General Chat Thread II

Any opinions on this fire pit? €39.99
A bit expensive?
https://www.aldi.ie/60cm-steel-fire-pit/p/703824358581300

I was amused by this description of rusting:
● Designed to develp rustic oxidised surface over time :rolleyes:

Can you cook anything more than baked potatoes with it?

Thanks.

I like the cheap frying pan idea.

Yes indeed.

Is it just me, or is the range of meat in supermarkets getting worse and worse?

Quality is still good; but there's too much space given over to pre-marinated or pre-diced versions of standard things (chicken fillets, frying steak) as well as ridiculously lean versions of things (2% fat diced steak, 5% fat beef mince).

You can't get any interesting, slow cook suitable cuts of beef, pork or lamb. You can't always even get ground pork anymore. In the past I could get pork shoulder, oxtail, beef shins etc as well as fattier diced beef. Even fattier beef mince isn't always as available but Tesco and Lidl still do it.


There are two 'proper' butchers in my area, but one doesn't open Sundays and the other has started to really push their pre-pack even though they do actually butcher and pack on-site.

I'm not sure if its got worse since March, but because March was eight years ago (it was, wasn't it? :pac:) I can't remember!

I've been trying to re-organise the store cupboards a bit today. Needed to dig out some lesser used spices like star anise so it was as good a time as any.

I have found TWELVE types of pasta so far. All in date, indeed we've used most of them recently:

Lasagna sheets
Penne
Fusili
Spaghetti
Linguine
Bucatini
Papardelle
Tagliatelle
Rigatoni
Short rigatoni
Macaroni elbows
Fusili con buco

edit: 13, tortiglioni.

odyssey06 wrote: »

No cannelloni?
Pfft.

I have lasagna sheets, ergo I have cannelloni. Just with an awful amount of extra effort.

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Brioche is made with milk, I think,

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Can you make sourdough in a bread maker? Can you slow the process down enough for the starter to work?

Here’s a brioche recipe for the breadmaker. It’s got eggs in it.
https://www.food.com/recipe/bread-machine-brioche-130770

it doesn't have to have milk in it, some recipes will, but most would say it should have butter & eggs.

The phrase "Let them eat cake" is really have meant to have been ""Let them eat brioche"

BaZmO* wrote: »

Any tips on pickling. I have a bunch of cucumbers that I want to pickle later and I’m not 100% sure about what to do with them.

Was going to use white wine vinegar, sugar, salt, dill, mustard seeds, pepper corns.

Do I need to add water? And do I boil everything up first? How long do they last in the fridge?

I'm no expert but this is what I do.

I just boil up the pickling liquid (yours sounds fine) and pour over the veg in a jar ans seal the jar. Add a little water if you find the solution to vinegary.

Muahahaha wrote: »

Just wondering about peoples thoughts on re-heating something like a roast beef or a lamb dinner. Its just never the same on a Monday as it is on a Sunday, at least not when re-heated in a microwave. The meat feels less tender and the roast potatoes lose their crisp. Maybe its the blast of the microwaves that makes the meat fibres get tighter or something? With lamb microwaving under cling flim often leaks out the moisture in the meat where it pools on the plate.

Does anyone here forgo the mircowave and reheat using the oven instead? Is there any discernable difference between the two methods in terms of taste and texture?

I have done potatoes and meat from them in the airfryer, I sometimes add extra gravy too, I like Bisto Best in the glass jar


Always microwave stuff like this on medium or low, microwaves have a terrible name/reputation but people destroy stuff in them, many use nothing but full power. Its like they feel it HAS to be cooked quickly in them, it has a timer, set it and walk away! They would never dream of using the regular cooker on full power 100% of the time just to speed things up.

When having leftover roast meat, I'd usually just pour hot gravy over the meat. It's would end up warm, rather than hot.
Roast potatoes, I cut up and heat in a dry frying pan.
Other veg, I'd microwave but not microwave the bejaysus out of them.

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

I don't think you could heat the whole dinner together.

Thats what Ive been doing and its obviously a factor in the dinner never tasting as good when its fresh the previous day. I'll give your way a try and do things separately. Re-heating roast potatoes in the air fryer definitely sounds like a better idea than the microwave as Id imagine the moisture underneath the cling film is what is making them lose their crisp and becoming soggy.

rubadub wrote: »

Always microwave stuff like this on medium or low, microwaves have a terrible name/reputation but people destroy stuff in them, many use nothing but full power. Its like they feel it HAS to be cooked quickly in them, it has a timer, set it and walk away! They would never dream of using the regular cooker on full power 100% of the time just to speed things up.

Another mistake Ive been making. Mine is 750w but has settings down to 160w. I've been just putting it on at 750w for 3 minutes which is obviously blasting the hell out of it. I'd say it is why the meat contracts and isnt as tender as the day before.

What would be a good low or medium setting and approx how many minutes?

2x90g is my setup also

Seared off steaks oven cooked to an appropriate inner temperature (the famous reverse sear) on it today and it worked better than on the enameled grates of the grill also.

Is there something up with the site? Having problems posting the last few days. Either timing out, duplicate posts, or not posting at all.

Moved a pile of kitchen gubbins to one side a few months ago preparing to dump or charity shop them.

Ended up using two things from it in the space of a day this week!

1: Full food processor - never used the bulk of its functions and indeed the blender jar is AWOL; but I needed to blend down a tomato soup while adding stuff to it so the hand blender was no use

2: The grill on stilts from my microwave; which I have never even considered using the grill in - perfect for lifting up some steaks for an overnight salt and dry in the fridge

The rest - old wooden handled BBQ tools that can't go in the dishwasher, a teeny tiny pizza wheel that also can't go in the dishwasher, and some freezer boxes that are too small for two servings yet too big for one - are probably going to the charity shop tomorrow. And my camping cooking tools can go in the shed cause they were last used in 2017.

Finally got around to trying some of the Shines Wild Irish Tuna - it's pricey but really lovely.

Great in a salad or if you fancy indulging in it for a sandwich - it's €7 for 125g though :eek:

Never tried Ortiz -sorry but the good news is they do a Supervalu signature tastes branded one (same packaging etc. and everything else as Shines) - only the brine and sunflower oil varieties - it is €5.50 instead of €7 which is something!