Saturday Snippets …23rd January 2020

Welcome to this weeks Saturday Snippets…in many ways, my favourite post of the week as I can indulge my whimsy…The healthy eating is..it is…starting slowly…I am also starting slowly January is a funny month so much going on…I don’t know where to start and ******Windows Update has knocked my graphic media card out which I am trying to fix…sigh..anyway, let’s start with Haggis…

Burns Night 25th January…

Born in Ayrshire in 1759, Robert Burns is Scotland’s national bard…Burns Night is celebrated every year to celebrate the poets birthday. A traditional meal served is Haggis, Neeps and Tatties followed by Cranachan.

Before eating the Selkirk Grace is said…

The Selkirk Grace is a prayer said afore eatin that’s attreebute tae Robert Burns: Some hae meat and canna eat, … But we hae meat and we can eat, Sae let the Lord be thankit!

What were my biggest culinary successes this week ...I have to tell you as in 8 years of living here fluffy light dumplings have become a memory of years past…my dumplings have been likened and quite correctly to the fatbergs which collect in the sewers…

Having learnt quite a lot about humidity, sea levels and flour this year…I incorporated all my findings and applied science into the mix…The result was edible ( at last)

Also, my experiment with adding wholewheat flour to a favourite recipe has been successful thus far…I have now substituted 200gm stoneground wholewheat flour with no changes to the recipe…For the one pictured here just substitute 200gm of the 500 gm of flour required for the loaf for wholewheat flour…I made no other changes to the recipe link below.

Here is the original recipe for the sandwich loaf

Weird ( and) sometimes dangerous fruit.

The Ackee fruit is the national fruit of Jamaica…If improperly eaten, though, ackee can cause what has been dubbed the Jamaican Vomiting Sickness — which, other than the self-explanatory symptoms, can lead to coma or death.

Unripe ackee fruit contains a poison called hypoglycin, which means you must be careful to wait until the fruit’s protective pods turn red and open naturally. Jamaicans will often say that the fruit will “yawn” or “smile”—open naturally, on its own—before it’s ready to be picked from the tree.

Once open, the only edible portion is the yellow arilli, which surround always-toxic black seeds. With all that risk comes a delicious payoff — Jamaica’s national dish is ackee with codfish.

In preparation for use in the national dish, ackee and saltfish, the fruit is usually boiled gently for up to half an hour. The prepared fruit is removed from the water and usually sautéed with onions, tomatoes, sweet peppers, allspice, and Scotch bonnet peppers, and then mixed with salt fish. It’s easy to tell when ackee is cooked because the flesh will turn from a cream colour to bright yellow. Remove it from the heat source as soon as it turns yellow to avoid overcooking it. When it’s fully cooked, ackee becomes delicate; it crushes and falls apart easily.

When served with salt fish, it’s often accompanied by breadfruit, hard dough bread, Johnny cakes, fried plantain, or boiled green bananas. It’s also often eaten with rice and peas, or white rice.

Ackee can also be used in soups and desserts such as cakes and custards.

Did you know?

On 23rd January 1060 …The Trieste dives to a record depth of 10,911 meters (35,797 ft)

Mans courage often astounds me…Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh reached the bottom of the Earth’s deepest know point…Amazing!

I’m sure everyone has heard about the Salem Witch Trials...But have you heard that back in the 1820’s when many people thought that tomatoes were toxic…

There was The Salem Tomato Trial… 

But…One man, Colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson, refused to believe the tomato was poisonous…he entered the courtroom with a basket of tomatoes and commenced eating them in front of everyone…those who came expecting to see blood were in for shock he stood tall and munched his way through them all..proving that the whole matter was unfounded gossip…

Let’s have a tune…

music notes

January 23rd 1986 was a momentum occasion for music when the first artists were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame…One of my favourite tunes which depict my love of Rock n Roll …

Among the first inductees were Ray Charles, James Brown, and Elvis Presley…But I am sure they won’t mind if I stick with Joan and The Jetts…

Carol Taylor’s Experimental Kitchen.

