You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
Interesting Menu/Recipe Challenge
- Thread starter bklyn-joe
- Start date
Joe that sounds a bit ambitious for London
especially if you don't want to spend entire days getting ingredients - for the plantains you'll have to go to North London to the Caribbean shops on Stroud Green Road - For the tamarind you will most likely have to go to and Indian area like Southall or Wembley, and for the Key limes... well, you won't get any in London, and you cannot bring any in with you, I'm afraid...
Sorry, but London is not like the US where ingredients are readily available - sometimes I used to have to hit 2-3 shops just to get ingredients for 1 dinner. So if you want to do some sightseeing, I suggest you keep it simple and rely on great ingredients rather than intricate recipes.
especially if you don't want to spend entire days getting ingredients - for the plantains you'll have to go to North London to the Caribbean shops on Stroud Green Road - For the tamarind you will most likely have to go to and Indian area like Southall or Wembley, and for the Key limes... well, you won't get any in London, and you cannot bring any in with you, I'm afraid...
Sorry, but London is not like the US where ingredients are readily available - sometimes I used to have to hit 2-3 shops just to get ingredients for 1 dinner. So if you want to do some sightseeing, I suggest you keep it simple and rely on great ingredients rather than intricate recipes.
Necessity as Mother of Invention
As a born & raised kid from Brooklyn (a very different animal from the imported varieties), hearing can't be done is almost a challenge (good-natured, of course) to prove it can (ah, that is truly the joy of cooking for me!). My experiences in traveling have shown you can travel with food products pre-packaged in certain ways and depending on the originating and destination countries.
>> For jerk spice I'll just need to find a decent London spice shop if I go with scratch. Generally including allspice berries, whole nutmeg, cinnamon, black peppercorns, dried thyme, cayenne or paprika, sugar, salt & fresh garlic & ginger I don't think these are too exotic (especially given the stuff they sell at Fortnum & Mason) or at least packaged here. Better yet, if I find a really good bottled brand toss the unopened, sealed bottle into the checked suitcase (never hand luggage).
>> Key Lime Pie - not so much a purist here as long as it works. My research so far indicates the standard recipe is three ingredients Sweetened condensed milk, egg yolks & key lime juice and that during mixing, a reaction between the condensed milk and the acidic lime juice occurs which causes the filling to thicken on its own without requiring baking. Baking is only a recent addition to guard against salmonella. Williams-Sonoma has a recipe on-line which works on a double boiler basis which I will co-opt to this end. Don't know if condensed milk is a staple in England. Does anyone else? If not, into suitcase it goes or adopt the fresh cream Williams-Sonoma approach. Finally, key lime juice may be the Achilles heel here. Again my research shows liquor stores sometimes carry Rose's lime juice (another suitcase candidate) which IS sweetened key lime juice. Depending on the sugar content, again, could switch out condensed milk for fresh as per Williams-Sonoma. Another possible sub I found was 1/2 Persian lime juice and 1/2 lemon juice. If the original point of using key limes is the higher acidity to "cook"/set the eggs & condensed milk, in my double boiler approach I just need to approximate the pucker taste which makes the regular lime/lemon option reasonable. I think I'm going to make a lot of people happy in the next few weeks as I dry run these approaches to "boil it down" to the the simplest copycat. BTW - pun intended smileys/wink.gif
>> Tamarind/Plantain - Given the large Carribean population in London, I will check with my Jamaican friend who lived in London and has a sister there to identify one place where I might find both. Then again, tamarind can be bought packaged as a paste here in NY so worse comes to worse chuck into said bag.
As a born & raised kid from Brooklyn (a very different animal from the imported varieties), hearing can't be done is almost a challenge (good-natured, of course) to prove it can (ah, that is truly the joy of cooking for me!). My experiences in traveling have shown you can travel with food products pre-packaged in certain ways and depending on the originating and destination countries.
