Overrated food

[mistakened Profile]

Am I the only person who really cannot be bothered with barbecues? All that standing around eating burnt food accompanied by some dubious salads.
I do like properly charcoal grilled foods such as fish

Moira

[KeenCook2 Profile]

OH virtually comes out in hives when any friends suggest doing a BBQ! He'll do anything he can to avoid them.

Our former neighbour used to do a barbecue every evening all through last year's heatwave and summer's lockdown. It was a real pain and it stunk up the house horribly.

[aero280 Profile]

I'm with you on barbecues. The neighbours on either side seem to only eat barbecued food in summer. We have to keep an eye out or the washing smells of paraffin and/or burnt meat.

The last one I went to was odd. All the cooked food came from the house, having been cooked in the oven. It was just charred on the barbecue!

[Seatallan Profile]

I agree as a general rule. Though, to be fair, my best friend's husband (who is a chef) is both well into BBQs and extremely good at them.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

when I was a student and just after one of the things to do on a Sunday when very little was open in London was to go to a museum or gallery or just walk in Hyde Park and then for afternoon tea at one of the big hotels, which was an affordable luxury, we favoured the Grosvenor

If one of my parents visited me we sometimes had tea in John Lewis or Patisserie Valerie before they caught the train home, too early for dinner

[Sloe-Gin Profile]

As is hub (he used to be a food technologist). As he says, though, setting fire to it is the easy bit; the side salads etc are left to me!

[Suffs Profile]

A barbecue prepared and cooked by someone who knows what they’re doing is a delight. The rest of them might just as well be avoided ... give me a so-so picnic over a so-so bbq any day.

[karadekoolaid Profile]

BBQ, like any other form of cooking, is an art. It´s not just dumping steaks on a flaming inferno and having a few beers. ( Although the last part, in my opinion, is obligatory ) It´s about properly seasoning what you´re going to cook, getting the temperature right, and watching what you´re doing. Properly barbecued food is delicious.
It´s also about what you use to cook. If you´re lucky enough to have a snazzy Weber grill with volcanic rocks and temperature control, fine; but if you have to use charcoal, or wood, or both, it´s a different technique altogether. Using paraffin or kerosene to start the fire is a no-no; newspaper or kindling wood is best. The same goes for wood; anything like pinewood ( or eucalyptus over here) is going to make the meat taste disagreeably of resin. Fruit wood ( apple, pear, cherry, or mango, orange or guava over here) is a huge asset.
BBQs are a regular event here (of course, we´ve got the climate for it) so people tend to use them far more frequently. I can fully understand, however, why they might not be so popular in the UK, especially if you live in terraced or semi-datached housing!

[Gruney2 Profile]

The best part of any barbecue I've ever been to was having a few drinks, waiting for the thing to heat up. Oh - and laughing at knowledgable and enthusiastic participants whose cardboard plates collapsed, depositing their treasured food on the floor.

I've just remembered - I went to a great one, a few years ago. The host was one of those larger than life characters, and he was rasing money for Mencap. It was a brilliant night but the barbecud food had a funny taste about it. He'd never used a barbecue before, and made the equipment - basically a 6ft long trough. The interesting flavour was achieved by the fuel - coke!

[Sloe-Gin Profile]

All our fruit tree prunings are harvested for that reason. Apple, pear and cherry. He adds star anise, bay and rosemary. We cook on charcoal.

[aero280 Profile]

My afternoon tea story involves my flatmate from my early days in London. His sister got engaged. Their mother came down to London to help the daughter choose a wedding dress. After that event my flatmate and myself met them in Harrods for afternoon tea.

So in a busy, noisy tearoom, the daughter suddenly realised that, with tight sleeves on the dress there was nowhere to put a handkerchief.In one of those silences that suddenly happen in a noisy place, her mother said in a loud voice "Just stuff in your knickers dear!"

[Gruney2 Profile]

Love it!

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I had some good braai (BBQ) in South Africa, many restaurants and the safari lodges have a braai as a main way of preparing lunch - the meat is just cooked an put on buffet, it's good when the meat is good, which it mostly is but there weren't a lot of vegetarian options when I was there

[OneMoreCheekyOne Profile]

Ice cream, afternoon tea, dhal

Bad bbqs definitely! Love a decent one though.

[Amber Profile]

I didn’t see it, but just as I was locking up tonight, ITV was showing a programme, Made in Britain, and the next article was about Eccles cakes.

[Kacey Profile]

OH is really missing our regular weekend in Manchester, its his birthday in a few weeks and I've got him a lovely picture of Deansgate in the rain, the station end showing the Knott Bar - https://simonbuckleyphotographer.bigcar ... manchester I've also put together a box of Manchester beers, to which I'm going to add some Eccles cakes. Been trying to find bread rolls actually labelled as Barm Cakes but no luck.

Back to over rated food - definitely BBQs, especially as people don't understand why I don't want my veggie burger or slice of halloumi grilled in the same place as everything else. Definitely fancy cakes, cupcakes and the like, too sweet and I'd rather spend my calories on a good glass of red. I would though like to have a Kunzle cupcake just one more time!

Under normal circumstances I'd treat my Mom to afternoon tea once or twice a year - she really enjoys all that sweet stuff. I do wish places would be a bit more adventurous with savouries for vegetarians though, it doesn't have to be egg or cheese!

[Seatallan Profile]

Awwww Kacey- that's a lovely thing to do! Bet Mr Kacey will love it...

[jeral Profile]

Kacey, I type into Google: "Barm cakes" buy and supermarkets came up as well as a few bakeries, so you might be able to get some if you ferret as some are labelled as rolls.

This co. does 6 small ones for £1.05 white or brown, for collection, or normally delivering in Wigan/Burnley area but can go beyond via Fedex. It says £5 P&P but not whether that is so if using Fedex:
https://butchersfayre.co.uk/?s=Barm+cak ... pe=product

Re afternoon tea veggie grub, could you ring in advance and ask if they can come up with your favourites or "something else", or would that be deemed straying too far from traditional English tea? It is a lovely occasion to look forward to when we're let out

Overrated foods: Choux pastry.

[Binky Profile]

Choux pastry is excellent when done for a gougere. Not that keen on sweet choux as in eclairs for example, but lovely cheesy choux for gougere is yummo.

We went to Betty's in York a lot when my mother and sister lived there. Several times we tried to get Ma to go in for tea when out shopping for the afternoon, but her response as a Yorkshirewoman was "£11 for a sandwich and a cup of tea?" in a kind of horrified tone. We eventually gave this up as a lost cause after the one and only time she came with us, tutting at the prices in a loud voice. As a pensioner she could use one of the town church canteens and get tea for £1 and a sausage roll for 50p. Plus they let you smoke in the church garden. A winner as far as she was concerned.

[Kacey Profile]

Hi Jeral

Thanks for that, I'll have to have a more 'substantial' look around. I'd only looked at supermarkets I have deliveries from,

All these years later he still mentions the Turkey Barms his father treated him to when they visited the model shop on Deansgate. Not quite sure if that's really down to the barms, or because he had such few positive memories of his dad.

Another over rated - posh crumpets! No matter what or whose they are, no-ones 'best' or sourdough, are as good as Warburtons 9 for £1. Unless its the home made ones OH makes on high days and holidays, now they really are worth the faff.