Best Before Dates - a Rant and a Good Idea

We have just been up-country, as we say in Cornwall, visiting family, having a belated Christmas dinner together (for the first time in about 20 years!) and seeing how grown and wonderful my great niece Amelia has become.  So that’s why I haven’t written for a bit.

Whilst there I picked up a leaflet from the East of England Co-op who have had a good idea. They will now sell products past their ‘Best Before’ date in their 125 food local stores for a nominal 10p.  I don’t know if they intend rolling this out to the rest of the country, but it is surely worth investigating. 

According to the leaflet …

I have read different but equally horrific figures elsewhere but however much food waste it is it’s too much!  This is something I have ranted on about for years.  In fact, at the end of my book Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers I wrote …

BEST BEFORE DATES – A SHORT RANT

            I really don’t want to encourage anyone to take risks with their food but would nevertheless like to moan on a bit about ‘best before’ dates. 

         Whilst I am, of course, as delighted as the next person by a bargain I am also often irritated. Fruits and vegetables have sometimes not reached their ‘best after’ date when being offered as past their prime. I have bought out of date ‘ripen at home’ avocadoes that weren’t soft for weeks, I once lost a bargain white cabbage in the car when bringing in the shopping and it was still OK when I found it there ten days later (it was cold out) and I even snapped up a healthy growing basil plant with roots for 10p because it was ‘past its best before date’!

Cheese is another case in point. Bearing in mind that it was developed as a way to preserve milk and that many cheeses improve over time I was surprised last Christmas to see small gift cheddars, coated in wax, which were supposedly out of date by 9th January. Why? What would happen then? And don’t get me started on honey!

        ‘Are best before dates a cunning ruse to make nervous people throw food away and buy more?’ I ask myself cynically. According to Defra these dates indicate how long a food can be expected to retain its optimal condition and yet in my own experience many bargains have not even reached optimal condition by that date. May I therefore suggest that you rely on your own brain and your senses of smell and taste?

‘Use by’ dates are an entirely different matter as they concern food spoilage and safety and I don’t recommend you mess with them.

So, as I’ve said before …

Please, please, please learn to cook so you can use up all the food that you have available in utterly delicious ways. This is just one of my 7 Excellent Reasons to Learn to Cook. Go for it!!! 

Oh, and don't forget to pop down the Co-Op if you happen to be in the East of England!

In Other News …

A new edition of my book is to be released on 1^st March.  It is now titled Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers and can be ordered here. 

I look forward to meeting it myself!

Spontaneous Autumnal Lunch including Homemade Brandy Snaps!

~ Menu ~

An autumn dish of Pumpkin Ravioli
Glass of Merlot
Brandy Snaps, Late Season Strawberries & Cornish Clotted Cream
Coffee

I had a lovely sunny, breezy walk this morning, across the fields, through the woods and the churchyard and down to Padstow harbour. I spent a pleasant half hour wandering around reading menus and enjoying pottering about in the little shops and art galleries. After walking back amongst wind blown leaves and then smelling woodsmoke in the air I was really in the mood for a lunch that would continue the autumn theme.

My luck was in because when I looked in the fridge I found I had 5 forgotten pieces of pumpkin ravioli (Tesco’s Finest, not my own) leftover from the other night’s dinner. Also on the stove our lamb shanks which had been slowly braising in red wine for a couple of hours and on the counter a bowl of freshly foraged cobnuts.

Leftovers always inspire me so I chopped a small handful of the nuts, browned them in butter and set them aside. I added a ladleful of juice from the lamb shanks to the butter left in the pan, making sure I got quite a bit of onion in the ladle. Whilst this was reducing down slightly I cooked the ravioli and then turned them gently in the savoury lamb goo. 

I served this lovely dish to myself topped with the sautéed nuts, freshly grated Gran Padano, lots of freshly ground black pepper and some parsley out of the garden. I also encouraged myself to a glass of red wine and I couldn’t have been more delighted!

For dessert I had a small handful of freshly picked late strawberries, a little clotted cream and a few broken brandy snaps left over from experimenting for my forthcoming book on leftovers, see below. Lastly a delicious cup of black coffee.

Lucky me!

Pin for future reference.

Brandy Snaps Recipe

These can be shaped into bowls by moulding over upside down cups, or tubes by twisting round a wooden spoon handle. Only bake one or two at a time; you need to work quickly to shape them once they are out of the oven, alternating baking trays is a good idea. If they do harden too much pop them back in the oven for a minute.  

50g butter
50g granulated or caster sugar
50g Golden Syrup
50g plain flour
½ teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon brandy

~   Preheat oven to 180ºC/350°F/160ºC fan/gas 4. 
~   Melt together the first three ingredients in a small pan over medium heat, stirring till smooth. 
~   Allow to cool for a few minutes then stir in the rest of the ingredients 
~   Lightly grease a baking tray or two and spoon one or two brandy snaps on each tray. 
~   Spread thinly in a round (to make baskets), or a strip (to make twirls) or any other shape you feel inspired to create. Leave plenty of space as they spread. 
~   Bake till the batter has spread and bubbled and become a dark golden lace on the baking sheet - about 10 minutes. 
~   Remove from the oven and allow to sit a little tiny while till you can manipulate the brandy snap off the tray and onto or around your mould. 
~   Cool completely in situ and keep in an airtight container but not for too long. If they do soften return to a medium oven for a few minutes, re-shape and re-cool.

Broken brandy snaps are good just sprinkled over ice cream.

News from the Future ...

My book was published in March, 2013. Originally titled The Leftovers Handbook a second edition is now available and is called Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers.  In it I give all the information, ideas and recipes I can think of for more than 450 possible leftovers.