This is a thread for the discussion of food. From favourite recipes, outlets and breeds, to whether you care where it comes from, organic v intensive farmed etc.
Essentially, if it's to do with food, this is the thread!
The inspiration came, bizarrely from Frazzled's thread about boycotting Haggis. Now I know Haggis isn't exactly high cuisine, but I feel it embodies a food philosophy I am trying to live to, namely Snout To Tail eating. As the name kind of suggests, this is where you eat every last edible bit of the body, and at least use the non-edible bits to help create stocks etc for recipes. Totally lefty view here, but I think it's highly respectful to the dead animal that it's entirely consumed.
Ultimately, I'd love to own a stake in a small holding so I can have my meat reared from birth for me, and get a freezer full of tasty meat every time an animal is sent to slaughter. I'm not squeamish about my food, and would happily eat Pigs Trotters, Ears, Tongue, Kidneys etc. It's all meat, and it's all good as far as I'm concerned.
So how much does the source of your food matter? Not looking to preach to anyone, as I'd hope you could see the appeal in Snout To Tail without being beaten over the head with it. It's not easy to live up to. I've been trying for some time, and am still nowhere near achieving it!
Well originally only reason the cuisine of many countries was centered around many spices, such as Indian and Italian, was to hide the taste of bad quality meat. So as such today the quality of meat in those recipies doesn't need to be too high. Whereas a british sunday roast benefits from good quality meat for example.
Btw pigs trotters usually come with hairs still attached, which personally I don't find that appetizing.
I LOVE the Snout to Tail philosophy! My family makes menudo, which is basically cow stomach, and its delicious. I don't care where my food comes from, as long as its delicious, interestingly enough most of that is from organic foods. I am a pretty good cook and can prepare anything from our families old, authentic Mexican food recipes to European foods to desserts. After sampling the quality of Mexican food in Britain, I think that I would make a killing by opening my own restaurant.
Personally at the moment i have a thing for brownies probably due to an insanely easy recipe i stumbled apon recently
1 and 1/2 cups of self raising flour
1 and 1/2 cups of cocoa powder (higher quality the better)
2 and 1/2 cups of caster sugar (white for sweet brownies, light brown for rich brownies although i like a 50/50 mix of the two)
250 grams of butter (melted and cooled)
5 large eggs
and a pinch of salt
First preheat your oven to 180 degree's C/350 degree's farenheit/gas mark 4 and line the base of a two inch deep baking tray with baking parchment. After this combine the melted and cooled butter with the sugar in a large bowl and sieve together the flour and cocoa powder in another bowl (adding the salt to this bowl also), add in your eggs and combine thoroughly before pouring in the flour/cocoa mix and stirring to insure there are no lumps and the mix is blended completely.
Pour the mix into your tray until it is 3/4 full and bake for around 20-30 minutes (keep looking in on it to see when its done), when you remove it from the oven it should have a solid crust yet the centre should wobble slightly if the top is tapped.
Leave to cool completely before slicing and storing, although the brownies tend to get better with age in my experience.
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:This is a thread for the discussion of food. From favourite recipes, outlets and breeds, to whether you care where it comes from, organic v intensive farmed etc.
Essentially, if it's to do with food, this is the thread!
The inspiration came, bizarrely from Frazzled's thread about boycotting Haggis. Now I know Haggis isn't exactly high cuisine, but I feel it embodies a food philosophy I am trying to live to, namely Snout To Tail eating. As the name kind of suggests, this is where you eat every last edible bit of the body, and at least use the non-edible bits to help create stocks etc for recipes. Totally lefty view here, but I think it's highly respectful to the dead animal that it's entirely consumed.
Frazzled associated with Snout to Tail eating. Yes. I have achieved internet Nirvana.
I will have to have a discussion of Texas or Louisiana food, which would be what is called fusion nowdays if California turkeys made it.
Its a mix of French, North American Indian, patois ex-slave, and US Southern. Lots of rice dishes in the Southern part and generaly can be seasoned extremely spicy. More North is more traditional Us Southern-lots of fried stuff. The sourthern portion are masters of pastry and more seafoods.
Chickory coffee is not actually coffee bean coffee and will melt your face...
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:So if Texas is generally Tex-Mex, what is Louisiana grub about?
Texas is also a mix of German and East European actually-especially deserts.
Cheese Elemental wrote:Indian food is the best in the world, IMO. Eating their curry is like eating distilled awesome with a sprinkling of Chuck Norris.
And that mango-yoghurt-drink thing, can't remember what it's called, but it's heavenly. Divinely inspired!
lassi, it's pakistani not indian. As are many curries most people call indian, indian food involves a lot less meat. Saying that, pakistan was part of india when they were first created.
Also, a quick question. Watching a report on BBC Morning News, and they are covering the boom in Pear Cider sales (up from £3.4m in two years to a colossal £43m!) and how it is benefitting British fruit farmers.
Not only is their greater demand for their produce, but no longer are 'outgrade' fruits a problem. What's an outgrade? Why, it's a piece of fruit or a Vegetable with a less than perfect appearance! Which the Supermarkets would refuse. This. Is. Stupid. It's a Carrott. As long as it tastes like Carrott, it's all good.
