Chicken Cacciatore cooked in Mr D's Thermal Cooker

This classic Italian dish, also known as hunter’s stew was originally designed as an easy dish that could be cooked outside. The dish was adapted by individual hunters and was sometimes made from rabbit or sometimes chicken.
Chicken cacciatore is an ideal meal to make in Mr D's Thermal Cooker as it is easy to prepare and benefits from slow long cooking.
This dish should be served with rice or pasta and some crusty bread to mop up the wonderfully rich sauce.

INGREDIENTS

• 2-3 tbsp olive oil


• 1.5 kg chicken portions, legs and thighs


• 40 g seasoned flour


• 1 onion sliced


• 2 garlic cloves, crushed


• 125 ml white wine


• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar


• 125 ml chicken stock


• 400g tin chopped tomatoes


• 2 tbsp tomato puree


• 1 tsp brown sugar


• 100 g stoned black olives


• 4 anchovy fillets


• salt & pepper to season

METHOD

1. Rinse chicken, pat dry and dust with the seasoned flour.


2. Heat the olive oil in the inner pot on medium heat, add the onions and cook until translucent, stirring occasionally.


3. Remove the onions to keep for later.


4. Add the garlic and ½ the chicken pieces, skin-side down. Cook until the chicken skin is golden brown, then turn pieces over and brown on the other side.


5. Once brown, remove and keep for later while you cook the remaining chicken pieces until they also are golden brown on both sides.


6. Add the first batch of chicken pieces back into the inner pot.


7. Add the onions you cooked earlier.


8. Add the white wine, white wine vinegar, chicken stock, the tin of chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, brown sugar, stoned black olives and anchovy fillets.


9. Mix everything and bring to the boil.


10. Turn the heat down and simmer for 5 minutes with the lid on.


11. Turn off the heat and put the inner pot into the insulated outer container.


12. Shut the lid and thermal cook without power for a minimum of 2 hours.


13. Before serving check the seasoning adding salt and pepper if necessary.


14. Serve with pasta and crusty bread.

Serves 4-6.

Lemon Drizzle Cake cooked in Mr D's Thermal Cooker for Mothers Day

For afternoon tea on Mother Day what could be better than a lemon drizzle cake. This is a wonderful cake gets eaten very quickly and is loved by everyone.
Using a thermal cooker this cake can be cooked anywhere and does not need an oven. All you need is a thermal cooker and a heat source to get the cake started. The main cooking is done without power.
The cake is cooked in a stainless steel cake/pudding tin with a lid to stop water from dripping on the cake.

INGREDIENTS

• 150g margarine, softened


• 150g caster sugar


• 3 large eggs, beaten


• 150g self-raising flour


• 1 tsp baking powder


• 1 lemon zest, finely grated


• 30ml milk

INGREDIENTS FOR THE DRIZZLE

• juice and finely grated zest of 1½ lemons


• 90g caster sugar


• 2 tbs honey

Lining the tin: Cut two circles of baking paper to fit a cake tin (one for the base and one for the top) that will fit in your thermal cooker. Grease the tin and line the base with one circle.

METHOD

1. Prepare the cake/pudding tin as described above.


2. Whisk the eggs in a bowl.


3. In another bowl cream the margarine and sugar until it becomes pale in colour.


4. Whisk in the flour, baking powder and milk.


5. Slowly add the eggs bit by bit and continue to beat until well combined.


6. Mix in the lemon zest.


7. Spoon the mixture into a cake/pudding tin and spread it out evenly.


8. Put the lid onto the cake/pudding tin and clip down (If using another cake tin without a lid, cover with foil and tie securely with string).


9. Place the cake/pudding tin inside the inner pot on a trivet.


10. Add enough boiling water to come ¾ the way up the side of the cake/pudding tin. If you are using a Mr D's Thermal Cooker and trivet you need the water 2cm above the trivet.


