(no subject)

[dolari]

Okay, where did I go wrong?

I wanted to make some quick pierogies, and as anything I cook, it went horrifying wrong. For once, I want you, people who CAN cook, to tell me what I did wrong:

The package says "Saute' frozen pierofies in skillet with bitter or oil. Turn occasionally until golden brown on both sides, approximately 8 minutes."

I don't know how to Sautee. So I looked it up: In order to saute, you need to have a large sautee pan (which I actually HAVE) and only put enough butter or oil in the pan to cover the bottom of the pan, and have the heat on high. I heated the pan up, added enough butter (and actually REMOVED some butter to keep it "just covered." Once the pan seemed pretty hot but not so hot the butter was burning, I added the pierogies.

Within 1 minute they were golden brown and the insides were hard and frozen. I took them off at two minutes because the outsides were beginning to char. I cut one open with a knife, and the insides were cold.

So, what did I do wrong? I followed the directions to the letter as best I could.

Dinner is McDonalds again. Gods, I'm tired of fast food, and broiled till barely charred dry steaks.

Next time I'm going to FILM me cooking, so people can tell me exactly where I fucked up. You know, next month when I feel curious about turning on the stove again.

Comments

I don't need a film to tell me what went wrong.

[interactiveleaf.livejournal.com]

You had the heat on too high. It's a common problem for you n00bs.

There are tricks to help novices avoid that problem. One thing you can do is to consistently leave a pan on a heat source for five-ten minutes, and *then* determine whether it's too hot or not (I'm assuming you have an electric stovetop).

Remember that it's quicker to cool down than to heat up, and choose your initial heat accordingly; and search online for tricks to help determine what is too hot (i.e., flick water droplets on the pan and see whether it steams or "dances").

Next time, just call me first. *smooch*

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Heat's up too high. It's OK to have it up high just to melt the butter, but you need to turn it down to saute. I remember being very impatient with stuff like this when I was first cooking. Almost everything you can cook from frozen (like frozen hamburgers and chicken patties and stuff) in a skillet requires slow frying/sauteing, for this very reason.

[madrona.livejournal.com]

I never saute above medium, unless I don't care whether the inside gets cooked or not. The only use for high is boiling water and things that involve a wok.

I honestly think stoves are hotter than they used to be...because classical cuisine does teach you to get the pan very hot.

Also, with frozen pierogies and the like, if it browns too fast and the inside is cold you're allowed to microwave it a little to heat up the middle.

[fair-witness.livejournal.com]

The classic saute does indeed require high heat and moving the food around quickly (to help avoid burning). It sounds to me as if the package may not have used the term precisely as most cooks mean it. Now, if they'd said "browning," that's nice and vague, and I usually translate that to "start low and then increase as needed to get the texture/color you want."

[dhd1.livejournal.com]

The other suggestions about the level of heat are good, but I'd also have a look at thawing/defrosting the pierogies (whatever they are) first.

If the packet suggested pan-frying them while they were still frozen, I'd say it's led you up the garden path. The charred outside and still-frozen inside result you had today is what more usually happens when pan-frying frozen food, because the heat takes longer to penetrate if the centre is so cold. But as it happens, that's also how Chinese restaurants do fried ice-cream: they're briefly deep-fried while still frozen, and the crust cooks while the inside stays cold.

As far as I'm aware the only other cooking method that works with frozen food involves using microwave ovens.

And yes, that is the chicken-cannon answer to the problem, I now realise – but still worth a try. ;)

[jenndolari.livejournal.com]

>If the packet suggested pan-frying them while they were still frozen, I'd
>say it's led you up the garden path.

Yeah, that's exactly what it said to do....

[audaciousd.livejournal.com]

Yeah, about the frozen stuff. I rarely cook anything straight from frozen anymore, even TV dinners, if I can help it (like, I'll let 'em thaw in the fridge during the day if I remember to).

I am too scattered right now to elucidate the reasons why, but like people said...that way, you can avoid overdone outside/frozen inside. You just have to adjust the time and temperature a bit.

Lemon curry?!

Learned at my old-world gram's knee. . .

