French bread and Tescos finest.

[Airbagwill]

20 hours ago, Airbagwill said:

I'm not a fan of Tops baguettes.

As I said I'm a fan of boules or pain death champagne if I can find a quality loaf.

It seems to be a sign of good French bread that it really doesn't keep its best characteristics much longer than a day in this climate.

Sorry my predictive text has a mind of its own...I actually thought I'd changed this.

"pain death champagne" should read "pain de campagne", although the former might be the way to go for some?!?

[notmyself]

20 hours ago, Airbagwill said:

 

It seems to be a sign of good French bread that it really doesn't keep its best characteristics much longer than a day in this climate.

 

No question though it is the type of bread rather than the country. The business after the bridge don't bake their baguettes to order but they do bake to stock level. If you keep it cool and in a damp environment (cover in a wet cloth) then the dough will keep way way longer than after it is baked.... certainly until the following morning. Problem in this part of the world is that the only way to keep it cool is by using aircon which extracts moisture at an alarming rate but the balance can be managed. If cooking in town somewhere and need 20-30 baguettes then I'll pre-order and get them made as the (or part of) last bake of the day. 

 

[Airbagwill]

27 minutes ago, notmyself said:

 

No question though it is the type of bread rather than the country. The business after the bridge don't bake their baguettes to order but they do bake to stock level. If you keep it cool and in a damp environment (cover in a wet cloth) then the dough will keep way way longer than after it is baked.... certainly until the following morning. Problem in this part of the world is that the only way to keep it cool is by using aircon which extracts moisture at an alarming rate but the balance can be managed. If cooking in town somewhere and need 20-30 baguettes then I'll pre-order and get them made as the (or part of) last bake of the day. 

 

How do you keep your baguettes crispy on the outside?..... I find after about 12 hours they are only suitable for conversion into a pair of slippers.

In Laos I notice they have really good French bread. I believe most of the bakers who kept the traditional alive were the Vietnamese.

The thing is it not only looks like French bread, it tastes like French bread and stays crisp on the outside for a long time too.

Edited April 14, 2018 by Airbagwill

[notmyself]

16 minutes ago, Airbagwill said:

How do you keep your baguettes crispy on the outside?..... I find after about 12 hours they are only suitable for conversion into a pair of slippers

 

I serve them within 4-5 hours.

 

[edit]

 

Sorry, that is so dismissive of me.

 

To do that you need to control not only the temperature but also the humidity and that is not easy even in a confined space. 

 

 

 

Edited April 14, 2018 by notmyself

[khunPer]

11 hours ago, Airbagwill said:

How do you keep your baguettes crispy on the outside?..... I find after about 12 hours they are only suitable for conversion into a pair of slippers.

In Laos I notice they have really good French bread. I believe most of the bakers who kept the traditional alive were the Vietnamese.

I read an article about how to bake the best genuine French baguettes a number of years back, and it said that a baguettes shall not be considered as human food, if it's more than four hours old; there French bakers bakes baguettes all day, so fresh bread for dinner can be bought on the way from work to home.

 

Laos and Vietnam are old French Indochina, so they have a different education and tradition for bread – i remember my first visit to Phnom Penh a number of years ago, where my initial impression was that the usual Thai smell of bioled rice was exchanged with a heavenly odeur (scent) of fresh baked bread...

 

And by the way, we Scandinavian folks, and some Germans also,  has a different taste, and that's for dark bread, like malted rye-bread – or Makro's Finn-bread – the little Thai bakery in Maenam's walking street bake a delicious Swedish style, and little sweet, dark malted bread, which is extremely crispy when coming straight out of the oven (insiders know when it's baked), but that might not be tasting at all for a French baguette lover, and the same bakery's baguettes might disappoint a real baguette lover (that's why I didn't mentioned it in my original post); however they might be Okay if one know what time of day the are baked, and pick them up when still extremely fresh...

[Airbagwill]

33 minutes ago, khunPer said:

I read an article about how to bake the best genuine French baguettes a number of years back, and it said that a baguettes shall not be considered as human food, if it's more than four hours old; there French bakers bakes baguettes all day, so fresh bread for dinner can be bought on the way from work to home.

 

Laos and Vietnam are old French Indochina, so they have a different education and tradition for bread – i remember my first visit to Phnom Penh a number of years ago, where my initial impression was that the usual Thai smell of bioled rice was exchanged with a heavenly odeur (scent) of fresh baked bread...

 

And by the way, we Scandinavian folks, and some Germans also,  has a different taste, and that's for dark bread, like malted rye-bread – or Makro's Finn-bread – the little Thai bakery in Maenam's walking street bake a delicious Swedish style, and little sweet, dark malted bread, which is extremely crispy when coming straight out of the oven (insiders know when it's baked), but that might not be tasting at all for a French baguette lover, and the same bakery's baguettes might disappoint a real baguette lover (that's why I didn't mentioned it in my original post); however they might be Okay if one know what time of day the are baked, and pick them up when still extremely fresh...

I workedd all over Europe and ate a lot of breads...My favourite is usually French...it's not that I don't like other breads, it's just that French bread is my favourite.

