What new foods have you tried recently?

[Epona]

Round 2 of last night's Bolognese. Might have a rummage in the freezer to see whether we have any garlic bread stashed away in the hidden depths.

 

[Epona]

Round 2 of last night's Bolognese. Might have a rummage in the freezer to see whether we have any garlic bread stashed away in the hidden depths.

Thought I was on the tea thread.

Clearly I have tried last night's Bolognese before, given that I made it and ate a portion last night.

In fact I eat my home made Bolognese at least once a month and have done so for a few decades, it's about the least "new" food to me that I can think of.

Must remember to check which thread I am on

 

[Nine Bob Note]

 

[RubyToogood]

I accidentally bought a "lighten up" Ben and Jerry's. How is this meant to be better for you? They've just taken out the honest dairy fat and added MORE sugar.

 

[newme]

I accidentally bought a "lighten up" Ben and Jerry's. How is this meant to be better for you? They've just taken out the honest dairy fat and added MORE sugar.

Sounds like every lite light etc product, less fat, sugar to make up for lack of flavour. Food pyramid nonsense.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Fruit salad wafers. Basically pink panther wafers but with fruit salad sweets flavouring. Not tried them yet so will report back if they're rank.

 

[Epona]

Fruit salad wafers. Basically pink panther wafers but with fruit salad sweets flavouring. Not tried them yet so will report back if they're rank.

Sounds like it should be awesome, but could be terrible.
Eagerly awaiting your report!

 

[danski]

Had these earlier. Really enjoyed.
Not had a donner in decades but definitely tasted of what I remember, for better or worse.

No meat was involved in the consumption of these crisps.

 

[polly]

Baklava chocolate Sadly it is both Nestlé and white chocolate. So not very nice. What a concept though.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Sounds like it should be awesome, but could be terrible.
Eagerly awaiting your report!

Consumption report.

They were OK. Smelled like fruit salads when I opened the pack but didn't taste of anything in particular. Still ate them though - waste not want not.

 

[kalmatthew]

Consumption report.

They were OK. Smelled like fruit salads when I opened the pack but didn't taste of anything in particular. Still ate them though - waste not want not.

Isn't tasting of nothing in particular a defining feature of those sorts of biscuits?

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Isn't tasting of nothing in particular a defining feature of those sorts of biscuits?

On the contrary - pink panther wafers taste of pink panthers. Everyone knows that.

 

[Orang Utan]

Dare ya:

 

[Elpenor]

Where from?

 

[Orang Utan]

Where from?

Looks like a London grocers/off licence - maybe a Costcutter or a Londis?

 

[Epona]

It's not real - I call pixels (basically the perspective of the logo is not the same as the perspective of the chocolate bar, it's been photoshopped on and not very well done )

 

[Epona]

Just in case the world has got so fucking weird that people thought a Heinz beans Cadbury's Dairy Milk might actually be a thing

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Just in case the world has got so fucking weird that people thought a Heinz beans Cadbury's Dairy Milk might actually be a thing

People could try it themselves DIY style. It might work.

 

[Epona]

People could try it themselves DIY style. It might work.

I could see a square of bitter dark chocolate melted into some beans with some chilli and other spices might work - but that is not what is proposed here, and if I was going to do that I wouldn't use a bit of CDM, it would have to be proper 80% or higher cocoa solids type chocolate.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

I could see a square of bitter dark chocolate melted into some beans with some chilli and other spices might work - but that is not what is proposed here, and if I was going to do that I wouldn't use a bit of CDM, it would have to be proper 80% or higher cocoa solids type chocolate.

You should try it and report back.

 

[Epona]

You should try it and report back.

Nah not really my cup of tea, I can imagine it working in a sort of BBQ beans type way, but it's not something I want to waste chocolate on tbh.

 

[Elpenor]

Oh right, I thought you’d tried it yourself, given thread title

 

[UnderOpenSky]

I went through a bread making phase, took to extremes like everything else. Went from packet mix to bread maker to Icelandic sour dough in very short order. I ate so much bread lol. Days I could eat just bread and butter.

I did that. Then I started working 5 days a week and the food mixer sits in the garage unloved. I even bought the meat grinding attachment for it to make sausages.

 

[Orang Utan]

Oh right, I thought you’d tried it yourself, given thread title

I said ‘dare ya!’

 

[newme]

I did that. Then I started working 5 days a week and the food mixer sits in the garage unloved. I even bought the meat grinding attachment for it to make sausages

Yeh did very similar, suddenly being out at 5am 5 days a week did reduce the amount that baked so it became a weekend thing. Kept up sour dough but it quickly got to unmanageable levels without baking it constantly. Saw Jamie Oliver do a version of a piadina, not remotely a traditional version of the flatbread as it was thick enough to split and fill, maybe an inch thick sort of Focaccia level.

Would make this on Saturday mornings with different fillings for everyone. Crunchy and soft and stuffed with fillings, usually varying around cornbeef/ham/cheeses/deli meats/leftover pulled pork and loads of chives/spring onion/lettuce of some kind added at whatever point. Fantastic especially if after a Friday night drink or three, especially for feeling like it was just the start of the weekend and I accomplished making something, feeding people and feeling better all at once. Did occasionally get some ridiculously measured quantities or make oversized ones for the novelty, a large cast iron pan helped and the calorie count of some of those experiments were not a good idea to think about given it was a 12.5 inch pan filled with what amounted to two pizzas worth of ingredients and enveloped in crispy, crunchy soft bread. Served on a board outside by the pond on a picnic bench with fresh coffee and often sunglasses to fight the new day.

