Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Chatting => Chatting on the Plot => Topic started by: Growster... on September 06, 2019, 07:40
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Jus - Short for 'Justification for plopping even more unrecognisable slop on a plate, normally occupied by pleasant-tasting home-made gravy'.
Confit - The action a cheating tailor used to do, by grasping a handful of a jacket at the back, and telling the customer in the mirror that it was a perfect fit. The idea was stolen by Ivor Duck, a duck-breeders assistant, from Duck, North Carolina.
I'm sure there are others..;0)
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Jus - Yer - right. Confit - only to be eaten in the Dordogne region of France :D
Growster, you are so right. pretentious titles for what is often only mediocre food. But, a few bob can be added to the price :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: And, what about those little blobs of something piped onto the plate ::) Mrs Bouquet
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Jus? "J'you" really think it's worth the effort because I love good eating and it's the main part of what's on the plate that really matters to me. Foraged? Of course it's foraged from whoever harvests it and it certainly won't be the Head Chef who does it. I admit there are certain culinary terms such as roulade, flamande (a mix of peas and carrots), and a few others used in menus and that's ok with me, but when it's overdone it detracts from the enjoyment of what's to come, and because it's far too pretentious I wouldn't consider eating there. If Tom Kerridge and the Hebridean Princess cruise liner I was on earlier this year can do quite well without it and still gain many awards for their cuisine, then so can others. The food should speak for itself and add to the reputation of the place for good dining at a fair price, meaning more customers and more wonga at the end of the day.
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What about these "foams" that seem to appear on pretentious plates of food. I couldn't eat anything with that on the plate, it looks as if someone has spit on it.
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Ha ha ha! Lovely!
I once saw something called a 'trio' of vegetables.
It turned out to be potatoes, carrots and peas!
Keep 'em coming!
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Hand-pulled pork ??? Mrs Bouquet
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I've got one... Fruit de Mer.
In coastal town in France this will involve generous portions of langoustine, prawns (the big ones), a couple of types of crab and perhaps just to bulk it up a little, a few miscellaneous bivalves.
What do we get served under the same name in ol'Blighty? Whelks, winkles, shanker crab and shrimps masquerading as prawns. Oh, and more whelks.
Fruit de Mer... anything too slow to crawl away when we hauled the bucket up from the marina.
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Had a brochure thingy today from the B--feater Group. It shows a picture of a double burger and chips, and says - Crafted Collection - Discover our new burgers. :unsure: :unsure: Mrs Bouquet
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Marvelous!
We occasionally have to drive past a rather nasty takeaway place, where they have photos of all the kebabs and other detritus in the window.
Unfortunately, the sun has faded these awful pictures, and now they look exactly like the sort of roadkill you see when some unfortunate wild animal hasn't correctly judged the distance from A to B..:0(
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Crafty collection more like, and anyone for hedgehog kebabs??! How about pomme puree (mashed potato), hand-selected (by whom, and I hope they previously washed their hands, wore gloves or preferably both), words like sumptuous, mouth-watering, and delightful (er, not at those prices), de-constructed (presumably not scraped off the floor, or was it??), reduction (i.e. an over-cooked runny sauce), locally-sourced (i.e. from the pub down the road), drizzled (or rather dripped all over the plate) and rustic is just something that's roughly chopped instead of being "lovingly prepared by our finest chefs. Either way, if you feel you're rather stuffed after eating all that (and you probably have been) there's always the tip to consider. May I suggest trying The Windbag in the 2.40 at Epsom?
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Ha ha ha, Goosey!
You and Squire Gander know more about all this than most people do, and your comments just fit in beautifully!
The last time I went to Epsom races was in 1962, and I had to buy a beer on my own. The dear lady taking my money asked me my age, and suggested that I took the bottle and glass and drank it quickly...
I hope the dear lady is still around - she taught me a lesson that day..;0)
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I have often wondered what de-constructed means :lol: Mrs B
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I think de-constructed food is the rubbish left after any recognisable cuts of meat are chopped out and packed up as chops, steaks etc, Mrs B!
Jamie Oliver tried to stop turkey twizzlers from appearing on kids' plates, but sadly his efforts have fallen on deaf ears, and we're back to old tosh in many schools!
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Didn't Lloyd Grossman also have a go in the past and isn't there someone else (Prue Leith?) trying the same, or is she doing hospital food. Now there's something to get your teeth into, or perhaps not if it's anything like the food I had at the local hospital where I used to work. Normally it wasn't bad for staff members so I ordered tuna pasta bake and a bread and butter pud then wished I hadn't as it was absolutely awful!! The pasta was so dry it was like eating tasteless glue, but the pud was even worse as it looked and tasted like a used and very grey dishcloth complete with old mouse droppings. The previous hospital I worked in made the most sumptuous meals and their Friday fish and chips and bread puds were to die for. If my OH can make great meals out of most anything and with a tight budget then so can they.
