Official SK.NET Cooking Thread

[guuuuuuuuts]

Made my first yogurt yesterday. It is a thick, delicious Greek yogurt, which I then combined with sugar and cream to make Frozen Yogurt, which is tasting pretty good. Made yet another batch of yogurt overnight, and planning to try cream cheese next.

 

[puella]

I've noticed food quality was lowered across the board after Covid. Food companies seized the opportunity to raise prices and decrease quality and haven't looked back. And sadly, even if you go to a bakery or the like, half the time they're selling industrial food, not fresh stuff.

Given all this, and because processed food doesn't go down well with me, I recently decided to make bread and cakes myself. I'm not a big fan of cakes (or sugary stuff in general) so I experimented to find some that would suit my taste.

Three dishes became my favorite and so I make them regularly now. The recipes are simple, the taste is light, and they're easy to digest.

Butter Mochi

Main ingredients: glutinous rice powder, butter, eggs, sugar, milk and vanilla powder.
Challenges: Lumps are easily formed in the dough but I found a good anti-lump whisk so that solved the issue.

It's called a mochi because it uses glutinous rice powder (used to make Asian rice cakes) instead of flour. I think it's a good fusion cake. 100% pure vanilla powder gives it a brown color. It's very digestive. I also make a different version by adding a mix of nuts and dried fruits with cinnamon powder instead of butter. It's also good. You can also add various cooked beans.

Brioches

Main ingredients: flour, butter, sugar, milk and eggs.
Challenges: To make the dough swell properly while keeping the butter from completely melting requires some skill. I had several failures. I use a thermo-hygro meter to find the right timing, temperature and humidity.

It's a kind of French bread that is popular for breakfast. Compared to other cakes, it's quite light and digestive.

Bread with walnuts and poppy seeds

Main ingredients: flour, walnuts and poppy seeds.
Challenges: Kneading the dough requires strength. It hurts my wrists and shoulders, but I don't have enough space for a mixing robot. The rest isn't that hard.

The bread can last a few days, and can be toasted when it's not fresh anymore. Great to complement a simple lunch.

 

[Walter]

I've noticed food quality was lowered across the board after Covid. Food companies seized the opportunity to raise prices and decrease quality and haven't looked back. And sadly, even if you go to a bakery or the like, half the time they're selling industrial food, not fresh stuff.

Over here in the states, I can't say I've noticed a difference in quality (apart from the inevitable trend of making portion sizes smaller yet more expensive), but prices have definitely gone up as a result of inflation.

I wish I were a good baker. My biggest successes have been pizza dough, which is simple, but really rewarding. In general, I tend to stay away from making breads and even cookies, because of the fundamental difference between baking and cooking—you can't mess with something once you put it in the oven to bake. I like tasting things and modifying them as they go, refining the flavor I'm looking for beyond the recipe. But baking is like a Simon Belmont jump. Once you hit that button you are LOCKED IN to a direction.

My wife and I share cooking responsibilities based on our work schedules. I really like it when I have time to do something adventurous in the kitchen. A neighbor who visits us regularly told me recently: Every time I come in here on a weekend you're doing something new in here. And I guess that's true. When I have spare time on a weekend, I tend to take on bigger/longer cooking projects. It's just fun to me.

Recently we've been making a lot of Asian-themed dishes:

Here's a deconstructed sushi bowl (salmon, rice, cucumber/avocado, with sriracha mayo topping). This is likely "too much sauce" for most people, but I couldn't resist. It was too good.

We've also made our own pho several times (basically vietnamese soup). Looks pretty much like the restaurant makes these days, thanks to us shopping at an Asian grocery store.

I make musubi pretty regularly for lunches.

And of course, what kind of sushi lover would I be without at least trying to make some basic-ass homemade sushi. I've really improved my roll!

 

[guuuuuuuuts]

I make musubi pretty regularly for lunches.

Please share your recipe!

 

[Walter]

Please share your recipe!

Hmm I've never documented it, but it's pretty simple, so here goes:

Ingredients:

(Makes 7 portions, 2 of which make a decent quick lunch)

• 1 cup rice
• 1 can SPAM
• 1/2 cup Teriyaki sauce (optional, I use this recipe)
• ~2 tablespoons of furikake or sesame seeds for topping
• 1 sheet roasted nori (optional, I don't use it that often)

Short version: Cook rice, fry 7 piece spam, use musubi press on rice, top with spam, eat.

Steps:

1. Cook rice, spread onto a plate to cool to room temp
2. Take a can of SPAM, dump its contents onto a cutting board, turn it on its side and slice it into 7 equal portions.
3. (Optional step) Soak the slices in teriyaki sauce for 20 minutes or so
4. Heat up a large skillet on low-medium heat with about 1 tablespoon of oil (vegetable oil + sesame oil for extra flavor, if you want). Skillet needs to be hot enough that when the meat touches it, it sizzles. If not, wait a bit longer.
5. Fry as many pieces of spam as you can fit on the skillet at once, flipping once it looks golden brown. Keep flipping until desired crust has formed.
6. Set spam aside to cool a bit while you do the next few steps
7. (Optional step: Authentic but time-consuming and negligible enhancement) Cut a few 3cm~1in wide ribbons of roasted nori sheets to wrap around your finished product later
8. Add a small amount of rice to a musubi press (you can get them on Amazon for less than $10) and push down lightly. Remove the press and just use your judgment on if you used enough rice. If not, add more and re-press
9. Sprinkle some furikake or sesame seeds on top of the rice
10. Add a slice of fried spam on top of the rice and wrap it with the nori
11. Wrap the whole thing in plastic wrap for storage or devour it while standing at the kitchen counter, you monster.