Be Excellent To Each Other

How is the air fryer, @Cras ?

Would you say they were a worthwhile investment/use of space in a small kitchen (not to suggest that you have a small kitchen, but I have a small kitchen ).

I do have a small kitchen. They're not small, but I do use it really quite a lot. It's earned its space on the counter for me, definitely

It's perfect for frozen hash browns.

Fab. I have a halogen oven on the counter at the moment, but now that I have a real oven I could potaentially put that away to swap out for an air fryer (my counter top space limits me to kettle, toaster and one other appliance. I use my Instant Pot a LOT but even that has to stay in the cupboard because I do not have room).

Can I ask which ones you folks have? Do you have one with the rotating paddle and if so does that help a lot?

No paddle, it's this one...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Instant-Brands ... B08VDXMQ2P

£70 from the Amazon treasure truck.
I really like mine, it's basically a turbocharged fan oven, so anything you can cook in an over you can do in the air fryer, pretty much.

Nobody died.

…yet

As with all things Amazon these days, the listing is overloaded with different variants.

It's the 6L vortex in black. They do smaller ones, but you really need a 6l, as it's still a pretty small cooking space.

Oh, that’s good. I couldn’t work out what the difference between the vortex and vortex plus was, so that’s handy.

I think I will get one.

If I made potato wedges (which I usually do in the halogen) could I add my spices, etc to the raw potato wedges before cooking them, or would that cause problems? I usually toss the wedges in a bowl with half a teaspoon of oil, then sprinkle my spices or seasoning on before cooking, but I don’t know enough about air fryers to know if that’d be a problem.

That's exactly the perfect way to prep them for an air fryer

Then I am sold. Which one do you have, Cras, if you don’t mind me asking?

Exactly the same one Trooper linked above!

Fab. Then there’s not even a decision for me to make

Thanks both. x

*Sharpens noose*

I didn't realise it could make things cold.

Second go at some brisket. About 1.7kg smoked over cherry and hickory for, in the end, just under 5 hours (+1.5 resting)

Must have used too much fuel in the first instance - my WSM sits out in a sun trap so was warm right from the off, and whereas often it struggles to get up to 250 with a full water pan, it kept topping out at 280!

I saw this picture of a t-shirt, and it reminded me of this thread...

Noice.

Relatedly, my new barbecue arrived today - Weber Mastertouch 57cm with the Gourmet Barbecue System! Haven't put it together yet, but it's huge compared to my existing drum barbecue!

My brother sent me some of the menu options for the place he went yesterday, and one of the ingredients/components of one of the salads was ‘smacked cucumbers’ and when I looked it up it’s someone actually hitting a cucumber with a rolling pin until it breaks.

Set everything up to smoke a brisket on Friday evening, with the intention of doing it overnight to give it plenty of time to rest before taking it to the social occasion we were attending that afternoon.

Apparently I was a lot more tired than I thought because I just flat out didn't wake up at any point during the night to check on it (I hadn't set any alarms, stupidly, on the grounds that the last time I did this I woke up pretty regularly anyway and I didn't want to annoy Jem and/or our neighbours with unnecessary alarms)

My cheapo BT thermometer app doesn't keep a full history of temperatures so I had no way of working out what it had got up to, but it was at 117(F) when I woke up having been at about 150 when we went to bed. I'm assuming it overcooked as it was as tough as boots, but I stuck it in the oven at 225 until it got back up to 203 to see if it just needed "finishing off" - no, still shite.

Fortunately it wasn't a huge joint so wasn't mega expensive. Think I'll stick to during-the-day smokes for now...

Smoker is clean. Gazebo is up. Pork shoulder (not ham because I didn't start days ago) and turkey crown are brining in the fridge, and a 1.8kg piece of brisket flat is sitting there not becoming corned beef because I forgot to buy Prague powder (and also didn't start days ago). Not sure what to do with that to be honest, might just do it boxing Day or day after.

Helen just made me open my Christmas pressie early because I too am now a member of the Meater Block club! Woo!

Also we have extra tons of streaky bacon this year because I now know sprouts in blankets are a thing. Unfortunately I didn't buy a pork belly a week ago and make my own bacon. Definite theme to my prep this year, even though I've only been "in the office" 5 days in the last 4 weeks.

