The General Chat Thread

The Hill Billy · 20-04-2015 09:30AM

I've never been to The Ugly Duckling so don't know what their gravy is like. However, I have braised brisket in a 50/50 mix of beef stock (Oxo) & pale ale with great success.

I popped the brisket into a roasting pan in top of thin slices of onion. Added the stock, sprigs of rosemary & thyme, & a couple of cloves of lightly smashed garlic. I covered & tightly sealed with foil & roasted at 120C for 6 hours.

At the end, I flash-fried the brisket - literally for just seconds in a smoking hot pan - to get some caramelisation on the meat, & thickened the gravy in the pan with a couple of tablespoons of flour.

polydactyl · 20-04-2015 10:12AM

The Hill Billy wrote: »

I've never been to The Ugly Duckling so don't know what their gravy is like. However, I have braised brisket in a 50/50 mix of beef stock (Oxo) & pale ale with great success.

I popped the brisket into a roasting pan in top of thin slices of onion. Added the stock, sprigs of rosemary & thyme, & a couple of cloves of lightly smashed garlic. I covered & tightly sealed with foil & roasted at 120C for 6 hours.

At the end, I flash-fried the brisket - literally for just seconds in a smoking hot pan - to get some caramelisation on the meat, & thickened the gravy in the pan with a couple of tablespoons of flour.

Oh Pale Ale that sounds good! Thanks. I might give that a go so. I just know it's not just veg and stock it has a deeper flavour so maybe the ale will do that. Thanks!

Photo-Sniper · 20-04-2015 12:35PM

Rumour circulating among by friends and colleagues that Michelin were in for dinner in our place last night.

Wow. Me nerves.

hardCopy · 20-04-2015 01:34PM

Photo-Sniper wrote: »

Rumour circulating among by friends and colleagues that Michelin were in for dinner in our place last night.

Wow. Me nerves.

Good luck.

I'm surprised you missed him though

Stench Blossoms · 20-04-2015 07:18PM

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

I was boning and skinning some chicken thighs during the week, kept the bones for stock.

I spread the skins out on a baking tray, seasoned with s&p, put another baking tray on top then weighed that down with a heavy skillet. Put into a 180c oven for 45 minutes, left to cool for a few minutes then hey presto crispy chicken skins! (I've tried a few different ways of cooking these and this is the best).

Those chicken skins look unreal. I'm going to need to make them.

MissFlitworth · 21-04-2015 09:26AM

polydactyl wrote: »

So husbands birthday approaching and his request this year for dinner is " a brisket sandwich" like in the ugly duckling! So while I have a slow cooker and can get the meat any ideas what would help make the gravy as yumm as theirs??

Speaking of, they're on Grabone this week

http://www.grabone.ie/dublin/the-ugly-duckling

Not sure how they make their gravy but the guy who runs the place is really nice and would probably tell you if you asked! He ran my boyfriend through how they season their pulled pork and then gave us a 'sampler' that could have fed us both to taste it when he commented on how fab it looked.

TeletextPear · 21-04-2015 06:57PM

Folks, any cheap 'n' cheerful restaurant recommendations for Copenhagen, maybe somewhere good for lunch around the city centre? Noma may be a bit outside the budget on this trip unfortunately

fussyonion · 21-04-2015 11:04PM

I made a Madras curry using the Mild Madras Curry Powder I bought the other day.
It was bland.

It was only "kinda" spicy; not very, and I could only taste heat...no actual flavour.
Am I meant to put a tin of tomatoes in a Madras?
I usually do with Jalfrezi/Rogan Josh/Balti.

What went wrong with this curry?

I fried off some onion and garlic, then added diced chicken breast, 3 tablespoons of Madras powder, chunkily-cut peppers, tin of tomatoes, salt, pepper, pinch of sugar, coriander and some water.

The whole thing just lacked flavour.
Very disappointing

EDIT: I only bought Mild Madras Powder as they hadn't got any Hot in stock.

Lovely Bloke · 22-04-2015 08:38AM

I love Chai Tea, for those who don't know it's black tea spiced with cinnamon, cloves, ginger, black pepper and other stuff.

I'd been buying the Twinings bags, and the Tesco Special bags aren't too bad either. I also pick up speciality loose leaf whenever I see it.

I also sometimes get it direct from India, as we have offices out there and colleagues often travel out.

Anyway, from one trip I received some pretty nice normal Assam loose leaf and I decided to try my hand at spicing it myself.

Dried some ginger and orange peel in the oven on low for an hour, and pummelled a cinnamon stick, some green cardamom pods, cloves, black pepper corns and mixed them into about 120 grams of tea (the spice mix was about 30g) and left it a week, turning it every day to mix them up.

Just made my first pot of it this morning to have while I work from home. It's delish!

Best Chai I ever had. I'm delighted with it.

Loire · 22-04-2015 09:09AM

Hi all,

Good friends coming for dinner Sat night. I know the forecast isn't the best but I'm holding out! Anyway, I'd like to BBQ a one big bit of meat and slice it up at the table with bowls of slaw, potato salad, salad etc. Can anyone recommend a decent cut of meat for this? I was thinking one or two large Sirlions?

Thanks,
Loire.

Stheno · 22-04-2015 10:31AM

Loire wrote: »

Hi all,

Good friends coming for dinner Sat night. I know the forecast isn't the best but I'm holding out! Anyway, I'd like to BBQ a one big bit of meat and slice it up at the table with bowls of slaw, potato salad, salad etc. Can anyone recommend a decent cut of meat for this? I was thinking one or two large Sirlions?

