The General Chat Thread

Loire

LOL. That reminds me of my MIL. The last time we called I was making dinner for all of us as a treat. When I told her I was making roast potatoes as part of the mains she just relied "Oh yeah, I have some of them, they're out in the freezer". Still have the scar from biting my lip!

Animord

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

And if he was a proper trained chef he'd know that you're not supposed to wear the whites out and about for hygiene reasons!

Absolutely, I should have asked him where he was from so we could avoid it!

Merkin

Does anyone have an idiot proof way of cooking meatballs? I have now attempted them twice and while I am very happy with the flavour, they end up disintegrating into a sad and disappointing pot of mince because they simply won't hold! What am I doing wrong?

Dizzyblonde

Merkin wrote: »

Does anyone have an idiot proof way of cooking meatballs? I have now attempted them twice and while I am very happy with the flavour, they end up disintegrating into a sad and disappointing pot of mince because they simply won't hold! What am I doing wrong?

I brush mine with olive oil and cook in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes at 180 degrees. Then I pop them into the sauce and let them simmer for a short while. They never fall apart, and roasting them is so much easier than frying them. I use equal quantities of beef and pork mince and the texture is great.

the beer revolu

Animord wrote: »

lol

I was in Musgraves not that long ago and a man came in dressed head to toe in chef's whites - hat and all. He proceeded to load his trolley with that Knorr powdered soup in assorted varieties. I wanted to tell him he wasn't worthy of wearing the chef's whites, but I didn't have the nerve!

Did he look like this?

Merkin

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

I brush mine with olive oil and cook in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes at 180 degrees. Then I pop them into the sauce and let them simmer for a short while. They never fall apart, and roasting them is so much easier than frying them. I use equal quantities of beef and pork mince and the texture is great.

Thanks so much Dizzy, I shall try this. I'd been frying them in a cast iron pan and they would invariably stick and/or just fall apart when I turned them! Roasting them sounds like a wonderful idea, cheers!

Animord

the beer revolu wrote: »

Did he look like this?

:eek:

lol, actually his hat was one of the big tall ones, what an eejit!

emaleth

Merkin wrote: »

Thanks so much Dizzy, I shall try this. I'd been frying them in a cast iron pan and they would invariably stick and/or just fall apart when I turned them! Roasting them sounds like a wonderful idea, cheers!

Roasting should certainly help a lot. Another thing I find useful is to put plenty of salt in the mixture and to let them mind their own business on a plate in the fridge for half an hour before roasting or sautéeing them. The salt does something witchcrafty that glues the meat proteins together (sez Heston) and the chill of the fridge lets them gather their thoughts, as it were. Then, if I'm sautéeing rather than roasting, I let them get good and browned before I even think about moving them in the pan. That should hold them together nicely.

Faith

emaleth wrote: »

The salt does something witchcrafty that glues the meat proteins together (sez Heston) and the chill of the fridge lets them gather their thoughts, as it were.

Animord

I was watching James Martin one day and someone asked him why meat needs to 'relax' after it has been cooked and he replied "If I put your backside into an oven at 200 degrees you'd probably tense up too"

I think of that every time I take meat out to let it rest.:pac:

GalwayGuy2

I found some baking equipment

Their a little dirty, but going to let them soak and pop them in the dishwasher. As long as their not rusty, I reckon they're grand.

That means...

MINCE PIES :eek:

Michellenman

Anyone know if you can re-use cinnamon sticks? I've often made 2 or 3 batches of stuff from the one set of vanilla pods, can the same be done with cinnamon sticks? I'm making a mulling syrup at the moment so if it was possible, I would have to find a way of drying them out before storage..

Animord

Mulling syrup suggests it has sugar in it. I would have thought that it is going to be sticky so wont dry, but I could be wrong. I have never tried to reuse a cinnamon stick so am not sure sorry.

I am at home today, there is a tree down so cant get out, the dishwasher has packed up and I have no hot water.:mad:

So I have retired to the fireside with a box of Christmas chocolates for company and a large mug of tea. Tea usually solves most things.

Minder

Is it me or does the perishable produce sold at this time of the year have a much shorter shelf life that at any other time of the year? On Tuesday, I was looking at smoked salmon for Christmas Day but none of it would have lasted the week if I bought it. My recollection is that smoked salmon always has weeks before the expiry date.

