The General Chat Thread

New Home

I sent it to someone else before, so it'll be a copy and paste job.

BTW, that recipe wouldn't really be suitable for arancini.

kimokanto

Penn wrote:

Yeah I was looking at a few of the BBC Good Food recipes, but any tips or advice you can give would be much appreciated. Thanks. I've never had risotto before so I'm just not 100% on how I'll know when it's done, or how it's supposed to taste. All I know about risotto is nobody can cook it right on Gordon Ramsey's Hells Kitchen, yet it's always on the menu.

I have made risotto very successfully with a pressure cooker ( if u have 1?)

There is a website called hippressure which has a recipe for 7 minute risotto which is flawless.
My phone won't allow me to post links otherwise I would put the link here for u.

Penn

New Home wrote: »

I sent it to someone else before, so it'll be a copy and paste job.

BTW, that recipe wouldn't really be suitable for arancini.

No that's fine, it'll be a while before I try the arancini anyway. I'll focus on a few variants of risotto first anyway.

Penn

kimokanto wrote: »

I have made risotto very successfully with a pressure cooker ( if u have 1?)

There is a website called hippressure which has a recipe for 7 minute risotto which is flawless.
My phone won't allow me to post links otherwise I would put the link here for u.

Nah, don't have a pressure cooker. Cheers anyway

New Home

Penn wrote: »

No that's fine, it'll be a while before I try the arancini anyway. I'll focus on a few variants of risotto first anyway.

PM sent.

Alun

Thinking about it, the only snag I can think of with making it in really small quantities, say a single serving, is that you might need to be careful not to use too big a pan. I suspect with too large a surface area, the stock would evaporate too quickly before it's absorbed properly.

Maldesu

I love arancini, but I've never made them, mainly because I've no fryer. I've contemplated doing them in a big pot, but what do I do with the oil afterwards! Would be too wasteful.
Actually, watched a bonappetite recipe yesterday on them and the woman added cream to the risotto to help with the moisture.

New Home

It's be like adding cream to porridge to keep it more moist... delicious, but a big cheat, and not the original recipe, now, is it...

As for arancini (and anything deep fried), the oil can be used twice, max, provided it hasn't reached its smoking point and it's not full of "debris", regardless of whether it's in a fryer or a pan*, then it should be brought to a recycling centre, where they have collection points for it.

*Not sure if the underlined part qualifies as common knowledge or as food safety advice - if it's the latter, Mods, my apologies, please remove.

Alun

Maldesu wrote: »

I love arancini, but I've never made them, mainly because I've no fryer. I've contemplated doing them in a big pot, but what do I do with the oil afterwards! Would be too wasteful.

It might be considered sacrilege to Italians, but I shallow fry mine. That means they can't be your typical Arancini shape, and you have to make them as smaller pattie shapes instead. They taste just the same though, to me at least!

New Home

Alun wrote: »

Thinking about it, the only snag I can think of with making it in really small quantities, say a single serving, is that you might need to be careful not to use too big a pan. I suspect with too large a surface area, the stock would evaporate too quickly before it's absorbed properly.

For one or two portions (80g of dry rice each), an 18-20cm diametre casserole would do very well. Don't forget that you can always add boiling liquid until the rice is cooked, the quantity of stock is an indication only.

BaZmO*

Maldesu wrote: »

I love arancini, but I've never made them, mainly because I've no fryer. I've contemplated doing them in a big pot, but what do I do with the oil afterwards! Would be too wasteful.
Actually, watched a bonappetite recipe yesterday on them and the woman added cream to the risotto to help with the moisture.

Just wait for the oil to cool down and pour it back into the bottle from whence it came. I do it all the time. I don't have a deep fat fryer so on the odd occasion I make the likes of chips or falafel (or anything deep fried) I just use a big pot and keep the oil until next time.

Dizzyblonde

When I'm deep frying I use a wok because you can get enough depth without using as much oil as you would in a pot.

rubadub

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

When I'm deep frying I use a wok because you can get enough depth without using as much oil as you would in a pot.

I have a mini deepfat fryer, so needs very little oil. If using a saucepan you can tilt it to one side to get deeper fat. Some things I deep fry for a few seconds and then finish off in the airfryer.

argos have a 1.5L
http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/7173961/Trail/searchtext%3EDEEP+FAT.htm

mine is 1L

amazon have a tiny .5L one
https://www.amazon.co.uk/0-5L-Stainless-Steel-Compact-Fryer-x/dp/B014T3VP3O


Also obviously takes up very little space, small enough to put on your hob and have steam going up the vent.

