Your most hated part of cooking

Morning Glory said:
Having lived with two adult kids and their boyfriends and girlfriends (staying here full time), I totally empathise. You need rules! I ended up being totally ruthless about rules. I once came in to find my son's latest girlfriend sitting on the kitchen counter talking loudly and swinging her legs. Bear in mind I have a tiny galley kitchen. I went ballistic.
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Well, you’re right about this. It would certainly make cooking more enjoyable.

And, as I reread my post, I’m not sure if I really communicated the situation correctly. It’s not that somebody entering the kitchen throws me into a tizzy. My kitchen, my dining room, and my living room are all in a direct line with each other. The distractions aren’t just physically in the kitchen, but from people in the living room and elsewhere.

If there were way to wall off the kitchen from the rest of the house, and add a door that locks, i’m sure I would cook a lot more than I do. Maybe I could add a slot at the bottom of the door where I can slide the dinners out after I’m done making them? Everybody wins!
 
1. Having no dishwasher, and very small sink area it's definitely the clean up.
2. Peeling garlic. One or two cloves no problem...but when you need a big pile for your garlic/ginger paste for the curry. And I know the hacks...crushing it a bit first, etc..still hate it.
3. Plucking the leafy bits of thyme from the stems when you need a good amount. Seems to take me forever.
 
murphyscreek said:
Peeling garlic. One or two cloves no problem...but when you need a big pile for your garlic/ginger paste for the curry. And I know the hacks...crushing it a bit first, etc..still hate it.
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Have you tried the other hack/technique using 2 bowls? It's fantastic with homegrown garlic that tends to have smaller cloves and thinner more papery skin. I use it all the time now if I'm peeling more than 2 or 3 cloves.
It does work with supermarket garlic but needs a lot more shaking.
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
Have you tried the other hack/technique using 2 bowls? It's fantastic with homegrown garlic that tends to have smaller cloves and thinner more papery skin. I use it all the time now if I'm peeling more than 2 or 3 cloves.
It does work with supermarket garlic but needs a lot more shaking.
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What's the 2 bowl thing?
 
Peloquin said:
What's the 2 bowl thing?
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Very very simple.

Simply put the cloves of garlic into a bowl such as a breakfast bowl (ensure the root bit has been snapped off (no need to cut but it also won't hurt), the root really does hinder things, it's the bit where the clove attaches to the root base of the bulb, so do get rid of it). Now get another bowl (ideally identical) and place it upside down over the other. Hold the 2 together carefully and shake hard, checking at 10-15 second intervals.

I was sceptical when I first heard of it, but it does genuinely work and is great for lots of cloves of garlic at once. In fact it seems to work better if you have more than less.

You'll end up with the skins on the top and you'll just need to fish the skinned cloves out.
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
Very very simple.

Simply put the cloves of garlic into a bowl such as a breakfast bowl (ensure the root bit has been snapped off (no need to cut but it also won't hurt), the root really does hinder things, it's the bit where the clove attaches to the root base of the bulb, so do get rid of it). Now get another bowl (ideally identical) and place it upside down over the other. Hold the 2 together carefully and shake hard, checking at 10-15 second intervals.

I was sceptical when I first heard of it, but it does genuinely work and is great for lots of cloves of garlic at once. In fact it seems to work better if you have more than less.

You'll end up with the skins on the top and you'll just need to fish the skinned cloves out.
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You can do the same thing with a big glass jar, like a 1 QT Mason Jar. Put a few cloves of garlic in the jar, put the lid on, and shake the jar like a maniac.

CD
 
Another garlic peeling trick is with a rubber kitchen glove. Turn the glove inside out (rubber side in, velour side out) and put a bit of water in it. Drop the garlic cloves into the glove, then holding the top of the glove closed, rub the glove on a flat surface or draining board. If the cloves enter the glove fingers so much the better. The rubber surface of the glove skins the garlic after about a minute of rubbing. To get the garlic out simply reverse the glove and blow into it, taking care not to shoot the garlic out of the fingers round the kitchen.
 
murphyscreek said:
1. Having no dishwasher, and very small sink area it's definitely the clean up.
2. Peeling garlic. One or two cloves no problem...but when you need a big pile for your garlic/ginger paste for the curry. And I know the hacks...crushing it a bit first, etc..still hate it.
3. Plucking the leafy bits of thyme from the stems when you need a good amount. Seems to take me forever.
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Thyme is pretty straightforward, and I use the same technique for other herbs.
Hold the Thyme twig ( or whatever it´s called) upside down and run your fingers up the twig. Leaves come off, twig stays put.
Mint, rosemary, oregano, basil - all work with the same technique.
 
karadekoolaid said:
Thyme is pretty straightforward, and I use the same technique for other herbs.
Hold the Thyme twig ( or whatever it´s called) upside down and run your fingers up the twig. Leaves come off, twig stays put.
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That technique for me (which is what I use) only ever results it getting about half, maybe 2/3rds of the leaves off, though, and many of those leaves will still be attached to the little twiggy bit they're on, and the twig usually snaps at the very top, leaving those leaves to be picked.

I'm looking for the method that gets me 100% of the leaves with 0% of any stem or twig, and as of now, the only one I've found is picking the leaves off individually.
 
TastyReuben said:
That technique for me (which is what I use) only ever results it getting about half, maybe 2/3rds of the leaves off, though, and many of those leaves will still be attached to the little twiggy bit they're on, and the twig usually snaps at the very top, leaving those leaves to be picked.

I'm looking for the method that gets me 100% of the leaves with 0% of any stem or twig, and as of now, the only one I've found is picking the leaves off individually.
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But usually the top part of the stem is soft, I just use it along with the leaves, cutting it into bits with kitchen shears. I just don't like the woody stems.
 
JAS_OH1 said:
But usually the top part of the stem is soft, I just use it along with the leaves, cutting it into bits with kitchen shears. I just don't like the woody stems.
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I think that's where I'm...wait for it...pickier than others. :laugh:

A few years ago, when I'd had a particularly frustrating time with some thyme (I just can't stop with the puns!), I sat down and watched a handful of YT videos, and I kept screaming at the TV, "There are still leaves on that bit!" and "No! That has some stem on it!" :laugh:

Seriously, if I know a recipe is going to use thyme that I have to pluck, I'll go out and do that early in the day, because it'll take me an hour to do just that.
 
TastyReuben said:
I think that's where I'm...wait for it...pickier than others. :laugh:

A few years ago, when I'd had a particularly frustrating time with some thyme (I just can't stop with the puns!), I sat down and watched a handful of YT videos, and I kept screaming at the TV, "There are still leaves on that bit!" and "No! That has some stem on it!" :laugh:

Seriously, if I know a recipe is going to use thyme that I have to pluck, I'll go out and do that early in the day, because it'll take me an hour to do just that.
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I guess you'll just need the extra thyme cooking recipes that call for it!
 
PabloLerntKochen said:
The beer helmet could be your solution
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79277
 
I hate peeling (hard-)boiled eggs. My RA hands don't make the task any easier. For some reason - despite doing all the tricks like keeping the eggs in cold water for several minutes - half of the shell sticks to the inner like glue and a big part of the egg white peels off with the shell. Another annoyance is the thin film or membrane just under the shell. It often doesn't loosen/get off along the shell but sticks to the egg white and forces you to pinch teeny-weeny bits of the membrane and egg white separately with your fingernails. Not nice.
eggpeel.jpg

Tasty, no beer! Here's a cocktail to put inside your beer helmet:

Thyme of Your Life Cocktail
 
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