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The Sad Bastard Cookbook

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Re: The Sad Bastard Cookbook

#281

Post by Bystander22 »

VoodooJuJu wrote: post #227
random_upvoter wrote: post #100

Any non-wealthy single person faces an uphill battle to both 1. earn a living 2. take proper care of themselves. In the Middle Ages people invented a rather neat solution for this problem: go live together in a big building, work together, pray together, cook together and call it a monastery.

We had other solutions for a while too: get married and have one person do the more-than-fulltime job of homemaking. But that role disappeared because corporations needed more cheap worker-units and politicians needed more GDP, so they rode each others' coattails to eliminate that role. With each homemaker now a worker-unit, there are twice as many worker-units but employee costs are the same, household income is the…

>have one person do the more-than-fulltime job of homemaking.

This was almost always the woman.

>disappeared because corporations needed

Also because women did not like the absolute dedication of their lives to homemaking as a default. They wanted the freedom to join the paying workforce, and wanted equal pay for their work (still waiting on that).

There's some truth in your comment, but it glosses over the very real problems that came with the gender roles and subsequent power structures of that time.

Re: The Sad Bastard Cookbook

#282

Post by momirlan »

sph wrote: post #195
gear54rus wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you mention this appliance by name? Also, what are some fun recipes?

I got the actual Instant Pot. This is my second actually, I got the one that also does air frying. It's a great purchase. Get some cheap protein that needs to cook for long, get some vegetables, brown the protein a bit (can be done in the Instant Pot), add chopped vegetables, salt, spices, and a little water; pressure cook for 1 hour. Shorter version: add meat, add vegs, add water, turn on. You can get fancier as you…

Instant Pot is great while it lasts. I had one die on me (the electronics), and after asking for photo evidence they denied warranty coverage. A year later they went bankrupt.

Re: The Sad Bastard Cookbook

#283

Post by owalt »

alpaca128 wrote: post #163
swarnie wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure why this got such a negative reception, intermittent fasting has been shown to have multiple benefits. Its probably closer to what we spent generations evolving towards than the typical diet of shoving processed meats + Big Gulps in your face hole 19 hours a day.

> Not sure why this got such a negative reception Because for people struggling to prepare meals getting used to fasting can be seriously dangerous. It doesn't take long to learn ignoring hunger, add potential psychosomatic symptoms that mess with your weight and you're in deep shit really fast.

Indeed. As someone who (in the past) struggled a lot with eating, fasting would not have been a solution - it was the entire problem!

This is the first cookbook I've read that seems to get the effort level vaguely right for a meal you still might be able to make after not eating or drinking anything for 40+ hours. In fact, the "literal depression cooking" meal is close to what most of my meals were, but I rarely even had cheese to add.

Re: The Sad Bastard Cookbook

#284

Post by Melatonic »

bob1029 wrote: post #191

The trick for me is to apply engineering to the kitchen. You can actually enjoy really elaborate meals if you simply make more each time and utilize pyrex+freezer. Why make only 6 servings of spaghetti when there's still 50% free space available in your instant pot? (that 'max fill' line is but a polite suggestion :D) Planning ahead, logistics, etc. can make all the difference in the world. Imagine spending one hour…

Agreed. I know someone who refuses to cook at all under the guise of "anxiety" and I do not understand how some people are fine with not being able to provide for themselves on a very basic level. Automate your cooking and meal prep as much as possible and the process becomes quick and easy and you always have tons of food on hand.

Re: The Sad Bastard Cookbook

#285

Post by stakhanov »

bob1029 wrote: post #279
AmericanChopper wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And I don't do it because I enjoy doing it. I do it, because I'm forced to You sound like exactly the sort of person I’m talking about. I’d spend a maximum of 2 hours per week grocery shopping, and I can make dinner at a couple of dollars per portion in 15-30 mins with no prep. I’m not sure what anybody could be forcing you to spend 15 hours per week doing.

