Food Hacks / Pimps

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dad_of_jon

dad_of_jon

Beer designer
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Hi y'all ,

As brewers a lot of us shall we say , tweak, pimp or hack recipies. In fact it almost seems to be the law given there are so many variables to play around with. So my question is what hacks and pimps do you apply to a standard food item?

Since brewing I've learnt to apply the same tweaking to food.

My Starter is a can of M&S chunky chicken. - Meant to make chicken pie no doubt but I add some milk and a bit of cayenne pepper to make a spicy deluxe chicken soup.
No way can heinz compete with that. It's a big soup but with added opulence.

What do you hack?
 
The-Engineer-That-Brews said:
Vanilla ice-cream with a good slosh of amaretto over it… MMMMmmmmmm
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ta, athumb.. I'd forgotten about chocolate ice cream with creme de menthe over it. Better than mint ice cream with creme de cocao over it strangely.🤔

edit: vanilla/chocolate and cointreau/grand marnier too....
 
Sadfield said:
Dry Vermouth as an alternative to opening a bottle of wine just for a splash.

Peanut butter and tinned chickpeas for a quick hummus.
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Better if you get hold of some Tahini as that is what hummus is usually made with although it is quite similar to peanut butter.

Jamie Oliver says to use Vermouth in his risotto recipes 👍
 
Add a few chunks of high cocoa dark chocolate to a chilli at the end of a cook, really makes it.

Also depending on what it is it can always be made even better with the addition of butter/bacon/sugar though that's probably why these things are bad for you waist line 😁
 
Sort of the opposite of hacks but 'The Science of Good Cooking' is worth a read. You could argue its 'tweaks' as it explains what works (and doesn't) in cooking. It tells you why and then presents experimental evidence so its not just opinion. Things like how to properly cook joints of meat (what a difference it makes when done at the right temperature and rested for the right amount of time), boil eggs (really), marinade etc. etc. It is resolutely US in terms of measures and metrics (even though it has had many revisions and every other book shows F and C) so I resorted to printing a bookmark with an F to C scale to make it easier.

Nothing to do with the book but I do poached eggs by putting the eggs in a small frying pan with just enough boiling water to cover the white (not the yolk), then turn it off and go and do something else for a while. When you get back the eggs are perfect.
 
Graz said:
Add a few chunks of high cocoa dark chocolate to a chilli at the end of a cook, really makes it.

Also depending on what it is it can always be made even better with the addition of butter/bacon/sugar though that's probably why these things are bad for you waist line 😁
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My cheese sauce is cornish cruncher cheese, milk, butter and a bit of flour. lots of sat fat but not ultraprocessed. I have take to adding some white wine and a spoonful of mustard for extra punch. Current consensus says it's bad for you although Tim Spector would be happy with the cheese as it is a fermented food :laugh8:
 
The single best piece of equipment you can buy to make better food at home is an immersion circulator.
 

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