But which do you think came first? Fussy Supermarkets or fussy Customers? I mean, we live in a world where we struggle to feed everyone with available crops, so surely it's pretty immoral to reject otherwise good food because it looks a little groovy?
Well... right now I feel like having some mouse... "I vote for the fox in this here race of wits and wiliness, and snow evasion... what kind of arctic mouse is freaking gray... seriously though, and why is that fox red... evolution is a lie!!!"
That is an epic thought... why are there no white mice... hmmm, not so epic really, not so epic at all .
I have also been eating a lot of home-grown tomatoes... here is a diagram for more information.
I find that oddly appetizing .
Wow... and I thought soylent green was out there... GMO apple people, like crazy talking apples, that scream while you eat them... disturbing.
Food is food. No matter what it looks like on the plate, it's all gonna look pretty similar the next morning I'm sure you'll agree.
And back to Snout To Tail eating. Does anyone on Dakka run a small holding or perhaps even a farm? How do you literally get the most out of your animals?
In seriousness, I don't know about the pear thing. I can't imagine it is down to public demand as I know many people who are not fussy like that. And if they bunged them in the supermarket at a discount price I imagine a lot of people would buy them.
Which I think it how Sainsbury's at least do their budget range veggies.
One of these days I'm going to buy a home farming type book thing, and turn our largish back garden into a cornucopia of spuds, carrots and stuff! Sadly not quite big enough to keep Chickens, which would be awesome!
Well, I used to shoot rabbit and wood pigeon. My father is a chef so I'd take them down to him, he'd head n tail em, gut em and use those parts for stock, lungs n gizzards n such went to the foxes though. Rabbit would be quartered and stewed, pigeons roasted whole.
One of my favourite ever dishes is stuffed lambs hearts, braised in an onion gravy (you do need to spend a long time picking off the valves to the heart though, those are ropey). I also love kidneys and liver.
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:Which I think it how Sainsbury's at least do their budget range veggies.
One of these days I'm going to buy a home farming type book thing, and turn our largish back garden into a cornucopia of spuds, carrots and stuff! Sadly not quite big enough to keep Chickens, which would be awesome!
MDG i find this to be an excuse
In italy you have people with TINY back gardens (3foot by 6 foot) that still manage to keep a pig, some rabbits and some chickens that are all happy
make a roost for the chickens yourself and set it up in the garden for gods sake man how much space do you have?
Oh! Thanks MGS, I forgot about food that we hunt! Up in the Tasmanian midlands, there are a lot of wild deer that taste great. We (my friends and I) usually kill one, take the really good meat home for dinner, and make jerky out of the rest of the meat. I lost my first tooth on a bit of dried venison. Boy, that stuff tasted good.
lol I can just imagine mdg now going out to tend his cockeral and panicing as he trawls his way through his book on farming as to why they are not laying eggs.
No no no. I'm fairly sure if I want the Girly Chickens to give me Baby Chickens in a convenient, natural box, I need a Bloke Chicken to, erm, service the ladies and thus encourage laying? Not 100%. Hence why I needs the book.
I love Japanese food, esp hibatchi, I love Indian subcontinent food, I love Chinese food (if it's not layered in MSG) and I love Mexican food as I've tasted it in the US, not in UK (on that note, I also had a 'curry' in a 'pub' in the US and nearly frenzied at it's vileness).
But the one food, the unsurpassed, must be the Cornish Pastie, 2 ft long, containing beef, onion, swede and potatoe with just a bit of salt and pepper in it. Something like that, cooked with love and years of experience, is heaven for me.
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:No no no. I'm fairly sure if I want the Girly Chickens to give me Baby Chickens in a convenient, natural box, I need a Bloke Chicken to, erm, service the ladies and thus encourage laying? Not 100%. Hence why I needs the book.
chickens will lay eggs, cockerals fertilise them (which is BAD).
MeanGreenStompa wrote:
But the one food, the unsurpassed, must be the Cornish Pastie, 2 ft long, containing beef, onion, swede and potatoe with just a bit of salt and pepper in it. Something like that, cooked with love and years of experience, is unsurpassed for me.
Two feet long? Goodness me, isn't that going overboard? I prefer them nice and easy to hold, thank you.
Im with Cheese my curries (north or south indian, Thai, whatever), love them, need them.
I also add entirely too much chilli products - Im currently using Wanza's Wicked Temptation Sauce http://www.sweatnspice.com/562-34.htm - over 2 million 'scoville units' (the measure for a chilli's heat).
Original tabasco sauce sits around 5000 scoville units.
whatwhat wrote:THe cornish pasty was originally created so miners could hold their food with one hand. A 2 foot long one kinda defeats the object.
This further proves the superiority of Australia's taste in food. Those miners would have been able to eat one of our snags in bread with ease compared to a silly two-foot-long pasty.
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:OH good. I shall look into the price of Chickens then!
Perhaps I can get some rescues from Intensive Farms like what Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall (my food hero) did.
