Restauants - what can you make better at home?

[Bizzarofelice]

my wife has a degree from an uppity cooking institution. so she can cook some stuff.

but my #1 "why the fuck am I paying for this" is pasta. $16 for $1.50 worth of pasta and some sauce?

#2 is mexican. same four ingredients in varying degrees.

[Left Seater]

I hear what you are saying, but what is our time worth?

I can smoke a brisket, but for $10 bucks I can get a great plate of it and it wont take 17 plus hours. Same for tex-mex. I can make salsa, guac, enchiladas, etc, but for less than $10 I again can get a plate and not spend an hour plus in the kitchen. Bizzaro, great mexican combo plates are $8, no need to pay any more than that for it. Bottomless chips and salsa included, with a side of guac.

Granted there are only two of us so eating out doesn't cost us much.

[Mikey]

If you really like it, then it's not overrated. Is it?

It's nice to be able to cook all the stuff you like, but part of the pleasure of going out is being able to enjoy it without preparing it or cleaning up. I will rarely go out for a steak or seafood because I can do most of that stuff as well or better than most restaurants and it's not that much work (at least simple grilled seafood). I'll go out for stuff that I either can't get the ingredients for at the market or is too much work for me to fix. I enjoy going out for top shelf Italian food. Not Chuck E Cheese but stuff like squid ink pasta with shellfish, pork rib chops stuffed with prosciutto and smoked moz with a blasamic reduction, arrugula and citrus salad with a special dressing that I can't duplicate, beef carpaccio with shaved white truffles...stuff like that. I make a pretty damn good osso bucco too. I'll go out for French food occasionally, something I won't attempt at home because sauces are too tedious for me.

We get takeout from the same Mexican restaurant every Monday or Tuesday. Have been for about 8 years. They make a pureed green salsa that is the best I've ever tasted anywhere, and their carnitas are awesome. I could probably duplicate the salsa if I tried for a few months, and I can make carnitas, but why should I? I get special treatment at this place, always leave a nice tip even though it's takeout, support a local business, and get great Mexican food without any effort.

I can get a good bottle of wine at Costco for half the price that I would pay for the same or similar quality at a restaurant. It's nice sometimes to have somebody else open it an pour it.

Tried making sushi rolls once, but it wasn't the same. I make a great ahi poke, though. Ahi tuna, soy, sesame oil, chopped scallions, a little wasabi. And the secret is getting the right seaweed to add to it.

[Atomic Punk]

Scott, I actually have the taller version of that electric smoker that I got for free.

I can make chicken wings & drummets far better than anything Hooters can crank out and I've heard that from anyone that's ever been around when I BBQ them. Really easy, but they taste way better than those dried out Hooters shit wings.

[Mikey]

I can make chicken wings & drummets far better than anything Hooters can crank out

I respect a man who sets himself a really high bar.

[campinfool]

I hear what you are saying, but what is our time worth?

I can smoke a brisket, but for $10 bucks I can get a great plate of it and it wont take 17 plus hours. .

Good point on the time - we don't cook every night even when I'm home - avg. cooking 3 nights wk.

17 hours for a brisket? Damn... you need to invest in one of these:



My Brinkman water smoker does a 14lb brisket in about 6 hours
The wife also does brisket in the crock pot which turns out really well in about 5 hours

Cooking a brisket in one of those or a crock pot in Texas will get your ass kicked or at least be asked to serve it with mashed potatoes and gravy. No wonder KC 'cue is always drenched in sauce. Got to mask the electric cooking agents.

[campinfool]

Biggest issue for electric smokers for me is the brisket tends to finish up without any bark. And the Brinkman's drive me nuts because there is no manual temperature control. I got a Masterbuilt electric smoker that looks like a stainless dorm fridge, but it leaves briskets underwhelming. I use it mostly for chicken and port butt roasts. I smoke a lot of pork and shave the meat and throw it in corn tortillas with chopped onion and cilantro. Briskets for me need the use of oak or pecan and a minimum of 12 hours.

[Dinsdale]

I had an electric Brinkmann -- I gave it away.

I have the charcoal Brinkmann (ECB), which rocks.

Electric is good for salmon (or good for not stinking up your go-to smoker with fish), for everything else... you can keep you electrics.

Just not the same as a fire.


I can make some stuff better than any restaurant. Mostly meat stuff. Few restaurants are going to put the time in that you are.

My smoked burgers (homemade buns, thanks bread machine) clown anything I've ever had in a restaurant.

[Carson]

Fried chicken is always better homemade.

[BSmack]

I can make chicken wings & drummets far better than anything Hooters can crank out

I respect a man who sets himself a really high bar.

I laffed.

Somebody tried opening a Hooters in Rochester. After the novelty wore off they slowly crashed and burned. Plenty of places to go in Rochester for good wings without having to resort to Hooters.

[Goober McTuber]

And when I crave pizza, I make it myself using a recipe that my wife and I developed through much trial and error while trying to duplicate the pizzas we've had in Chicago.

I think you should post that recipe in the Cooking Forum.

What can I make better at home? Fetuccine Alfredo. My wife likes it so much she refuses to order it at a restaurant because it's never as good.

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

I can make chicken wings & drummets far better than anything Hooters can crank out

I respect a man who sets himself a really high bar.

He's just jealous their waitresses are hotter than him.

[Derron]

Somebody tried opening a Hooters in Rochester. After the novelty wore off they slowly crashed and burned. Plenty of places to go in Rochester for good wings without having to resort to Hooters.

Hooters has the nastiest food on earth.

Hooters has food ?

People pay for food there ?

[smackaholic]

A good cheeseburger. Easiest thing in the world, just use good ground beef and a slab of cheddar sharp enough to shave with. Saute up some onions and 'shrooms, slathe some good mustard, mayo and ketchup on it and you have a burger better than any i've paid someone else to cook.

And what mikey said about messican, or chinese for that matter. You can make it as good or better at home, but, it will cost you more, especially chinese and be hours of work. Why bother.

Another thing i do better is omlettes. There ain't much I won't throw on an omelette as least once.

What B said about hooters having the never to try to sell wings in WorCNY. That place may be a miserable shithole...but they can do wings. I spent a week in Utica for work once. Went to a sports bar which had the best wings on earf. I haven't had every wing on earf, but, it doesn't matter. This place, Zeb's I think it was called, has THE best.

[Goober McTuber]

A good cheeseburger. Easiest thing in the world, just use good ground beef

I assume you meant ground chuck.

Oh, and anyone who puts mayo on a burger does so because it reminds them of a freshly shot load.

[R-Jack]

A good cheeseburger. Easiest thing in the world, just use good ground beef

I assume you meant ground chuck.

Oh, and anyone who puts mayo on a burger does so because it reminds them of a freshly shot load.

Thank you. Anytime I see someone slap mayo on a burger, I want to beat them with a tire iron.

[Goober McTuber]

A good cheeseburger. Easiest thing in the world, just use good ground beef

I assume you meant ground chuck.

Oh, and anyone who puts mayo on a burger does so because it reminds them of a freshly shot load.

Thank you. Anytime I see someone slap mayo on a burger, I want to beat them with a tire iron.

My wife does it. I'm OK with it because she's a woman, and besides, maybe she needs to be reminded of what a freshly shot load looks like.

[R-Jack]

maybe she needs to be reminded of what a freshly shot load looks like.

I didn't open this thread to read about your impotency issues.

[Goober McTuber]

maybe she needs to be reminded of what a freshly shot load looks like.

I didn't open this thread to read about your impotency issues.

I'm not sure I believe that.

[R-Jack]

I said this thread

[Goober McTuber]

I didn’t affirm that at all, little tardling. I just questioned R-Jack’s motives. Fuck off and die.

[R-Jack]

Seem pretty defensive Goobs. So what if it's been 20 years since you've seen your boner? There's finally some common ground you and shutyomouth share.

[Atomic Punk]

Nobody here uses horseradish on any meat? Not talking about that shit prepared version but the shredded root variety.

Glad to hear others think Hooters is disgusting. I have buddies that always tell me they are going over there on Wednesdays for the "all you can eat" wings. No thanks.

[Derron]

Nobody here uses horseradish on any meat? Not talking about that shit prepared version but the shredded root variety.

Glad to hear others think Hooters is disgusting. I have buddies that always tell me they are going over there on Wednesdays for the "all you can eat" wings. No thanks.

