For me, crepes ain’t worth the stress to make fresh. Just buy a little pack from store and focus on filling is my go to.
Xiao long bao (aka soup dumpling). Also, made from scratch Tonkotsu Ramen.
Tried making them both. So much work.
Fried chicken.
It’s soo good but not worth the hassle of dealing with all the oil.
Although, I’ve since found that air-fried, if done right, can be just as good.
I don’t remember the oil being much of a hassle tbh
I got a deep fryer that goes on the countertop and has a temperature deal. The lid fits over the basket so I don’t have to get anywhere near the oil when it’s hot. When I’m done frying, there’s a temperature-sensitive mechanism to drain the oil into a box below to store it until next time (it can be reused a few times). The part that holds the oil when frying gets wiped out and tossed in the dishwasher. The only thing I really have to deal with washing is the heating element. It turns deep frying from absolutely not worth trying to deal with the mess/temperature/hot oil/cleanup to something I’m willing to do more than once a year. Don’t let your fry dreams be dreams!
Oh man same.
Dealing with having to deep fry for a single meal is such a pain.
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Any air fryer method you would recommend?
- Fry at 360⁰F for 12 mins
- Flip them and fry again at 360⁰F for 12 mins
- Flip again and fry for 6 mins at 400⁰F
They should come out super crispy but still very juicy on the inside.The one drawback is that it takes a total of 30 mins and you can only make as much as fits in your frier. You really want to have only one layer of wings and not have them laying on top of each other. My frier is fairly small so it’s not something I can make for a whole bunch of people.
Pastelles. Find some grandma who makes them by the thousand. Don’t buy Goya, they won’t be as good.
Apparently my cousin makes bomb pastelles using a freaking blender.
How are you supposed to get the blood in there using a blender??
Still tasted good tho.
smoked wings
Pho. I have a killer recipe for the instant pot but it basically works out to the same price as just buying it from our local takeout. And they’re Vietnamese.
Can you share the recipe please?
Pretty please.
Attached above!
ty :)
So sorry, I forgot to reply.
Pho
Ingredients
MEAT:
- 1 packet of oxtail
- 1/2 packet of tendon
- 1 packet of flank (add this when plating up)
- 1 packet of vietnamese meatballs (these cook separately to the other meat)
CHARRED VEG - 1 root of ginger (around 3 inches long), unpeeled, cut in half lengthways
- 1 onion, skinned and cut in half
FLAVORS - 10 pieces of star anise (aniseed)
- 1 tablespoon coriander seed
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 clump of rock sugar
- 6 tablespoons of fish sauce
- MSG (? amount)
TOPPINGS - Fresh Cilatro
- Culantro (sawtooth, big leafy shit)
- Basil
- Green onion
- Lime
- Sliced onions
- Bean sprouts
- Hoisin Sauce
- Sriracha
OTHER - Rice Noodles
Bring a big pot of water to the boil and drop the meat (except the meatballs and flank) into the boiling water. Furiously boil for 10 minutes. Drain and wash the meat under the tap.
Turn on the broiler, put the ginger and onion in, cut side up, until nicely charred.
Fill the instant pot to 1 inch below full line (12 cups/3 quarts or a little more). Add the washed meat (not the meatballs, not the flank) to the water and adjust water if overfilled. Then add the charred veg and the flavor ingredients.
Lid on, pressure cook button and set to 1 hour and 30 minutes. Prep toppings. Add the noodles to cold water and soak for at least 30 minutes. Let the pressure cooker depressurize naturally when done. During this time, prepare a pot of boiling water for the meatballs and noodles.
Once the Instant Pot beeps finished, boil the meatballs in water for 10 minutes. When these are done, remove, and leave the water boiling ready for the noodles. When ready to serve, dip the noodles in the boiling water for 1-2 minutes and remove immediately.
Open Instant Pot and remove meat to cut and plate. Strain the broth. If you have time, strain it a second time through a piece of kitchen towel to remove extra impurities. Return broth pot to Instant Pot and turn to low saute - taste and adjust seasonings as needed.
