[Yard Sale, Thrift Store, Junk Heap Shopping (Part 3)]

Oh, absolutely.  I’m guilty of buying things from my store simply because they sit there too long without being snapped up.

["Kitchen tools" that were intended for other uses]

I use engine degreaser spray to clean my oven.  It’s fantastic as long as you clean it off completely, and far cheaper than purpose-bought oven cleaner.

[Yard Sale, Thrift Store, Junk Heap Shopping (Part 3)]

The Lonaberger is worth about $10 on its own, but only to someone who actually knows what it is.  Right person, right day...

[Food Products That Really Suck and Should Never Be Made]

I’m hating on jarred minced garlic.  It’s in no way a good substitute for the real thing.  It’s more like pickled garlic.

[Great hard-to-find condiments]

No problem.  Keep in mind that the brand I have suggested is one of the larger producers- a great amount of Bush tucker is very artisanal and small scale.  You might be better off having a purveyor if you’re after the really good and interesting things..

[Great hard-to-find condiments]

The bush tomato sauce and the lemon Myrtle chilli are both really good and give very interesting variations on flavours you are familiar with.

[Great hard-to-find condiments]

These products are pretty good.

http://www.outbackpride.com.au/products/sauces-and-dressings

[Great hard-to-find condiments]

There are some very interesting relishes, jams and sauces made here in Australia from native ingredients (we call it bush tucker).  lemon myrtle, finger lime, quandong and samphire spring to mind, and are quite prevalent in better restaurants, although often expensive 

[Bring A Bottle of Wine To Another Couple??]

Why not a nice port?  Still a wine gift, and might go nicely with the cheese toward the end of the occasion.

[Ahh, Bisto! The Gravy Mix]

We get it quite easily in most of our supermarkets in Australia, but it’s probably because there is still a lot of convict and migrant stock amongst our population.

[Are "Aussie Bites" really an Australian thing?]

Nope.  They look like the seed bells we hang in our budgerigar cages, though.

[When do you over tip?]

On 13/03/2018 at 11:01 AM, BeeZee said:

@lindag, an educated guess would be in how the accounting is done for the restaurant...as the food/bev is one “bucket” and tips are another one that gets reported separately to the IRS as income for the server.

 

Yes, it’s for this reason.  At least, here in Australia.

At the end of shift, when you are settling the card machine, tips are shown as a seperate “pool” of transactions.  It’s done this way firstly to ensure that tips are accounted for correctly (ie: not double taxed) and secondly as a deterrent for owners to pocket the tips themselves.

There are still very dodgy practices by owners trying to get their hands on the tips, in some restaurants.

It used to be common for owners/management to rule that breakages, walk-outs or comped meals come out of tips.  This is illegal now.

 

In Australia, we have a decent living wage, and tipping is an exception rather than a rule.  Tipping is generally for excellent service or, sometimes, large groups.

When waitstaff see an American tourist come through, they will knife each other in the back to get them to their table section.

[Verjus]

and yet, you’re the one buying verjus in a can...

[Verjus]

It’s just unfermented grape juice, really, and it’s like a vinegar style.

 I really get hot under the collar when ‘celebrity’ chefs just bang on about one particular ingredient, especially when they sell it.  Balsamic does pretty much the same thing as verjus, and far cheaper.  Maggie Beer comes across as the best grandma you could ever wish for in your kitchen, but truth is, she is a hard nosed **** to work for.

[Verjus]

If you come to Australia, there is a local cook in SA called Maggie Beer who never stops shilling the damned stuff.  According to her, every single recipe in existence needs verjus.

[Mezzalunas]

I will admit that I’m also one that has used mine only once.

[Satay from scratch]

This topic interests me as well, since I’m about to introduce a satay dipping sauce to my delivery-at-home-from-scratch menu.

for those unaware, it’s basically a Meals-on-Wheels for time poor folk, without being takeaway or pizza every night.

i know my clients will be used to the generic Asian takeaway satay sauce, so they will be expecting crunchy peanuts and creamy, spicy goodness.

thanks for the above recipes, I will be kitchen testing some of those this weekend.

 

for the record - I have perfected my KFC style fried chicken just recently, and received rave reviews so it’s being incorporated into my new season menu.  Instead of partnering it up with a carb (ie: potato or rice) I’m offering it on its own with four different dipping sauces:

Lemon (to make Lemon Chicken)

Garlic Tzatziki (for a Greek style)

Asian Soy and Spring Onion

Satay

 

any hints here to make it shine beyond every day takeout would be hugely appreciated.

[Thickening a sauce: gelatin v. corn starch v. wondra]

Perhaps try making a roux and then adding, little by little, until you have the consistency you are looking for?

the question is a bit odd, to me, since I’m not sure what you are going for.

[Yard Sale, Thrift Store, Junk Heap Shopping (Part 3)]

In many respects, you are at the mercy of the shop staff and the various store policies.

As an example, I found a brand new Breville coffee tap out bin that had been thrown away by one of my staff simply because she didn’t know what it was. I work for a charity store that is connected to a religious organisation, so we are not allowed to sell Buddha ornaments.  Harry Potter and Twilight items are likewise outlawed (supernatural themes) but in most cases, if you get to know the people in your local store and let them know what interests you, they will keep you in mind when a good piece comes in.

 

It’s a bit of a misconception that all the good stuff gets snapped up by staff and volunteers-sure, it does happen, but it’s exactly the same as if you work in any retail store - you are there all day and therefore get to see all the products as they arrive.  Policy generally dictates that every item must be priced and placed on the shelves before any staff or volunteers can “snap it up”.

Never had a KitchenAid donated (!) and my personal focus is kitchenalia, but I’ve had numerous brand new items like slow cookers, portable induction hotplates, Bodums, high-end dinner sets and deep fryers come through.

The latest hot item that seems to be highly donatable is multi-chopper vegetable thingos - (Zyliss et al).

We get about five a week.

And cut glass - anything, platters, trinket bowls, punch bowls.  Please make it stop.

[Great hard-to-find condiments]

Delivery to Australia would be wonderful, albeit at a higher premium, surely.

[Australia Day]

I’m eating Bunnings sausages in bread every weekend to just protest moving Australia Day.

or something 

[Members' ideas for ready to eat meals]

Oh, how excellent!  Thanks so much.  Now that I think about it, of course it’s an empanada!  My silly brain was so focused on tamales that I didn’t even register that what I want to do is in fact an empanada.

Problem now is that it is very difficult to find masa harina in my town.  Closest I can get is polenta, but I don’t think that is the best ingredient to use.

[Members' ideas for ready to eat meals]

On 25/01/2018 at 11:50 PM, ChocoMom said:

I've had tremendous success in the past by making and freezing pasties.   They're quite hearty, and really are a full meal by themselves. In addition to the meat (beef or beef and pork), there are diced veggies including rutabaga, carrots, potatoes and onion. Salt, pepper and butter are the only seasonings I've ever used. They are traditionally eaten plain, with ketchup or gravy.  

 

  One of the upsides to the pasty is that they can be altered from the original beef or beef-pork combination. .  I've had chicken, broccoli, potato, onion, carrot- and they were fantastic. There's really quite a bit of room for creativity there.  You can use practically an veggie-meat combination that strikes you as being tasty when combined together. 

 

Another option might be chicken or turkey pot pies. I've done many, with great success.  Come to think of it, there were a lot of meals I used to freeze.  Years ago,  I used to do a thing called "Buddy-cooking" with one of my former neighbors. (I'm not implying that we cook our buddies, btw.) There idea is that two friends would pick 4-5 meals that could be frozen, we buy and split the cost of the ingredients, and together we'd cook a month's worth of freezable meals. So, we did pasties, pot pies, chili, meat sauce for pasta or lasagna, sloppy-joe, and I think we did meatballs in tomato sauce for meatball subs, as well.     

 

As far as that weird texture of frozen potatoes....I never had that occur with the pasties. I don't know why, but its never been an issue.  Hopefully, there are some ideas in there you can use, @Cronker !   

Thanks to everyone for the support and suggestions.

 I’m having lots of success with your menu ideas.

 

 I’m now moving into the new season menu plan (Autumn/Winter for us)

I already have some lovely, hearty meals such as my from-scratch lasagna and a traditional Irish stew.

following the idea of a pastie, I was thinking of trying a tamale style pastie filled with a Mexican beef ragu, served with refried beans and cacao sauce.

thoughts?

[Cookie recipe]

I use Himalayan pink rock salt.  I know it's more "salty"  so I only use about 1/4 tsp.  The original recipe calls for rock salt.  Not sure if it's iodised.

i don't rest the dough.

 

thanks for your replies.

[Cookie recipe]

@Lisa Shock everyone raves about them, so perhaps it's just my taste, but I certainly get a metallic, chemical salt aftertaste on them.