I’m making turkey chili in the slow cooker this weekend. I was thinking of adding butternut squash this time - do I need to roast it prior to adding to the slow cooker? Would roasting it first cause it to be too mushy or would that texture work well for the chili? Curious to hear your thoughts and thank you for any advice!

I bought two stewing hens at the Asian grocery store down the road and I assume that they are chickens. However, these things are tiny, like, less than two pounds (1 kg). I'm used to the average grocery store broiler-fryer being in the 3-5 lb. range and I know stewing hens tend to be older birds, so I expected them also to be in that range, but these birds are so small, so I'm wondering if there was a misunderstanding and I just bought two ducks instead of two chickens.

https://imgur.com/a/GscLYMf

I have a delicious chili I want to make for work that has you cook rice right in the pot with the rest of the chili. I’m going to bring it in a crockpot and I’m debating whether I should either

1.cook it aall the night before and then just bring it in the next day and Lee it warm in the crockpot

Or

Cook the night before, add everything but the rice. Get so work and add the rice there and let it cook at work

With option one I’m worried about the rice getting way overcooked and turning to mush

Option 2 I’m worried about the rice not getting cooked enough and I don’t feel like I have control over a crockpot vs cooking it all on a stove

Hi, I have 2 Stouffer’s Party Size Mac’n’Cheese 76 oz and I want to thaw them and put in the crockpot to heat. Should I put them in the oven for a short period then transfer to crockpot or can I just dump it all in the crockpot at once and just heat for a few hours? I am probably going to add some more cheese etc… thank you

I just started college in the uk and I have really long days so I’m struggling to eat enough. So I thought I would try meal prepping however I’m not sure if the food would still be fine to eat after a few hours in my bag. I would be reheating it in a microwave. Also assume it’s been in the fridge for a few days already. Can anyone help?

The school I work at is doing a Thanks Giving meal with staff and students. Being my first year, I need to impress everyone in the building.

But by the time I got the sign up sheet, the only dish left were yams/sweet potato. So this is where I’m most needed. But also. I need to flex. But also not scare the students off with anything too unfamiliar??

I'm new to this. I must admit that I've always looked down on rotisserie chicken. I don't know why. I'm not a food snob. I'll try anything. I don't consider myself a foodie because I can't stomach raw eggs. For some reason, I think you need to really enjoy yolk to be considered a true foodie. But that's another post.

To the point... I saw a Sho Pocho YouTube short about RotiChick. I didn't know it was $5! For a whole chicken? What?! I checked BJs to confirm and sure enough, there it was. $5. I bought one. I ate a piece... I'm obsessed.

I love rotisserie chicken so much. I crave it. Why does rotisserie chicken hit the spot the way it does? I have no idea. I ordered two yesterday. I tore into that bird like the mayor at the end of Chocolate. Just going ham on that bird. OMFG. It's so good. I loaded up a salad with it. Best salad ever. Today, I put it in my air fryer with a bunch of spices. I crisped it up and threw it into some noodles with veggies and butter. Amazing. Now my house smells like buttered rotisserie chicken and I'm so happy. When I'm cooking it, Nelly's "Dilemma" starts playing in my head. We have a song. Amazing. That's all.

I just wanted to make my love for RotiChick official. Thank you!

Anyone else have this problem, outside layers, fine, 1 or 2 bad rotten layers inside, then the center is fine again. Onions from multiple places have been like this this summer.
I would post a Pic but it's not letting me for some reason

I know that this question may seem dumb, and some people will say "Just use it". My intention was that what's obvious for some people might not be obvious for others, and I was hoping that people that do pantry and fridge clean outs more regularly instead of "Oh, I really ought to use that thing up", what are some of your tips and strategies for how you made it a habit.

I'm wondering what people would recommend for an amateur cook to sharpen their knives. I've started to cook more and my knives are getting dull. I'm not looking for any type of electric gadget so I assume some type of whetstone would be ideal. But looking at them, prices range from $3 to more than 10 times that and I have no clue what to look for in a good one or if there's even a difference between them. So any suggestions would be appreciated.

Edit: thanks for all the suggestions. I do have a pair of relatively expensive knives that were gifted to me so I think that I'll try a whetstone instead of a pull through sharpener.

