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Husbanding Skills Training (Cooking)

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Post by Jayce Sun Nov 08, 2015 9:22 pm

Ok so I've had some epiphanies about this, I don't actually have much really long term household skills. If I were to marry someone tomorrow I would not know how to cook a meal, plus other stuff, but I'm going to focus on learning cooking first because I find it at least somewhat artistic, and I actually enjoying making my food look better, and of course I like levelling up.

I know how to cook to survive of course, but my idea for a meal is to cut meat into small portions then sprinkle it with spices, put it on the grill machine and steam my vegetables, and eat a piece of raw fruit after my meal. I don't really want to be a noob when I'm married one day and I don't know how to cook any meal at all + I need a reason to take a break from my training meals every fortnight + I want a new, accessible, somewhat artistic hobby that I can do straight from home + making food makes me feel happy for some reason (I guess it makes me feel creative?).

So I'm making this thread to document my training and levelling up process, right from level 1. The plan is to cook something outside of my training food every fortnight.

I'm Chinese so I'd guess I'd start off with trying to cook things that are from my culture. I've actually never made remotely anything from a recipe outside of Food Technology class in high school where I made spaghetti so I am completely new to all of this.

And of course, because this was an epiphany, I wanted to get started right away with the hobby so I used what was around my house to make fried rice. I watched stuff on youtube (research is important for every skill), and I went ahead and used what I had which was 3 eggs, steak, canned pineapple, onion, spices, tofu, rice, soy sauce, pepper and green leafy vegetables (which I actually screwed up stir frying so it didn't made the cut).

It ended up looking like this : https://imgur.com/ByQ1uhi


Self Evaluation: Not bad since this is my first time making fried rice in my entire life and well we all start from somewhere. It was tasty which is fantastic, cause that's one of the biggest points. Plus its also kind of like my first time making any kind of dish.

My Feedback:
Could improve a lot more on dicing skills, the way I cut everything was not even at all.
Beef has a more of a rough texture, and I prefer something softer so shrimp or chinese sasuage would most likely be a better replacement.
Needs more vegetables, and I need to learn how to fry vegetables properly. Well at least I know how to cook onion very well cause that succeeded.
The tofu gives it a soft texture, and tastes good so that is a good addition.
Egg, soy sauce and rice are a staple of fried rice, so I got the base down so that is good. (Very important to keep staples the same because its the core to the dish, kind of like in Magic the Gathering where we always play cards that search for other cards or in Hearthstone where we always play cards that are key to the Archetype).
It is soft on the taste buds, if I wanted a stronger taste I could add more soy sauce, otherwise it's fine cause I like things that are not too strong.
It could look a lot more aesthetically pleasing, but well I'll improve on that with time and practice.
I made this dish on a night with what I had in the fridge cause I didn't feel like waiting for tomorrow to get started, I would have been pretty happy if I can even successfully make anything resembling fried rice at all so I definitely met my expectations which is awesome.

Results: Gained xp, unlocked the skill of basic fried rice cooking.


I'll revisit the dish soon and improve on it.

You guys can tell me what you think if you want of my latest artistic venture if you want Smile. Or if you have any tips Smile, even basic ones like knowing how to chop things. Hahaha I remember I had to watch a youtube video to even know how to grate carrots a while ago, so yeah I'm pretty happy, I'm making food and trying the hobby out Smile.

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Post by Prajnaparamita Sun Nov 08, 2015 10:54 pm

Congrats Jayce on your leveling up, I remember the very first time I cooked something all by myself (which was fried rice as well!), it felt amazing. Even thought that was well over a decade ago I still remember the taste of the ginger, minced as finely as I could so the stringy texture wouldn't come through. I agree, cooking is a lovely hobby to have, it can transform the basic act of self care that is nourishing your body into a luxurious moment of creative expression. Also, you will make many friends, as quite a number of young adults also seem to lack the skill!

