The General Chat Thread

Neyite · 07-07-2014 11:28AM

Faith wrote: »

My mother is the worst cook in the world. It's come to a point where I dread the thought of eating a meal that she has prepared. She has no concept of flavours, textures or when to leave well enough alone. Nor can she remember that she's the only person in our family who likes extremely sharp, sour food and so every summer, there's weeks of a struggle where she tries to force us to eat gooseberries, and then gets upset when no one will eat them and she claims we never told her that we don't like them.

What do you do in situations like that? I try and take control of meals as much as possible when we're with my parents, but it's not always possible. And it's worse she's getting too!

I'm 39. I stopped drinking milk at about age 3. Every time I have a chinese takeaway the mother offers me milk. Every time I reply that I dont like milk and will have water instead. Every time she responds with a big surprised look and exclaims her surprise and asks when I stopped drinking milk. Every.sodding.time.

On the leaving things alone. There is a whole thread on mumsnet which began as a woman's husband, the minute her back was turned, stirred the dinner on the stove and adjusted the flavouring. They coined the phrase 'Spoony****er' for the type of person who is incapable of refraining from interfering with flavourings, temperatures, and textures when you are trying to cook. My mother is also a Spoony****er.

Loire wrote: »

Hadn't been to the butchers in weeks as had different people staying with us. Went in on Sat and spent a fortune! Spent the whole afternoon in the kitchen. Made about 60 chicken nuggets and 40 lamb burgers for the kids. Made 12 portions of pasta sauce. Made 2kg of lamb tagine and made a bucket load of meat balls. Absolutely wrecked after it but it was fantastic - left alone in the kitchen with Spotify

mmm... must do a lamb tagine in the slow cooker this week. Did the spag bol/lasange and cottage pie ones a couple of weeks ago.

Dolbert · 07-07-2014 11:55AM

Neyite wrote: »

On the leaving things alone. There is a whole thread on mumsnet which began as a woman's husband, the minute her back was turned, stirred the dinner on the stove and adjusted the flavouring. They coined the phrase 'Spoony****er' for the type of person who is incapable of refraining from interfering with flavourings, temperatures, and textures when you are trying to cook. My mother is also a Spoony****er.

My dad does this. His past culinary adventures include hijacking a bolognese to instead make sweet n sour mince, and adding (lots of) sugar to the shepherd's pie mix

IvyTheTerrible · 07-07-2014 12:04PM

Oh God if anyone touched my cooking without asking, there would be wigs on the green!
I don't even really like other people being in the kitchen when I'm cooking.

Dizzyblonde · 07-07-2014 12:35PM

I'm the mother who can't resist a stir - but I'd never, ever add anything. I bite my tongue quite a bit though...

Don't judge - you might find yourselves doing it one day

javagal · 07-07-2014 12:39PM

Hey guys any ideas of a few nice dishes i can make a few hours in advance and keep warm in my food warmer thing(can't think of the name of it lol). It's my daughters birthday and my husband ruins bbq food by burning it so I'd rather make a few things that I know people will enjoy

Neyite · 07-07-2014 12:54PM

javagal wrote: »

Hey guys any ideas of a few nice dishes i can make a few hours in advance and keep warm in my food warmer thing(can't think of the name of it lol). It's my daughters birthday and my husband ruins bbq food by burning it so I'd rather make a few things that I know people will enjoy

Pulled pork? There is a recipe here somewhere for it. Amazing and still in keeping with the BBQ theme.

confusticated · 07-07-2014 09:11PM

Oh god Dolbert, trying to imagine a sweet shepherd's pie....guh. Yuck.

Hermione* · 07-07-2014 10:21PM

Bobblehead Panda wrote: »

Finally went to San Lorenzos yesterday for brunch. Really good. Massive portions for very very reasonable prices and it's seriously tasty. I had ham hock potato cakes with home fries. Carbelicious. And then because we were close by we went to Cocoa Atelier for chocolate eclairs (nom) and ridiculously overpriced macarons. They were good though, very good. Still don't think they're worth the effort of making your own though.

It's my current favourite brunch in Dublin

It's so good. I nearly fell into a food coma after eating there one day! Cocktails are fab, too.

sillymoo · 08-07-2014 10:34AM

ComputerKing wrote: »

What was wrong with them they are very easy to troubleshoot?

Sorry only seeing this. Was working last night and only thinking of my macarons again now. The shells were flat and some burnt on the bottom. I think I know where I made my mistakes and might try them again today after a little nap. The shells are quite tasty at this hour of the morning though! Could also be sightly delirious....

