/ck/ - Food & Cooking

Why don't you start with deciding what kind of cuisine you wanna go for? Why don't you choose a specific kind of food/meat and find a recipe that suits you?
What I like to do is see what kind of meat is on sale, and I buy that and find a recipe that looks nice.
Start artificially limiting your options and go from there.

>>15491945
>but because the smallest package of chicken thighs are like 3lbs I ended up making enough for four days despite freezing half.
rookie error. next time get some freezer bags and split bulk purchases into individual meal servings.

>>15492006
This, freezer proof ziploc bags are absolute life savers. You can use them for anything you want too, from leftovers to raw ingredients, to stock.

>>15491945
This is now a recipe thread.
Post receipts and dishes you’ve made this week and post links if you have them.

Last thing I made was beef stew, simple, easy and delicious.

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/25678/beef-stew-vi/?internalSource=hub%20recipe&referringContentType=Search

>>15491945
Chicken can stay safe in a refrigerator without freezing for a week minimum.

>>15492026
Home made Chinese sweet and sour pork ribs
For 400g of ribs:
50g rock sugar
25g vinegar (preferably balsamic)
5g salt
1 liter of hot water

- Cut ribs across the bone, about 2cm each slice
- Soak in water for 30 minutes
- Drain water and rub with salt so they're all covered, let rest for 30 minutes
- Fry the ribs in fully heated canola oil (180c) Make sure they're submerged. Cook ribs in batches of 2-3 so the oil stays hot. Remove when they're golden brown and crispy

- In a wok place the sugar on top of a few tablespoons of canola oil over medium-high heat
- once the sugar starts melting reduce the heat to low and stir it constantly. Sugar burns easily so be careful. If you feel like it's burning too fast take it off the heat entirely. Burnt caramel is bitter and ruins the dish completely.
- If the sugar melted, that's not enough. Keep heating it until it starts foaming and the color changes from a dark brown to a bright red
- When the sugar is red, add the ribs and stir thoroughly until they're coated in caramel
- Add the hot water until the ribs are fully submerged. Around 700 ml, not sure exactly how much but add enough so that there's a few cm of water above the ribs
- Cook over high heat while covered until the water reduces, should take around 20 minutes or so
- Once the water has reduced and turned syrupy, add the vinegar to taste. Might need more or less than in recipe.

That's it!

Relatively simple dish outside of the caramel bit which needs some nerves.
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/ZzQ9twZR91Jb6IoU6k93Rw
Here's the recipe in Chinese. It contains some references photos for the color of the sugar/meat so take a look.
Delicious lunch, heartily recommended.

>>15492105
Correction - after adding the water, high heat to boiling and then reduce the heat to low, cover and reduce till the liquid is syrupy and viscious and only very little water is left.

>>15492019
Doesn't even need to be (comparatively) expensive ziplock for cuts of meat, just regular freezer bags are fine as long as you push out the air and spin them and close them up properly. It shouldn't cost more than a couple dollars for a huge amount of freezer bags.
And to defrost, leave the meat on a plate (because defrosting meat will often leak through the bag) for 24 hours in the fridge. If you forget or are in a hurry, submerge the bag in COLD water and swap the water out every 15 minutes

Gonna buy some freezer bags today.