Ingredient List

Two different types of black cardamon

December 3, 2012
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The smaller black cardamon on the left are ones I buy in my local Indian stores and have been using recently in a rose petal garam masala I’ve been creating.  The larger black cardamon pods on the right are new to me, they arrived today, I’ve bought them from Souschef as I was intrigued if […]

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Muscovado Sugar (unrefined brown sugar) – the difference it can make

November 11, 2012
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What may appear to be a simple baking question I find often brings about a complicated answer, and no, it’s not because I like being particularly nerdy in detail with all things food, it really comes down to baking being a complex area once you start delving into it, honest.  (I’m slightly smiling here as […]

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Sous Chef – A website for hard to find ingredients

August 21, 2012
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I met Nicola through twitter earlier this year and not long after knowing her I discovered she and husband Nick were in the middle of creating Sous Chef, a gorgeous looking website for lots of hard to find ingredients, which has been launched this month.  Over the months I’ve known and become friends with Nicola […]

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Aduki / Azuki Bean Salad

January 23, 2012
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I made this salad for my lunch today.  I was reminded yesterday reading Carl’s post on his vegetarian haggis how good aduki beans are, they’re the puy lentil of the bean world for me.  They’re flavoursome, the taste reminds me of black-eye beans/peas and being so small they give you a lovely texture and if […]

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Butter – We Have Great Butter

January 14, 2012
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When I refer to we, I’m talking United Kingdom and Ireland.  These Isles with gloomy dark winters and wet summers may not be beach holiday destinations but they are great for pasturelands with grazing cows…there is a benefit for putting up with lousy weather; great dairy.  If you have only lived in these parts you […]

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Why Start A Food Blog? And Can You Make Money Out Of It? Part II

January 8, 2012
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This post is following on from Part I here. Blog Envy & The Godivala Syndrome If you want to start one, do it, it’s free, make it your own but be prepared to put the hours in if you want it to have a certain regularity, it really does not feed itself. I’ve had moments […]

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Learning Curve During 2011

December 31, 2011
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I thought it would be a good idea to do a recap of my blog’s year, but rather than talk about recipes I go through and highlight what I’ve learnt through my posts.   Starting at the beginning of the year : Stoping Ice-cream Becoming Too Hard Blog Post Here Recipes which contains a lot of […]

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Some Spicing Tips

November 9, 2011
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I’ve written the post on Don’t Dry Roast Spices here, and wanted to do a quick one on a couple of tips.  A week or so ago I was asked by Carl if I had any tips for a Goan curry he was making, to which I answered no, but I said I do have […]

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Don’t Dry Roast Spices

November 8, 2011
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Want to be controversial in the foodie world here, tell them not to dry roast spices before making a masala mix.  If I hear or read one more chef, cookery writer stating, “you should dry roast spices for masala because it enhances them, giving a better flavour..”  I might just scream…quietly inside. It was a year […]

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Bread Flour – Rye Flour and Rye Dough

September 13, 2011
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Once you’re on your bread journey apart from being obsessed with the hydration of your dough…one of the questions that will pop up when venturing into different flours is; why can’t you knead rye dough?  I’ve known the answer for ages because the  How Baking Works book by Paula Figoni has the best and simplest explanations out […]

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Farmers’ Markets Are So Expensive

August 21, 2011
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The market is a familiar place for me.  I was brought up the first 10 years of my life by my Gran, who would often take me to our local town market on a Friday to sell her small bag of home grown beans and a couple of rabbits or hens, live and kicking.  Once […]

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Rolled Oats in Bread

August 12, 2011
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As I type I have an Oat Sourdough in the oven and when putting together the dough this morning I took the opportunity of photographing it to show what happens when I add oats to dough.  I’ve been making a variation of this loaf since the spring after Carl & Emily had tweeted about adding […]

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Why I like Summer

July 26, 2011
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The weather has been miserable this summer but today in my home there was evidence I’m in the height of summer.  These are my favourite fruits.  I spotted the doughnut nectarines this week, they were my wonderful discovery last summer.  The very dark red cherries start to appear around May and I could eat them […]

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Malt Syrup, Malt Extract, Maltose

July 14, 2011
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I started to research the subject of malt syrup, malt extract and maltose few months back because it appears in bagel recipes and have even seen it in a pizza dough recipe.  I couldn’t understand what its function was.  As I’m now in the middle of posting about bagels part I and part II, it […]

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Eggs Make a Difference to the Colour of Cake

May 7, 2011
Eggs Make a Difference

I’ve been wanting to try different eggs in a cake recipe for a long time, all because of my Gran’s eggs in Portugal.  I’ve been aware for years that feeding yellow corn to your chicken feed gives the egg yolks a more vibrant deep yellow which will produce the most golden yellow cake imaginable.  My […]

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