Thanks,
Loire.

Flank steak?

Loire · 22-04-2015 10:50AM

Stheno wrote: »

Flank steak?

Thanks - looks exactly what I am looking for. If only the forecast would improve now!

Gloomtastic! · 22-04-2015 12:06PM

GM foods. I thought they were banned here.

I went out this morning and there was half an apple on the kitchen counter. Came back three hours later and it was still white and perfectly fine to eat (which I did!).
A few years ago that would have been all brown and yucky looking. What gives?

Alun · 22-04-2015 12:15PM

Loire wrote: »

Hi all,

Good friends coming for dinner Sat night. I know the forecast isn't the best but I'm holding out! Anyway, I'd like to BBQ a one big bit of meat and slice it up at the table with bowls of slaw, potato salad, salad etc. Can anyone recommend a decent cut of meat for this? I was thinking one or two large Sirlions?

Thanks,
Loire.

Butterflied leg of lamb marinated in olive oil, garlic and rosemary. You can do it yourself but I've also bought ready butterflied and marinated ones from Donnybrook fair butchers in the past.

Loire · 22-04-2015 12:47PM

Alun wrote: »

Butterflied leg of lamb marinated in olive oil, garlic and rosemary. You can do it yourself but I've also bought ready butterflied and marinated ones from Donnybrook fair butchers in the past.

That sounds divine!

Kovu · 22-04-2015 12:52PM

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

GM foods. I thought they were banned here.

I went out this morning and there was half an apple on the kitchen counter. Came back three hours later and it was still white and perfectly fine to eat (which I did!).
A few years ago that would have been all brown and yucky looking. What gives?

I think it depends a lot on the type of apple. The 'soft' apples would definitely do brown very quickly whereas a crisper one like Pink Lady or G. Smith would just get a tinge of brown to them.

The Hill Billy · 22-04-2015 01:22PM

Loire wrote: »

That sounds divine!

Rachel, is that you? :pac:

Loire · 22-04-2015 01:54PM

The Hill Billy wrote: »

Rachel, is that you? :pac:

LOL.

Anyone heard the new Rachel Allen ad for tiles? I genuinely thought they were a p!sstake! I could understand the whole O'Brien's Sandwiches thing, but, tiles?

Lovely Bloke · 22-04-2015 01:59PM

The first time I saw the word "butterflied" on a menu it was for chicken, and I thought they'd made a mistake and meant to print Butter Fried, made sense to me.

Alun · 22-04-2015 02:02PM

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

The first time I saw the word "butterflied" on a menu it was for chicken, and I thought they'd made a mistake and meant to print Butter Fried, made sense to me.

Actually that reminds me, a butterflied whole chicken is pretty good on a barbecue too.

Loire · 22-04-2015 02:07PM

Alun wrote: »

Actually that reminds me, a butterflied whole chicken is pretty good on a barbecue too.

Yum!

Kat1170 · 22-04-2015 02:10PM

Loire wrote: »

LOL.

Anyone heard the new Rachel Allen ad for tiles? I genuinely thought they were a p!sstake! I could understand the whole O'Brien's Sandwiches thing, but, tiles?

€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€
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€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€

Stheno · 22-04-2015 02:55PM

Loire wrote: »

LOL.

Anyone heard the new Rachel Allen ad for tiles? I genuinely thought they were a p!sstake! I could understand the whole O'Brien's Sandwiches thing, but, tiles?

Yeah don't get that at all

the beer revolu · 22-04-2015 11:31PM

+1 on the butterflied leg of lamb.
You could go with North African spices, too.

beertons · 23-04-2015 07:28AM

^ how would you cook that on a BBQ? A gas one.

Also, burger buns. Where do you get them? I've been using big granary baps from aldi, but came to the conclusion that we were eating mainly bread. The ratio of bun to burger was over double. It'd taste better if it was the same. Does anyone make their buns?

Loire · 23-04-2015 08:03AM

beertons wrote: »

^ how would you cook that on a BBQ? A gas one.

Also, burger buns. Where do you get them? I've been using big granary baps from aldi, but America to the conclusion that we were eating mainly bread. The ratio of bun to burger was over double. It'd taste better if it was the same. Does anyone make their buns?

I usually get mine in Tesco

angeldelight · 23-04-2015 08:52AM

Aldis brioche burger buns are the business!!

the beer revolu · 23-04-2015 09:11AM

beertons wrote: »

^ how would you cook that on a BBQ? A gas one.

Just lob it on and keep the heat lowish so it doesn't burn and the lid down so it cooks through. Should take about half an hour.
Then let it rest for 15 minutes

Photo-Sniper · 23-04-2015 10:24PM

Put together a special desert menu for todays specials because it was absolutely scorching here and actually came across a recipe my grandmother gave me 5 years ago for a "Queen of Pudding".

I baked 5 of them thinking it would be enough(about 8 portions from each pudding) and they sold out from about 6pm to 11pm @ 7.50 a piece.

Got my mother to text her to tell her and she was beyond delighted..

Its true what they say, recipes that are handed down are the best. Buzzing I could make her happy too.

Markcheese · 23-04-2015 11:08PM

Nice one - it's good to see traditional desserts on menus - and selling -
Don't know when I last saw something like lemon meringue pie or even proper rice pudding on a menu ( not including deconstructed ones )

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