Culinary Pet Peeves

Post by **Darb** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 5:54 pm

Gee, did you forgot to open the cans while warming the contents (for pourability) ?

Aunflin · Post by **Aunflin** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 7:47 pm

I've made caramel before with sweetened condensed milk and never had the cans explode. I guess it was just bad luck.

The experience was actually quite funny: a loud explosion, the heavy skillet I used as a lid for the pot flew three feet across the kitchen, caramel was splattered everywhere, and one of the waitresses ran back into the kitchen to see if I was ok. I was fine, though I somehow had caramel all over the back of my jacket, though I was on the other side of the kitchen when the incident occurred...

It's always the simple things that get me...

Post by **Darb** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 12:05 pm

PEEVE: Lousy Mashed Potatoes

Today, I had some garlic mashed potatoes ... but the lazy knuckle-dragging slop jockey who made them used old idahos, and didn't even bother to peel them. As a result, there were large crumpled chunks of heavy tough leathery skin all over the place. It's ok to leave on the skins with things like young fingerlin, russets, or new potatoes ... but not old idahos.

tollbaby · Post by **tollbaby** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 12:34 pm

mmmm smashed russets with sour cream & chives smushed in during the mashing process.... *drool*

However, I'm with you on the skin issue with older potatoes.

mccormack44 · Post by **mccormack44** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 12:39 pm

Potato skins seem to be one of the items good for high fiber. I've been considering boiling with skin on; slipping the skin off and mincing very fine, then adding the minced skin to the rest of the ingredients. Would this work even though the skins are not at the most tender stage?

Sue

Post by **Darb** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 12:44 pm

Yes, but probably best to cut off any eyes or green parts ... the latter of which can contain some unhealthy alkyloids.

Personally, if I want some extra fiber, I'd probably opt instead to swill a glass of liquid with some ground flax in it, or have an extra serving of veggies, rather than have chewy leathery chunks in my otherwise prisitine mashed potatoes ... but that's just me.

I'll occasionally go on for some idaho skins that have been roasted in the oven, with a light sprinking of cheese, to a nice crispiness ... but they dont work as well in a mashed format.

Post by **Kvetch** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 1:00 pm

Well I just mash it right through, but them I'm not overly attached to the creamy smooth texture - which horrified some of the people I lived with over the last year, who treat mash with the reverence I treat houmous.

Post by **Darb** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 1:27 pm

Oh, I like my potatoes a bit course too ... I'm just not keen on heavy patches of skin reminiscent of shoe leather, 1"+ in size (like I encountered earlier today).

BTW, it's spelled "hummus". {goosesteps}

tollbaby · Post by **tollbaby** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 2:21 pm

Brad wrote:Oh, I like my potatoes a bit course too ... I'm just not keen on heavy patches of skin reminiscent of shoe leather, 1"+ in size (like I encountered earlier today).

BTW, it's spelled "hummus". {goosesteps}

Brad, there are about 20 ways to spell that... the people who named it don't share our alphabet, so most people spell it phonetically. There's no one accepted spelling.

violetblue · Post by **violetblue** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 2:25 pm

Sue, I don't think this method would translate to mashed potatoes as well, but when I bake my potatoes, I rub the skins with some butter and then sprinkle on kosher salt. I always try to make sure to bake them for a long time, too. I like to eat the skin myself, and I find this method softens the skin and makes it tasty to boot.

mccormack44 · Post by **mccormack44** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 3:46 pm

I oil the skins, but haven't tried the salt. I will have to add that the next time I bake potatoes.

Sue

blueworld · Post by **blueworld** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 7:47 am

My mother always leaves the skins in mashed potatoes. They've never seemed too tough to me -- I think she uses potatoes on the newer, smaller side.

Post by **Darb** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 11:21 am

Peeve: Poor Culinary Judgement

Ok, this one happened today. I took my first bite of some overly creamy-looking creamed spinach from the cafeteria, and immediately noticed some oddly out-of-place flavor(s) ... vanilla and hazelnut. Suddenly, a lightbulb went off. Some enterprising cost-conscious schmuck in the kitchen probably got a new dairy delivery today, noticed that the old flavored cream in the dairy dispenser (near the coffee station) was getting a bit long in the tooth, and rather than pitching it (like a sane individual) they opted intead to make their creamed spinach for today's menu with the dregs of the flavored cream(s), rather than with the usual roux + whole milk. Idiot.

I basically ate one bite, scowled with disbelief, took two more small tastes just to be sure, and tossed the rest in the garbage.

Emperor · Post by **Emperor** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 11:36 am

I'm sorry to hear that Brad...but that had me laughing out loud reading that.

The things they do in a kitchen, geez. What else was with the meal?

Post by **Darb** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 11:47 am

Peeve: Inept Meat Slicing

I hate it when cooks not only have no clue about how to slice meat across the grain, but they clearly dont know how to trim it before cooking/serving it either.

Today, for instance, I had sliced brisket that was not only cut lengthwise along the grain (producing long chewy threads of meat requiring a knife to eat, rather than tender juicy fork-tender crosswise slices), but the person also failed to remove the 1" thick slab of fat across the top before carving it.

The fat layer is typically left on for slow smoking and braising, so the meat is self basting ... but the remainder is then mostly removed, or at least trimmed down to 1/8", before slicing and serving, so that people dont get big mouthfuls of rubbery greasy fat along with their meat.

violetblue · Post by **violetblue** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 11:55 am

There is a butcher shop in town that used to make the best smoked brisket... delicious with BBQ sauce. All of the sudden, it's like they forgot how to trim it. I don't buy it anymore because it's now fatty and greasy. Ick.

Emperor · Post by **Emperor** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 11:05 am

It has been my experience that when something is great time after time for months or years and suddenly changes....its usually an indication that somthing is different at the store, like the butcher left or is under new management...

this of course might not be the case but I know is other situations I have seen this happen. Like my fav breakfast restaurant had some great home fries with just the right size and spice to look forward too every weekend...I have now heard (I moved away) that they are serving the little box flavourless potatoes now and its not the same....

violetblue · Post by **violetblue** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 3:03 pm

I hear ya, Emp. I thought it might just be the town I live in, but I guess this is a universal phenomenon. I've noticed that about restaurants, too. I think you're right, and I also think maybe some restaurants start feeling the pinch for money or start getting cheap because they think if they cut corners they'll make even more money. I hate the fact that all these "convenience" foods are available to restaurants. Besides my "bad hygiene" phobia with restaurants, this is another reason I don't eat out very often. If I'm going to open a vacumn pack of food and nuke it, I'll do it at home, thank you very much. The exceptions I make to eating out are eating at my local co-op, because they make healthy, unusual meals, and eating at restaurants which serve dishes that would be time-consuming or expensive to make. Whatever the cause, it's very frustrating.

Emperor · Post by **Emperor** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 3:46 pm

I believe my biggest pet peeve about Restaurants or Cafes is the ever changing portion size. I fully understand that equal parts to everyone is fair....but I'm not an idiot (well sometimes but we wont go there right now

) a man will generally eat a larger portion than a woman. There are exceptions to this of course. When I went to college I managed to befriend the Chef serving dinner to the students who lived on campus, but the management tended to continuously shrink the amount of food given to each person while the cost of food went up again and again. It would just get on my nerves again and again more so as it was the only place we could go for dinner unless we went off campus.

daetara · Post by **daetara** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 11:07 am

i don't know that it's quite at the level of a peeve, but this seemed like the most appropriate place to put this...went to my neighborhood grocery store to get a "pot roast" piece of meat. only large cut they had out was a bottom round, which is definitely not what i had in mind. i decided to be brave and actually ask the butcher for what i wanted. the lady who took my request apparently didn't have a clue what i was talking about, and assumed i wanted a bottom round with more fat (i asked for a cut of meat with more connective tissue, without specifying bottom round/shoulder cut/what have you, so it's partly my fault for not knowing what to ask for). and the butcher, without coming out and asking me even one question, just cut another bottom round with a 1/2 inch thick layer of fat on the bottom.

since he was busy, and it was partly my fault, i just thanked him and promptly put it in the fridge case with the other bottom rounds. and then proceeded to use stew meat, which wasn't what i wanted either, but was at least marginally more suited to my purposes.

Post by **Darb** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 2:13 pm

The classic cut for pot roast is a nicely marbled roast from the chuck area, aka "Chuck roast". Sadly, all too many supermarkets & groceries increasingly no longer carry/make it, because that's an old style slow-cooking cut that there isnt as much call or demand for as there used to be back in say, the 1950's. They tend to grind it for hamburger, chop it up into stewing meat, or steak it - and increasingly often it arrives pre-fabricated that way, straight from the meat packing facility ... meaning that if you want whole boneless chuck in roast form, they cant make it on the spot for you - they'd have to special order it.

Anyway, you were wise to put the bottom round back - it's much too lean (all it's fat is on the exterior), and tasteless, for use as pot roast, and would likely cook up fairly dry, stringy, and flavorless.

/me drags out the ol soapbox, and climbs on.

That's another of the big differences between a clueless uncaring nobody working for chump change behind the meat counter at a grocery store, and a real butcher whose sole business is marketing/selling good quality meat, and who reaps direct rewards for doing well (rather than an unchanging hourly pittance with no connection to skill/performance).

Still, you can stack the odds in your favor by knowing what to ask for, and training your eyes to tell if they actually gave it to you (rather than fobbing off something cheap and incorrect).

daetara · Post by **daetara** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 10:16 am

well, i can get exactly what i want from sam's club or costco...in fact, that's how i know what to look for, 'cause i tried it with a cut i found at costco that worked really well. so now i know that i need to plan farther ahead so i can get one of those cuts when i want to roast a pot.

i don't think there's anyone here from richmond besides me...but if anyone knows of a good butcher in the area that they could recommend i'd be indebted to you forever...

tollbaby · Post by **tollbaby** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 11:10 am

I noticed that you never stepped "off" the soapbox, Brad

Post by **Darb** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 12:36 pm

Whoops !

/me steps down, and kicks soapbox under desk.

Emperor · Post by **Emperor** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 2:09 pm

did we catch him monologing?

No offence meant with that remark.