4 ms·

I love cooking and have recently become obsessed with it, but doing it well is extremely time consuming. The best equipment is all meant to be washed by hand (k

I love cooking and have recently become obsessed with it, but doing it well is extremely time consuming. The best equipment is all meant to be washed by hand (knives, aluminum baking sheets, cast iron and stainless steel skillets, etc.) and cleaning all this easily takes over an hour per meal, never mind the time to actually cook the meal (which, depending on what I’m cooking takes 1-4 hours of active prep time). Also, finding high quality ingredients requires planning and trips to farmers markets. I could save a bunch of time and money by buying from the local grocery store and using cheap dishwasher safe products, but I’ll be dissatisfied with the end result, so I might as well eat out somewhere inexpensive then.

dillonmckay 7y ago
What do you think the ‘somewhere inexpensive’ restaurant uses for ingredients and equipment?
- smilekzs 7y ago
  A restaurant benefits from the economy of scale --- preparing food for a lot of people amortizes the effort spent on upkeep and $ on equipment. Also there's a team, vs. just yourself when you cook yourself, and specialization increases efficiency too. As for ingredients, well, YMMV; personally I frequent quite a few 'somewhere inexpensive' restaurants that minimally process quality ingredients.
  - byproxy 7y ago
    Yeah, besides chain restaurants (which probably use a bunch of prepackaged, microwaved stuff), most places stock their kitchen with pretty fresh ingredients. Probably from a big restaurant retailer like Sysco or Restaurant Depot, but I doubt it's worse than what you can get at a grocery store.
- engates 7y ago
  The main problem with restaurants is the shitty vegetable oils they use. It's horrible for you. Unless they're a REALLY high end restaurant, they're using junk industrial seed oils for all of their cooking. That stuff is what causes obesity and heart disease. At home you can cook with butter, olive oil, etc. But I guarantee, most restaurants do not cook with high quality fats.
  - campers 7y ago
    Agree 100%, the #1 reason I should cook at home more where I always use butter, coconut oil etc. Either need to do big cook ups of extra tasty food and pack lots of meals, or find more real simple meals to whip up quickly.
  - judahjr88 7y ago
    I have heard this a couple of places. Can you elaborate on why it's so bad and share a source or two.
samsolomon 7y ago
A few tips I learned from a professional chef that changed everything: — Mise en place (Get everything you need prepped) — Clean as you cook Get a bunch of small glass dishes and get all the ingredients you need measured, chopped and placed into those dishes. This will make combining them effortless when cooking. If you've done prep, you'll have some down time while cooking. As you finish using pans and utensils wash them and put them away. By the time you're done cooking you'll also be almost done cleaning—save the pan that needs to soak a bit in the sink.
- dahdum 7y ago
  It took a short culinary program to really drill those into my head, but they are game changers for sure. Now I get a bit anxious when my “station” isn’t tidy, like I’m disappointing the chef. The other habit drilled out of me was watching food cook...very few things require constant attention and that’s all time that should be spent on prep and cleaning. I use stainless steel mixing bowls, lighter and cheaper than glass and they stack really well. A large cutting board (24x18) helps you work clean.
  - ethbro 7y ago
    I've found that listening to stovetop food sizzle will usually tell you what's going on. I imagine I'm generally hearing the amount of water left in the food? But curious about any other approaches to "No look" you have!
    - JoeAltmaier 7y ago
      As Alton Brown says "If its not sizzling, its burning"
- byproxy 7y ago
  Prep is like 90% of the work when it comes to cooking. Putting it all together on some heat for a specific amount of time is the easy part!
- andrei_says_ 7y ago
giardini 7y ago
Xcelerate says >"The best equipment is all meant to be washed by hand (knives, aluminum baking sheets, cast iron and stainless steel skillets"< Toss the cast iron and stainless steel skillets and buy nonstick skillets, cheap or expensive. When they wear out, replace them. I've gone through more than two sets of cast iron cookware trying to "season" them properly. "Seasoning cast iron" never works, either consistently or well. It is little more than marketing horseshit the iron cookware industry feeds to foodies who cannot resist the perfect skillet they imagine exists on the far side of the hill.
- hansvm 7y ago
  I completely agree that a proper nonstick pans is easier to clean and sticks less, but cast iron has an incredibly high specific heat (and thermal mass) that makes searing food a breeze, and till recent years consumer grade nonstick pans couldn't even take the heat needed to do so. Tangential anecdote: For a few years in college I had a single cast iron skillet as my only pot or pan. It's all you need to make tacos, soup, noodles, bread, shepherds pie, or a host of other things. Being deep enough to hold a few servings of food for a couple people and being able to go in the oven go a long ways toward its versatility.
- ethbro 7y ago
  > Toss the cast iron Blasphemy! (As someone raised in the southern US) In all seriousness, the biggest difference I've found in properly keeping up cast iron is using the right cleaning method. Water. Or just a bit of highly-diluted dish soap. I know there's ways to do proper coating (oven clean, etc), but most of the time I just hot fire mine on a gas burner with some oil. Works fine. Also, there's no way in hell I'd cook cast iron on an electric top. (though I don't have experience with induction) And finally... cook things with more fat. Bacon in the pan frequently goes a long way towards making it happy.
- zaccusl 7y ago
  My experience is completely opposite. I ditched my (expensive) non-stick pans two years ago and bought a decent stainless steel pan and a cast iron pan (since then I've also upgraded to SS stockpots and sauce pans). This was the best thing I've done in the kitchen. My cast iron pan is the best pan I've ever used and is as non-stick as any "non-stick" pan I have used. I cook pancakes, omelets, and fried eggs without any sticking and minimal oil. It is may daily cooker. My stainless is okay for things like omelets and fried eggs but it takes more skill and understanding of the pan and I still sometimes end up with lots of sticking. But for things like meats, pan sauces, or grilled cheeses I love it. My advice to any home-cook is to ditch the non-stick pans, buy a cheap 12" cast-iron pan, and a decent SS pan and watch a few videos about using them (e.g., SS pans needs to be heated to the point where the Leidenfrost effect occurs). These two things can transform your cooking and open a world of high-temp searing, pan sauces, and stainless steel tools (I can't stand using plastic spatulas any more, like when I use my teflon coated griddle). Also, keep Barkeepers Friend on hand for cleaning SS pans (otherwise life is hard)

