4 ms·

I find precut vegetable to be not as good. Maybe there's a large psychological aspect, but I always assume it's more expensive (I rarely actually check) and not

I find precut vegetable to be not as good. Maybe there's a large psychological aspect, but I always assume it's more expensive (I rarely actually check) and not as good as the vegetable are not protected by their skin anymore, so they rot faster or have extra product to keep them fresh

dragontamer 7y ago
"Not as good" is still tastier than what is available from restaurants in my experience. Well, with practice anyway. The idea of pre-cut veggies and pre-minced garlic isn't to make things as tasty as possible. No... the idea is to make the joy of cooking far easier. Give me a pint of leftover rice, a jar of pre-minced garlic, a can of corn, 2 eggs, and an onion and I'll cook you some fried rice in less than 10 minutes. The longest part of the job is waiting the 5 minutes for my cast-iron skillet to heat up. 1. Heat cast iron skillet (~3 to 5 minutes) 2. Simultaneously, cut the onion. One half the onion is for this meal, save the other half for tomorrow. 3. Pour oil into the pan, wait for it to smoke lightly (shouldn't be long if its hot enough). 4. Mix rice, pre-minced garlic, corn, eggs, and cut onion into the skillet. 5. Mix around for a few minutes. 6. Eat. Add salt and pepper to taste. --------- Mincing garlic so that its fresh will taste better. But that's not "daily eating" IMO. Cooking quickly and cheaply is a major skill. The corn is pre-kerneled, the garlic is pre-minced. The only thing I have to do is cut the onion, heat up the pan and fry everything. I eat fast food because it is easy. Making cooking easier than fast food is important, because then I self-cook instead of eat fast food. As long as it tastes better than a McDonald's Big Mac... and as long as it takes less effort than driving to McDonalds, I'll be cooking at home.
- wahern 7y ago
  Traditional pre-minced garlic has a distinct off-flavor, in addition to the fact that it cooks differently in the pan. But Litehouse (U.S.) sells amazing freeze-dried minced garlic that is almost indistinguishable from fresh garlic, and despite retail markup it's[1] somehow cheaper than traditional freeze-dried sources. I have a whole cabinet full. Costco sells extra large jars, but because it starts to oxidize and rehydrate after opening I prefer the smaller jars. Depending on the recipe, freeze-dried garlic is even better because you can control how quickly it browns by adjusting the amount of water when rehydrating it. [1] At least, it was cheaper last time I checked.
- lonelappde 7y ago
  Yeah the big time savings there is not having to wait all day for my chicken to lay an egg.
doctoboggan 7y ago
If you have a garlic press I see no need to use the crushed garlic in a bottle product.
- manicdee 7y ago
  Depends on whether you prefer 20 seconds to open the jar and spoon out the amount you need, or five minutes to peel the garlic, press it, then clean the garlic press.
  - doctoboggan 7y ago
    You don't need to peel the garlic before putting it in the press, and my press quickly disassembles and can be rinsed in seconds.

dragontamer 7y ago

"Not as good" is still tastier than what is available from restaurants in my experience. Well, with practice anyway. The idea of pre-cut veggies and pre-minced garlic isn't to make things as tasty as possible. No... the idea is to make the joy of cooking far easier. Give me a pint of leftover rice, a jar of pre-minced garlic, a can of corn, 2 eggs, and an onion and I'll cook you some fried rice in less than 10 minutes. The longest part of the job is waiting the 5 minutes for my cast-iron skillet to heat up. 1. Heat cast iron skillet (~3 to 5 minutes) 2. Simultaneously, cut the onion. One half the onion is for this meal, save the other half for tomorrow. 3. Pour oil into the pan, wait for it to smoke lightly (shouldn't be long if its hot enough). 4. Mix rice, pre-minced garlic, corn, eggs, and cut onion into the skillet. 5. Mix around for a few minutes. 6. Eat. Add salt and pepper to taste. --------- Mincing garlic so that its fresh will taste better. But that's not "daily eating" IMO. Cooking quickly and cheaply is a major skill. The corn is pre-kerneled, the garlic is pre-minced. The only thing I have to do is cut the onion, heat up the pan and fry everything. I eat fast food because it is easy. Making cooking easier than fast food is important, because then I self-cook instead of eat fast food. As long as it tastes better than a McDonald's Big Mac... and as long as it takes less effort than driving to McDonalds, I'll be cooking at home.

wahern 7y ago
Traditional pre-minced garlic has a distinct off-flavor, in addition to the fact that it cooks differently in the pan. But Litehouse (U.S.) sells amazing freeze-dried minced garlic that is almost indistinguishable from fresh garlic, and despite retail markup it's[1] somehow cheaper than traditional freeze-dried sources. I have a whole cabinet full. Costco sells extra large jars, but because it starts to oxidize and rehydrate after opening I prefer the smaller jars. Depending on the recipe, freeze-dried garlic is even better because you can control how quickly it browns by adjusting the amount of water when rehydrating it. [1] At least, it was cheaper last time I checked.
lonelappde 7y ago
Yeah the big time savings there is not having to wait all day for my chicken to lay an egg.

doctoboggan 7y ago

If you have a garlic press I see no need to use the crushed garlic in a bottle product.

manicdee 7y ago
Depends on whether you prefer 20 seconds to open the jar and spoon out the amount you need, or five minutes to peel the garlic, press it, then clean the garlic press.
- doctoboggan 7y ago
  You don't need to peel the garlic before putting it in the press, and my press quickly disassembles and can be rinsed in seconds.