I'm trying to compile a good list of foods that would travel well. I'm trying to avoid anything heavily processed with commercial preservatives (no Goldfish or fruit snacks, etc.)

These foods should keep for at least a day in standard outdoor temperatures. Also, they should not get physically fucked up by being in a backpack all day.

So far, I've got these:
Rucksack Sandwich (Baguette, salami, butter, pickles)
Scones
Granola (inline with avoiding preservatives, this can be easily made at home)
GORP mix

P.S.
Shoutout to Squeeze in Marfa, TX for the rucksack sandwiches.

My tomato and pepper harvest this year is going to be negligible (thanks, deer!), but I have tomatillos coming out of my ears. My favorite Salsa Verde recipe freezes well.

To the extent that everyone who grows tomatoes will have lots of green ones, here's a good chutney recipe that works well for water-bath canning:

Green Tomato Chutney

Servings: 3 pints

Ingredients:

2 1/2 lbs green tomatoes (a few ripe or partially ripe are fine to be included)
1 1/4 cups light brown sugar, packed
1 cup chopped red onion
1 cup golden raisin
1 cup cider vinegar
2 tablespoons chopped candied ginger
1 tablespoon yellow mustard seeds
1 teaspoon chili pepper flakes
1 teaspoon coriander seed
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1/16 teaspoon ground nutmeg
(***For my taste, I'll mince in a couple of whatever fresh hot peppers I have in the garden, and increase other spices to taste, and add a chopped large knob of fresh ginger.)

Directions:

Place all of the ingredients in a medium sized (about 4 qt) thick-bottomed pot. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove lid and simmer uncovered for an additional 15 minutes to thicken.

Notes:

Note: If desired, this recipe can be canned by processing filled (sterilized!) jars in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes. Recipe will fill six 8-oz jars or three 16-oz jars. Otherwise, chutney will keep in the refrigerator for a few months.

The other garden success story this year, heavy rain, weird weather, bugs, and pestiferous ungulates notwithstanding, is basil. Freaking huge bushes of every variety I planted: Italian Mountain, Genovese, Persian, Thai Kaprow, Thai Holy, and Purple Opal.

I'll be processing fresh Italian basil with olive oil and freezing it in silicone trays. Internet rumor has it that freezing doesn't treat fresh garlic well, and you're better off making pesto from frozen basil as needed.

I may do the same thing with neutral oil for the Persian basil, and peanut oil for the Thai, unless someone else has suggestions.

We'll also have about 50 lbs. of apples from a single tree. They're a little too organic for eating out of hand, unless you're comfortable with inadvertent insect protein ingestion. But drying, pies, and cake are definitely in the picture. This is a simple, reliable apple cake recipe that's easy to share around. I'm still digging for my old bakery Caramel Apple Torte recipe.

I really like pickled jalapenos, but my go to recipes are nachos and jalapeno poppers wrapped in bacon. I'm trying to eat healthier, but I seem to be lacking some good recipes or ideas. I found a potato salad recipe which sounds really tasty, but still not terribly healthy.

Hello! I live in an area where a great part of socializing is done by going to bars and having a drink (or several). I don't drink alcohol, and always get weird stares after the third Nestea/Aquarius, plus I get bored from drinking the same thing over and over again. Sometimes the places we go to have the option of alcohol-free cocktails, but it's not the usual thing.

So, what are you suggestions of other drinks I could order, that do not contain alcohol? Things that I could drink in hot weather, day or night? I'm open to all sorts of flavours.

The ones I have listed:

• Coke
• Tea
• Coffee
• Aquarius
• Nestea

Thank you all for your help in advance!

I'm going to start with three questions but feel free to propose your own:

1. What if anything have you tried around finding and using more ethical sources of meat?

2. What cooking methods and recipes do you use that reduce the amount of meat you eat in a meal?

3. What vegetarian protein sources do you find palatable and tasty?

I’m going purely on YouTube vids for the technique. They all seem to agree to soak in water and then cook the rice cakes in stock, then add gochujang, gochugaru, soy sauce, sugar, cook until thick, top with spring onion and optionally add cheese. (I’m skipping the fish cakes).

Some recipes start by frying some garlic, some fry off the gochugaru etc for a minute, some add the white part of the spring onion much earlier… I’m not sure whether any of these steps are necessary/make a big difference.

Anyone who is familiar with the dish - is there anything extra you do to elevate this dish? Anything I should know about the cooking process?

After trusting my nana to pass on the details in anticipation of a small family gathering, this has turned into something else! I'm currently smoking a bunch of chicken drumsticks over maple wood chips but some of my lower effort choices going into battle today are:

Chocolate sorbet. I love this one because it's stupidly easy to make, can be made way in advance and is a naturally vegan/ dairy free option. Blending the mixture at the end is an essential, unskippable step. I used 80% cocoa solids and this time I've replaced the Grand Marnier with some 42% chocolate rum.

Ready made dolmedes from a tin. Another easy vegan/ veggie option, assuming you just get the ones stuffed with rice and herbs.

Caprese skewers. Easy veggie canapé with only some assembly required! Baby plum tomato, fresh basil leaf and mini mozzarella pearl on a skewer. Maybe drizzle over some pesto. Looks fancy arranged on a slate serving tray.

Boiled potatoes with really, really good butter. Cultured, unpasteurised stuff. It helps that these are potatoes from my garden too, instantly made fancier with the addition of fresh herbs.

For cooking I mean like making it largely from scratch. Eating out (or dining in) is hopefully self-explanatory. By premade meals I mean like ramen bowls, cans of soup, Stoufers or Banquet meals, frozen pizzas, etc. Throwing something together is like a sandwich, cereal, a box of Mac and cheese/ hamburger helper or a ramen packet where you add a boiled egg, leftover pork and some chives, etc-- stuff where it's mostly finished food that just requires a little bit of work.

I had triple jaw surgery 6 months ago, but things went wrong around a wisdom tooth and one of the implants, so I had a revision last month. As a consequence of that, I have not been allowed to chew since my jawbone needed peace and quiet to grow back together.

The suffering is soon over, though. On August 17 I can eat normally again! I have had multiple dreams of eating and chewing things normally, and I have even had unquiet dreams/nightmares of eating but then remembering that I'm not allowed to eat.

For reference, I have eaten nothing but mashed potatoes, soups, overcooked pasta, yoghurts... for the past month. Last time around, my first solid meal was a cheeseburger from McDonald's but that was definitely not very satisfying. So please help! What should my first real meal in a month be!?

PS: my frustration is expertly expressed in this moment in this video. I WANNA CHEW!

In addition to other uses of the ghee I personally really like that it is a good, mostly neutral base to add basically any flavoring desired and make homemade spread.

Some flavors that I so far tried are:

• Chili - excellent and easy to control how spicy the result is
• Garlic - both fresh, dried and a salty garlic paste. A kind poster has pointed out that it needs to be acidified or consumed in only a few short days or there is risk of developing botulism toxins - https://news.okstate.edu/articles/agriculture/2020/gedon_home-infused-oils.html
• Soy sauce - specifically shiitake mushrooms one
• Carob - not bad but the flavor is not really distinctive even if I add relatively lot of it. Perhaps I should tinker with it more
• Ajvar(tomato, eggplant, pepper mix)
• Horseradish
• Chill and bitter chocolate - did not turn out all that well but I will still try again to see if I can make a better result
• Ginger - dried

I probably should start keeping track of how much of something I add exactly but so far I do it just by guess. Usually something like one to three tablespoons for 150g of ghee or so.

Usually I simply add the warm ghee and the flavoring in the glass jar. I can not really use a mixer since I do small batches and do not want to have to clean it up afterwards. What I arrived at is to simply give the jar a good shake about every half an hour for a few hours. It is probably not the best solution but good enough.

