Cooking With the Spacesuit-wearing Editor #3 · 1:06am Oct 27th, 2022
Disclaimer: All recipes have been modified from where found. Please note, oven temp is in Ferinheight and in American units. Always fully cook meats. Children (for some reason being a 24 yr old counts as a child these days, though I have heard it has been raised to 26) should always be supervised by an adult when cooking. Cooking can be dangerous if not done correctly. Cooking oils have flash points and can cause a fire if not used correctly. Bla-bla-bla... If you don't have business cooking--don't do it!
Hey everyone, it's time for another round of cooking with the spacesuit-wearing wizard! Today I got a few recipes below, but first I want to talk about cooking scrambled eggs and bacon.
Scrambled Eggs and Bacon
Cooking scrambled eggs and bacon requires paying attention more so than some foods. Both will continue cooking (like most foods) when removed from the heat or pan. However, this really needs to be taken into account with eggs and bacon as both can overcook. The best practice is to cook them to a point and then remove them from the heat source and then let them continue cooking from the residual heat. I'll get more into that in a moment with each.
Let's start with the eggs. Scrambling eggs isn't as easy as it seems. If the heat is too high the eggs will stick and burn the moment they touch the pan. Cook too low and they take forever. Add many eggs or have just one and that will change everything as well. Playing around with setting and quantity, I have found medium-low to be a good temperature for scrambling eggs. If you use two this will work, but as you add more you will have to be patient and more attentive. The trick here is once you pour your eggs into the pan you watch the clear yoke whiten. That will tell you to move the eggs around. Now, you have to wait for them to whiten enough. Don't immediately scramble; let them get almost fully white. If you have more than two eggs you have to watch the lower layer whiten and then scramble, moving the yoke around until all of it gets cooked.
It takes some patience and some trial and error as each pan and stove top has its particularities. This is why I cook my eggs with a smooth carbon steel surface that has been seasoned. Simple 10-inch pan with curved sides like most frying pans. The cooking area is about 8 inches. I will start by preheating the pan, tossing a tablespoon of butter on the pan to grease the surface that and tell me when the pan is ready. Once it is, I will pour my eggs on and watch the clear parts of the yoke until they are almost fully white before scrambling. If for any reason I start to hear the sizzling of eggs, I will remove the pan from the heat source and scramble until the eggs cool down. The end result should be fluffy eggs that aren't wet but still moist but not dry.
Not every method of cooking eggs is going to result in a clean pan. My pan tends to have eggs lightly stick to it. You can add more butter or cooking oil to help, but you might go too far. Trial and error. An indicator that you have overcooked is that you have dried eggs around the perimeter of the cooking surface. Think egg chips.
Bacon also has particularities, such as thickness, brand, pan, stove, and how much bacon grease is in the pan. A thick piece will require a little more time and will release a lot of grease, whereas a thin strip releases less grease and cooks faster. The first round of bacon won't be cooking in grease, but by the end, it will. The second batch will add to the grease, which is fine, but too much grease becomes an annoyance, as well as a burn hazard. There is nothing wrong with adding a thin smear of cooking oil to the pan prior to the first batch just to keep them from sticking.
I use a 12 by 12-inch cast iron griddle for my bacon. The thickness of the pan is thinner than the rest of my frying pans, so I have to take that into account. Plus, the burner is electric, the largest on the stovetop, and not as large as the pan itself. When I cook bacon, I start by placing the strips on the outside first, then work in. The center strips will cook faster than the outer strips, so I switch the two to keep things consistent. The middle strips remain consistent and cook well.
Usually, I will flip the strips every so often, and when they start getting golden brown, I will pull them from the pan and put them on a paper towel to finish cooking and for the grease to be collected. When I'm done cooking I will dab the bacon with another paper towel to get any further grease before serving.
Adventuring Editor Eggs
Ingredients
- 2 Eggs
- Salt
- Pepper
- A milk jug's cap of milk
- A cap of sesame seed oil
- 1 Tbsp Butter
Prep work
Combine eggs, milk, sesame oil, and desired salt and pepper. Whisk so that the yokes are fully broken.
Cook
Preheat pan to medium-low temperature with 1 Tbsp of butter. When butter is melted, coating the pan, pour eggs. Wait until clear yoke is almost white then scramble. Remove off heat source if needed while scrambling to keep from overcooking. Eggs should be slightly moist looking, but not dry.
B.L.T. (Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato)
Ingredients
- Bacon
- Lettuce (Don't use Iceberg)
- Tomato (or cherry tomatoes)
- Bread (your choice)
- Mayo
- Salt
- Pepper
Prep Work
Slice tomatoes. Remove lettuce leaves and use as whole or chop into smaller pieces.
Cook
Toast bread as desired. Cook bacon. Combine all ingredients (mayo, salt, and pepper as desired).
Chili Mac
Ingredients
- 1 can of tomato paste
- 14 oz can diced tomatoes or diced tomatoes
- 1 chopped onion
- 2 cups of uncooked elbow noodles
- 1 lbs ground beef
- 1 cup shredded cheese
- 1 Tbsp chili powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ½ oregano
- ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
Prep Work
Combine spices and set aside. Cook 2 cups of noodles per package directions, then set aside. Brown beef at medium to medium-high; then set aside. Dice tomatoes and onion and set aside.
Cook
Preheat oven to 400. Mix beef, tomatoes, onion, pasta, tomato paste, and spices in a 9x13 baking pan. Cover and cook for 30 mins. When finished, stir in 1 cup shredded cheese and serve.
*meanwhile me thinking of how many "children" who are far over 26 yr old I know*
I have to say, I don't remember the last time I've had scrambled eggs (I much prefer ham and eggs with some nicely gooey yolk), though reading this kinda makes me want to make some right now.
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