The Official Food Porn Thread
 

The Official Food Porn Thread

Some of you may well say 'the What thread?'

Well, you read right, Food Porn. Remember? Some time ago I started a thread about our non-sexual hobbies and amongst my hobbies I listed that I love cooking and food in general. Allthough the thread pretty much died down over time, there were quite a few people saying that they would love to learn how to cook.

Allthough I do realise this may be yet another thread that'll go the way of every other non-sexually oriented topic, why not, after all, maybe something will come of this one. We shall see.

That's the reason why I decided to start this with basically all kinds of recipes, from easy peasy to hellishly difficult and maybe even give some advice on some of the more basic understanding this requires, as well as some much needed background information on the foods we eat.

One of life's motto's with me, you might as well sum up as:
Eat healthy, eat organic.

That is, whenever you can afford to but at least do try and stay away from food from supermarkets. Go and find a greengrocer, a bakery and a butcher. Chances are, not only will you be buying better produce, but the same produce may cost you less then what you'd expect to pay in a large store.

Better still, find the producer and buy directly from the farm. I know, for some of you this may not be an option but for those that have the facilities, do it, you'll notice the difference immediately. Also, it gives you a better understanding about where you food comes from (this implies you stay well clear of any farmer that is in cahoots with Monsanto and their cronies).

We still have to go to the supermarket ourselves but that is for items that simply don't grow on a farm. Toilet paper comes to mind, not seen that growing in the wild for some time now.

Organic has a very simple background, a) I used to own and run an organic greengrocers, b) the difference is in the flavour and c) no GM, no pesticides, no rubbish in your food. For years I had been suffering from bad indigestion whenever I had a capsicum (bell pepper), never again with organic ones. Besides, it does a lot for the environment, something we should all be a little more concerned about then we currently appear to be.

Anyway, enough preaching for one day and back to the threads general idea.

I will devote one post to each and every recipe, as well as set up an index with links to the actual recipe posts. If you wish to share anything, feel free to do it here, which would make sense rather then clutter up the whole forum and I will add your recipe to the index.

Every recipe will be available to view in the post as well as a downloadable PDF file, at least mine will be anyway.

Feel free to comment, ask me anything and everything. Not that I know it all, but I am always willing to find out.

Slow food is the only way to go.

The Official Food Porn Recipe Index
 

The Official Food Porn Recipe Index

http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/...inkRecipes.jpg

• Chelsea Buns
• Clotted Cream, How to make
• Cornish Pasty
• Cottage Pie (see 'Shepherd's Pie)
• Filet mignon with red wine-tarragon sauce (by PaintItPretty)
• Hidden Apples Cake
• Lamb shoulder, Rolled and stuffed
• Mutton, Roast leg of
• Samosas (Indian lamb filled dough pouches)
• Shepherd's Pie (with Cottage Pie variation)
• Shrimp Pad Thai (by PaintItPretty)
• Sweet Potato Wedges, Spicy
• Tandoori Butter chicken (by PaintItPretty)
• Yorkshire Pudding. Traditional and individual (by Deliah Smith, BBC)

Index of General Topics and Instructions

• Cream used in the UK, Types of
• Notes on freezing and more hints on making the most of your 'food waste' (by JoBleau)
• Some useful hints on reducing Food Waste

Hidden Apples Cake
 

Hidden Apples Cake

http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/...ApplesCake.jpg

Ingredients:
180 gr. warm butter
180 gr. Demerara sugar
6 medium eggs
150 gr. wheat flour
50 gr. wholemeal flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lemon zest
4-6 apples (cox orange, russets, bramley or similar or a mixture thereof)
50 gr. butter
50 gr. Demerara sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

For the spring loaded baking from:
30 gr. butter and 3 tablespoons bread crumbs

Preparation and cooking times:
Preparation: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 50-60 minutes
Difficulty: easy
Portions: 12-16 pieces
Home freezing : no

Notes:
A very tasty and fragrant cake that is traditionally eaten cold with either whipped, double or clotted cream. Feel free to experiment having it hot with custard.

Preparation:

• Whisk the warm butter and the Demerara sugar until creamy white in texture and colour (at least 15 minutes).
• Separate egg white and yolk, beating the white until stiff (if cut with a knife, the cut should remain visible).
• Sift and mix white and wholemeal flour together with the baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl.
• Rub the spring loaded baking form with the butter and sprinkle the bread crumbs over (this will prevent the cake mix from sticking to the tray).
• Peel, core and quarter the apples and cut a cross into the outside of the quarters.
• Mix 50 gr. butter, 50 gr. Demerara sugar and the cinnamon into a smooth mixture, put aside to use later.
• Preheat oven to 175C. If using a fan oven, please consult the manufacturers manual. Non fan ovens preferred.

Instructions:

• Whisk the egg yolk and lemon zest into the butter-sugar mixture.
• Slowly stir in the flour mix little by little while whisking vigorously. Should the mixture become too stiff, add some stiff egg white at this stage, otherwise leave until the next stage.
• Using a clean dry spoon (this is very important as any traces of fat will collapse the egg white), gently fold in the egg white (this will ensure the cake turn wonderfully light and fluffy).
• Pour the mixture into the prepared spring loaded baking form.
• Lightly press in the apple quarters. Do the outside circle first, then the centre. The top of the apples should not be immersed in the dough.
• Place the cake into the middle of the pre-heated oven on a baking tray. Baking for the prescribed time.
• 10 minutes before the end of baking, place small scoops of the butter, sugar and cinnamon mixture onto the visible piece of apples, returning the cake to the oven to complete baking.
• Check if the cake is done baking by inserting a skewer. The skewer should come out nice and dry.
• Once the cake is done, turn off the oven, slightly open the oven door and allow the cake to start cooling for 10-15 minutes before removing from the oven.

Download:
PDF file attached, see below.