Dizzyblonde

Minder wrote: »

Is it me or does the perishable produce sold at this time of the year have a much shorter shelf life that at any other time of the year?

It's the same every year - especially with smoked salmon and cheese. I wanted to buy both last week but most of the cheeses were best before next week!

beertons

Hello. I've never ventured in here before. Have to tell ya's this one. Was prepping for a slow cooked beef curry by Dizzyblonde, and I asked Mrs Beery to get 2 chilli's. She comes home with 2 scotch bonnets. While I don't mind, it has to feed my father and my 2 year old. Oh man, there's going to be fireworks tomorrow.

awec

You put them both in? :pac:

beertons

I did indeed, 'twas in the recipe. I have 2 large glenisk tubs of natural yougart on standby too.

Merkin

Maybe get a fire extinguisher too Beertons!

It might not be tooooo hot. Try some yourself tomorrow an hour or two before you're due to serve it and if you need to tone it down there are lots of ways to do that so I wouldn't worry!

Dizzyblonde

Ooh beertons, don't blame me because I don't think that was my recipe? Mine was the Irish-mammy-type curry.

Loire

So I spent 2 hours trying to get a new, bleedin Apple wireless router working last night. When it finally worked the signal/range was only the same as my previous router (which is not good enough). I was nearly in tears and pulling the hair out of my head. So I decided to make a carbonara (with cheese & eggs rather than the yucky cream ones they pass of in restaurants). With that I poured a LARGE glass of Cotes du Rhone (which was followed by more glasses) and I felt great again

Loire

We all know we're all a bit nuts about food here (well I am anyway). Last week, myself and herself went to Dublin. About an hour into the drive we had one of those random silences that went on for a few minutes. Herself turns around to me and asks "what are you thinking about, you look deep in thought?". I answered "Yeah, I was just thinking, what would happen if the world ran out of garlic?"

The Hill Billy

Loire wrote: »

We all know we're all a bit nuts about food here (well I am anyway). Last week, myself and herself went to Dublin. About an hour into the drive we had one of those random silences that went on for a few minutes. Herself turns around to me and asks "what are you thinking about, you look deep in thought?". I answered "Yeah, I was just thinking, what would happen if the world ran out of garlic?"

Classic!

Faith

Loire wrote: »

We all know we're all a bit nuts about food here (well I am anyway). Last week, myself and herself went to Dublin. About an hour into the drive we had one of those random silences that went on for a few minutes. Herself turns around to me and asks "what are you thinking about, you look deep in thought?". I answered "Yeah, I was just thinking, what would happen if the world ran out of garlic?"

That's not a world I'd want to live in!

Merkin

Faith wrote: »

That's not a world I'd want to live in!

Me either!! :eek:

Animord

Loire wrote: »

We all know we're all a bit nuts about food here (well I am anyway). Last week, myself and herself went to Dublin. About an hour into the drive we had one of those random silences that went on for a few minutes. Herself turns around to me and asks "what are you thinking about, you look deep in thought?". I answered "Yeah, I was just thinking, what would happen if the world ran out of garlic?"

That's not "deep in thought" that is an actual living nightmare!

Animord

This is not about cooking, and for that I apologise - feel free to delete if I am breaking the rules.

I have a skip by my house, it is hidden from the road by a van and my car and I live a very rural place, no neighbours. I went out, in the car, leaving the van in front of the skip and having come home have just noticed that someone has put a whole load of stuff in it? What? Who drives round with rubbish in their car looking for houses with skips? and they must have come in and walked round because you couldn't see it from the road. Bizarre!

Loire

Animord wrote: »

This is not about cooking, and for that I apologise - feel free to delete if I am breaking the rules.

I have a skip by my house, it is hidden from the road by a van and my car and I live a very rural place, no neighbours. I went out, in the car, leaving the van in front of the skip and having come home have just noticed that someone has put a whole load of stuff in it? What? Who drives round with rubbish in their car looking for houses with skips? and they must have come in and walked round because you couldn't see it from the road. Bizarre!

I have a similar story (except it IS food related :pac: ). A number of years ago when we lived in Dublin, myself and herself went to Aldi on the Long Mile Road which had just opened. It was mad busy so we left our trolley at the end of one of the isles and carried what we needed back and forth. When we got to the tills we realised that someone had nicked our Bags for Life :rolleyes: Herself was annoyed but I couldn't stop laughing. Can you imagine the mentality...not only in nicking them put spotting them and thinking of nicking them.

