h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Mala, powdered broth would be do-able if I were able to find any that were low sodium and free of MSG and corn syrup solids (I also need to avoid processed sweeteners for health reasons).

Most of the ready-made veggie stock is OK, but comes in coated cardboard containers, and I try to avoid unnecessary packaging as well, so I've phased those out. Our Trader Joe's carries a veggie stock concentrate, but it comes in little tubes and I feel guilty for that waste, too. I think I'm reducing packaging to a bit of a fault...

Thanks for all the offers to send some cubes over. I'm not sure that will be necessary- it's quite likely I can find something suitable if I look hard enough. Surely our Whole Foods must have some and I'm just looking in the wrong spot (by the soup and the packaged broth).

Speaking of powdered broth... the little grocery down the street has a ton of different flavors, the usual chicken/beef, shrimp, cilantro and tomato, mushroom, and others. I'd go that route except they're all insanely high in sodium and loaded with MSG.

It's really not so bad having a bag of broth cubes in the freezer, though, kids. And making my own broth with some regularity will justify the inevitable purchase of this stock pot to go along with my Dutch oven:

http://www.chefsresource.com/lecreus8qtst.html

My freezer is teeny tiny, so I prefer the powdered stuff. I need the salt, anyway.

Ah- my freezer is fortunately not so teeny tiny. I usually freeze lemon grass, chili peppers, stock cubes and rhubarb in the bottom section and have plenty of room in the top for various other things.

Meanwhile, I need to limit my salt intake. High blood pressure runs in my family and I don't want to develop that. So that makes it a little more difficult for me to find powder or cubes to use.

It is defnitely convenient when you can find stuff that needs less storage space. I like to buy dry goods in bulk for that reason- I can get more or less according to how much space I have at the moment, and how quickly I think I'll use it.

Bottom? Top? A freezer with multiple compartments? Amazing!

I have almost all the dry goods - sugar, rice, flour, lentils, couscous, polenta, cocoa, breadcrumbs, that kind of thing - in old glass canning jars. I have no hanging cabinets in my kitchen, and they look quite decorative in an open shelf.

I bought some fiendishly expensive hot chocolate last week purely because I liked the tin. The drink itself has more of a hint of the potato about it, possibly due to the huge amounts of starch it contains, but I am a sucker for any container with a clasp.

Hee hee! I do the very same thing.

I've currently got nearly two pounds of Turkish sheep's milk cheese in the fridge because I liked the tin...

Or little wooden boxes. Those are the surest way to get me to buy things.

I meant to ask you guys about steamers.

We bought a stackable three tier steamer a few years ago and dutifully tried to cook vegetables and fish in it, following the instructions in the little booklet, but the damn thing always took about 2-3 times longer than the booklet said.

Are there any tricks to cooking in a steamer and if so, what are they?
Also - any good recipe ideas?

I know that one of the first times I 'met' you PC it was in a convo about turning veggie.
Since then my allergies have rather made that hard and we are back to eating some meat again, mostly minced organic pork and organic chicken, so we can play around with that sort of thing.

I also got given a huge batch of tilapia, which I don't know how to cook. I'd use haddock for everything fishy normally so if anyone has any suggestions those would be welcome.

Oh, and last one, promise!

When you do a beer batter for something that you pan fry, does it have to be cooked off quickly beforehand?

I used to work with chefs but now that I don't you lot will have to answer all my questions instead!

I also offer to post stock cubes to the US. Although if you're worried about packaging, sending them by airmail isn't going to help

>Bottom? Top? A freezer with multiple compartments? Amazing!



It's one of those fancy newfangled ones with a shelf, and with little shelves on the door, and an ice maker, too. Spiffy, huh?

Honestly, I wish I still had my old chest freezer but I've no idea where I'd put it...

I have a bamboo stacking steamer thing and it seems to cook quickly enough, but I've never tried one of the metal ones. I usually just stick it in my skillet. I think I've made gyoza and asparagus, and brussels sprouts. And tamales, once or twice. I'm not sure I know any tricks to cooking with it though.

I've made beer batter before and have never cooked it off first. Though I do usually let it go flat- I'm not a beer drinker so when I do try having one, I wind up with quite a bit left over, and flat, which makes good batter or gravy.

Ooooh!

I have an under-the-counter fridge with a tiny freezer compartment. I'd rather the freezer took up half rather than about 1/5th of the space. Since I don't refrigerate much in the way of drinks, the refrigerator bit is usually quite empty, except for the door and the vegetable drawers.

I'm supposed to be studying, but all I can think about is various things I could cook!
Completely ruled by my stomach in the autumn light, clearly.
It's kind of embarrassing, but mostly funny. All I want to do right THIS MINUTE is to go make syllabub. Or beer batter. Or vegetable spring rolls. You get the idea.

The steamer I have is a Tefal electrical one and I thought it would be a good one, but 30-45 minutes to steam some broccoli seems a bit excessive to me.

I've just had tortillas with cheese, refried beans, and pickled peppers, and some apple cake for dessert (I pilfered the cake and the cheese from my mother's at the weekend. )

Now I can go work on the project that's due tomorrow

Ah- we have a "normal sized" fridge so it's about as tall as I am, and fortunately a bit wider. So my freezer is probably close to the size of one of those under-the-counter fridges in terms of cubic whatevers.

Of course my fruit/veggie drawers are always full, and I do have some condiments. Plus I refrigerate polenta, flour and brown rice. Other than that, the contents of the fridge generally just consist of whatever leftovers we have from the previous day, pickles and pickled beets, and K's cheese. Oh, and the Brita water pitcher.

Mala, I just (cheekily) added you on to my friends list, hope you don't mind.

Certain things we seem to have in common, methinks.



mmmmmm, cheese
I seriously miss a good gouda. You can buy it here but it's like from the deli as opposed to the staple cheese thing.

>30-45 minutes to steam some broccoli seems a bit excessive to me.


It sounds like a long time to me, too. Hmmm. I've no experience at all with that kind of steamer but if I find any tips I'll be sure to share them.

btw, I will be on your continent in about 8 months PC - happy to bring over anything you like from the UK and ship it to you locally...all you have to do is think of a list and you have until June to do so!

Just lurching back to stock cubes for a minute...

How do you all feel about 100% vegan-friendly stock cubes that are pretendy animal-flavoured? The company that makes my veggie stock cubes uses no animal products in anything at all, but it still offers cubes that are said to taste a bit like chickens and cows and so forth. (They do taste a bit like that, actually. I have no idea how they manage it.) But basically - do vegetarians and vegans want something that tastes like the flesh of the dead?

I had some quorn burgers that promised to be exactly like beef burgers. We bought them once, noticed that they said all the usual stuff about no preservatives or naughty bits and never ever bought them again.

They were bizarre to eat. They were indeed, exactly like beef burgers, even down to the little popping sensation you get when you chew fatty beef. How on earth they'd done that freaked me out to the level that I never wanted them again, but more to the point I think it made me realise that I really, really don't like beef.

But then, I can't class myself either veggie or vegan.

No. I gave up meat largely because I don't like it. (And it doesn't really agree with me.) The only way to make veggie dishes that really taste good is to make ones that don't really need meat to taste "right" - in that case, just use the real thing! I think it's still going to be healthier for the environment (certainly for the person eating it!) than eating something overprocessed and artificially flavoured that's just an imitation of the "real" thing anyway.

With many things, it's not the flavour people miss anyway, it's the mouth-feel and texture.

I've got no problem with eating stuff that tastes like meat but contains no animal products. I gave up animal products for ethical reasons, and there are some things I miss. I regularly make big batches of seitan so we can have stroganoff and such. I love vegan corn dogs and "sloppy joes", and was thrilled to figure out how to make chorizo from TVP and vital gluten, because chilaquiles are no fun without.

This way I can enjoy the dishes that can't need meat to taste "right" but can keep a clear conscience.