Farmers Markets

[yotmon]

Hi WW, just spoke to no.1 daughter who says that noodles are sold at music festivals for around £8.00 a bowl (cardboard box) so should be a good profit in it. I wouldn't bother trying to make the noodles yourself, I'm sure it would be cheaper to find a supplier who sells good quality ones at a decent price. I think most folk would expect a 'spicy' broth - either a curry type or even a chilli/ginger/coriander with tofu. There are some good base stock powders on the market that I don't mind using - 'Marigold' springs to mind. I think £2.00 a bowl is cheap and could probably push the price to £3 - £3.50 as long as it looks a substantial meal. Maybe 'kiddies' portions can be sold cheaper.

ATB. Yotmon.

[welsh wizard]

Thank you Yotman, I wonder how they cook them? Oh well a trip to Woodstock is now on the cards (shows my age) and I wonder who supplies noodles, will try Wing Yips. £8 ! Wow, but expect they pay a fortune for their pitch....

Cheers WW

[Dogfish]

Make the portions smaller and make the sauce spicier; it'll make people feel fuller faster and increase perceived value. Maybe try to find noodles out of won-ton material as it holds up in liquid longer/better and you wouldn't have to run the risk of cold or soggy noodles.

Chappati/tortilla are really easy to make and fast to cook and can be revived with steam if they harden. They also flake right up if fried in decent amounts of grease to make nice crispy quesadillas.

Another thing that could interest you is poutine. I don't know if it's common outside of Canada but it's basically cheese curds and brown gravy on fries/chips. It is extremely popular here, especially if people have been drinking a bit. In Canada it's hot kielbasa in a bun, and poutine.

Don't know if it's allowed but a good gimmick might be cooking beef on an old sabre in the tradition of Brazil.

[welsh wizard]

Thank you Dogfish there are some interesting ideas there. God I would love to do the sword, but I think I would get my wrists slapped by the controll police!

Cheers WW

[wheels]

WW

You may be interested in this:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink ... gnate.html

HTH

Phil

[welsh wizard]

Very interesting Phil, thank you

Cheers ww

[welsh wizard]

Just an update, I bought 9kg of noodles from a supermarket in Birmingham which had the cooking instructions "boil for 5 mins", I boiled for 4m's, cooled them down immediatly in cold water and mixed in some vegtable oil and sesame oil and stirred like mad which stopped them sticking. I then made a Miso soup and poured this over the cold noodles and left for about 30s which refreshed them well, so all I need now is a few vegatbles to go with them and presto hey, it should work. I also took some of the par cooked noodles and put them onto my small griddle and fried them very quickly with some black bean sauce and a little cooked beef I had left over from mid week, these were good as well but I have to be careful not to over cook them and I question if I can do that in volume. Anyway, my preference was for the dry fry noodles but both were more than acceptable. Right does anyone want to buy 8kg of noodles?

thanks for all your help

cheers WW

[onewheeler]

FYI, the nice Thai lady in our local farmers' market sells veg noodles (very good!) for £4 a carton. There's always a queue for her food.

Martin/

[NCPaul]

The strawberries are in our farmers' market now; a bit late but a very large crop this year. I bought 2 gallons of Chandler strawberries. Here is an interesting article that mentions them:
http://www.saveur.com/article/Travels/S ... Berry-Farm
This type has a pure flavor and I use them for jam, sorbet, ice cream and eating as is.



I made 11 pints of low sugar jam which gives a softer set but allows me to cut the sugar to about 25 % of the regular pectin recipe.

[captain wassname]

Thanks for sharing Paul an interesting read and proof that quality sells.I love strawberries the best I ever had came from Vancouver Island.

Jim

[Ruralidle]

I love the soft fruit, particularly the cherries, that you get in Norway but the tastiest strawberries I have eaten were from our garden in the season before last perhaps because we had planted varieties that were more of a "heritage" style. Last year was awful,the berries were so full of water that they didn't have the same flavour - and there wasn't many of them. Let's hope that this year is good for fruit and veg in the UK!

[NCPaul]

The glory of the farmer's market in the South:



Better Boy, Cherokee purple, German Johnson, and a stripey.



Sweet corn; a new type called Avelon, very similar to Silver Queen.



Yellow squash.



Sweet onions.



Peaches. Later than usual crop this year.



Garlic from my garden.

[welsh wizard]

Yep, its me again asking for help and assistance...........
I am about to embark on my season of food shows and I want to come up with a few recipes for what are now called "gourmet burgers" and I was wondering if anyone out there had some good names / ideas for burgers. I intend to use as a base either a 6oz beef patty made from local steak or a 4oz game patty made from pigeon, rabbit and pheasant. to give you an example of what I mean, the Fu Man Chew burger made with Chinese 5 spice and served with Chinese lettuce and a soya reduction or the Hot to Trot burger made with chilli jam, or the pig out burger served with bacon jam etc etc. As always, all ideas will be gratefully received............thanks WW

[corromant]

I regularly make 6oz pork burgers in various flavors to exactly the same recipes that I use for sausages.

Conrad

[Wunderdave]

Yep, its me again asking for help and assistance...........
I am about to embark on my season of food shows and I want to come up with a few recipes for what are now called "gourmet burgers" and I was wondering if anyone out there had some good names / ideas for burgers. I intend to use as a base either a 6oz beef patty made from local steak or a 4oz game patty made from pigeon, rabbit and pheasant. to give you an example of what I mean, the Fu Man Chew burger made with Chinese 5 spice and served with Chinese lettuce and a soya reduction or the Hot to Trot burger made with chilli jam, or the pig out burger served with bacon jam etc etc. As always, all ideas will be gratefully received............thanks WW

Colony burger with bacon, american cheese, and mayonnaise.