forum marathon

[judydawn]

As a newcomer to this forum site I've set myself the task of reading everything on it and now after a total of over 15 hours, I have finally finished.  I have downloaded recipes, tried some and posted my opinions on them but I am disappointed that more people don't do this AFTER they have tried the recipe. All the recipes have plenty of hits but very few comments. It would be so helpful to know that others have given recipes their tick of approval or even thumbs down.  It would save us having disasters and from what I have read, we all seem to have them.  Whether the recipes are the Thermomix ones or conversions by clever cooks, let us in on which ones are a success and which ones are not.  It would save us so much time and money to know this. As Thermomix grows in Australia, let's band together and help each other be the best cooks we can.   Let us know your favourite recipes, how you tweaked them if they needed it.  It is obvious we all have different ideas of what is good or bad - you only have to read about the mashed potato to learn that.  I happen to love it but others do their own thing with it to end up with a taste they prefer.  Come on thermomixers, let us unite!

[brazen20au]

that's a huge task judy!

as i said somewhere else i find that the second time i make something i can find it turning out totally different to the firat time (like my butter chicken is totally overcooked). i would feedback so i can make the recipes better (though i admit i'm just as bad at not going back myself lol)

[Thermomixer]

Thanks Judy

As I said in your Welcome post - it is important that we do this.  Tenina is trying to get TMXers to do this with the Monthly recipe comp on TMX in Australia.  She gets few responses tho' 

[judydawn]

I'll get my ball rolling with my comment and tweak with the potato cakes (rosti style).  Mock fish, as we call it in Australia, is totally different to this recipe which is far too floury and gluggy for our liking.  I now just grate the potato for around 5 seconds, or even less sometimes depending on the type of potato used, let the juices strain out through a colander, add an egg, S & P and fry. These are much closer to mock fish but my husband still prefers the old method of hand grating them as they end up with nice crunchy edges that way.  However, until he takes over the grating, unfortunately he is going to get them my way as it is so quick! How do others make this recipe.

[Thermomixer]

Yeah, Karen(brazen)'s Geoff found the recipe to be out on timing.  I made some suggestions about timing very much along the same as yours - about 5 secs maximum or you get mush.

[judydawn]

Must be something in the name Geoff, that's my husbands name too.  Mock fish connoisseurs are they!

I am now going through all the websites and blogs I read about on the forum site and luckily for me, I started with Joy's site and voila, someone has done exactly what I was asking for.  Tweaking of recipes, what a great site and I let her know just that. I still have at least 8 others to check out so looks like I'm in for the long haul.  Only problem is, I can't cook and do research so the cooking will have to wait until I am fully informed (going out to lunch today then straight back to my computer afterwards!).

[cookie1]

I always make notes in my book as I make things so I'll share some now.
I've found basnmati rice cooks in the 13 minutes suggested, but white medium grain takes the 16 minutes.
100g rice is just a nice amount for 3 of us to have it with curry etc and other vegetables.
I think I MAY have mastered the yoghurt, will keep you updated.
2 oranges peeled, 10 iceblocks and 1 1/2 MC of water make lovely orange juice for 2. (This is from Joy's website)
1 cup milk, fruit, few drops of vanilla and a couple oc iceblocks make a lovely milkshake for 1.
If you're frothing milk for coffee, you need more than the 100g of milk per person the book suggests.
We liked our potato cakes-we used 310g potato, 1 onion,1 egg, and 40g flour.
I add 1 clove garlic and some parsley to the sundried tomato dip.
I found the Bechamel sauce needed a little more cooking time.  For a cheese sauce I added more than they suggested.
We enjoyed the chinese stir fry vegies just as done in the book.
We like the pizza doung, but only make it into 3 pizzas.
I often use buttermilk or sour cream when I make the shortcrust pastry.
I use much less sugar or even none in the sorbets.

I think I've bored you enough.

[judydawn]

Thanks Cookie1,your comments are much appreciated.  Being thirsty I thought I had better put Rowdy (as I call my TMX) to work and made the carrot and orange juice using 3 oranges and 1 carrot.  Enjoyable but thought the taste was a bit 'thin' so will try 2 carrots next time.  However, hubby said it was just right.  Goes to prove you can't please everyone all of the time!!

[riv_mum]

I agree about the sugar Cookie, I find that there is too much and reduce it most recipes except cakes and biscuits.

[CarolineW]

I often reduce the sugar too.  And I also struggle to come up with juices which don't taste 'thin' to me.  I'm still working on it.  It would help if I stuck at a single recipe until I got it right!  )

[Amanda]

I agree about the sugar Cookie, I find that there is too much and reduce it most recipes except cakes and biscuits.

Same here!
I find many of the recipes a have way too much sugar in them.
Also, in the first everyday cook book there was far too much baking powder in some recipes, too.

[riv_mum]

As i suggested in anothe post.... Maybe we could put all these great ideas into a section of its own say "Recipe Tweeking" so that others can find these great ideas more easily.

[judydawn]

I say, go you tweekers!!

[brazen20au]

i have just started and stickied a thread in the tips and tricks section for tweaking and recipe reviews