Quick Questions on ANYTHING part 2. Please read first post for links to other threads

valk_scot

boredjellybean wrote: »

Hi there

Just a very quick question about pancetta - I am doing sprouts with pancetta on christmas day but in an attempt to save time & my sanity I was thinking of cooking the pancetta tomorrow then simply reheating in a little butter on christmas day to toss together with the sprouts

My main reasons for doing this are 1) i am 37wks pregnant & want to save myself some time & hassle 2) I usually burn the pancetta & the house stinks of fat & the smoke alarms go off:rolleyes::D

So basically I am asking if you all think this method will work

many thanks
Bjb

Will work just fine. I cook my sprouts in the microwave and add the bacon butter at the last minute. It works for M&S!

Skint_Catt

valk_scot wrote: »

Garage? Shed? Attic? Back of the car? I keep all sorts of things in my car ove Christmas, when I know it's not going to be driven for a couple of days.

Thanks. Trouble is we don't have a shed, have mice in the garage and don't have a box big enough for it to fit in! We're taking it to Mums tonight just wrapped in foil on my lap! :eek: Its in the microwave at the mo (my thinking was that its insulated against the heat of the kitchen!) - we have no spare cupboard space at all - and the sofa is under the stairs (no understairs cupboard!)

Thanks - looks like its setting well!

C xx

Savvy_Sue

crockpot wrote: »

Hi

Hope you can help?

We are having roast beef done in slow cooker for xmas dinner, but how long should it take?

It`s 2.25kg and I have a MR slow cooker,the knob is broken so will only do on low,

Thanks

Can you find the slow cooker thread? I think the answer is going to be 'a long time', you might need to put it on a timer tonight.

I don't know how rare you want it, but if the answer is 'a bit', then whatever you do don't slice it cold and re-heat it in the microwave. It carries on cooking so it's not pink any more. :rotfl:

Savvy_Sue

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Can you find the slow cooker thread? I think the answer is going to be 'a long time', you might need to put it on a timer tonight.

I don't know how rare you want it, but if the answer is 'a bit', then whatever you do don't slice it cold and re-heat it in the microwave. It carries on cooking so it's not pink any more. :rotfl:

In case you CAN'T find the slow cooker thread, I've just looked in my book. Mine's a Tower, but it says 5-6 hours on HIGH or something like that.

Are you doing this because there won't be room in the oven tomorrow, or because you haven't GOT an oven? If it's a 'no room' problem, can you cook it tonight and reheat tomorrow? Easier to carve cold, of course, but see my note above! If it's a 'no oven' problem, I'd bung it in now, or at least later tonight, and let it cook all night. With my fingers crossed. At least it's beef: I wouldn't do that to a chicken!

blahn

This is really quite obsessive, but it's bugging me so I must ask. I baked a chocolate cake yesterday for over Christmas eating and it's... blue-tack. Black-tack, even. I used this recipe http://www.recipezaar.com/Dark-Chocolate-Cake-2496?scaleto=16&sys=m in one circular tin. It was baking for one hour twenty minutes (compared to the forty minute baking time listed there!) and the skewer was still dirty. But I turned the oven off because, last time I baked a chocolate cake, I took it out skewer dirty and it was a lovely cake. Turns out I'm only lucky once because, as I say, this cake is made of RUBBER. I don't know what to say. It looked lovely before it was cut, like a giant muffin, but then inside there is no hint of texture at all - it's just like...a blank wall of chocolate. No breadcrumb thing going on at all. And when a slice was left out for a few hours, it actually set so that when you pressed it it went back to its original shape, quite disturbingly. I thought it was better overnight as when I went in and cut off, it was still the same but fudgey; but it seems like this has only happened on the cut edges, not the whole cake.

Uh, rambling, I see. So what went wrong with the recipe, any ideas? I probably should have left it in the oven but I really believed it would come out fine and all I could think of was how much gas I must have been using. Stupid as now no one really wants to eat it so it's even more of a waste, though it doesn't taste bad - just weird texture, not cakey. Ehm...things that it seems to be it could have been - I had to convert the recipe from cups to grams. I was going to use Delia but she didn't list cocoa so I had to use some other random site, got these results -
450g sugar, 195g SR flour, 85g cocoa, 250ml milk, 115g marg, 187ml boiling water
It struck me as odd because this other site listed flour as a lot lower than Delia who said that 1 cup was 150g or something (but she didn't list cocoa so I couldn't use her), but I figured it would work out uniform since it was from the same site. Can't remember what site it was today. I subbed oil for melted margarine and slightly watered down the milk. The batter was supposed to be thin but mine was so thin that if I stirred it once, it would continue turning by itself for five or six rounds, hah...

I reckon it was the quantity of flour, but I don't know. Just wondering what it was that I did so disastrously wrong! Does anyone actually know of a conversion link that has 'all' ingredients listed...? Thanks.

Edit: Also, I don't suppose there's anything I can do to save the cake, but still, if there's any ideas out there...

Savvy_Sue

blahn wrote: »

Edit: Also, I don't suppose there's anything I can do to save the cake, but still, if there's any ideas out there...

Black forest gateau? ie soaked in alcoholic cherries, smothered in cream, you'd have to do it 'Eton Mess' style but that might work?

Or in a trifle? Again, soaked might improve it.

I wonder if it was the oil, btw. But I don't know. And I am sorry.

blahn

I've just left it as it is for now, as the intended-eater is incredibly unadventurous so wouldn't try either of those. I think he's giving up on it though, so I might try a trifle for myself. So annoying with all the ingredients that went into it for it not to be eaten!

Thanks a lot.

sunflower76

I've just put some dried peas in to soak ready for tea and it struck me that Idon't really know what the tablet is for. Is it totally neccesary, what is it and if I lost one what should I replace it with?

Wonder_Girl

it's pretty much just Bicarb , it helps the peas soften

redmel1621

Hi all

I think I remember seeing a slow-cooker question thread but scouting back I can't see it now, so hope it's ok to ask on here?

I want to do a beef casserole in the SC for tomorrow nights dinner, but to save me rushing in the morning will it be ok if I turn it on before bed tonight and then leave it on all day tom, until I come home?? probably about 19hrs on low????

Mel x