pandemic pantry - food, getting it, storing it, baking during lockdown

[MJ5150]

you remove moisture while you roast, which won't happen from grinding. btw, Arie X also roasts his coffee - he has a nesco roaster. what kind do you use?

if you put in 16 ounces of grain, you should get 16 ounces of flour minus any small amount that sticks to the mill stones. i've been grinding my flour in a coffee grinder, but i can't get it fine enough. when i put in a couple of ounces, i get a couple ounces of flour if i scrape under the blade.



i have friends with the electric wondermill and they love it. i wanted to get an electric mill, to be honest, but my husband wants something that will work with no electricity, and i can always get the drill attachment.

I have a Huky roaster. It roasts one pound at a time.
A decent quality burr grinder should be able to get you to the consistency of flour. It'll take some time and work, but you can get there.
We grind for Turkish coffee now and then, which is about the consistency of flour.

-Mike

 

[fhm555]

Here's a blast from the past, my fav ramen bowl from when i ate so much of the stuff because it was about all i could afford at the time. It's noodles boiled in a pot of onion soup. When they are just about done crack an egg in the pot but don't stir it. Let it go until the white is set but the yolk us still runny then break it up and mix it in. Oh and toss the flavor packet that comes with the noodles. It's way too salty and i've never cared for the flavor, and it's worth the trouble to find low salt dry onion soup mix for this.

 

[pcake]

oooh! that looks delish!

i have low sodium mock chicken broth, low sodium mushroom broth, fresh eggs and some noodles - i think i'll try this. i wonder if i can get low sodium vegetarian ramen broth... i'm off to amazon!

*****a few minutes pass*****

i'm back - what do you think of this one?
https://www.amazon.com/Edward-Sons-Reduced-Sodium-Envelopes/dp/B000F4GP96/

 

[StereoPlayer]

Here's a blast from the past, my fav ramen bowl from when i ate so much of the stuff because it was about all i could afford at the time. It's noodles boiled in a pot of onion soup. When they are just about done crack an egg in the pot but don't stir it. Let it go until the white is set but the yolk us still runny then break it up and mix it in. Oh and toss the flavor packet that comes with the noodles. It's way too salty and i've never cared for the flavor, and it's worth the trouble to find low salt dry onion soup mix for this.

View attachment 3794976

Sometimes in the winter I microwave chicken broth very hot and put an egg in it that way. A quick and warming breakfast thing.

 

[MJ5150]

This is the ramen I buy from the local Asian market. It's $1.25 a package. They charge a little extra for it since it's harder to get.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077FG8W9Z/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_awdo_t1_lNFNEbCKBHSY0
I've never added an egg, but that's a neat idea.

-Mike

 

[fhm555]

This is the ramen I buy from the local Asian market. It's $1.25 a package. They charge a little extra for it since it's harder to get.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077FG8W9Z/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_awdo_t1_lNFNEbCKBHSY0
I've never added an egg, but that's a neat idea.

-Mike

That looks pretty good

 

[LBS-bass]

This is the ramen I buy from the local Asian market. It's $1.25 a package. They charge a little extra for it since it's harder to get.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077FG8W9Z/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_awdo_t1_lNFNEbCKBHSY0
I've never added an egg, but that's a neat idea.

-Mike

I would love to know the technique they use to add egg to an egg drop soup. I've tried it once or twice but just ended up with a gloppy mess.

 

[MJ5150]

I would love to know the technique they use to add egg to an egg drop soup. I've tried it once or twice but just ended up with a gloppy mess.

The wife said the key for her when having poached eggs is vinegar in the water and she swirls the water in the pan before dropping the egg in.
These guys are talking about adding it at the end, so I am curious too how they make it work.

-Mike

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

We faced the same issue in our house. Then we found this website, The Spice House.
We like how it lets you search spices by region of the world, and search recipes that way too. You can even search by ingredient.
It's been fun choosing a part of the world we may be less familiar with, then finding recipes we both would like.
I also use an app on my Android phone called Cooklist. It takes some time to set up, but once you inventory in the app the food you have in your house, it suggests recipes based on what you told it you have in the pantry. It also creates shopping lists for you, and depending on what stores are available in your area, will put those items in the shopping cart of the grocery store you are going to/ordering from.
We have a menu board and plan our meals weekly. Both of those have been a huge help to diversify what we're eating and add some creativity.
Me though? I could eat pizza everyday and not complain once.

-Mike

I got one of those apps. I put in what I have in my pantry and the fridge.
It gave me directions to McDonald's.

 

[MJ5150]

That looks pretty good

It is blazing hot on the spicy scale. Too spicy for most people.
I can eat a Carolina Reaper or a Ghost pepper raw, so it's not too much for me. Other folks though, it's way too spicy.
I add fresh sliced habanero to mine or jalapenos if the habaneros at the store look lame. The Thai chili peppers are good too, or the bark they use.
A long time ago a friend of ours owned a Thai joint here in town. She had what she called 'bark' that she'd add to my dishes that made it out of this world spicy. She'd say to me....I'm adding the bark to yours so it'll be spicy enough.
I never found out exactly what it was, and searches online were unsuccessful. Maybe @Killed_by_Death knows?

-Mike

 

[Killed_by_Death]

If it's too hot you should just let it cool off.
Thai Basil (Holy Basil) is often added to spice things up, it does something magical.

 

[MJ5150]

If it's too hot you should just let it cool off.
Thai Basil (Holy Basil) is often added to spice things up, it does something magical.

We have lots of Thai basil around here. That isn't spicy at all.
Do you have any ideas what our friend was referring to when she mentioned adding 'bark' to what I ordered so it would be crazy spicy?
The obvious answer may be, 'just ask her yourself'. I can't. She died a few yeas ago.

