Welcome to series 3 of the Culinary Alphabet…WHERE the middle letter is F…

Nothing is as it seems here…this new series is the brainchild of Chel Owens who writes at A wife, My Verse, and Every Little Thing…my followers are so good to me they think up all sorts of permutations of the Alphabet…not sure if they want me to call it quits or what they will come up with next…Chel like Pete, however, will be called on to make her contribution every two weeks…they don’t get off scot-free…so I hope you have started brainstorming Chel…haha x

So what’s in store? In this series the A, B, C, etc will be the middle letter, for example, Brawn, Cabbage, and Yucca… how easy that will be who knows I am sure some of the letters of the alphabet could cause the grey matter to rebel or implode…haha…I also don’t want to use plurals to form a word as I may need that word for another letter and its sort of cheating I think…unless of course I really get stuck…which I am sure will happen…

Today it is words where the middle letter is F...which as it happens was a lot easier than I initially thought ..Seafood is rather generic and fish I could do a whole post on that there are Catfish, garfish, codfish, oarfish so many fish…and I thought some bright spark might try KFC…not allowed…my rules…x

So let’s go…

Buffalo:…Eating Buffalo meat is still a thing here in the North of Thailand although nowadays, there aren’t enough buffalo left to be used extensively as food. They have been disappearing from the Central region for a long time as farmers have started using more modern machinery. The number of cows, on the other hand, is increasing, as they’re now systematically and commercially raised for consumption.

A little bit of History…

However…farmers in the Central region didn’t eat buffalo because they worked the paddy fields. Here, the buffaloes were treated extremely well. Farmers bathed them in rivers or canals and set up bonfires to drive away mosquitoes. If a buffalo died of natural causes, the owner would save its horns and hang them in their home as a keepsake. These horns could also be used to hang clothes and hats. The meat was given to neighbours or anyone who wanted it.

By contrast, people here in the North used cows in agriculture. People there ate buffalo rather than beef. Some Northerners also had a belief that eating beef makes your head hurt…folk tales and myths still exist…

Bangkokians tended to eat beef and didn’t like buffalo meat due to its unappealing smell and darker colour.

Cauliflower…a cruciferous vegetable that is naturally high in fibre and B vitamins…Tasty ways of eating cauliflower are many like cauliflower rice and pizza crust, cauliflower cheese or soup, buffalo cauliflower wings, steamed or roasted as a side dish, fried until golden and added to rice dishes even used as the main ingredient in a curry.

Cornflour…Corn flour is a fine powder made by grinding dried corn kernels (maize). Corn flour is naturally gluten-free, which means baked goods featuring corn flour won’t produce the same rise as those made with wheat flour, but they will be tender and full of corn flavour.

Corn flour has long been used to coat fried foods, such as shrimp. It adds a pleasant corn flavour and crispy crunch—without the grittiness of cornmeal.

Comfrey…belonging to the family Boraginaceae comfrey has been valued in traditional medicine for over 2000 years…for its anti-inflammatory, analgesic and astringent properties.

Besides medicinal purposes, comfrey was grown for use in cooking and for feeding livestock. The plant was also used as food during the potato famine in Ireland in the 1840s. Today, however, the internal use of unprocessed comfrey is not recommended.

Farmers value comfrey as nutritious fodder for cattle and, when the leaves are soaked in rainwater for a few weeks they produce a valuable fertiliser for the garden, especially for tomatoes and potatoes.

Frankfurter…A Frankfurter is a thin parboiled sausage made of pure pork in a casing of sheep’s intestine. The taste is acquired by a method of low-temperature smoking. For consumption, occasionally Frankfurters are not cooked; they are heated in hot water for only about eight minutes to prevent the skin from bursting.

Jackfruit…has over recent years become increasingly popular as a vegan substitute for meat…very popular here …I also have a tree laden with Jackfruit at the moment I can’t eat them quick enough so anyone who wants to comes and take one or two are most welcome….For a recent post on the versatile Jackfruit please click this link.

Jaffa…the Jaffa Orange is also known as the Shamouti orange has few pips and a tough skin so ideal for exports Jaffa cakes are also one of my favourites…

Kefir…Kefir is a fermented drink, traditionally made using cow’s milk or goat’s milk. It is made by adding kefir grains to milk. These are not cereal grains, but grain-like colonies of yeast and lactic acid bacteria that resemble a cauliflower in appearance.

Coconut Kefir is very popular here…

Kofta…Grilled kofta (or kefta) are skewers of ground beef and lamb mixed with fresh parsley, onions, garlic and warm Middle Eastern spices.

Luffa… the Luffa… what a revelation that was not only can you eat it but you can scrub your back with it!

Muffins… Sweet or savoury most people love a muffin…for breakfast, brunch, a snack they come in blueberry flavour which is said to be the most popular, chocolate or banana…eggs and bacon muffins …Muffins are so versatile…The English even have their own version of a muffin which toasted and buttered filled with bacon and eggs is a wonderful thing or just buttered with jam/jelly.

Offal...just like marmite you either love it or hate it!… I was raised n offal and offal is very much on the menu here in Thailand…my hubby loves stuffed hearts and the spicy chicken liver the Thai way is often on our menu here…Chicken Livers also make a lovely pate…

Parfait…there is nothing quite as delicious as a chocolate parfait often found on all the best restaurants menu’s…it can however also be savoury…

Rafts…not only are they fun on the river but they also make your consomme very clear…A combination of ingredients is added to clarify broth by trapping the impurities and then rising to the surface in a floating mass.

Saffron… a beautiful spice used to colour a paella…derived from the flower of Crocus sativus, commonly known as the “saffron crocus”. The vivid crimson stigma and styles, called threads, are collected and dried for use mainly as a seasoning and colouring agent in food.

Souffle…if you get it right it is a wonderful thing but often the downfall of cooks especially on the cooking shows…

Taffy...Time for a story…One which evoked memories of sun, sea and sand…This very short story came about when on a writers retreat we were given a Salt Water Taffy and five minutes to write our thoughts down…

Salt Water Taffy by Carol Taylor.

Brilliant turquoise in colour, my fingers now sticky on my screen, sweet nothing on my tongue with a sort of fudge-like texture.  Would I eat another?

“No”

The disappointment flooded over me when I realized it wasn’t a blueberry flavour.

But, instead, it invoked pictures in my memory of a hazy blue sea,  sailboats, men in boaters,  ladies in bloomers and those wonderful beach huts which are now so in vogue. Children running along with kites, donkey rides on the clean white sand. Ice Cream and Candyfloss

How one tiny rectangle of sweet stickiness could evoke long-forgotten memories of an idyllic childhood was truly amazing.

Long Live Salt Water Taffy.

What is salt Water Taffy then where did it originate?

No one really knows but a man called Joseph Fralinger who was a former glassblower and fish merchant from Atlantic City opened a small concession in the mid-1880’s selling lemonade. After taking over a taffy stand he began to perfect his own recipe for Taffy. An entrepreneur at heart he packed one pound oyster boxes with Salt Water Taffy and launched the first ” Atlantic City Souvenir” today this one-pound box still remains the most popular souvenir.

Today there are over 155 flavours of Salt Water Taffy and not a drop of seawater to be seen

Truffle...The truffle especially the white truffle is rare and highly valued…the truffle is beautiful to eat and expensive but shaved over pasta ..a delicious thing…not pretty to look at but highly prized…

Wafer…Let’s finish on ice cream…there is nothing better than sitting on the beach with a cornet or an ice cream sandwich which used to be my dads favourite…that little block of vanilla ice cream sandwiched between two wafers…

That’s all for today for the letter F…

Thank you so much for your visit I hope you have enjoyed the read…See you tomorrow for another episode of made from scratch… Love Carol xxx