When I lived in Sydney, I was in the habit of reading The Good Food Guide from cover to cover every Tuesday. Yeah. I was one of those wankers. (Even worse, I wrote for them later).
Being in Brisneyland, I rarely pick it up now, but this piece popped into my newsfeed yesterday.
Of course, I read it, and of course, their guilty secrets are bullshit. Apart from one or two honest cheese toasties and hamburgers, it was exactly what you would expect from a bunch of food wankers. Case in point? Terry fucking Durack, whose midweek emergency cheat meal involves “udon noodles spicy mince pork and doubanjiang fermented chilli bean paste.”
Even his meat pies come from Croissant D’Or in Potts Point.
Nobody asked me, of course, so I thought I’d share mine here.
Midweek emergency dinner?
Baked beans on toast, with a cheese slice to class it up.
Fave fast food?
Any hamburger anywhere.
Hangover cure?
A litre of water and three Berocca before I go to bed. Hot chicken and chips with gravy for breakfast.
Secret food stash at the back of the fridge?
Cheap arse lumpfish roe for smearing on toast with Philly cheese.
Because it's pretty easy to whip up a half decent green curry or spag bol in half an hour, I don't really have an emergency cheat meal, but if I was really pressed for time, I'd do scrambled eggs on toast. Yes, breakfast for dinner.
I begin to suspect the motivations of publications such as the The Good Food Guide are not to provide keen insights into the role of 'good food' for us, but perhaps to provide a more aspirational motivation as a source of envy for those considered better.
In the spirt of confession, my meal - fishfinger sandwich on toasted bread with chilli sauce.
MWE would nearly always be Andie's pasta - spaghetti with confit garlic, red onion, anchovies, dried tomatoes and goat cheese or labne.
FFF has to be burgers for me as well. Friday night at ours is always burger night but home made. I now have a home made smasher too plus a killer spicy crispy chicken recipe.
Hangover cure is tough - pre bed ritual is large water with aspirin and alka selzter in it. Head and stomach fixed. Drink quality booze of any kind to avoid in the first place, and then fry up followed by a second nap.
SFS is Droëwors at the moment and Reese Peanut Butter cups cos I am the only one that can eat them. Sometimes nut allergies are a good thing.
umm, my midweek emergency meal is a piece of frozen fish baked in the oven with some chips . . is that getting too snobby? cause its pretty damn easy slamming stuff in the oven. Otherwise toasted sandwich made up of whatever needs using from the various offerings in the fridge which could be some ham, or the odd group of those chipolata cheese kransky, or left over curry or somesuch.
Fave fast food is fish and chips (the search is ever eternal for a good chip . . . we found an excellent one recently in a little shop in Blackhead Beach (just north of Forster) just up from the sea pool)
Hangover cure depends if i'm drinking or not ;) but usually several glasses of water and some panadol - before bed. I recently dropped the ibruprofen from that one as it often gave me heartburn. But back in the day: chips and gravy at whatever time i dragged my arse out of bed.
I dont think i have a secret stash . . . . .although if i ever make mashed potato i do extra for brekky the next morning. Pan fried mashed potato is my death row meal. Its like bubble and squeak without the bubble? or the squeak? not sure which one potato qualifies as. Beware anyone who thinks they can touch that (although i do share with the youngest kid, as its a tradition passed down through generations)
Which seems a little limited writing it down like that - i swear i eat a varied diet not limited to the traditional english type fare
Ya gotta expect wankerego stuff from the irrelevant likes of Tezza Duratosspot.
Guilty secret? Not really a secret. Grilled cheese sammich. Hangover standby? Anything I can fry up with eggs. Whatever is handy. Tinned beans, bacon, snags, whatever I detect through me blood red peepers.
My far too often used emergency meal is cheese on toast, sometimes with ham, sometimes with salami, sometimes with siracha as a base to make a mini-pizza. I just use cheddar. Sometimes garlic, most times not. And air fryer chips. 20 mins and boom, they're perfect. Dip in siracha or tomato sauce and you're mint.
Fave fast food? Burgers. All of them.
I don't drink so no hangover cure, and no secret food at the back of the fridge for me.
JFC, what a dick.
Because it's pretty easy to whip up a half decent green curry or spag bol in half an hour, I don't really have an emergency cheat meal, but if I was really pressed for time, I'd do scrambled eggs on toast. Yes, breakfast for dinner.