11. Bring back to the boil and then turn down the heat to a low simmer. Simmer gently with the lid on for 20 minutes.


12. Turn off the heat and transfer the inner pot into the vacuum-insulated outer container.


13. Close the lid and leave to cook for a minimum of 2 hours. It can be left overnight.


14. Once cooked, allow to cool in the tin for a few minutes.


15. Remove from the cake/pudding tin and place on a wire rack.


16. Put all the ingredients of the lemon drizzle mix into a saucepan and heat until the sugar has melted.


17. Put the cake on a plate and prick it in several places with a wooden skewer.


18. Pour the hot sugar/lemon syrup over the warm cake.


19. Decorate with some lemon zest and a little icing sugar when cool before serving.

New Thermal Cooker Now Available

Yesterday we picked up the our first batch of Mr D's eco-friendly Thermal Cooker. This cooker is to replace the Shuttle Chef which is no longer available in UK. Like the Shuttle Chef it has a 4.5L inner pot and the outer container uses a vacuum for insulation. We have done number of test on the cooker and find its heat retention is very similar to the Shuttle Chef. Two advantages of Mr D's Thermal Cooker is that it has a glass lid to the inner pot and the lid clips down for carrying.
If you want to order or learn more about our new thermal cooker please either phone 023 8084 7834 or go to buy Mr D's Thermal Cooker .

Beaulieu Static Caravan Show

This weekend we had a stand at the Beaulieu Static Caravan Show. The weather was perfect.

The sun shone every day as we talked thermal cooking to many of the visitors to the show. One couple left the show and later decided to come back in to buy one.

Each day we took a cake and a main course to show what can be cooked in the thermal cooker. The steak and kidney pudding that we made for Sunday certainly was a hit with the male visitors who all seem to love this dish.

In the afternoon I did a demonstration of how to prepare a meal. This not only showed how quick it is to prepare a meal but meant we had a hot supper when we got home.

Fridays recipe: Chilli con carne - serves 8 people (use half the contents for 4 people): from Olive Magazine

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil


• 2 onions, finely chopped


• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped finely


• bunch of coriander, leaves picked, stalks chopped up finely


• 2 green chillies, diced finely


• 1 tsp of chilli flakes


• 2 tsp ground cumin


• 2 tsp ground cinnamon


• 2 tsp dried oregano


• 1 kg good-quality beef mince


• 2 tbsp tomato puree


• 200ml red wine


• 1 tsp of salt


• 1 tsp of fresh ground pepper


• 600g canned chopped tomatoes


• 2 tbsp black treacle


• 1 litre beef stock


• 2 red peppers diced


• 400g tin kidney beans


• 1 lime, cut into wedges

Method:

1. Heat the olive oil in the inner pot and gently fry the onions, garlic, coriander stalks and chillies on a medium heat for 5 minutes until softened.


2. Stir in the spices and oregano and cook for 2 minutes.


3. Turn up the heat to medium-high, add the beef mince and brown it.


4. Turn down the heat to medium and add the tomato puree and cook for 2 minutes.


5. Add the salt, pepper and red wine. Cook it for 2 minutes to let it reduce.


6. Stir in the canned tomatoes, peppers, kidney beans and black treacle.


7. Put the lid on the inner pot and turn of the heat.


8. Put the inner pot into the insulated outer pot and shut the lid.


9. Leave to cook in the thermal cooker for a minimum of 2 hours.


10. Before serving check the seasoning and adjust.


11. Serve with rice and garnish with the coriander leaves.
    

Energy savings using Thermal Cooker, Cobb and Ghillie Kettle.

I was sent this email the other day from Ian Knox who uses every day his Thermal Cooker, Cobb and Ghillie Kettle for cooking. He lives near Southampton in UK and as you can see is certainly do his bit towards trying to Helping Mother Earth.
The figures are for savings made between January to August 2009 compare to the same period 2008.

Ian's emails (all of these are published with Ian's permission)

---

22/04/2009:

As discussed my energy bills have been reduced from 76 GBP per month to as you can see 49GBP per month this reduction has been achieved by using the Cobb rather than our conventional oven.

From Ian's energy company:

Some good news: we are reducing your monthly Direct Debit to £49

We have reviewed your payments including your current credit balance of £2.63, and have calculated that we can reduce your monthly Direct Debit to £49.00.

You do not need to do anything as we'll start taking the new amount on 1 May 2009.

