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

[ian]

Broccoli – and brassicas in general – benefit hugely from sauteing or roasting. They need a bit of char, a hot pan and some oil and a sprinkle of salt make a world of difference compared to boiling or steaming. Mind you, this is how I cook most veg. Steaming and boiling is for potatoes and chicken (I hate chicken but it's only non-fish meat my wife eats, poaching seems to be the only way to cook it and not end up with chewy horrible if you've not marinaded it for a week, bashed it repeatedly with a rolling pin, or subjected it to the intender mercies of Mademoiselle Magimix).

[citoyen]

Unlike ravenbait, I'm a big fan of roasting cauliflower. My wife regularly does a recipe (think she got it from Nigella) for cauliflower roasted with chickpeas, tomatoes and spices. Delicious.

The cauliflower 'steak' is a trendy affectation, but one that I like - sear it in the pan so it's well browned on the outside, add lots of butter and other flavourings (garlic, thyme, whatever takes your fancy) and finish it in the oven. Very good indeed.

Cauliflower is also good raw. I once had cauliflower 'carpaccio' in a restaurant, which came with a vanilla-flavoured dressing. Poncey nonsense, but actually rather good.

Boiling cauliflower is just about the last thing I would do with it.

[ian]

Just don't boil or steam any brassica, it's wrong. You need a pan hot enough to sear the outside without overcooking the inside.

Like most people of a certain age, the stench of boiled cabbage on a Sunday still haunts me. I didn't eat cabbage for years. Now I love cabbage – sliced and sauteed, or raw in a coleslaw or salad.

The (hipster alert! hipster alert!) Berber & Q cauliflower shawarma – that I can semi-successfully replicate – is a wonderful thing. Basically spiced up cauliflower – hot pan or oven if you don't have a BBQ fired up – in flatbread with all the trimmings.

[T42]

Broccoli – and brassicas in general – benefit hugely from sauteing or roasting. They need a bit of char, a hot pan and some oil and a sprinkle of salt make a world of difference compared to boiling or steaming. Mind you, this is how I cook most veg. Steaming and boiling is for potatoes and chicken (I hate chicken but it's only non-fish meat my wife eats, poaching seems to be the only way to cook it and not end up with chewy horrible if you've not marinaded it for a week, bashed it repeatedly with a rolling pin, or subjected it to the intender mercies of Mademoiselle Magimix).

Chicken: spatchcock it, coat it with honey-mustard mix and grill it, basting occasionally.  That's the only way I'll eat the vile stuff.

[T42]

Improvised salad dressing at lunchtime: large dollop of mayo, rather more than that  cream, a random amount of Maggi, shake of Lea & Perrins, a drizzle of maple syrup and a teaspoonful of chopped fresh basil.  Had it on chicory. Yum.

[Mrs Pingu]

Loadsa broccoli recipes in the Guardian today
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/jul/05/cant-stand-broccoli-these-10-delicious-recipes-will-win-anyone-over

[T42]

Loadsa broccoli recipes in the Guardian today
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/jul/05/cant-stand-broccoli-these-10-delicious-recipes-will-win-anyone-over

It's enough to make you vote Tory.

[ian]

When did feeding children become such a negotiation (and broccoli evil, my childhood never featured anything as exotic as broccoli)? I didn't get a choice when the overcooked cabbage was slopped in front of me. I did once choke on a semi-frozen brussel sprout and forcefully eject it over of the table to hit my mother right between the eyes.

[citoyen]

I gave up trying to make my son eat peas after he vommed up a whole plateful of the feckers moments after I'd forced the last mouthful down his throat (this was way back when he was about 6 or 7, I think).

He has become a lot more tolerant of most foods as he has grown up, but I think I've scarred him for life on the pea front.

[T42]

But she really made me shiver
When she fed me chopped-up liver
For she hadn't cooked it
No wonder that I puked it
I don't remember if I cried
When she gave me snails that hadn't died
But something told me deep inside
To feed her cyanide.

So bye bye Miss Clostridium Pie...

[ian]

I did mention that my mother got me back with a lump of overcooked liver that had some kind of vein that stretched and stretched as I tried to bite through it until ping, it snapped and whipped right back into my eye so hard that my eyeball turned blood red and I didn't see straight for days.

