Worth the effort

[Incredulity 11440]

Started a thread on old site about homemade stuff that isn’t really all that hard, but kicks the shit out of store bought/convenient version.  My discovery of stovetop popcorn changes my life.

Recently ended up with a 15lb sack of potatoes from Costco.  Been knocking out potato salads to use the sack up.  Most of the time/effort is waiting for potatoes to boil.  So much better than store bought.

suggestions welcome.

[Incredulity 11440]

[Jerry Callo 8646]

Caesar salad dressing. 

Only a few ingredients:  mayo, olive oil, lemon juice, black pepper, anchovy paste, Worcestershire, Dijon, minced garlic and freshly grated Parmesan.  

Edited May 31, 2018 by Jerry Callo

[Incredulity 11440]

Do you go salad by salad, or make a big batch and use over time?

[BabaYaga 15190]

Cured pork belly bacon.  All other answer are wrong

Edited May 30, 2018 by BabaYaga

[Jerry Callo 8646]

30 minutes ago, Incredulity said:

Do you go salad by salad, or make a big batch and use over time?

I make enough to last a couple weeks.

[Beau Vine 53845]

I don't understand people in Texas who use:
 

or...

[GringoSalado 1649]

I like homemade Caesar dressing, but I've only made that a few times. My go-to is a basic vinaigrette (I like to start w/ the Joy of Cooking French Dressing recipe). I'll make just one salad's worth if necessary and mix it up with my milk frother.

Also any mexican-food sauce, colorado, verde, salsas, pico. Pintos/refritos. Any of these are much better from scratch and not at all difficult or involved.

 

 

Also think that grinding your own hamburgers is worth it for large enough groups.

[luke duke 6366]

Ice cream

[utee94 15733]

47 minutes ago, luke duke said:

Ice cream

Word up.  Seconded.

[Incredulity 11440]

I am in on the salsa or Pico.  

Go to for pulled pork leftovers is corn tortilla tacos with homemade pico.

[baboso 6043]

This potato salad - chunky or whipped?

[Brisketexan 104226]

Homemade stock.  Make your own stock -- chicken, shrimp stock, whatever.  Just make your own stock.  It is absolutely worth it.

[Incredulity 11440]

26 minutes ago, baboso said:

This potato salad - chunky or whipped?

Chunky.  Getting the chop and boil right are key.  just enough to know there is potato there, but still soft.

[Jerry Callo 8646]

20 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Homemade stock.  Make your own stock -- chicken, shrimp stock, whatever.  Just make your own stock.  It is absolutely worth it.

Absolutely.  Pro-tip - breast milk bags work great for storing stock in the freezer.

[GringoSalado 1649]

1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

Homemade stock.  Make your own stock -- chicken, shrimp stock, whatever.  Just make your own stock.  It is absolutely worth it.

This, but I will say that for beef stock you need to be careful if using stuff off your smoker in your stock. You need to balance that out with some un-smoked beef parts IMO or the result is overly smoke-tasting. In my experience.

 

55 minutes ago, Incredulity said:

Chunky.  Getting the chop and boil right are key.  just enough to know there is potato there, but still soft.

What kind of potatoes? I try and get away w/ using Idahos to limit the peeling time.

 

 

2 hours ago, luke duke said:

Ice cream

Word. With real eggs!

[Wiler77 1551]

Stove-top popcorn was the first thing that came to mind.

Other than that, I'm a big fan of homemade butter.  Shake some cream, scrape out the butter, and add some salt.  Super easy.

I also enjoy homemade flour tortillas over just about anything you can find at the grocery store.

And for that matter homemade bread is the fucking bomb, especially focaccia.

[RPM 26167]

Potato salad? You're doing it wrong.

[FWD 297]

Agree with others on chicken stock, pico/salsa. 

Grind your own cumin seeds in a mortar rather than use the pre-ground, it makes a huge difference. Grind everything yourself for that matter: chilis, coffee, everything.

Infuse your own simple syrup with mint leaves for juleps. Do it with slices of raw ginger for other cocktails.

 

[ChampKind 1314]

2 hours ago, Incredulity said:

Chunky.  Getting the chop and boil right are key.  just enough to know there is potato there, but still soft.

This might be helpful (or maybe not). Leave the potatoes whole when you boil them. They're done when they start to split open. Drain the water, let them cool, then break them apart with your hands. Much quicker than chopping them before boiling, and you have better control over the consistency of your salad.