I think you will find an extreme range in mastery in the kitchen, just like you will find it in programming, blacksmithing, construction, plumbing, or literally anything else. In most cases, the master craftsman is orders of magnitude more efficient than the apprentice. Solving problems without any tools. Solving two or more problems at the same time (hint, hint). Etc. The best way to approach this discussion is to r…

I'm still not convinced that parent commenter and I are solving for the same problem, and am not quite ready to chalk it up to differing levels of skill, but it's not really a discussion I particularly want to go into any deeper either.

When I was a student, my skill level was certainly several orders of magnitude below what it is today, and I certainly spent a lot less time on food preparation. The difference is that back then I was filling my body with crap, which my body now no longer takes, approaching 40. I think, that has a lot more to do with it. Also, if, for example, you have children, you wouldn't feed them crap either. It's one thing to decide for yourself that you're going to live off of ramen, when you're a student. It's quite another to decide that you're going to feed your loved ones that way.

Re: The Sad Bastard Cookbook

#286

Post by fprotthetarball »

didgeoridoo wrote: post #261
mrob wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The importance of the "max fill" line in an electric pressure cooker depends on what you're cooking. If you're cooking legumes, you should respect it, because they can foam and make a huge mess if you try to cook too much at once. But I've never had a problem cooking steamed vegetables past the line.

In my experience, going past the max fill line is mostly a problem when using the “rapid pressure release” on a recipe with lots of liquid. Pressing the release button can emit a a superheated geyser of soup with enough force to hit the ceiling.

This is also my experience. I regularly fill up my 8 qt as high as I'm able to, as long as I think I can carry the pot without spilling.

It takes 30-45 minutes to cool down enough to depressurize, but the lid is always clean so the food is likely staying in the pot.

Re: The Sad Bastard Cookbook

#287

Post by Melatonic »

fragmede wrote: post #214
janwillemb wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alternatively, one can enjoy cooking and don't mind spending time in the kitchen. Freezing food degrades the taste imo. But in my country eating out is considered a luxury activity, homecooking is the norm (the Netherlands)

I think it should be noted that it is not universal. In other places, having the time, the space, the electricity or gas, to home cook a meal is the luxury, and eating out is the default.

Where is this the case ?

Re: The Sad Bastard Cookbook

#288

Post by overton »

Seeing a few canned tuna comments here. I love it as much as the next guy but PSA: it has more mercury than you would imagine -- in the range of ~60mcg per tin in some cases. Nobody needs that, and I've personally banned it from my diet.

Re: The Sad Bastard Cookbook

#289

Post by ghaff »

madmax108 wrote: post #220
bob1029 wrote: post #191

The trick for me is to apply engineering to the kitchen. You can actually enjoy really elaborate meals if you simply make more each time and utilize pyrex+freezer. Why make only 6 servings of spaghetti when there's still 50% free space available in your instant pot? (that 'max fill' line is but a polite suggestion :D) Planning ahead, logistics, etc. can make all the difference in the world. Imagine spending one hour…

"Imagine spending one hour in the kitchen to only feed yourself one time. That would be peak insanity to me today." YMMV. For me, spending time cooking is a great way to take a break from my computer and spend time away from a screen. And like showering, the process of cooking is now mechanical enough that it allows me to focus on broader tangents in whatever I'm working on and set myself up for the next session of c…

I agree with all that. I'll eat leftovers. For somethings they're great like a big pot of chili. For some things they're awful. For others, it's somewhere in between and/or some leftovers can be incorporated into a new dish.

Cooking a company meal can be an all-day affair but, especially when I was commuting into an office every day, I had a fairly standard set of recipes that I could whip up in very little time and with very little effort. It really wasn't worth preparing a larger quantity that I would have to reheat for a less good result.

Re: The Sad Bastard Cookbook

#290

Post by asah »

memefrog wrote: post #160
asah wrote: post #43

lol, as a civilization we've arrived to the point where books/internet are more available/commoditized than "good food." Sad Bastard indeed.

No they aren't. Food is very widely and cheaply available.

My comment specifically said GOOD food :-)

(I worked on grocery wholesale/distribution and marketing for many years, and can "go down the rabbit hole" on the difference ;-)

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