Susanwusan

Hi all. Can someone please tell me what raviers are and then give me some examples of the hors d'oeuvres that might have been made at the Trocadero in 1960?

Hi, thanks, but I've decided to keep it vegetarian. I don't suppose you know anything about using agar-agar?

It's a no-cook dessert so I don't want to get fiddly with it. Blooming gelatine was mentioned (i.e. not heated), but the recipe in the link uses heat with the agar-agar - can agar-agar work without heat?

good idea! Can agar-agar be used, and how?

I doubled and followed this recipe, carnation.co.uk/recipes/key-lime-pie-recipe, using the same number of ordinary limes, measuring the juice and using the same amount of bottled lime juice. I then added a bit more just to use up the bit that was left in the bottle. I left it in the fridge for a couple of hours but it was still sloppy. Did the extra lime juice stop the milk and cream from setting or should I have used more?

Is this peanut dessert genuinely Chinese?

1. You are both right about the recipe in question. 2. It did look more convincingly like a genuine Chinese recipe than some I've come across. 3. Is there an authentic lion's head meatball recipe out there without having to buy a book, or is there no such thing as a lion's head meatball in China? 4. There was a reason for toning down the flavour - I won't bore you with it. 5. There is a connection to the Italian meatball situation. 6. Noodles were used as rice was to be used the next day. 7. The packet instruction was to put them in boiling water for a few minutes, but they were sitting in the colander for a few more minutes before serving. https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/sainsburys-udon-noodles-quick-to-cook-300g

Thanks for the laugh. I had edited it with the recipe but obviously hadn't done it properly. It was lion's head meatballs from the woksoflife website. I reduced the five spice and oyster sauce amounts but the rest was basically the same. Also, I used a noodle that looked lovely in the packet but by the time it was time to serve, they'd become like stringy wallpaper paste! Back to egg noodles next time.

Thanks, I thought as much - It's nice to know for sure. I think they were suffering from the English-people-takeaway syndrome. I don't know much about Chinese cuisine, but I have gleaned an impression over the years and the recipe I chose was a proper Chinese one.

Hi, I made some pork meatballs in sauce with noodles and veg. Someone commented that it wasn't very flavourful, admittedly I did underseason, but I think they were expecting a zap of taste of some sort. Is all Chinese cooking strongly flavoured with something, or salty, or can it be more plain?

Is there a way to make treacle tart soft and not chewy, which is how mine turn out. Would covering during baking help, or would I have to add eggs and/or cream, which I'd prefer not to do but will if it's the only way.

Hi, does anyone know what the website eatyourbooks is all about? I'm not sure if it's worth signing up to it, it looks a bit unusual - does it give recipes from the books?

And what about the sauce, should it be tomatoey or gravy? And is there a typical carbohydrate and vegetable accompaniment?

I was watching something and the Italian chefs were nonplussed as to why others thought lots of garlic went into Italian food. According to them, it was used rarely and then most often with a light touch.

I know about all the variations, I wondered if there might be a specific point or points that would be common to all?

Hi, I made meatballs in tomato sauce and was then told I should make "Italian" meatballs... What defines an Italian meatball and should they be in gravy, or what? Getting meat from Italy is out of the question.

I plumped for cherry flavour jelly and made chocolate and cherry trifle.

Is there a difference between schnitzel and escalope? Is one beaten first and the other not before breading?

I know what you mean, they'll be really artificial. I might do it differently.

Hi. I'd like to make a chocolate jelly using cocoa powder and already-flavoured jelly crystals or blocks instead of gelatine powder. What sort of flavour would compliment the cocoa, or be disguised by it? Mostly available flavours are strawberry, raspberry, orange. Other possible flavours would be lemon, lime, blackcurrant, cherry.

Can thinned yoghurt be used as a buttermilk substitute?

If the point of paella rice is that it stays separate and cooks without having to be covered, and arborio rice is meant to turn out creamy, how can arborio rice be a suitable substitute for a paella rice? Sainsb's have a "paella rice" but it doesn't specify what rice it is on the website - does anyone know?

Paella pan would be the common term. Paellera is probably what you're thinking of.

Bangers and mash with gravy - yum! Perhaps taxi driver's background wasn't English? Anyway, we even had a cartoon called Bangers and Mash, back in the 80s.

I sometimes want to change the flavour in a simple way and also add to nutritional value. I use the drained milk in the soup. Spot on with the scorching... I'll try heating the milk first in microwave and then pouring onto potatoes and simmering. UK milk top codes (whether foil or plastic tops). Blue = full fat Green = semi-skimmed Red = skimmed Gold top is from Jersey cows that give higher fat milk and I have seen in recent years a purple top milk in the supermarket, but I don't know what that's about.