Early Risers.

[The Lurker]

15 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

That doesn’t bother me! I’m Italian, not Spanish (well I’m half Italian, not half Spanish – to be incredibly pedantically correct).

As a later post said, many Spanish recipes for paella  include chorizo. Besides, paella is very much like risotto:  which have a number of very well-known regional variations for which the recipes are pretty much fixed and then, for both, you have the traditional family recipes which of course vary from family to family. For example a Risotto alla Milanese to be authentic, should be served slightly “wet“ (in other words the stock in which you cooked the rice is not completely absorbed), whereas in my family, risotto is always served fairly “dry”.

Having said that, I do like my food to be as authentic as possible and whenever I try a new recipe for the first time I always follow instructions, letter for letter, and then “tweak” it  So that I can get the correct authentic favour with the equipment and ingredients available to me (Having the correct equipment for the dish we want is very important as it is surprising how much of an influence on the final dish your equipment can have. For example there is a big difference between a crème brûlée caramelised with a blowtorch and one that is caramelised under a salamander).

Well that’s it for today, enjoy the remains of the day and the rest of the weekend.

Good night all!

It was your desire to have authentic recipes that I was thinking of. The Spanish made an incredible fuss a few years ago at s Jamie Oliver recipe for paella specifically because it contained chorizo.

 

the oldest recipe I have for it is from a book on Spanish and Portuguese cooking that my sister gave me about 30 years ago. That contains chorizo but mentioned it was hard to obtain in the Uk and suggested any garlic sausage as an alternative. The recipe I use started life as an oven baked chicken and chorizo risotto which I immediately tweaked by using Bomba rice and then transferred to being a stove top dish when I managed to break the lid of the casserole dish! I found that the rosemary went particularly well with all the paprika and do have upped that. Occasionally I add thyme because I like it; Mrs Lurker is less keen so yesterday I left it out!

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

I regret that some skipping has again taken place - all I can offer is the usual generic greetings, so sorry.  This is because "we" had to undergo a safeguarding children course this morning, and that was about three hours, as much of it is about the underlying legislation and its content, and "we" just passed the test as it was an 80% pass mark, and "we" managed to get all the legislation confused - "we" were OK on the main elements of the course, about child abuse etc, and the steps to identify, so "we" just scraped through.

 

A trip to Lidl this morning, as they has a few bits and pieces which we wanted, and which were all on a when it's gone, it's gone basis - all were offers introduced today, and which we could not find in the section marked "Sunday Offers" - so we asked an assistant, and of course they were all in the section marked "Thursday's Offers" - of course they were - silly us for not working that out. 

 

Then home, and laptop used as described above.

 

Oh wow - back to Lidl tomorrow, as we have the fodder run - it couldn't be picked up today, as it's normally on Mondays that all the heavily reduced items are deposited in the fridge. 

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

Do I hear the thunder of hippo feet?

 

No but there was a huge crash akin to a thunderclap............as I fell over in the rush.

 

I am furloughed from the kitchen at present.

 

The Obergrumpenfuhrer is making scones for afternoon tea.

 

It will make up for the rather variable weather today.

 

Sunny, raining, sunny, raining, sunny, sunny, raining, sunny, raining again, and more sunny rain.

[tetsudofan]

6 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

If you have a gas cooker a broiler is similar to the thing that you make your toast under. In the US the oven in an electric cooker has two elements. One at the top and one at the bottom. The one at the top is the broiler. In the UK you'd use it for grilling steaks etc.

 

Looks like I've learnt something today, seems as though I've got a broiler on the upper oven of my gas cooker - but it seems to be a multi-purpose piece of kit - as well as using it to do the toast using the upper burner you can also use the lower burner as a  mini-oven.

 

The main oven below only has a lower burner so its just an oven. Does not get used much these days as I tend to live on salads and not cooked meals. If I do want a hot meal it normally goes in the microwave. 

 

Keith

[Happy Hippo]

8 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

 

Or may I suggest Lambrusco? (Better in my opinion if you like frizzante.)

Does NHY 581 know about this?

 

I bet he never though about Italian HO!

[Erichill16]

Just got home from the pharmacy and here’s the screen SWMBO and myself made. I hope it will last the virus out but were hoping to move to new premises in the need future anyway.

regards Robert

[tetsudofan]

6 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Many years ago I was with a gaggle of the outlaws walking round a park with various family youngsters on bikes or in prams. Two yoofs came through thevpark on a stripped down Honda 50(yes they can exist). They had to stop at one point but people were concerned about their antics.  Even though off duty I went and had a word with them and whispered some 'sweet nothings' in their shell likes. As they tried to ride away the wiring harness came off the machine in my hands. I have obviously no idea how that happenned. Oiks can be dealt with.