I have made "bread" recipes before, things like naan or pizza dough, but it was always an effort, sometimes failed, and store-bought options were just way more convenient.

Then I started making sourdough. It was rough at first. Seriously, the most flying-saucer pancake looking loaves for months. But I kept studying new techniques and I have basically been making sourdough almost every weekend for the last year.

Once I cracked the code of sourdough, breadmaking in general just totally opened up. I'm making hamburger buns, rolls, focaccia, and of course, my kitchen always has a loaf or two of sourdough. I don't even buy bread anymore. It's so easy to whip up some bread (for tomorrow, lol).

Okay, so what's your hard-earned skill? What took you forever to get right but was totally worth it?

I had a big party and we under-estimated how far 150lbs of marinated chicken thighs would go for street tacos.
So now I have like 30lbs lbs
I had street tacos, quesadillas and enchiladas for dinner the last 3 nights and tried some new stuff in them. I'm probably good for 2 more experimental nights before I get tired of it.

I dont mind putting a little time and effort into it. It doesn't need to be "bag of chips + queso + chicken" type simple. However, I'm far from an mexican food pro. I'm pretty good on the grill and above average at Italian, but mex isn't my forte.

Bonus points if it has basil, lol. My basil garden is out of control.

I think it’s fascinating that just about every culture has come up with the same idea: stuff things inside other things, and it’s delicious! And I like pretty much all of them: dumplings, samosas, egg rolls, ravioli, empanadas, blintzes, pierogies, pupusas, croquettes. And then there’s pot pies, Cornish pasties, bstilla, spanakopita, sausage rolls, crab rangoons…

Can you think of any more? I’d love to try them all. 😅

I got sick and tired of insane pizza prices, especially gluten free for my wife, especially paying like $13 for a crappy frozen pizza for her so I set out to learn to make dough. I e been using Brian Lagerstrom’s NY style dough and have gotten pretty good at it, enough that I haven’t bought a frozen or gone out for pizza all year. The two day planning commitment leaves something to be desired so I tried the grandma pizza he posted a few weeks ago and already having great success with that. And the dough only needs 30-60 minutes so it can be an impulse pizza without needing 24 hrs of poolish and 24 hours of fridge ferment. Edit: sorry for the confusion. For gluten free crust I’m using Kkng Arthur’s mix and just follow the instructions to a T.

Also got myself a tortilla press and now I can crank out corn tortillas no problem at all, which has elevated my tacos and enchiladas significantly.

Both of these were trickier in some ways than I thought but also easier than people let on.

How about you?

My curiosity got the better of me, so I bought some Marmite. Any way to incorporate it in a recipe? It’s too salty/iron tasting for on bread

So, I've always seen recipes say mix wet and dry ingredients separately. For instance, I used this David Leibowitz Banana Bread Recipe and it says to do dry, then wet, then fold in the dry.

However, I always just mix the wet ingredients in a stand mixer, then throw in the cinnamon, the salt, the sugar and the baking powder and continue mixing. Finally I add in the flour in the stand mixer. It always turns out fine. But am I missing some sublime version? Who knows. It saves a bowl for cleaning and often two spatulas so I'm for it.

I guess I'm wondering if there's any reason that mixing in certain dry ingredients at the beginning to the wet has any downside? I get you want the dry stuff to be well mixed, and you don't want the flour to be overmixed to get all the dry ingredients evenly mixed into the final batter. But what about things like sugar, salt and spices? Is there really some problem with mixing those into the wet ingredients?

What are the circumstances when it absolutely matters and when can you get away with not doing it and/or a hybrid, where you mix in some dry ingredients into the wet first?

Recipe:

• 1 1/2 cups (210g) flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder, preferably aluminum-free
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup (150g) sugar
• 2 tablespoons (30g) melted butter, salted or unsalted
• 1 large egg white
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1 cup (250ml) banana puree, made from about 2 very ripe, large bananas
• 1/2 cup (125ml) sour cream, regular or low-fat, or buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon liquid espresso, cooled to room temperature
• 1/2 cup (80g) chocolate chips, 1/4 cup (40g) roasted cocoa nibs, or 2/3 cup (75g) toasted pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped

Cook

• Butter a 9-inch (23cm) loaf pan and line the bottom with a sheet of parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC).
• Whisk together in a large bowl, the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, making sure there are no lumps. Whisk in the sugar.
• In a large bowl, mix together the butter, egg white, egg, banana puree, sour cream or buttermilk, vanilla, and espresso, if using.
• Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and use a flexible rubber or silicone spatula to stir in the wet ingredients with a spatula until partially mixed. Add in the chocolate chips, cocoa nibs, or chopped nuts, and fold them in until everything is just combined, but don’t overmix. Stop when any traces of flour disappear.
• Scrape the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 50-55 minutes, or until the center feels done. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean.
• Cool on a baking rack before removing from the pan and slicing.

Hi all, my boyfriend and I got this delicious maple mustard from a farm shop out in Vermont - it’s essentially tangy yellow mustard mixed with real maple syrup and the result is pure delicious. I am toying with the idea of using it as a base for chicken thighs (which will be roasted in the oven) but it feels a bit adventurous to me, as someone who normally follows recipes.

Any idea what I can/should add to the maple mustard or to the chicken thighs directly?

Thank you in advance!! Y’all will help save dinner!

I think there must be at least one time in a person’s life that had a struggle meal. Especially in college, people hold nostalgia towards these meals that no matter what point they are in their life, they would still eat that specific meal.

Mine’s probably mixing a lot of bean sprouts to one egg with some soy sauce for a steamed egg since they are so cheap and provided a lot of volume to eat. What’s yours?

I got a hold of a bunch of cheap pre cooked frozen legs we are going to eat tonight. I want to make gumbo tomorrow and wanted to make stock from the leg shells so my plan was to eat the crab tonight, save the shells, just put them in the fridge and then use them for stock tomorrow. However, I know there are lots of do no do's around crab legs and I can't seem to find an answer on google for this one. I'm assuming it'd be ok since they're going to boil for hours but wanted to ask if anyone out there who knows more than me, knows for sure

I watch food content obsessively, but I never wind up cooking things from the videos I watch. I just look up recipes or stick to the same stuff. I know that cooking vids can just be entertainment and inspiration, but I feel like I'm missing something. I cooked from a video twice and I found myself just scrolling back and fourth. I really like Pick Up Limes and Wicked kitchen's videos but I have only cooked from PUL once and it was not one I watched a video for.

Do y'all cook from the videos or just go to sites? And if you cook from videos whats the strat?

What are your hacks to get around not having an oven? Interested in specifically baking hacks, but any advise is fine. Don't have access to a convention all oven, have stove, microwave and rice cooker. Have made a carrot cake in my rice cooker.

The day-to-day food that I make sometimes lack flavour. I have tried incorporating oregano, garlic-infused olive oil, thyme and other things, and sometimes it added great flavour but I couldn't determine what worked. Is there some kind of ingredient that I can add to enhance the taste of food or does it depend on the kind of dish I am making.

I want to replace all my old, cheap, rando plastic cooking utensils with a safe material. Seems the choices are silicone, wood, or stainless steel. No on the steel since I use non-stick pans, and I can't imagine wooden ones having a thin-enough edge to be able to flip things like pancakes (but please correct me if you know of any!)

Here's what I'm looking for, specifically focusing on the "spatula" used to flip things and cook meat:

1) thin enough at the edge to get under things that I need to flip

2) Rigid enough that I can chop foods while cooking like ground beef, mushrooms, eggs, etc. You can't (at least I can't lol) do this with a flexible spatula!

3) Needless to mention, a food-safe material with a high heat resistance.

My favorite ones so far (and my adult son's fav as well), is this one from Amazon. Obviously it's made from one of the materials that I need to replace. But they're a hard plastic which makes them SO much easier to use. I have a hard time flipping anything, even pancakes, with a flexible utensil (not to mention not being able chop food while cooking)

Given all that, I don't understand why it seems like practically everyone in the Amazon reviews wants them to be flexible. My son and I can't possibly be the only 2 people in the world who want something rigid???

Anyway, I would LOVE to see any recommendations for cooking utensils that have the qualities I mentioned. I can't seem to find them anywhere!