I love Hugh as well (other than cooking that Pacu he bashed once) and my auntie owns a big flock of rescued battery hens, picked them up for 50p each, with feathers missing and looking like gak, now they are flourishing, fat and putting out eggs with yolks so yellow/orange they almost glow with health.
Cheese Elemental wrote:
Two feet long? Goodness me, isn't that going overboard? I prefer them nice and easy to hold, thank you.
Well, it's a big family gathering when she does those, she's cooking for most of the day, rotating them in the ovens and rayburn coalburner. The way we do it, we all eat 2/3rds as dinner and keep the last third for cold lunch the next day.
whatwhat wrote:THe cornish pasty was originally created so miners could hold their food with one hand. A 2 foot long one kinda defeats the object.
This further proves the superiority of Australia's taste in food. Those miners would have been able to eat one of our snags in bread with ease compared to a silly two-foot-long pasty.
Well also they needed to keep the food clean, pastys seal the food inside. So they could just throw away the dirty crust when finished.
whatwhat wrote:THe cornish pasty was originally created so miners could hold their food with one hand. A 2 foot long one kinda defeats the object.
If the object is to eat lots of amazing pasty, and you're not down a tin mine, then the two foot pastie is win. The original also had the thick crimped part for handling, which was then thrown away, due to the arsnic on the tinminers hands, since I dont have arsnic on my hands (usually) I gets to eat that bit as well
whatwhat wrote:They should still make them with the thick crust I think.
Anyway, the cornish pasty is an inferior regional food when compared with cumberland and linconshire sausages anyway.
The orignal thick crust was practically inedible dough, stone baked and used more as packaging than part of the meal, some had a divider inside and one corner was filled with sweet, such as jam or stewed apple.
Your attack on the national dish of my homeland is noted.
I will be round your house in the wee small hours to lay a chocolate egg or two in your slippers...
whatwhat wrote:They should still make them with the thick crust I think.
Anyway, the cornish pasty is an inferior regional food when compared with cumberland and linconshire sausages anyway.
The orignal thick crust was practically inedible dough, stone baked and used more as packaging than part of the meal, some had a divider inside and one corner was filled with sweet, such as jam or stewed apple.
Your attack on the national dish of my homeland is noted.
I will be round your house in the wee small hours to lay a chocolate egg or two in your slippers...
yeh the crust would be handy for me as I help out on a farm sometimes. But saying that they are still far inferior to even other pastry products like melton mowbray pork pies, beef wellington and even concoctions made up by the likes of greggs the bakers.
whatwhat wrote:
yeh the crust would be handy for me as I help out on a farm sometimes. But saying that they are still far inferior to even other pastry products like melton mowbray pork pies, beef wellington and even concoctions made up by the likes of greggs the bakers.
chaplaingrabthar wrote:I like just about any 'ethnic' food, the spicier the better, whether it be Thai, Mexican or Indian, whatever.
Unfortunately, due to my beliefs, I can't eat pork products or shellfish so my options are somewhat limited here if I want BBQ places.
No Bacon? What kind of sadistic deity do you follow????
God of the Jews? God of the Muslims? Certain divisions of Christianity I guess also, since it's pretty clear in the book of Leviticus that prawns and pepperoni are off limits.
**sidenote, I bloody love seafood, fresh fish and shellfish is amazing, no offence to them what can't eat it**
LunaHound wrote:
When i want to try new recipes i find these 2 most helpful:
Korean food in da house! Luna, you are most enlightened.
Having married into a Korean family, I get to eat some pretty good $hit. Heh. Even if you aren't into most of it (personally, I eat almost everything), I can't imagine any non-vegetarians not liking going out for Korean BBQ. Grilling marinated meat right at your table and leaving the restaurant reeking of BBQ...MMMMM.
Said this before in another thread, but I don't get the attraction to Indian food and most curries. They're okay, I guess, but I could live 1000 lifetimes without eating it and never miss a thing. Complete ambivalence.
I know it's a bit of a Brit thing. Is it really that much better over there? Or is it the only alternative you have to your native cuisine?
gorgon wrote:Said this before in another thread, but I don't get the attraction to Indian food and most curries. They're okay, I guess, but I could live 1000 lifetimes without eating it and never miss a thing. Complete ambivalence.
I know it's a bit of a Brit thing. Is it really that much better over there? Or is it the only alternative you have to your native cuisine?
Good sir, whilst in the fair capitol city of Washington, I did stop at a 'genuine Engerlund pub' called the Elephant and Castle. That place was gak (my beloved Abbot Ale for $10 for a fething can...). The worst thing about that place was the curry.
For it was not curry, it was made by someone who has never eaten a curry. It was a salsa like thing, you were given the option of chicken or lamb curry and this was, when it was delivered, due to the fact the meat was cooked seperate to the salsa like thing. It was also lacking the flavour called CURRY. It was half cold and the rice it was served with was fused together into a solid mass. I had asked if it was hot or not and so, to be helpful, the mexican kitchen staff, who had never eaten a curry, simply shook the tabasco bottle over the whole mess extra hard.
It is truly better over here, you are missing out. We have the same problem over here with mexican food in reverse.
My favorite food in the whole world is the bacon cheeseburgers from Paul's, a little drive-in just on the other side of the river from my house. Do they do anything special to them? NO!!! That's why I like them. You don't screw around with an established classic.
gorgon wrote:I know it's a bit of a Brit thing. Is it really that much better over there? Or is it the only alternative you have to your native cuisine?
it's a helped by a fairly large pakistani and indian population, almost 4 percent of the uk (and almost 50 percent in london). Compared to americas 0. something. But we have chinese and all the rest of it like the US. Just not the ten thousand different burger chains.
You've got Rogan Josh, Korma, Madras, Vindaloo, Jalpino, Tandoori, and thats just the ones off the top of my head.
All different flavours, all different heats. Some with sauce, some served dry. You can have it with Pilau Rice or Plain Rice, then there's the decision of Poppadums or Naan (I always have both on account of being a big fatty fatfat) or even a Paratha!
I know of a resteraunt near me which serves over fifty varieties of curry, and that's not just all the standard ones with either chicken, lamb, prawns etc. Fifty unique different curry recipes.
For all thos who like a good old British recipe
Steak & Ale Casserole
500g-1kg lean beef, Braising is good)
1 Onion
1 Large carrot
6 Medium sized closed cap mushrooms
3 Sticks Celery
1 Pint English Ale
Cut the beef into cubes roughly an inch square
Chop the vegetables roughly, i tend to do this roughly as it looks nice and rustic
Heat a large frying pan and add some olive/vegetable oil
Brown the beef, when browned add the onion and fry.
heat oven to 180 degrees
Add the beef/onions to a casserole dish then add the vegetables, ale and some seasoning, a bay leaf or 2 works quite well in this as does a good glug of worcester sauce.
make sure that the meat/veg is almost covered by the liquid add some water or alittle red wine if not also add a stock cube.
Cover and put in the oven for two and half hours.
Remove and serve, goes well with roasted veg and potatoes.
I don't understand the British love of Indian food. I think it must be because I just haven't had any good Indian Food. My wife happens to be east Indian, and I can't stand her Indian food...Yuck. It makes me wonder how authentic the British Indian food is. I hear that our American Chinese food isn't "real" Chinese in the sense that it is prepared differently for us, than real Chinese people would eat it.
Anyway.... I have had bad Chinese food and awesome Chinese food. Like I said, I wonder if I have just had only the bad Indian food, or maybe the Americanized Indian restaurants haven't caught on to the Britishized Indian food yet.
I love good Mexican and Chinese food and I love the heat as well, so I would have thought that I would also like Indian food, but not yet.
Also nothing is better than a dozen buffalo wings done right, where they are not soggy and chewy... but hot and crispy.
gorgon wrote:Grilling marinated meat right at your table and leaving the restaurant reeking of BBQ...MMMMM.
HELL YEAH
generalgrog wrote:I hear that our American Chinese food isn't "real" Chinese in the sense that it is prepared differently for us, than real Chinese people would eat it.
We have the same problem here, kinda, you can get good Chinese food but its different from Chinese Chinese food I hear.
I think it's the same over here, the same with indian food, chicken tikka massala was made i heard because some guy complained that there was no tomato sauce for his chicken so they just made some spicy sauce and gave it back, and it sort of stuck.
generalgrog wrote:I don't understand the British love of Indian food. I think it must be because I just haven't had any good Indian Food. My wife happens to be east Indian, and I can't stand her Indian food...Yuck.
Vulkan77 wrote:I think it's the same over here, the same with indian food, chicken tikka massala was made i heard because some guy complained that there was no tomato sauce for his chicken so they just made some spicy sauce and gave it back, and it sort of stuck.
Very almost!
Legend has it, the customer ordered his Tikka, and when it arrived, was surprised to find it a dry dish. He asked the Waiter if he could have a sauce for it. The Chef's obliged, using Campbell's Tomato Soup as a base. The dish became wildly popular. I think Glasgow claims that one. Birmingham has a claim to a different Curry (Madras perhaps?)
Certainly Vindaloo was the Chef's revenge on racist buttholes who abused the staff and then demanded the hottest thing on the menu.
You want the food of drunk macho idiots? Sir, I give you Phall, which is made from Scotch Bonnets/Habaneros. Apparently the name was derived from the word pahllus.
MeanGreenStompa wrote:Good sir, whilst in the fair capitol city of Washington, I did stop at a 'genuine Engerlund pub' called the Elephant and Castle. That place was gak (my beloved Abbot Ale for $10 for a fething can...). The worst thing about that place was the curry.
See, I wouldn't order curry at the Elephant & Castle. We have Indian restaurants owned by Indian people here. I just think it's "meh." Now, it could be that they're adjusting their menu/recipes for an American palate. Totally possible, although I also see Indian people dining there. Maybe it's just the best of a bad lot for them, I dunno. Anyway, it happens with other stuff here, especially with Mexican food. But I even ate at a Korean restaurant that served kind of fast-foody Americanized Korean food -- not fusion, but a watered-down version of the original. And although I'm not Korean or even Asian, I was half-ready to stand up and yell "YOU CALL THIS KOREAN?!?" to the restaurant's Asian owners, LOL.
