General Chat Thread II

igCorcaigh wrote: »

You know those German garlic salami slices in LIDL, I was just watching this foodie guy video in Munich, and they make a sausage salad.

Was never sure how to use that type of sliced meat except in bread, but this looks really good.

Sliced red onions, lemon juice, sliced salami... Great idea!

I had to watch this because I've seriously never heard of a salami salad in Germany before. I was a little relieved to find it's not salami, it's just Fleischwurst

That's actually quite a typical way of serving it in summer for dinner, though you'd want very very thick slices for this.
Where I'm from, it's called "Wurst mit Musik" (sausage with music) for some unfathomable reason. You can get cheese with music, too, but I've never seen the type of cheese used for that sold here. It might scare people off, because that cheese STINKS. Seriously stinks. But tastes amazing.

Shenshen wrote: »

I had to watch this because I've seriously never heard of a salami salad in Germany before. I was a little relieved to find it's not salami, it's just Fleischwurst

That's actually quite a typical way of serving it in summer for dinner, though you'd want very very thick slices for this.
Where I'm from, it's called "Wurst mit Musik" (sausage with music) for some unfathomable reason. You can get cheese with music, too, but I've never seen the type of cheese used for that sold here. It might scare people off, because that cheese STINKS. Seriously stinks. But tastes amazing.

Where I'm from the music bit refers to flatulence due to the raw onions that you eat with that cheese!

New Home wrote: »

It's amazing the difference in texture and flavour among the various types of rice.

Love rice.
We buy Thai fragrant rice in 20 kg bags! Mrs Beer has rice for breakfast every day - we get through it.
In the cupboard, we'd also usually have:
Basmati, brown Basmati, Brown Thai, Japanese sushi rice, red cargo rice, glutinous rice and, maybe, a risotto rice.
I think there may be a pack of black glutinous rice, too, that I don't know what to do with.

They really are all very different to each other.
That's why I never understand people who say they don't like rice! There are so many!

Although back when the only rice I'd eaten was America long grain, I didn't really like rice very much, either.

Faith wrote: »

I've recently bought some Thai jasmine rice and started cooking with it. How do you cook yours?

I too have hopped on the rice train in a big way in the last year or so. We buy massive bags of Japanese sushi rice that we use whenever we want a stickier rice, and basmati for when we want 'standard' rice. I've now started serving a lot of meats that I'd historically have had potatoes with, with rice instead.

I do by absorption.

I rinse the rice a couple of times. Into a pot with 1.5 times water to rice by volume. Bring to boil. Carefully stir once to make sure it's not stuck to bottom of pot. Turn heat right down and cook covered for about 12 minutes. Lat stand for 5 or 10 minutes.

Nduja.
12 months ago, I'd never heard of it.
Now, I'm reading about it daily and seeing it everywhere.

How do products that have been around for years suddenly become the latest thing?

New Home wrote: »

Globalisation, TBR.

Yeah but it's strange, why now?
Nduja could just as easily become a thing 20 years ago .
Not really looking for an answer. I'm don't think there is a single one. Just funny how foods have their moments.

igCorcaigh wrote: »

Oh that looks great.
I have a tiny kitchen so don't want to buy a rice cooker, but this looks good.

I can buy it now on Amazon for £15, should I? Is it very big?

It is showing as £8.99 just for the rice steamer alone, maybe the £15 is with the postage included? I normally rack a couple of items up on Amazon to get free postage.

But yeah I find it great for cooking rice. Not that rice is any difficulty but I like that you just put it in the microwave, set it and forget it and the rice comes out great every time. It lets me go off and chop the garlic, ginger, chilli, etc for a stir fry without having to think about the rice. When its done you just fluff the rice up with the included paddle, put the lid back on and let the residual steam finish the rice off for a few minutes. All the water gets absorbed so it delivers fluffy rice with no sticking.

