Your Food Thread

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It was one of those days. Another one, with new meds. Anyway, what we had strength for was a couple of Trader Joe's frozen eggplant parmesans nuked, olives, and cold white bargain wine. Trader Joe's frozen chile relleno wasn't so good. Their orange chicken rocks, though.

I like their Carnitas. Slice and cube then serve with refried or black beans, sour cream, salsa and guacamole. Tortillas too of course. Don't forget the salad.

Breakfast this am. The top one got a little bit dark but not unacceptably so.

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*surprised expression eyebrows*

Salt has the ability to expire ?

With all of the floods, tornado activity, dust storms, droughts, in California grape vineyard locations, the grapes have suffered. So have the currants.

People in the UK have suggestions for substitutes for raisins, ect.

If you are making your own, keep to a regular dough and lower the sugar a bit if using something with extra sweetness. Add any of these alternatives when knocking back the dough so as not to retard or kill the yeast while proving.

Try goji berries or cranberries, or go for a space-age theme with something freeze-dried. To keep on a more traditional path, roughly chopped prunes, figs or dates would be just the ticket.

The Spanish quince paste membrillo, cut into small cubes, would be a delightful treat to find in a hot cross bun. The chunks out of marmalade – especially pink grapefruit – or the whole fruit out of premium jams would be interesting, too, but also the most time-consuming (it would require heating and then sieving to catch the big bits). Don’t waste the remaining jelly – keep and stir it into yoghurt or fruit purée, or pour over ice-cream.

Fresh fruit and grated carrots or parsnips are mentioned, too.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeand...urvive-the-hot-cross-bun-dried-fruit-shortage

A call to use your creativity...
 
*surprised expression eyebrows*

Salt has the ability to expire ?

With all of the floods, tornado activity, dust storms, droughts, in California grape vineyard locations, the grapes have suffered. So have the currants.

People in the UK have suggestions for substitutes for raisins, ect.

I get currants from the two bushes on the southwest side of my house.

Salt only expires because people want you to buy more.
 
OMG yes! They say the easiest way to a man's heart is thru his stomach. What about a girls heart? I love food. And this sandwich looks amazing. Bacon and cheese?! Yes please.

Don't forget the deep fried jalapenos.
 
ah

I had guessed they were battered pickles. I would prefer the jalepenos.


March- a reminder to eat leeks, and think on history.


7. In Shakespeare’s Henry V, Fluellen’s English colleague, Pistol, dares to insult the humble leek on St David’s Day, Fluellen insists he eat the national emblem as punishment: “If you can mock a leek, you can eat a leek.” (Act V, Scene I)


https://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/arts-culture-news/st-davids-day-story-2018-6748875

In 1485, Henry VII of England, whose ancestry was partly Welsh, became King of England after victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field; his green and white banner, with a red dragon, was adapted in 1959 to become the new Flag of Wales. Henry was the first monarch of the House of Tudor: during this dynasty the royal coat of arms included a Welsh dragon, a reference to the monarch's origins.

http://www.celticmythmoon.com/holidays.html#StDavidsDay
 
Just as the fishmonger market has fraud, so does the cheese market. I have fallen victim. A mix of insipid American cheddars and jack cheese, poses as Double Gloucester. Soft and squishy. A cheddar is proved to be an imposter of an English Cheddar. It is, what was referred to as "mouse cheese," or "rat cheese." (meant for traps when it turns dry and stale ?) is not as sweat-flavored as New York cheddar, and not as curdled-flavored as Vermont cheese. Somewhere in between. The rich sweetness of England's cream does not peek through the salt. It is missing.

Just fraud, and mis-representation. They are allowed to charge more for imports. That is the temptation.

*sigh*

At the least, the Red Leicester was authentic. :heart: It was salty, the texture was waxy, because of the richer cream, I suppose. But, it crumbled, and the flavour was there.

Some of our good, aged American cheddars crumble, too.
 
I have made every mistake possible.

:eek:

LEITHS Guide

Making shortcrust pastry

The Gluten problem

Wheat flour, which is most commonly used for pastry, contains gluten, which begins to develop as soon as flour comes into contact with liquid. When making shortcrust pastry you need to restrict the development of gluten, in order to keep the pastry short and tender. This is in contrast to making bread, where the aim is to develop the gluten to create an elastic texture and tough crust, achieved by adding plenty of water and vigorous kneading. Layered pastry requires some gluten development to strengthen the layers.


The most important point to remember about gluten and pastry-making is that overworking (or kneading) the pastry will continue to develop the gluten and result in tough pastry, as will adding too much liquid.

Butter is the perfect fat as it provides both shortness and flavour. Many chefs prefer unsalted butter, as it has a fresher, purer flavour, but salted butter can be used in all recipes. You will need to adjust the amount of salt added to the pastry according to the type of butter used.


(Chilling and resting the pastry seems to be important.)

This firming of the butter sets the pastry case into the desired shape so that when it is baked, the butter melds with the flour immediately to create a bond. If not sufficiently chilled, the butter will melt and the result will be greasy, misshapen pastry.


the name implies, shortcrust has a short, tender crumb, and it is used in sweet and savoury recipes. The most important element of the technique is rubbing the fat into the flour, which coats the flour with fat and creates a fine crumb. The fat acts as a protector around the grains of flour and hinders the development of gluten, which would make the pastry tough. You should need only a small amount of liquid to bring the crumb together and make the pastry manageable. Using as little liquid as possible to bind the dough also helps to achieve a tender crumb.

(Lard is not as important, as I had thought it was.)

"Shortcrust is traditionally made with a combination of lard and butter. Lard lends a superior shortness but lacks the flavour of butter, so we generally use all butter."

(Keeping the dough cool seems to be important. Overworking the dough while rolling it out, will result in tough or (too much time, lets the butter melt) greasy pastry.)

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-...g-instructions-baking-tart-flan-a7971826.html
 
Courtesy of an otherwise delicious Wendy's apple-pecan-cranberry-chicken salad with poor food-handling consequences the other day, I am on a b.r.a.t. diet. it's time to add some rice. It should be bland, I really detest bland rice so I decided to go with the Central American version of Spanish rice. Toast in a pan with a little oil and garlic, then simmer with chicken boulion added.

The wandering whilst marketing thread put me in mind of a rice blend I have of brown, red, and black rice with pearled barley and oats. Probably more fiber than I really need at the moment so I thought I would cut that by mixing half and half with cheap Mexican long grain white rice.

I added white rice to that blend once before (but not toasted) and found that it absorbed the water too quickly and kept the harder rice from getting done properly. I have hopes that adding a little extra water to the rice-cooker is going to solve that problem but won't know for a little bit.

Smells great.

Edit: the extra water worked. I added about two and a quarter cups water for one cup of my rice blend. the long grain rice is a little moist and soft for what I prefer when I make Mexican rice but the harder grains are done and have a nice chewy texture to them.
 
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OK

I went back to my early pie crust lessons.

I did not track down my pastry cutters. I used two knives.

Cold bowl, cold butter, cold pastry flour. Cold water. Keep it cold. No egg to glom.it all together. That is desert territory.

Whole wheat is uncooperative.

Chick- Pea Pot Pie
 
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