Samosas (Indian lamb filled dough pouches)
 

Samosas (Indian lamb filled dough pouches)

http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/...02-Samosas.jpg

Ingredients:
For the dough:
400 gr. chickpea flour (Besan) or wheat flour (preferably the chickpea flour though)
1/2 teaspoon ground sea salt
2-3 desert spoon oil or ghee (clarified butter fat)
150 ml warm water

For the filling:
1 desert spoon oil or ghee (clarified butter fat)
1 clove of garlic, crushed or finely chopped
1 desert spoon fresh ginger, finely grated (best results are obtained if the fresh ginger is pre-frozen)
2 medium onions, finely chopped
2 teaspoon curry powder (see notes)
1/2 teaspoon ground sea salt
1 desert spoon fresh lemon juice
250 gr. minced lamb or beef (preferably lamb though)
125 ml hot water
2 teaspoon garam massala
2 desert spoons finely chopped fresh mint leaves

Preparation:
Prep time: 50 minutes
Cooking time: 6-8 minutes
Difficulty: easy
Portions: approx. 15
Home freezing: suitable for up to 6 month

Notes:

• Depending on your preferences use korma for a very mild, moglai or jalfrezi for a medium and madras for a very hot dish.
• Garam massala is a fragrant mixture of spices consisting of cinnamon, curcuma, cloves and coriander.

Preparation:

• Sift flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Add oil or ghee and the warm water and mix into an elastic dough. Kneed for at least 10 minutes (the longer the better).
• Cover the dough with a damp cloth and leave to rest for at least 30 minutes.
• Finely chop the onions if not already prepared.
• Grate the ginger on the fine side of the grater.
• Crush or finely chop the garlic.
• Finely chop the mint (if no fresh mint is available substitute with the content of 2 mint teabags rubbed between your hands).
• Measure and put aside all other spices.

Cooking:

• Fry off garlic, ginger and half of the onions until the onions are translucent in the oil or ghee.
• Add curry powder, salt and lemon juice and fry over medium heat for three minutes.
• Turn hob to full and add the minced meat, stir vigorously until the meat has turned colour.
• Reduce heat down to one third and add the water.
• Cover saucepan with lid and allow to simmer until all the liquid has been reduced.
• Remove from hob adding garam massala, mint and the remaining onions. Leave to cool.
• In the meantime
• Divide the dough into two equal halves, sprinkle table with flour and using a rolling pin roll out very thinly, no more the 1 mm thick, thinner would be desirable. The rolled out dough should be at least 30-40 cm long.
• Cut the dough into strips approx. 10 cm wide and 30-40 cm long.
• Place a large table spoon full of the filling onto the bottom of the strip of dough.
• Fold into a triangular parcel making sure none of the filling spills. For best results fold diagonally.
• Cook the samosas in a deep fat fryer at 170 C until they are golden brown in colour.
• Serve the hot samosas with mango chutney or lime pickle.

Note for vegetarians:

• Alternatively, you can use a chopped vegetable filling by chopping the vegetables into 5 mm pieces.

Download:
PDF file attached, see below.

Spicy Sweet Potato Wedges
 

Spicy Sweet Potato Wedges

http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/...tatoWedges.jpg

Ingredients (serves 1 if served on its own, serves 2-3 as a side):
500 grams of sweet potato, preferably a large one
3 tablespoons of high heat cooking oil or olive oil (I don't think olive oil is good if you spice it up)
Freshly ground sea or rock salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Spicier alternatives (choose one, not all):

• 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of Sambal Olek (red chilli paste) to the oil
• Sprinkle with a hot curry mixture such as Madras or Vindaloo, giving it a more Indian flavour

Preparation:

• Cut the sweet potato in half, then quarters and then wedges. They should be about 10-15 mm wide at the skin side.
• Season with freshly ground salt and pepper
• Toss in oil or oil and alternative spices

Method:

• Place in baking dish such as a pie dish or shallow baking tray. The sweet potatoes should come to lie singly on its base or they are more likely to steam rather then bake.
• Preheat oven to 230 C.
• Place on the highest oven shelf.
• Bake for about 10-12 minutes, turning them over once.
• Brown under the grill for a couple of minutes or until finally cooked.

Notes:

• There are few vegetables that are easier to overcook. Not that they will have to be disposed of but they will go mushy and lose their slight crispiness, which is a shame, so cooking is a bit of trial and error as all cookers vary hugely in their performance.
• Check how far the cooking has progressed by piercing with a fork or wooden skewer. They are ready for the grilling stage when they still offer slight resistance.
• Makes a great side dish to most curries or serve on its own.
• If intended for a nibble for one serving, reduce quantities by half or more.

Download:
PDF file attached, see below.

I enjoyed reading your introductory post. I live the same way. After watching movies like Food inc (which shocked me) I started shopping only organic. I do yoga, belly dancing and I run high intensity interval training 3 times a week. You may not get many replies in here, but if no one else, I'll be here to share some things with you ;)

I have to make that hidden apple cake sometime this week; that looks DELICIOUS! I've never had samosas, but I've heard of them. It's indian food, so if I can find lamb, I'll make it (Indian is my favorite). I'll dig through my recipes now and post a few tomorrow. I have a lot of healthy recipes to share too.

I have all the ingredients to make that hidden apple cake tonight. I think I'll try it out and let you know how it turns out. :)

PaintItPretty: You don't have to use ground or minced lamb, you can use beef but this being an indian fingerfood recipe, pork would offend the Muslim community and beef obviously the Hindus, so lamb does come naturally, apart from it being our all time favourite anyway.

I also have a fantastic recipe for rolled and stuffed lamb shoulder, slow roasted in the oven...

Talk about food porn. LOL

Hope you enjoy the cake, Mum's special, never failed to raise some eyebrows.

As for the organic food... It can be an expensive hobby but the rewards are great. Flavour, nutrients, texture. Once you've tried an organic carrot, you'll never buy one from a supermarket again.

Ah! Those samosas. I need to retry that recipe now that I have a better handling of dough.

Good thread idea Hover. That will make for a change in the type of porn! LOL! I'll chip in some recipes too as soon as I can find some free time.

I thought you might like the idea. Well, at the latest count that then makes three of us. Mind you, I am already on the retreat, two Canadians easily beat one mongrel. :D

Some useful hints on reducing Food Waste
 

Some useful hints on reducing Food Waste

This is a subject that has always been very close to my heart. Having grown up in East Africa, I learned pretty early on that there is no such thing as true food waste. Few things can't be used twice, reducing your cost of living, waste disposal and basically making the most of every morsel of food you have paid for.