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Don't get me started on hospital food! I had an overnight stay in Sheffield hospital a couple of years back and the portion size was so tiny I ended up raiding the vending machines! The nurse said they were calorie counted portions which is fine if you eat like a bird, but I'm a hard working, strong and fit bloke, I need around 3 to 4k calories a day :)
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Calorie counting my rear end. More like money counting to me! As for more nosheries Mr G, we haven't started on the wine list and what about those exorbitantly-priced cocktails? May I suggest trying these for starters:-
Wine:
Chateau Frenglisher au Grenouise. Its sumptuous mellow tones so reminiscent of Autumnal mists and mellow fruitiness gently linger on the palate then the full velvety richness of gently ripened berries develops as it gently smooths its way down into the warm depths below, only to leave a final sad goodbye with a hint of fresh morning dew.
(Created by the recently employed Sommelier's attempt to reduce costs by scraping the left-over bits of various fruit compotes and jam into a bucket, adding a bit of dried yeast and sugar, then in a few day's time it gets sieved, bottled and corked. The labels are his own design which he prints out on his weekly day's leave. His reward is a free meal once a month.
Blanc du Simpleton. Created from grapes grown on the southern slopes of the Simplon Pass, this specially-created wine simply shines with its aroma of fresh mountain air, newly-mown hay, and a soft undertone of wild flowers.
Cocktails:
Bamboozler. So-called, because at the end of the night the wine waiter who draws the short straw has to up-end every empty bottle of whatever sort into various containers, then in the morning he mixes all the dregs (sorry, lees) into a big jug and adds some blue food colourant. Whoever tries it is totally bamboozled as to what it contains.
Exocet Eye-Popper. So-called from the previous Sommelier's attempts with the aforesaid wine when he added a bit too much dried yeast but, as a rather thrifty and very underpaid person, he still bottled it but with the caveat that, when opening said bottle, it is best to open it outside or it will have your eye out.
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Ha ha ha, thank heaven I am teetotal. :lol: Mrs B
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Outdoor reared sausages they only have little legs how do they keep their bellies clean,Have seen outdoor reared pigs near Selby I asked the lad feeding them were the sausages were reared he looked at me daft jezza
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Love the wine list, GG!
If you've read 'Cannery Row', by John Steinbeck, there's the delightful passage describing one of the locals getting a job in the bar.
Every evening, all the slops went into a large jar, and he took it back for his chums to consume...
:0(
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In days of olde, didn't all the slops and overspill, the beer from the new barrel being pulled through, before it cleared and all that stuff, go into a barrel and wasn't it then sold as "mild" ? Mrs B
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In days of olde, didn't all the slops and overspill, the beer from the new barrel being pulled through, before it cleared and all that stuff, go into a barrel and wasn't it then sold as "mild" ? Mrs B
Yup!
;0)
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All those slops and things making "Mild". Wasn't it also known as ullage ? I believe there are some complicated rules nowdays about it and what gets taxed etc. not sure though. :unsure: :unsure: Mrs B
Sorry gone abit off thread.
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You're grand on the thread, Mrs B! (You can see that I've been reading a few Irish thrillers...)!
In fact, 'Tripe lumps avec ullage', are a delicacy well known in some circles, I just hope I never ever have to consume them...!
The economics of ullage are: -
1) You can get a refund on ullage.
2) You can sell it as any old beer, and get much more.
Economics aside, if the slops contain a mixture of expensive continental lagers, strong ales etc, then anything will improve the quality of mild beer, which really is not for the squeamish these days.
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Tarts.
I'm going to observe that you never get tarts any more. It's always an apple or rhubarb pie. This isn't America, this is the UK and we have tarts. Modify to clarify, tart is pastry, lumpy apple mush, pasty. Sugar on the top if your feeling fancy. Does anyone have any good recipes for such a thing? The family recipe is lost. :(
I saw on some sort of BBC consumer programme years ago that in some places the house red was the undrunk dregs poured into a bottle and given a swirl around to mix it.
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In fact, 'Tripe lumps avec ullage', are a delicacy well known in some circles,
Economics aside, if the slops contain a mixture of expensive continental lagers, strong ales etc, then anything will improve the quality of mild beer, which really is not for the squeamish these days.
