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thampik

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    BBC's recipe archive being taken offline

    in United Kingdom & Ireland: Cooking & Baking

    Posted

    The BBC has announced far reaching cuts in order to make the cost savings ordered by the Government. The BBC website is a key target and a range of areas such as travel and food will be hard hit. BBC Food's vast library of over 11,000 recipes is going to be culled.

    This is a much loved and used website and a precious resource for people across the country providing easy, free and importantly independent information on a vast range of foods and recipe options. The database provides inspiration for those with a few ingredients to come up with meal ideas and cook from scratch.
     

    Surely it is madness to remove such a comprehensive archive which has taken years to create, not to mention time and money. Whilst maintaining and developing it undoubtedly takes investment, simply retaining the archive in its current form is surely not an overly expensive task, especially measured against the meagre cost savings and the loss to the community, as evidenced by the outcry on social media.

    We plead with the BBC to keep the recipes and find cost savings elsewhere.

     

    https://www.change.org/p/bbc-save-the-bbc-s-recipe-archive?recruiter=543074450&utm_source=petitions_show_components_action_panel_wrapper&utm_medium=copylink

     

    • Like 1

    Cocktails with Raw Egg Whites

    in Spirits & Cocktails

    Posted

    Interesting article on this subject on the BBC website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24346381) generally agreeing that there is low risk in using raw eggs.

    What actually caught my eye was this

    Alessandro Palazzi, head barman at the Dukes Bar in London, says there is no need to use eggs in cocktails at all. Palazzi avoids them, even with classic concoctions.

    "Raw eggs were used in the old days to make classics like the whisky sour, but a lot of people don't use them now, including us. It's a lazy thing to do - like a chef adding flour to a sauce to make it thicker."

    He says a good barman can create classic cocktails without using eggs at all.

    "The only difference is the longevity of the froth. If you know how to shake a cocktail properly and use the right ingredients you can create the same effect."

    In the old days bar staff used more basic ingredients. "They make drinks slimy and too thick. I think some people use them to hide the taste of cheap, bad ingredients."

    I have to say I agree re: the taste imparted to a cocktail - I do not like it either.

    Perhaps others can comment whether raw egg is an essential element that cannot be compensated for by the technique referred above...any idea as to what that is?

    Your favorite UK food critic

    in Food Media & Arts

    Posted

    A couple of recent Guardian reviews reminded me why I generally enjoy reading Mr Rayner. With him, the reader usually gets a sense of the excitement and enjoyment when an experience is good (http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/sep/15/le-manoir-aux-quat-saisons-restaurant-review) and a sense of genuine disappointment when it is poor (http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/sep/22/leon-de-bruxelles-restaurant-review).

    Favorite Food and Drink Apps

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted · Edited by thampik (log)

    I have used InMyBar on my iPad for a while now and find that it does most things that I need from a cocktail app. From your description, it may be a good fit for you as well.

    Some things that I find useful

    • A reasonably comprehensive ingredient list to which you can easily add new ones. You can mark those that you have in your bar or define and add new ones
    • A number of pre-defined cocktail recipes. I am not too bothered by the recipes themselves as I usually modify them to suit me - here the ability within the app to clone an existing drinks recipe comes in handy. You can also create new cocktails
    • Certain drinks can be marked as favourites and accessed easily - I tend to use this a lot when I am wondering what to make
    • You can identify what ingredients are missing for any of your favourite cocktails for the next shopping trip
    • Identify all the cocktails you can make from the available ingredients in your bar

    Unfortunately they do not have an Android version of InMyBar. There does not appear to any similar Android app on Google Play - so if anyone has any recommendations I would be interested to hear.

    (for the sake of clarity, I'm just an average punter and have nothing to do with the developers of the app :wink: )

    • Like 1

    Morrisons – time to give it a try

    in United Kingdom & Ireland: Cooking & Baking

    Posted · Edited by thampik (log)

    They also seem to be trialling a different store layout from the usual - I recently (briefly) stopped at the Aldershot Morrisons "Market Street" and wondered whether I had wandered into a French supermarket by mistake! There was a much wider set of produce and meat than at the usual Morrisons - lots of deli type counters, big bread selection, interesting varieties of tomatoes, beetroots, potatoes etc. Merits a full fledged shop soon...

    link : http://www.morrisons.co.uk/market-street/

    Drinks! (2013 Part 1)

    in Spirits & Cocktails

    Posted · Edited by thampik (log)

    The American Bar at the Savoy is one of my favourite places for cocktails - today I made the Malecon which is a drink created by the current head bartender, Eric Lorincz.

    50ml Bacardi Superior rum

    10ml Oloroso sherry

    3 dashes Peychauds

    2 bar spoons caster sugar

    30ml fresh lime juice

    15ml 10 year old port

    Do you taste any rum in this?

    I'm just looking at this spec and scratching my head a little. I made a stirred drink with 60ml Bacardi and just 5ml Oloroso and even then I found the rum getting bullied.

    The Malecon is basically Eric's Pioneer cocktail with sherry and Port subbed for Curaçao and Swedish Punsch, presumably to make the drink more available and user friendly.

    I did - I have to say I really enjoyed this drink.

    The type of Oloroso used probably makes a difference? I used what I had - Gonzalez Byass Matusalem Sweet Oloroso - whereas Eric's recipe calls for Don Jose Oloroso sherry. Having googled both, I know I probably ended up with a completely different drink!

    Drinks! (2013 Part 1)

    in Spirits & Cocktails

    Posted

    The American Bar at the Savoy is one of my favourite places for cocktails - today I made the Malecon which is a drink created by the current head bartender, Eric Lorincz.

    50ml Bacardi Superior rum

    10ml Oloroso sherry

    3 dashes Peychauds

    2 bar spoons caster sugar

    30ml fresh lime juice

    15ml 10 year old port

    "The PDT Cocktail Book"

    in Spirits & Cocktails

    Posted · Edited by thampik (log)

    I made the Rattlesnake from the PDT book today and struggled to love it - mainly due to the egg white I think. I ended up with a drink that had a pretty thick layer of foam on top of it (almost a soft meringuey feel!) that gave it a wierd taste. It's not the egg per se I think, as it was fresh free range. Is that how it is meant to be?

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