I wish I could help you with cutting tips, but... As someone who has been allowed to handle knives and help out in the kitchen since like first grade, I don't know how well I'd be able to describe something that's so automatic to me now...

Fried rice, as you said, is a great "core" dish, and a very good one to master because it is a great base for many different synergies, thus you can use it to build varied kinds of stir fries depending on your tastes.

For example, here are a couple kinds of fried rices that I will often make:

Kim chee fried rice--extra firm tofu, pressed and fried until golden, tossed with soy sauce, minced garlic and ginger and sliced onion added, with carrot coins and some form of Asian veggie (Chinese broccoli, baby bok choy, napa cabbage, ect), with day-old rice. Seasoned with soy sauce, sesame oil, chili garlic paste, black bean garlic paste, and of course kim chee!

Green fried rice--extra firm tofu, pressed and fried until golden, but in olive oil instead of peanut or sesame oil. Add slivered almonds, shredded kale, green bell pepper, herbs de Provence, soy sauce and lemon juice. To make extra healthy, use brown rice instead of white rice.

I guess some tips that I do have is the best fried rice is made with day old rice--it is especially good if the rice can dry out a little and be a bit hard and dehydrated. The fact that is it dry is not a problem because it will rehydrate and pick up moisture again when cooked with the other ingredients. However, fresh rice will often be too soggy and make a wet, gloppy fried rice. Also, if you're making fried rice with Chinese flavors and want to add some fresh ginger, mince it very, very, very finely! (Until it's almost a mush and you want to throw your cutting board against a wall because goddammit why won't you just mince already?!) Ginger is naturally quite stringy, and getting a large chunk of it can be kinda unpleasant so it's best to chop finely so the lovely flavor is there but not the texture. Finally, if you're just starting out and want to really boost flavor with minimal effort, get some TOASTED SESAME OIL!!! Just add a little when cooking the veggies, and you'll be like "Holy shit this tastes just like a Chinese restaurant!!!" Basically, when starting out cooking Chinese food, I think there's four staples that you alway need to have on hand--these will be your land cards, your mana crystals, your Brimstone or Tammy's Head (any other BoI players?!) for seasoning just about anything:

--Soy sauce (though I use tamari instead, I think it has a more subtle and mellow flavor, but it is more expensive)

--Toasted sesame oil

--Chili garlic paste (Lee Kum Kee brand)

--Sriracha (Hoy Fong brand)

--Black bean garlic paste (Lee Kum Kee brand)

Combining some (or all!) of these is an instant ticket to yumminess, so have fun playing around and experimenting! Also garlic and ginger just improve everything, so get practicing mincing!

If you ever need any ideas for future kitchen quests, I'll be standing by the tavern in the starting town, you know where to find me! Good luck and may the cooking gods smile upon you!

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Post by sky Mon Nov 09, 2015 2:46 am

I decided to get better at cooking a couple of years ago and bought several cookbooks that looked interesting, but then I moved away from home for something that turned out to be longer-term than expected and unfortunately I haven't made it back to my kitchen yet. I did start reading the books though, and I think you might find Cooking For Geeks to be a neat read. It comes at cooking from the question "how does it work?" rather than "here's a bunch of pages of recipes in a row" like a traditional cookbook.

I suppose I can only recommend the first third of the book, as I haven't actually finished reading it yet Embarassed
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Post by PKB Mon Nov 09, 2015 2:43 pm

Oh man, now I'm hungry for fried rice.

+1 everything Prajnaparamita said (and I'm stealing your kim chee fried rice recipe).

One book you may want to invest in is The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking by Barbara Tropp.  In addition to recipes, it has comprehensive information on stir-frying, deep-frying, and other techniques, as well as knife skills.  That's in addition to a handy glossary of ingredients, in case you're looking for tree ears and the store has them listed as black fungus.  I grew up on master sauce chicken and Orchid's tangy noodles, so I am slightly biased.

