So, I presume that most, if not all, of us are generally the kind of cooks who usually do things the long, authentic and time-consuming way when we cook. We make our own rubs, sauces, marinades, stocks. We trim and butcher (to greater or lesser extent) the meat we cook. Many of us grow and can our own veggies, pickles, kimchi, etc. I know that many of us bake our own bread using time-consuming techniques such as making and maintaining our own sourdough starters and so forth. But, if any of us (and I know there are many) regularly prepare and cook the majority of the meals for our families (and even some who don't), have "dirty little secrets" - short cuts and such - that we use from time to time to get tasty dishes and meals cooked and on the table in a less time-consuming fashion. I thought it might be fun to list them here.
I'll start:
I have 2 that come immediately to mind: 1) Tonight's meal (pic in SUWYC) was smoked chili made with the leftover chuck roast from Saturday's #stayincookout meal. My dirty little secret is that I use a commercially packaged chili mix to make chili. I've been doing it for years. Yes, I have, on rare occasion, scratch made chili of one sort or another, but we like the packaged mix, especially after I doctor it up with a can of Rotel Hot Diced Tomatoes with Chilis, homemade beef stock, and a couple of Tbsps of my homemade American Chili Powder. It's really delicious and is ready in short order, compared to scratch.
My second one is what we call "Indian from a jar." I call it that because the base of the sauce is a commercially available jarred spice paste called Patak's Hot Curry Paste. I have been making 1 hour Indian using Patak's for at least 15 years (I started when I was living alone after my divorce.) Over the years, I have continued to develop and enhance my recipe. I think I have exhausted my ideas for changing/improving it. While I can, and often do, make many different scratch Indian/South Asian dishes, I make Indian from a jar about once every 2 weeks, even when not sheltering in place, and it has become one of our favorite dinners. We usually make it with boneless chicken thighs, but have used the Patak's as a base for both lamb and shrimp curry dishes. I have also used Patak's Vindaloo paste on occasion.
I'll start:
I have 2 that come immediately to mind: 1) Tonight's meal (pic in SUWYC) was smoked chili made with the leftover chuck roast from Saturday's #stayincookout meal. My dirty little secret is that I use a commercially packaged chili mix to make chili. I've been doing it for years. Yes, I have, on rare occasion, scratch made chili of one sort or another, but we like the packaged mix, especially after I doctor it up with a can of Rotel Hot Diced Tomatoes with Chilis, homemade beef stock, and a couple of Tbsps of my homemade American Chili Powder. It's really delicious and is ready in short order, compared to scratch.
My second one is what we call "Indian from a jar." I call it that because the base of the sauce is a commercially available jarred spice paste called Patak's Hot Curry Paste. I have been making 1 hour Indian using Patak's for at least 15 years (I started when I was living alone after my divorce.) Over the years, I have continued to develop and enhance my recipe. I think I have exhausted my ideas for changing/improving it. While I can, and often do, make many different scratch Indian/South Asian dishes, I make Indian from a jar about once every 2 weeks, even when not sheltering in place, and it has become one of our favorite dinners. We usually make it with boneless chicken thighs, but have used the Patak's as a base for both lamb and shrimp curry dishes. I have also used Patak's Vindaloo paste on occasion.
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