Luncheon 01/07/09

Another mad busy day so I write this as I chow down on another Tesco special. Today we have 8 Chicken Nuggets and a 'Seafood Cocktail' sandwich. Also Tropicana pomegranate, grape and apple.



Well the chicken nuggets are ace, and now in a box so they don't go soggy like they used to. I'm sure they're full of salt and dreaful for me. 'Seafood Cocktail', hmm... An interesting claim. It appeared to be some minced up seafood sticks and a prawn (one prawn) in some slime. Now, I told you what was in seafood sticks before. I'm not sure what I was expecting from this sandwich but it was like eating somebody's chilled snot... Nasty. I had images in my head of succulent prawns, chunks of crayfish, of salmon flakes and tuna, maybe even some smoked mackerel fillet. I think the heat must be messing with my mind.

Since I began writing this, one of the boys walked in with an ice-lolly for everyone. Splendid! So I had a rocket shaped lolly that tasted of... er... Disinfectant. But it was nonetheless very refreshing in this very warm afternoon. Sadly, I can no long taste anything after the severe chilling and massacring of my tastebuds, so i'll never know what my juice tasted like. It seemed warm though so not entirely pleasant.

Enjoy your luncheon!

Seafood Sticks

I love seafood sticks, I've just eaten about ten of them. I thought you might like to know how they are made though. It's nasty.

Basically you get some white fish trimmings such as Coley, Pollock, or Cod and you beat the shit out of it until it becomes a gelatinous goo. You then add some egg white, flavourings, preservatives, soy protein, starch, oil and sugar and then cure it. This is called 'surimi'. You then have to flavour it because it tastes of exactly nothing.

The curing process involves heating it up to polymerise the myosin in the fish flesh. Some fish is unsuitable for this such as whiting, which is where the starch comes into play. In the 70s and 80s before the outbreak of BSE, a cow's blood was typically used to set the fish. Now they tend to use transglutaminase which is an enzyme, to set the myosin. The pink colouring that you see on the edge of the sticks is most commonly artificial but sometimes it is achieved from grinding up shellfish exoskeletons like those on cooked prawns or crayfish.

Doesn't that sound tasty? Apparently the art of surimi making dates back 900 years ago to somewhere in East Asia. Industrialisation was realised in around 1960.

Seafood sticks rock!

Luncheon 11/02/08

Well, first of all, I am very sorry, I've been very busy at work so I haven't been able to keep this as up-to-date as I would have liked. Very naughty I know... Well, to be honest, I haven't really eaten much that's been special. I've made a few salads, done some wonderful things with cous-cous had some Morrisson's salads, you know the score. Here's a gallery of a few of the things I've been eating since last time:


Some very nasty Tuna salad from Benjy's


Something random and slimy from Boots


A marvellous sarnie I made


Liquid luncheon


Porky baps from the canteen


Today I could only be arsed to go to Boots so I had the meal deal which has now gone up to £3.20 I might add! Still cheap though, and I had a 'Tomato and Basil Chicken Pasta Salad', which came with a box of carrots and dip and an Orange and Passionfruit smoothie. The salad wasn't bad, slimy and mayonnaisey as usual but that's par for the course. The chicken was a little dry but the dressing was nice. I even got three whole leaves of spinach as a sort of token effort at justifying the name 'salad'. We all know my feelings on the misuse of that word! Wasn't bad though in terms of flavour though, I'll give them that. Here it is in all it's glory:



At the weekend I perfected my 'Special Sauce for Putting on Pan-Fried Seabass mmm it's Dead Nice'. That's it's official name by the way. You make it thus:


Ingredients:

~6 spring onions or one and a half shallots, finely chopped
4 tbl spoons of sherry vinegar
2 egg yolks
200g clarified butter
7 big fresh basil leaves, shredded
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
3 tbl spoons of water
salt and pepper to season

Chuck the spring onions and vinegar in a hot pan and quickly reduce. When the liquid is down to about a third, pour out and reserve. clean the pan and refill with some cold water and put on the hob until boiling. On top of the pan place a glass or metal bowl. Chuck in the egg yolks, water and seasoning and heat while whisking until the mixture has gone pale and fluffy then slowly pour in the clarified butter whisking all of the time. This is the difficult part cos you end up with butter everywhere and all down your arm. The mixture should start to emulsify like a hollandaise and thicken. Lob in the chilli, basil and vinegar and onion reduction, and whisk for a little bit, then take off the heat and keep it warm over the water until ready to serve. Don't let it go cold before serving or it'll go proper nasty and congealed, a bit like marzipan but horrible.

Pan fry your seabass (also works well with red snapper, mackerel, and trout) and spread some of this tasty stuff over the top, not loads cos it can be quite tart. Server with rocket and cherry tomatoes and a spoon of mushroom risotto or cous-cous. Absolutely bloody splendid! Very pleased with myself over this one. I also have a tasty recipe for a roasted red pepper sauce that goes amazingly with plaice or skate. I'll give you that another time though...


In closing, I thought you might like this poster I found in a pub in Cannock yesterday, made me chuckle!



Oh yes and...

project:Adonis weight: 14st 1lb

Luncheon 11/01/08

Ah Friday... Usually the realm of the Friday Special in the canteen, but alas not this week. So JD and I ventured down to the Varsity in town for a bit of two-for-a-fiver action. I had the 'Smoked Haddock and Spring Onion Fish Cakes' which came with chips and peas. Standard. It looked like this:



Well, let me see... It could have been good. Even for Brake Brothers generic reheatable pub crap, it could have been good. However, there just isn't any passion in these pub kitchens any more. The fish cakes were overcooked, deep-fried in dirty oil that was too cold. The upshot of which being sloppy greasy fishcakes that tasted a bit of burnt. The chips were once freshly cooked I believe, when they got to me they were lukewarm and chewy like they'd been on a hot plate for an hour. Nasty. And the peas again... Oh Lord, how hard can it be to cook a pea? Again, overcooked, anaemic, tasteless balls of horrible... I bet the kitchen staff are all budding chefs as well in their brains. Amateurs. Even the plates were cold. The superfluous wedge of dry lemon was a lovely finishing touch, couldn't even be arsed to add the usual bit of chopped parsley garnish. However, for £2.50, one can't complain too loudly, it was a bargain! Can't say as it fitted in with the diet but I'm allowed a little indulgence as long as I work it off!

Oh yes, weigh in day! I managed to drop another pound. Must try harder next week!

project:Adonis weight: 14st 2lb