---

16/09/2009:

Hello Dave
Just a quick update on things.
Firstly you will be pleased to know that my energy tracker with Eon shows that we have made a saving of 8.7% on electricity and 32.8%on gas by using Cobb,Shuttle chef and Ghillie Kettle which amounts to 111KWH of energy saved which is enough to light an average house for seven weeks on energy saving light bulbs.

---

18/09/2009

Hello Dave

This is taken from our eon on line account, please feel free to use the information as you wish.

Regards

Your Energy Consumption Summary:

111 kWh energy saved = enough energy to light an average house* for 7 weeks using energy saving light bulbs the current year, your energy usage has:

Overall - Electricity plus Gas
gone down by 26.9%

Electricity - gone down by 8.7%
Gas - gone down by 32.8%


2009 - 3.139 Tonnes of Carbon Dioxide

or

* 9,659 Miles travelled in an average sized car.**

Your CO2 emissions have gone down - a reduction of 0.651 tonnes on 2008

The Beaulieu Autojumble 12th & 13th Sept. 2009

Last weekend we had a stall at the International Beaulieu Autojumble. I had tried for a couple of years to get a stall at this mammoth event in Hampshire and at last was allocated one for this year. The vent covers 30 acres and has over 2,00 stands. People come from all over the world to buy car bits old and new.

We demonstrated the Thermal cooker over the two days and had a considerable amount of interest. On show was our new Shuttle Chef Traveller (a KPY-4500 Shuttle Chef complete with the carry bag made for us). Most people chose to buy a top pot with their Shuttle Chef and for a limited period we were giving away a copy of our new thermal cook book.

Each day I demonstrated preparing a meal mid afternoon which meant we had a meal when we got home.

Visitors to our stand were offered chocolate chip cake made the previous night. This went down very well.

The second sale we made Saturday morning was to a lady who went of with her Shuttle Chef and made an evening meal of chicken casserole. The following morning she came to visit us saying how great the meal was and the fact she left it to cook in the afternoon in her caravan without the worry of power being on was so good.

The weather stayed fine for the whole weekend and by the time we came to clear up late Sunday afternoon we were pleased with the response and there were a number of new Thermal cooks.

Spiced Beef - from Mr D's Thermal cookbook

This is a great recipe. I regularly make it for it makes a wonderful lunch with salad or in a sandwich made with fresh bread.

Sometimes referred to as 'huntsman's beef' and at one time a popular dish all over Britain. The longer the beef is cured, the longer it will keep.

Cooked Spiced Beef will keep for 3-4 weeks in a fridge. Make sure it is well wrapped in foil to prevent it drying out.

Ingredients

• 1.5kg piece of boned and rolled brisket, topside, or thick flank
• 80g sea salt
• 10g saltpetre
• 15g coarsely ground black peppercorns
• 15g ground all spice
• 15g ground juniper berries
• 50g dark brown sugar, such as muscovado

NOTE: Saltpetre is used in commercial charcuterie and meat curing . If it's difficult to get hold of in small quantities, try the Natural Casing Company in Farnham, Surrey (01252 713545 http://www.naturalcasingco.co.uk/).

Method

1. Mix all the ingredients together and rub well into the beef. Cover and leave in the fridge for 10-12 days, turning it once or twice a day.
2. After 10 to 12 days, wipe off the bits of marinade from the meat, put into a boil in the bag* and seal the bag with a tie.
3. Put the bag containing the meat into the inner pot of the thermal cooker.
4. Fill the pot with water up to about 3cms from the top.
5. Put the pot on the heat and bring to the boil.
6. Once boiling, turn down the heat and simmer with the lid on for 30 minutes.
7. Turn off the heat and transfer the inner pot into the vacuum-insulated outer container.
8. Close the lid and leave to cook for 4 to 8 hours.
9. Once cooked, remove the bag containing the meat from the pot and leave to cool. This will take about 3 hours.
10. Remove the beef from the bag. Wrap the beef in cling film. Put it in a dish and cover with a weighted plate.
11. Refrigerate for 24 hours.
12. Re-wrap, and keep in the fridge and use for up to 3 weeks.
13. Serve cold thinly sliced.

* Only use bags that are designed for boil in the bag cooking. Other plastic food bags must not be used.
Contact mail@MrDsKichen.co.uk if you have problems.