 

I love mint…mint sauce with lamb and new potatoes, heaven…I add mint to salads especially Thai Beef Salad and Larb mint make s the dish sing, I make mint tea, add to pesto, it pairs well with fruit and mint ice cream is lovely…But what else can you do with mint? There are lots of dips made with mint especially in Indian cuisine…But as I have lots of mint I was looking for something else something different …Many of the recipes I found use mint essence I want to use fresh mint…anyway I came across a cake recipe using chopped mint and using mint in the black cocoa topping…

The cake I made today…it tastes good it wouldn’t be worth sandwiching the two sponges together with cream and then topping it with chocolate and mint icing…I think I am going to 1) I am going to listen to the people who had reviewed the recipe and 2) as I don’t quit…I am going to use my mother’s victoria sandwich recipe and add the mint.

Take two...Please come back next week for an update…

If anyone has any recipes using fresh mint that is not a dip or a salad that you would like to share, please do…xx

Thank you for popping in today I hope you have enjoyed Saturday Snippets …as always I look forward to your comments as you all know I love to chat…Thanx Carol xx

 

29 thoughts on “Saturday Snippets …23rd January 2020”

  1. Jennie

    I didn’t know tomatoes were considered poisonous at one time. Did you know watermelons were, too? They grow in wet marshy areas where mosquitoes breed, and people who got malaria blamed it on the watermelons. Learning about the Jamaican fruit was fascinating.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Pingback: CarolCooks2 weekly roundup…17th January-23rd January 2021…Recipes, Whimsy, Music and Lifestyle Changes… | Retired? No one told me!

  4. koolkosherkitchen

    Robert Burns is one of my favorite poets; thank you for mentioning his special prayer – how cute!
    Since you are asking about mint, dear Carol: an Israeli variation of lemonade is Lemonana (“nana” is mint in Hebrew); it’s a crushed fresh mint tea with lemon, delicious and refreshing when chilled and served on ice.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. CarolCooks2 Post author

      Thank you, Dolly.. I do make mint tea with lemon which is lovely I am just looking for some different recipes using mint I made a cake yesterday with chopped mint it just needs some tweaks but early thoughts on taste were good… I love that you are fan of Rabbie Burns his poems and songs are beautiful such a shame he left this world so soon… but so lovely his words live on for posterity such a talent.. Have a glorious Sunday dear Dolly… Hugs xx

      Liked by 1 person

  5. Jim Borden

    Yes, I am always amazed at the courage some people show to do thins most people wouldn’t. The tomato story is a classic.

    I love the look of the bread, but I think I’ll skip the ackee fruit…

    Liked by 1 person

  8. johnrieber

    Carol, as you know I made a meat pie a while back, wanting to explore different types of food…dumplins are next on my list…I aspire to make all of your recipes (not counting the ant salad yet!)

    Liked by 1 person

  9. petespringerauthor

    Burns Night—what a great tradition!

    “Fatbergs collecting in the sewers,”—quite an image in my mind right now! 🤣

    Vomiting until death. What could be worse?

    Seven miles down in the ocean? Like that’ll ever happen to me. My ears start hurting after a few feet just thinking about it.

    I love the scene of imagining someone eating tomatoes in a courtroom. That’s one way to prove your innocence.

    Joan Jett? One of those female rock and rollers who probably would kick my ass. She scares me. 😉

    Great snippets today, Carol!

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Victoria Zigler (@VictoriaZigler)

    I don’t really have any recipes for you, but I do agree fresh mint goes well with a lot of things. I love a good mint tea, a nice mint sauce or dressing for my meal sometimes, etc… Just because I don’t eat the lamb, doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy the mint sauce. 😉 A couple of fresh mint leaves also go nicely in a sandwich or wrap with humous, and give new potatoes or peas a nice flavour if you boil them with some mint.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. CarolCooks2 Post author

      Yes to all of those Tori..I am just looking for something to do that’s different and it seems to be a difficult one with mint..Thank you , anyway have a lovely weekend 🙂 x

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  11. beetleypete

    My first regular crewmate in the Ambulance Service was from Barbados. I tasted ‘salf fish and ackee’ in 1981, when he brought it in for his lunch. I can only remember the salt… Then he got me to try ‘Souse’, a pig’s trotter in the hottest sauce I had eaten up to that time. I had to apologise for spitting it out in front of him.
    Dumplings are a great favourite of mine, but I have never had any as good as those my mum made when I was a child.
    Best wishes, Pete.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. CarolCooks2 Post author

      Dumplings are a favourite here but they have never come out light and fluffy and I gave up..these ones were much better so hopefully they will get better as for ackee and salt fish I had it ages ago when we went to Jamaicia and it was ok but as you say salty…Yes they love hot sauce …Have a great weekend , Pete 🙂 xx

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