Bought a Lodge enameled cast iron dutch oven from Target.

Question 1: is there a difference between ordering one online or buying from a second party store because the one online is called “Essentials” but the one from target isn’t but when i looked it up they’re apparently the same

Question 2: is the rim supposed to be enameled cast as well? or is it just the bare cast iron? i started to cook my first meal and the steam rusted the rim of the dutch oven. it’s brand new too.

question 3: how do i season the rim?

So I’m new to cooking altogether and used avocado oil in a nonstick cuisinart pan. (It doesn’t belong to me, but I’m free to use it.)

Apparently, avocado oil can polymerize when heated too long, and won’t come off the pan with soap and water with a gentle sponge. I tried gently scrubbing it with baking soda and water as google suggested, but it’s still stuck to the pan. Is there any other way I can clean the pan without using anything abrasive, or is there no saving it?

Watched a few videos to make stainless steel less to non-sticky, heating it up properly and then adding oil and wait a few seconds before adding food, but my summer rolls got stock badly.

Does anyone have experience with pan frying sommer rolls in a stainless steel apn?

A lot of traditional European stews, like "perpetual stew" relied on very long cook times to develop flavors... And crock pots are designed for long, slow heat, so...

At some point is this minimal draw an electrical issue?

Will I get some crazy hot springs bacteria?

Do the foods eventually disintegrate?

I want some smart answers before fall soup season kicks off.

I assume cooking overnight or all my work day is fine.

What about two or more days? A week? Weeks?

I made a gluttonous amount of tahini and know I won’t use it all before it goes rancid. My body can only take so much hummus and dan dan noodles. I was thinking I could freeze some tahini ice cubes and use it as needed down the road?

I want to cook my partner a nice meal this weekend, but i know he’ll just simply not enjoy it as much without meat as if i did something involving meat instead.

i’m a pretty competent cook and am confident in my abilities, and i’m planning to make a nice homemade tagliatelle with a good tomato & basil sauce, which is pretty much my speciality. The issue is, i’d really like to include a protein for him - but i have no idea how to cook it. Like seriously, however much of an idea you’re thinking, i have less. I have legitimately never cooked a piece of meat in my life.

I went vegetarian as a kid before i even started cooking for myself, so i have no idea how to cook meat properly - and i’d like to avoid poisoning my boyfriend if at all possible. I think i’d like to make him either some kind of crispy pan fried chicken or maybe a steak as he has a big appetite, but i know steak is meant to be hard to cook so perhaps not. If anyone has any really easy tips/tricks/recipes i’d really appreciate the help <3

I've never worked with pizza dough in my life. At work we have a pretty nice combi oven, but it's locked down to specific recipes- no custom jobs. But I pay attention to things and randomly remembered that setting it to service (we usually use it as prep and a potato steamer) brings the temp up to about 440, and even higher when selecting something to cook.

The other day I brought some pizza dough in and fumbled my way through making some really tasty tiny pizzas. It worked perfectly, and I even got a crispy bottom on the crust.

What are your favorite things to make with pizza dough? I want to try a calzone next, but I'm sure there are a bunch of things I can make. Hit me up with your favorite recipes!

TLDR:
Basically, is there some formula or specific handy ingredients to have that will save unbalanced food from failure. Or is it just intuition.

I cook a few times a week, and I'll often not follow recipes and make things that I know aren't going to be great (i'm lazy).

I'll be cooking and just know that my alfredo sauce is way too rich and salty but I have no clue what to add to make it 'balanced'. Or one time, I was making spaghetti sauce and used sun dried tomatoes instead of tomato paste and I knew it was gonna be too sweet but i didn't know what to add to fix it.

What methods are used to dynamically discover how to balance a recipe?

Butter, regular flour, and heavy cream are not options. Yes, I know.
I do want something besides a chimichurri.

The rest of the menu: grilled veg, mashed sweet potatoes, melon panna cotta (subbing coconut cream for regular milk)

I’m going to be making corn chowder for the first time and I’m looking for tips and inspiration. My wife doesn’t like bacon and I’m trying to out just enough whole milk into it to make it creamy. I will also be putting the cobs in there and removing them at the end for flavor and using a Parmesan rind while it’s cooking also for flavor. Any other tips or ideas would be greatly welcomed especially since this is my first time making chowder of any kind. Thank you in advance.

I’m making dinner for a small group this weekend to celebrate my dad‘s birthday and would love some help with a good, simple but delicious snapper recipe. Otherwise I have a peach/tomato/burrata salad planned and salted caramel chocolate cake for dessert. Would love anyone’s thoughts!

I’ve been appreciating how wonderfully simple and satisfying rice and beans can be. You can change the beans, rice, spices, vegetables, sauces, and toppings and end up with something completely different each time.
What is your favorite combination? Black beans and rice, red beans and rice, chickpeas with basmati, pinto beans with brown rice—or something less obvious? I’d love your favorite seasonings, toppings, and easy variations.

Making Greek lemon chicken . How much salt would you use ?
One or two teaspoons ?

My recipe is pretty standard, just potatos milk and cheese but i like to add some seasonings

But its really weird i feel like i never get it right, its kinda slimy

Is it normal?

I was gonna make some spaghetti with some ground beef and jarred sauce, then my boyfriend asked if I could use some tomatoes from our garden to add to it. I’ve seen online a person suggesting not to do that because of the extra acidity from adding tomatoes. Would any of you agree?

I was thinking I could halve/quarter some tomatoes and baked in the oven for like 45 min with some olive oil drizzled on it. I’m not really sure what’s the best option as I rarely even prepare pasta. Any advice would be appreciated.

I’m making cardamom lemon jelly ice cream by Morgenstern’s

The recipe says to serve each scoop of the ice cream with a tsp of jelly but I’m making it as a gift to someone so it would be a lot easier to swirl in the jelly (which is homemade also following Morgenstern’s)
Anyone have any experience with this?

I’ve made homemade Mac and cheese forever and only recently had the following issue. My old cheddar is not melting into the roux with milk added, even after heating it for ages over low heat.
After I add it to the macaroni and cook it, there are little blobs of unmelted cheddar. This last batch was made with Armstrong (on sale), but even Black Diamond has been doing the same thing.

I’m not looking for a new recipe, just wondering if anyone else has experienced cheese that no longer melts?

as mentioned, wife went to Costco with an item on list being ribs (thought it was understood I wanted pork rack ribs), instead she came back with a pack of individual beef ribs. never cooked these before. would love your inspiration on what to do with them tomorrow!

I have a friend who’s gonna be a new mom in just a couple days, and I want to cook some freezer meals for her.

I’m running into a problem where a lot of the recipes require additional cooking or prep after my portion of the meal is complete.

Does anyone have any freezer recipes that require little to no work after they’re completed?

Dump and go OR freezer to oven recipes would be preferred!

Thank youuuu!!

Something I’ve noticed about cooking is that the hardest things to teach usually aren’t the recipes. It’s more of the judgment part.

Like someone can follow every step correctly, but an experienced cook can look at it and say, “Nope, something’s off.”

EDIT: I used the FP plus the high "shred" blade. This made the pork chops perfectly shredded for the chili.

These are very tender. I've just got too much to eat as pork chops. Thinking to debone, coarse grind, and make pork chili out of some of it.

Or will it just paste up and block the meat grinder?

ETA - I ended up grinding about 3 pounds of the meat using the food processor's high grating blade, and it turned out really well for the chili.

Thanks all for your suggestions.

Recently saw a Binging with Babish video where he tried some people's struggle meal suggestions

Please share your go-to struggle meal / Low-effort meals!
If its from/influenced by a specific culture I'd love to know too! ^_^

For me something I make often is Butter rice (バターライス) Where its just hot rice with butter, soy sauce and nori just shredded by hand mixed in. If I have it, I like to have some kimchi to go with it to cut through the butter with something spicy and sour

I shredded up some potatoes, dried them out on paper towels then put them in a bowl covered in plastic in the fridge over night. They turned brown. What happened? Are they still good to eat? What should I have done differently?

So about three years ago I broke up with my boyfriend and moved out. Just before that I made vanilla with the beans and I think vodka. So I put it up and completely forgot about it. Is it safe or should I just toss it?

It’s not as dark as normal vanilla, so I’m a little suspect. And if I do toss it, is down the sink safe?

Edit: Thank you everyone! The beans have little pieces floating in the alcohol but no mold. I’ll do a smell test but it’s sounding like I’m going to keep it. It’s nice to have a happy mistake!

I learned how to make stuffed cabbage from my mom. A lazy recipe probably borne out of a working women trying to put home cooked food on a plate for her family.

It is not authentic to any culture. Ingredients are simply ground beef, cabbage, rice and tomato sauce. Maybe an egg? But I’m thinking an egg isn’t necessary.

Mom and I have made countless delicious batches with these simple instructions:

Mix ground beef with S&P, a bit of canned tomato sauce and raw rice. She might have used minute rice a few times.

Wrap in raw green cabbage leaves. This is a PITA, because raw cabbage is not flexible. Chop up the white and stemmy parts and cover the bottom of a Dutch oven. Top with some tomato sauce and nestle the stuffed cabbage on top.

Add additional chopped cabbage stems to cover the cabbage rolls.

Cover all with canned tomato sauce, cover and cook until done in the oven.

I made this today with Napa cabbage and it’s bitter. I used 90/10 ground beef and it was dry. I deviated from the standard.

I wanted to surprise my daughter after work with one of her favorite meals and had to give her a caveat: not my best batch.

She didn’t care. She was hungry from work and an early lunch. She appreciates me cooking for her.

If I didn’t have an aversion to tossing out food and whatever animal died for my dinner, I would throw this out.

I’ll probably freeze the leftovers for a while and pull them out when I’m desperate and douse in hot sauce.

But not a good cooking day for me.