 

Jamie

 

 

Yes, I can vouch for that, Honda did do 50cc, I owned one whilst I was living in Saigon. Have still got the owner manuals, one in English and one in Vietnamese:

 

 

 

It didn't get  souped-up but occasionally it got abused. Returned home one evening after a party (somewhat inebriated) with me in the middle and a short guy sitting on the tank and another larger guy sitting on the back seat. We tried it again when we were sober but couldn't manage it.

 

The Vietnamese, being of smaller stature, could get a family of husband and wife and kids on one bike!!

 

Keith

[iL Dottore]

2 hours ago, JohnDMJ said:

Where would we be without steak and Kidney pudding, Liver and bacon, Oxtail soup, Tongue, et alia? Let us not forget pheasant, grouse and venison either; all fair game!

 

This observation is noticeable in most of the US cookery programmes where a range of 'calibrated' spoons are used to precisely assemble the 'correct' amount of ingredients. I prepare food 'by eye' and by taste!

 

1) Steak and Kidney Pudding, like other steamed suet puddings, is food for the gods. As for game, it’s very lean meat and requires a modicum of culinary skill to get right (over cooked venison, for example, is akin to shoe leather). May I also point out, John, that you are skating very close to a charge of “criminal punning”. Consider yourself warned! 

2) Cooking by eye and by taste is a very good approach for domestic cooking, but not for commercial (restaurant) cooking where the chefs must produce the same dish to the same standard every time it is cooked for a customer. Where cooking by eye and taste also falls down is with baking, specifically Patisserie - which has very exacting standards when it comes weights and measures - as I have found out to my cost with a few recent baking “mishaps” 

2 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

 

 

 

Having lived for a while in the US, I found that “sweet” junk food (twinkies, oreo cookies, Reese’s peanut butter cups etc.) to be far too sweet and most of the savoury snacks far too salty (and some American friends advised me to never eat anything with a shelf life of years...)

Having said that, the one fast food I do miss is the Hardee’s Sausage and Egg Breakfast Biscuit. A much enjoyed early morning staple when on 24hr duty at the Rescue Squad.

1 hour ago, The Stationmaster said:

...The word broiler immediately conjured up long forgotten family use of the word to describe old hens which were past lay but were left a bit too long before being consigned to the pot so needed extra time to cook.  And of course it was a term used descriptively and rudely of women of a certain age but of minimal attractiveness....

 

I thought the expression was “old boiler“ 

1 hour ago, New Haven Neil said:

A group, shoes and some kind dodgy chips?  We truly are divided in language, even in Europe!...

Let me clarify:

A po’boy is sandwich containing breaded and fried shrimp and/or oysters, popular in New Orleans 
Twinkies - see above
Chicken Fried Steak is a piece of beef, beaten thin and coated in the batter used to coat Southern Fried Chicken and either deep fried or “pan-fried” preferably in bacon fat.

Polenta Fries are pieces of Polenta (it solidifies when cold) cut into thick chip shapes and then deep fried (with or without a coating).

Polenta Fries have been spotted in the UK, the others not as yet...

iD

[iL Dottore]

53 minutes ago, The Lurker said:

It was your desire to have authentic recipes that I was thinking of. The Spanish made an incredible fuss a few years ago at s Jamie Oliver recipe for paella specifically because it contained chorizo.

Having seen what he has done to Italian food (both in print with his “Italian” cookbook and with his restaurants) I wonder if it really was just the addition of chorizo that upset the Spanish. JO is a good bloke and has done quite a few positive things, but I really hate it when he does his “interpretation of...” a classic dish (Rick Stein is another offender). Surely (and call me a purist if you will) the better approach would be to show viewers how to make the classic and then, after showing the correct way, offer suggestions as how to adapt and modify...

But there again, I wonder how many viewers actually try and make what they’ve seen being made on screen.

Being a self-taught cook (I wouldn’t even pretend to claim to be a Chef) the one television cooking program that actually teaches me anything is the skills test segment of Masterchef Professional. I find it not only instructive, but also eye-opening as to how many so-called professional chefs are missing basic techniques (mind you, if I had to do a skills test of any sort with Monica Galetti judging me, I’d bungle things as well).

[iL Dottore]

I have been busy baking (Individual Peach Tarts) which are likely to be scoffed before hippo arrival (even the fastest of hippos is unlikely to reach my abode before they are gone)

 

[Barry O]

Youngest Herbert arrived with some beer

 

Tail crush..a bit tof sour but drinkable

 

 

Boxcar mild. .excellent stuff!

 

Baz

[45156]

Back again, as I just forgot to mention the great service from a well known vacuum cleaner maker beginning with V.

 

On Friday afternoon, I was using our 8 year old small carpet shampooer to clean the sofa where the dog sits on it, and it suddenly got very noisy, then started to run erratically, then started to smell like a fried electric motor always does, and I switched it off before the bang.  Oddly, enough on the TV a few minutes later was an online offer for a top of the range cleaner, with an enhanced range of accessories, and a free steamer.

 

So online I went, after checking whether it was available in a similar offer from Amazon, or Argos, but neither had any available for prompt delivery, or with such a good offer.  The maker's website was easy to navigate, and they took PayPal.  At checkout, I was asked to select a delivery date, and Saturday came up.  Ordered, and the guarantee was emailed to me together with the order confirmation.  Then got an email the following morning to say it was on the delivery van, and would be delivered between 9.45 and 11.45, which was while I was "helping" 30747 with her courses - duly arrived at 10.00.  Well done to Vax and Yodel - couldn't fault either of them.  Shame it leaves me with 250 less modelling tokens now, but hey ho, it can't be helped.

[TheQ]

Afternoon awl, 

Having been assaulted by the American corruption of British sauces in Saudi,  and the one visit to McD I ever made the mistake of doing.  I've avoided all "real American " food ever since. 

 

Today was forecast to be heavy rain,  we got a few spots..  So I went to the marquee to strip the deck of the boat.  There was incredible humidity,  I was sweating buckets.  The deck was stripped mostly by careful use of a chisel sliding it over the iroko surface under the previous deck treatment. In some places it fell off,  most needed a little persuasion,  and there's a few bits left for next time which really don't want to come off. 

 

Meanwhile SWMBO was on the great sander hunt,  I've looked before,  but can't find my Makita half sheet sander. It's vanished,  and I need a sander next weekend. It was last used sanding the bottom of the boat and old rudder exit last year. If it's not found,  I'll buy a orbital sander towards the end of the week. 

 

As I was dripping sweat, I went direct to an early bath, a long soak was enjoyed.

 

Dinner will arrive shortly,  then I expect an eyelid inspection.. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Chris116]

6 minutes ago, TheQ said:

Meanwhile SWMBO was on the great sander hunt,  I've looked before,  but can't find my Makita half sheet sander. It's vanished,  and I need a sander next weekend. It was last used sanding the bottom of the boat and old rudder exit last year. If it's not found,  I'll buy a orbital sander towards the end of the week. 

If you get a new sander the old one will be sitting in clear view when you return from the shop or when the parcel is delivered!

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Cleared a few more bits out of the shed before the hay fever began to hit. Surprisingly a lot of the shed structure isn't in a too bad condition, the framing in particular. Fortunately many of my dads woodworking tools were in the 'dry' part of the shed and only have a little surface rust. The brambles had penetrated the inside of the shed so they were zapped with the glyphosphate, those outside the shed are in retreat after the same treatment. Tea is now brewing so its be back later.

[Ozexpatriate]

6 hours ago, southern42 said:

Never mind the fishbowl in HO, how about having one of these on your layout?

https://www.boatyardbus.co.uk

Our daughter sent us a photo of it yesterday.

Nice, I'll raise you the Hales Ale's bus in Seattle. (I don't think it's been running in the pandemic.)

 

Edited June 21, 2020 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

6 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Would they be for iD or ID?

Both, presumably.

[Tony_S]

Afternoon all.

It is pleasantly warm so I am sitting outside while Aditi de-weeds the patio.Earlier I had a bit of a play with some of the slot cars. Discovered that low grip tyres on the rear wheels isn’t a good idea. Sorted that one out. 
We had a nice lunch. I made a jug of Pimms for Aditi. I think this was instead of a Captain’s welcome drink which we may have been having if the cruise holiday had happened. Not that Pimms is an option at the Welcome party, red wine, white wine, fizzy wine or gin and tonic. 
Tony

[jamie92208]

4 hours ago, laurenceb said:

I find his books to be very pesimistic. I read most of them a long time ago, must try and find them for another go. The one I have never read is Trustee from yhe Toolroom

That is a cracking book well worth getting.

