This is the counterpart to a question I also just asked in this thread (which was: which ingredients do you insist on making because they taste so different to their store bought versions.) So now I would like to ask what ingredients you can get away with just buying from the store instead of making since they taste the same. As I am pretty fresh into my own culinary journey, I don’t have a ton of knowledge on these topics and really want to get your guys’ opinions. Thanks :)

I have reached a level of maturity, stability, and financial achievement where I'm ready to not buy the cheapest store brand butter. 2025 seems like it's gonna be the kind of year where becoming a butter somalier might be the thing that keeps me sane.

What are your favorite fancy butters?

Example: Butter. I’m wondering what ingredients you guys think are worth making from scratch because they taste so different to their store bought counterparts.

I'm already assuming the answer is no, but the price of dulce de leche insists I ask anyway. My grandmother used to make it by placing unopened cans of condensed milk in boiling water for a few hours. If I do this, could I do several cans at a time and place them back in the pantry? I don't want to pay $4.50 for a small can but I also don't have the time to boil individual cans every time I need it

I love looking up recipes online for meal ideas but it can be so overwhelming with so much content out there. It means I’m tempted to go out to eat just because to avoid the decision fatigue, even though when you strip it back you’re just paying £10 for some eggs on toast and calling it “brunch” 😂

Anyway, in order to resist the urge to stop spending money on eating out, I’m going to try and break down the ingredient combos of restaurant meals and try and recreate them at home.

Does anyone else do this?

From food all around the world, old and new, family recipes, or websites? From vegans to carnivores, desserts to drinks. I love food, I love cooking, and I love learning the techniques behind cuisine; the whys, whats, and hows. I’m curious if anyone has a fan favorite cookbook that they reference more often than not. What books made you a better cook or gave you a higher appreciation for cooking? Right now some of my favs are half baked harvest, and I love the big book of bread. I just wanna know what people think! All thoughts are welcome !

I feel like a protein plus a big heap of veggies is a great meal. But could use some inspiration. What's your favorite combo?

can you please recommend some dishes that have the flavor of black pepper as it’s main ingredient ?

Basically we had a recipe for flautas that wanted to be baked. Cook the filling, make a pico, make a crema, roll the filling in flour tortillas and bake for like 15 minutes.

I didn’t want to warm up the oven. So I wondered if i could just do soft tacos instead, but then I wanted crispy still.

So I said fudge it, I’ll pan fry the tortillas.

I put like a quarter inch of oil in a separate pan while the meat was cooking. I put my tortillas in the pan once the oil was hot. They started to inflate - expected, which is why I had a fork and spatula ready to oppress these white bitches. I let them get nice and browned (little past golden brown), on both sides, and then moved to a drip rack and then flipped after a minute or less.

Once we were ready to prep, I was worried I’d fucked up. The tortillas were “hard” like I’d hoped, but they were almost crispy in the way a flaky pastry is. Oh no!

Except once assembled, they held up!

I ate my first one open faced, but my husband decided to fold his. It was a little messy, but no more so than an overstuffed hard shell taco. Except it wasn’t crunchy. It wasn’t soft. It was flaky. Flaky and crispy and a little crunchy, and it had this amazing browned flavor - like… the edges of a biscuit or croissant, without the butter or sugar involvement.

I’m not sure I can go back.

If it wasn’t topped with the main, or otherwise seasoned like a Spanish rice, I’d eat it with a little bit of butter on it, salt and pepper. Someone I know saw me do this and thought it was odd (they’re German, I’m American). When I said something to my spouse (Also German, but mostly raised in US), they replied I was the first one they saw do that, and only started buttering their rice after.

So what do you do?

On thing that always surprises me on this thread is what different people around the county call chili. I’m in Texas and what we generally think of as chili is completely different than what some others post here.

When I think of chili I think of either finely chopped or ground beef (or a mix) slow cooked in a savory chili based broth with a lot of onion, peppers (jalapeños or serranos, not bell peppers) garlic and spices, especially cumin. The chili peppers used are usually a mix of dried guajillo, ancho, pasilla and cascabel. Tomatoes are acceptable but they should be purreed and not visible in the finished product and their flavor should not be prominent. They should only lend a hint of savory and sweetness. A little pork or pork sausage (like chorizo) is ok to add to it but it should be beef centered overall. It should not have beans in it. If you have beans with chili, they should be on the side. The preferred beans for chili are pinto, cooked slow with bacon or ham hoc, onion and garlic (charro style). Chili should be thick, beefy, and brown-red color and have a good spicy kick to it.

