The General Chat Thread

Faith

I'm eating Lidl Jaffa cakes and they're manky

Animord

What ever you do Faith don't be tempted by the Lidl Raspberry "Jaffa" cakes. If you think the ones you are eating are bad...

Faith

Animord wrote: »

What ever you do Faith don't be tempted by the Lidl Raspberry "Jaffa" cakes. If you think the ones you are eating are bad...

Thanks for the warning! That's exactly the kind of thing I'd be attracted to.

MissFlitworth

Why is the nice coffee place not open till 11. Why why why why why. There's a Christmas Flea market on in Dublin today and I want to get coffee and a cinnamon roll before I go in but I also want to spend no time at all in the city centre (because I will nut a Christmas shopper) so I'm sitting here twitching & waiting. Of course, if I wasn't being a fussy wench I'd have my choice of places to go to.

Animord

A word of warning:-

If you are cooking something that requires liberal amounts of fish sauce, make sure you wash your hands before popping that little bit of chocolate you just spied in the fridge into your mouth.

This is truly not a match made in heaven.

Seaneh

Merkin wrote: »

I love Nevan Maguire's way of cooking. Love that he uses fresh produce and he just seems like an all round good egg! My parents stayed in the Black Lion last year and ate in the restaurant and they told him I was a big fan and that me and Mr. Merkin were soon to be married. So he goes off and fetches his new cookery book, signs a lovely message to the Merkins telling us to keep up the great cooking and wished us well - what a nice man! I've cooked a lot of the recipes from it and they always work out really well.

He's a genuinely lovely person. Gets a bit of stick fir being the Danny O'Donnell of cooking but anyone I know who knows him or worked with him say he's the best boss they ever had.

Seaneh

Was back in Athlone for the night to see the family and while I was there the mother pulls a little package out of a cupboard and says "I almost forgot, this arrived for you the other day, came from someone in france".

I check the wrapping and sure enough it came from my friend who lives in Rosney.

I opened it and inside were four lovely little gift wrapped 50g bags of pepper corns.

Kampot, Sichuan, Sarawak and one I've never heard of before labled "voansty pecifery", I think, the wrting is fancy and hard to make out properly. Very nice gift, and I can't wait to use them in something special.

The one I can't identify are cool looking, very small corns and still have some stalk attached. Will upload a picture later and hopefully one of you lot will know what they are .

iwantmydinner

I used to work in Cavan and never once heard anything but praise for him as a person and a chef! Lot to be said for it.

IvyTheTerrible

Seaneh wrote: »

He's a genuinely lovely person. Gets a bit of stick fir being the Danny O'Donnell of cooking but anyone I know who knows him or worked with him say he's the best boss they ever had.

It'd be nice if other chefs would realise you don't have to f and blind and treat your staff like crap to run a successful restaurant!

homemadecider

Went out for dinner last night and ordered prawns for my starter. Had to send them back as they were not deveined, it was pretty gross. The waitress actually said "Oh yeah, I'd always devein them at home myself but that's not how the chef prepares them here". What the actual fvck? That's one lazy chef.

In fairness the main course was delicious, the owner was extremely apologetic and he gave us complimentary drinks at the end of our meal. Won't be ordering prawns again ever!

iwantmydinner

homemadecider wrote: »

Went out for dinner last night and ordered prawns for my starter. Had to send them back as they were not deveined, it was pretty gross. The waitress actually said "Oh yeah, I'd always devein them at home myself but that's not how the chef prepares them here". What the actual fvck? That's one lazy chef.

In fairness the main course was delicious, the owner was extremely apologetic and he gave us complimentary drinks at the end of our meal. Won't be ordering prawns again ever!

Oh gawk.

Merkin

homemadecider wrote: »

Went out for dinner last night and ordered prawns for my starter. Had to send them back as they were not deveined, it was pretty gross. The waitress actually said "Oh yeah, I'd always devein them at home myself but that's not how the chef prepares them here". What the actual fvck? That's one lazy chef.

In fairness the main course was delicious, the owner was extremely apologetic and he gave us complimentary drinks at the end of our meal. Won't be ordering prawns again ever!

That's unforgivable!

Minder

Seaneh wrote: »

Was back in Athlone for the night to see the family and while I was there the mother pulls a little package out of a cupboard and says "I almost forgot, this arrived for you the other day, came from someone in france".

I check the wrapping and sure enough it came from my friend who lives in Rosney.

I opened it and inside were four lovely little gift wrapped 50g bags of pepper corns.

Kampot, Sichuan, Sarawak and one I've never heard of before labled "voansty pecifery", I think, the wrting is fancy and hard to make out properly. Very nice gift, and I can't wait to use them in something special.

The one I can't identify are cool looking, very small corns and still have some stalk attached. Will upload a picture later and hopefully one of you lot will know what they are .

Voatsiperify?

Seaneh

Minder wrote: »

Voatsiperify?

YES!

