steam is evaporated water, not nutrients. Nutrients are solids.

You will lose nutrients into the cooking water tho. So when you boil a vegetable, some of the nutrients will leech out into the water, so if you want to retain all the nutrients, use techniques that will incorporate the cooking liquid as well as the veggies. Or use a different (dry) technique.

The longer you cook it, the more water will evaporate.

hmrmmmm ok, so stocks are generally recommended if I'm going to make a minestrone soup? I eat a vegan diet, so the soup will lack that extra flavor from the bones or whatever it comes from. Oh and when should I add the salt to it? /noob cooker

What actually happens to the vegetables when they're over cooked?

soups can be made with stock or water, the water would essentially become a stock when you cook the soup ingredients in it.

there's vegetable stock, mushroom stock. You can make stock out of anything. Stock is just a general term for "water that's had stuff cooked in it, and the flavors of the stuff has permeated the water." At the restaurant I worked at this summer, they made corn stock, rhubarb stock, and a few others I can't remember, in addition to the standard chicken/veal/veg stocks.

I'm not going to go into the scientific answer, but veggies will get mushy and bland if they're overcooked.

Google recipes for cort boullion for a standard veg stock recipe. For veg stock you need to add lots of veg, and you can add the "bones" of your veg i.e. mushroom stems, celery trimmings, parsley stems etc.

For the non-green vegetables you need to develop flavor by roasting or sauteeing them before you add them to the stock.

When veggies are overcooked they get mushy and bland and unpleasant to eat. Most vegetables at bad restaurants and bad home cooks' kitchens are overcooked rather than undercooked.

Thanks both for the good answers

That's what I did the other day, didn't put any stock but a bunch of vegetables instead, I figured why make a stock when I could use the vegetables in the soup instead but it turned out rather bland, I only cooked it for an hour or so though. Would it be recommended to either cook the soup for an extended period, or create/buy a stock?

Oh right yeah ok, but wait, you don't use the stems of your mushrooms in cooking?


weird, so I can chuck a non-fresh tomato/bell pepper in the oven to make it taste better?

When they go bland, does the flavor "creep" out into the sauce?

some mushroom stems, like shiitakes, are really tough and not good for eating, but they can add flavor to stocks.

heat will evaporate water and caramelize the sugars in the veggies, and do some other more complicated things. Heat also breaks down the cell walls of plants, making them softer. The point is, roasting veggies makes them taste better, yes. But a "non-fresh" veggie might still taste like **** if it has really gone bad.

If it's bland you should try using stock instead of plain water, yeah. What was the recipe you used?

CSA is the best. Just did one in NYC and got phenomenal veggies.

Been doing a ton of cooking with Heirloom tomatoes since they have been in peak season.

Cooking IQ +5 points

I was winging it, so know of a bunch of ways to improve it, will give you guys a shout if it's bland again. You're that guy who was living in his car doing poker for a living, but decided to to become a chef/baker or something instead, right?


I've got some ideas for a awesome enchilada; wanna make everything from scratch basically, including refried beans(never used a dried bean, nor am I sure if it will go well with but it sounds like it will) own tortilla bread(may skip this one) sauce and my own vegan "cheese", think I'll need to buy a proper food processor though 'cause I don't think my drink blender will crush cashews properly, also wanna make a ricotta on the side to make it go further and some sort of pretty garnish for it. Anyone done anything like this before? I've never made anything like this before, particularly unsure about what spices to use

A lot of the recipes I'm looking at our saying to use vegatable oil, will olive oil do the same job with most/all recipes?

EDIT: meant risotto above, never made it before obv

veg oil vs. olive oil:

Veg oil is cheaper and has a higher smoke point. For cooking using high heat, like deep frying or stir frying, you'll want to use an oil with a high smoke point.

Olive oil will have more flavor, but the aroma compounds that cause the flavor are very sensitive to heat, and will get destroyed when cooked, so it ends up being essentially the same as veg oil. The only difference is that olive oil will have a lower smoke point so you wouldn't want to use it for deep frying or sauteeing over high heat, otherwise you'll have burnt oil. Sometimes, especially in Spanish and Italian dishes, a good quality olive oil is added to the dish after the cooking is done. In this case, the oil is used as a condiment and a flavor component.

For risotto, veg or olive oil is fine. I think most people would use olive oil just for the sake of feeling like they're doing it the Italian way, but it really doesn't matter because as I said, the flavor of the olive oil won't survive through the cooking process.

aaaaaaaaah ok, vyvm

Got a nice 5lb duck defrosting, what should I do with it?

stuff it. Some people like to separate the stuffing/bird just to make sure there aren't any raw bird juices leaking in near the end of cooking but I've been eating my grandma's for years and have lived to tell the tale.

Altho I guess I wouldn't be here talking about it if it went poorly so... err.. yeah.

I like a really dry stuffing that gets fat-soaked. Stuff like raisins/cranberries work nicely in there too.

Btw the only reason I took ron off of my ignore list ~ year ago was his work in the cooking threads. Strange to see someone so removed from humanity want to help people eat better. As for the oil queries... I'd do a quick google search on the debates between cancer-causing radicals vs. saturated fat content. There's very few hippie trends I adhere to, but basing which oils I'm going to heat up/fry with based on whether or not they give me cancer is surprisingly simple.

Who knows about ice cream makers? Looking at this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Hamilton-Beach...554756&sr=1-13

I have a chest freezer with plenty of room. Can I just run the thing while it's in the freezer and forego the ice and/or salt?

lolrocksalt

I've heard good things about the cuisinart IC makers: http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-ICE-.../ref=pd_sbs_k2

I own this Cuisinart ice cream maker and it deserves all its Amazon review kudos imo:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006ONQOC

I'm not sure that running an ice cream maker in a big freezer is going to have the effect you want - air does not conduct nearly as much heat away from the mixture as the cooling elements of an ice cream machine or salt/ice water, or the gel component of a kitchen aid ice cream maker attachment.

I guess with enough time it would work, though.

Made some bread tonight. came out pretty good



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Made some Matzo Ball Soup(Jewish Penicillin) in a Wok last night. I was tempted to throw some soy sauce in there but thankfully restrained.

RTG,

that's some damn fine lookin crust there.

Thanks. It came out exactly as crispy as i wanted it to .

Steam is ur friend

Rosie did you make that in a home oven using a pan of water or something? Drop some knowledge!

Yeah as i dont have a professional oven that can inject steam in it here was my method.

While heating up my oven, i put a cup of water in a pan below where my bread was going to be baking, and cranked it up to max and let my oven warm up like it normally would. When i went to to put the bread in the oven, i could definitley see the water drops on the window.

After scoring the loaf, right before putting it in the oven i basically washed my hands, and dried it on the top of the loaf.

Gave me that nice crackly crust.