The General Chat Thread

MissFlitworth

Don't let the custard beat you! You have to be the custard alpha, show it who's boss.

It is a little brat of a food

Tabitharose

quick question, first time making christmas puddings, how full do you fill the pudding bowls? I'm getting conflicting information when I google, and the recipe I'm following doesn't seem to say - am very confused

Dizzyblonde

Tabitharose wrote: »

quick question, first time making christmas puddings, how full do you fill the pudding bowls? I'm getting conflicting information when I google, and the recipe I'm following doesn't seem to say - am very confused

Planet X has theirs made according to their thread in the Cakes & Bakes forum, that might be the place to ask.

Merkin

Mum normally fills them up about three quarters of the way......nyummmmm, Christmas pud!!

Loire

Hi all,

Came across this and thought I'd share it - some nice recipes and the whole lot is on a pdf

http://www.bordbia.ie/aboutfood/QualityKitchen/Documents/BloomCookbook2013.pdf

Loire.

Merkin

Wow! Thanks so much, I love the look of the hake recipe!

Have about 400g of good pork left over,any nice curry recipes or anything else I can do for our supper tomorrow?

The Sweeper

My Christmas puds barely rise at all, so I fill the bowl to one inch shy of the top, and when they're cooked they come to about 1/4 inch shy of the top. If there's a raising agent in your recipe you'll need to account for that.

For custard, my main tip is simply never turn up your cooker ring. Most of the time when you make home-made custard, it goes wrong because you end up with scrambled egg. I make ice-cream and most of the recipes start with a custard base and I was having the same problem all the time. I have good steel pans with copper sandwich bases, so they take a little while to heat up and then they hold the heat really well. I was turning up the heat and then turning it down to midway, and every time I'd end up with custard that was turning to scrambled egg on the bottom of the pan.

I figured out the solution was to never turn up the heat. Turn it to 1/4 to 1/2 its power, let the custard steam like heating milk but never so it's about to break into a simmer, and take it off the heat when it coats the back of the spoon.

leahyl

Made an apple streusel cake (from Hummingbird Cake Days book) last night - mmmm really nice - nice soft sponge with a layer of apples and crumble on top

Faith

I went into the English market today and bought a RAKE of meat . I'd have bought way more, only I ran out of cash and I'm never sure where takes cards.

I got lamb mince and beef mince in Ashley O' Neill's (€2.50/lb each), beef brisket for roasting in Best Meats (€5.20 for slightly over 1kg), pork shoulder (boned and skinned, but pricey enough at €14 for 2.5 kg), sliced spiced beef from Tom Durcan (€3.20 for a few slices - much cheaper to buy a chunk, but it's a bit early in the year yet for that) and fish pie mix that were way too overpriced IMO (nearly €8 for 550g). I'm delighted with myself anyway

Now, two questions:

The beef and lamb mince were just put in bags and not marked. I can't really tell by smell or appearance which is which, but one is a thicker mince and the other is quite a thin mince. I think the thicker mince is lamb, but has anyone got a way of telling easily?

Also, the OH's dad gave us the leftover roast beef. We've had sandwiches and kroketten with it, but there's still a pile left. Is there anything relatively easy that I could do with it for dinner?

Mrs Fox

Really envy you, Faith, and the rest of you living in Cork. Great quality, fresh food at your doorstep.

You should be able to distinguish the smell of beef and lamb mince, the latter being slightly, well, sheepier

With leftover roast beef, why don't you make cornish pasty or something along that line? Stir fry noodles is another option

Faith

There was no smell off either of them! Or at least none that I could detect in a couple of seconds. And yeah, the English Market is outstanding. It's the thing I miss most about Cork when I'm living elsewhere .

I'm not a fan of Cornish pasties at all (I seem to be able to make everything except pastry) and the beef is already on the well done side, so it might be too dry for a stir fry. It might just be easiest to pour some gravy over it and have it with spuds!

Mrs Fox

Faith wrote: »

There was no smell off either of them! Or at least none that I could detect in a couple of seconds.

Maybe just take a pinch of each and fry them in a pan for a taste test

Loire

Faith wrote: »

I went into the English market today....and fish pie mix that were way too overpriced IMO (nearly €8 for 550g).

Hi Faith,

I've noticed that too. For so-called off-cuts of fish they are surprisingly expensive - usually 12.99kg

The market's great though, we go most Sat morning's

Loire.

Faith

Mrs Fox wrote: »

Maybe just take a pinch of each and fry them in a pan for a taste test

Will do!

Loire wrote: »

Hi Faith,

I've noticed that too. For so-called off-cuts of fish they are surprisingly expensive - usually 12.99kg

The market's great though, we go most Sat morning's

Loire.

