Food and drink thread

[Bearman]

21 hours ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

Mrs WWD suspects that our traditional fryer is on its last legs and fancies an air fryer.

Does anybody have views on the merits of them against traditional ones using oil?  Does anybody have experience - good or bad - of particular air fryer models?

All advice gratefully received!

My Daughters both have Ninja's and swear by them. One of my Sons in Law makes fantastic Biltong on his.

[Oxford]

I already missed France and if things carry on there like they appear to be I shall be missing it forever.

[Robin Evans]

20 hours ago, Oxford said:

I already missed France and if things carry on there like they appear to be I shall be missing it forever.

Pretty much same here

[Oxford]

1 hour ago, Robin Evans said:

Pretty much same here

I have to be extremely careful and circumspect on here for fear of waking the Personal Thoughts arm of the topic gendarmerie but there's a reason I've never been for Kaffe und Kuchen in Vienna.

"Demain m'appartient"  

[Oxford]

Cracking product, if a bit dear, Booja Booja ice cream.

 

[Robin Evans]

I'm trying to control my bacon addiction. 

When you have a butcher who cures his own so wonderfully well, it's hard.

However, smoked salmon and scrambled eggs today. Chris Westwood mentioned he had a whitby kipper last week so as I went to donny market Friday, I got a pair. We had those yesterday just with bread and butter.  I could get used to this.

I think it's the smokeyness that suppresses the 'bacon rattle'!

Donny Market.... food hero

Edited April 11, 2022 by Robin Evans

[Oxford]

3 minutes ago, Robin Evans said:

I'm trying to control my bacon addiction. 

When you have a butcher who cures his own so wonderfully well, it's hard.

However, smoked salmon and scrambled eggs today. Chris Westwood mentioned he had a whitby kipper last week so as I went to donny market Friday, I got a pair. We had those yesterday just with bread and butter.  I could get used to this.

I think it's the smokeyness that suppresses the 'bacon rattle'!

Donny Market.... food hero

We're considering Donny as a place to move to next Robin.

"It's a small world after all ....."

[Robin Evans]

30 minutes ago, Oxford said:

We're considering Donny as a place to move to next Robin.

"It's a small world after all ....."

You will become well acquainted with Donny market if that's the case.

Big place is Donny. Very diverse

[Oxford]

10 hours ago, Robin Evans said:

Very diverse

The more the better in my book, Robin!

[Oxford]

When I lived in France I used to be a bit scathing about frozen foods, I think Birdseye might have had a lot to do with this though to be honest it wasn't about snobbery just a fresh is best way of looking at cooking.

I'm a bit of a convert now having discovered Picard (not Jean-Luc) products.

[Futtocks]

My local branch of Sainsbury's has just begun stocking these, and they are a bit too more-ish.

[Oxford]

Yesterday the wife made a "mini seafood platter" for lunch. It looked so good I almost took a photo of it but I was too hungry!

[Number 16]

Smoked bacon and fried egg with HP in a cinnamon hot cross bun. 

Weird combo... but tasty...

[Futtocks]

I cooked some confit duck legs yesterday, with smoked garlic and chervil. I accidentally left it in the slow cooker an hour or two longer than I meant to, but it just let the flavour in further.
Tonight, it'll be shredded and going into schiaffoni* pasta tubes, with shallots, parsnips and carrots, then baked in a roasted red pepper/tomato/mascarpone sauce.

*like cannelloni, only about a third of the length, so they are mush easier to fill, and you bake them standing on end instead of lying down. Easier to portion, too.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

Has anyone here ever had octopus? Was wondering what it was like and what was the best way to cook it? I'm not a seafood person but am thinking about trying octopus despite them being my favourite animals as well. I know, random, but I have a reason! 

[Futtocks]

7 hours ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Has anyone here ever had octopus? Was wondering what it was like and what was the best way to cook it? I'm not a seafood person but am thinking about trying octopus despite them being my favourite animals as well. I know, random, but I have a reason! 

Octopus (and squid) are nice, done properly. A short, hot cooking or a long, slow one is recommended. Anything in between and it'll be very chewy. Marinating is often recommended, for flavour and texture.

There's a variety of approaches here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/octopus 

[Oxford]

4 hours ago, Futtocks said:

Octopus (and squid) are nice, done properly. A short, hot cooking or a long, slow one is recommended. Anything in between and it'll be very chewy. Marinating is often recommended, for flavour and texture.

There's a variety of approaches here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/octopus 

Love squid, even buying it frozen now.

Good advice there futty!

[Futtocks]

9 minutes ago, Oxford said:

Love squid, even buying it frozen now.

Good advice there futty!

Last time I cooked squid, I stuffed them with the contents of one of those mixed rice/grains pouches you can get in supermarkets. It needed more seasoning, but was otherwise a promising idea.

Edited May 6, 2022 by Futtocks

[Oxford]

45 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

It needed more seasoning

It's either under seasoned or over it's the British way!

[hindle xiii]

13 hours ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Has anyone here ever had octopus? Was wondering what it was like and what was the best way to cook it? I'm not a seafood person but am thinking about trying octopus despite them being my favourite animals as well. I know, random, but I have a reason! 

It's probably not what you had in mind but a few weeks ago I bought some octopus carpaccio from Lidl (selling off from their Greek week).

It is fine, it doesn't taste of a lot, similar to prawns.

[Futtocks]

2 hours ago, hindle xiii said:

It's probably not what you had in mind but a few weeks ago I bought some octopus carpaccio from Lidl (selling off from their Greek week).

It is fine, it doesn't taste of a lot, similar to prawns.

Waitrose sometimes does octopus carpaccio too. Delicate, clean taste - but not strong. Needs combining with other flavours.

[voteronniegibbs]

.

Edited July 31, 2023 by voteronniegibbs

[Oxford]

Although I'll have a go at British cooking a lot of that has to with boiled veg, processed foods and  modern attitudes to cooking and foreign food. And a few other things but it's not a lecture.

I could also, obviously, make a case for beautiful things british regional that at times seem long gone.

However, the most wonderful thing now is how many other cuisines are available without having to travel anywhere.

 

 

[hindle xiii]

13 hours ago, voteronniegibbs said:

Out out the other night, and we had a meal in a Vietnamese restaurant. A first for me even though I like Asian and oriental cuisine. I was thinking of having the squid starter but went for the seafood rolls with spearmint leaves & sweet chilli dipping bowl on the side. Main courses were chicken pho, which is a broth with noodles and chicken with dried shrimp rice. Washed down with a selection of beers from Vietnam- Laos . Great service from the staff as well made it a great choice. We will be back.

[pretentious mode] Pho is named after the French for fire, "feu", so is pronounced more like "fur" or a lower case f, and not like "phone" or Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum. [/pretentious mode]

[Mumby Magic]

Working at Blackburn Rovers today and treated myself to a butter pie. I will never get that two quid back.