Offences against food descriptions act

[Amyw Profile]

I belong to a slow cooking group on FB , which I really need to leave as it is mainly packet things . This woman posted the other day a “twist on spag bol “ , minced beef, tomato soup and new potatoes!! I got slated by quite a few people , when I said there was no twist , it was an entirely different dish .

It was difficult to express articulately why it wasn’t a twist on spag bol, but I ended up saying that there was only one ingredient in common with the original , the minced beef . What’s the worse “twist “ you’ve seen , or a totally wrong version of a traditional dish ?

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Peas too, that's just a variation on the dreaded "savoury mince" (dreaded because it could be anything, obviously some variants are good)

IanInFrance once posted a recipe for spaghetti carbonara he found on t'internet - it started with packet cheese sauce and went downhill from there
Actually easier, quicker, and probably cheaper to make the real thing, assuming you use bacon or pancetta in place of guanciale, which seems an acceptable level of tweaking.

That was a thread of recipes or descriptions of dishes, and the contest was to guess the classic dish that had been murdered to provide it. I got the carbonara, as I guessed the dish they were aiming for was the carbonara ready meal, not the real thing

[Sloe-Gin Profile]

That looks, quite frankly, revolting
I have 2 American friends who use soup a lot - soup with bits of veg floating in it is not my idea of a casserole.

Jamie Oliver is one for 'twists'.
https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/cat ... ers-twist/

[Uschi Profile]

In a way Axel and I are guilty of producing "faux Carbonara", too. We make a creamy spaghetti sauce using spring onions, slices of boiled ham, (both fried in butter fat), a little stock, creme fraiche and Parmesan.
We call this carbonara amongst ourselves, but we are aware that it is not. It is just a quick and tasty pasta sauce.

[Seatallan Profile]

Peas too, that's just a variation on the dreaded "savoury mince" (dreaded because it could be anything, obviously some variants are good)

IanInFrance once posted a recipe for spaghetti carbonara he found on t'internet - it started with packet cheese sauce and went downhill from there
Actually easier, quicker, and probably cheaper to make the real thing, assuming you use bacon or pancetta in place of guanciale, which seems an acceptable level of tweaking.

That was a thread of recipes or descriptions of dishes, and the contest was to guess the classic dish that had been murdered to provide it. I got the carbonara, as I guessed the dish they were aiming for was the carbonara ready meal, not the real thing

I remember the spag carbonara incident!!

Savoury mince- something I do quite often in the winter (and yes, I always include peas). Great for using up left-over veg. Wonderful with baked spuds IMO.

Amy, the 'twist on spag bol' reminds me of the sort of thing we used to cook up when staying at remote hostels, when all you had to work with was a bent saucepan, a single ring on a mini Baby Belling and whatever you'd been able to pick up when passing a Spar hours earlier. Tyne Brand tinned meatballs heated through with tinned marrowfat peas or potatoes, topped with grated (plastic) cheddar. It was pretty wonderful actually!!

[aero280 Profile]

Dare I mention "vegetarian coq au vin"?

[Suelle Profile Website]

Some would argue that anything that alters a classic recipe is a deviation too far! Even though I like sauteéd courgettes added to a pasta carbonara recipe, I'm aware it's no longer carbonara.

Not so much a twist that offends, but it always amuses me to read comments on recipes where someone really praises the recipe, then proceeds to list all their alterations "I used apples instead of rhubarb, ginger instead of orange zest, reduced the sugar by 25%, and added oats to the crumble topping instead of nuts" things which, while not making the dish inedible, render it unrecognisable from the original.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Not so much a twist that offends, but it always amuses me to read comments on recipes where someone really praises the recipe, then proceeds to list all their alterations "I used apples instead of rhubarb, ginger instead of orange zest, reduced the sugar by 25%, and added oats to the crumble topping instead of nuts" things which, while not making the dish inedible, render it unrecognisable from the original.
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Yup and a several times (at least 3, possibly more) I've seen people complain that a falafel recipe doesn't work well although they "corrected" the "obvious error" and boiled the chickpeas or used canned instead of soaking dried and grinding them
There was quite a long thread about that on the BBC board too, during which someone told me I couldn't say I disliked falafel made with fava beans as I'd never made them - although I'd clearly said I don't make them because I've eaten them in Egypt and England and didn't like them much

[Earthmaiden Profile]

I think that people on this board do some quite clever tweaks of the kind Suelle describes - but usually follow the James Beard rule of following the proper recipe the first time (though I do sympathise with substitutions for pinches of something expensive you probably won't use again).

I think the glaring thing with Amyw's example is that even the ingredients in the name of the dish have been swapped!

I used to make a 5 minute 'fish pie' when time was short or if we were camping. It was tinned tuna in packet parsley sauce with instant buttery mash. Served with frozen (cooked obviously!) or Surprise peas. I think whoever claims to have invented a fish pie fit for the gods might have had something to say .