[faesdeynia.livejournal.com]

Hehe, here's some advice from a Pole :-) If I'm making pierogi from frozen, what I do is to heat up some boiling water and toss them in for just a minute. Fish them out with a slotted spoon, and then put them in a pan heated with butter and onions and saute them. Be careful about your heat being up too high; frying them should take more than just a minute or two. I put mine on this stove at medium heat, but when I had a gas range I had it around medium-low.

Of course, my grandmother abhorred frozen, and couldn't understand how her crazy Americanized granddaughter could stand to eat them. But they're damned tasty and I don't have the time to make fresh.

If you've made them fresh, you can just toss them into the saute pan. I never throw them into the saute pan frozen.

You can also microwave them, but unless you're careful, it'll make the skins leathery.

[chaoticset.livejournal.com]

The directions aren't always right. Sauteeing is not quite the process they wanted you to use, but it was probably the closest they could come.

Much lower heat, next time, would be my main recommendation. When it looks like the pierogies have thawed significantly, bring the heat up to where you had it this time and brown them up properly.

:\

Cooking involves screwing up a lot. *hugs* You will get the hang of it with practice, though.

[jenndolari.livejournal.com]

>Cooking involves screwing up a lot. *hugs* You will get the hang of it
>with practice, though.

I direct your gaze to http://jenndolari.livejournal.com/1043537.html .

[chaoticset.livejournal.com]

Meant as encouragement, nothing more.

If learning to cook is not an option, then I wouldn't do it.

[jenndolari.livejournal.com]

Taken as encouragement. Just thought you should know my reasons for kvetching every time I burn something. :)

[chaoticset.livejournal.com]

Okey. :)

[nathan-r.livejournal.com]

I'd defrost them in the microwave first, and then finish them off in the frying pan. It's easier that way.

[kowaiyukidono.livejournal.com]

I always boiled them first. I know, I know, it doesn't say that, but the results are always favorable.

Also, it depends on your settings to saute. It's like "fry gently" in my experience. A lot of people don't seem to realize that there's multiple settings on their stove, and you can start low and turn it up to high. Try them one at a time next time. That's the fantastic thing about pan-frying things like pirogies. You can toss 'em in one at a time and figure it out from there.

I do agree with madrona up there. I never saute above medium. I've never known anybody to do it on high.

[hemlock-martini.livejournal.com]

I usually pan-fry while frozen, using enough oil to allow them to float a little, add garlic powder and turn frequently. Never had a burnt/frozen pierogi yet.

[frankie23.livejournal.com]

I always boil frozen perogies first. Fill a large pot with water, get it boiling, then dump 'em in. When they're all floating around the top of the water (and not just a corner or something, the whole thing), drain the water, and *then* fry 'em. Cooking perogies straight from frozen is tricky at the best of times, and usually results in what you got, or worse.

[kisai.livejournal.com]

me, I use the defrost cycle on the microwave (it's an "inverter" model which is supposedly better at this, variable power instead of variable cycle.)

Like everyone else said, and common with the omolette story, you used too high of heat. You should have either:
a) defrosted them in water, then pan fried them
b) microwave defrosted them (but you may as well microwave-cook them then)
c) put them in the refrigerator the day you were planning on eating them, so they would be defrosted by the time you cook them.

I've taken cooking classes while in high school. Most things seem really obvious, but some classmates would skip steps or try to multitask. I had the oh so wonderful :p classmates that would never partner up with me or would skip class, so I did nearly everything myself, at the expense of lunchtime (hey, if you are cooking that day, running into lunch isn't that bad.) I think the most common mistake involves trying to rush things by turning the heat up too high, or over-cooking by not watching.

I was one of the only students to be able to make mayonnaise. It doesn't sound hard, but it requires following the instructions exactly.

[nightshadepyre.livejournal.com]

I know people have probably told you the heat should not have been on high. Just inaccurate wording from the pierogie folks, who may not have expected literal use of "saute". Try a low setting next time. Or...

I just boil my pierogies. Much less guesswork involved, and they're near impossible to burn that way! ;)