View Poll Results: Do you like to cook?

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  • Love it - I cook for pleasure

    22 66.67%
  • Not bothered - I cook to eat

    8 24.24%
  • Hate it - I spend my every waking moment NOT cooking if at all possible

    3 9.09%
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Thread: Who's into cooking?

  1. #49
    Mostly Me Lucio's Avatar
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    Re: Who's into cooking?

    Quote Originally Posted by Saracen View Post
    PS. Good sausages, getting hard to find. When I visit mum-in-law, we restock freezer with superb bangers hand-made by a local (to her) butcher, from pork that comes from a farm about 5 miles down the road.

    Upside = ruddy superb bangers.

    Downside = totally ruins you for supermarket fare.
    I'll admit, my definition of a good sausage is Tesco Finest Pork and Bramley apple, it's a good combination with a relatively high meat content, decent amount of fat and some binder (I'm of the opinion that a good sausage isn't all meat, the binding material is important)

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  2. #50
    Not a good person scaryjim's Avatar
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    Re: Who's into cooking?

    Quote Originally Posted by Saracen View Post
    ... We badly need a forum "licks lips" smiley.
    That'd be nice, but I think conveys the sentiment pretty well

    EDIT: as an aside, the smiley I always wanted was a coffee one...

  3. #51
    The late but legendary peterb - Onward and Upward peterb's Avatar
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    Re: Who's into cooking?

    Quote Originally Posted by scaryjim View Post
    That'd be nice, but I think conveys the sentiment pretty well

    EDIT: as an aside, the smiley I always wanted was a coffee one...
    Unless its something pretty disgusting, in which case we have or (or maybe
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  4. #52
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    Re: Who's into cooking?

    I still think we need a facepalm icon

  5. #53
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    Re: Who's into cooking?

    Quote Originally Posted by Lucio View Post
    (I'm of the opinion that a good sausage isn't all meat, the binding material is important)
    that it is, but it must be at least 80% meat IMO, but too much meat is detrimental. I had some venison sausages that were almost 100% meat and they definitely weren't as nice as cheaper ones I'd had.

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    Re: Who's into cooking?

    Quote Originally Posted by Lucio View Post
    I'll admit, my definition of a good sausage is Tesco Finest Pork and Bramley apple, it's a good combination with a relatively high meat content, decent amount of fat and some binder (I'm of the opinion that a good sausage isn't all meat, the binding material is important)
    Well, I won't criticise that one having not tried it. Tesco mucked me about (and that's the rule-compliant version) and I haven't shopped tbere since. This was about 15 years ago. When I blacklist someone, they tend to stay blacklisted.

    I tend to get the vast majority of my meats from either that butcher I mentioned, or a local farm shop. I'm lucky in that it's a large Aberdeen Angus farm, but they also carry other meats from other specialists, like REALLY good dry-cured bacon. There's a group of these specialist farms that support each other by carrying the other's products in their farm shops.

    That butcher makes a variety of things, including sausages but also a selection of pies and even, in season, scotch eggs, themselves. They aren't cheap but no worse than supermatket premium ranges, and IMHO, they are much, much, MUCH nicer.

    I'm afraid for a variety of reasons that I won't go into, I simply don't trust things like sausages, pies, etc, from supermarkets any more. And for joints, be it sunday roast or just a chicken breast, somehow, there is no contest taste-wise.

    Some years ago, I found our local farm shop after getting more snd more dissatisfied with supermarkets, and the butcher we've been using, as a family, for about 30 years. We know him and his wife, they live in the village, and you can watch him make many of the products.

    Personally, I strongly recommend that anyone that can hunts down small, local suppliers. My experience is that while they csn't match supermarket budget prices, they are usually no more than, and dometimes less than, supermarket premium brands. Some things, the obvious being bacon, they're actually cheaper because, once cooked, they're very nearly the same size as when raw, whereas supermarket bacon contains do much water, preservative etc that ehen cooked, they shrivel to a rasher about a quarter the size it started. So where you'd use 3, 4 even 6 rashers of supermarket bacon one will do ftom the butcher. And oh, the taste.

    Also, I can buy exactly what I want. So, whereas a supermarket wants me to buy a 450g packet, I buy 3.75kg of mince from the farm, bagged into 10 375g portions, which is how much I want for cottage pie, ir chilli, or bolognaise ragu, etc, for us two. If I buy supermarket, I'm using (and paying for) an extra 75g each time. Factor that in and buying at the butcher/farm shop works out cheaper.

    It's a bit of a schlep to the farm shop, I.e. about 6 miles as opposed to 1.5 miles to my local Waitrose, but it's well worth it.

    Granted, not everyone can afford premium grade meats, but we aren't rolling in it and decided years ago, when money was tight, we'd rather have less meat but very good quality, so I adjusted recipe quantities to what we needed, rather than cooking what supermarkets want to sell us.

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    Re: Who's into cooking?

    Quote Originally Posted by ik9000 View Post
    that it is, but it must be at least 80% meat IMO, but too much meat is detrimental. I had some venison sausages that were almost 100% meat and they definitely weren't as nice as cheaper ones I'd had.
    You do indeed need a certain amound of fat to keep sausages succulent, and like everything in cooking, proper seasoning. Then, there's herbs and other flavouring. But what I don't want is poor quality meat, gristle, too much breadcrumb, preservatives, colourings, etc, and a long list of E-numbers. If I'm buying enough, I can even get sausages made with less salt, or lo-salt.

  9. #56
    Seething Cauldron of Hatred TheAnimus's Avatar
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    Re: Who's into cooking?

    Quote Originally Posted by Saracen View Post
    You do indeed need a certain amound of fat to keep sausages succulent, and like everything in cooking, proper seasoning. Then, there's herbs and other flavouring. But what I don't want is poor quality meat, gristle, too much breadcrumb, preservatives, colourings, etc, and a long list of E-numbers. If I'm buying enough, I can even get sausages made with less salt, or lo-salt.
    We had a sausage party a while back, I ordered some casings from the internet and fired up the mincer beer and the bbq, would recommend.
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    Re: Who's into cooking?

    I've got a curing and charcuterie course coming up - really looking forward to making my own Chorizo!
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    Re: Who's into cooking?

    Ive just been on a Kenwood cooking experience! Primary purpose was to get feedback on a soon to be released Kenwood Cooking Chef - which as the name implies, has a heating element under the bowl so it cooks as it stirs etc - very impressive, but not cheap.

    However it has encouraged me to get a bit more creative with my existing machine (and also sold me a food processing attachment for it! )
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  12. #59
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    Re: Who's into cooking?

    Quote Originally Posted by Lucio View Post
    I'll admit, my definition of a good sausage is Tesco Finest Pork and Bramley apple
    They do actually have some of the best venison sausages out of the general supermarket brands...

    Quote Originally Posted by Lucio View Post
    a relatively high meat content, decent amount of fat and some binder (I'm of the opinion that a good sausage isn't all meat, the binding material is important)
    It's important, but so are the quantities, depending on your intended use.
    Boerewors is a classic example, as it braais or barbecues up far better than most sausages... even the really good ones.
    Chorizo sausage is a horrible idea on a braai, no matter what your wife insists!!

    Quote Originally Posted by Saracen View Post
    Local butchers and farm shops are vastly superior and anything else is for the peasantry
    Ya ya, dahling, I wholeheartedly agree!!

    Actually, to be honest, while we do use a lot of Local Farm Shops... our most local Local Farm Shop is quite far up its own backside, both in terms of pricing and how good they think their branded products actually are. I don't care if their oat biscuits really were farmed by Jesus and kneaded by God on the thighs of pristine virgins, before being hand baked by Superman's laser eyes... they're not worth £4.50 for a pack of six compared to a simple pack of HobNobs!!
    If you're in Berkshire, make the effort and go to the garden village in Bracknell instead!

    Quote Originally Posted by Saracen View Post
    Granted, not everyone can afford premium grade meats, but we aren't rolling in it and decided years ago, when money was tight, we'd rather have less meat but very good quality, so I adjusted recipe quantities to what we needed, rather than cooking what supermarkets want to sell us.
    We're rolling in even less right now, but it's still better to use local. I can get four HUGE inch-thick steaks (as in, halve one and still feed two people) for less than a 2-pack of poxy steaks in the supermarket.

    But most interestingly, we get the butcher to mince up a load of offcuts and bits*, which we mix with some frozzed veg to make THE best recipe for dog food going. Just a few quid feeds three medium sized dogs for a month, with 100% natural food designed specifically around their natural diet, far superior to anything you buy in the supermarket or even with the advertised specialist natural foods... and that much still only takes up a fifth of a regular size chest freezer!
    The only more natural thing for them would be letting them roam free to forage and hunt, but the local sheep farmer wouldn't be very happy with us!

    *Supposedly 'bits' should mean what isn't fit for human consumption, but our guys love dogs and instead chuck in things like whole chicken wings, lamb trimmings and occasionally whole rabbits that they had left after making up whole packs!!

  13. #60
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    Re: Who's into cooking?

    Quote Originally Posted by peterb View Post
    Ive just been on a Kenwood cooking experience! Primary purpose was to get feedback on a soon to be released Kenwood Cooking Chef - which as the name implies, has a heating element under the bowl so it cooks as it stirs etc - very impressive, but not cheap.

    However it has encouraged me to get a bit more creative with my existing machine (and also sold me a food processing attachment for it! )
    Sounds like their version of a thermomix ?

    I'm torn between one of those and electronic pressure cooker
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    Re: Who's into cooking?

    Quote Originally Posted by Moby-Dick View Post
    Sounds like their version of a thermomix ?
    If I had the money, I'd get one of these!!

  15. #62
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    Re: Who's into cooking?

    Yes, it is - very impressive in capability - but at a price! While convenient, I can manage stirring a saucepan on a conventional cooker!

    But anything that makes prep easer is a plus - hence the food processor attachment as my knife skills aren't up to those of a professional (or even a good amateur) chef!

    Its the updated version of this https://www.nisbets.co.uk/kenwood-co...437948-_-DL229
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  16. #63
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    Re: Who's into cooking?

    Quote Originally Posted by Moby-Dick View Post
    I've got a curing and charcuterie course coming up - really looking forward to making my own Chorizo!
    Because I know you have a sous vide, do this:

    https://www.chefsteps.com/activities...-pork-belly--2

    I can post you the precise amount of prague powder if you need. It's just amazing. I had guests scoff about 2kg of this in Bao form, another 2kg of hams in cider and 8kg of Goose.
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  18. #64
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    Re: Who's into cooking?

    that looks pretty impressive! might have to give it a try.
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