Food!

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

I didn't know there was an Italian hand gesture emote. Your emoji game is stronger now.

 

[ncurd]

Also on Chicago Town Mini Pizzas been eating them since I was 10/11 they're ******* wonderful.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Real question here since all my mini pizza bros are here
Microwave or Oven?

Unless it's for a date and I want to be fancy generally Microwave. But I do prefer Oven


Also speaking of pizza

Decent not in the same class as the lunchables or Jumbo tubes for pack lunches though

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Real question here since all my mini pizza bros are here
Microwave or Oven?

Unless it's for a date and I want to be fancy generally Microwave. But I do prefer Oven

Microwave always for me, way less energy and time wasted. No self respecting tree hugger would pick the oven option.

[ranty tangent] There is loads of things they now say aren't suitable for microwave cooking and I don't understand why. Even stuff that can be eaten hot or cold, like quiche, says don't heat in the microwave. Nonsense! Unless its something that goes soggy it seems fine in my experience, especially if you do it a little longer on a lower setting (although quiche and mini pizzas are pretty much the full extent of my microwave game these days). [/ranty tangent]

Even an oven cooked mini pizza runs the risk of showing a lack of enthusiasm for your date. Plus, you have the danger of third degree burns on the roof of her mouth with the molten cheese which may diminish potential for canoodling. Generally, I think breaking out the potato waffles (Birdseye, not own brand, I'm not a barbarian) is the best route to impressing a date with your kitchen abilities. They are so waffley versatile that regardless of your dates eating habits you are bound to have something lying about that will go with them. Goes beautifully with a bottle of grappa in that neither of you will remember the next day what you had for dinner.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Its meh, I was fairly underwhelmed by NYC's za. Unless you spend a bit of cash all the food there tastes super low quality compared to what you get in Europe*.

Edit: *and the UK.

Been to NYC 3 times; last time 2010. Only had one slice of pizza (margarita)- which cost a dollar. But surprisingly good and damn good value. I actually ordered two slices but he didn't understand my accent and just got one. Lol.

The only other American pizza I had was in Pittsburg ordered by the tour leader on a Trek America tour where we camped out in his parents' back yard. And that was disappointing.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

I didn't know there was an Italian hand gesture emote. Your emoji game is stronger now.

Yeh I didn't know either until my old work colleague - who is half Italian included it in WhatsApp message. But love it. Really sums up a WTF perfectly.

 

[Welsh Exile]

The former,
I know it's sacrilege to Italians but I like to be in control of my sauce-to-pasta ratio
Same with Indian and Chinese food, never mix the sauce with the rice - do it on the fork instead

I always had you down as a peasant

As someone who is part Italian I am appalled...

that you didn't mention that these bad boys can be picked up often for just £1.25! An inflation proof meal.

I'd personally never order a pizza at an Italian, the quality of frozen pizzas is now so decent that I'm not bothered about having one when eating out. Better with something like a cannelloni that realistically you'll only ever get a good specimen of in a restaurant.



The problem with doing that is:

1) how can you ensure you dish up appropriate levels of meat to each person?
2) you are going to have to do the bolognese in a particularly large pan so that you can then mix the spaghetti in with it after you've drained it.

And yes, this guy would probably put a horses head in my bed for this post.

The main reason to do it that way is to ensure you coat the pasta in the sauce and make sure your pasta doesn't all stick together as you finish the cooking of the pasta in the sauce. Once you've removed the pasta from the sauce your usually left with a bit of meat sauce at the bottom that you can evenly distribute between the plates but I generally find the distribution works out pretty even anyway. And yes, you're right, big pan is key here but then I always use a massive pan for my pasta as well as I often find people don't use a big enough pan, and therefore don't have enough water, in their pan when they're cooking the pasta.

 

[Welsh Exile]

I cooked some schnitzels the other day. Turned out pretty good. Really good, easy way to make 2 chicken breasts feed a family of 4 and kids tend to like them coz it kind of resembles KFC.

 

[RedruthRFC]

I'd personally never order a pizza at an Italian, the quality of frozen pizzas is now so decent that I'm not bothered about having one when eating out.

This is my philosophy when eating out / ordering in. I try to pick something that I can't don't cook myself because I lack the skill / time / inclination / equipment / access to ingredients.

2) you are going to have to do the bolognese in a particularly large pan so that you can then mix the spaghetti in with it after you've drained it.

Using spaghetti in preference to a pasta that holds the ragu better is a bigger mistake than dumping the ragu onto dry, stuck-together pasta IMO.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

I'll give this spaghetti mixed in with sauce a go. I do mix with all other pastas, I think because I find them easier to dish up evenly. I usually just do a quick 'baldy man' comb over of the sauce with the spaghetti then it all gets further mixed when I get to twirling, but I can see the upsides.


On another theme, I thought I'd post about veggy stuff, for anyone considering reducing their meat intake or has family who are veggy (I'm not vegetarian, I just like eating more stuff where there has been no suffering or flattened forests). Here are my best picks in terms of taste and, crucially, actually having some protein to go with it.

Linda McCartneys 1/4 pounders and Mozarella burgers - loads of protein, really tasty and juicy when cooked at a high heat and flipped regularly. I genuinely prefer these to supermarket 'beef' burgers and you don't have to work about likely eating processed lowest quality cow parts. Probably the daddy of supermarket based veggy stuff.

Quorn Southern Fried Burgers - pretty like chicken, really nice and they are easily thin enough to fry at a high heat despite saying oven only.

Richmond sausages - both their frozen and fridge options are the best for veggy sausages (Linda McCarntney ones can be okay also). Frozen has the edge for your standard fry up.

Simon Howie Black Puddings - really tasty in a roll with a runny poached egg (free range of course!)

Simon Howie Square Sausage - plenty protein, a couple of egg rolls with these will fuel you through the day.

Quorn pieces - like chicken, all done in 12 mins with a curry, sweet & sour or mushroom based pasta sauce.

Quorn mince - like beef mince, again a really quick way to get a tomatoey pasta sauce meal done. I'd still suggest real beef with spaghetti though.

Loads of other veggy stuff is rubbish or really low protein and probably does more harm than good in reducing meat consumption. Nobody has come come close to mastering fake bacon which pains me as I avoid pig meat seeing as they are way more clever than dogs.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

I've done chicken, salmon and frozen chips in the air fryer so far and all three came out really well
Half expected the chicken to be a little dry, at least on the outside (like if you don't wrap chicken breasts in the oven) but they came out borderline fried - guess the air pressure keeps everything contained

I'm looking at potentially getting one, are you able to put a whole meal in there or do you only air fry part of it? Eg if I want to do some mince can I just put in all the ingredients uncooked into it at the same time? Normally I'd cook onions etc before adding to the mince.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I'm looking at potentially getting one, are you able to put a whole meal in there or do you only air fry part of it? Eg if I want to do some mince can I just put in all the ingredients uncooked into it at the same time? Normally I'd cook onions etc before adding to the mince.

Personally I've only ever done individual items in it - I bought a small one so I wouldn't be able to do anymore than that
The way I view it is it's a mini fan oven (with a much stronger fan), not sure if you can combine things in there but I've seen people cook all kindsa things on social media with them so it's probably possible

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Personally I've only ever done individual items in it - I bought a small one so I wouldn't be able to do anymore than that
The way I view it is it's a mini fan oven (with a much stronger fan), not sure if you can combine things in there but I've seen people cook all kindsa things on social media with them so it's probably possible

Ever tried them with stuff you would normally boil eg frozen veg or potatoes?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Ever tried them with stuff you would normally boil eg frozen veg or potatoes?

Done tinned potatoes in there (saw a tiktok video about it )
Never cooked anything "wet" in there though

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Yep, very tempted to get an air fryer as well.

 

[Gavin]

I'm looking at potentially getting one, are you able to put a whole meal in there or do you only air fry part of it? Eg if I want to do some mince can I just put in all the ingredients uncooked into it at the same time? Normally I'd cook onions etc before adding to the mince.

If you want a machine which you can cook an entire meal, get a Ninja Foodie 6 in 1 multi-cooker. There are bigger ones for 1 or 2 people it's big enough.

Ninja Foodi Mini 6-in-1 Multi-Cooker 4.7L OP100UK - Ninja UK

The Ninja Foodi OP100UK Mini 6-in-1 Multi-Cooker (4.7L) can pressure cook, slow cook, air fry and more for up to 2 people. Buy direct for free delivery!

ninjakitchen.co.uk

I cook the majority of my meals in it.