New bag for the Thermos Shuttle Chef

We have just commissioned a new carry bag for the Thermos Shuttle Chef. These are being made in UK and should be available within four to five weeks. The bag is thermal insulated and is made from the highest quality materials. The carry handle also acts to secure the lid during transport.

Due to it's design it is ideal for use on a boat where it can be hung from the handle thus making it gimballed.

The bag will turn the Shuttle Chef KPY-4500 in to a truly portable unit.
The price of the bag will be £19.95 plus delivery and is exclusive to Mr D's Kitchen.

Wrights cake mixes and the Shuttle Chef

Last weekend I did some experiments with Wrights cake and bread mixes using the Shuttle Chef. As you can see the cakes turned out very well.


Method:


All you need to do is to add water and vegetable oil to the dry mix, put it in a cake tin, cover the tin with foil or the lid (if using a Mr D's cookware cake tin). Then fill the shuttle chef inner pot (in which you have put a trivet or a Mr D's cookware pot cradle) with enough water to come ¾ way up the side of the cake tin and bring it to the boil. Don't put the cake tin in while you are bringing the water to the boil.

Once the water is boiling carefully put the cake tin in the inner pot and bring back to the boil. Once boiling turn down to a simmer and leave for 40 minutes with the lid on. After 40 minutes turn off the heat and put the inner pot into the outer insulated outer pot and leave to cook for a minimum of 4 hours.

When using the Shuttle Chef for baking bread or cakes, the cooking time is often longer than using an oven but remember, the amount of fuel used by Shuttle Chef cooking is a lot less than that used by an oven (which must be good for your pocket and the environment) and if you are camping, caravaning or on your boat you may not have an oven but still would like a nice freshly cooked cake.

Wrights do a selection of cake mixes and we have so far tried the Madeira and Ginger cakes. Both of these were great. If you are using the Mr D's cookware bread tin I would suggest ¾ of the packet mix is used.


I will do some tests on the bread mixes and report on those.

For more information on Wrights go to Wrights Home Baking

New Accessories for Shuttle Chef

Mr D's Kitchen now have available a bread tin, cake tin, Pot Cradle and the top pot all for the Thermos Shuttle Chef.

Theses are all available as separate items from Mr D's Kitchen and form part of a complete exclusive range of thermal cooking items.

For more details go to Mr D's Kitchen Shop.

Mr D's Thermal Cookbook - Now Ready

Mr D's Kitchen - Thermal Cookbook

On the 1st of September, Mr D's Thermal Cookbook will be released. Initially in the UK, it will only be available free with a Shuttle Chef bought from Mr D's Kitchen. Customers who have bought a Shuttle Chef from from us in the past will be entitled to a copy for just the cost of the package & postage. If you own a Shuttle Chef bought from us and would like a recipe book please contact Mr D's Kitchen on 023 8084 2190.

In Australia the cookbook will be exclusively available through Thermal Cookware.

Other countries will be able to buy it contacting Mr D's Kitchen.

Mr D's Thermal Cookbook contains over 80 recipes and has a very useful section which contains information on how to use a thermal cooker.

The recipe book has taken over a year to write and has envolved many testers. I would like to take this opertunity to thank all of them.

Writing a recipe book for a thermal cooker is not as easy as I had though. Developing a way to make something like a Lemon Drizzle Cake meant making around 30 cakes to get the quantities and cooking times correct. At home 95% of all our meals over the last 6 months have come from the Shuttle Chef. Friends have come to dinner and ended up testing thermal cooked meals. As we cook by gas, using the Shuttle Chef has meant a considerable saving in our gas bill.

When things have gone wrong like sinking cakes, Lindi and Allan Rush from 'Thermal Cookware' in Australia have always been there on the end of the phone to give help and support. My good friend Mike Redcar has been a main tester using his Shuttle Chef most evenings to try out new ideas to see if they are working. Jenny my wife has been very involved developing many recipes such as the very popular 'Lamb Biryani'.

The recipes are divided into 11 sections.

• Soups
• Mains Poultry
• Mains Seafood
• Mains Lamb
• Mains Beef
• Mains Pork
• Mains Vegetarian
• Puddings
• Cakes
• Bread
• Basic Recipes

Among the recipes we have enjoyed are 'Lamb Shanks on Couscous' which are the best lamb shanks ever, Spiced Beef and 'Lemon Drizzle Cake' which is always a favourite and 'Lamb Biryani' which was the first recipe we ever made in a thermal cooker.

I do hope you enyoy the book I have enjoyed writing it.
Mr D

Netley Marsh Steam Rally and the New Pot

A little late, but last weekend we had a stand at the Netley Marsh Steam Rally in Hampshire. The weather looked as though it was not going to be kind to us but Saturday and Sunday turned out to be OK.

The steam rally started in 1971 when they needed to raise funds for urgent repairs to St Matthews church. Among the attractions was Billy the owl, start of the latest Harry Potter film. The steam rally has up to 10,000 visitors and many of them stay the weekend in their caravans or motor homes.

We had a 30 foot stand and the Thermos Shuttle Chef was our main item for sale. Just before the show we received our first shipment of pots from Australia. These hang from the top of the Shuttle Chef inner pot and means that you can cook accompaniments such as rice or vegetables in this pot while cooking the main meal underneath. This make the whole cooker so much more versatile. We were selling it for £24.99 or £20.00 if you buy it with a Shuttle Chef.

We had a lots of interest, and questions over the weekend. As usual the cake was the biggest talking point. We had made a lemon drizzle cake for Saturday and this was very popular. Each day I demonstrated the making of chilli con carne with rice. I used minced beef, a large onion, a packet of "Discovery" Mexican wicked chilli spice mix, a tin of chopped tomatoes and a tin of red kidney beans. I like to add a little chopped lemon (with skin) to give that slightly tart taste that contrasts with the heat of the chilli.

By the end of the weekend we had sold a number of Shuttle Chefs and all but one had included the new extra pot.

We will certainly be doing this show again next year.

Dave

The Thermos Shuttle Chef - how it works

Thermal Cooking with The THERMOS® Shuttle Chef









After preparing your ingredients, put them into the inner pot along with either stock or water. Bring the contents to the boil and turn down the heat to a simmer.





The advantages of thermal Cooking

. Safe: It is not a pressure cooker, there are no power cords, no switches or electrical hazards to worry about.

. Energy Saving: After the food has been boiled for a short time, the cooker needs no external energy while thermal cooking. Food stays warm automatically after it’s ready.

. Convenience: The thermal cooking process requires no further supervision or monitoring. Food can be cooked while you are traveling. You can cook with the pot anywhere, anytime and it’s safe to use indoors or out.

. Economical: Decreases fuel costs, economizes time and energy.

. Healthy: Entraps flavor, minerals and vitamins; generate less odor, grease and smoke in the kitchen.

. User friendly: Never over cooks and cleans up easily.

. Durable: Unlike foam insulation used in other brands, Thermos’s vacuum insulated outer pot is a technology that foam insulation can’t begin to touch. Thermos produces the most effective insulated container and is engineered to last.

To order your Shuttle Chef:
MrDsKitchen Shop

No Knead & No Oven Bread - cooked in a thermal cooker.

This recipe is adapted from the now famous no knead bread recipe developed by Jim Lahey of Sullivan Street Bakery, Manhattan.
It was first published in the New York Times in November 2006 and has become one of the most talked about recipe on the Internet.

THE INGREDIENTS:

1½ cups of bread flour.
1 to 1½ tsp of salt (depending on your taste).
⅛ tsp of instant dried yeast.
1 cup of tepid water.

You also will need a tin to bake the bread in that will fit into the inner pot of the thermal cooker. A round cake tin will do fine. This tin needs to be greased.



THE METHOD:

1. Mix all the dried ingredients together in a bowl before mixing in the water. You don’t need to beat.
2. Cover the bowl with cling film. Leave it in a warm place for around 12 hours.
3. Sprinkle a good layer of flour onto a piece of parchment paper and flour your hands well before scooping the dough out of the bowl and putting it onto the parchment paper.
4. Spread the dough out a bit and simply fold the dough sides over each other. Then fold the bottom to the top.
5. Turn the dough over and shape it gently so it fits in the tin before placing it on a trivet in the inner pot and putting the lid on.
6. Put the inner pot into the outer pot. Shut the lid and leave for 2 hours to rise again.
7. After two hours remove the inner pot.
8. Remove the tin from the inner pot and make sure it has risen before covering it with either recycled aluminium foil (Eco care or similar) or baking parchment paper. Remember to make a handle to lift it out once cooked.
9. Put it back into the inner pot and fill with hot water to come ¾ up the side of the pan before putting on a heat source and bringing it to the boil.
10. Once boiling turn down to a simmer for 20 minutes.
11. Put the lid on the inner pot and put the pot into the outer pot for 2 hours.
12. When cooked remove and turn out onto a rack to cool.
    

Lamb Biriani - Video Recipe 0001

This Indian biriani, adapted for the Shuttle Chef, can be served on its own as a scrumptious meal, or dressed up for a festive occasion with fresh tomato chutney, vegetable curry side-dishes and crunchy popadoms. The lamb (mutton) needs to marinade for an hour at least (overnight if convenient). If you are cooking in the morning and want to save time then brown the onions the night before.

Ingredients for 6 - 8 servings (halve the ingredients for 3 people).

•1 kilo lamb (or muttton) cut into 2 cm cube pieces (I prefer shoulder).

For the marinade:

•4 green chillies (seeded and finely chopped)
•Coriander leaves (chopped - about 1 cup full)
•1 clove garlic (crushed with salt)
•2 teaspoons cumin powder
•1 teaspoon chilli powder
•1 teaspoon garam masala
•1 small carton plain yoghurt (approximately 2 large serving spoons)

For the biriani:

•4 medium onions (thinly sliced)
•Oil or ghee (about 1 desertspoon)
•1/2 kilo potatoes (can be either old potatoes peeled and cut into large chunks, or new potatoes halved)
•Pinch of saffron (optional, but adds a suble flavour)
•3 cups of long grain Basmati or Patna rice

For garnish
•100 gms cashew nuts (or shredded almonds)
•125 grams sultanas

Method:
1.Cut the lamb (mutton) into cubes.
2.Chop the chillies finely, crush the garllic, chop the coriander leaves and mix all with the spices and yoghurt.
3.Coat the meat with the marinade, cover and put in the fridge for 1 hour or longer.
4.Chop the onions, then fry in ghee or oil until golden with some browning (they should taste sweet). Remove from pan.
5.Add a little ghee or oil to the pan and heat marinaded lamb to seal the meat. (I prefer to add the meat a third at a time so that it is easier to turn.)
6.When the lamb is simmering hot, add the potatoes and 1/2 the fried onions. Stir well and bring back to simmer.
7.Mix the rice with 5 cups of boiling water and 1 desertspoon of salt.
8.Put the saffron in 1/2 cup hot water.
9.Stir 1/2 the rice into the lamb and potatoes, then spoon the other 1/2 of the rice and water on top.
10.Sprinkle the saffron water onto the top of the rice.
11.Make sure it is all simmering hot, put the lid on the Shuttle Chef pan and place it in the Shuttle Chef.
12.Leave to cook in the Shuttle Chef for 2 1/2 hours to get really tender, succulent meat. (You can leave the biriani cooking in the Shuttle Chef for up to 7 hours - the tatse is superb and the rice is still separate.)

To serve
Heat the remaining 1/2 of the browned onions, then add the nuts and sultananas. Stir occasionally until heated (the sultanas will plump). Open the Shuttle Chef and stir the onion, nuts and sultana garnish into the top layer of rice. Serve with Tomato Chutney.

Tomato Chutney
•1 small green chilli (deseed and chop very finely)
•1/2 medium onion (chop finely) I prefer sweet red onion.
•3 large or 4 medium toamtoes (chopped)
•1 desertspoon vinegar1 teaspoon sugar
•Good pinch salt

Method:
Stir all ingredients together, cover and leave in a cool place for flavours to blend.

This recipe is from Mr D's Thermal Cookbook

Nasi Goreng - serves 4 people.