Food Waste Soup, sounds delicious doesn't it and yet, this is one of the single most economical ways of utilising all the vegetable peelings that (hopefully) otherwise will make straight for the compost heap. It doesn't require intelligence or require you to purchase anything, if you do as we have done for years now.

Everytime you cook some vegetables, put all the peelings into a tub and freeze it. You can even keep some of the liquid drained after cooking the veg and freeze that too. When time comes to make a delicious soup you won't have to go out to buy stock cubes, which incidentally contain more crap then would care to list here or anywhere else for that matter. Simply defrost a tub or two of the frozen peelings.

Defrost, not sticking into a microwave, surely, anybody can remember that they will need to eat tomorrow. Microwaves are the single best way to have your electricity bill go straight through the roof, so stick whatever needs defrosting into the fridge the night before and it'll be thawed the next day.

The mixture of veg peelings makes the greatest stock for a soup ever. You'll have everything in there you need. Just simmer for a while, drain or even pass the veg through a fine sieve and you are more or less ready to have a warming soup. For next to nothing, I may add.

Where you take your stock from here is entirely up to you but the foundation is laid and ready to be experimented with.

How cool is that?

Meat Stock from roasting, frying or just about anything you do that involves meat.

Everytime you fry a steak, roast a beef, pork or lamb joint or a chicken, don't wash the pan with washing up liquid, pour some hot water into the dish and try to get as much of what is stuck to the dish off and freeze. You'll be amazed just how much flavour is contained in something that most people basically regard as a nuissance getting rid of.

This is something else that we have done for donkeys years now and we always have several pots in the freezer where we store the different flavour stocks.

What it does require is a suitable large freezer but those tend to be available to most people, even if it is only a seperate section in the fridge.

Again, always defrost overnight in the fridge, NEVER use the microwave for this (in fact, throw the thing at your nearest charity shop).

Don't buy like you are intending to feed a hundred people. This is something that literally drives me round the bend when I see people shopping for the weekend. I don't know about the USA but in the UK your average family will tend to buy at least several joints of meat, even if there are only 3 or 4 of them eating.

It gets worse when there is a Bank Holiday on the horizon and people are about to have visitors. People will happily buy three or four joints of meat and a chicken, just to show how much food they can lay on and then throw in the bin in the evening, which tends to be the way with a lot of Brits.

This is disgusting, honestly, don't people have any concept of the fact that it takes approx. 10 times as much vegatable matter to produce one part of animal? At Christmas our cats drag half eaten turkey into our backgarden and someone mentioned to me there is a recession. Must have bypassed those idiots. Pardon my French.

There is little if any meat that cannot be frozen for another day or make roast beef or turkey sandwiches till Easter for all I care. Foods is a precious resource and should not be disposed of lightly.

We constantly have leftover meals frozen in the freezer, ready to provide that easy, 'I can't be bothered to cook' dinner.

Food Waste, no thank you.

Oh, don't think you can or should for that matter eat a pound of steak in one go. It'll only go to waste. Half the size, organic now because you are saving on quantity and make up for it with a large salad. You may find that you are actually better off this way in more then one sense.

Learn to distrust food labelling. No, for a change I am not concerned with ingredients, that's an entirely different kettle of fish alltogether but rather the abundance of labels referring to 'Best before', 'Use By' and 'Sell by' dates on supermarket foods.

Most to this is plain crap.

Sell by dates are only for instore stockkeeping purposes and nothing else. They don't mean a thing for the consumer. You will be able to tell when your bread has gone off, it'll turn green, blue and read with mould. Just because there is a sell by date on the packet, that is no reason to throw it away on that day.

Use by dates are close to as bad, but not quite. Cheese or butter from the supermarkets counters are usually labelled with a 'Use by' date. This is yet another way to make the customer dispose of perfectly good and edible foods. Take cheese for example. I love Vintage Cheddar, often matured for up to 5 years and when the supermarket sells it to us, its use by date is reduced to a maximum of 5 days? Sorry, how can a 5 year old cheese go off within 5 days? Besides, with cheese is perfectly safe to just cut off any mould, which makes it different from most other foods that when they show signs of mould infestations should be gotten rid of. Cheese is too dense to allow the spores to penetrate the product.

There are some clear indications that food is about to spoil. In plastic packs, something you should avoid anyway, the first giveaway is the pack expanding, in this case it is a good idea to simply smell the product, unless you have a totally screwed olfactory sense, mould will be recognised by most people.

The extremely short lifetime of 'Use by' labelled foods are so that the food industry is on the safe side.

Best before dates are the worst of the lot I guess. The label means exactly what it say, the product will be at its best on or before that date. It has absolutely no bearing on its useability and it should never be disposed of, something that more and more people do on a daily basis.

Take prepacked bread for example. Allthough I bake +90% of our bread myself, occassionally I do buy a loaf and I couldn't care less about the best before date. It means it will be fresher before the date given, not that it'll die an untimely death. Like with everything else, bread will eventually go mouldy, so a simple look at the loaf will tell you if it's still edible. After all, you are not going to eat the label, are you?

Make more use of your freezer. Nothing in the world is as useful as a freezer. We have two, a fridge freezer and a huge chest freezer of almost industrial proportions that'll feeze down to as low as -40 centigrade, that is cold, believe me.

Even if you live on your own a small one will be ever so useful. Freeze bread by the number of slices you are likely to use every day. Simple, easy, cost effective and literally no waste ever. All you have to invest in are a some freezer bags, which can be reused over and over again. Always remember, plastic does NOT decompose EVER. It just breaks down into ever smaller sections of those endless molecular chains and one the smallest size is reached, they will start mimicking hormones and that has an impact on each and everyone of us.

I must be off to a meeting of the local residents now, so I will get back to this thread later, as it is pretty much an ongoing effort. (Unless I decide to write a book instead and start hawking it to the members here, :D).

