Cooking Thread~ Recipes & Things

[Evillevi]

This is the first time I have ever seen the claim that mineral content of water affects cooking. I mean it clearly does have effects on some things - soap lather, scale buildup, pipe corrosion - but cooking? Maybe a small difference in quantity of chemical leavening agents needed? Not sure if anyone has tried to measure it.

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Generally the main effect would be WRT to consistency as opposed to quality. IIRC for bread Flour protein is the main variable factor with Hardness of water being a tertiary factor.

Generally it's not important enough to measure, but cumulatively every ingredient used can eventually total to a unexpected if minor results.

For me, certain yeast based recipe don't work properly, but that's due to the ambienmt temperature being off.

 

[Sinner_sb]

Given the past week's discussion about bread and flour when making parata paired with this video popping on my recommended likely because my recentish search for tortilla recipes I decided to post this video here because of the recipes and because they also mention how finicky baking can be at times.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnApthldLPY


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSi7KaA8O2o

EDIT: Added a second parata video with extra details and explanations about making it.

 

[Somebody]

Given the past week's discussion about bread and flour when making parata paired with this video popping on my recommended likely because my recentish search for tortilla recipes I decided to post this video here because of the recipes and because they also mention how finicky baking can be at times.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnApthldLPY

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Random note, but "roti" is also mostly used to refer to unleavened bread. There's a leavened version called a "Khameeri roti", which literally just means something along the lines of "yeasted bread", khameer being the word for yeast. They're usually rolled out and have some parts of refined white flour added to them, usually equal parts or less refined flour to whole wheat. What he's made here is, I'd argue, more Khameeri roti than naan. Naans usually get pressed out into a vaguely round shape by hand, like with pizzas, with the fingers being used to press a pattern into them.

Also, high heat is important for both roti and naans. A lot of times, in order to puff up the roti, the semi-cooked roti is moved off the pan and directly onto the fire in short bursts. The high heat of the tandoor is also important in making naans puff up, similar to a Neopolitan-style pizza. You can improvise the same by flipping the pan upside down and holding it slightly over the flame.

Also also, while Indian naans are pretty famous, I'm personally more of a fan of more Central Asian ones. Roghani naans, Afghani naans, Tajik Non—they look fucking gorgeous and taste delicious too. More on the thicker side, though, and usually topped with sesame seeds.

 

[Sinner_sb]

Not even sure if this counts as a recipe but her it goes.

Non-peanut peanut butter and jelly sandwich

Tahine to taste

Jelly/jam to taste, I prefer and use strawberry that I buy from costco

2 slices of bread

Salt to taste

Toasted white sesame seeds are optional


Make the sandwich as normal using your desired amounts of jam and tahini, add a pinch of salt on the tahini and some roughly crushed toasted sesame seeds, put the slices together and enjoy.



Really, there isn't much more to this. I just decided to make an PB&J sandwich without the pb because it is expensive here in Japan, it also has sugar on it and I am controlling my sugar intake, since I have a few jars of tahini at home that I bought a while back because I use for making hummus at home, I decided to replace it here, since in some other recipes that ask for PB state that it can be replaced with tahini. It is not an exact replacement for peanut butter but it is close enough to pass muster and you are craving for it but don't want to entirely ruin your diet by adding sweetened peanut butter on top of jam/jelly that is already loaded with sugar.

 

[seeing_octarine]

I live in Japan and it is next to impossible to find lard or shortening, butter is pretty expensive

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Finding AP flour is also pretty hard

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I just decided to make an PB&J sandwich without the pb because it is expensive here in Japan

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I am morbidly curious what on earth is up with the food market in Japan now. Also, if you're trying to keep your food budget down then make sure you're paying attention to the per energy cost, not the per weight cost.

 

[Biigoh]

Really, there isn't much more to this. I just decided to make an PB&J sandwich without the pb because it is expensive here in Japan, it also has sugar on it and I am controlling my sugar intake, since I have a few jars of tahini at home that I bought a while back because I use for making hummus at home, I decided to replace it here, since in some other recipes that ask for PB state that it can be replaced with tahini. It is not an exact replacement for peanut butter but it is close enough to pass muster and you are craving for it but don't want to entirely ruin your diet by adding sweetened peanut butter on top of jam/jelly that is already loaded with sugar.

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You can also make your own homemade peanut butter by grinding roasted peanuts with salt. You just need to grind long enough past chunky to creamy.

Food processor can do the job, you just need to give the motor short breaks every 30 seconds to minute.

 

[Sinner_sb]

I am morbidly curious what on earth is up with the food market in Japan now. Also, if you're trying to keep your food budget down then make sure you're paying attention to the per energy cost, not the per weight cost.

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Some foodstuffs are quite expensive here, come in very small packages or containers, or are just extremely uncommon to get here outside specialty places.

For a small less than 300 grams tub of peanut butter you pay nearly 1000 yen in a regular grocery store, I dont recall the price but it was at most 2000 yen for two 1 kg tubs of the same skippy brand peanut butter at costco. The flour thing is because Japan is pedantically detail oriented to say the least, if not worse, so they actually sell flours for making tempura, pancakes, cakes and cookies, bread, okonomiaki, all are different types, yet no all purpose flour. Regular butter at the local grocery stores are around 600 yen for a 250g pack, it is expensive.

I am keeping an eye on my budget, which is why I made the tahini replacement for peanut butter, because I already have tahini on my pantry thus not need to pay through the nose for a small tub of pb or pay for the fuel, tolls and then buying the larger tubs at costco as part of a much larger purchase because the closest costco is two hours away from my place. I am balancing the cost with energy/calories return, also buying what is cheaper where it is cheaper, but I am also not buying stuff that I don't eat as often, so peanut butter that is something that I eat occasionally, literally once every blue moon, it is not on my shopping list. The jam that I used on the sandwich? I bought that a couple of years back and only opened it a couple months ago and it is a huge costco jar that I bought cheap, I do keep some stock of stuff that I don't use as often and now I am using to change the pace of my meals because I am budgeting hard and limiting what I am buying.

A lot of foodstuffs are also imported which drives the prices up as well. Fresh produce can be horribly expensive, fruits are so bad that it is a meme of how pricy they are and little you get for the price, sure you get a massive apple, but it costs 500 yen or more per apple. I could easily buy at least 1 and a half kilo of good apples for the equivalent in Brazil.

You can also make your own homemade peanut butter by grinding roasted peanuts with salt. You just need to grind long enough past chunky to creamy.

Food processor can do the job, you just need to give the motor short breaks every 30 seconds to minute.

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I am aware of this, but like I mentioned above I am budgeting and keeping my expenses to a minimum, so I couldn't buy the peanuts to make peanut butter. Plus I would rather eat them normally over making PB, so I used the tahini since I already own3 and a half jars of the stuff. Both to save money and because I do need to use those jars of tahini. I posted the idea here because I didnt consider using it a replacement for PB in sandwiches so others might not have thought about it either, and if they have allergy to nuts, sesame seeds aren't nuts so they might be able to eat a good replica of PB&J.