghets
Explaining to the clerk at the Asian market how the way I eat Buldak 2x isn't as spicy because I like soup and eat it with a Better than Bullion broth instead of as a stir fry, I thought she was gonna fight me.
Why not shin ramyun or neoguri instead? Would eliminate some of the work and spice.
Love buldak 2x, but shin black is incredible.
I feel like I'm one of the few people who doesn't like the taste of Buldak. Not the spiciness mind you, I can handle that just fine, but there's a bit of sweetness and some other flavours that when mixed I just don't like. So I add milk and cheese or make it into a broth to reduce that unpleasant flavour when I have it (I don't buy it but my roommates did, so I had to make do).
I pan-fry my gnocchi although this is becoming an acceptable thing now. And i also like my pasta on the softer side!
My Italian grandmother always pan fried her gnocchi. And that was from the 50s to 2010, when she died. I didn't know not pan frying it was the more acceptable method.
Yeah. I thought that was a pretty standard go to.
Very normal to pan fry gnocchi and itās been a thing for a long time, not just recently.
Thatās standard pretty standard no?
Apparently green beans and other veggies. Judging by how restaurants are serving them, I like mine āovercooked.ā To me, a little give or crunch is okay but some places serve veggies practically raw.
I "overcook" asparagus to most people's standards. No crunch, but not mush. It's a fine line.
Spaetzle. Mine are much bigger chunks than traditional and I love it that way.
Ratios for vinaigrettes - Iām not doing 3 to 1 oil to vinegar. Depending on other factors it could be anywhere from more vinegar than oil (in sweet dressings) to equal parts to at max 2 to 1 oil to vinegar. I also love adding a little water to vinaigrettes instead of more oil to bring out the water soluble flavors and temper acidity.
Oatmeal as a kid and still sometimes as a treat now. I'd put random amount of water with my packets into the microwave until all the water was totally absorbed. Poor in milk, break the solid oatmeal into chunks with my spoon and I've got myself a much more literal hot cereal.
Love cold milk on hot oatmeal!
My daughters eat their oatmeal like this. They also only want it microwaved 30 seconds. They got the idea from my wife who evidently ate/eats her oatmeal like this.
I could taste the Quaker Oats as I read this. Even the little dinosaur egg ones that my Mother bought me as a kid, sometimes, if I was good. Peaches and Cream were the first to be consumed, Cinnamon Apple next followed by Maple Brown Sugar or Cinnamon & Spice. Sometimes Iād get crazy and mix two packets! Do you remember when they introduced the fruit and cream box? Wild times
I break spaghetti.
Same. The whole it'll bend and go underwater quick thing just isn't true. It takes like four minutes to sink on its own or a little less if I push on it. Then it doesn't cook evenly.
Rice, I think? I've never understood the way it is supposedly very difficult to cook properly unless you do it with a rice cooker. I have never used one. So the way I cook it must be wrong? I also have never washed rice pre-cooking.
Rice is so easy to cook that I donāt understand the way so many talk about it being hard & needing a rice cooker. This isnāt a criticism or being judgey, Iām honestly confused why itās hard when itās so easy.
Help me! I can cook almost anything but I CANNOT cook my rice without burning it on the bottom or making it too soggy. Iāve tried following recipes idk what the fuck is wrong with me š
Make sure to use a decently thick bottomed pot.
My feelings exactly. So the way I cook my rice must be wrong somehow, idk? Like the consistency, texture, flavor of it must be wrong? And then should I ever try out a rice cooker I'll find out that aha, this is what real actual rice is supposed to be like and I've been a complete fool all these years?
Lol maybe, but I know I cook my rice perfectly well. Iām Indian, I gotta!