This looks to be an interesting thread, which I'll read but never contribute to since anything beyond the simplest cooking imaginable is way beyond my range of interest. I made a fellow worker very angry when I told her how I make a cake. No, I don't use mixes; but neither do I take the time to properly blend ingredients, I just pour them all in a bowl and beat. I'll tell you why I don't bother doing it right: there's a certain taste that all bakery cakes have that cannot be duplicated no matter how carefully the ingredients are blended. I won't call it a secret ingredient, merely an ingredient or blend of ingredients not available to the ordinary consumer in the Spice Aisle of grocery stores. Plus, I've tried innumerable combinations to concoct an icing I like (icing is my favorite part of a cake). I haven't found anything better than butter to use as a base; but since I'm trying very diligently to reduce my cholesterol level, I can't keep using butter - so it's back to the icing drawing board.

Found your notes on "Use By" dates useful. I'll keep almost any non-meat product until it's all used up or until it exhibits clear signs of spoilage. Meat is another matter though - especially chicken, which is about the only meat I ever use. Sometimes even the "Sell By" date is throw-away time. In fact, if it weren't for the dogs, I might stop getting meat altogether. Anyway, hope this thread catches on.

Well, thanks for your input, alas I must retaliate, of course, wouldn't be me otherwise, would it? LOL

The whole idea is for food to taste like it used to when it was primarily homemade, rather then all the standardised tastes you are usually presented with today. Sadly, this does very much apply to places like McDonald's. From what I hear, wherever you go, it is supposed to be the same, a thought I find seriously distressing. I have baked our own bread for more then 20 years now and the thing we like best about it, is all the minute differences between every loaf ever baked. Even the weather has a magical influence on how it turns out but at the end of the day, it has always been delicious.

Interesting you mention the 'Sell by' date. Now, I may have to possibly rephrase what I wrote above, should it turn out to have a different meaning in the USA, from what it refers to in the UK. Didn't think of that, so much appreciated for raising this issue. I will look into this tomorrow on the FDA's pages as soon as I am back from the vets. Don't want to start spreading rumours.

I should have thought of that before really, especially since I have been exchanging recipes with JoBleau for a couple of years now and we have both come across a large number of words and phrases that turned out to have a completely different meaning. Only teaches you to not take anything for granted.

When it comes to your icing, you may find that the commercial varieties are usually made with ghee, which is clarified butter fat or it uses vegetable fats, which in 95% of all cases refers to it being made from palm oil. Now that is one to either avoid or at least only purchased if it comes from Rainforest certified plantations, which can at least lay some claim to being sustainable, allthough certification usually is only ever applied for once the rainforest has already been cleared. 0:1 to the Orangutans you might say, they and anything else living in those vital areas are usually the big losers.

Yes, if people be a little more aware of how our eating habits influcences our planet, maybe at least some would change their ways, at least a little anyway.

As for your throwing it all in a bowl and swishing it round, you might find that most often the secret isn't much of a secret really. It is in the time spent mixing the ingredients. This really applies to bread. People underestimate how long kneading a dough for 10-20 minutes really is. Most of them will only ever do it for say 3 minutes and then be surprised that the loaf is nowhere near as light and fluffy as the bread in from the store, plus it helps if you have a proper steam oven, which is what the industry uses. At the end of the day it all boils down to kneading and how much steam you manage to inject into your oven. JoBleau had a brilliant idea to achieve the latter without the horrendous expense of buying a steam oven but I won't give his secret away, that'll be up to him to share.

If you have any information on the US sell by date, please feel free to post it here or send me a pm, I am always interested in learning something new when it comes to this.

Seeing as women love men who know how to cook, I wish I understood this...but it all looks like alien writings!

Road, that is precisely why I started this thread. PM me and I will try and translate Alien into plain old English for you. I think we could both benefit greatly from it, you could learn to read and speak Alien and I'll be able to adapt my posts for the benefit of those non-Alien speakers like yourself.

The first thing I will do, I had this planned originally, is to provide links for all the ingredients to Wikipedia, who have generally good and easy to understand information about them, so I hope that helps for a start.

And who knows, your post may yet trigger me to write an Alien/English dictionary for the site. :D.

This then applies to everybody. Don't understand something? Ask. The only way to learn is by asking, so don't be afraid, I ask JoBleau too when there is something that is unclear or the two of us are speaking in tongues again, which does happen with the same product being called different names in different places.

I made the apple cake at work yesterday (I added a little more cinnamon and used 2 less egg yolks); it's delicious. I live alone so I froze half of it :D


So I've complied a few of my favorite recipes that I'll post after work this evening. I had to copy that recipe into a MS document before I went to work (obviously can't sign into MTD from work lol).

Have a good morning/afternoon men (women too?)

Pleased to hear it. Can you get what in the UK is called Extra Thick Double Cream? I know that JoBleau was having bigtime difficulties and he's from Canada too. If in doubt, maybe check this Wikipedia link:
Types of cream in the UK

Even better if yo could find Clotted Cream, now that is the beez neez you might say or some call in solidified heart attack. Here is the Wiki link: Clotted Cream

This is the single most amazing stuff ever. We usually get Devonshire Clotted Cream from our local shop with a fat content of 68%, so high in fact, it does come with a golden layer of pure butter on top of it. Not for the faint hearted or those scared of suffering a heart attack but most certainly qualifying for the accolade of 'Food Porn'.

@Hover: A tid bit to add to your "Some useful hints on reducing Food Waste" post, which incidentally, was excellent and to the point.

Whenever you cook sea foods with a shell like shrimps, clams, lobsters, etc. keep those shells, cooked or not and freeze them until you have enough to make a broth. Pretty much what you say about vegetable peelings. Actually, mix both shells and peelings for an even better broth. This will give you an awesome base for asian type soups or a clam chowder.

Another note, about freezing this time. Indeed, freezing is the best way to keep food for a longer time. But if you want to make the best of it, vacuum pack the food, either before or after freezing it. Vacuum packaging will easily triple the freezer storage time for most items if it's done properly. And vacuum packaging machines are not too expensive considering what you save in food and the convenience of long time storage. For example, last time I bought a whole beef tenderloin, I cut it in 200g pieces, froze them and once frozen, vacuum packed them. That was over a year ago. And last weekend, I used one to make a steak tartar. As good as fresh.

