Cooking 😋
-
Why do they call them smelling salts?
Some salts smell. Table salt (what's pictured in the meme) doesn't have a detectable smell in solid form, not enough vaporizes to notice. Smelling salts are ammonium carbonate, not sodium chloride like table salt, and they do smell strongly. "Salt" can refer to either table salt or to any ionic compound whatsoever. The latter is chemistry jargon, but then gets used in colloquial terms like "smelling salts" or "salty licorice" neither of which have table salt but both of which have other ionic compounds.
-
I found a plastic handle for the mandoline. If you mess up, the handle gets cut but your fingers survive unscathed.
I'd be interested to see what that is. It seems like it would be hard to make that work because securely gripping the thing you're chopping is an important part of using a mandoline.
-
Found the american
They said sugar, not corn syrup
-
I'm not exactly a gourmet cook, I've just been learning how to cook for years. One Italian friend of mine recommended that I should always try to get fresh garlic as much as I can because it is better. Canned, preserved, precut, minced, bottled garlic ... or even dried, dehydrated garlic is not the best ... not only does it not have as much of a strong garlic flavour, most of it comes from Asia and specifically China where it is produced cheaply and under very shady circumstances.
Watch a Netflix documentary series called 'Rotten' ... Season 1 Episode 3 is titled 'Garlic Breath' ... and it details where a lot of cheap prepackaged garlic products come from ... namely cheap Chinese prison labour where in some factories, prisoners are not allowed any sharp objects to peel the garlic by hand so they have to resort to using their fingernails, which they eventually wear out and then later resort to using their teeth.
After watching all that ... I really took my time to search for a local farmer and pay double the amount for fresh garlic and I just buy the stuff in bulk now because it's cheaper in the long run.
I had no idea, thanks for the docu recommendation. Thankfully I’ll nearly always use fresh unless a recipe requires dry & it feels needed, like dry rubs. I will certainly be checking where any non fresh garlic comes from in the future. Happy cooking!!
-
I keep mine in a very loose burlap bag which my farmer gave me years ago ... then I hang the bag on a hook from the ceiling in my basement (about six feet off the floor) where humidity lingers about 50-60% year round ... no natural light and temps are about 17-20 Celsius year round.
I learned that hanging is better because everything gets equal amounts of air. If you sit it on a shelf or near the floor, the bottom layer will get damp fast and give no air circulation. My farmer said that he had a few customers complain that their supply of garlic went bad midway through the winter ... he suspected that they kept their bags on the floor or on a shelf.
Last year I kept 20lbs starting from about October and I used the last of it at about June the following year with only about three or four bulbs going bad ... and bad meaning they just shrivelled up and dried out.
Does it start to sprout still, or does the humidity level & hanging it help prevent that as well?
You should write a book about garlic facts, I’ve learned so much from you this thread!
-
Does it start to sprout still, or does the humidity level & hanging it help prevent that as well?
You should write a book about garlic facts, I’ve learned so much from you this thread!
None of it sprouted. I don't think garlic does that as easily as potatoes or onions.
It took me years to learn all this and even so, I don't think I know that much about it ... just enough to be able to keep a big bag of garlic in my basement all winter. The best thing is to hang the burlap bag (which is very coarse and lets in lots of air) ... and keep a bit of cool temps (15-20 Celsius) and humidity at about 50% (in the late summer and fall, my basement is at about 60% but then dips to about 40% mid winter) .... and keep it all away from sunlight as the sun means that the room temps will change and fluctuate ... I don't have an expensive setup, I just have an old dry basement in a small old house with an electronic temp and humidity gauge.
And if you can find a good farmer ... buy it all in bulk, as much as you can afford, it's always cheaper that way.
And just follow simple cooking advice on how to use garlic from old chefs like Jacques Pepin ... simple straight forward cooking
-
I had no idea, thanks for the docu recommendation. Thankfully I’ll nearly always use fresh unless a recipe requires dry & it feels needed, like dry rubs. I will certainly be checking where any non fresh garlic comes from in the future. Happy cooking!!