Plate up the food, starting with noodles, then meat, flank, broth, then toppings and sauce. Get slurpy.
Thanks!
Dried pasta is superior to fresh pasta. It is impossible to make it at home.
You must be trolling, it’s 45s to make the dough in a food processor and the sauce actually clings to the noodles.
Fresh pasta doesn’t have proper al dente chew, it gives a cheap instant noodle mouth feel. The sauce clings the same. To any pasta.
You are making it wrong then.
What do you mean wrong? It’s just a fact.
Fresh pasta and dried pasta are two different ingredients that serve different purposes. It’s impossible to get a fresh pasta al dente and unlikely that most home chefs have an extruder to get round shapes. The tougher texture allows it to stand up against hearty sauces.
Fresh pasta, however, has it’s own merits such a delicate texture that pairs well with delicate sauces. That delicate, silky texture isn’t achievable with dried pasta which would become mushy when trying.
I agree that they’re two different ingredients, but most Italian pasta dishes require dried pasta. The biggest exception is probably gnocchi, they’re always fresh.
It’s hard for me to say what is most dishes. I’ve never been to Italy and haven’t studied pasta making deeply, so it’s hard to say. From my limited understanding you pair cream sauces with fresh egg pastas. And in my opinion, stuffed pastas are also enjoyable when fresh.
Well, I’ve been to Italy many times and I have Italian friends, one of them actually worked in a restaurant in Italy. Most Italian dishes use dried pasta and they use it for a reason. You can learn more about dried pasta here https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLURsDaOr8hWXz_CFEfPH2wFhIbJn9iHJY&si=5jl6Z2vwxFX4sVXF
Okay. First, apologies. I see my intent wasn’t clear in my initial posting. I posted that under your response because I saw many responses that confused fresh pasta as being a direct replacement to dried pasta. Instead of replying to each instance of confusion, I figured I’d put a response under your initial reply. I should have been more clear when responding.
It’s surprising to hear that there’s not too many dishes that use fresh pasta. I always assumed there would be a fair amount of both dried and fresh. Thanks for the info.
I appreciate the link to the playlist. I really like Alex’s videos.
No worries, we’re just having a civil discussion here (:
As for dried pasta popularity, according to many internet sources, it became popular somewhere around 14th and 15th century, I guess Italians had plenty of time to adjust their cuisine. Dried pasta also has a benefit of long storage, which was important in their warm climate before the invention of an affordable domestic refrigerator in 20th century.
I remember coming across an early (either 12th or 13th century) pasta recipe. It was a simple fresh noodle in a delicately spiced broth, and, importantly, delicious.
What facinstes me is the status of fresh pasta in the American gastronomical context. It has achieved an ascendent status as demonstrated in this video. I’m sure many of the shapes are dried and I see this video as primarily entertainment and not necessarily an achievable thing for most home cooks. But it shapes an ideal for the viewing population.
I suspect that pasta will become one thing in America and another in Italy if it hasn’t already. I think looking at pizza in America, NYC in particular, vs pizza in Italy could provide an anthropological template.
Much ranting, I know. But hopefully interesting!
Do you have the right equipment to make fresh pasta? If you’re doing it manually then it may as well be impossible.
Fresh pasta cannot be al dente, it’s useless for most traditional Italian pasta dishes. And it is near impossible to make dry pasta at home.
This is wild. I even thought lasagna was worth the minimal effort before, but I just got KitchenAid attachments for Christmas and it’s insanely easy. You mix the dough in the bowl, and then flatten a couple times, run through the slicer, put in the water and it boils way faster than dried. It’s also so so much better than dried.
I’m with you on like, ravioli though. Also we occasionally made wide rice noodles from scratch for Thai cooking and while they’re not technically hard, they’re very labor intensive and time consuming. The problem is the difference between them and dried is night and say - dried wide rice noodles arent even really worth eating. Finally found a shop that sells them fresh though so we are golden.
