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Food and cooking



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0
 10.25.2012 10:20am
Thread Creator

Vyers
Dark Adonis



This is a topic for which my interest in has massively increased in recent times, but without going into a massive conversation right off the bat, I wanted to start with one fairly specific question I had with my recent food preparation efforts:

I want to start making my own salads for lunchtime at work, rather than buying them pre-made (because it's getting expensive).

The following is a copy paste of my standard salad from my lunch service website, although every other day I change between salmon and chicken:

Mixed leaves + brown Bread + Poached salmon + Feta cheese + Balsamic dressing + Greek Salad with tomato, diced cucumber, capers & olives in lemon juice.

I can make all that at home pretty easily (although I was just going to use balsamic vinegar, I'm not sure I know how to make dressing).

The one thing I'm not sure on is the "protein" aspect, namely the chicken and fish, because they don't stay fresh for very long, and ideally I'd like to stock up on one or two weeks worth of materials, but chicken and fish only last for like 2 or 3 days before going bad.

So my main questions are:

What are good protein alternatives for salad?  My primary vegetarian protein alternative are chickpeas, not sure how they'd be in a salad though (I mostly stew them). I was also thinking of hard boiled eggs, but I'm not sure how long an egg lasts in the fridge after hard boiling.

Good food prep/storage habits: Not to sound like a giant idiot, but can I cook chicken/fish in a certain way that increases its storage life? Can I steam and then freeze it or anything like that? Ideally I'd like to be able to prepare 3/4 days worth of salad in advance and just bring to the office to keep in the fridge until lunch time.




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0
 10.25.2012 2:00pm


Crono
Crono can cross dimensions too!



You can freeze chicken for like 6 months and it won't go bad.  It doesn't really matter if it's cooked or not yet when you freeze it.  The same goes for beef and pork.  I'm not much of a fish person so I don't know the details but I'd assume it's in line with the rest.  I DO know that salmon does not keep very long in a fridge uncooked. 



Currently Playing: Dark Cloud 2: 3 hours.
Also Playing: CT, FF VI, Solatorobo, Secret of Mana, Halo 4.
Just Finished: Fable II: 7 hours.




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0
 10.25.2012 2:23pm
Thread Creator

Vyers
Dark Adonis



Crono said:

You can freeze chicken for like 6 months and it won't go bad.

I was thinking more from a "prep specifically for salad" storage perspective. I would like to have as many days of salad ready to go as possible: I'm most likely going to prep a number of tupperware containers filled with veg and cheese to be ready to go for the office. But I'm not sure what to do with the meats I've mentioned.

Like can I cook a chicken breast, cut it into cubes, and then freeze those cubes? If yes, how long do I need to let them defrost before eating them. Can I add frozen chicken cubes to my salad in the fridge and let it defrost in there, or should chicken be defrosted seperately.

To maximise laziness on this (the more lazy it all is, the more likely I am to do it), ideally I'd like to do all my salad prep in one big session, and just bring ready to eat portions to work after that.

Worst case scenario would be having to defrost, cook and package each portion of chicken every single night/morning before work.

If that makes sense?




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0
 10.25.2012 5:46pm


Sei'taer
lost



Unless you were going to go with some sort of bean or nut, you're left with a limited number of days you can keep your cooked protein before it goes bad.  Though chicken has a much longer shelf life cooked than fish.

Best suggestion is to just cook chicken ahead of time twice a week.




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0
 10.25.2012 6:36pm


Crono
Crono can cross dimensions too!



Vyers said:

I was thinking more from a "prep specifically for salad" storage perspective. I would like to have as many days of salad ready to go as possible: I'm most likely going to prep a number of tupperware containers filled with veg and cheese to be ready to go for the office. But I'm not sure what to do with the meats I've mentioned.

