Weezl and friends Phase 2 -giving it a whirl for Shirl! Testing meal plan for a month

Allegra

FrankieM wrote: »

So, I guess I'm saying, that it might be worth making some things as you go....I hope that's some help and obviously just my opinion from my experience

That is a very good point, Frankie, thanks On the other end of the spectrum, though, I found that I did not make as many snacks as available simply because I did not have the time to once I returned to work - had I made better use of my holiday batch cooking time, I would not have had to eat !!!!!!'s portions to keep full And bread is something I believe that you have to get into a routine with, or you'll not make enough, or not in time, and end up wasting money on shop-bought.

But this is why I am polling you guys - I know what I want, and what works for me, and I can write for me no trouble; but I am not writing for me, I am writing to help Shirley, and therefore need to know what most people will find helpful.

What do you all think of the "cooking advice" section on the website ? Is that enough, with all the recent suggestions added ? Should I abandon the day-by-day breakdown altogether and just let all the novice Shirleys learn how to fish in the deep end ?

weezl74

Bigjenny wrote: »

Weezl

Instructions for Onion Tart Tatin say

Rub in Fat, but ingredients say Oil


Heat the oil and sugar in a pan Meanwhile, slice the onions and arrange beautiful slices on the base on a flan dish or, 2 nine inch cake tins or an ovenproof lanagne dish...

Add the onions and cook for around 10 minutes then add the balsamic and give a good stir.

Keep an eye on the pan and cook for another 10 mins, they should go a lovely brown colour, but they will burn easily. When they are reduced down, layer them in the botton of the tin/baking dish and gently press down to form an even layer

I think its unclear whether you put a layer of raw onions in the dish and then cook the rest of them in the pan and then add them to the dish, or cook all of the onions first.

Also no mention when to add the Oregano.

Hope this makes sense

Jenny

thanks Jenny

sian the green, come back we need you! When you did this, did you cook all the onions then transfer them? Or did you cook them always in their end receptacle? (sp?) thanks for any help you can give

FrankieM

Allegra I agree about the bread. I tended to get a batch going while I was cooking dinner as it was an easy enough thing to do at the same time.
I also made a carrot cake every week but the other snacks just as and when.

weezl74

Allegra, I guess our hardest shirley is a novice cook with no time in the week. Our easiest shirley is a profficient shirley with time in the days and eves and weekends.

second shirl will manage, first shirl needs our help. Although the list is big, if she doesn't do it, she'll be having tea really late most nights after a hard day's work.

So I'm wondering if the way delia made christmas lunch feel doable would be useful?

"the night before-soak your chick peas

8.30 am put your yeast on to start fizzing and heat your oven to GM6, have a cuppa.
8.45 warm your flour, find all your mixing bowls, grate your carrot for your first cake and zest your orange."

But as I think about that I'm really daunted as it's a massive piece of work, and I don't want to inflict it on Allegra

The only creative way forward I can think of is to challenge the old-style forum to a perfect batch cooking day. We linkie them to the recipes we want cooking on the big saturday, and ask them to come up with an itinerary.

Some will disagree with each other, but all are masters of what order to cram things in the oven.

If Shirl is more accomplished, she'll ignore it anyway and wing it.

I dunno, what do folk think? Worth a stab?

Allegra 'only' then has to pretty up the day's itinerary.

This could be an utter red-herring tho, and I think you've done a heck of a lot more than most websites do to be helpful

Bigjenny

Pasta Funghi Oil in ingredients Fat in Method.

Red Pepper Tart Oil in ingredients Fat in Method

Tomato and Olive Steamed Pudding. No instructions when to add Olives.

weezl74

Bigjenny wrote: »

Pasta Funghi Oil in ingredients Fat in Method.

Red Pepper Tart Oil in ingredients Fat in Method

Tomato and Olive Steamed Pudding. No instructions when to add Olives.

Thanks Jenny! You must be so bored of staring at the site now-what a diligent lady :rotfl:

I think I borrowed that approach from scone recipes in my books, where they put butter in ingredients and then call it the fat in the method. I've been reading lots of older cookbooks of late though, so perhaps it's a bit unusual now .

