Share a recipe or food thought - General Discussion.

Forums › Off topic › Share a recipe or food thought - General Discussion.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | ... | 49

Networkn
32255 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2160551 13-Jan-2019 20:33

I just had one of the most fantastic meals out in a LONG long time in Auckland. We ate at Harbour Society Restaurant at the top of the swanky new SO Hotel in Central Auckland. What a meal! Outstanding. Do yourself a favour if you are a crayfish fan and rip up there and try the crayfish starter. The best Crayfish I've ever had, and probably the best dish I've had anywhere in 12 months. Mind blowing. The views and other dishes and the french service were all top notch.

networkn

Networkn
32255 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2164665 21-Jan-2019 12:43

Wow, on a roll, I highly recommend Apero on K'Rd, ate there last night and other than the portion sizes, the food was absoloutely amazing. Freshest and in season dining.

This type of food is some of my favourite ways to eat.

tdgeek

29660 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2177437 13-Feb-2019 08:33

Does anyone have a Veggie Bullet? Ive been looking for a food processor, but not a do everything 400 piece model. Cubing would be great, but that seems not easy. The Veggie Bullet seems good for what I want, shred, slice and spiral and not a big device. Brand I assume is ok?

Thoughts?

networkn

Networkn
32255 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2181699 17-Feb-2019 21:50

Aligator is my go to for cubing. I would not be without one no matter what they cost. There is a rough dice and smaller dice in the larger units, and then a garlic or very fine dicer which works great as well.

networkn

Networkn
32255 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2181700 17-Feb-2019 21:54

I spent today at Meatstock 2019. What a great day out it was. If you like Meat, and in particular BBQ, then this is the place to be. I rate it up there with the food show.

Some awesome skills, meat, recipes and people on display. I found it very expensive, and I don't mind spending on food. Some dishes were nice, but tiny, for $18, on top of the entry fee which isn't insignificant.

I had the best ribs I have had in NZ that weren't home cooked today. Amazing. Other highlights were seeing a few Argentinian BBQ places who had Picanha and a simply dizzying variety of rubs and sauces.

I can also highly recommend Kage at Lynn Mall for those of you in Auckland, as having amazing "must try" ribs. I recommend the JD BBQ Sauce.

tdgeek

29660 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2181782 18-Feb-2019 08:56

networkn:

Aligator is my go to for cubing. I would not be without one no matter what they cost. There is a rough dice and smaller dice in the larger units, and then a garlic or very fine dicer which works great as well.

Thanks, I'll look into that, looks good. How does it cube? Do you press down the thick Julienne blade while also pushing a cutter?

Edit: Or slice manually, then insert and push down?

networkn

Networkn
32255 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2181786 18-Feb-2019 09:20

Not the best video quality but you'll get the idea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsiZ_G_C6Ho

AliExpress

Shop now on AliExpress (affiliate link).

networkn

Networkn
32255 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2217268 15-Apr-2019 10:26

So, my new Traeger Ironwood Pellet Grill arrived and whilst I haven't had a chance to try it yet, I have lots of plans. One thing I am working on right now, is home made Bacon. I bought some pork belly and made up a curing mixture involving salt, brown sugar, maple syrup and ponzu sauce and have it in the fridge for a week, then will smoke it. I can't recall the last time I was more excited about trying some new stuff.

I have been watching two youtube channels called Sous Vide Everything and Guga Foods.

I am not a baker, as I don't like the precision required, however, I will be trying Hamburger Buns over Easter as well. Will make home made burgers with home made bacon.

Fred99

13684 posts

Uber Geek

#2217457 15-Apr-2019 14:40

networkn:

So, my new Traeger Ironwood Pellet Grill arrived and whilst I haven't had a chance to try it yet, I have lots of plans. One thing I am working on right now, is home made Bacon. I bought some pork belly and made up a curing mixture involving salt, brown sugar, maple syrup and ponzu sauce and have it in the fridge for a week, then will smoke it. I can't recall the last time I was more excited about trying some new stuff.

I have been watching two youtube channels called Sous Vide Everything and Guga Foods.

I am not a baker, as I don't like the precision required, however, I will be trying Hamburger Buns over Easter as well. Will make home made burgers with home made bacon.

When you say "salt" do you mean ordinary table salt?

I think it's a great idea if it's plain salt, bacon cured with nitrates has some very questionable qualities, one of the so called "natural" alternatives "celery juice" IIRC results in nitrate levels in the cured bacon up to 3x the US FDA limit, they're only allowed to sell it though a loophole in regs allowing so-called "natural" ingredients to not comply with limits for food additives. With your recipe, then the acid from the ponzu sauce should keep it safe without need for nitrates (don't leave it out).

networkn

Networkn
32255 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2217461 15-Apr-2019 14:47

Fred99:

When you say "salt" do you mean ordinary table salt?

I think it's a great idea if it's plain salt, bacon cured with nitrates has some very questionable qualities, one of the so called "natural" alternatives "celery juice" IIRC results in nitrate levels in the cured bacon up to 3x the US FDA limit, they're only allowed to sell it though a loophole in regs allowing so-called "natural" ingredients to not comply with limits for food additives. With your recipe, then the acid from the ponzu sauce should keep it safe without need for nitrates (don't leave it out).

Thanks for that. Yes, normal sea salt. Some people add curing salt which is pink and has carcinogenic properties, however the quantities recommended for use are very very small. In this batch and because I expect to consume within a week or less, I didn't use the curing salt.