Yeah ... it took me a while to get my garlic setup ... at first I bought grocery store commercial garlic but then noticed that much of the time, it's really cheap Chinese garlic. I'm not totally against Chinese products ... the thing that gets me is that I really have to wonder how I can buy such cheap produce when it has to be shipped to me half way round the world in Canada! Not to mention that this cheap Chinese garlic is usually not that potent or tasty.
At first a few gardener friends gave me samples of their home grown garlic and man ... when you grow your own garlic and tend to the soil and keep it well tended all year, it produces really potent, tasty and strong garlic. I can chew Chinese garlic and get a good taste of garlic and not be bothered by it much ... I did the same to a friend of mine's home grown garlic years ago and nearly choked on a piece because it was like fire in my mouth.
If you ever get the chance in the mid summer, find a local grow op or farmers market when they get their first crop of garlic. It will be a bit expensive but the garlic that time of year is like gold and it will be worth it. They even sell the long green stems of the garlic called SCAPES and you use them in cooking like green onion. And the home grown garlic is potent. You can literally just just one clove at a time per recipe, compared to trying to use an entire head to get that garlic taste.
Happy cooking to you as well!
-
Honestly, salt is my secret ingredient. Way more than anyone else is brave enough to put in, but it makes things delicious.
This is probably a joke, but do try to limit your salt intake to something healthy: https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/salt
-
You all talking about mixing onions, carrots, and celery?
this could get wild
-
None of it sprouted. I don't think garlic does that as easily as potatoes or onions.
It took me years to learn all this and even so, I don't think I know that much about it ... just enough to be able to keep a big bag of garlic in my basement all winter. The best thing is to hang the burlap bag (which is very coarse and lets in lots of air) ... and keep a bit of cool temps (15-20 Celsius) and humidity at about 50% (in the late summer and fall, my basement is at about 60% but then dips to about 40% mid winter) .... and keep it all away from sunlight as the sun means that the room temps will change and fluctuate ... I don't have an expensive setup, I just have an old dry basement in a small old house with an electronic temp and humidity gauge.
And if you can find a good farmer ... buy it all in bulk, as much as you can afford, it's always cheaper that way.
And just follow simple cooking advice on how to use garlic from old chefs like Jacques Pepin ... simple straight forward cooking
Fascinating, thanks for all the tips, I’ll definitely up my garlic game going forward…
-
Yeah ... it took me a while to get my garlic setup ... at first I bought grocery store commercial garlic but then noticed that much of the time, it's really cheap Chinese garlic. I'm not totally against Chinese products ... the thing that gets me is that I really have to wonder how I can buy such cheap produce when it has to be shipped to me half way round the world in Canada! Not to mention that this cheap Chinese garlic is usually not that potent or tasty.
At first a few gardener friends gave me samples of their home grown garlic and man ... when you grow your own garlic and tend to the soil and keep it well tended all year, it produces really potent, tasty and strong garlic. I can chew Chinese garlic and get a good taste of garlic and not be bothered by it much ... I did the same to a friend of mine's home grown garlic years ago and nearly choked on a piece because it was like fire in my mouth.
If you ever get the chance in the mid summer, find a local grow op or farmers market when they get their first crop of garlic. It will be a bit expensive but the garlic that time of year is like gold and it will be worth it. They even sell the long green stems of the garlic called SCAPES and you use them in cooking like green onion. And the home grown garlic is potent. You can literally just just one clove at a time per recipe, compared to trying to use an entire head to get that garlic taste.
Happy cooking to you as well!
Where I currently live we get a lot of wild garlic growing everywhere for a month or so a year, the smell is in the air nearly anywhere you walk for a few weeks. I do see some people picking it by the sack full, wonder if that’s similar to what you’re suggesting about the early farm crops. Although I presume the wild stuff is much milder than farm grown. I’ll try to source some from a farm next spring as soon as I see the local wild ones coming out. Cheers!
-
And my ass
I also choose Toaster's ass.
-
My dad hated onions, he'd pick them out of his meals like a 5 year old. One day after I found a love for cooking in highschool this happened and he decided to try my dishes. He was very proud that he only picked out 3 onion pieces and kept the rest lol.
I do that because of the consistency difference between the huge pieces of crunchy onion and the smooth meat and mushy rice. If the onion is caramelised or cut to a mush, or onion powder I don't mind it.
-
Acid, Mushrooms, Ayahuasca, Ibogaine, DMT, Butter
All at once?
-
All at once?
Yep, it's a bit of a production, but a very memorable meal.
-
This is probably a joke, but do try to limit your salt intake to something healthy: https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/salt
I'd be curious to know how much salt you actually end up eating. It's all fine to say no more than 5 grams, but how do you go about working out how much you actually had?
E.g. I cook pasta with heaps of salt in the water, salty like the sea, but the vast majority of the salt goes down the drain when the pasta is strained.
-
I'd be curious to know how much salt you actually end up eating. It's all fine to say no more than 5 grams, but how do you go about working out how much you actually had?
E.g. I cook pasta with heaps of salt in the water, salty like the sea, but the vast majority of the salt goes down the drain when the pasta is strained.
Of course, unless you're being terribly precise, you don't know very accurately.
Though, with the exception of pasta water, you can keep track via number of teaspoons as an approximation, or if you have precise scales tare off your container to see how much you're using.
Packaged foods are much easier.
I personally just try to keep it minimal while keeping the food taste nice. I don't measure my salt.
I'm not saying change your habits, just be aware that excessive salt can he unhealthy!
-
Of course, unless you're being terribly precise, you don't know very accurately.
Though, with the exception of pasta water, you can keep track via number of teaspoons as an approximation, or if you have precise scales tare off your container to see how much you're using.
Packaged foods are much easier.
I personally just try to keep it minimal while keeping the food taste nice. I don't measure my salt.
I'm not saying change your habits, just be aware that excessive salt can he unhealthy!
Well aware that excessive salt can be unhealthy
. I don't even track what I eat too closely. I might make a big dish of lasagne, maybe the meat has 3 or 4 teaspoons of salt, then the pasta has some, the sauce has some, I might also throw in some soy sauce, the cheese has some, etc. Then out of this giant dish, I serve up one scoop, throw on some tomato sauce that has salt in it, and serve alongside vegetables that have their own salt content depending on how they were cooked.I honestly have no idea if I eat 2, 5, or 15 teaspoons of salt a day
-
Well aware that excessive salt can be unhealthy
. I don't even track what I eat too closely. I might make a big dish of lasagne, maybe the meat has 3 or 4 teaspoons of salt, then the pasta has some, the sauce has some, I might also throw in some soy sauce, the cheese has some, etc. Then out of this giant dish, I serve up one scoop, throw on some tomato sauce that has salt in it, and serve alongside vegetables that have their own salt content depending on how they were cooked.I honestly have no idea if I eat 2, 5, or 15 teaspoons of salt a day
I might make a big dish of lasagne, maybe the meat has 3 or 4 teaspoons of salt,
Seems fine to me. That's about 4 daily doses of salt, depending how many servings that is, probably totally fine. This isn't medical advice haha
In any case, at least you're having something delicious
-
I might make a big dish of lasagne, maybe the meat has 3 or 4 teaspoons of salt,
Seems fine to me. That's about 4 daily doses of salt, depending how many servings that is, probably totally fine. This isn't medical advice haha
In any case, at least you're having something delicious
Heaps of servings in the dish, but only one meal haha.
I once read it can be hard to put as much salt in your home cooked meals as what you get in fast food or processed food. And if you're shaking the salt on top, it may be negligible no matter how much you put on.