Has anyone else seen this done? It sounds though Jenny as if you think for Shirley that the best thing is if the method talks about the type of fat listed in the ingredients?

Hippeechiq

weezl74 wrote: »

Allegra, I guess our hardest shirley is a novice cook with no time in the week. Our easiest shirley is a profficient shirley with time in the days and eves and weekends.

second shirl will manage, first shirl needs our help. Although the list is big, if she doesn't do it, she'll be having tea really late most nights after a hard day's work.

So I'm wondering if the way delia made christmas lunch feel doable would be useful?

"the night before-soak your chick peas

8.30 am put your yeast on to start fizzing and heat your oven to GM6, have a cuppa.
8.45 warm your flour, find all your mixing bowls, grate your carrot for your first cake and zest your orange."

But as I think about that I'm really daunted as it's a massive piece of work, and I don't want to inflict it on Allegra

I'm a competent but not confident cook IYKWIM, so am erring towards being a "Novice Shirley". As such, I love the above idea and personally think it would take an awful lot of stress away from what is quite an intimidating - although very well presented - list. However, I can appreciate that it would be an enormous amount of work for Allegra to undertake

I am just an observer/lurker though, so not sure I'm qualified to have an opinion in all fairness. That said, I can still appreciate and admire the tremendous amount of effort Allegra and yourself tirelessly put into this project :T

Allegra

weezl74 wrote: »

Allegra, I guess our hardest shirley is a novice cook with no time in the week. Our easiest shirley is a profficient shirley with time in the days and eves and weekends.

second shirl will manage, first shirl needs our help. Although the list is big, if she doesn't do it, she'll be having tea really late most nights after a hard day's work.

This is what I am worried about. Remember Economy Gastronomy ? Most of thei families ended up eating near midnight at first, cos no one told them how long cooking was going to take. I remember shouting at the screen at the time - thought that was very poor ! We can - and should - do a lot better for our economy gastronomers

So I'm wondering if the way delia made christmas lunch feel doable would be useful?

"the night before-soak your chick peas

8.30 am put your yeast on to start fizzing and heat your oven to GM6, have a cuppa.
8.45 warm your flour, find all your mixing bowls, grate your carrot for your first cake and zest your orange."

But as I think about that I'm really daunted as it's a massive piece of work, and I don't want to inflict it on Allegra

I was actually thinking about doing it that way ! Two things that steered me away from it, though - firstly, I know I'm gonna get muddled up with the timings halfway through, because my own timetabl would read

8.46 let the cat out
8.47 let the cat back in
8.48 let the cat out again
8.49 drop evereything to attend to DD's urgent homework crisis
9.25 come back and look blearily at the mess in the kitchen, try to remember what you were doing
9.26 let the cat back in
10.05 go and remove virus off DD's laptop
11.55 finally return back to the kitchen, roll sleeves up, get stuck in
11.56 DD appears in the kitchen demanding lunch. Now !

You get the gist

Now, where was I.... Ah, yeah, the second thing. If people think that Delia's methods can be over-elaborate and offputting, then perhaps trying to emulate her at her most elaborate isn't the best way to go about things.....

But yes, a challenge on Old Style might be well worth a stab !

FrankieM

I think a list like that would be quite helpful. It would certainly give people an idea on timings and ways of making the most of their time.
I also think a challenge on Oldstyle would be a good idea

Allegra

Hippeechiq wrote: »

I'm a competent but not confident cook IYKWIM, so am erring towards being a "Novice Shirley". As such, I love the above idea and personally think it would take an awful lot of stress away from what is quite an intimidating - although very well presented - list. However, I can appreciate that it would be an enormous amount of work for Allegra to undertake

Sod it, I'm doing it. Watch this space

I am just an observer/lurker though, so not sure I'm qualified to have an opinion in all fairness. That said, I can still appreciate and admire the tremendous amount of effort Allegra and yourself tirelessly put into this project :T

Course you bloomin' well are entitled to an opinion ! I gotta say in all fairness though, I've not done much - just waffled a lot. A lot more people in the background beavering away quietly and unnoticed - and all giving selflessly to help out the brains of the operation, our Weezl. How's that for charisma, eh folks ?