Also, attempting to learn knife skills with dull or inappropriate knives is like trying to level grind with your starting weapon.  You only really need two knives - a chef's knife (6"-8") and a paring knife (3"-4").  And regardless which one you have (and the current champion seems to be the Victorinox Fibrox series from a value standpoint), it should be plain edge (i.e. no serrations) and sharp.

There are a few key points about sharpening. One, that the key is to maintain a consistent angle on either side of the blade, and two, to keep the edge maintained consistently so it doesn't get truly dull and take serious work to fix. Keeping an edge up only requires stropping or steeling. If you keep a steel on hand and give the blade a few strokes on either side it should keep the edge in good working order for a long time. Essentially, the steel is re-aligning the edge of the knife before it wears down or rolls over. Another option here is a system like the Spyderco Sharpmaker, which is a bit pricey but is ridiculously easy to use and gives you shaving sharp edges. The key point here is that the system maintains a consistent 20 or 15 degree angle on either side. Try to avoid the electric knife sharpeners, which remove way too much steel and prematurely wear out your knives. Most supermarket or farmer's market knife sharpeners tend to be way too aggressive as well.
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Post by nearly_takuan Mon Nov 09, 2015 6:17 pm

This can maybe come after you've gotten comfortable cooking a few different kinds of things, but I've learned recently that when cooking for other people presentation can matter a lot. When I make sushi for myself it's fine if it comes out a little squished, uneven, etc. but my guests tend to be much more skeptical if the homemade sushi does not resemble restaurant sushi. The same holds for anything else, even simple stuff like quesadillas and sandwiches. A quesadilla for me is a few crude chunks of cheddar on top of a tortilla spinning in the microwave for seventy-five seconds. A quesadilla for anyone else is filled evenly with grated cheese, carefully toasted on the stove, sliced into symmetric portions, and placed intentionally on a plate. Makes it "taste" better. Turns out the halo effect can sometimes be pretty powerful on food. Razz
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Post by Jayce Sun Nov 15, 2015 4:58 am

Prajnaparamita wrote:
For example, here are a couple kinds of fried rices that I will often make:

Kim chee fried rice--extra firm tofu, pressed and fried until golden, tossed with soy sauce, minced garlic and ginger and sliced onion added, with carrot coins and some form of Asian veggie (Chinese broccoli, baby bok choy, napa cabbage, ect), with day-old rice. Seasoned with soy sauce, sesame oil, chili garlic paste, black bean garlic paste, and of course kim chee!

Green fried rice--extra firm tofu, pressed and fried until golden, but in olive oil instead of peanut or sesame oil. Add slivered almonds, shredded kale, green bell pepper, herbs de Provence, soy sauce and lemon juice. To make extra healthy, use brown rice instead of white rice.

I guess some tips that I do have is the best fried rice is made with day old rice--it is especially good if the rice can dry out a little and be a bit hard and dehydrated. The fact that is it dry is not a problem because it will rehydrate and pick up moisture again when cooked with the other ingredients. However, fresh rice will often be too soggy and make a wet, gloppy fried rice. Also, if you're making fried rice with Chinese flavors and want to add some fresh ginger, mince it very, very, very finely! (Until it's almost a mush and you want to throw your cutting board against a wall because goddammit why won't you just mince already?!) Ginger is naturally quite stringy, and getting a large chunk of it can be kinda unpleasant so it's best to chop finely so the lovely flavor is there but not the texture. Finally, if you're just starting out and want to really boost flavor with minimal effort, get some TOASTED SESAME OIL!!! Just add a little when cooking the veggies, and you'll be like "Holy shit this tastes just like a Chinese restaurant!!!" Basically, when starting out cooking Chinese food, I think there's four staples that you alway need to have on hand--these will be your land cards, your mana crystals, your Brimstone or Tammy's Head (any other BoI players?!) for seasoning just about anything:

--Soy sauce (though I use tamari instead, I think it has a more subtle and mellow flavor, but it is more expensive)

--Toasted sesame oil

--Chili garlic paste (Lee Kum Kee brand)

--Sriracha (Hoy Fong brand)

--Black bean garlic paste (Lee Kum Kee brand)

Combining some (or all!) of these is an instant ticket to yumminess, so have fun playing around and experimenting! Also garlic and ginger just improve everything, so get practicing mincing!

