The Old Foodie

Persian Pickled Grapes I have no idea where I got the original recipe from, but I have fiddled with the amount of sweetness and the additional flavourings over time. These are great with cold meats, cheese platters etc, and are so easy they hardly constitute a "recipe". 1 bottle good wine vinegar (750 ml)- white or red is fine, but I might try pomegranate next time. 1/4 cup Golden Syrup; sugar works OK but does not give the slightly caramelly flavour. Honey might be good. 2 teaspoons salt. a bunch of grapes. a stick of cinnamon if you are so inclined. Boil the vinegar, syrup, and salt together. Cool. Pour over little bunches of the grapes that you have snipped off from the big bunch, and put into sterilised glass jars (with the cinnamon stick if you wish). Seal and keep in a cool dark place for a month before eating (if you can!). Keywords: Easy, Fruit, Condiment ( RG1735 )

In my commonwealth country it's 10% fat content. I assume it's supposed to mean 1/2 milk, 1/2 cream . ← Half milk / half cream would be more than 10% fat, wouldn't it?

Is retro different from classic? I think of things like crepes suzette and beef bourguignonne as being "classic". Now tiny cubes of cheese on toothpicks stuck in an orange are definitely retro - especially if they have little coloured cocktail onions on as well.

I once read that men can only do three things (well, I thought of a fourth, but I think that is off-topic) - they hunt, they talk about hunting, and they stare into the flames (I think the modern equivalent of the latter may be a screen - computer, TV, whatever). Could this be the explanation of what seems to be the carnivorous leanings of most men? Is is a biological urge that no amount of wifely nagging and anti-oxidant serving will divert?

O.K. I cant stand it any longer. Will someone please explain to those of us outside the US of A - "Cream Gravy" (looks like what I would call White Sauce!) and "Country Gravy"? As Charles Dicken's said "There is no such passion in human nature as the passion for gravy". Amen to that. And a fig to those Frenchies who say - intending it as an insult - that England only has two sauces. That might be true, but one of those is gravy, and the other one is custard, so who needs more?

darn- does that edit mean it isn't worth sharing? I've been meaning to make beet marshmallows since christmas (when I got my stand mixer). Our downtown grocery store carries powdered beets, which would mingle with sugar well, I think! ← I think I only made it once - my sister-in-law's recipe if I remember right (and she has probably still got it!), but perhaps LBHowes will part with the recipe?. Is pumpkin used much in cakes in the US? we associate you with pumpkin pie, but there are quite a lot of recipes around (in Oz) for pumpkin in cakes, especially fruit cakes, and sweet breads.

I used to make a recipe called "Persian Pickled Grapes" - no idea why it was called "Persian" as it had Golden Syrup in it - which seems to be a peculiarly British thing. They were good with cold meat, or on cheese platters. Haven't made it for ages - eGullet threads are reminding me of so many things I haven't cooked for ages. I can post the recipe if anyone wants it. Pickled cherries are good too, and pickled orange slices with Christmas ham - but they are more traditional pickles, not quick pickles.

Quick pickled red cabbage is fantastic.

Wasn't there a recipe around a few decades ago for a cake made with a can of tomato soup? And I know I've made a chocolate beetroot cake - I think I've even got the recipe somewhere. [edited because I remembered the beetroot cake after I posted1]

I have a chickpea salad recipe that is a big favourite with family and friends that I keep intending to add pasta to - I think a short tubular pasta would be best. Here's the basic chickpea and raisin salad recipe. one can (400 gm) chickpeas, or the equivalent in cooked dried beans 3 tablespoons raisins or sultanas 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin 3 green onions, sliced 1 clove of garlic, crushed the shredded rind and juice of one lemon (or lime) 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil 1 tablespoon raspberry vinegar (any vinegar will do, but the raspberry is incredible) 1/2 teaspoon of sugar if you wish. It is best if it is made a few hours before, and it keeps for a few days in the fridge, the raisins just get softer. I'd make more of the dressing stuff and add the cooked pasta.

I am not sure exactly what "half and half" is - but any sort of milk plus gorgeous eggs = some sort of custard thing - either sweet or savoury. Or creamy soup with the "milk"? [someone please explain "half and half". Oh! our several countries divided by an uncommon culinary language ...]