I prefer reds or whites. Idaho and other types potatoes don't hold up as well to boiling, IMO

Edited May 30, 2018 by ChampKind
cuz

[Johnny Sack 8397]

Kind of simple, but I won't eat pre-shredded cheese.  It's nasty.  Shredding your own is so, so much better.

[Incredulity 11440]

1 hour ago, GringoSalado said:

This, but I will say that for beef stock you need to be careful if using stuff off your smoker in your stock. You need to balance that out with some un-smoked beef parts IMO or the result is overly smoke-tasting. In my experience.

 

What kind of potatoes? I try and get away w/ using Idahos to limit the peeling time.

 

 

Word. With real eggs!

idaho.  

I peel, chop to a little more than 2x2.  add to rapidly boiling water for 15min.  leaves some nice potato texture chunks, but soft.

 

[GringoSalado 1649]

2 hours ago, Johnny Sack said:

Kind of simple, but I won't eat pre-shredded cheese.  It's nasty.  Shredding your own is so, so much better.

Doesn't melt right either. Pretty sure it's coated to prevent clumping. Fuck that.

[Lazarus Bocanegra 303]

9 hours ago, Jerry Callo said:

Caesar salad dressing. 

Only a few ingredients:  mayo, olive oil, lemon juice, black pepper, anchovy paste, Worcestershire, Dijon, and freshly grated Parmesan.  

close, but the master would say you are lacking garlic and one egg yolk (1/2 credit for the mayo) 

 

[GringoSalado 1649]

2 hours ago, ChampKind said:

This might be helpful (or maybe not). Leave the potatoes whole when you boil them. They're done when they start to split open. Drain the water, let them cool, then break them apart with your hands. Much quicker than chopping them before boiling, and you have better control over the consistency of your salad.

I prefer reds or whites. Idaho and other types potatoes don't hold up as well to boiling, IMO

 If you pull the Idaho's as soon as they're cooked through and ice bath them they tend to stay together, then you can peel them (with a fork). If you overcook them you're fucked as far as chunky ps goes. 

[Buzzrock 14859]

Agree with others on chicken stock, pico/salsa. 
Grind your own cumin seeds in a mortar rather than use the pre-ground, it makes a huge difference. Grind everything yourself for that matter: chilis, coffee, everything.
Infuse your own simple syrup with mint leaves for juleps. Do it with slices of raw ginger for other cocktails.
 

However: do not grind coffee and spices in the same grinder.

[RD3 64]

6 hours ago, Incredulity said:

I am in on the salsa or Pico.  

Go to for pulled pork leftovers is corn tortilla tacos with homemade pico.

The premade pico at HEB is awesome. It's one of a few items that they make better than me.

[fuggled 576]

I couldn't decide which thread to put this in, but this seems like the right spot.

My wife has been asking for help learning to use the smoker. So, Memorial Day I walked her though firing up the WSM and she did 3 whole chickens plus another 8 or so leg quarters. They turned out great. For my part, I harvested the skin from the smoked birds, sliced it up and fried it into homemade chicken-bacon. It'll probably end up in some breakfast tacos or on a pizza. I've never seen store-bought...but I assume mine is better.

I also turned the drippings into gravy for some shrimp and biscuits the next day and, of course, roasted all the bones so we can make stock.

[drt 637]

gotdamn.

[Parliament 14086]

[dieucla98 2922]

I'd say homemade pasta but after discovering the Bucatini fresh pasta at HEB for ~$5, I haven't made a single batch of fresh pasta myself. Totally worth it to just buy it ready made with the same ingredients I use anyways (flour, eggs, water).

Homemade curry paste, green curry in particular, kicks ass.

[Bill Brasky 1438]

enchiladas 

[pops 6971]

Pickles

[Both Tacos 1805]

Grind your own brisket packer for hamburger patties. Throw in some bacon with the grind to get some badass bacon burger.

[elfenix 34161]

 

16 hours ago, Jerry Callo said:

Caesar salad dressing. 

Only a few ingredients:  mayo, olive oil, lemon juice, black pepper, anchovy paste, Worcestershire, Dijon, and freshly grated Parmesan.  