It is truly better over here, you are missing out. We have the same problem over here with mexican food in reverse.
I accept that as a distinct possibility.
whatwhat wrote:I know of a resteraunt near me which serves over fifty varieties of curry, and that's not just all the standard ones with either chicken, lamb, prawns etc. Fifty unique different curry recipes.
See, I'm afraid I would think of it as fifty varieties of meh. Nothing I've experienced to this point has told me that Indian food has any place in my life.
generalgrog wrote: I don't understand the British love of Indian food. I think it must be because I just haven't had any good Indian Food. My wife happens to be east Indian, and I can't stand her Indian food...Yuck. It makes me wonder how authentic the British Indian food is.
I wonder if something about Indian food hits the British palate in a particular way. I mean, I don't really know anyone as crazy about Indian food as the Brits (almost universally) seem to be. Possibly the British version of Indian food is actually better than the original, I dunno. It's a puzzle to me.
I hear that our American Chinese food isn't "real" Chinese in the sense that it is prepared differently for us, than real Chinese people would eat it.
Yeah, I've had Chinese friends introduce me to more authentic Chinese food at better restaurants. It's not all General Tso's chicken or some variant thereof like American Chinese food. I'm no expert on authentic Chinese food by any stretch, but it seems like a very varied cuisine. Which you'd expect, given that China's such a friggin' huge place.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:Interesting nobodies brought up Kebabs yet
I have friends that own a Turkish restaurant and I've come to have a fine appreciation for a simple doner kebab.
For me, meat has to be "meat" in other words regular ole muscles. I will not touch "guts", including hearts (yeah I know the heart is a muscle.. or at least It think it is), liver, kidneys or whatever. The only exception would be sausage with "natural casings".
That being said, I like hot dogs and I love scrapple, but only if it's sliced thin and fried crispy.
Pizza is one of my favorite foods of all time, and there's enough pizza places around here that I could have it every day and never get bored. I firmly believe that anything sweet like Pineapple should never, ever, ever, ever be places on a pizza under any circumstances. Unless maybe if you're about to throw it in the trash.
I love "soul food" and american souther stuff. I love ribs, and understand that mud butt is a necessary evil. I like my ribs to be smoked for a long time and the meat should be falling off the bone. I like em drenched in a good, thick, homemade style BBQ sauce or at least have a bucket of it to dip.
I also love chicken wings. Note I didn't say Buffalo wings or hot wings. There's so many ways to make em, and they're all good. Here's how I make my grilled wings:
If you have full wings, cut em into 3 pieces. Throw away the little thin tip so all you have is the middle section and the mini drumstick parts. Put em in a bowl and coat with olive oil. Sprinkle liberally with sea salt, cracked black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and a little chili powder. Just eyeball it so it looks good. Then, mix it all around (get your hands dirty, it won't mix right with a spoon). Then season some more. Mix again, season again. That oughta do it.
Fire up your grill and get it going good. Charcoal is best but gas works well too. Use a low heat and make sure it's all heated up good. Spread your wings out evenly on the grill or as close to your hot spots as possible. Turn them every 5 minutes or so. They generally take about 15 minutes for cheapy small frozen style wings or 20-25 for jumbo wings. Basically if they look done, they probably are. The skin should be crispy in most areas (not burnt).
when they're done and still hot, toss in a bowl with your favorite sauce. A good bbq sauce or wing sauce like Anchor Bar's sauce. But, they're also awesome sauceless too.
gorgon wrote:We have Indian restaurants owned by Indian people here. I just think it's "meh."
Really? ok.
gorgon wrote:See, I'm afraid I would think of it as fifty varieties of meh. Nothing I've experienced to this point has told me that Indian food has any place in my life.
Really? ok.
gorgon wrote:I wonder if something about Indian food hits the British palate in a particular way. I mean, I don't really know anyone as crazy about Indian food as the Brits (almost universally) seem to be. Possibly the British version of Indian food is actually better than the original, I dunno. It's a puzzle to me.
Ok?
gorgon wrote:I have friends that own a Turkish restaurant and I've come to have a fine appreciation for a simple doner kebab.
...and it all became clear.
Honestly kebabs must be the fowlest thing on this earth, only edible when you're pissed off your head. And no wonder when they are made out of meat which sits there for weeks in a sweaty take out as they cut more and more off it, until they get to the stuff right at the back which has been there for months, looooovely. Whatsmore it's been reheated then left to sit, time and time again. A sure fireway to multiply bacteria and make food taste like gak. No ty.
whatwhat wrote:
Honestly kebabs must be the fowlest thing on this earth, only edible when you're pissed off your head. And no wonder when they are made out of meat which sits there for weeks in a sweaty take out as they cut more and more off it, until they get to the stuff right at the back which has been there for months, looooovely. No ty.
That isn't generally what kebabs are made of in America. Here the word is more of a reference to a method of service/cooking than any specific type of meat.
gorgon wrote:
I wonder if something about Indian food hits the British palate in a particular way. I mean, I don't really know anyone as crazy about Indian food as the Brits (almost universally) seem to be. Possibly the British version of Indian food is actually better than the original, I dunno. It's a puzzle to me.
whatwhat wrote:I didn't mention any specific type of meat.
