A high school kid who enjoys cooking lunch for himself whenever possible.
Put cream cheese or butter on a bagel that has been cut in half. Use a fork to scrape out the soft innards, which, due to a standard butter/cream cheese application, have a disproportionately high amount of the good stuff. Once you have a hollow shell, apply a second shellacking of your cream cheese and consume.
@GretchinF
You know we're going to ask...
@Lara Bowman
Is it OK if I put beans in my chili?
It's very interesting to see how local ingredients combined with ethnic populations differentiate the cuisine so wildly.
@Bezerkeley
Ah, California. I've been trying to shake my California-phobia, but things like this still make me run and hide.
Also, even as a Marylander for the entirety of my short life, I just recently discovered that Pit Beef is a Baltimore thing. Has "Baltimore Pit Beef" spread anywhere else in the country? It's such a simple concept.
I'm also a high school senior going away to college in the fall and inevitably face the same worries as you. I've thought about possibly sneaking a hot plate into my dorm, but my parents don't seem too keen on the idea. Hopefully, I will cook some stuff when I'm home and freeze it for use during the semester.
I wrote about pork bao a few weeks ago. In the recipe is a link to a very good and simple bao dough. You should be able to shape them as you like.
http://betterlunches.blogspot.com/2013/02/steamed-buns-revisited.html
In all seriousness though, I've never seen anyone keep a pot of starchy water. Granted, I'm not even in my early twenties, or 20 for that matter, but I'm interested to see if most people really do this.
I'm 86 years old and I have been using the same pot of water since I was in my early twenties. I even carried that pot of water on my lap when I moved across the country --which was possible before 2001-- and the water is so starchy that it has essentially congealed into goop. Now, the pasta just steams while sitting on top of the goo. Also, about 40 years in, I noticed a great earthy funkiness in my sauces, and realized that the water was fermenting.
Thanks for the responses guys. I enjoyed reading them. By the way, despite my love of Japanese food, I think I would still have to choose good 'ol American food.
@MeatGuy, I had to read your comment about three times before I got it.
When I first moved here from Vietnam, my first experience of American food, and the one that made me fall in love with barbecue, involved a pulled pork sandwich at a roadside cart near Baltimore whose name I cannot remember. It was by no means 'good' barbecue, but I loved the smoky-sweet flavors, and have since been a fanatic. It is almost a comfort food for me now, and reminds me of my first weeks here.
Baltimore is a town of hard working people, a fact which our food reflects. San Francisco, on the other hand, is a hipster-ridden commune, where they have enough time and resources to craft such pieces of slightly edible art. And dessert is weighted way to strongly; there is no room for ice cream after a crab feast.
What are the dishes that you feel best represent the ingredients, culture, or unique preparation techniques in your region? Example: Living in the Chesapeake region, I feel the soft-shell crab sandwich is the food our region should be most proud of because...
I think that each of us has a memory of a dish that was our first 'specialty'. We were able to replicate this culinary masterpiece time and time again, astounded at the deliciousness of our fine skills. I know that my first specialty dish was salsa and cheese dip. The complex recipe involved placing Velveeta cheese and Pace salsa in a small Pyrex bowl and nuking the mixture for exactly one minute on high. The resultant sauce was best enjoyed hot on tortilla chips. What was the first food or dish that you were proud to call your own, regardless of how simple it was to prepare?
I know, I know. People say that specific pasta shapes are supposed to be paired with different types of sauces, but most of us don't have enough space to store a full suite of pastas or noodles. If you had to choose only one variety of pasta or noodle to have in your pantry, what would it be? My vote is for fresh udon.
If you had to eat only the cuisine of one nationality for the rest of your life, what food would it be? I'm interested to see if people would gravitate towards 'traditional' French cooking or be willing to abandon their comforts in order to avoid boredom.
I have photos on my computer (taken by me) that I'd like to share on Photograzing, but an entry requires something called a permalink. I do not have a blog; I'm just a kid taking pictures of the stuff that I cook. To pass the required fields, I just typed in seriouseats.com as the permalink, but I assume my submission will be rejected. Is a valid blog really required? It seems non-intuitive...
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Homemade smashed burger topped with caramelized onions and american cheese on a potato bun.