Talking Points From Today's Telly

[Sakkarin Profile]

Starting this thread for anything that crops up on TV food programmes.

Just watched programme 2 of "Remarkable Places To Eat", and this piece of kit was used in one of the kitchens visited (in conjunction with a timer). Can you guess what its use was?



I confess I'm finding the series just too back-slappingly self congratulatory, although it is OK if you fast forward the most squirm inducing bits, mainly anything involving the presenter, however grand his CV.

[Alexandria Profile]

Sakkarin,

Ha Ha .. Interesting ! Odd one !!

To extract Grease, or liquids from solids or vice versa from a pot ? ( In Spanish: Embudo de Colbraro )

[Binky Profile]

if there's a timer, it must be used for cooking. It also has a handle that can be hooked over a pot. There looks to be a small hole in the bottom, so not for cooking anything runny. My guess is for poaching a small fruit, or re-heating a pouch of baby food.

[Binky Profile]

or anything in a pouch - a portion of mushy peas, or a sauce of some sort. Anyway, I give up now

[Binky Profile]

I have had a further idea. If it's made of silicone, then you could put a batter in it and let it swirl into hot oil (like churros, or whatever those Mexican doughnuts are called). The timer tells you when the batter is cooked.

That really is my last word

[Sakkarin Profile]

No, no, no, and warmish but no!

EDIT: I wouldn't have got it in a million years. Stokey might, because it has a scientific use...

[Renee Profile]

Let's wait to see what Sue says! I haven't a clue.

[jeral Profile]

It must be handheld as no sensible hook or support, so timer can't be set for long. I'll go with something like the churro idea, maybe enough icing for a large traybake, or enough runny dough to make decreasing circles for flatbread (like paratha). I thought the timer might be a training aid (to get faster) but unless the dough is pushed through it would only descend at it's own rate so I'm stumped, unless it has a plunger lid.

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

I thought it might be for separating egg whites, leaving the egg yolk.
But you wouldn't need a timer.

Over a pan? There are no stand "legs".

You use egg white for clarifying stock.

It's a stock clarifier then - again, I don't know what the timer has to do with it.

[scullion Profile]

i saw it, but i won't give it away. i never realised it was such an exact science!

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I have seen the programme

But I thought it might be for running a semi liquid dough/batter through into a fryer like making churros, except I couldn’t see how the timer would fit in, so … I abandoned that

I watched it (sort of, I was distracted) the first 2 episodes. Not excited, I liked some of it, but I really don’t care about the nuances of the service at Florian’s.

[Binky Profile]

come on sakkarin, put us out of our misery. What is it?

I haven't seen the TV progs but do remember having coffee at Florians in 1994. It was memorable due to the extreme expense, but I don't recall any fancy service.....we understood that we were paying for the location.

[Joanbunting Profile]

I saw the programme too so won't spoil the fun.

A gourmet trip to Italy, which included 4 nights in Venice, was my MC prize and we did go to Florians. Glad we did, but equally glad we weren't picking up the bill!

[Stokey Sue Profile]

When we went to Venice in 2005 we stayed in a crumbling palazzo near the Rialto
If you walked out of the door and turned right, you got expensive tourist tat
Turn left into the small square behind the main post office and there was good hunting - we found one place that was bar + restaurant frequented by postal workers and other locals, good traditional food, affordable, and I think OH who spoke decent Italian was ok for the late night poker school if he chose, very friendly

I did like the look of the 2 man restaurant they started with though

[Badger's Mate Profile]

I didn't see the programme but I know what it is because we used them at the w place for QC of lubricating fluids

[Sakkarin Profile]

Knowing what it is, can you work out from that what it might be for if I say it was a fish and chip shop (albeit a posh one)?

[Binky Profile]

a wild guess - was it used to stack up the scampi and let them drain of fat/oil?

[jeral Profile]

If it's viscosity, something to do with batter (being the only viscous thing I can think of in a chippie? Knowing that, if it is so, doesn't help me though.

[Sakkarin Profile]

Very nearly there, so I'll reveal all!

It is a viscosity gauge - when they made a batch of batter, to test whether it was perfect, they filled the gauge and timed how long it took to empty. If it took 18 seconds exactly, it was good to go. Faster and the batter was too runny, slower and it was too thick (presumably tweaked with more flour or water).

I guess necessary because every batch of flour absorbs differently as our bread makers will be aware. I've got the same problem with rice - my last bag of basmati (Veetee extra long) needed 4 to 2 water/rice ratio to cook, and was still dryish, whereas with a 3 to 2 ratio, my current bag (Kohinoor extra long) ends up all sloppy. Unfortunately there isn't a gizmo to check (that I know of), it's trial and error. Maybe there is a dryness tester of some description which could do the job.

[jeral Profile]

That's clever and should be foolproof all else remaining equal. Not sure if the water content of the fish, thinking big flakes v. little flakes, would affect it, but I guess their 18 secs throughput must be the optimum for either.

For rice, I can't think of a dryness test per se but I suppose soaking grains for half an hour as some recipes suggest might equalise them, or not.

Steaming grains ought to avoid their being soggy or over-dry at the base but, much as I intend to, I've never got around to steaming things so others might know.