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

[Gattopardo]

Sounds suspiciously close to babaganoush. Spread on bread or crackers, use it as a dip, stir it through pasta, add it to a stew, eat it with a spoon and then lick the jar ...

Spread it on bread. Avocado toast is so 2023.

Thank you, stuff is lush.

[Gattopardo]

Sounds suspiciously close to babaganoush. Spread on bread or crackers, use it as a dip, stir it through pasta, add it to a stew, eat it with a spoon and then lick the jar ...

Ah I have some tuk cheese biscuits, so this will be a lazy dinner.  Thank you

The other evening we pigged out on Tuc biscuits and brie.  Sinful but nom.

Isn't that a crime in France?

[citoyen]

Sounds suspiciously close to babaganoush. Spread on bread or crackers, use it as a dip, stir it through pasta, add it to a stew, eat it with a spoon and then lick the jar ...

Spread it on bread. Avocado toast is so 2023.

Thank you, stuff is lush.

To make it even lusher, turn it into authentic baba ganoush by adding a bit of tahini, garlic and lemon juice. And maybe a bit of olive oil to get the consistency right if needed.

[Gattopardo]

Sounds suspiciously close to babaganoush. Spread on bread or crackers, use it as a dip, stir it through pasta, add it to a stew, eat it with a spoon and then lick the jar ...

Spread it on bread. Avocado toast is so 2023.

Thank you, stuff is lush.

To make it even lusher, turn it into authentic baba ganoush by adding a bit of tahini, garlic and lemon juice. And maybe a bit of olive oil to get the consistency right if needed.

Bit late, all gone now

[T42]

Sounds suspiciously close to babaganoush. Spread on bread or crackers, use it as a dip, stir it through pasta, add it to a stew, eat it with a spoon and then lick the jar ...

Ah I have some tuk cheese biscuits, so this will be a lazy dinner.  Thank you

The other evening we pigged out on Tuc biscuits and brie.  Sinful but nom.

Isn't that a crime in France?

More of a misdemeanour. Crime is cutting the nose off the brie.

[Flite]

Crime is cutting the nose off the brie.

I always have to get to the brie first, or my husband does that. Grrr...

[T42]

To be fair, if the brie has become sticky it's difficult to detach a decent full-length slice, so going for the nose might be a more pragmatic approach.

[Flite]

Don't usually get to the sticky stage.
We try to get the smaller full rounds of brie rather than a slice off a big wheel. I know it's not traditional, but there's only two to feed and they keep better.

[T42]

Well, I've always hated killing brie by putting it in the fridge, so it usually lives in the bread cupboard here and gets sticky.  The ideal would be a temperature-controlled cabinet like they have at the cheese shop, at 8°-10°. Unreasonably expensive, though.

[Gattopardo]

Well, I've always hated killing brie by putting it in the fridge, so it usually lives in the bread cupboard here and gets sticky.  The ideal would be a temperature-controlled cabinet like they have at the cheese shop, at 8°-10°. Unreasonably expensive, though.

Isn't brie supposed to be like that, tastes better.

[Flite]

Isn't brie supposed to be like that, tastes better.

Tastes stronger, yes. We just prefer it milder.
We eat Brie because we like the taste and texture, not because we need to clear our sinuses.

[citoyen]

“Hand-roasted coffee”

Who are these people who have hands hot enough to roast coffee?

[Hot Flatus]

Coffee roasting is done by profile. ie, you experiment, find the ideal roast profile for the bean, and replicate. If you can afford a machine that can replicate the profile for you then great. If not, you are stuck there with a temperature probe and a stopwatch, "Hand roasting" 

Coffee roasters have a particular problem trying to generate the notion of "terroir" considering their "terroir" tends to be a concrete unit on an industrial estate, so that do it by claiming a 'relationship' with the grower.  Expect photos of fangled toothed central Americans, perhaps even with their wives and children, stomping bare-foot on the red coffee cherries in the red-brown earth of the Finca (farm). Expect to pay a premium if your coffee bag has the word "Finca" on it.

There may also be claims that the 'relationship' involves development of the processing of the bean, at the finca, between grower and roaster. The reality, of course, being that the roaster chooses the beans from the same one or two UK wholesalers as everyone else.

[Cudzoziemiec]

“Hand-roasted coffee”

Who are these people who have hands hot enough to roast coffee?

They're the ones caught red handed.

[citoyen]

Coffee roasting is done by profile. ie, you experiment, find the ideal roast profile for the bean, and replicate. If you can afford a machine that can replicate the profile for you then great. If not, you are stuck there with a temperature probe and a stopwatch, "Hand roasting" 

I get all that, I know what the intention is behind the phrase, but the meaning of the words in English doesn't convey that literally, hence it requires inside knowledge to understand what it actually means. In other words, it's jargon. So often the case in foodie terminology - see also "pan-fried". I mean, how else would you fry something except in a pan? The question is whether it's the pan of a deep-fat fryer or a shallow frying pan.

You could say I'm being an insufferable pedant but... yeah, I'd have to agree with you there.

And I admit I can't think of a better, equally succinct way to say what is meant by "hand-roasted coffee".

“Hand-roasted coffee”

Who are these people who have hands hot enough to roast coffee?

They're the ones caught red handed.

Would you like me to fetch your coat for you?

[T42]

MrsT picked up a bag of frozen uncooked croissants last week, just to try.  Surprise: they're good.  Only drawback is that they need 8-12 hours to thaw & rise before baking.

[rafletcher]

MrsT picked up a bag of frozen uncooked croissants last week, just to try.  Surprise: they're good.  Only drawback is that they need 8-12 hours to thaw & rise before baking.

Our local farm shop does those and various other pastries, loose rather than bagged. I tend to put them on a baking tray and into the ETA - cold oven the night before to allow them to rise. Makes a nice change and they’re all butter ones to boot (though not a patch on those I had in the bar of the hotel that punctuates the end of the Mulsanne straight, in about 1988).

[T42]

MrsT picked up a bag of frozen uncooked croissants last week, just to try.  Surprise: they're good.  Only drawback is that they need 8-12 hours to thaw & rise before baking.

Our local farm shop does those and various other pastries, loose rather than bagged. I tend to put them on a baking tray and into the oven the night before to allow them to rise. Makes a nice change and they’re all butter ones to boot (though not a patch on those I had in the bar of the hotel that punctuates the end of the Mulsanne straight, in about 1988).

Aye, that's what I did.  Ours are au beurre too.  This morning they'd only had 8 hours to defrost & rise so I'll try leaving them out of the oven on a board near the kitchen hearth, with a lid over them.  I reckon 12 hours should fetch them.

Curiously, the best croissants around here are in the Cora supermarket's snack bar in Haguenau and the next best are Aldi's, whereas most of the local bakeries turn out stodgy solid efforts as if the layers had all merged into each other.  Maybe it's because we're in the north of Alsace and croissants are not Teutonic, but Cora & Aldi are all over France and enforce the same rules everywhere.

[citoyen]

That’s a sign of excessive warmth at proving stage- the butter will melt, you’ll end up with no lamination and your croissants will be stodgy rather than light and flaky.

Same caveat applies to defrosting frozen croissants.

[T42]

Didn't know that about the butter. So the bakeries are behaving like pâtisserie baristas, who know only two milk temperatures: cold and boiling.  Our kitchen is usually about 20°C, which is close to the ideal fermentation temperature.

[citoyen]

Croissants are basically a yeasted puff pastry. You need to keep the dough cool until the point you whack them in the oven.

[T42]

Yes. I checked the inside temperature of the oven yesterday afternoon:14.5°C. Seemed a little too low to me.  Sitting out at 19-20° overnight, they had risen nicely this morning but the inside wasn't quite perfect and if anything they were too flaky outside.  The instructions said to cook them at 200° so I'll maybe drop that to 180° tomorrow.

[rafletcher]

I do ours at 190 for around 9-10 minutes, but of course ovens vary. That’s the conventional top oven.

[T42]

I do ours at 190 for around 9-10 minutes, but of course ovens vary. That’s the conventional top oven.

Don't know the term.  Ours is built in.

[rafletcher]

I do ours at 190 for around 9-10 minutes, but of course ovens vary. That’s the conventional top oven.

Don't know the term.  Ours is built in.

Not fan.