Be Excellent To Each Other

Resourceful Cook, a week in retropspect...

Herb Crusted Salmon (for two)
http://resourcefulcook.com/recipes/view ... ted-salmon
Very nice, my favourite of the week, the only criticism is that baking the salmon to get the crust on the breadcrumbs dried it out a bit too much for me, still tasted lovely though
9/10

Basil & Bacon Wrapped Chicken (for two)
http://resourcefulcook.com/recipes/view ... ed-chicken
Not bad at all, personally I would upgrade the suggested bacon for something a bit higher quality, and as a complete meal the couscous just feels tacked on to make up the numbers.
7/10

Harissa Turkey Burgers (for two)
http://resourcefulcook.com/recipes/view ... ey-burgers
Tasted lovely, however the real problem is that turkey is just way too dry, replace the turkey mince with beef mince and this would be great! Salsa was epic.
7/10

Turkey & Tomato Tagine (for two)
http://resourcefulcook.com/recipes/view ... ato-tagine
Again, way too dry using turkey mince.
6/10

Lamb & Butternut Squash Stew (for two)
http://resourcefulcook.com/recipes/view ... quash-stew
Seriously tasty, could do with an accompaniment
9/10

Butternut Squash Risotto (for two)
http://resourcefulcook.com/recipes/view ... sh-risotto
Least successful out of the week. The cheese completely overpowers the whole dish and you can't taste anything else. There is potential for a lovely risotto though...
5/10

Zesty Ginger Chicken (for two)
http://resourcefulcook.com/recipes/view ... er-chicken
A bit tame compared to the rest of the week, perfectly nice though, if you like sticky, honey based marinades for your chicken. I quite liked it, Mrs T wasn't a fan. Needs something more than just plain rice though
6/10

And how much did it cost?

About £60 for the week, including buying all the store cupboard spices I didn't have. £40 if I had already had all that stuff

Hey folks,

Kong hee fatt chai (happy new year in Hokkien), well i have had a enforced 2 days in the kitchen with my loverly lady. here are a few of the things she has had me knock up in the kitchen (ok i was just the scullery boy )


Pandan Cake - (aka Screw Pine Leaves) very yum


Pau - Total pain in the arse to make but well worth it, would like to say a big thankyou to Mr Rick Stein for his Char Siu recipe as this made the one filling very nice, although batch one was very salty as we both managed to add salt as well as Soy to the mix


Ginger Chicken Pau


Apologies for the HUGE pics, but i can be a total numpty when it comes to the interwebz. If anyone is interested in making any of these goodies for themselves then please let me know and i will happily get the recipes posted for you all.

I had my first failure on the Resourceful Cook front last night. The steak sandwich and fries.

The meat was too cheap and chewy, the fries didn't crisp enough, and there was nowhere near enough to fill the roll I bought. Also the salsa was too runny but that's my fault because I added too much oil.

Now I know with practice I could make more quantity and crisps the fries better and cook the meat longer so it's more tender, but you shouldn't have to deviate from a recipe to compensate for its shortcomings.

Won't be having it again anyway.
The rest of the meals have been delicious, if a little light. I'm going to go super hearty next time I think.

If not already mentioned, check out this food blog. Really tatsy-looking treats posted regular like.

http://desertculinary.blogspot.com/

Yes, please!

I rather suspect the majority of my cooking is already nicer and cheaper than that site.

Cut up potatoes into chunky chips, put on baking tray and cover with olive oil, sprinkle some salt (preferably flaky sea salt) cook at 220 (210 in fan) for about half an hour or until they are going crispy. Make some gaps, break eggs into them. Cook till eggs are done. There you go, nicest egg and chips you will ever have. Added bonus is that it's also very low in the bad fats so dieters can eat it as well.

You Hoklo's spell it weird (and have it on a weird day ).

Your move, McDonald.

WTF?

The burger's too small, you forgot to cook the bacon, there seems to be a lack of cheese, and then you stuck egg in it! Twice!

And there's not enough fries

Can I assume that Pau is the same thing as Bao, just dialectically different (ie. 'Bun')? If so, recipe for the dough please. I've never really had a successful attempt.

That's a mushroom.

You mean burn the bacon.

It's on the bottom.

There's only one egg.

