Food chat, tips and recipes

Part one is done :man_cook:

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Avocado and Stilton on Sourdough.

Just the ticket for hungry little vikings!

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The pizza was :hearts::hearts::hearts::hearts::hearts:

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OK so sorry. I suggest sunflower oil because is the lighter than the other seeds oil, and give to the pasta a nice flavour AMD smell. I like nuts oil, but is a little much fat for pizza.

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Sorry but i forgot to see the notifications. Well, pasta looks nice. Now you have to separate that pasta in balls of 250/300 grammi. So, that soil of pizza looks nice. In the ovens se have at home, the important is the Cook, because it works on lowest temperature. In fact, the doses for flour are a bit different for professional pizza. At work, i use 1,720/1,750 kg per liter, because i work on 350° and less cooking time (2 minutes max). At home, at 250°, it takes more time, andò if you put 1,750g, it becomes like a wooden stick. Noto crisp but hard

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Looks nice. Congrats. Hired as help :joy::joy::joy:

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I used seed oil from sunflower, next pizza with banana and curry

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Toasted Coconut Pie

3 Eggs
1 ½ cups Sugar (I just use 1 cup)
1 stick Butter
1 teaspoon Vanilla
4 teaspoons Lemon Juice
1 1/3 cups Coconut
1 Deep Dish Pie Crust

Use a cookie pan with sides and line with aluminum foil. Spread coconut in a thin layer in the pan. While preheating oven to 350 put the coconut in the oven and toast until brown – up to 15 minutes or so. Once toasted you will have a giant tuille of coconut. Wrap the aluminum sides together like a container to crumble the sheet into toasted coconut flakes.

Melt butter. Beat eggs. Add butter, vanilla, lemon juice, and coconut to eggs. Pour into pie shell (uncooked) and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes (mine have taken 50 minutes).

Ooey gooey deliciousness with very little effort!

Toasted%20Coconut%20Pie

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That looks so good,
I’ll be passing that one on to my daughter thanks!
:heart::heart:

It takes minutes to make you get the pie crust at the supermarket in the freezer section I double the lemon make sure crust is deep dish it takes a few minutes to make. Double the recipe for 2 pies as when you buy the crust they only sale 2 crusts per pack.

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I have food tips for you all. I worked in the industry forever (was a professional chef for 22 years) and learned a few things along the way. Best method to peel garlic that actually works https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc7w_PGSt9Y you need to get through the ad but this saves time and is in one word: Awesome! Remember vigorous for 20 seconds!

Also if you use a knife block insert your knives into your knife block upside down. It will keep the blade sharper longer!

Want perfect rice every time, my favorite chef Micheal Smith has a wonderful tip here, https://www.foodnetwork.ca/shows/food-network-canada-chef-school/blog/chef-michael-smiths-pro-tips-for-perfect-rice-every-time/

Check out some of these inspired tips and tricks, what works for them in their version of exactly what we are doing on this forum, check this out at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbiXc5cUVus

He (Michael Smith) also posts many a great tip I have found literally awesome to know: http://chefmichaelsmith.com/video-category/tips-tricks/

I finally part with one odd trick to solve hiccups. It works 100% of the time taught to me from my mom a million years ago. If someone is having hiccups it is because their equilibrium is off. Get them to hold their fingers in their ears (yes I am actually being serious) While they are doing that you get them to drink a cup of water you are giving them. The water resets the equilibrium and will stop the hiccups. They must drink the whole glass of water while their fingers are in their ears. It sounds goofy as **** and originally I call bull**** on it. To date I have literally used it about 50 times on various people with various levels of hiccup intensity over a 10 year period (millions of years ago) No clue what the more scientific explanation is but it works! IN EVERY SINGLE situation it worked with someone that had the hiccups!!!

I will post more when I have time. For those of you that have pinterest I post many a food recipe there. Here is my real world link to food that satisfies the soul! https://www.pinterest.ca/excitedtoshare/food-inspiration-for-your-soul/

Enjoy eating everyone and I hope some of these tips you will find very useful!!!

Much Love- Thunder

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I raise his 40 squirrels to 60 :slight_smile:

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:chipmunk::chipmunk::chipmunk::chipmunk::chipmunk::chipmunk::chipmunk::chipmunk::chipmunk::chipmunk: X10
100 squirrels…,!

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I re raise his 100 squirrels to 1 chipmunk HA!image

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Wattsy’s Saag Aloo Paneer Balti. (this will rely on you having a continental store for massallas or you can google them if you are all clever and kitcheny).

Sorry, I can’t do imperial measurements.

