BS: Recipes - what are we eating?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Nov 19 - 02:36 PM

I use my Romertopf for roasting chicken with vegetables around it (carrots, potatoes, onions - no matter how many vegetables I add I always run out of veg before I run out of chicken when it comes to eating). I'll have to try the rice, that sounds good. The thing about the chicken in that clay baker is that it's falling off of the bone but still moist, unlike most other forms of cooking to the falling-off-the-bone stage.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 17 Dec 19 - 01:40 PM

I resurrect this bulky old thread today to sing the praises of Cheddar cheese from Wookey Hole. It is truly delicious, and worth the swingeing price charged by Vincenzo’s delicatessen in Kitchener, which would be more accurately named if the sign said Cheese Heaven.

I bought a tiny piece of the Wookey Hole on Steve Shaw’s recommendation. Just so you know, Steve, if I end up in the poorhouse, you will be to blame.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Dec 19 - 02:12 PM

Thank you for pulling it up and reporting back on that cheese! I was at Costco a few days ago and wondered if Steve had tracked down that particular cheddar I mentioned before.

I made a batch of lefse this weekend and am slowly reheating a couple at a time and buttering and sprinkling with cinnamon sugar. Mmmmm!

Also, when friends came over for lunch on Sunday I made a batch of falafel. My recipe is from a Middle Eastern cookbook, this particular recipe is from Israel, and it uses bulgar wheat and a small amount of flour as binders. I'll probably make some more this week just for myself. I made the tahini sauce ahead and had pita bread in the freezer that I baked slightly and cut in half before letting people put their sandwiches together.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 17 Dec 19 - 04:34 PM

I don't have a place to store a clay pot. I believe I'll try the chicken and rice recipe in my Dutch oven.

Other news: I have been having fun with the bread-making methods of Steve Gamelan, who has YouTube videos for no-knead bread. Here's the first one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yePMpoyXwys

I've made the round white bread and the olive bread. Next I will try buttermilk bread.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Dec 19 - 09:53 AM

The cholesterol needs to come down a few points so I am going to have to make sure bean dishes and breakfast oatmeal are on the menu regularly. Which is fine with me, I enjoy both.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 18 Dec 19 - 01:03 PM

I cut out cheese (except for a cheese course), lost 2 stone and brought my cholesterol to where it belongs...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Dec 19 - 08:11 PM

Oh gosh, an aficionado of Wookey Hole in such a far-flung locale! It's great that you tracked it down and found where you could find it in good condition. It's made from pasteurised milk which is supposed to be a downer, but Mrs Steve (Nicky) and I have subjected ourselves to blind tastings (I tried not to cheat) and found Wookey to be better than Keens, Montgomery's, Westcombe and Gould's, all of which are made with unpasteurised milk and which are much-vaunted.

I don't suppose you'd appreciate the fact that I can get a 200g hunk for two quid...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Dec 19 - 09:01 PM

It apparently can't be purchased anywhere (online) in the U.S.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 18 Dec 19 - 09:08 PM

No, Steve, I don’t appreciate that fact AT ALL. I suspect that, with the eensy-weensy piece I purchased, I also paid its first-class passage from Heathrow by BOAC or whatever you guys call it now.

Today we’re drinking a delicious Viognier from Narbonne (a gift from Himself’s brother) with salmon from Norway (purchased at Sobey’s). No terroir issues here!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Dec 19 - 09:39 PM

Well today was our 43rd wedding anniversary, and we were supposed to be having champers with a classy red to follow, but we were both so knackered after visiting me old mum and trying to get ready for two separate Christmases (families? Who needs 'em!) that we decided to put it off until tomorrow. I still managed to cook Mediterranean cod in tomato, caper and thyme sauce. Very nice, but the spuds were too soft. There'll be a next time...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 19 Dec 19 - 05:14 AM

My most recent cheese discoveries are Mrs Kirkham's Lancashire (I think I've mentioned it before): firm, rich and tangy, not your typical bog-standard crumbly Lancashire (nowt wrong with that, of course), and Kit Calvert's Wensleydale. I like any kind of Wensleydale but this one isn't like the others. It's creamier and more complex. I believe that it was that great dalesman Kit Calvert who rescued the Wensleydale creamery from extinction. What a man! His story is very romantic and well worth a quick google.