Edit....I went back and edited out 'hot' for 'spicy'.
I know you've had this conversation before, but it is acceptable to use the word hot for spicy when in the right context.

-Mike

 

[StereoPlayer]

I would love to know the technique they use to add egg to an egg drop soup. I've tried it once or twice but just ended up with a gloppy mess.

I just stir mine a lot after I add the egg. Kinda does a thickening thing.
IMO, it has to be very hot liquid.

 

[2strings2frets]

that's a running joke in these parts. Whenever a hurricane looks like it's going to make landfall on the NW FL gulf coast and may make it across the panhandle in to south Alabama, milk and bread are the first food items to disappear. Makes sense to me. A few days ahead of a big storm that will most likely leave you without power who wouldn't run out and grab a six week supply of milk and bread? I'm thinking it must be regional because any impending big weather event triggers massive buys of milk and bread. Snow, ice storm, etc.

It's not regional; on the Jersey shore if any bad weather is forecast the senior citizens strip most stores bare. I remember one large chain store that had two employees dedicated to keeping the milk cooler stocked from extra semi trailers parked in back,they couldn't keep up! The big mystery is what happens to all the panic bought food. The next week they shop as usual, as if nothing extra was purchased a few days before.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

We have lots of Thai basil around here. That isn't spicy at all.

It's not spicy in & of itself, but when added to something with Thai chillies it nearly doubles the level of spiciness.
I've witnessed it myself with putt-graprow (basil-fried), if you do it w/o the Thai basil it's just not as spicy.

The only bark I know of that is used in Thailand is Cassia tree-bark, but it's spicy like Cinnamon & is colloquially known as Chinese Cinnamon.

it is acceptable to use the word hot for spicy

It might be, but no one in Thailand is going to say they want their dish "rawn"/hot when they want it "pet"/spicy.
AFAIK this anomaly is only done in English. Spanish-speakers don't mix up hot & spicy.

Recently I saw a man ordering his meal Hot at an Indian restaurant, they didn't get it. Of course they're going to serve it Hot, who serves curry cold?

Anyway, I will always take the mick wherever possible of someone using hot when they mean spicy. It's a pedantic dad-joke that apparently only Patty-Cake got, LOL!
I should have added an emoticon, but that would wreck the Steven Wright deadpan:

 

[MJ5150]

It's not spicy in & of itself, but when added to something with Thai chillies it nearly doubles the level of spiciness.
I've witnessed it myself with putt-graprow (basil-fried), if you do it w/o the Thai basil it's just not as spicy.

The only bark I know of that is used in Thailand is Cassia tree-bark, but it's spicy like Cinnamon & is colloquially known as Chinese Cinnamon.




It might be, but no one in Thailand is going to say they want their dish "rawn"/hot when they want it "pet"/spicy.
AFAIK this anomaly is only done in English. Spanish-speakers don't mix up hot & spicy.

Recently I saw a man ordering his meal Hot at an Indian restaurant, they didn't get it. Of course they're going to serve it Hot, who serves curry cold?

Anyway, I will always take the mick wherever possible of someone using hot when they mean spicy. It's a pedantic dad-joke that apparently only Patty-Cake got, LOL!
I should have added an emoticon, but that would wreck the Steven Wright deadpan:

View attachment 3795577

I'm with you on the etymology, but since we're in the USA (at least I am), I'll let slide the wacky way we've mixed up the words spicy and hot.
Totally feel you on ordering something hot. Although the Thai place we go to now, the woman from Thailand who takes our order (it's a husband and wife run joint. He's from the USA, she is from Thailand) always asks me how hot I want it. Or, she'll ask if I want it 'Thai hot'. Even she has succumbed to the mix-up.
Thanks for taking the time to clear up those two words. I didn't know the difference, but now I know what to look for on the menu.
Someday I'll find that bark, or maybe it was something else and that was the best English word she could find to describe it.

-Mike

 

[Killed_by_Death]

I make sure they understand by telling them I want it SAAAP mahk-mahk,
SAAP is the word for "stinging pain", but also is their colloquial way of saying really spicy.

Last month I went down South to the best Thai restaurant for 100 miles & that dude puts some Stank on it!
When he asks if I want it Thai spicy, I say no, I want it LAO spicy, & then go on about Saap Eee Lee (Lao for the same above, spicy much much).

Once a coworker asked me what the Lao words were for tasty, but not spicy.
I told him there's no such thing, it's either Saap, or it's not.
Saap in Laos = spicy & tasty

 

[MJ5150]

Where do you live?
I need to come visit so we can go out for Thai food together.

-Mike

 

[Killed_by_Death]

I need to drive 100 miles for really good Thai food, LOL!
There's some good Thai restaurants in NoVa.

been making a LOT of air-fried wings

An old recipe came to mind over the weekend, my family used to help the Woodmen of the World barbecue chicken every Summer & it was the best damn barbecued chicken I've ever had:

equal parts lemon-juice / balsamic-vinegar / olive-oil
black-pepper (preferably coarse-ground) & MSG or Garlic-Salt to taste, mine was 1 part to 3 per the fluids (so for a tablespoon of oil, a teaspoon of black-pepper)

It turned out great, but not very photogenic.

 

[Downunderwonder]

In Japan it was eat what you were given or go hungry. Ideally for breakfast there would be last night's leftover dinners from nightshift rather preferring food from home, but I got to quite like raw egg dumped into hot rice and stirred with a little soy sauce then parceled into nori seaweed paper.

It's all coming back to me. Scramble egg with tsp of soy sauce. Add to hot rice. Pick up sushi seaweed and push through and around a gob of rice mush and close seaweed back on itself like a genuine Japanese chopstick ninja.