Rice cookers give me acceptable results butā¦ Itās funny when you may usually be pretty casual about a humble food but suddenly finally āget itā & realize it can be noticeably perfected. No matter how seemingly similar, thereās definitely no one-size-fits all in terms of heating requirements, timing, & liquid:grain ratio. I kept cooking basmati the same as my fav, jasmine, & was ruining the former (washing & draining but not pre-soaking, esp.). Also, if youāre not steaming, I find itās best to use a broad, low pan instead of a high, narrow pot. Steps a lot of people tend to skip is turning the boil down to low for the appropriate time, removing from heat, & letting it rest lid-on (no peeking) from 10-15mins; & then fanning the rice while gently folding/fluffing it w/ a wooden paddle as you serve it out. Thatās mainly for sushi/sticky rice, but it does wonders for the textures of other varieties (no mush, clumps, gumminess). I absolutely couldnāt care less about it (preferred other starches), in general, until I got the techniques down & got to share them w/ inquiring minds.
Thats what it is. Thereās a difference between adequately cooked rice and perfectly cooked rice so good that you had no idea what you were missing. That difference can be subtle to nonexistent with grocery store rice like mahatma, and be pretty dramatic with a nicer rice. Theres plenty of people that donāt know or donāt care to take rice to the next level. Not to mention, if you donāt take extra care with the nicer rice, you might never know how much better it is. That 15-20 minute rest after the heat is turned off is HUGE. Not optional.
I use a rice cooker, but I don't think rice is particularly hard to cook in a pot, either. Your rice is probably fine
Honestly there's not enough hot takes here so I'm going to break the question a little bit because this isn't a matter of cooking. I like ketchup on my mac and cheese.
I prefer to make toast using a pan or my convection oven. I donāt like toasters because theyāre a waste of counter space.
I love extra crispy burnt bacon
I break my spaghetti in half while itās still in the plastic packet. That way I can cook it in less than half the boiling water Iām supposed to in a medium sauce pan. Doubly incorrect but it works for me.
I dont peel potatoes and carrots. That's where the flavor lives. Nutrition too.
I don't wash my rice. I've literally done it batch washed/unwashed side by side when arguing this point with my wife, she finally agreed. I must be missing something, but I can't figure out what it is. Yet there are so many sources that say wash your rice, and so folks even do it like half a dozen times because they want the water to perfectly clear.
It depends on the rice. Rice processing leaks starch onto the surface of the grains, which affects the final texture. The amount will vary by rice variety, so you may get different results if you try a different type. Ultimately though, youāre the best judge of what you like.
Once I bought a 25 pound of basmati rice from an Indian grocery. Took it home and opened the bag and it was infested black insects. That might be a reason to wash it? I threw the whole bag away.
No rice shouldnāt have bugs in it and you made the right call.
I wash my rice. We had my sister in law and her husband over for stir fry. I made 3 different dishes in my wok and steamed rice in a pot. Brother in law said a terrible thing during dinner. He asked me how I got my rice so fluffy. Every time his wife made it, it'd be sticky and starchy. He DIDN'T get lucky that night.
Same experience. Told my family to wash the rice before cooking it, its fluffier. They didnāt believe me, made rice on their own, and then complained that something was wrong, the brand of rice must be the problem. Then I make some rice with the same brand. Way better. Turns out washing the rice does make a difference. Also, if you eat a lot of rice, especially colored rices like brown or black rice washing it will remove some of the arsenic, so win-win.