Tripe lumps - what is that - urgh You can try and tell me what it is like :lol:
Good for a mega hangover :mellow: Mrs B
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Chicken Goujons - a by product of caponisation? :)
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Went to Hull today to visit the Michaelangelo exhibition at the Minster.
En route from the station we were looking for somewhere for a spot of lunch, and our attention was drawn to an establishment offering 'hand crafted sandwiches'. :unsure:
Reluctantly we moved on, much preferring the old days when they used steam driven traction engines to place slices of Ham on a slice of bread. :wacko:
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flapjacks, that's another thing. I just like a plain one, possibly with a few sultanas. Oh no, not now, they have to be made with granola, museli, nuts, especially pistachio, and anything else that relates to a "new flapjack" - I just want an "old-fashioned" one, says she, stamping her foot. >:( >:( :lol: :lol: Mrs Bouquet
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Seriously - for once - I do remember someone small in Wales referring to being fed 'tea slops'.
Anyone know what that particular delicacy was?
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Chicken Goujons - a by product of caponisation? :)
Goujons is the old french for Gudgeon which are good to eat. :)
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The food is that bad in the local hospital when I was in to have my youngest I made pizzas and had the husband cook then smuggle them into me and ate that breakfast, lunch and tea. The porridge was like wall paper paste, the meals were burnt and dried out baked potato is not a meal.
I didn't have pregnancy cravings for either pregnancy I had pregnancy aversions so pizza was all I wanted for about 3 weeks. I basically went off of everything but melted cheese, cheese and onion crisps and fish fingers. I couldn't stand ginger nuts and almost 7 years after I first got pregnant I still can't face the thought of eating potato. I can make it, but I cannot look at it and think dinner. For 18 months Husband had to go around to his parents for potatoes as I wouldn't cook it and wouldn't let him cook it in the house as the smell was enough to give me the horrors.
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ZOMBIE THREAD.
You lot, especially those who post on the "What's For Tea" Thread really make me feel happier about people and society.
I was at a parents meeting recently on my lonesome and since the listening device headphones had died I had to listen to the world around me. I wasn't deliberately eavesdropping but I love to hear what people are having for tea, inspiration and all. So when the people in front of me asked each other what did you have for tea I got interested. I overheard a lot of discussion about dinner.
Out of the 10 odd people I heard talking I was amazed, only my family had a home cooked meal. So that's 11 families including my own. One parent had cereal as usual, another sandwiches, someone else thanked their Divinity of choice for baked beans with sausages in the tin, one had nothing and left a ready meal in the oven for the Husband, she'd probably have tea and toast later if there was bread in the house, ready meals for some others, pot noodle. Toast and butter, microwave macaroni cheese, someone else had microwave mashed potatoes with something and there was salami and packet of salad, micro chips for the kids, someone was having micro spaghetti bolangase which they have every week, the kids were getting sick of it but there's only so much choice. One person's parents fed the kids thank their Divinity of choice so they were having casserole or something, mum always has a go about them not getting proper food at home (habitual cereal eater). They were all saying as usual, as usual, as usual!
Not even some pasta, chicken bits and a stir in sauce. Or fish fingers! Mashed potatoes!
Every night even when I was working split shifts (8-13, 16-10) every night my lot had a dinner cooked from scratch. While it is occasionally pasta (home made sauce though) between a slow cooker and pressure cooker I could get food on the go so it was ready when tummies rumbled. feeding people is how I show affection, I like/love you = I feed you, Husband shows affection by staying out of the kitchen.
It's :ohmy: saddening and kindo of horrifying.
I honestly don't understand how you could live like that.
You can buy frozen onions, fling then in a slow cooker with some meat and stock/sauce in a sealable tub the night before to marinade. Put in the slow cooker on low before you leave in the morning, ready when you come home. Or fry odd onions in the pressure cooker, meat in cook with sauce/stock , depressurise, veg in for a final 10. Done. Soup, 15-20 minutes in a pressure cooker or soup maker then blend. In the interim you can have yourself and kids out of your work/ school clothes, homework underway and table set.
Husband isn't a fan of cooking (the fact that I could cook is what got me a date over another woman). He doesn't like it and avoids it whenever he can, unless it involves bacon! But he was rather appalled as well. His standby standard answer to potential problems with tea is, you can't go far wrong with pork chops and mashed potatoes.
Hearing that and the fact it was all the usual few dishes. I heard on the BBC news that people had the same few dishes every week, Tuesday was spaghetti bolognase, Wednesday was macaroni cheese etc which is why these meals delivered in boxes were a success.
