8
votes
What have you been eating, drinking, and cooking?
What food and drinks have you been enjoying (or not enjoying) recently? Have you cooked or created anything interesting? Tell us about it!
What food and drinks have you been enjoying (or not enjoying) recently? Have you cooked or created anything interesting? Tell us about it!
I have discovered the perfect way to make crunchy and creamy skillet potatoes. It’s actually so simple that I am surprised it took so long to find out.
Dice up some russet potatoes to bite size and toss it into a pan. Make sure you have only one layer as you want to ensure every bite touches the pan. Add oil enough to cover the bottom of the pan and half a cup of water and cover it. This steams the potatoes so they are perfectly cooked inside. After roughly 10-15 minutes take off the lid, let any remaining water boil off, and let the potatoes fry in the remaining oil. Now is also a good time to add in your favorite seasonings. Once the bottoms are nice and crispy you can flip it to get the other sides crispy as well.
I tried this while attempting to go for a restaurant style breakfast potato, but I think I actually came up with something even better. It makes for a product that has a stronger crunch and is even creamier.
I need to try this out with other vegetables next. Now I feel bad I didn’t buy any broccoli the last time I went shopping.
if you really want them to be crispy, wash them up, quarter the potatoes, and then boil them in water with 1/2t for 2L of water -- check this from Serious Eats. Its a great recipe with the crispiest exterior and a fluffy interior.
I have done that recipe before.
It’s a real pain in the rear. It’s messy and needs a lot more cleanup, more active cooking time, and more labor and time overall.
They also aren’t 100% the same end result. Mine are deliberately “homestyle” and doesn’t have an evenly distributed crunch.
That being said the boiling step in this recipe is basically the inspiration to my steaming step.
We made Beef Wellington for our new years party, but I'm afraid I botched it. My partner took on the meat and I took on making the puff pastry. It was my first time trying, but after watching a looooot of Great British Baking Show during Covid I was excited to try. In all honesty I should have tried it on a dish that wasn't key to a $70 dollar piece of meat, but alas, it's much harder than I thought. I made every mistake possible: I didn't use enough liquid so the dough split, I couldn't roll out the frozen dough so I waited for it to warm up, I didn't make enough... the list goes on. In the end we ended up with a very tasty piece of meat surrounded by a delicious mushroom and pancetta layer, all wrapped up in some very, very unappetizing pastry. Luckily we had very forgiving guests and everyone happily picked off the crust. Regardless it was delicious, but I felt a little guilty for messing up the one job I had. Goal for 2023, learn how to correctly make puff pastry.