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I've just received a couple cases of clementines which are approaching the end of their life.

I've never cooked with them, normally I just peel and eat them. I'm not sure if I'm up to the task of eating all these in the next few days. So if you've got some tips on something I could do to make them last longer I'm all ears

Watching mythical kitchen about hash browns and wondering if anybody have any ideas on how to make potatoes into other things that are extremely cheap. I usually have only potatoes and margarine at last 2 weeks before I get food stamps because it isn't enough to cover basic food things.

Does anybody know any good ideas or recipes or something that does not require a lot of other one time ingredients? That's really cheap on quantities, like spices, where it can last a while with it being really inexpensive.

Things I have is absolutely basic cooking skills and cooking appliances. Microwave oven and stove. I don't have much of anything because and can't afford anything

Anybody have any ideas or recipes or thoughts?

Hi all,

I've been in a weird spot the last little bit. I recently bought an air-fryer at the thrift shop for a decently cheap price. The thing works like a charm, and I'm excited to start using it on the regular to make recipes like falafel and beet and potato chips.

The issue I'm currently having is just cleaning the damn thing. Clearly it had a lot of use from the previous owner, and I while I want to do the same myself, there's this tough to clean spot on the base that I can't figure out how to clean.

The model is a T-Fal Actifry 2-in-1, so rather than being the typical air fryer I've seen with the basket, this one has a rotating piece in the centre that can either be used to stir ingredients to keep them from sticking using a paddle, or have a rotating pan attached instead which keeps things in place.

The area in question I'm having trouble cleaning is in the base here, behind the plastic filter:

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I've tried using an all-purpose cleaner, as well as a stronger cleaner that claimed to have degreasing properties (Vim Pureboost Power Shine), and neither of them have removed any of the mess. It was suggested by someone I try baking soda and vinegar, but I'm not even going to think about that, as I'm worried about things getting behind the slots there and frying the circuitry.

Thanks in advance.

Hey all,

Sorry to flood the community, just been working a lot about getting acquainted with the kitchen as of late, and learning more about navigating and utilizing it.

In three cookbooks, I've come across four recipes for soups I'm wishing to try. One for Borscht, one for Minestrone, one for a lentil soup, and one for Cauliflower soup. While I have the needed ingredients for these recipes, all of them call to cover the pot as the ingredients and/or soup are cooking.

My problem is that my pots don't have lids. When I first got the one pot, it came with one, but I can't recall what happened to it, all I know is that I no longer have it. I've brought the one pot to the thrift shop seeing if any of the loose lids there fit, but they were either way too large, just too small, or were perfectly sized, but refused to sit stable.

I was wondering how important it is to cover the pot as the soup and/or ingredients for the soup cook. Are there any consequences for not covering the pot, or does it simply take a longer time for cooking to finish?

Thanks as always in advance.

Hi all,

I recently came across a recipe that I wish to try for a lentil bolognese. I'm excited to try it as I've been trying to find a recipe I can use my red lentils with, but I'm curious about one thing both with this recipe, and recipes in general.

This recipe calls for the pan to be deglazed with red wine. This is something I've seen before in other recipes, though this recipe is the first of which I'm taking an interest in exploring. I'm personally fine with regular red wine, but my concern is that I have a friend who is incredibly cautious with alcohol, and says she'd refuse to eat things if they had alcoholic ingredients.

Putting aside my personal thoughts about that, I was curious if using a non-alcoholic wine would work just as well, or if the alcohol adds certain properties to the wine that make it function better as an ingredient or for deglazing. I'm mainly curious as I hope to invite friends over for dinner in the future, and want to make accommodations where possible, especially if it's as easy as simply buying a slightly different ingredient.

Thanks in advance!

Hi again y'all,

Sorry for flooding the community, but I'm currently been trying to find new recipes to work with, and came across one that called for fresh green beans. I have a bag of frozen ones, and am curious as to whether or not I can use the frozen ones I have as a substitute.

In general I was curious that if I were to substitute fresh produce with frozen, if there would be anything I'd need to keep in mind. Would the cooking time differ? Would I need to thaw the frozen produce prior? Is some produce unable to be substituted with frozen equivalents?

Thanks for help in advance.

Hey all,

The other day I went to the thrift shop and while browsing, came across some pressure cookers that were being sold for cheap. I've heard of these things before, but this was my first time actually seeing them in person.

I did some research as to how they're used and what for, and I'm thinking I might as well purchase one. However, I know there is a risk of the thing exploding, especially seeing that they aren't new models sold from the store and all.

My main question is how I would go about preventing an explosion happening in my apartment if I were to use one. The two are stovetop ones rather than electric ones, and look more or less like this.

Thanks for any help in advance!

Recently I've been buying a few cookbooks from the thrift shop. Saves money over getting the new ones, saves second-hand goods from being tossed, and does the job I need in finding recipe ideas.

One of the cookbooks I got is a cookbook on pasta sauces. I've been holding off on making pasta until I could portion the servings properly, and I recently just got a portioning tool to help me with that. However, when I wanted to try a recipe from the book, I found surprisingly that the recipes called for fresh tomatoes.

Now, the cookbook is by no means new, seeing how the publication date is 1987. From what I've heard, canned tomatoes are actually preferred over fresh, though I can't recall the reasoning as to why. I was curious about whether culinary knowledge has evolved since the publication of this book where common practice has changed to prefer canned tomatoes over fresh, or if the differences I've heard about are unfounded or incorrect.

