I have been annoyed many times due to burning. doing large batches on fire burners, what are some tips to avoid that doesn’t require sitting in the kitchen for 6 hours stirring?
i use mostly stainless. have cast iron and glass but they are not big enough for group situations. tonight just burned about 15 liters of chili. suuuuuper annoyed and the burnt spot made the flavor of the entire batch horrible. we switched to bbq in a pinch…will freeze and eat ourselves to avoid wasting food, but damn!
any tricks for big batches that avoid babysitting it every 5 mins
A burner plate or simmer plate (also called heat diffuser, I guess?) will help. But 15L … that’s a lot. I’m not sure I’d trust the weight of that amount on one of those heat plates. (Are you using a cauldron or something?!)
If you dont have a thick based pan that will distribute the heat evenly and slowly, you can try making an improvised bain marie. I also have a large casserole dish that fits in my oven that i can do about 5l in so would use that 3 times to cook before hand, then use the larger pan to warm it up for serving.
Yeah, but as far as I can tell instant pots max out at 8 quarts - that’s about half the size the OP wants.
I do wonder if 15 liters is an accurate number: I’d have thought something that size basically has to be cooked in a roasting pan in the oven, rather than on a burner.
I have a 12L pot (steel, not thick base) that I use on a gas stove, but yeah I have to stir a lot. Sometimes I just turn off the gas for a while and let it stew in stored heat for a while before turning the gas back on
But the instant pot slow cooker you can program. I used to leave the apartment with it on all day, totally safe. If i were to buy sonething to solve the gas burner problem, it’d be the IP because in addition to solving that problem it has all the other uses. The pressure cooker is especially handy for things like quick cooking of frozen meat or dried beans
indeed, thats been my go to for big batches too, but still manage to burn it haha. smaller pots i use a water bath (i think that is essentially the same as a bain-marie?
Because we cook so long i don’t want to do multiple pots. so wondering how to manage. our pot is 30 liters and w fill a least half. unfortunately our oven isn’t big enough to fit these pots.
those simmer plates are cool. have done something similar make shift style with a pan and small round “grill” but it didn’t get hot enough to boil. Going to look for one of these simmer plates next time go into town. very excited about that, cheers!
made a new batch. pinto, black and garbanzo beans. this time used dry to save money. soaked beans 16 hours. have been cooking with make shift hot water bath with frying pan all day. so far 12 hours.
28 hours total and the beans are still froggen hard…any tips? I mean this is getting a bit ridiculous time and energy wise how did I mess this use?
beans soaked in room temp (38 degrees all day, low 30s night, air temp) in plain water. changed a couple times. added to chicken, tomato, mushroom broth and cooked foreeeeeeeeeever. they are chewable, but not great…any thoughts where i messed up? like a very hard version of steamed peanuts.
Pressure cooker is easy and fastest. Otherwise dried beans need to be boiled for about an hour depending on the bean. Hot water won’t do. Need to be boiling.
Try to parboil the beans in a stock for a good 30 to 45mins (more if you have a lot), till they are just starting to get soft enough to eat. then cook all your other stuff as normal and add you beans about half way through the cooking, giving them enough time to finish the last bit of cooking and take up the flavours from the sauce.
Also, it’s not really necessary to soak beans before cooking. I never do. And about boiling them, do that for a while then reduce to simmer for the rest. Don’t cook a mix of beans at the same time in the same pot. Each bean variety cooks for a different time. Salt at the beginning and keep the water about 1-2 inches covering at all times when cooking.
Usually takes 1 to 1 1/2 hours to cook dried beans. Depending on variety and amount. Stove top. Pressure cooker will probably be about 45 mins to an hour.
I have been boiling the chili for 30 mins while stirring then turn off and cover, repeat every hour or so. but it ain’t working, damnit
given the quantity, I don’t want to throw it out. would it be worth putting the beans through a mesh and boiling the piss out of them for a bit, strain and add back to the “chili stock”? or has the chemistry in the beans done something that makes them unsavable?
I would just bring them to a boil, then simmer until done. When I make chili with beans, I always cook the beans first. Then start the chili (onions, peppers, chilis, meat, corn) and add the beans and liquid to the chili.
how did I mess this use?