A random thread for food things that don't really warrant a thread of their own

[ian]

I did note that the Guarana stuff in Brazil tastes surprisingly like Irn Bru.

I don't like sugary drinks though (in general), if I'm going to have them, I'll have the ones with sweeteners rather than actual sugar, which is also a chemical. Honestly, for those who claim that the loss of a small amount of sugar from Irn Bru is a calamity, then I think they have their life priorities screwed up.

In other news, I ate a bag of pickled onion Monster Munch yesterday. As close to Heaven as you can get without having two slices of buttered bread to hand to build a sandwich.

[Kim]

I don't like sugary drinks though (in general), if I'm going to have them, I'll have the ones with sweeteners rather than actual sugar, which is also a chemical. Honestly, for those who claim that the loss of a small amount of sugar from Irn Bru is a calamity, then I think they have their life priorities screwed up.

It's not the loss of the sugar, it's the widespread gain of aspartame, which is considered Mostly Harmless.  Personally, I find that sweeteners give a barley perceptible aftertaste, which is orders of magnitude less unpleasant than the presence of, say, carbon dioxide.  But it appears to be a trigger for barakta's migraine, and is therefore important to avoid in the sensorily-hostile away-from-home situations where it's most difficult to avoid.

I expect it's even less fun if you've got PKU.

[barakta]

My issue isn't one drink changing, it's virtually everything - I resent my choices becoming extremely limited and drinks I used to like now being foul.

I now can't buy soft drinks easily in public other than fizzy coke/pepsi which haven't been adulterated to awfulness because even "sugary ribena" is 50% sweetener. Sweeteners taste like cakk, make me nauseous and may be a migraine trigger for me (not willing to drink enough to test this theory cos the barf gets me first).

I have blood sugar weirdness going on with my balance/migraine issues and have worked out that sugar zaps migraine onset pretty effectively for me (a known thing) without the undesired effects of triptans. Cos I can't reliably obtain sugary drinks while out as many places ONLY stock sweetener filled crap I'm having to resort more to dextrose tablets instead.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Ot86BUcqLj9C8q3eMnvQNQiPOPRSZ2Qt83HVX3egNWc/edit#gid=0 is a useful spreadsheet of drinks which do not have sweeteners in them. 

Fuck the sugar tax, it's a distraction from wider systemic causes of health issues. Also I'd be happy to pay more to be able to get non fucked drinks.

[ian]

While it might be a distraction, sugary drinks generally are an abomination and people may as well just keep punching themselves in the pancreas, so focusing a little attention isn't a bad thing, but yeah, I'd agree it shows a disappointing lack of ambition at getting a real health message out there. There's very choice generally if you want a sugar-free drink (diet coke or overpriced water, usually). I'd drink out of puddles if people didn't frown so much.

There's zero evidence that aspartame is harmful and there's very little in a drink anyway. It's one of the conspiracies that won't die (see also MSG, etc.)

[hubner]

Fruit juice.

Which is full of sugar but at least contains no artificial sweeteners.

[Kim]

Fruit juice.

Which is full of sugar but at least contains no artificial sweeteners.

Is my beverage of choice, but barakta's response is usually of the order of "Ugh! Acid!".

[cycleman]

Finding a squash with suger in is getting very difficult. Apollo is not that keen on pLane water   

[matthew]

I've just finished my baking for tomorrow and boxing day:

Tartlets for starter tomorrow, puff pastry cases, roasted butternut squash and red onion with rosemary. Will crumble some feta cheese on and warm through at sisters.

Boxing day co hosting at my aunts so I have a quiche and a stollen to take with me.

Only the pastry came from packets, everything else was from fresh.

About 4 hours in the kitchen but all good to go. The quiche will go into the fridge after the midnight service.

[hellymedic]

My only culinary effort (I don't count throwing stuff into the oven or microwave) for tomorrow has been making a fruit mash/sauce to go on the duck.
Fresh cranberries
Sugar, water
Home-grown apple
Sliced orange
Lemon juice
Lime juice
Microwaved and mashed.
I've put some dried apricots on to absorb extra water.

I think this will work...

[citoyen]

Sugar tax can sod off. I didn't and don't drink much sugary stuff, but I can't stand sweeteners so what I drink I want to have sugar and not chemical crud in it.

+1

I believe we already had this discussion wrt Lucozade. I don't drink fizzy pop often but when I do, it's generally because I NEED the sugar hit FFS.

[citoyen]

Anyway, I made custard to go with the christmas pud today. I couldn't be bothered to make it 'properly' so I fudged it - put a pot of cream in the microwave for 2 mins, meanwhile whisked up a couple of egg yolks in a bowl with a bit of sugar, vanilla essence and cornflour, using an electric whisk. When the cream went ping, I whisked it into the egg yolks. Then shoved the bowl back in the micro for a minute.

When it came out, it was abso-bloody-lutely perfect. I think the whisking was the secret - it had given it a lovely light, velvety texture. I don't think I will make custard any other way ever again.

The pud was great too - one we bought from Aldi last year that has been maturing in the pantry for the last 12 months. Yum.

[hellymedic]

Fruit sauce was a success.
Dinner was roast duck with trimmings & veg
Christmas pudding & ice cream
Limonata

[Cudzoziemiec]

Anyway, I made custard to go with the christmas pud today. I couldn't be bothered to make it 'properly' so I fudged it - put a pot of cream in the microwave for 2 mins, meanwhile whisked up a couple of egg yolks in a bowl with a bit of sugar, vanilla essence and cornflour, using an electric whisk. When the cream went ping, I whisked it into the egg yolks. Then shoved the bowl back in the micro for a minute.

When it came out, it was abso-bloody-lutely perfect. I think the whisking was the secret - it had given it a lovely light, velvety texture. I don't think I will make custard any other way ever again.

The pud was great too - one we bought from Aldi last year that has been maturing in the pantry for the last 12 months. Yum.

Custard technique noted with interest.

[T42]

Wild boar with home-made quince pickle, sprouts, butternut squash & sautéed spuds
Mascarpone & cherry ice-cream
Espresso & various kinds of chocolate

Missus, being non-carnivorous, made herself a herbivorous quiche with a rake of nice things stuff in it. She then made me blench by eating the ice-cream with the quince pickle.

[JonBuoy]

As I was leaving a restaurant on Monday evening after a pleasant meal a member of staff was coming in.  He was carrying something that was mostly covered with a tea towel and appeared to me to be acting slightly furtively.  The edge of the tea towel was turned back and I could see a Covent Garden soup tetrapak.

Looking on the restaurant menu when I got home I see that Slow Roasted Tomato soup is one of the starters and is also one of Covent Garden's offerings.  £2 for 600g in Sainsbury's but considerably more after the restaurant have 'added value' to it.

[Mrs Pingu]

Wild boar with home-made quince pickle, sprouts, butternut squash & sautéed spuds
Mascarpone & cherry ice-cream
 & various kinds of chocolate

That sounds amazing! Is the ice cream home made? If so, got a recipe?

[Ham]

Maybe someone can enlighten me. "Easy Cook Long Grain Rice". What the **** is that about?

Let me reproduce the cooking instructions from one, apparently typical:

Hob - From Ambient: Allow 70g rice per person. Place in a sieve and rinse in cold running water. Add the rice to a pan with 500ml water per 70g rice. Add salt or other seasoning to taste. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 15-18 minutes. Drain in a sieve, rinse with boiling water and serve. Fork through to fluff up.

In what way is it different from normal rice - except they reckon it has to be cooked a little longer than rice actually needs?

I suppose, all rice is actually easy cook.

[Kim]

AIUI "easy cook" is a synonym for parboiled, meaning it's been processed so the starches are less gloopy, rather than making any significant difference to cooking time.  It's easy in the sense that less care is required to prevent it turning into an amorphous starchy mess.

[Ham]

Bu-bu-bu-but those instructions are the same for any rice? It's exactly how I cook my rice normally (except that I may not rinse it if I don't feel like it), and I only boil for 12 minutes. Is there some cooking alchemy that challenges rice cookers that I somehow don't experience ? maybe because I only use basmati long grain for boiled rice? ( That is except from when I use sticky rice, but that is different)

[citoyen]

It's easy in the sense that less care is required to prevent it turning into an amorphous starchy mess.

That's what I thought too, but the instructions Ham quotes still say to rinse it  - both before and after cooking.

Who rinses rice after cooking anyway?

[Kim]

I don't generally bother with rinsing, but I mostly use decent basmati or Uncle Ben's^[1] style American long-grain.  I've certainly fallen foul of buying really cheap rice in an emergency and finding myself with a pan of mostly starch, so all that rinsing must be important sometimes.

Rinsing after cooking is what happens when you discover you've overdone it on the salt...


_{[1] This is my preferred rice for cycle touring, as it does have a slightly shorter cooking time (but also doesn't go horribly wrong if you get distracted and cook it for too long), and gives good results without any rinsing or excess water.}

[rafletcher]

It's easy in the sense that less care is required to prevent it turning into an amorphous starchy mess.

That's what I thought too, but the instructions Ham quotes still say to rinse it  - both before and after cooking.

Who rinses rice after cooking anyway?

Umm, me, sometimes  .  But not recently, and generally not before either these days. I find basmati cooks for me in 6-7 minutes, and drains very well at that degree of cooking.

[T42]

Wild boar with home-made quince pickle, sprouts, butternut squash & sautéed spuds
Mascarpone & cherry ice-cream
 & various kinds of chocolate

That sounds amazing! Is the ice cream home made? If so, got a recipe?

Sorry, haven't been back to this thread lately. No, the ice cream was bought from the local supermarket. They usually get a bunch of unusual ones in at Christmas.

ETA civet of venison yesterday, finished off today. Much better today, too, like lots of other stuff.

[Basil]

It's easy in the sense that less care is required to prevent it turning into an amorphous starchy mess.

That's what I thought too, but the instructions Ham quotes still say to rinse it  - both before and after cooking.

Who rinses rice after cooking anyway?

Holds hand up.  It's probably just a habit, but I always rinse cooked rice and pasta with boiling water from the kettle.  I think it cleans away any starchiness from the residual cooking water left attached.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I certainly don't boil rice for 15 minutes. Do they really mean boil as in actually boiling for that long? I turn mine down to simmer after about one minute then leave it to stand for a while. No draining necessary. But I only ever cook small quantities of rice at a time.