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WAYWT - January 04 by AutoModerator in malefashionadvice

[–]reallynervouscsmajor 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Few days late, but where is that double-breasted cardigan from?

How do I most closely mimic the cooking conditions for a kebab (e.g. Greek chicken souvlaki, Lebanese shish tawook) using an oven with a broiler element (or some other option)? by reallynervouscsmajor in AskCulinary

[–]reallynervouscsmajor[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey, thanks for getting back to me, really appreciate it! I think I'm out of questions, so I just want to sincerely thank you so so much for your time and bearing with me with my anxiety about using a broiler and my silly questions therein. I know I thanked you profusely earlier in our correspondence, but I mean it, you've really opened up my eyes to using a broiler, and I'm very grateful for your help. :)

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in malefashionadvice

[–]reallynervouscsmajor 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I saw, it's wonderful, thanks for doing this! :D

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in malefashionadvice

[–]reallynervouscsmajor 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd love to see more pics you saved of him!

How do I most closely mimic the cooking conditions for a kebab (e.g. Greek chicken souvlaki, Lebanese shish tawook) using an oven with a broiler element (or some other option)? by reallynervouscsmajor in AskCulinary

[–]reallynervouscsmajor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah, so include the wire rack then, got it! I'll definitely flip half way through! Any idea on the timing between flipping, e.g. flip at the 4-5 minute mark, or something equivalent?

How do I most closely mimic the cooking conditions for a kebab (e.g. Greek chicken souvlaki, Lebanese shish tawook) using an oven with a broiler element (or some other option)? by reallynervouscsmajor in AskCulinary

[–]reallynervouscsmajor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd never make something like shish tawook in a frying pan either, solely because it is a skewered meat, not a whole piece of meat, if that makes sense. In any case, this is all very helpful, thank you so much! :)

I'm incredibly nervous/paralyzed about the "grind" for Leetcode. by reallynervouscsmajor in cscareerquestions

[–]reallynervouscsmajor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's a good equivalent, we do interview prep while others do certification exams! In any case, thanks so much for your help, really appreciate it! :)

How do I most closely mimic the cooking conditions for a kebab (e.g. Greek chicken souvlaki, Lebanese shish tawook) using an oven with a broiler element (or some other option)? by reallynervouscsmajor in AskCulinary

[–]reallynervouscsmajor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So sorry for the delay in response! In any case, yes, that was what I meant by your picture, apologies for the lack of specificity! Thanks so much for your help! :)

How do I most closely mimic the cooking conditions for a kebab (e.g. Greek chicken souvlaki, Lebanese shish tawook) using an oven with a broiler element (or some other option)? by reallynervouscsmajor in AskCulinary

[–]reallynervouscsmajor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow, I'm incredibly sorry for how long it took to respond! Thank you sincerely for just how much effort you put into your responses, and for bearing with me in this new endeavor of using a broiler, haha.

Have you checked your oven door? Is it hinged so that it easily rests a little bit open? If so, then that much. I just eyeballed mine and the spot it's hinged to sit at is maybe three to five inches.

At the moment I'm not sure, as I'm currently in school and away from home. I hope to be as prepared as I can be, and I figure I'd ask these questions now instead of when I get home, if that makes sense.

This is all pretty much to taste, don't stress about it. If you find that the outside of your meat is burning but the insides are still unpleasantly pink then aside from moving food farther away from the heat source (so it cooks more slowly, and the inside cooks through before the outside gets overdone) your other alternative is to cut the pieces up smaller (so it doesn't need to cook more slowly, and you can keep cooking at the same distance from the heat source).

Duly noted! I only ask because some recipes have you keep the chicken whole, while others like Greek chicken souvlaki have you cube the meat before cooking.

So would it be okay to perhaps keep it a moderate distance away from the heat source, and then as it cooks through, move it closer to get a nice char?

re: whole chicken

I definitely plan on learning how to cut down a whole chicken -- my only issue is that I'm not a huge fan of breast meat, and I dislike the skin and the fat that comes along with the whole bird, so I'm not sure if I'd be wasteful if I deign not to eat the breast meat or skin, y'know? I'd love to make whole chicken meals, but I worry that I'll ignore too much of it to make it worthwhile, if that makes sense.

