No but I tell you what was pretty eye opening which I didn’t post before, just how much oil and fat a Mediterranean restaurant or takeaway is putting in their rice… first time doing plain fried rice in that style for me and I thought I was putting enough oil and butter in to give an elephant a heart attack, it ended up decidedly quite plain and nowhere near as oily/greasy as professional stuff. Never realised just how bad for you their rice is! I would welcome the input from anyone with their cooking badges as to what is the least unhealthy commonly available takeaway option.
When I do these I do them low and slow on a small kamado grill but to try and help moisture retention do the first couple hours in foil as you suggest. Also use boned out thigh fillets whole as there's a slightly higher fat content (that will render out) and a tad more flavour. I tend to use a couple of bamboo skewers to hold them together and then cut them short to wrap in foil. Then it's a case of removing the foil and upping the temperature to crisp up the outside and retain the foil juices to baste about 30 mins before serving.
Yes, but generally speaking the countries with those diets avoid a lot of the problems due to food that we have. But the way they cook those at home will be different from our takeaways. I would say fish and chips are as healthy as any takeaway.
Always prefer chicken thighs, bone in or out, as in my opinion there is more flavour than chicken breasts.
I seriously want a kamado but my missis saw the price of them in the garden centre so if I bring one home it will probably be the last time I see both it and her And agree chicken thighs are far superior to breast meat with the sole exception of in a roast dinner, where I personally think the breast is better. Completely plain chicken thighs complete with the bone and skin, barbecued just right til golden and crispy, is probably one of the nicest things to eat in the world.
Keep an eye on Aldi and Lidl. They have the small 13 inch ones about 80 quid in summer. I can do up to a 9 inch pizza stone and roast a small chicken on it, maybe 4/5 quarter pounders. I bought a stainless heat deflector off eBay for the low and slow roasting/smoking stuff, which was another 30 quid It's ridiculously efficient though. Get about 3 1/2 hour's bake time off 1/2 kilo of lumpwood. Bit longer if I'm using it as a smoker really throttled back but usually add a couple of lumps of oak or cherry as well for that. I've had it 4 years now though. It's outside all year and apart from slight crazing in the outer glaze showing no signs of giving up. Most BBQ,s or grills I've had before have rusted to **** within a couple of years, so it's kinda justified the investment. Another trick with thighs on a kamado is to stuff them with stuffing, wrap in bacon and foil and do 4 individually if you want a quick Sunday roast without spending the time roasting a whole chicken and doing the stuffing separately.
First time I've cooked liver and onion. Looks like I sicked it up on the plate but liver was melt in your mouth. Think I'll add it to the semi regular rotation.
I can manage calves liver if it's flash fried in balsamic vinegar to take the liver taste away but I'll never get used to the texture!
Yeah I know what you mean. I'm not a massive fan due to that texture but this still had quite a meaty texture. Cooked some bacon lardons to render out the fat. Then flash fried the liver which had been dust in seasoned flour. Put them to one side as I sweated down the onions. Then I added a splash of white wine vinegar to deglaze the pan. Back in with the liver and bacon, added the stock then let it thicken up. Vinegar does help. Soaking in milk is also meant to calm the flavour down a bit but I do like rich flavours personally.
Chicken livers are amazing, the secret to cooking liver is to get it just between blood and solid, any less it’s squidgy any more rock hard…
I am trying to make more healthy choices. Saying that, there's a giant bag of cheese puffs calling my name.
Didn’t know if I should put this in the Netflix thread or this cooking one. Difficult to separate so went for cooking… So last night my grandson wanted me to put together a chicken, bacon, sweetcorn and pasta salad for his lunch at work the next day. He asked me as I watched a series called, “ The tower “ which is incidentally a cracking watch. I’d already cooked a chicken dinner earlier so just added the leftovers to some crispy bacon I fried and sweetcorn. I mixed it up with some mayonnaise, pepper and rock salt. I then popped some wholewheat pasta on the stove, left it on low and popped back in the living room to carry on watching my series. This was my fatal flaw, when it comes to films etc I get a little obsessed, lost in another world, it wasn’t until the smoke alarm went off that I remembered “ **** !! the pasta “…I ran into the kitchen but All the water had evaporated and the pasta was busy burning and sticking to the pan bottom. The smell was horrendous, not to mention the clouds of smoke. Grabbing the pan, running through the back door I chucked it in the garden, opened every window and closed the kitchen door, hoping mrs mop was fast asleep and would not be able to chew my f-in heed off. I walked in today and you could still smell the burn pasta, I was also not spared a bollocking from her indoors, every minute of every hour all day….. the tower is a cracking watch especially the second series, the other bright spot was one less pan to wash ( went in the dustbin)….Harry ( the grandson) loved the pasta, I obviously boiled some more pasta… moral of the story, when you put pasta on the stove don’t walk away, wait till the bugger has cooked….
Same as Red tops post above this could go onto either thread - last night I watched the blackest of black comedies about high end food and pretentious foodies, The Menu, funny as **** with a great ending; Anya Taylor-Joy is the start of the show, not only easy on the eye but plays a great part.
