Dinner Woes

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Ok, so to sum up the lessons learned here:

1) Get everything in place before starting to cook. I am assuming this means put all your seasonings next to the stove, chop all the vegetables and set next to stove, and sort out all the measuring devices, foil wrap, plastic wrap, etc...

2) Don't try to do it all at once. Proceed from one step to the next in an orderly fashion.

3) Season meat before searing.

4) Texture is not a true indicator of doneness. Get a meat thermometer.

5) If you can eat it, it's not a complete failure.

Thanks for all the help everyone, and please, keep the advice coming. At this point, I know a bit about cooking, but I don't know what I don't know if that makes sense.

Welcome again, 84! It's so nice to see a new member come back and join in!

If I may add a #6 to your list...? Remove your meats from the heat source just before you think they are done to your liking. As GG said, carry over cooking continues to cook them if they're covered.

Reading through your first post on this it sounds like you know what you're doing, and your pork dinner sounded wonderful to me. :yum:

Oh, and to add, I completely agree with those here who prep as much as possible - I do it all the time, it just makes things run so much smoother. Especially with grilling, my attention is on the grill 100% of the time until the meat comes off.
 
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Welcome

I (try) to buy chops about the same thickness, or if I slice my own pork loin, the same, for cooking consistency. I don't like over-cooked chops, nor does any one. If frying, it's about 4 minutes per side medium heat and rest 4-5 minutes covered while deglazing the pan, same time frame I use for girlling, a little longer if bone-in. Works for me. I know they say pork is safe at ~145, I am a wee bit old fashioned, I like it well done/ no pink.

I think as others say, you done good getting dinner ready and pretty much it all came together at the same time, which is sometimes difficult to manage.
 
That's interesting. He's the first food writer I've heard about who says that. In culinary school, one of the first things they taught us, along with knife skills, was the importance of mise en place. I don't want to be scrambling for ingredients and tools when I'm cooking, either.

That works for me also. When I am making a baked item, I place all the ingredients on the counter in back of me on the left side in the order I use them. Then when I use it, I place it back on the right side. That way I know if I have used the item in the event I get interrupted. I may not have them measured out, but my system works for me. And that is what really matters. Do what you have learned here and make what works for you be your guide.

Like it was pointed out, you do not have to place everything in tiny bowls. Who in their right mind has a bunch of tiny bowls or the room to store them. I am sure there are those that have a large kitchen and do. But not me. And I don't have a dishwasher to wash all of them. :angel:
 
Mise en place for tomato-braised green beans. I used the two-cup measure earlier to portion ratatouille into freezer bags and the beans are still thawing, hence the bowl. On to slicing the pork loin into chops. This will make a quart, so after dinner, I'll freeze the leftovers for another meal.
 
Who in their right mind has a bunch of tiny bowls or the room to store them. I am sure there are those that have a large kitchen and do. But not me. And I don't have a dishwasher to wash all of them. :angel:

Well I'm for sure not in my right mind but I did find a cheap solution that works for me.

Mise en place or without the fancy term simply being prepared is important as it makes cooking easier and less stressful. Especially with the more complicated recipes.

I use empty 2.75 oz. plastic cat food bowls :eek: to portion out spices in advance.

For amounts larger I'll use a teacup or saucer.

Not much to wash and not much space to store.

Yeah it's a cat food dish. :sick:

But a good wash makes it good enough for me to use and it fits my budget. ;)
Not to mention I love to up cycle anything I can. :stuart:
 

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Well I'm for sure not in my right mind but I did find a cheap solution that works for me.

Mise en place or without the fancy term simply being prepared is important as it makes cooking easier and less stressful. Especially with the more complicated recipes.

I use empty 2.75 oz. plastic cat food bowls :eek: to portion out spices in advance.

For amounts larger I'll use a teacup or saucer.

Not much to wash and not much space to store.

