Unusual ingredients

Poddly

Semolina can be added to shortbread mix to give added texture to shortbread, someone I used to work with always did this and it made the best shortbread ever!

I add vac packed chestnuts to beef or game stews, helps stretch the meat a bit and always goes down well.

Polenta can be used in cakes, a middle-eastern style orange cake comes to mind.

gayleygoo

I don't think cider vinegar goes off, it's often used for preserving veg etc s should be fine for years really! I use it in salad dressing, adding a little to slow cooker beans or pork, and it can be used in marinades to tenderise meat. It also has household uses like for cleaning etc, and some people dilute it to rinse their hair after washing.

LameWolf

carlamarie wrote: »

I have a bottle of cider vinegar with a couple of tablespoons or so missing. Now I know I bought this for a particular recipe and I seem to recall we really liked the recipe. I just have no idea what the recipe was! And I dont know how else to use it!

It has been opened about 6-9 months, will it even still be ok? I'm guessing as its a vinegar it would be?

It keeps just about forever!:D
Again, this is a store cupboard staple for me.
We often have HM nut loaf served with rice and sweet'n'sour sauce, with chunks of pineapple added, and I use cider vinegar in the sauce. In fact that's what's on the meal plan for tonight!:D

If anyone's interested, I make the sauce thus:

2 spoons Demerara sugar - I use the wooden spoon I'm going to stir the sauce with, btw, so I can't really tell you what size of spoon, sorry.
2 spoons honey
3 spoons dark soy sauce
2 spoons cider vinegar
2 spoons sherry (I use Cr0ft original)
A little ginger cordial
A good splosh (I don't measure it) of orange juice OR grapefruit juice - either works
A teaspoon of cornflour
A few chunks of pineapple - I buy this from the market and get Mr LW to cut it up, and I freeze the chunks

Chuck all the above in a saucepan, heat gently on the hob, stirring it, til it thickens, serve with cooked rice and the "main item" (in our case nut loaf) of your choice.
This does enough for the two of us.

The other use I know of for cider vinegar is diluted with water as a drink, it's supposed to aid arthritis sufferers. In fact, that's how I first started using it, years ago. It's quite sharp though, and not to everyone's taste.

lostinrates

TravellingAbuela wrote: »

I have four tubs of Sumac in my cupboard!!! I wanted some for an Egyptian recipe but I couldn't find any locally. DH had cause to visit the next town and came back with TWO tubs from a supermarket there. Same afternoon DD found some in a little Middle Eastern shop near her work and bought me a tub! I meanwhile had ordered some off E-bay not knowing three tubs were heading my way. So I ended up with 4 tubs and I still haven't made the Egyptian recipe!!

Sumac is one of my absolute favourite things in the world.


Its got a delicious tangy flavour. You can use it as a dry rub for chicken, or as an ingrediant in lots of middle eastern dishes. Its one of the main flavours in za'artar if you ever have that. You can make up your own za'artar with it to have as a dip for pitta bread ( dip bread in olive oil, then the dried thyme/ sumac rich mixture. ) I like sumac enough to use it like za'artar. Its great in dips with yoghurt as a dip too, or this you gut can make a marinade for lamb or chicken to grilled, and had with salads, or as kebabs.


Fwiw, i agree its interesting to see what are odd to some. We love chestnuts, eat load of them through a/ w in lots of ways. And cider vinegar is a constant, salad dressings, as a flavouring for lots of park dishes, often as a sub for white wine vinegar if I prefer the idea of it flavour wise. And by the spoon to mouth or in water occasionally.

carlamarie_2

Wow! Thanks for all the ideas regarding the cider vinegar. Here was me struggling to think of a use for it, it seems there's lots out there!

Seakay

K9sandFelines wrote: »

Oh dear, I have got nutmeg already and think from memory I bought it to go in some sort of casserole type dish. The egg powder I have bought more recently, but no clue why as I hate meringue.

Thanks.

I love mace and nutmeg.
Mace often turns up in savoury pates etc whereas in this country nutmeg is more often grated over custard tarts and other milk puddings.
Both can be used for mulling wine, cider etc.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/mace
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/nutmeg

Dried egg white can be used anywhere a fresh egg white can be but will keep for much longer. A different use is in those foams you see on cheffy programmes - apparently dried egg white helps to stabilize them! Don't worry about not liking meringue - there's a lot of cocktail recipes require an egg white!

http://www.molecularrecipes.com/hydrocolloid-guide/egg-white-powder/

semolina is used for dusting should you ever make your own muffins (not the giant fairy cakes, the yeast risen things you split, toast and butter)

Finefoot

i like experiencing with dishes from all over the world. But I don't know what the picked lemons are destined for.

K9sandFelines

Seakay wrote: »

I love mace and nutmeg.
Mace often turns up in savoury pates etc whereas in this country nutmeg is more often grated over custard tarts and other milk puddings.
Both can be used for mulling wine, cider etc.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/mace
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/nutmeg

Dried egg white can be used anywhere a fresh egg white can be but will keep for much longer. A different use is in those foams you see on cheffy programmes - apparently dried egg white helps to stabilize them! Don't worry about not liking meringue - there's a lot of cocktail recipes require an egg white!

Thanks for an informed reply. I followed your link and like the sound of the mace biscuits, though I could do a curry as have tamarind,lemon grass plus others. Still undecided on the egg whites, but they can stay in the cupboard for the time being.

lostinrates

Finefoot wrote: »

i like experiencing with dishes from all over the world. But I don't know what the picked lemons are destined for.

Is that pickled lemons?

Delicious, delicious.

Tbh, I like them as a treat by them selves. Otherwise, simplest thing is in tagine type recipes.


Although, all those kebabs type things we do with sumac? We might well chuck quartered pickled lemons in there too, but I recognise that's not to every ones taste.

TravellingAbuela

Lostinrates, your ideas for Sumac spurred me on to fish mine out of the cupboard and give it a try. Sadly 2 of the tubs were passed their sell-by and didn't smell of much, so they have hit the bin! The other 2 are still in date and for lunch I used some in a recipe for roasted vine tomatoes. Yummy!