....or make your own!

I have many memories of school dinners, starting with the 1/2 mile walk to and from the dinner hall that was shared by another school in the village (Haddenham). We'd walk in and were served from pop up tables, all sorts of typically awful food, then took our seats on the right, as the left was for the other school. We had no rights other than to eat our plates clean regardless of the fact, a hard awfully grey lump of liver was poised on a plate with something that represents gravy with an overly salty 'stick your mouth together' ice cream scoop of so called mash potato. Then there was the so called pudding, usually a dry sponge served with a custard that was so watery it defied the term custard, never mind it's colour. Oh and the scratched alluminium jugs either plain or gold , that served awful tasting water.

That said, there is one recipe I enjoyed which was a a kind of deep fried cheese ball (I posted on this before) . I have never found it out how to make it or what it was called but it was, at the age of 6-7, very nice indeed. In my teens, the school I attended had starting serving alternatives, so I often opted for the fruity curry option etc. With break times filling me with odd looking finger donuts, cream and jam.

College years were simple, chips and beans!

Hi Jerry, been a while, hope you are well.

Best way I find to get the results you are looking for is to sear the meat in a hot pan before slowly roasting. Your basically giving the maillard reaction a good head start.

The other way is to cook it in a low oven for a long period, uncovered. I remember a friends mum would serve up the most incredible roasted joints, that she would cook in the Aga all day. You should have seen the crackling this women was able to create!

A low oven to me is around 130c this link might help you:

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:Oven_temperatures

Hasn't anyone else got anything to say about this good or bad? Oh well moving on.....

Quote from: hezzie on May 16, 2013, 04:19 PM
..I take it you asked the takeaway to make this for you, what on earth did you ask for, did you make the recipe yourself? I'd definitely order it.

No it was suggested to me by one of the waiters. He's worked in many Indian Restaurants and often suggesting I try something 'not on the menu'. The chef likes a challenge so often allows him to do this when they are quiet. He's never let me down yet and I have tried quite an assortment of dishes, i'd never have thought to ask for.

If I am honest, I was not going to order this and declared him bonkers. But he wasn't having any of it and asked the chef to make it as a taster plate for me to try. He returned with 4 pieces of lamb on a side plate with a little chopped coriander on. I tired a piece as did the other staff and we were all very surprised how good it was. It only took a split second for me to order it as a dish to take home. I have nicknamed it Lamb Bubba after the waiter.

I still think it's bonkers but will definitely order it again!

I recently found a link to an ebook produced by a restaurant in Cyprus. It covers most of the recipes we discussed on this topic. It is clearly the Cypriot take on the recipes so there are subtle changes. Some ingredients listed don't have quantities but from this topic you can make educated guesses. I am currently swapping emails with them trying to fill in the blanks.

http://www.mandra-tavern.com/content/recipe-ebook

Ray, the Stifado may well interest you, I am going to try it this weekend.

Jerry, the Afelia dish looks interesting but not the Greek version you were looking for.

What do yo make of the following dish?

I posted this elsewhere recently which didn't get much response so i'm sure some of you have already seen it but would like your thoughts on the idea.

Ignore my poor attempt at making it look chefy, but what is on the plate is a take-away from the Shanaz that I have never experienced before anywhere and one that surprised me quite alot. Infact, it surprised alot of the restaurant staff too who all sampled a tasting plate prior to me ordering it.

The principal of the dish is the lamb and is what caused the surprise. It is simply pre-cooked lamb that has been reheated in the Tandoor. It looks burnt and for all intents and purpose, it probably was, but the picture doesn't help. The lamb itself was extremely juicy and tender but a crispy outer texture. The flavour was subtle with a slight warmth of chili. The taster in the restaurant was even better, what made my plate was driven 10 miles down the road before being plated.

The dish was served with lots of caramelised onions a few of which you can see on top of the meat and accompanied with the tomatoes and peppers. I had this with a vegetable rice and thoroughly enjoyed it. After taking the picture, I piled the rest of the lamb and rice on top and devoured it!

I highly recommend asking your local to do this for you if they are willing. Eitherway, i'd love your thought's on it.

Quote from: Phil [Chaa006] on May 16, 2013, 11:35 AM
Well, the only r

Quote from: Phil [Chaa006] on May 15, 2013, 04:25 PM

Quote from: h4ppy-chris on May 15, 2013, 03:30 PM
mayonnaise in 20 seconds 

There's a faster way than that :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-jcF_fIW3k&feature=youtu.be

** Phil.

Oh Phil, and to think you dressed me down for having pre-made mustard! Hellmann's has been banned in our house, it's awful stuff! Mind you, we still have pre-made mayo but by Heinz. The wife was appalled by my choice and said she preferred Hellmann's and would happily do a blind fold taste test to prove this. Well you can imagine her surprise when she learned she had actually picked the Heinz mayo instead as a her preference!

Chris i'll happily give it a go and to spec but you'll need to let me know what the mix powder recipe is. Otherwise i'll have to use the IG Mix Powder which is my preferred mix powder, but that obviously won't be to spec.

Yes you can and it will add flavour to your base. Then you need question if you want that chicken flavour in your base. It certainly wouldn't bother me.