What's for Dinner #43 - 03/2019 - the SMarch Edition

More details, please!

Meatloaf isnt something I’d find too often in a UK restaurant. But $25 (or just under £19) is about 20% more expensive than I’d expect in a mid range sort of place (similarly the fish). And then the US price would have tax added, whereas UK tax at 20% is included. And there would be a 15 - 20% tip required whereas, in the UK, tipping is not essential and, if you do, it’s around 10%. Really just confirms our experience of the last two trips to the States (2016 & 2018) that it has become an expensive place for us to visit.

And, speaking of America, tonight’s dinner is spaghetti tetrazzini - chicken thighs, mixed mushrooms, garlic, white wine, cream, cheese. The recipe appears in Jamie Oliver’s “Jamie’s Italy” book where he claims he found the recipe in an “old Italian cookbook”. A remark that should, perhaps, be taken with a pinch of salt, as the internet clearly indicates its American creation in about 1910. It may be that Mr Oliver (or whoever actually wrote the recipe) is telling porkies, as we say here - using Cockney rhyming slang. Porkies = lies (it makes sesne to we Brits)

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I have never tried okra except in gumbo. When so many people raved about it a couple months ago, I bought a few, tried frying it, was just not crispy so I abandoned that.

Yeah, JO is definitely telling porkies. LOL I grew up with chicken tetrazzini as a way for my mom to use up leftover roasted chicken. Hope you like it!

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Well, unfortunately, even food aren’t tasty, they have to force themselves to eat a bit… Actually, as the case of the aunt of mr. N, she seems to like sweet or spicy or hot stuff.

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Or, possibly not. I may have been harsh as part of my general dislike of JO’s cookbooks.

I suppose that it’s entirely possible for a dish invented in America to have then found its way to Italy and into an Italian cookbook. What made me think that is that similar has happened to chicken tikka masala. Almost certainly invented in the UK (an “Indian” restaurant in Scotland lays a good claim to it) but you will now see it on restaurant menus in India.

CTM is safely punjabi / north Indian - it’s just renamed butter chicken, with chunks of tikka instead of shreds of (likely leftover) tandoori chicken). Butter chicken is as ubiquitous in India as tandoori. It may now appear with both names on menus, however… try to ask for an explanation of how they are different (I have, it’s very funny).

The UK can safely claim balti cuisine, though :joy:

As an aside, I watched a John Oliver episode on Brexit where someone was selling survival boxes that contained giant tins of… CTM and chili con carne. Oh the irony :rofl:

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Fried needs a dry “batter” to really crisp up, otherwise it doesn’t completely because of the slime imo.

Slice into halves (or quarters for shoestrings), toss with spices and oil (half the salt you think you need, or salt after - there’s a lot of shrinkage), lay on a microwave safe plate and cook in increments of 3 mins at the start, then a minute or so, checking in between - careful at the end, they go from almost-done to too dark quite quickly.

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I’d have to disagree. There are certainly similarities between the North Indian dish of murgh makhani (butter chicken) and the British CTM. What has to be borne in mind is that the overwhelming number of “Indian” restaurants in the UK are, actually, no such thing. They are owned and cheffed by Bangladeshis (and, generally speaking, from that country’s Sylhet. area). As such, CTM is their interpretation of murgh makhani, as they see it for British palates

In fact, CTM has been on restaurant menus for as long as I can recall but it’s only comparitively recently that higher end places, actually owned by Indians, have started to serve murgh makhani, along with other more traditional/regional dishes. I believe the creation of butter chicken is attributed to the Moti Mahal restaurant in Delhi, although I presume it will have been based on something from Mogul cuisine (I ate at their now closed London outpost ). Some info on the differences between the two dishes on this American website - https://sukhis.com/history-chicken-tikka-masala/. Neither are dishes I actually enjoy - they are generally too creamy/buttery for my preference, although CTM will usually be a bit spicy from the tikka spicing (not chilli spicy, of course) whereas butter chicken is really just the butter and cream. Presumably both dishes are adapted in other countries to the local tastes.

By the by, I’ve never eaten a balti, so am not sure how it might differ from other Anglo Indian creations. Seeing as it’s named after the cooking pot, I’ve always just assumed that what in Birmingham might be called a balti dish is, here in the northwest, a karahi dish. But maybe not and it has distinct tastes.

Actually, a bucket (balti=bucket) :joy:

Yes, although in the Birmingham restaurants, they use a small wok shaped pan to cook and serve it in. Apparently, a “Birmingham Balti” now has European Union protected staus and part of the designation is that it must be served in the pan it was cooked in.

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Most Indian restaurants in nyc are also actually Bangladeshi - which is fine, because the cuisines have a common history (well, until 1947 :roll_eyes:).

Sukhis is a US company, and much of that marketing content is shared with the Wikipedia page (written/edited by the likes of you & me); might be true for renditions now made in the US or the UK. Moti Mahal has great marketing (by the grandson? of the founder, who wrote a couple of books and then opened an outpost in nyc).

But butter chicken in India is (has always been) indistinguishable from what is known as chicken tikka masala in the US or the UK - tomato-onion gravy lightened by cream with tandoor-cooked chicken (or, as an abomination, the “sauce” with boiled, cubed chicken). Varying amounts of cream, oil/ghee/butter depending on where, and I’ve even had versions garnished with grated cheese. My grandfather’s favorite dish - we ate a LOT of it, at a LOT of restaurants :smiley:

Now kedgeree, on the hand, I’d definitely agree is a British dish - it bears almost no resemblance to the source dish (khichdi/khichri).

Kadhai/karhai - core kitchen pan, mainly used for deep frying, and secondarily for sautéing.

I read somewhere that the “balti” ie bucket was a gimmick for serving, and took on a life of its own.

I call that a success. Except then I’m hungry ha!

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HOW?! I mean, HOW?!

Dear wife and I took a passel of photos of our Bubble & Squeak tonight, Most of them included the leftover corned beef. But I chose to post one only of the bubble & squeak. It was tasty. It had a really nice fry. No seasonings were required.

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This sucks!

Absolutely. As I’m sure you know, the idea was brought back to the UK by Britons returning from India, incorporating the smoked haddock and eggs that already formed part of the upper class breakfast in Victorian times. I can’t recall ever actually seeing it as a breakfast dish so, presumably, its transition to dinner was some considerable while back - presumably at the time the very extensive breakfast preparations died out (after the Great War, I’d guess)

Last time we had it for dinner (or at, least, last time I mentioned it on WFD) was July 2018.

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Stopped by the local fish monger this afternoon. Seared grouper with mixed green salad and cauliflower purée. Mahi Mahi tomorrow

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