Yeah it's a cat food dish. :sick:

But a good wash makes it good enough for me to use and it fits my budget. ;)
Not to mention I love to up cycle anything I can. :stuart:

I applaud your reuse of the little plastic bowls! :clap:
 
When I think of all the bowls being used, all that keeps coming to mind is American Test Kitchen. Good grief! They go through a lot of bowls just to make a fried egg. Pirate and I sit there and count the number of bowls, plates and pans. I am so glad I am not their dishwasher. :angel:
 
For beef roasts in the oven, Pre-heat to 500F, season roast, place in a roasting pan on rack. Place in the oven on middle rack (do not use the convection feature). Roast for 5 minutes, then reduce heat to 200F and roast for 1 hour per pound.:yum:...
This is a double-yum from us. Since Craig posted this, it's the only way I make most any beef roast.

In Mark Bittman's "How To Cook Everything Fast", he espouses to do exactly the opposite of what you do. That is, prepare as you go along...
Bittman eats out a lot, doesn't he? :huh: :LOL: He would feel differently had he had a piece of my pumpkin pie made without any sugar. :sick: It's amazing what a copious amount of whipped cream can do...

...When I am making a baked item, I place all the ingredients on the counter in back of me on the left side in the order I use them...
I use a similar method. My to-be-used is next to the bowls, the already-used are placed on the table-come-island that is behind me. That way I lessen my chances of messing up.
 
Holy cow -- or holy cats -- I thought I was the only one to reuse those Meow Mix tubs!

84 the important part is that you did cook the pork chops thoroughly. I doubt there will be any gastric distress from that. Kudos to you!
 
Reading through your first post on this it sounds like you know what you're doing, and your pork dinner sounded wonderful to me. :yum:

Let's not be so hasty as to say that I know what I am doing :chef:

That being said, I am fairly confident in my meat dishes, what I lack is knowledge about making sauces (other than BBQ sauce), dressings, and the little details that really make someone say "Wow!" when they eat something. Also, a lot of my flavor profiles happen by accident rather than by design.

I will start with a flavor in mind, mix up my seasonings, and not end up anywhere close. It will taste good, but not fantastic. My wife says I am extremely critical of my cooking, and she thinks that I go out of my way to find flaws with my dishes.

One thing that I could use some good advice on is how to go about designing a signature flavor, or any flavor profile really. I was watching Kitchen Nightmare's episode of Amy's Baking Company last night. The part where Ramsay lists of the four ingredients on the blue ribbon burger as four things that didn't go together sort of confused me because I thought that the blue cheese and bacon would have been good on a burger.
 
:LOL: We are also only two and have the same problem with forks and spoons, so we bought more.
Pans never go in the dishwasher here. Jes sayin..;)

Same here. Many items used in prep and cooking are always hand washed, either because they are best used more gently than the dishwasher does or because we only have one of them and have need for several uses between times running the dishwasher (knives, nonstick pans, other utensils that we only have one of, and anything that I just decide to wash up as I go). I always have half the sink filled with hot dishwater when I'm cooking so I can clean during pauses in the cooking cycle. I rarely have a lot of prep items to clean up after the meal because I've kept up as I go.

Great summary :) You don't need to put everything in bowls, like they do on TV. I usually pile ingredients on a smaller cutting board to take to the stove (my primary prep space is a peninsula) and, when seasonings are to be added together, I mix them in a small dish to simplify and to avoid dumping a lot of seasoning in one place. It's easier to mix them in evenly this way.

It also occurred to me that chili powder often doesn't have a lot of heat, although good ones have good flavor. You could add a pinch of cayenne or a few drops of hot sauce to your sauce.

I go both ways... if there are a lot of ingredients, I'll use my prep bowls, otherwise I do the pile method. If there is time between additions, I may chop the second item while the first starts cooking - all depends on timing. Also I will often mix ingredients in one prep bowl if the plan calls for them to be added at the same time.

