Food

[willedoo]

I've been noting all this information as I've been thinking of ways to cut down on oil in cooking. Cooking in oil tends to put kilos of extra weight on. A question: what's the difference between an air fryer and a convection oven?

[red750]

From the web:

 

Most convection ovens can air-fry, but not all air fryers can do what a convection oven can. The main difference between an air fryer and convection oven lies in the size, with a convection oven generally having more space for cooking larger amounts of food at one time (e.g., the difference between cooking eight mini scones or 16 full-size scones). The fan in an air fryer is located at the top of the appliance, which cooks food a little faster than the back-of-the-oven fan in a convection oven, but a convection oven doesn't require any specialty equipment or accessories like an air fryer does.

[nomadpete]

2 hours ago, old man emu said:

Cooking food by immersing it in hot oil might be quick, but the way that it has become the norm since the mid-20th Century in Western societies is probably one of the major causes of obesity. Also the prevalence of fried potatoes accompanying so many menu items diminishes the nutritive value of the whole serving. Back in the day, we usually only ate fried chips when we had fish 'n' chips. Now it's Beef Wellington 'n' chips.

 

It is becoming a fact that the generation of the Baby Boomers was the generations will have dug their graves with thier mouths.

Oooh that is so distasteful!

 

I am now  plagued by a vision of hoards of obese teenagers grazing on dirt in a graveyard!

[old man emu]

Getting back to Helpful HInts for the Housewife, here's my recipe for fruit mince tarts.

 

INGREDIENTS:

Standard 250 ml measuring cup used as required.

One 410 gm jar of Robertson's Fruit Mince

500 gms butter - diced, but chilled.

3/4 cup sugar - Castor sugar mixes better than regular sugar with the other dry ingredients.

1/2 cup corn flour

1/2 cup custard powder

1 cup self raising flour

2 cups plain flour

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 egg- beaten, For glazing.

 

EQUIPMENT:

A bowl of chilled water - for keeping your hands cold while working the pastry.

A large mixing bowl

A flour sifter

A broad-bladed knife for mixing the dough.

A rolling pin

A round pastry cutter - a drinking glass works well.

A 12-hole patty cake tin

 

METHOD:

1. Preheat the oven to 220C for a normal oven. You might drop it to 210 for a fan-forced oven according to the manufacturer's advice.
2. Sift all the dry ingredients together three times to aerate and to mix the ingredients thoroughly.
3. Wet the butter with the vanilla essence.
4. Cool your hands in the chilled water and dry them 
5. Rub the butter/essence into the dry ingredients with your finger tips until it is evenly combined throughout the dry ingredients and no lumps remain. If it takes a while, cool your fingers in the chilled water and dry them before recommencing.
6. Add chilled water to the mix about a teaspoon at a time and mix with the knife until it begins to ball up. Don't let the dough get wetter than damp. Don't work it for too long
7. Using your fingers form a ball which should be smooth and firm. Do not overwork it.

 

Since you will be making these pies in summer, it would be wise to chill the pastry in the fridge for 30 minutes before rolling it out.

1. Very lightly flour where you are going to roll the pastry.
2. Divide the pastry into two equal amounts.
3. Roll out one lot of dough forming a sheet about that is about 1/8" (3mm) thick. Don't overwork the pastry.
4. Cut out the number of circles needed to make the lids for the pies.
5. Add the left-over pastry from the lids to the other amount and roll it out again to an 1/8" (3mm) sheet. Don't overwork the pastry.
6. Cut out the number of circles to make the pie cases. (My patty cake tin is 70mm in diameter and 25 mm deep. Therefore the circles have to be 120mm diameter.

 

ASSEMBLY:

1. Line the patty cake holes with the large rounds, pressing them to conform to the shape of the hole.
2. Put one teaspoon of Robertson's Fruit Mince into each pie case. Repeat. If that has sufficiently filled the case, you can eat the rest of the mince later. 
3. Moisten the edges of the cases with water and put on the lids
4. Decorate the edges of the lids by pinching the pastry. 
5. Make a small vent hole in the centre of the lids.
6. Trim off any excess pastry from the cases.
7. Glaze the lids with the beaten egg.
8. Sprinkle regular grain-sized sugar over the tops of the pies.

 

COOKING:

1. Check that the oven has reached either 210C (fan-forced) or 220C (conventional).
2. Place pies on the middle shelf of the oven.
3. Cook for 20 minutes before checking.
4. Rotate the patty cake pan 180 degrees and cook for a further 5 to 10 minutes.
5. Remove from oven and cool in the cake pan.

 

STORAGE:

1. When cold, store the pies in an airtight container.
2. Conceal the container in an inaccessible location to prevent pilfering before the correct serving time.

[onetrack]

Where did the EQUIPMENT: go?? Don't you need any? Do you just mix it all with your hands and leave it out in the hot Summer sun to cook??