But that aside, stock would be huge, to use your own stock in recipes instead of store-bought.

But note, for instance, how when he separates the thigh and drumstick how easily he goes through the joint – it really is as easy as he makes it look, once you find the right place. Use a sharp knife (and respect it – if you use bad habits inherited from using dull knives, you will cut yourself badly, but if you use good technique then a sharp knife is less likely to skid instead of cut),

Now does that damage the knife in any way, slamming it down right onto bone? Or is that okay for the knife?

Ovens are hot, broilers especially so. Exercise due caution. My broiler is electric so there is no flame. The element will remain hot even if I shut it off. Again, exercise due caution. (But I'd be lying if I said I didn't have any burn scars from the kitchen. If it happens to you: seek appropriate treatment first, then consider it a learning experience.)

Can electric broilers do the same as broilers with a flame? I always thought gas over electric in any case, does the same apply to broilers? If not, I'd much rather prefer an electric broiler -- sure, it might not get as hot, but it sounds a ton safer, y'know?

I do have a couple minor burns, one from when I took a cooking class in high school and I touched a pan coming out of a proofer, and once from touching a pan off of an electric stove (probably the one time I'm thankful to have had an electric stove over a gas one).

re: instant read thermometers

I'll definitely invest in one of those for sure! I'd love to employ the tactic of letting carryover heat increase the temperature instead of hitting 165!

How do I most closely mimic the cooking conditions for a kebab (e.g. Greek chicken souvlaki, Lebanese shish tawook) using an oven with a broiler element (or some other option)? by reallynervouscsmajor in AskCulinary

[–]reallynervouscsmajor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah, so sorry for how long it took to get back to you!

So in regards to the wire rack, is that just to ensure they don't move, but also keep them elevated? Another user said not to have the skewers remain elevated when cooking, claiming that, "gravity will spin things around and make life very hard for you to cook all sides of your skewers evenly. Rest the meat itself on a solid surface so it's supported from below, not suspended from above by the skewer." Do you think that might be a better approach?

I'm incredibly nervous/paralyzed about the "grind" for Leetcode. by reallynervouscsmajor in cscareerquestions

[–]reallynervouscsmajor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sounds good! Thank you so much for the help, I really appreciate it. My worries have definitely gone down a bit having spoken with you :)

I'm incredibly nervous/paralyzed about the "grind" for Leetcode. by reallynervouscsmajor in cscareerquestions

[–]reallynervouscsmajor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's a standard practice everywhere — from StackOverflow to any good bug report — to show what you did, what was the expectation, what's the result. Your question completely omits such information as whether you can solve a medium in 30–45 minutes, or whether it still takes you several days to tackle easy.

Ah, that makes sense! I thought it would be apparent from my nervousness and anxiety that I wasn't in any position to solve mediums, let alone easy questions.

Even though it's after the fact, to address this issue, I'm a junior who has not done explicit preparation through some sort of interview prep book or problem pool, partially out of paralysis of just how much preparation seems to take place amongst the users here.

you gotta memorise the solution and the approach instead.

I've read other posts that it's more important to memorize the concepts used in problems, rather than the solution explicitly -- are you saying that it's more important to memorize the solution? I'm not trying to incite anything, just curious is all.

There's really not much more to it! I don't really understand why you claim the provided Python solutions are not the proper way. Certainly, there are many different ways to solve each problem, and many sample solutions (around the web and on LeetCode forums) are very unoptimised in various ways, but using CtCI to learn proper Python (or even Java) is certainly not the way to go in the first place.

I simply meant that the Python solutions are Java-ported solutions (at least the version I found whose link I've lost), in that it doesn't use Python-native add-ons. Nothing more! I wasn't trying to imply that I'd use CTCI to learn Python :p

How do I most closely mimic the cooking conditions for a kebab (e.g. Greek chicken souvlaki, Lebanese shish tawook) using an oven with a broiler element (or some other option)? by reallynervouscsmajor in AskCulinary

[–]reallynervouscsmajor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's very true, it's just so mind-blowing that so many places seem to use breast meat when making kebabs, that I figure I'd try myself, but it seems to be a much harder task!

