BS: Recipes - what are we eating?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 25 Nov 18 - 04:25 PM

I've found the 500g loaf ideal for most things. The 600g job rises triumphantly above the top of the pan, and the slices are too tall for me toaster!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Nov 18 - 05:55 PM

I'm preparing to make my famous banana nut bread that was baked in regular bread loaf pans when I had the kids here devouring it. Now I make loaves in smaller artisanal-style pans that are given to friends who live alone or have just a partner at home now. They don't need all of those calories. It's a quick bread with baking soda and I use a lot of extra bananas so it's more cake-like. I bake the pecans so they give off that warm maple-like flavor and I use butter instead of shortening or oil.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 25 Nov 18 - 06:47 PM

Mrs Steve does amazing banana bread out of bananas that are going a bit past it. We can't do nuts as she's seriously allergic to walnuts.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Nov 18 - 09:11 PM

On Thursday evening (Thanksgiving) I put the entire roasted turkey back into the fridge and pulled it out to get slices for meals; tonight I cut it apart and have the stock simmering. It's just too much to prepare for the meal and do all of the cutting up and soup on the same night. The pot is cooling a little before I pull out the bones and skin, strain the broth, and use that for making soup tomorrow.

For the banana bread, the bananas I'll be using were at the over-ripe state and then I froze them one or two at a time and they're finishing defrosting in the fridge now. I'll make a double batch of batter that will add up to probably six small loaves.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 26 Nov 18 - 05:47 AM

I cut the 600g loaf from this one lengthways these days before slicing. I know that leaves you with bread with only 3 sides of crust that might not appeal to many but for our purposes at home it does give 2 loaves of a size everyone is happy with out of one run of the machine.

Our toaster btw, seems quite shallow to me. It's wide and will do crumpets nicely but in terms of shop bought loaves, is more suited to a smaller Hovis brown than much larger.
---
Pip was another who did a banana bread, using fruit past their best. Parent's loved it but I'm not sure it was one of my favourites.
--
Shame about the walnuts. Pip used to do a very nice date and walnut loaf. Seems a long while since it was last made though.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 26 Nov 18 - 10:35 AM

I make almost all the bread we eat at home. I've been running a sourdough experiment for several months now, but I recently decided that it's not worth the trouble with just two of us, and only Himself eating more than a slice per day. Also, I have so far failed to produce a wholemeal loaf that I like using the sourdough method. So I'm (reluctantly) going back to active dry yeast.

Disposing of the sourdough culture (its name is Fred) feels like shooting the family dog. I hate the idea, but it must be done.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jos
Date: 26 Nov 18 - 10:50 AM

Maybe you could give the sourdough culture to a friend or neighbour, like finding the dog a new home.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Nov 18 - 11:37 AM

Agreed - I bet you can find a taker for the next stage of your experiment. :)

My broth is ready to use - with as much turkey as is here I'm going to make a dense turkey pot pie stew with some of it and freeze the extra broth.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 26 Nov 18 - 02:39 PM

White sourdough is the best white bread I've ever tasted, my starter is over 10 years old now, it never fails.

Dave H

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 26 Nov 18 - 02:41 PM

Incidently I've tried sourdough wholemeal and sourdough rye and I'm distinctly very dissapointed with both.

Dave H

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Nov 18 - 07:08 AM

Thompson I do believe I would enjoy beet root prepared your way.
I have had such an aversion to beets as a result of having to eat Borsch as a kid.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 27 Nov 18 - 07:13 AM

I love beetroot and devour it with relish but I have to make a pact with myself not to look down the toilet for the next 24 hours.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 27 Nov 18 - 01:19 PM

I love white sourdough bread, but my digestion does not. If I'm going to eat bread more than occasionally, it really has to be whole-grain. A batch of brown is under construction as I type.

Beetroot is great stuff. I like to include it in a batch of roasted veg, with Jerusalem artichokes, carrots, celery root and parsnips, flavoured with shallots, garlic and thyme. The carrots and beets usually have to be parboiled, but it's a small nuisance. Around here, we can get beets in every hue produced by beta-carotene, from pale yellow to darkest crimson. Golden beets are just as delicious as the red kind, but don't result in pink pee.

Just sayin'.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Nov 18 - 01:34 PM

I have shifted over the years to giving as many consumable gifts as possible, made at home. This year I've canned both pickled okra and mustang grape jelly and last night I made seven small loaves of banana nut bread that are now wrapped and in the freezer.

I recently send my son and my sister pickled okra, but neither is sure they'll like it, so my advice has been to wait until they have guests over to open the jar. Try it themselves and see if they like it. If not, chances are someone at the gathering will know what it is and like it and they can send the rest home with them. It keeps in the fridge for a long time so they can try that trick at parties all through the holiday season until it's eaten or given away.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 27 Nov 18 - 03:42 PM

Aaah, back to the beets. I used to strongly dislike beet foods until I got together with Lady Hillary. She has made a convert of me. She cuts the beets up fine, then boils them and adds a few spices, finishing up with an immersion blender. We make the batch large enough to store in a couple of quart size Chinese Tupperware containers. We generally serve it cold with home made yogurt instead of sour cream [shades of my grandmother].

A couple of weeks before Thanksgiving I made up a batch of leek and potato soup. The problem I had with it was that it resisted taste. No matter what spices I added to it [again, the batch size gave us three quarts for the fridge] it was determinedly bland. Hot sauce, curry, chili sauce no effect.

For Thanksgiving Lady Hillary made up a butternut squash soup that, for its final heating got some ginger and garlic [both fresh]. Delightful.

This weekend we had sweet potato fries at a barbecue restaurant. It came with a dusting of brown sugar that was very good. There was something in the taste which suggested that a bit of finely chopped ginger would go well with it. That will get a try in the next few days.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jos
Date: 27 Nov 18 - 04:12 PM

Sometimes when food is just too bland, what it needs as well as other flavours is a little salt.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 29 Nov 18 - 09:19 PM

Unless I want edema, I avoid salt.
This morning, we had home made latkes [potato pancakes] with peach compote[also homemade].

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 29 Nov 18 - 11:14 PM

Unfortunately we have no Mustang Grapes in these parts.
As for wild Tarts, I don't know.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 30 Nov 18 - 06:23 AM

Chocolate digestive bisuits topped with slices of mature chedar cheese...

and a mug of strong black tea [leave the teabag in]...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 30 Nov 18 - 06:30 AM

If food is too bland it could be that you're either leaving out something vital or you're using lesser-quality ingredients. The latter is why shop ready-meals are so high in salt. I always think that there's a "right" amount of salt for any recipe. To cure blandness, my first resort is fresh herbs and/or a tiny splash of Tabasco, maybe a bit more black pepper, depending. The Italians do it right when they start a ragu or a soup with a soffritto made with chopped onions, carrots and celery sautéed in extra-virgin olive oil. For a meat sauce, I add a bit of chopped-up pancetta to that for richness and savour. My chili meat sauce and bolognese always start like that. I find that slow-cooked meat dishes such as ragus and pot roasts are the very devil to judge for salt while you're actually cooking them, and they always taste different once they've stood for a few hours. Start low with your salt. You can always up it later on.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 30 Nov 18 - 06:31 AM

I'm just wondering how you can dunk a choccie biscuit with a slab of cheese on top...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 30 Nov 18 - 07:16 AM

not that I'll be eating them, Fun and festival treats or even making them, but they look good & someone might like to add them to their recipe library

sandra (not a sweet tooth)

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 30 Nov 18 - 07:37 AM

Steve - I'm not a dunker..

but guess a solution could be a tightly held sandwich of TWO chocolate digestives
with twice as much cheese in the middle...

chocolate facing inwards...???

I'm not a coffee drinker.. but that might dunk quite nicely in white coffe with a mountain of sugar stirred in...???


[remembering a once a week grammer school dinner from the early 70s..
pudding was coffee, loads of sugar, cheddar chunks, and an apple..]

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 30 Nov 18 - 08:17 AM

I do like a can-do bloke, pfr...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 30 Nov 18 - 10:38 PM

Thai chili sauce disappeared with nary a twinge of the taste buds. We generally limit our salt intake because of my sensitivity to it. If there is some salt in a spice I will chance it but go easy.
If we can taste salt as saltiness it is definitely too much.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 01 Dec 18 - 04:54 AM

Are mustang grapes the same as scuppernong, which I’ve read about but never seen?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Dec 18 - 11:54 AM

No, and they aren't the same as muscadine, either, though I've heard of them in the region.

http://palatepress.com/2010/06/wine/wine-indigenous-american-grape-varieties-a-primer/

Of the six native species that had been growing in North America long before European settlers arrived, some may sound more familiar than others: rotundifolia (muscadine), aestivalis (summer grape), riparia (frost grape), labrusca (fox grape), mustangensis (Mustang grape), and rupestris (sand grape). Over the last hundred years some interest has been given to this rowdy and uncouth bunch of American species. While these grapes are not as widely cultivated or commercialized as vinifera varieties, they do show potential for making enjoyable wines and deserve to be recognized.