If you ever need any ideas for future kitchen quests, I'll be standing by the tavern in the starting town, you know where to find me! Good luck and may the cooking gods smile upon you!

Thanks for the tips Smile, the green fried rice sounds delicious and I love sesame oil too. Just a question, you mentioned you cook your fried rices with vegetables, what's a good way to cook them? Frying them don't always work out for me, they tend to dry up and shrivel a bit too much, or they get a bit burnt, or they get way to oily. Cooking meat, or very liquidy fruits/vegetables like tomatoes and cucumbers seem a lot easier than cooking vegetables. And also is there a way to tell that tofu is cooked? (mine seem to look the same cooked as they did uncooked, the best I could do was cook it on medium heat for 10 or more minutes to guarantee they are cooked.


nearly_takuan wrote: When I make sushi for myself it's fine if it comes out a little squished, uneven, etc. but my guests tend to be much more skeptical if the homemade sushi does not resemble restaurant sushi. The same holds for anything else, even simple stuff like quesadillas and sandwiches. A quesadilla for me is a few crude chunks of cheddar on top of a tortilla spinning in the microwave for seventy-five seconds. A quesadilla for anyone else is filled evenly with grated cheese, carefully toasted on the stove, sliced into symmetric portions, and placed intentionally on a plate. Makes it "taste" better. Turns out the halo effect can sometimes be pretty powerful on food. Razz

I like to fuss around whenever I do something creative, I remember in clay making class where I kept trying to make a cloak for the gargoyle and I did it again and again, or when I'm writing a short story I would write something, edit it again and again. With food I like to play around with it and see what I can do to make it look cool and beautiful haha Smile. Thank you, I actually had no idea what a quesadilla was, or even knew it existed before you mentioned it! If you said just the name I would probably think it was some species of dinosaur. Its awesome that you can make sushi (I don't know if this is just a rumour) but there are professional chefs that train years and years just so they can make it well.

sky wrote:I decided to get better at cooking a couple of years ago and bought several cookbooks that looked interesting, but then I moved away from home for something that turned out to be longer-term than expected and unfortunately I haven't made it back to my kitchen yet. I did start reading the books though, and I think you might find Cooking For Geeks to be a neat read. It comes at cooking from the question "how does it work?" rather than "here's a bunch of pages of recipes in a row" like a traditional cookbook.

Oooh I'll definitely need to look into that one, yeah traditional cook books generally seem to have a target audience that definitely has some experience in doing this or they have really complex recipes.


PKB wrote:

One book you may want to invest in is The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking by Barbara Tropp.  In addition to recipes, it has comprehensive information on stir-frying, deep-frying, and other techniques, as well as knife skills.  That's in addition to a handy glossary of ingredients, in case you're looking for tree ears and the store has them listed as black fungus.  I grew up on master sauce chicken and Orchid's tangy noodles, so I am slightly biased.

Also, attempting to learn knife skills with dull or inappropriate knives is like trying to level grind with your starting weapon.  You only really need two knives - a chef's knife (6"-8") and a paring knife (3"-4").  And regardless which one you have (and the current champion seems to be the Victorinox Fibrox series from a value standpoint), it should be plain edge (i.e. no serrations) and sharp.

Nice, thanks, I actually didn't know the english name was Tree Ears hahaha. I always knew its Chinese name (木耳- the first word is wood, the second is ear so =Wood Ear) but never thought the translation would be almost quite literal. I just want to ask, how can you tell if a knife is dulled? I can always tell if razor blades are dulling because they won't be as effectively smooth when I'm using them to shave anymore so it's easy, but the thing with knives is that I can cut an apple with a butter knife. From google images I definitely own chef knives, and I also have paring knives which I use to cut cooked steak, or peel fruit.The knives in the house can always cut through the vegetable/meat/fruit so I can't tell.

