Anna N

I love reading cookbook lists and this one especially appeals to me. Most of the books will be familiar to eG members. Some will no doubt strike you as odd choices for beginning cooks. But it would be hard to complain about the variety that covers everything from Martha Stewart to Delia Smith; from Vegetarian Indian cooking to South American fire masters. Click.

Happy birthday Shelby! I always have to do the math to figure out my age. And my Gran’s response if you asked how old she was? “I am as old as my tongue and a little bit older than my teeth!”

This morning when the toast I did in my recently purchased Breville Smart Oven, came out with only one side toasted and the other side completely untouched, I fought back tears. So upset was I that I buttered the toast and ate it while I screwed up the courage to find out if my oven was FUBAR. Hours later when I thought my heart could withstand the shock, I decided to try it on bake function at 425° and watch carefully for the bottom element to turn red. As I twisted the dial I caught a quick glimpse of where the indicator was on the function list. Dagnab Somehow I had managed to put it on bagel instead of toast. It heated perfectly to 425°F with all systems go. The oven might be Smart, the operator not so much.

I was only trying to answer the question as to its existence. It is not something I am likely to purchase from Amazon but the next time someone is in Denninger ‘s, for example, I will ask them to see if they can spot the low sodium version. I will also ask them if they can get a price. It certainly is not available everywhere even in the regular versions.

Well you all got me on the Tim Tams. I know I have had them before but I didn’t think for one minute I would be able to find them here. But my daughter was going grocery shopping for me and I asked for some cookies. I did a quick search on the Superstore site and lo and behold: Edited to add: but no Digestives 😥.

Over to you @Kerry Beal.

Yup. I can find it on amazon.ca.

Given her workload at the moment almost any bar would do. I’m thinking her local Joe Doggs might meet the need😂.

Quite, quite jealous. Looks delicious.

I am not really sure why this pie, staring up at me from my freezer drawer, has been calling out to me for days. Chicken pot pie is just not anything that I can really relate to. It has no place in my childhood and I am not even sure if I have ever eaten one before. I am somewhat familiar with chicken à la King served in a vol-au-vent. So a few days ago I caved. I have serious doubts that chicken pot pie is truly a British “thing“. I should ask my sister the next time we speak. Out of the freezer. Out of the oven. Broken into. I think I had a bit too much invested in the idea of this pie to ever be satisfied with the reality of it. It was OK. I just didn’t feel the love. Perhaps I need to sample @kayb‘s or @Norm Matthews’ or the versions of dozens of other people who seem to have mastered the art here on eGullet.

It is a good thing that both @Kerry Bealand I enjoy the food from my local Vietnamese joint. With COVID-19 restrictions our choices have been somewhat circumscribed to say the least. So bear with us if we seem to be a bit repetitive in our choices. Kerry managed to carve a couple of hours out of her very busy work week to grab some lunch and bring it over to my house to relieve my lock down boredom. We each ordered a Bahn mi and the delightful restaurant owner clearly took the important step of identifying which was which! Banh mi carefully wrapped and labelled. Kerry’s “Triple B Meatball” banh mi. Described in the menu as homemade juicy pork meatballs with fresh basil. In cross section. (Knowing that she could never eat all of this, Kerry sliced it in half I can enjoy the other half later!) I briefly debated ordering something different on this occasion but could not get my head to consider anything other than my favourite “The Grilled Pork Wreck”. I was able to eat less than half of this so again I have food for later.

Yes I added the gravy myself. Even if there were no kidney physically present in a steak and kidney pie the flavour should still be there if indeed the kidney had been cooked with the beef.

I like the onion flavoured best and it can certainly be boosted with a little caramelized onion of your own making. I have not tried the chicken version and I understand from my sister in England that there is a vegetarian version also.

Today’s pie is from Leylands in Waterdown. All their baked goods are brought in from outside as far as I can determine. They do not bake on site. @Kerry Bealattempted to find out where the steak and kidney pie may have originated and suspects it might’ve been in St Catherine’s. Click. out of my freezer. l out of the oven broken into Covered with onion gravy. The plate is clean. Well the first thing I can tell you about this steak and kidney pie is that not a single kidney was harmed in its making. I could not detect any physical evidence of kidney nor even the hint of the flavour of kidney. The beef was tender and quite flavourful and the crust was very satisfactory. I sometimes wonder if these things get mis-labelled.

For a gravy mix it is good. If you can make your own gravy then you will blow it away. It simply cannot measure up to homemade gravy. It works for me but I would never try to persuade anyone that it is as good as or better than what can be made from scratch.

If you caramelize an onion or two and add to the onion gravy, you will be in for quite a treat

I love a good Digestive. I especially love a good digestive dunked. I like them plain. I like them dipped in dark chocolate. I like them dipped in milk chocolate. I like McVities.

OK I am going to call foul. I am so disappointed. Chocolate sauce it’s just chocolate sauce. I was hoping for a revelation. Not your fault. I appreciate that you took the time to respond and post a link.

Do tell! Is it like a mole?

Simple noodles.

I like my homemade cookies best frozen but I have never frozen commercial cookies.

Bourbon creams! So addictive.

I don’t think this is necessarily true. I am sure we can get warm pies. We have a logistical problem only made worse by the Covid virus. Being extremely vulnerable I am in lockdown so it is necessary for Kerry to acquire the goodies and bring them back to my house. Since she can’t be running after me all day, every day, she buys a bunch and many of them end up in my freezer. Your offering looks good.

They look amazing and I bet you they taste amazing. Thank you for sharing.

I really wanted to love this pie. Out of my freezer. Out of the oven. The innards. When a pie is labelled steak and onion I want there to be no doubt about the onion part. This definitely had onions just not nearly enough. The beef was just a little on tougher side but not inedible. It was not so bad that I needed to drown it in gravy but it’s gravy, eh? Sometimes the pie becomes the supporting beam for the gravy and not the other way around. I liked the crust. It was not soggy even with the gravy but neither was it hard and brittle. I would definitely eat another one but if I found a steak and onion pie elsewhere that was better then I would abandon this one.