Author Topic: A random thread for food things that don't really warrant a thread of their own (Read 517301 times)

Ham · « **Reply #3450 on:** 02 April, 2020, 01:21:59 pm »

..... showing the value of the proving oven.

Where do you get your fresh yeast from?

citoyen · « **Reply #3451 on:** 02 April, 2020, 02:17:53 pm »

Quote from: Ham on 02 April, 2020, 12:15:31 pm

Also, IME fan works better than top & bottom for bread

Interesting. Is that traditional fan or forced air?

Everything I've read says not to use fan for bread, but I can't recall if I've actually tried it, so no personal experience to report.

Ham · « **Reply #3452 on:** 02 April, 2020, 04:07:05 pm »

OK, it's Neff fan oven, that makes it Circotherm which is unique to Neff

Quote

How does CircoTherm® work?
CircoTherm® works by drawing air in from the oven via a powerful stainless steel fan. It then heats up the air and forces it right back into the oven cavity through strategically placed ducts in the rear wall.

As a result, the desired temperature is reached much more quickly and is distributed more evenly throughout the oven.

Is that forced air? I dunno.

I can't believe that the rest of the world doesn't have something as effective these days but I've been using Neff for 40 years, so don't have anything to compare to, long term. The distribution of heat is excellent, cooking a tray puff pastry it will all cook equally (OK, almost equally) plus you can cook on multiple shelves simultaneously. Upshot is, the only time I don't use the fan is when you want intense heat on the bottom, eg pizza.

I'm also not sure I completely buy into the "desired temperature is reached much more quickly" - the fast heat up setting works well - not that much slower than gas, but otherwise it's sluggish, although far from as sluggish as some I've used.

hellymedic · « **Reply #3453 on:** 02 April, 2020, 04:16:04 pm »

I am going to experiment with microwave meringues later.

I fancy Eton Mess! (Not Boris)

Mrs Pingu · « **Reply #3454 on:** 02 April, 2020, 05:08:16 pm »

I started a new rye sourdough starter on Monday. I thought it was starting to frisk y'day but it's gone back to sleep again.
So in the meantime I thought I'd make walnut & raisin bread. 3 packs of walnuts in the drawer, all BBE 2018. Had a taste, not great.
Just raisin bread then.
Threw out 2 packs of 2015 linseeds too. Can't remember why I bought them.

My brother had a bread disaster at the weekend. Last night he admitted the flour was from 2013. Today he said he found a packet from 2011. Full of beasties.

SteveC · « **Reply #3455 on:** 02 April, 2020, 06:23:36 pm »

One of the things MrsC had planned for 'when she retired' was the spring cleaning she's been putting off until she retired.
This included the food cupboards, which we go through at what we thing are reasonably frequent intervals.
So, two complete food waste bags later. All sufficiently out of date that we weren't going to risk it.

ian · « **Reply #3456 on:** 02 April, 2020, 06:28:45 pm »

We accumulate out-of-date stuff, mostly because I won't throw it away. I am a firm believer that pasta improves with age.

The basic rule is that if it's dry, then generally the BBE dates are for entertainment purposes unless it has a relatively high oil content. Flour falls into this category, especially wholewheat as it contains the endosperm. White flour you can be a bit more lenient with, but give it a sniff and taste (pretend you're a narcotics cop while you do this, it makes it far more fun), it usually smells stale. I always chuck wholemeal once it's past its BBE (give or take a week), it's not worth making a loaf and then finding out three hours later that it's inedible.

hellymedic · « **Reply #3457 on:** 02 April, 2020, 08:27:03 pm »

The >20 year old Ryvita Currant Crunch (BBE **99) I ate last week was surprisingly palatable. (Well, hardly different from newer crispbread.)

graculus · « **Reply #3458 on:** 03 April, 2020, 09:44:22 am »

Quote from: ian on 02 April, 2020, 06:28:45 pm

I am a firm believer that pasta improves with age.

What is this pasta of which you speak, Ian? Wholewheat of any shape or form has been a mythical beast as far as our local Sainsburys is concerned ever since the locusts descended.
Steve, I think you're going to have to give us a few examples of food type and expiry date so that we can have a string of forummites say 'I would/wouldn't have used that'.
(We did find a bag of stewed damsons in the freezer last week from 2010. They went in with some freshly stewed apple in a crumble and we ate'nt dead yet).

SteveC · « **Reply #3459 on:** 03 April, 2020, 10:07:40 am »

Graculus, I can't remember the details. MrsC was doing this, not me. The one I do remember was the unopened gold food colouring which was two years past its date. And I will have no possible use for it until the lockdown is well and truly over. Oh, and a lot of ground spices which end up tasting mostly of dust if they're too old.

ian · « **Reply #3460 on:** 03 April, 2020, 10:12:22 am »

There's been the occasional bag of pasta available on our trips, but we're still eating stuff that we bought in Ikea c2013 (when we moved house, it's in reindeer shapes).

Other than for meat products though, I'm pretty lenient with expiry dates. This is a problem because I never quite catch up with the stuff that has yet to row across the Rubicon of its best-before.

I do throw aways spices though, they are indeed quickly little more than dust.

SteveC · « **Reply #3461 on:** 03 April, 2020, 10:13:39 am »

Not sure if this should be in the First World Problems thread or here, but my low-salt Marmite was substituted for the XO stuff on our Tesco delivery this week.

The Family Cyclist · « **Reply #3462 on:** 03 April, 2020, 10:34:23 am »

I didn't know about the non fan for bread. I tend to use the big oven which is fan for most things unless I'm just doing say a single loaf when I use the smaller one. It does also have a almost as large non fan I rarely use but could easily use this for bread

rafletcher · « **Reply #3463 on:** 03 April, 2020, 11:15:23 am »

Quote from: graculus on 03 April, 2020, 09:44:22 am

What is this pasta of which you speak, Ian? Wholewheat of any shape or form has been a mythical beast as far as our local Sainsburys is concerned ever since the locusts descended.

And will remain so, it's a minority demand, and manufacturers have switched to fewer, more mainstream products.

And anyway, it's an abomination

. If you want roughage, pasta isn't where you should look for it!

ian · « **Reply #3464 on:** 03 April, 2020, 11:18:45 am »

Wholewheat pasta is weird, I'm not sure why it exists. I don't think it needs to exist.

citoyen · « **Reply #3465 on:** 03 April, 2020, 12:41:31 pm »

Our Tesco delivery the other day had normal pasta swapped for gluten-free brown rice pasta.

Really not the same thing at all.

ian · « **Reply #3466 on:** 03 April, 2020, 12:51:14 pm »

I think 'gluten-free brown rice pasta' must be one of the most horrific phrases I've ever read.

Sure the whole point of pasta (and any dough) is the gluten, that's what makes dough, well, dough.

citoyen · « **Reply #3467 on:** 03 April, 2020, 12:54:02 pm »

I once tried to make GF pizza dough using just buckwheat flour, with a bit of xanthan gum to replace the gluten.

Let's just say it's not an experiment I'll be repeating any time soon.

hellymedic · « **Reply #3468 on:** 03 April, 2020, 05:27:48 pm »

We Philistines do consume wholewheat pasta.

We've not been stockpiiing.

I ordered and received 500g wholewheat spaghetti in a recent Sainsbury's delivery.

ian · « **Reply #3469 on:** 03 April, 2020, 05:33:00 pm »

I have had the misfortune of wholewheat spaghetti. It just has the wrong texture for pasta and frankly, pasta is all about the texture. A bit like it had been made out of woodchippings and wallpaper paste.

hellymedic · « **Reply #3470 on:** 04 April, 2020, 03:42:50 pm »

David has been nagging me about the unused jars of Roses Lime Marmalade that have graced the cupboard since we gave up toast for breakfast in 2012.

I am roasting a chicken for tonight's supper.

I will experiment with making a sauce for it, combining said marmalade, lemon juice, lime juice, an orange, ginger salt & pepper.

This might stop him moaning...

ETA Perusing my emails, it seems these jars were a Sainsbury's Special Offer, delivered 12/6/2013...

Mrs Pingu · « **Reply #3471 on:** 04 April, 2020, 03:44:25 pm »

That sounds good...

hellymedic · « **Reply #3472 on:** 04 April, 2020, 04:04:16 pm »

We will see...

T42 · « **Reply #3473 on:** 04 April, 2020, 05:05:20 pm »

Might work in a margarita.

Kim · « **Reply #3474 on:** 04 April, 2020, 06:27:49 pm »

Might also work on toast at some other time of day?