Weezl's phase 1- recipe testing and frugalisation- come one, come all!

Penelope_Penguin

In_Search_Of_Me wrote: »

how bout placenta weezl?!

I'll ask my butcher if he can source one :eek: :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

homegrown_life

princess_loki wrote: »

did you have to add an egg or did it 'stick' on it's own?

if no egg required then in my 'very skint days' this would have helped me enormously and even now so much cheaper than buying a 'mix' to add so it sticks together :money:. will be trying this after finishing other stuff that needs using :j

no I didn't use an egg, it maybe would have helped keep it all together, but actually they kept together ok. They fell apart easily when eating, but we didn;t mind that. I figured I ought to see if they would work with the cheapest ingredients first as I didn't know if all the eggs accounted for. I think baking rather than frying helped as there was no rolling them around to cook in a pan.

My DS was a bit dissapointed that they weren't like tinned meatballs though!

I'd be interested to know what other people think, or any other kind of additions or alterations I could try next time. Be kind though

ceridwen

i've got a bun in the oven - oh whoops...no sorry...thats our Weezl thats got that...:rotfl:.

Right....my carrot cake is baking as we speak and I've been busy making notes as I made it.

Reet...I've done the full quantity of it.

Comments to date:
- I think it would help if we specify exactly what is meant by "zesting" the orange. We know what we mean - but someone new to cooking might think "what the heck....". So - I knew what was meant and duly got out my fruit zester implement and started shaving bits of peel off the orange with it. Thinks...not everyone will have a fruit zester implement (so maybe we need to say that its possible to do this with a standard grater?)

- Think that its a good idea to specify the weight of ingredients. One thing I find frustrating about some cookery writers is that they dont realize that sizes of foodstuffs are a bit "subjective". Having read that its "4 large carrots - about x weight" - I then picked out what I regard as 3 medium-sized carrots and that was the weight specified.

- My large orange came to - 4 fl. ozs of orange juice and 4 heaped teaspoons of orange zest

- Re the raisins - I think it would be a good idea to specify in the method that its necessary to rinse them before submerging them in the orange juice. Reason = unless people are buying organic dried raisins then there is a good chance that summat like sulphur dioxide (?) will have been added - in which case I would want to rinse as much as possible of this off.

- Re the carrots = I think it needs to be specified that they should be peeled before grating them in the method.

I think the thing is that one can write recipes very differently for experienced cooks to what is possible for beginners. With experienced cooks = one can put things in "shortcut" fashion in writing down a recipe (as I do myself if writing down a recipe for my own personal use). But many people will be learning to cook in the first place - so things wont necessarily be so obvious to them.

- I am wondering why it was specified to use a wooden spoon to mix the ingredients up. I did do this myself - but couldnt really see why this was necessary??

Right - I will now sit back and await the finished result. I've done a version using 50/50 cinnamon and nutmeg as my spice of choice. Also - I've totally omitted sugar and thought "I would imagine its sweet enough with the raisins - but to be on the safe side - I've added 3 teaspoons of honey".

Initial taste test (ie of the raw mixture) was promising. I wait to see what the cooked result will be like.

In_Search_Of_Me

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

I'll ask my butcher if he can source one :eek: :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

was thinking of weezl's in situ pen!! and weezl before you think of serving it to me (or mr weezl I suspect!!) NO

Lodger (who shall from now on be named sticky fingers at her bequest!) and I are doing one each! SF will do the pook belly and I'll do the burgers.

princess_loki

i remember when i was 17 living in a shared house and i taught the lads how to make pancakes - after that they made them for weeks with various different fillings

this makes me worried about our society:
http://groceries.asda.com/asda-estore/catalog/sectionpagecontainer.jsp?skuId=76712154&departmentid=1214921923813&aisleid=1214921925099&utm_source=bettycrockerpancakemix&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Febhalfterm.0710.GALL.VL then you still have to buy lemon and will not teach kids anything about cooking!

after learning about pancakes my housemates (all smoked ...) then learnt how to make cup cakes when they got in for work to save going to the shop for munchies! after that i taught them cheese straws and pasta with sauce

goodness knows how many menfolk i have taught to cook basic things:rotfl: lodgers and housemates have even paid me to make choc cake and lasagne :rotfl::rotfl:.

i am not a special person but have always invited others over for food - often when single and child free with the right friends it works out well - i used to do sunday breakfast for a load of lads (they each bought with them £5 worth of 'breakfast materail' from the co-op) - ok i had to cook but ended up eating free for a few days or freezing then giving them free brekkie if they all bought me beer on sat night!

sorry... going off on a tangent here!! i did promise myself that i would resist but food is very much a part of me and i remember food situations more than fashion!!! (especially when it was free!)

ceridwen

Ooh my timer has just gone off to indicate the first 20 minutes of cooking - as I'm checking that carrot cake out at intervals.

Gotta go have a look:)

I rather like being part of "history in the making" - aka "that communal food experiment of the early 21st century":):):) - where this large group of people got together to work this out....:)

I've done my own bit of "history in the making" in the past - though I couldnt see it at the time - and have been sitting back quietly enjoying watching it over the years since....

Hence - I'm thoroughly enjoying watching this one...:T

Penelope_Penguin

In_Search_Of_Me wrote: »

was thinking of weezl's in situ pen!!

So was I Hence the :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

ceridwen, you're in danger of making this extremely complicated. I don;t wash raisins, and neither do I peel carrots; am I alone in this?

In_Search_Of_Me

ahh!! Wasnt sure you knew she was with sprog! As or washing raisins...cerdwen you dont?!! I do peel carrot though!
We've also got volunteer for borcht and I'll have a bash at the carrot cake...another idea would be for onion marmalade!

ceridwen

In_Search_Of_Me wrote: »

ahh!! Wasnt sure you knew she was with sprog! As or washing raisins...cerdwen you dont?!! I do peel carrot though!
We've also got volunteer for borcht and I'll have a bash at the carrot cake...another idea would be for onion marmalade!

Onion marmalade - now you're talking...lick lips smilie...

HariboJunkie

Really enjoying this thread Weezl :T

The onion tart unfortunately didn't appeal to my fussy lot and I'm not allowed to "mess" with my carrot cake recipe apparently but i'm looking forward to trying the other recipes soon.
Unfortunately my nearest Asda and Sainsbury's are 100 miles away so I'm reliant on Tesco, Aldi, Lidl and Farmfoods.

Keep up the good work. :beer: