Food in the time of a pandemic

[liuzhou]

5 hours ago, Katie Meadow said:

Don't ask me why I think only Jews and Scots eat barley.

 

It is eaten in China, too.

 

And many other places.

[gfweb]

@chromedome barley risotto!

 

or haggis

[Margaret Pilgrim]

5 hours ago, Katie Meadow said:

@weinoo  both Scotch Broth and Mushroom Barley soup are nostalgia foods for me. I like to cook the barley separately (in light stock) and then add it to the soup just before serving. That way it doesn't turn the soup starchy and it is easier to control the ratio of barley to soup. I guess an overload of barley cooked for 45 minutes in the soup would be....Jewish congee. At least that's what it would be if my mother every made it. My favorite food on earth used to be Williams BBQ mushroom and barley casserole; industrial size  take-out in an aluminum baking dish. It was at B'way and 85th St, and closed many years ago. I don't know how they managed to cook the barley so perfectly, but it was never sticky, always distinct pearls. Being on lockdown is unfortunately making me want a lot of foods I'll never see again.

 

5 hours ago, weinoo said:

 

It's exactly what I do when making a soup that has pasta in it; cook the pasta separately and add it at the end.  

 

Jewish congee - I like the idea!

 

When I did a little more research into the barley conundrum,  I saw that it is used in cholent, making that a real rib sticker!

 IMHO you have to cook any starch separately before adding to soup.    Else -> crappy risotto.    

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, liuzhou said:

 

It is eaten in China, too.

 

And many other places.

 

Eaten?  John Barleycorn must die!

 

[heidih]

1 hour ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Eaten?  John Barleycorn must die!

 

 

1 hour ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Eaten?  John Barleycorn must die!

 

 

I think he is the booze guy - so drank/drunk   Like saying I have a date with Jack   Common phrases

[liuzhou]

2 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Eaten?  John Barleycorn must die!

 

 

Yes, it is used in soups and congees made from mixed grains. It is also drunk, but as a form of "tea". Roasted barley is steeped in boiling water. It isn't often, if ever, used in alcoholic drinks. China generally prefers rice, sorghum or millet for those.

 

This is the roasted barley sold as 大麦茶 (dà mài chá) which means "barley tea".

 

 

Edited March 24, 2020 by liuzhou (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

What a waste of perfectly good barley.

 

[weinoo]

I actually enjoy the roasted barley tea - I think it's also a Japanese thing.

 

Doing my research, I found that it was certainly one of the earliest cultivated grains in the fertile crescent.  And it grows in lots and lots of places.

[chromedome]

8 minutes ago, weinoo said:

I actually enjoy the roasted barley tea - I think it's also a Japanese thing.

 

Doing my research, I found that it was certainly one of the earliest cultivated grains in the fertile crescent.  And it grows in lots and lots of places.

It gets plenty of mentions in Homer, IIRC.

[BeeZee]

Sent my husband out shopping with a detailed list, he got to the store just before it opened at 6am. A couple of mistakes despite reviewing the list with him the night before...mostly due to his inability to actually look at something before putting it in the cart - bananas with split skin, bell pepper with wrinkled spot, package of boneless/skinless chicken thighs rather than breasts. We both hate the thighs, now I'm going to have to figure out how to cook them to make them edible for us. At least we are set for a week now.

[Anna N]

Just tried to place a grocery order. The earliest delivery is April 11. 

[Alex]

10 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Eaten?  John Barleycorn must die!

 

 

Right here (YouTube)

[curls]

Wanted to order seeds for my garden and the local seed exchange has been so overwhelmed with orders that they are steering customers to out of state seed exchanges until they catch up on their backlog of orders! Was able to order seed from West Virginia and New York. 

[heidih]

2 hours ago, Anna N said:

Just tried to place a grocery order. The earliest delivery is April 11. 

 

Yup - why I am braving Uber to store this morning despite the rain. Who knows what will be available but at least I can decide versus a "shopper" doing odd subs.

[heidih]

1 minute ago, curls said:

Wanted to order seeds for my garden and the local seed exchange has been so overwhelmed with orders that they are steering customers to out of state seed exchanges until they catch up on their backlog of orders! Was able to order seed from West Virginia and New York. 

 

Perhaps we are back to Victory gardens - a good trend

[Margaret Pilgrim]

2 hours ago, Anna N said:

Just tried to place a grocery order. The earliest delivery is April 11. 

Hit the same wall this weekend, Anna.    All of the well-known services were denying new customers.    I finally found a smaller service that represents several dozen small, local grocers.   They accepted my order, were able to fill every request, gave me a delivery window of 5 hours, texted me several times re selection, had the order on my doorstep in 3 hours     I will anticipate more next order annd/but hope they are able to keep up this level of service, plus helping local merchants.

[Katie Meadow]

11 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Eaten?  John Barleycorn must die!

 

 

[Darienne]

2 hours ago, BeeZee said:

Sent my husband out shopping with a detailed list, he got to the store just before it opened at 6am. A couple of mistakes despite reviewing the list with him the night before...mostly due to his inability to actually look at something before putting it in the cart - bananas with split skin, bell pepper with wrinkled spot, package of boneless/skinless chicken thighs rather than breasts. We both hate the thighs, now I'm going to have to figure out how to cook them to make them edible for us. At least we are set for a week now.

Ed does all the grocery shopping in our household and it's always a surprise (sometimes delightful; alas, most often not) what he brings home.  Suffers from the same thing as your husband...don't look at the thing before you take it..against husband rules.  I use thighs in Mafé, an African peanut stew.

[BeeZee]

thanks for the suggestion, @Darienne, I have made a version of African Peanut Stew in the past, I'll have to check the pantry. I know that I have neither yams nor sweet potatoes, but I bet I could improvise and use the dreaded c*rn as I have several cans...

[TicTac]

Borscht

[Anna N]

6 minutes ago, TicTac said:

Borscht

Confession time: I have never had borscht. Strange because I’m a huge fan of beets. Was never changed to try it and I can’t explain that to anybody not even myself.

[heidih]

2 hours ago, BeeZee said:

thanks for the suggestion, @Darienne, I have made a version of African Peanut Stew in the past, I'll have to check the pantry. I know that I have neither yams nor sweet potatoes, but I bet I could improvise and use the dreaded c*rn as I have several cans...

 

One of my favorite chicken parts. I treat it like pork. Marinate/grill, slow cook and pull - point made

[chromedome]

2 hours ago, Darienne said:

 I use thighs in Mafé, an African peanut stew.

 

I made that at the place I used to be chef in Edmonton. I had to work a bit to get people to try it the first time, but by then I had built a pretty good level of trust with the regulars (and after long years in retail, I'd gotten pretty persuasive). It rapidly became a staple on our soup-of-the-day rotation, which frequently made for a (pleasurable) surprise for African students/immigrants in the area.

Hmmm. I haven't had that in years, but I do have both thighs and sweet potato on hand at the moment. I could probably manage fufu if I really wanted to, but somehow seldom do...

[Darienne]

55 minutes ago, chromedome said:

 

I made that at the place I used to be chef in Edmonton. I had to work a bit to get people to try it the first time, but by then I had built a pretty good level of trust with the regulars (and after long years in retail, I'd gotten pretty persuasive). It rapidly became a staple on our soup-of-the-day rotation, which frequently made for a (pleasurable) surprise for African students/immigrants in the area.

Hmmm. I haven't had that in years, but I do have both thighs and sweet potato on hand at the moment. I could probably manage fufu if I really wanted to, but somehow seldom do...

But what about the peanuts and peanut butter???

[chromedome]

9 minutes ago, Darienne said:

But what about the peanuts and peanut butter???

Those are always on hand.