The reason to freeze first and vacuum pack after freezing is that the blood in the meat won't be extracted when you vacuum pack it. So when you'll thaw the meat it's still in the meat,making for a moister and tender piece of meat.

Same with soup or other liquids. Freeze them first in a small plastic container. I use 3 cups Ziplock ones. Once frozen, vacuum pack them for years of conservation. One time I found one of those I had forgotten. The date on the pack was 4 years earlier.

Another advantage of vacuum packing is to use the plastic rolls instead of pre-cut bags. They come in different widths and can be cut to the needed size, thus reducing their consumption. And don't listen to what the maker says about not reusing the bags. They are in business and make a lot of money selling that plastic. But the bags are perfectly reusable several times. Just wash them properly in a soapy dishwater.

A note on reusing those bags. If when you pack something you notice it is not completely vacuumed, toss the bag and use another one. If you still have air in there you have zero benefits. Also periodically check you packaged food and if you notice it lost its vacuum, repackage it in a new bag.

Also, if you freeze a lot of stuff, weight and date it and keep that information in some sort of inventory so you know what you have stocked. It makes it much easier when you plan for a meal. You don't have to empty the freezer to know if you still have some of the stuff. But don't forget to remove it from the list when you use it. Otherwise, you'll end up thinking you have something when you don't.

Vacuum packaging can also be used on refrigerated and non-refrigerated items as well. Cheese come to mind. And oxidizing metals. That beautiful silver cutlery you have to shine at every use, well, wash it, let it dry thoroughly and pack it. Next time you need it, it will be ready to use.

Tandoori Butter chicken:

http://indiagatebkk.com/upload/1248362895.jpg

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/4849...butter+chicken



My favorite pad thai recipe:

http://img.foodnetwork.com/FOOD/2008...ge_s4x3_lg.jpg


http://thaifood.about.com/od/oodleso...ith-Shrimp.htm

I'm going to start taking pictures of my own food and post them. Now, I just need to find the time to write all of my own recipes down to on my computer so I can post them.

Do you know how awesome it is that you men cook? Your wives are LUCKY!

Hey Hoverfly. Well we get creme fraiche here and I use that A LOT for cooking (more than I should). Is that what you're talking about? I absolutely love it. Sometimes I'm tempted to eat it right out of the container, but I know that wouldn't be healthy lol.

This is what I use for baking. Liberte, I believe is a Canadian product from Montreal. They make yogurt and all sorts of dairy products. I am just thankful they sell it here in Newfoundland (the island I live on).

http://www.foodnetwork.ca/uploadedim...me-fraiche.bmp

I found your tips VERY useful. I'm always looking for new ways to reuse food and save money. I'm also a bit of a environmentalist (compost, recycling, etc). I will admit though, I am a bit (okay, a lot) neurotic about germs and food spoiling. So while I don't keep food past their expiration date, I ALWAYS try to use up the food before it 'spoils'. A good way to do use of up the food before expiration date is to invite friends or family over (everyone loves a free cooked meal, right?) or I'll cook something and store in it a few separate containers and freeze it.

I'll read the rest of this later, I'm going to be late for work. Oh dear. lol


ps/ creme fraiche is amazing in banana bread!

@JoBleau: LOL. Got me there again. Remember the emails when you pointed that out to me and I said 'we've been using a vacuum machine for ages'. Just as I initially said, you end up taking things for granted, so, much obliged for pointing out this omission. With you permission, I will add a link to the index for easier reference.

Same actually applies to the shells of shell fish or chicken leftovers you mention. Just this morning I started defrosting a ton of veg peelings, drained cooking water and some chicken stock with all the bones still in. Just the smell of the slowly defrosting 'waste' was enough to make my mouth water. Good point, well put.

As for the reduction is plastic bags... What can I say? The last time I bought a pack of freezer bags (100 x 3 litres), was about 5 years ago. They've been washed and reused so many times, I lost count. Even the ones with small holes in are still good enough for freezing bread rolls for up to a week or two, which I constantly do since, as you know, I bake all our bread and rolls myself.

I just showed this to my wife and she just laughed out loud saying: 'No, he's the lucky one.' LOL

No, quite a number of years ago we were watching a programme about the differences in sense of smell in women and men and one of the scientists stated that in general, women have a 100x better sense in this area. Upon which I managed to produce the Freudian slip by saying: 'See, women are supposed to smell 100 times as good as you do.'

She just burst out laughing. But seriously, her sense of smell is quite bad, she often fails to even recognise when a tomcat has come into the house and given the kitchen a good old spraying. This in turn then leads to her not recognising flavours too well, after all, both senses are so intimately entwined. They did a test with noses clamped tightly shut and found that the majority of persons tested were unable to tell the difference between an onion and an apple. Only goes to show there might be something to it.

I on the other hand, I could get a job as 'sniffer dog' any day. My mother-in-law knows her way around most of the wild mushrooms in Germany and when we used to go gathering them, I would just poke my nose in the wind and point in a direction and sure enough, there would be a patch of them.

Same applies when we walk through the town where we now live. I can tell exactly who is growing weed inside their house and who isn't. If I wasn't in favour of decriminalising cannabis anyway, I would have offered my services to the local police a long time ago. LOL.

@PaintItPretty: I am afraid it isn't and I am even more afraid that it may turn out to be a product you will not be able to get.

The main difference being, that Creme fraiche is made from pasteurised, soured cream, whereas clotted cream is made from raw milk, then ever so gently heated, evaporating water and leaving behind little but butter fats and protein. Do make a point of looking at the Wiki page, allthough their mention of a minmum fat content of 55% is regarded as a joke in the UK. Proper Devonshire Clotted Cream will always clock up an easy 66%, if not more. It is literally heart attack in a tub. Even a single tablespoon full of the stuff will give you all the saturates your body can handle in a week. You may have heard of Cream Teas. A scone with a thick layer of clotted cream and then fresh strawberry jam on top. The cream is so thick, it can only be spread with a knife. This is the way they do it in Devon, the Cornish way is different, so you might like to look at the Wiki link I've embedded in the text.

