The General Chat Thread (2016-2022)

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Lullabelle said:
We have just been watching Rick Stein's long weekend programme, he was in Cadiz Spain, beautiful looking place. Anyway he was singing the praise of sherry, now I imagine proper sherry is lovely but I cannot get past the fact that for me sherry has always been the tipple of choice for ladies of a certain age.
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Ladies of a certain age usually drank Harvey Bristol Cream. Yuk. A Fino sherry, even mass market Tio Pepe, is altogether different and is a marvellous tipple. If you are partial to white wine you will love it - it's method of production has similarities with that of Champagne. It must be drunk chilled from the fridge, never at room temperature, and goes really well with tapas. Give it a try!
 
When I drank sherry, which was very rare, La Ina was my preferred tipple.
 
epicuric said:
Yes I've heard good reports of that but never had the pleasure of trying it. It's also a Fino isn't it?
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It is a very, very dry fino. I haven't had it for many years though.
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
I candled by broody hens eggs today for the first time. It is where you very carefully hold a high power torch (or similar) up to the egg and look through it.
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I seem to remember many years ago [ok let's just say over half a century] the shop where we bought our eggs did this as a matter of course with all the eggs he sold. Don't know exactly why but I suppose it was to check for freshness ?
 
epicuric said:
Ladies of a certain age usually drank Harvey Bristol Cream. Yuk. A Fino sherry, even mass market Tio Pepe, is altogether different and is a marvellous tipple. If you are partial to white wine you will love it - it's method of production has similarities with that of Champagne. It must be drunk chilled from the fridge, never at room temperature, and goes really well with tapas. Give it a try!
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We both prefer red wine but any sherry advice is welcome
 
Lullabelle said:
We both prefer red wine but any sherry advice is welcome
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Just got back from shopping with TWO bottles of Sherry and various bits for tapas for a working lunch. We are going to be spending a few hours in the kitchen, Mrs Epicuric is on a Christmas pudding mission, and I shall be smoking random stuff. And drinking Sherry. We report back later with tasting notes! :)
 
epicuric said:
Just got back from shopping with TWO bottles of Sherry and various bits for tapas for a working lunch. We are going to be spending a few hours in the kitchen, Mrs Epicuric is on a Christmas pudding mission, and I shall be smoking random stuff. And drinking Sherry. We report back later with tasting notes! :)
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We will be having a tapas style evening and meal on Christmas eve, we bought some baby chorizo, we both like in honey, we have Spanish hams and will buy mire bits as we go along.
 
epicuric said:
Just got back from shopping with TWO bottles of Sherry and various bits for tapas for a working lunch. We are going to be spending a few hours in the kitchen, Mrs Epicuric is on a Christmas pudding mission, and I shall be smoking random stuff. And drinking Sherry. We report back later with tasting notes! :)
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I'm loving this sherry theme. It could spell danger...
 
sidevalve said:
Don't know exactly why but I suppose it was to check for freshness ?
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the probability was that he wasn't checking for freshness at all, but for the presence of chicks in the eggs!
The likelihood is that the eggs were farm eggs where the hens and rooster were allowed to roam. I know as a child I would often range through the barn sometimes finding a stray hens nest in amongst the hay or straw bales. How do you know how old the eggs are? More to the point how to you know how long a hen has been sitting on fertile eggs that you have just found? You don't without candling them. Floating is how you see how fresh eggs are, but fertile eggs that have growing embryos inside them will also pass a freshness test. So unless you can guarantee that someone has collected all of the eggs everyday, you don't actually know if an egg has a developing chick inside it. Mind you that said, surprisingly few eggs that are fertile actually develop into chicks. A stunning number die in the shell for a whole variety of reasons similar to human pregnancies and miscarriages. I would imagine he was simply candling every egg so that he didn't sell an egg with a dead chick in it!

morning glory said:
What will you do with male chicks. There isn't much call for them...
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It depends on where you are, if the cockerel/rooster is of show quality and if it is of rare breed that is in demand.
I have a number of eggs which are fertile and valid, (currently 9 of the original 17 are definitely at the correct stage of development and look to be alive with a further 4 I am uncertain about) that re of a rare heritage breed that is in demand. I selected the breeds I wanted from what I liked the look of, nothing more. 2 of the 4 pure breeds that I have are actually rare heritage birds. Then there is at least 1 egg that is my rooster x one of my birds which won't have any demand for if male. Sadly the best thing that can be done there is to dispatch them now, rather than rear them for 12-18 months and then have to either surrender it to the RSCPA who won't put it down if there is nothing (and I mean nothing) wrong with it. If they find anything amiss with it, it would be put down straight away. I don't think it is fair to add to the problems that the 'local' rooster sanctuary already has with overcrowding and finance. So once it is clear if it is male, it really will depend entirely if it is one of those 2 breeds as to whether I raise it or not sadly. I know the lady I got a 3 of the chooks from would happily have either of those 2 breeds as a male because they are so hard to get hold of and the eggs so very expensive. Such is life. But people do eat male chickens, it is just that there is not much demand for them!
 
morning glory said:
I'm loving this sherry theme. It could spell danger...
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Actually, it went rather well. The bottle of Tio Pepe lasted nearly three hours (OK, that includes the hour or so in the fridge getting it down to temperature), far longer than the usual white wine or Cava would - being mainly red wine drinkers anything light and white tends to go down like cold lemonade on a hot summers day. The Sherry demanded to be savoured, and it was. It also went very well with the rather disappointing tapas, cutting through the oiliness of the olives and tomatoes. I remember now why I usually avoid tapas - it never quite seems to deliver compared with more traditional finger food. We did compensate by knocking up a batch of anchovy palmiers which went down even better with the Tio Pepe. Anyway, mission accomplished - all food chores completed and first bottle of sherry thorough tested. The second bottle, an even dryer Manzanilla, awaits Sunday lunchtime when the festive ham comes out of the sous vide after 12 hours at 60 deg C. May just skip breakfast!
Incidentally @Lullabelle, it seems that tapas originates from the vineyards of the Sherry producing area of Spain. The word literally means "cover", a slice of ham used as a lid on a glass of Sherry to keep out the fruit flies, thus the pairing started. Give it a try!
 
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epicuric said:
Actually, it went rather well. The bottle of Tio Pepe lasted nearly three hours (OK, that includes the hour or so in the fridge getting it down to temperature), far longer than the usual white wine or Cava would - being mainly red wine drinkers anything light and white tends to go down like cold lemonade on a hot summers day. The Sherry demanded to be savoured, and it was. It also went very well with the rather disappointing tapas, cutting through the oiliness of the olives and tomatoes. I remember now why I usually avoid tapas - it never quite seems to deliver compared with more traditional finger food. We did compensate by knocking up a batch of anchovy palmiers which went down even better with the Tio Pepe. Anyway, mission accomplished - all food chores completed and first bottle of sherry thorough tested. The second bottle, an even dryer Manzanilla, awaits Sunday lunchtime when the festive ham comes out of the sous vide after 12 hours at 60 deg C. May just skip breakfast!
Incidentally @Lullabelle, it seems that tapas originates from the vineyards of the Sherry producing area of Spain. The word literally means "cover", a slice of ham used as a lid on a glass of Sherry to keep out the fruit flies, thus the pairing started. Give it a try!
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We had dome great tapas in Bilbao earlier this year although 1 in partiular was fresh prawns and various other things on a skewer, before serving the guy poured olive oil over it so I mopped it with tissue because I don't like oily food. We don't have a tapas restaurant near us so if we go to another town for a show then we try to find a restaurant to go to beforehand, so far we have been lucky. Will definitely look into sourcing a bottle :okay:
 
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