Tuesday 19 October 2010

Player Problem Solved!

Sorted!

The problem with viewing videos should now be a thing of the past (although you may need to clear your browser cache to make sure)
It was a 'problem' with permissions....basically unless you have signed up as a Gallery member, you didn't have permission to see the video...oops!

So rather than attempt to force you all to join up, which is never going to happen, I've changed the permissions for the video album so that anyone can view the videos.

Hopefully that'll sort the trouble out....just click on the thumbnail in the original post below to go to the video in the Gallery, then click on the play button to see the video in action. Any problems then please sing out!
another big thanks to Elise for letting me know that it wasn't working for you all....without being told about problems I can't fix 'em, so thanks again.

More video to come later on....

TTFN

Player Problems!!!

Right so that plan didn't work then!

Will look at why the video doesn't work and update you all as soon as I can

Pea Pushing Post!

Finally! I managed to process the videos from the October cookery weekend, although I'm having hassle in uploading them at the moment due to slooow Internet speeds, so I've limited it to just one for today...fingers crossed a new day will bring a calmer Internet and easier uploads.

This is the first of the videos to go straight to the new video album at the Gallery, so you'll have to excuse any differences from video posts in the past....you can't watch the videos here at the blog, you have to visit the Gallery, although that may change if I can suss out the code to play the videos here.

It's a nice simple video that just shows Robin processing the cooked peas for perre by passing them through a colander to turn them into a pulp and also to remove the hulls, the latter being the main reason for the process as mentioned in the recipe. Whether that's an essential part of the recipe today with modern pea varieties is uncertain, but it's an interesting thing for the public to watch and brings about the discussion of what modern food processors can and can't do.....without fail there will always be a number of people that suggest how much easier it would be with a modern food processor....as it happens it wouldn't as without a special attachment all that would do would be to beat the peas to a pulp, but still leave the hulls in the mix (not to mention the washing up of all the parts!!). If you watch the video, towards the end Robin washes the last of the pulp through the colander and squeezes the last bits from the separated hulls, which then go neatly into the bin.

The resultant mix is the water that the peas were cooked in along with the flesh of the peas, which can then be used to finish the dish off...or would make the base for a killer Georgian period soup, either way is a winner though.

For those of you wondering why use the pestle to start with before moving on to using his hand.....simple, the peas were still hot as they had only just come off the boil and although Robin is fairly heat resistant, even he doesn't like sticking his hands in boiling hot peas! Most of the early part of the video is him 'playing' with the peas whilst chatting to the public and letting them cool down to a stage where he can get stuck in and really do the bulk of the work with his hands.

So, with all that in mind, here's the video, click on the image to view it (don't panic if you can't hear any sound, there isn't any...it was removed to protect the innocent)...


processing peas

Just to add, for a discussion of perre just pop over to the forum (CLICK ME) and have a look at the thread on vegetable recipes...do feel free to join in the discussion!

Friday 1 October 2010

Side Project #2

Recipe and Cooking Survey.

As part of the ongoing research into the use of the Historic Kitchens at Hampton Court Palace I would like to invite you to participate in a survey that aims to find how recipes are used in modern cookery.

The answers to this survey will allow us to compare modern recipe use with what is currently known about recipe usage in Henry VIII’s reign with the statistics collected being used as part of the final documentation for this research.

The survey is completely anonymous and no personal data other than that asked for in the survey is recorded. Although all answers given by an individual are linked together, no information about that individual is recorded.

When starting the survey you will be asked a simple mathematical question, this is simply to verify that a real person is filling out the answers and not an automated system.

The survey will run from 1st October 2010 until midnight 1st December 2010 so there is plenty of time to participate.

Please feel free to distribute this information and the associated web link to anyone that you think may be interested is helping out with this research, this survey is not limited to the UK but is regrettably only available in English.

Many thanks in advance for your participation. If you have any questions or problems then please get in touch via the survey site by emailing survey@tudorcook.co.uk

The link to the survey:

http://www.tudorcook.co.uk/survey/index.php?sid=51676&lang=en

Flip And Bother!?!?!

after last nights post....as is always the way...I found quite a large chunk of side project#2 needing to be re written and now thanks to internet problems that's taking longer than I had hoped...the upshot being that it's not quite ready yet, so I can't update you at the moment.

It's really quite frustrating, but I assure you that this has to be correct before I can release it otherwise it's a pointless exercise. Hopefully I'll be able to finish it later today and update you then...assuming I can get decent internet access at work.

For now though, time marches onwards and fingers need pulling out so that I can get to work...late enough as it is!

TTFN