This reminds me, if you can get it, try Whey Cream Butter. Wiki has a good graphic of all the uses of milk here:
Milkproducts

To make it, the milk is first semi-coagulated with rennet, pretty much the same process that is used in cheesemaking, which adds an amazing, yet subtle cheesy flavour to the butter. It is more expensive, about 20%, but well worth the money.

I guess, apart from the Irish and those living on the Channel Islands of Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney, we must have some of the richest milk in the world. Grazing in Britain is fantastic and even better in Ireland, after all, all that rain did give it the nickname 'The Emerald Isle'.

Thanks for your response. You may have somewhat misunderstood me though. Regarding how I make cakes, I've tried doing it the right way (i.e., carefully blending ingredients as per a recipe) and the result was no different from when I did it my way. The texture may have been nicer; but it's a certain taste I'm looking for and it just wasn't there. Nor does it seem to make much difference in the taste if I use butter, vegetable oil, or no shortening at all in the cake batter. Of course, I should confess I use more flour than sugar - which, I think, is ass-backwards. But since diabetes runs in my family, I'm trying to limit sugar wherever possible. I should also confess that, except for deserts (and I do make a very good cheesecake), I strive for blandness - but only because of the dogs, who I feed "people food"; I only use commercial dog food to supplement their diet. Here's my thinking: dogs have been eating "dog food" for maybe a hundred years; but they've been eating "table scraps" for thousands of years. Not that mine get table scraps: I get the table scraps.

A neighbor of mine cooks a lot - she even makes her own pasta. She can spend literally several days preparing a special dinner. I simply can't see putting that much time and effort into an enterprise that completely disappears off the face of the earth in a couple hours' time. (I may be a bit too pragmatic.)

Not so sure of that. I did loose some prospective girl friends over the years when they found out I cook better than they did.:(

Thanks for the pad thai recipe. I'll have to try that soon.

Sure, go ahead.

I never found anything even close.:mad: The richest commercially available here is 35%. I came across some home made cream a couple of times. They were probably around 40 to 45%. But it's not easy to get unless your best friend is a milk producer.

Yes, the woes of living in the Third World. :D

I wonder how difficult it could be making your own clotted cream? I must investigate that.

+++

Update:
Just had a quick peek at startpage.com and searched for 'making clotted cream'. Jeez, tons of links just pop up and from what I can gather it is really easy to make yourself. Cream in jar, into the oven, out comes Clotted Cream. Doesn't get much easier then that, does it?

Here are a couple of links to pages mentioning different recipes:
Cupcake Project: Making Clotted Cream at Home is Much Easier Than You Think

wikiHow: How to Make Your Own Clotted Cream

There are tons more out there, so feel free to research and try other methods. Oh, and don't forget to tell us about how it went.

@Mark: OK, diabetes does require a different approach to most things kitchen anyway. I wasn't aware of that.

Still, it shouldn't keep you out of the kitchen too much, that is of course assuming that there is an inherent interest in the subject and the willingness to put in the time. Billions of people are quite happy to simply eat what is put in front of them, no problem.

Hobby chefs can in some cases easily be compared to any other nutcase on this planet, such as stamp collectors or people who'll do anything in pursuit of a rare record. It can become a bit of an obsession.

Take me, I have been known to spend 6 to 8 hours going from butcher to butcher and from one supermarket counter to the next in search of the perfect piece of Yorkshire Salt Marsh Lamb. Asking for thin slivers everywhere to first taste it. Mad, isn't it? But then, the differences in this particular British delicacy are enormous. With a bit of well developed taste bud, you can actually determine what the lamb fed on, ie. which herbs. BTW, I am just as bad when it comes to ribeye. The thinnest of slivers of chilled raw meat, left to lie on your tongue for a couple of minutes and I know exactly what the cow had been feeding on and just how it will turn out when cooked, unless I bugger it up.

I've not made any pasty myself as yet. I like it, but not to the extent of going all out and doing it myself. Maybe time for a different take on this.

As for spending days in prepping food... Yes, I've been known to mature hare in buttermilk to days on end, just to get that extra bit of tenderness, so I can understand your neighbour and there is nothing as rewarding as feeding friends a five course meal that I have been slaving over a hot stove for all day.

Yes, obsession would probably fit the bill quite nicely, but since I am retired anyway, I have all the time in the world to do it, which certainly doesn't apply to everybody here.

And here to disprove everything I have been saying all along, off to the kitchen it is and I will stick a 99p deep pan pizza in the oven since I really can't be bothered to do anything else tonight. Junkfood ahoi.

Yeah, right. Thanks for remembering us. :p

Gee! That looks too easy not to try! :)

For once I'll be happy for not having a doctor, who would probably have a fit if I had to tell him/her I had some of that gorgeous cream.

I too was surprised at just how simple the process is. The only reason why I am unlikely to try it myself is the ready availability in the UK, but do let us know how it went.

Don't check the fat levels in your blood, you might have a heart attack just from looking at the figures. It is a treat, it has to be said. Pretty much as anything that clocks up almost 70% fat content.

So long as you remember to use only raw or untreated cream. Funny, I just reread one of the methods and it said that such products in the USA are labelled as for pet use only, not fit for human consumption. What a strange idea.

Oh, on the subject of British milk and cream. If you ever come to Britain and you like milk, don't miss our finest 'Gold Top' milk. Comes from the Channel Islands and has a naturally occurring fat content of 6.5%. Why it is appropriately named 'Gold Top' will become sufficiently evident when you see the bottle. Another one of those 'heart attack foods' Britain is so fond and proud of.

Right, off to the Leigh Folk Festival which is on today and tomorrow. Wish us luck with the weather.

Filet mignon with red wine-tarragon sauce
 

This is the Filet Mignon (beef Tenderloin) recipe that I was referring to, Hoverfly. You must try.

http://img4-1.myrecipes.timeinc.net/...k-549853-l.jpg

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/beef...0000000549853/

It would seem that I'm an absolute professional at posting...:rolleyes:

Seriously, I hope I get better at this, because I just spent the past 30 minutes trying to post one recipe. lol

That looks yummy PaintitPretty..... but it's got nuttin on my mutton!

I know I'm out of control...last one, I promise. lol

Good thread BTW...by everyone, you're all making me hungry!