Take fish, rice and vegetables. I use the pressure cooking option to cook the fish and rice in 3 minutes, then use the air fryer option to cook the vegetables in 5 mins and crisp up the fish. All cooked in one dish.

I can also cook an entire large chicken in 30 mins using the pressure cooker, then crisp the skin to desired level.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

I'll give this spaghetti mixed in with sauce a go. I do mix with all other pastas, I think because I find them easier to dish up evenly. I usually just do a quick 'baldy man' comb over of the sauce with the spaghetti then it all gets further mixed when I get to twirling, but I can see the upsides.


On another theme, I thought I'd post about veggy stuff, for anyone considering reducing their meat intake or has family who are veggy (I'm not vegetarian, I just like eating more stuff where there has been no suffering or flattened forests). Here are my best picks in terms of taste and, crucially, actually having some protein to go with it.

Linda McCartneys 1/4 pounders and Mozarella burgers - loads of protein, really tasty and juicy when cooked at a high heat and flipped regularly. I genuinely prefer these to supermarket 'beef' burgers and you don't have to work about likely eating processed lowest quality cow parts. Probably the daddy of supermarket based veggy stuff.

Quorn Southern Fried Burgers - pretty like chicken, really nice and they are easily thin enough to fry at a high heat despite saying oven only.

Richmond sausages - both their frozen and fridge options are the best for veggy sausages (Linda McCarntney ones can be okay also). Frozen has the edge for your standard fry up.

Simon Howie Black Puddings - really tasty in a roll with a runny poached egg (free range of course!)

Simon Howie Square Sausage - plenty protein, a couple of egg rolls with these will fuel you through the day.

Quorn pieces - like chicken, all done in 12 mins with a curry, sweet & sour or mushroom based pasta sauce.

Quorn mince - like beef mince, again a really quick way to get a tomatoey pasta sauce meal done. I'd still suggest real beef with spaghetti though.

Loads of other veggy stuff is rubbish or really low protein and probably does more harm than good in reducing meat consumption. Nobody has come come close to mastering fake bacon which pains me as I avoid pig meat seeing as they are way more clever than dogs.

Some of the Beyond Meat stuff is pretty good - their burgers are fine for the BBQ and we use their mince for quite a bit of stuff - top tip, generally with a small pinch of Cayenne to liven it up. Plenty of decent pies knocking about, especially if you like mushrooms. The Pukka vegan Minced Beef & Onion's excellent.

Agree on the bacon. Work in progress, but if you're careful the Richmond vegan stuff can be crisped so that it would work acceptably in a BLT or on a burger.

None of the good fake meat products are cheap though.

 

[Which Tyler]

If you want a machine which you can cook an entire meal, get a Ninja Foodie 6 in 1 multi-cooker. There are bigger ones for 1 or 2 people it's big enough.

Ninja Foodi Mini 6-in-1 Multi-Cooker 4.7L OP100UK - Ninja UK

The Ninja Foodi OP100UK Mini 6-in-1 Multi-Cooker (4.7L) can pressure cook, slow cook, air fry and more for up to 2 people. Buy direct for free delivery!

ninjakitchen.co.uk

I cook the majority of my meals in it.

Take fish, rice and vegetables. I use the pressure cooking option to cook the fish and rice in 3 minutes, then use the air fryer option to cook the vegetables in 5 mins and crisp up the fish. All cooked in one dish.

I can also cook an entire large chicken in 30 mins using the pressure cooker, then crisp the skin to desired level.

What are the internal dimensions? I can only find external and overall volume online.
Equally, can it do pizza? Presumably only small ones, but could it fit a second above it?

For anyone else - are the cheap chinese knock-offs a false economy? I know they are for blenders / juicers / smoothie makers; and kinda assume they are for these (including Amazon branded ones)

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Restaurants will just close until spring - Kerridge

Chef Tom Kerridge says many hospitality businesses are considering "mothballing" through the winter because of energy costs.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Bada-Bing!]

MrBeast Burger sees thousands fill shopping centre

MrBeast fans flock to the grand opening of his first burger restaurant, in the US.

www.bbc.co.uk