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Post by Enail Sun Nov 15, 2015 12:52 pm

Jayce wrote:
Thanks for the tips Smile, the green fried rice sounds delicious and I love sesame oil too. Just a question, you mentioned you cook your fried rices with vegetables, what's a good way to cook them? Frying them don't always work out for me, they tend to dry up and shrivel a bit too much, or they get a bit burnt, or they get way to oily. Cooking meat, or very liquidy fruits/vegetables like tomatoes and cucumbers seem a lot easier than cooking vegetables.

I don't make fried rice very often, so others may have wiser advice specific to that, but stir-frying vegetables it's all about doing it in the right order. Put hard veggies in the pan earlier on (maybe before the rice, even), and softer ones later, and then fine leafy greens like spinach or bok choi tops (when you chop it, separate the white stems, which need a bit longer to cook, from the leafy green tops) pretty close to the end so that you can just take it off the heat when they're done.


And also is there a way to tell that tofu is cooked? (mine seem to look the same cooked as they did uncooked, the best I could do was cook it on medium heat for 10 or more minutes to guarantee they are cooked.

Since tofu is edible raw, as long as it's warm enough for your taste, you can call it cooked Razz  But I think it's way tastier if you get it brown and crispy. I'm sure it can be done like that within a stirfry, but I get better results doing it separately in a pan of its own. The way I do it is:
- cube the tofu
- put a little oil in the pan (just enough to coat the whole pan thinly is fine, but if you want it to taste more rich and deep-friedish, you can put a tablespoon or two). Peanut oil or canola or vegetable oil is better than olive oil.
-Medium-high to high heat, depending on how impatient you are, how distracted you are and how aggressive your stove is.
-when it's hot enough that a drop of water in the pan sizzles, put the tofu in.
-Don't stir it around too much, it's best left alone (but not like "go away" alone, it doesn't take too long to cook), just peek at the bottom of one or two every so often to see when it's browned. (If your stove/pan is crappy like mine, some may cook more quickly than others). When they're brown on that side, flip to a different side. (Ideally do each side that way, but if you're impatient, two sides is okay. )
-When you've only got ~ 2 sides left of the sides you want to do, add some green onion. You'll need to push it around more once the onion's in, so you may land up rolling some of the tofus to the wrong side, don't worry about that.
-when you're almost ready to take them out, add some soy sauce (2 or 3 shakes is probably good, but tastes vary), push them around in it till there isn't liquid in the pan. Done!
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Post by PKB Mon Nov 16, 2015 10:55 am

Jayce wrote:Nice, thanks, I actually didn't know the english name was Tree Ears hahaha. I always knew its Chinese name (木耳- the first word is wood, the second is ear so =Wood Ear) but never thought the translation would be almost quite literal. I just want to ask, how can you tell if a knife is dulled? I can always tell if razor blades are dulling because they won't be as effectively smooth when I'm using them to shave anymore so it's easy, but the thing with knives is that I can cut an apple with a butter knife. From google images I definitely own chef knives, and I also have paring knives which I use to cut cooked steak, or peel fruit.The knives in the house can always cut through the vegetable/meat/fruit so I can't tell.
Cool, I didn't realize the English name was so close.  Hooray for etymology!

Fundamentally, knives cut things by being a wedge and forcing the two halves of something apart.  Therefore, a thinner wedge that comes to a finer point should be more efficient, since it has to force the material apart less to split it.  Sharpness can be split into two parts - the geometry of the knife and the actual keenness of the edge.  You can cut an apple with a butter knife because, despite having a totally blunt edge, the blade is quite thin and has almost no angle, so one it starts it doesn't have to force much apart.  A paring knife is a great slicer for the same reason, but with an actual sharp edge on it.  Chef's knives are thicker for durability, but they are much taller, which allows the angle to be relatively acute despite the thick blade stock.

The advantage of a keen edge on a knife with good geometry is that it cleanly severs the material being cut instead of crushing and forcing it apart.  Trying to mince garlic with a butter knife will smash it instead of slicing it.  It also means that you don't have to apply huge amounts of pressure or try to saw through things - which is a good sign the edge is toast. So other than noticing during use, how do you check?

The first way is to hold your thumbnail at a 45 degree downward angle and attempt to rest the edge of the knife on it, using nothing but the weight of the knife.  If an edge is present, it should catch the keratin in the thumbnail and not slide.  If it slides consistently, then the edge has completely rounded over.

If an edge is present, get some copy paper and try to slice through it.  (Paper actually has a grain - it may work better one way than the other, or catch it on the diagonal).  If you can slice through without tearing the paper, it's probably sharp enough for food prep.  If it can push cut (i.e. pushing the blade straight down on an edge of the paper with no forward/backward motion), it's really sharp.

As a bonus, you can try shaving the hair on your arm.
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Post by Wondering Mon Nov 16, 2015 7:06 pm

Also, the cutting of paper isn't something you do on a cutting board. You hold the paper up in the air with one hand and the knife in the other and slice the paper across. At least, that's how I've always seen it done and done it myself.

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Post by sky Tue Nov 17, 2015 1:59 am

Jayce wrote:I just want to ask, how can you tell if a knife is dulled? I can always tell if razor blades are dulling because they won't be as effectively smooth when I'm using them to shave anymore so it's easy, but the thing with knives is that I can cut an apple with a butter knife.

For me, the first thing I usually notice is when I can't slice a tomato very well without squishing it out of shape. There's not really a point where knives just change from sharp to useless, things just gradually get more difficult to cut until you get frustrated with how effortless it isn't anymore and realize that sharpening your knives might help.
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Post by Jayce Mon Nov 23, 2015 11:06 pm

So two weeks have passed and I still want to continue with this hobby. I don't really particularly want to cook the same thing until I improve but what I will do is revisit past constructions once in a while.

This Sunday I have decided to go on a harder quest and make Cantonese Salt Rice Cooked Chicken (it's a dish I like and it's Cantonese Chinese which is my specific background). This is harder than fried rice but not too much harder so I thought it would be a good stepping stone.

Quest Blurb: I am one man, on a journey, seeking to re-create an item which I sought dearly in the past, and in order to succeed I must venture into the depths of "The Kitchen" to roast the beast, whose name is known to all humans of Modern Earth, the "Chicken".

Stats: I have never cooked a whole chicken in my life before. Have no idea how this is going to turn out.

Item Inventory:
Chicken
Rice Cooker
Salt
Ginger of the Sands in powdered form (I don't know the English name but in Chinese it's known as 砂姜)
Five Spice Powder
Water
Baking/Parchment Paper
Whole Chicken

Step 1: I washed and cleaned the chicken and cut the butt off of it. Then I put on some plastic gloves to not get my nails and hands dirty cause I love my nails. After I cleaned it, I dried the chicken with some paper. Afterwards I used a spoon to mix five spice powder (a tablespoon), sand ginger powder (the whole packet) and a little bit of salt (a table spoon).

Step 2: Rub the mix on the chicken, inside and outside. Make sure you rub it well so it goes on everywhere of the chicken. Every corner. The colour of the inside and outside of the chicken should have a brownish tint to it. Then wrap the whole chicken inside paper. Then leave it in the fridge for a couple of hours for it to get marinated.

Step 3: Add 125ml of water and a tablespoon of salt into the rice cooker machine. Then put the chicken in and cook it for 20-30 minutes.

And that's it.

It turned out looking like this https://imgur.com/a/FUp69

The chicken was really soft so when I took it out of the rice cooker it fell apart. I had a taste of it and the skin tasted like what I expected to but the meat wasn't salty enough for the recipe to qualify as Salt Rice Cooked Chicken so I put it in a pot, added more salt and put it on the stove to cook it a bit on medium heat. After that happened I tasted it and it tasted really close to what I expected it to be.

Self evaluation: Good work, I'm glad I could cook a whole chicken and it did taste similar to the same dish that I have had. There was not enough salt though.

Feedback:
Next time I should add more salt to the rice cooker.
And also I need to find a way to take the chicken out of the rice cooker without it falling apart.
This task actually did not teach me how to cut a whole chicken because it already fell apart (so next time I should try to learn this skill).


Thoughts:
Interestingly the water actually created chicken stock so it did drain some oil out of the chicken which is good.
It's amazing that the recipe is actually really healthy and it dosen't take that much effort to cook despite it being sounding a bit complex. The waiting time for the chicken to get marinated is really long though.
Thank you, once again, Google and Youtube for the help you have offered me.

When you look at the chicken it seems simple but the taste is actually more complex. It tastes ginger-ish, savoury, chicken. It's the middle ground between Chinese White Cut Chicken and Soy Sauce Chicken. I liked it. It tasted great.

Results: Gained xp, unlocked the skill of "cooking a whole chicken".

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Post by Jayce Sat Dec 12, 2015 10:54 pm

Well I didn't make anything last week cause dance practice was busy and I felt sad cause my co worker didn't want to go on a date with me. But now I'm back at it, this week.

Blurb:  In the country with red sand dunes near its centre core, . Someone must create dessert, to cool themselves themselves down and await the Force that awakens on the 17th day of this Festive Season!

I just made water chestnut, jelly cakes this time, with water chestnut starch instead of water chestnuts cause I don't like those too much.

The way I made them is to buy water chestnut starch, have 65-80 grams of brown sugar, 60 grams of cubed white sugar, 1/4 cup of custard powder, 400 mls of water.

Step 1: First step is to mix the chestnut starch powder with the custard powder and after mixing it for a bit it add in 400 mls of water gradually, mix it well and it should end up being a goo-ey liquid if not, add more water. The mixture's colour should look a bit like soy bean milk.

Step 2: Next step is to get about 400 mls of water, then put it in a pot along with the brown sugar and the cubed white sugar. Boil until the sugar dissolves and you should get sugar water.

Step 3: After that, add in about 1/4 of your mixture to the boiled sugar water and stir with a spoon it one direction, it should now look brownish, and a bit jellylike.

Step 4: Now, immediately pour the mixed sugar water and mixture into the rest of your mixture that was left over. Stir in one direction until it looks like lumpy soybean milk.

Step 5: Get a rectangular prism cake tin, spray it with oil, and put a bit of oil on the bottom of the tin. Then pour in the mixture. Boil it for 30 minutes on medium to high heat, make sure to close the lid.

Step 6: After it finished boiling. Put it in the fridge immediately. Wait for a couple of hours (I went to sleep so I waited 8 hours). It should become hard and jelly like. However it's not finished yet.


Step 7: Now cut up the cake in rectangular pieces and get a frying pan. Fry them in a bit of oil for about 30 seconds to one minute a piece until the cake gets quite soft.

Step 8: Finally wait for all of it to cool down and it is finished.

This is what it ended up looking like:

Husbanding Skills Training (Cooking) Img_2810

https://imgur.com/PGYJiao

Self Evaluation and Thoughts: Hmm I think I waited a bit too long for it to cool down so the cake became a bit harder than I wanted, due to that I had to fry it a bit longer, but other than that, it was fine. It's tasty. Surprisingly it's not extremely sweet, just sweet enough, which is great.  I couldn't have made this without the help of the Internet and Youtube, it's wonderful these tools exist in this day and age.

Results: Gained xp, unlocked the skill of cooking a jelly-like cake.

There are other recipes for black sesame jelly-like cake and coconut pandan jelly-like cake that uses a similar method. I love pandan flavour so maybe I'll try making coconut pandan jelly cake some time soon.

Jayce

Posts : 212
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Join date : 2014-10-03

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