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

[Cudzoziemiec]

Kefir soap! Wow!

[Ham]

Back on the chilli front, I picked another 1.2Kg yesterday, wondered if anyone has alternative treatments. My two preferred are either making up what I call a turkish style chilli relish, using onions, tomato, herbs or slicing and pickling as in the previous. I tend not to (ok, never tried) making a concentrated chilli sauce a la tabasco, Dave's insanity etc, as the commercial ones are good, and the hottest chillies I've grown are Cayenne. Drying is another one I haven't tried, but sounds like it might be a faff, especially storing

[citoyen]

We’ve got a few strings of chillies hanging up to dry. The faff is in stringing them but after that they’re nae bother.

They look rather attractive too. Almost decorative.

[Oaky]

Back on the chilli front, I picked another 1.2Kg yesterday, wondered if anyone has alternative treatments. My two preferred are either making up what I call a turkish style chilli relish, using onions, tomato, herbs or slicing and pickling as in the previous. I tend not to (ok, never tried) making a concentrated chilli sauce a la tabasco, Dave's insanity etc, as the commercial ones are good, and the hottest chillies I've grown are Cayenne. Drying is another one I haven't tried, but sounds like it might be a faff, especially storing

Smoking?

[Ruthie]

Back on the chilli front, I picked another 1.2Kg yesterday, wondered if anyone has alternative treatments. My two preferred are either making up what I call a turkish style chilli relish, using onions, tomato, herbs or slicing and pickling as in the previous. I tend not to (ok, never tried) making a concentrated chilli sauce a la tabasco, Dave's insanity etc, as the commercial ones are good, and the hottest chillies I've grown are Cayenne. Drying is another one I haven't tried, but sounds like it might be a faff, especially storing

Freeze them and grate them into food straight from the freezer?

[mrcharly-YHT]

I tried making sauerkraut last night. The middle stepdaughter has returned to uni, so we are without a sauerkraut-maker in the house. Ingredient assembly and mashing was rendered difficult by continued interruptions and the youngest's stepchild's semi-permanent abduction of the mixing bowl to use as a post-drink vomit container. Why he had to claim that rather than the SPARE washing up bowl I do not know.

(I am not using said mixing bowl for cooking with every again, before anyone asks).

[rafletcher]

Last night I had a first - a baked potato exploding in the oven. I hadn't pricked it, but it was on a metal skewer, as I've done dozens of times in the past. This time however the whole top half blew off!

[Oaky]

Last night I had a first - a baked potato exploding in the oven. I hadn't pricked it, but it was on a metal skewer, as I've done dozens of times in the past. This time however the whole top half blew off!

I always prick them, and have never had the explosion happen, but mrs_o doesn't and has had a couple of spuds go bang.

The latest one blew its entire skin off, leaving a somewhat smaller potato core on the shelf and a near complete skin on the bottom of the oven.

[campagman]

Was that in the Microwave?

[rafletcher]

No, not the microwave - there I always prick them - this was in the conventional oven, which is why it can as such a surprise.

[rafletcher]

The latest one blew its entire skin off, leaving a somewhat smaller potato core on the shelf and a near complete skin on the bottom of the oven.

Very similar - except the top half of the skin lodged in the grill elements, and the contents spattered all over the oven.

[Ham]

Relish it is



Unfortunately it is a little addictive, I was eating the last lot with a spoon <looks for smiley with smoke coming out of ears>

[hellymedic]

I read a feature in the Jewish Chronicle yesterday.

The author claims she can't bake a cake but what she is really saying is that she is so sh*t scared of what others might think of her baking that she is too scared to try.

How sad!

I don't think I've ever seen anyone get sniffy or snobby about CAIK.

The social set must be rather different from the cycling circles in which I move, which seem mostly like gannets circling fishing nets.

First World problems, I suppose.

[SteveC]

CAIK is acceptable in all the circles I move in!
I suppose the 'poshest' ones are the creations that occasionally turn up at the village hall^* but even there the less glamorous stuff always goes.


* there is an event at the village hall -- there must be cake, is seems to be a law of the universe

[hellymedic]

Concerts at St Edmund's Church, Pinner are followed by Tea, with a HUGE spread of CAIK.

This mostly vanishes PDQ.

I find it somewhat weird that the author is too scared to bake a cake while my FB friend is posting pics of her toddler grandchildren 'helping' in the kitchen.

I hope most friends aren't so judgemental of their hosts!

[tiermat]

Kefir is bloody brilliant.

Forget buying it ready made, just make your own. It's not expensive and the finished product keeps much better than the raw ingredients (basically full fat milk). The grains keep well, covered in a little milk, in an airtight container, in the fridge between batches.

I have found a massive improvement in my condition since starting using it.

I have a  abundance of the grains, if anyone wants to give it a go.

[Kim]

I read a feature in the Jewish Chronicle yesterday.

The author claims she can't bake a cake but what she is really saying is that she is so sh*t scared of what others might think of her baking that she is too scared to try.

How sad!

I don't think I've ever seen anyone get sniffy or snobby about CAIK.

I'm sure some do, but nevertheless, baking cakes is the sort of thing you can practice in the privacy of your own home until achieving acceptable results or giving it up as a bad job.  No need to fear to try, surely?

[spesh]

Bake. Or bake not. There is no try, hmmmm?

[hellymedic]

Few cakes are a TOTAL failure IME.

We used to LOVE our grandmother's 'flop' cake, which had sunk in the middle, possibly due to insufficient baking or sudden ingress of cold air in the oven.

I don't always like very elaborate cakes TBH. Some look MUCH nicer than they taste. Caffe Concerto: you are GUILTY!

[Ham]

French land is experiencing a butter shortage! http://www.francetvinfo.fr/economie/trois-raisons-de-s-inquieter-de-la-penurie-de-beurre-qui-touche-la-france_2429091.html

[Cudzoziemiec]

Odd, I heard something about a butter shortage in Poland earlier in the year. Perhaps it's a continent-wide dairy crisis!

[hellymedic]

AIUI the French butter crisis is a fiscal cock-up.
There's plenty of butter but prices are higher outside France so producers sell elsewhere.

[T42]

Few cakes are a TOTAL failure IME.

We used to LOVE our grandmother's 'flop' cake, which had sunk in the middle, possibly due to insufficient baking or sudden ingress of cold air in the oven.

I don't always like very elaborate cakes TBH. Some look MUCH nicer than they taste. Caffe Concerto: you are GUILTY!

One of my mum's specialities. She usually used oblong loaf tins so we called them valley cakes.  They were pretty good too.  We tried hard but never managed to persuade her to fill up the valley with icing.

[Basil]

Tip:  Never attempt something that you've never tried cooking before when you have house guests.
Particularly lemon meringue pie. 

[orienteer]

In the spirit of Eton Mess, just rename it. Wrexit, for example......