Cooking tip--questionable?

[NecessaryCatharsis]

I would be interested in the pie crust with rum in it too. I love my pie crust, I'm imagining you just use rum instead of the apple cider vinegar. If it goes well then I will have to see what I can do about putting whiskey in instead of rum. Love me some whiskey, and I make a great whiskey caramel cream pie.

Jester, as for me being {whatever the opposite of lazy} to make my own pasta, I'm not, I'm just really cheap. I get a lot of farm ingredients in exchange for part time chores (eggs and milk included) and flour is a lot cheaper than pasta (or bread, or pizza crust, or cookies, and all the other things I don't buy but make). I say cut all the corners you can, I've had premade things at other peoples houses, and I would say the pasta is the one with the least difference in quality, it's the flavour of the sauce that really makes or breaks the pasta dish. I still like mine better, but not enough to make a fuss about it.

The stores around here are really expensive, I'm technically in northern Ontario. 2Litre Coke - $3.79. Box of KD - $2.19. So forth.

[Kittish]

Ok, here's my pie crust recipe.

2.5 cups flour (I prefer to use unbleached all purpose. Replacing 1/2 cup of the flour with semolina flour works out nicely.)

1 tablespoon sugar (I use dark brown, I like the flavor in most baked goods. White sugar is perfectly fine.)

1.5 teaspoons salt (Trust me on the salt, don't cut it back.)

1 cup of butter, very cold, cut into pieces about 1 centimeter square

1/4 cup shortening

3/4 cup chilled liquid (I use about 1/2 cup rum and 1/4 cup water. You can use pretty much any sort of booze here.)

Temperature is key here, you want everything to be nice and cold. Usually what I do is prep all the ingredients and put everything into the freezer (still separate) for at least an hour. I also use cold packs on the counter I'll be rolling my dough out on just before I do roll it out.

Combine flour, sugar and salt. Mix well. Drop butter in, more or less piece by piece. Add shortening. Cut the butter and shortening into the flour using either a pair of butter knives or a pastry knife, until the largest pieces of butter are just smaller than an english pea. Add about 1/2 cup chilled liquid, mixing well, then continue to add liquid a tablespoon at a time just until the dough comes together into a ball. Wrap in plastic and let it rest in the fridge for an hour or longer.

Chill and dust with flour the surface you'll be rolling your dough out on.

Divide the dough, re-wrap one half and set it aside for now. Roll out the other half, folding it into thirds several times as you do. This is what makes the flaky layers. You should still be able to clearly see pieces of butter.

[AccountingDrone]

I had homemade, well, restaurant made, pasta for the first time a couple months ago. Blew me away how much better it was than the box stuff. I haven't learned to make my own yet, but it's on my list. Right after pie crust, which was my new years resolution that I haven't started working on yet.
.

The rum crust recipe looks interesting - I can think of a few different things to use it with.

I have an atlas pasta mill setup, the various noodle cutting heads, the ravioli plaque, the manicotti plaque and enjoy making our own noodles. I really like making the noodles with whole fresh parsley and basil leaves rolled in at the last fold so they show through.
Makes great looking ravioli. I put the raw noodles in my oven to dry turned off, just need to keep the cat from helping herself to it.

[Ree]

There is one cooking tip for pasta that I'll stand behind, even though it goes against pretty much every cooking show or instruction out there. Do NOT put oil in the water you cook your pasta in. The overall effect of putting oil in your water is that you wind up with pasta that has a thin coating of oil on it, so your sauce doesn't stick to it (or at least doesn't stick well). Stir your pasta right after you get it in the water and again 4 or 5 minutes later and it shouldn't stick to the pot or itself.

I am going to respectfully disagree with you here. Not saying that your method doesn't work. Merely that the oil method does work, if done right. To wit, use only a few drops of oil. That's all you need, and it should cut down on stickage greatly. Been doing it for a long time, and I've not had greasy pasta, nor have I noticed any lack of sauce to pasta adhesion.

Sorry Jester, you can respectfully disagree all you want, but, having been married to a chef, I can tell you that Kittish is correct. (If you still think we're wrong, google it. You will find many more chefs who say not to use oil than those who do. )

If your method works for you, though, and you are happy with it, then go with it.

I've always heard that you use oil to prevent boil-over.

Never heard that. Just that it's done to help lessen the amount of pasta that sticks to the pot.

Again, JustShootMe is correct. Sticking is not the only reason why people began adding oil to the water. Preventing boil over is also a reason. The oil molecules reduce surface tension in he water.

Again, whatever works for you, keep doing it if you get the desired results, but many, many chefs will tell you that adding oil really doesn't make a huge difference, and,as Kittish pointed out, can even prevent sauce from sticking to the noodles.

[Kittish]

AccountingDrone- what a great idea! I think I might have to swipe that at some point. will the pasta hold together around where the leaves are if you cut it into narrow noodles, or do you need to keep it in wider sheets with the leaves in?

I don't (yet) have all the various attachments for my pasta machine, just basic fettuccine and spaghetti. I'll probably get a couple more for Christmas, my boyfriend insists that he's going to get me all the kitchen gadgets my heart desires, it just might take a while.

[AccountingDrone]

AccountingDrone- what a great idea! I think I might have to swipe that at some point. will the pasta hold together around where the leaves are if you cut it into narrow noodles, or do you need to keep it in wider sheets with the leaves in?

I don't (yet) have all the various attachments for my pasta machine, just basic fettuccine and spaghetti. I'll probably get a couple more for Christmas, my boyfriend insists that he's going to get me all the kitchen gadgets my heart desires, it just might take a while.

it will not hold together so I do it on the wide noodles like lasagne, ravioli/manicotti and papardelle/farfalle.

[Kittish]

Here's a random tip for people who like brownies. Bake brownies in silicone baking cups. I use mini tart cups, and wind up with what I've taken to calling brownie pucks. They're a nice individual size, and each one has a lovely crunchy/chewy edge around the top. If you just break one open, they look all light and fluffy and cakey. But when you bite into it, all that fluffy goodness just melts into rich chocolate fudge.