no freezer?

An article in today’s Guardian claims that “foodies” don’t have freezers any more.  Can this be true?

We have two* - a huge USanian fridge/freezer in the kitchen, and an upright in the shed outside.  Inside is used for things we’ve cooked and frozen - at any time, it will contain some permutation of chilli, casserole, lentil dishes, bolognese sauce, Indian chicken dishes, etc.  It also holds sausages, turkey mince (for the cats), duck breast, breadcrumbs, peas, vanilla ice cream.

The outside one is more for bulk stuff. We buy our beef from the inestimable Mr Rawlings’ Dexter farm - only about once a year, because we don’t eat much meat these days. We buy lamb in half an animal at a time.  I freeze stock, too.

I wouldn’t be without our freezers, myself.

*we used to have another small upright one under the stairs, which we used for frozen ox cheek for the cats. You had to buy a lot at a time - 100lbs or so - so a dedicated freezer was the only way.  Then our supplier stopped doing it, so the cats had to eat something else.  I’m not sure Iggy has got over it even now …

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the credit crunch

From today’s Guardian, comes an article about organic food and the credit crunch. There have been masses of these in the broadsheets recently, about how eating organic is a middle class thing, and people are going back to eating rubbish now they have no money.

Well, I’m not - I’d rather eat pulses and organic vegetables than cheap, mass produced meat.

And McDonald’s is creating 4,000 jobs to cope with the increasing demand for cheap fast food.

That is so bloody depressing - vile, fat and sugar laden food served in horrible shops (I will not call them restaurants).

In the current climate, it looks like reckless spending to pay £9 for an organic, free range chicken when the cost of everything else, from food basics to heating and water, is going up.

And yet, if people learned how to *use* a chicken, that nine quid could feed them for a few days. Roast it, have it cold in sandwiches or with a baked potato, make a risotto, make a stir fry, make a curry, make a potato bake, boil up the bones for soup or stock - there’s heaps of things you can do.

Why don’t people LEARN HOW TO COOK instead of eating crap?  I despair.

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black bananas

I have a number of ways of using up old bananas - these are my usual suspects:

• grown-up banana bread (by Nigella)
• banana muffins with sunflower seeds - a staunch favourite, and the batter freezes well
• banana and bran flake muffins - newly discovered, and meaning I now keep bran flakes in the larder!

I’ve spotted a delicious looking recipe for banana and oat pancakes on Mel Bedggood’s blog (recommended reading), which I shall be adding to my list.  Looks like an excellent candidate for Sunday breakfast this week!

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things to do with beetroot #2

(#1 is a beetroot and chocolate cake, which works better than you could possibly imagine)

I don’t care for beetroot.  Not AT ALL.  But They will send it to me in the veg box from time to time.  Hanne Blank has just posted a recipe for stirfried beets with ginger, onion and pork on her blog.  It looks so pretty in pink that I think I will give it a shot next time a beetroot dares to show its face here.

Now then - where’s my cleaver?

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saving money on food

I think pretty much everyone wants to do this, don’t they?

There’s an excellent article at Epicurious.com with 35 great tips - I don’t think there’s anything there that I’m not doing, but it’s worth noting nonetheless.  I think the actual cooking tips are the best, but then they’re just reinforcing what I practice!

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fried rice

I refer you, with pleasure, to Hanne Blank’s post on how to make - and indeed how not to make - fried rice.

Apart from telling you exactly what to do, in a style of cooking that is exactly like my own, it is screamingly funny.  Enjoy

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a Mars a day …

Years ago, Mars Bars were advertised with the slogan “A Mars a day helps you work, rest and play“.

A chap in Liverpool seems to have taken this advice to heart, and apparently consumes over 4,000 of the things per year. I don’t see how this can possibly be healthy, but he claims to be perfectly well. I suppose we should just be grateful that he doesn’t deep fry them …

More from the Telegraph here.

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Words. Fail. Me.

This was drawn to my attention by my mate Budley.

It has to be a spoof, but it’s a pretty disturbing one. Ewwww.

dinnerinabottle.com

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what to do with Stilton

I bought a big lump of Stilton for the festive table. It’s untouched.

www.stiltoncheese.com looks very useful.

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wildfoods.com

this looks interesting …

a UK based web site which supplies seasonal ingredients from all over the world.

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