Re: Cooking Dinner

1

Well, what are you trying to make?


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 2:59 PM
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2

Dropping flour into milk may lump more easily than v.v. No butter with the flour?!?


Posted by: clew | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 3:03 PM
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If there were butter in with the flour in the first step, you'd be making a roux. Adding milk to dry flour in a hot pan is new to me, but I think the idea is to avoid lumps -- when you put flour into liquid, it clumps up. By stirring the liquid slowly into the flour, you get first a smooth paste, then a looser paste, then a thick sauce instead of milk with lumps in it.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 3:05 PM
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4

Or what clew said. Anyway, what is the recipe for? Some kind of white sauce?


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 3:05 PM
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5

Spaghetti squash baked with cheese??

If that's the recipe you're using, I wouldn't follow it. I'd either cook the flour with butter to make a roux, and add the milk and then cheese to make a cheese sauce, or I'd toss the flour with the vegetables and cheese until it's all combined, put it in the casserole dish, and then pour the hot milk over it and bake. That's less trouble, and I think it has less chance of getting gummy and weird.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 3:18 PM
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6

I second 5, though I strongly recommend making a roux-based cheese sauce.


Posted by: AWB | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 3:21 PM
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7

I kind of suspect that the blogger you're reading has garbled a recipe that originally called for a roux -- she says it's all over Pinterest, but that she's unimpressed with her results.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 3:22 PM
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8

(Is it apparent to everyone that I've been trying to write an insanely boring brief all weekend?)


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 3:23 PM
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9

Yes.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 3:24 PM
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10

I always wonder how clearly it shows.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 3:25 PM
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11

People keep promising to bring me foods and stuff since I broke my arm on Monday, but then they don't. Sob. It's not like I really need very much help with stuff, but follow-through would be nice.


Posted by: AWB | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 3:25 PM
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12

It's not that one, but it's a similar spaghetti squash recipe off Pinterest. I just heated up the milk and whisked in the flour and then added a bunch of cheese, and it seemed to work fine.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 3:25 PM
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13

I saw on FB! Poor you! What happened?


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 3:29 PM
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14

It sucks that you can't get friends delivered by Amazon Prime.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 3:33 PM
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15

I fell on the ice. It was stupid. A friend was going to drive me home and I suggested we cut through an icy alley. We got through the alley fine, and then I took a big stride in a parking lot, not seeing the ice there.

All my really helpful friends are out of town for break. The ones in town are terrible at thinking of things to help. "I know what would cheer you up! Let's go dancing!" Um, I HAVE A BROKEN ARM.


Posted by: AWB | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 3:33 PM
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16

Is 14 the saddest sentence ever?


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 3:36 PM
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17

The let's-go-dancing guy has also decided I'm mysteriously suddenly very attractive and we should have sex. I DON'T WANT TO HAVE SEX WITH YOU. I HAVE A BROKEN ARM. Whatever happened to "Hey, I ordered a pizza! Let's take codeine and watch a movie!"


Posted by: AWB | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 3:38 PM
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18

Adding the flour to the med high pan will cook the flour a bit and make the sauce taste less flour-y and more savory (and nutty). Maybe your other ingredients might drown out the flour flavor, but (in theory) not cooking the flour first is a flavor problem.


Posted by: Anononoymous | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 3:38 PM
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The let's-go-dancing guy has also decided I'm mysteriously suddenly very attractive and we should have sex. I DON'T WANT TO HAVE SEX WITH YOU. I HAVE A BROKEN ARM.

Huh. Well that's an odd development in your ongoing saga of romantic woe.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 3:40 PM
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20

you can't get friends delivered by Amazon Prime.

That's what Backpage is for.


Posted by: gswift | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 3:40 PM
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21

Is it your writing hand? How long are you in a cast for?


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 3:41 PM
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22

Why are we all just saying "roux" or "roux-based"? It's a béchamel and let's not kid ourselves about it.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 3:41 PM
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23

19: This is a clear no, no ambiguity.

21: Yes! Five more weeks in cast. I should have strength enough to write a little with a pen in a week-ish.


Posted by: AWB | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 3:43 PM
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24

I call it a bechamel if I'm following a respectable recipe with something French about it. If I'm halfassing some flour and butter in a pan, I call it a carholewhite sauce.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 3:43 PM
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25

Nosflow, whenever I say "duh just make a béchamel" people give me shit about it.