I am careful to ensure that the bacon I buy doesn't have nitrates in it and my preferred brand of bought bacon which is Hellers say they haven't used nitrates in years.

I am unsure what the shelf life of refrigerated cured home made bacon is, maybe a week or two, compared to nitrate cured salt which I think is a "few" weeks.

Cheers for bringing it up. I was going to comment on it, but I got busy and didn't add it to the bottom of my post.

Fred99

13684 posts

Uber Geek

#2217566 15-Apr-2019 16:29

Good move. I like the taste of bacon, but avoid it for the reasons you highlight.

Nitrate free bacon though, that might cure me of my aversion...

Let us know how it tastes.

I'm also aware that there are studies showing correlation in areas where there's elevated levels of nitrates in drinking water, even when it's well under limits as exist in NZ. Correlation doesn't = causation, usual story on that and the difficulty in estimating risk based on epidemiological data long-term with many possible confounding factors.

It's something that should be of great interest in NZ in future - a close eye needs to be kept on what's happening, IMO.

networkn

Networkn
32255 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2217572 15-Apr-2019 16:40

Yes, I too was reading that recently about the water supply and link to bowel cancer. Was a little scary as my wifes young cousin from the worst affected area died of bowel cancer at 19 years old, and so did a neighbour. Not exactly totally proven link, but still hit home.

The agony of having to wait another 5 days to try it but Easter is going to be EPIC.

I am also about to play with the idea of dry aging some meat myself. 45 days is a while to wait to eat though. :)

I have always been excited by food, and I consider myself a pretty decent cook, but recently I am all fired up on so many different levels. Found a farm in Napier that does all sorts of Chillis etc, so made Jalepano Poppers a couple of weeks ago which was cool.

networkn

Networkn
32255 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2227726 30-Apr-2019 08:54

Well, my bacon was a reasonable success I would say, the family loved it. I need fatter pieces (not fattier) and I need to ask the butcher to remove the skin as my attempts to do it even with a razer sharp knife and reasonable knife skills and a video still didn't go that well. I ended up pairing it with home made burger buns tomato and lettuce and it was pretty epic all in all. I highly recommend it. I am going to hunt down a source of thicker pork belly and try again.

In the past week I ate at Sidart, which is in my view one of NZ's best, if not NZ's best fine dining restaurant. After Sid bought the French Cafe they have changed the menu at Sidart to be fine dining Indian and I was a LITTLE bit concerned. I need not have been, it was the best meal I've had in NZ for a long time, absolutely outstanding in every way (bar ice in my drink which I asked not to have). Service is also outstanding with a few new faces.

On another note, I see Pasture has won restaurant of the year. Perhaps they have changed things up there a bit, but my only visit there was memorable for all the wrong reasons and for me, my experience from 12+ months ago was that it wouldn't make my top 30. I don't doubt the talent of the Chef and it's not like I don't applaud the effort of what they are doing, but end results matter and for me the end result didn't taste good, so that's a big miss from me. Perhaps I'll give it another go, they were clearly feeling things out at the time.

Kiwifruta

1423 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#2228100 30-Apr-2019 17:47

Here is the hot cross bun recipe I use. It is the same recipe that won the blue ribbon award in Sydney 7 years ago, except I double the sultanas and quadruple the spices.

My niece works for Volaré in Hamilton, which won the award for the best hot cross buns in the country in 2016. We tried both buns at Easter, and I (and my family) felt this recipe (with my alterations) held up to and potentially surpassed the Volaré buns. Adding some mixed citrus peel wouldn’t hurt too.

I usually don't bother with the cross, but the glaze is a must!

Ingredients

1 tsp dried yeast

1/4 cup sugar

4 cups plain flour

1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk

1 tsp salt

2 tsp mixed spice

2 tsp cinnamon

60g butter

1 egg

1 cup sultanas

1/2 cup plain flour, extra

1/3 cup water

1 tbsp sugar, extra

1 tbsp hot water

1 tsp gelatine

Method

1. Lightly grease 18x28cm lamington tin.

2. Cream yeast with 1 teaspoon each of the sugar and

flour, add milk and mix well. Cover and stand in warm place 10 to 15 minutes or until mixture

is frothy.

3.Sift sugar, flour, salt and spices, rub in butter, add egg, sultanas and yeast mixture,

and knead lightly to ensure ingredients are thoroughly mixed. Place dough in lightly oiled

bowl, cover with plastic wrap and clean cloth and stand in a warm place 40 minutes or until

dough doubles in bulk.

4. Punch dough down, turn out onto floured surface and knead well

until smooth and elastic. Cut into 3 equal pieces then cut each piece into 5, making 15 buns

in all. Knead each into a round shape.

5. Preheat oven to 220C. Put buns on tin and stand in

warm place 10 to 15 minutes or until they reach top edge of tin.

6. Make paste by mixing 1/2

cup extra plain flour and 1/3 cup water, fill piping bag and pipe a cross on each bun.

7. Bake 10 to 15 minutes.

8. Remove from oven and immediately brush with glaze made from heating

extra sugar, hot water and gelatine in a saucepan and simmering for 1 minute.

9. Cool buns on a wire rack.

A photo of the finished product can be found here

This is write up about Volaré's buns.

Enjoy!

Kiwifruta

1423 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#2228103 30-Apr-2019 17:51

Could someone tell me what difference a little flour makes when activating the yeast?

I haven't come across a recipe that does this before, apart making poolishes etc.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | ... | 49