OK Scott, it sounds like you're talking about frying pan oil. Here's the solution for you. Let it cool on the stove and then just pour it in your regular garbage. Wipe the pan down with a napkin or paper towel if you want to be really helpful. That's how you handle a couple ounces of oil. My problem is on the scale of quarts/liters.
Simple solution: Sacrifice a quart-size Gatorade bottle (or some other 32-ounce, hard plastic, wide-mouthed PETE bottle) to start with. You can usually pick up a quart for around a buck, so it's not that expensive. Dump it so it's empty (or let one of your friends drink it), rinse it out, and keep it under the sink for your used oil. Wait for the oil to cool, pour it off into the bottle while straining it, problem solved until you use up the bottle of oil. Then keep the other bottle once it's been emptied out so you always have a chain of bottles to keep the used oil in for disposal. As for the "no oil down the sink" thing, if you're using oils that are generally liquid at room temperature those typically aren't the problem (although they should be recycled or properly disposed of, regardless). The issue is other animal fats that solidify once they've cooled, like the ones that cook out of what you're frying. Those can cause problems further down the line in the sewage system once they've congealed. Even if it doesn't plug up your lines, it can gum up the works for someone else.
If you've cooked correctly, there should be next to no residual oil, because you've used exactly the right amount of oil for the food.
Fat left in a pan should primarily come from meat being fried, thus generating delicious pan drippings from which sauces are made.
That perfect level is ok with non-stick, but I find that target too narrow to with stainless or cast iron. And since stuck on food is such a hassle on those surfaces I use a little extra oil to prevent sticking.
Why is it bad to put it down the sink? I can't throw it outside. How can I possibly have enough bottles for every time I cook with oil?
Aaand now all I can think of is Scott just stealthily lobbing a big bottles of oil off the roof of his building.
Also, as for dirty oil, my local Aldi has massive ten liter bottles of filtered water for about three bucks, and we've got an empty one for a dump-tank for oil. By the time we've filled one with oil, we'll usually have ended up finishing off another bottle of water. There's probably some store near you with something similar.
I dump bulk oil and grease into the trash directly after it's cooled sufficiently. Residual oil gets washed out in the dishwasher or sink depending on the implement being so cleaned and the quantity of oil/grease remaining.
New York at least accepts all plastics now, and does not require sorting.
Most places have single-stream recycling these days (no sorting needed), but that doesn't mean they accept everything. Take the lids off your bottles. Throw away dirty/greasy pizza box cardboard. It used to drive me crazy that our LLs in White Plains would take our pizza boxes out of the trash and put them in the recycling when our recycling place clearly states they do not take greasy pizza boxes. That stuff just ends up in the trash after they sort it at the plant.
I prefer lists with explicit instruction rather than infographics. For instance, that says rigid plastics, but it doesn't say NO soft plastics like grocery bags or packing wrap, which can fuck up the sorting machines at the recycling place.
Also notice how every bottle/jar in that picture beside the laundry detergent & shampoo has no lid. But there are no words telling you to remove the lids before recycling them. Do you need to remove them? Or is it optional?
It also says it takes cardboard with a picture of a pizza box, but below that it says no waxed, soiled, or soft paper. So do they throw away soiled cardboard?
Any other tips for heating up oil to frying temperature? It is a thing people did before digital thermometers existed. How did they do it?
When I'm frying, I usually put a little piece of potato in the oil and turn the burner on. When the piece of potato gets crispy and brown, I know I'm at the right temperature. Maintaining that temperature ain't easy and ranges from pan to pan, stove to stove, but I think it's a handy trick when you're out a thermometer.
It's strange I don't ever check my oil temperatures for the few dishes which I do deep fry, (I fry inside of a deep pan). I check if the temperature is correct by adding a bit of batter to see how quickly it cooks.
However it is a lot easier to control the temperature on gas than an electric stove top which I think is what you have Scott (if memory serves correctly).
I'd like to replicate a DiBella's sub as closely as possible for James tomorrow, but I'm having trouble with the oil dressing they use. Google tells me it has oil, vinegar, pepper, oregano and sugar in it (maybe more stuff? I never tasted it so I'm not sure). I've never made a dressing from scratch before so I'm not sure what kind of volumes/quantities to use for it. Does anyone have a tasty base recipe I could try for this?