[Kennythetiger 9325]

19 hours ago, luke duke said:

Ice cream

Yessir.  I have a hand-crank maker and we wear that sombitch out with birthdays, graduations, etc.  I have two recipes that I use- a vanilla one and one that calls for whichever fruit sounds good and is in season.  I think one time we added up the cost of the ingredients after a batch of strawberry ice cream and it was close to $30/gallon.  Damn.

I also like homemade cornbread with homemade syrup (brown sugar, butter, and vanilla).

[LW Goatman 1117]

Corn tortillas and Marinara

[baboso 6043]

Quote

My wife has been asking for help learning to use the smoker. So, Memorial Day I walked her though firing up the WSM and she did 3 whole chickens plus another 8 or so leg quarters. 

Have you gone mad?  You are taking away one of the last bastions of husbandly alone time.

 

[Jerry Callo 8646]

15 hours ago, Lazarus Bocanegra said:

close, but the master would say you are lacking garlic and one egg yolk (1/2 credit for the mayo) 

 

I forgot to put garlic on the list, but I do use it in the recipe.  Mayo is cheating, but it has a longer shelf life.

Speaking of garlic - I'll only use freshly minced garlic.  I can believe people use that stuff that comes from a jar.

[dcbc 14367]

3 hours ago, Kennythetiger said:

Yessir.  I have a hand-crank maker and we wear that sombitch out with birthdays, graduations, etc.  I have two recipes that I use- a vanilla one and one that calls for whichever fruit sounds good and is in season.  I think one time we added up the cost of the ingredients after a batch of strawberry ice cream and it was close to $30/gallon.  Damn.

I also like homemade cornbread with homemade syrup (brown sugar, butter, and vanilla).

I admire your commitment to the hand crank ice cream maker.  But we picked up one of these a couple of years ago, and even our old motorized White Mountain can't touch it for ease of use and quality of ice cream.

Also, if anyone is looking for ice cream recipes, there's not a bad one in this book. 

Edited May 31, 2018 by dcbc

[wild_turkey 3147]

Stove top popcorn is much better than microwave popcorn, but I'm not sure it really fits "worth the effort". It takes a grand total of 5 minutes to make it, mostly just standing there. There's hardly any effort involved to make popcorn by either method, so the bigger question is why anyone would choose microwave popcorn in the first place.

 

For the thread topic, I would submit homemade noodles and pasta sauce.

[Fudge Nuggets 19111]

Corn tortillas which are then turned into homemade taco shells.

Some are turned into puffy tacos, some are baked like regular taco shells and some get deep fried ala JiTB.

[Stoogey 219]

 

On 5/30/2018 at 8:57 AM, Jerry Callo said:

Caesar salad dressing.  Only a few ingredients:  mayo, olive oil, lemon juice, black pepper, anchovy paste, Worcestershire, Dijon, and freshly grated Parmesan.  

Definitely. I take the coddled eggs and oil route. Pretty much all salad dressings actually: green goddess, bleu cheese, ranch, real Italian vinaigrette. Put it in a gravy boat or bring out the oil and vinegar cruets and a lemon.  

[Thetexashammer 1062]

I currently have the peels of 14 lemons macerating in 1.75 liters of Pinnacle vodka in a tupperware container. After a couple weeks I will add fake sugar (carb nazi here), fill an old whiskey bottle, and walla, Limoncello all summer long. 

[NeverMarryAStripper 21780]

Making mojitos from scratch with fresh mint leaves off your plant is definitely worth it

[wild_turkey 3147]

I currently have the peels of 14 lemons macerating in 1.75 liters of Pinnacle vodka in a tupperware container. After a couple weeks I will add fake sugar (carb nazi here), fill an old whiskey bottle, and walla, Limoncello all summer long. 

Good one. Our limoncello recently finished and it’s great.

[wild_turkey 3147]

Making mojitos from scratch with fresh mint leaves off your plant is definitely worth it

How else do you make mojitos?

[utee94 15733]

7 hours ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

Making mojitos from scratch with fresh mint leaves off your plant is definitely worth it

We grow mint in our herb garden solely for this purpose.

6 hours ago, wild_turkey said:

 

How else do you make mojitos?

 

I guess some people buy store-bought mint?  It's a travesmahockery.

Edited June 1, 2018 by utee94

[Incredulity 11440]

Chew doublemint gum and shoot rum?

[Jerry Callo 8646]

On 6/1/2018 at 9:36 AM, Incredulity said:

Chew doublemint gum and shoot rum?

That does seem much easier.