The Black Oil

If you're ever in San Francisco check out House of Nanking for Chinese...my god.

Merkin

Neven Maguire has opened his own cookery school

http://www.nevenmaguire.com/index.php?contentid=cookeryschool

Loire

Merkin wrote: »

Neven Maguire has opened his own cookery school

http://www.nevenmaguire.com/index.php?contentid=cookeryschool

That's great. It's a fair trip from Cork but I think I might plan a weekend around it for next summer. It would be great to combine a 1 day course and stay the night there afterwards. bliss!

MissFlitworth

Work Christmas dinner tonight. I'm such a moany hole but I am not looking forward to



or



or



and not enough gravy. Which is what we get every year, Moan moan moan moan what's the point of bad food moan moan moan (can't you tell I'm GREAT fun to sit beside at catered events for lots of people)

Animord

lol

I was in Musgraves not that long ago and a man came in dressed head to toe in chef's whites - hat and all. He proceeded to load his trolley with that Knorr powdered soup in assorted varieties. I wanted to tell him he wasn't worthy of wearing the chef's whites, but I didn't have the nerve!

The frozen puddings in Musgraves never cease to amaze me - I had no idea how many restaurants pass off ready made frozen stuff as home made.:mad:

IvyTheTerrible

Animord wrote: »

lol

I was in Musgraves not that long ago and a man came in dressed head to toe in chef's whites - hat and all. He proceeded to load his trolley with that Knorr powdered soup in assorted varieties. I wanted to tell him he wasn't worthy of wearing the chef's whites, but I didn't have the nerve!

The frozen puddings in Musgraves never cease to amaze me - I had no idea how many restaurants pass off ready made frozen stuff as home made.:mad:

And if he was a proper trained chef he'd know that you're not supposed to wear the whites out and about for hygiene reasons!

Loire

LOL. That reminds me of my MIL. The last time we called I was making dinner for all of us as a treat. When I told her I was making roast potatoes as part of the mains she just relied "Oh yeah, I have some of them, they're out in the freezer". Still have the scar from biting my lip!

Animord

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

And if he was a proper trained chef he'd know that you're not supposed to wear the whites out and about for hygiene reasons!

Absolutely, I should have asked him where he was from so we could avoid it!

Merkin

Does anyone have an idiot proof way of cooking meatballs? I have now attempted them twice and while I am very happy with the flavour, they end up disintegrating into a sad and disappointing pot of mince because they simply won't hold! What am I doing wrong?

Dizzyblonde

Merkin wrote: »

Does anyone have an idiot proof way of cooking meatballs? I have now attempted them twice and while I am very happy with the flavour, they end up disintegrating into a sad and disappointing pot of mince because they simply won't hold! What am I doing wrong?

I brush mine with olive oil and cook in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes at 180 degrees. Then I pop them into the sauce and let them simmer for a short while. They never fall apart, and roasting them is so much easier than frying them. I use equal quantities of beef and pork mince and the texture is great.

the beer revolu

Animord wrote: »

lol

I was in Musgraves not that long ago and a man came in dressed head to toe in chef's whites - hat and all. He proceeded to load his trolley with that Knorr powdered soup in assorted varieties. I wanted to tell him he wasn't worthy of wearing the chef's whites, but I didn't have the nerve!

Did he look like this?

Merkin

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

I brush mine with olive oil and cook in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes at 180 degrees. Then I pop them into the sauce and let them simmer for a short while. They never fall apart, and roasting them is so much easier than frying them. I use equal quantities of beef and pork mince and the texture is great.

Thanks so much Dizzy, I shall try this. I'd been frying them in a cast iron pan and they would invariably stick and/or just fall apart when I turned them! Roasting them sounds like a wonderful idea, cheers!

Animord

the beer revolu wrote: »

Did he look like this?

:eek:

lol, actually his hat was one of the big tall ones, what an eejit!

emaleth

Merkin wrote: »

Thanks so much Dizzy, I shall try this. I'd been frying them in a cast iron pan and they would invariably stick and/or just fall apart when I turned them! Roasting them sounds like a wonderful idea, cheers!

Roasting should certainly help a lot. Another thing I find useful is to put plenty of salt in the mixture and to let them mind their own business on a plate in the fridge for half an hour before roasting or sautéeing them. The salt does something witchcrafty that glues the meat proteins together (sez Heston) and the chill of the fridge lets them gather their thoughts, as it were. Then, if I'm sautéeing rather than roasting, I let them get good and browned before I even think about moving them in the pan. That should hold them together nicely.

Faith

emaleth wrote: »

The salt does something witchcrafty that glues the meat proteins together (sez Heston) and the chill of the fridge lets them gather their thoughts, as it were.

Animord

I was watching James Martin one day and someone asked him why meat needs to 'relax' after it has been cooked and he replied "If I put your backside into an oven at 200 degrees you'd probably tense up too"

I think of that every time I take meat out to let it rest.:pac: