Early Risers.

[iL Dottore]

10 minutes ago, jonny777 said:

 

Well possibly, but pros also use vacuum packs and 'sous vide' to cook certain meat (duck, pigeon, partridge, etc) but I doubt most people prefer it to a proper pan fried version in butter. 

 

(Snooty chefs - do not read any further), and 6 minutes deep fried in a chip pan can produce a wonderful sirloin or rump steak. Obviously you have to trial and error cooking times depending on the thickness, but the one thing deep frying also does is fully cook the fat on the edge of the steak.

 

The added advantage is that the chips can be cooked at the same time as the meat, and even mushrooms and/or tomato halves if you are feeling really lazy. 

 

 

Well, now that you mention it, I do have a bar vacuum sealer and two sous-vide machines: an immersion circulator and a sous vide cooker. With them I can cook a slab of flank or stewing brisket (called here siedfleisch) for several hours, then finish it by searing it in a broiling hot pan (with lots of butter) and the result is as tender as the costliest filet. PLUS you can't overcook the meat, cooking sous-vide.

 

Deep frying a steak is a well-known trick (if you can pull it off) as is deep frying a whole turkey....

[pH]

10 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Denyse is lovely but  the coffee stretched to 2 Cognacs and Belgian choclates as well. It's a hard life.

Going by what follows, that surely is the wrong conjunction? I would think ‘so’ would be more appropriate, or at least ‘and’. 

Edited May 17, 2021 by pH

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Many happy returns Rick and many more of 'em. ID, Have you ever considered an air-fryer? I have had one for about three or four years now. I use it for chips mostly, usually oven chips (definitely not frozen ones) but I can cook a pie with them as well. I also use it for the roast root veg at Christmas. Like all such devices there's good and bad. Do not get one with the ordinary fryer wire basket, the better ones have a saucepan with a perforated bottom, and its easier to clean. Tea has brewed so its be back later.

[pH]

10 hours ago, polybear said:

I dream of the day when someone has the b@lls to say "Why don't you shut the F.up and let me finish answering the question you just asked me?"

... and the day when an interviewer says “Why don’t you shut the f*** up and answer the question I asked you, instead of going off on a pre-scripted speech about something completely different?”.

 

IMO, political interviews are not about communicating information useful to viewers/listeners - from either side.

[southern42]

3 hours ago, southern42 said:

Happy Birthday, Rick.

 

 

When I was 64, I dragged...oops!....took the family went to the Beatles land in the Royal Albert Dock, Liverpool. The only downside is that would be a lie if I sang it now. 

 

Addendum to that.  I could sing, When I'm seventy four!

 

We can post some trivia or some ramblings

on the ERs thread, if its not expired

We shall laugh and sigh

New members come and go

Hello and goodbye

 

Or you might prefer a bit more romantic.

 

[pH]

6 hours ago, jonny777 said:

Have just removed another large branch from the yew tree. It is being dismantled in stages. I saw about 3/4 of the branch and leave the rest to gravity, but have to be careful where I saw the cut in order to make sure it falls in the right direction. 

Some years ago, I dropped three large alder trees in our back yard, piece by piece, over several months. Only one branch went somewhere other than intended (completely by luck!), but it bounced directly off the top of a fence post, rather hitting any other part of the fence. 
 

We have another tree now needing to be cut down. It was a small, live Christmas tree planted outside in the yard afterwards. It is now approaching 50 feet high. But we’ll pay for that one to be cut.

[Coombe Barton]

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

 

My sole criterion for buying a bit of kitchen kit is "do the pros use it?"

Pros might use them, but I have found that the non-pro variants are more hassle than they're worth. Buying a deep fryer for use once every ten days doesn't make sense.

Neither does this,

[leopardml2341]

1 hour ago, jonny777 said:

 

(Snooty chefs - do not read any further), and 6 minutes deep fried in a chip pan can produce a wonderful sirloin or rump steak. Obviously you have to trial and error cooking times depending on the thickness, but the one thing deep frying also does is fully cook the fat on the edge of the steak.

 

The added advantage is that the chips can be cooked at the same time as the meat, and even mushrooms and/or tomato halves if you are feeling really lazy. 

 

 

And the Mars bar

 

[leopardml2341]

44 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Have you ever considered an air-fryer? I have had one for about three or four years now. I use it for chips mostly, usually oven chips (definitely not frozen ones) but I can cook a pie with them as well. I also use it for the roast root veg at Christmas..

Is it any good for homemade veggie crisps?

[polybear]

3 hours ago, tigerburnie said:

.......nice young lass was considerate and thorough, in and out in no time......

 

You may wish to re-word that line.....

 

3 hours ago, PupCam said:

I don't know, call yourself a connoisseur of fine taste?     Clearly all that eating in expensive restaurants OCS was wasted

 

 

T'was a tough job - but some Bear had to do it.....

 

 

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

 I do have a bar vacuum sealer and two sous-vide machines: an immersion circulator and a sous vide cooker.

 

 

Huh?

 

35 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Have you ever considered an air-fryer? I have had one for about three or four years now. I use it for chips mostly, usually oven chips (definitely not frozen ones) but I can cook a pie with them as well. I also use it for the roast root veg at Christmas. Like all such devices there's good and bad.

 

Bear wonders which one is considered to be a good one please?

 

In other news:

 

Happy Birthday Rick!

In yet more other news:

 

Bear has had a pretty successful day working on the kitchen refurb - I've FINALLY got the base unit alignment issue sorted, and the 6ft broom cupboard & decorative panel are installed.  The gas man finally responded to me after a text was sent, with a semi-promise that he'll do the job later this week.  That'll do.

 

[Pacific231G]

Good evening all.

Happy Birthday Rick

I couldn't post earlier- the little grey electrons*  getting agitated or something at RMWEB central as every other site was OK

 

I've had the make a couple of tricky editorial decisions today- who to disappoint by deferring their articles to the next edition- but we hit the limit on page numbers. Small panic when Word decided to start the page count at 3 so I thought I was going to have to lose two pages. Computers are about as reliable as cats and just as sneaky but far less lovable. 

Had a good brisk walk with very little rain this AM though parts of the golf course were flooded but it's been thundrous and heavy most of the PM.

 

Moussaka is in the oven

Yum Yum

 

*Yes professor, I know electrons are too small to have a colour or even a particularly definite existence but they're definitely grey in the sense of uncertainty.

 

 

Edited May 17, 2021 by Pacific231G

[PhilJ W]

1 minute ago, leopardml2341 said:

Is it any good for homemade veggie crisps?

Yes, anything that can be done in a deep fat fryer. All it needs is a bit of oil drizzled over the item to be fried and then shaken to distribute the oil. 

[PhilJ W]

29 minutes ago, polybear said:

Bear wonders which one is considered to be a good one please?

 

 

 

Mine is a Phillips. IIRC Tess Coes had them on special offer. Usual price is about £40-£60.

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, pH said:

... and the day when an interviewer says “Why don’t you shut the f*** up and answer the question I asked you, instead of going off on a pre-scripted speech about something completely different?”.

 

IMO, political interviews are not about communicating information useful to viewers/listeners ...

It does seem that they can only speak in pre-memorized sound bites. A voice recording would be just as (in)effective.

 

The "interview" is merely the opportunity to broadcast their sound bites to an audience irrespective of the line of questioning.

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, Coombe Barton said:

.....Buying a deep fryer for use once every ten days doesn't make sense.

Neither does this,

Couldn’t you also say that about much/most of the gear we own for doing r*****y m*******g, a lot of which we only use every so often.

Of course the counter argument is that  you NEED to use a specific tool for a specific task...

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 

Huh?

Mr Google is your friend 

46 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Yes, anything that can be done in a deep fat fryer. All it needs is a bit of oil drizzled over the item to be fried and then shaken to distribute the oil. 

Not quite, you can’t really use an air fryer to make donuts, bhaji, pommes soufflé or anything that requires the item to be cooked to be sealed by being immersed in hot oil. They are useful but, I think, they complement not replace a “propet” deep fat fryer

[leopardml2341]

Nowt doin' here in South Derbyshire.

 

Goodnight folks, early start tomorrow and a carp night last night........

[tigerburnie]

We don't fry anything anymore, my stomach cannot handle it sadly, though the odd full fry up when we go away for a break complete with Black Pudding but not always with Clootie Dumpling, does get in as a treat.

[New Haven Neil]

I had to google it too, Poly!  Sucky-baggy-cooky thing.

 

Apparently.

[simontaylor484]

I.hope it's easier to open than a boil in the bag 

[Gwiwer]

Evening all from a very wet Hill of Strawberries.  The sky has been emptying for some hours and shows few signs of running out of water.  

 

Many many thanks for all the kind birthday wishes.  I don't think I have ever clicked "Thanks" so many times in a day recently.  An honourable mention must go to Bear's multi-coloured maximum-sized greeting which would have taken some time to create.  

 

We knew a chef some years ago who popped his steaks into the oven in the pan to ensure they were evenly heated, the fat rendered and the whole cooked to the customer's requirements.  They were then finished on the top for the final minute or so.  Not perhaps from the School of Cheffery but he attracted enough attention that the Michelin people ate there twice in a year.  Though he didn't quite get the star he was happy enough.

 

I had a lamb sous-vide dish in Canberra once; very tender and tasty it was too.  I was expecting to be asked how I would like it cooked but was advised instead of the technique - which I am familiar with - and that it was therefore only served in one style.  I have to note here also that I have been very impressed with the cooking of full meals on HST and even the dreaded Hitachi trains as part of the Pullman Dining service GWR offered pre-Covid.  Dr. SWMBO and myself enjoyed a steak lunch most recently (though it has to be said we did not enjoy the seats even in first class) and noted that around our table of four each of the four steaks ordered was cooked differently and matched our various expectations exactly.  I wonder if we shall ever see the likes again or whether that service will go the way of many other things and simply not return.  The ambience of the HST faux-leather armchairs wasn't there in the new Hitachi sets with their clinical harsh white interiors, hard seats and cramped interiors but the food was extremely good.  

 

I'll make myself hungry if I carry on like this.  Not good when it's time to be in the sleeping car not the diner.  It has indeed been a happy birthday thanks in no small measure to all the good wishes offered here and in various other places and including from a number of people I have yet to meet in person.   Thank you again.  

 

[Kelly]

6 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

As for your motoring experience, WOW! What can I say, except that you obviously had someone "up there" looking after you (I love your understatement: "had a bit of a scare" to describe a definite "brown trouser" moment....). Although you say you won't be soon replacing the ole jalopy, have you considered a motorcycle? NHN (and others of this Parish) could direct you to a suitable "lady's bike"....

 

I perhaps downplayed it a little, but it wasn't the first time such a thing had happened to me, so I kinda knew to lift off and let the engine slow the car until the hand brake would be usable, going down the gears in the process. Perhaps a bit more scary for Richard being the passenger.

 

Thankfully when I realised the brakes weren't going to slow the car to make the turn, I didn't indicate. Had I done so, I probably would have T-Boned a little VW Up car at 50mph in a big heavy Mondeo, that wouldn't of ended well for the other driver at the very least!. Thankfully he didn't pull out on me and the road after the junction was fairly quiet and I was able to find a safe spot to park and await the RAC to come tow the car to Richard's. The RAC guy inspected the car and discovered the problem had been one of the main brake lines had burst (possibly air had gotten into the system through a worn flexible hose and the brake fluid had leaked as well). Could have been much worse.

 

The reason for not replacing it is mostly because I'm aiming to move in with Richard and two cars just wouldn't be financially viable.

 

As for a motorbike, hell no. Other enjoy them, and thats fine, but they'd never be for me with my health and so on.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Someones been turning the rain on and off all day but its off at the moment. 

3 minutes ago, Kelly said:

 

I perhaps downplayed it a little, but it wasn't the first time such a thing had happened to me, so I kinda knew to lift off and let the engine slow the car until the hand brake would be usable, going down the gears in the process. Perhaps a bit more scary for Richard being the passenger.

 

Thankfully when I realised the brakes weren't going to slow the car to make the turn, I didn't indicate. Had I done so, I probably would have T-Boned a little VW Up car at 50mph in a big heavy Mondeo, that wouldn't of ended well for the other driver at the very least!. Thankfully he didn't pull out on me and the road after the junction was fairly quiet and I was able to find a safe spot to park and await the RAC to come tow the car to Richard's. The RAC guy inspected the car and discovered the problem had been one of the main brake lines had burst (possibly air had gotten into the system through a worn flexible hose and the brake fluid had leaked as well). Could have been much worse.

 

 

I take it that the car had stood idle for some time. There must be a few cars  back on the road after standing idle for ages due to Covid. Some of these may well have deteriorated to such an extent that they are dangerous. Fortunately my car has been used a couple of times a week throughout and last week I gave it a run and no problems came to light. If your car has been standing its a good idea to test the brakes gently on a clear road.

[Coombe Barton]

... and a tasty experiment ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2021/05/17/what-are-they-not-saying/

[tigerburnie]

G'night all

[Erichill16]

Evening All,

Happy birthday Rick.

Except seeing Mum for a couple of hours not a particularly successful or pleasant day and certainly haven’t had time to keep a track on today’s proceeding . I’ll say no more except wish you all a goodnight,

Robert