The Cooking Irritations thread

Dial Hard

Rocket. Rocket everywhere.

Just fcuk off and disappear you horrid beast.

L1011

Dial Hard wrote: »

Rocket. Rocket everywhere.

Just fcuk off and disappear you horrid beast.

Don't ever go to an Irish Country Markets food stall setup. Burgers where they only do rocket as a salad, salads based on rocket, rocket in burittos, everywhere

I quite like it unless I've managed to give myself pizza mouth or have eaten toast within the past 6 hours in which case it gives me a nasty numb and yet tingly feeling which seems to be something Americans (if we can mention them on here after previous posts about American food bloggers!) moan about but nobody else does.

Speedwell

L1011 wrote: »

Don't ever go to an Irish Country Markets food stall setup. Burgers where they only do rocket as a salad, salads based on rocket, rocket in burittos, everywhere

I quite like it unless I've managed to give myself pizza mouth or have eaten toast within the past 6 hours in which case it gives me a nasty numb and yet tingly feeling which seems to be something Americans (if we can mention them on here after previous posts about American food bloggers!) moan about but nobody else does.

This American actually really likes arugula... I mean rugola... I mean that frilly stuff dammit

L1011

Speedwell wrote: »

This American actually really likes arugula... I mean rugola... I mean that frilly stuff dammit

I meant the moaning about it causing your mouth to go numb seems to be restricted to me, and some Americans. If it'd been my grandmother rather than my grandfather who worked there for years I'd be getting suspicious :pac:

TeletextPear

Dial Hard wrote: »

Rocket. Rocket everywhere.

Just fcuk off and disappear you horrid beast.

I used to like rocket until I went to a local cafe that got a lot of its produce from the nearby allotments. They obviously only had one crop growing at that time of year. The soup of the day was rocket. The salad was rocket. The sandwiches came loaded with rocket. Haven't been able to face the stuff since, bleurgh!

BuffyBot

Dial Hard wrote: »

Rocket. Chorizo. Rocket Chorizo everywhere.

Really overused these days. I'm sick of seeing chorizo everything, many in places it should never be.

L1011

Nobody for a chorizo and rocket pizza, then?

Keane2baMused

Rocket and chorizo have its place but I agree about it being over-used. Also I noticed some rocket can have a really disgusting weird bitter (is it bitter even, I dunno!) taste. Not sure what that's about.

I adore goats cheese also but flippin hell all I'm waiting for is for it to be stuck in cakes next.

fussyonion

Serving chips in baskets or mini trollies.
I want my chips on my PLATE, thanks.

Restaurants who do that thing where they splodge some sauce or coulis on a plate and then use the back of a spoon to smear it across the plate; just stop it.

LaChatteGitane

fussyonion wrote: »

Serving chips in baskets or mini trollies.
I want my chips on my PLATE, thanks.

Restaurants who do that thing where they splodge some sauce or coulis on a plate and then use the back of a spoon to smear it across the plate; just stop it.

Thank you, thank you ! So I'm not alone.
The food served in this kind of cr*p is usually mediocre at best. It's not clever, it's just ridiculous :mad:

TeletextPear

LaChatteGitane wrote: »

Thank you, thank you ! So I'm not alone.
The food served in this kind of cr*p is usually mediocre at best. It's not clever, it's just ridiculous :mad:

This will be right up your street so

Dial Hard

Irritation du jour: crackers that break the second you even show them the butter knife

LaChatteGitane

TeletextPear wrote: »

This will be right up your street so

Oh, I'm a follower alright. And on facebook too, just in case I miss something to get irritated about.:pac:

L1011

fussyonion wrote: »

Serving chips in baskets or mini trollies.
I want my chips on my PLATE, thanks.

Restaurants who do that thing where they splodge some sauce or coulis on a plate and then use the back of a spoon to smear it across the plate; just stop it.

I was delighted when staying in Westport in February that I was able to get a burger the way the places that usually do this crap do them (brioche, etc) but on a plate, with the chips on a sideplate.

That said, I do have something in the kitchen that'd rival some of the We Want Plates stuff - the cooking plonk sits in a ceramic high heel bottle holder my brother in law bought as a joke housewarming present (a damn good set of knives I still use daily was the real one)

IvyTheTerrible

I think that the "putting chips in a basket" is a big scam to give diners fewer of them. Give me a plate!

Speedwell

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

I think that the "putting chips in a basket" is a big scam to give diners fewer of them. Give me a plate!

I ate at the new little hipster cafe Knox in Sligo yesterday (and the food was good) and I ordered sweet potato chips to go with my sandwich. They crammed a little tin bucket full to overflowing and by the time I was done I could only eat half my sandwich. So I don't think it's a scam in every case, lol.

heldel00

Probably has been well mentioned at this stage but food served on wooden boards.
I was out for lunch on Friday and I could see the knife marks on the board from all the previous users. It's disgusting and probably very unhygienic. No way can they be cleaned as well as an ordinary dinner plate.

Keane2baMused

Hate getting wooden boards also.

They're for chopping bread on, not eating a steak dinner off!

Speedwell

heldel00 wrote: »

Probably has been well mentioned at this stage but food served on wooden boards.
I was out for lunch on Friday and I could see the knife marks on the board from all the previous users. It's disgusting and probably very unhygienic. No way can they be cleaned as well as an ordinary dinner plate.

I would send it back. NO WAY could they be taking care of those boards properly if you could still see slashes from previous diners.

heldel00

Speedwell wrote: »

I would send it back. NO WAY could they be taking care of those boards properly if you could still see slashes from previous diners.

You're right I should have but had the baby with me, he was settled so it was the quickest bite to eat I've ever had.
And just to add the restaurant is only open a few weeks so I think he probably brought them from his last place!

Speedwell

Yesterday: Get the urge to make a big batch of biltong (couple business trips to South Africa and got hooked). Buy 2.5 kilos of round roast for half price at the local shop; have to make a pain in the you-know-what out of myself because all the roasts on display are tied crosswise with string tight enough to actually cut the meat and it has to be cut in strips with the grain. The regular butcher was called away unexpectedly but the manager finds me a bit in the back that's still in the wrapping from the supplier after quizzing me on what I need it for. He decides to make biltong too. Anyway I buy my meat and I'm good to go. Bring it home, start to mix up the spices for the cure/marinade. Salt, sugar, a little bicarb, coriander seed, OK, let's take it up a notch. Peppercorns, chili flakes, and three whole dried naga jolokia peppers go in the little chopper/grinder processor. Whizz forty seconds, perfectly powdered. Open the top and realize I really should have had a gas mask on for that step. Sneeze sixteen times in a row. Cat sneezes five times in a row. Look for paper clips to make hanging hooks. Go back down to shop to buy paper clips and get some air. Come back and finish mixing the spices. Get out the meat and my butcher-trained husband's favorite big knife, and clip off the wrapping. Husband walks in. "What cut of meat is that?" "Round roast." "That's not round roast." "What, the guy swore it was round roast." "It's rib roast. No way am I going to let you make biltong with rib eye steak. We're having steak tonight." Husband picks up knife and starts to slice. We have steak. We have steak for the ages. We don't have biltong.

Speedwell

Today: Husband asks what I'd like to make with the trimmings from yesterday's not-biltong. "How about fajitas? We haven't had those since Texas," I ask, and he agrees enthusiastically and goes down to the shop to get the ingredients. He comes back with an Old El Paso "fajita kit". It is "Smoky BBQ" and smells like the inside of Luling City Market barbecue restaurant, which is indeed Texas, but not quite what I had in mind. "I thought this would be easier," says the dear man. "I've never used one of those in my life, honey, but sure, if that's what you want." I figure I'll slice and grill (that's American grill, meaning fry) the meat in my own Mexican spice blend, then fry onions and peppers and jalapenos in the same pan, and... well, you know, fajitas. Several hours later I smell meat and barbecue spices. He is taking a baking dish out of the oven. "Are you cooking the meat in the oven?" "Yeah, I thought it would make it more tender." He has sliced the peppers and onions into the pot with the spice-packet marinated meat, added mushrooms, and braised it. It has exuded a lot of moisture and turned into a very nice stew. There actually is a Mexican recipe made like this http://allrecipes.com/recipe/93232/south-texas-carne-guisada/ , and it is served with tortillas, and dinner is not actually a complete disaster, so I shut my mouth and congratulate myself on my forbearance. It doesn't last long. "What do you think, is it OK?" he asks. Before I catch myself, I say what I was thinking. "It looks like a very nice pot of carne guisada, and it will be fine with tortillas." "Carne guisada?" "Uh, it's OK, just let it cook down a little."

I don't know if I'm just too picky, or if I should boil his chips instead of frying them next time, "to make them softer on the inside".

fiddlechic

Speedwell - I shouldn't laugh at your distress - but so funny!

I was in south africa a few weeks ago. Bought 5 bags of fancy biltong (including 1 steak). Got to Heathrow. Remembered customs carry on about importing meat.
Biltong in bin. Ate some though over the bin in the red channel. Classy out.

the beer revolu

fiddlechic wrote: »

Speedwell - I shouldn't laugh at your distress - but so funny!

I was in south africa a few weeks ago. Bought 5 bags of fancy biltong (including 1 steak). Got to Heathrow. Remembered customs carry on about importing meat.
Biltong in bin. Ate some though over the bin in the red channel. Classy out.

That story makes a little part of my heart crycry.

Speedwell

fiddlechic wrote: »

Speedwell - I shouldn't laugh at your distress - but so funny!

Heh, I'm laughing, you can laugh too It's just one of those life-with-foodies things

Also, OMG, you could have snacked on the biltong in the plane, understanding seatmates permitting. You just have to get rid of it before the "what do you have to declare" point.

fiddlechic

Speedwell wrote: »

Also, OMG, you could have snacked on the biltong in the plane, understanding seatmates permitting. You just have to get rid of it before the "what do you have to declare" point.

1 bag was intended as a plane snack so it was mostly eaten.
We attempted a few hacking bites of the steak at the bin.

And to think we decided to use our last few rand on biltong rather than another bottle of wine....

Staph

I have something that has been irritating me all week. I was watching a cooking show and the presenters said that organically reared meat had 'more nutrients' that non-organic. Now I'm all for better welfare standards and limiting the use of antibiotics in meat production, but nutritionally they are the same (barring potential veterinary medicine residue). This wasn't the only baseless claim they made in the show.

the beer revolu

Staph wrote: »

I have something that has been irritating me all week. I was watching a cooking show and the presenters said that organically reared meat had 'more nutrients' that non-organic. Now I'm all for better welfare standards and limiting the use of antibiotics in meat production, but nutritionally they are the same (barring potential veterinary medicine residue). This wasn't the only baseless claim they made in the show.

TV chefs spout ill-informed nonsense all the time. The number of times I hear them 'seal' meat!

kimokanto

Staph wrote:

I have something that has been irritating me all week. I was watching a cooking show and the presenters said that organically reared meat had 'more nutrients' that non-organic. Now I'm all for better welfare standards and limiting the use of antibiotics in meat production, but nutritionally they are the same (barring potential veterinary medicine residue). This wasn't the only baseless claim they made in the show.

Factory farmed chicken is nutritionally inferior to free range/ organic & has been scientifically proven by laboratory analysis. River Cottage did an episode re this & put me right off cheap chicken.

LaChatteGitane

Organic doesn't necessarily mean better welfare standards. It can, but is not always so. Organic just means the animals have been reared with organically grown foods and didn't get treated with a whole rigmarole of medication. Plus, you won't be consuming herbicides and pesticides. Which, in my opinion would be one of the reasons to eat organic.
Free range isn't the same as organic. Usually the welfare of the animals is better (or supposed to be) than conventional rearing. The food source for the livestock can be of organic or conventional source.
A useless bit of information I gathered not long ago is that free range pigs absorb a great amount of vitamin D, which they store in their fat. So, if you need a bit of extra vitamin D, don't leave the fat of the free range meat on your plate. Eat it !
Our own pigs are free range, but not organic even though we alternate their feed between conventional and organic. And all veg sources grown on our land are organic. They often get some of our veg, and grass clippings (they love that)
What I wanted to say really is that maybe there aren't more nutrients in organic/free range, but we know for sure there is more poison in conventional meat , be it medication, herbicides or pesticides.