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Foodie Fun, & EEEP! Dodged a Bullet?
5 years ago
Dragonwuff Musings
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Wuffy was going to post a little lighthearted attempt at some foodie humor, inspired by a Twitch post Vrghr saw today. But later this evening, a rather disquieting email popped in. So this ol' wuff figured he'd mention that one also.
For the fun stuff, a few Cooking Tips, based on real-world experience:
1) That's Too Much rice!
2) That's not enough garlic!
3) If in doubt, add onions!
4) Regardless of what the botanists say, fresh and dried herbs of the same name are not the same plant!
5) Food in restaurants tastes good because they use more Butter and Salt than you do.
Discussion:
1) One Cup of dried rice will turn into approximately 25 Cubic Yards of cooked rice when added to soups or similar dishes. This can lead to questions such as, "Was this Chicken and Rice Soup, or have you created Chicken Congee?" The only time it MAY not be Too Much Rice, is when you are simply steaming rice for a side dish. (NOTE: It probably is still Too Much Rice!)
2) Recipe: "Add 1 clove minced garlic (unwritten) to waste an enormous amount of time mincing a tiny finicky addition that won't affect the taste in the slightest ." Fresh garlic is STRONG, but when heated, it mellows and sweetens. Guess what? Cooking Heats Garlic! Solution? Add at least double the amount of garlic called for. And if you're worried you put in too much, just add a little more to be sure!
3) Onions are an all-purpose enhancer. You can put them in everything from a salad, to a sauce, to an ice cream topping (properly caramelized). If you think your dish is lacking in something, but you're not quite sure what, toss onions into it. If it already has onions in there, you obviously didn't add enough!
4) If you, like many cooks, have used primarily those herbs and spices out of those little bottles, do not for a moment believe that you will end up with the same flavor if you substitute a fresh herb of the same name. Yes, there may be similarities. But that fresh version will act totally differently in the strength, and especially in the flavor, of the final dish. In fact, if you REALLY want to drive your guests nuts, use some of both the dried and fresh in the dish. Then you can tell them with a smile, "I put some basil and just a touch of basil in it!"
5) Home cooks drop a pat of butter in the pan, and sprinkle on a pinch of salt somewhere in the prep. But restaurant cooks fling that stuff around with abandon! Take a nice, well-marbled piece of steak; and what's their solution to finishing it? Immerse that delicious, fatty bit of beef in a pint of melted butter and spoon it over the top as it fries in a hot skillet, then plate with with a couple more dollops of compound butter to melt on top. Oh, and while that meat is cooking at the start, bash it with a blizzard of salt on both sides and let that sit so all that salty goodness soaks well in, before it ever touches the grill. Yes, they use a bunch of other spices and herbs, but fat and salt are the flavor kings!
(Note: Vrghr is NOT responsible for any kitchen disasters that may occur from incorporating the above tips!)
So, what other "special tips" might you have for the cooks out there? Let wuff know in the comments below!
So, now with the "EEEP" moment:
Around 4PM today, wuff gets a message from one of his developers: "Have you been in our facility at any time, between <date> and <'nother date>?"
Oh boy! And for Vrghr, the answer is "Yes!"
Wuff knew it had to be a case of someone in their facility testing positive for the virus, and they were tracking down potential contacts for folks who had been in the area. So wuff emails his "upline" to let them know something is up, because they have to forward it upward too and make other prep.
Then wuffy sent out his reply, and waited. And waited. And waited....
No response from the contractor an hour later.
So Vrghr gets on the phone. No answer of course; it's after 5PM now and they're gone (if they were even at their desk at all), or they've closed up their home machine for the night.
Wuff calls the emailer's boss. No reply there either. Wuff calls their 24hr "hot line" and asks for a call-back. No reply there, too.
Then Vrghr's upline drops wuffy the home phone number for the guy with the email. This one gets results. Oh yeah, he'd sent a message to wuff's co-worker at 10 AM, asking the same question. Co-Worker said "No", and then got asked if wuff's author had been around. Co-worker said "Call him direct. I don't have his schedule here at home."
So the dude waits 6 hours to send an email at the end of day, then closes up his shop for the night.
No big deal, right? Only a potential spread of the pandemic. That isn't worth timely action at all.
Finally, since wuff is hounding him on the phone, he logs back in and reads wuff's reply and the dates involved, then and only then tells Vrghr's author that the visitor was on-site 4 days after Author was there, so all is good.
