Author Topic: A random thread for food things that don't really warrant a thread of their own (Read 512355 times)

Ashaman42 · « **Reply #3950 on:** 14 April, 2021, 12:27:42 pm »

Stranger. What doesn't kill you makes you stranger.

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #3951 on:** 14 April, 2021, 12:31:27 pm »

BEARS will kill you. Do not keep a jar of BEARS in the fridge.

hellymedic · « **Reply #3952 on:** 15 April, 2021, 05:08:41 pm »

Our pickled gherkins' label also advises rather short-term storage.
Ignored.

citoyen · « **Reply #3953 on:** 15 April, 2021, 05:14:03 pm »

Quote from: ian on 14 April, 2021, 11:25:22 am

I usually keep an open jar of anchovies in oil in the fridge, so I can throw one or two in pasta sauces etc. They last for months. Last night, while making some sauce, I glanced at the label of the old jar I'm currently emptying.

Use within three days of opening.

What doesn't kill me just makes me stronger.

I do exactly the same. Only it's very rare for a jar to last for months, largely due to my habit of picking one out of the jar to nibble on every time I open the fridge.

Usually lasts a lot more than three days though.

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #3954 on:** 15 April, 2021, 06:29:25 pm »

It's War! M&S begins legal action against Aldi over Colin the Caterpillar cake.

ian · « **Reply #3955 on:** 15 April, 2021, 06:36:50 pm »

Quote from: citoyen on 15 April, 2021, 05:14:03 pm

Quote from: ian on 14 April, 2021, 11:25:22 am
I usually keep an open jar of anchovies in oil in the fridge, so I can throw one or two in pasta sauces etc. They last for months. Last night, while making some sauce, I glanced at the label of the old jar I'm currently emptying.

Use within three days of opening.

What doesn't kill me just makes me stronger.

I do exactly the same. Only it's very rare for a jar to last for months, largely due to my habit of picking one out of the jar to nibble on every time I open the fridge.

Usually lasts a lot more than three days though.

Maybe months is extreme, but I'm not weird enough to just eat them, but I'd never entertained a use-by date, I figure I'd give up if the jar started to look an IPA. I did check the other jars and pickles that I dip into (capers, peppers, artichokes, that kind of thing) and according the labels they should all be ganging up to kill me. I've created my own plague of pickled pestilance.

andrewc · « **Reply #3956 on:** 26 April, 2021, 01:04:54 pm »

https://www.jobbienutbutter.com

https://twitter.com/Barcajim3/status/1386574938195234819?s=20

Mmmmmmmm , creamy jobbie or chunky jobbie...

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #3957 on:** 26 April, 2021, 01:33:25 pm »

Rate My Jobbie?

Mrs Pingu · « **Reply #3958 on:** 26 April, 2021, 04:37:54 pm »

hellymedic · « **Reply #3959 on:** 26 April, 2021, 08:57:00 pm »

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #3960 on:** 05 May, 2021, 09:26:58 pm »

Today I went to a wonderful Sikh-run Indian bakery and sweetshop with a list of rules above the counter (customers are asked not to bring alcohol, tobacco and meat into the shop) and got, amongst other things, a chilli bhaji. Basically a huge chilli in batter. V tasty but not as spicy as I remember them.

ian · « **Reply #3961 on:** 05 May, 2021, 09:28:44 pm »

My Iowa correspondent reminded me about 'snickers salad.'

It's everything you think and more.

ian · « **Reply #3962 on:** 12 May, 2021, 08:48:52 pm »

Gah, I'm doing one of those hideous grown-up things and buying a new saute pan. Good god, there are millions of them. I can see why people live off takeaways. Normally, I'd go to the shop and pick the one that's heavy enough to stun a charging rhino. Curiously, when purchasing online, this capability is not rated.

andrewc · « **Reply #3963 on:** 12 May, 2021, 09:19:47 pm »

"Stunning" would probably suggest Le Creuset, they are heavy enough to count as an upper body workout, and come in a host of pretty colours. I've one of their ridged griddle pans for meat, and it's good at searing pretty lines on steak & then being bunged in the oven. I doubt `i'll be able to lift it in another decade though.

Sauteing I just use a decent weight stainless job. https://www.hartsofstur.com/stellar-1000-26cm-saute-pan-s121.html I've been using their stuff for 20 (?) years & nothings fallen apart yet.

ian · « **Reply #3964 on:** 12 May, 2021, 09:35:48 pm »

I like the upper body workout. I have some Tefal stuff, which is a bit crap, admittedly it's been through the wars. The non-stick is now anything but (and didn't last that long, but that's non-stick for you, looks like the bottom half of a Space Shuttle) and the stainless, well, it's seen better days and the handle wobbles in a way that suggests I'll be wearing risotto slippers sometime soon (though it's probably about 25 years old, I think the MiL gave it to us). I mostly use stainless for stuff that isn't eggy. I took Salt Fat Acid Heat to heart (and you should, probably the best practical cooking show I've seen, as I mostly make up recipes, and who knew, that's all you need). I'd cook stuff on top of a nuclear reactor if I could. The scars on my hands suggest I have.

