Funds Insider - Opening the door to funds

Welcome to the Citywire Funds Insider Forums, where members share investment ideas and discuss everything to do with their money.

You'll need to log in or set up an account to start new discussions or reply to existing ones. See you inside!

Notification

Icon
Error

Energy Costs
bédé
Posted: 28 August 2022 15:29:50(UTC)

Joined: 26/09/2018(UTC)
Posts: 7,895

Thanks: 4617 times
Was thanked: 6855 time(s) in 3716 post(s)
Bulldog Drummond;236375 wrote:
I refuse to have a micro-wave, as I can't think of anything I would want to eat that had come out of one.

As computer buffs say: "garbage in, garbage out".

Whilst driving in Northern France with the local radio on to improve my French, all the programmes were about food. They liked microwave. What the French have to say about food is worth noting.

Very good for fresh fish and steamed vegetables.

Very good too for bringing my wife's home-made soups up to temperature.
1 user thanked bédé for this post.
Tim D on 28/08/2022(UTC)
s patel
Posted: 28 August 2022 15:36:37(UTC)

Joined: 06/04/2017(UTC)
Posts: 408

Apropos pressure cookers, they are about 30 percent faster than conventional methods and use 50 to 75 percent less energy due to shorter cooking times.
Bulldog Drummond
Posted: 28 August 2022 15:41:17(UTC)

Joined: 03/10/2017(UTC)
Posts: 6,253

bédé;236392 wrote:
What the French have to say about food is worth noting.

I remain loyal to my shelf of Elizabeth David cookbooks.

One of the James Bond books (I think Goldfinger) has Bond staying overnight in an Auberge and noting that the only genuine antique in the place was the chicken he had been served for dinner.

I have had many splendid meals in France over the past 50 years but cannot help feeling that the standard might have slipped a little. But you will still eat far better there in a village or small town or roadside place than you would in an equivalent in the UK.

ANDREW FOSTER
Posted: 28 August 2022 16:00:51(UTC)

Joined: 23/07/2019(UTC)
Posts: 8,131

Thanks: 11379 times
Was thanked: 18250 time(s) in 5987 post(s)
s patel;236393 wrote:
Apropos pressure cookers, they are about 30 percent faster than conventional methods and use 50 to 75 percent less energy due to shorter cooking times.


However, they take 50% longer to wash up, and the higher temperatures utterly destroy most vitamins contained in vegetables.

I haven't seen one in use for decades...
2 users thanked ANDREW FOSTER for this post.
Tim D on 28/08/2022(UTC), Martina on 28/08/2022(UTC)
Tim D
Posted: 28 August 2022 16:12:57(UTC)

Joined: 07/06/2017(UTC)
Posts: 8,883

ANDREW FOSTER;236395 wrote:
s patel;236393 wrote:
Apropos pressure cookers, they are about 30 percent faster than conventional methods and use 50 to 75 percent less energy due to shorter cooking times.


However, they take 50% longer to wash up, and the higher temperatures utterly destroy most vitamins contained in vegetables.

I haven't seen one in use for decades...


They seem to pop up occasionally on programmes like "Masterchef", probably because they're the only way of cooking certain things within the time constraints the contestants are subject to.

In real life though? Vaguely remember an uncle who was a fan (because... "science!"), until it exploded and they were banned from getting another one.
Tim D
Posted: 28 August 2022 16:52:52(UTC)
#80

Joined: 07/06/2017(UTC)
Posts: 8,883

Tug Boat;236232 wrote:
Dan, who is a chef in a local pub, lives in a one bedroom flat in a grade 2 listed building.

Solid walls, sash windows which don’t close properly and all electric. No insulation, single glazed facing north.

His fuel bills are higher than mine and I live in a 200 sq. m. house.

I think Insulate Britain have a point, pity they are a bunch of numpties.


