Cooking thread

[Amor de Cosmos]

It appears to be sometimes used in USian for tinned tuna that has been baked with bread crumbs, spices and some kind of fat in the (rough) manner of a fruit crumble.

That sounds grotesque.

[San Bernardhinault]

Anything with tinned tuna sounds grotesque.

[Sporting]

Anything with tinned tuna sounds grotesque.

I often have it with a salad for an evening snack.

[Amor de Cosmos]

It's OK mixed with mayo and capers in a sandwich. Provided it's not flaked, and is packed in water rather than oil, or — even worse — "broth."

[Benjm]

You are sure that the one in "broth" wasn't cat food?

[Sporting]

I like tinned tuna with olive oil. But buying tins without oil and then adding your own saves you at least 15 cents on the overpriced oil already added supermarket rip-off.

[Balderdasha]

How's the diet going so far?

Husband has lost about 6kg but it's plateauing now, as to be expected. He's not finding it as hard to stick to as he thought he would.

I haven't lost weight but this is probably because I've been eating puddings with the kids in the evenings which I need to stop.

I've been enjoying the salads a lot though. The difficult thing is the time. I make big salads at the weekend which last us through to about Monday and Tuesday. If I'm working at home on Wednesday I sometimes have time to make another one at lunchtime but sometimes I'm just too busy.

I know that TG's solution to this is batch cooking on a Sunday evening, which is a great idea if I wasn't already spending most of Sunday evening doing laundry.

[Balderdasha]

Today's salad was three bean and mozzarella.

Cooked green beans and carrot batons with blanched sliced red onions, baby spinach leaves, halved mini orange tomatoes, cannellini beans and kidney beans, with a dressing made from olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, finely chopped garlic, balsamic vinegar and sliced kalamata olives. Torn basil leaves, fresh mozzarella and black pepper added at the end.

This was a big hit with me and husband but the kids mostly only ate carrot batons and mozzarella.

[San Bernardhinault]

I'm impressed that your batch-made salads can hold up even for a couple of days. Anything with leaves in feels wilted and sad 12 hours later to me.

[Janik]

Lunch today was paprikash and potato dumplings. I've no clue how to make potato dumplings from scratch but had got hold of a ready mixed bag from the Czech Republic - just add water 1:1, knead into a dough, roll into a sausage shape and chuck in boiling water for 15-20 minutes. How hard could that be? Well, clearly I needed more kneading as when I tried to "roll into a sausage shape" the dough was still so, so sticky. It got everywhere - if I went to look in the kitchen now there is probably some stuck to the ceiling or similar. What eventually went into the boiling water was not a sausage of potato dumpling dough but more like a splat.

Tasted OK in the end, but I wouldn't win any awards for presentation.

The paprikash bit was a variant recipe, swapping pork for chicken as I had some pork coming up to its use by date. That went fine, fortunately (and to be expected, I've cooked the chicken version dozens of times over the years).

5/10.

[Janik]

I like tinned tuna with olive oil. But buying tins without oil and then adding your own saves you at least 15 cents on the overpriced oil already added supermarket rip-off.

Of course it does. Of course it does...

Most. Sporting. Post. Ever!

[Sporting]

Cheers!

[Balderdasha]

I'm impressed that your batch-made salads can hold up even for a couple of days. Anything with leaves in feels wilted and sad 12 hours later to me.

Maybe my standards are just lower than yours. I'd rather eat slightly wilted salad the next day than have to make another one from scratch. Well, I'd happily make another one from scratch if I had time but I generally don't. Also, it depends on the leaves. The romaine leaves from the nicoise salad I made yesterday were just as crunchy today.

[Janik]

Husband has lost about 6kg but it's plateauing now, as to be expected. He's not finding it as hard to stick to as he thought he would.

Commonly that is the body adapting to the new lower calorie intake. Which may mean he has lost as much as he can by dieting, without going into unsafe starvation mode stuff. The other method of running a calorie deficit, increased physical activity, is worth exploring to restart the loss. To sweeten the pill, if the weight starts going down again the menu can start to include a few more higher calorie items in the meals (an increase to the daily calorie limit that isn't being talked about). Such as a slice of baguette on the side of a three bean salad. The logic being he can't be expected to exercise on the protein and salads alone, as that just doesn't provide enough energy-rich food to fuel him.

[caja-dglh]

Does anyone have any good recipes for seasoning pork chops? I want to soak them in something overnight and then put them in the oven for 10-12 minutes.

I would brine them.

[Paul S]

I would brine them.

I've been using lemon, thyme and garlic but I don't seem to be able to get that deep soak into them so that it comes through in the final cook.

[San Bernardhinault]

I've been using Goya's adobo seasoning, along with honey and some spice.

[WOM]

I made this Mongolian beef in the Instant Pot for about the 20th time tonight.

https://www.jocooks.com/recipes/inst...ongolian-beef/

[Levin]

Are people aware of Henderson's relish? It's passed me by until seeing that they do a Strong and Northern bobble hat.

https://twitter.com/marcooth/status/1601197882950193153?t=-7UZHEkZ-cmsUu8rJrGDGg&s=19

[Balderdasha]

Very simple rainbow salad today on the basis that I didn't have much time and we're trying to go out to a Christmas party later today.

Tomato, red peppers, carrot sticks, yellow peppers, cucumber, spinach leaves and shredded beetroot. Served with whichever one of the following the fussy people in my family will eat: red pepper houmous, fish sticks, Quorn picnic eggs, baby new potatoes (everyone eats at least two of the options, husband is the only person who eats all four).

Son actually ate everything on his plate which he hasn't done for a while. He's currently going through a phase where he won't eat anything unless all the food is separated and not touching anything else, but as long as he's still eating something from every food group, I don't mind catering to his whims. There are children I know who eat nothing except white bread and butter so I am thankful for small mercies.

I am probably more tolerant of this because of what a fussy child I was. It used to drive my mother to distraction and she panicked that I was going to be malnourished, but then she took the list of what I actually did eat to her friend who's an NHS nutritionist who took one look at the list and said "What are you worrying about? She's eating a really balanced diet."

I did exactly the same with a GP when son was younger. I got through listing about three of his favourite meals before the GP said "Nothing wrong with him, count yourself lucky he's not more fussy".

[Sporting]

Very simple rainbow salad today on the basis that I didn't have much time and we're trying to go out to a Christmas party later today.

Tomato, red peppers, carrot sticks, yellow peppers, cucumber, spinach leaves and shredded beetroot. Served with whichever one of the following the fussy people in my family will eat: red pepper houmous, fish sticks, Quorn picnic eggs, baby new potatoes

This is "very simple"? You do yourself a disservice.

[Balderdasha]

By simple I mean not following any particular recipe, just chopping up whatever's in the fridge, not making any dressing, not cooking anything aside from the baby new potatoes (which I just lobbed in a pan, no peeling). The spinach and shredded beetroot comes in a packet, I'm not shredding it myself. The carrot batons were bought ready (which I object to because they're so much more expensive per weight but husband did the online shop this week), I didn't even have to peel or chop them. The red pepper houmous was ready made.

I'm not really sure how much more simple a salad can be?

[Balderdasha]

I guess I could buy a completely ready-prepared salad, but they're expensive, they go off quickly and there's no way my children would eat them so it would be largely pointless.

[Sporting]

I'm not really sure how much more simple a salad can be

Tomtaoes, cucumber and wilted lettuce!

I think some olive or other oil plus vinegar is key, though.

[ad hoc]

Are people aware of Henderson's relish?

It's difficult to have any connection to Sheffield and not be aware of Henderson's Relish. I have some here in fact (one of the bottles with the blue and white striped label, natch)