On top of that, I was curious about other aspects. Would making pasta sauce with fresh tomatoes (namely Roma tomatoes) be cheaper than using canned? Also, since I'm trying to be more environmentally conscious, would canned tomatoes have a higher carbon footprint than fresh, or would the differences be negligible?

Thanks in advance! I likely won't be able to respond to comments right away, but I do appreciate any and all help.

Following up on the "Baking in the American South" post, I picked up some Nordic Ware pans today for bundt cakes and pound cakes.

Included was a Angel Food cake recipe requiring 12 egg WHITES.

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I have no problem separating, but it seems a waste of a DOZEN egg yolks.

Any ideas on what to put them in?

I guess I could make the egg sauce bottle here, but I'd have to buy a Sou Vide machine. :(

https://youtu.be/KL4PDa6PpLQ

First 100 pages are cornbread and biscuits.

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I know, cool dry place, and it depends on your climate, etc. But what is your experience?

As per the title, what is a food that crunches/is hard to bite, but is also savory and sour?

I couldn't find anything (except Lemons!) matching this criteria, but it's an interesting combination of tastes.

Edit: Thanks for the answers! I'm gonna try out some new foods

Looking for some inspiration, my wife's out of town this week babysitting he grandmother with dementia, so she's been eating a lot of very bland, old-white-lady-palate-approved meals (her grandmother once described some jarred vodka sauce as being "too spicy")

We're both pretty adventurous eaters and spice-lovers, and I know it's driving her mad by now, so I figured I'd welcome her home in a couple days with a dinner full of all the biggest flavor bombs I can find

Help me light her taste buds on fire, decimated my spice cabinet, and make my toilet tremble in fear of what is to come.

For dietary purposes, I’ve been told to start including probiotic rich food in my diet and I figure since people in my house already like yogurt that’s the best way to go. But I absolutely hate the texture of yogurt. How can I change it and still enjoy the health benefits? I don’t love smoothies, but I’ll make one occasionally with yogurt. But I’d prefer to have some variety with this. Adding granola is alright, and definitely helps but even still I find myself just grossed out after two spoonfuls. Is there anything I can do? Is freezing it and turning it into something like frozen yogurt going to kill the cultures? It’s sad, because this is the only food I absolutely cannot seem to find a way to enjoy!

Presumably either a terrible idea or already a thing, not sure which.

I'm thinking crispy-fried-aromatics-in-oil, Mediterranean edition. Garlic, eschalots (aka scallions), thyme/rosemary/etc, vast quantity of parsley, peppercorns, lemon zest, fine-diced rye sourdough.

Jar of that in the fridge, use it like chilli crisp but for white-people food.

Is this a thing? Should it be a thing?

So I have never had this dish! Most dishes I cook I have tasted a variant of it so I know how it should taste when I make it, but Cajun/Creole/Louisiana food in general is something I’ve never had the pleasure of trying first hand but the spices always look really tasty. Does anyone have a good recipe to share with me, with maybe some notes about how it should taste? I usually don’t cook with meat at home, so meat substitutes would be useful, but I still use chicken stock and enjoy cooking with sausages like andouille and kielbasas. I think my kitchen is pretty well stocked other than the meat bit! I do lack an instant pot, but I’ve got a Dutch oven and a slow cooker and a rice cooker, etc.

I recently got my hands on a very old but still totally serviceable full-sized deli slicer, and my local restaurant depot is very liberal about handing out day passes to anyone who walks in and asks for one, and the savings buying a whole log of meat and slicing it yourself are pretty bonkers, totally worth the pain in the ass that is breaking it down to clean when I'm done.

Of course it's just the wife and I, and 6lbs of Pastrami is a lot for us to go through before it goes bad. So far I've mostly been getting a few friends to chip in and divying up stuff between us or doing a little bartering and trading lunch meat for homemade bread and such, but I'd like to start freezing some to have on-hand.

Anyone have any experience with this to share? I have a vacuum sealer and a deep freezer to work with.

Which meats freeze well, which don't? Is it worth trying to slice it then package and freeze it in smaller portions, or should I freezer larger chunks of meat then thaw and slice it as-needed? Should I just abandon the idea of freezing and stick with the little ad hoc food co-op thing I have going?

Of particular interest to me is homemade roast beef and turkey, I'm never going back to the deli counter for those after I've been making my own (those boneless turkey roasts are amazing for this purpose, even if I'm sure there's a little meat glue involved in them)

Also cheese, I've never really contemplated freezing cheese until I found myself with a 9lb block of Swiss in my fridge. My gut says cheese doesn't do well in the freezer, but my gut has been wrong before.

I also kind of like the idea of having pretty much a lifetime supply of prosciutto in my freezer, although a quick Google search seems to tell me that prosciutto does not freeze well at all, which seems odd to me, since it's pretty low-moisture I would have thought it would freeze spectacularly well.

Besides that, anyone have any other cool ideas about what I can do with a slicer? I've already sliced down some beef to make cheesesteaks, and when I get my smoker up and running when the weather gets nicer I'm going to have a go at making my own bacon, and will probably use it to slice down beef for jerky as well.

I find most foods are best as soon as they are made, but some things seem to get better when the flavors have more time to meld. The only two I can think of right now are chili and hummus. What other dishes am I forgetting, or haven't tried that you think get better with a little time?