Should I still use it?
I was planning to make a roast lunch tomorrow with Yorkshire puddings and just noticed that the yorkshire pudding mix sell by date is October 2013.
I would but then I tend to use those dates a a guide only, there's a pretty large margin when it comes to dried products.
If it was a yoghurt I wouldn't take the risk.
If it hasn't gone into one lump it should be fine.
Thanks! Yorkshire puddings here we come!
Of course you do realise that Yorkshire puddings are incredibly easy to make from scratch don't you?
I didn't even realise they sold a packet mix until I read this thread.
I've always used a packet mix, where you add water and eggs.
I had not realised that they are easy to make from scratch? How so?
Since you seem well informed, my Yorkshire puddings do not win any awards for the amount that they rise in the oven. My research said that each place in the tray should have a dollop of oil and that the oven should be very hot when you put them in... but even so, it's rare that I get a good looking one at serving time.
Well just substitute flour for the "mix" and milk for the water. I'm completely astonished that anyone would make a "mix" which must consist of just flour and dried milk (presumably with some artificial additives as well).
Get a jam jar (or jug) crack in 4 eggs and mark the level. Tip the eggs into a bowl, then refill the jam jar to the same level with flour (plain)(not that you can get SR flour!), tip the flour into the eggs and give them a good mix, then refill the jam jar to the same level with milk. Then tip that in with the egg mixture and give it all a good mix. Heat oven to 210 fan and heat a muffin tin, baking tin or something like that with a bit of groundnut (peanut) oil in till very hot. Take the Yorkshire pudding mix to the oven and quickly tip into the tins and the shut the door as quick as poss - heat is the key to getting them to rise. Leave the door shut. Cook till they look cooked ( approx 25 mins I think)
Having been born and raised in Yorkshire we had Yorkshire pudding nearly every Sunday for the first 20 or so years of my life.
My mother always used this method which her mother had used before her. It's the method I still use today and mine always turn out really well.
Original recipe gave the quantities in imperial measurement But my mum adapted them to metric measurement some time ago when she acquired new weigh scales.
125g flour ( we always use 100g plain and 25g self raising flour or 125g plain and a pinch of baking powder if self raising flour is not available)
2 eggs ( at room temperature not straight from the fridge)
250ml milk
Sift the flour into a bowl and make a well in the middle. Beat the eggs and pour into the flour with a little milk and whisk the mixture. Add 125 ml of milk and whisk to a smooth paste bringing in all the flour from the sides of the bowl. Add the remaining milk and stir. Cover and leave to stand for at least 30 minutes. ( important step according to mum)
Pre heat oven to 220 C. Place a small knob of lard ( saindoux sold in big tubs in Migros) or solid vegetable oil in each well of a muffin tin and put in oven until rally hot. You should be able to see a sort of vapour rising from the melted fat.
Whisk the batter ( important step) and pour a little into each muffin pan ( about a tablespoon and a half for each hole). Don't put too much in or they won't rise. Do this as quickly as possible so that the fat doesn't cool down too much and return to the oven for about 15 minutes. Don't open the oven door during cooking.
Perfect yorkshires every time.
Enjoy.
I can also recommend this recipe. Getting the oil/fat hot enough and using a metal baking tin are the key elements. Adding a pinch of salt and some pepper to the mixture improves the flavour. I have also used Bratbutter (Green and white tub, found near the olive oil in Migros) or Ghee, and these taste very nice, about 1 small teaspoonful butter per muffin baking tin hollow.
Oops I forgot the pinch of salt.
Mum never used pepper as my brother wouldn't eat anything with little black specks in it. ( or anything that remotely resembled a vegetable unless it was peas for that matter,).
Dried food should be fine... food tends to go bad because of bacteria.
Bacteria need two things to grow, food and water... There will probably be bacteria in the packet but it will be dormant as the contents is dry.
Normally food looks or smells bad and then you know it is not good.
You lot are making me drool at the mouth.
I love Yorkshire pud and miss it, but the old boy is diabetic and we therefore have to be very careful.
If I make the Yorkshires, then he can't have his beloved roast potatoes, which are in the oven with the chicken, right now.
You could do a few tatties for him and yorkies for you...
Thanks for all the replies. My yorkshire puddings did not turn out very well but next time I will follow BelgianMums recipe and see how that goes.
There are other processes how food can spoil. By fungi (better known as mold ), protein degradation, and rancification . The later affects food which contains fat such as flour (plain white flour Type 400 has 1% fat , whole weat flour Type 1700 2.5% fat). Fortunatlly rancid flour has a bad nutty, sour aka rancid smell , speccially when disolved in cold water.
PS: In the kitchen we also can find stuff that never ever spoils: Sugar and salt.
ftfy
(the rancid link)
The only thing with dry products like this that can go bad is baking powder, in that it loses its potency with time. (Nothing harmful occurs, you just may not have as much rise as expected.)
As for yogurt: funny that you mention that specifically, since yogurt is quite tolerant. No, I wouldn't eat 5 months expired yogurt, but it's certainly perfectly fine a week after its date. It's not like fish which really goes off quickly.
In general, I find the dates here to be radically different depending on product and store. For example, most fish dates here are too generous and by the use-by date, it's past its prime. On red meat, on the other hand, the dates are absurdly short, and the meat often hits its peak flavor and tenderness a week after its expiration date. Chicken is usually spot-on. (Unless it's Prix Garantie chicken breasts, which I no longer buy because on their use-by date, they already smell funky.) Preserved goods like jam, olives, or canned goods of course keep well past their use-by dates.
And finally, salt has a use-by date, simply because all foods are required to have them. But my guess is that after being in the ground for a couple of million years, a few months here and there won't make much of a difference!
I guess this is why the Coop think they can "Re-Label" the used by dates time and time again
Have you guys seen "Food Inc" really good documentary.
My rule of thumb is to stay on the outside of the supermarkets walls. You have fresh food on the outsides, veg usually on entrance down the left, meat and bread across the back and alcohol down the right hand side....
This is because they bring out more fresh during the days, in the middle of the supermarket is where you find all the processed / dry food and thatch the real killer in our lives.
Stick to fresh!
Food Inc Trailer: