OK, I will admit it: I found that post when it was entirely fresh. I stopped reading halfway because it was mentally straining. I started asking questions like "do they sell water melons year-round?" (yes, I seldom visit a grocery store). We only buy water melon once a year: In the middle of the summer, when everyone is choking on berries from the garden, water melon tends to be cheap and Anders tends to buy one.
But now I have read it. And it confirmed my fears. People-who-like-to-cook do not even understand that through spending twenty minutes frying vegetables, you lose TIME. Anders would never do that. He is not much for vegetables in general. I have to make them if we are going to eat any vegetables at all. He does make something vaguely similar, but with eggs instead of water melon. My problem is not that I don't cook vegetables, but that I can't improvise one bit. When I enter the kitchen I become stupid and can't think for myself. I need to have a recipe with precise instructions or I will get too stressed to function.
In any case, I'm going to think about your suggestions. Such things are never easy, and require some deliberation.
I knew that there would be some resistance, which is partly why I posted about watermelons in April - you have plenty of time to deliberate.
I also was thinking very seriously about the issue of time when I wrote this, although obviously I underestimated some of the dynamics involved with your family.
But I would very much like to give you the idea that there is really no wrong way to fry things up. It's a very forgiving process.
You can stress out and as get confused as you want.
You can write down a long list of instructions and follow them or forget them.
You can cut everything lengthwise or crosswise.
You can use twice as much melon rind, or you can forget the melon rind.
When I learned to do this as a young adult in my early 20s, I didn't like cooking, and I couldn't cook anything besides stew, spaghetti, and ramen. My sibling basically said "Look, you put oil in a heated pan, add corn, rice, and soy sauce, and eat it," and then gave me as much help as that statement implies. It worked, and then I just added things over the months that passed - an egg, some thyme, crushed red pepper flakes. Frying is so safe that the ingredients barely even matter. Yesterday I fried leftover oatmeal and brussels sprouts with an egg, some soy sauce and a bit of vinegar, and you know what? It was pretty good.
Just so long as you don't set the pan on high with nothing but oil in it and start a fire, or try put in a hundred things and the flavors clash or it takes forever, even you - yes Tove, even you - can fry up a meal in a pan.
Gah, now you are so provocative again. Most things I put together in a pan taste rather bad. And I burn things (I guess I have attention issues).
But one serious question: Don't you also find it difficult to fry things for a large family? I agree that fried things are much easier to make - that is why foul food (wait, do you say that in English - what is the opposite of "fine dining"?) is most often fried. It is comparably fool proof.
But as the family has grown, I have issues with frying things. I hope our new kitchen can solve some of those problems, like enough space for two large frying pans. But in general, kitchens are built for families of four and for that reason we tend to fry things in the oven instead. For example, we very often make thin potato wedges in the oven. And we find it easier to bake apple pies in the oven too.
I any case, you have provoked me enough that I will remember to fry the rinds if Anders buys a melon or two in July.
> But one serious question: Don't you also find it difficult to fry things for a large family?
I usually fry produce only for the older people, as kids are picky about bitter flavors. But when I fry apples it's for the entire family (with seconds) using a large pan on high heat. Cooking a greater volume being spreads the heat over more food.
> foul food (wait, do you say that in English - what is the opposite of "fine dining"?) is most often fried. It is comparably fool proof.
"Foul food" looks inedible to an English speaker; "fast food" is the opposite of fine dining.
Edit:
> For example, we very often make thin potato wedges in the oven.
Mrs. Apple Pie was excited to learn this. She does it that way, too! (And while I'm trying to encourage you to try something new, I might have also been doing that in the days before stir fries)
Eh, that's about the same way that "affirmative action" is not the opposite of "meritocracy." Much worse goes on across all languages; even in Swedish "katolik" (universal) means non-universal and particular to the established rituals and beliefs of the kyrkan i Rom.
You don't know what you are missing! A direct opposite to things that are "fine" is a very useful linguistic feature, frequently seen on our shopping lists.
