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

[Jurek]

Biscuits.
They're supposed to be eaten by the packet.
Are they not?
What does the panel think?

[mcshroom]

If not, they would sell them in resealable packs.

[clarion]

Depends.  Custard creams and hobnobs, the unit is one packet.  Others, less so.

[woollypigs]

mcshroom what is this "resealable biscuits packs" you are talking about - witchcraft, black magic mumbo jumbo I say !

[ian]

Any fool knows that biscuits reach their peak after a few days exposure to atmosphere. Otherwise they're too crunchy. I have my butler open the packet three days beforehand, that way when he hands me the tray they're perfect. Of course, for one not to finish the packet just isn't cricket. Packets are quite clearly sized for individual consumption. If you have guests, then have the housekeeper get out the biscuit tin.

[Vince]

Sorry doesn't work. Pringles^[1] come in resealable packets, but are still consumed in one sitting.

[1]. I'm aware that Pringles aren't biscuits.

[mcshroom]

How do you stick the foil back down on a pringles tube?

[Vince]

UHU. Really disappoints the next person to open it

[mrcharly-YHT]

Pringles come in a tube so that they can be eaten without getting greasy hands.

Anyone tried the Pringles version of a 'yard of ale'?

[woollypigs]

Pringles are made for small people to eat. I can only get a 1/3 of the way down the tube. Where small people can reach the bottom. Yes I know I can tip it but then my hand get crumbs all over it, because some numpty have gone cha-cha-cha with it.

[ian]

Pringles are made for small people to eat. I can only get a 1/3 of the way down the tube. Where small people can reach the bottom. Yes I know I can tip it but then my hand get crumbs all over it, because some numpty have gone cha-cha-cha with it.

Once you're outside the realm of questing fingers, the strategic tube tip ensures the requisite number of Pringles can slip unencumbered into one's mouth. Of course, I have the butler take a firm line on shaken-up and broken Pringles. To the supplier forthwith.

Back to biscuits, I remember the old days when Father's house had a dunker on staff. People forget that. Like a fine sommelier was the dunker, knew the type of the biscuit for the drink, and requisite dunk time. Never a lost biscuit. That is, I fear, a lost art. One cannot get a good dunker these days. That said, some of the confections that pass as biscuits these days are barely suitable to dunk. Cookies, I ask you. What is the world coming to? One of the maids tried to dunk a garibaldi for me the other day. A garibaldi! My father would have had her whipped, though I suppose there's some law against that kind of thing these days. The whipping that is, not dunking garibaldis. More is the shame. How staff are supposed to learn a skill, I don't know.

[Mrs Pingu]

If it's a double pack of jaffa cakes, that only counts as one pack and you can eat the lot.

[Jurek]

I still think we're in the same realm with biscuits as we are with alcohol - One doesn't put the cork back in, or screw the cap back on.
Regardless of libation.
Or do I have that horribly wrong?

EG:
*Put the cork back in*
For what?
So you can have some *later*?
Later, after what?
'Later' had better be pretty bloody good to warrant putting the cork back in.
Never heard of such stuff.
Or how to implement it.

Biscuits = the same.
No?

[Vince]

Yes, but with a couple of exceptions.

Rich tea fingers and malted milk biscuits. There seem to be about 300 rich tea fingers in a packet.

[Paul]

I still think we're in the same realm with biscuits as we are with alcohol - One doesn't put the cork back in, or screw the cap back on.
Regardless of libation.
Or do I have that horribly wrong?

EG:
*Put the cork back in*
For what?
So you can have some *later*?
Later, after what?
'Later' had better be pretty bloody good to warrant putting the cork back in.
Never heard of such stuff.
Or how to implement it.

Biscuits = the same.
No?

Quite.

Yes, but with a couple of exceptions.

Rich tea fingers and malted milk biscuits. There seem to be about 300 rich tea fingers in a packet.

And they're rubbish. That's also a factor.

Pringles are made for small people to eat. I can only get a 1/3 of the way down the tube. Where small people can reach the bottom. Yes I know I can tip it but then my hand get crumbs all over it, because some numpty have gone cha-cha-cha with it.

This is my personal post of the year. If I didn't still love my sig so much, this would be my new one.

[Basil]

I've just poached an egg the traditional way (straight into a pan of swirling boiling water)  for the first time in my life.
It worked surprisingly easy and well, although the yolk was very underdone.  That was just down to my poor timing.  It is quite difficult to tell how well the yolk is done using this method.
With the special pan with individual egg modules method I don't time, I check how well the yolk is done by lifting the lid and tapping the egg with the flat of a knife.

How do you do more than one egg at a time?

[Paul]

Same way. You'd think they'd get all tangled up, but they don't really.

[Cudzoziemiec]

My banana chips contain banana flavour!
Banana 55%, Coconut oil 26%, Sugar 19%, Banana flavour <1%

They are banana-flavoured banana chips which taste only of sugar. 

[Cudzoziemiec]

Pretentious food names. Or are they?
I went in to the bakery and bought a chocolate brownie (not for me) as I do every Tuesday, then decided to get a pain-au-raisin as well. Remarked to the girl who works there (I know her a bit) what a silly name it is. She said she tried to call them "raisin swirls" but customers corrected her - she had, however, stuck to her guns over the pain-au-chocolat, calling it "chocolate croissant". This drew (light-hearted) objections from a customer who walked in at that moment - pretentious ponce! - but I said it can't really be a croissant, because it's not the right shape. Oh dear, who's being pretentious now?

I wonder what will happen to these names in time; will they become Anglicised (maybe spelled "pano(h) raisin"?) or replaced by English names (raisin swirl sounds ok!) or will we just get used to them? Twenty odd years ago I had a flatmate who worked in a bakery/sandwich shop and said lots of customers couldn't get their heads (or tongues) round "baguette", pronouncing it in all sorts of weird ways. They had no trouble getting their teeth into it though. "Chocolate roll" just wouldn't express quite the same as pain-au-chocolat though.

[citoyen]

"Fresh sour cream" - isn't that an oxymoron, Mr Tesco?

[citoyen]

It is quite difficult to tell how well the yolk is done using this method.

It comes with practice. I've got it down to a fine art - 3mins in water at a rolling boil on my hob gives a perfect just-runny yolk.

But I have poached eggs for breakfast nearly every day, so I've had lots of practice. I find the single most important factor is the freshness of the eggs.

How do you do more than one egg at a time?

Use a bigger pan!

[tiermat]

The kitchen @THoFC smells, beautifully, of elderflower cordial.

How can the raw materials make the house smell of cat wee, but the finished product smell so lovely?

[Wobbly John]

On the local news last night they were interviewing the Director of Agri-Tech East about food and agriculture. She made a comment that made me shout at the telly; "Hold on there missus - back up a sec..."

She said; "We, actually, as a planet, eat more food than we, actually, produce..." 

How does that work then? 

Are we importing food from space?
Is it some sort of EEC quota shit?
She trained in finance/PR rather than science/engineering? 

About 17:45 if you want to hear for yourself. (Time limited) 

[Vince]

I think she has taken account of the many hunter/gatherers.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Perhaps she means that specifically in the most recent year we have data for, we ate more than we produced, because we were using up stocks from previous years?