TeletextPear · 08-07-2014 06:40PM

Bad: when someone describes their own cooking as 'scrumptious' when posting a picture of it online.
Worse: when you've had the 'pleasure' of being cooked for by said person and you know scrumptious is the last word imaginable to describe the abominations they create when let loose with a cooker.

Gloomtastic! · 08-07-2014 07:19PM

TeletextPear wrote: »

Bad: when someone describes their own cooking as 'scrumptious' when posting a picture of it online.

Guilty!

Merkin · 08-07-2014 07:54PM

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Guilty!

Me too. That or 'delish'

ComputerKing · 08-07-2014 08:25PM

sillymoo wrote: »

Sorry only seeing this. Was working last night and only thinking of my macarons again now. The shells were flat and some burnt on the bottom. I think I know where I made my mistakes and might try them again today after a little nap. The shells are quite tasty at this hour of the morning though! Could also be sightly delirious....

What colour baking tray are you using using a dark coloured tray can cause burned or over cooked bottoms. Flat shells on the other hand were most likely cause by overmixing.

Loire · 09-07-2014 08:11AM

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Guilty!

Me too. (Don't think I'd post it otherwise

:P)

Loire · 10-07-2014 01:41PM

Last night I made Sausage and Bean One-Pot. It was awful!!! Said to Mrs. Loire afterwards "It would be OK for " I was just about to add "breakfast" when she got in there before me with "Alcatraz" :eek::pac:. Still, the cloud had a silver lining as we hadn't been to the chipper for ages

The Hill Billy · 10-07-2014 08:53PM

PMSL!

StripedBoxers · 11-07-2014 12:21AM

Fcuking supermarkets and their dodgy meat!!!!! :mad:

Never again will I touch meat from them, not even with a 20ft pole!!!

Food poisoning is what I get for scrimping on the shopping!!! :mad: :mad:

Merkin · 11-07-2014 11:44AM

The has happened you a few times now with off meat! Are you buying it near its expiry date or maybe freezing it a bit late in the day? I think you've mentioned this a few times now. In any event, I think buying from your butcher is the only way to go really!

Alun · 11-07-2014 11:46AM

TBH I've had more instances of gone-off meat from butchers than I ever have had from supermarkets.

BaZmO* · 11-07-2014 11:49AM

Alun wrote: »

TBH I've had more instances of gone-off meat from butchers than I ever have had from supermarkets.

Yeah, I don't think butchers are the white knight panacea for all the ills in the meat buying world.

Personally I'd never leave meat in the fridge for more than a couple of days. If I know I'm not going to be cooking it within a couple of days I'll freeze it.

the beer revolu · 11-07-2014 11:54AM

StripedBoxers wrote: »

Fcuking supermarkets and their dodgy meat!!!!! :mad:

Never again will I touch meat from them, not even with a 20ft pole!!!

Food poisoning is what I get for scrimping on the shopping!!! :mad: :mad:

I'd be curious to know more about this.

Gone off meat (such that would make you sick) stinks - there is no mistaking it - you just wouldn't eat it.

Merkin · 11-07-2014 12:13PM

Alun wrote: »

TBH I've had more instances of gone-off meat from butchers than I ever have had from supermarkets.

Depends on your butcher!

Merkin · 11-07-2014 12:15PM

the beer revolu wrote: »

I'd be curious to know more about this.

Gone off meat (such that would make you sick) stinks - there is no mistaking it - you just wouldn't eat it.

I think this is true of some meats but I think with pork and such like it can be a little harder to tell no?

StripedBoxers · 11-07-2014 01:37PM

Merkin wrote: »

The has happened you a few times now with off meat! Are you buying it near its expiry date or maybe freezing it a bit late in the day? I think you've mentioned this a few times now. In any event, I think buying from your butcher is the only way to go really!

Think this is the third or fourth time this happened, I'm starting to lose count of how many times now tbh!

The chops had an expiry date of July 18th or something near that date anyway, which is a week away. They were bought on Wednesday afternoon, two were cooked Wednesday evening and the last two were cooked yesterday.

They smelled and looked fine, it was only when I was eating the second one it tasted off, so I stopped eating it. Within a few hours I was sick.

No one else ate the chops, only me, and all the other food I ate, everyone else ate too, the chops were the only thing different which is why I am 100% sure they were the cause.

Thinking back now, the chops didn't look as pink as they did when I first bought them, they weren't black or discoloured, just not as pink as they probably should have been, but I didn't think anything of it at the time.

