Blue Peter Food

[King Tobenkhamun]

Now weve all tried it when living in luxor, to recreate a home style meal with the ingrediants available in Luxor with varied success.

Whats the best and worst meals from home that youve tried to recreate in Luxor, what did you use, method etc.

I'm curious to see exactly what meals are possible to recreate and which ones we should leave alone lol

I think mine was a Sunday dinner with an interesting home made stuffing.

After going around the spice shops i couldnt find sage or an equivalent so god knows what I used in the end but it tasted, well, ok the rest was nice though.

[Goddess]

Way back when I first moved here - I had disaster after disaster! I like to blame the ingredients and the rubbish oven I had in that first year! I was actually quite good at cooking in the UK I hasten to add!
I tried to make sherry trifle - with no sherry, no trifle sponges, some nasty tasting custard, substituted strawberry jelly for the sherry but the bloomin stuff didn't set because there was pineapple in the canned fruit. Was an all round disaster first time round! Have got quite good at substituting things though and retried a few months back and was a shocking success - even down to the alcoholic bit at the bottom! (Cherry brandy, not sherry alas!)
Toad in the hole was another disaster! You've never seen nothing like it.
Dabbled with bread once - after everybody and his dog laughing at it for a week - I decided that wasn't worth repeating again!
Then I thought I'd try my mums shepherd pie - after the potato sank to the bottom - I decided that something was sadly awry with that recipe too!
You can't go wrong with a casserole - my mum said - yeah right! You can in Egypt with that meat!! Was like shoe leather with underdone potatoes!

It's only now - years later, that I've got the hang of Egyptian ingredients!!

[King Tobenkhamun]

I got some Richmond sausages which i tried to make a toad in the hole out of ended up a bit wrong so picked them out and had them in egyptian bread and my Mothers 'husband' at the time thought he was clever by taking one of these sausage butties. I didnt have the heart to tell him that they werent Kofta lol x

[Mimimay]

Tried loads of times to get Yorkshire Puddings right but never managed it so gave up on that one

[Geraldine]

You can't go wrong with a casserole - my mum said - yeah right! You can in Egypt with that meat!! Was like shoe leather with underdone potatoes!

I passed the opportunity to cook camel meet in my apartment - someone said oh just go and buy camel meet and then just cook it - EASY I remembered the cooking stories here so I decided not to try. I don't even know how to cook camel meet - they just kept saying you have to check it once in a while and you see when it's good. Yeah right.

[Semsema]

It has taken me nearly 3 years to get my Yorkshire Puddings right. Mind you I use the convection part of my microwave. Just like in an ordinary oven the important thing is to get the oil spitting hot. I did try them in my cooker oven - didn't rise at all, roast potatoes still not crisp, roasted carrots like bricks. Despaired of ever being able to cook half decently.

[Mimimay]

Well coming from Yorkshire (only lived in Derbyshire five years) I am used to making Yorkshire Puddings They are usually very good, almost as good as my Mums were but in Luxor tried LOADS but couldnt get them right. It really frustrated me because to come from Sheffield and not be able to make Yokshire puddings is just not on :

Remember John & John saying once that there WAS a secret but they weren't letting on
I think it must be the flour?

[King Tobenkhamun]

So any other culinary disasters or sucesses?

[Semsema]

Well I just use the ordinary 'all purpose flour' and as I say, finally I have managed to get mine to cook as they did back in the UK i.e. mini footballs.

[HEPZIBAH]

Remember John & John saying once that there WAS a secret but they weren't letting on
I think it must be the flour?

[face=Comic Sans MS]Lots of people use beer or even sparkling water in the batter mix. Another thing people add is a raising agent like Golden Baking Powder (can you still get it?)/Bicrarb of soda - to be honest, Andrews Liver Salts would probably do the same thing although I haven't tried it. [/face]

[Mimimay]

Remember John & John saying once that there WAS a secret but they weren't letting on
I think it must be the flour?

[face=Comic Sans MS]Lots of people use beer or even sparkling water in the batter mix. Another thing people add is a raising agent like Golden Baking Powder (can you still get it?)/Bicrarb of soda - to be honest, Andrews Liver Salts would probably do the same thing although I haven't tried it. [/face]

I think the beer or sparkling water would be more for a 'coating batter' for frying Hepzi
John & John meant there was a secret to making them in Luxor because of course you use plain flour for Yorkshire puddings.

[HEPZIBAH]

Remember John & John saying once that there WAS a secret but they weren't letting on
I think it must be the flour?

[face=Comic Sans MS]Lots of people use beer or even sparkling water in the batter mix. Another thing people add is a raising agent like Golden Baking Powder (can you still get it?)/Bicrarb of soda - to be honest, Andrews Liver Salts would probably do the same thing although I haven't tried it. [/face]

I think the beer or sparkling water would be more for a 'coating batter' for frying Hepzi
John & John meant there was a secret to making them in Luxor because of course you use plain flour for Yorkshire puddings.

Yes, but if it's a raising problem that may be a secret. I have known chefs use such tricks.

[Mimimay]

Maybe Hepzi

[warda]

I tried to make bread rolls in my oven and they end up being like a baseballs.

[Mimimay]

No I couldn't make bread in my oven in Egypt warda.or cakes.so it wasn't jsut the yorkshire puds I had trouble with there.
I knew someone who used to make pies in her oven very succesfuly but I never tried Got a bit disheartened. decided to stick with what I knew would come out ok.If I fancied 'yorkshires' I used to mkae myself a thick pancake instead.

[warda]

Mimimay, actually my cakes do come out quite well. I should write here my banana cake/bread recipe because you can't spoil it even in egyptian oven and it's delicious:) Also I have made savory pies but not so often.

I had a friend from Yorkshire but she couldn't cook a thing, not even Yorkshire puddings. I especially asked her if she can make those because I have never tried one. Are those very complicated things to do? I saw Jamie Oliver made Yorkshire puddings in TV and he used like muffin tins. It looked so easy. It seemed to be like a pancake batter. May be I'll try those one day

[Mimimay]

It IS just like a pancake batter really warda. The small bun tins that they use to make them are not my favourite way to cook them though, I prefer to make a larger one and cut it.Mind you my husband prefers the small ones but then he's not Yorkhsire is he Also in Yorkshire a lot of people eat them as a starter on their own with gravy,not with the main meal

[BBLUX]

A nice large filled Yorkshire pudding with mince beef and onions and gravy....mmmm! I want one now

[HEPZIBAH]

A nice large filled Yorkshire pudding with mince beef and onions and gravy....mmmm! I want one now

[face=Comic Sans MS]Toad in the hole please for me with baked beans. [/face]

[King Tobenkhamun]

And me please Hepzi x yum x