The General Chat Thread

Muahahaha

Nice one, must get both sorted. Have never come near to a kitchen fire but one without them would not end well

shortcircuitie

Has anyone seen tins of chestnuts in Aldi or Lidl yet? I normally stock up this time of year.

Graces7

shortcircuitie wrote: »

Has anyone seen tins of chestnuts in Aldi or Lidl yet? I normally stock up this time of year.

Plenty of fresh

shortcircuitie

Graces7 wrote: »

Plenty of fresh

I actually cannot stand the hassle of using fresh chestnuts. Cut the cross in every single one. Then roast them. Then wait for them to cool. Then take them out of the shells. And then you have to remove every bit of that hairy wooly stuff that coats the chestnut. Life's too short!

B0jangles

shortcircuitie wrote: »

I actually cannot stand the hassle of using fresh chestnuts. Cut the cross in every single one. Then roast them. Then wait for them to cool. Then take them out of the shells. And then you have to remove every bit of that hairy wooly stuff that coats the chestnut. Life's too short!

+1 My nails took days to recover last time I peeled and prepped a load of chestnuts.


Never Again :mad:

shortcircuitie

B0jangles wrote: »

+1 My nails took days to recover last time I peeled and prepped a load of chestnuts.


Never Again :mad:

It's pure hardship. And the vacuum sealed ones taste absolutely fine, so there is no justification for the torture of roasting your own

igCorcaigh

Are chestnuts nice? I've seen the canned puree...
I guess I could make soup?

Gloomtastic!

Maldesu wrote: »

Keep on with the ideas. I'm hoping to do pheasant for Christmas this year

I used this recipe https://www.google.ie/amp/s/www.bbc.com/food/recipes/beaters_stew_70079/amp

It was very tasty but if I was doing it for Christmas, it would be a perfect Christmas Eve meal and not the big day.

Maldesu

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

I used this recipe https://www.google.ie/amp/s/www.bbc.com/food/recipes/beaters_stew_70079/amp

It was very tasty but if I was doing it for Christmas, it would be a perfect Christmas Eve meal and not the big day.

I'm after a big day one. Could just keep it simple and cover with bacon, muslin and butter galore

New Home

igCorcaigh wrote: »

Are chestnuts nice? I've seen the canned puree...
I guess I could make soup?

Roasted sweet chestnuts (on a naked flame, ideally on a wood fire) are to die for - yes, cutting them before roasting can be a pain, but the trick is to peel them while they're still piping hot - let them go cold, and it's a nightmare. Also, cold roasted chestnuts turn rock hard, and can be turned into a flour (with the suitable equipment), then the flour can be used to bake, or to make a porridge-like pudding. Canned/boiled chestnuts can be used in soups, stuffings, and to make Mont Blanc. Sweet chestnuts can also be made into a very creamy jam (with a texture similar to that of a chocolate spread), and they're absolutely delicious! If you're into tricky, lengthy, time-consuming recipes that take days, then you can make marrons glacés. I'll stop now, I'm drooling.

igCorcaigh

New Home wrote: »

Roasted sweet chestnuts (on a naked flame, ideally on a wood fire) are to die for - yes, cutting them before roasting can be a pain, but the trick is to peel them while they're still piping hot - let them go cold, and it's a nightmare. Also, cold roasted chestnuts turn rock hard, and can be turned into a flour (with the suitable equipment), then the flour can be used to bake, or to make a porridge-like pudding. Canned/boiled chestnuts can be used in soups, stuffings, and to make Mont Blanc. Sweet chestnuts can also be made into a very creamy jam (with a texture similar to that of a chocolate spread), and they're absolutely delicious! If you're into tricky, lengthy, time-consuming recipes that take days, then you can make marrons glacés. I'll stop now, I'm drooling.

Soup it is then TY

caviardreams

Muahahaha wrote: »

Where do you get an extinguisher & fire blanket? Also what type should the extinguisher be, for electrical fires Im guessing?

Amazon do fire blankets too - handy to throw in to get over the £25 free shipping or whatever.

Graces7

shortcircuitie wrote: »

It's pure hardship. And the vacuum sealed ones taste absolutely fine, so there is no justification for the torture of roasting your own

but there is nothing like the taste and texture of a freshly roasted chestnut.... mmmmmmmmmmmm

Shenshen

I'll be traveling to India for work in December - I had been once before, but that had been on very short notice, so I never got to see anything much outside of our company's offices.
This time I've had a bit more time to prepare, and decided to add two days' holidays to my trip. And for one of those days, I've just booked a cooking class for Dhaba style cooking.

