What's your cooking dirty secret?
Discussion
Gary29 said:
DodgyGeezer said:
Gary29 said:
Pre-chopped garlic in a jar. Aint nobody got time to bother peeling and crushing fresh garlic. Plus it's impossible to get the stink off your fingers for days.
lazy garlic - have to say though that as convenient as it is it's not (IMO) got the same taste (possibly because it's in vineger?)Well I love it, and will not be changing my ways any time soon.
Tastes like real garlic with no vinegary notes. Keeps for ages in the fridge even once opened. I always have this, along with tomato puree and anchovy puree. Anchovy puree injected into the holes before studding a leg of lamb with garlic cloves before roasting is a great thing. Doesn't taste fishy at all! Anyway...
Probably not 'dirty' per se but I make fantastic thin and crispy pizza from the cheapest of wraps. A ball of mozzarella, some passata, olio and a few bits of ham or salami and you have something really lovely and with way fewer cals than a proper pizza (due to the thin base). It also overcomes the temperature limitations of a domestic oven. 
Waitrose Essential Chicken Thighs are £3.60 per kilo with the bones still in, and the skin still on. At the other end of the scale, the watery, flavourless, quick-to-desiccate breast fillets are over twice the price at £8.34.
Given this, unless you're cooking something where the meal only works if you preserve the shape of the breast, I'd always lightly oil and season the thighs, roast them in the oven for 45 minutes, let them cool down so you can strip the meat off the bones with your fingers, then use the meat instead of sliced breast meat in whatever recipe you're following. Just don't cook it for as long if you're doing a stir-fry or whatever.
The dish will invariably taste much better, the bones don't weigh all that much, so you're not losing much there, and the dirty little secret part is that you get to pig out on all the chicken skin that most of the rest of the household never even knew had been cooked!
Given this, unless you're cooking something where the meal only works if you preserve the shape of the breast, I'd always lightly oil and season the thighs, roast them in the oven for 45 minutes, let them cool down so you can strip the meat off the bones with your fingers, then use the meat instead of sliced breast meat in whatever recipe you're following. Just don't cook it for as long if you're doing a stir-fry or whatever.
The dish will invariably taste much better, the bones don't weigh all that much, so you're not losing much there, and the dirty little secret part is that you get to pig out on all the chicken skin that most of the rest of the household never even knew had been cooked!
For making chicken stock, I get bones from the farm shop at £1.95 for a 2kg bag of chicken carcasses. But when you need a good stock and you don't have a handy farm shop selling bones for stock, then you can use a tray of chicken wings. Just simmer them in salted water alone for a good stock, or add some chopped carrots, onions, celery, bay leaf and parsley and you'll have a truly excellent stock or even a soup. It's not a dirty secret, but it takes literally 1-2 minutes of prep and the chicken stock takes care of itself after a few hours on a low heat. And real chicken stock will transform any dish you prepare with it compared to using ready-made stock or concentrated stock.
rewild said:
Mikebentley said:
Worcester Sauce.
Absolutely. Top tip, don't add it early and cook it in, stir it in off the heat just before serving. Makes a world of difference.LunarOne said:
For making chicken stock, I get bones from the farm shop at £1.95 for a 2kg bag of chicken carcasses. But when you need a good stock and you don't have a handy farm shop selling bones for stock, then you can use a tray of chicken wings. Just simmer them in salted water alone for a good stock, or add some chopped carrots, onions, celery, bay leaf and parsley and you'll have a truly excellent stock or even a soup. It's not a dirty secret, but it takes literally 1-2 minutes of prep and the chicken stock takes care of itself after a few hours on a low heat. And real chicken stock will transform any dish you prepare with it compared to using ready-made stock or concentrated stock.
That's not a dirty secret. That's good cooking. I don't buy chicken from September to February becuase I'm shooting or beating. I run out of chicken stock so chicken wings are my go to for stock making. I roast them first. Half a litre of insipid salty chicken stock is £2. A kilo of chicken wings which yield a litre of good stock are £2.50. Can make a decent dish with the leftover meatMy dirty secret is sugar (whether it be granular sugar, honey, redcurrant jelly, sweet wine). Goes into loads of sauces to balance acidity. And salt
Instead of using bread crumbs for breaded chicken I use sage and onion stuffing.
As an alternative to foiled jacket potatoes in bbq season I make up foiled parcels of miniature potatoes, carrots, onions, broccoli florets with a healthy slug of olive oil and bung onto the coals for 30/40 minutes.
As an alternative to foiled jacket potatoes in bbq season I make up foiled parcels of miniature potatoes, carrots, onions, broccoli florets with a healthy slug of olive oil and bung onto the coals for 30/40 minutes.
When I want a quick snack, I'll get a bit of sliced ham in some kitchen tongs and hold it in the open flame of my hob burner until it's crispy and a little blackened around the edges. This usually takes 10-15 seconds per slice and it's like insta-bacon. Lovely and it works on cheap ham!
Kermit power said:
Waitrose Essential Chicken Thighs are £3.60 per kilo with the bones still in, and the skin still on. At the other end of the scale, the watery, flavourless, quick-to-desiccate breast fillets are over twice the price at £8.34.
Given this, unless you're cooking something where the meal only works if you preserve the shape of the breast, I'd always lightly oil and season the thighs, roast them in the oven for 45 minutes, let them cool down so you can strip the meat off the bones with your fingers, then use the meat instead of sliced breast meat in whatever recipe you're following. Just don't cook it for as long if you're doing a stir-fry or whatever.
The dish will invariably taste much better, the bones don't weigh all that much, so you're not losing much there, and the dirty little secret part is that you get to pig out on all the chicken skin that most of the rest of the household never even knew had been cooked!
Plus you can make stock out of the bones. They can be frozen until you’ve got a decent amount Given this, unless you're cooking something where the meal only works if you preserve the shape of the breast, I'd always lightly oil and season the thighs, roast them in the oven for 45 minutes, let them cool down so you can strip the meat off the bones with your fingers, then use the meat instead of sliced breast meat in whatever recipe you're following. Just don't cook it for as long if you're doing a stir-fry or whatever.
The dish will invariably taste much better, the bones don't weigh all that much, so you're not losing much there, and the dirty little secret part is that you get to pig out on all the chicken skin that most of the rest of the household never even knew had been cooked!
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