Anyone know a reliable method to safely identify mushrooms? There seem to be risks involved in jumping to too many conclusions that these things are edible, when they could in fact be deadly.  Is there a simple guide which may be followed or is it a case of committing to plenty of study before become confident in such matters.?

As some of you know I've been experimenting with sous vide cookery lately, and when discussing it with  Gav Iscon recently I was able to assure him I was close to being able to collate my results into a single post. So here it is! 

As you probably know, the sous vide method calls for prolonged cooking at low temperatures in a water bath, with a final sear to brown the outside of the food. The main advantages are allowing for tender results without overcooking the centre of the food.  As I have discovered though, a long cook in a water bath can make food a little soggy, so be sure to learn from my experience and don't spare the horses when applying that final heat - I certainly didn't!

Starting with my all time favourite, pizza, I was interested to see what benefits tenderising the dough with a long cook might bring.  I actually bought a premade pizza which came in a plastic baggie so as to avoid the problems associated in wrapping a home made pizza base, but next time I will be more adventurous and make my own.  6 hours at 60C ought to do it.  I think it did it... As you can see from the pic below it came out very tender.  Well, it came out eventually, with some scraping of the oven floor...

I then continued my intrepid research, to see what benefits sous vide might bring to BIR cooking.  So first naan, then samosas and finally onion bhajis received the benefits of a six hour water bath cook, followed by a 400C grill (don't spare the horses!!)

I can confirm, as I believe the photos prove, that some truly remarkable results are within reach with this method. I can't actually confirm how any of it tasted as I was too exhausted and frankly a little bit too scared to eat any, plus I had to nip out to work a night shift to pay off the staggering electricity bill I'd just run up.

Nevertheless, if you ask me sous vide is the future - I imagine all BIRs will be cooking their base sous vide quite soon, when the massive benefits are fully appreciated.  Sous vide preparation of the final curry dish would offer the restauranteur distinct advantages, as the patrons would have many hours in which to order and consume drinks. 

Well I hope you appreciate this post and of course your suggestions for my next sous vide experiments are welcome! I do believe the quality of my results speak for themselves and trust they will add to your Friday ;P

Price includes shipping from China (approx 4 weeks) but if you're patient enough to wait then this might ease the need for kitchen clean ups following those bhagars:

http://www.banggood.com/Kitchen-Oil-Splash-Guard-Gas-Stove-Cooker-Oil-Removal-Scald-Proof-Board-Kitchen-Tool-p-1020861.html

Looks like it will work for pans up to 26cm, or just buy two if you want more flexibility. I've ordered from these folks many times and stuff always shows up in the end.

Yorkshire puddings

Yield 24 small puds
110g all purpose flour or ideally bread flour
150g milk (or 120g milk + 30g water)
Half teaspoon salt
2 Eggs

Yield 12 small puds
55g bread flour
75g milk (or 60g milk + 15g water)
Quarter teaspoon salt
1 Egg


Method: sieve flour into a bowl, add salt. Add eggs and a third of the milk to the flour and whisk to combine. Add remaining milk and whisk again. Rest for 5 mins then whisk for 30 secs

Preheat oven to fan 220C / gas mark 8 10 mins and place half tsp beef dripping into each well of bun tray then put into oven for ten mins to heat. Give batter final whisk then add 1 dessertspoonful into each well and bake 9/10 mins at fan 200C/gas mark 7 (turn oven down after putting them in). Note, place insulating material such as oven glove on work surface to prevent bun tray cooling while you spoon mix into it.

When cooked they can be put into a freezer bag and frozen, then just place in a hot oven (fan 170C / gas mark 5) for 3 mins to reheat from frozen.

Falafel, if you didn't already know, is a wildly popular Middle eastern snack food. A patty made with chopped up chickpeas, garlic, onion, coriander leaves and often parsley too, plus spices. I don't use parsley because I don't have any in. Like any curry head I do have a ready supply of coriander leaves and stalks, which do just fine.

Cheap, nutritious and damn tasty, it's no wonder most of the countries in the Middle East all like to claim credit for inventing it. If you have a deep fat fryer and a food processor you should get some dried whole chana and start making falafel.

DO NOT USE CANNED CHICKPEAS as they are precooked and have a habit of making falafel which fall apart when fried. You don't have to add flour or egg, these will bind and fry just fine without these spurious additions.

Ingredients, enough for 20 small falafel, (one serving)
75g dried chickpeas, soaked in 4 times their volume of water for 24 hours then drained and dried (150g weight post-soaking)
1 clove garlic
Quarter of a small onion
1/8 lvl tsp baking soda
1/4 lvl tsp ground cumin
1/4 lvl tsp ground coriander
1/4 lvl tsp salt
4 pinches of chopped coriander leaves or stalks. Four good four-fingered grabs
1/8 lvl tsp ground black pepper

Method:
Put chickpeas, garlic and onion into food processor with chopper blade in place and blitz well till reduced to small pieces, but not yet a paste. Add spices and soda plus coriander stalks or leaves and blitz again to mix.
Remove to a bowl and they say you should refrigerate for 30-60 mins at this point but I don't bother.

Form into small balls with wet hands, or get a falafel scoop off eBay or Amazon and shape into falafels.
Fry at 170C for 4 mins and drain on kitchen paper. They should be a fairly deep colour as a lot of the flavour comes from the caramelisation of the surface layer. It's probably not true caramelisation but you know what I mean.
Serve with hummus, tahini sauce, sweet chilli sauce or if you're a heathen like me, ketchup.

Recommended kit:
Falafel scoop
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00AMAPSXC/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_0XLuvb117Q72X
Mini food processor
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0000C6WPC/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_tYLuvb0M8K17X