In 2007 we made our first visit to Indonesia. Our filming trip had included Korea a place we have filmed in now four times over a period of six or seven years. I didn't have much knowledge of Indonesia other than what I had read about Bali so it was a new adventure. We arrived in Jakarta and travelled 100kms by taxi to our hotel the Permata Krakatau Hotel & golf course which turned out to be a number of different buildings rather like a holiday village. Our journey there took in a lot of the countryside which was full of paddy fields and small villages with people sitting out taking in the evening air. I immediately fell in love with the country and the people who seemed so friendly.


The hotel was not far from the island volcano Krakatau which, on August 26,1883, erupted causing what was one of the largest natural disasters in recorded history. The explosion was equivalent to 200 mega tonnes of TNT - about 13,000 times the yield of the Little Bomb, which devastated Hiroshima, Japan. The explosion was heard more than 3000 miles away and fine ashes from the eruption were carried by upper level winds as far away as New York City. and a series of large tsunami waves generated by the main explosion, some reaching a height of nearly 40 meters (more than 120 feet) above sea level, killed more than 36,000 people in the coastal towns and villages.


In the year following the eruption, average global temperatures fell by as much as 1.2 degrees Celsius. Weather patterns continued to be chaotic for years, and temperatures did not return to normal until 1888.

The food at the hotel was very good but one of my favourite dishes was Nasi Goreng. Nasi goreng literally means fried rice and is often accompanied by additional items such as a fried eggs, chicken and kripuk (fried crackers / chips made of shrimp or vegetables). Nasi goreng can be eaten at any time of day, although the Indonesians often eat it during breakfast, and mostly the ingredients are a previous day's dinner leftover.

THE RECIPE:

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups of rice (basmati)
• 4 cups of water.
• 1 chicken stock cube.
• 2 tbls of oil (groundnut or vegetable oil)
• 3 onions chopped small.
• 2 cloves of garlic chopped small
• 2 green chillies (medium) chopped.
• 2 skinless chicken breasts diced.
• 400g raw prawns
• ½ tbls coriander seeds
• 1 tsp of shrimp paste.
• ½ tsp of sugar.
• 2 tsps of Kicap manis (sweet soy sauce)
• 1 tbls soy sauce
• ½ lettuce finely sliced.
• ½ cucumber sliced.
• 4 eggs (one per person)

METHOD:

Cooking the rice:

1. Wash the rice once. Crumble the stock cube into the water and bring to the boil. Add the rice and let it boil for two to three minuets. Cover with a lid, turn off the gas and let it stand for around 15 minutes, loosed with a fork and let it cool down. This can be done the day before and when cool put in the fridge until required.

Main recipe:

1. Put oil in Cobb wok.
2. Add onions, garlic and chillies and fry until softened. Do not let the colour. When soft remove from the pan and put to one side.
3. Add a little more oil to the pan if necessary and heat until very hot.
4. Add the coriander, shrimp paste and sugar and let it cook for 30 secs stirring it all the time.
5. Add the chicken once again stirring until the chicken has turned white and is cooked.
6. Now return the onion mix to the pan containing the chicken mix well. making sure the heat is high add the rice to the chicken. Keep tossing it until the rice is heated through.
7. Add the Kecip mantis, soy sauce and spring onions, turn down the heat to keep the mixture hot while you fry the four eggs.
8. To serve arrange the lettuce around the outside of 4 plates. Place the rice mixture in the centre. Garnish with the cucumber strips and put a fried egg on top of the rice.
9. Serve immediately and enjoy.

Lancashire Hot Pot Serves 4-6 people - from Mr D's Thermal Cookbook

The Lancashire Hotpot has its origins in Lancashire. Some people say that female mill workers would prepare the dinner in the morning and place it in the range so that it was ready when the family returned home in the evening. Others say that mine workers would take it to the mines for lunch wrapped in blankets to keep it hot. Whatever the truth is though, it certainly is a great meal to cook in a thermal cooker.


THE INGREDIENTS:

• 1 kg of Lamb or mutton neck chops cut into 4 cm cubes.
• Seasoned flour for dusting.
• Groundnut oil.
• 50g of unsalted butter.
• 3 medium onions sliced.
• 1 ltr of lamb stock (if using stock cubes use two in 1 litre of boiling water).
• 2 sprigs of thyme.
• 1 tsp of Worcestershire sauce.
• 900g of potatoes cut into 1.5cm slices.

THE METHOD:

1. Dry the lamb on kitchen towel before dusting it with the seasoned flour.
2. Add 2 tablespoons of oil to a hot frying pan and fry the lamb in batches until it is browned all over. Remove each batch as it is browned.
3. Add 2 more tablespoons of oil to the frying pan.
4. Add the onions and thyme. Cook until the onions start to colour.
5. Add the butter and cook for a few more minutes until the onions have softened.
6. Sprinkle on one tablespoon of the seasoned flour and mix with the onions.
7. Slowly add the stock stirring all the time to avoid any lumps.
8. Add the Worcestershire sauce.
9. Bring to the boil and check the seasoning. Adjust by adding salt and pepper if necessary.
   Simmer for 5 minutes.
10. Now start to assemble the hotpot by placing a layer of potatoes overlapping in the bottom of the Thermal Cooker inner pot.
11. Next put a layer of lamb followed by a layer of onions and the sauce they were cooked in.
12. Now put another layer of potatoes and continue layering potatoes, lamb and onions until everything is used up. End on a layer of potatoes.
13. Put the thermal cooker inner pot on the stove and bring the contents to the boil.
14. Put the lid on and turn down to a simmer for 5 minutes.
15. Put the inner pot into the insulated outer pot and shut the lid.
16. Cook for a minimum of 3 hours before serving.

Boiled Fruit Cake - from Mr D's Thermal Cook Book

I thought today that I would give you a recipe that we have done so many times and always gets great comments when people try it. This fruit cake was one of the first recipes I tried and I couldn't believe how good the cake was. You really must give it a try.

Apart from your thermal cooker you will also need a fixed base cake tin, some baking or greaseproof paper and something to raise the cake tin from the bottom. I use for this a food ring.


THE INGREDIENTS

• 375 gms of mixed dried fruit.
• 3/4 of a cup of brown sugar.
• 1 tsp of mixed spice.
• Grated rind of an orange.
• 1/2 a cup of water or orange juice.
• 1/4 of a cup of whisky you could use sherry instead (optional).
• 125 gms of butter.
• 2 lightly beatened eggs.
• 1 cup self raising flour.
• 1 cup plain flour.
• 1/2 tsp of soda bicarb.

OPTIONAL: you can replace the water, liquor and sugar with a 450 gram tin of crushed pineapple.

THE METHOD:

1. Place the dried fruit into a saucepan with the brown sugar, mixed spice, orange rind, water, liquor and butter.
2. Bring the mixture to the boil and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes.
3. Allow the mixture to cool.
4. Mix in the eggs.
5. Stir in the sifted flour and soda bicarb.
6. Line a 16 cm round cake tin or Pyrex dish (one that fits nicely into the inner pot) with baking paper.
7. Spoon the mixture into this prepared cake tin.
8. Lay a round of baking paper on top of the cake mixture then cover the tin with a trimmed piece of foil to prevent condensation from seeping in.
9. Place a trivet or metal pastry ring in the base of the inner pot and rest the cake tin on this. (If you are using the 3 litre pot the cake tin can sit on a folded pad of foil).
10. Pour enough hot water into the inner pot so that the level comes halfway up the sides of the cake tin.
11. Bring the water to the boil.
12. Put the lid on and turn down the heat to simmer gently for 30 minutes.
13. Turn off the heat and transfer the inner pot into the insulated container for a minimum of 3 to 4 hours.
    

Note: As the cake cannot dry out or overcook you can actually leave this cake over night before removing it to serve.

Chef David cooks Cape Rock Lobster on his Cobb BBQ

Chef David visits Paternoster which is situated above Cape Town to cook some Rock Lobsters on his Cobb BBQ.

NOTE: This Video was produced by Cobb for publicity purposes and should not be copied without their consent.

Chef David makes an Osterich Egg Omlette on his Cobb BBQ

Chef David shows how to cook an osterich egg omlettte using his Cobb. He cooks the egg which has the equivilent of 24 chickens eggs inside on an osterich farm in Langebaanweg, South Africa.

NOTE: This Video was produced by Cobb for publicity purposes and should not be copied without their consent.