Tilderinos! I've been using a carbon steel wok for about two years. Whenever I have any recipe that involves throwing a sauce in - which is pretty much every stir fry I use it for - I suddenly have an awful time of trying to clean it afterwards. Last night after doing this it was still pretty crusty, and I'm still getting crud off as I wipe it.

If you're not supposed to use soap to prevent ruining the patina, how do you clean it properly? I see all sorts of advice ranging from water to not using water...

I was wondering what people use for finding recipes and meal planning when they have less "standard" dietary restrictions. I find that a lot of these tools have options for vegetarians, vegans, paleo diet, keto diet, low carb; or for common allergens like peanuts and soy. But I haven't found a way to limit more specific things (especially things, like fiber, that are generally regarded as beneficial, or things, like fructose, that are everywhere). I suppose just manually searching for and then looking through a bunch of recipes is an option, but that can also be challenging given that nutritional information on recipes isn't always complete. I would appreciate any ideas or suggestions that people have for this sort of thing because I like to eat but right now food is making me very sad.

(also sorry if ~health was a better place to put this, I wasn't sure exactly where it should go)

I have a Weber Summit S-670 grill that has a built-in smoker box and burner, and despite having this grill for a couple of years I have never before used that accessory. With the traditional grilling weekend coming up I figure I should give it a shot but I have no idea on what to make. What kind of easy or idiot-proof recipes would you recommend?

Feel free to define lesser known how you like. Here's my list. Most of these have fewer than 100,000 subscribers. Some of them have fewer than 10,000 subs.

Al Brady (32k subs)

Has a nice mix of sweet and savoury food. Has a lot of videos below ten minutes - there's a rapid pacing here that avoids the problems of TikTok / YT Shorts cooking. Enough time to explain what he's doing, no useless padding.

Baking on a Budget (40k subs)

A reasonably new channel (only 33 videos as I post this). He has a method for pricing the recipes, and we can always argue about whether that makes sense or not, but at least it's consistent across his videos so viewers get an idea of relative costs. The recipes are simple. They're aimed at providing tasty filling food for cheap. The production values are low - no fancy lighting, no fancy camera, the kitchen table looks a bit rickety.

BoSFinesse (6k subs)

He's from Bristol (South West UK) and has the regional accent to prove it. He visits and reviews street food and cafés. I love videos like this - show-casing normal eateries. It's rough and ready - he sometimes includes swearing. And he's usually positive, or occasionally very mildly not positive. But I like that. He does a mix of shorts and long form - the long form does tend to be a bit calmer and explanatory.

Bread and Food (400 subs)

Features food, mostly street food or bread, from Iran. I like the "show don't tell" aspect of these videos. There are loads of street food videos and I watch quite a few. Lots of videos are presented by people that I don't enjoy watching.

YumTopia (5.5k subs)

Another street food channel, again from Iran. This is the video that I really like - street food often looks like it has been rapidly cooked, but there are examples of slow cooked food. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDJowrQQisg

The Staff Canteen (152k)

At over 100k subs this probably doesn't belong here, but I think this fits here because many of their videos get fewer than 1000 views. Views are picking up recently. It's a great channel if you're interested in fine dining in the UK. There are a huge number of interviews with some very very good chefs here, and often they demonstrate one of their dishes.

Pete's Pans (9.5k subs)

He researches regional dishes from France, Spain, and Portugal and he claims to present traditional "authentic" versions of various dishes. I've only just started watching, and I'm not sure if I'll end up finding that he's not for me.

In an effort to reduce my waste and expenses (as well as get some control over my diet...), I've been looking at weekly food planning and trying to budget for stuff...

I'm lost. My typical shopping is either getting an idea for something to cook then buying the stuff, or getting the ideas while shopping for other things. This has often resulted in having to throw stuff out because it doesn't actually get used.

I'm hoping to hear from people that are successful with actually sticking to a weekly plan and budget... How do you do it?

According to this scientific diagram, soup is the most neutral of ideas. If you tell someone you're having soup for dinner, they'll ask what you're eating with it, as if soup were not a meal in itself. That's a tragedy. Soup is right up with bread as a symbol of nourishment. It makes your veggies tasty, and it something you don't even need teeth to enjoy - a treat for either extreme of the age spectrum!

What is it that you think that soup needs to be exciting again? Is it just a special flavor or specific texture? Or do you need gimmicks like tortilla strips or bread bowls? Do you need exotic ingredients?

I am not at home and presently I don't have any airtight container. Most of the suggestion online are about using a airtight container.

Can't I use a bowl and cover it with plastic wrapper and then put it in refrigerator?