Well, gee, that would have been nice to know in the original email. Or maybe, in a reply 4 hours ago when wuff informed his upline and sent his response to the original mail.
Vrghr STILL growly over how they handled it! But the great news is wuff WASN'T exposed after all. So dodged a bullet this time. (Litteraly! Vrghr's Author is one of those in the "better make out your will" category if he comes down with this thing.)
Hopefully it stays that way.
Wuff managed to pack up and move his entire workstation home today. Took a lot to get it set back up (home wifi and other issues were NOT happy to host the work systems, but finally got things worked out.) But wuff extra-isolated now and ready to keep plugging along from home, for whatever time is needed.
Hope folks out there are doing okay in the midst of this chaos. Be safe, and stay healthy, fur friends!
Vrghr
For the fun stuff, a few Cooking Tips, based on real-world experience:
1) That's Too Much rice!
2) That's not enough garlic!
3) If in doubt, add onions!
4) Regardless of what the botanists say, fresh and dried herbs of the same name are not the same plant!
5) Food in restaurants tastes good because they use more Butter and Salt than you do.
Discussion:
1) One Cup of dried rice will turn into approximately 25 Cubic Yards of cooked rice when added to soups or similar dishes. This can lead to questions such as, "Was this Chicken and Rice Soup, or have you created Chicken Congee?" The only time it MAY not be Too Much Rice, is when you are simply steaming rice for a side dish. (NOTE: It probably is still Too Much Rice!)
2) Recipe: "Add 1 clove minced garlic (unwritten) to waste an enormous amount of time mincing a tiny finicky addition that won't affect the taste in the slightest ." Fresh garlic is STRONG, but when heated, it mellows and sweetens. Guess what? Cooking Heats Garlic! Solution? Add at least double the amount of garlic called for. And if you're worried you put in too much, just add a little more to be sure!
3) Onions are an all-purpose enhancer. You can put them in everything from a salad, to a sauce, to an ice cream topping (properly caramelized). If you think your dish is lacking in something, but you're not quite sure what, toss onions into it. If it already has onions in there, you obviously didn't add enough!
4) If you, like many cooks, have used primarily those herbs and spices out of those little bottles, do not for a moment believe that you will end up with the same flavor if you substitute a fresh herb of the same name. Yes, there may be similarities. But that fresh version will act totally differently in the strength, and especially in the flavor, of the final dish. In fact, if you REALLY want to drive your guests nuts, use some of both the dried and fresh in the dish. Then you can tell them with a smile, "I put some basil and just a touch of basil in it!"
5) Home cooks drop a pat of butter in the pan, and sprinkle on a pinch of salt somewhere in the prep. But restaurant cooks fling that stuff around with abandon! Take a nice, well-marbled piece of steak; and what's their solution to finishing it? Immerse that delicious, fatty bit of beef in a pint of melted butter and spoon it over the top as it fries in a hot skillet, then plate with with a couple more dollops of compound butter to melt on top. Oh, and while that meat is cooking at the start, bash it with a blizzard of salt on both sides and let that sit so all that salty goodness soaks well in, before it ever touches the grill. Yes, they use a bunch of other spices and herbs, but fat and salt are the flavor kings!
(Note: Vrghr is NOT responsible for any kitchen disasters that may occur from incorporating the above tips!)
So, what other "special tips" might you have for the cooks out there? Let wuff know in the comments below!
So, now with the "EEEP" moment:
Around 4PM today, wuff gets a message from one of his developers: "Have you been in our facility at any time, between <date> and <'nother date>?"
Oh boy! And for Vrghr, the answer is "Yes!"
Wuff knew it had to be a case of someone in their facility testing positive for the virus, and they were tracking down potential contacts for folks who had been in the area. So wuff emails his "upline" to let them know something is up, because they have to forward it upward too and make other prep.
Then wuffy sent out his reply, and waited. And waited. And waited....
No response from the contractor an hour later.
So Vrghr gets on the phone. No answer of course; it's after 5PM now and they're gone (if they were even at their desk at all), or they've closed up their home machine for the night.
Wuff calls the emailer's boss. No reply there either. Wuff calls their 24hr "hot line" and asks for a call-back. No reply there, too.
Then Vrghr's upline drops wuffy the home phone number for the guy with the email. This one gets results. Oh yeah, he'd sent a message to wuff's co-worker at 10 AM, asking the same question. Co-Worker said "No", and then got asked if wuff's author had been around. Co-worker said "Call him direct. I don't have his schedule here at home."
