Short-cut/Cheat thread

[Anonymous No.9071822]

What short-cuts/Cheats do you use when making food, /ck/?

I use Worcestershire sauce instead of bonito flakes when making miso for myself.

[Anonymous No.9072577]

>I use Worcestershire sauce instead of bonito flakes when making miso for myself.
ないわー

[Anonymous No.9072580]

>>9071822
1) How is that a shortcut?
2) It tastes radically different.

[Anonymous No.9072683]

>>9071822
i thought miso soup was just miso paste and hot water?

[Anonymous No.9072775]

i use this stuff
no ragrets

[Anonymous No.9072794]

>>9072683
>>hot water
Not hot water, dashi. It's a broth made from hot water, konbu seaweed, and bonito flakes. Traditionally, anyway. These days most people use an instant dashi broth the same way that a western cook might use bullion cubes.

[Anonymous No.9072808]

>>9072794
why not just have a instant dashi broth miso paste mix

[Anonymous No.9072846]

>>9072808
>why not just have a instant dashi broth miso paste mix
That exists. You can buy miso paste that already has the dashi flavor mixed in.

And like nearly all convenience products it tastes nowhere near as good as doing things the traditional way.

In fact, the whole "instant miso" thing kind of confuses me because making it the traditional way is very fast and easy. Unlike western stocks that might require bones to be roasted, hours of simmering, then clarification, etc, it takes only a few minutes to make dashi. It's very little effort so it seems like an odd product to make an "instant" version of.

[Anonymous No.9072868]

>>9072846
>You can buy miso paste that already has the dashi flavor mixed in.

I bought this shit once. Never again.

[Anonymous No.9072899]

>>9072794
>>9072846
i just looked up what bonito are
does this mean miso soup isnt vegan?
my cousin's vegan girlfriend always orders it when we go for sushi train

[Anonymous No.9072915]

>>9072899
Yes

[Anonymous No.9072944]

>>9072899
>does this mean miso soup isnt vegan?
If it's traditionally made it's absolutely not Vegan.

And even the instant stuff often contains Bonito. The biggest brand of instant Dashi concentrate, "Hondashi" by Ajinomoto, is made from bonito so it is not vegan either.

[Anonymous No.9073259]

>>9071822
How do I like miso?

I ate some for the first time the other day and it just tasted gross to me. Like someone boiled their sweat and put a tablespoon of sugar in. Was it just a shitty bowl or is it supposed to taste bad?

[Anonymous No.9073272]

>>9073259
Uhm, miso is an ingredient used to cook other foods. You don't just eat miso by itself.

Also, most of the miso I've tried outside of Japan has been very shitty; it tastes like a salt bomb.

[Anonymous No.9073306]

I tend to heat my pan before putting meat/veg whatever in.

Seems to save a lot of time.

[Anonymous No.9073318]

>>9072899
I'd been a strict ovo-lacto vegetarian from birth, but the realization that dashi is all over my favorite Japanese dishes made me loosen up on that front.

FWIW, you can also make a nice dashi with kombu, and it's even a traditional and time-honored technique. But yeah, one shouldn't expect anything containing dashi to be fish-free.

[Anonymous No.9073337]

>>9073272
Everything is better in Japan.

[Anonymous No.9073344]

>>9072775
>putting an ampersand in the name
Why not just call it "miso easy" like "me so easy"?

[Anonymous No.9073348]

>>9071822
I microwave my potatoes before baking.... then I only have to bake them in the oven about 30 minutes to get the skin good and crisp.

[Anonymous No.9073389]

>>9073344
I don't know but I like to think it is a reflection of how authentic it is, like its a bad translation.

[Anonymous No.9073645]

>>9072580
Because you don't need to cut up a bunch of bonito, steep it in water and then scoop them all out of the water. You literally just add a couple drops and it does the job of adding that fishy/smoky umami flavour.

[Anonymous No.9073705]

>>9073645
Nobody makes their own bonito shavings these days. You buy them pre-shaved in bags. And the steeping process only takes about one or two minutes tops.

The difference in taste is huge, and the only time you save is well under 5 minutes. Seems like a bad trade-off to me. It would make sense if it saved you a lot of effort, but steeping some bonito shavings in water for 2 min hardly qualifies as that.