Posted by: AWB | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 3:44 PM
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26

WMYBSALBéchamel?


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 3:44 PM
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25: I used to be like that. Then someone told me what a béchamel is. Problem solved. It's not as if "roux" is any more transparent.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 3:47 PM
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28

Not if you're doing it right. Some cornstarch-based abomination might be translucent, but that's entirely different.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 3:48 PM
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29

Really more of a mornay sauce, neb.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 3:49 PM
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30

24: It's sauce, it's white. White sauce. Béchamel sounds like something involving dromedaries.


Posted by: togolosh | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 3:49 PM
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31

Mmmmmm, invisible sauce.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 3:50 PM
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32

Béchamel sounds like a test to determine if a movie is sexist.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 3:53 PM
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33

This is a clear no, no ambiguity.

Well, obviously. It's just so bizarre.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 3:56 PM
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34

Your dinner must have more than two sauces, that spend at least five minutes talking to each other about something other than meat to pass the Béchamel test.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 3:58 PM
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35

You know life sucks when you mean to go to Instagram.com and instead go to Instapundit.com.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 4:02 PM
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36

As long as you weren't trying to mail order him to be your friend.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 4:04 PM
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37

||

Survived dude weekend, by the way. Brought much too much beer back. Lost ten bucks at poker. Missed out on naked hot tubbing, if there was any. (I don't think there was.)

|>


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 4:13 PM
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38

Brought much too much beer back.

I am skeptical that this is possible.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 4:22 PM
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39

Well, the problem is that it just got poured from a tap into bottles, so it won't last long. I have to drink it within the week, but more optimally within the next couple of days.

It's a problem that's solvable, mind.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 4:27 PM
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40

Maybe it means they didn't have a bottle opener.


Posted by: heebie-heebie | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 4:28 PM
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41

39: You mean growlers?


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 4:46 PM
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42

I have to drink it within the week, but more optimally within the next couple of days.

What happens if you don't?


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 4:47 PM
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43

It goes flat and doesn't taste very good. Assuming 41 is right.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 4:48 PM
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44

41: they're 750ml bottles but same difference yeah.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 4:56 PM
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45

What happens if you don't?

They start growling.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 5:02 PM
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46

7: It couldn't be worse than the microwaved brownie in a cup, which was predictably (I suppose) horrible.


Posted by: mcmc | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 5:53 PM
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47

If I were there, AWB, I would definitely come over to eat coedine and watch movies with you.

I might even bring pizza.


Posted by: delagar | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 6:26 PM
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48

Good news! I finished all the beer that was going to go bad!


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 6:29 PM
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49

Is delagar hitting on AWB?


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 6:30 PM
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50

47: I just turned down an invitation from the suddenly-amorous friend, ordered a pizza, and am now dicking around on the internet, trying to give up codeine. :-(


Posted by: AWB | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 6:31 PM
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51

48: Hooray!


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 7:30 PM
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52

We'll have to wait for an animal-seeking ATMer to invert the metaphor.


Posted by: Kreskin | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 8:44 PM
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53

Oops. Must be bedtime.


Posted by: Kreskin | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 8:45 PM
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54

50: give it up, it just makes you queasy. you need better painkillers.

heebie: it's too late now but cook the flour! I suspect there should be at least 2T butter in with the flour, but at the very least, raw flour is not merely unpleasant-tasting, but can make you ill. also the sauce will not thicken properly at all if you put in the milk first. I'm sure this is way too late to help, so I feel sad. really sad!!!


Posted by: alameida | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 9:24 PM
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55

Can you microwave the flour? If yes, with butter or not?


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 9:33 PM
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56

This thread is making me feel very self-conscious about my complete lack of culinary skills, particularly as I just did a terrible job with a stir-fry last night, and on a date, at that. I totally overcooked the beef, and the whole thing was bland and tasteless. It was saved only by the presence of perfectly browed and steamed Trader Joe's gyoza, sad as that is to say--which were in fact from her freezer, rather than being my own contribution.

Oh, well. Today we went to a BBQ a friend of a friend was hosting, and the food there was spectacular, so perhaps that will sort of balance it out. And she didn't seem to care all that much.