Like can I cook a chicken breast, cut it into cubes, and then freeze those cubes? If yes, how long do I need to let them defrost before eating them. Can I add frozen chicken cubes to my salad in the fridge and let it defrost in there, or should chicken be defrosted seperately.
Yes you CAN do both of these things but I'd say to defrost the chicken seperatly because it might make your lettuce soggy from defrosting chicken water.  If you put frozen chicken in the fridge for 24 hours that should do the trick, probably only 12 -18 if it's in small bits.

So yeah, you could do one big cooking session and then portion off each lunch into a ziplock and freeze (I suggest using a marker and dating each bag if you think they may be in there more than 3 months). 




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0
 10.26.2012 2:23am


Southern Comfort
silently judging all of you



Myself, I'd be worried about trying to plan too far ahead, as salad greens tend to go off pretty quickly as well.

On cooking in general, I made my aunt's chili tonight, and feel sad and depressed about it.  She's still the ground beef, canned beans, gobs of tomatos and canned chili powder kind of cook, whereas I'm more inclined to use stewing meat, fresh chiles and vegetables, and homemade chili powder plus plenty of heat.  But her husband, alas, is the pickiest eater I've ever met, and so I don't get to show off my food pr0n if he's going to be eating it.

I'm regretting moving up here.  Once I get my own place, though, I can go back to food pr0n.




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0
 10.26.2012 4:51am


Mavilu
Yep, still gaming



Chickpeas and navy beans go very well with all kinds of salads, because their flavor is pretty neutral, all you need to do is rinse them after you open the can and you are good to go, if you want to do that in advance, you can too, just make sure to store them in the fridge in an airtight container, so they don't dry out.
Leafy greens go downhill pretty fast, just like SC says, because any weight you put in them bruises them and accelerates the rotting proccess, is best if you keep leafy greens in one container, the rest in another/others and your salad dressings in yet another and mix everything before you go to work.
And do not freeze leafy greens that you plan to eat raw, they'll be useless after you defrost them; if you plan to wilt your leafy greens (cook them, that is), then, by all means, freeze them after you cook them.
You could also try canned salmon or tuna, for convenience.




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0
 10.26.2012 11:42am
Thread Creator

Vyers
Dark Adonis



Sei'taer said:
Best suggestion is to just cook chicken ahead of time twice a week.

I think you're right, this seems like the best way.


Crono said
So yeah, you could do one big cooking session and then portion off each lunch into a ziplock and freeze (I suggest using a marker and dating each bag if you think they may be in there more than 3 months).

If I successfully get to a point where I'm eating a lunch I cooked three months previous, I will have massively levelled up my food preparation skills.

Southern Comfort said:

Myself, I'd be worried about trying to plan too far ahead, as salad greens tend to go off pretty quickly as well.

Yeah you seem to be right, it looks almost no part of a salad is terribly hardy.

Southern Comfort said:

On cooking in general, I made my aunt's chili tonight, and feel sad and depressed about it.

Post your chilli recipe! I'll try making it

Mavilu said:

Chickpeas and navy beans go very well with all kinds of salads, because their flavor is pretty neutral, all you need to do is rinse them after you open the can and you are good to go, if you want to do that in advance, you can too, just make sure to store them in the fridge in an airtight container, so they don't dry out.

As mentioned I have chickpeas, but they're dried and seem to last forever. So instead of rinsing them and storing them airtight so they don't dry out; I soak them in water the night before expecting to need them so that they're actually edible.

I dunno is there advantages/disadvantages to dried versus canned Chickpeas. I'm assuming since I soak mine in regular water that the flavour would be more neutral than whatever is added in the canning process?

Also I have never even heard of navy beans before, but I'll look into them. My two main sources of vegetable protein are chickpeas and haricot beans (via canned baked beans). Since the chickpeas are dried and the baked beans are canned, they both last forever if I don't have fresh meat around.

Mavilu said:
Leafy greens go downhill pretty fast, just like SC says, because any weight you put in them bruises them and accelerates the rotting proccess, is best if you keep leafy greens in one container, the rest in another/others and your salad dressings in yet another and mix everything before you go to work.
And do not freeze leafy greens that you plan to eat raw, they'll be useless after you defrost them; if you plan to wilt your leafy greens (cook them, that is), then, by all means, freeze them after you cook them.
You could also try canned salmon or tuna, for convenience.

