Directory —
Food & Drink —
Blog Details for "Writing At The Kitchen Table"
Writing At The Kitchen Table Writing At The Kitchen Table Because Writing About Food is Almost as Enjoyable as Eating Food! Articles
My 100th Post - A Mediocre Dessert!
2007-01-01 18:45:02 I recently fell in love with a Tamasin Day-Lewis recipe for a Chocolate, Coffee and Raspberry Bavarois Tart. I was enamoured by the Chocolate and Coffee element although, I admit, I was seriously dubious about the raspberrys.To my retro-drenched imagination, the word Bavarois conjured up images all sorts of expensive French Restaurants from the 1950s and a teeteringly tall, unmoulded, gelatine rich dessert, studded with Angelica and Cocktail Cherries. In fact, Bavarois (also known as Bavarian cream, from where it originates in Germany) is simply a chilled egg custard, unified with gelatine, served simply or other times more exotically as part of a glamorous Charlotte Russe or similar culinary construction.Of course, my undying love of kitsch didn?t fail me and on Friday night I decided to make it, in between doing a greyhound home check. This was possibly where my first mistake happened.In my eagerness to a) make the dessert and b) celebrate Friday night with some Kentucky Bourbon, ... More About: Dessert , Post , Esse , Mediocre
A Follow Up - Salt Glaces and Marron Beef
2007-01-01 18:45:02 So, I felt that a follow up report on my Salt Beef and Marron Glaces was probably long overdue.On the tenth day (my true love gave to me?..some boiled beef and cabbage) I eagerly drained and rinsed the beef. I tentatively sniffed it. There has been a strange smell being emitted from the fridge for some time now and I just can?t locate it. I suspect it might be a wayward turkey leg but I can?t be sure.The raw but preserved piece of silverside smelt only of its spices, not unpleasant at all. Obviously some further investigation of the fridge is required.I plunged the beef into cold water, threw in a couple of peeled onions, some carrots and celery. This was for two reasons: a) to make a nice photo shoot (which I didn?t actually exploit in the end) and b) because I don?t like the smell of meat boiling.Lots of brownish scum came to surface, which I allude to both the proteins in the beef being discharged and the salt preservative kissing goodbye to its beefy bed of the last 10 days. I s... More About: Lace
Pie and Mash - A Restaurant Review
2007-01-01 18:45:02 Restaurant reviews are not really my scene. I find that it is not my place to judge other peoples food, and besides, food critiquing is very personal. What is one mans Chateaubriand is another?s Big Mac. Furthermore, my husband and I eat out rarely. This is due to several reasons: 1. Financial limitations. Pub meals are usually overpriced which I suppose correlates with the food often being overcooked. 2. There are not many good eateries nearby. If you enjoy pub meals ALL THE TIME, then you?re good to go, but as far as local restaurants go, No Can Do, as Hall and Oates once caterwauled (unless you count a greasy spoon as a restaurant). 3. We prefer home cooking. However, there are some establishments that need to be visited, if only once in a lifetime. Yesterday I had the great pleasure of visiting the oldest Pie and Mash shop in the country, Manze, in Tower Bridge Road. From the unassuming green exterior to the evocative interior with its rickety wooden benches and 1950s... More About: Restaurant , Review , Rant , View , Rest
Two Rustic Dishes
2007-01-01 18:45:02 As the title says, two rustic meals: the Main Course from France, the Dessert English, both simple and outstanding.You may recall that I bought some salt cure from the Sausage Making.org recently. Whilst my beef is still curing (three days left and counting!), the real reason I had bought the cure was for a recipe I fell madly in love with: Petit Sales Au Lentilles. I first saw this on Rick Stein?s French Odyssey (and I promise, no more Stein recipes for at least the duration of this year!). Actually, what Rick Stein achieved with his show was something that very few TV chefs have: a comprehensive and interesting culinary tour of France. It is currently the norm to do the Italian thing and the once uber-important French cuisine has been pushed by the wayside.I think that the main reason us Brits at least have withdrawn from French food is because of its seeming complexity. I remember as a child reading Cordon Bleu cookbooks that my mother had been given as wedding presents and being... More About: Dish , Rust , Dishes
More Christmas Preparations...