Wow! I never knew that! There's probably a decent way of preparing banana peel, and I'm not surprised that boiling didn't work. In general boiling is much more finicky than frying, and I find that soups often require a lot of work to make them any good.
Personally I feel like this is more an art piece than a smart way to cook banana peels. My instinct is to cook banana peel up with sugar and salt like watermelon rind, rather than to try to make a savory faux-meat out of it, but hey, if I *were* going to try to make it into bacon, that's how.
Half of my family refused to try it. It’s just too weird, and isn’t the peel where all the pesticide residues are found on a banana? :o
Of the half of us that tried it, everyone liked it at least somewhat. It doesn’t taste like bacon at all. Some reported it still tasted slightly of banana, though opinions were divided about whether this was a plus or a minus. Its texture was definitely reminiscent of bacon, enough so that you could probably get away with frying up banana peels along with bacon and serve them in, say, a bacon cheese burger.
Ultimately this is close to the way we ate them: banana peel bacon made an excellent sandwich on toasted bread with a bit of melted cheese.
From the first pieces I fried, it had a very strong salty flavor from the sauce, and cooked too rapidly. Turning the burner down to medium heat still cooked the peels quickly. So, I wouldn’t recommend using the recipe exactly as given at the link. Instead:
* Don’t bother scraping the peels, just wash them off first
* make a bit less of the sauce than you think
* don’t worry about letting the peels absorb the sauce for 2-4 hours (a few minutes will probably do), and
* after the peels are cooked, try sprinkling some msg on at the end?
This is the way I’ll make it next time (and there will definitely be a next time)!
OK, I will admit it: I found that post when it was entirely fresh. I stopped reading halfway because it was mentally straining. I started asking questions like "do they sell water melons year-round?" (yes, I seldom visit a grocery store). We only buy water melon once a year: In the middle of the summer, when everyone is choking on berries from the garden, water melon tends to be cheap and Anders tends to buy one.
But now I have read it. And it confirmed my fears. People-who-like-to-cook do not even understand that through spending twenty minutes frying vegetables, you lose TIME. Anders would never do that. He is not much for vegetables in general. I have to make them if we are going to eat any vegetables at all. He does make something vaguely similar, but with eggs instead of water melon. My problem is not that I don't cook vegetables, but that I can't improvise one bit. When I enter the kitchen I become stupid and can't think for myself. I need to have a recipe with precise instructions or I will get too stressed to function.
In any case, I'm going to think about your suggestions. Such things are never easy, and require some deliberation.
I knew that there would be some resistance, which is partly why I posted about watermelons in April - you have plenty of time to deliberate.
I also was thinking very seriously about the issue of time when I wrote this, although obviously I underestimated some of the dynamics involved with your family.
But I would very much like to give you the idea that there is really no wrong way to fry things up. It's a very forgiving process.
You can stress out and as get confused as you want.
You can write down a long list of instructions and follow them or forget them.
You can cut everything lengthwise or crosswise.
You can use twice as much melon rind, or you can forget the melon rind.
You can get drunk, like this lady in My Drunk Kitchen, and fry a piece of bread, and it will taste good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq7G-Q9ZwC0
When I learned to do this as a young adult in my early 20s, I didn't like cooking, and I couldn't cook anything besides stew, spaghetti, and ramen. My sibling basically said "Look, you put oil in a heated pan, add corn, rice, and soy sauce, and eat it," and then gave me as much help as that statement implies. It worked, and then I just added things over the months that passed - an egg, some thyme, crushed red pepper flakes. Frying is so safe that the ingredients barely even matter. Yesterday I fried leftover oatmeal and brussels sprouts with an egg, some soy sauce and a bit of vinegar, and you know what? It was pretty good.
Just so long as you don't set the pan on high with nothing but oil in it and start a fire, or try put in a hundred things and the flavors clash or it takes forever, even you - yes Tove, even you - can fry up a meal in a pan.