[liketocook Profile]

I'm member of some of those groups Amy! I follow an Australian slow cooker one and some of things that get bunged in the crock and called spag bol or carbonara are astounding! That one has to be up there, though as a savoury mince dish I'd probably eat it!
I remember some of the BBC debates - pea hummus anyone?
I'm a tweaker though more often to reduce quantities or sub something I can't get or don't have but I agree with Suelle re the "I loved this recipe but subbed a,b.c etc." comments to the extent that you can't see how it has anything to do with the original one. With online recipes some tweaks suggests in the comments are helpful. In the traybake I cooked earlier in the week many commenters suggested par boiling the potatoes first and also adding red pepper both of which I did. I suspect if I'd used raw potatoes the chicken would have been cooked long before they were.
I think when it comes to family favourites like spag bol or carbonara that many people don't know or care what the authentic dish should be like. Spag bol is mince + a jar of sauce and carbonara is a creamy sauce from a jar or packet base so they like to jazz it up a bit and the family know basically what they're getting (though I supect Kayley's family might be in for a bit of a shock ). DS1 started his life as a chef in an Italian restaurant and they fairly often got complaints about the lack of cream & mushrooms in the (very good) carbonara.
Don't get me wrong when the boys were small "spag bol" often contained additional veg, it was a great way to get them into suspicious kids but I do know how it should be done.
Em, I used to do something similar with boil in the bag cod in parsley sauce including surprise peas.
My pet peeve at the moment are "loaded" things often fries or burgers. I'm partial to a topping or condiment or two but some of these have everything in the larder randomly loaded onto them which just doesn't do it for me.

[mistakened Profile]

I have no wish to cause offence but I am sorry Vegan "cheese" is not cheese.

[Pepper Pig Profile]

Does anyone watch this? https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08fqypb

I think it was either yesterday's or Tuesday's episode when one of the farmers was marketing myriads of different flavour Scotch Eggs.Some of them were fishy!!

[Stokey Sue Profile]

No, not seen the Farmer's Country Showdown

But smoked haddock scotch eggs have been around a long time - Gary Rhodes maybe?

[scullion Profile]

I have no wish to cause offence but I am sorry Vegan "cheese" is not cheese.

from the cambridge dictionary

a food made from milk, or from a milk-like substance taken from plants, that can be either firm or soft and is usually yellow or white in colour:

mainly UK
a firm, sweet substance made by boiling sugar and fruit, especially quince (= a hard fruit similar to a large apple), eaten cold with meat or cheese:

in apple pressing the lump of spent apple remains is called a cheese much as a sausage now refers to the shape of the meat/veg content. looking at the etymology of the word cheese means 'to ferment, to sour'.

sorry, that was sparked by the thought that lemon curd is also not a curd.

[Suffs Profile]

When cooking Italian dishes in the UK, I tend to proceed on the basis of what I think an Italian cook would do if they had access to the ingredients I have access to, rather than those they would have at home.

I do not think that includes the use of a packet cheese sauce mix for carbonara or canned tomato soup for a Bolognese ragu

[Earthmaiden Profile]

Lemon curd is also known as lemon cheese. I think we established on another board that they were the same thing though I had always thought there was a slight difference.

I suspect many people, uneducated in cookery methods and traditions, don't realise the history of some dishes. I've mentioned before that I was once served spaghetti bolognese made with a sauce consisting of a lot of neat tomato ketchup mixed with mince.

[Seatallan Profile]

Up here it's always lemon (or whatever fruit it happens to be) cheese. Dahhhnnnnnn Saaaattthhh where we were previously it was lemon curd.

I'm with LTC re the 'loaded' thing BTW. I'm also getting well cheesed off (no pun intended! ) with anything involving 'pulled' meat.

[Badger's Mate Profile]

I suppose things like fruit butters and cheeses, or brawn known as 'head cheese', are references to the textures rather than being any sort of attempt to suggest they are really cheese. Similarly Scotch woodcock makes no pretence to be a real woodcock and no rabbits are harmed in the making of either Bunny Chow or spicy versions of cheese on toast. Surely nobody thinks of peanut butter as butter, either.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Jay Rayner's current Tweet is about finding himself in a Berlin bar restaurant that serves Bavarian Tapas (good apparently)

A consensus is emerging that in N Europe tapas now just means small plates, not necessarily referring to Spanish cuisine

I have posted a picture of a local tapas place, Aun, which serves "Japanese Tapas" I've not been, though hope to go soon

[liketocook Profile]

Yes "tapas" does seem to have been hijacked in the past couple of years. I suppose it comes back to gives folk an idea of what to expect portion wise and the popularity of sharing/mezze type food.
Scotch eggs with things other than sausage meat is fine by me as long as they have an egg in the middle. Though I suppose the "egg" could be said to be the shape of the finished product rather than the filling.