2007-01-01 18:45:02 And so the Chris t mas Preparations keep keeping on. Reaching the 11th of December and it now seems acceptable to make the first batch of Mince Pies using my homemade Mincemeat. I have also started to prepare some Marron Glaces, using the net of Chestnuts in my vegetable bowl that are starting to go a little wrinkled.At the weekend I made two (yes, two!) Christmas Puddings and the Christmas Cake was made weeks ago. If it seems like I?m being a girlie swot then you?d probably be right! However, if you?re thinking that my Christmas Presents are all bought and wrapped and that my cards are all written in, then you?d be wrong. My seasonal organisational skills stop and start in the kitchen (and in the supermarket).I love all these preparations anyway. It is not too difficult for me to get motivated in the kitchen when I can use my star shaped cookie cutters and crack open jars of mincemeat that were made when the fields were still yellow and the sun was still warm. And between you and me,... More About: Para , More
A Delicious (and easy!) Work Night Meal
2007-01-01 18:45:02 And as some meals are completely disastrous, other meals just work in perfect symbiosis, without the cook even really trying.When I left for work yesterday morning, I had not the foggiest notion of what to prepare for that evening?s supper. I knew that I had minced beef, frozen peas, bags of mystery produce and some fish, all crammed into my once-seemed-large-but-now-seems-tiny freezer.Well, we haven?t had salmon in a while, I thought and I knew that I had some lovely red Wild Alaskan Salmon tucked away somewhere, underneath some frozen blackberries. Now, what to do with it?So, I got to work and started scrolling through pages of salmon recipes until I came across one that caught my eye (and tastebuds): Salmon En Croute! Of course! I love salmon, I love pastry! Perfetto!The recipe used Filo Pastry, of which I had half a packet left over from the Chickpea Filo Pie that I made ages ago. The recipe also made a pea puree and a herby butter which you slathered the salmon with before enca... More About: Work , Night , Easy , Delicious , Deli
Unusual Ingredient of the Week - Kulfi
2007-01-01 18:45:02 So, a dish more than an ingredient I concur, but still fairly unusual nonetheless. Kulfi is an Indian Ice Cream, quite unlike European or American Ice Creams in that it doesn?t resemble sorbet, it isn?t custard based and it doesn?t contain cream. It resembles the Italian Gelato, and the methods of preparation are similar, boiling milk to reduce it, adding sugar and then flavourings. What this produces is an ice cream that is very dense because very little air is incorporated into it. The flavour is richly scented with Cardomom and either ground pistachios (which turns the ice cream a delicate pale green colour) or mango (which turns the ice cream a big, bold buttercup yellow shade). Kulfi is usually frozen in Kulfi Moulds: long pyramid shapes that are turned out into a bowl when frozen, and allowed to defrost slightly. I first encountered Kulfi when we ordered an Indian Takeaway. I adore Indian sweets, they?re intense, brain-numbing sweetness is highly seductive to me, so I th... More About: Week , Ingredient
Book(s) of the Season
2007-01-01 18:45:02 If you're feeling like you need Delia's guiding hand this Christmas, or you want Nigella to ennervate your Christmas celebrations, check out my latest article on the Well-Fed Network, conveniently on Christmas Cookbooks..... More About: Book , Season , Seas
Another Day in the Lab
2007-01-01 18:45:02 Baking is a bit intimidating for a lot of people. I?ve known people who can cook a really good bit of fish or season a steak to perfection, but ask them to make some rolls to have on the side and they become instantly sullen. I think the reason that baking evokes so much fear in so many would-be chefs is the methodology of baking.Baking is a science. If you?ve ever spent time in a chemistry lab you?ll know that you must be sure of quantities and reaction times or risk blowing up the entire Science Department. While there?s little fear of blowing up your kitchen with biscuit dough, it is important to understand the chemical process of baking to yield good results.Making a decent loaf of bread is the result of a variety of factors. People tend to think of bread in terms of components. Yeast, flour, and water are indeed useful, but the single most important ingredient in bread is carbon dioxide. The device whereby every loaf of bread, every roll, and every muffin you make rises ... More About: Other , Another
Pig in a Trough
2007-01-01 18:45:02 As the months drift by, I find myself pushed out of the kitchen more and more. Freya has been cooking like crazy and I can only make quick recipes and even those are generally made late at night. There was a time when I was the only one in the kitchen, but now I'm more often than not, relegated to the couch (boring now that Sky doesn't show King of the Hill) or alone in the basement ("Don't you have some wiring to do?"). I really miss the days when I could roll out some masa and boiled pork on a corn husk and steam tamales or meticulously prepare a very hearty chili (Mmmmm, chili!). And the funniest thing about it is that Freya used to love my cooking, especially my gumbo!If and when I get to cook now, it's never a big affair. I get hassled even when I make something quick. Take the subject of this article for instance. I have mentioned Pig in a Trough at least twice in this blog, so she must have known that I'd need a slot of time in the kitchen! The bread was already m...
The Well-Fed Network Food Blog Awards 2006!
More articles from this author:2007-01-01 18:45:02 Yes, it's that time of the year again...blog awards! The Well-Fed Network are graciously hosting the awards this time around so if anyone knows of a food blog that is deserving of an award (for example, Writing At The Kitchen Table...), follow this link and express your devotion to that blog!http://www.wellfed.net/I have a few ideas of my own for worthy blogs (that don't include my own) and I feel that it's good to support the smaller and newer sites too.Happy Voting! More About: Food , Awards , Blog Awards , Work 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 |
