Old-fashioned tasty recipes......PLEASE!

Your post made me laugh, Sophiasnana. DD messaged me today telling me you can now get Nduja Pesto (apparently nicer than the paste) from Sainsbury's (She's a Nigella fan.)

I googled the recipe and found that Harrisa and smoked paprika will do just as well.

My store cupboard has some interesting items but none that you've mentioned.

Aleppo pepper is my latest addition.

None of them except quark, which is a low fat sour cream /soft cheese alternative, it is dairy, it’s not expensive, and it’s in my local supermarket. It’s actually really nice, and great if you’re dieting to use instead of the full fat alternatives.

Having never heard of kicap manis, I had to look it up. You could probably use ordinary soy sauce as a substitute, as it is a thicker sweet Indonesian soy sauce.
I do like trying new things, but in this little rural town I don't think I would find any of those ingredients with the exception, perhaps, of the silken tofu.

I'm vegetarian and until recently pretty much always had four of your six items in my cupboard/fridge. I too had to Google kicap manis though!

I don't understand the need to experiment with food. I'm boring and tend to cook the same things but then you can't beat a bit of braising steak cooked in stock with onions and mushrooms. Takes forever to cook but the flavours are so worth it.

anyone turned out the store cupboard recently? if so what was the oldest and out of date stuff you found?

During the first lockdown, when people were panic buying and shelves were stripped, I found (and used!) several cupboard items that were officially way out of date. Except for some yellow split peas best before about 2015 (they made a nice soup!) I can’t remember details, but some GF flour that I only ever used for a visiting BiL was at least 2 years out of date - it made a nice Barm Brack anyway.

I adore food and cookery books are often my bedtime reading.
I also feel that there is a need for some more “ wholesome” recipes.
I was recently given the Avoca cookery book.
Anyone that’s visited Ireland will have come across this amazing brand.
The recipes are just beautiful and require more basic store cupboards ingredients.
On Saturday I made their chicken and broccoli bake it was delicious.
If there is a link I will post it.

Found one!!!!

keeprecipes.com/recipe/howtocook/chicken-and-broccoli-gratin-avoca

And things like Harrisa paste is so easy to make yourself, takes minutes.

Gives the ingredients but not the recipe?

I found a jar of cocktail cherries the other day,the date was use before April 2011. They look ok,still wondering why I bought them and would they be ok now

Michael McIntyre does a very sunny sketch about the ancient spices we all have in the cupboard - bought for a recipe and used once as Sophiasnana says!

My cupboard has all sorts of spices/herbs, etc that have been used only once. If a recipe calls for more than 2 ingredients that I haven’t got, I don’t do it.

I love cooking and since last March we have tried to cook at least one new recipe a week. I have always got the rice as I often cook risotto and I have also got the Kickap Manis as I needed soy and bought that one in error. The others ingredients mentioned are often easily available now in supermarkets.

How right you are Sophiasnana! That is the reason why I cut corners! I never have these exotic things in my cupboard and if I do they are usually out of date because I don’t use them again! Sometimes the substitutes that I use work and sometimes they don’t !!!

I have all those except tofu and quark which I don’t like
I have just counted 10 different Asian bottles and eight jars in the fridge plus various vinegars oils and 27 different spices yes I have that kitjap mani .( totally different or normal soy sauce)!and the rice and the Korean paste ( fantastic stuff) .I have a brilliant Asian shop down th road and if arecipe calls for an ingredient I try and get it
Because if I spend two hours cooking something special from a restaurant or chefs recipe I want it to be as authentic as possible
That said I have a ridiculous amount of stuff -like Nigella but without her lovely pantry !

I've got the rice; I have a recipe for oven-baked risotto carbonara which I love. Vampirequeen, have you thought of getting a pressure cooker? I have an Instant Pot, and 30 minutes gives you a casserole that tastes as if it has been cooking all day.

I live with a man who thinks gravy is an unnecessary addition and that mayonnaise is the work of the devil?

I do take your point, but I regard carnaroli rice as a basic ingredient. I buy it in large boxes from an Italian deli, whose owner would not sell it to me until I satisfied him that I knew how to make a risotto, and promised not to use it for paella! I assured him that as I had been brought up around Italian families, I really did 'get it'!

Made me smile this- but no had none of these in- (unsurprisingly)?have heard of tofu, and have even bought quark before(for a recipe?) but not something id immediately have in.what kind of high-brow magazine is it Sophiasnanna??

I have the Kecap Manis. I use it for a Rick Stein recipe for slow cooked pork from his Far Eastern Cookery book, which is delicious. I also add it to a stir fry instead of using shop bought packets of sauce.

Most of those things are for the foodie Londoners who have “ethnic” shops by the dozen, just round the corner.

Peasblossom- i have 2 sons still at home who NEVER have gravy, soups or sauce.Never have.one of them can be enticed to have custard, but not youngest.?