It completely kills the longevity of the ghee. Especially the ingredients that are not dried but I do not really care since it is gone in a week anyway.

So far I only made ghee from store bought white butter so I am not sure how much difference it would make to make it directly from milk or from less processed butter.

Is there someone here who tried something similar? If so what flavors have you tried or recommend?

Edit: edited the problematic garlic entry.

Greetings ~food! Not too long ago, I posted a topic asking for cookbook recommendations and received a flood of amazing recommendations. Thank you all for sharing your favorites; I have expanded my collection thanks to that thread! One that has become a quick favorite of mine is Pasta Grannies, although I accidentally grabbed Book 2 and I'm still needing to grab Book 1.

Something that has dawned on me with that cookbook is the desire to make all the recipes similar to how Ash Ketchum wanted to catch all the Pokémon! The first recipe I made was Rina's Capriccio and oh lordy did it blow my mind how good it was and that I made it! My only complaint was the struggle to just pick one recipe to try and I'm aspiring to make a pasta dish every Sunday now.

Since there are several recipes from Pasta Grannies between the two books and their Youtube channel, I'm indecisive on what to do next. To all who have dived into their recipes, what are your favorites that are absolute must tries? What are some that might not be worth the effort? I'd love to hear everyone's experience with pasta making regardless if it's a Pasta Grannies recipe!

I'm trying to put together a small amount of kitchen equipment that I can take with me when we travel. And I'm looking for suggestions. I've been stung by holiday let kitchens before missing seemingly small but essential items.

So far I've got:

• Digital scales
• Good sized chopping board
• Sharp knife + sharpening stone
• Peeler
• Tongs
• Measuring spoons
• Small jars of salt, sugar, and oil
• Coffee grinder (yes it is essential)

Edit (community suggestions)

• Swiss army knife
• Probe thermometer

Any recommendations on other things you've missed in holiday houses before?

We have a multi-cooker (Ninja Foodie Max) which gets most of its usage as an air frier or pressure cooker.

We want to start meal prepping as with two kids time in the kitchen is getting increasingly difficult. Our go to big reusable meals are Bolognese or curries which we are getting a bit bored of, so what's your go to meal prep recipes?

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.

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!

As mentioned before my partner is a new paraplegic. He was a chef before becoming disabled a decade ago and the primary cook at home until the more recent injury. He's struggling to make sure he eats in part because making a baloney sandwich is currently an ordeal. We expect that to get easier as he gets OT and more used to being in a chair, but I'm wanting to start with prepared meals and work up to easy meal kits that help him get back into cooking. Difficulty level is things that taste good and have a variety of foods, as well as, for the future, kits that require less manual dexterity.
Recipes also welcome as well as any must have kitchen items. We have an air fryer, microwave, electric kettle and toaster he can use easily. Oven and stove that are a bit more tricky right now.

ETA: in the United States and with a large variety of grocery stores around me.

Do you have a home carbonation system? What do you carbonate with it? Just plain water? Flavored drinks?

My girlfriend gave me a DrinkMate as an early birthday present, and I love it. I've been going crazy with it.

Hello,
I am looking for mushroom or veg alternatives to cured meats, e.g., Capicola, Prosciutto, Salami, Pancetta, etc.). I have tried one (not sure of source or brand), but it was not particularly good.

Wondered if someone here knew of any that are worth trying. Alternatively, recipes to make one's own.
Thanks!

I need a really good recipe to win a baking competition this upcoming week. It doesn't matter if its hard to make or the ingredients are a little more expensive than usual. Anyone have a top-tier cookie recipe they'd be willing to share?

For me, I had never tasted the salt and vinegar potato chips until I moved to America.
The first I had it, I almost spit it out, but after a few months I bought it myself and felt it wasn’t ‘that bad’.
From that point, I went to picking it up every time I now get a sandwich.

It's summer, and it's time to relax. What is everyone drinking tonight?

I'll start:

I got sick and tired of drinking margaritas so I made a Paloma with the tequila I had around

2 oz of Tequila (blanco preferred)
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Grapefruit Juice
1/2 oz Simple Syrup

After mixing add all the ingredients into 1/2 a grapefruit soda.

I mixed the ingredients sans a soda and strained it into a highball glass then added the soda. Normally, I'd juice the lime myself, and garnish, but I'm lazy and my wife wanted a margarita instead. It's incredibly refreshing and citrus-y, but it is incredibly refreshing especially on a hot day.

What's everyone else drinking?

I have a Baratza Encore (or whatever the entry level model is called) and it could use some tlc. There are a bunch of bean parts accumulating under the hopper and grounds are getting stuck in places. I can disassemble to get the big stuff, but that's not enough. I'm wary of just splashing water or using a damp rag to wipe parts down. The oily residue needs some sort of detergent but I don't want to ruin anything or end up having my coffee tasting like soap or something.

Anyone have any experience or suggestions?

Edit: thanks to everyone for the tips! I've bought some grindz and I already popped the hopper off and gave the grinder a good brushing. There was a lot of buildup and the first grind afterward felt like it sounded quieter and I could swear the grounds were more consistent, but those are both probably illusions. Haven't made enough cups to taste a difference yet but I'll definitely be adding a regular cleaning to my routine.

Over decades, it seems that there has been this evolving body of knowledge surrounding plating and presentation, which can only be absorbed fully, if you've spent several years at a high-end bakery or fine dining restaurant (swooshing a sauce with the back of the spoon, quenelles, 3-dimensional whitespace, etc.).

I'm an aspiring dessert artisan, and I'd like to get up to date on those principles, approaches, and techniques, without having to squirrel my way into the fine-dining lifestyle.

Instagram and pictures in cookbooks are great for inspiration, but I feel like I would improve faster by understanding thought process/vocabulary, than from analyzing finished products.

Any suggestions/advice/resources? (Most visual design books are too general imo)

My wife just went back to work and as the one who works from home, that means I'll be cooking a lot more. I'm not bad in the kitchen, but I'm not good at just making something up without a recipe -- I can alter and combine existing recipes once I'm used to them, but I need that starting point.

My wife and I are also both neurodivergent so it's very easy for us to get overwhelmed and not have the executive function for cooking -- which is why we eat way too much takeout currently. So I'm looking particularly for recipes that are easy and tasty. Ideally they should be reasonably healthy as well, but "healthier than takeout" isn't a high bar.

We live in Germany, so please keep that in mind if you want to recommend a specific brand of premade stuff. That said, I don't turn up my nose at premade things if they're tasty and worth it.

We do have a wok, the staple sauces for Chinese cooking , and access to okay Asian supermarkets. As an example, our current staple weeknight meal is "chop up some broccoli and stir-fry it in light soy sauce and black vinegar w/ aromatics and sichuan doubanjiang." I'm willing to go out and buy sauces and seasonings for specific cuisines if I can find them and they're useful enough, but for perishables like veggies and meats I'd prefer to stick to what's easy to find at a German grocery store, since those are in walking distance. But anyway just don't assume we only want European-style food.

Stuff that feels appropriate for summer is also a huge plus! I know a few great stew and risotto recipes but I can't bring myself to make something so heavy in this hot weather.

I was pretty shocked when my partner and my best friend both told me that apparently the cheese and tuna omelettes my family has been eating for years aren't normal! I also know a guy at work who likes to eat spaghetti with either mayonnaise or gravy. What strange concoctions have you been eating?

I am moving apartments soon and will likely not have as much space in my kitchen. Specifically, I am most concerned about an oven, as I doubt I'll be able to get a full sized one.

Has anyone solved this issue? Know of any good, reliable brands (ideally with global shipping)? The last janky toaster oven I ordered from Amazon could barely get a good brownie out, so I hope to make a more solid investment this time that can actually bake things, if it even exists. That said, any compact, high-quality appliance is appreciated.