Fresh pasta cannot be al dente, it’s useless for most traditional Italian pasta dishes. And it is near impossible to make dry pasta at home.
Cheese
This 100%…
It is so expensive/time consuming/finicky for a product that best case scenario is comparable to store bought.
Depends on type. Some cheese is easy to produce. Others require a lot of effort, time, controlled environment, etc.
Squeaky cheese! So damn expensive if your in any other state other than WI…
Squeaky cheese
Didn’t know this was a thing. Niice. One more thing to add to the list of things to try.
Paneer or even better, halloumi?
Paneer I only like homemade, but it’s so easy I hesitate to call it cheese. Pressed curds. Halloumi I don’t like, and what’s funny is I was just thinking today that now that I like swiss I like every cheese in existence but forgot about Halloumi.
Yeah I’ll probably never buy ricotta again after making homemade, unless I was really in a pinch for time I guess. You save a decent chunk of change on home made too. Mozzarella I’d go either way on.
There’s a lot, most of which I make anyway for sake of cost/volume ratios, but in no particular order…
Tomato paste (love to use, can’t be arsed to make my own), sriracha (like it but don’t use enough for the amount I make), waffles (don’t crave them nearly as much as I used to), scotch eggs (love 'em, hate making 'em), pickled asparagus (which really sucks because they’re so good), lotus root chips (maybe if I had a fry daddy, air fried just doesn’t do it), chicarrones (lots off local places make 'em fresh and cheap), horchata (same), meat pies (there’s a local Brit shop that sells 'em), falafel (lots of local vendors), jalebi (way too much work)…
Tbh, not much.
That being said, spaghetti sauce. Yeah, home made is better, but “doctoring” a jarred sauce gets 95% as good without hours of work. You can’t fix the canned shit, but I’ve not found a jarred sauce that I can’t tweak with fresh herbs and some quickly sweated aromatics and end up with something that people love. It also satisfies my picky ass. Now, I will say that fucking ragu is pretty shit overall, and doctoring it only goes so far. But it is still good enough that making sauce from scratch ain’t happening.
Edit:
There seems to be a lot of range in spaghetti sauce recipes. It’s also important to note that I’m not talking about marinara.
So, the real time involved is split between prep and simmering.
Here’s how we do it. Remember this is an american talking here, so don’t redirect expect something traditionally Italian. And I’m a southerner that’s mostly german and Scots-Irish, so don’t expect any new York style stuff lol.
You take your tomatoes, skin them however you prefer. I use a quick dip in boiling water, aka blanching.
You give those peeled tomatoes a rough chop into nice size chunks. Now, the kind of tomato matters for that because something like a roma e isn’t gong to need as many chops as a beefsteak. You’d usually be using something like a roma anyway, but if your neighbor drops off a giant bucket of tomatoes, you can only use what you got, you know?
You chop up an onion, maybe two. You mince some garlic, maybe half a bulb if you really like garlic. I love garlic, so I go heavy.
Now, that’s your usual start. Most people in my family don’t add anything else in the way of veggies. Me? I like to char a couple of red or yellow bell peppers, skin them, and get them in there too. If I’m feeling frisky, I might have zucchini, eggplant, or whatever else cut up and ready to add at the appropriate time too, but that’s optional.
You get the onions sweating. While they’re starting, you feet your herbs together. Idgaf about fresh vs dried, each has benefits for flavor, you do what you prefer. I do oregano, basil, marjoram, a little thyme, and that’s it. I’m simple.
A little black pepper, a little salt (you really don’t need much, maybe a teaspoon for a big batch; salt your damn pasta water instead) to taste.
Once the onions are almost ready, I add the peppers since the quick char and steam to peel them tends to get them halfway cooked anyway.
This is around a half hour of work for most people. For me, it’s closer to an hour. Yay disability!
Then you add your tomatoes, herbs, and any optional veggies. Bring to boil, reduce to simmer.