I'd like to replicate a DiBella's sub as closely as possible for James tomorrow, but I'm having trouble with the oil dressing they use. Google tells me it has oil, vinegar, pepper, oregano and sugar in it (maybe more stuff? I never tasted it so I'm not sure). I've never made a dressing from scratch before so I'm not sure what kind of volumes/quantities to use for it. Does anyone have a tasty base recipe I could try for this?
I think it is very difficult to recreate the Dibella's dressing. I would just make Good Season's Italian dressing instead.
At the very least you can use Good Seasons as a good way to figure out proportions for making your own dressing. Use the carafe they give you to figure out oil/water/vinegar proportions. Then put in equal weight of spices to whatever they put in their packets.
Not Dibella's, but my rule of thumb for dressings is 3:1 ratio olive oil to vinegar. Then add salt, pepper, herbs and other ingredients to taste. If you have an empty mason or jam jar with a lid, make it in there and shake it up for emulsion. If it's not tart enough for you, add splashes of vinegar until you like it.
And those Italian style subs do well with red wine vinegar.
I made some homemade dinner rolls the other night from scratch. I was afraid they weren't going to pull apart as the recipe said they would, but they ended up coming apart perfectly.
allrecipes.com/recipe/classic-dinner-rolls/ I did adjust that recipe slightly, though. I didn't use rapid rise yeast. Instead, I just used the regular packet stuff so I let it rise for about an hour instead of the suggested ten minutes. I also proofed the yeast in 1/3 cup of the water and 1/2 teaspoon of the sugar from the recipe as opposed to just mixing the yeast in dry.
allrecipes.com/recipe/classic-dinner-rolls/ I did adjust that recipe slightly, though. I didn't use rapid rise yeast. Instead, I just used the regular packet stuff so I let it rise for about an hour instead of the suggested ten minutes. I also proofed the yeast in 1/3 cup of the water and 1/2 teaspoon of the sugar from the recipe as opposed to just mixing the yeast in dry.
I make a variant of this (which I call "Monkey Balls" I can't remember why now). But I set the dish in the centre of the table and people just grab pieces and pull them away. I like making them taste like a herb or garlic bread flavour and other times I've made them with a cinnamon bun like taste and consistency for a morning tea type thing.
Comments
Fat left in a pan should primarily come from meat being fried, thus generating delicious pan drippings from which sauces are made.
As for the "no oil down the sink" thing, if you're using oils that are generally liquid at room temperature those typically aren't the problem (although they should be recycled or properly disposed of, regardless). The issue is other animal fats that solidify once they've cooled, like the ones that cook out of what you're frying. Those can cause problems further down the line in the sewage system once they've congealed. Even if it doesn't plug up your lines, it can gum up the works for someone else.
Also, as for dirty oil, my local Aldi has massive ten liter bottles of filtered water for about three bucks, and we've got an empty one for a dump-tank for oil. By the time we've filled one with oil, we'll usually have ended up finishing off another bottle of water. There's probably some store near you with something similar.
Other solution for excess oil.
New York at least accepts all plastics now, and does not require sorting.
Also notice how every bottle/jar in that picture beside the laundry detergent & shampoo has no lid. But there are no words telling you to remove the lids before recycling them. Do you need to remove them? Or is it optional?
It also says it takes cardboard with a picture of a pizza box, but below that it says no waxed, soiled, or soft paper. So do they throw away soiled cardboard?
Ambiguous instructions make Nuri grumpy. >:U
I dare you to easily figure out what to to with CFLs here.
http://www.nyserda.ny.gov/Contractors/Find-a-Contractor/CFL-Recycling-Center.aspx
However it is a lot easier to control the temperature on gas than an electric stove top which I think is what you have Scott (if memory serves correctly). I didn't clarify in my post, I was referring to the "used" status of the oil.
Olive oil itself, if clean is fine it pretty much has most of the qualities of mineral shaving oils.
http://www.kraftfoodservice.com/productsandbrands/dressings/goodseasons.aspx
At the very least you can use Good Seasons as a good way to figure out proportions for making your own dressing. Use the carafe they give you to figure out oil/water/vinegar proportions. Then put in equal weight of spices to whatever they put in their packets.
And those Italian style subs do well with red wine vinegar.
I like making them taste like a herb or garlic bread flavour and other times I've made them with a cinnamon bun like taste and consistency for a morning tea type thing.