The General Chat Thread

Dizzyblonde

leahyl wrote: »

Just a quick question - to those who do cooking club recipes - do you just use recipes from books or are they your own recipes? Like, if I were to sign up to do one it wouldn't haven't to be a made up recipe by myself would it?!

I'd imagine it's a mix of both, and you definitely don't have to have invented a recipe yourself. It could be one you've gotten from a book or the internet and love making, and you may or may not have tweaked it in some way to put your own stamp on it.
If it's originally someone else's recipe it's nice to give credit in your post

leahyl

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

I'd imagine it's a mix of both, and you definitely don't have to have invented a recipe yourself. It could be one you've gotten from a book or the internet and love making, and you may or may not have tweaked it in some way to put your own stamp on it.
If it's originally someone else's recipe it's nice to give credit in your post

Thanks a mil Dizzyblonde! I might just put my name down for next year so!

Tarzana2

MissFlitworth wrote: »

My little sister would probably eat an entire raw turnip if she came across one peeled & diced. I'm not a big fan of it raw or cooked, even roasted in a fancy way, all just tastes of being 4 and getting a mouthful of mashed disappointment!

I don't like it cooked on its own. But in root veg mash, it adds a lil somethin' somethin'.

Faith

I just ate a cupcake that was the biggest waste of calories ever. Really heavy, dense cake that had no taste of lemon. It's even more annoying because I only bought it because they were out of lemon meringue pies.

It's probably just a familiarity bias or something, but I've never bought a cupcake that tastes better than ones I make myself, even from speciality cupcake bakeries. They're just never that nice. I can see why most people think they're completely overrated.

Marty McFly

When it comes to the cooking club can you pick what you want to put up yourself or is it suggested to you?

Also how do you sign up?

Faith

Marty McFly wrote: »

When it comes to the cooking club can you pick what you want to put up yourself or is it suggested to you?

Also how do you sign up?

You pick your own recipe. It can be anything at all. Sweet or savoury, starter, main, side, salad, haute cuisine, simple and comforting, ethnic, traditional...

We'll open sign ups for 2015 in early to mid December. Keep an eye on the cooking club forum and you'll see the thread when it goes up. You just sign up on thread then (everything else will be explained on the thread also, like requesting a particular date etc).

leahyl

My first Christmas cake is just gone into the oven! OMG I had a taste of the cake mixture and it's sooo good! Eeek excited! Roll on 4 and half hours time :-D

Dizzyblonde

Faith wrote: »

I just ate a cupcake that was the biggest waste of calories ever. Really heavy, dense cake that had no taste of lemon. It's even more annoying because I only bought it because they were out of lemon meringue pies.

It's probably just a familiarity bias or something, but I've never bought a cupcake that tastes better than ones I make myself, even from speciality cupcake bakeries. They're just never that nice. I can see why most people think they're completely overrated.

I'm usually disappointed by commercial cupcakes too. It's usually more about how they look than how they taste. Tons of flavourless buttercream and a heavy cake are just no good, no matter how cute they look.

Toto Wolfcastle

The best cupcakes I've had were from here although I've just seen some more recent reviews that aren't great. They were good on the day I had them. They were light and moist and the frosting wasn't overly sweet or gritty. They even had sugar free cupcakes that didn't taste like crap. I don't think I've been happy with any other cupcakes I've had. The problem with cupcakes is that everyone can make them but not everyone can make them well. More often than not they're not fresh or they're dry or the icing hasn't been beaten for long enough so it's heavy. I've even bought cupcakes that were burnt on top and I only realised when I started to eat them because they'd hidden the burnt top with extra icing. I've never had one in Ireland that has been worth buying so I just don't buy them any more. There are much nicer cakes out there anyway.

leahyl

Bobblehead Panda wrote: »

The best cupcakes I've had were from here although I've just seen some more recent reviews that aren't great. They were good on the day I had them. They were light and moist and the frosting wasn't overly sweet or gritty. They even had sugar free cupcakes that didn't taste like crap. I don't think I've been happy with any other cupcakes I've had. The problem with cupcakes is that everyone can make them but not everyone can make them well. More often than not they're not fresh or they're dry or the icing hasn't been beaten for long enough so it's heavy. I've even bought cupcakes that were burnt on top and I only realised when I started to eat them because they'd hidden the burnt top with extra icing. I've never had one in Ireland that has been worth buying so I just don't buy them any more. There are much nicer cakes out there anyway.