After that, it’s patience. You’re making sure any veggies added are tender, and after that it’s cooking things down and letting the flavors develop. And, I promise you, anything under a half hour of simmering isn’t going to taste right, and will be super runny. You’ll usually have what amounts to chunky tomato water until close to the hour mark. For a big pot (my biggest is 6 quarts, and it starts damn near full when I do it) an hour and a half is bare minimum for the right thickness.
Now, if you’re going to jar that up, you’re done except for that part, which isn’t involved in what I originally said.
If you’re going to add meat, you’ll want to start browning it off about a half hour ahead of when the thickness will be right. You add the cooked meat in and let it simmer for 15 minutes at minimum. Do yourself a favor and deglaze the pan used with a nice, semisweet red wine, add that to the pot and go at least a half hour after adding it.
Now, exactly how long it needs to simmer is variable because you’re dealing with tomatoes, and the water content varies between varieties, time of year, weather conditions, etc. But I’ve never had a full sized batch take less than an hour and a half counting from the initial bring-to-boil stage.
I dunno, maybe there’s time savers I’ve never thought of. Maybe the folks saying it’s a half hour are doing a different version of “from scratch”, or whatever. But that’s how we do it, and it’s pretty much what the typical recipes I’ve seen online do (I went and checked because I wondered if I was crazy lol), plus or minus some details that don’t really change simmer time.
I’ve had some batches need a full two hours of simmering. And, yeah, you don’t have to stand over the pot the whole time, but chances are you’ll still be in the kitchen cleaning, keeping an eye on things stirring occasionally, adding any herbs or spices to adjust taste as it goes, etc. So it isn’t like you can just pop down to the local pub (or equivalent in your location) and go by time alone. You’ll still be in the general vicinity, with the added heat and humidity from cooking.
But that’s why I rarely go from scratch. I can pick up a jar of whatever, add some herbs, extra garlic and/or onions, brown any meat and then the deglaze and be done in under an hour from start to finish, including prep. The taste isn’t the same, nor is the texture, but it’s still yummy.
Hours? Literally takes half an hour and you can just leave it donits own thing while its working in the pot lol
Apparently, either my family recipe is a shit ton more complex than the norm, or in not talking about the same kind of sauce other people are lol.
Also, that includes prep time
I used to doctor storebought sauces too. Recently though, I’ve just been buying those cans of cento crushed tomatoes. They’re a blank slate, and probably better quality tomatoes too.
I learned from America’s Test Kitchen to look at the ingredients. If the first ingredient is tomato paste or tomato concentrate, pass. If it is tomatoes, it will probably be fine. Although usually this means a more expensive jar, there are plenty of expensive/fancy looking jars that don’t pass this test.
That said, Del Grosso’s has a premium line with “Aunt Mary Anne’s Marinara”. It is our go-to and far and away the best I’ve tried.
Honestly it’s the price that makes jarred sauce not worth it for me. They’ve gotten ridiculous.
They have, haven’t they? Mind you everything is getting ridiculous, but still.
I’m a huge fan of Rao’s sauce, but the price jumped from about $4 a jar to $10 last year and I just can’t justify that. I sometimes find it on sale for under $5 and def grab it, but it’s rare these days.
Italian scratching his head here. I can think of only one particular type of ragu that takes a few hours to make properly and is obviously not what’s being discussed here due to jars, doctoring sweating and general confusion.
Mate putting together a tomato sauce from scratch for some spaghetti shouldn’t take longer than the time it takes to the water to boil plus the 9 or so minutes that it takes to cook the pasta you are overthinking it
I’m American, and do use jarred sauce if I have it, but more often what I have is tomato paste, a half bottle of wine hanging out in the refrigerator and some garlic or olive oil and butter. Anchovies. Usually have canned peeled tomatoes too, but those do have to cook awhile to taste good.
I guess I don’t set out to replicate jarred sauce, generally speaking, but can quickly dress pasta for supper with something good.
Yeah, I’m talking about the brand ragu.
Also, it seems that my family recipe is more involved than the norm lol
Pretty sure they’re talking about the brand Ragu, which is some of the cheapest jarred spaghetti sauce you can get in the US.
