Food

Anyone have any banging meatball recipes? I love the traditional Italian beefy (+pork/veal etc) bois, but looking to branch out. I've done some chicken thai-styled which were fine if not as good as I thought they should have been. Have also done lamb kofte-y which were lovely in a pitta with onion salad. Any inspiration gratefully received.

I generally pass them with the sieve with the skins on, then whack them in the oven for a little bit as something on the side. I will boil no more.

Started to do a similar thing with oven chips as well; bake, let them cool, chip shapes with the skins on, mix in some olive oil/seasoning, grate some garlic and put in towards the end, then shake in a bowl with some parmesan to serve.

Having tried both I don't think I can detect any difference between mash made with a ricer from boiled or baked (but loads of difference between mash made with a ricer vs a masher) - but intrigued with your chip method. You're saying you bake a potato whole in skin, let it cool then cut, oil, season and bake before a final shake in a bowl with parm? Is that a full bake (as you would for a baked potato, so fully soft all the way through) or more of a par-bake? If a full bake, are the resultant chips not a bit soft?

Pretty much. Recipe is from Thom Bateman.

https://www.tiktok.com/@chefthombateman/video/7242350697700674843

He has a whole host of 'All about the...' with some really good recipes in there. One of the few that doesn't involve a huge vat of oil

Re. mash. My chef mate reckons you have to use 50% potato and 50% butter!

Not for me.

Potato ricers are game changers for mash.

nice one, ta

^
^
This

Really glad you liked it. It is so much better than 'cabbage soup' has any right to be!

Did you manage to find authentic correct cabbage? I usually use savoy

My wife gets it from someone on Facebook, I can't really find many other sources.

this is the closest I can find but they don't ship to UK and are too expensive
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/154576645225

I’d like to know the science of cooking a potato. What’s the difference between the middle of a baked potato and the middle of a boiled one? I get that the outside of a boiler can be wet and affect the mash, which is why I always leave them to steam off for a bit after draining.

A lot of water comes out of the potato in the oven as steam, I don't know from how deep though.
You just get less liquid and more opportunity to replace it with butter.

Ah yeah I hadn’t thought of that. A friend told me decades ago that I shouldn’t chop them so small to boil, as it creates more surface area to be soggy

No splash of double cream?

Isn't the oven just drying out the outside of the potato quicker that letting the potato rest? Then adding adding the fluid back with a splash of milk.

Back to the garlic chat.

Today I heard about blue green mouldy looking garlic. It is known as Laba Garlic in asian cookery believe. Has a sour and spicy flavour.

Has any one made it?

I`ve marinated garlic in black vinegar before (which i think its the right one). It didnt go that blue. I did the garlic honey and that one went quite blue. Both taste great

I found out it is only proper laba garlic if marinaded on a certain day before laba, and using a certain rice wine vinegar. But as I'm not a super taster I doubt I will ever notice the difference

Off to Google to see about black vinegar.

I believe Chinkiang Black Rice Vinegar is the right one. Also good for making Dan Dan Noodles

Tried those last night, they were very good but could be better (my fault entirely, as I used quite small potatoes and cut them too small). Will try again with larger potatoes. But thanks!

thanks, i might hve to get my mate in HK to have a look out there :)

prefer Thai basil.

Easy to grow in the UK, at least in the summer

I brought some of this seasoning/glaze on a whim from Tesco as it was clearance stock and it's fricken good. Anyone know of anything similar?

1 Attachment

For lunch today I made the Nigel Slater spicy pumpkin thing that was in the Guardian this weekend:

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2024/feb/20/nigel-slater-midweek-dinner-recipe-pumpkin-with-mustard-seed-and-curry-leaves

I used a butternut squash that has been sitting in the fridge looking uninspiring for a week or so.

It was totally delicious. Recommended.

Woah, that looks banging.

Super easy too, if you have the requisite spices to hand. I used black mustard seeds, because who the fuck has yellow ones?