>> For jerk spice I'll just need to find a decent London spice shop if I go with scratch. Generally including allspice berries, whole nutmeg, cinnamon, black peppercorns, dried thyme, cayenne or paprika, sugar, salt & fresh garlic & ginger I don't think these are too exotic (especially given the stuff they sell at Fortnum & Mason) or at least packaged here. Better yet, if I find a really good bottled brand toss the unopened, sealed bottle into the checked suitcase (never hand luggage).
>> Key Lime Pie - not so much a purist here as long as it works. My research so far indicates the standard recipe is three ingredients Sweetened condensed milk, egg yolks & key lime juice and that during mixing, a reaction between the condensed milk and the acidic lime juice occurs which causes the filling to thicken on its own without requiring baking. Baking is only a recent addition to guard against salmonella. Williams-Sonoma has a recipe on-line which works on a double boiler basis which I will co-opt to this end. Don't know if condensed milk is a staple in England. Does anyone else? If not, into suitcase it goes or adopt the fresh cream Williams-Sonoma approach. Finally, key lime juice may be the Achilles heel here. Again my research shows liquor stores sometimes carry Rose's lime juice (another suitcase candidate) which IS sweetened key lime juice. Depending on the sugar content, again, could switch out condensed milk for fresh as per Williams-Sonoma. Another possible sub I found was 1/2 Persian lime juice and 1/2 lemon juice. If the original point of using key limes is the higher acidity to "cook"/set the eggs & condensed milk, in my double boiler approach I just need to approximate the pucker taste which makes the regular lime/lemon option reasonable. I think I'm going to make a lot of people happy in the next few weeks as I dry run these approaches to "boil it down" to the the simplest copycat. BTW - pun intended smileys/wink.gif
>> Tamarind/Plantain - Given the large Carribean population in London, I will check with my Jamaican friend who lived in London and has a sister there to identify one place where I might find both. Then again, tamarind can be bought packaged as a paste here in NY so worse comes to worse chuck into said bag.
chuck some of that Nellie and Joe's Key lime juice into that suitcase. Makes great key lime pie.
It's in most US grocery stores. Add some fresh squeezed lime and zest from a plain old lime for a bit of freshness and you should be good to go.
http://keylimejuice.com/
It's in most US grocery stores. Add some fresh squeezed lime and zest from a plain old lime for a bit of freshness and you should be good to go.
http://keylimejuice.com/
Good luck then...
I was a chef in London for 12 years, and while it has gotten easier to get various ingredients, it's still a challenge...
You had mentioned you wanted a simple menu as you wanted to do some sightseeing as well, so I figured I would give you the heads up, but I suppose you can see some alternative sights by going grocery shopping in North London, where the African/Caribbean shops are mostly.
As for the tamarind paste in the suitcase, if it's not in a can, I would suggest you don't attempt it, even in checked luggage. There are very strict rules as to what you can bring in to the country, it is an island after all and quarantine still applies. They do have sniffer dogs at the airport. The last thing you would want is to spend half a day at customs while they go through every bit of your luggage and fine you heavily.
And as for the sweetened condensed milk, yes, you can find that at any Tesco, Sainsbury, etc...
I was a chef in London for 12 years, and while it has gotten easier to get various ingredients, it's still a challenge...
You had mentioned you wanted a simple menu as you wanted to do some sightseeing as well, so I figured I would give you the heads up, but I suppose you can see some alternative sights by going grocery shopping in North London, where the African/Caribbean shops are mostly.
As for the tamarind paste in the suitcase, if it's not in a can, I would suggest you don't attempt it, even in checked luggage. There are very strict rules as to what you can bring in to the country, it is an island after all and quarantine still applies. They do have sniffer dogs at the airport. The last thing you would want is to spend half a day at customs while they go through every bit of your luggage and fine you heavily.
And as for the sweetened condensed milk, yes, you can find that at any Tesco, Sainsbury, etc...