Yes! I will make these.
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Jumping in quite late here, so apologies.
Kebabs have very different spices than gyros. In particular, kebabs (should) have a prominent use of sumac, which is characteristic of Turkish food.
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Welcome to the BBS! And well done - it’s 38c outside where I am, and yet now I have a hankering for oxtail.
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I’m a bit clearer on Irish flour than UK flour, but it’s not as clean a comparison as that. The high end of US AP flour and the low end of US bread flour are both 12% protein, which is apparently the standard for “strong flour” in the UK and Ireland. And then your regular flour sits somewhere between the low end of US AP and US Cake flour.
So the substitution is either higher gluten AP or softer Bread flour. I’m not super up on my flours cause I’m shit for baking. But I think King Arthur AP and Gold Medal Bread are in the right range. All purpose flour is crazy variable as it is, most of them apparently sit between 9 and 12% protien. Which crosses over with both pastry and bread flour.
It’s a bit more frustrating on the other end of it. As there aren’t a ton of direct equivalents . Trying to mimic basic Odlums from Ireland mostly involved mixing cake/pastry flour with AP and fucking around till I got it right. The extra coarse whole meal was even worse cause now you’re mixing AP whole wheat, coarse wheat germ, and cake/pastry to try and get it right.
I said fuck it and just bought the damn Odlums. There’s expat shops near me and it’s widely available online. Most flour brands seem to be publishing their actual protein level these days, and I think you guys in Europe might require it cause it seems easier to pull up. So it’s probably easier to figure out what the hell is going on these days.
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I thought that was “kebap?” Whereas kebabs/kabobs are skewered and grilled (and themselves vary from Iran to Pakistan or Afghanistan…)
My recollection re: Al Pastor was that Jewish immigrants brought the gyro/shawarma/doner concept to Mexico, but Wikipedia says it was Lebanese immigrants. I’m not sure how they’d account for the jump from chicken, beef, or lamb to pork in any case (I know that (typically) neither Jews nor Muslims would eat it, but I really have no idea about Maronite Christians).
What happens if one omits the egg?
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It still works fine without the egg. Sometimes I add a little aquafaba if the mixture looks too dry, but it’s usually fine without.
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Doner kebab/doner kebap are the same thing. IIRC, “doner” refers to the bread. So “doner kebab” is meat on bread, “kebab” is usually meat skewers on rice.
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I wonder if those freeze well?
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They freeze well. I make them in batches of about 12 and freeze them. You can cook them in an oven on a tray straight from frozen, just add a few extra minutes to the cooking time.
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Aquafaba is the viscous water in which legume seeds such as chickpeas have been cooked. Due to its ability to mimic functional properties of egg whites in cooking, aquafaba can be used as a direct replacement for them in some cases, including meringues and marshmallows. Its composition makes it especially suitable for use by people who avoid eggs, such as vegans.
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Cup of Tea Cake
This is our favourite celebration cake. It’s been the center of countless birthdays, holidays, and even our wedding. It’s not a traditional dry fruit cake - it’s rich, ■■■■■, and deliciously flavoured with black tea. It can be eaten like a cake with icing, or like a pudding, with Crème Anglaise.
Ingredients
- 250g of butter
- 250g of sugar
- 200g of plain flour
- 1kg of dried fruit
- A mug of strong tea
- 50ml rum (optional)
- 1 tbsp mixed spice
- 4 eggs
Method
- Put the hot tea, rum, sugar, mixed spice, and melted butter into a large pan, and heat it until it almost boils.
- Remove from the heat and add the the dried fruit. Leave the mixture to stand for at least two hours.
- Stir in the eggs, and then gradually sift in the flour. You can add a handful of nuts or seeds at this point.
- Preheat the oven to about 140 centigrade, and bake the mixture in a cake tin for between 2-4 hours. The cake is ready when the top is firm, and a metal skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Seal the sides and top of the cake with marmalade, and then add marzipan and icing.
- If you want the cake to last longer, prick the bottom with a skewer and feed it with a little alcohol.
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I am just glad they did.
Truly a Prince of Tacos
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What about nonstick skillets? (Mine is no longer nonstick.)
Is that carcinogenic teflon still used on them?
Is there a good nonstick brand that isn’t bad for our health?
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Non-stick cookware should be purchased inexpensively and recycled once it no longer is fit to serve, IMO. I think some hefty cooking blogs are of the same mind.
TJ Maxx always has a good deal (14-20 usd) on a nonstick skillet.
If you want a permanent nonstick pan, cast iron or carbon steel are the best option.
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I’ve had good luck with the non-stick ceramic coated pans. Supposedly they are “safer” than Teflon, and in my experience they hold up better. I bought a 10-inch and a 12-inch set of skillets with a white ceramic interior from Costco (or Target?) for around $30. I use them for cooking like eggs, fish, veggies - things that don’t require high extended heat. (Use something heavier-duty for pan searing meat.) While the label said using metal utensils is ok, I rarely do that.
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I have a cast iron one, but, you know, they’re not nonstick. Cooking eggs in it means leaving a lot of the egg in the pan.
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you might need to reseason your cast iron pan if its doing that. eggs slide out without leaving a trace from my mom’s cast iron pan. she uses flax seed oil for seasoning her pans.
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You’re totally right about cast iron. There are carbon steel pans that can be seasoned to glass, but they take a good bit of maintaining.
Here’s an article from a food site that I respect that gives a deeper explanation about “cheap” nonstick: https://www.seriouseats.com/2017/02/why-cheap-nonstick-skillets-are-best.html
I don’t typically hold a “use it and get rid of it” mindset about much at all, but in this particular instance it makes some sense. YMMV.
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I think I’ll attempt this with matcha green tea (of which we have a ton of).
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