/ck/ - Food & Cooking

>>20114002
>it ends up being bland and flavorless no matter how much seasoning I add
I'm going to give you a piece of advice that an old chef once told me at my first job. I think I was making an asparagus soup for a special - even though I'd never made asparagus soup before - and after fumbling around for awhile I asked him to taste it and tell me what I'm doing wrong, and why it's so bland. He asked me what herbs and seasonings I added, and then said, "that sounds good, so what's the problem?" And I told him it's just kind of bland. And here's the real kicker, and a piece of advice I will never forget: he said, "if your soup doesn't have enough seasoning, add more seasoning." I know, it sounds stupid and borderline trolling. But...that's honestly the only answer. It's not magic; it's just experience, and learning to taste your food and get a sense for proportions.

As for thickening, there's lot's of options. For a stew, you don't want to just "reduce it". That's dumb. I also don't like adding mushy ingredients. If you're using flour, add it when you're sweating the aromatics. If there isn't enough, you can always whip up a bit of roux in a sauce pan, ladle in a bit of the broth to incorporate, and then gradually add it back until you've reached the desired consistency. Alternatively, it's a lot quicker and easier to do a corn starch slurry (you can use potato starch or whatever; we just use corn starch here because...). Just mix equal parts starch and water and add towards the end. 30 seconds on a low boil and it will thicken right up. It's a different kind of thickness than roux (it was first described to me as "Chinese takeout thickness"), but it's not necessarily bad. It's a lot faster than flour (you need to cook the raw flour taste out), so that might be a better option to experiment with, as you can add a little at a time and see the results almost instantly.

>now we're just blatantly advertising our yt channels on /ck/
This place is dead.

Are pickled eggs good, what are some good brands

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