That said, no so heavy that it falls Grimes-like to the centre of the Earth. I live on top of a Hell Portal, so really I take the stuff under my feet seriously. Anyway, I'm now £200 poorer.

andrewc · « **Reply #3965 on:** 12 May, 2021, 09:46:43 pm »

For £200 I'd want a scantily clad Nigella lookalike to do my sauteing ! Though I suspect your wife would object, and the local bears are probably fat enough already.

ian · « **Reply #3966 on:** 12 May, 2021, 09:52:09 pm »

Quote from: andrewc on 12 May, 2021, 09:46:43 pm

For £200 I'd want a scantily clad Nigella lookalike to do my sauteing ! Though I suspect your wife would object, and the local bears are probably fat enough already.

I bought three pans – it seems I've spent a life not knowing I needed a sauteuse pan.

andrewc · « **Reply #3967 on:** 12 May, 2021, 10:13:08 pm »

Frying pan, sauce pan, chip pan. What more does a chap need ?

I remember my mother doing crinkle cut chips in a pan of hot lard, with a wire inner pan..... all the lovely black bits.... I believe that this is out of fashion these days, and has contributed to terrible unemployment amongst firefighters.

rafletcher · « **Reply #3968 on:** 13 May, 2021, 08:34:21 am »

My saute pan, bought as an add-on to a sofa purchase at Cargo some 20 years ago, is still going strong, which is a Good Thing as it appears Brabantia no longer do a proper stainless one.

ian · « **Reply #3969 on:** 13 May, 2021, 09:41:38 am »

Quote from: andrewc on 12 May, 2021, 10:13:08 pm

Frying pan, sauce pan, chip pan. What more does a chap need ?

I remember my mother doing crinkle cut chips in a pan of hot lard, with a wire inner pan..... all the lovely black bits.... I believe that this is out of fashion these days, and has contributed to terrible unemployment amongst firefighters.

The fat pan was a staple of my childhood. My grandparents had a pan of beef dripping that would congeal between uses to look like old axle grease.

I believe there are independent deep frying machines these days (that's what my parents have now), though I've never felt the urge to deep fry stuff, it always seems an effort too far.

citoyen · « **Reply #3970 on:** 13 May, 2021, 10:00:24 am »

Quote from: andrewc on 12 May, 2021, 10:13:08 pm

I remember my mother doing crinkle cut chips in a pan of hot lard, with a wire inner pan..... all the lovely black bits.... I believe that this is out of fashion these days, and has contributed to terrible unemployment amongst firefighters.

I remember we had a chip pan like that in my childhood - basically a big saucepan with a wire basket. My parents did graduate to a dedicated deep-fryer when they became a thing (early 80s?) but I've never been tempted to get one myself - they're an awful nuisance to keep clean. But they are one of those "only does one thing but does it very well" kind of gadgets. One of the best uses for a deep-fryer is poppadoms - they take a few seconds to cook to beautiful puffy crispness.

I do occasionally deep-fry - my home-made fish & chips are legendary, if I say so myself. I use the pressure cooker (without lid, of course!) as it's by far the deepest pan we have, so there's no risk of oil boiling over. And I use my thermapen to gauge the temperature of the oil. Stuff goes in and out via a slotted spoon.

Many years ago, I worked with a chap who, I learned from another colleague, had a full chip-shop set-up in his kitchen - as in professional catering grade fryers - justified because they had deep-fried food for every meal. Suffice to say he, his wife and his kids were not the slimmest people you'd ever meet. Lovely chap though.

ian · « **Reply #3971 on:** 13 May, 2021, 10:46:03 am »

My parents deep fry a lot in their machine, but they live off chips (or my dad does) and other fried things out of packets. In recent memory, I think the only things I've deep fried (I do have a deep stainless steel pan I normally use for soup, which is ideal) were home-made falafel, which really do have to be served hot and direct, there's a world of difference (in the middle-east, no one will buy falafel that aren't still bobbing about in the hot oil as they hand over the payment).

I don't do it often enough to make it worthwhile though.

citoyen · « **Reply #3972 on:** 13 May, 2021, 11:04:31 am »

Oh yes, definitely agree on falafel. Ideally straight out of the oil and stuffed into the home-made pittas that are straight out of the oven.

Flite · « **Reply #3973 on:** 14 May, 2021, 01:49:00 pm »

I love my AGA, but I will never use the hob for deep frying.
You can't turn the heat off......

Quint · « **Reply #3974 on:** 14 May, 2021, 02:03:16 pm »

Quote from: Cudzoziemiec on 04 July, 2020, 09:51:47 pm

You don't need a sieve or a colander to cook rice. There shouldn't be any water to drain, it should all be absorbed into the rice. Put rice in pot, boil water, pour onto rice about 2cm above rice line, boil for a minute or so, cover, turn off heat, leave to absorb.

One part rice to two parts water (2 people = 110g rice 220g water, bring to fast bubble, wait till no water showing over rice, clean t towel over top of pan, bang the lid on and turn heat off, leave 10 minutes, fluff up and yum.