Cooking For Engineers

[ronnie]

I was half expecting there to be a topic in here already drawing attention to this site, but as there isn't, behold!
http://www.cookingforengineers.com
I like how the recipes avoid ambiguous terms like "medium heat", it has a conversion table for things like that as well, to make allowances for non SI unit chefs. Be sure to look at the bacon investigation.

[Bruce]

I was really excited when I heard about this as I expected it to tell me how to make basic simple food to live, like scrambled eggs, pancakes, etc. Instead it focuses on overly complicated feasts. Does anyone know of a site which uses similar language for 'food to live on', for those who want to spend as little time as possible in the kitchen?

[ronnie]

For that, you would find better results by searching for cooking for students I would think. There are a fair few sites about it, I am not sure if the mods would want any discussion about it in a different thread or not.

Pasta, tinned food, fruit, flapjacks all make convenient snacks in my opinion. Oh, and oats can prevent you from needing to eat for a long time, so in the long term, it wastes less time.

[SecondTalon]

I have no problem with multiple links for "It's just cooking, stupid!" type sites thrown in here.

[Nath]

VideoJug has a bunch of recipes labeled 'quick and easy' or 'student cooking'.

[Endless Mike]

I was really excited when I heard about this as I expected it to tell me how to make basic simple food to live, like scrambled eggs, pancakes, etc. Instead it focuses on overly complicated feasts. Does anyone know of a site which uses similar language for 'food to live on', for those who want to spend as little time as possible in the kitchen?

Go buy a crock pot. Seriously. You spend at most a half hour putting stuff into it, turn it on before you go to work/class/whatever, and have good, hot food waiting for you when you get home. They all come with a small cookbook, and you can usually find recipes online if you just search for "crock pot recipe" or something similar. Plus, you can use cheap cuts of meat since the slow cooking process breaks down all the fat and gristle that makes it cheap.

[zahlman]

That guy's broiler must suck. I make bacon in my toaster oven set to "broil" and it comes out quite lovely - a full tray (typically 6 slices) done in about 8 minutes per side. Nice and crispy with a good amount of fat rendered. It does require some attention, though, since the meat starts to burn soon after it's done.

[TheTankengine]

I was really excited when I heard about this as I expected it to tell me how to make basic simple food to live, like scrambled eggs, pancakes, etc. Instead it focuses on overly complicated feasts. Does anyone know of a site which uses similar language for 'food to live on', for those who want to spend as little time as possible in the kitchen?

Go buy a crock pot. Seriously. You spend at most a half hour putting stuff into it, turn it on before you go to work/class/whatever, and have good, hot food waiting for you when you get home. They all come with a small cookbook, and you can usually find recipes online if you just search for "crock pot recipe" or something similar. Plus, you can use cheap cuts of meat since the slow cooking process breaks down all the fat and gristle that makes it cheap.

My god I cannot second this enough. A 3-4 quart crock pot with a "Low" setting, 2-3 pounds of $MEAT_OF_CHOICE with a quick rub/spice combo, a couple roughly chopped veggies and a small amount of liquid will render you at least 8 excellent meals. For most little roasts I leave it on for 8-10 hours, or 20 hours for a 4 pound pork shoulder. If you like pulled pork, the Crock Pot is worth it's weight in gold.

[Moo]

I love my slowcooker (aka crock pot) but I wish I'd bought one with an "auto" setting. Learn from my mistakes. When I put stuff in in the morning before I go to work, I have to accept that it will be on until I get home to switch it off. I wish I could set it to switch to keep-warm temp for dishes that require a little less cooking time.

[Sunsnail]

I love my slowcooker (aka crock pot) but I wish I'd bought one with an "auto" setting. Learn from my mistakes. When I put stuff in in the morning before I go to work, I have to accept that it will be on until I get home to switch it off. I wish I could set it to switch to keep-warm temp for dishes that require a little less cooking time.

You could buy an electric timer for about $10 and hook it up to the crock pot's plug. You could set it like that

[Moo]

Thanks for the tip!

[aleflamedyud]

I was half expecting there to be a topic in here already drawing attention to this site, but as there isn't, behold!
http://www.cookingforengineers.com
I like how the recipes avoid ambiguous terms like "medium heat", it has a conversion table for things like that as well, to make allowances for non SI unit chefs. Be sure to look at the bacon investigation.

All the best chefs work this way. I mean it. You think the top chefs don't have their temperatures calibrated to the tenth of a celcius degree, and their times tuned to the second?

That site is made of win.

[Azrael]

You think the top chefs don't have their temperatures calibrated to the tenth of a celcius degree, and their times tuned to the second?

Form what I've seen thanks to my lovely TV, yes, that is *exactly* what I think. That and the fact that while industrial cook tops have much finer variability than your home stove, they're still labeled relatively, not quantitatively.

[SecondTalon]

As I've always heard... while baking is a science (Exact, precisely measured amounts of X for Y Degrees for Z Minutes), any other form of cooking is an art, where you're doing good to get a precise measurement of "tablespoon" or "pinch".

[Mikeski]

...where you're doing good to get a precise measurement of "tablespoon" or "pinch".

My favorite vague cooking measurement is the 'heaping tablespoon'. I've got two sets of measuring spoons, and, due to their shapes, there's probably a 50% difference between them if you try to measure this way...

[Moo]

SexyTalon, I agree with you; I read somewhere "When baking, use the recipe. When cooking, use your heart".

Having said that, that probably goes for people who have a "feeling" about cooking; who understand the interactions of ingredients; who have experience. For those who don't, what a great site.

[SecondTalon]

My favorite vague cooking measurement is the 'heaping tablespoon'. I've got two sets of measuring spoons, and, due to their shapes, there's probably a 50% difference between them if you try to measure this way...

Are you sure they're both tablespoons? One might be a teaspoon.....

Not saying that I don't believe you, as I've seen some screwed up (cooking) measuring equipment in my time, just saying that might be a problem. Could even be labeled wrong.

Anyway, that's one reason I don't do many fancy things when I cook, simply because I can't make myself give a damn enough to figure out how much more a heap is over a leveled tablespoon or whatever. So I just use whatever I've figured out on my own and go from there.

So, yeah, there needs to be more sites like that. Are there more?

[Endless Mike]

My favorite vague cooking measurement is the 'heaping tablespoon'. I've got two sets of measuring spoons, and, due to their shapes, there's probably a 50% difference between them if you try to measure this way...

Are you sure they're both tablespoons? One might be a teaspoon.....

Based on shape, one could "heap" more than the other. A long, narrow spoon would probably heap less than a circular one.

[SecondTalon]

Ahh.. I see what you're saying. Yeah, that would be an issue. Still, most cooking is imprecise at best, so it shouldn't matter that much.

Shouldn't being the key word.

[Zohar]

Exception to cooking and using your heart - souffle. Needs special care taken to follow instructions exactly.

And also, anything to do with sauces and eggs.

[Moo]

Yes. Continuing in the spirit of more clearly defining things as an engineer would:
"When making dishes that involve precise chemical reactions, use the recipe. When making dishes that rely simply on the mixing of ingredients with or without the application of heat, use your heart."

Feel free to improve.

[SecondTalon]

Use your heart all you want. Me, I use my tastin' spoon and my tongue to figure it out.

[Ragavin]

A far less useful of successful resource in this regard is the Rev3 podcast "Ctrl-Alt-Chicken". I'm a big fan and I wish they would make more. =(

http://revision3.com/ctrlaltchicken/