many aeons ago, there was a thread on here about making bread .... it died, perhaps because man shall not live by bread alone ..... anyway, there seem to be a fair number of people on this site who enjoy cooking, so i thought to start a thread for recipes and associated topics.

i'm assuredly no expert, but i reckon i cook tolerably well, and i know that any recipe i paste here, genuinely works - even for those who can only shop from supermarkets!

a starter recipe follows ......

Just what i was thinking , if i was the Captain of the TALK thread i would make Fred walk the plank [ one plank on another ] , or set him adrift with just a copy of Das Kapital

And as per usual Fred and his bitch GF can't help themselves, just have to jump in and attempt to destroy yet another thread with their mundane polititical crap. A packet of 20 fags average price is £9, you can buy food daily for £9 many prefer to buy fags.

Chris

Good point , and when you add alcohol , lotto tickets and in same cases drugs

in my youth, fish was most assuredly cheap, though i'm sure one didn't oten see the likes of halibut or turbot or monkfish and other species that we now consider fairly commonplace

fish on a lb/lb basis is now every bit as expensive as meat, though there is often far less waste - and nutritionally, almost certainly the more healthy option

fish prices have rocketed, partly because it is an awfully tough way of earning a living, but more because of over-fishing and the lily-livered approach that has been taken by the whole EU (and UK) to controlling this, linked to backdoor skulduggery of licences being traded to non-resident vessels and fishing conglomerates

iceland (the country!) has categorically proved that with proper controls, fish (cod) populations can be restored to former levels in a relatively short time - about a decade i think

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can't cook f+c in animal fat?
what absolute codswallop to make a rather bad pun
beef dripping remains the cooking medium of choice of many top quality fryers

dried up f+c?
shows what that local community will tolerate, as there is no excuse for it - merely lack of care

i'ld be interested to hear how many of you still have genuine fishmongers in your towns ... or even a regular van that offers fresh fish


Yes , i have one because i live on the south coast

a small dressed crab £3.50 , a large whole crab £7.50 all local catch

our little town had a fishmonger in the high street for about 150 years, as well as a quality butcher and a greengrocer and a proper hardware store

it now has none of these, or at least not in the high street
these excellent local shops were forced out of business, primarily through soaring rentals and also because the local populace did not support them properly, preferring the lazy and fractionally cheaper option of going to the supermarket
of course, once these shops closed, everyone wrung their hands in distress and sorrow, but conveniently forgot that the demise was much of their own doing

in fact, the top quality fishmonger, who is also a better than average butcher, has moved about a mile out of town where he shares a site with the local farm shop
to my surprise, he probably does more business now than he used to - and if the farm shop was better run, that would do far better than it already does

the hardware shop has moved a few hundred yards away, and struggles along, primarily i think, because the boss, his wife and son all work there

we have no delicatessen at all, and i'm afraid the baker in quality terms, is a shadow of what it was 20 years ago

Golfing this afternoon cynic, or nodded off under the paper???

halibut or turbot or monkfish

In 50 and early 60s frequently ate Halibut, Turbot, Hake,and more upmarket Soles, Dover Sole.

These fish were plentiful but more expensive than Plaice, Cod, Herrings, Sprats Kippers and Monkfish, the latter in the UK often being used as fish bait or thrown back, until some bright spark started selling it as "Scampi" in the Basket, or similar and the price started to rocket.

But the over and indiscriminate fishing, the use of fish, as fertilizer and chicken and animal feeds along with the overseas consumption because of easier transportation etc. ruin the fish base population and breeding grounds.

A pity, but there has been some revival and Fish farms a blessing with problems.

But how many families could afford salmon at the weekend in the 50s unless they poached it.

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But still enjoy buying fish in France at the port markets at Etaples or Saint-Valéry-sur-Somme.

If you like fish get there before 10am.

a very enjoyable game of golf this morning (1/4-final tomorrow); came back to the office and tidied up some bits and pieces, and then wasted some time and effort on here :-)

PS

Butter for cooking fish. Olive oil for the chips.

(Cheat by adding a little rape seed oil to the butter, and drop in finely chopped Fennel Fronds.)

in the "old days", salmon was a massive luxury, though in victorian times and earlier it was so plentiful, that if memory serves me right, apprentices had it written into the indentures that they only had to have it twice a week or somesuch (i think!)

victorian times and later, but not now, also saw plentiful whitebait and of course bleak, which was almost the freshwater equivalent, and also pike (far too bony and muddy!), eels and several other freshwater species

fish farms are something of a mixed blessing
forget what they do in F/E, but even here, unless they are properly managed, all sorts of environmental problems can and do arise .... nevertheless, it is not just farmed salmon nowadays but also trout, halibut and sea bass and no doubt some other species as well

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surely olive oil burns at far too low a temperature to be good for frying, except sauteeing fairly gently

I think without looking slightly higher than butter and mixing both raises the burning point. Like a pinch of sugar with salt lifts the taste of tomatoes when they are cooked.

Ps. Used pure olive oil for chips from the 50s on, but try to avoid them as I like them too much. But, for an excuse, will introduce my grandson to them, when he escorts me down to the Dordogne in the summer.

gee or clarified butter certainly has a high burn point, for it is the salt and other miscellaneous solids that burn

ask a proper chef (excludes me!) and i think you'll find he concurs

Next time you cook some fish, or a steak, slightly caramelize it towards the end with a knob of butter. (Slight)

true - caramelising = burning of course :-)

btw, i marinated some cod fillet for an hour in teriyaki sauce, a little water, dry sherry and crushed garlic

remove the fish from the marinate and dry in kitchen paper
heat some neutral (high burn!) oil in a pan, and when it just starts to smoke, add the fish skin side down (as always)
cook over a moderate heat for perhaps 5 minutes (depends on the thickness of the cod), by which time, the skin should be crispy.
turn the fish over and cook for a couple of minutes
cover the pan and turn off the heat
after a further 2/3/4 minutes, the fish will be perfectly cooked through - still just pearlescent - and caramelised on the outside

bingo! :-)

Turbot has been common in UK for many years. You only have to look in old kitchens to see the diamond shaped turbotiers (turbot shaped fish kettles). They were very popular in Edwardian times, Victorian and even in Hampton Court. Always an expensive fish though.

I will try the cod fillet in teriyaki sauce next week - which oil (high burn) do you use Cynic as I only use olive oil? By the way Haystack I have a huge copper fish kettle, how the hell kitchen staff were supposed to hump it around when full I haven't got a clue as it is heavy enough empty.

my preference is grapeseed oil, but sunflower is fine and probably rapeseed, though i think this last one has a flavour of its own

Thank you, will put it on my shopping list and hope I enjoy.

Rapeseed oil is probably the best for temp, but has a very strong colour and a fairly strong flavour. I tend to use it for most things. Olive oil for salads and cooking Italian food.