Sure you did, crappy meat. Here kebabs can be made out of anything (as in not the scraps of a a large roast), and usually aren't made from bad meat. That's reserved for burgers.
Most people in Britain, when they say kebab, mean doner kebab. Not the skewr thingies. Gorgron stated clearly he liked "doner kebabs" so that's what i thought we were talking about. ftr they are too completely different kettles of fish.
whatwhat wrote:
Honestly kebabs must be the fowlest thing on this earth, only edible when you're pissed off your head. And no wonder when they are made out of meat which sits there for weeks in a sweaty take out as they cut more and more off it, until they get to the stuff right at the back which has been there for months, looooovely. No ty.
That isn't generally what kebabs are made of in America. Here the word is more of a reference to a method of service/cooking than any specific type of meat.
gorgon wrote:
I wonder if something about Indian food hits the British palate in a particular way. I mean, I don't really know anyone as crazy about Indian food as the Brits (almost universally) seem to be. Possibly the British version of Indian food is actually better than the original, I dunno. It's a puzzle to me.
They can taste the days of empire.
Dogma is correct. In the US Kabobs are usually done via a type of barbeque (gas or coal) grilling, often with nice spices and vegetables. I have seen what you are referring though and agree-blech.
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:More than likely. I quite like my Cheese me.
Oh, if you haven't, you must try a Bacon and Brie sandwich.
Get the Bacon (proper British style Bacon mind) nice and crispy, whilst letting the Brie come up to temprature.
Butter your (white) bread, and apply sauce to taste (Brown works best).
Then put it all together in the general sandwich method, and scoff.
I'll have to try that. It'll be difficult to get british style bacon in America though. Will Canadian Bacon do? It's like british bacon, but cut into a circle.
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:Well, we all got to go sometime! Might as well be whilst gobbling down some tasty Bacon!
Yay Bacon!!! Right now, I'm eating a couple of bean and cheese burritos smothered with no-bean chili and hot sauce. Stay back at least 300 feet at all times...
Bacon and brie is an awesome sandwich, hotel i used to work in it was 1 of my biggest sellers at lunchtime, didn't use to be a sandwich we called it a huffer (big white roll about 6inches across) toasting the bread before makes it even better. As to kebabs/kebobs i think it is just a general difference in spelling from different countries as i have seen it spelt cabob and kabab as well.
Another tip for the perfect Bacon Sandwich is that if you fried rather than grilled your Bacon, pop the bread slices into the pan once the bacon is cooling (you must let it cool slightly, as it continues cooking once taken from the heat) and allow to lightly fry, soaking up the tasty bacony goodness!
Is it possible to buy brie in *big* wedges? All I've seen in shops are those piddly little ones where you have to cut off about 20 bits to cover a piece of bread O_O
@Skarwael It certainly is you need to find either a cheesemongers or shop with a good deli counter as they cut it from a whole cheese wheel then, or failing that just buy the whole wheel!!
dogma wrote:That's how we make gyros, our kebabs look like this.
Also, kebab is a Turkish word, not Greek.
Over here anyway those would be called shish kebabs. Most kebab shops will sell those as well as the doner versions ( along with burgers,chips, chicken pizzas etc) but they are generally a bit more expensive ( premium product would be too much of an exaggeration ) than the doner version which is what most people will order. Normally with salad, chillis and a sauce of your choice--garlic for me.
The doner meat is pretty much mechanically recovered and squished together....it's not so much cooked as broiled in its own fat for several hours.
whatwhat wrote:Most people in Britain, when they say kebab, mean doner kebab. Not the skewr thingies. Gorgron stated clearly he liked "doner kebabs" so that's what i thought we were talking about. ftr they are too completely different kettles of fish.
I was indeed talking about a doner kebab. But we don't have dodgy street kebab vendors here like you do in Europe. If what you have in the UK is mechanically recovered meat, I feel for you. My friends' restaurant uses sliced lamb -- which I believe is the proper ingredient -- and it's delicious.
Okay, a quick Wiki check revealed this:
There are two basic ways of preparing the meat for döner kebabs:
The more common and authentic method is to stack marinated slices of lean lamb meat onto a vertical skewer in the shape of an inverted cone. The meat is cooked by charcoal, wood, electric, or gas burners. The döner stack is topped with fat (mostly tail fat), that drips along the meat stack when heated. At times, tomatoes, and onions are placed at the top of the stack to also drip juices over the meat, keeping it moist. In Turkey, most restaurants prepare their döner early in the morning, and serve the last portion by the end of the afternoon.
In Western Europe, meat for döner kebab is often industrially processed from compressed ground meat containing a mixture of different meat kinds from various animals, making the specific contents less traceable. For that purpose, in Germany the amount of ground meat is not allowed to surpass 60% (Deutsches Lebensmittelbuch).[citation needed] Allegedly,[weasel words] in Germany some lesser-quality parlours serve a combination of seasoned sliced and ground meat cooked on a grilltop as döner kebab.
