I rarely ever used graters before, but in the past month or so I've been on a spring roll rampage. You've gotta have some whiskered cucumbers and carrots, and a mixture of impatience and inadequate knife skills means using a grater. Previously I had a super cheap one from Daiso, but that one broke so I got a nice new one from Oxo. And even though it's technically a lot more featured than the Japanese dollar store version I was using before, it's actually way worse. Today I tried to do a technique I've heard of, shredding tofu, and even though I was using extra-firm it crumbled instead of shredded.

The big difference between the Daiso and Oxo graters is that the Daiso one had maybe 3-4 rows of "teeth" doing the grating and the Oxo one has something like 15-20 of them. That gives you a heck of a lot more friction and you need to put a lot more force to use it. This doesn't just mean that your delicate food will be destroyed, it also means you have to press so hard that you risk your hand slipping and getting shredded. It also means you can't try to get large shreds because it will gum the process up.

In contrast, the fewer holes in the Japanese one would take more passes to shred the same amount of food, but each pass is so much easier because you have the benefit of being able to build up speed and momentum as you shred. It feels like you're making slices instead of trying to force food through a mesh. The holes are also in the center of the grater so each shred is going to be the full length of the thing you're grating.

Why is it that every western grater is built like this? Don't people realize how bad it is?

Long story short, I’ve gotten very tired of buying junky pans that start getting rusty, etc. really quickly.

At the moment, I’m trying to find some good metal pans for baking things like brownies and focaccia, so probably 8x8 and/or 9x13.

Anyone have any good brand recommendations?

I've been slowly transitioning my diet away from meat and dairy products. Cutting meat out has not really been an issue for me, and most dairy has been easy (I find the idea of milk gross anyway, never liked sour cream much, and butter substitutes are plentiful), but so far the idea of cutting out cheese seems like it will be my biggest hurdle. It's a central ingredient in many things I enjoy (mac and cheese, pizza, grilled cheese, sprinkling it on pasta, queso with chips and salsa, cottage cheese with jam, pretty much any Mexican dish). One of my sons is allergic to dairy so I've had plenty opportunities to try some of the small selection of vegan cheeses (mostly wheat based, I believe) we can get around here and they just don't do it for me at all--I find the texture and taste of every one I've tried actively repulsive (Daiya and Violife are the two that spring to mind).

Has anyone had better luck with vegan cheese--maybe brands or styles that I'm unaware of that come closer to replacing the real thing? Any tips on how to make cheeseless pizza that doesn't taste like sadness and despair? Or will there be a cheese-shaped hole in my soul I'm going to have to live with when I finally give it up?

Hey everyone, I am attempting to go vegan.

I just wanted to do a "vegan weekend", but I’m about a month in, and I'm feeling like I can keep this up. I've tried in the past, but there are far more vegan options than there were several years ago. If you are a vegan, please let me know any tips, tricks, etc. that you wish you knew sooner. If you are on the fence or curious about it, ask questions! Post your favorite vegan recipes in the comments or any online resources you recommend on veganism. General veganism thread.

So I normally don't care that much about food. But I just got introduced to r/ididnthaveeggs which is a repository of insane and ridiculous recipe substitutions from the comments sections of recipes. Even with zero knowledge of cooking, I know swapping carrot for shredded kale in a carrot cake recipe will not turn out well.

So cooks and food-eaters of Tildes, what are the most insane and ridiculous substitutions you've encountered or heard of? Especially curious if you've had the (mis)fortune of getting to try the innovative recipe for yourself.

I recently finished my 8-pack of ICE BREAKERS DUO strawberry (hard sugar-free mint) which I really liked because they don't leave a sweet/sugary aftertaste in your mouth. I was wondering what I should buy next. What's your favorite brand of mint and why?

Hello, as the title implies, I am looking for a temp controlled teapot.

I own an ember mug and have to say, it is one of my favorite purchases/splurges. For those that do not want to click on the link, this is a temperature controlled mug that holds a hot temp for liquids in a mug wirelessly. It does this with quite good precision IMO, have not whipped out a thermometer to check accuracy.