Had some last night. The daughter in law put a roast in the crock pot yesterday morning, and I went over there and finished it off on the Trager in the afternoon. We had an excellent roast and some of the best horseradish made is made about 10 miles from here. Light your ass right up if you don't watch it.

[Atomic Punk]

I know the U&L is the Mecca for the culinary arts. Trying to find the shredded horseradish root with nothing added is what I'm looking for. Guess what I use?

I use the Beaver brand Extra Hot horseradish from Beaverton Foods, Inc. P.O. Box 687 Beaverton OR, 97075

This is the best of the best, but I also want the shredded root version.

[smackaholic]

Nobody here uses horseradish on any meat? Not talking about that shit prepared version but the shredded root variety.

Glad to hear others think Hooters is disgusting. I have buddies that always tell me they are going over there on Wednesdays for the "all you can eat" wings. No thanks.

Had some last night. The daughter in law put a roast in the crock pot yesterday morning, and I went over there and finished it off on the Trager in the afternoon. We had an excellent roast and some of the best horseradish made is made about 10 miles from here. Light your ass right up if you don't watch it.

I think we know why your colon committed suicide now.

[mvscal]

anyone who puts mayo on a burger does so because it reminds them of a freshly shot load.

But if you put mayo on a different sandwich it doesn't? Sorry, I'm not buying it without an expert opinion on freshly shot loads. I'm going to have to wait until either bradhusker or Tarddowen weigh in on the topic.

Until then, I'll continue to enjoy mayo and mustard on my burgers. Ketchup is for ten year olds and I'm sure Diego in Seattle can confirm that.

[Terry in Crapchester]

Electric is good for salmon (or good for not stinking up your go-to smoker with fish), for everything else... you can keep you electrics.

Anyone else, I'd have let this slide. But coming from the self-appointed board grammar/spelling police . . .

[poptart]

Restaurants - what can you make better at home?

[Goober McTuber]

Seem pretty defensive Goobs. So what if it's been 20 years since you've seen your boner? There's finally some common ground you and shutyomouth share.

That seems “pretty defensive” to you?

If shutyomouth and I were to find some common ground, I doubt that we could share it equally.

[Truman]

I hear what you are saying, but what is our time worth?

I can smoke a brisket, but for $10 bucks I can get a great plate of it and it wont take 17 plus hours. .

Good point on the time - we don't cook every night even when I'm home - avg. cooking 3 nights wk.

17 hours for a brisket? Damn... you need to invest in one of these:



My Brinkman water smoker does a 14lb brisket in about 6 hours
The wife also does brisket in the crock pot which turns out really well in about 5 hours

Cooking a brisket in one of those or a crock pot in Texas will get your ass kicked or at least be asked to serve it with mashed potatoes and gravy. No wonder KC 'cue is always drenched in sauce. Got to mask the electric cooking agents.

Where do you get KC 'cue drenched in sauce?! Sounds to me like you've 'et at the wrong place. Good barbecue is a method, not a sauce.

Electric smoker, Scott? Really?

[Truman]

The neighbor has a traditional wood smoker - they do comp BBQ (american royal etc.) and that's great if you want to set up all night feeding wood (drinking) and trying to keep the temp constant.

Pass.

You say that as if there is something wrong with it. Just because you don't drink beer...

That's why competition barbecue is a MAN'S sport. You could always work your way through a fifth of Glenfiddich...

[Derron]

My wife is a seriously awesome cook. Her mother was a pretty major chef around here - especially in the Italian department, so that's a plus. Just about everything I've ever had at a restaurant that's been awesome can usually be topped at home.

Trust me on this shit. Look at my weight. 300 lbs. says I know what the fuck I'm talking about.

Boy you just be a fat popeye chicken eating mother fucker now !

[Screw_Michigan]

I hear what you are saying, but what is our time worth?

I can smoke a brisket, but for $10 bucks I can get a great plate of it and it wont take 17 plus hours

Sincerely,

You're a Fucking Jerkoff

[Screw_Michigan]

So does that mean none of you faggots want to go to the Palm in DC with me or at least Charlie Palmer?

[Ana Ng]

Chicken tenders...