The Food, Cooking and Cuisine Thread

Going to risk another curry tonight, this time from Aldi. I must be bloomin mad. :)
 
Just realised, this is a food cooking thread. Are posts about heating up pre cooked food allowed? :p
 
I make a bloody good lasagne but have never been able to master moussaka. Best left to the Greeks that one.


Mrs Nod (and I!) make a pretty damn good meaty lasagne - that's how I know what happened when we did!
 
I've made up another huge batch of Bignalese Ragu.

15 portions. 14 after tonight.


I have almost the same problem with most mince dishes, although there is a fairly easy fix for it. I just have a decent sized portion straight from the pot (after rigorous QC during cooking, of course!) then Mrs Nod portions up the remainder while I'm eating. Once it's portioned up, I can resist pinching extras and once it's all frozen, it's strict portion control. :(
As you might gather, I'm at least as much gourmand as gourmet...
 
On the menu tonight, liver and onions. Liver lightly dusted with flour and fried, onions and a rich gravy. Tried taking a photo of the raw liver, but it looked revolting. Just hope the end result with look good enough to eat. :)
 
On the menu tonight, liver and onions. Liver lightly dusted with flour and fried, onions and a rich gravy.

No way!

I came in here to post exactly the same thing

I flash fry the liver, just to colour it, let it rest while I make the bacon and onion gravy, then put it in the bubbling gravy for 3 minutes. Perfect.

I'll have it with broccoli and buttery mashed spud.
 
This will be my first chopping of anything since I sharpened my knives on my newly acquired whetstone.
 
Mind your fingers!
 
No way!

I came in here to post exactly the same thing

I flash fry the liver, just to colour it, let it rest while I make the bacon and onion gravy, then put it in the bubbling gravy for 3 minutes. Perfect.

I'll have it with broccoli and buttery mashed spud.
Great minds think alike. ;)

The liver and onions was gorgeous, decided on Ox liver. Only things is, whole house smells of cooking.
 
So that's what a sharp knife feels like. :D

All these years that I thought I had sharp knives...

The liver was fantastic.

Just in case anyone doesn't know, liver has a great affinity with butter.

Mmmm... I'm going to have it again tomorrow.
 
So that's what a sharp knife feels like. :D

All these years that I thought I had sharp knives...

The liver was fantastic.

Just in case anyone doesn't know, liver has a great affinity with butter.

Mmmm... I'm going to have it again tomorrow.
Missus told me just now" should only eat liver, once a month. Menstruating women, can eat liver as often as they like.". :eek:
 
Dairy-Free baking, can anyone help? my girlfriend doesn't eat dairy at all so i'm trying to convert various cake recipes into dairy free (We do like our cake!). How would I go about replacing butter with oil, or dairy free marge for that matter? Likewise when milk is called for, is it just a case of swapping like for like with soya/almond milk or should I adjust the quantity to compensate?
 
Why?

I am a big girl's blouse. Does that help?
It is all about the iron content apparently, eating too much liver can cause problems it seems. Menstruating women lose iron, while others can store dangerous levels of iron, if eating liver on a regular basis. So I have been told by the missus... I think you may get away with another meal of liver, depending on the time of the month. lol ;)
 
OK. Understand about the iron.

Thinking about it, I probably do only have it once or twice a month, but I do tend to have it 2 days in a row.

I think I'll be ok.
 
Dairy-Free baking, can anyone help? my girlfriend doesn't eat dairy at all so i'm trying to convert various cake recipes into dairy free (We do like our cake!). How would I go about replacing butter with oil, or dairy free marge for that matter? Likewise when milk is called for, is it just a case of swapping like for like with soya/almond milk or should I adjust the quantity to compensate?


Should be OK simply swapping out dairy for non dairy, so marge for butter and nut milk for real. Have a scout round the web for dairy free baking recipes.
 
So that's what a sharp knife feels like. :D

.

My dad got me a really good knife sharpener. Turned the el crappo blunt cheap knives I've had for years into sharp ones. It's one of those slide through ones with 2 levels of sharpening.

Tomatoes are always a good test. If they're a bit squishy a blunt knife drags. A sharp one goes right through the skin.
 
I did the squishy tomato test.

I held the tomato on the tips of my fingers and sliced it very thin horizontally.

I had a drag through type sharpener but found it a bit rubbish tbh.
 
I have a drag through sharpener as it's the only type I can use. Seems to do the job though.
 
Should be OK simply swapping out dairy for non dairy, so marge for butter and nut milk for real. Have a scout round the web for dairy free baking recipes.
Probably easiest to check out vegan baking sites for any dairy free cake recipes.

This has nice pictures. No idea if any of the recipes are any good though!

https://www.emilieeats.com/10-epic-vegan-cake-recipes/

The trouble with dairy free recipes is they also tend to be aimed at vegans, and the trouble with vegan recipes is they usually call for ingredients which are way too bold and exotic to be found in any shop within 50 miles of here (and probably beyond!). I figure if I can work out how to dairy free more traditional recipes then everyone's a winner.
 
I think my bread making machine booklet said butter can be replaced with olive oil, by volume.

Isn't most Indian cuisine dairy free, with cows being sacred and all that?
 
It is all about the iron content apparently, eating too much liver can cause problems it seems. Menstruating women lose iron, while others can store dangerous levels of iron, if eating liver on a regular basis. So I have been told by the missus... I think you may get away with another meal of liver, depending on the time of the month. lol ;)

OK. Understand about the iron.

Thinking about it, I probably do only have it once or twice a month, but I do tend to have it 2 days in a row.