Great tips Mav, thanks. I never thought of canned fish. I know Marks & Spencers do great quality tinned fish without any obnoxious flavouring, so I will probably pick up a few (hopefully small size) cans from there.

I think that pretty much concludes my salad questions, thanks for the tips guys. I'd like to move this thing onto a more general subject of cooking and food. If anyone has any good general tips or nice recipes I'm all for them.

I'll start the ball rolling:

Lazy man's fish and chips

Preheat fan oven to 180C

Cut washed (but unpeeled) rooster potatoes in to chip shapes, lay on a silicone baking sheet, and drizzle lightly with olive oil.

Get a bag of pre-frozen mixed veg (carrots, peas, corn, broccoli, whatever), lay down a square of tin/aluminium foil, pour a portion of veg onto the square, fold up the corners like a hobo knapsack so it's enclosed and you can't see the veg inside.

Get a piece of pre-frozen breaded fish.

Put all this stuff in the oven at the same time. Cook for exactly 30 mins.

Advantages:

  • Everything takes the same amount of time to cook (Fire and forget: You don't have to watch the cooking process and can leave the kitchen for 30 mins
  • Fresh potatoes baked with a light drizzle of olive oil is probably one of the "healthiest" ways to prepare chips/french fries. Also olive oil adds a nice flavour so I don't add salt or ketchup afterwards, I just eat as is
  • Not having to boil the veg seperately in a pot reduces cleanup
  • Cooking veg this way I think technically counts as "steaming" and gives it a lovely flavour
  • All of the component ingredients (Pototoes, frozen fish, frozen veg, olive oil) last forever so you have no worries about anything ever going bad (except eventually the potatoes) and you can make fish and chips anytime you're short of other food


Disadvantages:

  • Frozen breaded fish is probably less "healthy" than fresh fish fillet
  • Kinda wasteful regarding tin/aluminium foil


This and Irish stew are probably the two most common meals I fall back on when I realise my kitchen is less well stocked than I thought it was :D

What about you guys?




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0
 10.26.2012 12:16pm


Mavilu
Yep, still gaming



Oh wait, you are in Europe?, then I would direct you to the italian cannellini instead of navy beans.
How great that you actually cook your garbanzos from dried, I wish I'd remember long enough before I feel like eating them
The canned ones can taste tinny and the flavor itself is not that great, if you already have the habit, I would not switch to canned.

A recipe?
Tomorrow. :D




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0
 10.26.2012 12:20pm
Thread Creator

Vyers
Dark Adonis



Cool I'll stick with dried then  :)

I live in Ireland. Specifically Dublin, so I'm fairly well serviced with regard to ethnic/foreign/organic/direct-from-farmer food retailers.




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0
 10.26.2012 12:22pm


Mavilu
Yep, still gaming



But now that I wrote cannellini, a great true italian salad recipe:

- a can of good tuna in olive oil
- a small mild onion sliced
- a can of cannelini/navy beans or any neutral flavored bean or about 15 oz. cooked instead of canned
- a few capers, rinse if in salt
- olive oil
- lemon juice
- dried sage
- chopped fresh parsley
- salt & pepper

Mix everything up to capers, mix olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, dried sage and parsley, add to salad, eat with some good bread, none of that pre-sliced kind, try not to eat it all in one seating.
In summer, the addition of tomatoes is very good, indeed.

EDIT

Ooh, irish food, yum!. I dream of breakfasts with beans, eggs and blood sausages!.




