The General Chat Thread

Animord · 04-04-2014 04:51PM

fiddlechic wrote: »

I have some salmon darnes in the fridge with lots of veg - mushrooms, sugar snaps, ginger chilli, broccolli.
The veg won't last the weekend
I was thinking of stir frying it, but I've never stir fried salmon in the wok - presume just chop up and careful not to overcook?
Or any other wiser suggestions?

Chopping it up doesn't really work in my experience, I would either bake or steam it and then when it is cooked flake it into the stirfry at the last minute, otherwise you get a fish-mush...

Animord · 04-04-2014 04:57PM

Jezek wrote: »

Maybe not.

It is overall a great place with lovely food, and the people who own and run it are good people.

However, they are disproportionately proud of their food, and just responded with 'we stand by our dish' and 'perhaps you are not familiar with the unusual ingredient' and 'everyone else enjoyed this dish, you were our only complaint about this dish'. Funnily, the ingredient is something of a delicacy in my home country, and I have had it hundreds of times - while in Ireland it would be highly unusual. This is why I think there were not more complaints.

In any case, I am sure that if you happen to be there you'll be fine, even if I couldn't recommend it !

Such a stupid attitude, theirs not yours obviously - if they had been less defensive and asked you for your view/advice, they'd have had an unpaid ambassador singing their praises instead of a disgruntled customer. Daft thing to do.

fiddlechic · 04-04-2014 05:02PM

Animord wrote: »

Chopping it up doesn't really work in my experience, I would either bake or steam it and then when it is cooked flake it into the stirfry at the last minute, otherwise you get a fish-mush...

That was what I was worried about! So I'm going to bake it dressed in some soy, honey and teriyaki (if I can find it in the press!). And serve with a veg stir fry.

Animord · 04-04-2014 05:05PM

fiddlechic wrote: »

That was what I was worried about! So I'm going to bake it dressed in some soy, honey and teriyaki (if I can find it in the press!). And serve with a veg stir fry.

Sounds yum! Can I come over?:pac:

The Hill Billy · 04-04-2014 05:19PM

fitzcoff wrote: »

It just shows that more people should complain directly, great to see that they actually listened to the customer, more places should do the same

I agree wholeheartedly. I've just had a similar result in that me & quite a few other Aer Lingus passengers on the Zürich-Dublin route complained bitterly about the loss of our lounge access.

"How is this related to Food & Drink?" I hear you say. Well... Aer Lingus backed down & we now have access to the lounge again & that means free gummy bears & G&Ts!!!

Animord · 04-04-2014 05:32PM

This is nothing to do with anything at all, but I just wanted to share.

1. I had something called a Pulled Pork wrap today at Costa Coffee and it was DISGUSTING.

2. I was talking to a company that provides ingredients for the food industry yesterday and we were discussing mustard. They sell something called 'deheated mustard' I asked what it was used for as I couldn't see the point of mustard without heat (!) and was told that is used as a preservative, mostly in sausages. I was kind of glad to hear it - I am so wary of preservatives - it is nice to know that something 'normal' is used.

Jezek · 04-04-2014 07:21PM

Animord wrote: »

This is nothing to do with anything at all, but I just wanted to share.

1. I had something called a Pulled Pork wrap today at Costa Coffee and it was DISGUSTING.

Doesn't surprise me in the least. What does surprise me is that people still go there by choice.

Animord · 04-04-2014 08:05PM

Jezek wrote: »

Doesn't surprise me in the least. What does surprise me is that people still go there by choice.

Well my excuse is that I had an hour to kill; I was hungry; there was nowhere else open and although the last time I ate there - at least five years ago - it was also disgusting I felt that every place should get a second chance.

Clearly I was wrong.

MissFlitworth · 04-04-2014 09:52PM

This is genuinely on the back of a beef joint I bought today

I hate to think of the shouty, raw meat in the teeth, phone call that resulted in this having to be put on the pack.

Ann Landers · 04-04-2014 10:41PM

Animord wrote: »

1. I had something called a Pulled Pork wrap today at Costa Coffee and it was DISGUSTING.

Probably just cashing in on the current vogue for pulled pork by slapping it on a label, whether the actual product resembles pulled pork or not.

Kat1170 · 05-04-2014 10:34AM

Jezek wrote: »

Maybe not.