I have been looking for some time for a teapot that could do the same. The requirements I have are that no plastic or otherwise health adverse heat volatile materials come into contact with the heated water, and I would like it to be a teapot, because I like the ritual of pouring the tea out of the pot. I want to be able to steep and pour the tea from the same temp controlled vessel(I don't mind heating water and then pouring it into the temp controlled teapot), so I'm not looking for a temp controlled kettle, necessarily.

I think last time I looked I ended up on pages showing things like this set up, which I'm open to, but would like some guidance or reviews, if possible.

Thank you!

Bonus, what are your favorite mint teas or other teas that have a sensory experience outside of temp?

EDIT: On the same website I linked, I forgot to direct people here. Has anyone ever used a teapot warmer like the ones on that website?

Do you devour dessert first?

Do you eat your pizza with a fork and knife?

Do you put ketchup on your steak, or eat it well-done?

This is a place to confess your food crimes -- the worst, oddest, or most atypical ways/things/combinations that you eat.

In addition to confession, you may also take a moment to preach. Win over some converts. Convince others of your ways. It could be that, after hearing your defense, the jury here will actually find you not guilty...

My partner and I like to have a drink while we cook/ after work, and we've usually switch between some wine or more recently nice cocktails. I'd like to up my cocktail game when I'm hosting though.

What simple cocktails would you guys suggest?

So far my favourite cocktails are Negroni, White Russian, Old fashioned, and for after dinner a friend of mine made that Im not too sure about that's a 50 50 mix of whisky and amaretto with a cherry that's surprisingly good.

I’m wondering what people choose to drink with a Mac and cheese meal? This has long been a conundrum for me. Probably for 20 years I have finished making the mac only to stop for a minute and think “should I have milk? Water? Soda/pop? Something else?”

Seriously, I have this question almost every time. Doesn’t matter if it’s homemade mac or kraft box. For the last 8 years it hasn’t really come up because I just didn’t buy mac and cheese (box “dinner”), but now I have a kid coming into the age where they want it occasionally so it’s back on the menu.

Am I being weird about this?

Are there other foods that people have a hard time pairing with a drink?

Welp, I'm mildly allergic to nuts... and I'm trying to give up as much sugar as possible. What the hell do people snack on that is outside of this? I don't want to wind up making a ramp of carrot or anything

As a regular baker with whole grain wheat, I'm consistantly disappointed by the quality of flour I am buying, so I have finally got to the point where I have placed an order for some from an online source - in this case, Azure Standard. They make a big deal about their process, using a unifine mill - apparently something they had a hand in reviving when it had commercially failed. In trying to figure out why this was such a big deal I went into a bit of a black hole looking into wheat milling.

Part of that was learning about home mills. It seems almost insane to me, but people buy some very expensive mills in order to make the best quality breads. You can even buy impact mills, the same general concept that makes Azure's unifine mill such an attractive proposition, and it looks like a popular manufacturer in that niche has just introduced one that's less than $200, which I think makes it pretty attractive for less, uh, intense bakers.

I've been seeing a lot of weird kitchen appliances in recent years. Thermomix cookers have been a big thing for a few years. "Smart" or "AI" Ovens have been in the news a lot more recently, and it wasn't too long ago that sous vide specific cookers and electric pressure cookers were unusual. An odd one that I'm particularly interested in is a soymilk maker, which will grind, filter, and cook them.

Do you own a weird kitchen appliance? What do you think of them? Is it something you think other home cooks would like to have?

I'm in need of inspiration for tasty and fun food combinations to make myself eat more natural yogurts instead of the preflavoured ones (which I found out are definitely not as healthy!). What are your preferences and recommendations, oh fellow yogurt eaters? Which natural yogurt is superior for such a snack? What do you mix with it and how much? I must know!

I’m looking to explore a bit so i’d love to hear your thoughts. These are the items that make my kitchen special. I mainly cook Asian style food (Chinese, Japanese), so my ingredients trend in that direction. This is a combination of ingredients, condiments, and even snacks that bring joy to me.

If there’s a particular special brand that you think is extra special, i’d love to hear it too!

• Mirin (in Toronto there is a small store that makes homemade mirin)
• Yuzu ponzu sauce (same supplier)
• Furikake / shichimi
• Korean seasoned salt
• Perilla Oil (an amazing nuttier substitute to sesame oil) - great on subtle dishes like zaru soba
• Szechuan peppercorns - amazing to put into the mortar with other aromatics
• Chinese cured pork belly - wow how immensely flavorful - I like the five spice one. Small cubes makes fried rice sing
• Oyster sauce (two ladies LKK not panda LKK)
• Nem Chua
• Good butter (Kerrygold or St Brigid)
• Sambal Oelek
• Pandan leaves and frozen chopped lemongrass
• Maldon salt
• Frozen cheap chocolate squares (Swiss Delice)
• Lao Gan Ma black bean chili crisp
• Salted yolk potato chips, Honey Butter chips
• Korean seaweed sheets for stock along with the little anchovies
• Frozen unshelled clam meat - just throw a handful into anything like pasta or stir fries. So cheap and so good!
• Chinese cooking wine
• Perilla leaves (gganib)
• when I can find them, Alphonso, Kesar, or Colombian Sugar Mangos
• Concord or Muscat grapes
• fatty Biltong (Florence meats is best)
• wavy soba (for some reason I like the mouth feel)
• frozen special handmade ramen
• Calabrian peppers
• Peperoncinos (I like the ones from Terroni)
• Peruvian sweety drop peppers
• Thai kefir leaves (frozen)
• Thai birdseye peppers
• Vietnamese veggies (rau ram) and Thai basil mmm
• fermented tofu bricks - kinda smelly but adds a slickness and sourness when stir frying Chinese veggies
• Korean coque d’asses (Japanese ones are a bit dry for me). Great frozen as well.
• mango gummy candy from cocoa land lot 100
• Chinese snow pear
• kewpie mayo (creepy baby)
• kozlik triple crunch mustard
• Vietnamese fried onions (need to figure out what brand is best)
• affordable soy sauce (made in Japan ones - yamasa or kikkoman)
• fermented black pepper (I like the Trader Joe’s ones - I put it into ramen broth)
• kecap manis (abc brand) for making Indonesian stuff
• Hungarian Hunters sausages - great snacks that last

I started eating spicy food (mainly the 2x spicy chicken flavored instant noodles) and very spicy pho ever week.

this all culminated in me having done the hot ones like 3-4 times now and it's been fun. More or less, I can take the heat and its becoming enjoyable.

The one issue that still remains though is when the spicy food hits my digestive tract. sometimes it doesn't bother me at all, but more commonly it can cause serious discomfort and pain for about half an hour before I can finally hit the bathroom. The only thing I have found that remedies it is drinking vegan milk as it passes my digestive tract.

problem is I don't know what to do about it. apparently my stomach is more sensitive then my mouth to spicy food but I don't really know how to make my stomach less sensitive. I'd have though after a year it would get used to spicy and it's doing better than at the beginning I guess but still not without occasional pains.

Have a friend who has raved about using these for cooking meet during the work day and pan searing it for a quick easy and delicious meal. Plan on doing that with steaks/chicken, but wanted to see if anyone else on Tildes owns one and has any tips or favorite use cases to share.

I am in the process of starting up my own food blog. I have no hopes or aspirations of being huge or making money, it will solely be a labor of love and an outlet for my love of food to share with the world.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a specific niche that will be targeting and was looking to crowd source opinions on what people would feel they would like in a food blog. I’m hoping to avoid suggestions like “less convoluted stories about your grandmothers tablecloth for 3 pages before the recipe” since I think we can all agree on that front.

Some of you may be thinking the world needs another blog like you need another asshole, and that may be true. However, part of my impetus was that many of the recipe blogs I find online have the same generic 30-40 recipes with minimal variation. Others of higher quality are moving behind paywalls. My goal is to try to include slightly more obscure recipes from all over the world, tried/tested/optimized for simplicity in cooking and flavor, or more unique variations on more common recipes. I also aspire to do some articles a bit more experimental / scientific in nature in the vein of some of J Kenji Lopez Alts articles a la serious eats but that is a larger aspiration for down the road.

I welcome any suggestions or sharing of your current favorite food blogs. I know the current social media trend is YouTube, TikTok, and the like. However as I find myself here with you all, you may understand my preference for sticking with the written word (and occasional photos). Cheers!