Dino’s back to talk about cooking! While the conversation DOES meander, we talk about gear, prep, and timing. We also talk about cooking for children, meal planning, the culture behind family/group meals, and a lot more (that includes recipes). But before that, Ursula and I talk about the past weekend at SDCC, dinner decision fatigue, and give an update on the baby chickens.
Links for this Episode:
- Comics for Peace
- Kevin’s Instant Pot Pinterest Board
- 6-Qt Instant Pot (Amazon)
- Zojirushi 10-cup Rice Cooker (Amazon)
- Zojirushi 3-Qt Hot Water Kettle
- AGA Cast Iron Stoves
- Hawkins Futura Pressure Cookers
- Lagostina Pressure Cookers (Amazon)
- 4-tier Tiffin Boxes (Amazon)
- “Refreshed” Vitamix A2500 (Amazon)
- Lodge 5-Qt Dutch Oven
- Harold McGee’s On Food and Cooking (Amazon)
- Alton Brown’s I’m Just Here for the Food
- What is Sous Vide (Anova)
- Snakes on a Plane (2006) (IMDB)
- Hobo with a Shotgun (2011) (IMDB)
Download
“French Cooking in Ten Minutes: Adapting to the Rhythm of Modern Life (1930)” by Edouard de Pomiane is the book I think Dino is referencing. Its advice is to have a gas stove (it was written in 1930) and to light the stove, put on water to boil, and then take off your coat. The author notes that the water, if nothing else, would be used to make coffee. My edition is in English, with Philip Hyman and Mary Hyman listed as translators.. The book is organized by cooking methods, and de Pomiane limits himself to what can be done in 10 minutes after starting (aka, after taking off coat, fixing a cocktail, etc). Since this rules out a lot of French cooking methods, that narrows it down a lot 😉
Discussion of how cooks on TV always have prep work done reminded me of “30-Minute Meals”. Rachel is chopping and grabbing things from the fridge and pantry during the 30 minutes. I’ve yet to MAKE any of her dishes in 30 minutes, but at least it’s 45 not 90!
THAT IS THE EXACT ONE. Holy fuck, I never thought I’d see that thing again. It was so goddamned cute, and I took away a ton of smart techniques from it that I use to this day, even if I don’t necessarily use the recipes.
You can read that little book like it’s a book of straight prose, because the writing is so charming.
Navy Curry. I knew exactly what you were talking about immediately.
Japanese Soul Cooking, by Tadashi Ono and Harris Salat
It has a recipe for Battleship Curry. The whole book is great, and at least worth getting from the library to look at. I’ve made this recipe and it was really good!
The specific recipe can be found on saveur here: https://www.saveur.com/article/recipes/japanese-battleship-curry/
OMFG, I love the Dino episodes because I always learn something and laugh! I listen to the podcasts during my afternoon walks around my college and always get weird looks because I’m laughing so much.
Literally, 3 days after this episode went live, Dino’s request of “start a pot of water and chop an onion if you want to help or get things started for me” really resonated with me. My husband and I were trying to figure out dinner and I decided to make a quick onion and butternut squash curry (one of my go-to dinners) and husband asked how he could help. I immediately said chop an onion and get a pot of water boiling–granted I needed this for the curry and rice anyways, but I ended up laughing my ass off for a good 5 minutes and kept repeating OMG Dino was right!
PS If you haven’t seen the email already, I’m sending you a picture of how cast iron should be revered! You bring shame to your ancestors! I was tempted to drive up to NC to shame you in person!
Keep the laughs coming~Cori Large
I’ve been cooking a lot at the boyfriend’s house. He /knows/ how to cook, but really basic stuff. I made sure to have a fair few spices that I’ll need, along with some nice cookware and knives there, so that when I come over, I’m not all annoyed. Also, got him an electric kettle, because former roommate took theirs with them when they moved out. D’oh!
He’s getting used to my asking him to put the kettle on before I start making something, and if I’m doing something decidedly Indian, to throw on a pot of rice in the Aroma. Or, if I’m doing a pasta situation, the electric kettle gets water boiling faster than the gas (!) stove, so I’ll throw in like a litre or so of cold water into the pot, and have my guy fill up the 1.7 litre electric kettle, and then combine the two fucks when the one outpaces the other (it’s always the kettle; god bless that shiny little bastard).
When I’d go to my BFF’s house to cook, she and her brother would know to go get the garlic, and start peeling, because we were in for a wild ride. Someone would get water boiling, another would get cracking on the garlic peeling (how much, Dino? Oh duh. The whole head.), and I’d be foraging in the fridge for whatever veg I could find.
The adorable thing is that both her mum and her aunt know I’m vegan, and see how [relatively] thin I am, so they think I’m never gonna have enough to eat. So they will have absolute massive quantities to choose from, and insist that I have a go at /all the things/. Because why the fuck not, right? I’m not even mad at it, because hey! Vegetables. They are cool.
Also. Share with the class, Cori. You can’t say “butternut squash curry”, “go-to meal”, and “rice” (all things that I wish we’d all keep on hand more often) without giving us more hints on what’s good.
This curry recipe is has become one of our favorites. I always have the ingredients in the pantry and freezer. I make this at least once a month, usually as a result of “Hey we never figured out dinner.” Husband’s fav curry is chicken tikka, while mine is a vege korma. Most of my spices are to taste. I’ve attempted to give amounts, but honestly haven’t used a measuring spoon for this recipe in years.
Butternut Squash Curry:
1 medium onion; sliced or chopped (preference honestly)
Garlic, minced (amount of garlic depending on preference, we go for a least 12-15 cloves) (If you want to know about the garlic thumb screw, let me know)
Ghee (or EVOO for vegans)
The entire spice cabinet (S&P, cumin, curry powder, garlic pwdr, onion pwdr, smoked paprika, chili pwdr, garam marsala (sp?), turmeric)~start with 1 TSP each, except for salt (1/2 tsp) and adjust for taste.
Bag of frozen butternut squash cubes
Can of chickpeas/garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
Can of coconut milk
Saute onions in ghee/evoo for about 10 mins
Add garlic and cook for 2 min more
Dump all spices in and cook for another 2 mins
Add garbanzo beans and mix around in spices and aromatics
Pour in coconut milk and bring to a boil
Turn heat down to simmer and dump in the frozen squash
Cover and let simmer for at least 30 minutes or however long the rice takes. Stir occasionally.
My rice is nothing special. We use Jasmine basmati and if we have spare coconut milk, I’ll saute shallot or minced onion in some ghee before adding the coconut milk and rice to the pot. I do not have a rice cooker.
If I don’t have spare coconut milk, I make the rice with water and salt.
PS We should really be able to buy flats of coconut milk the way we can veges and broth.
Thanks for doing the research for what cookbook to get Pooch for his birthday – On Food and Cooking on the way
Pooch might could also enjoy Ratio by that Ruhlman guy. It’s a /really/ good book for a cook who’s more experienced, and a brilliant way to look at things.
1000% agree on dandelion greens! The only reason I’m glad my local grocery stores carry it and buy it on the regular is because my tortoises and uromastyx gobble it up. It’s not people food, it’s reptile food, and people need to stop claiming it’s delicious to humans.
Oh I have to disagree about Hobo with a Shotgun. It is a terrible terrible film. Just no.
Ladyhawke is awesome, and RIP Rutger.
I have had such completely different experiences with different pu’erhs, so if your first one here is bad, don’t assume it’s all North American imports of pu’erh. I have had one that was as smoky as lapsang souchong (pu’erh is many things but should not be smoked), some excellent ones that fit the flavor profile, some that were barely distinguishable from black/red or oolong, and some that were definitely pu’erh but just… not for me. And I definitely haven’t been sold on any Sheng pu’erh.
Current favourite is called Celestial Tribute, found through Upton tea. David’s ‘ Silken was decent but more of a daily kind of tea than a fancy tea.