Another cookery thread (call that a spiraliser?!)

[TrenterPercenter]

This is another great veggie (or vegan if you get some vegan mayo) recipe that I keep returning too.  Again a bit of a faff but you can make a big batch and they freeze well.

https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014/03/the-best-black-bean-burger-recipe.html

[Kankurette]

https://www.orientalmart.co.uk/wing-fat-deep-fried-tofu-puffs

any even small Chinese supermarket will have them though.

There's a few in Manchester. Will investigate. Btw have you ever made focaccia?

[Ferris]

Made burgers the other day, done em on the barbecue. Had my dad sandals and a bottle of beer and everything.

They were actually quite good. Secret is breadcrumbs but keep that under your hat.

Ok cheers.

[Rizla]

I did this Madhur Jaffrey chicken lad the other night, instead of her CTM I usually knock up. Piece of piss and ace, just a paste of onion, garlic, ginger, peppers, almonds and spices (I bunged a load of chillies in too), fry for a bit, then chicken goes the fuck in with some water n lemon juice. The missus LOVED it!

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Madhur Jaffrey chicken lad

Seen wandering listlessly, Merrick-style, in the backstreets of cruel Dumfries.

[steve98]

I did this Madhur Jaffrey chicken lad the other night, instead of her CTM I usually knock up. Piece of piss and ace, just a paste of onion, garlic, ginger, peppers, almonds and spices (I bunged a load of chillies in too), fry for a bit, then chicken goes the fuck in with some water n lemon juice. The missus LOVED it!

Likes it spicy, does she? Hot 'n' spicy? Goan style?... eh? ... she been to Goa, has she? Your wife?

[TrenterPercenter]

just made that veggie moussaka SC suggested; looks glorious




Never made béchamel with olive oil before mind but tasted good when I dipped my finger in.  Felt bad not putting cheese on the top but this is moussaka after all

[Sebastian Cobb]

Nice!

My bechemel turned out doorstop thick, was quite happy with it.

[TrenterPercenter]

The lentil sauce stuff really does work; I always prefer these kindof things than the fake meat route;

It's got an hour in the oven now then I will be able to give my full verdict later; but the current signs are this is going to be a regular (so thanks).

[TrenterPercenter]

So an update on the veggie moussaka; had a portion last night it was incredible; really great and definitely a dish in its own right that doesn't need any "this is better than the meat version" as it just stands alone.  I was speaking so highly of it earlier today that my Mum is off to go and buy the ingredients to make her own one.  Winner.

[Fr.Bigley]

Looks nice. Your mum is off to but a Fray Bentos though.

[TrenterPercenter]

Looks nice. Your mum is off to but a Fray Bentos though.

Actually thinking about it I suspect ye might be right Bigley, the toad was likely just trolling me for sending her 50 pictures of my scran.

[Fr.Bigley]

Actually thinking about it I suspect ye might be right Bigley, the toad was likely just trolling me for sending her 50 pictures of my scran.

It was the "going to buy ingredients" that was a red flag you know...and the fact that shes got a Fray Bentos shopper trolley. Hope she got a steak n kidney.

[TrenterPercenter]

It was the "going to buy ingredients" that was a red flag you know...and the fact that shes got a Fray Bentos shopper trolley. Hope she got a steak n kidney.

As an aside when I first met my Syrian mate a few years back and was teaching him all things English; when he asked me about who Fray & Bentos were I told him that they were a comedy double act from the 70s and he tried to find them on Youtube.

He also up until very recently referred to Scotch Eggs as Scottish Eggs and once asked me if there was also an Irish and Welsh Egg.

[Fr.Bigley]

As an aside when I first met my Syrian mate a few years back and was teaching him all things English; when he asked me about who Fray & Bentos was I told him that they were a comedy double act from the 70s and he tried to find them on Youtube.

He also up until very recently referred to Scotch Eggs as Scottish Eggs and once asked me if there was also an Irish and Welsh Egg.

This mans Naive innocence has touched me profoundly. God bless him.

[mothman]

I did this Madhur Jaffrey chicken lad the other night, instead of her CTM I usually knock up. Piece of piss and ace, just a paste of onion, garlic, ginger, peppers, almonds and spices (I bunged a load of chillies in too), fry for a bit, then chicken goes the fuck in with some water n lemon juice. The missus LOVED it!

I'm gonna make this tomorrow. And by that I mean today, now. Tonight... tomorrow night? Feel like there should be a word for the night that will come at the end of the day while you're still in the night at the start of the day... I wonder if I have almonds?

[colacentral]

Funny coincidence that a new food thread has started, as in the last cooking thread there was a heated debate (no pun intended!!!) about using chilli flakes in a pasta sauce. Apparently, my use of them in pasta is neither a compatible flavour or authentic.

This book arrived for me yesterday:



And chilli flakes are in just about every pasta recipe in here, and are referred to in one recipe I've just seen as an either / or for black pepper, which was another thing I mentioned using them as which got contested as an apparent food abomination.

No one else cares of course, but I hold a petty grudge about this.

[TrenterPercenter]

Apparently, my use of them in pasta is neither a compatible flavour or authentic.

This book arrived for me yesterday:

And chilli flakes are in just about every pasta recipe in here, and are referred to in one recipe I've just seen as an either / or for black pepper, which was another thing I mentioned using them as which got contested as an apparent food abomination.

No one else cares of course, but I hold a petty grudge about this.

FOOD FIIIIIGHT!

I care! also that was me, well, the idea that chilli is not an traditional ingredient in ragu; there is nothing wrong with it if you want spicy ragu (also I was just pointing out that chilli is often used to mask bad flavours - you just seemed to think this something personal to you when I was more talking about the endless "spiced up" food I've had from people who have just bunged a load of chilli in things - I'm sure your food is wonderful).

Anyway; off the top of my head I've no doubt you can find authentic Italian dishes with chilli in; they will likely be from the South though; the Calabrian chilli is from (surprise surprise) Calabria and there is of course is the whole peperone chilli for Naples(?); which is a good example as Neapolitan salami = spiced salami, Milanese salami = not spicy salami. 

So yeah Sicilian, Neapolitan, Calabrian ragu etc..... is likely to have some chilli in it but Bolognese is unsurprisingly traditionally from Bologna in Emilia-Romagna which is in the north...it doesn't traditionally have chilli in it.

No idea on the black pepper (which is a wondrous ingredient) you'll have to joust that one out with who ever said that I'm afraid.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Reject authenticism; embrace instinct.

[Icehaven]

Reject authenticism; embrace instinct.

Yes this. No matter how authentic any recipe supposedly is, someone will very shortly tell you it isn't because it's not how they had it when they lived in or visited that part of the world, or it's not how their family or friends from there make it, or some other reason that basically boils down to ''I prefer it done a different way." Even if there are some dishes that have standard traditional methods and ingredients then refusing to deviate from them is the culinary equivalent of not letting language evolve and expecting everyone to still speak in centuries old dialect. I'm sure if they'd worked out how to make chilli flakes back when they were inventing pasta sauce some of them would have damn well used them.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Some friends of mine have built a wood fired pizza oven in their garden. Having finally been able to visit them last week, I now cannot stop thinking about the pizza I made there. How can I go back to cooking at a paltry 200°C after that?

[Sebastian Cobb]

Yes this. No matter how authentic any recipe supposedly is, someone will very shortly tell you it isn't because it's not how they had it when they lived in or visited that part of the world, or it's not how their family or friends from there make it, or some other reason that basically boils down to ''I prefer it done a different way." Even if there are some dishes that have standard traditional methods and ingredients then refusing to deviate from them is the culinary equivalent of not letting language evolve and expecting everyone to still speak in centuries old dialect. I'm sure if they'd worked out how to make chilli flakes back when they were inventing pasta sauce some of them would have damn well used them.

Yeah and as well as holding back innovation it seems a bit gatekeepy. Quite often 'authentic' recipes demand things that might not be easy to find (or are too expensive, or you're time poor), are you really expected to not make a certain dish because Morrisons doesn't have the right kind of tomato or are you going to substitute it?

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Chillies taste good in all foods... such as wood fired pizza.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Some friends of mine have built a wood fired pizza oven in their garden. Having finally been able to visit them last week, I now cannot stop thinking about the pizza I made there. How can I go back to cooking at a paltry 200°C after that?

They seem to be the in thing for middle class people with gardens. The results do look fantastic but it's a lot of money for a single-purpose oven and I don't like pizza's that much. Not that I even really have a garden.

[Paul Calf]

Chilli is uncommon in Italian cooking because the Italian food culture long predates the arrival of chilli peppers to the West and Italians are, generally speaking, massively reactionary when it comes to the kitchen.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Here's a lovely foodstuff: Ajvar [eye-varr] . Balkan, somewhere between a condiment and a relish, but really its own thing that you can devour with flat bread, raw onion, grilled meat/veg. It lubricates dry food while tasting fabulous. It is a doddle to make too.



Main ingredients: 1 large aubergine, 3 or 4 red bell peppers.
Seasoning/spice/oil/etc:  A couple seconds glug of olive oil, Dash of lime juice, tbsp minced garlic, tbsp paprika, salt, pepper to taste.

Method:

Give aubergine half an hour in the oven at 200c, pop the red peppers in with 20 minutes left.

Remove aubergine when the flesh has softened to the point where you can use a fork to remove it and it comes away easily. Pop the flesh when removed into a food processor.

Remove peppers, peel blackened skin off peppers and remove the stalk/seeds. We just need the flesh. Try to retain some of the juice though. Chop the now quite soft pepper flesh up into bits and join with the aubergine in the food processor.

Add your garlic, paprika, olive oil, salt, pepper and lime juice.

Mix on low until well mixed, but not absolutely smooth, ie, light, very slightly pulpy. The paprika should brighten the colour so it looks bright, almost glowing reddish orange.

Warm in a pan on the hob.

Serve.

This is versatile so you can tinker with it to bring preferred flavours out but I recommend using this as a control test then working out from there. It's also really easy to make providing you have a blender (ergo fuck paying £4 for a small jar of it from Waitrose).

[Cuellar]

Bought some Textured Vegetable Protein that I'm looking forward to getting delivered

Can't stand cooking.

[TrenterPercenter]

Yes this. No matter how authentic any recipe supposedly is, someone will very shortly tell you it isn't because it's not how they had it when they lived in or visited that part of the world, or it's not how their family or friends from there make it, or some other reason that basically boils down to ''I prefer it done a different way." Even if there are some dishes that have standard traditional methods and ingredients then refusing to deviate from them is the culinary equivalent of not letting language evolve and expecting everyone to still speak in centuries old dialect.

What a load of old unchillied cobblers.  Of course certain dishes have set ingredients that is what recipes are about; you can of course add what you like to them but you don't then call a cheesecake made out of ham an "authentic" cheesecake.  This isn't the free speech movement of food; no one is not allowed to experiment or add things to dishes as and when they please but you can't just go into bologna and say the fact they have historically made a world famous sauce one way in particular is "a problem".

I just made some authentic Indian kulfi out of angel delight how dare they tell me what is traditional or not.

I'm sure if they'd worked out how to make chilli flakes back when they were inventing pasta sauce some of them would have damn well used them.

As PC has alluded to there is history and geography to food which has a lot to do with climate and trade; the fusion that occurs between culture and cooking styles is great and there is space for both - no-one, literally no-one, is saying you can't do that but if want to make an authentic dish which can be quite specific to an area then you have to approximate that tradition.  tradition can of course be my families tradition or my hometown EH??! that is what tradition is about?! with big things like Bolognese that become some popular that they become collectivised; internationalised; yet still having more specific variations around a set template; that is no chilli in this case.

Imagine ordering "a traditional English breakfast" and getting served a KFC with some smiley faces; "this is what is traditional now you elitist cookery cunt, and I hope you choke on it for the all the fusion dishes you have oppressed over the years!" you are told as the bucket slaps against your head.

[Sherringford Hovis]

my Syrian mate....once asked me if there was also an Irish and Welsh Egg.

Irish Egg recipe (Grandmere Hovis c.1979)

1x bag of cheese and onion crisps
1x pickled egg

Smash up crisps into small crumbs inside bag. Hoick pickled egg into bag. Shake egg in bag (remembering to actually hold bag closed optional if audience participation desired). Remove coated egg and consume with gusto. After dining: remove upper set, dunk and swish in pint to dislodge stubborn crisplets, top up pint from drip tray; burp loudly in appreciation while telling onlookers that "It's considered good manners among the Bedouin". You can take the girl out of Kilmacthomas, but...

[TrenterPercenter]

Irish Egg recipe (Grandmere Hovis c.1979)

1x bag of cheese and onion crisps
1x pickled egg

Smash up crisps into small crumbs inside bag. Hoick pickled egg into bag. Shake egg in bag (remembering to actually hold bag closed optional if audience participation desired). Remove coated egg and consume with gusto. After dining: remove upper set, dunk and swish in pint to dislodge stubborn crisplets, top up pint from drip tray; burp loudly in appreciation while telling onlookers that "It's considered good manners among the Bedouin". You can take the girl out of Kilmacthomas, but...

I am very familiar see also a skippy egg (made with skips)