Tuesday 20 November 2012

Shaken, not stirred

Something else which I have (re)discovered recently is that mixing things by stirring them (i.e. in an open container with a spoon) is a mug's game, the way forward is to pour both into a container with a sealed lid (jam jar, Thermos flask, empty plastic milk bottle, doesn't matter) and shake it vigorously for a couple of minutes, if you are trying to use up the last bit of powder in the bottom of a jar, then you just pour the liquid into the jar and screw the top back on. It's less lumpy and less effort that way; the extra good news is you can change hands if you get tired, and you've still one hand free for other stuff.

If mixing powder and liquid, put the powder in first. I did once see Nigella Lawson illustrate the merits of this technique on one of her currant affairs programmes, but I forgot about it until a couple of weeks ago.

16 comments:

Bruce said...

Are you feeling all right Mark?

mombers said...

I'm appalled that they let footage of Nigella shaking jars on TV before the watershed.

Mark Wadsworth said...

B, never felt better.

M, she kept her elbows tucked in to prevent unduly titillating wobblage.

Robin Smith said...

You clearly never used sports nutrition

Lola said...

Ahh, your cover is blown, Mr Bond....

Mark Wadsworth said...

RS, the "sports nutrition" people are con artists and little better than mediaeval priests selling places in Heaven for cash, it's like charging rent for something which doesn't even exist except in your own imagination.

L, have you read his little-known cookery books?

"First clear the kitchen of assassins and potential booby traps. Then wash your hands and finely chop an onion..."

Anonymous said...

"James Bond" has a cookbook, of sorts, it's called "How to Archer". Read the description of "Eggs Woodhouse" and tell me you aren't salivating.

John Pickworth said...

And yet, the standard advice is usually to add the powder to the liquid... eg. mixing plaster etc

Mark Wadsworth said...

RA, are you making this up?

JP, maybe so, but if you are mixing up several pints of plaster, you'd have to be pretty strong to shake it. Futher, I'm talking about dissolving stuff to end up with a lump-free liquid rather than mixing up a paste.

Derek said...

When I was 16-18 years old, I worked for a building company as a labourer during the summer holidays. As part of my duties I mixed a lot of mortar and plaster by hand because it was a small company and didn't send the cement mixer out to two-man jobs. I always added the water to the powder. Generally by making a small "crater" of sand and cement, putting the water in the middle, then folding the powder in from the sides.

I'm not sure whether this counts as adding the water to the powder or adding the powder to the water but it was an effective way of mixing up a batch when you didn't have a container to put it in. Shaking and stirring were both out of the question. Folding was the way to do it.

Anonymous said...

I'm not making anything up, honest.

Mark Wadsworth said...

D, my reply is the same as to JP, the idea with cement or concrete or plaster is to end up with a paste, not a liquid. You're not really dissolving the powder, you are mashing it up with water.

Bayard said...

Derek, I was taught to mix mortar that way and I can't think why. Nearly all building sites have a wheelbarrow and, if you mix in the barrow, it's already in the barrow and you don't have to put it there, also it can't go horribly wrong with the water running out and taking all the cement with it, leaving just the sand.

Anonymous said...

I'm still struggling with the idea of currants in Nigella's kitchen having affairs.

Mark Wadsworth said...

FT, no, it was a programme about "things you can bake where currants are one of the ingredients", currants are dried grapes and thus incapable of romantic or sexual activity.

Anonymous said...

Ah, silly me. I thought perhaps her, er, feminine charms had provoked even the dried shrivelled things.

She certainly has that effect on mine, anyway.