Why don't we cook more?

[pagallim]

I've always enjoyed cooking, tailoring the dishes I made according to what was available wherever in the world I happened to be, from Africa to Russia.  Great choice of ingredients here in Thailand, and if you can't actually get something locally, you almost certainly will on-line, including various meat and fish.   I make all of our breads now, whether it's a sandwich loaf, baguettes, bread rolls, bagels or bao buns.    Today's lunch is some spicy pulled pork that I'd made, on an homemade bun with homemade garlic mayonaise, topped with homemade hot sriracha sauce.

[Expat68]

I cook 90% of my food, I love cooking and eating. Thai food is supposed to be healthy but you do not know the amount of MSG they use

[Seeall]

23 hours ago, BenStark said:

Why would someone spend time and effort to go out buy the ingredients, then spend time again preparing and cooking, and lastly washing up cooking pots and clean the kitchen?

 

Hours wasted for a 20 minute meal, when you just can go to a shop and buy it ready-made, or even better go to a restaurant, where you can order it at almost the same price it cost you to do yourself.

hear dat

[Seeall]

5 hours ago, Rumpelstilskin said:

Corn bread crust with pesto not on any restaurant menu, DIY and yummy.

looks great, we should all do, after 3 years ordered the ol meatlovers as used to, never again 112x  lost all of us...

[FritsSikkink]

21 hours ago, Celsius said:

 

I do. As a matter of fact I do eat outside a lot. And I still think food here is garbage, but I have no choice. No thing such as western kitchen in Bangkok condo. Not paying 100k a month for something to resemble western condo and not even get a dishwasher. 

 

And I hope I don't hurt anyone's feelings here, but Thai food is one of the worst on the planet. Thais simply do not know how to cook.

 

Pls do not get triggered.....

 

 

The Micheline guide doesn't agree with you but what do they know.

[DJ54]

Me cooking is dependent on when cookware re-emerges from the outside kitchen… sometimes they never return…. Sad but true

[pagallim]

[Kwasaki]

12 minutes ago, pagallim said:

NEXT.

I'm finding this difficult can you come over. ????

[ChrisKC]

And when we do cook, why doesn't anybody seem to want any vegetables?

 

Restaurants everywhere rarely serve any worthwhile vegetables so I rarely go out to them.

 

When i cook meals, 90% of the time there are at least three vegetables, some I buy a frozen and some I buy in quantity, blanche them and freeze in one an two servings bags., then when I use them, empty a bag into a pan of boiling water and simmer for about five minutes and done.

 

I have a basic plan relating to my diet including the shopping and it works!

[whereyougo]

On 7/11/2023 at 2:20 PM, BenStark said:

Why would someone spend time and effort to go out buy the ingredients, then spend time again preparing and cooking, and lastly washing up cooking pots and clean the kitchen?

 

Hours wasted for a 20 minute meal, when you just can go to a shop and buy it ready-made, or even better go to a restaurant, where you can order it at almost the same price it cost you to do yourself.

Bought a family size boch dishwasher on sale best 12 k I spent can now cook up a storm stack and press a button. I order fresh meat vegetables etc on line Tesco far better than crap street food glazed with sugar and rolled in Msg. 

Cooking to me is therapeutic and creative. 

[LikeItHot]

I cook once every 2 to 3 weeks.  I freeze meals in single foil tins from makro and fill my freezer to the brim with about 20 meals. I take out one meal a day. Lasagne, baked ziti, sausage and peppers, chicken thighs with roasted veggies and mashed potatoes with black bean or bbq or hoisin sauce, Indian lamb Rogan Josh, Lamb osso bucco, Korean pork trotter Honey fried chicken with polenta, fried rice, Thai pig ears or jowls with rice pasta fagioli, thai massaman curry The list is endless.  I pull out a random meal at about 2 and it's defrosted by five. 30 minutes in the air fryer and it's done.  Can add some garlic bread or a salad or a cheesy garlic pita as needed.  No dishes to clean no cooking pans to clean no oven to heat the kitchen no trips out for food no money wasted at restaurants no unwanted ingredients or extra calories no running back and forth to the market.  I make 7 liters batches of banana wine and mix it with soda for happy hour with some peanuts or cheese and crackers if I'm in the mood.  I'll also make creme caramel in individual tins or some ice cream or banana breads the same way so I have a sweet on hand.  You get the idea the trick is plan out 3 or 4 dishes and make everything in one day I usually cook for 5 hours.  I have a fried egg on toast with coffee every morning or sometimes I'll make a bunch of bagels and I'll make my own 24  hour cured salmon for that or just have some fruit.  I probably save 30 hours a month. Makro will deliver any order over 3000 baht so I just let them do the heavy lifting for me too.

