The General Questions thread - for quick questions, recipe requests, help.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Goons with Spoons > The General Questions thread - for quick questions, recipe requests, help.

Experto Crede: Aug 19, 2008; Keep on Truckin'

Hey guys,

I'm making cottage pie tonight, but want to stop the potato sinking in to it. I'm going to be making the gravy thicker, but can someone give some tips on how to do the potatoes and putting it on top to stop it happening? Cheers.

# ¿ Oct 20, 2011 14:49

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 02:58

Experto Crede: Aug 19, 2008; Keep on Truckin'

Jenkin posted:

This is customs entering the UK?

Blah, I might just roll the dice and mail it.

Any meat brought in from the EU must be declared, but if it is from a reputable source, it will be allowed in and without import tariffs.

# ¿ Oct 20, 2011 20:31

Experto Crede: Aug 19, 2008; Keep on Truckin'

Gerblyn posted:

If you're potatoes are sinking into the sauce, then either your gravy is too thin or you have too much gravy for the amount of meat and vegetables. Also try not to add too much potato at once, spoon it in in lumps about 1/2 the size of a tennis ball. Use a palette knife or spatula to spread it evenly, then use a fork to make little ridges over it. You may also want to brush a little milk over the top to help it brown, but it's not really necessary.

For the mash itself:

800g medium potatoes, peeled and quartered

Simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until soft. Then put them in a bowl, add 40g of cubed butter, some salt (optional) and a couple of splashes of milk, then mash it until there are no more lumps.

Thanks to you, I have made my first truly successful cottage pie. Thank you :v:

# ¿ Oct 21, 2011 18:15

Experto Crede: Aug 19, 2008; Keep on Truckin'

Fagtastic posted:

This used to happen to me all the time. Here's a trick I learned from some fancy magazine:

Take a single egg, and separate yolk from white. Keep both.

Put the white in a huge bowl and whisk it into foam. Not too stiff, but no liquid white left.

When you finish your mash (use more cream than if you were making normal mash) - you FOLD the foamed white into the mixture. That involves throwing a big spoonful of it on top and very gently mixing it in with an over-under figure of 8 kind of motion. It's not that important how you do it - just don't use vigorous circular stirring or you'll lose all the fluffiness.

You'll find that this not only stops the potato from sinking, it greatly increases the volume of mash you can get, so you don't need 15 potatoes to cover a medium sized pie anymore. You can use the egg yolk to brush the top of the pie so it goes crispy and brown, that's if you don't use cheese.

The cooked texture is a little different from normal - the egg white makes it set, so it's a little stiffer than usual, but its also lighter and fluffier. I do this for all my shepherds pies now and never looked back.

Sorry I didn't see your post earlier, but I'll definitely try that next time

# ¿ Oct 21, 2011 18:16

Experto Crede: Aug 19, 2008; Keep on Truckin'

Two questions I hope I can get help with...

One: I made my first peppercorn sauce the other day, basically a Roux and double cream with crushed and whole peppercorns and a pinch of salt, but it tasted just like cream with a little almost unnoticeable hint of pepper. Any idea what I can do to get more flavour in them?

Secondly, I have been asked to make a Christmas pudding, but I'm feeling a bit over my head here. I know I have to steam it, but how do I do this without special equipment?
Also, I know I have to make it a bit over a month in advance to leave it to mature, but what do I do to it while it's resting? I'm worried about it drying out...

# ¿ Nov 9, 2011 19:32

Experto Crede: Aug 19, 2008; Keep on Truckin'

CzarChasm posted:

As stated before, your pepper may be a bit on the old side. Personally, if I'm going to use pepper, I'm going to grind it. If you have the option, maybe go coarse with it. You also mention double cream by name, meaning somewhere in the 40% fat range (if USA and even higher in other countries), which might be just a bit over the top. Go with something just a touch less fatty as that might be masking some of the flavor.

As for the pudding, do you mean as in a sweet dessert, IE a cream based chocolate/vanilla mousse? Or do you mean an old school hasty pudding where you make a fried bread of sorts using the drippings from the roast?

Look at that. There is something specifically called "Chrsitmas Pudding". Never saw that before. Sorry. I'm of absolutely no help here.

Yeah, double cream is 48% fat here, I think you call it heavy cream in the US. I'll keep that in mind and use single cream next time (I believe that's the same as half and half)

# ¿ Nov 9, 2011 20:42

Experto Crede: Aug 19, 2008; Keep on Truckin'

Gerblyn posted:

It's not, single cream is about 35% fat, while half and half is 10-18%. I can't buy the stuff here either, but I found this webpage which explains how to make it by mixing milk and cream together:

http://www.ochef.com/902.htm

Also, my Ice Cream seems to actually be working I don't have an Ice Cream Maker, so I'm taking it out of the freezer every half hour and mixing with an electric whisk. It's been about 3.5 hours now, and last time I mixed it, the ice cream was still very soft, but when I mixed it, it was definitely more of a solid than a liquid until it'd been mixed for a couple of minutes. Is this a sign that it's nearly done? I've never done this before, and I'm not sure how much longer I need to keep mixing it before it's safe to just leave it in the freezer and forget about it til I want to eat it...

Huh, I thought single cream was about 18%...

# ¿ Nov 9, 2011 21:25

Experto Crede: Aug 19, 2008; Keep on Truckin'

Gerblyn posted:

According to wikipedia it's 35, maybe the stuff in your country is different though?

From what I've gleaned, 18% is the average for real single cream in the UK, except for buttermilk cream, which is a bit higher.

# ¿ Nov 9, 2011 22:18

Experto Crede: Aug 19, 2008; Keep on Truckin'

Hey guys, I was wondering if anyone knows a good minted lamb steak recipe? Last time I made it, I basically mixed mint and some mild herbs in oil and marinated the steaks in that overnight, but there was very little flavour, barring a very, very mild tingle of mint.

So if someone could suggest a good concoction which I could use to give a good bit of minty goodness to my lamb steaks, I would be indebted.

# ¿ Dec 15, 2011 19:48

Experto Crede: Aug 19, 2008; Keep on Truckin'

Stupid question, but is making your own croquettes as simple as mashing some potato, shaping, rolling in egg and breadcrumbs and deep frying with a bit of salt and pepper thrown in for good measure or are there more steps involved?

Have a real craving for croquettes and would like to try my own...

# ¿ Jan 25, 2012 20:22

Experto Crede: Aug 19, 2008; Keep on Truckin'

I roasted a chicken today, and have saved the bones and fat (Well, the fat which didn't go into the gravy) for a soup, which I'd want next weekend.

What's my best course of action, should I freeze the bones and fat until next week or make the soup now and freeze that until next week? (I'm assuming for some reason the bones/fat need to be frozen to keep fresh).

Any advice would be appreciated!

# ¿ May 20, 2012 20:16

Experto Crede: Aug 19, 2008; Keep on Truckin'

Can anyone suggest a nice dumpling recipe for in a red wine stew? My mum gave me her recipe, but they're horribly tough and stodgy.

# ¿ Jun 13, 2012 20:36

Experto Crede: Aug 19, 2008; Keep on Truckin'

Can anyone recommend a healthy recipe using turkey which can be cooked in a slow cooker?

Thanks!

# ¿ Sep 25, 2012 18:06

Experto Crede: Aug 19, 2008; Keep on Truckin'

I was wondering if anyone has a recipe for steak tartare? Though, I want it in a specific way: In Flanders, Belgium, it's called pr�par� and is quite a lurid orange compared to the more muted browns of the recipes I've seen online.

^ This

I was wondering if anyone knows of a recipe to make it to emulate that style of the dish?

# ¿ Oct 31, 2012 15:09

Experto Crede: Aug 19, 2008; Keep on Truckin'

paraquat posted:

To me, that color looks like "filet Americain", and when I search for the difference between steak tartare and filet Americian, this is what wikipedia has to say:

"In Belgium, steak tartare is served with fries. A variation of steak tartare, used normally as a sandwich spread, is known as �filet am�ricain� (lit. American fillet) with onions and more seasoning than a normal steak tartare."

So, maybe google a recipe for filet Americain?

This is a good version (even though it's a bit less orange than the factory stuff:
http://kokrobin.wordpress.com/2010/10/13/filet-americain/

Based on the consistency in that picture, it looks just right! Thanks a lot!

# ¿ Oct 31, 2012 15:50

Experto Crede: Aug 19, 2008; Keep on Truckin'

FishBulb posted:

Wait in Belgium they have steak based sandwich spreads?

What the gently caress USA work on that poo poo.

loving hell, they eat raw mince (ground beef) in sandwiches there. It's called gecap, though that's probably the wrong spelling since I never had to actually spell it and haven't lived there in years :downs:

Another question here too: I have 800g of beef which I want to roast, and according to the packet, it should be done for 120 mins at gas mark 5. I want to roast it over the course of 4 hours though, what temperature should I cook it on?

# ¿ Oct 31, 2012 19:50

Experto Crede: Aug 19, 2008; Keep on Truckin'

I'm going to be making pea soup, but accidentally picked up overnight soak dried peas rather than the two hour ones. What can I do to quickly soften up these peas?

# ¿ Jan 1, 2013 11:57

Experto Crede: Aug 19, 2008; Keep on Truckin'

A few months ago I tried making potato croquettes, but it went badly wrong. Potato disintegrated whilst trying to coat in egg.

What potatoes would be best for them? Any special way of prepping at all?

# ¿ Feb 27, 2013 13:10

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 02:58

Experto Crede: Aug 19, 2008; Keep on Truckin'

Tig Ol Bitties posted:

My boyfriend eats like a three-year-old, and I'm over it. The only vegetables he eats are in the form of lettuce on burgers, tomatoes in pasta or pizza sauce, and the occasional cheesy broccoli dish. He constantly complains about upset stomach and intestines, and I think if he ate more vegetables and less pizza/cheeseburgers/cheesy pasta/cheese and rice, he could feel better!

I am looking for vegetable recipes that are preferably not raw, and that are simple and tasty. He doesn't like a whole lot of herbs and spices, and when I ask him exactly what flavors he doesn't like he says "I don't know, it's just too spicy."

Does anyone have any favorite toddler-approved veg recipes, beyond roasted or cheesy broccoli? Should I just pick a vegetable, roast it, and give it to him? What are some herbs/spices/flavors that I can incorporate that can make it more interesting, without alienating him completely?

Grate carrot into bolognese

If he eats broccoli in cheese, just steam some as a side

Roast some parsnips in honey (frankly, if he doesn't eat that, he's not worth keeping :colbert:

Tell him to man up and eat some loving vegetables and stop acting like a petulant child.

# ¿ Feb 28, 2013 23:39

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Goons with Spoons > The General Questions thread - for quick questions, recipe requests, help.