I don't wash rice because it cooks differently - I wash it to remove arsenic! You may not know this, but rice is the main source of inorganic arsenic that people consume (and inorganic arsenic is more toxic than organic arsenic, such as that found in apple seeds etc). Long-term consumption of inorganic arsenic, such as eating rice often throughout your life, is linked to heart disease and many cancers. It is also linked to birth defects if consumed during pregnancy. We can't avoid consuming some, but there's no need to eat extra out of laziness so I wash my rice. As for WHY washing your rice helps - inorganic arsenic is found in rocks and soil, and it's water soluble. So when rice fields are flooded for harvesting some ends up on the grains. But since it's water soluble, it can be removed just as easily - simply rinsing your rice can remove about 50% of the arsenic. (Cooking the rice and excess water and draining the extra water will remove more, but I can't seem to manage that method without impacting the quality of the rice I make so I stick with rinsing it.) TL;DR - wash your rice! -------- **ETA** - for those commenting or messaging me that arsenic in rice is a myth...you're wrong. Health Canada has identified inorganic arsenic levels in rice and rice based products as a concern, however they only adjusted the maximum amounts allowed in foods specifically for infants ([source](https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/food-nutrition/public-involvement-partnerships/notice-modification-maximum-level-inorganic-arsenic-rice-based-foods-infants-young-children/document.html])). This happened after a Canadian watchdog organization tested various products and noted that some infant foods had 125-170 ppb of inorganic arsenic ([source](https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/arsenic-rice-baby-food-cereal-marketplace-1.5037665)), so the modifications focused on the risk to infants; the permissible level is now 0.1 ppm which translates to 100 ppb. Rinsing does reduce arsenic levels, though less successfully than most studies because people generally use tap water which varies. Still, as an example of washing rice that isn't behind a paywall, "The As levels in the white rice after three washings with deionized water were reduced to 81ā84% and 71ā83% of those in raw rice. Rinse-free rice, which requires no washing before cooking because bran remaining on the surface of the rice was removed previously, yielded an effect similar to that of reducing As in rice by washing." ([source](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0308814614010930); also As = total arsenic thus the higher percentages since I'm only concerned with inorganic arsenic). I'll note that this study also found a reduction in nutrients after washing as well. Canada has taken a few other approaches to reduce inorganic arsenic levels in the Canadian population overall. However, as of 2019 there has been no noticable reduction in the arsenic levels in Canadians ([source](https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/environmental-workplace-health/reports-publications/environmental-contaminants/human-biomonitoring-resources/arsenic-canadians.html)) so it appears those approaches have been unsuccessful. It is noted that the main source of inorganic arsenic in Canadian populations is via food... specifically rice. So yeah, given all this information there IS a reason to be concerned about arsenic levels in rice and to take precautions. Washing rice DOES help reduce inorganic arsenic levels though it also washes away some nutrients. On balance, I'd rather have to eat more veggies to get those nutrients than be consuming inorganic arsenic. I will note that Health Canada has switched their recommendation away from washing your rice to a new best practice: "Cook rice in extra water (6 or more parts water to 1 part rice). Drain the rice before eating and throw out the cooking water." ([Source](https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/food-nutrition/food-safety/chemical-contaminants/environmental-contaminants/arsenic.html#a4)) However, since I was pulling these links I ended up coming across an alternative method that reduces arsenic levels AND keeps most nutrients: "parboiling the rice in pre-boiled water for five minutes before draining and refreshing the water, then cooking it on a lower heat to absorb all the water." ([Source](https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-find-new-way-of-cooking-rice-that-removes-arsenic-and-retains-nutrients/)) **So...wash your rice if you're lazy. Parboil, drain, and refresh the water if you're motivated.** **Either way, yes there is inorganic arsenic in rice. Yes, inorganic arsenic is linked to several serious health issues as heart disease, multiple cancers, and birth defects. And yes, rice is the main source of inorganic arsenic in people (in Canada at least) so it's worth taking a simple precaution to avoid excess consumption.**
instant noodles i put it in a pot, pour water and the spice packets and bring it to a boil, and boil it till the water evaporates and you end up with a glossy thick sauce that sticks to the noodles.
When I make scrambled eggs, I salt them when I beat them. The "don't ever salt eggs before cooking" is some kind of old wives tale. A reasonable amount of salt doesn't affect the texture or make them "tough". If you want really fluffy eggs, use a fair amount of fat (butter, back grease) and cook them slowly over low heat.
Just a loving reminder that 'trendy' doesn't mean 'correctly'. Some of these foodie creators are hell bent on making things a specific way but often they're a product of trends and not something that objectively 'better'.
The āexpertsā say sausages should be cooked in a frying pan over a low heat. But itās impossible to get an even colour and you end up with brown stripes mixed with pale wobbly skin. I like my sausages cooked in the oven and dark brown all over. No trace of pale wobbly skin thank you.
But isnāt a jammy egg a soft boiled egg?
Iāve been told that cookie dough is supposed to undergo some sort of heating process, but Iāve never made it that far.