I keep a broth bucket in the freezer to throw all my vegetable ends and chicken scraps and such in, and I am amused entirely out of proportion to what is warranted that the last batch had too many bones and beet ends in it or something and when I put it in the fridge for the fat to settle out it set into something that looks exactly like raspberry jello.
Made sesame chicken tonight using one of those campbell's skillet sauce packs, I think it came out really well! Tried to make rice with the instapot for the first time too.
I've been thinking about getting an instapot, or more likely a regular crockpot and maybe also a rice cooker/steamer. I actually have some space in my new kitchen and I know making a week's worth of leftovers would be much easier with one. Is an instapot comparable to a crockpot in the results?
an instapot is significantly faster. something i noticed after my instapot broke and i was left with cooking my premade meals for it in the oven - when meal prepping things like chicken, i often chose to leave the skins on, because the shorter cook time meant the skins didn't come out overcooked/rubbery, or leaving the overall dish way too greasy. but cooking them in the oven/in a crockpot isn't the same; the longer cook time does actually require the skins to be removed, because the skins themselves are bad texture-wise (ymmv on that one) and they release too much chicken fat over the course of cooking that it makes the dish feel greasy. since these were premade meals i stuck in the freezer, this wasn't something i could actually solve, and i just had to deal with it (my solution was to use every premade dish as a soup base i made a day ahead of time, stick the soup in the fridge, scrape off the chicken fat the next day, and carefully pick out as much chicken skin as i could, and go from there) but! it is a difference in cooking things. i think also, because of the shorter cooking time in the instapot, i was more comfortable putting things like vegetables i would worry about getting overcooked in a crockpot in it. so between that and the time, i definitely like my instapot better, and pretty much only use the crockpot for things like curry/congee/chili, whereas the instapot sees a lot more variety and frequency in use. does that make sense?
Instapot also makes things you wouldn't think about like easy spaghetti, or boiled eggs. My mom makes sausage rice all at once in ours, she uses a setting to cook the sausage and veggies then adds rice and the proper water amount and uses the rice setting all in one go.
I'll definitely look into getting one then! it looks wildly useful, especially since my new place has a small stove/oven.
Love my rice cooker. I'm too impatient to learn how to cook rice on the stove. Anyone have a crockpot congee recipe they like? I've never had it. I make cream of wheat thinner than you're supposed to on low-spoon days and slurp it out of the bowl. It sounds kind of sad but something about slurping something sweet and warm and technically nourishing is very pleasant when I've had a long day.
I dont know if I can change my ways when it comes to baked potatoes. I like to scrub them, rub olive oil and a coarse salt onto them, then smother them in butter once they're cooked. I'm a simple bean. Sweet, buttery, and salty are some of my favorite flavors.
LOOK at this amazing cake my mother and I made for my birthday today Spoiler the cake is orange and cardamom with vanilla, each layer glazed with milk syrup flavored with cardamom pods and orange blossom water. the middle layer is homemade halva!! I got the tahini at an Arabic grocery store near my new apartment :) it also has cardamom and orange, though I think if we made it again we'd just use vanilla. the whole thing is glazed with coffee caramel and it's topped with pistachios. freaking amazing. this was such a good idea and it came out perfectly. and I got a dutch oven for my birthday as well! it's been a good day :)
My dad always took a cast iron Dutch oven camping, did you get one of those or one of the glazed ones that you use in a modern oven/stovetop
an enameled one! the brand is crock pot and the color is purple! I'm going to roast a chicken in it and then make chicken stew, it's gonna be great :) my mom has an unglazed cast iron one but I don't think she's ever used it to cook over a fire. isn't that where the name comes from though? they can be used as an "oven" when you don't have an actual oven?
Yes, you can either put them over a fire like a pot or they have large, heavy lids with wire handles so you can use a hook or stick or something to remove it when it's hot. The lid has a inch or so lip on top that is used to heap coals on top when you use it to bake with. You don't put it over a fire to bake, just hot coals above and below. The indoor-kitchen ones, as I tend to think if the enameled ones, are very useful as well! Nice and large and oven safe, I'm pretty sure. The Dutch ovens used for camping also often have little legs on the bottom like a stubby tripod. That way the coals fit underneath without being smothered. My dad has used it for regular cookery, same as you would use a skillet or pot, and for cakes and biscuits.
Actually I'm wrong. The wire handle is on the sides of the pot itself so you can hang it over a fire. Some people camp with metal tripods for this purpose. The lid simply has a handle in the middle you can fit a stick or something through when it's too hot to touch.
onigiri :) I followed justonecookbook's recipe. furikake with soy sauce, tuna mayo, and salted salmon with avocado. they came out a little salty but delicious! definitely going to make again - I want to try doing some beef teriyaki ones next time and maybe some with a mushroom filling once I harvest those!
Moroccan goat stew!! I've never cooked with goat before but I absolutely will again, this is delicious.
I can find lamb in my local stores but I'd have to ask my more rural buddies to find where to buy goat.