The author of the article later dismisses our little Texas grape:

Vitis mustangensis has little to no redeeming commercial qualities. Limited in habitat to Texas, Oklahoma, and parts of Louisiana the mustang grape is highly acidic and bitter in taste. Simply handling the grapes can irritate the skin.

The bit about irritating the skin is true. The first time I picked them it was with bare hands and my hands really smarted after a while. I wear vinyl gloves when I work with them now. The remarkable thing about these grapes with their big seeds and thick tough skins is that they still manage to produce a wonderful rich dark pink/red juice and it's perfect for a sweet/tart jelly. If you've ever tasted tamarind or tamarindo, they are sweet and tart in the same way.

I like the jelly on toast, on baking powder biscuits, and I often will heat some in a small custard cup in the microwave and use it as syrup over pancakes. I think you could use it in place of cranberry sauce in a pinch.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 01 Dec 18 - 12:06 PM

At last, a second good reason to visit Texas. I'd love to try your mustang grape jelly.

Himself and I are going out for dinner tonight, to the Stratford Chef School, where the students are staging "Escoffier at the Ritz". It's an eight-course (!) extravaganza in the Belle Époque style, definitely not the sort of thing we could get at home.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Dec 18 - 12:28 PM

You are more than welcome to come for a visit - the guest room is (remarkably!) clear. The rest of the house, not so much. But when one has grown children who might stop by and you want them to stay for a little while if they can, the guest room is ready.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 02 Dec 18 - 07:14 AM

Ox-cheek ragú last night, a la Jamie Oliver-ish (I'm no slave to recipes). Very cheap, tough, sinewy meat in great big hunks, braised for four hours in red wine, passata and porcini water with onions, carrots, celery, garlic (bashed, never abused by a garlic crusher) a few strips of smoked pancetta and a big bunch of fresh herbs (and a pinch or two of spices). It makes enough sauce both to use as gravy with mashed potato and veg and the chunks of ludicrously-tender meat (that's tonight) and for a goodly portion to stir into fettuccine with some of the diced beef, topped with freshly grated Parmesan and a dash of the best extra virgin olive oil (that was last night). Cucina povera!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Raggytash
Date: 02 Dec 18 - 07:20 AM

I know I'm late doing this but this morning has seen the Christmas cake being mixed and it's now in the oven for over 4 hours.

It weights in excess of 5lb so we will have a fair bit to go at over the festive season!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 02 Dec 18 - 08:33 AM

I got the accent on "ragù" the wrong way round. I knew something wasn't right. The actual ragù is very fine, however.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Dec 18 - 10:28 AM

So you really don't need someone to fix it because it gives you a chance to admire the sauce. :)

This "christmas cake" creature - is this what we Yanks call "fruit cake?" A very large cake that lasts as long as it seems to need to last, when a "normal" cake would be stale after a week, must be a different kind of baked good.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 02 Dec 18 - 10:35 AM

Mustang jelly
You better slow that mustang down

Christmas cake has fruit, nuts, eggs, flour, sugar, spices and lots of alcohol. When my father made it the whole house reeked of whiskey from October to January.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 02 Dec 18 - 10:51 AM

A nice flying haggis last night: aka chicken Balmoral. Basically a chicken breast casserole but topped with slices of haggis and some whisky or Drambuie in the sauce. You can try wrapping the chicken breasts around the haggis,but it always worms its way out!
And save your best single malt for drinking: any old blend will do in the sauce - well almost!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Raggytash
Date: 02 Dec 18 - 03:03 PM

Tattie Bogle, the simple use of two cocktail stick through the chicken and black pudding may help to keep everything in place.








.............. or you could fall back on the Glasgow trick and dip it in batter and deep fry ..............





I'll get me coat

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: BobL
Date: 03 Dec 18 - 03:14 AM

a "normal" cake would be stale after a week

A sponge cake might be stale after a week, but a fruit cake improves with a bit of keeping. Especially if fed with small doses of liquor at weekly intervals.

And yes, a "Christmas cake" is essentially a rich fruit cake, decorated appropriately.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 03 Dec 18 - 03:28 AM

In my day a Christmas cake was iced with about a centimetre thick layer of marzipan, covered by hard white sugar icing, decorated like a Roman temple. Not so much nowadays when we’re all influenced by German and Polish customs.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jos
Date: 03 Dec 18 - 04:55 AM

Christmas cake is traditionally made on the last Sunday in November to give it several weeks to mature. Every member of the household has a turn stirring the mixture and making a wish.
I used to ice the cake with a vaguely flat covering of white icing, a small model fir tree, and footsteps in the 'snow' made with a silver charm of a boot. (Must do it again sometime.)

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 04 Dec 18 - 08:31 AM

Tried the beets under the chicken with vegetables recipe. The carrots and all were good but beets are still to 'earthy' for me.

The leftover red sauce may be a good violin stain with varnish but may not be color fast.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 04 Dec 18 - 09:03 AM

Yes, fruitcake. I'm a week late starting ours, but I'll get going this afternoon. It's a two-day process in which the fruit macerates overnight in brandy (or other hooch) and the juice of two lemons and two oranges.

I don't ice it: that's not the Canadian style. (Fruitcake is the only thing that's naked at Christmas in Ontario.) Also, the fondant-marzipan icing is very fiddly to make and apply, not to mention expensive (the price of almond paste these days!), and it doesn't travel well, especially in the mail.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 04 Dec 18 - 06:55 PM

Grand Marine' or Drambuie is my choice.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: BobL
Date: 05 Dec 18 - 02:43 AM

Sailor Jerry rum in my cookbook.

While we're on the subject, a good addition to fruit salad is a 50:50 mix of Archer's peach schnapps and Southern Comfort. Just enough to moisten, not marinade!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 05 Dec 18 - 10:31 AM

By the time it's in a fruitcake, any old rum'll do, BobL.

A nice but misguided person once gave me a bottle of Red Label Johnny Walker. The stuff is undrinkable, but it was boffo in fruitcake.

I agree with you on the subject of Southern Comfort in a fruit salad, but we don't eat fruit salad often enough to justify the purchase of an entire bottle of Southern Comfort. I have no experience of Archer's peach schnapps, which may not be available in Ontario.

Tonight's supper will be my sister-in-law's vegetarian lasagne. Himself came home with rather a lot of striploin steak the other day (bin-end sale at the butcher, I gather), so a veg-heavy dish feels like a good idea. It's remarkably like a normal lasagne, but with no meat in the sauce; you could feed it to your lacto-ovo vegetarian teenager without incident. It has three kinds of cheese, though, so the calorie count is not inconsiderable.

And it makes six servings, so that's dinner tonight and two days' worth of lunch.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 06 Dec 18 - 09:47 AM

A nice alcoholic dessert is made by soaking porridge oats in whiskey and honey then whipping in cream just before serving it. Don't give the driver any.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: BobL
Date: 07 Dec 18 - 02:31 AM

Charmion, any old rum will do for any old fruitcake.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 07 Dec 18 - 09:40 AM

Okay, BobL, point taken. You can't expect good results if you don't use good ingredients.

That said, I still insist that fruitcake (any old fruitcake) is a suitable destination for Red Label Johnny Walker.

Thompson, I believe the dessert you describe is Atholl Brose. I have an elderly cookbook called "The Scots Kitchen"; its version of the recipe calls for the finely ground oatmeal that I know as "pinhead" oats. Is that what you mean by porridge oats?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 07 Dec 18 - 10:46 AM

Richard Wade
known to his friends as Dick Wad has been named Ass. Deputy to Facebook public relations to change minds instead of changing Facebook.


Some recipes will always taste bad no matter what you think about them.
Like Sticky Bitter Bottom Buns, changing the name won't help until you change the recipe.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: keberoxu
Date: 07 Dec 18 - 05:57 PM

There used to be a retail shop north of Harvard Square,
in Cambridge, Massachusetts,
called "Atholl Brose."
It stocked everything Scottish
and provided access to a tailor
who could custom-fit you for a kilt.

They had a shelf of books, some written in Scots,
like "The Shriek of the Maws."

I don't recall that they sold food, though.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jos
Date: 07 Dec 18 - 06:21 PM

"I don't recall that they sold food, though"

What, not even haggis?