stuff Archives - Page 6 of 21 - Time for a coffee

If you are of a similar age to myself you will look at this advert for Lyons Maid and reflect on those ice creams that you always bought (or were bought for you), those that you now wish you had tried and those that you would never buy (either because they sounded horrible or were too expensive).

I know you can still buy choc ices, but I remember having them all the time when I was younger, but now I can’t recall the last time I had one. My main memory of them was they the ones I had used a chocolate flavoured coating rather than real chocolate.

December 18, 2012

So do you like salt, or do you like eating?

I know it shouldn’t surprise me, but now and again it does. What is that you may ask? Well the blog post title is a bit of a giveaway, the answer is salt, or more specifically the amount of salt in both processed foods and in restaurant meals too.

I recently bought a chocolate cake from Sainsbury’s, what astounded me was that the salt content per 100g was higher than Ready Salted Pringles! I know people complain about the amount of sugar in savoury foods (I am looking at you Duchy) but this was a sweet thing. There I was thinking that supermarkets were trying to reduce the amount of salt they use in their products.

I am finding a fair few restaurants are not just adding salt to cooking, I kind of expect that level of seasoning, but then “garnish” the dish with even more salt. I recently had some sweet and sour squid, over the salt and pepper squid and was disappointed to find that the squid had been garnished with sea salt. Similarly the number of places that “garnish” their fries with salt, yes, I’m looking at you Café Rouge!

I am now pretty sensitive to the amount of salt I find in foods and I do find now that when used excessively detracts rather than enhances the flavour of the food I eat. So do you like salt, or do you like eating?

May 18, 2012

Red Jam Doughnuts

There is something about the traditional jam doughnuts, the ones with red jam in the middle and dusted with real granulated sugar. With the increased availability of American style donuts, such as Krispy Kreme, in many different places and quite a fair few pale imitations, it’s nice to know that the traditional jam doughnut is still available. I don’t always want my doughnuts to use icing sugar instead of normal sugar, I don’t always want icing or toppings. That’s not to say donuts (as opposed to doughnuts) have their place, but we shouldn’t forget the delight of the simple jam doughnut. There are also differences between the yeast raised versions, cake versions and batter versions. In my mind I much prefer the doughnuts made with a yeast based dough.

I remember as a young boy being entranced by a bakers shop in town that had windows into the bakery part of the shop, so you could see where and how they made the doughnuts. You could see where the doughnuts were cooked, the trays of sugar where the virgin doughnuts were coated and finally the jam injection contraption that filled them with sweet sugary red jam. They also had other flavours, apricot and blackcurrant, but for me it was always the ones with the red jam. I rarely bought jam doughnuts with my pocket money, but when I could I really enjoyed eating them.

I wonder about that red jam, in theory it should be raspberry jam, but anyone who has read the ingredients list of Jammie Dodgers will realise that mass catering these days seem to use a raspberry flavoured plum jam rather than a real raspberry jam, so hence the red jam moniker.

So are you a secret doughnut eater? Do you prefer the Americanized (sic) donuts? What about varieties from Germany or Holland?

November 8, 2011

Anyone for a doughnut?

Despite my reservations about Krispy Kreme Doughnuts I recently bought a box of them for my team at work (as a reward).

Slightly concerned about the Christmas specials, as it is really nowhere near Christmas. I really should have picked my own selection for the box, but as I was in a bit of a hurry I got a full box with a selection already in, which included the tree and snowman.

Personally the one I had was a little too sweet and sugary for me, but the rest seemed to go down well.

October 29, 2011

I want a sandwich…

If I have a big meal in the middle of the day then in the evening I usually happy to have a sandwich.

But if I am going to have a sandwich and I have the ingredients and the time then I don’t want a ham sandwich made from ‘plastic’ white bread!

Without sounding too much like a Marks and Spencers advert, I want a sandwich made from freshly baked ciabatta bread, a thin spread of unsalted butter, filled with fresh rocket leaves, thin slices of milano salami and a dash of mayonnaise…

Now that’s a sandwich.

September 11, 2011

Base

Masterchef Synesthesia – Swede Mason

With thanks to Tom Cochrane

September 10, 2011

ALT-C Gala Buffet Dinner

When I realised that the ALT-C Gala Dinner was going to be a buffet, I have to admit my heart dropped. I had visions of coleslaw, slices of pork pie, pineapple and cheese cubes on sticks, cold indian snacks…

Well my assumptions were dashed and in the end the gala dinner was excellent, if just a little too long!

Produced by students from Leeds City College I was impressed with the quality of catering and presentation of the food. Most of the food was from local producers across Yorkshire which was nice.

For starters we were served with a dish of locally smoked salmon (we were miles from the sea and from Scotland) alongside was a beetroot and potato salad. I had trouble finding the potato and didn’t think too much of the beetroot jelly, but really enjoyed the smoked salmon, which was full of flavour.

The main course was the “buffet” part and we had to get up from the table. There was a choice of four main courses, roast beef, roast turkey, salmon and a vegetarian “pie” option. To be honest I meant to keep a copy of the menu, but forgot to. I chose the beef with Yorkshire Pudding.

It came with roast potatoes, a selection of steamed green vegetables and some roasted root vegetables (parsnips and carrots).

For desert, I think the best way to describe it was as a posh rhubarb custard.

I personally didn’t like it, one part of the rhubarb was rock hard, and the rhubarb jelly cube was not nice. In the end I left most of mine.

The meal was finished off with coffee and homemade chocolates.

Overall I did enjoy the meal, the quality of the ingredients and the cooking was excellent. For me the only downside was the time it took to go through the meal, sitting down at 8.00pm we didn’t get the coffee until after 11.00pm not sure why this happened, but think the buffet aspect may have slowed things down. In the end the length of the meal was a minor annoyance, and the eating experience was excellent.

August 29, 2011