From top to bottom, it's a flat mushroom (hidden under the cheese), then a cheese slice, then a rasher of bacon, then a fried egg, then another flat mushroom. In a bagel. And you need to go to Specsavers.

Unless you mean from bottom to top, I really, really do. And there's not enough burger in your burger.
If you took everything out but the cheese slice I'd probably like it

(also, was the cheese slice really that colour? Or did your white balance go nuts?)

Keep up, Craster.

Oh. Yeah.

There's no burger in this, because it's not a burger.

Fortunately, it wasn't for you, so that's just fine.

Bit of both. It's a Dairylea slice, and they are paler than the usual dyed cheese slice colour, but the white balance is also a little off.

Doesn't mean it's got enough burger in it. I'm not convinced there's much a burger wouldn't improve.

Cheesecake. Strawberry milkshake. The ocean. Anti-lock brakes. Loudspeakers.

Ah, but you could say the same about the mushroom you replaced your burger with!

I wonder how long I can keep this up?

Not long actually, I have to go to Tesco

Now, now boys. If you can't play nice you won't be allowed to play at all.

You know, I'm not entirely convinced by "cheesecake". Also, it would be ace if we could catch burgers out of the ocean.

Ronald McDonald wins by not putting fucking mushrooms* into his burgers. WTF is wrong with you?
*I like Edinburgh more than I like mushrooms!!!

Am I the only one who sees a sombrero-wearing Mexican with a cheeky, lopsided grin?*




Probably, yes.

http://resourcefulcook.com/recipes/view ... pper-salad

Did this for lunch, and it was very nice.
To combat any possible health benefit from eating a salad, I immediately popped down to sainsburys for pringles, red sky crisps and haribo...

http://resourcefulcook.com/recipes/view ... roast-pork
This was done a few nights ago and was awesome, slightly too lemony, but that will be easily solved next time.

http://resourcefulcook.com/recipes/view ... eriac-hash
This really shouldn't have been nice, but I loved it, Mrs T not so keen...

We're having this tonight: http://resourcefulcook.com/recipes/view ... icken-mash

The pear dish that's linked to that recipe sounds well nice.

I'm going here for dinner tonight: http://knifeandforkfood.co.uk/woods

They do the best chips I've ever had.

My two bits of brisket are now out of their brine, repacked, and will now sit in the water bath for 26 hours at 74 degrees. I can't wait.

Fry them, then

You can't fry brisket. Too much connective tissue. It needs to be slow cooked.

Mrs T is bonkers, so we can't have anything with mash on it, nor can we even cook anything that has mash in the recipe, even if we substitute something else in its place

lol should have posted em in the first place i guess.




Yup, Pau and Bau are exactly the same thing, i am just lucky enough to be with a lovely lady from Penang so i have picked up the Hokkien version

The fillings for Pau are very wide ranging and varied, we used Rick Steins version of Char Siu from his Asian cook book. The Chicken filling was pretty basic, dice chicken, season with light and black soy, sesame oil, salt and pepper also. Fry up some diced turnip and onion then add chicken and stir fry, adding a bit of corn flour paste to thicken at the end. Main thing with the filling for Pau is they need to have fully cooled down before using them or they will knacker up the dough.

Pau Recipe

Dough A

75 g compressed yeast
250 ml warm sugar solution
600 g plain flour

Dough B

360 g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/3 tsp bicarbonate soda
150 g castor sugar
1 1/2 tbsp corn oil
125 ml water

Mixing Dough A -

1. Mix yeast into the sugar solution and allow to stand for 10 - 15 mins. Yeast will turn frothy.
2. Sift flour, add salt and make a well in the middle. Pour in yeast solution and mix to form a stiff dough.
3. Place dough on a lightly floured board and knead well for 10 - 15 mins untill nice and smooth.
4. Return dough to bowl and cover with a damp cloth.
5. Leave to rise for 30 mins or until dough has doubled in bulk.