So the dude waits 6 hours to send an email at the end of day, then closes up his shop for the night.
No big deal, right? Only a potential spread of the pandemic. That isn't worth timely action at all.
Finally, since wuff is hounding him on the phone, he logs back in and reads wuff's reply and the dates involved, then and only then tells Vrghr's author that the visitor was on-site 4 days after Author was there, so all is good.
Well, gee, that would have been nice to know in the original email. Or maybe, in a reply 4 hours ago when wuff informed his upline and sent his response to the original mail.
Vrghr STILL growly over how they handled it! But the great news is wuff WASN'T exposed after all. So dodged a bullet this time. (Litteraly! Vrghr's Author is one of those in the "better make out your will" category if he comes down with this thing.)
Hopefully it stays that way.
Wuff managed to pack up and move his entire workstation home today. Took a lot to get it set back up (home wifi and other issues were NOT happy to host the work systems, but finally got things worked out.) But wuff extra-isolated now and ready to keep plugging along from home, for whatever time is needed.
Hope folks out there are doing okay in the midst of this chaos. Be safe, and stay healthy, fur friends!
Vrghr
Thank you!
Thanks!
I feel it sort of relates to this journal being about cooking tips and all.
I've started a diet where I eat a lot more veggies than I used to (yay!). I've been boiling veggies to eat alongside my meals (non-starchy ones for best health benefit). So...the pros/cons of going fresh vegetables vs. frozen is my question! Am I going to get better health benefits from fresh broccoli, carrots, etc than I am from previously frozen veggies from the frozen aisle?
EDIT: Also, yick about all that mess. I was excited about the food and had only skimmed the rest of the journal. Glad you're okay!
Today's frozen veggies are normally the closest thing in the market you can get to fresh-picked in the produce section. In some instances, even better because the processing plant can be closer to the fields. Today's modern processes, unlike the old kinds, use "flash freezing" to rapidly freeze the produce in sub-zero conditions. This also helps preserve the texture to some extent, eliminating some of the ice crystals that used to rupture the cell walls and make the veggies and fruit mushy and pulpy.
Chris (FACCC2 Below) is also very correct: Boiling removes a lot of flavor and nutrients. They go into the water and down the drain. If you want to boil but still keep as much "goodness" as possible, turn it into soup and consume the liquids as well.
Steaming retains much of the nutrients instead of leaching them out. Roasting also keeps a lot, and enhances the flavor of many veggies by adding some of the Maillard reaction (browning) that transforms flavors in complex and VERY tasty ways. It's why a seared cut of meat tastes better than a plain boiled cut most times.
And wuff wouldn't be wuff if he didn't promote "Sous Vide" cooking for veggies too! Sealed in a pouch and submerged in temperature-controlled water, ALL the nutrition stays in the pouch with all the flavors. And you can set the water temperature precisely, which means precisely selected texture, crunchiness, etc., of your finished veggies!
Hope this all was helpful!
And even "baby steps" in reducing boiling, are still "steps". Good show!
Definitely agree on the boiled asparagus! Wuff really loves his roasted, but sauteed with a little olive oil or butter and a bit of garlic, is REALLY yummy too. Steamed is good as well!
Thank you for all the helpful advice once again!
You're totally welcome! And great news on the diet front. Keep going strong!
V.
Thank you for the kind wishes!
Hopefully, the WFH affords you more time for kitchen adventures. :)
And yeah, I'd be irked too after the almost panic inducing series of events from the non-responsive worker.
And yup! A LOT less incentive to "pop out for a quick lunch take-away" when working from home instead of the office. Hopefully it results in some new kitchen creations to post here! *grin*
Wuffy definitely still being careful though!
And as an herb farmer, #4 is totally true in the difference of flavor & strength between fresh & dried. Without the plant to continue providing the flavor, the dried stuff loses its goodness over time (thyme, if you like puns), even if you did put them in the best form of storage.
Glad you're doing well!
Herb farmer? Coolness!
And yes, even if you get some straight out of the dryer/dehydrator, the flavors and effects on the dish between dried and fresh are totally different.
Thank you!
And would you believe I have 13 kinds of mint so far? lol
Mint is a very nice herb! Wonderful aroma, and delightful flavors.
And wuff is a bit jealous about you getting to work on the Rose Parade floats. Those are so very cool! Its pretty special to be able to be a part of that.
I Volunteer now and then as one of the shops is within walking distance to the house here in Pasadena.