Everyone is focused on the cooking time and not the punchline, which is still needing to do the dishes.
I know the standard advice is to wash dishes as you cook, but I never know when the cooking is passive enough to warrant doing dishes. If I stop staring at the thing I’m doing I get distracted and it burns.
What you’re supposed to do is get your MISE EN PLACE, that means get your shit ready, prep all the ingredients, mince and dice whatever and get them into prep bowls, and then start cooking when everything is actually ready to be cooked.
If you want to do dishes while you’re cooking,
the cooking is passive
adjust the heat, dawg, nothing should be burning in the 2-3 minutes it takes between stirring to wash something. If it is, you’re cooking it too hot
When I say I get distracted, I don’t mean that I do something for 2-3 minutes and then come back. I completely forget I was cooking for sometimes long periods of time. Even if I’m still in the kitchen.
Timers dawg, timers, if shits on heat set a timer. At least in the 2-3 minutes you’re trying to multi task if it goes off you’ll have the chance to be like “what the fuck was that for OH MY GOD MY ONIONS”
I completely forget I was cooking
i cannot understand how this is possible
Death to America
Rinse as you go, especially for things you know will stick (cheese, eggs, sauces, etc.). You can still use the tool if needed, but it’s a lot easier to clean later on if there’s no dried food on it, and stuff rinses off really easily while still fresh (usually).
I can’t manage to clean as I go either, but this has saved me a mountain of effort.
Hang on, if you’re washing dishes before you are done cooking and long before you even set the table or start eating anything, what exactly is it that you are washing? One big knife and a chopping board? How did this become the standard advice?
My god you’re right. I’ve been wasting years of my life by leaving that one bowl with a bit of juice from some tomatoes at the bottom until later when I did the rest of the dishes. Think of how much I could have achieved in that time!
Skill issue
I always cook as much of whatever I’m making as I can, then put it in containers in the fridge or freezer (depending on the dish and how much).
And I have some base recipes that I cook that are easy to quickly make other things with. One thing I’ve done for almost two decades now is make a basic kinda “half-bolognese” (can’t think of a better English description right now). Just onion, garlic, meat (or in my case vegan alternative), salt, pepper and some stock of your choice. Then freeze that divided into a couple of portions per bag or container. Very easy to use for a lot of recipes.
I also buy bags of dried beans (way cheaper than undried or pre-soaked) and soak those then freeze them like above, same thing there with being good bases for many things.
One of my current favourite recipe that’s quick, cheap and filling without any of the above prep is falafel in tomato sauce. A local brand here in Sweden makes almost weirdly nice falafel that’s $5 for 800g (28oz), which is like 50 falafel balls. I put the falafel in my air-fryer (oven or frying pan works just as well) and while those cook I sauté some onion and garlic in olive oil then add spices (the current version I love is with some smoked paprika, cumin, oregano, thyme, black pepper, lots of turmeric, a bit of soy sauce, a stock cube and either MSG or other umami base). Then add the falafel once done and crushed tomatoes and let cook for a few minutes. Works great with rice, pasta, potatoes in whatever variation you like, couscous, and my current fav which is coarse bulgur with vermicelli (roasted noodles). I wouldn’t have guessed it before trying but the falafel is so good in the sauce!
You’re cooking the wrong recipes if its taking 2 hours every time.
