Techniques & Tutorials

Cooking for yourself, especially with a busy schedule, is more efficient and enjoyable when you know the right techniques and systems to save you time and energy.

Learning essential techniques allows you to understand the “why” behind a recipe and how to modify it with the ingredients you have. Pick up the basics like how to stir fry and how to press tofu. Or join the ongoing discussion on complex, evolving issues like how to eat less meat without going vegetarian.

Combine these techniques with an ingredients-first approach and you’ll start looking forward to eating in instead of ordering out.

Growing Our Creepy Mushrooms

A close up look of a group of fully grown Shiitake Mushrooms with a soft blurry background.

This story contains an affiliate link to a book on Amazon. But just the one 🙂 and it’s about mushrooms.

Every morning, before cooking breakfast, I reliably discover Alex misting his mushroom colony. He gently unravels the translucent trash bag we use to cover the lumpy substrate because our little babies have clearly outgrown their original plastic tent.

#babyshiitake on the way #garlicdelight

A post shared by Anna Rider (@garlicdelight) on Jan 4, 2018 at 1:17pm PST

He has a ritual by now. Alex begins misting around the edges and sides, moving towards the stems and finally finishes off by spraying the mushroom caps.

Oh, the mushroom caps.

They are springy blooms with a velvety head that’s surprisingly smooth to the touch.

Smack!

3 Tips For Slicing Lamb For Hot Pot. Illustration from garlicdelight.com.

The best way to greet the cold winter rains is with hot pot. Lamb is by far my favorite meat to enjoy with hot pot. But I only enjoy it super thin, the way it is served at “steamboat” (hot pot) restaurants, shabu-shabu, and Korean BBQ. Since Alex and I are not willing to add another kitchen appliance to … Read more

New Year’s Day Excitement: Cleaning, Stacking, Purging

New Years Excitement - Cleaning, Stacking, Purging illustration. Illustration from garlicdelight.com.

What’s the most exciting thing to be doing on New Year’s Day? Cleaning up our kitchen and garage to prepare for 2018. You see, it has been a headache to find the right pots and pans while cooking. We’ve also got so much clutter that our best stuff is hidden under junk. What did I rediscover today … Read more

Lattice Pie Success: 3 Tips

Lattice Cherry Pie on cream background. Illustration from garlicdelight.com.

Yesterday, I made a cherry pie for my friend’s dinner party. This is the first time that I made a lattice cover for a pie. It worked beautifully, and it was surprisingly easy. I have to thank Stella Parks for her article, Decorative Crust 101, on Serious Eats that walked through step-by-step how to construct a … Read more

Why We Joined A Meat CSA

Roasted Chicken on roasting rack. Stories from garlicdelight.com.

On our trips to Los Angeles to visit Alex’s parents, we drive down the I-5 corridor. There’s always a stench near Coalinga. The smell used to not bother me much. When the smell approached from afar, I would quickly push the circulate air button and wrinkle my nose for 5 minutes. In the past year, … Read more