I'm going to try something new every week

[taxman]

Not strictly new as I've cooked with all the ingredients before but tomorrow I'm doing chicken thighs wrapped in prosciutto (Chris Beech's streaky bacon really) with Hasselback potatoes. Never wrapped my thighs before so that's something new and never done hasselbacks even though they're really just a glorified baked spud.

[FIRETHORN1]

I tried Kimchi for the first time this week and it was absolutely delicious! . It's a Korean national dish and was made for me by my sister-in-law, who works in a Korean restaurant in Sheffield. It's a sort of hot-sweet-sour vegetable broth, to which you can add anything you want - like cubed tofu, prawns, thinly-sliced and stir-fried strips of chicken/beef/pork/lamb etc. The base of ingredient of it is fermented cabbage, which sounds a bit off-putting I know, but it really was very tasty. Healthy and nutritious too.

 

I was going to have a go at making it myself, but having just looked up a few recipes online, it seems like it involves one hell of a lot of faffing about - so I think I'll just rely on my lovely sis-in-law to make it for me again in the future!

[taxman]

Had sweetbreads for the first time today at The Wick at Both Ends.

 

Very nice, not spectacular or memorable but nice.

 

Tomorrow I'm making gnocchi for the first time using this recipe.

[FIRETHORN1]

Not exactly totally new to me, because I've eaten duck eggs a few times before - although not for many, many years.

 

I'm lucky in that I have a traditional, old style wet fish shop just down the road from me and I go there often. When I saw free range duck eggs on sale there a few weeks ago, I impulsively bought half a dozen, just out of curiosity - and I was so impressed that I haven't bought hens' eggs since!

 

For a start, the duck eggs are a lot bigger than even the biggest hens' eggs I usually buy - and at £1.95 for half a dozen, they are as cheap, if not cheaper, than half a dozen good quality free range hens' eggs (at least at the prices I'm used to paying where I live in London, anyway)

 

Duck eggs make brilliant fried eggs to go with the traditional "full English" breakfast, or in a simple fried egg sarnie. They also make brilliant boiled eggs - as in "soft-boiled-egg-and toast-soldiers" or as in the usual hard-boiled egg sarni fillings - such as egg and cress, or egg mayo and crispy bacon.

 

Where duck eggs really come in to their own though is when you use them in baking. They are fabulous in cakes and pastry and I used them for the first time in my Yorkshire pudding batter when I cooked a proper Sunday roast dinner for a few mates last weekend - and oooh! - my Yorkshire's were just fantastic....they rose like clouds!

 

On the downside - I've found duck eggs to be not quite so good for scrambled eggs or omelettes. My attempts have turned out to be a bit bouncy and rubbery in texture - although they tasted perfectly fine. Maybe I'm just cooking 'em wrong, eh?

 

---------- Post added 26-05-2014 at 19:32 ----------

 

---------- Post added 29-05-2014 at 21:25 ----------

 

I'm surprised I haven't got any replies to this one yet! Has no-one out there got an opinion on duck eggs - either for them or against them? (Apologies if you think that I'm "egging" you on to reply.....I'm only "yolking")

Edited May 26, 2014 by FIRETHORN1

[chinaski]

A trip to Simmonite's last week led me to try 2 new ingredient's I've had before, but never cooked with.

 

First off I bought a dozen live crayfish . . . aggressive little blighter's, they made a good few laps around the kitchen sink before meeting their doom in a pan of boiling water. I wouldn't buy them again. It's not that they weren't tasty, but they weren't tasty enough to bother with over ready cooked.

 

I also bought some soft shelled crab - £4 for 4. They're a big favourite of mine in Chinese restaurants but I've never cooked them at home. I was surprised to find you still have to prepare them, but it wasn't particularly tricky. I need to work on my batter but they were really good, so much so I've just polished off another 4 about an hour ago.

 

And as I've mentioned Simmonite's, I was a bit peeved off to find my razor clams completely devoid of life when I got home.

 

Anyhow, I'm going to try this dish over the weekend. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offal#mediaviewer/File:Bull_penis_cocktail.jpg

[taxman]

A trip to Simmonite's last week led me to try 2 new ingredient's I've had before, but never cooked with.

 

First off I bought a dozen live crayfish . . . aggressive little blighter's, they made a good few laps around the kitchen sink before meeting their doom in a pan of boiling water. I wouldn't buy them again. It's not that they weren't tasty, but they weren't tasty enough to bother with over ready cooked.

 

I also bought some soft shelled crab - £4 for 4. They're a big favourite of mine in Chinese restaurants but I've never cooked them at home. I was surprised to find you still have to prepare them, but it wasn't particularly tricky. I need to work on my batter but they were really good, so much so I've just polished off another 4 about an hour ago.

 

And as I've mentioned Simmonite's, I was a bit peeved off to find my razor clams completely devoid of life when I got home.

 

Anyhow, I'm going to try this dish over the weekend. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offal#mediaviewer/File:Bull_penis_cocktail.jpg

 

:gag:

 

I've been tempted by the razor clams before but am a bit unsure about cleaning them. Some websites I've seen don't even mention it whereas others talk about removing stomach contents, mouthparts and intestines.

 

I'd certainly not like to bring home a load of dead 'uns.

[taxman]

Had pigs cheek for the first time at a restaurant in Lincoln last week. Very nice indeed!

 

 

Posted from Sheffieldforum.co.uk App for Android

[lectrolove]

Not exactly totally new to me, because I've eaten duck eggs a few times before - although not for many, many years.

 

I'm lucky in that I have a traditional, old style wet fish shop just down the road from me and I go there often. When I saw free range duck eggs on sale there a few weeks ago, I impulsively bought half a dozen, just out of curiosity - and I was so impressed that I haven't bought hens' eggs since!

 

For a start, the duck eggs are a lot bigger than even the biggest hens' eggs I usually buy - and at £1.95 for half a dozen, they are as cheap, if not cheaper, than half a dozen good quality free range hens' eggs (at least at the prices I'm used to paying where I live in London, anyway)

 

Duck eggs make brilliant fried eggs to go with the traditional "full English" breakfast, or in a simple fried egg sarnie. They also make brilliant boiled eggs - as in "soft-boiled-egg-and toast-soldiers" or as in the usual hard-boiled egg sarni fillings - such as egg and cress, or egg mayo and crispy bacon.

 

Where duck eggs really come in to their own though is when you use them in baking. They are fabulous in cakes and pastry and I used them for the first time in my Yorkshire pudding batter when I cooked a proper Sunday roast dinner for a few mates last weekend - and oooh! - my Yorkshire's were just fantastic....they rose like clouds!

 

On the downside - I've found duck eggs to be not quite so good for scrambled eggs or omelettes. My attempts have turned out to be a bit bouncy and rubbery in texture - although they tasted perfectly fine. Maybe I'm just cooking 'em wrong, eh?

 

---------- Post added 26-05-2014 at 19:32 ----------

 

---------- Post added 29-05-2014 at 21:25 ----------

 

I'm surprised I haven't got any replies to this one yet! Has no-one out there got an opinion on duck eggs - either for them or against them? (Apologies if you think that I'm "egging" you on to reply.....I'm only "yolking")

 

Only just seen this! I love duck eggs and know what you mean about the texture when scrambled, try adding one small hen's egg into the mix and it should make a difference.

[taxman]

Found something vacuum packed in Chris Beeches today called "Flat beef rib". Apparently it's also called short rib. A slow cooking joint. Going to do it with the usual veg plus horseradish mash, leftovers will make a stunning ragu for parpadelle

[FIRETHORN1]

Smoked Cheddar cheese. Not that nasty processed stuff, wrapped in a plastic "skin" and injected with chemical "smoke flavour", but the proper Cheddar, naturally smoked over oak or beech wood.

 

I bought some in a big Asda a few weeks ago when it was on offer at half-price and liked it so much that I've continued to buy it, even at full price, from various supermarkets ever since.

 

It tastes lovely and is very versatile - as well as tasting good in it's "raw" state, like in sarnies, on crackers, in salads, with fruit etc. It's also great in cooking. Fantastic on cheese-on-toast and in toasted sarnies - such as cheese and ham, cheese and onion, cheese and tomato. Makes a lovely cheese sauce too - for pasta,potatoes or vegetables - and is great flavour enhancer when sprinkled over omelettes, quiches etc- then put back in the oven or under the grill until the cheese bubbles and browns.

 

Proper smoked cheddar is far from cheap - but it's worth forking out for as an occasional treat xx