Quinneapolis
[cooking] minor question but I've gotten myself back into the habit of cooking pasta occasionally so I think I can brain slightly more consideration for it now:
Quinneapolis
some events:
Quinneapolis
A. Put heat on pan
Quinneapolis
B. Put oil on pan
Quinneapolis
C. point meat on pan
Quinneapolis
I am told that by changing the timing and order of these events, the result of the cooking can change
Quinneapolis
what's that about
𝗕𝘂𝗻𝗻𝘆 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗲
heating up something gradually creates different textures than heating it up super fast does
Quinneapolis
if I have some italian sausage and I want to chop it and put it in noodles, what's recommended
moontouched
depends, are you cooking it on its own?
moontouched
or with the noodles?
moontouched
if it's just on its own you have a fairly small surface area if you chop it to pieces, so you can turn up the heat a bit
Quinneapolis
I have a bot of boiling water that noodles go into and a pan full of meat
moontouched
ahh okay so you're preparing them separately
Quinneapolis
and sometimes onoins
Rama
Based on my experience, as long as oil goes on before meat, I haven't really noticed a difference
Rama
You can heat the pan, then put in cold oil and meat, or you can put the oil in the cold pan, heat it, then add the meat
Rama
The only thing I wouldn't do is put the meat in a cold pan because then it's going to heat too slowly, but that's me having an abundance of caution more than being concerned about flavor
moontouched
yeah i've always heated the pan first, then added the oil, heated the oil, then added the meat
moontouched
just so everything's like, Cooking Temperature before ingredients go in
Quinneapolis
aside from the meat
Vehrec
cold pan then add meat then cook is good for like, render fat out of stuff.
Quinneapolis
is that good
Rama
Probably not for sausage
Vehrec
it's good if you're cooking bacon or something with a lot of fat
Quinneapolis
so the main question is whether or not to heat the oil before adding the meat
Quinneapolis
or... whether or not to heat the pan before the oil?
Vehrec
for sausage, you might miss out on some tasty maillard reaction browning, since that only happens at around 300 degrees or higher
ShootingXC
teflon you can add a little oil while it's cold
Quinneapolis
@_@
ShootingXC
then heat the oil, then add sausage to hot oil
Quinneapolis
I have no idea what degree temperature my pan is reaching
Rama
Quinn for sausage, heat the oil in the pan, then add the meat
Quinneapolis
okay
Rama
There you go
Quinneapolis
thank you
Vehrec
if the oil starts to emit little wisps of barely visible smoke, you're fine to put sausage in, if it smokes a lot you're in danger of an imminent fire, so kill the heat and don't put sausage in there.
Quinneapolis
Vehrec each of these comments is making me more afraid of cooking
Vehrec
Sorry, I can judge roughly how hot oil is by how it looks in the pan, but there's no good way to describe it.
Quinneapolis
my cooking level is still extremely low, I've graduated from an F to an F+
Vehrec
I just felt that a warning about grease fires might be appropriate because we're talking about hot oil.
Quinneapolis
yeah I guess a grease fire is bad
moontouched
imo i've been cooking with oil for years and i've never experienced grease fires so like, you'll be fine
moontouched
heat oil in pan put meat in pan cook meat
kamikasei
If you can get it, you might benefit from spray oil, which is what I use most of the time. You can just heat the pan, spritz on the oil, and put the ingredients on right away without worrying about heating the oil up.
EsperBot
This sort of question is like asking about ideal materia setups; it matters, but it’s pretty marginal.
Quinneapolis
good analogy
kamikasei
Recipes where you're specifically concerned with how the oil affects the texture or carries flavour or whatever are probably a couple of levels up from what you're concerned with.
Quinneapolis
I expect that either way it will come out tasting like sausage
ShootingXC
if it's sausage and it's cooked through then you're good to go
EsperBot
The best way to judge oil temperature is to swirl it around the pan. If it’s still sort of one clump of oil, it’s cold. If it spreads around the bottom of the pan easily on its own, it’s hot.
EsperBot
If it’s shimmering on its own, it’s very hot. If it’s actually smoking it’s too hot. If it’s actually on fire, fuck.
moontouched
you can also test it by dropping a little bit of meat or something in the oil
moontouched
if it starts sizzling, you can dump the rest of what you were planning to cook in there
moontouched
cos it's hot enough that it's starting to cook
Vehrec
sizzling food is after all, sizzling because the water in it is boiling.
Haze Arquebus
yeah all the instructions i've ever heard is like "heat the oil until it's shimmering" or until you get wisps of smoke
big juicy
I never did understand what "shimmering" means
big juicy
I'm a cooking heathen bc I don't care what order I heat shit in, if I wait for oil to heat up or not or put it in a hot or cold pan, all I care about is that there is a fat in the pan with my food if the heat is on
RobotApocalypse
i always heat the oil before adding meat but i don't really pay attention to how hot it is - i just stick it on medium-high and then go chop the meat and then dump it in the pan when i'm done chopping
RobotApocalypse
which is usually enough time for it to have heated up to a sufficient temperature
Rabbit Crimes
if I'm cooking ground meat specifically, I'll drop a tiny bit of it into the oil to test it
Rabbit Crimes
if the meat starts sizzling when it hits the pan it's ready to cook, if not then I know it's hot enough when the meat does start sizzling
Rabbit Crimes
if I'm working with garlic or something like that then I just toss it in the oil first and use it for my temperature canary