It is overall a great place with lovely food, and the people who own and run it are good people.

However, they are disproportionately proud of their food, and just responded with 'we stand by our dish' and 'perhaps you are not familiar with the unusual ingredient' and 'everyone else enjoyed this dish, you were our only complaint about this dish'. Funnily, the ingredient is something of a delicacy in my home country, and I have had it hundreds of times - while in Ireland it would be highly unusual. This is why I think there were not more complaints.

In any case, I am sure that if you happen to be there you'll be fine, even if I couldn't recommend it !

What was the ingredient, just being nosey

MissFlitworth · 05-04-2014 10:49AM

Animord wrote: »

Well my excuse is that I had an hour to kill; I was hungry; there was nowhere else open and although the last time I ate there - at least five years ago - it was also disgusting I felt that every place should get a second chance.

Clearly I was wrong.

Costa always surprises me with how gross it is for somewhere so expensive. It's always a 'no other options' option for me, generally in a UK train station or somewhere I didn't expect myself to be spending any sort of time & I always come out feeling mugged

Ann Landers · 05-04-2014 11:15AM

MissFlitworth wrote: »

Costa always surprises me with how gross it is for somewhere so expensive. It's always a 'no other options' option for me, generally in a UK train station or somewhere I didn't expect myself to be spending any sort of time & I always come out feeling mugged

My mother had a very good cooked meal at a Costa in Heathrow a few years ago. It shows the reputation the place has when she was actually shocked that she got a nice meal in a Costa outlet!

Loire · 05-04-2014 11:53AM

Today is a great day! Dinner party tonight with 4 close friends coming. Cooking lovely stuff and the prep is underway...

Starters....Frank Hedermans smoked salmon on top of cucumber with cream cheese rolls, fresh crabmeat with carrot stick and king prawns flash fried with chilli ginger and lime juice

Amouse Bouche....poached Quails egg on a spoon with hollandaise sauce and fried lardons

Mains.....lamb shanks in red wine and homemade stock with herbs. Served on creamy mash with roasties, asparagus and green beans.

Mrs Loire is making a melody of desserts so we should be all sorted.

Jezek · 05-04-2014 12:02PM

Kat1170 wrote: »

What was the ingredient, just being nosey

quince!

05-04-2014 12:21PM

fiddlechic wrote: »

I have some salmon darnes in the fridge with lots of veg - mushrooms, sugar snaps, ginger chilli, broccolli.
The veg won't last the weekend
I was thinking of stir frying it, but I've never stir fried salmon in the wok - presume just chop up and careful not to overcook?
Or any other wiser suggestions?

Try poaching the fish in milk. Lift out carefully and remove skin and bones (if any). Place in pyrex dish. Cook all veg together. Drain and add to fish. Make white sauce using butter/marge, flour (or a padket of sauce mix) and milk from poached fish. Pour over fish and veg. Mash some boiled pototoes and put on top (like cottege pie) bake in oven for 30 mins and serve. mmmmmmmmmmmm

StripedBoxers · 05-04-2014 01:29PM

Sounds delicious Loire. What time should we call round at?

Loire wrote: »

Today is a great day! Dinner party tonight with 4 close friends coming. Cooking lovely stuff and the prep is underway...

Starters....Frank Hedermans smoked salmon on top of cucumber with cream cheese rolls, fresh crabmeat with carrot stick and king prawns flash fried with chilli ginger and lime juice

Amouse Bouche....poached Quails egg on a spoon with hollandaise sauce and fried lardons

Mains.....lamb shanks in red wine and homemade stock with herbs. Served on creamy mash with roasties, asparagus and green beans.

Mrs Loire is making a melody of desserts so we should be all sorted.

MissFlitworth · 05-04-2014 02:52PM

Photos Loire. Lots & lots of photos.

GalwayGuy2 · 06-04-2014 09:46AM

Does anybody else freeze natural yoghurt for cooking?

I always have too much (I use it for curries) and I wonder is it suitable for freezing?

Jezek · 06-04-2014 01:05PM

GalwayGuy2 wrote: »

Does anybody else freeze natural yoghurt for cooking?

I always have too much (I use it for curries) and I wonder is it suitable for freezing?

I don't know if it would freeze but why would you freeze it? It keeps for a reeeeally long time in the fridge. Growing up we ate it with almost every meal so it doesn't last long around me anyways.