[LikeItHot]

22 minutes ago, pagallim said:

At my old job we would pick one person every day to make a coffee run.  One day we send Blondie to Dunkin Donuts to get "three large milk no sugars".  We got three large cups of milk.  She said something didn't seem right but she couldn't figure out what it was.

[Kwasaki]

4 minutes ago, LikeItHot said:

I cook once every 2 to 3 weeks.  I freeze meals in single foil tins from makro and fill my freezer to the brim with about 20 meals. I take out one meal a day. Lasagne, baked ziti, sausage and peppers, chicken thighs with roasted veggies and mashed potatoes with black bean or bbq or hoisin sauce, Indian lamb Rogan Josh, Lamb osso bucco, Korean pork trotter Honey fried chicken with polenta, fried rice, Thai pig ears or jowls with rice pasta fagioli, thai massaman curry The list is endless.  I pull out a random meal at about 2 and it's defrosted by five. 30 minutes in the air fryer and it's done.  Can add some garlic bread or a salad or a cheesy garlic pita as needed.  No dishes to clean no cooking pans to clean no oven to heat the kitchen no trips out for food no money wasted at restaurants no unwanted ingredients or extra calories no running back and forth to the market.  I make 7 liters batches of banana wine and mix it with soda for happy hour with some peanuts or cheese and crackers if I'm in the mood.  I'll also make creme caramel in individual tins or some ice cream or banana breads the same way so I have a sweet on hand.  You get the idea the trick is plan out 3 or 4 dishes and make everything in one day I usually cook for 5 hours.  I have a fried egg on toast with coffee every morning or sometimes I'll make a bunch of bagels and I'll make my own 24  hour cured salmon for that or just have some fruit.  I probably save 30 hours a month. Makro will deliver any order over 3000 baht so I just let them do the heavy lifting for me too.

Much easier for me I have a wife. ????

[pagallim]

10 minutes ago, LikeItHot said:

I cook once every 2 to 3 weeks.  I freeze meals in single foil tins from makro and fill my freezer to the brim with about 20 meals. I take out one meal a day. Lasagne, baked ziti, sausage and peppers, chicken thighs with roasted veggies and mashed potatoes with black bean or bbq or hoisin sauce, Indian lamb Rogan Josh, Lamb osso bucco, Korean pork trotter Honey fried chicken with polenta, fried rice, Thai pig ears or jowls with rice pasta fagioli, thai massaman curry The list is endless.  I pull out a random meal at about 2 and it's defrosted by five. 30 minutes in the air fryer and it's done.  Can add some garlic bread or a salad or a cheesy garlic pita as needed.  No dishes to clean no cooking pans to clean no oven to heat the kitchen no trips out for food no money wasted at restaurants no unwanted ingredients or extra calories no running back and forth to the market.  I make 7 liters batches of banana wine and mix it with soda for happy hour with some peanuts or cheese and crackers if I'm in the mood.  I'll also make creme caramel in individual tins or some ice cream or banana breads the same way so I have a sweet on hand.  You get the idea the trick is plan out 3 or 4 dishes and make everything in one day I usually cook for 5 hours.  I have a fried egg on toast with coffee every morning or sometimes I'll make a bunch of bagels and I'll make my own 24  hour cured salmon for that or just have some fruit.  I probably save 30 hours a month. Makro will deliver any order over 3000 baht so I just let them do the heavy lifting for me too.

I'm the same, make batches of 4 individual meals for freezing, pies, soup, curries, etc.   I get what are plastic takeaway boxes with lids from Lazada, usually come in packs of 100, which are great for stacking and not wasting space in our two freezer compartments.   Inbetween is usually loaded with various breads that I've made.

[champers]

3 minutes ago, pagallim said:

I'm the same, make batches of 4 individual meals for freezing, pies, soup, curries, etc.   I get what are plastic takeaway boxes with lids from Lazada, usually come in packs of 100, which are great for stacking and not wasting space in our two freezer compartments.   Inbetween is usually loaded with various breads that I've made.

Someone's been to a tupperware party?

[pagallim]

20 minutes ago, champers said:

Someone's been to a tupperware party?

