General Chat Thread II

the beer revolu

I use a veg peeler to take off the zest, then I juice.
Freeze both separately .

woodchuck

Great, thanks all! I think the freezer is the way to go

tangy

Preserved lemons.
I don't think you've got enough, because you need lemon juice as well as the lemons you're preserving. Recipes all over the web, but basically quarter the lemons from pole to pole, but don't quite go all the way through, then pack them in salt and top up with juice.

First hit:
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/preserved-lemons

igCorcaigh

If I were to make a beef and broccoli stir fry, what cut of beef / steak should I use?

The precut beef strips from the supermarket don't seem to be very good.

(TIA)

tickingclock

igCorcaigh wrote: »

If I were to make a beef and broccoli stir fry, what cut of beef / steak should I use?

The precut beef strips from the supermarket don't seem to be very good.

(TIA)

I always just use a chopped up steak that I cut myself at home. I've never found the pre cut supermarket packs are tender enough

Dizzyblonde

igCorcaigh wrote: »

If I were to make a beef and broccoli stir fry, what cut of beef / steak should I use?

The precut beef strips from the supermarket don't seem to be very good.

(TIA)

I use sirloin from Aldi, it's lovely in a stir fry.

sammyjo90

ReahKelly wrote: »

Hi,

I am new to this forum. Please suggest to me what things should I care about while posting to the threads?

Thanks

Welcome!
Main one is no food safety questions or advice. Noone wants to be made ill or make someone ill by spreading misinformation.
And be nice

Gloomtastic!

ReahKelly wrote: »

Hi,

I am new to this forum. Please suggest to me what things should I care about while posting to the threads?

Thanks

Anything food related is welcome here. Something you’ve eaten/cooked/bought. Just treat other posters how you would like to be treated and you’ll be grand.

BaZmO*

igCorcaigh wrote: »

If I were to make a beef and broccoli stir fry, what cut of beef / steak should I use?

The precut beef strips from the supermarket don't seem to be very good.

(TIA)

I use Sirloin or Fillet. The best tip I got for doing a stir fry is to flash fry* the meat first and then put it aside. Do all your veg, noodles, sauce, etc. and then add the meat and juices back into the pan. Super tender and delicious meat every time.

For extra flavour, marinate the strips of beef in a mixture of soy sauce, sliced garlic, and a little oil. Doesn't need to be for long. The time it takes to prep the veg is enough.

*Doesn't need to be cooked right through, just coloured on the outside. The resting and putting it back in the pan will cook it fully.

Lady Haywire

I use ribeye, same as above. Hot pan, cook rare, set aside to rest, while it's doing that cook veggies etc, then slice steak & toss through enough to get it hot again.

the beer revolu

BaZmO* wrote: »

I use Sirloin or Fillet. The best tip I got for doing a stir fry is to flash fry the meat first and then put it aside. Do all your veg, noodles, sauce, etc. and then add the meat and juices back into the pan. Super tender and delicious meat every time.

For extra flavour, marinate the strips of beef in a mixture of soy sauce, sliced garlic, and a little oil. Doesn't need to be for long. The time it takes to prep the veg is enough.

Another trick is to sear the steak on a very hot pan and then slice it. You get a better char than you can when it's sliced.
Add the seared, sliced meat at the end.

Edit : just as lady haywire said.

BaZmO*

Lady Haywire wrote: »

I use ribeye, same as above. Hot pan, cook rare, set aside to rest, while it's doing that cook veggies etc, then slice steak & toss through enough to get it hot again.

Yeah ribeye is good too. But it's my favourite cut so I prefer just having it as a steak.

Lady Haywire

BaZmO* wrote: »

Yeah ribeye is good too. But it's my favourite cut so I prefer just having it as a steak.

My favourite too! Just find that it is usually that bit more marbled so I have a more tender bit of meat in a stir fry:D

L1011

Partner has ordered >100 quid of random meat from Whelans for me as a birthday present / challenge delivery almost. Pork shoulder, various steak cuts, beef shin, all the stuff a local butchers stopped doing when they went to selling stuff in pre-made trays basically

Muahahaha

tickingclock wrote: »

I always just use a chopped up steak that I cut myself at home. I've never found the pre cut supermarket packs are tender enough

Rather than going to the expense of using rib eye in a stir fry try this the next time with a supermarket beef stir fry pack. Put one tablespoon of cornflour in a cup and mix it with the same amount of water to form a slurry. Then pour the slurry over the the beef strips in a bowl and leave in the fridge for at least an hour, the longer the better. You can also add soy sauce to the mixture if you want to marinate in that too. With time the cornflour slurry will tenderise the beef to the point you'll think it is a more expensive cut.