Pizza is never inappropriate.
I hate food snobs, places that make their famous item, like a burger, only once a week and then just 10 of them!
I begin to suspect the motivations of publications such as the The Good Food Guide are not to provide keen insights into the role of 'good food' for us, but perhaps to provide a more aspirational motivation as a source of envy for those considered better.
In the spirt of confession, my meal - fishfinger sandwich on toasted bread with chilli sauce.
MWE would nearly always be Andie's pasta - spaghetti with confit garlic, red onion, anchovies, dried tomatoes and goat cheese or labne.
FFF has to be burgers for me as well. Friday night at ours is always burger night but home made. I now have a home made smasher too plus a killer spicy crispy chicken recipe.
Hangover cure is tough - pre bed ritual is large water with aspirin and alka selzter in it. Head and stomach fixed. Drink quality booze of any kind to avoid in the first place, and then fry up followed by a second nap.
SFS is Droëwors at the moment and Reese Peanut Butter cups cos I am the only one that can eat them. Sometimes nut allergies are a good thing.
Midweek emergency dinner - lasagne, pre-made in bulk and stashed in the freezer for such emergencies.
Fave fast food - fish'n'chips (preferably at the beach, shared with the dog)
Hangover cure - Bacon & egg roll, or a full English bf.
Secret Food stash - there are no secrets in my house. Pate, it's pate. On toast or with cheese in a sandwich. Sourdough of course.
Needs more sausages!
After watch The Menu with Anya Taylor-Joy, I believe every high end Arty food place must include cheeseburger on the menu.
umm, my midweek emergency meal is a piece of frozen fish baked in the oven with some chips . . is that getting too snobby? cause its pretty damn easy slamming stuff in the oven. Otherwise toasted sandwich made up of whatever needs using from the various offerings in the fridge which could be some ham, or the odd group of those chipolata cheese kransky, or left over curry or somesuch.
Fave fast food is fish and chips (the search is ever eternal for a good chip . . . we found an excellent one recently in a little shop in Blackhead Beach (just north of Forster) just up from the sea pool)
Hangover cure depends if i'm drinking or not ;) but usually several glasses of water and some panadol - before bed. I recently dropped the ibruprofen from that one as it often gave me heartburn. But back in the day: chips and gravy at whatever time i dragged my arse out of bed.
I dont think i have a secret stash . . . . .although if i ever make mashed potato i do extra for brekky the next morning. Pan fried mashed potato is my death row meal. Its like bubble and squeak without the bubble? or the squeak? not sure which one potato qualifies as. Beware anyone who thinks they can touch that (although i do share with the youngest kid, as its a tradition passed down through generations)
Which seems a little limited writing it down like that - i swear i eat a varied diet not limited to the traditional english type fare
M.E.D.: Fried rice with as much chili as is allowed by physics
F.F.F: Kebab/souvlaki/yeero or whatever you call them in the city of your choice.
H.C.: Black coffee, toast maybe with vegemite
S.F.S.: pickles? jalapenos? anchovy paste? But they're hardly a secret, more just stuff that doesn't really go off and I use from time to time.
Leftover Mac and cheese . Throw in whatever meat is in the fridge and mix it in. 5 star bowl of heaven
*Midweek emergency dinner?*
Used to be macaroni with wokked peppers, onion, extra tomatopaste, grated ham and grated old cheese.
*Fave fast food?*
Also used to be Frikandel special https://simpelkoken.nl/recept/frikandel-speciaal
*Hangover cure?*
Water before sleep, beans and fried eggs for breakfast washed down with coffee as black as my soul.
*Secret food stash at the back of the fridge?*
Gouda (two or five star) with either mustard or mustard-dille sause.
Ya gotta expect wankerego stuff from the irrelevant likes of Tezza Duratosspot.
Guilty secret? Not really a secret. Grilled cheese sammich. Hangover standby? Anything I can fry up with eggs. Whatever is handy. Tinned beans, bacon, snags, whatever I detect through me blood red peepers.
My far too often used emergency meal is cheese on toast, sometimes with ham, sometimes with salami, sometimes with siracha as a base to make a mini-pizza. I just use cheddar. Sometimes garlic, most times not. And air fryer chips. 20 mins and boom, they're perfect. Dip in siracha or tomato sauce and you're mint.
Fave fast food? Burgers. All of them.
I don't drink so no hangover cure, and no secret food at the back of the fridge for me.