Lazada, cheap as chips and are reusable.   I get the 1 litre ones.   https://www.lazada.co.th/products/500650750100012501500ml-25-i4172858740-s16405844367.html?c=&channelLpJumpArgs=&clickTrackInfo=query%3Aplastic%2Bfood%2Bboxes%2B1000ml%3Bnid%3A4172858740%3Bsrc%3ALazadaMainSrp%3Brn%3A0282c68a3007e3cc223ea3c883d3eb67%3Bregion%3Ath%3Bsku%3A4172858740_TH%3Bprice%3A47%3Bclient%3Adesktop%3Bsupplier_id%3A100235100473%3Bpromotion_biz%3A%3Basc_category_id%3A12020%3Bitem_id%3A4172858740%3Bsku_id%3A16405844367%3Bshop_id%3A3529988&fastshipping=0&freeshipping=0&fs_ab=2&fuse_fs=0&lang=en&location=Samut Prakan&price=47&priceCompare=&ratingscore=5.0&request_id=0282c68a3007e3cc223ea3c883d3eb67&review=10&sale=115&search=1&source=search&spm=a2o4m.searchlist.list.62&stock=1

[dingdongrb]

How about some smothered nachos, BLT with homemade potato soup, or some traditional Tom Yum Goong?

 

Don't get me started on my assortment of desserts and sweets.

 

 

 

 

[ChrisKC]

22 hours ago, Farmerslife said:

God, pork pies!

Terrible, terrible, terrible things and I absolutely love them! I would quite cheerfully kill for a pork pie these days.

You don't have to kill, just go to a little trouble and make them yourself from many videos on YouTube with recipes of the "genuine article". Yes, they are made from processed ingredients but your health will not suffer from the odd indulgence! And don't forget the Colmans mustard!

 

You will be telling us next, you like faggots and peas!!

[Kwasaki]

6 minutes ago, ChrisKC said:

You don't have to kill, just go to a little trouble and make them yourself from many videos on YouTube with recipes of the "genuine article". Yes, they are made from processed ingredients but your health will not suffer from the odd indulgence! And don't forget the Colmans mustard!

 

You will be telling us next, you like faggots and peas!!

Bikers joke I don't like faggots either they ride Harleys. ????

 

https://m.facebook.com/504257584/videos/1048981666065663/?extid=reels&wtsid=rdr_00lOLzJlmrqE3HZUH&refsrc=deprecated&_rdr

[Seppius]

I am firmly in the cook and eat at home side. I love to cook and experiment.

 

Breakfast, obviously important, is so much better home cooked.

 

 

[novacova]

She’s the best cook ever, breakfast lunch and dinner. Cooking suki at the moment ????????????

[nauseus]

On 7/11/2023 at 2:07 PM, BritManToo said:

Yep, I'm lazy ........

Thai street food and restaurants everywhere.

A woman in our homes to cook Thai food for us.

But why don't we make the effort to cook our own cultures food more?

 

Today I did Cottage Pie, 0.5Kg minced pork, an onion, 0.75Kg of potato and some gravy powder.

Brown the mince in a saucepan with a bit of oil, add water to cover + 3 teaspoons of gravy powder (or a couple of stock cubes from 7-11) + 1 chopped onion.

Add in salt, pepper, chopped garlic if you can be bothered and leave to simmer for 10 minutes.

Peel and chop the potatoes into chunks, put in a saucepan an cover with water, boil for 5 mins.

 

Ladle the cooked mince into any style dish that you can put in an oven, not too wet!

Pick out the cooked potato chunks, put in a bowl with a bit of milk, mash with a fork, cover up the mince.

 

Put in an oven (Otto is fine) for around 15 mins at 150c, until the top browns.

Then eat.

 

20mins of work costs about 100bht, enough for 3-4 portions. 

 

 

I hope you got the dog's OK to borrow his dish?

[billd766]

1 hour ago, Kwasaki said:

Much easier for me I have a wife. ????

For me, tonight's evening meal is a burger with lettuce, onion and mustard mayo in a toasted bun, tastily cooked by 'er indoors.

 

Nothing else.

[Kwasaki]

5 minutes ago, billd766 said:

For me, tonight's evening meal is a burger with lettuce, onion and mustard mayo in a toasted bun, tastily cooked by 'er indoors.

 

Nothing else.

Yeah good on ya I know you like to dabble in cooking but it's never been my thing. 

My only complaint is my wife won't passed tool's to me when I am checking my motorbike which she calls my Mia noi. ????

[LikeItHot]

1 hour ago, pagallim said:

I'm the same, make batches of 4 individual meals for freezing, pies, soup, curries, etc.   I get what are plastic takeaway boxes with lids from Lazada, usually come in packs of 100, which are great for stacking and not wasting space in our two freezer compartments.   Inbetween is usually loaded with various breads that I've made.