I also like proper UK bread but sadly I don't know anyone here who comes close.

The sliced goo that passes for bread in supermarkets and convenience stores just isn't bread and I would never buy it.

Here in Laos, I've been living off bread for the last 2 days as everywhere is shut for Song Khran

[Airbagwill]

Interesting...lots of bread fans but no aficionados of British tea.

[notmyself]

7 minutes ago, Airbagwill said:

Interesting...lots of bread fans but no aficionados of British tea.

 

Makro have Twinings tea of as a recall Assam, Earl Grey, English breakfast and some kind of fruit or mint tea but are in bag form rather than loose leaf and a box of 25 costs a whopping 235 Baht. I imagine Samphet would have a selection but I've not been over there since before the immigration office moved. I've a friend who needs a few things so will go along with her on Wednesday and let you know

[Airbagwill]

49 minutes ago, notmyself said:

 

Makro have Twinings tea of as a recall Assam, Earl Grey, English breakfast and some kind of fruit or mint tea but are in bag form rather than loose leaf and a box of 25 costs a whopping 235 Baht. I imagine Samphet would have a selection but I've not been over there since before the immigration office moved. I've a friend who needs a few things so will go along with her on Wednesday and let you know

Sadly the Twinnings teas available here are just bland teas, usually packed in Malaysia but made for an export.market that would faint if they drank real Britsh tea... even brands like PG tips are the Aussie variety and just insipid replicas of the real thing.

The stuff I use is the imported real McCoy from the UK.

M&S have a strong tea but it's quite expensive. Tesco Assam, EnglishBreakfast are full strength and really good Value.....Tops ... some branches carry Waitrose essential and gold both a bit more pricy but proper teas....what I don't know is if they are stocked on Samui.

 

I'm also quite happy with teabags so long as they have the right stuff in them.

Edited April 15, 2018 by Airbagwill

[khunPer]

1 hour ago, Airbagwill said:

Interesting...lots of bread fans but no aficionados of British tea.

I think I mentioned Tesco Finest, they have delicious British tea – but again, I'm a Scandinavia, so what do I know about British tea, other than I try to drink mine with milk – I prefer the Ceylon tea, but Tesco-Lotus has many varieties in their Tesco Finest range, I noticed "Breakfast Tea" and "Darjeling", among others...
 

And both BigC and Tesco-Lotus bakes sandwich and toast bread, which is fresh and slightly better than the convenient store packs; the little Thai bakery in Maenam Walking Street also bake homemade toast bread, but I'm not an expert, as I gladly can enjoy a butter croissant...

[sanuk711]

11 minutes ago, khunPer said:

Tesco Finest, they have delicious British tea

British Tea.......gosh is that like  British Marmalade .......

[notmyself]

20 minutes ago, Airbagwill said:

what I don't know is if they are stocked on Samui.

 

Long ago I would bring over tea but stopped drinking it because I didn't like the milk. I figured I'd get used to it so persevered for a number of years before just giving up completely.  

[notmyself]

2 hours ago, Airbagwill said:

Here in Laos, I've been living off bread for the last 2 days as everywhere is shut for Song Khran

 

If you are heading back from Laos and happen to stop in BKK then it may pay to see what you can find there. There is or was a quite large supermarket close to the centre called 'world of food' or something like that who stock items that would generally be unavailable elsewhere such as UK manufactured chocolate rather than that made in Malaysia. I don't eat chocolate but many people have told me that it is not the same texture because of being made for a warmer climate. 

[Airbagwill]

1 hour ago, notmyself said:

 

Long ago I would bring over tea but stopped drinking it because I didn't like the milk. I figured I'd get used to it so persevered for a number of years before just giving up completely.  

I had a milk problem too.....and I also persevered and seemed to get through. Having said that I found drink that Meiji half fat or full fat are OK.

All the other milk brands I find you can taste the melamine in it.

 

I won't need to stop in Bkk as I live in Chonburi and can stock up with tea there.

I find TESCOs marketing of their imported stuff a bit odd as it seems to continually go up and down in stock levels and they seem to give up on or switch supermarkets. I often wonder if they find the bureaucracy of importing it a hassle.

I also tend to hang back until they put it on sale and then buy a ton of it at half price. Tops do the same with Waitrose stuff.

I also found that the Big C French bakery in Pattaya knocks everything out at discount some time after 8 pm.

 

I don't bit a lot of western food on the whole but I do like my tea and the occasional French bread ... together with some pate or Camembert.

Edited April 15, 2018 by Airbagwill

[notmyself]

3 minutes ago, Airbagwill said:

I find TESCOs marketing of their imported stuff a bit odd as it seems to continually go up and down in stock levels and they seem to give up on or switch supermarkets. I often wonder if they find the bureaucracy of importing it a hassle.

 

Yes... doesn't seem to be any discernible pattern though it doesn't mean that one does not exist.  Maybe it is just sending over treats for a limited market? Name recognition or some such? Very rare I buy anything but always have a look and occasionally see something and think 'oh cool' and get one just for old times sake.