750g baby potatoes.
1kg Red onions
1 large spanish onion.
1 Cinnamon stick
2 tsp Garam masalla
1 tbsp of Balti masalla.
1 small chunk of ginger (about the size of a standard dice).
2 tsp Ground Paprika
1 tsp Ground chilli powder.
1 tbsp Turmeric
650ml single cream.
Fresh coriander.
Half a bulb of Garlic
Big bag of spinach ( or a large can)
1 bottle of red wine.
Four chillis, nothing too hot unless you’re mad.
1 pack of paneer (200g is good).
4 cold beers.
Salt
Black Pepper.
Two vegetable stock cubes.
2 cans of tomatoes, buy the best you can.
1 tbsp of tomato paste.
200g Mushrooms
Three ‘salad’ peppers

My method:

Open beer number one and start to drink (it’s what proper chefs do.)

Use a nice big stock pot.

Boil around a litre of water adding a tsp of rock salt and about half a tsp of pepper, just guess it will be fine and throw in the stock cubes,.

Peel and add all of the onions and Garlic (top tip if you don’t already know use the flat of your knife to squash the garlic then the skin comes off really easily,) and throw in a chilli and the ginger.
Get a sieve and balance it in the pan and place the cinnamon stick in there. (they are a right B~@~: to find later on!

Boil for about an hour until everything has gone soft and finish of that beer. Pass your time on the forum chatting.

Remove the sieve and cinnamon stick and chuck it away.

Open beer number two.

Throw in both cans of tomatoes and the tomato paste. Add the chilli,turmeric, paprika, garam massalla and balti massalla, chuck in half a bottle of red wine.

Take off the heat for ten mins, then using a hand blender blitz it until smooth.

Finish beer two.

Open beer three, chop all of your ingredients you have left up except the potatoes and the cheese.

Chuck everything in except the paneer and leave it to simmer for around 45 mins.

Chat on the forum some more.

Slice the paneer into cubes and fry on a high heat quickly until they start to slightly brown and throw them in the big pot.

Take off heat and stir in cream to taste, remember to add and taste, you cannot take it out! Leave it for five minutes and serve with generous ripped up coriander on top…remembering you have that last beer to drink with your meal.

For added happiness serve flat breads ( as they are easy to make.: big pot of natural full fat yogurt, plain flour and baking powder, I guess when I make this so just pour out flour and add in yogurt and half a tsp of baking powder, knead. Knead some more. Break off small balls and roll into flat bread shapes, throw in the oven on baking paper at 180c for about five minutes, watch them or they will be burnt.

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Thunders Kitchen Info 101:

1st Class: Herbs versus Spices: Actually knowing the difference!

We often use the words herb and spice interchangeably. Herbs and spices are obtained from plants. (Salt is neither a spice or a herb it is a mineral.) Herbs and spices are used primarily for adding flavour and aroma to food. Both are best used fresh but can be saved by drying. While there are similarities, there are also subtle differences between herbs and spices.

Herbs are obtained from the leaf (non-woody) plants. They are used for savory purposes in cooking and some have fantastic medicinal value. Herbs often are used in larger amounts than spices. Herbs originated from from temperate climates such as Italy, France and England. Herb also is a word used to define any herbaceous plant that dies down at the end of the growing season and may not refer to it’s culinary value at all.

Spices are obtained from roots,flowers,fruits,seeds or bark. Spices are native to warm tropical climates and can be woody or herbaceous plants. Spices often are more potent and stronger flavour flavored than herbs; as a result, they typically are used in smaller amounts. Some spices are used not only to add taste, but also as a preservative.

Some plants are both herbs and spices. The leaves of Coriandrum Sativum are the source of cilantro(herb) while coriander (spice) is from the plant’s seeds. Dill is another example. The seeds are a spice while dill weed is an herb derived from the plant’s stems and leaves.

Examples of Herbs: Thyme, Sage, Oregano, Parsley, Marjoram, Basil, Chives, Rosemary, Mint

Examples of Spices: Cinnamon - (bark of the cinnamon tree), Ginger (root) Cloves (flower bud) Saffron - stigma(female reproductive part) of saffron crocus, Nutmeg -(seed) Vanilla - undeveloped fruit of an orchid Cumin - (seed)

I teach this (and much more) It is a good starting point for ANYONE wanting to know the difference of a spice from the herb. I hope you enjoyed this tidbit of info, I will will post more similar knowledge updates as I can!

Cheers and much love,

Thunder

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Loved it, I’m not much of a cook, I can do a few dishes but don’t understand the mechanics or ingredients particularly, it’s all trial and error for me. Thanks for taking the time.

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Thunders Kitchen Info 102:

Second Class: The Pros and Cons of Stainless versus High Carbon Steel Knife Blades! It is a longer post but the info is solid!

