A few cooking questions.....

LegalBlonde

....Thanks for all your help lately with my post about healthy but cheap groceries and meals. I have been doing well so far and tonight's dinner was a bit of a record I think - my boyf scored it 9 out of 10 and I think it probably cost about 50p each, if that! Tesco value mince, tesco pasta sauce with garlic, herbs, peppers, frozen onions and Tesco value spaghetti and tesco garlic bread guess where I shop :rotfl:

Anyway I have family coming for a few days and a birthday coming up so I have a few questions.

1. If I bake a cake tonight or tomorrow night (before they come) will it last until Saturday/Sunday???

2. I want to make a soup from chicken carcass, celery, mushrooms, herbs, garlic etc, sweet potato - should I just boil the carcass for about an hour and chuck it all in??? How long would it last if I make it???

3. I have a thing of double cream from Tesco and it goes out of date today :cool: I was thinking of adding it to the soup to make it more chicken and mushroom creamy soup but would the cream still go off today even if I use it in cooking??? If you know what I mean.

Thanks so much, I am new to this cooking from scratch and I know if I start hesitating, I have so much more to organise this week I will just do nothing and order in when they arrive :rotfl:

zippychick

Hiya!

Ok, cake wednesday to sunday will last but won't be at its prime. Have you thought about freezing the cake uniced and taking it out on Saturday? Rachel allens carrot cake is to DIE FOR !

Carcass - here's how i make stock.
Roast carcass in over after picking. Cover with boiling water and add a few carrots, an onion, celery if you have it, parsley, few peppercorns and a bay leaf. Boil then simmer for a few hours on really low.

Sieve removing bits = stock. ADd ingredients to make into soup as normal and use stock as normal - having tasted it and knowing it's ok. I would keep soup 2-3 days, again freeze it a few days if you are in doubt?

Cream should be ok if cooked I would guess? Again,. i would go with freezing the soup and the cream separately. Then adding it once you are heating it up. I don't imagine the cream would freeze well and might separate?

Pink has a great slideshow of pics!

Pinks photos of stock/soup

ALso, how do i make my own chicken stock

Good luck! Just ask questions all you need, loads here to help you. And dont worry it will be fine! x

LegalBlonde

Thank you so much my DB (??? New abbreviation I invented - Darling Boyfriend????) I am happy to say has got lots of shifts working in a bar so I will give it all a go tomorrow night when he is at work.....I am sure I will be on here asking more!! I will have a look at your links then too - thanks so much.

I think I will forget about the cream for soup this time round - I have put it in the freezer to keep it for something else

Thanks!

Thanks for your help it is so useful and nice of you - I knew I could rely on this place.

ChocClare

Got in a bit late on this one, but just a quick thing to add:

if you freeze cream in an ice-cube tray until it's solid, then pop out the "cream ice cubes" and put in a plastic freezer bag, they turn into useful bits of cream for cooking at any time. You could make your soup and bung in an ice-cube or two of cream which will melt into it and be yummy. Just thought I'd mention it - otherwise unwhipped cream frozen as is tends to be a bit grainy when it's defrosted.

Well done for cooking from scratch, btw. You go, girl! :T

Stephen_Leak

I can help with #2.

CHICKEN SOUP

Part of the "Rubber Chicken" collection.

A simple recipe for chicken soup, using a leftover chicken carcass. A basic broth can be made with just the chicken, water, onion and pepper.

4 servings

INGREDIENTS

1 onion
100g to 125g of at least 2 additional vegetables (see below)
1 roast chicken carcass
1 litre of water
1 chicken stock cube
1 teaspoon of a dried herb
Ground pepper to taste

METHOD

Peel the onion and chop it into big pieces. Peel the other vegetables, if required, and chop them into 2cm (1 inch) pieces.

Put the chicken, onion, vegetables, water and stock cube into a large saucepan on a medium heat. Stir thoroughly. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat until it is just boiling (simmering).

Put the lid on and cook for 1 hour. Check the liquid level from time to time and top up if it starts to dry out.

Fish out the carcass and put it on a plate. Remove any meat which is still on the bones, Put the meat back into the soup. Discard the bones.

If you have a food processor, put the soup in it and blend it to the desired consistency. If you have a hand blender, put it in the soup and blend it to the desired consistency. If you don’t have a food processor or hand blender, use a potato masher, press the soup through a sieve with the back of a spoon, or leave it lumpy.

Add the herb. Stir thoroughly.

Season with the pepper.

ADDITIONS & ALTERNATIVES

You can use carrots, celery, courgettes, leeks, mushrooms, tomatoes, parsnips, potatoes, swedes, turnips, etc. Using green vegetables and mushrooms will give a light and delicate broth. Using root vegetables and tomatoes will give a thick and hearty soup.

Sage would seem to be a good herb to use. After all, sage and onion does go with chicken.

For Chicken Noodle Soup, use green vegetables and add a small pack of noodles. Cook them in the soup, according to the instructions on the packet.

TIPS

Don’t panic, if you don't fish out enough bones to make a skeleton of the chicken. Some will have dissolved into the soup, adding to the goodness.

Stephen_Leak

LegalBlonde wrote: »

.... I have been doing well so far and tonight's dinner was a bit of a record I think - my boyf scored it 9 out of 10 and I think it probably cost about 50p each, if that! Tesco value mince, tesco pasta sauce with garlic, herbs, peppers, frozen onions and Tesco value spaghetti and tesco garlic bread guess where I shop :rotfl:

A tip for next time - consider trading up a notch from the value mince. It has a high fat content, which just melts out in cooking. The slightly better mince will have less fat and more meat, and actually goes further.

I now use minced turkey, which is low fat and the cheapest mince. My Bolognese Sauce recipe now makes an extra portion as a result.

zippychick

No problems ! Good call on the cream, i forgot to mention that sorry! You will get the hang of it all in no time. Soon it will be second nature. :)x

Churchmouse

LegalBlonde wrote: »

Thank you so much my DB (??? New abbreviation I invented - Darling Boyfriend????) I am happy to say has got lots of shifts working in a bar so I will give it all a go tomorrow night when he is at work.....I am sure I will be on here asking more!! I will have a look at your links then too - thanks so much.

I think I will forget about the cream for soup this time round - I have put it in the freezer to keep it for something else

Thanks!

Thanks for your help it is so useful and nice of you - I knew I could rely on this place.

Glad you got it all sorted As for DB, I'd add an F to that else people could possibly think you're rather too close to your Dear Brother :rotfl: