Cooking confessions

So, what is your naughty kitchen secret? Mine is…ok, one of mine is…that when I pan fry something for dinner I put a lid on the skillet and cook eggs in it for breakfast the next morning.

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I constantly leave my teabag in my mug, and will not flinch at all at finishing half a mug of cold tea that’s been sitting on my desk steeping for several hours.

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Yes to both of the above :wink:

But now adding a new one…
I wash most of the dishes with just hot water and once cooled down, I use that water on my chili bushes

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Naughty? Does Sunday brunch ‘au naturel’ count?

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Only if you don’t bring your own towel.

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I question the wisdom of frying bacon in such a state.

Indeed.

Oil splashes can be hazardous to one’s health.

That’s a favorite of mine, too. Especially if what was pan-cooked the night before was pork, and most especially if it was bratwurst. Love eggs over easy in bratwurst grease. (I pan simmer brats 4 mins per side in a bit of water, covered, then drive off all the liquid, then grill them to brown & finish cooking. There’s always some grease left in the pan.)

In the Army we used to argue about who’d gone the most weeks (or months) without washing their daily coffee mug.

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Once my daughter cooked some spicy linguisa. She had leftover polenta, fried patties of that in the residue, delicious.

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I guess this is a bit gross then. I’ll keep and re-use my coffee mug (maybe water rinse) for a week. I’ll keep and use any bowl or plate I’ve eaten on that day, for the whole day, unless it had something really messy on it. This is a holdover from when we handwashed for 11 months, waiting for the new dishwasher to arrive after ours broke. Even now that we have one again, that habit is hard to break.

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Why is this naughty? To me it just makes sense - less washing up, less added grease, more flavour.

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Never fry bacon naked!! Not that I know. Just guessing. :wink:

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What a great thread! True Confessions.

I deliberately cook enough to have leftovers.
Most meals I cook are just-good-enough, and not with the goal of high cuisine.

Heartily endorse not frying anything naked.

I recently went to a Prompt Care (in the US, these are small outpatient places which deal with minor problems). They told me that every year, around Christmas, they deal with horrific hand injuries. I asked them what the injuries were after Valentine’s Day, and they tactfully declined to answer. :slight_smile:

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I just made cornbread stuffing for tomorrow’s early Thanksgiving dinner. I usually make everything from scratch, but this time I used cornbread stuffing mix, precut celery/onion/parsley, and BTB vegetable base. I did add a chopped apple and some smoked paprika on the top. Did I feel guilty? Yes. Did this go against everything I’ve learned about cooking? Yes. Am I happy to be done making it so quickly? Yes!!!

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Ha ha! Me too…

Half cup chopped onion
Half cup chopped celery
4 Tblsp butter
Pinch of salt
Sauté till tender

Half cup BtB broth
Cup water
Stir in and bring to a boil

Stir in stuffing mix and cover

Remove from heat and let stand 5 minutes, then fluff with fork. I’ve always been pretty happy with the results.

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For 40 years, our house stuffing has been Pepperidge Farms Cornbread stuffing mix. Onions and celery, sauteed in lots of butter. Swanson’s broth. Bake in casserole. Change any element of this
at your peril. Absolutely no guilt.

One naughty secret is that I don’t like to cook. Detest prep. I like to eat and I like to feed people, ergo I cook. Otherwise, I wouldn’t.

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I’ve never been a stuffing fan, but the stuffing I described above was the best I’ve ever had. This should teach me not to be such a snobby cook!

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I’ve made 'yer basic stuffing’with my addition of cremini 'rooms in the sauté, Bell’s poultry seasoning and real sourdough croutons, for decades. Sometimes dried cornbread makes it in there and sometimes some boiled chestnut chunks. Always a pleaser.

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