Animord

Loire wrote: »

I have a similar story (except it IS food related :pac: ). A number of years ago when we lived in Dublin, myself and herself went to Aldi on the Long Mile Road which had just opened. It was mad busy so we left our trolley at the end of one of the isles and carried what we needed back and forth. When we got to the tills we realised that someone had nicked our Bags for Life :rolleyes: Herself was annoyed but I couldn't stop laughing. Can you imagine the mentality...not only in nicking them put spotting them and thinking of nicking them.

lol. I also have a trolley story - I was out shopping with my aunt who has never eaten a processed thing in her life - she has always cooked - bread every second day etc etc. Anyway we were in Tesco or somesuch and I was wandering round and abandoning the trolley periodically. I suddenly realised she was standing over someone else's trolley and picking out the things very disdainfully and, at the top of her voice, saying "What ARE you buying, this is disgusting, and this is disgusting and this is disgusting. I am ASHAMED of you Animord"

Lol, I was mortified! I have no idea what the people who actually owned the trolley thought. I RAN out of the place.

Faith

There's no need for the posts in here to be only food related, don't worry!

But yeah, i think dumping in other peoples skips is actually quite a common problem. People store rubbish in the shed or wherever because they don't have enough stuff to get a skip themselves (or they're too cheap too!) and they wait for someone nearby to get a skip in.

Loire

Faith wrote: »

There's no need for the posts in here to be only food related, don't worry!

Yippee! Burn the Bondholders I say :pac:

Animord

Loire wrote: »

Yippee! Burn the Bondholders I say :pac:

I have burnt the mincepies. Is that the same thing?

MissFlitworth

My mam had the opposite skip problem when she moved into a new house recently, she'd fill the skip with bits of manky old furniture, tins of old food from the presses, sticks from the garden etc, go to bed & in the morning the skip would be empty. Someone even pulled a load of granite effect plastic off a counter top. Weirdest week ever, almost should have just thrown the stuff directly into the garden and not bothered with a skip!

Dizzyblonde

I love when you have a full skip and someone takes a load of stuff so you can fit more in

IvyTheTerrible

MissFlitworth wrote: »

My mam had the opposite skip problem when she moved into a new house recently, she'd fill the skip with bits of manky old furniture, tins of old food from the presses, sticks from the garden etc, go to bed & in the morning the skip would be empty. Someone even pulled a load of granite effect plastic off a counter top. Weirdest week ever, almost should have just thrown the stuff directly into the garden and not bothered with a skip!

A former neighbour of mine when I lived in a leafy street in D4 put out a skip when he was doing up his house. He put a suite of furniture (in very good condition) into it. Some people were nosing around the skip during the day, so he came out in the evening with a knife and ripped the upholstery to shreds. I just thought that was completely mean-spirited, and now when I look back, it sort of epitomised the bad side of the Celtic Tiger to me.

the beer revolu

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

A former neighbour of mine when I lived in a leafy street in D4 put out a skip when he was doing up his house. He put a suite of furniture (in very good condition) into it. Some people were nosing around the skip during the day, so he came out in the evening with a knife and ripped the upholstery to shreds. I just thought that was completely mean-spirited, and now when I look back, it sort of epitomised the bad side of the Celtic Tiger to me.

What a despicable person with no regard for his fellow man or the environment!
Scumbags come from all social classes.

gg2

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

A former neighbour of mine when I lived in a leafy street in D4 put out a skip when he was doing up his house. He put a suite of furniture (in very good condition) into it. Some people were nosing around the skip during the day, so he came out in the evening with a knife and ripped the upholstery to shreds. I just thought that was completely mean-spirited, and now when I look back, it sort of epitomised the bad side of the Celtic Tiger to me.

That is terrible!! He should have went right out and offered it to them! Why would you want to see something going to waste? Bugs the life outta me:mad:

ComputerKing

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

A former neighbour of mine when I lived in a leafy street in D4 put out a skip when he was doing up his house. He put a suite of furniture (in very good condition) into it. Some people were nosing around the skip during the day, so he came out in the evening with a knife and ripped the upholstery to shreds. I just thought that was completely mean-spirited, and now when I look back, it sort of epitomised the bad side of the Celtic Tiger to me.

