Recipes, kitchen tips and tricks

[Sassy Colombian]

At the end of it it should turn out like this

View attachment 120851


They are the best takeaway food you can get back in the UK. Perfect hangover cure. Usually a quarter duck per person.

I recommend saving the stock and mirepoix veg and making a soup with the duck bones the day after. Take a hand blender and blend the veg into it after removing the bones and you have a lovely rich in flavor duck soup.

Looks so good, I'm getting hungry now.

The duck soup idea would be a winner too. Going shopping this weekend for duck

 

[summerisle]

Made a couple of 'country' cakes - in effect, fruit cakes. What's unusual is you use granulated sugar instead of soft (dark) brown sugar or caster sugar. It also has vinegar as an ingredient. Very nice they are, and they don't take hours to cook like some fruit cakes.

 

[Efcjake]

Looks so good, I'm getting hungry now.

The duck soup idea would be a winner too. Going shopping this weekend for duck

The Costco up here as them for about $20 Canadian. They come frozen. Give them a good 2 days to thaw in the fridge before marinating.

With that one duck between the pancakes and soup you can easily get 10-12 good meals out of it.

 

[Sid James]

Bread making has become one of my obsessions especially since my daughter absolutely loves it.

How hard was it to bake baguettes? I would love to see your recipe and hear any any tips you may suggest.

Ok so I learnt everything from this you tube video, the bloke takes you through each step .. he actually sounds like a Geordie whinny the poo


I took the trouble of writing down the recipe as its hard to capture when watching the Vid
Once you've watched the video a few times it's fairly easy

Baguettes

Stage 1 The Poolish or Sponge

200g / 7oz Strong white bread flour

300g / 300mls / 10½oz Cold water

½tsp / 2g of instant or active dried yeast, if using fresh yeast 8 grams


Mix all ingredients with a whisk until combined, cover and place overnight at the top of the fridge overnight

Stage 2 The main Ingredients

500g / 17½oz Strong white bread flour – Or Mix half white/half malted bread flour

220g / 220mls / 7½oz Cold water

1tsp / 8g Salt

The Poolish or Sponge made earlier

Add Water to the Poolish and whisk

To the flour and salt add the Poolish mixture, stir with spoon handle

Rest for 45 mins

Turn out and over

Back in bowl, rest for another 45 mins at room temp

Take out, cut into 203g pieces for 6 baguettes

From initial shape

Cover and rest for 15 mins

Baguette shaping next, place on cooch or cloth and rest for 30 mins

Set oven to 210 Degrees

Spray baguettes with water,

Bake for 16 mins in total (turn the tray around after 10 Mins)

 

[Sid James]

Crispy Duck tonight. Or as close as I can get it without spending 48hrs getting it prepped.

Quick version is marinate overnight in soy sauce and sesame oil. Flip it over in the morning if you didn't completely submerge it.

Add it to a roasting pan with a Mirepoix of Carrots Onion and Celery in a rough chop and an inch and a half of chicken stock. Cover the pan with a lid or tin foil and roast for an hour and a half at 250. Uncover and roast at 300 for another hour.

Remove the duck and carefully take off the crispy skin to save for later. Remove the mirepoix and stock, can be used for other things(gravies, sauces, etc) but no longer required as it it just to keep the duck moist. Return the duck to the roast pan and flip it so that you can crisp up the skin that was on the bottom previously. Cook another 30 minutes at 30 and remove the skin and keep it with the other pieces you removed.

Shred the duck with forks and add a little hoi sin sauce into the mix. The duck won't be crispy like a takeaway back home but it will be shredded and delicious.

Put the skin into the oven and broil it for a minute or two to get even crisper. Chop it up to sprinkle on your shredded duck when making your pancakes. Serve with julienne green onion and cucumber.

I've made the pancakes myself with a basic sort of flour tortilla recipe. Get a pasta roller to get them as thin as possible and then just quickly heat them up on the skillet with a tiny bit of oil.

View attachment 120843


View attachment 120844

did you use a pasta machine to roll out the pancakes , also can you share the pancake recipe please x

 

[Efcjake]

Ok so I learnt everything from this you tube video, the bloke takes you through each step .. he actually sounds like a Geordie whinny the poo


I took the trouble of writing down the recipe as its hard to capture when watching the Vid
Once you've watched the video a few times it's fairly easy

Baguettes

Stage 1 The Poolish or Sponge

200g / 7oz Strong white bread flour

300g / 300mls / 10½oz Cold water

½tsp / 2g of instant or active dried yeast, if using fresh yeast 8 grams


Mix all ingredients with a whisk until combined, cover and place overnight at the top of the fridge overnight

Stage 2 The main Ingredients

500g / 17½oz Strong white bread flour – Or Mix half white/half malted bread flour

220g / 220mls / 7½oz Cold water

1tsp / 8g Salt

The Poolish or Sponge made earlier

Add Water to the Poolish and whisk

To the flour and salt add the Poolish mixture, stir with spoon handle

Rest for 45 mins

Turn out and over

Back in bowl, rest for another 45 mins at room temp

Take out, cut into 203g pieces for 6 baguettes

From initial shape

Cover and rest for 15 mins

Baguette shaping next, place on cooch or cloth and rest for 30 mins

Set oven to 210 Degrees

Spray baguettes with water,

Bake for 16 mins in total (turn the tray around after 10 Mins)

I was looking to see if this would be in the recipe.

My arl fella is a chef and sent his baker to France to learn how to make proper French bread.

When he came back my dad asked him what he learned and he said "We need some ceramic tiles and a supersoaker "

They fire the supersoaker at the tiles to keep steam in the oven as thats the secret to the crispy crusts and fluffy insides.

I just love that they use a supersoaker in the kitchen.

 

[Efcjake]

did you use a pasta machine to roll out the pancakes , also can you share the pancake recipe please x

For the ones pictured i hadn't got my pasta machine yet so I wrestled with the rolling pin to get them as thin as possible.

The pasta machine is what you need though to really get them that thin like you get from the chippy. I've seen the pancakes for sale in some places but never when I am about to do a duck so I end up making them each time.

I will look for the recipe and post it later. Its a fairly simple one. I just can't remember how much boiling water for a cup of flour off the top of my head at the moment.

 

[Sassy Colombian]

Made a couple of 'country' cakes - in effect, fruit cakes. What's unusual is you use granulated sugar instead of soft (dark) brown sugar or caster sugar. It also has vinegar as an ingredient. Very nice they are, and they don't take hours to cook like some fruit cakes.

I was thinking about you just the other day as I have been meaning to bake some mince pies. Now I'm thinking about fruit cakes instead. Do you have a recipe?

 

[summerisle]

I was thinking about you just the other day as I have been meaning to bake some mince pies. Now I'm thinking about fruit cakes instead. Do you have a recipe?

I have many thanks. Unusual or bog standard ?

 

[dead_soft]

Many foodstuffs should be drier before you cook them key to so much. Fish, steak - blot with kitchen towel before hand. Par-boiled for your roasties or your chips? Let them dry off in pan but may well need a helping hand with towel. Crispy and means they roast rather than boil or sweat

 

[Sassy Colombian]

I have many thanks. Unusual or bog standard ?

Whichever you think it would be best for a novice like myself.

 

[Sassy Colombian]

Ok so I learnt everything from this you tube video, the bloke takes you through each step .. he actually sounds like a Geordie whinny the poo


I took the trouble of writing down the recipe as its hard to capture when watching the Vid
Once you've watched the video a few times it's fairly easy

Baguettes

Stage 1 The Poolish or Sponge

200g / 7oz Strong white bread flour

300g / 300mls / 10½oz Cold water

½tsp / 2g of instant or active dried yeast, if using fresh yeast 8 grams


Mix all ingredients with a whisk until combined, cover and place overnight at the top of the fridge overnight

Stage 2 The main Ingredients

500g / 17½oz Strong white bread flour – Or Mix half white/half malted bread flour

220g / 220mls / 7½oz Cold water

1tsp / 8g Salt

The Poolish or Sponge made earlier

Add Water to the Poolish and whisk

To the flour and salt add the Poolish mixture, stir with spoon handle

Rest for 45 mins

Turn out and over

Back in bowl, rest for another 45 mins at room temp

Take out, cut into 203g pieces for 6 baguettes

From initial shape

Cover and rest for 15 mins

Baguette shaping next, place on cooch or cloth and rest for 30 mins

Set oven to 210 Degrees

Spray baguettes with water,

Bake for 16 mins in total (turn the tray around after 10 Mins)

Sid James thanks so much for taking the trouble to write down the recipe. I will thank you with every bite once I bake some baguettes

 

[Sassy Colombian]

Many foodstuffs should be drier before you cook them key to so much. Fish, steak - blot with kitchen towel before hand. Par-boiled for your roasties or your chips? Let them dry off in pan but may well need a helping hand with towel. Crispy and means they roast rather than boil or sweat

Great tip, thanks for sharing it.

 

[summerisle]

Whichever you think it would be best for a novice like myself.

The one I made today uses a food processor, although I didn't myself, I prefer to use my hands. It would take about 5 mins to make, then an hour in the oven, although in my oven it took 45 mins. When I can be arsed I'll post the recipe, which isn't now.

Before I forget, I soak my fruit a few hours/overnight in liquid to plump up those currants, sultanas and whatever else you use ; sometimes dried fruit can be particularly dry and this enables the fruit to be luscious.

I use either cold tea or alcohol, any will do. Never tried with coffee though, might be interesting.

 

[Sid James]

I was looking to see if this would be in the recipe.

My arl fella is a chef and sent his baker to France to learn how to make proper French bread.

When he came back my dad asked him what he learned and he said "We need some ceramic tiles and a supersoaker "

They fire the supersoaker at the tiles to keep steam in the oven as thats the secret to the crispy crusts and fluffy insides.

I just love that they use a supersoaker in the kitchen.

I bought some little water spray bottles of Amazon , think it was 5 for like £8 or something and I use an old baking tray then as Im putting the bread in on the shelf above pour boiling water into the old tray.. seems to work well ... Like this ...