Recipes, kitchen tips and tricks

[Brett Angell Delight]

At the risk of making a saucy pun, always rest your meat. Personally I rest it for at least half as long as I cooked it, where possible.

When it comes to the perfect chicken breast, it should come off the heat before it’s cooked all the way through. The residual heat from resting will finish the job and it won’t be dry as a bone afterwards.

Steak should be cooked in a searing hot pan. Oil the meat, not the pan, season well and do not subscribe to that “turn it every minute” nonsense. Rest well, and slice against the grain.

Best bacon butty: Put bacon in a cold pan with no additional oil or butter; the fat will render out and cook the meat. When cooked to your liking, remove to a bit of kitchen roll and stick your bread in the bacon fat for a few seconds rather than buttering it. Serve with your choice of accompaniments. Ketchup is for tories. Brown sauce all the way.

 

[Sassy Colombian]

That’s the home cook’s badge of honour, that. Between oven burns and knife wounds, my hands look like Freddy Krueger’s plums.

Good to know, I thought it was just my clumsy nature. My husband has a word for it 'Columsyan'

 

[Diogenes the Cynic]

Drying them with a hair dryer is a great trick, thanks for sharing it! We usually grill our chicken wings even I the winter because we have our grill under a cover porch but don't grill much do that's my husband thing. But your way to make your wings is very ingenious and I'm going to give it a try, until I get a air fryer.

It was originally a short cut for drying Peking duck but it's a good trick if you're pushed for time and gets skin much dryer than using paper towels or something.

I always give pork joints a good hairdryer blast to maximise crispy crackling too ha.

 

[summerisle]

I usually make marmalade at this time of the year, but Seville oranges have zoomed up in price compared to last year ; I'll probably bin it off and use the quince and rowan I've got stacked up in the garage.

 

[Brett Angell Delight]

Good to know, I thought it was just my clumsy nature. My husband has a word for it 'Columsyan'

I’m not ruling out the fact that we’re both clumsy, like, but I just prefer to tell people it’s because I’m such a dedicated home cook.

It might also sometimes be because I’m taking chicken munchies out of the oven when I’m drunk.

 

[Sassy Colombian]

I usually make marmalade at this time of the year, but Seville oranges have zoomed up in price compared to last year ; I'll probably bin it off and use the quince and rowan I've got stacked up in the garage.

Had to Google quince and rowan, have never try them. I bet your marmalade is delicious. Do they come from your garden?

 

[Lineker]

25 kitchen tips and tricks that will change your life


14. Before chopping chillies, rub your hands with veg oil to prevent them from absorbing the chilli oils.

Also don't scratch yourself after chopping chiles...you'll wish you hadnt

 

[Diogenes the Cynic]

If you hate throwing away chicken skin then slice and put into a cold pan with a couple tablespoons of water and heat on low to medium.

Similar to what @Brett Angell Delight said with rendering bacon you can continue cooking the skin until all the fat is rendered out and the skin is crispy.

You will be left with yummy chicken fat to cook with and the chicken equivalent of pork scratchings that you can toss in salt, pepper or whatever and snack on until your heart begs for mercy.

It's a very traditional bit of Jewish cookery if you're interested in culinary history and called schmaltz and gribenes.

 

[Sassy Colombian]

Amazing Smoked Chicken Wings

The Secrets to making amazingly delicious smoked wings with step by step instructions. These will be a smashing success! #wings #chickenwings #smoking #grilling

www.dontsweattherecipe.com

So check that out but it's an assload of text to say "use hickory or pecan". The problem with smoking wings is that the skin is completely rubbery. If you have a deep fryer toss them in for like 3 minutes and it crisps up the skin perfectly.

I don't think I would like rubbery wings either. My hubby cooks them just perfectly on the grill crisp on the outside but still juice inside, so good. I tried to be a vegetarian once for ethical reasons but I only lasted a couple of years. My body really crave meat so I gave up.

 

[Brett Angell Delight]

If you hate throwing away chicken skin then slice and put into a cold pan with a couple tablespoons of water and heat on low to medium.

Similar to what @Brett Angell Delight said with rendering bacon you can continue cooking the skin until all the fat is rendered out and the skin is crispy.

You will be left with yummy chicken fat to cook with and the chicken equivalent of pork scratchings that you can toss in salt, pepper or whatever and snack on until your heart begs for mercy.

It's a very traditional bit of Jewish cookery if you're interested in culinary history and called schmaltz and gribenes.

I’m a big fan of buying whole chickens and portioning them up. Cheaper than buying the component parts, plus you get to do funky stuff like these crispy skin snacks, and use whatever is left over to make stock/broth.

 

[Diogenes the Cynic]

I’m a big fan of buying whole chickens and portioning them up. Cheaper than buying the component parts, plus you get to do funky stuff like these crispy skin snacks, and use whatever is left over to make stock/broth.

Oh absolutely, can't even remember the last time i bought chicken breasts.

Although Sainsburys by mine are selling ludicrously big packs of chicken wings for £1.50. It was the week before payday so i did them three times this week for less money than the chicken shop and far better (forgive me Hassan, please continue to give me an extra wing when i wander in drunk and hungry).

 

[summerisle]

Had to Google quince and rowan, have never try them. I bet your marmalade is delicious. Do they come from your garden?

Quince is from the Mediterranean and Middle East and we can get it from specialist green grocers, it's about the size of a large potato. There are also ornamental varieties for gardens. I found one growing by the side of a garage. They have very prickly thorns and smaller fruit ; they have a sticky skin and have an exquisite scent which fills the room.
Nobody knows what they are so I pick most of them, usually about 10 pounds, around September/October. Half I make into quince jelly, the other half quince brandy.
Rowan is widespread, very small bright red berries, makes a lovely jelly, perfect for roast meats and with cheese (as does quince.) A rowan branch across your door on May Eve thwarts witches from entering your house, allegedly.
Seville oranges only come from Spain and are very bitter - as are quince and rowan.

 

[Diogenes the Cynic]

I don't know anyone else who enjoys this but if you get a really ripe quince that has been grown somewhere hot then they are lovely to eat raw.

If you like really sour things obviously, which i do.

 

[summerisle]

I don't know anyone else who enjoys this but if you get a really ripe quince that has been grown somewhere hot then they are lovely to eat raw.

If you like really sour things obviously, which i do.

The imported ones are always hard and sour, they take an age to ripen. As you know they're full of seeds and some found their way into my garden a few years ago and a bush began to grow. It took some time but the last couple of years I've had a fair few off it. Some were still unripe at the beginning of December. They definitely need hot, sunny weather.

 

[Diogenes the Cynic]

The imported ones are always hard and sour, they take an age to ripen. As you know they're full of seeds and some found their way into my garden a few years ago and a bush began to grow. It took some time but the last couple of years I've had a fair few off it. Some were still unripe at the beginning of December. They definitely need hot, sunny weather.

Nice!

You don't really see them in supermarkets. A few times a week i buy a box of fruit and veg just on the turn or excess stock from an excellent organic grocer. I like it because it's cheap (obviously) but everything is top quality and you never know what you will get so you have to think of dishes from what you get.

Anyway this is a long way of saying that occasionally i find a quince in there and I'm very happy ha.