On a completely different and hopefully helpful note

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I know this is not relevant to PPR, but this is my home on WP so I thought I would post this here.

Rather than being adversarial. I was thinking what could I offer in a positive light to help my fellow PPR's

Well as it turns out I spent over 20 years as a Chef, the position I hold with the highest regard was when I was Head Chef at the Reserve Bank Of Australia. I have not cooked for many years (I am now self employed with my own cleaning business, working alone is so much easier than dealing with all the complex social structures of a kitchen, trust me I look back in horror at what I now realise where major ASD meltdowns, it was fortuanate that in this industry you could walk out of a job in the morning and have a new position in the afternoon. NOt knowing about my ASD led me to believe everyone else was a complete a***hole )

I was thinking that many of us live alone and some may not have the best skills when it comes to cooking , now I am sure that many of you are excellent in the kitchen so I invite you to help as well in this.

So if any of you would like some help and advice regarding cooking techniques and recipes I would like to help.

Good food and wine is such a great way to get to know each other.

This may be an incredibly stupid idea but what the heck. I think it might be a pleasant change from arguing with each other.

I'll dive in with a cooking problem that ha plagued me for decades: fish.
My preferred cooking style for fish is baked with herbs/breadcrumbs or broiled. I have the hardest time knowing the precise second when the fish is done. It really does seem to be a precise second. The line between 'still raw' and overcooked seems so thin and I have a hard time hitting it. Sometimes the fish is cooked just the right amount but this seems to be a matter of chance. If I cook fish over the years then it is statistically likely I'll take it out of the oven at the right time at least sometimes but I need an actual method, not leave it to chance.

My question: how do I figure out just the right time when the fish is done? Many times it ends up full of fork marks where I tested it but then still overdone.

Other question: is there another way of cooking fish where such precision is not necessary?

Thanks for starting with really hard one I read your post several times thinking about it and the honest answer is it is not easy.

One thing I would like you to do is stop sticking forks in your fish. With nearly all small cuts of meat and fish the best way to tell if it is cooked is either by looking at the juices coming out (lamb chops) or by pressing on the flesh with your finger (steaks and fish). As the flesh cooks the proteins change and harden the consistency of the flesh. In the case of fish it needs to have a slight spring to it , try combining your fork method with gently pressing with your finger, after a while you will literally get a feel for it and once you do you will find it so much easier to know when the fish is cooked. Regarding cooking methods I guess by broiling you mean poaching ie placing the fish in simmering flavoured stock or do you mean the old english term which is more like saute (shallow frying). it Really depends on the species and cut of fish you are using, but generally i like to saute, often I will finish off by adding a small amount of white wine (say 100ml) and reducing (evaporating) this into a small amount of liquor, this is done whilst the fish is finishing cooking. Btw I hardly ever crumb fish. one issue with fish is that there is often a thich and thin end, which of course means some of the fish will be overcooked, this is hard to avoid. When poaching a trick to prevent this is to fold the fillet around so that the two ends help to make a consistent thickness.

I tend to keep it "simple--stupid." LOL

I make lots of pasta, then create a cheese sauce with cheese and butter/margarine.

I make pressure-cook beef with vegetables---or I might stew chicken and vegetables.

When I pressure-cook, I put maybe a couple of tablespoons of oil, and sauté some onions. Then I put a half a jar of spaghetti sauce, combined with a cup of water. I sprinkle a good bit of garlic salt onto the mix. I mix it all up. I close the pressure-cooker. I put on the highest heat, and I cook for 10 minutes. Then I "de-pressure" what I'm cooking, add frozen vegetables, and "pressure" again for about 8-10 more minutes.

With stewed chicken, I put a couple of tablespoons of sugar on the surface of an iron pot. I put it under highest heat, until the sugar is bubbling. Then I mix the sugar around a little bit, then add a cup of hot water. Then I put the chicken, seasoned with various seasonings, into the mix. I cover the pot. I cook for about 20 minutes or so, making sure the water doesn't "run out." Then I add the vegetables, and cook for another 20 minutes.

You might take a look at healthy diets for people living alone on a budget, mainly that salad gets wilty quick if you don't go through it fast enough on your own and the same for fruit - a lot of the essentials tend to be quite temperamental.

When I was living on my own I did learn that stews and soups seemed to be the best way forward, not just for having a lot of vegetables and tended relatively low carb (you don't need a heavy load at dinner) but because leftovers would taste progressively better - at least so long as it wasn't something like chicken with sweet curry. Also they do have steam-bags for frozen vegetables at the grocery store but I don't know how much is leached out of those. The thing that caused some chaos for me is that I'd be eating at my place every other day rather than every day just because I'd be going to martial arts three times a week and stopping over my parents place for a meal on those nights - so anything that was in my fridge needed an accommodating shelf life.

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You seem to have covered the bases yourself here. One thing I would add is that (at least this was the general priciple decades ago when I was s ships cook -talk of putting a hen in a foxhouse, someone who does not know they have an ASD on a boat, oh my it was a mess) different foods give of gases as they decompose which it turn shorten the shelf life of other food stuffs because of this they need to be wrapped in specific ways and stored as best you can away from each other. I remember having to wrap lettuces in a certain way and storing them away from other vegetables, sorry but my memory of the exact procedures is somewhat vague here is a start Storing vegetables

Chinese cabbage which is like a cross between regular cabbage and Kos lettuce stores for months. The ship I was on was Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior (the replacement) and the first voyage had 25 vegetarians. To make the vegies last we spent several hours a day in the Coolroom looking after the fresh produce, removing really rotten pieces, rotating others, and paring back mold from things like cauliflower, in this manner we were still serving up fresh veg after 12 weeks, the skipper was astounded, said he had never had fresh veg (ie not frozen) this far into a vogage (maybe there was some benefit to having and unDX ASD pedant who wants to find out as much information as he can on a given subject on board )

Your idea on cheap easy meals is a great one, will have a think about this. Any ideas greatly appreciated, maybe a collaborated effort could see them tweaked and improved.

A question to the experts from a kitchen dunce?

Concerning fish, would it be possible to merely cook at a lower temperature to "elongate" the "sweet spot" time? I know there are traditional cooking temperatures (very important in baking I believe) but why would you not be able to change temperature in a more "mechanical" operation (vs. chemical in baking) such as used in cooking very large cuts of beef to ensure an optimum "doneness" temperature throughout?

I know cooking temperatures are traditional and have probably been used for centuries but...
Perhaps the difference between restaurant cooking and more leasurly "hobby" cooking?

AS long as my wife is around I'm good.

But if I ever have to cook, I'm gonna need a crash course fast on something other than microwave food.

I feel for you; I managed food operations before for the government from the outside looking in but the short term working memory required for actually cooking was beyond my capacity and abilities, then for sure.

I might be able to do it now that I have my mind and body finally connected in balance, as my short term working memory is finally working well without all that ADHD stuff to keep it unwired..

Anyway, I'm good for now, and there's always eating out, as long as the finances are good, I guess..

This is a great thread, anyway, and thanks for starting a very constructive idea here, I might add..

Thanks aghogday.

Zenden. No not really, fish should never be cooked over a fierce heat anyway. Poaching is done at a simmer, saute again is really just a gentle sizzle and baking I would not go above 160 c, In fact you may be onto something, it is possible that those folk having trouble may be cooking with too much heat.

Often when sauteing I will place a lid over whatever I am cooking as this helps keep an even heat. I have changed how I cook steak after watching heston. his method; Very hot pan turn the steak every 17 seconds till done. Works a treat.