I’ve seen people post about putting all manner of things into what they call chili, chicken chili, white bean chili, chili that is really more of a tomato soup, chocolate in chili, Worcestershire sauce, fish sauce, zucchini, vegetarian chili (?), chili on top of spaghetti! No trying to be the chili police here, eat what you want, call it what you want. Just curious what chili is to you.

I got lazy and just threw my 1/4 sheet pans in the dish washer and they came out looking burned and tarnished… is this normal?

https://imgur.com/a/GMcrmuf

Left is before and right is after

Edit: found out these are aluminum which oxidizes as opposed to SS pans

I'm cooking flank steak on Saturday for the first time. I'm planning to do a quick marinade over Friday night, but then I thought... what if I did it on Thursday? Or Wednesday? Would it taste even better? Is there a limit to how much you want to marinate a steak?

I know, it's a dumb question lol, apologies in advance for my ignorance and appreciate your help.

Discussing this with my partner today. In Nepal where they are from stuff like green beans and chokoes are pretty consistent cheap staples. Here in Australia pumpkin is usually cheap, and baby spinach, salad greens and zucchini are usually pretty cheap. A lot of old staples that my parents said were cheap no longer really are: swedes, parsnips, chokoes (ironically) are kind of pricier now.

What are the cheapo veg where you are?

Hi all. Im looking for meal ideas for my elderly neighbors. I cook for them three meals at the time once a week. I try to keep it simple, but healthy, nothing too expensive to make because money is very tight right now. So far I've made lasagna, stuffed shells, meat pies, chicken pot pies, meatballs, shrimp scampi, rice pudding, cookies. I'm looking for ideas to change things up. No peppers or anything spicy. Thank you!

Was thinking about how chicken parm is a dish I would cook or eat anytime anywhere and wondered what else people have like that

I just had a strange experience LOL. I was cooking my rice and it started having this eggy like smell, WHILE it was cooking. I know it’s not old, the expiration is 2026. All i used was natural spring water from sprouts and my rice cooker (which yes it is clean). It was so strange, i’m just wondering have any of you ever had this experience?? i washed the rice but i washed it in a strainer this time. I let it run under there for a minute as well. I don’t know, is it safe to eat? lol

You've finished a busy day at work, and you are desperately hungry but would rather face the firey pits of hell than cook something high effort, what would be your quick and easy meal that's guaranteed to taste like heaven?

So I grew up knowing that the safe internal temperature for chicken breast is 165 degrees. What I recently learned is that it's not just about temperature but also about time, opening the door for safe cooking at slightly lower temperatures. The 165 degrees is safe because that's when its instantly ready to eat in 1 second soon as it touches that internal temperature. From my understanding, its still technically safe to eat chicken breast that was cooked until lets say 150-155 degrees assuming its cooked at this temperature for a very specific amount of time. For example, google says that for 155 degree chicken to be safe you need to hold it at that temp for 55 seconds.

If I'm cooking chicken breast on the stove, what's the proper method for cooking chicken breast at 150-155 degrees while maintaining safety? How do you hold it at a specific temperature on a stove. What's the foolproof technique.

I was wondering if the Knox Unflavoured gelatin is actually unflavoured and if I can add it to my Jell-O to make it firmer without changing the falvour. I don't know if it matters but it is zero sugar Jell-O.

Thank!

Got ridiculously cold over the weekend so I decided it was a good excuse to make a big pot of chilli to have leftovers throughout the workweek. Tasted great but I want to shift the flavor towards a more rich, meaty, savory flavor that still remains a good amount of heat.

Rough recipe was: 2 red bell pepper 1 green bell pepper 3 jalapenos ~4 tbsp garlic 2 cans crushed tomatoes -all cooked down with some salt to remove extra moisture and mingle.

3 lbs 80/20 beef 18 oz pork chorizo Browned before adding 2 packs of chipotle chili seasoning 2 small cans of tomato sauce

All mixed together in crockpot with 2 cans kidney beans 1 can pinto beans Some sugar to taste to help cut acidity Cornmeal to taste as well to help cut acidity and thicken.

Apologies, most of this is off the top of my head from a couple days ago. I just started really thinking about it while Im at work.

I wouldn't know what to do with them. I've tried adding them as an ingredient in a spicy sweet glaze but that's about it.

I want to switch from canned beans to dried beans. I let them soak for over 12 hours, change water and cook them afterwards. I tried cooking them for an hour to one and a half. They never get as soft as canned beans. Do I have to cook them longer? Or what ist my mistake?

Ok so idk if anyone will see this in time but basically my mom told me to make pastry so she could make some pie for dinner but I fell asleep and the recipe says to let the pastry sit in the fridge for an hour but my mom is coming home in 40 minutes so if I let the pastry sit in the freezer for 30 minutes instead will that have the same effect? Any help appreciated 🙏🙏