Maldesu

Cheers guys. And that mini fryer is pretty cute, but I've got to be selective about what I bring in cos my kitchen is tiny.

shortcircuitie

When making risotto make sure and have plenty of hot simmering stock to hand, more than the recipe says. You keep adding stock till it's done.

It reheats OK in the microwave but wouldn't be as good as when it's made fresh.

A better way to reheat it would be to put the cold cooked risotto in a pan with a ladle or two of hot stock to loosen it back up.

L1011

I did a Nisbets order for some random bits that are dear or impossible to find in physical shops - and possibly not in Nisbets own shop in the Ilac even

One was a 12" pizza peel.

My home pizza making has been changed forever. Gone are pizzas that were round going at least sightly wonky as I wobbled them from assembly point to oven, possibly via a too small bread board. Gone is finding a doughy section uncooked in the middle where it folded over itself on the way.

Also bought a spice grinder and a mandoline which will be tried tomorrow for some curry batching.

There is a clear advantage to buying proper equipment even if most people only spend big money on knives and maybe a stand mixer. And my knives are comparatively crap

BaZmO*

Always makes sense to me to buy quality and look after it. Especially when you can end up having stuff in the kitchen for decades.

The only thing I’ll never spend loads of money on is non stick pans. Doesn’t matter how expensive they are, they always wear out.

L1011

I bought a large straight-sided Rosenthal Thomas nonstick pan in a Tesco coupon offer 6 years ago, it gets absolutely hammered and the non-stick is only peeling around the rivets for the handle so far. Not even a single scrape on the base! Some weeks it would be used for dinner three or four times a week, weekends it could do two dishes.

Other nonstick stuff, pots mostly, from Tefal has been dumped in the same time period; on marked down Brabantia now to see if it's any better.

the beer revolu

My circulon pans are going for years now and are not treated kindly.
Not as non-stick as teflon but waay more durable.

New Home

the beer revolu wrote: »

My circulon pans are going for years now and are not treated kindly.
Not as non-stick as teflon but waay more durable.

Isn't that a character in Futurama?

the beer revolu

New Home wrote: »

Isn't that a character in Futurama?

Had to look that up.
No, it isn't.
Calculon is.

New Home

The Hill Billy

I don't have any non-stick pans. Is that unusual?

RasTa

Nope stainless steel all the way for moi. Season the odd time and it turns into a non stick

B0jangles

We can't have non-stick because we have a couple of pet parrots and the gases released by overheated non-stick can kill them in minutes It's fine when it comes to pot and pans, but getting non-non-stick baking tins is a bit of a pain if you just want to pick up a cheap one in the supermarket.

Dizzyblonde

B0jangles wrote: »

We can't have non-stick because we have a couple of pet parrots and the gases released by overheated non-stick can kill them in minutes It's fine when it comes to pot and pans, but getting non-non-stick baking tins is a bit of a pain if you just want to pick up a cheap one in the supermarket.

:eek: You'd like to think that all parrot owners know that.

igCorcaigh

Who's going to be the first to post the monty python sketch (sorry!)

B0jangles

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

:eek: You'd like to think that all parrot owners know that.

So do I! I try to mention it whenever nonstick comes up, just to spread the word because it could happen so fecking easily

L1011

Realised I had a frankly irresponsible amount of veg that was close to the turning point (or beyond) in the house due to buying for planned cooking and not actually doing it. I really dislike food waste and have been specifically changing what I cook to try reduce it so felt this had to be sorted.

Some targetted batch cooking has dealt with that. Mushrooms, some onions and some spring onions were beyond saving unfortunately. Had to buy some ginger and chillis to do these but they last for ages.

Huge batch of curry base has addressed onions, garlic, and peppers
Big generic pasta sauce has dealt with left over pasata and cured meats from last nights pizzas, along with carrots and celery
Katsu sauce has dealt with the rest of the carrots.

Spuds will be mashed and frozen after I've eaten dinner - not sure what exactly yet, a veg balti or paneer dish from the curry base is likely.

igCorcaigh

You had me at curry base... What's the secret?