I'm not sure exactly what you'd call it, I always think of it as just "chow" but it's a large portion of what I eat. Basically anything that is-- few ingredients, one pot or pan, everything cooked together and thrown in at the same time, cheap, easy, relatively quick, but hearty and filling.

So like my go to is a one potato, half an onion, cabbage, and one de-cased spicy sausage. Plus seasonings, depending on how I'm feeling either Indian (those premixed spice packets) or asian (ginger and garlic powder, mushroom soy sauce and chilli oil) . The prep work is maybe 2-3 minutes then 15ish cooking. I view it as "I want a cooked meal, but I don't want to spend any time on it."

Now that the summer bounty at the farmer's market is in full swing, I'd love to hear about your recipes that showcase the fresh fruits and vegetables you get from the farmer's market, or the garden if you grow your own. I'm thinking of the recipes that really let the flavors of the produce shine.

Two of my favorite farmer's market items are sweet corn and tomatoes, and I've come to realize the corn and tomatoes you can buy at the grocery store are just sad imitations of the real thing. My favorite recipe right now is a simple sweet corn and cherry tomato salad, with a little basil, flaky salt, lime juice, and good olive oil. I'll add mozarella or feta and pepitas sometimes for a little extra oomph, but the simplicity and flavors are heavenly. What are your favorites?

This spring my wife and I started growing some herbs in containers on our (quite large) balcony. I got some nice big pots bc I know a lot of these like some space, and I planted a bunch of staples. On a whim, I planted some spearmint bc I figured it would be nice to have some fresh mint on hand for cocktails.

I knew mint was hardy and tends to grow out of control, but I didn't think much about it since it's in its own large standalone pot, away from my other plants. But Y'ALL. My other plants are dong okay but there is SO MUCH MINT. I'm barely doing anything and it's THRIVING. I don't even drink that many cocktails.

Other than cocktails and mint tea, I have no idea what to with the sheer quantity of mint I have. Even just ocassionally pruning the bits that stick out or have flower buds results in massive handfuls of mint that I don't have any idea how to use up.

Please give me advice on how to use up my mint!

One of my favourites is inspired by Thai green curry and includes:

• Coconut Milk
• Homemade Vegetable Broth (as needed)
• Homemade Green Curry Paste
• Shallots, Garlic, & Ginger
• Kaffir Lime Leaves
• Green Lentils
• Freshly Squeezed Lime Juice & Zest
• Lemongrass Stalks
• Green Bell Peppers
• Solano Peppers
• Bamboo Shoots
• Snow Peas
• Zucchini
• Spinach
• Coconut Sugar
• Soy Sauce
• Salt
• Spices: Cumin, Chilli Powder, Red Pepper Flakes, Black Garlic, Turmeric, Coriander, and Pepper (as needed)

Served with crispy tofu, coconut rice, Thai basil, and homemade “roti” (using sweetened condensed coconut milk and avocado oil).

—

I think we’ve had some variation of this recipe every week for the last two years. It’s not too hard for me to make after work, makes great leftovers, freezes well, and seems to be well liked.

I do try to make as many things from “scratch” as I can, since I find growing the vegetables and herbs, as well as making my own milks, dough, and tofu, really elevate the whole thing. Though ingredients that are store bought or from farmers markets work just as well.

I really like the "Broccoli in Garlic Sauce" dish offered in Chinese takeout restaurants.

I have a few big Asian food markets near me.

Is it possible to buy the garlic sauce the takeout places use in a jar? If so, what would it be called? I imagine there is more than one type of jarred sauce called "garlic sauce" in the world.

Has anyone been experimenting with that? I recently found some fairly easy tutorials on tiktok. I always thought you need like special coagulates to make tofu, but apparently with many beans you can just boil them or add some acid to make them firm. And yeah, you can make tofu from essentially any beans, peas or lentils.

I tried making some green peas tofu, and so far i'm not too happy with the taste. It has a wierd, a bit caustic, aftertaste. I'm not sure if it's the green pea or my recipe...
I will definitely be trying lentils next!

For example, if I want to add ground flax to a brownie mix or oats to muffins? What if I want to add some extra dried blueberries to boxed blueberry muffin mix? The box instructions usually say 1/4 cup of oil and 1 egg, and I'm wondering if I need to double both or either if I want to add some more dry ingredients. Or is there maybe a max level at which I don't need to add extra oil/eggs, like a quarter cup at most of oats?

I know baking is a science and ratios are important, but still it'd be nice to have a way to make storebought convenience mixes a wee bit more filling or healthier. I'm used to substituting applesauce for oil in brownies, but I'm curious what else I could do with a storebought mix.

Here's a list of cookery books that are frequently recommended in various forums when people ask for good cookery books.

These are not in any kind of order. Please add any books that I've missed! I'm sure there are lots of great books that I haven't heard of. I wanted to link to a bookshop, but I got stuck with that so I used Wordery, unless they didn't have it in which case I link to Amazon. Some of these books have hardback and soft-cover versions, or newer editions, so go careful with the links because I just link to any version of the book. I have done no research at all into the authors or illustrators here, so if I've included people who are toxic arseholes please do let me know and I'll fix it. (This post is episode 2 of "DanBC goes down a rabbit hole and dumps the results onto Tildes").

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking - Samin Nosrat and Wendy MacNaughton.

A review from Kitchn: 8 cooks on why "Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat" is such a special, unlikely, hit

A lot of people love this book. Beginners say it gave them a bit more confidence, and good home cooks say it helped elevate their cooking by giving them usable information.

How to Cook Everything - Mark Bittman.

A review from Kitchn

How to Cook Everything - the basics - Mark Bittman. A review from ShelfAwareness.

A lot of people don't know how to cook, and have never cooked anything. Mark Bittman's books are often recommended to this group of people. And the books are excellent sources of information, and so they're useful to lots of people. They're very clear and easy to use.

Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan.

A VERY SHORT, almost bullet point, review from FiveBooks And a longer review from LitHub

She wrote two books in the 1970s, and these were combined and updated in the 1990s for this book. These books are widely credited as introducing people outside Italy to "authentic" Italian cooking. LitHub review has already said everything that I'd want to say about this, but better than I could.

On Food and Cooking: The science and lore of the kitchen - Harold McGee.

A Kitchn review

This is a heavy duty book about the science of food. It's often described as the best single reference book for the science of food and cooking.

Food Lab: Better home cooking through science - J. Kenji López-Alt.

A review from Chemistry World

Surely everyone knows J. Kenji. He's really approachable. He give you science, but it's actionable and achievable.

In Bibi's Kitchen: The Recipes and Stories of Grandmothers from the Eight African Countries that Touch the Indian Ocean - Hawa Hassan, Julia Turshen.

A mini-review from Kitchn. So, I'm cheating here because I haven't seen this recommended by anyone but I wanted more books that are not Euro-US focussed. This book focuses on food from Eritrea, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa, Madagascar, and Comoros

Each chapter starts with a short geo-political intro. You'll be familiar if you've ever read the CIA World Factbook. It then has a short interview with a grandmother, and then it gives some recipes.

Sauces: Classical and Contemporary Sauce Making - Wordery link - James Peterson.

A review from MostlyFood

"Don’t be put off by the size of this book. It’s true that it’s as big as a small piece of furniture but it’s as big as that for a good reason. There isn’t any padding in Sauces. It’s cover-to-cover solid information that will be welcomed by anyone wanting to perfect sauce-making. Nothing seems to be omitted or overlooked. Every imaginable sauce is described, including Asian Sauces which have been added since the publication of the first edition."

Lots of people like that "no padding" feature.

How to Eat: The pleasures and principles of good food - Nigella Lawson.

A review by Food 52

"Thinking back on the lifespan of this formative book, I can’t help but feel that it’s to the recipes in it, and of course to Lawson herself, that I owe much of my confidence in the kitchen today."

Lots of people just want to cook tasty food and they're not bothered by The Science. Lawson's books are excellent if you want great home cooking.

The Professional Chef - The Culinary Institute of America

There are lots of versions of this book. The current version will be expensive. The older version are usually very similar and will be much cheaper.

Home cooks often get into weird habits and that's fine - it's your kitchen, do what works for you. But if you want to get better in the kitchen by improving your techniques and skills this is the book for you.

Ever since I learned how easy homemade hot sauce is, I try to experiment with a new batch or recipe from time to time. My most recent batch highlights carrot and Ginger, with mild jalapeno heat.

It tastes good, and the ginger is very apparent, but my SO and I feel it's missing something. Of course you can't taste it through the internet, but based on the recipe, can you provide any suggestions for what can help round it out or take it from good to great?

Ingredients:

• 3 carrots, 4 oz
• 1 knob of ginger, peeled, 2.5 oz
• 4 jalapeños, 8 oz
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/4 of a red onion, didn't weigh
• 1/2c apple cider vinegar
• 1/2c water
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 bunch of cilantro, maybe a couple of tsp after chopping

Method:

1. Thinly sliced carrots, ginger, peppers, onion, and garlic
2. Sautee until brown around the edges (carrots and ginger took longer, garlic was just for a minute to avoid burning)
3. Blend with salt, water, vinegar, and cilantro.
4. Strain solids

Any ideas on what it's missing? Some kind of tomato product? Something earthy like cumin? More garlic or onion? Something else entirely?

EDIT: Thanks for all the great feedback! I poured a few small samples to test various additions based on your suggestions, and I ended up adding another 1/2 tsp of salt (for a total of 1 tsp), 1/2 tsp MSG, the juice of half a small lime, 1 squeeze of honey (estimated just shy of 1 tsp) and then thickened with 1/8 tsp of xanthan gum since it was really thin.

Next time, I definitely want to try roasting the peppers and veggies, and I'll try a blend of peppers. I'm curious about other ginger preparation methods, too, such as raw, roasted, or powder. But for a mildly hot ginger sauce, I'm calling this experiment a success!

I'm going to a supper club this Saturday and the theme is pie. Now, I love making me some pie (and subsequently eating it), but I'd like to do something a little different from my normal pie.

What is your favorite (ideally esoteric) pie recipe? I'm making one sweet, one savory. Gimme your best shot!