Chelseabun
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Posts posted by Chelseabun
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If you visit the Vitamix website they have an extensive listing of recipes. It appears to be the on-line version of the Recipe Book that came with my machine. There are recipes for things like brown rice pie crust; apricot breakfast bread, etc. I would be comfortable using their tested recipes for doughs.
Just had a look at: https://www.vitamix.com/Find-Recipes/P/I/Pizza
Their pizza dough recipe looks good actually. Notice they only pulse the blender when mixing the dough though. Seriously, i am going to try this because that photo of the pizza looks just so good!
Is nobody going to mention 'will it blend' on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnFP0IU4gpnmcLnVzDLUtfw)? - Mostly, their use of the blender is not culinary but it think they (famously) did a roast chicken with cola and also the big mac meal smoothie?
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It is possible to mix dough in a blender though it will put strain on the blender so is not recommended. But if you don't mind risking your blender, it has some advantages (such as time saving and being able to use low protein flour).
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Chelseabun: That's some great-looking dough you've got there, congratulations! Now that you've mastered the dough, next up is pulling technique.
Alternate your twirling between clockwise and counterclockwise, it makes for naturally longer strands. To understand why, take a piece of string and twist it until it naturally twists into itself. If you now want to repeat this for the twisted piece of string, you'll find that you'll have to twist the piece of string in the opposite direction. It's the same with noodles.
I think it was back in May 2013 that I posted some notes on pulling technique, along with a number of videos - have a read and a watch. You're doing great. Dust your noodles between stretches and you'll be enjoying a plateful soon!
Hi Kleinebre,
Many thanks. I would not say that i have mastered the dough exactly. letting my bread machine do the kneading has been a great help and using only small quantities has helped too. I am now able to work on my noodle pulling technique though and it has been an achievement (of sorts) to get that far. Yes, i will read over the older posts. your posts were excellent.
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dcarch: to be fair, I did say that I did not pull noodles on this occasion. however, I did extrude them through my (hand) noodle press. they have been blanched and seasoned with Worcestershire sauce and a few drops of hot sauce.
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I have made up a dough using Andrew Wong's recipe from his blog (as above). I used my usual strong bread flour mixed with plain flour. An egg is incorporated as a dough improver (instead of the harsh chemicals). It was kneaded in my bread machine before resting for a couple of hours. This produced a workable dough (please see videos below). I now have a dough that I can use for practicing my noodle pulling technique. On this occasion, I did not pull noodles but it was close enough that with practice, I should be pulling noodles.
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This is a link to another version of the Andrew Wong blog
http://www.noodlepulling.blogspot.co.uk/
If you scroll down to the blog on 28 February, Andrew gives a noodle dough recipe that uses an egg to provide the alkali content.
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My local Morrison's is rather confused at present. The misting devices are just a distraction and seem unhygeinic, but they still have proper chillis, root veg etc. The butchger's id s OK by UK supermarket standards- you can get pork cheek, ox tail, lamb shanks, duck and so on.The wine selection's gone downhill. The fish section's still more interesting than Tesco or Sainsbury's- octopus, squid, mackerel. The mega Tesco a little further away has a much better choice of ethnic foods (Japanese, SE Asian, Indian, Caribbean, Polski...) I can't really champion it as well as I hoped a couple of years ago.
(Wine selection's terrible in Tesco too now- it's all Tesco Finest!)
Thats interesting because i pretty much agree with that. If you have noticed it and i have noticed it, why cant they?
If i could make some changes, the first thing i would do is stop that mist nonsense. I would look at it's (morrisons) strengths such as the fish and butchers and strengthen them. I would reduce the range of the alchohol but make what is offered better. I would also make sure that the usual brands that people buy are stocked and boost the range of 'ethnic' and exotic groceries and vegetables. I cant always guarantee that i can buy corriander for goodness sakes!
Lastly but most importantly, i would get them to focus on customer service. It shouldnt be 'them and us'. they should listen to their customers. Just my opinion!
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Frankly, if it comes right down to it, I am a heck of a lot more concerned with SICK employees coming to work and handling and serving food because they are in jobs where the employers ABSOLUTELY REFUSE TO ALLOW SICK DAYS OFF WITH PAY and they can't afford to miss work and lose pay.
Anybody who is seriously concerned with this issue should probably consider not eating in restaurants. I'm pretty sure what you're describing is the reality in the vast majority of restaurants in North America (and maybe elsewhere but I've never worked in restaurants outside of North America so I don't know). I'm not saying it should be... but it is.