I’m making a simple veggie roast with all the trimmings that will take me under and hour from start to finish. It’s not fancy, but it’s completely stress free and will leave loads of time free for family stuff. I usually prep my sprouts the night before by halving and steaming them, then I usually sauté them in butter and chopped bacon with a splash of Worcester sauce for Russell (this is the only non-veggie component as I don’t eat them). This year I’m too tired to steam them tonight so I’ll do them tomorrow and will dry them with some chorizo. Now I’ve heard of sprouts in blankets I’ll do those for Russell next year too.

This is the first year in a decade that I’ve had an oven, so I’ve been catching up with some baking. I’ve made two batches of marzipan lidded mince pies, two batches of veggie sausage rolls and the most gigantic gooey chocolate chip cookies.

Those sausage rolls look gorgeous.

We'd got into the habit of making our own sausage meat but we had a couple of packs of dinky sausages in the freezer so Helen went the route of wrapping those in puff pastry and calling it done.

She wrapped the leftover pastry around mozzarella we haven't made Christmas pizza with; the cheese melted out leaving essentially baked puff pastry, and now I want to try just wrapping pastry around butter and seeing what happens...

Do you have a mincer to make your own sausage meet? I remember my Nan had one that screwed into the front of her Kenwood mixer.

I usually use a veggie sausage mix for my sausage rolls, but they’ve stopped selling/making the one I like this year, so I used some meatless farm sausages that I took the skins off and mixed with a bit of pepper and some herbs before re-shaping.

I shamed myself into action after writing my last post and am just steaming my sprouts. Future me will look back at now-me and love her.

Yep - it clips into the front of our Kenwood mixer

Oh! Hahaha! It just shows you that classic technology lasts, even in newer iterations. My Nan’s one was from the 60s, I believe!

One of my memories from childhood in the 80s is how reliable my mum's Kenwood was, and I think she even inherited that well-used, so when it came time for us to buy one and there was a crazy deal on Kenwoods that included all the paddles and 2 accessories plus discounts on further accessories, it wasn't a difficult choice.

We got the blender, grinder, spice/nut mill and processor ones. I think the processor is the only bit we don't use regularly, and none of it has broken in going on a decade, so can't argue! (I would if it did mind, it was a bargain but still expensive!)

Somehow the shops heard about the Christmas pizza we've made for years which has dulled the shine on that tradition.

Handily we accidentally invented Christmas kebabs today!

I finally bought the air fryer I was talking about buying half a year ago. Just used it for the first time. Not to cook bacon, but in some ways the anti-bacon.

I made some chickpeas with nutritional yeast and cayenne. They came out SO good. Much better than in the halogen cooker. And so quick. 15 minutes. I am very happy.

So, a review.

Use 1: probe 2 would not stay connected even with the Block kept within 3 feet, either using the Weber smoker or kitchen oven.

Use 2: same.

Use 3: cooking using the Weber smoker and probes 1-3. Probe 3 now behaving same as probe 2.

Use 4: probe 4, previously unused, in the kitchen oven. Connection drops repeatedly, not as bad as 2 but worse than 3. Probes 1 and 2 no longer talking to the Block after several hours of charging, presumably because I dared to not wash 1-3 for a week after use 3.

I feel terrible for having had to tell Helen the thing she was excited to buy me with lots of money for Christmas is shit, she feels terrible for something she bought me for Christmas knowing I find Christmas stressful because I hate this kind of situation, is exactly this kind of situation, but with lots of money involved.

I haven't even told her about today's use.

I fucking hate it but will carry on using it anyway, knowing it's going to ruin the mood of everything I cook with it. Assuming any of the probes continue "working" at all, anyway.

0/10.

The Weber igrill2 I was previously bought as a gift is also terrible, but I believe costs less and has at least given number on all 4 probes consistently in several more years. You just have to ignore the abysmal Bluetooth range.

At least I can get numbers by going and looking at it, unlike the meater when it's not behaving. Which I still do, as I use it for ambient readings while the smoker is heating

2/10

It's always so so so awkward when gifts don't work as expected.

Interesting, the only problems I've had with mine are that I need to keep the block outside and put it under a sheet when I'm using it in my WSM so that the probes can talk to the block, probably around 2-3 feet away, and that the block itself seems to run out of battery power very quickly (and by that I mean, when not in active use, the batteries drain very quickly) so I'm just going to power it from a powerbank in future.

No issues with the probes at all.

Actually, I tell a lie, I did have an issue with one of the probes dropping connection but that was just because its battery was low. Sticking it back into the block while it was powered to charge up sorted that straight out.

I have bought a maslin pan and a jam funnel and am going to attempt to make marmalade today. Never made anything like this before. Send help.

It took three whole hours to prep the oranges

All went really well!

I have a couple of cooking related questions.

1) Is there a way to batter and cook something without deep frying it?

I want to make beer battered parsnips, but I’m never going to deep fry them as the idea terrifies me, and the cost of the oil alone would be prohibitive.

And if there is a positive answer to the first question:

2) can the battered things (parsnips?) be cooled, stored (fridge? Freezer?) and reheated in an oven?

I have the inlaws coming over, thought I’d make a veggie roast, and just wondered if his is possible. But also don’t want to mess about frying whilst they are here.

No worries if not, I’ll just do the standard honey roast parsnips, but thought I’d ask.

@cras and anyone else who might know? I think maybe Doc G but I do t think he reads here any more

Not 100% sure about 1) but 2) is a Yes as you can buy battered fish / onion rings etc from the supermarket and reheat in the oven

The batter in that case will usually be part'cooked, you'll note they're dry to the touch. They'll also cover in a cooking fat so that the food partially fries in the oven.

Doing it yourself, the issue is setting the batter.When you put it in the fryer, there's an instant amount of high heat that turns the batter solid on the outside very quickly, holding it in place while it cooks. It's extremely difficult to replicate that any other way. You can give it a go in an oven on high heat but unless you have a very thick batter it will likely slide off before cooking firm. Definitely don't try an air fryer, the fan will blow the batter off the parsnips

Might it work if I shallow fry them quickly in a little oil?

Sort of? I think you'll find a good amount of the batter will slough off as you attempt to turn them - one of the advantages of deep frying is that they're floating in the oil and can set the batter on all sides without needing to interfere with them using implements which risks knocking off the batter.
As in all thinks I'd just say give it a go

If it doesn't work, grate the parsnip into the batter and basically make some soft of bhaji/fritter combo

This sounds really nice actually, I do enjoy a good frittery bhaji-type thing.

That’s a grate (a-hahaha) idea. I’ve made some lovely pakora/bhajis in the halogen oven before, and have some gram flour. I think I’ll do that. Thanks for the superb idea.

Probably of no interest to anybody but me, but I made strawberry jam entirely out of strawberries grown in the garden. I added the juice of one and a half lemons and 3tbsp of pomegranate molasses, plus a pinch of salt to the jam. It tastes so fresh and vibrant. I’m super happy with it,

(Also I made jam jar lid covers because the strawberry shaped jars I bought are excellent).

That looks great and the jars are amazing. Did you use sugar with added pectin or was the only source of pectin the lemon juice?

Thanks, Cras!

I added pectin. I don’t think there’d have been enough in the lemon juice (because as far as I’m aware the pectin in citrus is mostly found in the pith and flesh, which wasn’t boiled into the jam at any time), but the set was perfect. Maybe just dumb luck on my part?

I sterilised and canned the contents while still boiling hot, and then water bath canned them afterwards. I used the sauté function on the instant pot, as I realised that’s the deepest pot I own, and the only one that would cover the jars apart from the jam pot, which was full of jam remnants. It worked really well!

I wrote up the recipe after I made it, mostly so I could remember for next time.

https://mimicodd.com/homegrown-strawber ... es-recipe/

Was in half a mind to try balsamic vinegar in the jam but went with the pomegranate molasses and it is really nice!

Thought we might have a barbecue later, so I made some burger buns and hot dog rolls.

Maybe could have come out of the oven a minute earlier, but they’re nice and light.

Forgot the picture