Blog:Another Top 10 Cooking Tips From Grust

Welp, not just Coronavirus but with rioters burning down buildings, some of which are restaurants and even black-owned businesses, we're still cooped up and forced to cook our meals. Because of this I've been doing a lot of kitchen work and making dinners and goodies. So here is some more kitchen tips for you. Again, I am not a trained chef, just a guy who likes to cook when not gaming. Onto the countdown.

10. Save Your Egg Whites: I've mentioned this briefly when I discussed why ice cube trays are still relevant, but sometimes a recipe called for simply egg yolks including Alton Brown's premium ice cream formula (Grust drools), which calls for 8 egg yolks for creaminess. So what I guess we should dump out the egg whites huh? WRONG!!! After I separate the eggs, I place the whites in an ice cube tray and freeze them as egg whites are great for foams and meringues and are the main ingredient for Angel Food Cake, the fluffiest fat-free dessert there is. Kept bagged and frozen they should be safe for a year, most of which have not and never will last that long with how tasty angel food cake is. A side note though is that yolks shouldn't be frozen so don't bother.

9. Brew Your Own Coffee: I LOVE COFFEE and I prefer to brew my own. In fact I did the math in my head. The average cup of coffee at a coffee shop is about $3 though $10 at Starbucks. Per month, that $90 to $300 if you go everyday for a month but if you go everyday for a year that's $1080 to $3600 lost per year. Meanwhile I buy whole beans for about $15 per bag and 2 last me a whole month so I'm only spending about $30 a month or $360 a year. That's an extra 60$ in my pocket a month or even $270. With whole beans I use a burr grinder which are expensive but the quality of the coffee makes the machine pay for itself. I also use a french press for my coffee which makes enough for two mugs of coffee. I like to add about a half-cup of coffee grounds per brew and use filtered water as well plus a pinch of salt so the coffee is strong but not too bitter. Plus you can even save the coffee for mocha shakes by freezing or use as ingredients for other goodies. Taking this variable into account, that $360 may get even smaller. Your bank account now thanks you.

8. Read the Manual: When a I buy a cooking device no matter how simple it seems I read the instructions. I've even read them for my ice cream churner and following the instructions has made it an efficient dessert maker unlike those morons that failed with such a device (see my review of the KitchenAid Standmixer Ice Cream attachment for that). Now each device has their own make and model so instructions can vary. Even if you think you know how a device works, read the manual so you don't wreck the machine or hurt yourself. You ever watch the show Home Improvement? Tim Taylor never reads instructions and look what happens to him.

7. Weigh Your Ingredients: Going back to my coffee I need a half cup of ground coffee for brewing so how do I know what that looks like when in whole beans? I weighed what half a cup of ground coffee should look like and used that weight to to measure out my beans for my burr grinder to get my desired amount of ground coffee (btw with how I grind my coffee it amounts to about 30 grams). Also when measuring flour volume isn't that reliable as flour can clump together and throw things off. 1 cup of flour may weigh 5 ounces and another could weight 6.5 ounces so that can throw things off. For a list of weight charts, check out this list made by King Arthur Flour (not endorsed, just convenient).

6. Don't Be a Salt-Phobe: I've heard the health stories, it increases blood pressure, it dehydrates you, it's unhealthy. Let me ask you this though. Are you drinking plenty of water? If so, there's little to fear as water will balance it out. Hell if you drink too much water, you'll actually need salt. Salt is a flavor enhancer and little is ever needed for most foods. For an entire bottle of chocolate syrup, only a tiny pinch of salt is needed. When making bread salt is a vital ingredient not just for flavor, but it also inhibits yeast growth so yeast bread doughs don't become the blob. Heck when I ground some kosher salt into fine and spread a teaspoon over unpopped popcorn in a saucepan and popped it, the popcorn was so flavorful that I rarely butter my popcorn anymore. Salt is not your enemy. It is our friend.

5. Don't Trust Most Cooking Life Hacks: Life hacks are basically meant to make you into a real life Macgyver, taking everyday items and fashioning them into something to make life easier. Unfortunately some of these not only do not work, they can create bigger problems, messes and can even be outright dangerous and fatal. One child actually died when trying to recreate a popcorn maker life hack while another child nearby was seriously injured. Outside of that most of the hacks are useless and make bigger messes. Ann Reardon has tested some of these "hacks" in her microwave and I'm sure at this point her microwave hates her now. The only time you should ever try a life hack is when someone tests it out and explains thoroughly why it works. What I hate most about some of these "hacks" is that people blame themselves for the failure and give up cooking.

4. Master Techniques: Cooking is not just about mixing ingredients together a lot of it is also about techniques. One example I can think of is the folding technique used for most desserts. This is meant to help combine foams like egg whites or whipped cream into a thicker substance. It works by combining about a third of a foam into the mixture to lighten it up and then placing half of the remaining foam on top of the thicker substance and then cutting your spatula into the two and flipping over to integrate the two opposing substances without losing too much bubbles from the foam. As you rotate the bowl, you continue until most of the foam is integrated and then you continue the process with the remaining foam. This is useful for chiffon cakes, waffle batters, and mousses. And this is just one example. By mastering these you'll cook great food at home.

3. Sharpen Your Knives: A dull knife is actually much more dangerous than a sharp knife. The duller the knife the more force and energy you need to cut your food. And that excessive force and energy can make the knife slip and cut and seriously injure you (I can vouch for that myself). That's why I got some sharpening stones for my birthday to keep my knives sharp to use. A sharp knife needs little force to use so you have better control. Keep in mind also that cheap knives are poorly made and won't keep a sharp edge so invest in much better knives that can.

2. Make Your Own Pizzas: I know as a gamer I'm reinforcing a stereotype but I love pizza, but when I got a book on cast iron and dutch oven cooking, I found a recipe for deep dish pizza and started making my own. And it's much cheaper than delivery. On average a pizza chain charges about $20 dollars for a pizza and an extra $10 for deliver so you're spending $30 for one pizza. Now this isn't an attack on pizza chains as I love Godfather's and frozen pizzas do in a pinch, but not counting bread flour, yeast, water, salt, oil, or spices which I keep on me at all times or last so long I don't care to count them, I spend maybe $10 or $15 for pizza sauce, mozzarella and pepperoni and I get enough resources for 3 pizzas for the cast iron recipe. So for less than delivery I can make 3 pizzas. Also while frozen pizzas can do in an an emergency, homemade just blows those out of the water in flavor and texture.

Honorable Mentions

 * Gardening: By making your own food, you have plenty of food on hand but it's an honorable mention as this needs a lot of factors to consider including patience, plant food, fertilizer, space, and environment. I was able to grow some garlic at one point but it was infant garlic as I couldn't tend to the garlic due to straining my Achille's tendon so it died before reaching full potential.


 * Don't Fear Raw Eggs: While salmonella is a risk, it's actually rare to get salmonella from raw eggs especially if the eggs are handled properly and chickens kept in sanitary conditions. I've eaten raw eggs before and used a raw yolk for garlic aioli for my mortar and pestle.  Still it's often better to be safe and sorry so it's an honorable mention.  If you are concerned, seek out pasteurized eggs or those egg beaters.

Okay and number 1.

1. Leftovers: Leftovers are a blessing to anyone that wants to save money. Ive mentioned this briefly in my last blog but leftovers can save you a lot of money. For instance, let's say one guy has $60 and another guy has $60 as well. One guy spends $20 on stuff for spaghetti that lasts him 3 days while the other spends his on a restaurant everyday for 3 days. The guy who made spaghetti now has $40 in his wallet while the other guy has nothing. Leftovers can save you a lot of money and not only that, but time as well as it takes little energy to reheat leftovers. The time and money saved with leftovers makes it my biggest cooking tip for this blog.

Any tips you can think of? Let me know in the comments.