That's why I log on the What's for tea tonight thread, so I can make sure they don't have the same meal within a 2-3 week period. It helps that I have OCD collecting cooker books.
Can people share what their experiences in this are? Have they heard similar?
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Val does the cooking usually but I can still whip up a meal if allowed! I'm pretty good at omelettes if I say it myself :) As for ready meals - very rare. Before we moved we used to treat ourselves to a delivered take-out Chinese. Here we have a choice of one Indian and one Chinese. They prefer you to book in advance for a take out!! The one Indian I had was the worst I have ever had and I spent 2 days poorly {graphic details deleted] They're also more expensive than London.
When we met Val cooked brown rice with a few vegetables ..her Viet Cong Macrobiotic phase.. but I ate them.
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While I normally I post on the dinner thread to regale in the exceptions where we nosh on illicit delights like chips, fried eggs and the like, the truth is we eat mostly scratch cooked and often homegrown food for the majority of the time. When I left home, I realised my only dinner option was the local chippy, so the next day I went to my Nan's and begged for some cooking lessons. Long story short I taught myself enough cooking skills that I snagged a few girlfriends and eventually the wife on the strength of a home cooked meal being better than going for a restaurant date!
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When I was in my first flat in London, my mother suggested that I just take a tin of Scotch broth, and use that as a base for anything, like mince, etc.
When I met the future Mrs Growster, and was 'instructed' to lose weight (which I did pdq), the best way was buy a cabbage on a Monday, and make a huge coleslaw - again as a base for just about anything, from a chop to a hunk of cheese, with few carbs etc.
Seemed to work...
I do knock up a good pasta though, and also like something with courgettes whenever possible. And as Mumofstig said some time ago, adding a bit of cheese makes anything, pretty well worthwhile!
But I won't be making a 'jus', and I won't be using aubergines either..;0)
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We go out for an evening walk and when wandering around Husband and I have both commented you hardly ever smell anyone's dinner any more. You can go for streets before smelling something.
When I was in my first flat in London, my mother suggested that I just take a tin of Scotch broth, and use that as a base for anything, like mince, etc.
Scotch broth idea was a good one
Hmmm, cabbage.
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As I am lactose intolerant I can't have any dairy so home cooked is the norm here, a microwave meal is a real rarity and a takeaway even rarer as we can't guarantee ingredients. Fortunately both of us love cooking and I have a pile of recipes that we work our way through so that we have a varied diet. I do agree about the smell of other people's cooking, liver and onions was one smell that I remember. :nowink:
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Mrs Growster always remembers living in Bury St Edmunds, and walking with the school on a Sunday, smelling boiling cabbage...
(Which reminds me, it's only ten days before I start cooking the brussell sprouts for a 'seasonal' nosh..;0)
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How about this years Christmas flavoured crisps. Brussel sprouts with cranberry, turkey with stuffing, sausage with bacon roll. OMG. :lol: Mrs Bouquet
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its know wonder these food takeaways and home deliveries are making a fortune we are honestly getting a nation of don't know how to cook or can't be bothered :mad:
I'm glad to say both my wife and me where brought up on traditional cooking what would be the point in us having an allotment if we didn't cook what we grow having said that we have a very good fish and chip shop and several Indian and Chinese and about four tea shops we sometimes have a fish and chip takeaway
there seems to be a lot of sausage egg chips backed beans chips or beefberger and chip for kids these days our grandchildren turn the nose up at sprouts and cabbage and other veg? when my daughter was brought up on traditional meals stews Sunday lunch meat pies and so on
how long does it take to cook a jacket potato with fillings together with a slice of good old apple pie
chips and snacks are on the school menu these days in my school days we had proper dinner ladies cooking real food and I always asked if there where seconds
these days some women spend more time making them selves up than cooking a family meal its sad very sad but for those women who do actually cook a good meal pat yourselves on the back your a champion you deserve a good holiday :D
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I'm actually delighted that there are so many sandwich shops around these days.
The choice is fantastic, and stretches from a humble £1 or so, cheese and onion offering in Boots to a gourmet Wagyu beef concoction with enough trimmings to make a salad, but there's the real choice - a darn good meal with a drink, of course, and at a fraction of the cost of going to a chippy even!
Mrs Growster and I sometimes just buy a really decent looking sarnie from a supermarket, have half each and have a glass or two of vino, for a really decent evening meal in front of the DVD player!
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Yesterday we went to to local supermarket and out of the 10 people at the checkouts 8 had ready meals, one with only a packet of family sized crisps and someone with de icer. One of them had about 10 ready meals!
