Cooking Tips

[Michael_ Gee]

The first cooking lesson I got many many years ago remains the best. Cooking trout over the fire on a camping trip, one of my college friends, a wizard chemist and great cook, told me "remember Mike, nobody at the table ever said, "this dish has too much butter in it."

 

[TigerVols]

It's basic, but I'm a huge fan of America's Test Kitchen, especially the website subscription. I have the book to use as a reference, but it's an 800-page behemoth, so I'm usually only pulling it out for Thanksgiving or similar larger meals, when I'm doing multiple items at once. The website has a recipe and technique for pretty much anything you would want to cook, along with letting you filter based on dietary issues. (i.e. You can search for "chicken" and then "dairy free," which is very useful for me to just get an idea for the dishes I can cook for my wife right now.)

I use other cookbooks to kind of get inspiration for meals. Ruhlman's 20 is a great book when it comes to different techniques. For grill stuff, love Steve Reichlen, who has a PBS show as well that I love. It's like if Bob Ross had a cooking show, just a grey haired guy that loves to throw stuff on the grill. His grilled French toast, sans the brandy, is something I make for breakfast whenever I have time.

My go-to cookbook as well. Highly recommend.

 

[John]

I made this for dinner tonight (minus the cheddar) in my air fryer, with roasted carrots on the side. Outstanding, and with lots of room to refine and make it my own. Been on a big sweet potato kick lately.

Loaded Sweet Potatoes With Black Beans and Cheddar Recipe

 

[BurnsWhenIPee]

The cheddar with that seems kind of gross to me. The rest sounds amazing.

Love me some sweet potatoes.

 

[John]

The cheddar with that seems kind of gross to me. The rest sounds amazing.

Love me some sweet potatoes.

I don't really like cheddar to begin with, so I didn't consider adding it. The dish seemed better to me without any cheese (as do more and more dishes these days). It did need some crunch and my fiancee had the great idea of adding some chopped up chipotle cashews that I had. Worked well.

 

[Scout]

Buying a decent mechanical cheese grater and grating block cheese instead of pre-shredded upgrades everything.