 

It's also the import duty which pumps the price up to a level where it's going to reduce the sales significantly. Take baked beans as an example (little bit off topic unless I mention beans on toast). You have Ayam brand which is ASEAN produced so duty free and Brooks along with SPC which are both Australian so covered by a separate low tariff trade agreement. 

 

 

[notmyself]

45 minutes ago, Airbagwill said:

I often wonder if they find the bureaucracy of importing it a hassle.

 

It's not that hard for a multinational who would have a department who only do this work.

 

Report Highlights: TH9119: Thailand’s food industry is governed by the Food Act of B.E. 2522 (1979) and subsequent laws stipulated by the Ministry of Public Health.  In general, imports of food for sale in the Kingdom require an import license and standard labeling according to domestic regulations.  Product registration is required only for specifically-controlled food.  Some agencies of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives monitor the importation of certain food products such as meat, fruits and vegetables, through import permits and phytosanitary or sanitary certificates.  In addition, 23 agricultural commodities are subject to the tariff-rate-quota system administered by the Ministry of Commerce.

 

https://gain.fas.usda.gov/Recent GAIN Publications/Food and Agricultural Import Regulations and Standards - Narrative_Bangkok_Thailand_8-14-2009.pdf

 

 

[khunPer]

2 hours ago, sanuk711 said:

British Tea.......gosh is that like  British Marmalade .......

No idea, never tried to put British Marmalade in hot water and drink it...

[PoorSucker]

I never question my food, I'm a multiple culture person 

[Airbagwill]

2 hours ago, PoorSucker said:

I never question my food, I'm a multiple culture person 

Talking to food .. now there's a concept.

[Airbagwill]

9 hours ago, sanuk711 said:

British Tea.......gosh is that like  British Marmalade .......

Traditional Britsh marmalade can be used as a yardstick or test of how good your hotel is!

Unlike other countries, British marmalade has to be made of citrus fruits and typically oranges. But it goes further than that.... a good marmalade is made of bitter Seville oranges and should be thick chunked too. This idea is said to have originated in Dundee, Scotland as the result of a shipwreck.

So when I have breakfast in a hotel with some insipid sugary orange jam, it immediately goes down in my perception.

[Airbagwill]

7 hours ago, notmyself said:

 

It's not that hard for a multinational who would have a department who only do this work.

 

 

 

 

https://gain.fas.usda.gov/Recent GAIN Publications/Food and Agricultural Import Regulations and Standards - Narrative_Bangkok_Thailand_8-14-2009.pdf

 

 

One of my recent acquaintances is a chap who is in charge of creating the TESCOS  internet site for Thailand and we had a conversation about a 2 years ago about the availability of their import range. He told me that the importation of relatively small amounts of specialist stuff is often problematic. It often appears to duplicate stuff from Thailand/ASEAN, needs content verification of duties etc. and has a tendency to be held back in customs in respect of TRQs for instance in the hope that some "tea money" may be made available.

Edited April 15, 2018 by Airbagwill

[stereolab]

2 hours ago, Airbagwill said:

One of my recent acquaintances is a chap who is in charge of creating the TESCOS  internet site for Thailand and we had a conversation about a 2 years ago about the availability of their import range. He told me that the importation of relatively small amounts of specialist stuff is often problematic. It often appears to duplicate stuff from Thailand/ASEAN, needs content verification of duties etc. and has a tendency to be held back in customs in respect of TRQs for instance in the hope that some "tea money" may be made available.

The Tesco Finest range has disappeared completely from the shelves in Udon Thani. One day they simply removed all the shelving displays no explanation, it did mean some bargains were available but they soon ran out. 

[Airbagwill]

1 hour ago, stereolab said:

The Tesco Finest range has disappeared completely from the shelves in Udon Thani. One day they simply removed all the shelving displays no explanation, it did mean some bargains were available but they soon ran out. 

Yes that seems to happen around the country - I guess they target expat communities and if it  doesn't sell enough, it gets the boot. Chonburi has 90% disappeared (muesli stayed) and then reappeared at Laem Chabang, one of the Patty ones appears to be carrying it more or less constantly in varying quantities

[notmyself]

6 hours ago, Airbagwill said:

One of my recent acquaintances is a chap who is in charge of creating the TESCOS  internet site for Thailand and we had a conversation about a 2 years ago about the availability of their import range. He told me that the importation of relatively small amounts of specialist stuff is often problematic. It often appears to duplicate stuff from Thailand/ASEAN, needs content verification of duties etc. and has a tendency to be held back in customs in respect of TRQs for instance in the hope that some "tea money" may be made available.

 

.... information they would already have at hand due to EU regulations though new products certainly would have to be approved first. The only real issue would be where a particular product has an annual import quota limit (exceeded) and that that product is part of a larger consignment which would likely be the case with Tesco finest etc. ranges. You can bet your bottom Dollar that they are not shipping over a 40' container filled to the gills with a single 'specialist' product. 

 

 

[notmyself]

On ‎09‎/‎04‎/‎2018 at 6:27 PM, notmyself said:

There is also an Italian bakery on the opposite side to La Fabrique who bake very good breads.