The Cooking Thread

[Hammer and Pickle]

So as promised: the intention is we just share recent cooking exploits. Today, I’m posting image links for homemade crumpets with smoked salmon and a chicken fricassée (I love that name) with brine pickles.

As it’s Remembrance Day, I will call an amnesty on all posters I have banned on this thread. The intention is that if you feel the urge to insult, abuse or otherwise cսnt-off-the-bastard, why not keep it on this thread only. The idea is the rest of the site gets more civil.

So, the link



PS - this thread is dedicated to all the posters who think I have ruined the site and need a deporting to Siberia. Thank you yes please.

[Hammer and Pickle]

Sounds splendid - you’re gonna need a big freezer for those partridges mind you. By the way, I’ve just been told by Google that a collective of partridges is a COVEY!

[Mex Martillo]

I only eat wild Atlantic salmon. Farmed salmon organic or not is riddled with mites and other stuff. It's becasue they are kept in close proximity to themselves. Once you've seen the pictures you won't wanna eat them again. 

That is an incredible load of misinformed bollocks Swiss. No farmed salmon has mites, but probably you mean lice. The lice are only on the outside of the fish. They cannot get inside the fish and so no salmon would go to market with mites inside the fish. Sea lice are the biggest problem for salmon farming. However, the sea lice are controlled, at great expense, in the farming environment and easily cleaned off before market. The good thing about farmed fish is that they are fed well balanced clean feeds, no plastics or pollutants like wild fish. Many wild fish contain micro plastics. You do not get that with farmed fish. Also after harvest, the cold storage and time between slaughter and sale to customers is often much better for framed than wild, so  farmed are often fresher and better quality. Taste is different though, for me it is a matter of taste which you prefer. In blind tests farmed often win in people's taste preferences, which usually doesn't go down well, but does show farmed is a good product, just different. I aways buy sustainably farmed fish before wild fish. I avoid fish from unsustainable fishing. There is a !ot, but an incredible amount of unsustainable fish capture, which is destroying our oceans.

Yes you are correct I mean't lice. They also put a lot of hormones and shit in farmed salmon. If you look at their dorsal fins they are stunted in farmed salmon. As for plastics you probably eat more in everyday foods than a wild Atlantic salmon. 


The problem of sea lice in salmon farms | Natural History Museum

More bullshit from Swiss. No hormones used for salmon or any farmed fish sold to customers. You are getting confused with the USA beef and dairy industry.  

[Trilby55]

H&P ….the spratts are from a company called Riga Gold and it looks like they come from Latvia . I’m gonna be making some lightly curried partridge soup this week , I was given thirty birds ! 

[Hammer and Pickle]

Steak Tartar - recipe supplied on request

[Hammer and Pickle]

Not to do with cooking as such but we’ve had a European shop open near us . Tried a tin of smoked spratts, six or seven on top of a slice of toast that has been spread with humous . Luuuurvvvvlly. 

We get first quality smoked sprats here so I've given this combo a whirl on sourdough bread. Very nice indeed thanks. Will be doing a STEAK TARTAR this evening and might bung up some pics.

[Swiss.]

I only eat wild Atlantic salmon. Farmed salmon organic or not is riddled with mites and other stuff. It's becasue they are kept in close proximity to themselves. Once you've seen the pictures you won't wanna eat them again. 

That is an incredible load of misinformed bollocks Swiss. No farmed salmon has mites, but probably you mean lice. The lice are only on the outside of the fish. They cannot get inside the fish and so no salmon would go to market with mites inside the fish. Sea lice are the biggest problem for salmon farming. However, the sea lice are controlled, at great expense, in the farming environment and easily cleaned off before market. The good thing about farmed fish is that they are fed well balanced clean feeds, no plastics or pollutants like wild fish. Many wild fish contain micro plastics. You do not get that with farmed fish. Also after harvest, the cold storage and time between slaughter and sale to customers is often much better for framed than wild, so  farmed are often fresher and better quality. Taste is different though, for me it is a matter of taste which you prefer. In blind tests farmed often win in people's taste preferences, which usually doesn't go down well, but does show farmed is a good product, just different. I aways buy sustainably farmed fish before wild fish. I avoid fish from unsustainable fishing. There is a !ot, but an incredible amount of unsustainable fish capture, which is destroying our oceans.

Yes you are correct I mean't lice. They also put a lot of hormones and shit in farmed salmon. If you look at their dorsal fins they are stunted in farmed salmon. As for plastics you probably eat more in everyday foods than a wild Atlantic salmon. 


The problem of sea lice in salmon farms | Natural History Museum

[Hammer and Pickle]

Usually try to cook a different curry every week and have done for years now. Theres a Yotan Ottolenghi butternut squash and poppadom recipe, which turns out to be one of the best curries I've eaten.

Yes. Ottolenghi is probably the closet thing to a guru I have.

[WHU(Exeter)]

Usually try to cook a different curry every week and have done for years now. Theres a Yotan Ottolenghi butternut squash and poppadom recipe, which turns out to be one of the best curries I've eaten.

[F 129 Row66]

I tried making rice and peas once having listened to all the West Indians at my workplace eulogising about it. I mixed a tin of Ambrosia with a tin of garden peas. It wasn't very nice to be honest.

[Nurse Ratched]

Nice!

 

[goose]

Classic Pasta Fagioli today.

[Mex Martillo]

That's my kind of cooking Trilby

[Trilby55]

Not to do with cooking as such but we’ve had a European shop open near us . Tried a tin of smoked spratts, six or seven on top of a slice of toast that has been spread with humous . Luuuurvvvvlly. 

[Hammer and Pickle]

The quality of ocean farmed fish has improved massively while stocks of some staple wild species have simply collapsed to the point there’s none available. Thirty five years ago, when I lived in Portugal, it was all wild, and we used to get grouper, corvina and swordfish on a regular basis on a worker’s bar lunch menu. Fifteen years later, when I went back, you’d be lucky to get hake. It’s a sad picture but, like I say, thanks largely to EU regulations, the farmed tuna, sea bass and bream are now at the level of the much much more expensive wild caught fish, which I don’t buy on principle. Having said that, there is no comparison when it comes to smoked salmon but mere mortals can only afford that at Christmas

[Mike Oxsaw]

I only buy seafood caught with nets woven from the first harvest of South Sea Island young maiden's pubic hair, cast from boats made entirely of bamboo.

Win-win. When the boats get beyond repair, they are fed to the local pandas, and the pubic hair always grows again for western perverts to enjoy.

Green? I shit it. Probably the seafood.

[Mex Martillo]

I only eat wild Atlantic salmon. Farmed salmon organic or not is riddled with mites and other stuff. It's becasue they are kept in close proximity to themselves. Once you've seen the pictures you won't wanna eat them again. 

That is an incredible load of misinformed bollocks Swiss. No farmed salmon has mites, but probably you mean lice. The lice are only on the outside of the fish. They cannot get inside the fish and so no salmon would go to market with mites inside the fish. Sea lice are the biggest problem for salmon farming. However, the sea lice are controlled, at great expense, in the farming environment and easily cleaned off before market. The good thing about farmed fish is that they are fed well balanced clean feeds, no plastics or pollutants like wild fish. Many wild fish contain micro plastics. You do not get that with farmed fish. Also after harvest, the cold storage and time between slaughter and sale to customers is often much better for framed than wild, so  farmed are often fresher and better quality. Taste is different though, for me it is a matter of taste which you prefer. In blind tests farmed often win in people's taste preferences, which usually doesn't go down well, but does show farmed is a good product, just different. I aways buy sustainably farmed fish before wild fish. I avoid fish from unsustainable fishing. There is a !ot, but an incredible amount of unsustainable fish capture, which is destroying our oceans.

[ironsofcanada]

My favourite 2 things this time of the year are a slow cooked beef stew. Easy to make. fry some onins and beef in a little oil to seal the meat. Then add water chopped carrots , potatoes and green beans. Be sure to add some veg stock, red wine and truffle oil. Bring to boil. Allow to simmer for 2 hours minimun. Tastes even better next day re-heated. 

Next my New York Chowder. Finely cut potatoes , celery and green peppers. and smoked bacon. Fry in a little olive oil. The add a tin of tomatoes some water , veg stock . a little chlli powder and simmer. 10 mins before serving add the clams. Eat with some fresh baggette. 

Why would you add truffle oil before you boil? You boil away most of the taste.  Just add when serving, there is nothing to draw out, or better yet just shave actual truffle then, to avoid greasiness.

Chowder sounds nice though it is called Manhattan Clam Chowder (I have never heard New York).
Still am probably most partial to the thick New England one as opposed to the tomato Manhattan and the broth-based Rhode Island.

The best chowder I have had is the one made myself using English ingredients in England.  But I have spent little time on the North American East Coast to be fair.  
The best corn chowder is of course made right here with Taber corn.

[Swiss.]

My favourite 2 things this time of the year are a slow cooked beef stew. Easy to make. fry some onins and beef in a little oil to seal the meat. Then add water chopped carrots , potatoes and green beans. Be sure to add some veg stock, red wine and truffle oil. Bring to boil. Allow to simmer for 2 hours minimun. Tastes even better next day re-heated. 

Next my New York Chowder. Finely cut potatoes , celery and green peppers. and smoked bacon. Fry in a little olive oil. The add a tin of tomatoes some water , veg stock . a little chlli powder and simmer. 10 mins before serving add the clams. Eat with some fresh baggette. 

[Swiss.]

I only eat wild Atlantic salmon. Farmed salmon organic or not is riddled with mites and other stuff. It's becasue they are kept in close proximity to themselves. Once you've seen the pictures you won't wanna eat them again. 

[ironsofcanada]

Arf! @ 'pye'.

What on earth did your tonguey mince pies taste like, IoC? 

My Christmas mincemeat does NOT contain meat. Does contain beef suet though, to be fair. Made it a few weeks ago. I  make enough so I only have to make it every other year.

Mostly like mincemeat.
Lots of other stuff in there that have survived in modern recipes and the spicing, especially, is similar.
I grew up without suet so it is richer than I would remember as a kid. But more complex but similar to ones in England. 

My nan on the more recently English side (not to bring this down, sorry) had lung cancer most of the time I could remember her, so really didn't do much baking or such. 
My grandma on the other side was putting juju fruits in her Christmas cake, so it is interesting to me how these recipes evolved. 

[Mike Oxsaw]

This thread is so important that it needs to be recast as an Article and moved to the appropriate forum.

[Nurse Ratched]

probably no coincidence that Pickle gets called out for ranting a load of homophobic slurs at people, then all of a sudden starts a cooking thread

Slap and Tickle is clearly projecting. Next he'll be banging on effeminately about birds or something.

[Massive Attack]

probably no coincidence that Pickle gets called out for ranting a load of homophobic slurs at people, then all of a sudden starts a cooking thread

Slap and Tickle is clearly projecting. Next he'll be banging on effeminately about birds or something.

[joe royal]

An effing knife? 

[Hammer and Pickle]

I did my mince pies with suet and beef last year and they came out very well - the mince was very rich and a lot less sweet and cloying than what we’re used to. I loved them but nobody around here seems to get mince pies at all. Might order some online this year.