You have a good mutton recipe. Come on, let's have it. Please, pretty please. I love mutton, hogget, well cooked can be even better. Lamb is very nice, but it can lack flavour.

I just learned that there is apparently only on term used for all sheeps meet in the USA and Canada, at least according to Wiki.

So, if you are unsure what the differences are between lamb, mutton and hogget, please use this link to Wiki for more details:
Lamb, mutton & hogget

Of all those animals we like boned-out, rolled and stuffed roast shoulder best. In fact, I think I should post that recipe here asap.

Chelsea Buns
 

Chelsea Buns

http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/...helseaBuns.jpg

Ingredients (makes 12 buns)
For the dough:
500 grams of strong white bread flour
300-350 ml of warm whole milk (3.5% fat min.)
100 grams of white sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
50 grams of melted butter
30-35 grams of fresh bakers yeast

For the filling:
120-150 grams of very soft butter
200 grams of good quality dried currants
150-200 grams of soft natural dark Muscovado sugar (unrefined cane sugar)
2-3 tablespoons of ground cinnamon
Extra butter for greasing a large pie dish

For the finishing touch:
3-4 tablespoons of warm whole milk (3.5% fat min.)
2 tablespoons of soft natural dark Muscovado sugar (unrefined cane sugar)
1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

Method:

• Sift the flour into a large bowl, making a shallow depression in the centre.
• Add half the warm milk and stir the yeast into a paste, cover with a cloth and leave to prove for at least 30 minutes or until the yeast paste is bubbling strongly.

In the meantime:

• Gently heat the remaining milk dissolving the white sugar, butter and salt in it. Set aside to cool to room temperature or you might kill off the yeast.

Method, continued:

• Stir the milk, butter and salt mixture into the flour making sure there are no 'lumps' left in it.
• Leave to prove for up to an hour or until the dough mixture has roughly doubled in size.

In the meantime:

• Place the butter for the filling somewhere warm, so it will be soft enough to spread onto the uncooked dough later.
• Heat the 3-4 tablespoons of whole milk, dissolving all the ingredients from the finishing touches into it. Set aside and leave to cool down.
• Grease a large pie dish (at least 20x30 cm / 8x12”) with the extra butter and set aside.

Method, continued:

• Remove the dough from the bowl, knead on a flour dusted worktop thoroughly for at least 15 minutes.
• Roll out the dough into a rectangular piece about 60x30 cm / 24x12”.
• Spread the soft butter for the filling evenly over the dough.
• Evenly sprinkle with dried currants.
• Evenly sprinkle with Muscovado.
• Liberally dust with lots of ground cinnamon.
• Roll up from the longest side into a tight cylinder.
• Cut into 12 equal slices (this is best done by cutting the cylinder in half and then each piece into thirds).
• Place the slices, cut side down, into the pie dish, I arrange them in a 4x3 pattern, making sure there is sufficient space for the dough to rise later.

Cooking:

• Preheat the oven to 210 C (190 C for most fan ovens).
• Bake for approx. 30-40 minutes or until golden brown in the middle of the oven. Make sure you check that they are done by pricking them with a wooden skewer. If the skewer comes out mostly clean, they are cooked.
• Remove from oven, brush liberally with the milk, sugar and cinnamon mixture and return to the oven for another 3-5 minutes. This is what makes Chelsea Buns acquire that polished shine.
• Remove once cooked but leave in the pie dish as they will need to cool off completely before being cut.

Notes:

• This is a very rich recipe and even the fully cooked Chelsea Buns can still feel somewhat squidgy, one of the trademarks of the truly good Chelsea Bun.
• You may have to resort to using a spatula in order to remove the whole set of buns from the dish.
• Once cooled and removed from the dish, cut into 12 individual buns, roughly along the lines where they originally touched.
• I have adapted the original recipe based on what we used to be able to buy from one of the only remaining bakeries in Southend that were still capable of making what I’d call a ‘proper’ Chelsea Bun. The ones that when the baker puts them into a paper bag, you’d hardly be able to walk round the corner before all the butter oozing out from their bottoms would have soaked through the bag, putting you in imminent danger of losing your most prized possession.

Dos and don’ts and a million variations:

• This is one hell of a versatile recipe. You can try adapting it to your taste but I would suggest you initially stick to adapting the filling before you embark on the changing the actual dough recipe.
• You can add or reduce the amounts of sugar, butter, dried fruit and spice. There is no law to say you can’t use raisins or any other dried fruit or even mixtures of them.
• Don’t like cinnamon? No problem, anything that’s good for a sweet baking experience can be used, it just won’t be a true Chelsea Bun but so what.
• You could leave nearly all the sugar out from the dough recipe in preparation for turning this into a savoury bun.
• Try that dough adaptation and fill with a only a little whey butter, lots of strong grated cheese and herbs such as chives or try spreading with your favourite mustard or mustard powder.
• Even filling with finely minced beef or our favourite lamb mince with plenty of mint sauce (only ever use Coleman’s Mint Sauce or disappointment is inevitable).
• Always remember, if you can roll it into a cylindrical shape, you can make it into a new form of bun and the above cooking times should be sufficient for all your ideas.
• Should you stumble upon a nice adaptation of this magnificent recipe, do let me know. I’m always eager to try something new and exiting.

Download:
PDF file attached, see below.

Rolled and stuffed Lamb Shoulder
 

Rolled and stuffed Lamb Shoulder

Ingredients (serves 6):
1.2-1.5 kg of lamb shoulder
50 grams of cooking fat
Sea or rock salt from a grinder (you can use normal table salt)
Black pepper from a grinder (you can use ground black or white pepper)
100 grams of strong white flour (you can use any white flour)
2 meters of cooking string to tie the rolled shoulder with (do NOT use those elastic cooking bands you can buy, they are not capable of holding the meat together as is needed)

For the stuffing:
150 grams of bread crumbs
70 grams of dried sage (use a decent brand quality unless you know of a really good no name product, you don't want the stuffing to taste of grass cuttings or worse)
100 grams of dried roasted onions
25 grams of butter
200 ml of boiling water
Alternatively, buy a 250 gram packet of high quality sage and onion stuffing (in the UK I would recommend Paxo)

For the gravy:
1 pint (500 ml) of boiling water
Sea or rock salt from a grinder (you can use normal table salt)
Black pepper from a grinder (you can use ground black or white pepper)
100 grams of double cream (if you are worried about the fat content, use milk instead)
1-2 tablespoons of corn flour (corn starch) for thickening. Alternatively, make a butter ball from 1 tablespoon of butter and 2 tablespoons of strong white flour.

