What have you learned because of lockdown?

I’ve learned to make bread. Not that I’d never made it before, but now I can whip out a couple of loaves on autopilot, like making minestrone or a fritatta.

I’ve been keeping a list of things learned in quarantine (cooking and otherwise)- it kind of helps manage it all. Oddly enough, some of the more rewarding achievements are just things from my to do list that I never found the time to try like removing oil burns on pans or cleaning fry oil for reuse.

2 Likes

We always cooked at home. Baked our own bread. Made our own sweets. Processed our own juices/drinks (Sipping some Pomegranate + Sencha right now). But what I have learned more than anything is to organize & manage my pantry/fridge/freezer so much better and manage a shopping list. My freezer was always full of “just in case” save this for later stuff. We started the pandemic with something ridiculous like 20 chicken backs (We make a spatchcock chicken a week). Just now are we at the point where there is only 1. But making sure to put in the calendar to make the stock. USE THE DAMN STOCK that is in my freezer in the first place instead just reaching for BB or buying some.

This picture I took of my cleaning out the fridge at the end of safer at home sums up peak Dommy in the before times…

She was fun… but I am so much happier now.

2 Likes

Do you do anything besides filter it?

I hate the mask. Yes I do wear it . I never do take out .Really dislike eating out .
Cook and drink at home . Shop the same two places . My date comes to my house. What’s new.

2 Likes

Simplified Chinese.

2 Likes

Any recipes? I’ve been stretching out on various chinese sauces/preps. Mostly going down the menu of Panda… LOL!! I tried a Black Pepper copy cat to big success. We did the Serious Eats Cashew Chicken and it was just men.

1 Like

Pork cutlets . Pan fried with panko . Super simple with homemade tonkatsu sauce .

3 Likes

HA! Benefit of cleaning out the pantry was being able to make space for 4lbs of restaurant quality Panko…

It came with a 25 page handout of menu ideas… LOL!!

2 Likes

Fabulous.

1 Like

Enjoy life more - even the small things. Otherwise we made bread, cooked a lot before but our pizza making in the home oven became much better

1 Like

I learned to make a lot of new cocktails. Pre-pandemic, it was very rare that I made anything at home that wasn’t a martini or a bloody mary, and I usually just drank either wine or beer. Now I have rosemary and ginger syrups in the fridge and am apt to start my evening with a celery tonic or a southside or a red queen.

I also started making my own dashi.

4 Likes

The written language? Or cooking?

The written language. There are no shortcuts to great Chinese cooking, Grasshopper. ;-D

3 Likes

You don’t need to buy descaler to clean the coffee maker. Distilled vinegar works fine.

2 Likes

I’ve learned that I’m quite capable of lazing around the house and eating 5x my body weight every day.

7 Likes

my mother routinely fries green onions in the oil to lighten it up.

I hate lemongrass. Soon tofu is the worst meal to take out and eat at home.

We should all be nicer to everybody and sympathetic to each other because you have no idea what the person next to you may be going through.

1 Like

i learned that if you make jja jang men instant noodles in your rice cooker not only can you poach your egg in the water to perfection but you can use the steamer basket to strain your excess water

4 Likes

Same! I saw this youtube video featuring this Japanese Gadget to clean your metal water bottle and I almost immediately bought it…

https://www.ebay.com/i/173911289525?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&itemid=173911289525&targetid=935083617067&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9030944&poi=&campaignid=10877150074&mkgroupid=107338199019&rlsatarget=aud-762207186714:pla-935083617067&abcId=9300400&merchantid=137734904&gclid=Cj0KCQiAwMP9BRCzARIsAPWTJ_H98Gngk2g2Z66aIvXdcEB1BuAuVotQD6OlHXQFNUwrT9GYwikZVIcaAhnYEALw_wcB

…Except it just wasn’t the Gadget but the cleaning solution it came with… I looked into what the cleaning solution actually was… and it was Baking Soda. I have a giant pouch of baking soda. I tried it just with that and swishing the bottle… it worked…