Comments on: Shoestring Gourmet Guide: Part 1, Meal Planning

By: jQwierdy

jQwierdy — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 23:38:00 +0000

Can you please post the recipes for some of these things? Bread, Beef bourguignon, bananas (probably awfully simple but still) etc..???

By: BaffledCook

BaffledCook — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 16:30:47 +0000

You can keep a mother dough for years, this way you can economise on yeast. Just add a little flour and water to the mother every week, and it'll keep forever.

By: Joe

Joe — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 19:36:20 +0000

transfering to a different vessel also means you don't have to deal with the thermal mass of whatver the original cooking vessel was. (as you don't necessarily need to cool that down as quickly as you need to cool the food)

By: derobert

derobert — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 15:16:10 +0000

If you're worried about your cookware, you can also dump your food out of the pot into a cheap stainless bowl, and then put the stainless bowl in the ice bath. I do this when I've cooked in something (stoneware, glass) that probably shouldn't be heat-shocked at all.

Also, stir the pot (or bowl) when it sits in the ice bath. You don't need to stir constantly, but once a minute or so. The more you stir, the quicker it'll cool, and thus the longer it'll keep.

By: bobmcgee

bobmcgee — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 13:57:55 +0000

@MJ Unless they're flaming hot, your pots will be fine as long as you take them off the hot burner to cool for 10 minutes or so before throwing them in the ice bath. This lets the pots cool enough that they won't warp. It also allows some steam to escape, cooling the dish. For good stainless-clad cookware you can probably throw them straight into the ice water without fear. Except for really thin nonstick or aluminum pans, I think the fear of warping is greatly exaggerated; I've seen cooks throw pans hot off the range into a sink of dishwater without consequences.

By: MJ

MJ — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 13:22:19 +0000

I have always worried that the ice water bath would damage my pots. Is that not true?

By: bobmcgee

bobmcgee — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 13:08:56 +0000

@Johnathan An ice-water bath is a large container containing ice with enough water added to allow it to cover the ice. To use one, you immerse the whole container of stuff to cool in the bath until the ice-water reaches 2/3 to 3/4 up the side of your hot container. This is one of the fastest ways to remove heat from a large pot or bowl of liquid, because the ice water won't heat much about the freezing point of water, and it conducts heat much more efficiently than air. This means things cool much faster than in the fridge or freezer.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 05:54:59 +0000

Could you clarify what an Icewater bath is? Do you mean putting ice water inside whatever liquid you're speaking of or just...?

Thanks and great blog post!

By: Chris Livingstone

Chris Livingstone — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 12:34:38 +0000

Some sensible ideas for getting more pleasure out of food---and life---on a budget. The homemade bread looks absolutely scrumptious!