How is it so fucking hard for another restaurant to copy their croutons? I’m about to open a Ruby Tuesday-modeled crouton-only restaurant. I’ll prolly make some decent coin….
Lots of fat and salt. And natural or artificial glutamates if you can work them in. Those three things (along with some sweetness) are why restaurant food tastes so good.
Home cooks are generally conscious about limiting how much fat and salt they add because they are eating that food all the time. Restaurants don’t give a fuck. And most home cooks don’t add any artificial glutamates even when the dish lacks them. MSG scare and all.
I make a mean vegetarian gravy. At thanksgiving meals it goes 5 times as fast as the meat-based drippings gravy. My secret? Vegetarian bouillon cubes which are basically palm oil and MSG. In fact, I toss one or two of those vegetable bouillon cubes into many things I make.
Then use crisco and MSG. You are the one cooking. You figured out a cheaper way to do it, so go for it.
Meanwhile, I’ll keep doing what I do because it works for me, and I am a dolt. The extra spices, convenient packaging and the ability to freeze the pre-measured cubes indefinitely is what I know.
I started hobby cooking 25 years ago, and well, my recipes are written with those cubes in mind. Anyway…
Agreed. It has become so verboten in the ingredient list. Yet, there are a lot of ways to add glutamates to food hidden behind names like “autolyzed yeast extract.” In any case, people love umami even if they don’t know they do.
Sure. It isn’t very complicated. Either vegetarian or vegan.
3-2-1 is the norm for gravy. Scale up. I usually figure 1C of broth per person because everyone likes leftovers.
3T flour, 2T butter (or equivalent,) 1 cup broth. I make my broth double strength with Knorr vegetable bouillon cubes dissolved in either water or milk in the microwave.
Sauté some finely diced onions or shallots and a few optional, desired herbs (rosemary or sage work well) in a TBL of butter. Set aside.
Make a quick roux with the flour and fat. Slowly stir in the liquid and cooked onions/shallots/herbs. Cook and stir until it gets thick. Finish with ground pepper.
Boom!
When reheating you may want to add some additional liquid like water or milk to thin it out.
My husband's family recently lost the best damn gravy maker I've ever had the privilege of knowing. And somehow I've been voluntold to be in charge of the gravy this year. Thank you so much for this. No one has ever mentioned a 3-2-1 ratio before and always just winged it on my family's side. When I wing it, it's hit or miss, now I know why. And I've already got some Accent, so putting that in my back pocket as the secret ingredient.
Knorr. Exclusively. Unfortunately it seems to have been discontinued in the US. I order it off of Amazon but the quick expiration dates are a common complaint. No matter to me because I just freeze it which doesn’t seem to affect the flavor.
I have always used their chicken and beef jars. Knew they had a veggie option, but this year I saw a Turkey option on the shelf! I don't know if it's a new seasonal product or has always been offered, but sweet Jesus I've been wishing for this for years. So excited to try it!
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u/Otherwise-Tale9671 Nov 19 '22
How is it so fucking hard for another restaurant to copy their croutons? I’m about to open a Ruby Tuesday-modeled crouton-only restaurant. I’ll prolly make some decent coin….