General Chat Thread II

Black Sheep

The Hardcore Carnivore rubs I have tended to buy from Higgins Butcher (Sutton Cross), but they are definitely in a few other specialist butchers as well. The easiest thing might be to order online, they would travel well.

The Chimac sauces I got in Lotts & Co, which have a few branches - Clontarf, Terenure, etc.

Muahahaha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118755560#Comment_118755560

nice one thanks, will check them out

L1011

Due to house renovations in one house, and it coming in to summer and spending more time out of that house, I now have two ridiculously constrained kitchens to try cook in

Main house: Currently has a microwave with grill, kettle, rice cooker, toaster. This is because the entire kitchen was ripped out. I still have all my cookware, prep tools etc but no work surfaces or kitchen units for a few weeks at least. I do have an extremely snazzy fridge/freezer to store what little I can cook though - that's been delivered already!

Holiday house: Currently has a microwave/convection oven/grill combo, kettle, halogen oven, toaster. Tiny galley kitchenette added to a pre-famine cottage, not a lot I can do with it space-wise.

Mobile between them: a two ring induction hob, 2kW/1.2kW. Probably don't trust the wiring in the holiday house to run both but the main house has just been rewired.

Anyone have any suggestions for microwave cookbooks? :P Going to get Tin Can Cook by Jack Monroe as I suspect the dry goods ingredients will suit the holiday house that's got extremely constrained shop access.

put_the_kettle_on

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118631332#Comment_118631332

For a basic chow mein type stir fry I do ( approximate measurements)

3 x tbs light soy

1 x tbs dark soy

2 x tsp hoisin

2 x tsp oyster sauce

1 x quarter cup chicken stock

Mix together with a heaped dessert spoon of slaked cornflour.

Then add half a tsp ground white pepper, 1 to 2 tsp white sugar, and 2 tsp toasted sesame oil.

If you don't use it all, no worries as it keeps fine in the fridge for a week or more.

Muahahaha

Have half a bag of panko breadcrumbs to use up. Already made deep fried brie with the first half. What other dishes call for panko breadcrumbs?

Gloomtastic!

Hope you’re not looking for a midnight snack. 😋

Goujons - fish or chicken, chicken Kiev, pork/chicken escalope……

woodchuck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118941058#Comment_118941058

I've used this breaded fish recipe a couple of times recently using panko breadcrumbs. Simple to do and tastes good!

https://foodaciously.com/recipe/grilled-hake-with-spiced-breadcrumbs

woodchuck

Finally bought a jar of this and looking forward to trying it out!

Muahahaha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118942224#Comment_118942224

ah cheers will give this a go later in the week

The Black Oil

Looking for food recommendations for Cincinnati and Colorado Springs if anyone has been over that direction.

Will be trying here. https://www.eaglerestaurant.com

Gloomtastic!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118973660#Comment_118973660

Here’s some recommendations from Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. Enjoy! 😋

https://amp.cincinnati.com/amp/6879327001

L1011

Paid 22 quid to have a celeb chef cook for me tonight.

Burger and a pint for 22 is actually quite competitively priced in Dublin these days!

miamee

And how was it?

Black Sheep

I was going to go to that Motz event but I got irritated because at first the ticket prices were being charged in GBP (Whatever the ticket prices were, they were charging the figure in GBP not Euro), and the lads in Dash Burger didn't seem to know how to fix it at the time. I meant to go back and never did.

Hope it was nice!

Muahahaha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119087549#Comment_119087549

I saw that event and actually thought 22 quid was reasonable, especially against the backdrop of lots of places charging 17 euro for a burger.

Did the Motz guy do a demonstration or talk or how did that part go? Any tips on burgers worth sharing, did he list his recipe for making them?

looksee

Just want to have a rant...I was looking for a recipe for energy balls on line. Ok so they are not complicated, I could make up my own recipe, but then the more I looked the more irritated I got. All the recipes (apart from BBC and Jamie Oliver, neither of which I fancied) were measured in cups. We are talking about peanut butter and honey type ingredients. Who puts peanut butter into a measuring cup (presumably using a spoon?), just to have to scrape it out again and wash the dratted thing. Put bowl on simple measuring scales, add ingredients, what could be easier?

How do you measure say dates in cups? Even the recipe had to say 'that's about 12 dates'. And nuts: whole nuts, broken nuts, chopped nuts? Don't tell me they all weigh the same!

Ok, I'm exaggerating - a bit. But other recipes are the same. A stick or cup of butter. What's that? And complicated discussions about whether you scoop flour or pour it into the cup. Just use a damn scales and stop messing!

I do have some cup measures, I keep two of them in the cats' kibble bags for scooping purposes, the rest are in the unidentifiable silt of detritus in the bottom of the kitchen 'random stuff' drawer.

So I am off now to invent a recipe.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119089158#Comment_119089158

He did a talk and book signing the night before in Hens Teeth. For this specific event, he was cooking the burgers himself and not talking while doing it - queue was long enough! Two helpers dropping out the balls of mince and prepping the burger buns with processed cheese slices; but he did all the rest.

Some things I noticed by watching:

He salts the ball of mince before smashing - any salt which spills over the sides will likely be integrated in when the smashing expands the width. I always salted after smashing. Big flaky salt but that's more normal for Americans than it is here.

He puts raw onion (absolutely piles of it) over the burgers (before smashing) and cooks it on the griddle with the meat. I'd always pre-cook that. White Castle uses raw onions and steams their burgers on top of them, so there is definitely something in cooking the onion with the burger.

Buns were not toasted except by the heat of being put on top of the burger once it had been flipped, as far as I could tell anyway. I'd always have pre-toasted the bun.

The burger was good. I may try some of those changes

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119089351#Comment_119089351

Americans don't like sensible measurements! Cups are used all the time, even for things that are not good to measure by volume like nuts - but it is a volumetric measurement only. Any gramme conversion you find for a cup is valid for one specific item only, usually plain flour.

A stick of butter is ~115g - in much of the States, their butter is sold in 454g / pound packages pre-split in to four "sticks".

Muahahaha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119091702#Comment_119091702

Ive gone to the point of treating the mince balls like a steak, so I take them out of the fridge an hour before cooking to come up to room temperature and in their freezer bag I'll salt them with Maldron salt which I only use for steaks and burgers. I'll give the mince ball a flick around the bag so it picks up the loose salt. I think it improves it, the pre salting definitely helps bring that deep red colour back to the mince after an hour.

This technique with the raw onions, do you mean he was smashing them into the top of patty and then flipping to cook them out a bit?

With onions I normally like to go with red and then cook them separately doused in balsamic and brown sugar to caramelise them. They shrink and shrivel so much Id cook a small red onion that way and most of it would get used. I actually like raw onions on a burger but much prefer sweet and caramelised red ones, they give a burger that extra bit of interest when you are only using onions and cheese as toppings.

L1011

Stack of raw onions put over the mince ball, then shortly after the lot was smashed and let cook for the time required before flipping the lot. So the burgers got some time steaming in, erm, meat steam and some time on the griddle and they were cooked through.

My usual onion method is onions and mushrooms cooked down for a long time with paprika and worcesteshire sauce - sort of like those on an Eddie Rockets M50.

Black Sheep

I toasted the buns for years as well, but more or less steaming them as the cheese melts gives a way softer bite and was a game changer when I read a recipe explaining how and why to do it a while back. The rule of thumb is always that the bun should be softer than the burger contents. Sorry to miss out on this event now.

igCorcaigh

Ventresca tuna...

It's the belly part of the tuna. I see Shine's are selling this for €10 per can. Sheridans are selling the Ortiz verion for €12. Is it worth the price?

Has anyone here tried this?

https://www.rte.ie/lifestyle/recipes/2022/0414/1292339-orlas-ventresca-tuna-today/

road_high

Was there a cola brand here briefly in the mid to late 90s called “Purely Irish cola” a competitor to coca cola that failed? Seem to remember it as a kid in dunnes. Can find no trace in the internet whatsoever!

Bredabe

Does anyone have an oat granola/muesli recipe?

Something plain that can be changed around as there are multiple food allergies at play.

odyssey06

What is up with the bakery offering in Supervalus in Dublin (D3/D5)?

I understand they had some falling out with Cuisine de France a while back.

Some of the breads are very nice e.g. brown bread but they seem incapable of doing a standard baguette just chunky vienna loafs?

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119119692#Comment_119119692

Probably from Gleesons, the Finches and Country Spring people (and Cadet - think its long gone and Country Spring might be gone too - C&C bought out Gleeson for their alcohol products)

I've now moved back in to the house with zero kitchen I mentioned many posts ago. We've been using the gas grill closed as a super crude oven, and with its side ring and the two induction hobs have been able to cope fairly well. Still haven't even used the grill in the microwave - still don't even know how really!

igCorcaigh

Yes, I do remember Cadet cola, but not Purely Irish. @L1011 Gas is great to cook on, everything tastes better, I'm a little jealous of your improvised kitchen!

road_high

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119159028#Comment_119159028

Cadet is still there I think. Dreadful.

The purely Irish was sub premium. I’m surely not imagining it existed!!!

igCorcaigh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119159060#Comment_119159060

Cadet had that cheap cola taste alright. The Kandee ketchup of the Cola world.

The Black Oil

Went into a Le Cresuet shop in Colorado last month, mostly to drool. Had no room in the suitcase.