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jackal10

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  1. jackal10

    leftover morbier

    Freeze it or Egg and breadcrumb and deep fry or just eat it. It will keep for quite a while in tupperware in the fridge. Let it warm up befoe eating.
  2. jackal10

    Confit oil...

    Fat is not entirely dry, so you will get some salt in it. However if you are re-using it for confit it shouldn't matter. Eventually it will oxidise and develop off tastes, but if it tastes OK, then go for it. I like it spread on toast and sprinkled with coarse salt, but alas toast and dripping are now non-PC according to the food police. Great for frying or roasting potatoes as well.
  3. The point I was originally trying to make is that food has indeed for some, in western secular society, replaced religion, and many of the structures (in some case literal buildings), societal myths, fanaticism, received beliefs and energy apply to food as they did formerly to religion.
  4. Dammit I'm going to have to get and read Iggers... Pzrt of this is the search for certainty. Its one of the things that drives religion, but also drives "expert" books, sex and DIY manuals, and programs like Julia. If Julia says it must be so, then so it must be, Maybe the schism is between free thinkers and those who need to be told. If the minister likes chicken soup casseroles, then that is a driving factor, A pity, since the church (and no doubt other religions) used to have a fine food tradition. A religion that invented Benedictine and Chartreuse can't be wholly bad.
  5. Rote grutze Rumtopf
  6. It never tastes quite as good next day. The important thing is not to overheat it. Putting it back in a very low oven works but takes a long time, like several hours, or back in a sous vide cooker. If I want a few slices for a sandwich I also microwave them on a glass plate. I nuke em for 30 seconds on high - just enought to take the chill off. I think they eat much better warm rather than cold. Editie to add. If I have rare roast beef left over in any quantity, I use it as the basis for a different dish, such as a beef stew (daube), or minced and used in cottage pie or bolognaise, or curry or any number of other possibilities.
  7. Enough chaos. Time to get organised. I need to get my cellar stock keeping organised. What software do you reccomend, or should I just use pen and paper? I would like: Track a few thousand bottles Record all the usual stuff (purchase, use, etc) Record guests/menus Linked to a database of appelations etc, and to ratings such as Parker, Winespectator, Bradley etc with automatic updates. Doing a quick web search for "cellar software" comes up with 12000 odd links! Help! Robert Parker's Wine Advisor & Cellar Manager is no longer available, although perversely the updates to the database are. What do you use and would reccomend?
  8. I should have said that cooking the Yorkie in drippings was the original way, but it assumes the drip tray is as hot as an oven, which it may have been if roasting on a traditional fire (the drip tray is in front of the fire screen), but not with modern rotisseries.
  9. You bet! Especially if they have an onion in them... (I'd still make the Yorkshire in the oven)
  10. I used to have this problem. I was given some of these: http://www.scaritech.com/viewarticle.php?&...=&tarif=&page=1 (imagine, a company that just makes lames!) and magic, no dragging
  11. Other uses: Firelighting - I use it to light the gas, the wood fired oven etc Releasing mousses etc from metal rings
  12. We need pictures, both of the van and close-ups of the ices... I do hope you have waffle cones and also chocolate flakes...
  13. Food gives purpose (where and what is the next meal), and sustenance to life, and the pursuit of food has shaped mankind. Arguably the pursuit of enough food and drink to survive, (in developed society in the form of money or power) provides meaning and motivation. As for the physical and metaphysical nature of our existance some argue that the discovery of cooking was the key, which in turn allowed the utilisation of of a wider range of foods, discover agriculture, and allowed mankind to evolve to be the dominant species. Hope for an afterlife? Some live on in the dishes they discovered or were named after them. More prosaically, my atoms will be recyled and eaten by other organisms.
  14. I had in mind the way some people make food (and the next grand meal) the centre of thir lives. Some derive comfort from it; some obsess about detail, others ritualise it. Much of this, like religion, is received wisdom. We are told that X tastes better than Y, or that P is the only way of preparing Q, and mostly we accept and come to believe it and pass it on. Few test the proposition ourselves.
  15. Must be BIRD'S A while ago we did a test between a classic creme anglais and a custard powder one. Little difference, and even less with a creme pat...
  16. This is mine. Originally bought at auction in poor condition, the top has been replaced some time ago with ordinary tounge and groove floorboards. No finish - the top gets scrubbed weekly, and it seems t take everything thrown at it. Stains just vanish after a few weeks. Wood is a natural bactericide. Its the hub of the house. We cook on it, work on it, entertain round it - if really formal throw a cloth over it. It seats 8 comfortably Its about 3ft 6inches by 7ft. The side table you can just see I gought from a builders merchant when they were modernising. Its beech, Cerrently it has the kitchen TV and piles of old magazines and stuff on it.
  17. On the Kosher Questions thread, I said So, at the risk of offending several sacred cows (or perhaps in order to) here is the seperate thread. Its about irrational food beliefs, and the way some elevate food to religion rather than the foods of any particular religion; maybe its also about the the human need for received beliefs, either as religion or food (this is not just any burger, but a 100% Angus burger etc as one current advert has it), and how this need can be, and is exploited
  18. I was trying to make the not very good point, and maybe start a discussion that foodies subscribe to a set of beliefs (fresh = good, manufactured=bad; foam = good, starch based sauces= bad) that are in their way just as irrational and received belief based as any religion. They go to temples (called restaurants) to worship, and listen to prophets (media chefs), to have their beliefs re-inforced...There are sacred rituals (decanting wine with a candle, for example), and special festivals ( first seasonal foods and drinks) Maybe this should be a seperate thread, if anyone wants to take it up
  19. Yes it does make a nice icecream, either plain or as a ripple (sieve first) For the jams: Jam tarts Jammy dodgers (biscuits with a jam centre) Jam in donuts PBJ sandwich Coulis Other ways of preserving: dried, fruit leathers, candied, IQF (individually quick frozen) Rumtopf (fruits in spirit) I've stopped. I still get the urge, but then I look at the preserves cupboard, still groaning from last years...
  20. Depends entirely on how orthodox your guests are. The ultra-orthodox will insist the foods are in their original packaging, as your plates and cutlery may not have been ritually cleaned after touching non-kosher food; cups and glasses may be a problem. I guess you could use disposables. Those subscribing to the foodie religion will frown on the non-dairy creamer, prefering fresh milk or cream...
  21. The bottom oven of a four oven AGA sits at about 60C, which I find ideal for LTLT cooking at home. I've also seen recently a flyer about a water bath manufacturere specialising in water baths for the food and catering industry, but I can't find it. I'm surprised restaurant supply houses are not beginning to stock them.
  22. jackal10

    Summer Pudding

    That looks a mighty fine pudding! Love the cinnamon mascarpone
  23. Any other fortified wine, such as a sweetish sherry, or even Mirin. You could always enjoy the rest of the bottle of port yourself, maybe with some blue cheese...
  24. The best source, albeit somewhat cryptic are the tables in the chapter on "Fruit Ices, Cold and Calculated" in Harold McGee's "The Curious Cook" (not the big masterwork "On Food and Cooking" 2nd Edition). From the table on "Sweet Water Ices" 1 1/2 cups water 2 tbs lemon juice 1 tsp of good vanilla essence or scrapings from 2 vanills pods to taste. 14 tbs sugar (yes, fourteen tablespoons) Boil together, let cool, churn/freeze, , Hal notes that this proportion can be used for coffee, tea, herbs etc. The lemon juice can be omitted or increased to 1/2 cup for a lemon sorbet, in which case reduce the water so the total added liquid is 1 1/2 cups
  25. http://www.sfbi.com/baking_supplies.html
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