The technique is called velveting and it is used commonly in Chinese cooking to make tougher cuts of meat more tender before cooking. It works a treat, anytime I do it with chicken thighs you would honestly think it is chicken breast you're eating such is the tenderness. Its a great way of getting the flavour of chicken thighs but also the tenderness of the breast.

Alun

Velveting works by forming a protective layer on the meat that prevents moisture escaping when frying it. It doesn't tenderise the meat in and of itself like some plant enzymes such as papaya. It's more that it prevents the meat from becoming tough than actually tenderising it.

igCorcaigh

Very interesting. Do you wash off the cornflour mix prior to cooking, or does that get cooked too?

Mystery Egg

I'd like to learn how to velvet too. Anyone who does it frequently I'd love to hear your methods.

Lady Haywire

I've done it before in the past but used pineapple juice instead of water, to actually tenderise the meat.
Left it in the slurry mix for a couple of hours, then poached in small batches in simmering water, added afterwards to whatever I was cooking at the time. It obviously didn't make much of an impression on me if I can't recall what I used it in! :pac:
It definitely did make the beef (I never did chicken) more tender, just a lot of faffing.

rubadub

igCorcaigh wrote: »

If I were to make a beef and broccoli stir fry, what cut of beef / steak should I use?

I am going to be trying out a method Chinese takeaways are meant to use on cheap cuts.

I think they get a cut like topside. If you half freeze it then it enables you to slice it really thinly, which is what I usually get in takeaways, rather than "batons".

Then they put it in a baking soda solution for 15mins-3 hours or so. This is meant to react with proteins and tenderise them. Then you rinse it off.

I did this once and there was a baking soda taste left. I thought you could neutralise this and saw on other sites they do just that, using vinegar. This time I have done that but I used citric acid. Even though I had rinsed the baking soda off really well I could see bubbles forming as the citric acid neutralised the remaining baking soda. This was left for 30mins and then rinsed off again. I then put soy sauce, MSG, sesame oil and potato starch on it and have frozen it. The freezing is said to further tenderise it as the cells expand, like why they recommend not freezing mushrooms as the cells rupture.

The baking soda only penetrates close to the very surface, and that is why you want wafer thin slices. Mine were not as thin as I would like as I did not bother semi freezing it first.

I have no idea what cut it was, it was some thin "sandwich" steaks in tesco being sold off near their use by!
https://www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=303804945

odyssey06

Now I've seen it all... Afternoon Tea from the Merrion, available for collection or Dublin delivery!

https://www.thetaste.ie/product/merrion-love-tea-2021/?goal=0_4ef45a18c7-9a1199e5c7-188822433&mc_cid=9a1199e5c7&mc_eid=cb39237d91

miamee

It might well be delicious but I don't think I'd pay €70 to eat cakes on my couch!

Muahahaha

miamee wrote: »

It might well be delicious but I don't think I'd pay €70 to eat cakes on my couch!

Yeah big time, unless of course your house has the opulence of a 5 star hotel!

Its great that hotels and restaurants are adapting to doing deliveries but not so great that the prices seem to be more or less the same as eating in. Theres a fair difference between paying 25 euro for a main in a restaurant where you are being waited upon over paying the same for it to arrive in a foil takeaway tray.

BaZmO*

Nice idea but the price is a bit steep. But it's like the old saying goes, if you're asking about the price, the product probably isn't for you!

Dizzyblonde

I love afternoon tea, but it's about the whole experience. There's no way I'd pay full price for a takeaway.

Gloomtastic!

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

I love afternoon tea, but it's about the whole experience. There's no way I'd pay full price for a takeaway.

But we do all the time. I hate the internet service charge you get with some online takeaways! :mad:

Dizzyblonde

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

But we do all the time. I hate the internet service charge you get with some online takeaways! :mad:

I know, but afternoon tea is so special. It's all about the ambience and the luxury.
My daughters, sister in law, niece and myself have a pre Christmas afternoon tea tradition rather than going for dinner.

Afternoon tea is not suited to a takeaway.

rubadub

odyssey06 wrote: »

Now I've seen it all... Afternoon Tea from the Merrion,

They are one of the places that do a "gentlemen's afternoon tea" which sounds way better to me.

(edit: sorry, got morrison/merrion mixed up as pointed out in the post below,)




https://www.morrisonhotel.ie/afternoon-tea/gentlemens-tea

miamee

That's the Morrison not the Merrion but it sounds delish

L1011

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

But we do all the time. I hate the internet service charge you get with some online takeaways! :mad:

Usually there to try offset the massive commission platforms like justeat charge.