dillonmckay 7y ago

What do you think the ‘somewhere inexpensive’ restaurant uses for ingredients and equipment?

smilekzs 7y ago
A restaurant benefits from the economy of scale --- preparing food for a lot of people amortizes the effort spent on upkeep and $ on equipment. Also there's a team, vs. just yourself when you cook yourself, and specialization increases efficiency too. As for ingredients, well, YMMV; personally I frequent quite a few 'somewhere inexpensive' restaurants that minimally process quality ingredients.
- byproxy 7y ago
  Yeah, besides chain restaurants (which probably use a bunch of prepackaged, microwaved stuff), most places stock their kitchen with pretty fresh ingredients. Probably from a big restaurant retailer like Sysco or Restaurant Depot, but I doubt it's worse than what you can get at a grocery store.
engates 7y ago
The main problem with restaurants is the shitty vegetable oils they use. It's horrible for you. Unless they're a REALLY high end restaurant, they're using junk industrial seed oils for all of their cooking. That stuff is what causes obesity and heart disease. At home you can cook with butter, olive oil, etc. But I guarantee, most restaurants do not cook with high quality fats.
- campers 7y ago
  Agree 100%, the #1 reason I should cook at home more where I always use butter, coconut oil etc. Either need to do big cook ups of extra tasty food and pack lots of meals, or find more real simple meals to whip up quickly.
- judahjr88 7y ago
  I have heard this a couple of places. Can you elaborate on why it's so bad and share a source or two.

