Stormy Weather

[french frank]

I'm making a kedgeree for lunch next week for friends. As I don't eat eggs, I made a special trip to Waitrose for:



Hope they won't be too vinegary ...

[amateur51]

I'm making a kedgeree for lunch next week for friends. As I don't eat eggs, I made a special trip to Waitrose for:



Hope they won't be too vinegary ...

Oh french frank, I'm in suspenders now!

You hope what won't be too vinegary?

Kedgeree is totally yum ;biggrin:

[french frank]

You hope what won't be too vinegary?

I've just tried one and it's a bit sharp but not too bad. I think the taste of the smoked haddock from my excellent 'monger will prevail. One other problem: I like to add peas, but it's hard to find small packs of the frozen variety these days. As I don't run a freezer () - an environmental choice to discard something which is almost entirely unneccesary - oh, well, I'll just have to beg a cupful from my nice neighbours

I bought some frozen peas from the Coop just before Christmas when it seemed unlikely that the temperature would ever rise above freezing. Hung the packet of peas on the outside tap. But then the thaw came before I'd consumed half of them

[vinteuil]

fr fr - we remain in anxious suspense - what won't be too vinegary? You still haven't explained! (your [waitrose?] attachment in #841 did not transmit... )

[french frank]

fr fr - we remain in anxious suspense - what won't be too vinegary? You still haven't explained! (your [waitrose?] attachment in #841 did not transmit... )

It's gone It was there last time I looked.

Try this:



Failing which, the url http://www.baxters.com/images/core/pickled-eggs.jpg.

[vinteuil]

many thanks... Incidentally, while I understand - and accept - that the modern meaning of kedgeree includes fish and, optionally, eggs, cream, &c - I note that Hobson-Jobson is quite severe in pointing out that while fish may be served with kedgeree, kedgeree itself does not contain fish, being basically rice with moong beans, lentils, or other pulses...

[french frank]

many thanks... Incidentally, while I understand - and accept - that the modern meaning of kedgeree includes fish and, optionally, eggs, cream, &c - I note that Hobson-Jobson is quite severe in pointing out that while fish may be served with kedgeree, kedgeree itself does not contain fish, being basically rice with moong beans, lentils, or other pulses...

It's very much a dish from the Raj, isn't it? I suspect it was customised a bit when it was brought back to Britain.

I consulted my father's ancient 'Nautical Cookery Book for the Use of Stewards & Cooks of Cargo Vessels' (he was briefly commandeered to cook's duties during the war where he said his speciality was pancakes made with flour and water): both Kedgeree No.1 and Kedgeree No. 2 included 'cooked fish' (unspecified). I've always used smoked fish and served it 'dry' rather than with a sauce. I think Escoffier's recipe has a béchamel sauce.

[vinteuil]

It's very much a dish from the Raj, isn't it? I suspect it was customised a bit when it was brought back to Britain.

I consulted my father's ancient 'Nautical Cookery Book for the Use of Stewards & Cooks of Cargo Vessels' (he was briefly commandeered to cook's duties during the war where he said his speciality was pancakes made with flour and water): both Kedgeree No.1 and Kedgeree No. 2 included 'cooked fish' (unspecified). I've always used smoked fish and served it 'dry' rather than with a sauce. I think Escoffier's recipe has a béchamel sauce.

“Kedgeree, originally khichri, is a common Indian dish which was already being described by visitors hundreds of years ago. Hobson-Jobson quotes from the Arab traveller Ibn Battuta [1340]: ‘the moong is boiled with rice, and then buttered and eaten. This is what they call Kishri, and on this dish they breakfast every day.’
By ‘moong’ is meant mung bean. The description remains correct, although other lentils ... can be used and it is usual to add flavourings (onions, spices). It seems to have been under British influence and for British tables that flaked fish or smoked fish was built into the dish, replacing the ‘moong’ or the ‘lentils’; and again due to the British that chopped hard-boiled eggs came into the picture (plus, in de luxe versions, ingredients such as cream). It was this transformed dish which became famous as kedgeree, a British breakfast speciality.” Alan Davidson, The Oxford Companion to Food.

“Kedgeree, Kitchery, Hindi khichri, a mess of rice cooked with butter and dal, and flavoured with a little spice, shred onion, and the like; a common dish all over India, and often served at Anglo-Indian breakfast tables, in which very old precedent is followed. ... In England we find the word is often applied to a mess of re-cooked fish, served for breakfast; but this is inaccurate. Fish is frequently eaten with kedgeree, but is no part of it.” Hobson-Jobson, A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical, and Discursive, by Col. Henry Yule RE CB, and AC Burnell PhD CIE [1886]

[french frank]

I've found a good Jane Grigson recipe in the Observer, which I've kept since 1982

She says: "The Hindi khichri, a rice and lentil dish that could be embellished with fish or meat, was turned into the the splendid kedgeree by English people living in India. Today, it is always flavoured with fish, and rice is the only grain."

Oh, dear, I hope none of my guests will have already had it for breakfast ...

[marthe]

Today I learned that the word punch (alcoholic drink mixture not a sock in the face) comes from the Hindi word for five (panch) referring to the five ingredients of which punches were made: alcohol, citrus, sugar, water, and spices/tea. I went to a lecture about China Trade goods for the New England market given by a curator at the Peabody Essex Museum www.pem.org/ in Salem, Massachusetts. A Cantonese punch bowl was among the objects discussed. New England merchant's wives were expected to serve a good, strong punch to her guests. Punch bowls from China were as necessary as tea cups and saucers.

[greenilex]

As for the other meanings of "punch", my guess is that they are related to the five fingers

cf. High Five

[sigolene euphemia]

Since we have hijacked the weather thread to food let me chime in.... I just made this and it was a smash hit ! ( as in the teens didn't squish their faces up ) We ate it for dinner and I had the leftovers at room temp for lunch. Mind you we had fresh eggs as in just laid ....

WE are working through the list of 25 of the favorites of this contributor to the NYT.

http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/25/the-minimalist-chooses-25-of-his-favorites/?ref=dining

Next I am off to locate asafetida for the South Indian Eggplant Curry. And when the heat of summer looms heavy with ripe tomatoes and watermelon, we will do that salad combo.

THE MINIMALIST
THE MINIMALIST; Pasta From the Pantry
By Mark Bittman
Published: March 10, 1999
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YOU can never have too many pasta recipes, and finding a good new one is an event. This is especially true of fast pasta recipes, the kind in which the sauce is so easy that you have to start boiling the water before getting out the garlic.

Yet there is a subset of pasta recipes that go beyond fast, prepared with just a few ingredients that are almost always in the house. These are the pasta dishes of the desperate cook, the one who has been too busy to shop or too busy to think, or who must put dinner on the table in 20 minutes.

I love those kinds of recipes, and that's why I made a cooking date with Arthur Schwartz, the host of ''Food Talk,'' a daily radio program on WOR-AM in New York. His latest book, ''Naples at Table: Cooking in Campania'' (HarperCollins, 1998), focuses on a part of Italy where the people are generally poor but where simple but great pasta dishes appear on the table every day, a feat seemingly accomplished with smoke and mirrors. He is also the author of ''What to Cook When You Think There's Nothing in the House to Eat'' -- currently out of print but due to reappear this fall -- which makes him a one-man clearinghouse for fast, easy pasta recipes.

In about an hour, he made three pasta dishes while I did nothing but type, eat and peel garlic. His choices were spaghetti with fried eggs, a quicker version of carbonara; linguine with canned tomato ''fillets,'' and linguine with walnuts and anchovies.

All of these recipes have one thing in common: garlic cooked lightly in good olive oil. As Mr. Schwartz noted, ''Neapolitans use garlic delicately; they want the flavor in the oil, but frequently cook it lightly and remove it.'' The garlic is not browned but ''blonded'' (''imbiondito'' in Italian), lightly cooked to release its gentle nature. As most pasta aficionados know, oil flavored with garlic like this is the simplest sauce there is, and far from the worst.

These recipes, however, take things one or two easy steps further. In the first dish, sometimes known as ''poor man's spaghetti,'' you fry a couple of eggs in the olive oil after removing the garlic; tossed with the pasta, the eggs and oil create a creamy, delicious sauce.

The mahogany-colored walnut and anchovy sauce is thinned with cooking water and very complex considering how few elements go into it. In the tomato sauce, the main ingredients are combined in a cold pan, brought to a boil and cooked about five minutes. Even when made with pantry tomatoes, it has an astonishingly fresh flavor.

SPAGHETTI WITH FRIED EGGS

Time: 20 minutes

Salt

1/2 pound thin spaghetti

6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or lard

2 large cloves garlic, lightly smashed and peeled

4 eggs

Freshly ground black pepper

Freshly grated Parmesan or pecorino cheese, optional.

1. Bring a pot of salted water to the boil. Start the sauce in the next step, and start cooking the pasta when the water boils.

2. Combine garlic and 4 tablespoons of the oil in a small skillet over medium-low heat. Cook the garlic, pressing it into the oil occasionally to release its flavor; it should barely color on both sides. Remove the garlic, and add the remaining oil.

3. Fry the eggs gently in the oil, until the whites are just about set and the yolks still quite runny. Drain the pasta, and toss with the eggs and oil, breaking up the whites as you do. (The eggs will finish cooking in the heat of the pasta.) Season to taste, and serve immediately, with cheese if you like.

Yield: 2 or 3 servings.

[marthe]

As for the other meanings of "punch", my guess is that they are related to the five fingers

cf. High Five

Good one Greenilex!

Sigolene: food and weather go together! The right kind of food/drink is comforting when it's cold and dreary or refreshes one when it's hot and humid. BTW I clipped Mark Bittman's last Minimalist column. The Wednesday NYT food section isn't the same now he's gone.

[salymap]

Good morning, any Stormy Weatherites that are still around. I believe it's going to be wet again.Too early for a glass of punch and a meal so what are you all up to today? interesting to hear what trouble some of us take to get a meal for guests right. Afraid mine just get given some money to fetch fish and chips from our very good chippy these days. However FF I used to love cooking when I could do it.

[eighthobstruction]

I don't have much sun or aspiration inspiration....but i do own my own house....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12433168