Exactly what my freezer looks.like but I use foil tins then put them in my tin cans recycling bags to make it easy for the trash pickers.  I also keep all the pan drippings and separate the oil and reuse them anytime a recipe calls for water.  When I make bacon or sausages or roast chicken I save all the fat frozen for use in my tomato sauces etc.  Are you doing any cooking with a pressure cooker? Lamb, pork ribs, poor cuts of beef all come out like butter in about 30 minutes.   I blast meats with a torch to brown them then toss them in the cooker with veggies and stock and spices.  Only one teflon pot to clean.  If I was allowed to work here or had a Thai partner I could sell my meals easily.  There are quite a few meal prep services I have seen here and they are no where near as good as mine.

[pagallim]

5 minutes ago, LikeItHot said:

Exactly what my freezer looks.like but I use foil tins then put them in my tin cans recycling bags to make it easy for the trash pickers.  I also keep all the pan drippings and separate the oil and reuse them anytime a recipe calls for water.  When I make bacon or sausages or roast chicken I save all the fat frozen for use in my tomato sauces etc.  Are you doing any cooking with a pressure cooker? Lamb, pork ribs, poor cuts of beef all come out like butter in about 30 minutes.   I blast meats with a torch to brown them then toss them in the cooker with veggies and stock and spices.  Only one teflon pot to clean.  If I was allowed to work here or had a Thai partner I could sell my meals easily.  There are quite a few meal prep services I have seen here and they are no where near as good as mine.

This is pork shoulder in a marinade that went into the fridge today.   I'll be cooking it in a pressure cooker tomorrow for pulled pork, and making some Chinese Bao buns to have it in, along with some pickled vegetables and Srirach sauce.   The pork came from Makro this morning, nearly 2 kilos, and only 212 baht!   Amazing.

[billd766]

12 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

Yeah good on ya I know you like to dabble in cooking but it's never been my thing. 

My only complaint is my wife won't passed tool's to me when I am checking my motorbike which she calls my Mia noi. ????

I used to do most of my own cooking and down in the house I still have a table top oven and a microwave.

 

I can do roasts, grilled food, bread etc and my wife will bring veggies down if I ask.

 

In the last couple of months I have lost a bit of interest as I have a breathing and a balance problem.

[alien365]

I make Yorkshire puddings every week. The in laws even love them. Apart from that I usually make my own beefburgers, chorizo and beef penne, along with my sweet tooth needs of bakewell tarts and custard creams. 

 

I think after this thread I will give your pie a go. I used to make a lot of mash potato, so that's already half the job done. Rather than boil them in a pan though, I put them in the microwave for about 12mins. If I am having it with fish I will add lime juice to it

[mstevens]

On 7/11/2023 at 7:20 PM, BenStark said:

Why would someone spend time and effort to go out buy the ingredients, then spend time again preparing and cooking, and lastly washing up cooking pots and clean the kitchen?

 

Hours wasted for a 20 minute meal, when you just can go to a shop and buy it ready-made, or even better go to a restaurant, where you can order it at almost the same price it cost you to do yourself.

Some of us, like myself, prefer to cook most of the time as we are very health-conscious. We can adjust dishes to include more vegetables, good oil and leave out ingredients that if consumed long-term might not be good for our health.

 

A lot of Thai food is fried and the oils used are not healthy. There's also a lot of sugar and flavouring sauces, none of which are good for you if you consume too much of them.

 

Certainly, there is a good argument for eating out in Thailand if you want convenience and to save time (and oftentimes money too). But for me, I prefer to cook at home most of the time and only eat out sometimes, primarily because of the health benefits of knowing that what I am eating is healthy.

[pagallim]

15 hours ago, pagallim said:

This is pork shoulder in a marinade that went into the fridge today.   I'll be cooking it in a pressure cooker tomorrow for pulled pork, and making some Chinese Bao buns to have it in, along with some pickled vegetables and Srirach sauce.   The pork came from Makro this morning, nearly 2 kilos, and only 212 baht!   Amazing.

Just a follow up for this post.   This morning, pork into a pressure cooker with the marinade, topped up with about 500ml of pineapple juice and mixed together.   Once the pressure cooker had got up to heat, 50 minutes then allowed to cool down.   Meat removed from the cooker and allowed to rest for 5 minutes before pulling apart with a couple of forks.   Meanwhile, the juices that were left in the cooker brought to a simmer  with the lid off for about 15 minutes until turned into a thick syrupy sauce, then the pulled meat put back into the cooker and everything mixed together.   All this will be split and into the freezer, probably about 10 meals.