My fridge isn't the issue as we had/have other meats and stuff in there and they are absolutely perfect, not a thing wrong with them.

wonski · 11-07-2014 01:38PM

The meat itself isn't a problem, it is the quality of the refrigerators in the supermarkets and a stock rotation that cause the issue in most cases.

The products are being abused by the customers, too - especially now when we have high temperatures.

I have worked, and still do in food industry and can assure you that meat products are fresh and delivered daily to most - if not all - supermarkets.

The supermarket meat packaging provides a better shelf life for the product than any local butcher can.

I always freeze the meat if I know I am not going to use it in a day or two, and agree with the poster above that you can see and smell when the meat is gone off and unsafe.

wonski · 11-07-2014 01:41PM

StripedBoxers wrote: »

Think this is the third or fourth time this happened, I'm starting to lose count of how many times now tbh!

The chops had an expiry date of July 18th or something near that date anyway, which is a week away. They were bought on Wednesday afternoon, two were cooked Wednesday evening and the last two were cooked yesterday.

They smelled and looked fine, it was only when I was eating the second one it tasted off, so I stopped eating it. Within a few hours I was sick.

No one else ate the chops, only me, and all the other food I ate, everyone else ate too, the chops were the only thing different which is why I am 100% sure they were the cause.

Thinking back now, the chops didn't look as pink as they did when I first bought them, they weren't black or discoloured, just not as pink as they probably should have been, but I didn't think anything of it at the time.

My fridge isn't the issue as we had/have other meats and stuff in there and they are absolutely perfect, not a thing wrong with them.

If you opened them, they might go off before the expiry date - put the rest in the freezer next time. You might want to contact the customer service and let them know about it - the supplier might be at fault as it was way to early for the meat to go off.

Dolbert · 11-07-2014 01:44PM

Since this is happening to you so often, could your fridge at home be faulty?

Alun · 11-07-2014 02:11PM

Dolbert wrote: »

Since this is happening to you so often, could your fridge at home be faulty?

I went through a similar phase once too and invested in a fridge thermometer.

Turned out I did have it set quite a bit on the high side (5.5 degrees) , but what was more astonishing was the difference in temperature between the top and the bottom of the fridge. Now, f I have it set to around 4 degrees at the bottom it can be 9 degrees or more at the top which is way too warm for meat :eek: Now it is an ancient fridge without any fancy features to circulate the cold air like modern ones do, but it does make you think.

I now make sure to only put meat on the bottom shelf, and only beer/wine on the top one.

StripedBoxers · 11-07-2014 02:13PM

wonski wrote: »

The meat itself isn't a problem, it is the quality of the refrigerators in the supermarkets and a stock rotation that cause the issue in most cases.

The products are being abused by the customers, too - especially now when we have high temperatures.

In my local supermarket where I bought the chops, the fridge wasn't very cold, I mean, they're never very cold anyway, and the fridge is the one that doesn't have the doors on it, they are the open fridges, so I wonder is it the temperature of the fridge maybe?

I've noticed too that sometimes the staff will take meat off the shelves and from the checkouts and put it back in the fridges, I've only noticed it a few times, but I wonder if its possible that's what's happened with these chops - maybe they were beside a checkout or on a shelf and were put back into a fridge?

wonski wrote: »

I always freeze the meat if I know I am not going to use it in a day or two, and agree with the poster above that you can see and smell when the meat is gone off and unsafe.

I do this too, however, I had planned and did use the chops on the day of purchase and then again the following day, so within 24hrs the chops were used.

Dolbert wrote: »

Since this is happening to you so often, could your fridge at home be faulty?

I am sure it is definitely not my fridge, see this from my post above.

All our meat is kept in the bottom part of the fridge, never anywhere else as its the coldest part of our fridge.

StripedBoxers wrote: »

My fridge isn't the issue as we had/have other meats and stuff in there and they are absolutely perfect, not a thing wrong with them.

I wonder if it is worth saying anything to the manager of the meat section in case it is the supplier at fault or the fridge temperatures need to be changed?

rubadub · 11-07-2014 02:23PM

A thermometer will be testing air temp in that region, you have to be quick when reading it and not let incoming air change readings. A slowed down test of how cold it actually brings things to would be having identical jars/bottles all full of water at the same temp and stick then in the fridge, then take them out a day later and compare temps with the same thermometer, measuring the same way in each.

Or you can just physically feel them, if I have a fridge full of beer cans I can notice by touch that some are much colder than others depending on what area they are in. An aluminium can will readily transfer heat so it is quite easy to tell the difference.

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