Gah, now you are so provocative again. Most things I put together in a pan taste rather bad. And I burn things (I guess I have attention issues).
But one serious question: Don't you also find it difficult to fry things for a large family? I agree that fried things are much easier to make - that is why foul food (wait, do you say that in English - what is the opposite of "fine dining"?) is most often fried. It is comparably fool proof.
But as the family has grown, I have issues with frying things. I hope our new kitchen can solve some of those problems, like enough space for two large frying pans. But in general, kitchens are built for families of four and for that reason we tend to fry things in the oven instead. For example, we very often make thin potato wedges in the oven. And we find it easier to bake apple pies in the oven too.
I any case, you have provoked me enough that I will remember to fry the rinds if Anders buys a melon or two in July.
> But one serious question: Don't you also find it difficult to fry things for a large family?
I usually fry produce only for the older people, as kids are picky about bitter flavors. But when I fry apples it's for the entire family (with seconds) using a large pan on high heat. Cooking a greater volume being spreads the heat over more food.
> foul food (wait, do you say that in English - what is the opposite of "fine dining"?) is most often fried. It is comparably fool proof.
"Foul food" looks inedible to an English speaker; "fast food" is the opposite of fine dining.
Edit:
> For example, we very often make thin potato wedges in the oven.
Mrs. Apple Pie was excited to learn this. She does it that way, too! (And while I'm trying to encourage you to try something new, I might have also been doing that in the days before stir fries)
>>"fast food" is the opposite of fine dining.
But "fast" is clearly not the opposite of "fine". I sense a deficiency in the English language!
Eh, that's about the same way that "affirmative action" is not the opposite of "meritocracy." Much worse goes on across all languages; even in Swedish "katolik" (universal) means non-universal and particular to the established rituals and beliefs of the kyrkan i Rom.
You don't know what you are missing! A direct opposite to things that are "fine" is a very useful linguistic feature, frequently seen on our shopping lists.
My sister and I once boiled a banana peel because we heard it was edible that way.
It was awful. It tasted like perfume.
This summer, we will stir fry a watermelon rind and hope it turns out better.
Wow! I never knew that! There's probably a decent way of preparing banana peel, and I'm not surprised that boiling didn't work. In general boiling is much more finicky than frying, and I find that soups often require a lot of work to make them any good.
According to the Internet, there is such a thing as banana bacon: https://thesaltedtable.com/2021/03/16/banana-peel-bacon/
Personally I feel like this is more an art piece than a smart way to cook banana peels. My instinct is to cook banana peel up with sugar and salt like watermelon rind, rather than to try to make a savory faux-meat out of it, but hey, if I *were* going to try to make it into bacon, that's how.
Haha, both of these sound like much more sensible ways to cook a banana peel!
Last night I made banana peel bacon, roughly following the recipe described at https://thesaltedtable.com/2021/03/16/banana-peel-bacon/ . I found:
Half of my family refused to try it. It’s just too weird, and isn’t the peel where all the pesticide residues are found on a banana? :o
Of the half of us that tried it, everyone liked it at least somewhat. It doesn’t taste like bacon at all. Some reported it still tasted slightly of banana, though opinions were divided about whether this was a plus or a minus. Its texture was definitely reminiscent of bacon, enough so that you could probably get away with frying up banana peels along with bacon and serve them in, say, a bacon cheese burger.
Ultimately this is close to the way we ate them: banana peel bacon made an excellent sandwich on toasted bread with a bit of melted cheese.
From the first pieces I fried, it had a very strong salty flavor from the sauce, and cooked too rapidly. Turning the burner down to medium heat still cooked the peels quickly. So, I wouldn’t recommend using the recipe exactly as given at the link. Instead:
* Don’t bother scraping the peels, just wash them off first
* make a bit less of the sauce than you think
* don’t worry about letting the peels absorb the sauce for 2-4 hours (a few minutes will probably do), and
* after the peels are cooked, try sprinkling some msg on at the end?
This is the way I’ll make it next time (and there will definitely be a next time)!