Topic: Chef Din: 1970's BIR

[Peripatetic Phil]

we ate simple but varied food that covered all the nutritional bases that are lacking in most diets these days.

Stewed oxtail with parsley dumplings washed down with Coca-Cola, followed by a couple of bars of caramel Aero, some Bon Maman apricot compote, and finally real coffee with Jersey cream and Demera sugar — what nutritional bases can I have possibly overlooked today ?!

[Secret Santa]

we ate simple but varied food that covered all the nutritional bases that are lacking in most diets these days.

Stewed oxtail with parsley dumplings washed down with Coca-Cola, followed by a couple of bars of caramel Aero, some Bon Maman apricot compote, and finally real coffee with Jersey cream and Demera sugar — what nutritional bases can I have possibly overlooked today ?!

Seems a shame you had to dilute the health benefits of all that sugar with actual food (the oxtail and dumplings).

[Peripatetic Phil]

Oh, I'm a great fan of healthy eating, Santa — never fail to augment my basic diet of chocolate and coke with the odd scrap of protein and carbohydrate ! 

But I have to say, in all seriousness, that I had never really appreciated how good oxtail could be until my wife stewed some recently — my only recollections of it were in the form of Heinz oxtail soup as a child, which I now realise is nothing like the real thing.  The parsley dumplings were an extra touch which I added for the first time this evening, and they really went well with it.  I also bought some Seville oranges from my local farm shop ("Celtic Produce) yesterday with a view to cooking duckling à l'orange , and probably freezing some for use later in the year.  He also sells passion fruit at half the price of Morrisons, and when I bought the last three that were still firm, he threw in for free at least a dozen that had started to break down, but which, when I cut them open at home turned out to be completely edible too, as he had assured me.

[livo]

Hi parabolic!  While I can and do agree with your comment re smell, I also agree with Santa.  Dishes from some restaurants, and probably moreso from the past, are (were) abundantly more aromatic.  When I'm cooking curry, I no longer really smell it in the kitchen but my daughter came in the other day and told me she could smell it from her studio down in the shed. The shed is 50 metres from the house.

I've mentioned in the forum previously the restaurant / TA called Raj's Corner in Newcastle (NSW Australia). I visit the optometrist nearby and there is no comparison between my house and this establishment when both are considered for the aroma.  The hit of aroma induced appetite from the restaurant is amazing.  I usually need to park my car about 500 metres away and if the breeze is from that direction I can smell it at halfway.

While we discuss, consider and dismiss the missing 5% as a fact, a myth or an anomaly, we must still accept the dilemma that it exists. In our minds, our noses or our tastebuds makes no difference.

[Garp]

While we discuss, consider and dismiss the missing 5% as a fact, a myth or an anomaly, we must still accept the dilemma that it exists. In our minds, our noses or our tastebuds makes no difference.

There are many things that occur in our minds that aren't real.

[livo]

You're scaring me Garp!!  Can you give us an example??  Maybe metallic aftertaste from too much Baking Powder in a naan.  Haha.   

[Peripatetic Phil]

An atheist might respond "God ?".

[Garp]

Phil has given you a starter for ten

[bhamcurry]

When I'm cooking curry, I no longer really smell it in the kitchen but my daughter came in the other day and told me she could smell it from her studio down in the shed. The shed is 50 metres from the house.

nasal fatigue is a real thing. If you want the full smell, and thus aroma, and thus "taste" experience, take 5 minutes to step outside before sitting down to eat your meal. This will allow the nasal fatigue to abate and you will get a much better "taste" experience.

(I am putting taste in scare quotes because what we think of as flavour is a synthesis of smell and taste. If your nose is tired of smelling the same thing, the flavour or "taste" will be much muted.)