I also had the meat grinding and juicer attachment for a mixer I bought, first one the grinder didn't work. So I now have a spare entire mixer unit as they sent a replacement, second one I tried making sausage exactly once, it went so badly I gave up entirely. If i want to pay a lot for specific flavoured sausages, I go to the local butchers instead, one place I can also still find proper beef tallow easily tho I have to time the visit where they will have run out of their amazing fresh made pasties (doesn't take long you have to pre order for a large, tho why they don't make more always confuses me). Also means I get local produce instead of whatever Tesco sent and I then mangled into cases extremely badly. Filled pasta and dumplings of all kinds I can make from scratch (if I feel like taking an afternoon to crank out 100) but sausages, I give up.

That said I will soon not have a job 5 days a week and a lot more free time so I imagine we will get a lot more homecooked stuff that isn't giant batches of various curries and chillies. Do fancy using the sous vide again and remaking my version of the 36 hour sous vide Porchetta and finding out all the various ingredients we have that need using up to make things to fill the freezer with

 

[Elpenor]

I said ‘dare ya!’

I assumed you’d had it then

 

[UnderOpenSky]

Yeh did very similar, suddenly being out at 5am 5 days a week did reduce the amount that baked so it became a weekend thing. Kept up sour dough but it quickly got to unmanageable levels without baking it constantly. Saw Jamie Oliver do a version of a piadina, not remotely a traditional version of the flatbread as it was thick enough to split and fill, maybe an inch thick sort of Focaccia level.

Would make this on Saturday mornings with different fillings for everyone. Crunchy and soft and stuffed with fillings, usually varying around cornbeef/ham/cheeses/deli meats/leftover pulled pork and loads of chives/spring onion/lettuce of some kind added at whatever point. Fantastic especially if after a Friday night drink or three, especially for feeling like it was just the start of the weekend and I accomplished making something, feeding people and feeling better all at once. Did occasionally get some ridiculously measured quantities or make oversized ones for the novelty, a large cast iron pan helped and the calorie count of some of those experiments were not a good idea to think about given it was a 12.5 inch pan filled with what amounted to two pizzas worth of ingredients and enveloped in crispy, crunchy soft bread. Served on a board outside by the pond on a picnic bench with fresh coffee and often sunglasses to fight the new day.

I also had the meat grinding and juicer attachment for a mixer I bought, first one the grinder didn't work. So I now have a spare entire mixer unit as they sent a replacement, second one I tried making sausage exactly once, it went so badly I gave up entirely. If i want to pay a lot for specific flavoured sausages, I go to the local butchers instead, one place I can also still find proper beef tallow easily tho I have to time the visit where they will have run out of their amazing fresh made pasties (doesn't take long you have to pre order for a large, tho why they don't make more always confuses me). Also means I get local produce instead of whatever Tesco sent and I then mangled into cases extremely badly. Filled pasta and dumplings of all kinds I can make from scratch (if I feel like taking an afternoon to crank out 100) but sausages, I give up.

That said I will soon not have a job 5 days a week and a lot more free time so I imagine we will get a lot more homecooked stuff that isn't giant batches of various curries and chillies. Do fancy using the sous vide again and remaking my version of the 36 hour sous vide Porchetta and finding out all the various ingredients we have that need using up to make things to fill the freezer with
View attachment 395116

That looks pretty cool. Main reason I gave up on sausages was that whilst the meat grinder worked fine for grinding it wasn't great for stuffing. I found myself looking at dedicated stuffers, but there's only so much space in the house.

My electric smoker ticks the box for me at the moment for doing some thing a bit different with cooking. Takes ages, but you don't have to do very much with it during that time.

 

[newme]

I went bonkers with it and had all the heston gear, weird mixes for foams/etc, whipped cream thing I actually used for cooking purposes, and occasionally non cooking purposes. Grinder didn't work for anything, decided it was just no worth my time lol. Have kitchen stuff spread over the whole kitchen storage, surfaces and an 8ft x 8ft block of ikea storage units, maybe 30 spaces in it? Does store a lot of bulk kitchen stuff like 10kg of rice bags, dog food etc and containers for bulk cooking tho and general crap that keeps the surfaces at least moderately clear.

Not tried an electric smoker, did try a smoke box on a weber kettle bbq but my fire management is poor for long cooks, most often cos its sunny and beer is involved, plus I tried to use village produced charcoal and frankly it wasn't great lol. Spatchcocked chicken / things in heavy marinades or finishing up things done in the sous vide seem to be better for me when its fire. Can get a hell of a sear on a sous vide steak or pork based things I have done in it. Especially if I don't fancy cleaning up the oil slick from trying to wok fry.

Whats the electric smoker good for?

 

[Orang Utan]

Absolutely revolting:


Dunno why I bought this snake oil. I’m a mug.

 

[Orang Utan]

Haven’t tried this and will never try it: