Cooking & Baking inspiration

[EmilieT]

Hey guys, 

After watching all the episodes from the 7 seasons of the Bake-Off that were recently added to Netflix, I thought it'd be interesting to start a tasty thread to see if we could share some tips and tricks 

Being French, I've always been quite an avid cook, trying to find new meals to try and whip up as often as possible. The Bake-off made me want to spend even more time in the kitchen, and I found myself spending hours googling recipes and ingredients. The hunt for good websites and ideas has taken over a lot of my time now 

Do you guys have any apps or websites you turn to when it comes to recipes or kitchen inspiration? Any book that you find yourself going back to over and over again? 

[Glory1]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@EmilieT wrote:

@Anonymous

That is quite a list, I respect each and every one of the people you referenced but their cooking is sometimes beyond my kitchen so not too much inspiration there! Do you make your own pasta then?

☺As I said Italian cuisine is complicated, you've got to factor in the Italian diaspora who have been emigrating and setting up food establishments all over the world. Without a shadow of a doubt Pizza was an Italian invention but Chicago Deep Dish Pizza wasn't. Shop bought bronze die precision engineered pasta shapes designed to hold the ideal amount of sauce by etching grooves in the shapes can't be reproduced at home and taste fantastic. Making pasta to stuff your own ravioli or tortellini on the other hand, can can be spectacularly good as well. Homemade gnocchi usually tastes better than the shop bought version.

Italians aren't so keen on homemade pasta but they're very keen on selling pasta machines for the rest of the world. Usually the best Italian food you will ever eat will be in an Italian household. Take the Aranchini: ragu stuffed risotto balls which are deep-fried in breadcrumbs. And are almost impossible to reproduce well in a restaurant. At best you will have pre-prepared frozen Arancini which are deep-fried to order, and taste nothing like the ones that you get when you go to an Italian friend's mum's house...

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I totally agree with you @EmilieT the Italian food l enjoy most were and are in my Italian friends homes. And different recipes for the same dish depending on which region of Italy their family came from. All delicious but all slightly different.

You mention Chicago deep pan pizza not being Italian. The same goes for spaghetti bolognese (British) and my favourite veal parmesan (American). I also prefer my lasagne with mozzarella not a cheese sauce. This is what I grew up with in the Italian households I ate in, and also how my non-Italian mother made it.

I'm not ambitious enough to make my own pasta but have 2 friends that do and what a difference in taste from shop bought pasta, even the Italian brands like De Cecco, which I buy.

[Anonymous]

Today, I wore a dress of white & Heinz baked beanz turquoise blue ... 

When a kid, it was either Heinz beanz or HP beanz ... I can remember the tv advert slogans

I've never tasted curried beanz ... I don't think I'd like them ... the spiciest I go with food is chicken korma / butter chicken / chicken dansak 

I think everyone's tastebuds are different

Maybe it's nostalgia with me & Heinz beanz ... = ... my dad used to make me beanz with bread & butter for Saturday tea after I'd had my quality time with him on a Saturday afternoon ... my mum & sister would go shopping to Leeds ... then it would be Dr Who for family tv viewing

It would have been Fannny Craddock with her husband Johnny as regards tv cookery programmes & I used to watch them, it was 'posh food' 

[EmilieT]

I got a smoothie machine over the weekend and been using it everyday so far! 

Anyone around here has good recipes/tricks to share? I'm still in learning how to use mix things best so any tips are welcome