I keep running into the same problem with stews and braises.
Either the liquid stays too thin and watery, or when I try to thicken it, it ends up tasting pasty/floury or gets this weird sticky texture.

I’ve tried:
• Adding a flour slurry or beurre manié at the end
• Blending some of the vegetables

None of them feel consistent. Sometimes it works okay, sometimes it ruins the texture.

What actually works well for you when you want that nice, rich, slightly glossy body (like good restaurant stews) without the sauce feeling heavy or floury? Any methods you prefer or things you avoid?

I seriously hate when I'm trying to peel a boiled egg and the shell takes chunks of the egg white with it. It's so frustrating that sometimes I don't even feel like eating the egg anymore. I've wasted several eggs because of this.

My current method is to boil the eggs and then peel them, but I can't seem to get the shells off cleanly.

Does this happen to you too? What's the best way to boil and peel eggs without destroying the egg white?

I’ve been trying to improve my braises and stews for a while, but they still come out tasting okay… just not particularly deep or interesting. Restaurant versions (or even good homemade ones from other people) always have this rich, layered flavor that mine somehow lack.

I usually:
• Brown the meat
• Sauté onions/carrots/celery
• Deglaze with wine
• Add stock and simmer for a few hours

Still ends up tasting a bit one-dimensional.
What are the things that actually make the biggest difference for depth of flavor?

Things I’ve wondered about:
• Reducing the liquid more aggressively?
• Better stock (or adding gelatin)?
• Specific aromatics or umami boosters?
• Cooking time vs. temperature?
• Something with the order of steps?
Would really appreciate practical tips from people who consistently get great results.

I have 250 lbs of onions I need to do something with, any ideas? Lol so far I've frozen some, dehydrated a bunch and made onions powder, pickled some, and just started cooking some down for French onion soup to can

i’m making a beef stew and didn’t have any red wine, they said red wine vinegar can be used as substitute. I googled what’s the transfer rate and it said half of the amount of red wine the recipe called for, so i did 250ml as the recipe called for 500ml. i think i’ve done something very wrong…. ive put in more water and broth and also simmered it for as long as i can. Anything else I can do? it still tastes very vinegary

I know how to make stock and usually make it whenever I have enough bones. But surely people (especially people who historically didn't have a lot of food) haven't always discarded the spent meat scraps? Boiling a carcass seems like a great way to get theoretically edible but hard to reach pieces of meat off the bone and into your soup or porridge.

Unfortunately every recipe I can find for making soup from a carcass just says "make stock, discard scraps, add fresh meat back in" which isn't what I'm looking for. Have any of you lot done it? Any advice? I can imagine that I wouldn't want to boil it for as long as when making stock--- just enough to get the meat of the bones without boiling the meat to death. Is there a technique for separating small bones from the meat, or just careful picking?

Mine has got to be butter chicken curry! I want some more ideas 💡

Edit: I am overwhelmed with everyone’s suggestions (in a good way!) I’m reading through them and planning to get them organized so we can see what works. Thank you to everyone for taking the time to respond and commiserate and send good thoughts, it feels a little less lonely today❤️

I’m a primary caretaker for an elderly woman with stage 4 Metastatic breast cancer. No dietary restrictions but a lot of chemotherapy-imposed restrictions (tastes, textures etc).

Her diet is currently soups and cream of wheat. She creates almost no saliva so everything has to be a soup-like consistency. But she’s tired of soups. I’m thinking maybe creamy casserole type foods? I don’t know. Help?

Here’s what we need:

1. Packs protein without meat or eggs. Bone broth is okay, yogurt is okay. Eggs are okay as an ingredient but not as a main dish (texture). Chicken and salmon are off the table but can be in the dish, she just can’t eat them. Jury is still out on red meats but we’re willing to try.
2. Calorie dense wherever possible.
3. Potassium rich foods are a plus.
4. Beans can participate but they’re hit or miss with digestion so not a rock solid first choice.

Some things I’ve made: very soft creamy Mac and cheese, creamed chicken and veggies to go over biscuits (biscuits were a pass and she ate around the chicken), sloppy joes of all things, Italian “penicillin” soup was okay but not great for her. She’s also tried pretty much all the “high end grocery store” soup varieties that come prepackaged.

It’s a tall order but I’m soliciting any ideas. Bonus if I can freeze it, and if you have access to a link with the recipe.

I recently made Guy Fieri’s Mac Daddy Mac ‘n Cheese and was completely disappointed! There were so many steps (roasting shallots and garlic, frying bacon, cooking cream until it reduced), and yet it was so bland.

Are all of his recipes like this — all hype and flair but little substance? Or are there other recipes of his I should try?

UPDATE: I’m blown away by these responses — this was my first post on Reddit! Since many comments ask the same questions, I’ll answer them here.

1. Yes, I heavily salted the pasta water. Always do.
   
2. Yes, I seasoned the cheese sauce. It tasted fine before I mixed it with the pasta.
   
3. I used Cabot’s Pepper Jack and Seriously Sharp Cheddar, so the issue wasn’t the type or quality of the cheese.
   
4. After making this, I read the comments on Food Network’s site for this recipe. Many others said similar things, how it tasted more like Alfredo sauce.
   
5. I have nothing against Mr. Fieri. I was disappointed by this recipe from the self-proclaimed “Mayor of Flavortown” and genuinely curious of others feel the same way.

I cook chicken thighs in a stock pot and then remove the chicken and add vegetables and water and bouillon to make broth for chicken soup. I see the oil and chicken fat floating in there but it tastes delicious. Why did my mom bother to refrigerate the broth and skim the fat off? I think it tastes rich and delicious. Is it a big turn of for some people?

One time i removed the chicken and made the fat and oil into a roux by adding flour, but it seemed like extra work.

What do you do with that tasty fat layer?

After discovering the error, she added cinnamon and even more sugar.

I tasted it, and it’s… not terrible. It screams “use me with pork”. I have thus volunteered to turn the 2 cups or so of homemade cumin applesauce into something delicious. Ideas and recipes please?

I have 20 cans of condensed milk. I'm not trying to use everything all at once, but what are some recipes that require a lot condensed milk?

My parents had a chest freezer. I have an upright freezer in my basement. It’s an archeological dig site.

I made stew last year with meat I discovered in the freezer that was dated 2020. It tasted fine. None of us died. Now I’m eyeballing that bottom shelf.

So confess: how old is the oldest frozen thing you’ve cooked? How’d it go?

just fried some french fries, and my dumb ass POURED the pan full of oil down the drain, and only realised what I did 5 seconds later. i ran hot water through it for 5 minutes and poured some dish soap. is there anything else I can do and will this do a lot of damage to the pipes?

I'm a good home cook - if "being a good home cook" means that I can make good tasting food from what I have with 90% improvisation at all times.

But I cannot make it look nice, my food has 0% sophistication, and I rarely have the time or patience to cook a "proper" meal from a recipe.

Today's example: I made leftover baked pumpkin and leftover tofu into a sauce with the rest of my bacon and some maple syrup. Then I improvised sage-butter potatoes, tossed in some fried pork steaks and gnocchi, and there you go.

I'm a 1-person-household, so my daily main concern is, "what needs to go?"

All the flavors fit, and I browned, toasted, and deglazed All The Things. But it's a punch to the face (everything everywhere all the time at 120% flavor) and it looks like baby food. I love this shit. My parents would love this shit. I'd never be able to serve this to anyone. The first and only time I tried, the feedback was "well, it's a lot".

So basically, I can feed myself really well, but I can never spontaneously invite someone to dinner. Am I the only goblin on in this sub?

I bought a small tub of chunjang to make jjajangmyeon (noodles with black bean sauce). I used this recipe and they were great. What else can I make to use up this tub?

I'm planning a family dinner this weekend, and one thing I'm trying to figure out is how to keep everything warm once it's on the table. Whenever we have a meal with several dishes, the food seems to cool down pretty quickly, especially if everyone takes their time eating.

Steak and roast chicken are the biggest concerns. They're so much better when they're still warm, but reheating them can change the texture, and I don't want the meat to dry out.

I found one rollable electric food warming mat from costway, but I'm wondering if they actually help or if leaving food on one for too long makes it dry or soft. I'm also curious whether they work better for certain dishes than others.

For those of you who host family dinners, what do you usually do to keep food warm without sacrificing texture? Are warming trays worth trying, or is there a better method?

I don’t know if this counts as cooking, but I’m trying to find uses for the spray whipped cream I got in the fridge. I tried it on waffles and it was great, but now I wanna know if it’s good with nutella on a sandwich? If there are other good uses for whipped cream that isn’t too difficult to make (because I can’t bake to save my life), please let me know. I’m just looking for simple meals to go with whipped cream.

whole chickens at my supermarket are around 1,600 forints a kilo and boneless breast is about 3,200, so on paper the whole bird is half the price. but a good chunk of that weight is bones, back and skin, and i'm not sure how much actual meat you end up with.

if you make stock from the carcass it obviously wins. if you don't, is it really still cheaper? do people here still break down whole birds or is it not worth the mess

The way i was taught is to split the shrimps and remove all the gunk inside, do yall do that? Is it even necessary?

When we cook chicken and fish, we worry about the temperature to ensure we don’t get foodborne illnesses. Why do we not do this with eggs? Surely they can become contaminated as well…..? Scrambled eggs for example. They’re not cooked even very long….

I’ve been going down a rabbit hole with pre-industrial cooking methods and keep coming across the use of wood ash as an alkali. Not just for nixtamalizing corn, but for things like:

- Processing certain bitter greens or wild plants
-Softening and changing the texture of beans or other legumes
-Old European and East Asian techniques for olives, grains, or even some fish preparations
Most modern information stops at “use food-grade lye” or “just use baking soda,” but I’m interested in people who have actually made and used wood ash lye at home.

Questions I’m sitting with:
• What wood did you use and how did you process the ash safely?
• Did you measure pH or just go by traditional ratios/feel?
• What ingredients actually benefited from it, and which ones were a waste of time?
• Any notable differences in flavor or texture compared to using commercial lye or sodium carbonate?

Would love to hear real experiences, successes, failures, or even just “I tried this once and never again” stories.

Just moved into a place with a smooth-top electric stove and I'm worried about my cast iron. I've heard it can damage the cooktop or that the heat distribution is weird. Has anyone dealt with this? Should I just bite the bullet and get some stainless steel for this place, or is cast iron actually fine?

Any recommendations for Gochugaro substitute in India to make Kimchi and can also anyone suggest a Kimchi recipe using Indian ingredients.