This was an interesting piece of research a couple of years ago (but seems to be getting renewed attention):
Heat loss
from https://www.tado.com/gb-...han-european-neighbours
2 users thanked Tim D for this post.
Joe Soap on 29/08/2022(UTC), chazza on 30/08/2022(UTC)
s patel
Posted: 28 August 2022 22:14:31(UTC)

Joined: 06/04/2017(UTC)
Posts: 408

ANDREW FOSTER;236395 wrote:
s patel;236393 wrote:
Apropos pressure cookers, they are about 30 percent faster than conventional methods and use 50 to 75 percent less energy due to shorter cooking times.


However, they take 50% longer to wash up, and the higher temperatures utterly destroy most vitamins contained in vegetables.

I haven't seen one in use for decades...


All cooking methods reduce the nutritional quality of food.

Pressure cookers operate at about 240 degrees Fahrenheit. Grilling and oven temperatures are generally much higher and for longer.

As such, pressure cooking retains more nutrients than traditional cooking and food-preparation methods.

bédé
Posted: 29 August 2022 07:43:36(UTC)

Joined: 26/09/2018(UTC)
Posts: 7,895

Thanks: 4617 times
Was thanked: 6855 time(s) in 3716 post(s)
Bulldog Drummond;236394 wrote:
[I have had many splendid meals in France over the past 50 years but cannot help feeling that the standard might have slipped a little. But you will still eat far better there in a village or small town or roadside place than you would in an equivalent in the UK.

Yes, the standard is slipping, but slowly. Big Mac has arrived. Baguettes are not so uniformly wondefrul. A large part of this is the drive to lower salt, which is being surrepticiously being foist on many nations. Bread is a salty food. It should have 2% salt (bakers' % based oh flour weight), in Britain it is now ca 1% - removing most taste. In France they have crept down to 1.8%, but the government wants 1.5% as the thin edge of a wedge.

Near Florence, there is a type of bread with zero salt. It is uneatable (I always serve salt with my cardboard!) but it has a local appeal.

If you want less salt, eat less salty food.
bédé
Posted: 29 August 2022 08:13:02(UTC)

Joined: 26/09/2018(UTC)
Posts: 7,895

Thanks: 4617 times
Was thanked: 6855 time(s) in 3716 post(s)
s patel;236409 wrote:
ANDREW FOSTER;236395 wrote:
I haven't seen one in use for decades...

All cooking methods reduce the nutritional quality of food.

1. I have recently seen one used by a top cheff on one of the better foody programmes on TV. It wasn't one he was used to and he cocked it up a bit.

2. Most cooking methods increase the nutriitional quality of food. That is why we learnt to do it. Starch is rendered digestible. Protein lmore digestible, but for different reasons. Processed tomatoes, I gather, have more effective reducing character than raw. I agree that some vitamins and trace ingredients can be reduced or leached out.

Whilst walking my dog on the N Downs I was harangeud by a "raw vegan". She was notorious for campaigning outside Surrey girls' schools. She was over-thin and looked most unfit, not a good advert.
1 user thanked bédé for this post.
Tim D on 29/08/2022(UTC)
bédé
Posted: 29 August 2022 08:34:39(UTC)

Joined: 26/09/2018(UTC)
Posts: 7,895

Thanks: 4617 times
Was thanked: 6855 time(s) in 3716 post(s)
Appetance is important for food, even for animals. Kerb appeal, smell, taste, texture ... Have you seen cows jumping with delight when they are first let out into a green field after the winter?

Cooking gives food appetance. "Don't sell the steak, sell the sizzle."

At a high temperature (from memory 140ºC), sugars react with proteins to give flavours and browness to both sweet and savoury foods. (Maillard reaction, think caramel). Tastes would be dull withoiut it. Too high though and you will begin to get carcinogens. Remember that the temperature will not rise above

Proteins are complex polymers. They don't just differ in chemical analysis, but have a 3-dimensional shape that is important to their function. You will know about the double helix of DNA. At 60ºC this structure breaks down. So all foods should be heated to at least 60ºC to kill off dangerous bacteria. 60ºC is also the "pain threshold" due to destruction of your own proteins.
2 users thanked bédé for this post.
Tim D on 29/08/2022(UTC), chazza on 30/08/2022(UTC)
24 Pages«Previous page1011121314Next page»
+ Reply to discussion

Markets

Other markets