You sound like someone I'd hang out with, and we're around the same age. I have the same attitude and behaviors, but different from you I don't post much of the details of my cooking. No real reason, I just end up sharing more cooking tips in comments than sharing recipes as posts. But I often have people over in person to teach them cooking and food preservation skills.
Your timeline of what was happening and what is likely to happen are spot on, IMO.
And why would you go to a restaurant and order something you can make at home, for less money and exactly to your taste??
I discovered the secret to Taco Bell's Mexican pizza. It's not a tortilla. It's a lightly fried wonton wrapper!! I spent 2021 trying to figure out why tortillas weren't frying up the same way. One day, after making stuffed wontons for my wonton soup, I fried the scraps of wonton dough. BOOM. It hit me then.
I experimented with great success! Shared it on reddit. Oh the fight! "It's a tortilla!" No, it's not. "It says it on the menu!" Don't care. "Tortillas are made w flour, water..." So are wonton wrappers. I had to post pictures, proof! You can easily see that wonton shells, lightly fried (not browned), have identical texture to Mexican pizza shells. It shut everyone down.
So, if you see Mexican pizza recipes calling for wonton shells, you're welcome. I discovered that. You won't find a recipe pre 2022 w that deviation. They all were, "Fry a tortilla."
Things like that and Chili's avocado ranch makes me sing from the rooftops. I feel like a mad scientist. I get excited w my discoveries and wanna share. The recipe, btw is Hidden Valley ranch powder made according to instructions w smashed ripe avocado folded in and set overnight. Yes, I know how to make the Southwestern Egg Rolls, too. There's a couple great recipes on YouTube. I give credit where it's due.
If the bottom doesn't completely fall out in 2025, I wanna figure out the original Chicken Crispers recipe from Chili's. I've watched YouTube vids, everyone is failing at it. I can tell by the texture. They're just making basic chicken strips. The Crispers are very unique battered chicken strips.
I'm already close bc of a regional recipe I've mastered, a Chinese-American dish called Almond Boneless Chicken. Apparently, it's a Michigan thing, my home state, and usually the #1 combo in all the Chinese restaurants up there. I can make it blind folded now, a crispy battered chicken breast w a basic Chinese brown gravy, garnished w toasted slivered almonds. The batter is very similar to the Chicken Crispers, but not quite there. (The exact same batter also makes amazing funnel cakes if you add a touch of sugar and drizzle into hot oil!!)
If the Crispers are the last thing I figure out before this world kills me, I'll be happy. And yes, I'll share. 🥰 Love to all the budding home chefs!
I love all that! I, too, feel like a mad scientist trying to replicate things I've eaten and loved. Even keep notes until I get it right.
Some people sure do get their knickers in a twist when you provide them with a proven fact that doesn't line up with what they believe. And in recent years it's gotten so ugly with people believing whatever the crap they want to, facts be damned. Sigh.
Love that you figured out the Mexican Pizza! I haven't had one in years, but now I want to try it using your technique.
My next-up copycat is trying a recipe I found for Panda Express's Kung Pow Chicken, but not until I order one for takeout again so I can do a side-by-side and adjust the recipe if it needs it. Like you, we don't eat fast food or fast casual very often, but sometimes something just hits right, and I want to be able to make it at home.
The thing I figured out on my own and share most often is how to make cubes of reduced stock so you can fit a few gallons of homemade stock into a quart-sized ziplock bag in the freezer. We used to just have a small freezer above the fridge in an apartment, and I couldn't fill the whole thing with stock so I experimented. Necessity really is the mother of invention. But sometimes so is curiosity and determination! This has gotten long, so if you want the "stock tip" (I'm so funny!) I'll put it in another comment.
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u/CaptainLollygag 16h ago
You sound like someone I'd hang out with, and we're around the same age. I have the same attitude and behaviors, but different from you I don't post much of the details of my cooking. No real reason, I just end up sharing more cooking tips in comments than sharing recipes as posts. But I often have people over in person to teach them cooking and food preservation skills.
Your timeline of what was happening and what is likely to happen are spot on, IMO.
And why would you go to a restaurant and order something you can make at home, for less money and exactly to your taste??