So once again, it just looks like your food sucks.
@reds8n: Those are properly called shish kebab here too.
It doesn't matter how nice the meat your using mate, it's the method of cooking which makes it taste rank. I've had fairly poor quality meat before, many a time, doner meat tastes far worse by my tongue, that's telling me it aint the meat that's the problem, its more the fact that its been sitting there god knows how long sweating as they slowly remove more and more meat from it. The method was created so they could have a big load of meat which would slowly cook at a rate they could take away from it, they obviously didn't consider how it would taste.
Your method where fat drips down it hardly sounds apetising to me.
gorgon wrote:So once again, it just looks like your food sucks.
+ ftr, I have been to your country, and I wouldn't talk if i were you.
There's a nice Greek place near me, me and my gf at there last night, we always get their gyros. Is that what doner kabob is? It seems like their gyro meat is kind of like a dense lamb meatloaf that they slice really thin and then grill really quick to heat it up. They don't have it on a vertical spit like that, but when I was on vacation in greece there were a lot of them. But most of the places just had slices of meat wrapped around it, not like the big meatloaf thing.
Necros wrote:There's a nice Greek place near me, me and my gf at there last night, we always get their gyros. Is that what doner kabob is? It seems like their gyro meat is kind of like a dense lamb meatloaf that they slice really thin and then grill really quick to heat it up. They don't have it on a vertical spit like that, but when I was on vacation in greece there were a lot of them. But most of the places just had slices of meat wrapped around it, not like the big meatloaf thing.
Doner kebab is actually Turkish. But given that Turkish cuisine (thanks to the Ottomans) influenced the cuisine of the entire region, gyros are in the same ballpark. The good stuff is the stacked, sliced lamb. The ground meatloaf thing doesn't sound very appealing, I have to agree.
whatwhat wrote:Your method where fat drips down it hardly sounds apetising to me.
+ ftr, I have been to your country, and I wouldn't talk if i were you.
Oh please. Like Brits have an aversion to fatty meats, lard and such. Fat is a delicious ingredient in cooking. It just isn't that healthy.
How about we bury the hatchet and just agree that Brits only shove tasteless boiled meats and potatoes between their rotting teeth, and that all Americans fuel their sweaty, morbidly obese bodies with nothing but cheap, greasy fast-food hamburgers? Deal?
gorgon wrote:Oh please. Like Brits have an aversion to fatty meats, lard and such. Fat is a delicious ingredient in cooking. It just isn't that healthy.
How about we bury the hatchet and just agree that Brits only shove tasteless boiled meats and potatoes between their rotting teeth, and that all Americans fuel their sweaty, morbidly obese bodies with nothing but cheap, greasy fast-food hamburgers? Deal?
I never said brits had an aversion to fatty meats, I was just comenting on what you put up as a more atractive style of making kebabs, which didn't sound it.
If you want me to talk about "American food, " I can do. I could rip the whole subject apart if you want me to.
I love food. Pretty much any kind. Except if it is raw and poisonous. But I'm a really bad cook. My parents and brothers are great, but I make eggs and I burn my hand.
So I generally stick to making food that won't lead to hurting me. Like sandwhiches and salads.
If any of you have any tips on how to keep from burning myself that I seem to not know, it would be much obliged.
1. Don't stick your hand in the pan?
2. Don't stick any part of your body in the pan come to think of it.
3. Same goes for inserting bodily extensions in any kitchen based heat soure really..
MDG's Brie & Bacon sandwich sounds delicious. I have a hunk of Brie in the fridge, and some turkey bacon, wonder if that works as well...
Automatically Appended Next Post:
MeanGreenStompa wrote:
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
No Bacon? What kind of sadistic deity do you follow????
God of the Jews? God of the Muslims? Certain divisions of Christianity I guess also, since it's pretty clear in the book of Leviticus that prawns and pepperoni are off limits.
**sidenote, I bloody love seafood, fresh fish and shellfish is amazing, no offence to them what can't eat it**
Bingo! Though I was a late convert so I've had proper tasty bacon and miss it. Never cared for most seafood anyway.
You can get just about any sort of cuisine here - my favorites are usually the small ethnic restaurants run by immigrants. They usually aren't as good as you'd get in NYC or LA, but they aren't bad. There are plenty of burger joints too if that's what you're looking for.
Among my favorites:
Pho - Vietnamese noodle soup.
Tofu Soup - Spicy Korean beef soup w/ tofu, veggies & an egg. Served in a stone pot.
Papusa - El Salvadoran fried cornmeal cakes stuffed with pork & cheese. Served with a cabbage & carrot slaw.
Gyro Plate - gyro meat, rice, pita & a small salad.
Pizza - gotta love the 'za. We've got a decent NY style place near Vanderbilt U. No good Chicago style though.
Plus most of the Indian places have decent lunch buffets with curry, naan, pakora, rice, saag tandoori chicken etc...
Nashville's specialties:
Hot Chicken - Skillet Fried Chicken which is heavily spiced w/ cayenne.
Hot Fish - Fried whiting fillets smothered in mustard, pickles, onion & hot sauce on white bread.