How about pasta with a quick putanesca-style sauce with onion, garlic, chillies, canned tomatoes, capers and olives, all from the pantry. A major find from the depths of my freezer was a single piece of blue-eye cod - I think it got there when I bought it for myself when my husband was away, and then friends invited me over for dinner, so I stuck it in there. It seems a terrible thing to do with such a beautiful piece of fish, but I'm going to make Thai fish cakes with it, to serve two of us, along with perhaps a couple of big prawns, some Thai-style dipping sauce and a big salad.

But, is it fair to feed children something we wouldn't eat ourselves? Does it represent child cruelty? "Wont eat it! Want your creme caramel!" I hear them cry. Or is creme caramel retro now? It has also been on every menu for the last 10 years - and I'd choose it over bread pudding anyday - even with marmalade and whisky in it, or whatever the current bread-pud flavouring is. Blancmange is so retro it dates back to at least the fourteenth century - and had chicken and ground almonds in it - so retro in fact that it would be positively amazing and innovative if it was on the menu at one of the cutting-edge restaurants now.

When did bacon-wrapping go "out" and prosciutto-wrapping come "in" ?

Thankyou Thankyou Toliver! I should have known that there would be an eGullet thread on this somewhere! I made this years ago, and kept it for years, but it got reluctantly thrown out when we moved house, and I have been meaning to re-start it. Now I have no excuse. I am loving e-Gullet. I think I am in love with all of you.

I'm from a British background too (a Yorkshire lass); toad in the hole is not retro to me either; tapioca is retro and will stay that way ("frog spawn" we called it as kids); finnan haddie - just simply stick in some milk and poach is minimalist and probably best, but then there is using it in kedgeree - very retro, that!

Pickled cabbage! I haven't made that - or eaten it elsewhere - for years! I love it.

Toad-in-the-hole? Tapioca pudding? (YUK!) Smoke haddock poached in milk?

I love quotations almost as much as I love leftovers, but I had NOT heard that one before, so thankyou mizducky, it has been added to my collection, so dont be surprised if you see it in an Old Foodie posting sometime! There is another one (Calvin Trillin??) - said his mother always served leftovers, but the original meal had never been found. Kinda like the perpetual stock pot on the back of the stove, or that Chinese marinade/sauce thing that is re-used and re-used for years.

You HATE leftovers! I am rendered speechless. Aren't they the main reason for cooking?? What do you have for breakfast? lunch? I am so stunned I am rendered speechless, or writer-less - which is why I had to edit this post - I was so stunned I posted it as soon as I had edited the quote, before I even added anything. Are there any other leftover lovers out there?

I dont throw the skin away either, for the same reason (I'm VERY stingy with anything that has a lot of flavour, even if it is a miniscule quantity - does that make me a Flavour Miser?). When the stock is cooled in the fridge you can lift the block of fat off, leaving the flavour behind.

somewhere i have a recipe for a chocolate zucchini bread and one of my former employees used to make what she called martian cookies - chocolate chip and M&M zucchini cookies... must see if i can find those recipes ← Is this a good idea for a separate thread? "Vege Cakes"? Maybe someone should start this [not me, I'm off to work now and in any case my computer is being taken away for 24 hours (Horror!) for a grease-and-overhall.] How about you, suzilightning? Anyone with a recipe for cookies containing M&Ms AND zucchini should have that honour!

I seem to remember some cakes containing veges. I once made a zucchini cake when my daughter was little, and going through a wont-eat-veges-phase. Silly me! I didn't peel them before I grated them, and she took one look at the "green bits", gave me one of her killer looks, and refused it. There is carrot cake of course, and I know I've made a chocolate beetroot cake.

Hello Sally - my blogging friend, it is good to have you here. You have given us all a good challenge. I am going to plumb the depths of my freezer for certain.

I think that the human race would have died out long since, if we were all that fragile. There are certainly some things that are risky, like home-canning of beans (does risk botulism), but high sugar things like jams are Ok and high acid things like tomatoes. Anything with a lot of salt or sugar is Ok. What people dont realise is that only certain bacteria are bad - most are harmless (and many are helpful) . One of the theories about the increased incidence of asthma, for example, is the "hygiene hypothesis" - that is, that we are so neurotic about bacteria that we keep our kids so scrupulously clean and never allow them to get dirty that their immune system does not get challenged enough, and goes slightly haywire. I dont know about the mould/invert the lids thing - but I do know that jam mould is totally harmless to humans. I suspect that a very clean home-kitchen approach to cooking, especially clean hands to handle food, results in a "cleaner" product than some commercial kitchens!