Out of everyone's trolleys only one hadn't got ready meals in it and they'd only got as far as the bananas.
We go out walking every evening and we can honestly be out for an hour -90 minutes and not smell food cooking. Except outside our house. You used to be able to smell onions or mince. Never any more.
I will admit for the first time this year we got 2 ready meals, but only because they were 40p each and were the extra special fancy types. Lasagne and macaroni cheese-I don't consider the latter a meal but Husband and Eldest love it. Eldest loves it that much when Eldest was a 11 month old babby they climbed in the Mother-In-Law's dish with it to eat it better.
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Mrs Growster has an addiction to macaroni cheese, as do I, but with a fried rasher of bacon cut with scissors into small pieces directly onto the plate!
A propos the post though, what does a Tesco streaky piece of bacon taste like with the sort of cheese we use - Cathedral?
Fabulous! (But this 'ere bacon should really be pancetta..:0)
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Aberdonians on a whole seem to regard it as the best food eva. On it's own, with nothing else "macaroni cheese is a meals in itself"-Quote barbarian I married. I never make it because I think it's not. I never heard of people eating it except in American books until I moved up here to the land of "mince and tatties" and Macaroni cheese.
I don't know if the local school does home economics, but when I was in school in the 90s we had it once a week. All we made all year was scones and a sandwich. Once each. Marko's mum was sick when she ate his scones. The only homework I remember was about why you shouldn't eat raw chicken and to design the sandwich. It had to have 3 ingredients, have a name ("Yum Bun") and you had to draw it. Then the next week you were to make it to your specifications and eat it. Some people decided that they were to make the most disgusting sandwich and refused to eat it. So it was a bit of a nothing topic and dropped by almost everyone. I can't imagine that the standard has gone up since then.
No one else in my class of 25 could cook besides 2 others and I was more advanced. They couldn't gut a fish, cook a chicken, make pastry or a casserole, cakes and buns. But I couldn't make a white sauce. My parents could cook well-one was at a professional standard and I learned a bit from watching them. But I wasn't called through to learn so it was just the basics. It was when I moved out on my own that I really learned. Neither of my siblings could cook and if I was at the house they'd wake me to make them a cooked breakfast. By the time they persuaded me to help-I hate cooked breakfasts it'd have been quicker to do it themselves.
Update, Husband make a fish bake, but it smelled "absolutely atrocious and I felt that the fish should have been baked some time ago and wouldn't eat it".
My kids have at nursery gone to the shop, bought eggs, came back and make banana bread and I know they made something with Rhubarb. I remember a friend of Eldest wandering around with a stalk and chasing after them because I was worried they were going to try the leaves. They weren't, they harvested them with the teacher and were going to cook with them but I don't know what they made. But from nursery they don't cook until primary 4.
Anyone willing to share their kid's experiences?
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Following on from Growster's restaurant theme, which I cannot find now, What is this "Fillet of Leek's" ? :ohmy: Mrs Bouquet
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Was that the one where I said that I'd avoid any place which mentioned 'jus' on the menu, Mrs B?
I can't remember it either...:0(
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I know which one you mean Mrs B, so I've put your latest post together with it :)
What is a fillet of leeks ??? Does that just mean take the un-chewable and indigestible outer leaves off :lol:
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What actually is a fillet of leeks - yup, I don't know either, but I do really like the bulb-end prepared so that just the roots are taken off, and the solid lump is preserved!
Mrs Growster hates it, so we're both happy on that score...
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Mr G, where did you inadvertently go to see that on the menu?
A fillet is like a file only smaller! :D You just get a sharp knife, cut off the roots and leaves, remove the tough outer layer then get a potato peeler to scrape any bits you've missed. Filleted carrots anyone? :tongue2:
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In hospital last year the food was inedible. Got visitors to bring me food , thermos of soup, salad etc. Toast not allowed for breakfast because it set the fire alarms of.
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In hospital last year the food was inedible. Got visitors to bring me food , thermos of soup, salad etc. Toast not allowed for breakfast because it set the fire alarms of.
That's terrible - just at the time when you want people to eat nourishing meals. Medicines and machines that cost astronomical amounts so skimp on a basic thing like food. :mad:
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I had an overnight at Sheffield Hallam a few years ago. The 'calorie' counted portions were insignificant to a man of my appetite, I ended up raiding the vending machines for some highly nutritious crisps and nuts :)
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When Mrs Growster spent several days in Pembury (Tunbridge Wells) hospital, the food was outstanding!
As she was 'out of it' most of the time, I had the lot, and was mightily impressed!
And it saved me cooking at home...