Food, Glorious Food

The general chat & discussion area .
User avatar
SRD
Rantipole
Posts: 9252
Joined: December 31st, 2009, 7:23 pm
Location: Wiltshire
Contact:

Re: Food, Glorious Food

Post by SRD »

There are occasions when the extra care does matter; whilst skinning the tomatoes isn't essential it does make cutting the flesh into small dice easier and if you don't take the seeds out the salad is much too wet leaving the plate swimming in insipid tomato juice.
Children are like Slinkys - not much use for anything, but it always brings a smile to your face when you throw them down the stairs. Chinchilla
Online
User avatar
Nimuae
member
Posts: 1773
Joined: February 19th, 2011, 10:31 am

Re: Food, Glorious Food

Post by Nimuae »

Good thinking - I'll remember that !
Aequam servare mentem.
User avatar
Little John
member
Posts: 16396
Joined: January 2nd, 2010, 1:46 pm
Location: SE London

Re: Food, Glorious Food

Post by Little John »

Nimuae wrote:Sounds delicious - I will give it a try but have to admit I never skin or deseed tomatoes.

Had friends with me for the day yesterday - craft day - making Christmas Cards !! (sorry )
and for lunch I made Mushroom & Garlic soup, served with homemade crusty bread, for dinner - I made a seriously huge lasagne, with new potatoes and crisp green salad. I had hopes that there would enough left over for my lunch today - ha ha ha - they fell on it like vultures and the whole lot vanished !
I'm getting quite good at bread making now - thanks to a tripple rise and knock back regime. But try as I may, I have not succeeded in getting the crust crusty in the true definition of the term. Like a good french stick or bloomer.

A pan of water does seem to help a bit but its still not "crusty".
Yes this is the real "Little John" (or it could be "colin")
User avatar
SRD
Rantipole
Posts: 9252
Joined: December 31st, 2009, 7:23 pm
Location: Wiltshire
Contact:

Re: Food, Glorious Food

Post by SRD »

Have you tried brushing liquid (water or olive oil) over the top before baking?
Children are like Slinkys - not much use for anything, but it always brings a smile to your face when you throw them down the stairs. Chinchilla
User avatar
Little John
member
Posts: 16396
Joined: January 2nd, 2010, 1:46 pm
Location: SE London

Re: Food, Glorious Food

Post by Little John »

I have tried brushing milk over the top to make the seeds stick. Although oil does sound like it might crisp it up a bit more. I haven't actually "spayed" the oven as such. The blokes on the telly didn't, they just threw a cupful of water onto the oven floor. I keep meaning to try the spray option but need to empty and thoroughly wash out a spray bottle before I do that.

But I'm willing to give anything a go so I will try both oil and water - but not at the same time.
Yes this is the real "Little John" (or it could be "colin")
Online
User avatar
Nimuae
member
Posts: 1773
Joined: February 19th, 2011, 10:31 am

Re: Food, Glorious Food

Post by Nimuae »

I am cooking a Moroccan dish for lunch today - Chicken Tagine with rice - Yummy !!
Aequam servare mentem.
User avatar
Little John
member
Posts: 16396
Joined: January 2nd, 2010, 1:46 pm
Location: SE London

Re: Food, Glorious Food

Post by Little John »

Shame you cant post smells and taste on the internet. Sounds good.
Yes this is the real "Little John" (or it could be "colin")
Online
User avatar
Nimuae
member
Posts: 1773
Joined: February 19th, 2011, 10:31 am

Re: Food, Glorious Food

Post by Nimuae »

LOL! It is quite fragrant - has powdered Coriander seeds and cardamon in it - both of those smell lovely.
Aequam servare mentem.
User avatar
Little John
member
Posts: 16396
Joined: January 2nd, 2010, 1:46 pm
Location: SE London

Re: Food, Glorious Food

Post by Little John »

Talking of exotic cooking, where do the panel stand on cloves and ginger? I'm not too keen on either or honey, comes to that.

But, a friend of mine who brews what is becoming a fairly ubiquitous cider - "Magic Bus" - experiments will all types of flavourings and recently came up with a mix of ginger and honey which surprised me by being quite nice.
Yes this is the real "Little John" (or it could be "colin")
Online
User avatar
Nimuae
member
Posts: 1773
Joined: February 19th, 2011, 10:31 am

Re: Food, Glorious Food

Post by Nimuae »

I love cloves, fresh ginger and honey - and use all three frequently when cooking.
Aequam servare mentem.
User avatar
SRD
Rantipole
Posts: 9252
Joined: December 31st, 2009, 7:23 pm
Location: Wiltshire
Contact:

Re: Food, Glorious Food

Post by SRD »

It depends on what I'm cooking;
an onion studded with cloves is an essential ingredient for a Bechamel sauce (and the bread sauce that we have with chicken or turkey) and the richer forms of Middle Eastern and Sub-Continental cooking demand it. It's also an essential ingredient of Garam Masala.

There's hardly a curry that doesn't include a melange of ginger, garlic and onion and it's a major ingredient in most Far Eastern cookery be it Thai, Chinese or Japanese.

Staying with Sub-Continental cookery, the long marinaded leg of lamb that becomes Raan has a generous coating of honey and, moving more Mediterraneanial I enjoy a teaspoon of Acacia honey in my yoghurt every morning.

So I think I can safely say that cloves, ginger and honey are an integral part of our diet.

Oh - I forgot to say - every winter I stud an orange with cloves to provide a pomander that fills the room with Christmas smells and is dried through the year to make a gloriously scented fire lighter the following Christmas morning.
Children are like Slinkys - not much use for anything, but it always brings a smile to your face when you throw them down the stairs. Chinchilla
User avatar
digger
Sys_op.
Posts: 3392
Joined: December 31st, 2009, 9:45 pm
Location: Round the bend
Contact:

Re: Food, Glorious Food

Post by digger »

Heard about the re-promotion of tripe earlier , even printing out the word is starting to make me gag .
Is anyone a fan of above or what is your least favourite food type .
User avatar
SRD
Rantipole
Posts: 9252
Joined: December 31st, 2009, 7:23 pm
Location: Wiltshire
Contact:

Re: Food, Glorious Food

Post by SRD »

Not fond of tripe myself. I've had it 'British traditional' in a white sauce and continental in a provencale sauce, but I don't like the texture.
Children are like Slinkys - not much use for anything, but it always brings a smile to your face when you throw them down the stairs. Chinchilla
User avatar
Little John
member
Posts: 16396
Joined: January 2nd, 2010, 1:46 pm
Location: SE London

Re: Food, Glorious Food

Post by Little John »

Quite co-incidentally, we were talking about tripe on Wednesday with my parents. I'm not sure if I've tried it or not. If I have, I've put it out of my mind. I'm with Digger on this. Ugh.
Yes this is the real "Little John" (or it could be "colin")
User avatar
SRD
Rantipole
Posts: 9252
Joined: December 31st, 2009, 7:23 pm
Location: Wiltshire
Contact:

Re: Food, Glorious Food

Post by SRD »

We've been making Christmas puddings today, a ritual that takes place very 4 or 5 years as we like the puddings to mature before consumption. The recipe calls for Stout as part of the liquor and I like to follow my mother's advice and use Courage Imperial Russian Stout. Youngs/Wells bought out the old Courage names a few years back and started making IRS last year but I'm using the remnants of a 2 dozen case that I bought about 20 years ago. I'll be damned if the whole bottle is going into the pudding so I poured about a quarter of it into a port glass and I'm sitting here enjoying it whilst the rest of the liquor is absorbed into the mix.
Children are like Slinkys - not much use for anything, but it always brings a smile to your face when you throw them down the stairs. Chinchilla
Post Reply