I also agree that chili powder is not the way to add heat. Great flavor, but unless you buy a blend that is specifically intended to be spicy, there is little or no heat to it. Heat can be increased with red pepper flakes, any of the dozens of hot sauces available, or some more recent additions to the hot side of my spice rack - things like habeñero salt or goat pepper salt (start lightly and work up, and measure what you add so you can adjust intelligently for taste and modify the recipe for future reference).
 
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84, You said you make your own BBQ sauce. Was that something you got exactly right on the first try?

Developing a specific flavor profile that serves the purposes you intend isn't an easy process. There's lots of trial and error before you get what you want. Lots of tests with different meats to see if it works in that combination. Start by thinking about what you want to accomplish and go from there. WRITE IT ALL DOWN. Write down every step so you can re-create or trouble shoot the recipe. Refer to those notes often. The more ingredients you include, the more complicated the testing process becomes.
 
84, You said you make your own BBQ sauce. Was that something you got exactly right on the first try?

Developing a specific flavor profile that serves the purposes you intend isn't an easy process. There's lots of trial and error before you get what you want. Lots of tests with different meats to see if it works in that combination. Start by thinking about what you want to accomplish and go from there. WRITE IT ALL DOWN. Write down every step so you can re-create or trouble shoot the recipe. Refer to those notes often. The more ingredients you include, the more complicated the testing process becomes.

Good point. The next time I work up a spice blend I will start with a simple blend of salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder, then slowly add ingredients and test it out.

For my first BBQ sauce, it was a honey raspberry sauce that I built using a base recipe I found online, then worked in honey and raspberry in equal parts so that was pretty much good on the first try.

Now my orange bourbon BBQ sauce, that took a ton of iterations (it's still not right yet). I just thought I would ask to see if the better cooks here had some sort of jumping off point for making an informed first attempt. I suppose I could taste each spice independently and note down what I test, then look for spices with complementary tastes and use that as a starting point.
 
I just use the cutting board and paper towels, or in case of fresh veges, I'll use a plate or bowl we're going to eat on to hold stuff. We also have those little glass custard cups, as well as some plastic cups to hold small amounts of stuff like spices. If only spices go in, they just get a quick rinse out and into the drying side of the double sink.

Last night when I was cutting up things for the tasso pasta, I julienned the yellow squash and zucchini on the cutting board and put them in a pile together, since they go into pan at same time. Then, I julienned the carrots and onions, piled them up together. I then needed to julienne the tasso but was running real short of working room on the cutting board, so used the paper towels that I had let the squash and carrots drain on after washing to hold the squash since they were the last things to go in, as well as the lightest. Though I did end up sliding the paper towels and the veges onto the cutting board to transfer the squash into the pan when it was time.

There's all kinds of ways you can set up your mise en place without having additional things to clean up.

+ however many on running out of forks and/or spoons before the dishwasher is full with just 2 in the house. I will wash stainless pans in the dishwasher though, especially if it's close to getting full.
 
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Thanks for the run through on your process medtran. I built myself a rolling prep cart using a 32" base cabinet to which I mounted a 36" x 18 " butcher block. The entire thing is a giant cutting board given me plenty of space to chop and prep. I'll post a pic of it when I get home.

I have an open concept kitchen / living room, so I put this cart on wheels to make it easy for me to roll it over to my stove while cooking and then back against the wall when I am done. I use the drawers to hold knives and hand tools (graters, peelers, etc...) and the cabinet part to hold my pots and pans.
 
One thing that I could use some good advice on is how to go about designing a signature flavor, or any flavor profile really. I was watching Kitchen Nightmare's episode of Amy's Baking Company last night. The part where Ramsay lists of the four ingredients on the blue ribbon burger as four things that didn't go together sort of confused me because I thought that the blue cheese and bacon would have been good on a burger.

Here's a good summary of the primary flavoring ingredients and seasonings used in different cuisines: http://www.cookinglight.com/m/food/world-cuisine/spice-world
 

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