samsolomon 7y ago

A few tips I learned from a professional chef that changed everything: — Mise en place (Get everything you need prepped) — Clean as you cook Get a bunch of small glass dishes and get all the ingredients you need measured, chopped and placed into those dishes. This will make combining them effortless when cooking. If you've done prep, you'll have some down time while cooking. As you finish using pans and utensils wash them and put them away. By the time you're done cooking you'll also be almost done cleaning—save the pan that needs to soak a bit in the sink.

dahdum 7y ago
It took a short culinary program to really drill those into my head, but they are game changers for sure. Now I get a bit anxious when my “station” isn’t tidy, like I’m disappointing the chef. The other habit drilled out of me was watching food cook...very few things require constant attention and that’s all time that should be spent on prep and cleaning. I use stainless steel mixing bowls, lighter and cheaper than glass and they stack really well. A large cutting board (24x18) helps you work clean.
- ethbro 7y ago
  I've found that listening to stovetop food sizzle will usually tell you what's going on. I imagine I'm generally hearing the amount of water left in the food? But curious about any other approaches to "No look" you have!
  - JoeAltmaier 7y ago
    As Alton Brown says "If its not sizzling, its burning"
byproxy 7y ago
Prep is like 90% of the work when it comes to cooking. Putting it all together on some heat for a specific amount of time is the easy part!
andrei_says_ 7y ago

giardini 7y ago

Xcelerate says >"The best equipment is all meant to be washed by hand (knives, aluminum baking sheets, cast iron and stainless steel skillets"< Toss the cast iron and stainless steel skillets and buy nonstick skillets, cheap or expensive. When they wear out, replace them. I've gone through more than two sets of cast iron cookware trying to "season" them properly. "Seasoning cast iron" never works, either consistently or well. It is little more than marketing horseshit the iron cookware industry feeds to foodies who cannot resist the perfect skillet they imagine exists on the far side of the hill.

hansvm 7y ago
I completely agree that a proper nonstick pans is easier to clean and sticks less, but cast iron has an incredibly high specific heat (and thermal mass) that makes searing food a breeze, and till recent years consumer grade nonstick pans couldn't even take the heat needed to do so. Tangential anecdote: For a few years in college I had a single cast iron skillet as my only pot or pan. It's all you need to make tacos, soup, noodles, bread, shepherds pie, or a host of other things. Being deep enough to hold a few servings of food for a couple people and being able to go in the oven go a long ways toward its versatility.
ethbro 7y ago
> Toss the cast iron Blasphemy! (As someone raised in the southern US) In all seriousness, the biggest difference I've found in properly keeping up cast iron is using the right cleaning method. Water. Or just a bit of highly-diluted dish soap. I know there's ways to do proper coating (oven clean, etc), but most of the time I just hot fire mine on a gas burner with some oil. Works fine. Also, there's no way in hell I'd cook cast iron on an electric top. (though I don't have experience with induction) And finally... cook things with more fat. Bacon in the pan frequently goes a long way towards making it happy.
zaccusl 7y ago
My experience is completely opposite. I ditched my (expensive) non-stick pans two years ago and bought a decent stainless steel pan and a cast iron pan (since then I've also upgraded to SS stockpots and sauce pans). This was the best thing I've done in the kitchen. My cast iron pan is the best pan I've ever used and is as non-stick as any "non-stick" pan I have used. I cook pancakes, omelets, and fried eggs without any sticking and minimal oil. It is may daily cooker. My stainless is okay for things like omelets and fried eggs but it takes more skill and understanding of the pan and I still sometimes end up with lots of sticking. But for things like meats, pan sauces, or grilled cheeses I love it. My advice to any home-cook is to ditch the non-stick pans, buy a cheap 12" cast-iron pan, and a decent SS pan and watch a few videos about using them (e.g., SS pans needs to be heated to the point where the Leidenfrost effect occurs). These two things can transform your cooking and open a world of high-temp searing, pan sauces, and stainless steel tools (I can't stand using plastic spatulas any more, like when I use my teflon coated griddle). Also, keep Barkeepers Friend on hand for cleaning SS pans (otherwise life is hard)