Lovely Bloke · 06-04-2014 04:12PM

Just cooked a small ham (an hour in the pot after boiling) for dinner tonight.

Used the cooking water to make a tomato soup afterwards, my god, the soup is absolutely delicious.

angeldelight · 06-04-2014 06:42PM

Am I the only one who actually finds homemade pizzas a pain in the a**e?? I made them for everyone today, was thinking it'd be simple... ha! Making the dough was simple, rolling it out not too bad, toppings grand - getting the pizza onto pizza stone in the oven feckin disaster! Then the pizzas were too big for the stone so were all over the place - not worth it imo :mad:

GalwayGuy2 · 06-04-2014 06:43PM

Apparently we're meant to throw it away after three days?

Jezek · 06-04-2014 07:08PM

GalwayGuy2 wrote: »

Apparently we're meant to throw it away after three days?

HA! what's the worse that could happen? It's a food already "infected" with healthy colonies that are pretty stable so most times they will not allow any pathogens to move in!

edit:http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/nchfp/factsheets/yogurt.html

10-21 day fridge-life.

Gloomtastic! · 06-04-2014 07:38PM

angeldelight wrote: »

Am I the only one who actually finds homemade pizzas a pain in the a**e?? I made them for everyone today, was thinking it'd be simple... ha! Making the dough was simple, rolling it out not too bad, toppings grand - getting the pizza onto pizza stone in the oven feckin disaster! Then the pizzas were too big for the stone so were all over the place - not worth it imo :mad:

Get yourself a couple of pizza trays. Brush them liberally with olive oil then place the rolled out dough on them, put your toppings on and place the tray on the pizza stone for 5 minutes or so. Take it out and the base should then be hard enough to transfer to stone directly to crispen up. You might need a frying slice or pallet knife to help transfer them over.

Keep the topping to a minimum and the tomato base should be reduced to a stiff paste.

Can't beat homemade for flavour....

Dizzyblonde · 06-04-2014 10:33PM

angeldelight wrote: »

Am I the only one who actually finds homemade pizzas a pain in the a**e?? I made them for everyone today, was thinking it'd be simple... ha! Making the dough was simple, rolling it out not too bad, toppings grand - getting the pizza onto pizza stone in the oven feckin disaster! Then the pizzas were too big for the stone so were all over the place - not worth it imo :mad:

I gave up on the pizza stone. For those of us who like a crisp base, I prick the bases and pre-bake on the tins for about 4 minutes. They freeze very well after pre-baking too, so if I have a couple of them in the freezer along with a tub of pizza sauce I get to make pain-free pizzas now and then - as I did tonight

Lately I've been making the bases with half and half white and wholemeal flour and they're really nice.

Loire · 07-04-2014 08:05AM

MissFlitworth wrote: »

Photos Loire. Lots & lots of photos.

Hi,

No photos unfortunately. The night went very well but have to say we've become a little bit rusty when it comes to have friends round for dinner - an aweful lot more work that I'd anticipated. The prep took soo long. Hats off to anyone running a professional kitchen!

The start was great. Mrs Loire helped with with the presentation.....A quennelle of sliced cucumber wrapped around the smoked salmon with a criss-cross of chives. A mound of crabmeat with carrot sticks and in the middle the king prawns. They were all served cold so was able to make in advance (and keep on the ironing board in the itility room!)

The Amouse Bouche was a realy hit.

The lamb shanks were a little over-cooked but very tasty. Plenty of mash and roasties too. I ended up over-cooking the asparagus so decided to blitz with some cream and make a puree - it was divine!

Plenty vino and finished with a nice burbon.

Most important thing though was spending time with friends. Hearty laughs galore!

Loire.

tmc86 · 07-04-2014 12:45PM

Loire wrote: »

Most important thing though was spending time with friends. Hearty laughs galore!

Can't beat an evening in with friends with some great food & drink!

beertons · 07-04-2014 12:59PM

Who's ever post it was, that the tomato sauce on a pizza should be passata, crushed garlic and half a spoon of basil. Wow. Nicest ever. Can't wait to have pizza again.

iwantmydinner · 07-04-2014 06:08PM

I have rashers, mushrooms, red onions, cherry tomatoes, milk, eggs and cheese that all need using up. I've never made one, but I think that list spells fritatta - any other suggestions?

The General Chat Thread

Comments