No one seems to see his side of the argument there were people just walking onto his property when he wasn't there just to look at the contents of his skip.

kenco

Just finished work for the festive period, kids food done and glass of wine had!

But....bought some spice beef on the way home along with other provisions. Now I likes my beef but spiced beef I have never been able to get it 'right' so would love some recommendations (Im thinking Faith has this covered and will be typing presently but all recommendations welcome!)

beertons

Dad ate the curry, and junior. No bother. It's a bit watery and sour, needs sugar and maybe tomato puree. Phew.

Faith

kenco wrote: »

Just finished work for the festive period, kids food done and glass of wine had!

But....bought some spice beef on the way home along with other provisions. Now I likes my beef but spiced beef I have never been able to get it 'right' so would love some recommendations (Im thinking Faith has this covered and will be typing presently but all recommendations welcome!)

I'm no use to you I'm afraid! I've actually never cooked it myself. It's my mum who does it at home and I've only bought it cooked and sliced.

IvyTheTerrible

ComputerKing wrote: »

No one seems to see his side of the argument there were people just walking onto his property when he wasn't there just to look at the contents of his skip.

The skip was on the footpath.

Animord

I may or may not be suffering from après alcohol induced lethargy and have been reading this thread from the beginning.

Merkin, you asked for a lemon tart recipe way back at the beginning and I didn't see one posted. But if you are still looking, in my opinion the Roux brothers one is the absolute best.

Right, I am off to do some very important work in the armchair in front of the fire. :pac:

MissFlitworth

Friends coming over for Christmas drinks tonight. Having buffalo paneer (as in deep fried & tossed in Franks & butter rather than buffalo buffalo) and baked camembert with loads of bread as nibbles then white chocolate dipped pretzels and brown butter rice crispie squares as sweet nibbles. Having that 'people coming!' panicky feeling telling me I don't have enough food and to get my ass to the shops. Must...resist..

The Black Oil

Got a redeem code for an app (Meal Board) whilst in a Starbucks in the US. Just tried it there, only works in the US iTunes store. Think it's for meal planning, etc.

Animord

I am having problems with all these cut price vegetables.

I understand what is going on and I completely understand why people are buying them. What's not to like about 1kg of carrots for 5 cent?

But I keep thinking of the Irish farmers, particularly the Brussels Sprout farmers, who really one have one big week of the year, and now they are screwed.

I did buy some the other day but I am not going to buy any more. The vegetables on my table on Christmas day are all going to have been grown in Ireland and I will pay a fair price for them.

IvyTheTerrible

Animord wrote: »

I am having problems with all these cut price vegetables.

I understand what is going on and I completely understand why people are buying them. What's not to like about 1kg of carrots for 5 cent?

But I keep thinking of the Irish farmers, particularly the Brussels Sprout farmers, who really one have one big week of the year, and now they are screwed.

I did buy some the other day but I am not going to buy any more. The vegetables on my table on Christmas day are all going to have been grown in Ireland and I will pay a fair price for them.

That's an issue for me, and also the fact that supermarkets are making out that you'll save a fortune if you buy cheap veg. Carrots and sprouts are not the most expensive part of a shop even when they are fairly priced. Customers are being royally screwed elsewhere anyway.

Merkin

My folks are in agreement and are buying the veg from local farmers this year, eventhough its more expensive.I really feel for them too Animord. And thank you so much re lemon tart recipe, you're a star!

iwantmydinner

Animord wrote: »

I am having problems with all these cut price vegetables.

I understand what is going on and I completely understand why people are buying them. What's not to like about 1kg of carrots for 5 cent?

But I keep thinking of the Irish farmers, particularly the Brussels Sprout farmers, who really one have one big week of the year, and now they are screwed.

I did buy some the other day but I am not going to buy any more. The vegetables on my table on Christmas day are all going to have been grown in Ireland and I will pay a fair price for them.

I don't really know how anyone could buy those cut price items in all good conscience. I certainly couldn't buy them, but then I have more experience than most of the pressures exerted on producers by supermarkets, through my job.

It all goes back to people not knowing or caring where their food comes from. It's a huge problem and I'd love to know how to solve it.

ETA: not having a go, Animord; just realised it could come across that way.

Faith

Surely the farmers get the usual price for their produce though, and it's the supermarket that absorbs the loss as a loss leader?