Yeah, they had no sign indicating price. The guy weighed the fish and said "Five fifty?" and I said "grand!". Turns out he was talking about weight and not price though . In future, I wouldn't bother buying off cuts there. They're either going into a fish pie or a chowder so I don't think it's worth paying premium prices when the fish isn't a star player, like it would be if you were serving a fillet.

Malari

Ooh, I like this thread

Faith, which fishmonger did you get your fish from? I usually get mine from The Good Fish Shop in Douglas but I got some from Ballycotton in the market at the weekend. It was something I don't normally buy so not sure if it was expensive or not, but that does sound like a lot for fish pie mix :-/

hardCopy

I have discovered that our new fridge defies the laws of time. Our old one was never right and milk wouldn't last to the use by date. I took a carton of 5-days-past-it's-best milk out of the new fridge to make soda bread only to find it was still perfectly fresh. I've left it in the hot press overnight to sour so hopefully I can make some fresh bread tonight.

the beer revolu

I've given up buying fish in The English market. I always refused to shop at O'Connell's because I find them so annoying with their heckling so I generally bought fish from The Ballycotton stall. However, my last purchase from there is the last purchase I'll make from there - stinking monkfish at premium price! Pity because they are very nice folk there.

I now buy fish from Good's in Carrigaline or Douglas or from the fish shop behind the church in Blackpool - none of them have offended my nose yet!

Faith

Malari wrote: »

Ooh, I like this thread

Faith, which fishmonger did you get your fish from? I usually get mine from The Good Fish Shop in Douglas but I got some from Ballycotton in the market at the weekend. It was something I don't normally buy so not sure if it was expensive or not, but that does sound like a lot for fish pie mix :-/

K.C. O' Connell's. I remember noting on my blog not to buy fish mix there again, but I forgot in the shopping frenzy this morning.

I might try the Good Fish Shop next time. I was admiring their stuff recently so I'll pop back for a look soon.

Malari

I bought some stuff in the GFS today and their fish mix is €10.95/kg. The stuff you bought must have been €14.50/kg. It's hard to know unless you buy that sort of stuff regularly, and I buy lots of different fish and meat all the time so I never really know if I'm getting a good price.

leahyl

Faith wrote: »

K.C. O' Connell's. I remember noting on my blog not to buy fish mix there again, but I forgot in the shopping frenzy this morning.

I might try the Good Fish Shop next time. I was admiring their stuff recently so I'll pop back for a look soon.

The place across from O' Connells has great fish - I think it's the Ballycotton Seafood stall? Lovely fish; I find O' Connells intimidating for some reason!

Merkin

hardCopy wrote: »

I have discovered that our new fridge defies the laws of time. Our old one was never right and milk wouldn't last to the use by date. I took a carton of 5-days-past-it's-best milk out of the new fridge to make soda bread only to find it was still perfectly fresh. I've left it in the hot press overnight to sour so hopefully I can make some fresh bread tonight.

That's mad, can you use sour milk to make bread? I live in the UK and buttermilk can be hard to come by although I always have a supply in as I enjoy making soda bread. I've heard somewhere a little bit of lemon juice in ordinary milk works too, is that correct?

hardCopy

Merkin wrote: »

That's mad, can you use sour milk to make bread? I live in the UK and buttermilk can be hard to come by although I always have a supply in as I enjoy making soda bread. I've heard somewhere a little bit of lemon juice in ordinary milk works too, is that correct?

I'm led to believe so. I ended up adding some live yoghurt to it to give it a kick start, I know you can definitely use live yoghurt.

I'll post my findings in the morning.

Merkin

Great, please do!

Minder

Merkin wrote: »

That's mad, can you use sour milk to make bread? I live in the UK and buttermilk can be hard to come by although I always have a supply in as I enjoy making soda bread. I've heard somewhere a little bit of lemon juice in ordinary milk works too, is that correct?

Don't Tesco do buttermilk in half pints pots?

Merkin

They do Minder although it's one of the few places that do!

Faith

Waitrose do too, or at least my local branch did. Conversely, I could never find it in Tesco.

confusticated

Merkin I use lemon juice in milk instead of buttermilk all the time, never have buttermilk when I need it. Works fine.

MurdyWurdy

I always use lemon juice in milk instead of buttermilk as well

I'm making an ale and chocolate cake for a friend tomorrow. The icing needs malt extract - is that going to be hard for me to get or will Tesco have it? Can it be substituted if I can't find it? (I'm thinking Horlicks made into a paste!)

Faith

Horlicks is malt extract, I think. Well, malt extract and milk powder, but I've always used it in recipes that call for malt.

MissFlitworth

Health Food shops tend to have jars of malt extract

http://m.hollandandbarrett.com/pages/product_detail.asp?pid=2963

I use Horlicks too when it's called for in a recipe