Hi, we all take risks on a daily basis. Food hygiene is about assessing and managing those risks. I love cooking and baking at home so never eating out wouldnt worry me but sometimes its just a pleasure to eat out. Food is big business and its a problem for legislators to get it right. If they tighten up enforcement or legislation, they get slated from the food industry for 'over budernsome legislation'. If they are too light with legislation, we get a food scare or food poisening outbreak that destroys confidence and damages food business too. Its difficult to live life by avoiding restuarants completely - and what about processed food? do we avoid that too for the same reasons?
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Frankly, if it comes right down to it, I am a heck of a lot more concerned with SICK employees coming to work and handling and serving food because they are in jobs where the employers ABSOLUTELY REFUSE TO ALLOW SICK DAYS OFF WITH PAY and they can't afford to miss work and lose pay.
A friend whose son works at a big chain, mid-range, restaurant, said that she had to take his keys away from him when he was so ill with the flu he could barely stand - because his manager phoned and told him if he didn't get his ass in to work he wouldn't have a job.
He was off work a week and several other employees were also off sick, none got paid but they also did not lose their jobs. Possibly because an L.A. County Health dept. rep. went in (following an anonymous tip) and spoke to the manager and warned him they would lose their "A" rating if patrons became ill because they allowed sick workers in the place.
We had a well known restaurant in the UK owned by a TV chef where about 30 or so customers contracted Norovirus (very forceful vomiting and diarrhoea) - for similar reasons that you have mentioned (staff coming into work when they should stay at home). The norovirus (as are many viruses) is spread by the 'oral-faecal' route, so bascically not washing your hands from the toilet / bathroom. Would wearing single use gloves assist in reducing the spread of such viruses? - maybe. Is it worth the legislation (on hygiene grounds)? possibly not. Judging food hygiene from a customer prospective alone is very difficult, we need the legislation (and enforcement) so we can have confidence in our food.
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In part, this law was in response to the filthy, lazy habits of SOME food workers who were OBSERVED by undercover investigators and independent news reporters performing tasks in a most unsanitary way.
If the industry will not or can not police itself, then it leaves it up to government to pass laws to make it mandatory.
If the people objecting (those who use exemplary hygiene methods) were to see what goes on in some places, they too would be disgusted.
Frankly, I don't know why they are complaining. I've been using gloves for many years - I did so when I was doing some part-time catering and I've always worn gloves in my own kitchen when handling messy stuff because it is a hell of a lot easier to rip off a glove to answer the phone than try to clean up the phone later.
I wear gloves handling raw meat and poultry because a friend - who owns a small bakery/cafe - got a serious infection in one hand last year from a pathogen that the doctor opined got into his hand via a hangnail lesion. The infection was so bad he had to have IV antibiotics and it was touch and go if he would lose the finger. He always used gloves to handle cooked things, ready to serve and when plating but this was just from taking a pork roast from a package, rubbing it with spices and tying it up and putting it into a roasting pan. After which he washed and dried his hands. He woke up the next morning with swelling and pain in the finger. As soon as he saw the doctor, he went to the shop, retrieved the package that held the pork and the pathogen - usually quite innocuous, was identified so they could get him on the correct antibiotic.
In this case, gloves would have protected the chef because proper cooking totally eliminates the pathogen so it would not affect customers.
I wear gloves when mixing meatloaf by hand and I have always worn them when working with bread or pastry dough - because there seems to be a RULE that as soon as I get into a really sticky or buttery dough, the phone will ring and pulling off a glove to answer the phone is much quicker than trying to clean dough off a hand and certainly much easier than chiseling dried dough off a handset.
I buy the Nitrile gloves from Smart & Final, when I am down that way or from Amazon and they are tough, strong and fit perfectly on my rather large hands.
A local independent Mexican restaurant has all its people behind the counter wearing gloves and they change them often. The place is always packed at the customers are of all ethnic groups. The owner says he thinks customers appreciate cleanliness and he makes it a rule that employees have to adhere to his rules - and he has been doing this since the place opened six or seven years ago.
I think the issue (judging from the above comments) is whether this is necessary legislation and if it is placing a burden on businesses that might already be struggling given the econimic climate? Surely, food handlers wearing gloves still need to wash their hands (with the gloves on or put on a fresh pair of gloves) just the same as someone not wearing gloves? As per my previous post, food hygiene regulation is important with regards to consumer confidence (and is therefore economically important) and for me this legislation may make sense from that perspective (but not necessarily from a food hygiene perspective).
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Since i last posted on this topic, my local branch had a refit. I'm not sure it has improved though. I have given up on it and shop at Sainsbury's now. They ended a number of products i really like. Basically, i had no choice but to shop elsewhere to get what i wanted. The customer service in Morrisons can be variable too. The mist over the vegetables is baffling.
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A pub near to me does not serve food at all. The only type of food available are packets of crisps. The council has rated it a 1 presumably due to it not selling food. When the landlady complained to the council, they relented and gave it a 3 due to it being the average score. By the way, the pub is always spotless!
You have picked up on an anomaly in the rating system. It is very difficult for food EHOs to rate pubs that just sell crisps etc and you will find a wide variance in how they rate them. Basically 3 stars = compliant. So, giving the pub one star is a bit harsh to say the least and some local authorities give them 5 stars. however, it is very difficult to apply the rating system to them.
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If you are looking for videos of lamian being made, then you might also like to try Youku http://www.youku.com/
If you put in the chineese for 'hand ramen' 手拉面 you should get lots of videos. Heres an example:
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjUwNTkyMzcy.html
Going further, Kleinebre in previous posts above used google translate to make searches in chinese. I looked up flour using that method too. Surprise surprise i found that the chinese flour i looked at specifically for lamian contained bleach. I only looked at a small sample though.
As another example, i put into google the translated chinese for lamian and flour (together). This was one of the results:
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4898a4880100l2j4.html (you can select for translation)
This is interesting as they use a different method of hand pulling noodles (have come across this before) whereby the dough is cut into strips first but is then pulled as normal.
Happy searching!
Eat More Noodles!
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Gloves on their hands?
Seems to me that some people have way too much time on their hands. And do nothing but sit around and come up with ways to interfere in everyone's life.
Dear Lord, from these arrogant, know-it-all, do-gooder meddlers please deliver me.
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+10. When California is having its state pension money stolen by bankstahs, or getting ripped off for billions in energy costs by the former crooks at Enron (rolling blackouts, too, as I recall!), or teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, does anyone in its electorate or government ever look at saving the money wasted on stupid crap like this as a way to balance the budget? They saved an imperiled populace from eating politically incorrect foie gras a while back, but could not seem to do anything about the Bittman bacterial chickens that were attempting to kill people a while back, as I recall...
Food law generally works in favour of your economy because it means other countries can be confident in your food exports (being produced to a safe standard). In my oppinion one of the best single contributions the U.S. had made to the world was the development of HACCP. Think how many millions if not billions of people have been saved from food poisening and how standardised global food hygiene based on HACCP has boosted food business globally. Consumers need to be confident in the safety of their food. Just look at China and the problems they faced with milk contamination. Your politicians are only doing what they think is in the best interest. The single use glove law might not achievev its objective however.
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I lived in Glasgow for about ten years. I don't know if this helps but not everybody in Glasgow was into single malts. The blended Scotch was probably more popular. However, of those people I knew who did drink single malts, Highland Park was probably the best regarded. Outside of Scotland, it seems to be less regarded. But I would say you have started with a very good single malt which you might even not better (but that is definitely down to personal taste). We had a local pub that was famous for its very wide range of single malts, so you could go in and order a glass to try it.
Just to mention for interest, I lived opposite the Port Dundas distillery (said to be the largest whisky distillery. It had a very distinctive aroma. I used to walk past it everyday on my way into the city centre. Happy days back then!
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I am not sure about this single use glove law. From a UK perspective it doesn't sound like it will have the result that the law makers think it will have. Sometimes law makers pass laws because they want to improve confidence in food hygiene but requiring food handlers to wear gloves might not actually make much (if any difference). Getting food operators to wash their hands is the point regardless of if they are wearing gloves or not.
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Sub; the video you uploaded on post 182 is really cool too. theres many many vedeos on youtube of noodle pulling but they are mainly videos shot on camera phones etc
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Hi Sub,
I have a cupboard full of flour left over from my noodling attempts. i have just checked and i have an opened bag of 'speciality' pizza flour (it says grade 0). I dont remember using it or what the results where but i obviously did. i would have to check my notes that i made at the time. thanks for your suggestion, i have just looked online and it appears Caputo (blue) is available online in 25kg bags in the UK. It highlights how elastic the dough made from it is, so that is definately worth a try. The other brands may be available here too, i will look. i might even look into obtaining the lye. i dont mind using it experimentally i.e. if i can get a recipe working with it, then work out how to get the same or similar results without it.
The Bosch MUM mixer looks really cool. I had never seen them before looking them up just now. I have a 'Kenwood Chef' which is similar to the US 'Kitchen Aid'. Mine is from the 1960's and is still a solid working mixer. Going from what i read on the Mr Wong blog, 25 minutes in a stand mixer sounds right (with an appropriate length rest). I am definately going to be trying this.
The dough working technique and noodle pulling technique does seem to be very important too (as above) and i thought Mr Wong explained it very well on the video. Look how he uses the 'V' shaped 'kneading'. I think the video has been edited a lot too but there is enough there for me to improve on what i have been doing so far.
Some of the noodle doughs i made were stretchable too. But not as stretchable as they needed to be. Please see some of the videos i posted earlier (back on page 6). You can see that i am not far away. I was using if i remember correctly 10% protien 'bread' flour blended (wtih water) in my food processor for 3 to 4 minutes to form a dough, then worked by hand to make it stretchable. I have more to do on this but i am happy that i am heading in the right direction.
Many thanks
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Hi Sub,
Many thanks. Cee Cee also posted a link to this video (post 175). It is very very good. I read mr Wong's blog too. That is why i will be using a stand mixer next time (as above). I spoke to my local Miller (we have a working windmill nearby) and he said to rest the dough. This concurs with mr Wong's blog. Klienebre (previous posts) deleloped the dough by resting too. if you read the previous posts, he put quite a lot of effort into it and obtained edible hand pulled noodles! Some of my attempts received rests (sometimes very long rests unintentionally!). I would say it makes a difference too. In his blog, mr wong also says they use a different recipe. I cant remember what it was exactly but i remember it was more than just flour and water - i think he could have been advocating using some semolina in the recipe but to be honest cant quite remember so i stand to be corrected.
Keep calm and make more Noodles!
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Hi Dcarch,
Agree totally. If you remember, I posted some videos of my technique. it was poor to say the least but I was improving. Agree with the protein comment as well. I tried the high protein flour approach but didn't particularly have a lot of success. As above I will be trying again but later in the year. Next time I will use lower protein flour and try some new ideas as well.
Remember, practice makes perfect (noodles)!
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Sub: Many thanks for posting the 'on food and cooking' extract. I do not have a copy and many people believe this book to be excellent. There may be a clue in this extract. For Asian wheat noodles it says they use flour which is (develops) weak in gluten (low protein?) and amylopectin rich.
I am not able to do any 'noodling' for a while but will try out some new things when I eventually get back to it and I will keep you all posted. Many thanks to everybody who has contributed to this topic. One request though please, can we have some videos of you all making hand pulled noodles?
Best Regards and keep noodling!
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Ader1 post 178:
I agree. As stated above, Kleinaber visited a London restaurant making hand pulled noodles and found out the brand name of the flour. I looked it up and found it was from a UK flour supplier. However, it was specifically labelled as being for making hand pulled noodles. I don't know if this means it had additives or was otherwise processed to give suitable qualities.
Keep Calm and carry on making noodles!
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Sub: Sodium Carbonate = Washing Soda!
I use Sodium Carbonate in my photography processing. Here is what is says on the packet of washing soda;
"Causes serious eye irritation, wash hands thoroughly after handling. Wear protective gloves / protective clothing / eye protection / face protection".
This does not sound like a very good food additive does it? Same goes for Potassium Carbonate. Furthermore, when I have used them, the dough has a 'chemical' feel and aroma to it. It was not 'appetising'.
I realise it is tempting to use highly processed flour and food additives such as sodium carbonate (which is a very common additive). Bleached flour is not available in the UK and I have been merely trying to find a way to make lamien hand pulled noodles without it because I can not regularly buy it. However, seeing that I am not using bleached flour, it makes sense not to use the other additive ingredients too.
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Takadi: Yes, many US recipes advocate the use of 'cake flour'. However, please note that cake flour has been bleached. Yes, this is as it sounds. For health reasons, it is prohibited in Europe. I did manage to obtain some bleached 'general purpose' flour and it certainly does have very different properties from unbleached flour. Also, the aroma is 'correct'. It smells just like ramen when worked into noodles. However, would you seriously want to eat noodles made from bleached flour? I would advocate using unbleached flour. The same goes for the other additives (please see my posts above). If the additive is normally used for cleaning drains or has been noted as 'highly corrosive', I choose not to add it to my noodles.
Keep on 'noodling' folks!
What tools can a high-powered blender (Vita-Mix, Blendtec) replace
in Kitchen Consumer
Posted
I think a general plethora of electrical kitchen tools is pretty much unavoidable. It is a nuisance storing everything though. My storage space is so limited but I have a love of kitchen gadgets. I have gone the route of using only a small blender and in the past, I used a stick blender only. So probably it might be better to have a stick blender to replace the vitamix/blendtech than the other way around.