Home made food: does it always taste better?

[UnderOpenSky]

i always use olive oil, never heard of using butter, but sounds intresting, i'll give it a go next time.

 

[sojourner]

I always use butter to soften my spuds and leeks if I'm making that soup

Hollis - you're just a shit cook is all

 

[Idaho]

It's not cornflour, it's using proper stock and taking the time to reduce the sauce naturally (you may end up with a sauce a tenth of the volume you started out with) rather than artificially thickening it.

I suspect the OP's problem is a) using an inferior stock, and b) lack of seasoning.

Everything comes down to the stock in the end, and if you use Oxo or Morrisons own brand then all the love, care and organic veg in the world isn't going to give you a decent end product. The 'body' just won't be there and you'll end up wasting a stupid amount of time making a castle built on sand..

This is correct.

With tomato sauces the thickness and richness can be achieved by adding wine, tomato puree and giving it enough time to simmer. Nutmeg does work well to adding depth to the flavour.

For the sake of your health, try not to just add shit loads of salt, tempting as it is.

 

[FabricLiveBaby!]

joubert is good for vacpacs or marigold for powder

it's Joubere

 

[rutabowa]

basically i reckon if you add a load of salt and butter to pretty much anything it tastes a lot better.

 

[Roadkill]

Yes, IME home-cooked food does taste better.

Ready-meals are always disappointing - they all taste much the same, and they've got that gloopy, chemically blandness about them - and on occasions where I've had to eat out regularly, such as when I was Edinburgh a few months ago, I've got bored of pub food pretty quickly too.

I don't think you need all that much skill to cook a good meal. I'm far from the world's best cook, but I can put together a passable casserole or stew, and I'm proud of my veggie chilli recipe. It's just a matter of having some idea what goes with what, in terms of veggies, meat, herbs and spices, and a very general idea of how long things take to cook. Using decent ingredients is a must as well: supermarket veggies are dull and tasteless (and expensive), and cheap meat isn't so nice either. I very rarely follow recipes, but I do find that having a few recipe books about is good for giving you ideas, if nothing else.

A few years ago I pretty much couldn't cook, and I've never put that much time, effort or money into it, but these days I enjoy it and there's no way I'd go back to living on takeaways and ready meals. And eating something prepared by a real;ly good cook - i.e. my mum - is sublime.

 

[girasol]

basically i reckon if you add a load of salt and butter to pretty much anything it tastes a lot better.

That's precisely what I'm saying It's magic I tell ye!

(not too much though!)

and cheese!

and garlic!

and stock cubes!

 

[rutabowa]

oh yes cheese! i had forgotten about cheese.
+ even if you add loads more salt than yuo think right you will probably still be way under the amount in a ready meal or takeaway.

 

[Meltingpot]

what sort of sauces?

could be youre not reducing them for long enough

cornflour just thickens stuff, so if you made gravy and it was too thin you can add some cornflour and it will thicken, it wont adjust the flavour (other than maybe make it a bit floury)

Thanks. Ones for pasta / spaghetti mainly, including tomato.

 

[Herbsman.]

joubert is good for vacpacs or marigold for powder

I hate marigold. It doesn't really taste like vegetable stock to me. More like really, really weak marmite.

 

[mentalchik]

Most of the time home cooked food does probably taste better..........


but ready prepared things can have their place........




tbh can't always be arsed with cooking, it can be a chore.......don't make my own pizza or bread etc etc...

 

[Spudinka]

Carrot and Parsnip Soup:

1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion
2 large parsnips
3 large carrots
2 pints of vegetable stock
2 tbsp natural yoghurt
1/2 teaspoon cumin (optional)



All the veggies were bought from Morrison's so that was probably the kiss of death on it actually tasting nice.

I would have banged some chilli and coriander in for sure. And I would definitely have stirred in some garam masala once it had been blended, mm mmm mmmmm!

 

[Ms T]

Marks and Spencer do a great concentrated chicken stock in a jar. Otherwise I use Kallo Organic Chicken stock cubes if I don't have any home-made stuff to hand.