That said, toss me one of those easy tasty sauce recipes?
My sauces take a few hours to make, but they’re insanely good.
I made ragu for the first time about a year ago, and it was outstanding. I gotta make some more of that.
Oh yeah I tried eating some out of the jar and BLEH.
Just more Garlic makes such a difference in most jars.
I came here to hard disagree, especially with the crepes example, but egg on my face and apologies all around: I am with you regarding spaghetti sauce.
I just don’t consider any of that an answer to the question. For the most part, nobody is expecting every individual ingredient of a meal to be made from the raw ingredients (I don’t actually think sauce is a lot of hands on work, but I don’t usually bother to make it either). While I have a pasta maker and love fresh homemade pasta, if I make a lasagna from store bought noodles, jarred sauce, and store bought ricotta, nobody is going to yell at me for calling it homemade. The version with fresh pasta, homemade sauce, and homemade ricotta is going to be better (OK, I haven’t done ricotta so I might make it gross), but the first one still counts.
I’m the exact opposite on spaghetti sauce. I find an incredible sauce is very easy to make heaps of with San Marzano tomatoes and tastes almost zero effort, just lots of time. But then I have like ten spaghettis’ worth and it’s wrecks shop on any jar sauce!
Ravioli, pierogies, wontons. Basically anything small that’s wrapped up like that. Huge PITA and the quality improvement usually isn’t worth it.
Maybe something worth doing in a social setting with a group though. Have some beers and BS while assembling everything.
Homemade pasta is indescribably better. If you get a pasta maker, it’s not even that hard. Just a bit time consuming. And it’s sooooo yummy.
I tried tortillini once, they turned out worse than the frozen kind at the store (I took too long and my dough dried out). Never again.
Tortellini look extra annoying. I always thought they were done with a machine.
Once you get the technique down, they’re just ravioli with a little twist at the end. Just less forgiving.
Gotta disagree on the pierogi front. I don’t make them often, but homemade is so much better than the boxed stuff that occasionally making a huge batch and freezing a bunch is totally worth it.
I 100% endorse this comment and am glad to see someone here representing. Anyone who says store bought pirogi’s are almost as good has not had good homemade ones. They are next level.
I don’t think anyone thinks store bought pierogi are as good as homemade, just that they’re so labor intensive that the store bought still have their place, being not as good, but still good…and the increase in quality to do homemade is real…but not worth the fuss to make one meal of them.
It’s absolutely one of those “get the family together once a year and make zillions of them as a social event” type things.
My dad used to get together with a few buddies to make homemade sauerkraut each year and he often said that for the production, for a single meal, just buy it from the store…but as an excuse to hang out with old friends, catch up, tell off color jokes, and drink cheap beer for a few hours each year, it was totally worth it to make homemade.
Raviolis were worth it when I was making a huge huge amount and then freezing bags of them. Then over the course of months could just eat them whenever! For a single meal? No, terrible
The wife and I will do dumplings every once in a while, but it’s definitely not worth the trouble unless we do a couple hundred at once.
crepes
Jesus Christ OP are you disabled
Honestly, brownies. From scratch versus box I hardly notice a difference and in some instances the box was better… And the box is a lot less work.
Ribs, just but them Ready for cook
Albertsons antipasta pasta (salad).
Halal Chicken and Lamb over rice. I’ve made my own at home before and after all the effort that goes into making the sauces, the meats, the rice, and veggies, I somehow end up with a dish that cost at least twice what street carts sell, at 5 times the length to make it and isn’t as good. I wouldn’t make it at home unless I lived somewhere where that was the only way I could get it
Even more so, bo kho.
I just want to express my appreciation for this phrase.
I also do agree that homemade broth is worth making, but it is more a byproduct of having made something else for me. And it’s not difficult just takes a long time. Chuck everything in the slow cooker overnight, in the morning there is stock. Then from the bones of that stock you can make the bone broth, again overnight will work.
