Prog Chefs Unite!!!

darqDean wrote: Having seen how much salt TV chefs throw into a dish, I've managed to wean myself off adding even more salt when I'm in a restaurant - I'm also careful of how much I use when cooking - if one of the ingredients is already salted (bacon, anchovies, capers, cheese, tinned tomatoes etc.) I will not add any extra. Big problem for me is potatoes - starch is inedible without the addition of butter and plenty of salt.

Dean, you're a far better cook than I will ever be, so I'm almost ashamed to be saying this to you as regards potatoes. Not being a lover of salty foods, I can eat potatoes with almost no salt at all, but I understand this is not for everyone. Therefore, at least when you make roast potatoes (which I prefer to chips/fries), you can add a lot of rosemary, fresh or dried, to enhance the taste of the tubers without adding too much salt.

A thing I make a wide use of is mixtures of coarse (kosher) salt with dried herbs and spices. In the past I bought quite a few varieties, all packaged in their own mill (which can be recycled in most cases), and I use them regularly. They are very useful to season dishes effectively without overdoing the saltiness. Ah, and in Italy canned tomatoes are usually NOT salted, thank heavens!

darqDean wrote: Hmm, reduce the heat just before adding the fish and make sure it is dry before adding it.

That's odd - most chef types always say to have the pan/oil really hot...

Tescos value canned chopped tomatoes just chopped tomotoes & tomato juice - perfect pasta ingredient & only 15p

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Different subject - pan frying fresh cod; even if I have the pan/oil really hot, I cannot turn the cod steak without the damned thing falling apart. Generally, I dont flour the steak first... should I do this or is there something else I'm missing here?

Edited by Jim Garten - March 25 2008 at 10:27

Jim Garten wrote: After a weekend of eating what Vicky and I refer to as 'dirty food' (that is, convenient & usually delivered...), I desperately want to get back to where we were before Easter, ie home made & fresh. Going on from Dean's reference to that Oliver chap - one of his recent programmes really opened my eyes to the amount of salt & sugar in ready made (even so-called 'healthy option') pasta sauces; all mine are now based on Oliver's failsafe: tomatoes, onions, garlic, basil and seasoning - to this I'll usually add baby spinach (takes so little time to cook, I usually add this toward the end when I add the fresh basil); the whole thing takes less than 10 minutes & tastes fab

As my blood pressure is a little on the high side, I have had to be very mindful of salt as of late.  It's amazing how much salt is in all pre-packaged foods - even just canned tomatoes.  My wife had a hell of a time finding canned whole tomatoes with no salt added.  To control salt, you're pretty much forced to make all your own food and no shortcuts (I still "cheat" though, way too often for my doctor most likely).

Spurred on by Hugh Fernley Wittingstall and that Oliver boys recent TV campaigns against intensively farmed chicken, we have made the switch to free-range chicken. The downside of this is we eat considerably less chicken than we once did (no more cook-chill ready meals!) and can only afford smaller chickens, which means less left-overs for sandwiches and treats for the cats, but it does mean I can be more creative with the cooking than just slamming the whole bird in the oven for a Sunday roast.

I'm thinking of buying a Weber for the weekends. You can't quite duplicate food cooked over coals.

My inside out burgers do rock the house, though. Even if they are done on a gas grill. I do have some chips, though.

E

Nope. Just good ol' propane.

I toyed with getting a Weber, but I like the convenience of propane during the work week.

E

I just assembled my new Kenmore grill and am going to christen it with inside out bacon cheeseburgers with the buns lightly toasted on the grill. A little cold outside, but I'm dying to use it.

Had Easter supper yesterday with the family.

E

Easter Lunch (late lunch/early dinner) is in the oven! YUM!

Has anyone made thechilli pork dish that Robert Rodriguez demonstrates in the extra-features section of the Once Upon A Time In Mexico DVD? (It's the dish that Johnny Depp's character keeps eating). I seem to recall that had a  long cooking time.