The legendary Mary Quicke, who once personally sold me a pound of the superb Quicke's extra mature cheddar in her farm shop in Devon, was awarded the MBE. I think Ruth Kirkham is equally deserving. I think I'll write to the Queen!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Raggytash
Date: 19 Dec 19 - 05:26 AM

Steve, if you went to the Creamery in Hawes you would be sadly disappointed.

Yes they do produce Wensleydale Cheese but then they "bastardise" most of it with ginger, cranberries, gin, rum, caramelised onion, apricots, pineapple, chilli, beer, balsamic onions, orange and garlic!!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 19 Dec 19 - 05:50 AM

I will not eat any "cheese" that contains anything other than rotted milk, starter and salt.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: BobL
Date: 22 Dec 19 - 02:46 AM

Not even sage Derby?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 23 Dec 19 - 01:41 AM

A few comments:
Tilapia has no inherent taste or texture of its own . . . FEH!
"Rotisserie chicken" tastes as it does because of its high salt content, so if you tend to retain water broil your own.
Many years ago on a sailing trip we trailed lines off the stern of our boat. The only times we caught mackerel was off sewage heads. I have not eaten mackerel since.
A digital thermometer is very handy. We cook our birds, especially turkey, at an oven temperature of 250F. We set the thermometer alarm 5 degrees below the official "done" temperature. No one has ever complained about dry bird when we prepare this way.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 23 Dec 19 - 07:15 AM

Barnacle, where in the turkey do you plant the thermometer probe? Is it the kind that plugs in to a socket in the oven, so the “thermometer alarm” is on the control panel of the stove?

We have such a stove, and I am contemplating your low-temperature technique.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Dec 19 - 10:16 AM

In the Asian grocery store some time ago I got talking to a guy who said that while the farm-raised tilapia in most grocery stores (including the Asian market) is so mild because of the way it's raised, if you catch it and eat it yourself out of a non-farm pond it tastes much better. Apparently he had access to a body of water with tilapia that was quite tasty.

The WSU Creamery sold out all of it's cheeses earlier this year and won't sell more till it's old enough. (Reminds me of the cartoon of the proselytizing mice going door-to-door announcing "Let us tell you about Cheeses.")

The news this morning warns against eating raw cookie dough. I don't, anyway, but apparently it isn't just because of raw egg hazards, but also because there can be E. coli in the wheat flour if there was anything on the grain before it was ground into flour. Now some companies pasteurize their eggs and pre-heat their flour to about 100^oF before it goes into production so to avoid illness. You can eat raw Pillsbury or Nestle cookie dough if you wish, but if you buy pre-made (processed) cookie dough you are dead to me. That is all. :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Dec 19 - 03:37 PM

The freezer is full so recipes for the next month will be crafted to draw down the chicken and various frozen garden vegetables (lots of sliced and frozen hot peppers, for example). So chicken fajitas, chili, bean recipes, etc.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stanron
Date: 27 Dec 19 - 12:19 AM

Earlier tonight I watched a program about Heston Blumenthal and it mentioned his 'triple cooked chips'. The three cooking stages are, simmer, low temperature fry and high temperature fry. After the simmer and the first fry the chips were subjected to desiccation. Has anyone tried this? Most chip shop chips today are kind of soggy. Fluffy on the inside and crisp on the outside sounds like Heaven.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 27 Dec 19 - 08:23 PM

All you need is a bag of salad spuds, some salt and a few glugs of groundnut oil.

Scrub the spuds but don't peel. Cut into chip-sized pieces. Par-boil in salted water for eight minutes.

Meanwhile, turn your oven up to as high as it will go and grab a roasting tin.