There are also electric rice cookers available for about £20-30, most households in Asia have these permanently on the countertop the same way we would with a toaster or kettle. But if you're lacking space in the kitchen then the steamer suits the bill as its easily put away in the presses. Its not that big, it fits all standard microwaves. I make 2 portions of rice in it but it could do up to 4.

If you get it make sure to keep the instructions as there is slightly different timings for cooking brown rice and cous cous over something like jasmine or basmati.

the beer revolu wrote: »

Yeah but it's strange, why now?
Nduja could just as easily become a thing 20 years ago .
Not really looking for an answer. I'm don't think there is a single one. Just funny how foods have their moments.

As dizzy said it seems to be blogger/influencer led. Wouldnt surprise me if the Global Association of Nduja Producers (GANOP :pac:) paid some influencers to promote it and then it spreads to other influencers who always want to be creating new content with shiny new things.

Theres definitely an element of different foods having their moments. I remember backpacking around Morocco in 2002 where I first came across Argan oil. Its the one where the goats climb Argan trees, eat the fruit then sh1t it out from where people collect the seeds from its faeces and they are ground into oil for cooking. I had it in Marrakesh as a dressing on a salad and while not bad it was no substitute for a good olive oil. Imagine my surprise then when several years later it started popping up being promoted by influencers as the next big thing. I believe its now pretty big in cosmetics too, have seen Argan Oil shampoo and the like in the last few years.

I remember around 2004 or so suddenly overnight every Irish menu seemed to have a side salad made of rocket leaves on it. Not sure where that one came from but a chef told to me its not even the best salad their suppliers can supply but because the name rocket sounds cool on a menu it quickly became ubiquitous.

In the opposite vein to rocket becoming popular because of a cool sounding name I saw a Channel 4 doc on how little fish British people consume. In it a food marketing manager for their equivalent of Bord Bia was talking about how British fishermen catch tons and tons of a species very similar to cod which is called pollock. But because of its name they cannot sell it for love or money to British consumers and much of it gets exported to France where they eat loads of it.And then instead they import tons of cod from Icelandic waters. Its silly really because pollock is almost identical to the over-fished cod but when people see the name pollock on a menu it puts them off. Sainsburys later tried to re-brand pollock but for some stupid reason they called it 'Colin', I kid you not

Unpopular' pollack gets new name


The stores will call pollack "Colin" - the French word for hake

A supermarket has renamed a white fish caught in UK waters with a French name, Colin, because shoppers are not buying it under its British identity.
Sainsbury's is trying to push sales of pollack as a more sustainable alternative to cod, but says shoppers are not buying it.
Some stores will now stock it in new packaging designed by Wayne Hemingway, and inspired by artist Jackson Pollock.
And it will be called "Colin" - the French word for hake.
Pollack is far more popular in France, which is one of the biggest customers for UK fish, than it is here.
Sainbury's says sales of cod increase by nearly a third during Easter weekend.
In March, cod outstripped sales of pollack by 52,904 to 3,947. But haddock was even more popular than cod, with 98,722 units sold.
Alison Austin, environment manager at Sainsbury's, says if British consumers bought more pollack it could make a big difference to cod stocks.
"There are other species to eat other than cod and haddock, which are just as tasty, and often cheaper. Many people have said they even can't tell the difference in taste between cod or pollack."

Seafish market analyst Lorna Jack is also unsure whether the name change will work.
"Less attractive names may deter consumers from purchasing fish, however, we will be interested to see if this change of name increases sales of pollack since 'Colin' is perhaps not the easiest replacement name," she said.

Sainsbury's will launch the Jackson Pollock inspired packaging in 10 stores

Despite Sainsbury's suggestion that consumers should enjoy 'Colin and chips' at home this Friday, it seems unlikely to become a chip shop staple.
The National Federation of Fish Friers (NFFF) expects cod to remain the most popular choice for its members and the public.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7984854.stm

That article is from 2009 so I think its pretty clear that 'Colin and Chips' never took off