Method:

• Bone out the lamb shoulder. Unless you have a proper boning knife and are absolutely sure about what you are doing, ask you butcher to do it for you.
• Lay the meat flat on a cutting board and season both sides with freshly ground sea or rock salt and black pepper.
• Set aside until required.

Making or preparing the sage and onion stuffing:

• If using a ready made stuffing, follow the instructions on the packet but remember to add the 25 gram knob of butter and leave until ready (approx. 25 mins).
• If making your own stuffing, add all ingredients into a bowl and pour over the boiling water. Leave to soak for approx. 25 mins.
• If you homemade stuffing is too wet or dry, either add a little water or some more breadcrumbs.

Method, continued:

• Once the stuffing is ready to be used, spread evenly over the inside of the lamb shoulder (this is the side that does not have the thin fat layer on it), leaving an uncovered edge of at least 1-2” (2.5-5.0 cm). This will prevent the stuffing from leaking out during tying and/or cooking.
• Roll the meat up along its longest side.
• Use the cooking string to first tie the two outer edges as tightly as you can. Use a butchers knot, not dissimilar to a ships bowline knot.
• Once the ends are secured, tie the shoulder in three or four more place in the middle, making sure that stuffing does not spill out.
• Roll the tie shoulder in the strong bread flour. This will give it a wonderful crisps outside once cooked.

In the meantime:

• Pre-heat the oven to 140 C.
• Place to roasting tin with the cooking fat onto the middle shelf of the oven.

Cooking:

• When the oven is hot, place the shoulder in the roasting tin and leave to cook for about 3 hours, turning and basting the joint frequently.
• The meat is done when pierced and the juices run clear, i.e. no blood.
• Lamb shoulder needs longer cooking times.
• Remove from the roasting tin and place on a carving plate.
• Leave covered with foil for 15 minutes before carving, so the juices can distribute evenly throughout the meat.

In the meantime:

• Pour one pint (500 ml) of boiling water into the roasting tin in order to remove as much of the meat stock as possible.
• Drain through a strainer into a saucepan, season with sea or rock salt and ground pepper.
• Thicken the gravy using the corn flour (corn starch) or use the butter ball, which must be placed in the gravy and slowly heated. This requires constant stirring or it will solidify as one solid lump, leaving you with watery gravy and a huge lump in it.
• Well up and stir to dissolve any lumps.
• Remove from the hob, leaving to cool a little and slowly stir in the double cream. Make sure that the liquid is no longer boiling or the cream will separate. It is still fine but will not look particularly nice.
• If using milk instead of cream, make sure you don't water down the gravy too much, it should be a creamy consistency.

Notes:

• This is a relatively simple method, though on your first attempt you may struggle with tying the meat. This is important, as it will help keep all those juices inside, rather then spill out into the roasting tin. If in doubt, ask your butcher to show you how to do it. Should he offer you to use those elastic bands for cooking instead, he's basically a rubbish butcher and chances are his meat won't be up to much either.
• Serve with fresh green beans, roast potatoes, Yorkshire Puddings (recipe to follow) and mint sauce (make sure it is made from fresh mint, rather then dried).

Variations:

• Try substituting the sage and onion stuffing with my mum's all time favourite, a mixture of finely chopped cooking apple and currants or raisins. Use 1 large cooking apple, peeled, cored, chopped and 100 grams of currants or raisins and spread onto the meat as you would with the sage and onion stuffing. The contrast of the meat and the sweet and sour tang of the apple and currants is delicious.

Storing:

• Suitable for home freezing, preferably in meal sized portions.

Download:
PDF file attached, see below:

Traditional and individual Yorkshire Pudding
 

Traditional and individual Yorkshire Pudding

Credits:
Deliah Smith, BBC

http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/...irePudding.jpg

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients:
175g/6oz plain flour
2 eggs
175ml/6fl oz milk (whole or semi-skimmed)
110ml/4fl oz water
2 tbsp beef dripping (if you are unable to obtain this, try lard - solidified pork fat)
Salt and freshly milled black pepper

Equipment and preparation:
You will need a solid roasting tin measuring 28x23cm/11x9in.

Preparation time:
less than 30 mins

Cooking time:
30 mins to 1 hour

Method:

• Pre-heat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.
• Begin by placing a sieve over a large mixing bowl, then sift the flour in, holding the sieve up high to give the flour a good airing as it goes down into the bowl. Now, with the back of a tablespoon, make a well in the centre of the flour and break the eggs into it. Add the salt and pepper.
• Now measure the milk and water into a measuring jug. Then begin to whisk the eggs wth an electric whisk and as you beat them the flour around the edges will be slowly incorporated. When the mixture beacomes stiff simply add the milk and water mixture gradually, keeping the whisk going. Stop and scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula so that any lumps can be pushed down into the batter, then whisk again till all is smooth. Now the batter is ready for use and although it's been rumoured that batter left to stand is better, I have found no foundation for this - so just make it whenever is convenient.
• To cook the Yorkshire pudding, remove the meat from the oven (or if it's not ready place it on a lower shelf) and turn the oven up to the above temperature. Spoon two tablespoons of beef fat into the roasting tin and allow it to pre-heat in the oven. When the oven is up to temperature remove the tin, using an oven glove, and place it over direct heat (turned to medium). Then, when the fat begins to shimmer and smoke a little, pour in the batter. Tip it evenly all round and then place the tin on a high shelf in the oven and cook the Yorkshire pudding for 40 minutes or until golden brown and crisp. Serve it cut into squares presto pronto.

Variations:

• I sometimes prepare them as individual Yorkshire's instead by using a bun or cupcake tray. Make sure you don't overfill the individual portions, 3-4 tablespoons each is sufficient.

http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/...rePuddings.jpg

Download:
PDF file attached, see below: