Ask your too-stupid-to-be-real cooking questions here.

[Guinastasia]

@Athena

I was trying to say that the blender is good if not better than a food processor at doing what that recipe needs… In other words, blend away! It’ll work great. Let us know how it turns out.

Edit: just re-read the recipe. You might have a little problem with the blender blending the frozen bananas at first. If that’s the case, just throw about half a banana in the microwave until it’s soft enough to squoosh with a fork. You’re looking for slightly liquidy. Put that in the blender with the frozen bananas to get them to start blending, and you should be good to go.

Oh, sorry, I misunderstood! I’ll let you guys know how it turns out!

(I thought you meant “Yes, you’ll ruin the blender, you’ll want to use the food processor”)

[Eva_Luna]

@Chipacabra

I don’t recommend it. Fish is delicate stuff, and goes from raw to cooked in to time flat. If you try to cook it while it’s frozen, then the outside will be cooked while the inside is still thawing, and you’ll get rather gooey raw fish.

On the flip side, thawing fish is super easy, especially if it’s individually wrapped. Just submerge the fish, in a ziplock bag if need be, into some lukewarm water for a while, stirring it around from time to time to keep the convection going.
All that being said, you probably COULD cook from frozen if you were poaching or cooking sous vide.

Fish soups from frozen fish come out pretty well IME; I don’t know that I’d do it with a large whole frozen fish, but frozen fillets or chunks seem to work fine. And yeah, I wouldn’t cook on a hard boil, either.

[aruvqan]

@Eva_Luna

Fish soups from frozen fish come out pretty well IME; I don’t know that I’d do it with a large whole frozen fish, but frozen fillets or chunks seem to work fine. And yeah, I wouldn’t cook on a hard boil, either.

I make a generic ‘chowder base’ out of what you would normally make a white clam chowder of, and it is great because once it is cooked and thick as you like it, you drop in frozen scallops, frozen peeled shrimp, frozen chunks of cod [or if you can do bivalves, clams coquina or the bivalve of your choice] wait until the fish bits are cooked through, about 10 minutes at a gentle simmer, you haz fresh chowder. I like using frozen because a good hearty stir to mix in the fish bits doesn’t turn the fish into shreds, like if you tried to stir in thawed or unfrozen fresh fish.

[lindsaybluth]

@Chipacabra

I don’t recommend it. Fish is delicate stuff, and goes from raw to cooked in to time flat. If you try to cook it while it’s frozen, then the outside will be cooked while the inside is still thawing, and you’ll get rather gooey raw fish.

Thank you! I was hoping there was “some way” that had just evaded me up until now :p.

@Mama_Zappa

Easy - they peck around on the ground for graaaaiiiinsssss

This is great!

[brittekland]

@Mama_Zappa

Easy - they peck around on the ground for graaaaiiiinsssss

What if they are in plucked and de-headed state?

[Infovore]

@brittekland

What if they are in plucked and de-headed state?

Then maybe they’re related to Mike.

[LVBoPeep]

Here is my stupid question - I plan on having an Ab Fab new episode showing tomorrow with my two sisters. It’s cold and windy here, so I’m making this recipe : Crockpot Mushroom and Wild Rice soup. However, I’m not really digging an hour roundtrip visit to Trader Joes or Whole Foods to get some dried wild mushrooms. My local store has dried porcini and shitake (not mixed) mushrooms. Having never used either varieties, or wild, I’m wondering if using porcini and/or shitakake 'rooms will make the soup suck. That is all.

[Athena]

@LVBoPeep

My local store has dried porcini and shitake (not mixed) mushrooms. Having never used either varieties, or wild, I’m wondering if using porcini and/or shitakake 'rooms will make the soup suck. That is all.

They’ll be divine, especially the porcinis (which is what I’d go with). Porcinis are pretty much top-tier “dried wild mushrooms” so they’re definitely appropriate for that recipe.

Dried Shiitakes are good, too, but they don’t pack the punch that Porcinis do. (say THAT 5 times fast!)

[LVBoPeep]

@Athena

They’ll be divine, especially the porcinis (which is what I’d go with). Porcinis are pretty much top-tier “dried wild mushrooms” so they’re definitely appropriate for that recipe.

Dried Shiitakes are good, too, but they don’t pack the punch that Porcinis do. (say THAT 5 times fast!)

Great! Thanks a lot

[Guinastasia]

Well, I tried it. It tasted great, just like the recipe said, but it was a bitch to blend. I think I’ll wait until I can get a food processor to try it again.

(Seriously though, it was yummy! I love bananas!)

[papergirl]

@Guinastasia

Well, I tried it. It tasted great, just like the recipe said, but it was a bitch to blend. I think I’ll wait until I can get a food processor to try it again.

(Seriously though, it was yummy! I love bananas!)

I keep sliced banans in the freezer to use in smoothies, but if I want a quick snack, they’re good as is…little bites of chewy frozen smoothness. I like frozen mango too–same creamy texture. And if you need decadence, you can add dark chocolate chips.

[VOW]

To Papergirl:

Frozen green grapes are another great snack!
~VOW

[Guinastasia]

Oh, yeah, I tried a few pieces before I put them in the blender. Yum! I love bananas.

But after looking at the prices of good food processors, it’ll be awhile. (I’m hoping to get an iced tea maker soon.)

[adhemar]

I have had a number of iced tea makers but now use an electric hot pot and an inexpensive pitcher. The hot pot is sturdier and cheaper and makes more at a time. I drink a lot of tea and with the hot pot I can have a pitcher to drink while another is prepping. To me it is more versatile, more portable and easier to use.