Difficult to find ingredients

Ken Natton

Ken Natton

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Joined
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Location
Bolton, UK
I keep encountering recipes that I really fancy having a go at, but that call for some obscure ingredient that seems to be very difficult to get.


A good example, I have seen a couple of different recipes recently that call for fennel seeds. That’s not obscure you say. I understand that it’s quite a common ingredient in Italian cooking. I spent a frustrating afternoon searching nearby higher end supermarkets without success. I have found a website that offers them, but its intended customer base is Italian restaurants and it sells them by the kilo. I have picked up a hint that I might be able to get them in Holland and Barretts – but is that really the only option? Actually, fennel itself is not that easy to come by and I recall seeing Rick Stein do a monkfish recipe that called for fennel leaf. He didn’t mention his source. I have a note of the recipe, but I have never actually cooked it.


Another good example of a very different kind is rose veal. Again, seen a few different suggestions of things to do with rose veal recently. Supermarkets don’t sell it. Again, the only source I have found is a website, and maybe that is a reasonable source in this case. Is the only alternative to that farmer’s markets or such like? I have even looked for it in a couple of farm shops that I have happened by but didn’t find it.


Another recent Rick Stein recipe called for Italian pork sausage meat. British sausage meat has too much rusk and, according to Rick, won’t work for that recipe. I suppose that I am not exactly certain what distinction is being drawn between pork mince, and pork sausage meat without rusk. Is it just a question of the cut of meat used? Or the degree of pulverisation maybe? Anyway, back to the main point – where do I get Italian pork sausage meat? The same website selling the fennel seeds had it. Is that my best option?


I am just interested in people’s comments about their approach to finding less mainstream ingredients. Is it all about sourcing them online? Are farmer’s markets a reliable source? I suppose the real thing I am looking for is how to avoid the frustration of losing lots of time in fruitless searches.
 
Ken Natton said:
I am just interested in people’s comments about their approach to finding less mainstream ingredients. Is it all about sourcing them online? Are farmer’s markets a reliable source? I suppose the real thing I am looking for is how to avoid the frustration of losing lots of time in fruitless searches.
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Well, I use the internet for lots of things which I can't buy locally. I also use Ocado (home delivery supermarket). The sell Waitrose products as well as their own and they do stock some 'hard to find' produce, such as Tamarind pods and Watermelon radishes (to name two).

Re fennel seeds - I'm a bit surprised about that as Tesco stock them don't they? I'll just double check... yes - and I'm sure the other major supermarkets do, too.

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But in fact, for a lot of spices your best bet is an Asian shop if you have one in Bolton. They sell larger packs of most spices at a much cheaper price than buying a small jar.
 
Ken Natton said:
Anyway, back to the main point – where do I get Italian pork sausage meat? The same website selling the fennel seeds had it. Is that my best option?
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I think that Rick just means don't use traditional UK bangers. Choose a pork sausage with a high meat content and you will be fine. Do you have a link to the recipe?
 
Right, my apologies Cinisajoy, I had taken this to be a UK forum. Morning Glory is right, I am hunting for my difficult to find ingredients in the UK.


Morning Glory - Quite near to me is one of the gigantic Tesco Extra stores. It is usually pretty good for having a broad range of things and can be a good source of some things that I can’t find elsewhere. But I did look there for fennel seeds and failed to find them. I shall have to try again and, horror of all horrors for a guy like me, I might have to ask someone from the store.


Oh and yes, there are lots of Asian shops and supermarkets near me. I suppose I didn’t think of them because I was thinking Italian cuisine, not Asian. But I’ll certainly check them out.


I’ll tell you another good example that you might well tell me that I should find – Japanese Panko breadcrumbs. A couple of the TV chefs, including Tom Kerridge, have mentioned them as the best option when making anything coated in breadcrumbs. But I can never find them in any of the supermarkets I go in.


As for the recipe that wanted Italian pork sausage meat, it was on the Long Weekends episode in Bologna. I have checked iPlayer and already you cannot get it now. I have noted the recipe down as Taglietelle with Salcice sauce, if that helps. What would you think about simply using pork mince. Do you think that would work?
 
Ken Natton said:
ll tell you another good example that you might well tell me that I should find – Japanese Panko breadcrumbs.
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You are going to hate me soon... but Tesco's sell them. I guess you may have to do the dreaded 'asking'. :laugh: I shop Tesco and Ocado on-line mostly as I love having it delivered and not wasting my time in the aisles. Usually they have most things listed on the website.


IDShot_225x225-11.jpg
 
Ha, maybe it's not a Bolton thing, maybe it's a me looking in the wrong places thing. Where would they be, with the bread flours and yeasts? In the home baking section? In the world foods section? Actually, I did try that approach recently. I saw a Nigel Slater recipe that called for preserved lemons. Checked it out online and found that Sainsbury's had them. Went into Sainsbury's, couldn't find them, asked someone, and was led to a completely different place than where I had looked, to find the jar looking exactly like the image I had seen online. I suppose that what I need is a big flashing red light over the specific ingredient I am looking for. Still, I'm certain that the supermarkets really don't stock rose veal. Too costly to sell well, I suppose.
 
Ken Natton said:
Right, my apologies Cinisajoy, I had taken this to be a UK forum. Morning Glory is right, I am hunting for my difficult to find ingredients in the UK.


Morning Glory - Quite near to me is one of the gigantic Tesco Extra stores. It is usually pretty good for having a broad range of things and can be a good source of some things that I can’t find elsewhere. But I did look there for fennel seeds and failed to find them. I shall have to try again and, horror of all horrors for a guy like me, I might have to ask someone from the store.


Oh and yes, there are lots of Asian shops and supermarkets near me. I suppose I didn’t think of them because I was thinking Italian cuisine, not Asian. But I’ll certainly check them out.


I’ll tell you another good example that you might well tell me that I should find – Japanese Panko breadcrumbs. A couple of the TV chefs, including Tom Kerridge, have mentioned them as the best option when making anything coated in breadcrumbs. But I can never find them in any of the supermarkets I go in.


As for the recipe that wanted Italian pork sausage meat, it was on the Long Weekends episode in Bologna. I have checked iPlayer and already you cannot get it now. I have noted the recipe down as Taglietelle with Salcice sauce, if that helps. What would you think about simply using pork mince. Do you think that would work?
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It pretty much is a UK forum. Though there are a few strays from other places.

Though our supermarkets are the same way. They hide stuff too. I think so you will walk the whole store.
 
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