What can I say I am inspired by this forum. Here is something else I teach newcomers to the kitchen and even veterans can appreciate the knowledge in the difference between high carbon steel and stainless steel knives!

When it comes to knife blades, there is a laundry list of metals that can be used. Generally speaking there are two classifications in knife blades, stainless or high carbon steel knife blades. Each has their pros and cons and for the most part, you are just trading the shortcomings of one with the the strength of the other. It all comes down to what you are willing to sacrifice on and what you are hoping to get. But which knife blade is stainless and which one is high carbon?

Stainless Steel: Blades generally have at least 12% chromium which does two things for the blade. This makes the blade able to resist rust and corrosion a lot better than high carbon blades but the downside is that stainless steel is generally softer then high carbon knives. This means that although they are relatively easier to sharpen, they also tend to lose their edge just a tad quicker than hard, high carbon blades. So here are the advantages of stainless steel blades.

Durability: Stainless steel knife blades are generally tougher than high carbon blades. Tougher but not necessarily harder. There is an ongoing debate between the definitions of the two because, for a long time, they have been considered synonyms. Stainless steel blades do not rust, chip or stain easily. Technically speaking, stainless steel can still rust but it resists it a lot better than high carbon knives.

Flavour Presentation: Stainless steel knives do not require any protective or non-stick coating so there is less chance of contaminating your food if you do use the knife for food prep. Stainless steel also tends not to leach off it;s metallic properties onto your food.(remember every time you sharpen your knife wash it and dry it so you don’t get small metallic shavings deposited into your food!)Some discerning pallets sometimes can tell the knife was high carbon as it can sometimes leave a slight metallic taste.

Recyclable: Stainless steel is one of the most recyclable materials today. They are on fact almost everywhere metal is used. This means that if you do happen to wreck your knife, which is quite hard to do with stainless steel, you can always have it recycled. It’s a simple way of helping mother earth.

Appearance: Of course, the biggest pull of stainless steel knives is the fact that they look good for a very long time. Less time used in maintaining the knife gives you more time to do what it is you like with it!!!

High Carbon Steel:

Carbon is the hardest element and knife blades made form high carbon steel is no exception. The strength and hardness of the blade makes it ideal for edge retention which means less time required for edge maintaining the blade but since it does not have a drop of chromium, it has very poor resistance capabilities. This means that you need to thoroughly clean the knife after use and make sure you guard it against moisture before you store it! More commonly used on fixed blade knives, high carbon knife blades are known to last throughout the years. I would bet my bottom dollar you’re grand-daddy’s fixed blade knife is made form some sort of high carbon steel, most likely 1095. There are a lot of professional chefs myself included and survivalists that swear to the quality of high carbon steel blades. Here is a list of advantages of this type of blade.

Sharpness: There is simply no matching the sharpness that high carbon knives deliver. This allows superior precision in cutting and requires a lot less effort making the the knife a lot safer.

Affordable: Of course, many factors can relay the cost of any knife. High carbon steel tend to be more affordable then their stainless steel counterparts. I didn’t use the word cheaper because you might get the wrong idea. High carbon steel are cheaper in price not in quality.

Hardness: High carbon steel blades are a lot harder than stainless steel which makes it a lot more dependable on precision cuts. Most blades for hunting knives are made from high carbon specifically for this reason. One may argue that high carbon rusts way easier making it a poor choose for an outdoor environment but that can be easily resolved by proper knife maintenance.

Edge Retention: Because they are harder, they also tend to hold their crazy sharp edge longer. This means that you do not have to worry about sharpening the knife as often and that you will be able to cut through what is required with less issues. One thing is for sure, you can skin a deer way faster with a carbon steel knife that a stainless steel one.

Conclusion: It will come down to what you want, cost, comfort, style and ease of use. All of these things will factor in to what you do with your knife.

Yeah yeah I get it is way more knife info then most people need but hey I have it so I might as well share it,

Cheers and much love,

Thunder

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The biggest advice I can give in doing anything trial and error related is write down the step(s) of what you are doing. I can not tell you how many times I made an awesome soup and then had no frigging idea on the amounts of what ever I was using to create it. This never allowed me to create the same soup twice which was both a blessing and a curse. For the sake of what ever you hold dear, write down what you are doing especially if you are experimenting! LOL …

This will also let you get to a base set expectation where then having fun fooling around is less painful then trying to remember exactly what you were doing in the first place!

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Probably why it took me ten years to perfect my curry, the recipe I posted is the general gist but not my absolute. The amount of times I threw the whole pot away in the early days is ridiculous. If only I had written it down. Experience Vs playing about. It’s always the simple solutions that make the difference.

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