DS Forums

 
 

Ingredients you can or can't get from your local shops


Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 07-10-2013, 21:48
degsyhufc
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Up North
Posts: 58,791

Seen a couple of recipies recently and myself and others have commented whilst the recipies are all well and good the chefs seem to expect the ingredients to be available everywhere to everyone.

A couple of examples are Tom Kerridge with his beef ribs and Jamie Oliver and smoked ham hocks.

I've never seen them in local supermarkets or butcher.


On the otherhand though I mentioned to a poster that wanted to do ribs but didn't like pork that they could use lamb, if they could find lamb ribs.
I was in Morrisons the other day and spotted packs of lamb ribs. Unfortunately they weren't in a rack, they'd already been split but I did think of getting a pack and doing some bbq lamb ribs as a change to pork.
degsyhufc is offline   Reply With Quote
Please sign in or register to remove this advertisement.
Old 07-10-2013, 22:42
earthling13
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 10,268
One of my pet hates is when TV chefs say 'if your supermarket doesn't have it, you can always get it in your local Greek/Asian/Chinese store. Some of us have absolutely no access to these sort of stores!
earthling13 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-10-2013, 02:53
Pixie Queen
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: My Own Little World
Posts: 1,102
If you have a local butcher you should be able to ask him about the beef ribs. A ham hock is the same as a ham shank and again if you have a butcher they will be able to advise you when they have them in.

My local butcher is getting Mutton on Thursday and I'll be there to get some - I'm going to give scotch pies a go and I know he'll mince the mutton for me. It's been a while since I tried a hot water crust but wish me luck.

If our local butcher see's himself or I in the shop he always gives us the heads up if he's getting something special in- ie mutton, venison, game or - I need to whisper this- veal.

I understand that many people have to rely on supermarkets for their meat and even if the have a "Butchers" counter they don't always have the cuts available.
Pixie Queen is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-10-2013, 03:28
Pixie Queen
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: My Own Little World
Posts: 1,102
Oh and - the "local eskimo/maori supermarket or grocer" thing - that drives me mad.
Pixie Queen is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-10-2013, 12:31
Toby LaRhone
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 9,227
One of my pet hates is when TV chefs say 'if your supermarket doesn't have it, you can always get it in your local Greek/Asian/Chinese store. Some of us have absolutely no access to these sort of stores!
With some of the lesser available ingredients they should add "And if you can't, would you even notice?"

Here's an example - Heston Blumanthal's ingredients just for the chilli powder blend for his "perfect" con carne:

2-3 dried devil's penis chillies

2-3 dried bird's-eye chillies

1 tsp Somalian extra hot chilli powder

10g sweet smoked paprika

10g Durango ground chilli powder

10g El Rey ground chilli powder

10g Madera ground chilli powder

20g Pecos Red ground chilli powder

20g Rio Tejas ground chilli powder

The ingredients should be available "on line"
Toby LaRhone is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-10-2013, 15:50
Shrike
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Nottingham
Posts: 11,481
Morrisons is quite good for the more obscure butchery stuff. I've seen ham hocks (though not smoked), tripe, pork bellies (not just the slices), pork crackling and oxtail.
The fish counter is pretty good too - seen sprats, sardines, herring, oysters, mussels, squid and even fresh octopus! Also decent manx kippers.
Shrike is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-10-2013, 16:02
Utopian Girl
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 7,610
One of my pet hates is when TV chefs say 'if your supermarket doesn't have it, you can always get it in your local Greek/Asian/Chinese store. Some of us have absolutely no access to these sort of stores!
Exactly! Mine's about 5 miles away and off the bus route - plus we haven't a good/clean Chinese supermarket.
We have a great Asian store but as I've said it's not exactly around the corner.
I do bulk buy when I go there but you can't do that with fresh produce obviously. plus being veggie I love to try different veg.
Utopian Girl is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-10-2013, 16:19
Jambo_c
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 3,725
With some of the lesser available ingredients they should add "And if you can't, would you even notice?"

Here's an example - Heston Blumanthal's ingredients just for the chilli powder blend for his "perfect" con carne:

2-3 dried devil's penis chillies

2-3 dried bird's-eye chillies

1 tsp Somalian extra hot chilli powder

10g sweet smoked paprika

10g Durango ground chilli powder

10g El Rey ground chilli powder

10g Madera ground chilli powder

20g Pecos Red ground chilli powder

20g Rio Tejas ground chilli powder

The ingredients should be available "on line"
To be fair, I think that was from an old book of his. In his more recent books, certainly the one I have the strangest ingredient in his chilli is pimiento piquillo peppers which I've actually seen in Tesco.

Our local Tesco (which admittedly is huge) has quite a good world food section, last week I picked up some Kaffir lime leaves and Galangal from the Thai section.

As for meats and fish, as others have said, go to a butchers or fishmongers.
Jambo_c is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-10-2013, 16:21
JumpTheShark
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: London
Posts: 2,540
With some of the lesser available ingredients they should add "And if you can't, would you even notice?"

Here's an example - Heston Blumanthal's ingredients just for the chilli powder blend for his "perfect" con carne:

2-3 dried devil's penis chillies

2-3 dried bird's-eye chillies...
Think I'll give that one a miss.
JumpTheShark is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-10-2013, 16:32
malpasc
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 6,354
I live in that London. I've never had an issue sourcing specific ingredients.
malpasc is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-10-2013, 16:46
Shrike
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Nottingham
Posts: 11,481
As for meats and fish, as others have said, go to a butchers or fishmongers.
I can't think of an actual fishmonger left in the Nottingham area. Some of the supermarkets have a fish counter and the Victoria market still has a couple of fish stalls, but an actual bona fide fishmonger, no
Still a few butchers but they too are in decline.
Shrike is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-10-2013, 16:51
brb
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: #teamHELEN
Posts: 21,549
One of my pet hates is when TV chefs say 'if your supermarket doesn't have it, you can always get it in your local Greek/Asian/Chinese store. Some of us have absolutely no access to these sort of stores!
Even then, "Asian store" is such a vast market, anyway. We have around 3 Asian supermarkets around us, and each one, despite all focusing primarily on Chinese cuisine, have completely different products!