Drain the spuds and leave for a couple of minutes to dry out. Put them back in the pan and shake like mad until all the edges are frayed. Put into the baking tray and coat generously with the oil. Put into the hot oven for about twenty minutes. One good turn half way through is good,

Do this and you will never fret over bought chips ever again. And you'll live longer.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Dec 19 - 10:04 PM

I've seen television programs that demonstrated how to make chips (what we call "fries" here) with two cooking steps - fry for a bit in the oil, take it out, then put it back in a few minutes later. That's also the way to make tostones, a related kind of fried food made of plantano or plantain bananas. When they're green you can make them into fries, when they're ripe you can bake them and they're sweet and very good with butter and cinnamon sugar. For tostones you fry them a couple of minutes, then each cross-sectioned piece is flattened a bit, put in salty water for a minute, drained, and then back in the oil till it's finished frying.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 28 Dec 19 - 02:52 AM

Life is too short to cook chips 3 times.

Dave H

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 28 Dec 19 - 06:32 AM

I agree. Leave that to the chippies. SRS, mine can't be called fries because they are first boiled then baked.

If you can get firm little salad spuds that you know will hold their texture, a very simple way of cooking them is to wash them, cut them in half, coat them in extra virgin olive oil with a pinch of salt, stand them on their cut ends on a baking tray and put them in a hot oven (200C fan) for half an hour. You can easily make them Mediterranean style if you want to. Just throw in a sprig of rosemary and a handful of unpeeled garlic cloves. I might wait ten minutes before adding the garlic as it's nice to have the cloves soft and sweet for sucking instead of burnt. One toss half way through is good.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 30 Dec 19 - 12:25 AM

Sorry to take so long getting back, Charmion. We use an external digital thermometer but I see no reason for the integrated unit in your oven not to work.

We put the probe into the breast in the middle of the meat as it seems to give consistent readings.

By observation, we have figured out why stopping the cooking at a few degrees before it's officially done works well. The temperature in the outer meat is hotter and averages itself with the temperature in the middle of the meat. If you bring the core temperature to the officially declared "done temperature," it is overcooked and dry.

Check the thermometer calibration by using water at several known temperatures. Most likely it's accurate but it's nice to be sure. Trust but verify.

We did a prime rib in the oven this weekend and put several potatoes in the roasting pan, where they could pick up some of the flavor. A few onions went in, too. When the meat was done, we pulled the potatoes and onions. We pulled the skins off and mashed them with chopped up onions, added eggs and made potato pancakes [latkes]. Delicious! The texture is different from latkes made with shredded potatoes but, when fully cooked, is quite acceptable.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 30 Dec 19 - 07:07 PM

I have a rusting old oven thermometer for checking the accuracy of the oven. I may have used it five years ago and I haven't a clue where it is. Other than that, I'm not interested in sticking probes in lumps of meat to find out if they're "done." I know when they're done by appearance and by experience. I've never poisoned anybody and I don't serve up underdone or dried-out meat. I've cooked two 5kg turkeys in the last five days. The rules are:

Don't stuff the turkey

It must be fully at room temp before cooking

Don't use one of those throwaway foil cooking tins. Get a proper baking tin with lots of room in it

Cover the breast with lots of streaky bacon

Put foil over the bird

Turn up the oven to 180C (fan). Put in the turkey on a lower shelf

The 5kg bird needs three hours, then 45 minutes to rest. After an hour and a quarter, take off the foil

After another hour, take off the bacon and baste the bird

Keep an eye on it for the remaining 45 minutes. Baste it once or twice and, if the breast is going a bit too brown, put a small piece of foil on just the breast for a few minutes. You might decide that it can come out a few minutes early

Here's what you don't do:

Never compromise on the quality of the turkey. Genuine free-range and a slow-growing breed are the minimum. Most frozen turkeys are very poor

