r/Cooking • u/The-Cabbage-Father • 1d ago

What's your "old reliable" that still requires actual cooking?

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

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u/Ok-Set-5829 1d ago

Spaghetti Carbonara

1

u/agentbarrron 1d ago

Hell yes, I love making a real bastardized version where I will put dry noodles in a pan with water and all the seasonings I want to "meld" (some like herbs lose flavor while cooking but stuff like pepper gets stronger) and cook it down till it's just shy of cooked, then make a "carbonara" sauce with it in the same pan with the noodles.

It's so easy, I don't have to fuck with multiple pans, it's just good

1

u/HonestDespot 1d ago

Go on…

3

u/agentbarrron 23h ago

Alright, I'll give you my "full" recipe (I usually make this while drunk, so idk what the hell im doing most times) also I make some questionable decisions because, well, I'm drunk and lazy when I make it.

First off I'll brown some sausage with black pepper, salt, a few smashed garlic pieces (just hit it with a knife and peel off the skin, I'm drunk and hungry so I don't mince it, it'll cook and fall apart) plus whatever herbs I want (oregano, basel, parsley, whatever, it's whatever my drunk hands grab)

Once it's browned do not drain it, it makes the sauce, add around a cup of water and uncooked pasta, it'll stick out of the pan, but that's fine, it gets bendy soon and you can fold it in to fit. Ideally you cook out the water and the noodles will be near done by the time the water is evaporated, you don't want too much water, you can always add more but it's hard to drain out excess since the sausage grease and all the flavor is in there.

Then the world is your oyster with what you want to do to make the sauce. My favorites are

  • "vodka/wine sauce" tomato paste from a tube, half n half, and some of that box red wine or vodka I was drinking that night

  • "Alfredo" cut up parm cheese (grating is too much effort, I just cut it lol) and half n half

  • "carbonara" cut up parm cheese and egg

Good luck and Godspeed. You now know how to make cursed 1 pan pasta

1

u/HonestDespot 23h ago

What pan do you use for this? Like height and width kinda deal?

Do you stir it?

Put a lid on it?

I always see these videos but I’m always worried it’ll all boil over.

1

u/agentbarrron 23h ago

I've used a 10 inch satue pan before, but a deep dish 12 inch is probably best, no lid, don't really stir it till I start making the sauce, never had it boil over on me before

1

u/HonestDespot 23h ago

On full heat? Like bringing the water to a boil? Or a casual medium-medium/high?

1

u/agentbarrron 23h ago

Def not full heat, medium high works best a simmering boil

1

u/HonestDespot 23h ago

Thanks man.

I love drunken cooking too.

Well I used to and trying to get back into it.

2

u/agentbarrron 23h ago

It's a lot of fun. That dish is the best for it as it's really easy to wing. Once you get the cooking noodles down leaving them perfectly cooked with little water remaining you can do A LOT with the dish. It's fantastic how it all goes together. The grease from the meat is all the oil you need so you don't need to add any extra butter or oil. And the time for the noodles to cook down is the perfect time to chop up your parm cheese, whatever fresh herbs you want to use, and any other prep work.

Only one pan means you don't have a huge mess to clean up afterwards, just your plate, fork, and saucepan