Foods You WISH You Knew Better

[Spacescifi]

 

Meat pies. I presume it's a UK thing, and I know we have pot pies, but I think in the UK they actually have hand held pocket meat pies right?

 

That sounds awesome! Are they any good? Read online Scotland has the best savory pies, but the commenter said the rest were like meh.

 

Anyone else can post foods they wish they knew better but cannot because guess what.... nobody eats that here!

[kerbiloid]

Not only UK.

Spoiler

 

[Spacescifi]

15 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

Not only UK.

  Hide contents

 

 

Yea... I actually know how to make ancient style bread... and by ancient I mean literally wheat flour, water, and rolling pin and board.

Tastes like nothing at all... but if I add some meat to it... wow.

[Spacescifi]

 

 

I would buy it if I could. In the meantime I can watch this and dream on:

 

 

Edited January 7, 2022 by Spacescifi

[Nuke]

i have a chicken pot pie recipe. its pretty good. sometimes i make a turkey pot pie with holiday leftovers.

but i usually rate recipes by difficulty vs end result. pies are a lot of work and when you are done you get a chicken pot pie. my pork ribs are to die for and are a significantly simpler recipe. a pot roast is set it and forget it. both leave very few dishes in the sink.  the pies are complicated because i need to make stock (which can be a whole day affair depending on how much you need) and not only do you have a ton of dishes to do you usually have to clean the stove as well (or invest in a stock pot big enough, then ooof more dishes). 

Edited January 7, 2022 by Nuke

[TheSaint]

When I lived in SA I ate meat pies all the time. King Pie rocked, I was there for lunch at least twice a week.

And now my wife makes meat pies for us all the time. They're great: you can eat them with your hands like a sandwich, so they work really well when we have to run out the door for dinner. And if you have leftovers they reheat really well in the toaster oven.

[Ben J. Kerman]

Mmm... sounds good.

I wish I knew more about Doppel Keks. They are delicious German chocolate sandwich cookie things, but the only place I've ever seen them is at Aldi. Even when I look up "Doppel Kek" on Google, almost all of the information I can find about them is the ones from Aldi. I believe it would translate to something like "Double cookie", but I could be wrong since I don't speak Deutsch. Yet...

The annoying part is that there are many times when the Doppel Keks are not available at Aldi, and there isn't an Aldi in town so I can't always check. I think the nearest one is in Waterbury (Konnecticut) or something.

[Spacescifi]

4 hours ago, TheSaint said:

When I lived in SA I ate meat pies all the time. King Pie rocked, I was there for lunch at least twice a week.

And now my wife makes meat pies for us all the time. They're great: you can eat them with your hands like a sandwich, so they work really well when we have to run out the door for dinner. And if you have leftovers they reheat really well in the toaster oven.

 

As a kid I was an encyclopedia nerd, in large part because my abusive father was draconian and tended to curtail or cut short any time I spent watching TV or playing video games.

 

In his mind encyclopedias were for study... so that he did not curtail or limit that much if at all. Little did he know that they became a source of entertainment, especially because of all the pictures!

I had the my own WWW in print long before I ever met the internet.

 

Why am I saying all this? My curious mind drives me to learn about all I take an interest in.

 

So that said, about meat pies:

I read online they were made in part originally as a way to preserve food for lack of refrigerators. Meat pies have existed long before refrigerators.

Fascinating really. Also read that hard cracker bread was used as the plate to set food on, and eating it after (your 'plate') was optional. Saucing it up really good could soften it, but only that.

 

Medieval times must have been fun times eating lol.

[MKI]

I'd like to try all the foods I see on the The Great British Bake Off.

Half of them I never heard of before, but they all look good. 

Also Prue makes everything sounds delicious!

 

 

[razark]

On 1/7/2022 at 12:45 PM, Nuke said:

make stock (which can be a whole day affair...)

If it's not a whole day affair, I'm not sure how you're doing it.  12 hours or more, not counting prep and cleaning up.

When I make stock, I prep everything the night before, put the pot on the stove at 6 AM, and finish up when I'm ready to go to bed.  (I've been known to do it overnight, setting an alarm every couple of hours to check on it.)  I'm also curious as to how many dishes get involved.  Two pots, a cutting board, a knife, a spoon, and a strainer?

[TheSaint]

7 minutes ago, razark said:

If it's not a whole day affair, I'm not sure how you're doing it. 

Instant Pot. 4 hours.

[razark]

9 minutes ago, TheSaint said:

Instant Pot. 4 hours.

That sounds like cheating to me.

 

I should look into it one of these days, though.  However, I'm still working from home, with no end in sight, so long cooking times don't really mean much right now.

Edited January 10, 2022 by razark

[TheSaint]

43 minutes ago, razark said:

That sounds like cheating to me.

I should look into it one of these days, though.  However, I'm still working from home, with no end in sight, so long cooking times don't really mean much right now.

As my old commanding officer used to say, "If you ain't cheating, you ain't trying."

Seriously, Instant Pot makes awesome broth in a third of the time. It makes lots of other awesome stuff too. My wife was just shoulder surfing, and she said, "It's a game-changer for dried beans." It is totally worth the investment.

[Nuke]

instant pot. new fangled gadget. my grandma's crock pot (supposedly won on a game show back in the '70s, though she never mentioned which one) still works fine. im no fan of smart appliances. that usually just means you need a phone to activate it. 

[razark]

Just now, TheSaint said:

"It's a game-changer for dried beans."

Soak overnight, and 4 hours the next morning. 

Again, not an issue right now. 

[TheSaint]

1 minute ago, Nuke said:

instant pot. new fangled gadget. my grandma's crock pot (supposedly won on a game show back in the '70s, though she never mentioned which one) still works fine. im no fan of smart appliances. that usually just means you need a phone to activate it. 

Really, all an instant pot is is an automated pressure cooker. But, it's automated. Fire and forget. That's what makes it awesome. Because a regular pressure cooker is a PITA. We still have a crock pot (two actually), because they totally have a use in the kitchen. But when we can go from frozen chicken and vegetables to dinner in an hour, yeah, that's pretty amazing. And, no, no smart phone required.

[Nuke]

i can do fried chicken in a couple hours, it might not be fire and forget, but its damn good chicken. the trick is to use a small chicken. its hard to get large pieces to cook before they burn. 

[Chemp]

On 1/7/2022 at 9:48 PM, Ben J. Kerman said:

I wish I knew more about Doppel Keks. They are delicious German chocolate sandwich cookie things, but the only place I've ever seen them is at Aldi. Even when I look up "Doppel Kek" on Google, almost all of the information I can find about them is the ones from Aldi. I believe it would translate to something like "Double cookie", but I could be wrong since I don't speak Deutsch. Yet...

The annoying part is that there are many times when the Doppel Keks are not available at Aldi, and there isn't an Aldi in town so I can't always check. I think the nearest one is in Waterbury (Konnecticut) or something.

You could make some yourself, it's pretty easy. Google Doppelkeks or Prinzenrolle. Here's a promising recipe (haven't tried it myself though).

[Spacescifi]

I recently tried cornred beef and cabbage, so called a traditional Irish meal.

Honestly everything on my plate was goiod EXCEPT the corned beef. The mash potatoes and gravy was good as well as the cabbage, but the corned beef had no flavor at all.

[TheSaint]

4 minutes ago, Spacescifi said:

I recently tried cornred beef and cabbage, so called a traditional Irish meal.

Honestly everything on my plate was goiod EXCEPT the corned beef. The mash potatoes and gravy was good as well as the cabbage, but the corned beef had no flavor at all.

My grandfather, who was off-the-boat from Ireland, loved corned beef and cabbage (or its similar cousin, New England Boiled Dinner). Every St. Patrick's Day we would take him out to Beadle's Cafeteria in Pasadena (which, as far as he was concerned, was the only place in Los Angeles that got it right), and he would have his corned beef and cabbage. It was the only day of the year he went out to eat.

Billy's Deli, in Glendale, California, their corned beef was so good I would eat it straight, just corned beef on rye. Didn't need anything else, it was amazing. I was in there for lunch all the time when I worked in Glendale. You should go to a real deli and try the corned beef there. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

I made homemade Reubens for my kids a couple of months ago: boiled up a corned brisket that was in the freezer from St. Patrick's Day, nice toasted marbled rye, swiss cheese, sauerkraut, thousand island dressing. Kids were all: "Can't talk, eating."

 

[Spacescifi]

1 hour ago, TheSaint said:

My grandfather, who was off-the-boat from Ireland, loved corned beef and cabbage (or its similar cousin, New England Boiled Dinner). Every St. Patrick's Day we would take him out to Beadle's Cafeteria in Pasadena (which, as far as he was concerned, was the only place in Los Angeles that got it right), and he would have his corned beef and cabbage. It was the only day of the year he went out to eat.

Billy's Deli, in Glendale, California, their corned beef was so good I would eat it straight, just corned beef on rye. Didn't need anything else, it was amazing. I was in there for lunch all the time when I worked in Glendale. You should go to a real deli and try the corned beef there. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

I made homemade Reubens for my kids a couple of months ago: boiled up a corned brisket that was in the freezer from St. Patrick's Day, nice toasted marbled rye, swiss cheese, sauerkraut, thousand island dressing. Kids were all: "Can't talk, eating."

 

 

It was just boiled meat, it did not even taste like beef to me. Yet I will grant that surely there are places that can do it properly well.

Next time I will try the bangers and mash (mild sausage and mash potatoes).

If they get THAT wrong (the restaurant) I won't be coming back if I wanba try Euro-food.

We have little to choose from where I live, and the closer places are easier to find parking, whereas the places that MIGHT be good are downtown with metered or horrible parking choices.

Edited January 11, 2022 by Spacescifi

[razark]

My father gave me a cabbage out of his garden the other day.  It's over 7 pounds.

I realized I also had a corned beef in the freezer.

The weather is cold today, and I'm about to start cooking.

[Nuke]

22 hours ago, Spacescifi said:

I recently tried cornred beef and cabbage, so called a traditional Irish meal.

Honestly everything on my plate was goiod EXCEPT the corned beef. The mash potatoes and gravy was good as well as the cabbage, but the corned beef had no flavor at all.

the trick is mustard seeds.  some people also swear by pickling spice.  just simmer it in a pot for several hours, add veggies in the last hour.  i never regret this approach. you could probibly crock pot it. but i always end up with a corned beef way too big to fit.

 

i try to make it on saint patrick's day.  but sometimes i get a case of guinness instead. rarely do i have enough scratch to do both.

Edited January 11, 2022 by Nuke

[TheSaint]

4 hours ago, Nuke said:

i try to make it on saint patrick's day.  but sometimes i get a case of guinness instead. rarely do i have enough scratch to do both.

Well, priorities....

[Spacescifi]

Interesting.... I learned that corned beef is basically glorified lunch meat.

 

Pink corned beef (the most well known kind of corned beef).  has sodium nitrate to preserve it, which is a known carcinogen.

Gray corned beef only uses salt to preserve it and therefore in moderate amounts is safer to consume on occasion.

According to google, the reason the Irish latched on to corned beef was because in Ireland at the time it was considered a novelty, as Irish did not eat much beef at the time (expensive perhaps?) In America the Irish immgrants quickly realized the novelty of corned beef was commonplace in America and quickly adopted it a fixed part of their culture.

The british on the other hand are known for eating so much beet they have royal costumed guards that are literally called 'beef eaters' since in aniquity they were paid in part with an allowance of beef for doing their guard work.

I would not even be surprised if they still do LOL.

Since in the UK people drink Bovril... a kind of hot tea drink made of... wait for it.... beef paste!

Well... the British Empire was not won on salad that's for sure!

Another amusing fact I reae from wikipedia. The British kept high quality cuts of corned beef in the UK or shipped them out to America. The lower quality cuts they sent to France... because.... reasons lol.

To be more diplomatic I presume the Brits could say, "They eat horse meat, so it's alright!"

Edited January 12, 2022 by Spacescifi