Nice People Thread Number 11 - A Treasury of Nice People

Generali

Oh and brekkie this morning was a bacon and egg sandwich from the BBQ at The Boy's soccer match this morning. It only cost a little more than a quid too.

chewmylegoff

Mortgage offer letter arrived this morning, valuation happening on Friday, finally getting somewhere.

Left my bag on the street outside the pub last night... Luckily they found it so off to pick it up now.

Generali

Ratatouille is onion, garlic, tomato, aubergine, courgette and peppers with herbes de Provence all cooked in olive oil.

The herbs are thyme, rosemary, lavender and bay leaf. Parsley is an optional extra.

It's normally horribly overcooked and under herbed.

We're going to have lightly boiled cauliflower and broccoli and roast pumpkin, parsnips and carrots (if the carrots haven't gone off in this humid weather).

Doozergirl

I'm really, really hungry. Torturous. Need to buy brisket, I think.

Generali

Doozergirl wrote: »

I'm really, really hungry. Torturous. Need to buy brisket, I think.

That takes hours to cook. It's a good cut of meat though.

You don't see it over here. I think it gets turned into Corned Beef. Don't think of the stuff in cans, it's like salt beef.

We had bacon and pea risotto tonight which The Boy helped me to cook. That was pretty good although maybe slightly undercooked.

I found out today that the word 'crone' (as in old woman) has the same root as the word 'carrion'. {{shudder}}

PasturesNew

Doozergirl wrote: »

Need to buy brisket, I think.

I know that's some meat ... but no idea which animal/what it looks like, how it's cooked....

Doozergirl

PasturesNew wrote: »

I know that's some meat ... but no idea which animal/what it looks like, how it's cooked....

It's beef. Like Generali says, it takes a long time to cook, but it's a relatively cheap cut and slow cooked at a low temperature tastes great.

If I go soon, I can come home and braise it with some of the wine that lemonjelly bought me. Nice people style Have it later tonight with the rest of the bottle. It all falls apart with a fork. You'd like it.

Generali

Doozergirl wrote: »

It's beef. Like Generali says, it takes a long time to cook, but it's a relatively cheap cut and slow cooked at a low temperature tastes great.

If I go soon, I can come home and braise it with some of the wine that lemonjelly bought me. Nice people style Have it later tonight with the rest of the bottle. It all falls apart with a fork. You'd like it.

If you're going to cook beef in red wine slowly then the Generali tip to get the angels going is:

1. Take some of the cooking liquor and put it in a jug
2. Make a roux (equal parts of flour and butter)
3. Slowly add the liquor to the roux, stirring all the time
4. Add something sweet (redcurrent jelly is perfect, sugar will do)
5. Simmer for at least 10 minutes so the flour doesn't taste raw.

Brisket is the muscles at the front of the bull between the front legs pretty much. It works hard as the animal walks hence the need for long cooking time.

I tend not to use it much as I find shin has a better flavour, is cheaper and cooks in the about the same time. It is a good cut to use as if it was a roasting cut.

Doozergirl

Just looking at the chicken liver parfait recipe, Gen. I've not made it before, but it doesn't look too hard. Is it?

I will purchase redcurrant jelly

Generali

Doozergirl wrote: »

Just looking at the chicken liver parfait recipe, Gen. I've not made it before, but it doesn't look too hard. Is it?

I will purchase redcurrant jelly

It's dead easy, cheap and fairly quick to make. Delia also has a really good pork liver pate too that's worth trying. It's definitely worth clarifying the butter when making pate.

The trick with pate is not to be scared of medium rare - rare liver. Oh and to be scrupulous about getting rid of any bits of gall bladder. You'll spot it easily as it's green. One of my livers had an entire gall bladder attached. That's ok though, you just cut it off and chuck it out. Just take some time and care over how you prepare the liver really. Liver is so cheap it's almost free.

For gravy to serve 6 I would put in a heaped teaspoon of redcurrent jelly. I would recommend that you put in a little jelly and try before maybe adding a little more. The best way to try it is to dip a small piece of meat into the gravy as that gives some context.

It's a very Northern European way to eat: fruit with meat. It's something that has largely been forgotten in the UK except apple sauce and red sauce. Even then, ketchup is a pickle as much as a sauce.