Who thought tinned potatoes were a good idea?

I've been wondering this for a while now. Possibly the least successful canned food out there, don't taste all that particularly great.... especially if you followed the instructions on the tin that say to empty the contents (potatoes & water) into a saucepan and heat up. If you use this method, I've found they end up tasting so bad, they bring back Vietnam-style flashbacks of childhood, of grandparents trying to wipe your face with a dishcloth that's well on its way to becoming minging, and in need of throwing out soon.

Far better to fill a saucepan with freshwater from the kitchen tap, and heat until it starts bubbling away... Then put the potatoes in there to heat up, having drained off the water in the can down the kitchen sink.

Even then, they're only really any good if you stick them in a stew / casserole, and bury them in loads of beef gravy. Or with a salad, and bury them in a load of Heinz Salad Cream, or Mayo.

They're no good at all for mashed potato.

I suppose the one redeeming feature is it saves having to wash & peel them.

Fried bread trick

I used to like eating fried bread when I went away on holiday with my grandparents in the 1980's when I was still a kid, often had at breakfast with bacon + a pot of tea.
Until recently I could never get the damn stuff right myself, but now I seem to have found a way to make it without it being soggy - use a grille pan, like you can also use for cooking steak.

Set the pan to heat up with the hob on full heat until it starts smoking, get your slice(s) of bread (only space for one at a time) and butter them both sides (I've been doing it with FLORA sunflower spread).

Cook in the pan til both sides are golden brown, and it's ready.... Crispy on the outside, still soft below.... just like them frozen garlic breads you can get to finish off in your oven at home... So I reckon you could also use this trick to make your own garlic bread if you just mix some garlic in with the butter / sunflower spread before you butter both sides of the bread.

Cooking: How to cook rice

For something to fill the blog out a bit more, I thought I'd stick one of my cooking techniques on here.........

Stuff Needed:

• Long Grain Rice (about half a cup per person is usually enough)
• Medium / large-ish saucepan
• Water
• Salt

tip: I prefer to use "Tilda Easy cook long grain rice" when doing rice, as it doesn't go too sticky / PVA glue-like if you accidently leave it cooking too long (unlike some of the cheaper supermarket own-label packets of long grain rice).

How to cook it:
1) Put water from the cold tap into the saucepan.... about 468ml will probably be enough

2) Place the saucepan full of water onto the hob / burner of the cooker, remembering to turn it onto full heat

3) Put the salt into the water - about 2teaspoons of salt maximum. This supposedly lowers the boiling point of the water. It also helps with the flavour of the rice...... put no salt in, and the rice doesn't taste of anything... put too much in and it tastes bloody awful.......... put the right amount in (2 teaspoons is the amount I've found works to perfection) and it tastes perfect.

4) Once the water starts to bubble away (which means it's boiling), tip the rice (measuring it out in a regular sized cup) into the pan of water.
If you want, you can also put in a couple of handfuls of frozen peas, or frozen mixed vegetables (e.g. peas & carrots & sweetcorn & sliced green beans, etc) to try make it a bit more interesting.

5) Leave the rice to boil away in the pan for 15-20minutes (making sure it doesn't boil dry, or it's almost impossible to get the sodding pan clean afterwards trying to get burn't rice off the bottom of it).
Most cooks / chefs recommend putting a lid on the pan........ I don't bother with one (except at the end when draining off the excess water), as when I do it's a never ending battle stopping the water from boiling over and splashing over the cooker top.

6) Once the 15-20minutes are up, drain off the water (with the aid of the pan lid) then scoop the rice out of the pan with a slotted spoon to serve it with whatever (if anything) you were planning to have with it.