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

[onerousdeporte]

Oh gosh.

1976 A701A Chef

While it hasn't seen that much use over recent years (coming out only for large cake mixing tasks) it certainly did early, including industrial use when I had my little joust with ice cream making for a living.

You can replace the electrical gubbins inside very cheaply...

Even adding an earth too.

[Ham]

Ah bugger. It appears that the casting at the rear by the hinge has broken, still vaguely useable but I would have thought limits its reparability

[Ham]

So a propos of recent events, I discover I potentially have a divvery entry.

For donkeys years I've sworn by the Kenwood to make cakes, especially large quantities. It's always fairly messy, but it did a bloody good job, RIP.

Thing is, I hadn't tried other mechanical devices. So methinks, time to break out the magimix and give it a go. Poking around the Interwebs it says, "bung everything in (apart from added raisins and the like) and switch on". OK, I'll give it a go. Perfect, clean. One fewer devices needed in Ham Hall.

(before you ask about meringue I do that by hand with a copper bowl)

[Mrs Pingu]

Oh dear, too much cake mix?

[Mrs Pingu]

Ah bugger. It appears that the casting at the rear by the hinge has broken, still vaguely useable but I would have thought limits its reparability

Why don't you try Kenwood Chef restore? Who knows what bits of body they may have lying around.

[Ham]

Ah bugger. It appears that the casting at the rear by the hinge has broken, still vaguely useable but I would have thought limits its reparability

Why don't you try Kenwood Chef restore? Who knows what bits of body they may have lying around.

I did, very happy with the speedy response, but:

Thank you for your message. When the body of your mixer is damage on this model is not worth to repair it. The only way to get right is source another used mixer and today’s  is a lot A701A used in good condition on eBay (etc and likely ££)

But you mistake me, the Magimix knocks the Kenwood into a floury hole for cakemaking. No fussing about beating in sugar and fat, no issues with billowing flour and REALLY fast. Capacity is possibly slightly less on the Magimix, but it does a double mix perfectly (500g fat) and the speed means that's relatively irrelevant. Folding in added ingredients in the Magimix is no worse than the bowl scraping you need to do on the Kenwood. The old Kenwood was very good for me, and owes me nothing. The only area I have found where the kenwood exceeded the Magimix (ignoring egg whites as above) is the liquidiser, and on the odd occasion the Magimix hasn't cut the mustard for that, I have used a stick blender. I haven't put the liquidiser on the kenwood since forever. It's possible that the dough hook might be slightly better than the Magimix dough blade, but not enough to make me want one, the dough blade does everyday bread perfectly.

[Cudzoziemiec]

So a French food processing device is better than a British one. Qui a thunké ça?

[Mrs Pingu]

Ah I see, I thought you meant the magimix had expired 

[Pingu]

I couldn't help but think of Ivan Dobsky the Meatsafe Murderer.

[Ham]

After seeing this https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/sep/24/nigel-slaters-10-best-recipes-over-the-past-30-years-at-the-observer I wonder... I mean I'm glad he exists and is out there doing his stuff, but does anyone actually cook his recipes? That those 10 are his "best" sums it up for me.

[rafletcher]

I couldn't help but think of Ivan Dobsky the Meatsafe Murderer.

Crikey that’s going back a bit.

[spesh]

After seeing this https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/sep/24/nigel-slaters-10-best-recipes-over-the-past-30-years-at-the-observer I wonder... I mean I'm glad he exists and is out there doing his stuff, but does anyone actually cook his recipes? That those 10 are his "best" sums it up for me.

I think I have one or two Nigel Slater recipes copy+pasted in my text/Word files, but without having a truffle through said files, I couldn't tell you off the top of my head whether I have actually tried cooking them.

[sam]

There being a rice shortage, my favourite tipple of Rice Dream disappeared from the shelves a little while ago. I've since had to put my faith in coconut and almond milkers to satisfy my desire for analogs. Some of the carton manufacturers haven't yet mastered the art of consumer-friendly packaging. I wonder if whoever came up with this particular design has ever tried to open the carton without spilling any of the terribly dull liquid within.


How sweet it ain't

[lissotriton]

Quite a few brands are changing to that type of carton. Apparently it is to help recycling, by keeping the lid and carton attached. And a new EU directive for tethered caps coming into force next year.

[sam]

Thanks for the explanation.

I'd be happy to sign a binding pledge that I shall always endeavour to keep them together, except our council's waste management experts don't accept Tetra Paks for recycling.

[L CC]

By tethering the cap to the carton, the plastic part, which can be recycled, stays as a single piece.

Coming next year- single piece bag-in-box tamper evident taps. [infiltration of the day job]

You don't need me to tell you that almond, soy and coconut are pretty poor white drinks, environmentally. Europeans should choose oats.

[sam]

almond, soy and coconut are pretty poor white drinks, environmentally

Don't I know it. And I fully support all packaging directives, just as I did with cigarettes.

Europeans should choose oats

I eat loads of oats, which informed my decision not to drink them as well.

[lissotriton]

You don't need me to tell you that almond, soy and coconut are pretty poor white drinks, environmentally. Europeans should choose oats.

Plenty of soya grown in France and Germany (plus a bit in the UK), and almonds in Italy and Spain.

[L CC]

You don't need me to tell you that almond, soy and coconut are pretty poor white drinks, environmentally. Europeans should choose oats.

Plenty of soya grown in France and Germany (plus a bit in the UK), and almonds in Italy and Spain.

'Plenty' is doing a lot of lifting in that sentence.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/soybean-production-by-country

Italy is the biggest European soya producer and their output is less than 1% of Brazil.

Similarly Spanish almonds are around 10% of the USA's output

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/almond-production-by-country

They're both globally traded commodities these days. Alpro claim their almonds are sustainably sourced from Europe and are 'working towards' more than 50% of their soy to be from Europe.

Drinking soy of course is a tiny proportion of consumption- most of it is for the tasty vegans who live short lives on farms, as opposed to the virtuous ones who live sustainably in cities.

[Mrs Pingu]

Big dishes, little dishes, etc.

I've been making crumble etc for years in a Pyrex casserole dish, but now that I'm getting old and even more boring I don't want to be eating crumble for days on end. So my thoughts turn to getting smaller dishes that I can make the same amount but portion out and freeze.
Trouble is I find I have little concept of the correct size for smaller oven dishes. I'm clearly going to have to get a measuring tool out...

[rafletcher]

Or do what we do. Make the big one then portion it out afterwards.

[Mr Larrington]

Ex-professor Larrington tells me that smooshed peas are the 2023 liberal metropolitan elite's new smashed avocado when it comes to Stuffs to Put On Toast.  Not mushy peas though, or even squeezy cheezy peas, because they’re different.

[Cudzoziemiec]

A pea fritter is one of my favourite chip shop items. Although having said that, I'm only aware of one chippie that does it – but they do it so well! It's basically a burger-sized wodge of mushy peas fried in batter. It would be just as good if you called it "smooshed peas dans la pate".

[mrcharly-YHT]

Last night I made black eyed pea fritters/pancakes.

Very easy to do, if you have a blender.

Recipe here:
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/sep/24/black-eyed-pea-griddle-cake-recipe-vishwesh-bhatt

[Mr Larrington]

Cheesy peas set to become A Thing*.  Brilliant!

* Sort of