Mixing Dough B -

1. Sift flour, baking powder and bicarbonate soda.
2. Add castor sugar to the flour and mix.
3. Make a well in centre and add the corn oil and water.
4. Gradually work in the flour to form a soft dough.
5. Combine the risen dough A with dough B, and knead well for 10 - 15 mins.
6. When the dough is smooth, form into a long roll and cut into even portions.
7. On a lightly floured board, flatten the dough with a roller.
8. Place filling in centre, gather the edges of the dough to close up the filling.
9. Place the newly formed Pau on squares of greaseproof paper and arrange well appart on steaming tray.
10. Leave for 15 mins for dough to have a final rise (gives it a nice shape)
11. Steam for 12 min (longer if you make BIG Pau)

n.b To keep water from dripping from the lid of the steamer and knackering the Pau place a Kitchen towel/cloth around the lid to absorb the condensation.

Hope this helps with the next batch Cras, ohh btw the quantities i have above will make you around 40 decent sized Pau, so be aware you will need a shed load of fillings.



I will get the Pandan Chiffon cake recipe up soon but am off to bed now and am off to the New year celebrations in That London tomorrow, may get it posted when i get back if i am not too full/drunk when i get back

Bah Double post.....

What is it with the asian obsession with green puddings? When we were in Borneo we were at this buffet place one night, there were about 20 different dessert choices, and all but about two of them were green.

i think its more to do with the Pandan leaf, tastes bloody nice but makes everything green, Mrs Green loves Kueh Talam which is the colour of Kryptonite But she does also love


Kaya Glutinous Rice Kuih

which is coconut based and is really nice.

Which part of Borneo did you visit? did you manage to make it to Malaysia? If not i would seriously recommend going to Penang as the food is sublime.

Anyways off for Chinese new year in That London, laters all

Right, the salt beef is out and eaten, and it was fantastic.

The beef:


Reubens for tea:


The second joint packed into pots with butter, ready to go into the fridge to set as 'corned beef':

Looks fantastic - much better colour than mine, and the water bath cooking can't have hurt the texture any either.

It had the texture of shop-bought salt beef, but was much more moist. If you're doing it again, I got the cure #1 from http://www.sausagemaking.org/acatalog/Cure_1.html - if I hadn't used that, I wouldn't have dared cook it sous-vide, I don't think.

It was Malaysian Borneo we were in, just North of Kota Kinabalu. I do want to go back to 'mainland' Malaysia at some point, definitely.

(Can't remember tompyboots: it seems. ? Aha!)

I'm currently having a go at pea & ham soup - with real pigs feet and everything. It currently smells like the pigs ran a marathon every day and didn't take their socks off for about six years. I'm hoping it tastes better than it smells. My wife is already indicating that she's not going to touch it with a ten-foot bargepole.

I'm hoping the Cornish hens for dinner will at least smell better while cooking.

The dinner menu last night had, as part of a starter, mousseline potatoes. I didn't know what they were, but I wanted the foie gras and game terrine anyway. After coming home I looked them up. Turns out they are mashed potato... made with double cream and equal parts potato and butter. I made a huge mistake.

The Cornish hens got a thumbs up. Did them very simply, roasted with rosemary, garlic and lemon.
The soup turned out... okay. I don't know why I was in such a crazy experimentational mood today, but I don't think I'd make it again and even if I did I'd make some serious modifications to the recipe I followed. Also, it's crying out for big, chunky slices of crusty bread to go with it, which I forgot to buy today.

That looks bloody fantastic.

That salt beef looks amazing. I'm not buying a water bath (I'm not buying a water bath, I'm not buying a water bath...)

We sowed chilli seeds into Rootrainers and thence into a heated propagator to germinate yesterday. Seven varieties, 8 each of six (Anaheim, Fresno, Hungarian Hot Wax, Tabasco and two others that I don't remember just now) and 16 Jalapeno (because I had two different sachets). 64 seeds total, with at least as many again in reserve when this lot are planted on. My summer will, hopefully, be explosive. We also put oregano on the windowsill to germinate.

We've also got seed onions, potatoes and garlic to go into the allotment, so they're laid out to do whatever it is they do before being planted. It's not time for anything else yet, apparently, but there'll at least be tomatoes, courgettes, sweet pointy peppers and broad beans to go with the blackberries, rhubarb and tayberries that already grow there. Probably sugar snap peas if we can find them.

And we're going to get a greenhouse to go in the back garden, in addition to the one on the allotment.

Fuck. Yeah.

You don't need a water bath, Bik. I made mine in a pan on the hob.

Hm. Interesting.