Barbecue - slow smoked pulled pork w/ a vinegar based sauce.
Meat & 3 - small lunch spots serving southern style food. Fried chicken, meatloaf, chicken & dumplings, catfish etc..
Bingo! Though I was a late convert so I've had proper tasty bacon and miss it. Never cared for most seafood anyway.
Shame, totally different topic but I've long wondered about the not eating shellfish and swine thing, since Leviticus was basically a good food hygiene guide for the early middle eastern cultures. Settlements put raw sewage into the sea nearby which shellfish absorbed making them toxic (plus shellfish are tricky to transport in good condition) and the pigs at that time were all carrying the pig tapeworm, which can infect human brains after eating undercooked pork. Those things made sense then, but we have far better levels of food hygiene now, so why not eat them? Is it a matter of believing that the bible is the literal Word/instruction of God and therefore you just mustn't consume those items? (if so, fair enough, don't want to argue on the matter, just seek your opinion )
For myself & my church it's a combination of believing that the Bible is the divinely inspired word of God and following in the example of Christ, who lived by the Levitical laws.
I'm aware that it was probably a hygiene thing initially as well as the diet marking ancient Israel as a different culture.
Excellent, so it's due to the divinity of the Bible and a sense of living as Christ lived, thank you for answering. I might debate those things another time with you if thats ok (or not, most likely, since religion debate is almost impossible in the OT).
Good question. An all time classic would of course be Ice Cream and Jelly (Jell-o if you happen to be an illiterate foreign type). Takes you straight back to childhood birthday parties, and complement each other beautifully.
But for something more sophisticated....I'm really not sure. I like lots of different desserts.
Oh! I know! Chocolate Puddle Pudding. Served in my favourite Pub, it's a Choclate SPonge, filled with White Chocolate Sauce, in a puddle of cream, with dark chocolate sauce. Soooo tasty! Soooo rich!
Though occasionally they do have one which is a Chocolate Sponge, Waffle embeded in the middle, covered in cream and maple syrup. So tasty, it's like Satan himself has made it, and already knows your soul is his.
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Oh! I know! Chocolate Puddle Pudding. Served in my favourite Pub, it's a Choclate SPonge, filled with White Chocolate Sauce, in a puddle of cream, with dark chocolate sauce. Soooo tasty! Soooo rich!
A double chocolate fondant with cream and chocolate sauce?
I want it
When it comes to savoury food i love special fried rice (actual chinese style or chinese takeaway lotsa MSG style i dont really care )
Although my all time favourite dessert would have to be tiramesu; with lots of coffee, liquer and calories.
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Oh! I know! Chocolate Puddle Pudding. Served in my favourite Pub, it's a Choclate SPonge, filled with White Chocolate Sauce, in a puddle of cream, with dark chocolate sauce. Soooo tasty! Soooo rich!
A double chocolate fondant with cream and chocolate sauce?
I want it
When it comes to savoury food i love special fried rice (actual chinese style or chinese takeaway lotsa MSG style i dont really care )
Although my all time favourite dessert would have to be tiramesu; with lots of coffee, liquer and calories.
It goes blimming well with pints of Hobgoblin.
In fact that Pub does easily the besterest Pub Food in the world ever. Nothing too poncey like, but it is all cooked to perfection. Especially their Fishcakes. 100% home made, using Salmon, Mackeral and Crab. Tasty tasty tasty! Best bit is, if you really fancy one of the starters on the menu, they'll increase the portion and the price so you can have it as a main. Like the warm Bacon and Chorizo Salad I had last week.
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:1. Don't stick your hand in the pan?
2. Don't stick any part of your body in the pan come to think of it.
3. Same goes for inserting bodily extensions in any kitchen based heat soure really..
Oh. I should prolly take my hand of the burner now. Oh. It appears my skin has melted and now fused with said burner. If only I could have had this simple, common sense advice sooner.
My favorite desert is the chocolate lava cake at Morton's steak house. it's like a little chocolate cake but it's loaded with melted godiva chocolate, as soon as you cut into it the chocolate oozes out all over the place
cooking for myself in a hurry- nothing for me beats a nice fried egg with some toast
cooking with a bit of time- vegetable fried rice
cooking with a good deal of time- a beef stew
going out- i really like being able to pop over to north carolina and hit up some of the small but awesome bbq places.
Tunbridge Wells has just acquired a new Fishmonger in town, meaning I can now source quality ingredients of nearly any type locally without pouring my hard earned cash into the pockets of Supermarkets.
We even have a spice store, which is awesome! Time for me to learn to make Fish Curry methinks.
Oh good reccomendation! I shall see what the Fishmonger has on offer! Would rather use the whole fish, as I'm not too keen on wastage, even from the shop I went to.
There isn't any meat anywhere else on a monkfish man, I used to catch them off the Cornish coast, the only other meat on em is the cheek meat along the jawline and that means paying for the weight of the fish which is about 60 percent massive toothy skull, it's like the squig of fishes...
yep and it's easy to prepare, only the spine as far as bones go usually and a good monger will remove that for you, then just chop into bitesized pieces and your away.