I knew that GW was getting worse, but I didn't realise it was now that bad in inland NSW, that you no longer need a stove!   

 

Edited December 15, 2023 by onetrack

[onetrack]

As the owner of a fan-forced oven, I'm still in two minds over the benefits of an air fryer. We make our own chips from fresh "Dutch Gold" or "Creme Gold" potatoes, we stopped buying frozen chips long ago because I believe that a lot of foods suffer from cellular damage when frozen, and they rarely taste the same as freshly-prepared food. Mind you, we do spend more time on food prep.

 

Here's a favourite simple lunch we've been making recently. Sliced Lamb Steak with fried onion, rice and salad.

We've been buying the Coles Lamb leg steaks - they come two to a packet for $5 here, and the two steaks are enough for 4 meals.

 

Fry the lamb steaks slowly in a heavy frypan with a little butter. Butter, to me, is the secret of flavourful food, everything tastes better with a little butter added. Note I said, "a little". Slice the onions into rings and cook them in a little butter as well.

 

Lamb meat must be cooked slowly, it absorbs heat much more slowly than beef. I like all my meat well-done (not charred, but not raw pink in the middle, either). I detest all these "celebrated" Chefs, telling us our meat must be eaten while it's still dripping blood.

Bugger 'em, they can eat their meat raw if they like, I like my pathogens properly killed.

 

We cook rice in the microwave, in a microwave rice cooker. A couple of cups of rice, add hot water to cover it with about 15-20mm coverage of water over the rice, and cook on 30% power for 14 mins.

We have an 1100W Sharp microwave and it has several % power selections, which works well. Of course, the % button only cuts the power in and out, but it works well.

We've been naughty and stopped buying Australian rice and have been buying Pakistani Basmati rice. The reason being, the Basmati rice simply tastes better, and ends up fluffier.

 

When the lamb steaks are done, slice them across the grain in 5-6mm thick slices, make up a fresh salad of your choice (mine is green leaves, either spinach or lettuce, tomatoes, red capsicum, a little onion (red or spring), a little sliced celery, a few slices of radish, grated carrot) - then place salad, rice, lamb and fried onion, all artfully positioned on the plate - and enjoy! 

 

My seasonings are simply white pepper and a little salt and a bit of Aldi's Colway mayonnaise. I use Aldi's mayo as it has the minimum of additives in it.

If you feel the need, a little BBQ sauce on the lamb, but I generally don't use much sauce.

 

In conclusion, this recipe is a pretty cheap meal that provides a good balance of protein, carbs and fibre, with very little fat. The lamb steaks are low fat level.

 

https://www.coles.com.au/product/coles-lamb-leg-steak-2-pack-215g-4503499

 

Edited December 15, 2023 by onetrack

[old man emu]

40 minutes ago, onetrack said:

Where did the EQUIPMENT

I hit the Submit button by mistake, but have completed the job now.

[pmccarthy]

When I was a kid we used to have lamb pancakes regularly. Just leftover roast cut up small and mixed with pancake mixture. Fry and serve with tomato sauce. Delicious.

[Litespeed]

Lamb shoulder marinated in rosemary and a little garlic and lemon juice, cooked in butter and a little olive oil.

 

Cooked medium rare and fine sliced is heavenly. Juicy,tender and succulent. Less is more with ingredients. Next day is even better and makes a exceptional ploughman's lunch just add real cheese- vintage tasty and a sourdough loaf. A good red wine or red label Peroni and you live a Dolce vita.

 

That's the proper Italian way, with just what grows locally near the lamb.

 

To use mint sauce is a crime against the lamb and taste buds.

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

A good hot meat pie on a cold winter's day at the footy does it for me. And not a fancy one; Four 'n Twenty does it for me.. The equivalent here is Pukkas.

 

Although I have been fortunate to have eaten and some notable restaurants, sometimes the simple peasant food is my favourite. When I was working in Czehcia (then, the Czech Republic), we could easily afford the high-end restaurants there; so we went to them, but I got the interpreters to ask for the simple Czech dish of a basic cut of beef in a cream dill sauce.. absolutely yummy. I remember these more than any fancy stuff I have eaten.

 

[nomadpete]

4 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

A good hot meat pie on a cold winter's day at the footy does it for me. And not a fancy one; Four 'n Twenty does it for me.. The equivalent here is Pukkas.

 

Although I have been fortunate to have eaten and some notable restaurants, sometimes the simple peasant food is my favourite. When I was working in Czehcia (then, the Czech Republic), we could easily afford the high-end restaurants there; so we went to them, but I got the interpreters to ask for the simple Czech dish of a basic cut of beef in a cream dill sauce.. absolutely yummy. I remember these more than any fancy stuff I have eaten.

 

As an old friend once confided,

 

"After steak for a time, beans, beans taste fine"

 

I applies well to culinary pleasure, but we were talking about women at the time.

[old man emu]

4 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

A good hot meat pie

Seems to be a lost art these days. Nowadays pies are let down by soggy pastry caused by cooking them in those aluminium things. A pie case should be robust to enable the pie to be eaten without the case folding like a limp lettuce leaf.

 

AN ASIDE:

Here's a pie-related Public Safety message from New Zealand. Watch from time 1:49 in this video.

 

[onetrack]

I don't know about Centre Nuclear in pies that have been in the warmer for a half a day (or two days!), but most of pies/pasties I've got from servos are definitely not hot, the warmers are turned down to stop the pies from drying out, and to stop lawsuits from clients who claim they burnt their tongue on the pie!

 

And at the end of the day, you have to be pretty desperate to buy a commercial pie from a servo. But a dedicated bakery/pie shop is something else .......

 

https://www.miamibakehouse.com.au/

 

[nomadpete]

Food

Anecdote....

 

I pulled in to a big roadhouse on Gore Highway looking for lunch.

 

Perused the depressing selection of greasy brown objects smouldering in the brain marie.

 

"What would you like?" Asked the lady.

 

"What I would really like is a fresh salad or even a fruit salad..."

 

Still cheerful, she replied "Sir, we are a truck stop. We don't have healthy food like that here".

 

So nice to come across a cheerful, honest person.

[facthunter]

What do you expect on  GORE Highway   Haute Cuisine.? Nev

[willedoo]

When I was in my mid 20's I had a brief career driving interstate. One problem is you are restricted to roadhouse food because it's the only place where you can park the truck. It's not real healthy stuff and some of those truckies had big appetites. One time in Adelaide, me and a workmate had to stop over the weekend to load the following Monday. My truck was stuck inside a factory, but we unhitched his prime mover and used it for transport over the weekend. We went to the drive-in theater; ok as long as we parked up the back. The pizza delivery bloke delivered pizzas to us at the drive-in, so that was a good break from roadhouse fare.

 

I don't know how the truck drivers of subcontinental origin get by with roadhouse food. There's so many of them now, the roadhouses will have to start stocking rice and curry. A lot of them are Sikhs, but as far as I know vegetarian food is not compulsory for them even though a lot are vegetarians.

[red750]

Country pub, Gerogery NSW.

 

[Litespeed]

All four essential food groups

 

Beer

Meat

Oil soaked spuds

Plant matter 

[red750]

Or you might life to try this.

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

Ausmerica in pictures

[old man emu]

Ironically, it is not really the cost of the ingredients that shoots up the price of food. It is the business overheads that have to be met. A shop could cut back on the serving size, but that would be unpopular as the business overheads would still keep the price up.

 

I reckon the best way to get a healthy meal from a major fast food franchise is to get a 6" Subway with chicken, or simply just lots of veggies. Under $8. Failing that, a kid's meal from Macca's gives you a serving that is probably pretty close to the energy you should consume in a meal. HJ's stunner meal is a bit too big of a serving since it includes chips, nuggets and a small ice cream. Any other takeaway foods have too large servings. 

[facthunter]

Just grab a few pieces of fresh fruit and be on your way in a matter of minutes. You won't feel like you need a stomach pump to get comfortable either.  Nev

[onetrack]

There's enough food for 3 people in both those meals. The only thing missing is the 150kg lard-arse sitting at the table with gluttonous hands and mouth.

SWMBO and I often share a steak sandwich, as virtually all the SS's dished up at the likes of pubs, are big enough to feed two people easily.

I'm staggered at the food waste that goes on with pub meals, I reckon more than half of pubs completed meals are left with sizeable amounts of food on the plate.

[red750]

We have a bit of a cross-over here between this discussion and the contaminants in water in the democracy/dictatorship thread, which has got a bit off the topic.

 

I know I've mentioned some of my weird food concoctions before, such as peanut butter and vegemite sandwiches, etc.  My dietician said I need to add more vegies to some of the things I eat, so I tried another one.When I have a ham and cheese sandwich, or tuna sandwich, I add coleslaw from one of those little plastic cups from the supermarket. Tastes quite good, and I have no problems with constipation.

[facthunter]

Good tomato  sliced with ham. Cheese and honey with wholemeal bun.  Cucumber goes with cheese. Try sourdough bread. . Fluffed up Omelette on wholemeal toast Add grated cheese on top  of the omelette. If you add it to the omelette it sticks to the Pan..Use Dried tomato on sandwiches goes with a strong cheese. add cider vinegar to salads. Include pickled onions occasionally They keep for ages.. Make your own marmalade , tomato sauce plum sauce and green tomato pickles. Make a batch of pumpkin soup. Banana's have potassium, Dark berries are really good. Grow your own beetroot. It tastes much better than anything you're likely to buy, As you food getas more tasty cut down the salt you use. Adding salt is addictive and it masks  the other flavours.  Nev