st.patrick on 14/1/2010 at 14:27

---

An easy way to make mayo really work well with chicken (especially fried) is to grate zest off one lemon and squeeze juice from one half of it. Stir it into 3-5 tsps of mayo and be generous with freshly-ground pepper. It's lighter, smoother, less prone to cause indigestion if ordinary mayo doesn't always agree with you.

My primary source of recipes is (http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/) http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/ and they've never let me down yet. Try their chilli con carne, it's just fucking awesome.

Rug Burn Junky on 14/1/2010 at 16:33

---

God, I fucking love myself.I think part of the problem that you're having is that you're looking at "chili" as strictly the tex-mex style (which is my first reaction as well). If you're just viewing it as a broader meat sauce with spices, it makes a lot more sense. But it's still not enough to justify (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati_chili) Cincinnati Chili.[INDENT]That depends on the sandwich, because sourdough doesn't work for everything, but god I fucking love the stuff.[/INDENT]Here's a trick that will work wonders on even cheap grocery store rolls.

* Take your *unsliced* bread (this works on the crust, on sliced bread you're just going to end up with mush),
* splash water on the outside all the way around.
* Wrap it in aluminum foil (you may want to crinkle and unfold the foil first, so that it's not pressed right up against the bread - prevents sticking).
* Bake it at about 350 for 8-10 minutes. (Really, the temperature doesn't matter, just may take a little longer on lower temps, but the time/temp window on this one is pretty generous, so no need to be exact).
* When you take it out, the inside should be nice and steamy, and the outside should be gently crusty. If the outside is a little soft, remove the foil, and pop it back in for another couple of minutes (but be vigilant, it dries out pretty quick without the foil.

This is great for making cool bread seem like it just came from the oven, or for reconstituting day old bread that's gotten a little stale in the crust. It'll improve any sandwich.You don't ask deaf people for music recommendations do you?

Ranch is indeed a hellish condiment, sorry Faf. It's like the Jay Leno of the condiment world: A bunch of people on hoverrounds from the midwest really like it, a lot of other people don't find it offensive, and everyone else has to suffer through it because sometimes its all that's offered.

Mayo is tough to get to like. I thought it was disgusting for years, but it's really versatile, and works well with a lot of flavors. Even now that I "like" it, I will rarely if ever put it on a sandwich without something else, because I don't really enjoy its flavor on its own, but rather how it interacts with other flavors. And a little goes a LOOOOONG way. Mix it with ketchup for russian dressing (goes excellent on fries or tater tots), throw in relish to make that into thousand island dressing. Mix it with roast garlic and you have a cheap and easy aioli. Mayo+mustard is always a good combo for sandwiches (dijonnaise!). I've been making japanese style spicy sushi mayo lately - mix mayo with sesame oil, hirin, and sriracha sauce and you've got the same flavor as that mayo in spicy tuna - fucking fantastic on all sorts of things. Speaking of which, try Japanese Kewpie mayo instead of Hellman's. It's lighter, smoother and creamier.

I'm not going to give you any recipes, I'm just going to give you some philosophical approaches to learning how to cook.

1. Learn to make one thing really well. It doesn't have to be anything *that* difficult, though it should involve at least a modicum of technique. When I first graduated college, I got a on a kick of making ham&cheese omelets. One trip to the deli on the corner, three ingredients, and I had enough for three meals (with some leftover ham & cheese for a sandwich). I made an omelet for dinner about 4-5 times a week for 4 months. By that point, I could make one absolutely perfect with my eyes closed. The other dish I learned was chicken cutlets - which is a fantastic thing to know how to make, because it's so versatile. If you can handle frying up a cutlet with breading, you can vary the topping and make all sorts of dishes: mozz+marinara and you have a chicken parm, melted butter+lemon+garlic, pureed red pepper+heavy cream for a pepper cream sauce, just slap it on a sandwich with cheddar and bacon, etc. This year I decided I wanted to learn how to make more asian food. I worked on variations of soy/ginger/garlic/scallion in sauces, brothes and marinades, until I got it, using it on simple dishes like grilled fish or ramen, so that I can piece it together into more complicated things (like Sesame Chicken from scratch)

But the point is, learn one thing, and make it over and over again, until you can make well every time. That way the next phase is more constructive.

2. Just try shit out. Once you know a couple of things that work, you can throw things together in different ways and see how they turn out. Not every thing is going to be a hit, but over time, you'll get better and better at envisioning the end product from the ingredients. Experimenting is the only way to learn this, trial and error, and learn from your mistakes but don't be afraid of them. And don't be afraid to get goofy: maybe throwing peanuts into that rice dish is exactly what it needs, you never know.

Chimpy Chompy on 14/1/2010 at 17:12

---

Any idiot can follow a recipie, really. I'm sure you get better with skill and inspiration but I get by fine by myself just flicking through a few cookbooks or punching "squash" or "curry" into sites like that BBC one linked above.

Fingernail on 14/1/2010 at 18:15

---

You can keep shit simple and work on adding a bit of zing to standard vegetables, for instance making a really great mashed potato can be achieved in many ways, and then you can add cheese and/or garlic, a bit of pesto even to make it more interesting. Likewise, something like a bit of bacon in with cabbage or greens always goes well.

And then I would strongly recommend learning how to start with mince (beef usually, or lamb) - and go in different directions.

Frying up some onions, garlic, and minced beef is the starting point for several of my standard repertoire dinners. Add some chopped tomatoes and other ingredients of your fancy to go the way of Bolognese. Add some refried/kidney beans and chili to make a chili. Add some carrots, possibly peas and other veg as the basis for a cottage or shephards pie. Take the Bolognese and make a Lasagne. Buy the bechamel/cheese sauce if you don't want to learn that yet.

Also, if you're just cooking for yourself, get into the habit of buying and making more than you need, and refridgerating or freezing the rest for another time when you can't be bothered with cooking.

Similarly easy desert; take some hard fruit (peaches are good, hell, I've done it with pears. No foolin', pears), cut it in half, de-stone etc. Put in an ovenproof dish, put a knob of butter on each half, sprinkle liberally with sugar and a liquor of your choice (something deserty and flavourful like brandy). Cook for 30, 40 minutes on 180 - 200 degrees (C). Lovely.

TBE on 14/1/2010 at 20:14

---

If you're watching calories, Gulden's mustard, this is what you want on your sandwich. Delicious! And Hellman's or Best Foods is the only mayo I use.
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k8/TafferBoyElvis/31JYKYB03XL_SL500_AA268_.jpghttp://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k8/TafferBoyElvis/mayo1.jpg