CUISINE

Awh, spotted dick & custard don't forget the custard. And theres 'sticky willies' too ( from the bakery, iced buns )

"sticky willies".

I know we Americans are prudes. But , honestly.

Equal amounts of whole wheat flour and corn meal.  A pinch of salt.  Buttermilk and an egg yolk. A drizzle of oil to prevent sticking.  Mix together.   Why an egg yolk?  Because you're beating the whites into stiff peaks to fold in to the batter so don't need baking powder.

Best pancakes ever, but they will fool you.  They seem already risen so you are tempted to flip them too early.  Wait for the bubbles.  Put the heat a little lower than normal because ordinary pancakes rise due to being heated, but since these are already puffed up it will be harder for the heat to transfer, so need a bit more time before flipping.  I may try a lid next time.

Butter and maple syrup.  Too anxious to eat to take a picture.

Oh my goodness, *slurp*, that sounds nice !

Gotta say, I like this dude's style:

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/roast-potato-hack-tiktok-baking-soda-102805915.html

This is pretty great, and soooo simple.

https://www.nrk.no/mat/tagliatelle-med-tomater_-bacon-og-ost-1.15073774

"Tagliatelle with a medium tomato, bacon and egg on toast"

Did I read that right?

med = with
ost = cheese

It's too early in the morning. Pretend I said something interesting or... words... with... ... fun...

Am I the only one who has made it over a half century on this planet before discovering that the secret to creamy scrambled eggs is you don't add salt until they are cooked?  Draws the water out and makes them rubbery.

I saw a recipe for the creamiest scrambled eggs ever, and they played up beating them with a whisk for several minutes to get air in there, and off hand mentioned you shouldn't salt them until later.

So I tuckered myself out whisking those damn eggs (with late salting), and they came out as advertised, but then thought maybe the whisking wasn't the real secret, so did them again with a light fork beating and late salting and still get velvety creamy eggs.

So that's the secret to not get nasty eggs but instead what you get in a hotel or restaurant.  About damn time I figured it out.

{{ Scrambled egg kills my pots- if someone can tell me how to cook them without needing a blowtorch to clean the pot afterwards thatd be handy! }}

Use a good amount of butter and LOW HEAT.

Heat enough to get the butter melted on medium low. Crack a couple eggs in a bowl and beat with a fork until uniform (DO NOT SALT).

Pour into the pan and start drawing the curds away from the surface. When nearly done (should take several minutes or the pan's too hot) throw in the salt, cheese, herbs, what have you in and stir a minute more, turning the heat off not long after throwing in the additions.

I've decided I may as well make a video to show how to cook eggs without ruining the pan.  One thing I did wrong is I should have cooked my optional green onions a bit before throwing in the eggs, rather than the opposite.  Note that I cleaned the pan immediately after cooking.  Don't wait!

{{ Mmmm, so your saying my usual method of 'fuck it Ill fill it with water and leave it to steep for a week' is where I'm going wrong? Those do look tasty- cheese is always a good option }}

Oh you can soak anything off with time, but the main point is that if you cook them on low heat you both get better eggs AND a quick cleanup.  And my cast iron pots should not be soaked.

Won the Best Sandwich in the World competition in 2018. St Louis.  Me want.



Do other countries know about cornbread? If done right it's pure heaven, but it normally can't hold together well enough for a sandwich. Very curious about it, but I'm likely to get back to Europe before I make it to St Louis.

Gas is always the best option to cook on, more controllable. Your scrambled eggs look scrummy indeed ! Id eat them in a heartbeat I use a saucepan to do my scrambling, I think a lot of people do. I gave it a go in the microwave & tho it turned out ok I think I prefer the cooker to do eggs. Never had cornbread, havent seen it for sale over here tho there must be a recipe lurking about surely ?

Oh there's a multitude of cornbread recipes, varying from sweet to savory with peppers and cheese baked in.  Which variety you like depends on your mood: there's a BBQ place here in Brooklyn that has a slab of cornbread near the cash register; when you pick up your food they plop down a slice on the plate, then mop it with a mixture of melted butter and honey.  OMG.  That puts me in the mood alright!  But other times you want a slab with jalepenos, cheese, and whole corn kernels baked in for a full meal when mated with a chunk of smoky ham.

I don't bake much myself (except casseroles) so haven't settled on any favorite cornbread recipes.  I suspect that one in the picture has wheat flour in it to help it hold together, which normally I'd turn my nose up at but I'd agree to it for the sake of that sammich.

Here goes a couple recipes:

https://bakingamoment.com/moist-sweet-cornbread/

(play around with the ratio of corn meal to flour; sub in buttermilk for milk while cutting out the sugar, etc)

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/230647/mrs-pattis-mexican-cornbread/

(I'd saute the jalepenos and onion a bit to reduce the bite but this recipe puts'em in raw)

So hey, did you know that with global warming the south of England (Sussex) is now producing some very decent wines? Sparkling wines too, here is a Brut that I tasted (wineshop up the street that never stopped their tastings with the pandemic raging - my heroes. Though I have to control my urge to flirt with the wine-babe sommelier, she's on to me). Anyway, this stuff is aged for 7 years and ends up being way out of my price range, but it's really good!

Woo hoo, shit me up a gum tree we can do something right ! UK had better pull its socks up now we are out of the European Market cus we cant make or do anything these days. My friend even said we should drop the "Great" in Great Britain. We havent got anything the rest of the world wants. For instance, last night, Broccoli spears with my din-dins, came from ? Kenya !! FFS we can grow those ! All hail independence which is fine till you need something & I believe this country needs a lot !

I just found out that if you have mushrooms fresh picked (like from a farmer's market) you can lay them out in the sun and they'll produce vitamin D just like our skin will! I suppose if mushrooms weren't grown in the shade they'd have this built in. Dried mushrooms might have it if dried in the sun.

So the announcement of the Sheep's Heid Inn in Edinburg being the 7th oldest continuous eating establishment in the world caught my eye. On browsing the menu, something caught my eye:

Fries & aioli (v)
Rustic thick-cut chips (v)

So in Brit parlance, what's the difference between a chip and a fry? I thought the term "fry" was a purely US application to what Brit's refer to as "chips".

{{Fries are those long thin sort you get in say Mcdonalds properly called french fries, chips are shorter and much thicker, like sort you get in a UK chippie (and taste much better).

Fries-



Chips-

Give me a chippie chip supper over a McDonalds skinny fries any day   }}

I'd be in agreement there.  The only time I prefer the thin version is for curly fries, which for some reason I can't suss out always come out meatier than the straight fries of the same thickness, even if perfectly browned all through.



Hmm, can't seem to get links to images to work.

I don’t particularly care for fries. Give me big thick chips ever time. Not too oily or fatty. And crisp on the outside and succulent in the middle. Taters, of course. Some people make them with sweet potato. Sacrilege!  - with or without conies.

I really like this guy. Down to earth, somebody you know you'd enjoy drinking wine with. He makes me grin.