
5 Ingredients/10 Minutes cookbook - great recipes for a busy hacker [pdf] - nirmal
http://thestonesoup.com/blog/images/free_stonesoup_ecookbook.pdf
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dasht
Beautifully produced. Mostly healthy, intelligent recipes. Lovely "food porn"
illustrations. I like that several ingredients recur in several recipes so
there is an implicit nudge in the direction of good pantry management. This
looks like a good "browser" book for anyone who cooks and a possibly quite
good book for someone just getting started.

The discussions at the end about equipment and pantry could be expanded,
although they fit the recipes given.

I feel like it could use more discussion of technique although writing about
technique (rather than teaching through demonstration) is always tricky.

Perhaps I'm just reacting to current fads but I wish it included some
discussion of sourcing of ingredients and had less emphasis on canned beans,
canned tuna, etc. Canned lentils - seriously? Sheesh.

A quote that bugs me: "The tricky thing with this salad is that a whole tin of
chickpeas can be quite a big eat. If you’re not super hungry feel free to
ditch some of the chickpeas."

Every kitchen has waste and nearly every kitchen compromises on ingredients
but that quote makes me shudder. I suppose if you're moving from heating up
frozen french bread pizzas to a cuisine as in this book that's a large
positive step so I shouldn't find too much fault here. Still, a little
discussion of buying dried legumes and cooking up batches ahead for use in
several dishes would be nice.

Perhaps it needs a sequel :-)

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sethg
Given the “five ingredients/ten minutes” constraint, you can’t do much with
dried beans, can you?

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dasht
Sure you can, if you amortize your time (the concept of making components
ahead, in batches). Your point is well taken, of course. It's just that I
would hate to see a new born self-feeding foodie get "stuck" in the rut of
using needlessly expensive and environmentally dubious canned goods.

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mindcrime
If you're a busy geek, invest in a crock pot. Crock pots make cooking pretty
simple... and if you're single (and not scared to leave an appliance turned on
while you're gone to work during the day) you can coordinate it so that you
have a nice, hot, freshly cooked meal waiting for you when you come home, no
significant-other required. (Or "your mom" or a paid chef, or whoever else
would cook for you if you didn't do it.)

Just fix up the ingredients the night before, and put everything in the
refrigerator. Morning comes, just pour the "stuff" into the crock pot and turn
it on the "slow" setting and head out. Come home approx 8 hours later and
bob's your uncle.

There are plenty of good books available with piles of slow-cooker recipes as
well, and I'm sure you can find plenty on the 'net. Seriously, give it a try.

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jules
More generally, most people cook their food too quickly. Next time you cook
chicken, cook it on very low heat with oil for a long time. It will still get
a nice brown crust but it won't be all dry.

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ahoyhere
Here's a way to cook chicken quickly without drying it out:

1\. Warm up to room temp, salt & pepper (maybe garlic powder) 2\. Heat pan
with olive oil to hot enough that a water drop spits around on it 3\. Place
chicken skin down in oil 4\. Salt, pepper, etc. the bottom (now facing up) 5\.
Cook ~3-4 minutes on that side, flip it, and insert into oven waiting at 375°
6\. Cook for 35-45 more minutes, or a temp of about 175-180F internal.

Chicken that is cooked this way is awesome and the time it takes in the oven
is just right to prepare side dishes.

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jules
Are we talking about a whole chicken here or chicken breast. My method was
intended for chicken breast. I assume your method is for a whole chicken,
because 35-45 minutes at 375 Fahrenheit will certainly overcook a chicken
breast.

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ahoyhere
Chicken parts, bone-in.

The bone regulates temperature and moisture levels.

Trust me, it won't overcook. If you're worried, turn the oven down to 350 F.

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bdickason
There's a great (and beautiful) cookbook like this that I've bought for a ton
of my friends:

[http://www.amazon.com/Real-Simple-Meals-Made-
Easy/dp/1603208...](http://www.amazon.com/Real-Simple-Meals-Made-
Easy/dp/160320847X/ref=tmm_pap_title_0)

Super simple, talks you through every process (including how to chop food, how
to slice, etc) and very nice typography for the graphics nerds out there.

Yes, you have to spend $15 but it's well worth it. Everything is fresh,
healthy, and fast.

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ojbyrne
Looks nice but the "cheese with celery" one made me laugh. Sometimes
minimalism can be quotidian.

~~~
mitjak
I have a feeling that it was a pretty picture that was too good to leave out.

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ErrantX
Im actually impressed; stuff like this usually tends to be pretty uninspired
and, really, not something you could live on (portions too small mostly). But
this is extremely well thought out.

I can actually see some recipes I've thrown together in here; I could
definitely seeing people using this to live off and slowly evolving them into
their own recipes with additions, expansions etc.

The only gripe I have is "fresh egg mayonaise" - which is an art form and
recipe in itself if you make it :P and I am not sure I have ever seen it on
sale anywhere cheap... (this is in the UK so it may be _de rigueur_ over
there)

(hackers tend to make either the best or worst cooks; one of my hacker friends
is quite useless in the kitchen because he can't understand the concept of
"roll with it" and reads the recipe like a program :))

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nitrogen
_one of my hacker friends is quite useless in the kitchen because he can't
understand the concept of "roll with it" and reads the recipe like a program_

I used to be like this when I was in high school. I was preparing something
almost fool-proof (Pasta Roni), and was devastated when I discovered I'd added
the milk before directed. I was sure that it was going to crash and burn. When
the food turned out just fine (as fine as boxed pasta can be, that is), I
learned the valuable lesson that not everything requires engineering
precision.

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ww520
Cooking itself usually takes little, a few minutes. It's the food preparation
and cleanup that take time.

~~~
pmccool
Indeed, and this book takes account of that. The recipes I've looked at have
pretty quick, straightforward preparation and don't use many utensils.

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GreenNight
About the "Bocadillo de Jamón" (cured ham sandwich page 18):

It's only 2 ingredients, so you still have leeway to add some more, and so you
have to add tomatoes (and a bit of olive oil and salt) to make the typical
catalan "pa amb tomaquet" (pan with tomatoes).

1/2 1/3 Baguette 2-4 slices jamón 1-2 ripe tomatoes (red and juicy) 1-2
teaspoon olive oil 1 pinch of salt

Open baguette. Cut the tomatoes in half and spread their innards on the bread.
Oil and salt it. Layer with jamón, close up and enjoy even more than the
original recipe.

"Pa amb tomaquet" looks like this: <http://jaumepros.blogspot.com/2007/11/pa-
amb-tomquet.html>

You can do it with any kind of bread, but with toasted bread it's even better.

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Mc_Big_G
Man I wish I could find reasonably priced jamón in the states. Anyone?

The "bocadillo with jamón" recipe says _"sometimes the bread is moistened by
rubbing the cut side of a tomato onto the bread, or drizzling some olive oil –
or both."_. I'm only familiar with the Barcelona area, but I've never seen it
made without the tomato and the Spanish put olive oil on everything. As he
says, it will be pretty dry without at least tomato or oil.

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Groxx
Interesting... very well produced and they sound great. A bit off my normal
foods, but I need to broaden back out again, and I'll drag my roommates with
me >:) Mwahahahha

* adds yet another blog to Reader __* Damn you, Google Reader! You're devouring my life, and I love it!

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jluxenberg
Great find! Similar in style to <http://101cookbooks.com/> They both encourage
you to work with what you already have in your pantry, making substitutions
when necessary.

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frossie
OMG s/he adds butter and mayo to cheese-on-toast... my arteries just exploded
:-)

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mitjak
..because butter and mayo help make it healthier?

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vishaldpatel
The soup recipes are really good. Thanks =)