 

Jamie

[Ozexpatriate]

6 hours ago, Tony_S said:

I can remember getting confused at broiler and broiled, mainly as they sounded like boiled. The broiler element in US ovens would defiantly be the grill element in UK ovens. I am not sure if there are any ovens manufactured in the UK.  Once upon a time the eye level grill was the height of sophistication. We never had one as Aditi was (and still is ) quite short. Our oven, made in France, has top, bottom, side elements and a rear fan assisted element. 

My oven has a convection fan in the rear as well but has only one heating element (at the top).

 

The distinction usually made in the US is that a grill heats from below and a broiler heats from above.

 

The propane (or charcoal) cooker(s) on my patio* are grills. There are grills embedded in a stovetop (hob) - particularly in restaurants and there are counter-top grill appliances - though many of these should more accurately be called griddles. A griddle has a solid surface, heated from below whereas a grill has a metal grate. My mother owned a counter-top vertical grill appliance. It was promoted as healthful as rendered fat would drop to a drip pan on the bottom. As wielded by my mum, it apparently had two settings - well done and incinerate, as all natural juices were rendered away.

 

* Many might call these barbecues, but to purists barbecue is a style of cooking with a smoker - domestically this is usually an auger-fed pellet stove where the ignition chamber is separate from the food.

 

A "toaster oven" is a counter-top appliance with the heat source on the top. These days the fad appliance is the counter-top, combo air fryer / toaster oven with multiple heating elements and convection fans.

[Ozexpatriate]

6 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

... “pan-fry” (sauté) being the first examples that to spring to mind.

Sauté is well understood. "Pan fry" is how you cook fried chicken if you don't have a deep fryer and is usually done in a cast iron skillet.

 

It is different from sauté in terms of the amount of oil involved - you need at least enough oil to be halfway up whatever you are frying. (Of course you can sauté in butter as well.) The two approaches are similar with a dish like veal piccata or Wiener schnitzel though I think a US foodie would not describe the technique for these dishes as "pan fried". 

[JohnDMJ]

Good afternoon. It seems much has happened during my horizontal period combining both eye lid inspection and, occasionally, viewing the Food Network channel.

 

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

May I also point out, John, that you are skating very close to a charge of “criminal punning”. Consider yourself warned! 

 

In my defence, your 'onour, may I direct you towards my signature which, IMHO, gives fair warning of such!

 

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

JO is a good bloke and has done quite a few positive things, but I really hate it when he does his “interpretation of...” a classic dish (Rick Stein is another offender). Surely (and call me a purist if you will) the better approach would be to show viewers how to make the classic and then, after showing the correct way, offer suggestions as how to adapt and modify...

 

I recall expressing that gripe elsewhere in this forum. Almost without exception, UK food programmes presenting about foreign food have to offer their own take on it.

 

Across the pond, there are two types of food programme that I watch (I abhor the 'hidden camera, sack him or her' style and the 'Man vs Food' style). The Nigella Lawson style shows, 'Barefoot Contessa' and 'Pioneer Woman' (as well as Nigella herself) get my goat and are avoided like the plague (or has that phrase been updated recently?) Shows like 'Diners, Drive ins and Dives', however, showcase the venue and its popular dishes; Andrew Zimmern's presentations usually have my attention.

 

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I have been busy baking (Individual Peach Tarts) which are likely to be scoffed before hippo arrival (even the fastest of hippos is unlikely to reach my abode before they are gone)

 

 

Fastest cake in the world.....

 

S'Gone!

[Tony_S]

23 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

A griddle has a solid surface, heated from below whe

I have seen such griddles in commercial places and watched my breakfast being prepared on them by the egg cook when staying in hotels. 

Edited June 21, 2020 by Tony_S

[JohnDMJ]

I feel a sense of deja vu here!

 

9 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Sauté is well understood. "Pan fry" is how you cook fried chicken if you don't have a deep fryer and is usually done in a cast iron skillet.

 

It is different from sauté in terms of the amount of oil involved - you need at least enough oil to be halfway up whatever you are frying. (Of course you can sauté in butter as well.) The two approaches are similar with a dish like veal piccata or Wiener schnitzel though I think a US foodie would not describe the technique for these dishes as "pan fried". 

 

Presumably by this, you include Wok, Griddle Pan and Frying Pan?

 

IMHO, there is only one way to cook both veal and ostrich: lightly sauté in butter with a little citric juice in a frying pan!

[Tony_S]

If frying is meant to have fat or oil halfway up the pan we don’t fry anything. I suppose we sauté or shallow fry. My mum used to use loads of lard to fry things. One time she used the eye level grill she melted the portable tv on top of it.