Is it a bit sad that I'm actually more excited about that than I am about christmas at the moment? Last time I was over, one of the managers and his wife invited me to their home to teach me how to make chapattis. I'm still lost for words to describe how delighted I was at that, how kind it was of them to teach me and how great it was to learn how to do them, and I've been perfecting them since (curry night is at least once a week in our house). This time, I want to take some full recipes home with me, along with a lot of spices. And masala tea!

Dizzyblonde

Not sad at all Shenshen. You get to have Christmas every year, but this sort of opportunity doesn't come along often! Enjoy

Shenshen

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

Not sad at all Shenshen. You get to have Christmas every year, but this sort of opportunity doesn't come along often! Enjoy

I promise I'll share what I will learn

sammyjo90

Shenshen wrote: »

I promise I'll share what I will learn

Please do! Proper curry indian is a must!!

beertons

Hey. Am I the only one who hasn't tried fresh pasta till now? It's only amazingly fabulous.

New Home

Wait until you make it yourself.

igCorcaigh

Funnily enough, I prefer dried and wholemeal.
I find fresh pasta too sloppy

New Home

:eek: You do know that you only have to cook it for 2-3 mins, max?

igCorcaigh

New Home wrote: »

:eek: You do know that you only have to cook it for 2-3 mins, max?

Oh yes, I learned that!
Still prefer the al dente bite of dried.

beertons

New Home wrote: »

:eek: You do know that you only have to cook it for 2-3 mins, max?

Yes. Thought the packs were small, had my parents in for dinner. Stuck 3 packs in the bowl. There's leftovers till Sunday.

Home made, I ain't got the time. Too busy chopping, sipping and something else!

New Home

NOOOO!!!! :eek: You can't have fresh pasta leftovers, of course it'd be gross!!! You can't keep it for salads or anything like that!!
IIRC, dry pasta is made with durum wheat, while "fresh" egg based pasta is made with a different variety of wheat, and wouldn't keep its texture when cooked as well as its relative. For future reference, a portion of dry pasta is 80 grams per person (before cooking), whereas for the fresh pasta you can go as high as 100 grams. Also, for the love of all that is holy, add salt to the water you're using to cook it, as much as you would in a soup. It makes a huge, huge difference.

beertons

Ooopsie

New Home

Now, the exception to that would be if you use it to make lasagna, but it's so time consuming and labour intensive that unless you're very motivated and you're making enouogh of it for 12 people in a large roasting tin, it'd put you off lasagna for life. However, if you do have leftovers, those would be gorgeous.

Dial Hard

It's not just a blanket case of fresh = better. Some sauces are better suited to fresh, some to dried. Generally, creamy/cheesy/buttery sauces should be served with fresh pasta whereas tomato-ey/meaty/spicey/oily ones are better with dried.

RacoonQueen

I've been super busy (and lazy) and haven't done my cake or puddings yet (give them to mam as gifts). I kinda feel like its a bit late to make cake...but I'm pretty sure I've made it later around end of November before.
Last year I was on the ball with all of this, always start thinking of it in August but keep putting it off.

Faith

We’ve lived very happily without a microwave for the past 5 years or so. Have barely ever missed it and can’t even remember what we used it for. Mr Faith woke up this morning and decided that he wants to start eating porridge in the morning and he thinks we should get a microwave so he can make it quickly and easily. Looking at prices, they’re expensive enough and I can’t shake the idea that another appliance would be more useful and cheaper (eg a slow cooker perhaps).

Do you use your microwave a lot? How do you make porridge? I’d just make it on the stove but he seems to think that’s too time consuming and messy :rolleyes:

Gloomtastic!

Faith wrote: »

We’ve lived very happily without a microwave for the past 5 years or so. Have barely ever missed it and can’t even remember what we used it for. Mr Faith woke up this morning and decided that he wants to start eating porridge in the morning and he thinks we should get a microwave so he can make it quickly and easily. Looking at prices, they’re expensive enough and I can’t shake the idea that another appliance would be more useful and cheaper (eg a slow cooker perhaps).

Do you use your microwave a lot? How do you make porridge? I’d just make it on the stove but he seems to think that’s too time consuming and messy :rolleyes:

Thought our microwave died the other day and panicked about how I’d do porridge and scrambled eggs without having to watch over them constantly. We cook most of our veg in there too. Baked beans, soup, spaghetti hoops or reheating leftovers for the kids’ lunch. Reheating that cup of tea you left on the table.

Luckily it’s back working again but I would have replaced it immediately.