You haven't tasted mine.... :-D

The Hill Billy

leahyl wrote: »

You haven't tasted mine.... :-D

Remember that when you sign up for the Cooking Club.

Dizzyblonde

Touché tHB

Lovely Bloke

Just had a plate of tomatoes, sprinkled with salt and oregano, and drizzled with balsamic

I drank the leftover balsamic off the plate.

Delish.

Faith

There's the most amazing market here that makes the English Market look like a stall. It's maybe 3 to 4 times the size of the English Market, and although I haven't explored it fully yet, I'd wager you could get almost any ingredient in the world in there. I was wandering around yesterday in complete awe. It is heaven!

Lovely Bloke

proper Irish spuds? :pac:

Faith

I was so distracted by gourds and weird looking squashes that I forgot to look

The Hill Billy

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

proper Irish spuds? :pac:

PMSL!!!

(Sorry, F. )

IvyTheTerrible

I love turnips, I miss them so much. Over here they sell what are called "navets" which, according to the dictionary translates as turnips but they ARE NOT turnips. I think some of the confusion arises from the fact that all these different types of root veg are all the one species.

Also, they don't eat parsnips in the south of france.

leahyl

Thought I'd share my Christmas cake making process with you all

Gloomtastic!

I've used this recipe a couple of times and it turns all root vegetables delicious.....

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/roast-vegetable-megamix/

Kovu

Only the frst photo loaded for me at first leahyl so I'm going to imagine you ate the fruit and drank the hennessy

Christmas cake is never eaten in this house. We get through a lot of puddings though!

dibkins

My and my sis were in Spittalfields in london a few weeks back. We got a snickers cupcake of some sort from a stall. Oh holy christ it was incredible.

It was from these people. http://www.flavourtownbakery.co.uk/cupcakes

iwantmydinner

I think I might chance making a Christmas pudding, it's my second favourite part of Christmas dinner. Is it too late now or is there still time for it to mature nicely?

IvyTheTerrible

Right at this moment I'm boiling my second batch of sweet chestnuts for jam. It's bloody hard work but I only do it once a year and it is my favourite jam.

angeldelight

iwantmydinner wrote: »

I think I might chance making a Christmas pudding, it's my second favourite part of Christmas dinner. Is it too late now or is there still time for it to mature nicely?

Definitely not too late - I don't eat pudding but I make some every year. I never get around to doing it before December but people are always complimenting them so I can only assume they taste ok

The Hill Billy

Not quite cooking - but food related...
There was a young girl on my flight this morning who had such a severe nut allergy that they announced that no products containing nuts would be sold & also all passengers who brought their own food on board to ensure that it contained no nuts before opening. They even asked that Snickers bars weren't eaten. Poor lass!
I swapped seats with her Dad so he could sit with her & her Mum, which in hindsight was a good idea considering that I spent last night eating peanuts from the shell watching TV.

angeldelight

The Hill Billy wrote: »

Not quite cooking - but food related...
There was a young girl on my flight this morning who had such a severe nut allergy that they announced that no products containing nuts would be sold & also all passengers who brought their own food on board to ensure that it contained no nuts before opening. They even asked that Snickers bars weren't eaten. Poor lass!
I swapped seats with her Dad so he could sit with her & her Mum, which in hindsight was a good idea considering that I spent last night eating peanuts from the shell watching TV.

We were on a flight where a similar announcement was made and 2 people complained! They kicked up a huge fuss!!

Stheno

Would a rack of lamb with eight chops ao to speak (the bones at the top) be too much for two people? Should I halve it?

Triboro

Stheno wrote: »

Would a rack of lamb with eight chops ao to speak (the bones at the top) be too much for two people? Should I halve it?

Wouldn't be much of a rack with only 4 chops on it as they are usually quite small anyway.Might be best to leave it as is. Better lookin at it than lookin for it!!

Stheno

Triboro wrote: »

Wouldn't be much of a rack with only 4 chops on it as they are usually quite small anyway.Might be best to leave it as is. Better lookin at it than lookin for it!!

Into the oven it shall go so