Bachelor cooking

[Cow Poke]

My favourite roast leftover is slicing it into bite size pieces and just barely heating it up in a frying pan with some onion. And leftover potatoes baked or mashed, get the same treatment, sans onion, and a little longer cooking, till they cut golden and crusty.

I don't likeleftover cooked veg, otherwise, unless it goes into soup or something, because they tend to get overlooked if you reheat them as they are.

Hey, that reminds me -- it's been AGES since I've taken leftover mashed potatoes, added some "whatever", and made potato cakes! (potato pancakes?)

[Sparko]

I've never understood why folks don't like left-overs. For instance, in my humble opinion, anything cooked with onions or tomatoes tastes better after a day sitting in the fridge. So long as you rinse it before putting it away, even pasta is fine. And there's nothing easier for a side-dish. Occasionally I need two pans to cook a meal, and who likes extra pans to wash? Left-overs go straight into the microwave, in and out of a container that's already going to need washing.

Now I cook with milk, though rarely, but mostly white sauces cause you can dump anything into those and call it cuisine. I don't drink it, so buying it fresh doesn't make any sense for me. Dry, it lasts for years, and you can always add some extra butter to make sure your sauce thickens up right. If I want to do it up brown, containers of half-and-half, or even (unwhipped) whipping cream, come in the right size, and you can fly through a convenience store to get them instead of hiking a quarter mile to find it, and then waiting in line in a grocery store.

I live off of left-overs. I usually make enough to last a few days, like I might make tacos, or pizza or chili or soup. Then eat on it for a few days then make something else. I will also sometimes make enough to freeze for later.

Pasta is also great for left-overs. I keep the sauce (if I am making spaghetti) separate from the pasta, so I can use the pasta in other dishes, plus, if you keep it mixed together, the pasta tends to thicken the sauce in the fridge and then it doesn't taste fresh.

[Catholicity]

We love left overs here. But then again, we are actually not very wealthy.....at all, so left overs do tend to get made into something else. For example tonight its pork chops corn and mashed potatoes will likely end up being pulled pork sandwiches and/or pork chili depending on whats left. This mama don't mess around trying to feed her family.....

[DesertBerean]

Pasta is also great for left-overs. I keep the sauce (if I am making spaghetti) separate from the pasta, so I can use the pasta in other dishes, plus, if you keep it mixed together, the pasta tends to thicken the sauce in the fridge and then it doesn't taste fresh.

Me too!

[rogue06]

When I make spaghetti, I mix everything in the pasta pot and put that in the fridge once I've taken out a serving to eat. After that I just take out a bowl-full to reheat as needed.

For whatever reason spaghetti sauce always seemed richer and tastier the second day after being refrigerated.

[rogue06]

I like leftovers, usually. It depends on what they are.

Yup. If you didn't much care for them the first time you won't like them any better the next time around.

My mother almost never ate leftovers, always leaving them for my brother and I to finish. I figured it had something to do with growing up during the Depression when leftovers were pretty much a standard fare.

[One Bad Pig]

For whatever reason spaghetti sauce always seemed richer and tastier the second day after being refrigerated.

Yeah, same here. And I cook the spaghetti noodles without oil, so if I don't mix the sauce in immediately the noodles become a congealed mass.

I also like to add hot sauce to taste before reheating.

[Sparko]

Left over pizza. best ever. cold or hot.

But I found out that if you reheat pizza in the oven for a few minutes, it recrisps the crust really nicely on the bottom, and it can actually taste better than it did fresh.

I make my own pizza and the next day I will take out a few slices, nuke them in the microwave for about 20 seconds just to get the chill off and soften the crust. Heat the oven to 375 F - then bake for about 6 minutes on a pizza stone.

[Cow Poke]

Left over pizza. best ever. cold or hot.

But I found out that if you reheat pizza in the oven for a few minutes, it recrisps the crust really nicely on the bottom, and it can actually taste better than it did fresh.

I make my own pizza and the next day I will take out a few slices, nuke them in the microwave for about 20 seconds just to get the chill off and soften the crust. Heat the oven to 375 F - then bake for about 6 minutes on a pizza stone.

We buy the cheap "cardboard pizza" - the thin crust frozen STORE brands - and just add what we want -- some extra cheese, BACON, pepperoni.... black olives... and bake it in the convection oven for longer than recommended. I like that "crispy" quality, and, yeah, leftovers are GREAT (if there are any).

[Sparko]

We buy the cheap "cardboard pizza" - the thin crust frozen STORE brands - and just add what we want -- some extra cheese, BACON, pepperoni.... black olives... and bake it in the convection oven for longer than recommended. I like that "crispy" quality, and, yeah, leftovers are GREAT (if there are any).

I eat those on occasion. Red Baron seems to taste the best. California Pizza Kitchen BBQ pizza is good too. I absofreakinglutely hate Dijornos. The "rising" crust has no taste whatsoever, and neither does the sauce.

I usually either use premade dough (the best because you can add spices to it) or the prebaked crusts, like Boboli.

[rogue06]

We buy the cheap "cardboard pizza" - the thin crust frozen STORE brands - and just add what we want -- some extra cheese, BACON, pepperoni.... black olives... and bake it in the convection oven for longer than recommended. I like that "crispy" quality, and, yeah, leftovers are GREAT (if there are any).

I do the same using a standard oven but if I cook it as long as recommended it generally comes out burnt. So a pizza that they recommend being cooked 22-25 minutes gets cooked now longer than 18.

[Cow Poke]

I do the same using a standard oven but if I cook it as long as recommended it generally comes out burnt. So a pizza that they recommend being cooked 22-25 minutes gets cooked now longer than 18.

We just did this an hour ago -- I added bacon, pineapple, black olives and some extra mozzarella! I always put the bacon on top, so it gets crispy instead of soggy under everything else.

[Juvenal]

I do the same using a standard oven but if I cook it as long as recommended it generally comes out burnt. So a pizza that they recommend being cooked 22-25 minutes gets cooked now longer than 18.

Who knows, but ... this sounds like one of my old ovens with a thermometer out of adjustment. I kinda suspected it because stuff was getting burnt, so I bought an oven thermometer, and sure 'nuff, that was it.

[Juvenal]

One of the best things about being vegetarian is that much of my diet includes foods that can be eaten raw. Tomatos, onions, mushrooms, carrots, and such. As I like to say, "If you can eat it raw, it doesn't need much cooking." Cooking such foods comes down to adjusting their texture, or taking the edge off things like onions that have a real bite when they're raw, and that's about it. Bachelor cooking doesn't pay much mind to texture, and you can get used to raw onion and garlic sandwiches pretty quick when you don't want to waste any time on making dinner.

[One Bad Pig]

One of the best things about being vegetarian is that much of my diet includes foods that can be eaten raw. Tomatos, onions, mushrooms, carrots, and such. As I like to say, "If you can eat it raw, it doesn't need much cooking." Cooking such foods comes down to adjusting their texture, or taking the edge off things like onions that have a real bite when they're raw, and that's about it. Bachelor cooking doesn't pay much mind to texture, and you can get used to raw onion and garlic sandwiches pretty quick when you don't want to waste any time on making dinner.

I prefer many vegetables raw anyway. Can't stand cooked peppers or turnips, and don't care for cooked carrots, but I like all of those raw.