It's taken me ages to find black salt! Thankfully, one of the local Asian stores has began stocking it
brb is offline Follow this poster on Twitter   Reply With Quote
Old 08-10-2013, 19:44
degsyhufc
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Up North
Posts: 58,791
As for meats and fish, as others have said, go to a butchers or fishmongers.
My local butcher doesn't even do smoked or streaky bacon.
He just does the basics that he knows people will buy.
degsyhufc is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-10-2013, 03:31
evil c
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Wirral Peninsula
Posts: 4,777
2-3 dried devil's penis chillies
I'm glad you had the word 'chillies' there, otherwise it'd be a very unusual and rare ingredient!
evil c is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-10-2013, 09:28
Bunny82
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: The south
Posts: 452
Morrisons is quite good for the more obscure butchery stuff. I've seen ham hocks (though not smoked), tripe, pork bellies (not just the slices), pork crackling and oxtail.
The fish counter is pretty good too - seen sprats, sardines, herring, oysters, mussels, squid and even fresh octopus! Also decent manx kippers.
Love Morrisons meat selections. We've been buying pigs' cheeks and beef skirt for a while from there. The fish counter is top too, always very fresh, unlike Tesco.
Bunny82 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-10-2013, 10:08
Toby LaRhone
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 9,227
To be fair, I think that was from an old book of his. In his more recent books, certainly the one I have the strangest ingredient in his chilli is pimiento piquillo peppers which I've actually seen in Tesco.
TV series last year Jambo, in which he created his "perfect" version of a dish each week. In his con carne he also used several different types and cuts of prime meat and the meat cooking process wasn't straightforward either.
Interesting viewing in some ways but of no use whatsoever to the keen home cook in terms of being achievable or affordable.

Edit: he does other more conventional versions.
Toby LaRhone is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-10-2013, 10:35
JulesF
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 5,111
Seen a couple of recipies recently and myself and others have commented whilst the recipies are all well and good the chefs seem to expect the ingredients to be available everywhere to everyone.

A couple of examples are Tom Kerridge with his beef ribs and Jamie Oliver and smoked ham hocks.

I've never seen them in local supermarkets or butcher.


On the otherhand though I mentioned to a poster that wanted to do ribs but didn't like pork that they could use lamb, if they could find lamb ribs.
I was in Morrisons the other day and spotted packs of lamb ribs. Unfortunately they weren't in a rack, they'd already been split but I did think of getting a pack and doing some bbq lamb ribs as a change to pork.
Any even halfway decent butcher will be able to provide beef ribs and ham hocks! You might need to ask though. Most butcher's shops are limited in space out front. Ours has all sorts of things round the back. Talk to your butcher!

I've bought beef ribs from Sainsbury's, and I've seen ham hocks at the meat counter.
JulesF is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-10-2013, 11:51
big_hard_lad
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland
Posts: 4,011
I can't find bloody Polenta anywhere!
big_hard_lad is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-10-2013, 12:20
jazzyjazzy
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 3,005
Down here in Spain you will be lucky to find Garam Masala never mind assorted chillies but you can have anything from a pig.
jazzyjazzy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-10-2013, 12:26
burton07
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Sitting at my PC
Posts: 9,434
Down here in Spain you will be lucky to find Garam Masala never mind assorted chillies but you can have anything from a pig.
I should think you could buy any powdered spices online though.

Look at this site that I googled.
burton07 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-10-2013, 12:33
Jambo_c
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 3,725
TV series last year Jambo, in which he created his "perfect" version of a dish each week. In his con carne he also used several different types and cuts of prime meat and the meat cooking process wasn't straightforward either.
Interesting viewing in some ways but of no use whatsoever to the keen home cook in terms of being achievable or affordable.

Edit: he does other more conventional versions.
I didn't see that series but he put that recipe in a book that came out in 2006 called "In Search of Perfection". His more recent books have been a lot more "supermarket friendly".

I can't find bloody Polenta anywhere!
Our local Tesco has it either ready to use or dried. The dried variety could well be labelled "Corn Meal".
Jambo_c is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-10-2013, 12:44
Utopian Girl
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 7,610
I live in that London. I've never had an issue sourcing specific ingredients.
Don't! You're making me jealous! I don't think hubby would leave his job and take out a mortgage for me to be around my favourite ingredients!
Utopian Girl is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-10-2013, 13:15
jazzyjazzy
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 3,005
I should think you could buy any powdered spices online though.

Look at this site that I googled.
You have not encountered the Spanish postal system
Seriously - we bring things with us we know we will not be able to find whilst we are here and I have a large store cupboard.
jazzyjazzy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-10-2013, 14:16
Pumping Iron
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 22,992
No fresh durian fruit, dried salt anchovies, kaya or shrimp paste at my local Chinese supermarket.
Pumping Iron is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-10-2013, 14:33
Watcher #1
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Here <-------------
Posts: 6,644
I can't find bloody Polenta anywhere!
Our local Tesco has it either ready to use or dried. The dried variety could well be labelled "Corn Meal".
Ours doesn't - I've trying to find it for ages
Watcher #1 is offline   Reply With Quote
 
Reply




 
Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 17:46.