I'm no chef, but I am still trying to improve my home cooking. The cost benefits are obvious, and I get to make the food exactly how I want it.
Lately, I've learned something really important about my personal tastes: I like worchesthire sauce! I can't pronouce the word, and I don't even know if I spelled it correctly here, but it's surprising how much it has grown on me! So, obviously I like meat, but it often times makes the dish a bit too oily for my taste. I have also learned that simply reducing the oil isn't the right answer either, as I somehow also like it somewhat oily?
It took me a really long time to learn that the issue isn't actually the oil per se, but the need to balance it out with acidity. This is where I see a lot of people adding stuff like either tomatos, tomato paste, or even a can of tomato soup? Anyway, this last time, when I tried the Mississippi variant of the pot roast, it finally sunk in that the pepperocini's acidity was what was balancing out the meat's oilyness.
But pepperocini is also expensive for what it is, and it seems awfully wasteful. Oh, and I think it's a bit too powerful for me? I don't know. That's when I turned to AI for help.
A quick word about AI: I typically use ChatGPT locally, because I don't feel like paying anyone a monthly subscription. Plus, basic cooking advice and recipes are typically not beyond the capabilites of a home AI, so I don't mind turning to it for this.
Thing is though, the recipe it comes up with for even the most basic of inquiries (crockpot pot roast) can result in an exhaustive list of nearly a dozen different spices and ingredients. I'm not a chef, nor am I trying to open a restaurant, so it just seems like overkill.
Throughout this process though, and with some AI guidance to dumb down the recipe even more, I then discovered the worcheshire sauce. I never used it before because it just seemed so unnecessary and too fancy pancy for my own cooking. However, it turned out not only tasting better, but it was cheaper in many ways than other tomato-based ingredients (except tomato paste maybe). I do like tomatoes, just not in this specific dish, and worcheshire tastes better to me, and is also cheaper to boot.
I also like to add cabbage to my roast, and I am still experimenting with what will work best here. For right now, I think a jar of gravy works well enough for me, and it's actually not much more expensive than a powdered sauce packet and beef broth combined, that similar recipes call for. It's also easier to work with.
I think I end up making more like a stew than a roast? I don't know, I'm still learning, and suggestions are welcome. Mostly, I'm just trying to keep the cost of ingredients down, as well as minimize the amount of time it takes to prep and cook things.
June 15th, 2026 at 01:41 pm 1781530876
Even buying some of the most costly ingredients is far cheaper than eating out in most cases.
June 15th, 2026 at 06:24 pm 1781547877
Years ago i was cooking a meal together with someone I was dating and I was making my (modified) apple crisp recipe from my grandmother. The recipe calls for peeled granny smith apples, but peeling apples is so labor-intensive, I found it works just fine with unpeeled apples (plus you're getting a lot more nutrition that way). The man I was dating was just so insistent that if the recipe called for peeled apples, that's what I should do. The whole cooking as a creative enterprise just went right over his head.
June 16th, 2026 at 12:01 am 1781568112
He has two different types of videos - one where he makes a recipe from his vast collection of old cookbooks and talks about the history of cooking.
The other is practical based on ‘what was on sale at the grocery store, ‘what’s in my pantry’, or just something he wanted to cook.
He teaches ‘methods’ as opposed to ‘recipes’ and is really droll.
The community that comments are also knowledgable and helpful.
He usually posts on Saturday and /or Sunday and has been posting for years.
I think beginner and experienced cooks will enjoy him.
June 16th, 2026 at 02:17 pm 1781619445
I like to use beef broth, stewed garlic tomatoes, carrots and potatoes when I make a roast. Sometimes I throw in garlic too. Yum!
Loi, thank you for the YouTube channel rec.
June 16th, 2026 at 02:53 pm 1781621593
Patient: This worchestershire sauce is a new one to me too. I’ve never bought a bottle before until just like a week ago, at the AI’s recommendation. The funny part is, if you were to ask me to describe exactly why this is better than say tomato paste, it would be difficult for me to describe it. I only know I like it better this way, even though I also like tomatoes as well, but I do know combining both was definitely too acidic to me.
Oh wow, why couldn’t he just appreciate the fact that you are making home-made apple pie for him in the first place? Nobody’s made pie for me before, I would be over the moon just by the act of it, regardless of its outcome. I also think it’s kind of telling when someone insists on others that they need to do things in a very particular way. Yes, I know it’s important to know how to follow a recipe’s directions, but it’s just cooking, not dismantling a nuclear bomb.
LOI: Oooh, thank you for the channel recommendation. I will definitely check it out. I think history is fascinating too. Food and diet is such a keystone of human history and cultural evolution. I am also intrigued by this methodology of his. Thank you for sharing this!
Petunia: So you’re saying you can use worchestershire sauce like say, ketchup? Now that you mention it, I vaguely remember some steakhouse restaurants used to have it on the table when I was a kid? According to the AI, putting the sauce on the meat helps to marinade and tenderize it, as well as the veggies, so that’s why I did it that way.
I also like and have used all the other veggies you commented (except for potatoes). Only problem for me is that results in way more food than I can eat, even after a couple of days, so I end up throwing the leftovers away…. So, a part of what I am trying to figure out is how much I like certain ingredients, to justify the extra cost and prep time, and do so without ending up with too much food that I can’t stand to eat. But yeah, they all sound yummy to me too!
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