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0
 10.27.2012 9:03pm
Thread Creator

Vyers
Dark Adonis



I don't wanna be "that guy" posting pics of food, but I made my salad


The plate is my dinner, and the containers are lunch for 3 days. Hopefully it lasts that long.Vegetarian salad: Iceberg lettuce, leafy greens, chickpeas, red pepper, green olives and feta cheese




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0
 10.28.2012 6:23am
 (Edited on 10.28.2012 at 6:31am)

Southern Comfort
silently judging all of you



Alright, my chili:

5 lb. of various meats.  Beef and/or pork stew meat, chorizo, whatever you've got to toss in the pot. (Goat, believe it or not, works wonders here)
A large handful of big dried chiles, maybe five or so.  Poblano, new mexico, whatever.  Seeded, and cut into strips
Fresh chiles - one or two hatch, or 3~4 jalapenos, seeded.  Serranos for extra heat.
One small can of chipotles in adobo sauce (VERY SPICY WARNING!  Use less for less heat.)
Beef stock and a beer for liquids.
A head of garlic and an onion.
A can of tomato paste, 6 oz or so.
Cumin, oregano, cayenne, salt, pepper, and a square of unsweetened baking chocolate.
Masa harina, if you can find it.
A standard can of diced tomato (optional).
If you must, cooked pinto beans. (Don't be this guy.)

Dice your onion and fresh peppers, mince your garlic, and make a paste of the chipotles.  Set aside.  Toast your dried chiles in a skillet (not nonstick) over medium heat, until the aroma hits you in the face.  Transfer to a saucepan, add just enough water to cover, and simmer for 30 minutes or so, then blend until smooth.  Meanwhile, sear your meat in the skillet in batches, transferring to your stockpot (I like a huge dutch oven for this).  Once all the meat is seared, add a tablespoon of oil to the skillet and sweat your onions and fresh peppers until the onions are translucent and the peppers are tender.  Add the garlic and tomato paste to the skillet, continue to cook until the tomato paste darkens and takes on a nutty taste (it will mostly stick to the bottom of the skillet).  Add this mixture to the stock pot, then deglaze the skillet with the beer.  Dump that in the stock pot, along with your chipotles, the blended dried chiles, the square of chocolate, and the diced tomato (optional).  Add just enough beef stock to the pot to cover the meat.  Two teaspoons or so of pepper, two of oregano, healthy dash of salt, and taste and add the cumin until it starts to taste like chili.  Simmer for three or four hours, adding beef stock should it run low on liquids.  At the end, either reduce to the desired consistency, or stir in the masa harina by the spoonful until it reaches the desired thickness.  Cayenne to adjust heat if it's not hot enough (it's going to be pretty hot, especially if you used serranos) (sriracha may work well in this)  Serve with cornbread, optional shredded cheese, sour cream, lime.

Note:  I adjusted down the amount of dried chiles I use, since you may not want the flames of hell in your mouth.  Feel free to use Chiles de Arbol or Thai bird chiles for more heat, or another can of chipotles, or a habanero or two, or a shitload more dried new mexico peppers, or whatever.  You can make it as hot or cool as you like it.  For cool, stick to poblanos for the dried, and swap some of the fresh peppers out for bell, and just use the adobo sauce the chipotles came packed in.




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0
 11.05.2012 12:43pm
Thread Creator

Vyers
Dark Adonis



^As someone with a low spice tolerance I found this recipe terrifying simple to read. Also I'm not even sure where to start in order to seek out that kind of variety of spicy peppers. I think we only have one in Ireland, and it's probably called "Chilli Pepper". I don't think we as a people have enough spice love to have further sub-categories.

Last night I was going to make a stew, but I forgot to soak the chickpeas, so I had no protein.

Instead I took all the component ingredients of my stew minus the broth (Potatoes, Carrots, Onions, Garlic) and baked them in the oven with a light drizzle of olive oil. Potatoes at 30 mins, everything else at 15.

Holy crap it was delicious! I added half a can of baked beans for the veg protein; and the meal overall was really really tasty.

I'm going to make it again tonight, but I'll try adding chickpeas to the oven, instead of the seperately cooked baked beans.




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0
 11.05.2012 5:13pm


Ulterior
Registered Member



I recuse myself from this thread, it's too much like being at work. I kid, I kid.

I think you all should know that I ordered an 8" meat cleaver and it should get here any day now and I AM SO EXCITED. 



I love you, everything burrito.




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