Foodies In The News

[Stokey Sue]

Both very Guardian - the leftover aquafaba one is a bit silly just because of the wording - but if you eat chickpeas and not eggs might be useful to be reminded of something you can do.

The BTL comments on the risotto are hilarious - can’t get my head round the woman who bought a *cookbook* and chucked it because it described different ways of chopping carrots I’d like to show her Chinese rolling knife cutting (very easy when you get the trick but showy) and blow her tiny mind.

Made IP risotto last night, very good.

[KeenCook]

gosh, climate warming and drought and the rice crop. Not good.

[miss mouse]

The BTL comments on the risotto are hilarious - can’t get my head round the woman who bought a *cookbook* and chucked it because it described different ways of chopping carrots I’d like to show her Chinese rolling knife cutting (very easy when you get the trick but showy) and blow her tiny mind.

Is it anything like this one?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTCf6iaNmqM

[Stokey Sue]

More like this (not a carrot but the technique is the same for anything roughly cylindrical)
The cook here is carefully making the pieces very uniform, but I learned to do it from Buwei Yang Chao’s “How to Cook and Eat in Chinese” and she uses it specifically to get pleasingly random chunks that will hold together in a stew but the facets have a large surface area for flavour exchange

Rolling knife is her literal translation but it seems other people just say roll cut.

https://youtu.be/1EVDdXrO-yo

[miss mouse]

Rolling knife is her literal translation but it seems other people just say roll cut.

https://youtu.be/1EVDdXrO-yo

What a good idea, I've seen it done (YouTube) where the knife is switched around which looked hard work, that way is much better.

The ad before the video had a woman chopping veg until rudely and angrily pushed aside by a man and a mandolin given to her...whatever next.

[Stokey Sue]

I got and ad for a cream tea!

[Pepper Pig]

The price of bread. https://www.theguardian.com/food/2024/m ... -and-class

[Earthmaiden]

An interesting dilemma. I'd suggest that a high percentage of people only shop in supermarkets (convenience, time constraints, accessibility etc) and that others are either comfortably off with time on their hands and can afford artisan bread, struggling and using whatever is offered or visiting shops familiar to their culture.

[KeenCook]

I must say, I'm afraid I balk at paying £5.00 for a loaf, no matter how artisanal it is! (When I had my dental extractions my surgeon commented how many broken teeth, crowns etc he has to deal with as a result of people eating sourdough, and said he personally never risks it )

Very interesting article, thanks for posting PP.

[Stokey Sue]

I do like Pen Vogler, she’s so rigorous but not stuffy.

I agree with a lot of that but not all - one reason being that round here I can buy reasonably priced bread made in small amounts by Turkish, Jewish and other bakers. Why aren’t they looking at those businesses for inspiration?

And the usual nonsense about quoting a truly terrible study as the ultimate proof that UPF is bad for you and loose talk of banning “additives”.

Which additives? Evoo? Other oils? Vinegar was mentioned. Malt extract? Don’t forget that the 1998 Bread and Flour regulations require fortification except for some speciality flours.
https://www.ukflourmillers.org/bread-an ... egulations

[Norfolkman]

I sometimes buy supermarket bread but most of the time I buy from a local guy who bakes at his home.

I much prefer the texture of sourdough and know exactly what's in the loaves from Neil.

His large loaves are £4-5 a go and they freeze very well. So cut into quarters and frozen until needed.

https://www.facebook.com/breadbyneil

[Earthmaiden]

I don't pretend to have examined all the supposed evidence closely but it does seem as though bread made by the Chorleywood method eaten regularly does not agree very well with a lot of people. If they take a rest from it they start to feel better. This is why some people think they are gluten intolerant but a break from regular bread and introduction to bread which has taken longer to make works wonders. If only we all had access to the little stores Sue mentions!

[Busybee]

I buy a combination of bread - Hovis from the supermarket but also fresh artisan baked goods from ‘the bread lady’ who comes to our local market and sells out of a converted horse box. Husband is the baker and A sells on the markets. It’s £2.75 a loaf, so not near the £5 mark but certainly a lot more than the supermarket. But there again this is northern pricing as apposed to London pricing.

I find that the commercial bread goes mouldy before we use it, so I usually divide the loaf and freeze half. The loaves are smaller from the market and we do tend to eat it all. Toasts wonderfully when it’s a few days old.

BB

[Earthmaiden]

I thought this was interesting. Hadn't realised the connection before. https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... nservation

[scullion]

yes, important.
we have a couple of bat houses up in trees round our garden.
they were bought off eBay, as people who are obliged to install one on a new build often don't and get rid of them.
we also had bats under the barge boards but they may have decamped.
the cat which died last year used to sit on the roof and catch them as they came out (we think) - i had to liberate two, at different times, from the kitchen. both times she deposited them in the sink and 'told' me where they were by sitting on the side of the sink and alternately looking at me and looking at the bat. they both survived undamaged and flitted away.
the friend who died recently was at one point the local 'bat lady'. her ex husband invented a widely used 'batbox' which determined which type of bat was flying. he bought his prototype to our garden to test.

[Earthmaiden]

We had bats at my childhood home which is currently being demolished. Presumably they left years ago or they'd have had trouble getting permission. Love watching them dart round at dusk.

[Stokey Sue]

The derelict chapel over the road was recently renovated and great trouble was taken to provide the bats with new homes, I believe successfully, I must ask someone.

Wish the little beggars would eat more midges, I get eaten every summer.

[mistakened]

We regularly saw African Fruit Bats when we lived in Polis, they are big boys, not dissimilar to a small flying umbrella. They are vegetarian, it is most off putting waking up in the middle of the night to the sounds of a bat slurping at the ripe nectarines outside your bedroom window.

Moira

[miss mouse]

Wish the little beggars would eat more midges, I get eaten every summer.

Another mozzie victim thinks bats should work harder.

[Pepper Pig]

One or us oyster lovers. I really fancy this. https://www.theguardian.com/food/2024/m ... ant-review