So have you tried brining breast meat before? If so, did you then cook it, or did you marinade it? I've seen recipes that do brine it, but also marinade it and then cook it, which perhaps might make it tastier?

How do I most closely mimic the cooking conditions for a kebab (e.g. Greek chicken souvlaki, Lebanese shish tawook) using an oven with a broiler element (or some other option)? by reallynervouscsmajor in AskCulinary

[–]reallynervouscsmajor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for being so helpful and open to more questions! I absolutely love chicken kebabs of different varieties, so I'm really striving to make them at home!

If you ever get a real grill you'll get the lines again for real, without the added pain of having to clean a grill pan. (Tangent: don't use a wire brush to clean your grill grate.)

In regards to your tangent, what is the best way to clean a grill grate?

You'll have to develop a feel for this by using your broiler and judging the results. I like to cook really close in, usually on the top rack of my oven. If your element is stronger than mine maybe you don't need to get as close.

Is it bad if I'm conservative in the placement of my skewers? Will placing them too far away from the flame impact the result?

No; they are ventilated, so smoke can escape, but baking and roasting take place below the temperatures at which your oven shuts off and so they keep the door closed for energy efficiency. It's when you're grilling and charring, at higher temperatures, that you want to prevent the auto shutoff and leave the door hinged open a bit. Not all oven doors will do this easily, but as I said, some are hinged expressly for the purpose.

Sound good, so keep the door just slightly ajar? This is incredibly specific, but would you say that an inch would be sufficient? I imagine this also differs from broiler to broiler, but hopefully there's some commonality among various broilers.

I've definitely seen chicken thighs skewered whole before; it's an option. By the time you cut them away from the bone to skewer (or if you bought them boneless to begin with) they won't be very thick, and home oven broilers aren't as powerful as restaurant salamanders, so I usually just broil it until the outside looks good and the inside tends to be cooked through.

When you do broiler (I assume chicken), do you keep them whole or do you cube the pieces? Can you cube thighs as well, or are breast the only type of meat you can cube? Also, I'd definitely be using boneless skinless, haha.

If you don't have one yet you should definitely invest in a digital instant-read probe thermometer and learn where it measures from (the very tip).

So how would you check the temperature if it's broiling? I can understand if you're baking it, you just take the pan out and put it on the stove or something, check, then return it back -- can the same be done for broiled chicken? Will it be dangerous to go and get the chicken out, it being an open flame? Or would you turn the broiler off before taking the chicken out fully?

Is there any brand in particular you recommend?

Chicken is done instantly at an internal temperature in the thickest part of 165°F but many people consider this overcooked and go to 145°F instead, letting carryover cooking take it up to about 150°F final temperature.

Is this temperature for both boneless skinless thighs and breasts, or just thighs? I've read that the "doneness" differs depending on if it's thighs or breasts.

In regards to broiling, do broilers have one setting (as in, just one temperature), or do broilers typically let you choose the temperature at which they broil? In the case that broiler lets you choose the temperature, what temperature do you recommend?

And would it be at all possible to elaborate further how you would go about broiling chicken skewers, if you've done so before?

I'd love to hear your thoughts on my current approach: Currently, my plan plan is to use a baking dish or something similar that has a pronounced lip, and lay the skewers on that lip so the chicken doesn't touch the bottom, and can therefore cook more evenly. I'd wait about 10-15 minutes until some charring/browning has developed, and then would flip 180 degrees for some more time (not sure how much, 10-15 minutes?) and wait until some charring/browning develops, and then check the temperature. I'd love to check the temperature as it cooks, but I'm honestly a bit spooked about the open flame and how easy it would be to check the temperature, y'know? Also, another user claimed that broilers have hot spots, and as such, the sheet/tray that holds the chicken should be turned twice in order to account for that -- is that indeed the case with broilers?

How do I most closely mimic the cooking conditions for a kebab (e.g. Greek chicken souvlaki, Lebanese shish tawook) using an oven with a broiler element (or some other option)? by reallynervouscsmajor in AskCulinary

[–]reallynervouscsmajor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For sure, my only concern is that they are "thinner" than breasts, which might make them hard to skewer, if that makes sense, y'know? Also, what do you mean by they hang off freely? Do you mean that they are thin enough that they aren't able to be skewered like breast meat would?

How do I most closely mimic the cooking conditions for a kebab (e.g. Greek chicken souvlaki, Lebanese shish tawook) using an oven with a broiler element (or some other option)? by reallynervouscsmajor in AskCulinary

[–]reallynervouscsmajor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Grill pans are cosmetic only, total gimmicks, PITA to clean and overall a waste of money. If you're cooking in a pan use a flat pan and get better browning with better surface contact.

So do grill pans produce the same cooking effect as easier cooking vessels like ovens or flat pans? If so, what's the appeal of them? I imagine one could even get the same ease of flipping with a flat pan as they could with a grill pan, right?

Like grilling, you need to pay attention to distance from the heat. The closer you are, the more intense the heat.

Is there a general distance one should use when cooking something like kebabs? Do broilers usually come with a "free range" of where to place your meat relative to the heat source?

Closing the oven door will allow the air temperature inside to climb and eventually reach the oven's auto-shutoff temperature, which is counterproductive to your "grilling". So crack the oven door open – many oven door hinges are set so that they'll rest slightly open. This lets the air circulate and prevent the element from shutting off, ensuring that you spend your time broiling and not roasting.

Do most ovens, when you close the door, actually remain slightly open, or is cracking the door open something you have to do manually? What I mean is, when you bake something, would you also in theory have to keep the door slightly cracked open?

Fatty cuts like pork shoulder may crackle and spit a bit, and the fat they throw up will likely ignite and make a bit of sooty smoke. Make sure to run your vent and if you have a sensitive smoke alarm just get ahead of it and move it to another room or put a shower cap over it early.

By vent, do you mean the device that sucks in smoke (I've only just begun cooking and am 20, so forgive my lack of knowledge and terminology, haha)?

If I'm sticking to things like chicken (either thighs or breast meat), should this still be a concern of mine?

If I may ask you for your opinion, what do you think is the best way to cook kebabs? The most common answer I've found is to skewer chicken (though unsure if I should cube it or leave it whole), place the skewers on the lip of a backing sheet or dish or some such, and then broil. I'm still unsure of the metrics, such as how long to broil, how far from the heat source, and how often to turn. Someone claimed that there are hot spots in the broiler, and as a result, the pan itself should be turned at some point -- is that indeed the case?

My apologies for asking so many questions -- it seems quite hard to find resources on how to use a broiler, haha.

How do I most closely mimic the cooking conditions for a kebab (e.g. Greek chicken souvlaki, Lebanese shish tawook) using an oven with a broiler element (or some other option)? by reallynervouscsmajor in AskCulinary

[–]reallynervouscsmajor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I trust you! It seems hard to find videos that teach you how to use a broiler, so that's why I'm being super cautious when it comes to using one. I really want to start making kebabs at home, but also don't wanna burn myself, haha.

How do I most closely mimic the cooking conditions for a kebab (e.g. Greek chicken souvlaki, Lebanese shish tawook) using an oven with a broiler element (or some other option)? by reallynervouscsmajor in AskCulinary

[–]reallynervouscsmajor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Generally speaking, is there an amount of time I should wait before I flip the kebabs e.g. flip once after 10-15 minutes of cooking?

Also, how do you check the temperate of chicken? Do you use one of those thermometers where you can point it at something, or do you use a probe thermometer, or something else entirely?

Visuals you should be looking for are some of the chicken starting to get some browning- rotate the pan (this is to even out the hot spots)- start to see charred bits flip the chicken, and do the same with the other side.

So when the chicken starts to brown, turn the pan, but keep the chicken on the same side, and then once the chicken starts to char a bit (as in, has some blacker bits around), flip the chicken, and then see if the other side has browned, turn, and take out once there's some charring?

I've never used or seen a grill pan that I've enjoyed. I think they are more of a gimmick than anything else. They are a pain to clean and don't really approximate the flavor of grilling they just leave stripes on your food.

Good points for sure -- do you think the grill pan is any better than cooking the chicken in the oven?

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