I think I'll be ok.

Don't think you can really have too much iron. It is recommended that pregnant women don't eat liver as too much Vit A causes foetus abnormalities. Liver does tend to have high levels of Copper and you can OD on with chronic exposure but I think you need more than you would find in liver.

Don't like the stuff myself but it is very good for you.

edit: oh, the liver bioaccumulates lots of heavy metals (inc copper) but maybe there was a history of them being fed things full of arsenic and other dodgy stuff. Doubt that would happen nowadays in the UK food chain.
 
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I have a drag through sharpener as it's the only type I can use. Seems to do the job though.
I use a steel to sharpen my knives and when the cutting edge of the knife finally develops 'shoulders' I use a whetstone to get it back in shape. However, I was trained to do this and spent 15 years using sharp knives every working day, so I wouldn't recommend this as an 'amateur' pursuit as knackered knives and/or potentially fatal personal injury may result! :facepalm:

Talking of safety, the one thing I would never do with a selection of sharp knives is store them in one of those trendy wooden knife blocks on the kitchen worktop. Imagine it's a dark night and you're asleep, then you're woken by a noise downstairs... could it be burglars? I'll leave the rest to your imagination, but suffice it to say that every sharp knife in my house is safely hidden safely away just in case!

As for liver and onions, it has to be good quality lamb's liver and it has to be served with nice creamy mashed potato to mop up the gravy (with some young garden peas optional). :) Also, the correct ratio for steak and kidney pie is 2 parts good-quality shoulder steak to one part young ox kidney, but you need a reasonable amount of onion in there to give it some sweetness, plus a nice savoury shortcrust pastry base and top (not puff pastry, which is just flakes over stodge and brings nothing to the party!). Make the pie in a metal flan dish so it's not too deep - no more than around and inch and a half deep. In hot weather it's delicious cold the next day, served straight from the fridge, with a nice salad and a slice of crusty French bread (if you can stand the heat of the oven to cook the pie the day before). :)
 
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Don't think you can really have too much iron. It is recommended that pregnant women don't eat liver as too much Vit A causes foetus abnormalities. Liver does tend to have high levels of Copper and you can OD on with chronic exposure but I think you need more than you would find in liver.
Must admit, not read up on it in a while. Just what the missus tells me. :)
 
Up bright and early, and I can still smell the liver and onions in the kitchen, and all over the house really. :(
Not had breakfast yet, but I already know what is for dinner tonight. Lamb chops, so more lingering odours.
 
I had one meal yesterday, a bacon and grated cheese baguette at 4PM, served with a cherry tomato salad dressed with vinaigrette. I cannot remember the last time I had a bacon and cheese butty, but my word - what a fine combination!
I am also 600g lighter this morning.
 
I had one meal yesterday, a bacon and grated cheese baguette at 4PM, served with a cherry tomato salad dressed with vinaigrette. I cannot remember the last time I had a bacon and cheese butty, but my word - what a fine combination!
I am also 600g lighter this morning.
Sounds like the meal we had the other week, this was at one of the big name pubs. It was Hunters' Chicken, very nice it was too. It was Chicken with a layer of bacon and melted cheese. It had a BBQ sauce also, it went down verywell. I might try making my own version.
 
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For the past two days I had only one meal - trying to lose a bit of weight you see.
So today I popped into Morrisons and they had their own brand curries reduced. Now I like a hot curry, and to be honest, supermarket ones always need a bit of tuning up IMHO.
However, I am sitting here at the moment still sweating from my eyes and my tongue is on fire, and the cause of this is Morrisons - Volcanic Vindaloo - which was reduced form £3.25 to £1.63.
Apparently it contains Naga chillis and there were three in my one.
So, if you like a hot curry then try this one, it is not for the faint hearted.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcWlvtfA2OA
 
Just beans on toast tonight.

Melted cheese on the toast, of course, and Daddies sauce mixed into the beans as they heat up, obviously. :D
 
Don't think you can really have too much iron. It is recommended that pregnant women don't eat liver as too much Vit A causes foetus abnormalities. Liver does tend to have high levels of Copper and you can OD on with chronic exposure but I think you need more than you would find in liver.

Don't like the stuff myself but it is very good for you.

edit: oh, the liver bioaccumulates lots of heavy metals (inc copper) but maybe there was a history of them being fed things full of arsenic and other dodgy stuff. Doubt that would happen nowadays in the UK food chain.

On the contrary, too much iron can be extremely dangerous, even life threatening.
 
An early start and a hard day at work today; so 2 lamb loin chops sprinkled with garlic and black pepper served with 2 slices of Bury black pudding, a smattering of breaded onion rings and a handful of homestyle oven chips, accompanied by some Coleman's English mustard on the side of the plate and washed down with a couple of glasses of Merlot... and so to bed after watching an old episode of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) on Chanel 61 Freeview at 8pm. :)
 
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Another bloomin hot curry tonight, I must be stupid.


Nothing stupid about that at all IMHO. I made a chicken madras last night with the left over roast chicken from Sunday. It wasn't bad, but instead of making it totally from scratch as I usually do, I used a Sainsbury's madras paste, and it was a little too sweet for my taste.
 
Nothing stupid about that at all IMHO. I made a chicken madras last night with the left over roast chicken from Sunday. It wasn't bad, but instead of making it totally from scratch as I usually do, I used a Sainsbury's madras paste, and it was a little too sweet for my taste.
I love a good curry, just not a hot one. The chili numbs my tongue, and I find it uncomfortable. Or I am just a wimp. :)
 
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