So, the rice didn’t come out so well and actually tasted pretty bland. I added about 2/3 of a large yellow onion and about 2/3 of a red bell pepper to a box of Goya rice.
Any idea why it came out so bland? Did I add too much without also boosting the flavor ingredients that came with the rice?
Strange.
I would have sauteed the onions and peppers first (to cook them more thoroughly and get rid of some of the excess water content), salt-and-peppered (or added a little bit of Goya sazon) them to taste, and then added them to the rice mixture, personally.
That sounds like a very good (and now quite obvious) step to have taken!
Well, I’m still learning how to cook. I’ll try sautéing the onion and pepper next time. Thanks!
Just discovered something last night. I had cooked up some boneless chicken thighs. After they were done, I spread some pesto on them and added shredded Parmesan. Really made a difference.
We’ll just have to disagree on this. I used to salt food during the cooking process. But several times I discovered, after forgetting to salt during, that salting at the end resulted in a much better dish.
Note that I salt very little. I do not buy pre-salted foods for the most part, or if I do (like soups) I add significantly more than the suggested extra fluids.
Yes, and if you are making chocolate chip cookies, use double vanilla and change the brown to white sugar ratio from 1:1 to 2:1. The recipe I use as printed has 1.5 cups of each; I use 2 cups brown and 1 cup white.
The one time I ran out of brown, I used 1:2 brown to white, and added molasses.
On a totally different item, I like stuffed jalapeno peppers. We call it the 4-1 recipe, this is the original:
1 (doz) thumb sized jalapeno peppers, split lengthwise and seeds removed;
1 package (8 oz bag) shredded parmensan cheese;
1 bar neufchatel cheese
1 tube bulk sausage, either hot or mild as you prefer.
Brown the sausage and drain. Mix in neufchatel and parm cheese. Stuff pepper halves, then bake at 425 for 20 minutes.
My improvements are 1) retain 1/8 cup or so of parmesan cheese and 2) sprinkle stuffed peppers with garlic, then sprinkle retained parm over the tops. The garlic gives a taste kick to something that is surprisingly bland, and the cheese gets toasted crunchy. Yum.
If you want to go a step further (and are not vegetarian), saute them with a bit of chopped ham or even a little bit of bacon. I wouldn’t go overboard with the bacon, personally, just a little bit of the fat will do.
When it comes to stuff like pasta and rice, you really do need to salt the cooking water, IMHO (although half the time I don’t bother salting rice. Pasta, always.) Other stuff I could go either way on. Soups are fine at the end. Stews I salt conservatively, maybe adding half the total salt during the cooking process and finishing at the end to taste.
Sure, not everyone’s tastes are the same, and it sounds like you prefer a low level of salt. I’m no fan of overly-salty food, but I sure can tell the difference when just a little salt is added at the end, and it’s really not a flavor that I like (it always seems to result in a mix of bland food + too much salt on the top). And I’m not alone on that - just about every cooking reference I’ve read talks about salting throughout the cooking process.
But hey, the point of food is making it the way you like it, so it’s definitely worth experimenting with.
I add rosewater to my sugar cookie dough, either instead of the vanilla, or in addition to it.
Fried egg on a burger.
Changed my fucking life.
Deviled eggs-add a pinch of curry powder to the yolks.
Egg salad-add squeeze of lemon juice and a few pinches of dill.
Mom always had dill in her egg salad, couldn’t imagine it without!
I like to add a dallop of sour cream or cottage cheese (or greek yogurt when I’m being healthy) to my scrambled eggs. Put in on a medium-low heat, constantly stirring until the liquid evaporates. I love how creamy the eggs get!
Mayonnaise in box chocolate cake mix improves it noticeably.
Two tablespoons of instant coffee crystals in a box of fudge brownie mix makes mocha brownies.
Good idea.
The best chocolate cake I’ve ever had included sour cream in the formula.