I use to dread liver and onions like nothing else. I've never eaten it since.

[Mrs Pingu]

My Dad refused to eat semolina his whole life after watching his Mum force feeding it to his twin sister when he was a child.

[ian]

I have to confess that if I never have to nshima (and other allied maize or cassava stodges) again, I shall be happy.

Not that we ate those as I grew up on the East Midlands, where a battered and deep-fried slice of potato was the height of carbohydrate sophistication.

That said, I rather fancy a potato fritter and chips.

[hellymedic]

Mum cooked few brassicas for us when were kids and I an't remember food battles.

We were pretty unspoilt, getting boiled chicken most weeks...

[L CC]

Interesting read for smug abstainers like me

[citoyen]

Interesting read for smug abstainers like me

I've had periods where I've given up caffeine. If you go cold turkey, the headaches are horrendous. I had a lot more success weaning myself off it gradually - for a while, I had a rule of absolutely no caffeine after lunchtime, and that was fine.

On Saturday's audax, I had a coffee at the start but there were notably few opportunities to get hot drinks on the route. By mid-afternoon, I was suffering - partly down to the terrain, but also I'm sure partly down to lack of caffeine. After I stopped at the services and got an espresso from the Costa machine, I felt immeasurably better.

Yes, I am a proper addict and I know it. There's nothing in that piece that's even remotely surprising to me. It is a good read though.

[ian]

Caffeine is easier on the mind and body than crystal meth, plus snorting the latter is frowned on at breakfast.

Caffeine is one of those things that is alternately feted as the elixir of eternal life and dastardly bringer of a quick death. I have three mugs a day before deciding wakefulness is over-rated.

[spesh]

"It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the beans of Java that thoughts acquire speed, the hands acquire shakes, the shakes become a warning. It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion."

~ Mark Stein (reputedly at a sci-fi convention in Boston, ca 1993, riffing on the Mentat Mantra invented by David Lynch for his Dune film)

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Talk:Coffee

[Jurek]

My day used to start with a pint of tar-black espresso, before I decided that this is probably killing me and so I stopped.
Cold turkey.
It wasn't a problem.
I stayed caffeine-free for a number of years until (for reasons which to this day escape me) at the start of The London Classic I had a double espresso.
By the time we'd got to Clerkenwell, I felt like I'd shoved most of Bolivia's national product up my hooter.
But not in a good way.
I've never touched the stuff since.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Interesting to speculate how capitalism and rationalism might have turned out with a different 'daily drug'.

[citoyen]

Interesting to speculate how capitalism and rationalism might have turned out with a different 'daily drug'.

If you're interested in the subject, I recommend The Coffee House: A Cultural History by Markman Ellis
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00550NZEI/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_AJAM2PR0SWYSFDYP4BT4

[Cudzoziemiec]

Interesting to speculate how capitalism and rationalism might have turned out with a different 'daily drug'.

If you're interested in the subject, I recommend The Coffee House: A Cultural History by Markman Ellis
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00550NZEI/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_AJAM2PR0SWYSFDYP4BT4

[citoyen]

Limelon. It’s a hybrid of a lime and a melon. And it’s very good - basically a super tangy melon with a citrus flavour. The wonders of modern science, eh? Though I strongly suspect it’s not actually a cross between a line and a melon, just a melon that has been bred to have a lime flavour.

Seems to be a thing M&S have invented. Never seen it before but will definitely be having it again.

[Cudzoziemiec]

The flip side of Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée:

But in a provocative move on Friday, Vladimir Putin signed legislation requiring all non-Russian producers to mark their products in Russia as “sparkling wine” on the back of every bottle, including some of the world’s most famous and expensive bubbly.

Under the law, only locally made Shampanskoye is worthy of the prestigious and previously exclusive name, and French appellations are not recognised.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/05/shampanskoye-french-champagne-industry-in-a-fizz-over-russian-law

[hellymedic]

Gorillas food delivery have launched locally. Has anyone used them or ridden for them?
They are recruiting ebike delivery riders!