Posted by: x.trapnel | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 9:50 PM
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57

55 should make you feel a little better.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 9:53 PM
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58

56: Sounds like things are going well.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 9:54 PM
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57: I thought 55 was a serious question, one to which I did not know the answer.

58: Things do seem to be going rather well. This was the fifth (or fifth and sixth) date over two and a half weeks. We seem to like each other.


Posted by: x.trapnel | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 9:57 PM
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60

Is Hill Farmstead worth the epic journey?


Posted by: Unfoggetarian: "Pause endlessly, then go in" (9) | Link to this comment | 03-24-13 10:03 PM
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61

The ones in town are terrible at thinking of things to help. "I know what would cheer you up! Let's go dancing!" Um, I HAVE A BROKEN ARM

...bowling, then?

Plus, what, you can't dance with a broken arm? Just dance with your legs. Like Riverdance or something.

raw flour is not merely unpleasant-tasting, but can make you ill.

Wait, what?


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 03-25-13 3:29 AM
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people I have known who were so poor they didn't have anything to eat but flour till their next paycheck would fry it in the frying pan first, toast it. it was my understanding that consuming lots of uncooked flour would make you vomit, but that's probably not a problem unless you're on a flour-only diet. in a sauce or dish like this it's more the very distinctive taste of raw flour. it can have good associations; when I was a kid I liked a little line of uncooked pancake batter in the middle of my pancake. (shut up with jokes about the line; there is no more helpful way to describe it. one is meant to imagine a cross section of a pancake which is parallel with the plate.) in general, though, one doesn't want to taste raw flour.
I hope 55 is a joke. no.


Posted by: alameida | Link to this comment | 03-25-13 5:40 AM
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people I have known who were so poor they didn't have anything to eat but flour till their next paycheck

They had no water? Chapattis FTW.


Posted by: chris y | Link to this comment | 03-25-13 5:47 AM
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heebie: it's too late now but cook the flour! I suspect there should be at least 2T butter in with the flour, but at the very least, raw flour is not merely unpleasant-tasting, but can make you ill. also the sauce will not thicken properly at all if you put in the milk first.

Well, the whole dish got baked, so no worries. It all seemed fine. It was essentially a super-cheesy spaghetti squash recipe with peas and green peppers. Everyone ate it without much fuss and it left no memorable impression on anyone.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 03-25-13 6:12 AM
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65

Indeed. Or pita, or tortilla, or any number of unleavened-bread recipes.

Fried flour just sounds like you would end up with, what, a sort of toast-smelling brownish powder? Or do you add oil or something?


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 03-25-13 6:17 AM
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White sauce is some horrible thing you get with bad Chinese, bechamel is what Heebie is trying to make. I made a bunch for a mac n cheese the other day. As always, I was amazed at how the milk just seems to vanish into the flour - 3tb of flour, 8 tb of butter, three cups of milk = 1.5-2 cups of sauce.


Posted by: teraz kurwa my | Link to this comment | 03-26-13 3:14 AM
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I know, I would have used water to make some fried hoecakes or something, but this boy was bone-stupid. too stupid to even be from west-virginia (sorry knecht r.--feel free to mock incestuous moron south carolinians at any time): he was from kentucky. he was spending his money on drugs so maybe ingesting toasted flour in a hurry and washing it down with a glass of water was his best bet. but it seemed like lots of the migrant farm workers did the same; I cannot replicate their pronunciation of "fryed flawer" accurately, but it was a spondee with two mono-syllabic words, accent on the...not an "a" but whatever this vowel was...it more closely resembles the "o" in tower.


Posted by: alameida | Link to this comment | 03-26-13 3:20 AM
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68

A region where they will even fry dry flour before eating it? No surprise that part of the country was settled by Scots.


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 03-26-13 7:01 AM
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69

too stupid to even be from west-virginia .... he was from kentucky.

Ahem.


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 03-26-13 7:02 AM
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70

also the sauce will not thicken properly at all if you put in the milk first.

False.


Posted by: redfoxtailshrub | Link to this comment | 03-26-13 7:10 AM
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in general, though, one doesn't want to taste raw flour.

True!


Posted by: redfoxtailshrub | Link to this comment | 03-26-13 7:11 AM
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