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

billieboy_2

gerturdeanna wrote: »

Hi
A recipe I want to make today calls for cheese sauce, I've only got creme fraiche. Would that with some grated cheese in be okay?? I know I could make my own but I've just got over a bug and cba!! hehe!

I use a recipe for cheat's cauli macaroni cheese and that's got creme fraiche, two teaspoons of grainy mustard and cheese - makes it very simple. HTH.

Scubabe

I have two questions today if you don't mind?

1) last night I made custard to go with apple crumble. It was only the second time I have ever made custard from scratch. It ended up resembling runny, sweetened scrambled egg I was gutted! What would have caused the egg to congeal like that, did I have the hob up too high or something?

2) I have 8 egg whites left over from the custard last night. I want to make a pavlova to take in to work on Monday (for Australia Day). What has the longest shelf-life... eggs in the fridge, or pavlova once made? I'm not sure whether to make the pav tonight/tomorrow because the egg whites possibly going bad, or will they keep (in the fridge) until Sunday night?

Many thanks!!

Penelope_Penguin

Gingham_Ribbon wrote: »

I'm new to cooking meat so this might sound like a pathetic question, but I've honestly never done this before so need to check!

I want to do a gammon in the slow cooker, then cool it, then add some of the meat to a chicken pie, thus heating it again, then save half the pie and reheat that too.

So it would be cooked, cooled then cooked, cooled, then cooked again.

Is that okay?!

I do that and I'm still here Make sure what you're not eating gets cooled quickly, to reduce any bug action.

Love your new avatar, btw - for the late, great Tony Hart, perchance

Penny. x

Gingham_Ribbon

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

I do that and I'm still here Make sure what you're not eating gets cooled quickly, to reduce any bug action.

Love your new avatar, btw - for the late, great Tony Hart, perchance

Penny. x

Thank you.

And yes. I loved him growing up. Swan's avatar is just perfect.

mummysaver

Scubabe wrote: »

I have two questions today if you don't mind?

1) last night I made custard to go with apple crumble. It was only the second time I have ever made custard from scratch. It ended up resembling runny, sweetened scrambled egg I was gutted! What would have caused the egg to congeal like that, did I have the hob up too high or something?

2) I have 8 egg whites left over from the custard last night. I want to make a pavlova to take in to work on Monday (for Australia Day). What has the longest shelf-life... eggs in the fridge, or pavlova once made? I'm not sure whether to make the pav tonight/tomorrow because the egg whites possibly going bad, or will they keep (in the fridge) until Sunday night?

Many thanks!!

Hi there!

Custard will turn into scrambled eggs if the heat is too high, you can buy heat diffusers which help if your hob won't go low enough, or even make the custard in a bowl over a pan of boiling water - like melting choc.

Egg whites should be fine till Sunday night in the fridge, if you're worried you could freeze them. Meringues will prob go slightly soft by Monday, and a pavlova will def be squidgy by then! I'd make the meringues on Sunday and assemble it on Mon morning if poss. Another reason not to make it now is that someone might eat it that's what would happen here

Scubabe

I make my pavlova by baking it Sunday night about 9pm, switch the oven off when I go to bed and let the pav sit in the oven to cool all night long.

Then Monday morning I will chuck it in a tupperware box and take it in to work and decorate it at work just before we eat it for Australia Day.

Thanks for confirming what I thought - that the whites will be fine in the fridge till Sunday night.

Next time I try egg custard from scratch I think I will leave the hob on mark 2 - I think I did it on 3 last night and it was gross I want my gas cooker back!!!!

Thanks muchly!

valk_scot

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

If it's ACTUALLY freezing, I'm not sure that will do the spuds much good. And TBH, I remember my mum buying potatoes in big sacks when I was young, and her complaining that they weren't keeping as well as they used to. I think it was partly a seasonal thing though.

Yes, 0`C and below is not good for spuds. They go black and slimey.

Yes to the seasonality being the thing that affects the keeping of potatoes. Trouble is that nowadays commercial potatoes will already have been stored in temperature controlled warehouses, then allowed to warm up while being bagged and kept in the supermarket or shop for several days, then (hopefully) been put back somewhere cool again. They get confused and think spring has sprung! I grow a lot of my own potatoes and they come straight out the ground into cool dark conditions (cardboard boxes in unheated basement utility room) and they don't start sprouting till March or April, which is about six months after harvest. Whereas if I buy supermarket spuds they usually sprout within three weeks.

fizzel81

quick one from me (sorry) ive got bicarb and vinegar how is it again i use it to clean the pipe work in sinks etc

thank you

SunnyGirl

fizzel81 wrote: »

quick one from me (sorry) ive got bicarb and vinegar how is it again i use it to clean the pipe work in sinks etc

thank you

I've always just poured a bit of the bicarb round the plughole then poured vinegar on top & watched it fizz very satisfyingly I always follow with a kettle of boiling water down the sink too. It always ends up smelling lovely & drains faster as well. HTH

Penelope_Penguin

SunnyGirl wrote: »

I've always just poured a bit of the bicarb round the plughole then poured vinegar on top & watched it fizz very satisfyingly I always follow with a kettle of boiling water down the sink too. It always ends up smelling lovely & drains faster as well. HTH

I know that this is an Old Style sacred cow, but as a chemist, I do need to point out that the fizzing, though nice to see, it completely pointless to the cleaning of sinks. There's a chemical reaction going on there - which is what causes the fizz. Your sink will be cleaned by the boiling water, so my money-saving tip would be to use that alone

ETA - caustic soda (available from hardware shops) is the true Old Style way to clean sinks. Though do be careful, it can cause nasty burns. It fizzes on contact with water, and has the added benefit of then reacting with the fat and grease in your drains, making soap as it goes, helping the cleaning all the more :T

Penny. x