Never turn the turkey

Never fiddle with the oven temperature. Leave it alone

Never try to cook a huge turkey in a normal oven. Attempts to cook a twenty-pounder in a little oven are doomed to failure. You're far better off with two smaller birds (and you get four drumsticks and four wings...mmmm...) 5kg/12lb is tops for me

I had two perfect turkeys this Christmas. I've made all the mistakes I've mentioned above but, after fifty-plus years of turkey cooking, I'm getting there.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 31 Dec 19 - 12:06 AM

Steve, I can also cook by smell. It works. A thermometer is more reliable and lets you vary the cooking conditions to meet you needs that day.
Have you ever tried an Empire frozen turkey? It might change your opinion about frozen birds.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Dec 19 - 10:30 AM

I live in a state that is smack in the middle of the US, on the southern border, and it has several layers of tradition. I'm in the Northern part of this Southern state that is more anglo than the Southern portion of this Southern state (where it has the huge influence of Mexico.) This time of year, it is typically lumped with the "Deep South" which are states on the SE corner of the US. In that part of the South, there is a tradition of eating black eyed peas on New Years Day, but I grew up in the far upper NW corner of the contiguous US in Washington, so I don't bother with the peas, they have no appeal or tradition for me. I don't put gravy on my baking powder biscuits, either (another rather loathsome practice down here, especially when it is totally bland "milk gravy" with no flavor to speak of.)

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: keberoxu
Date: 01 Jan 20 - 04:42 PM

Time to visit the Irish-American restaurant
and order
some Guinness beef stew.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: BobL
Date: 02 Jan 20 - 02:37 AM

Adding beer to a beef casserole never fails, but it doesn't seem to make much difference what sort of beer - lager, light ale, bitter or stout, all give similarly excellent results. Does anyone else find this?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 02 Jan 20 - 09:51 AM

BobL, maybe it's the subtlety of my taste buds, but I can tell the difference between boeuf Flamande, a stew of beef and onions made with Belgian-style light ale, and a beef stew made with onions and Guinness. Boeuf Flamande has a sharp, winy flavour, and the Guinness-based dish is sweeter, with a distinctly caramel character. Evidently you are getting different mileage.

For Hogmanay, after I paid the bills and tidied the house, I made faisan à la Normande for the first time. Pheasant is available from our favourite farmer, Mrs McIntosh, and Himself took it into his head that it would be kinda nice. So there I was, looking for crème fraîche in the dairy case at Sobey's -- and I found it, tucked in beside the cottage cheese. I guess the foodies have completed their take-over.

The technique of braising the pheasant was rather messy, as it involved two birds that had to be rolled over every fifteen minutes in a snug-fitting casserole that also contained apple slices and diced shallot simmering in cider. Also, like many French recipes, it preoccupied me to the extent that I barely remembered the other items on the menu, such as veg. Fortunately, Himself's sister had given us a pie, so dessert was taken care of. When all was done and dished up, the pheasant was fine but the sauce was a bit bland; it could have done with a dash of cider vinegar. I'll know better next time.

The fun part was pouring 50 ml of flaming Calvados over the birdies in the casserole, and extinguishing the trussing string when it caught fire. What larks!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 06 Jan 20 - 07:34 AM

Have you lot quit cooking, or what?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Raggytash
Date: 06 Jan 20 - 07:36 AM

Another batch of Marmalade has just been bottled.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 06 Jan 20 - 12:54 PM

We made a huge lasagne two nights ago. It's a collaboration, strictly speaking, as I let Mrs Steve make the béchamel ( we use strong cheddar mixed with parmesan and I don't care what anybody thinks) and assemble the thing. We are somewhat at odds over the ragù. She thinks I should be adding garlic-crusher garlic and I think garlic shouldn't go anywhere near. I compromise by chucking in a few peeled cloves that I've bashed with my fist. Over the years I've secretly removed dried herbs from the mix altogether. I'd rather hack off the family jewels with a rusty machete than add dried basil. As it's Christmas I did add a little sprinkle of dried oregano this time. A sprig of thyme wouldn't hurt. I always start with a soffritto in which I include some chopped unsmoked bacon or pancetta. The soffritto is equal parts chopped celery, carrot and onion in extra virgin olive oil, sautéed until the veg is softened. I brown the meat separately, not too much at once, by dry-frying in a big stainless steel frying pan I've inherited. The meat is half minced steak and half minced pork. Once browned it goes into the soffritto along with a bit of chicken stock, tomatoes (one 400ml tin of plum tomatoes fewer than the number of pounds of meat) and some seasoning. Maybe a splash of wine. That needs a good hour or more at a simmer. Two hours wouldn't hurt. Adjust for correct sloppiness with a bit more stock or tomato. Adding water is far too disappointing. Then it's over to the assembly dept. We cook it for about 40 minutes in a 180C oven. Leftovers are perfect microwaved for breakfast the next day. Either you serve it up with a drizzle of your finest olive oil on top or you're wrong. Some garlic bread and salad goes well. I've seen it on offer in pubs with chips. If you see that, call a constable immediately.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Jan 20 - 01:37 PM

Our family holiday gathering was yesterday and my fridge is stufffed full of leftovers. There won't be any original dishes prepared until some of that is drawn down or frozen. That said, I do have a bowl of chick peas soaking to make a batch of falafel tomorrow; this is to test the new food processor (higher capacity - my old one was woefully under-powered and had a tiny bowl) and take some of the patties over to family who contributed this new tool to my kitchen. (I made a couple of batches of falafel balls last week with the small deep fryer, but this time I'll use shallower oil in a pan and cook flattened patties to eliminate the cleanup involved with the fryer.) The falafel comes now because the son who gave the food processor flies back to the West coast later this week.)

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Raggytash
Date: 06 Jan 20 - 03:57 PM

Ah hem ………………. Bechamel doesn't have cheese in it.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Jan 20 - 04:14 PM

Of course it does - if you add it. "White sauce" - the basis of so many recipes. At my house, many of them have cheese.

I mean, really, WHAT would you want it FOR if it didn't have cheese added?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 06 Jan 20 - 04:58 PM

Ah, Raggytash is right. She makes the béchamel then stirs cheese into it, which I suppose makes it not béchamel any more. We all have our ways...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 07 Jan 20 - 06:29 AM

When it has cheese in, it becomes Mornay sauce.

If you care.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 07 Jan 20 - 07:39 AM

I tried to invent a sesame vegetable soup with Tons of hearty ingredents. It grew bigger and worse.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 07 Jan 20 - 08:54 AM

The 'soup' was worthy of a Shel Silverstien poem.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 07 Jan 20 - 10:50 AM

I live in Philadelphia.

Sorry.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Jan 20 - 12:38 PM

Good idea, Don!

This - Make 2020 the Year of Less Sugar is what I need to work on. It includes a link to a lecture I need to listen to. (If the article doesn't open across the pond let me know and I'll do some cut and paste).

Whether you are thin or fat, you can benefit by reducing the sugar in your diet. “It’s not about being obese, it has to do with metabolic health,” says Dr. Robert Lustig, professor of pediatric endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco, and one of the first to raise the alarm about the health risks of added sugar. (His 90-minute lecture called Sugar: The Bitter Truth has been viewed more than nine million times since 2009.)

“Sugar turns on the aging programs in your body,” Dr. Lustig says. “The more sugar you eat, the faster you age.”

https://www.nytimes.com/programs/sugar-challenge.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 07 Jan 20 - 12:52 PM

Damn. You posted that ten minutes after I'd just polished off a huge box of fudge... :-(

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 08 Jan 20 - 01:41 AM

I invented a new chicken dish yesterday.

Save the grease from cooking breakfast pork sausage. Chill it, and the burned bits will sink to the bottom. Don't use them.

Cut chicken thighs in half, warm up on low power in the wave. (They brown better when warm.)

Cut up and saute an onion in some of the sausage grease

Remove the onions, set aside in a pretty bowl

Brown the chicken thighs on one side.

Meanwhile, use salad shooter to slice up carrots and celery

when the chicken is browned on one side, turn it over and start browning that side.

put the carrots and celery in a ring around the meat

put lid on, simmer till meat is tender, maybe 30 minutes more

(I find I have to cook chicken much longer than recipes say.)

Remember those onions? Shortly before it's time to eat, stir 1 tsp sage into the onions, then return them to the skillet to heat through.

You'll notice there is no salt. The DH doesn't like it. Let diners salt it themselves at the dinner table.

Remove the food with a slotted spoon (so fat drains off) and serve. This was GOOD.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 08 Jan 20 - 05:37 AM

A "salad shooter?"

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 08 Jan 20 - 02:37 PM

The salad shooter is a mechanical slicer-dicer that I last saw in a TV infomercial back in the days when we still had TV — a very long time ago. Think of a crank-action mandoline.

We are still in a food coma from New Year.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 08 Jan 20 - 06:00 PM

I have a mandoline but I can't be arsed with it. I find that slicing my veg with a good sharp knife to be very therapeutic, especially if I stick some Mozart on and stay mindful while I'm slicing. I too am in a post-Christmas coma. There's stuff in the freezer to keep us eating well. And there's always cheese.

As a diversion, here's a new angle: stuff I never use. I've already trolled SRS about her despicable resort to dried basil. ;-). I'll add to that soy sauce, any oil infused with something (I'll infuse it myself, thanks), fennel seeds, ready-ground pepper, sticky jasmine rice, tomato purée, olive oil that isn't extra virgin, sunflower oil, canola oil, margarine, anything that says low-fat on the label, instant coffee, any shop-bought frozen vegetables except for peas, and calabrese. Calabrese. Ye gods, tasteless mush!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 08 Jan 20 - 08:18 PM

The kitchen scale just died, following the computer into electronic oblivion.

F*** my life.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 08 Jan 20 - 08:44 PM

Things I won’t use:

Shortening — that is, solid vegetable fat (e.g., Crisco) for use in frying and pastry. I use lard or butter for pastry, on the rare occasions when I make it, and oil for frying.

Also margarine. It took me ten years to convince Himself that the stuff is awful, and he’s better off eating butter. Science eventually caught up with me.

Macaroni and cheese mix. Yuck. Just yuck.

In fact, pretty well any kind of mix. If there’s a mix on the market, I can make it better and cheaper from scratch. The one exception to this rule is angel food cake, which takes a dozen eggs and a lot of skill and luck to make with real ingredients — and then what do you do with a dozen egg yolks?

Instant anything. Coffee, iced tea (I mean, really?), hot cereal, soup from a sachet, pot noodles, gravy (e.g., Bisto), Minute Rice, mashed potatoes in a box, Bisquick. Most of the stuff they sell in the middle of the supermarket.

Most frozen veg. I agree with Steve about peas and, when I butcher a Hubbard squash, I usually dice it and freeze half for future reference.

All canned veg, except tomatoes, which are technically fruit. In my dreams, I sometimes find myself back in Germany during an exercise, which I know is going on because I’m dressed in wet combat clothing and facing a Melmac plate of alert rations: canned sausage with instant mashed potatoes and canned creamed corn on the side.

Unlike Steve, I use canola (rapeseed) oil. Too many people are allergic to peanuts these days.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 08 Jan 20 - 09:21 PM

I suppose. Peanut oil is our go-to for very hot frying, mainly for oven chips. I didn't know you could get Bisto over there. I'd rather hack off me dangly bits with a blunt hacksaw than use Bisto. Its presence in our house would constitute an immediate divorce issue. I don't use canned veg either, but I'm assuming that you're not including pulses there. Ideally I'd soak all my beans and chickpeas overnight but I don't. I use canned or tetrapacked every time. Chickpeas especially are pretty good out of cans. I won't buy anything like that if they're salted or in a mix with chilli and herbs. I'll control all that meself, thanks!