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comment by steve
steve  ·  3382 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Things You Should Make, Not Buy

Delicious. I'm hungry now.





b_b  ·  3382 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I've made ketchup, mayonnaise, sriracha, and other condiments that take a decent amount of effort. I felt shame when I saw this list and read how easy it is to make mustard. I've always assumed there was magic to it, but I guess not. I'll correct that mistake soon.

kleinbl00  ·  3382 days ago  ·  link  ·  

mmm, mustard is "easy" the way truffles are "easy." putting the ingredients together into a paste you can put on a sandwich is super simple. The trick with mustard is that the temperature you soak it at will radically effect the spicyness of the result. Unless you take steps, you end up with "fuck you hot" mustard, not grey poupon. Still, we've done it a few times and likely will again. Hank has the lowdown.

I'm not entirely sold on this list because they seem to consider "easy" to be "not technically challenging" OR "not labor-intensive" while I'd consider "easy" to be "not technically challenging or labor-intenstive." Fuck yeah, buying hummus is stupid. But as someone who has been making cake from scratch since I was 11, buying all the dry ingredients mixed together in a box from Betty Crocker doesn't really hurt you. And things like vanilla ice cream aren't that tough to execute at home, but it's stupid simple to get great results if you're a creamery and fiddly as fuck if you're going to have to clear out eight Healthy Choice frozen entrees to have somewhere to set the stuff. That they don't really care about your vanilla extract or vanilla bean makes me doubt their intentions.

user-inactivated  ·  3382 days ago  ·  link  ·  

The wife and I are huge fans if pickling. We mostly pickle onions and peppers, cause those are hard to mess up. We've talked about baking our own bread for quite a while, but have never gotten around to it. I think I should bring up the subject again.

b_b  ·  3381 days ago  ·  link  ·  

When I pickle, I usually do several things at once, because pickling five things is barely any more difficult than pickling one thing. My most common items are cucumbers (obviously), shallots, jalapenos, cabbage, and beets. In the cucumber pickle brine, I typically toss in a couple habaneros. I haven't tried simple salt pickling; always with apple cider vinegar. I'd like to try someday, however.

user-inactivated  ·  3381 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Have you tried pickling red onions with red wine vinegar? Add in some bay leaves and crushed red pepper for taste and they come out amazing.

And speaking of jalapenos, we recently bought some jalapeno jelly at a farmer's market and now we're tempted to try making that too. It might go great with home made bread.

steve  ·  3382 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Do you have a kitchen aid or other mixer? If so , I'll shoot you my wife's "miracle bread" recipe. I kid you not, I've never made bread before and I followed it and the bread was amazing and took less than 20 minutes to make (plus bake time)

user-inactivated  ·  3381 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Heck yeah. I'd love that recipe.

steve  ·  3340 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Sorry for the delay.

MIRACLE BREAD

5 1/4 C flour

1/2 T salt

1/4 C sugar

1&1/2 T yeast

Mix all these dry ingredients together. Then add

2C water ( hottest you can get from tap)

2&1/2T oil.

Mix for 5 minutes. Split and Roll into two loafs. Put in bread pans and let rise for 25 min. Preheat oven 350 degrees . Cook for 25min.

user-inactivated  ·  3340 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Aint no delay like a 41 day delay. ;)

I'm gonna see if the wife wants to try this out.

steve  ·  3339 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Who wants to bake in August anyway?! :-)

kleinbl00  ·  3382 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Bread maker. My wife makes bread fairly regularly... or did, before she noticed gluten fired up her eczema. I always thought bread was magical. Get a bread-maker though and you're about 10 minutes of effort per loaf.

user-inactivated  ·  3382 days ago  ·  link  ·  

A breadmaker. Yes. I should talk her into that. I'd get sooo fat on carbs so quickly, but it'd be worth it.

I keep on telling her, over and over, that we should make some soda bread. Nothing fancy. Maybe something that taste like sourdough with caraway seeds. Sodabread is like naan. You don't have to really do anything with it if you don't want to, just tear off pieces and go to town.

Shubhang  ·  3382 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Try pickling green mangoes, they come out great!

OftenBen  ·  3382 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I love grilling mangoes for salsa to go along with most summer meats... Imagine how good they would be if they were all acidic first...

/drool

user-inactivated  ·  3382 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Hey. That actually sounds intriguing. I'll look into that.