I Just Learned What ‘Milky Way’ Stands For, And It Has Nothing To Do With Space

Posted on 24/05/2024 by Boris Clair

We’ve written before at HuffPost UK about why Hobnobs, Twix, and Snickers are called what they are.

We’ve even covered the “correct” way to eat a Jaffa Cake and why Yorkies are so chunky.

But given how many chocolate bars’ brands are space-themed ― Mars, Galaxy, and Milky Way, for instance ― it feels odd to think we haven’t addressed any seemingly astronomic names yet.

With the Milky Way at least, however, it turns out there’s no link to space at all.

Why is it called Milky Way, then?

Milky Way bars in the US are similar to the UK’s Mars bars, boasting a creamy nougat base and a caramel topping.

The UK Milky Way bar, however, has a fluffy, vanilla-flavoured nougat filling ― but while the US version came first, the inspiration behind the name holds true for both.

“They [the US Mars-style bars] were first sold in 1924 and are the oldest Mars chocolate bar brand still around,” Milky Way’s site says.

They were first created in Minneapolis, Minnesota by Mars founder Frank C Mars after a conversation with his son, Forrest E. Mars.

“Their flavour was designed to capture the taste of malted milkshakes and named after a famed malted milk drink of the day, not the MILKY WAY galaxy,” Milky Way’s official site reads.

The brand’s first tagline was even “A Chocolate Malted Milk [referring to the milkshake] in a Candy Bar.”

Both the UK and the US variants still feature barley malt extract and milk powder.

So why are the US and UK names different?

It’s complicated. After his father’s success with the bar, Forrest Marslaunched the Milky Way-inspired Mars bar in the UK in 1932.

Confusingly, Mars later also sold a Mars bar in the US ― but it had nothing to do with the UK or US Milky Way. Instead, it was a nougat and toasted almond confection that’s gone in and out of production.

There is also a product in the US that’s like the UK Milky Way called The 3 Musketeers. This was sold Neopolitan-style originally, with chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla-flavoured nougat.

So there we have it ― Milky Way is based on a milkshake, has nothing to do with space, means two different bars in two different countries, and led to two completely separate Mars bars.

This Is What You Should Be Eating Right After Exercising, According To An Expert

Posted on 14/04/2024 by Boris Clair

After a particularly gruelling workout, the one food I want to immediately reach for is a giant bowl of chips, coated in vinegar with a buttered bread roll on the side.

Obviously, there is nothing wrong with this and food has no inherent moral value but it’s probably not the ideal meal to opt for to keep my energy up for the rest of the day, and help my body to process the work I put into exercising.

So, what is best to eat after exercising and how can we maximise the workouts we’ve done?

The best food to eat after a workout

In good news, the health experts at ZOE said: “If you have a good-quality, varied, plant-based diet, and you’re only doing gentle to moderate exercise, you don’t need to eat anything different after a workout.”

Alex Platts, one of ZOE’s senior nutrition coaches, said that while we do place too much emphasis on protein and the idea that not consuming protein after a workout makes it a waste of time is a myth.

However, he added: “Total protein intake throughout the day appears to be more important for recovery than timing.

“But consuming a protein-rich meal pre- or post-training can be a good habit to get into to help reach daily goals.”

Platts also pointed out that both animal and plant sources of protein are equally effective for muscle-building but Platts added: “you may need to eat a larger amount of plant sources to get quite the same level of total protein intake [as animal sources provide]”

What are the best protein-rich foods?

According to BBC Good Food, protein-rich foods include:

Eggs
Milk
Yoghurt
Fish and seafood
Chicken and turkey
Soya
Nuts and seeds
Pork
Beans and pulses
Tofu and tempeh

What should you avoid drinking after exercise?

Platts said that as you eat and drink normally following exercise, your electrolytes are naturally replaced.

However, if you have a long, intense exercise, you were exercising somewhere warm or you plan to exercise again shortly, you need to put a little more work into rehydrating and replacing electrolytes.

While a sports drink could be a good solution, Platts warns that some of them do more harm than good.

If you do choose sports drinks, Platts urges you to check for additives, sweeteners and artificial colours. He added: “Sports drinks are very simple, and any attempt to dress them up or make them taste amazing will likely come from these sources.”

Alternately, he said: “Making homemade fruit or veg smoothies (potentially with a little added salt if you’ve had a very long, intense, or hot exercise session) might be a good option.”

Good sources of electrolytes

ZOE recommends the following foods and drinks for replacing fluids and electrolytes without grabbing a sports drink:

sodium: vegetable juices, cheese, fermented foods, and pickles
potassium: avocado, bananas, and sweet potato
magnesium: dark chocolate, whole grains, nuts, and seeds
chloride: prawns, seaweed, and any sodium-rich foods
calcium: okra, kale, dairy foods, almonds, and fortified plant milk

Time to re-assess my fave post-workout foods.

The 1 Vegetable You Should NEVER Store Next To Potatoes

Posted on 13/04/2024 by Boris Clair

We’ve written before about how boiling your spuds in water might not be your most delicious option.

And now, it turns out some of us are making a common storage mistake ― you really shouldn’t store potatoes next to onions, it seems.

On Martha Stewart’s site, vice president of culinary recipe box company Blue Apron says that onions should be kept far away from potatoes (and apples).

“Storing onions and potatoes together will hasten the ripening process on the potatoes, leading them to grow eyes and sometimes roots,“he revealed in an article about the topic.

Despite previous advice to never store potatoes in the fridge, the Food Standards Agency has since found that the crisper drawer is actually a pretty great place to keep your spuds.

In fact, data from the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) suggest that spuds kept in the fridge can last up to three times longer than those stored in the cupboard.

Meanwhile, onions become soggy in the fridge ― they shouldn’t ever be stored there, experts advise (oops).

So, the answer seems clear ― spuds in the fridge, onions in the pantry. And never the twain shall meet (’til cooking time, anyway).

This 1 Simple Trick Stops Cakes From Getting Stuck To The Pan, According To Chefs

Posted on 05/04/2024 by Boris Clair

Baking is always such a lovely idea in theory, isn’t it? The sun gently draping through the window as you lovingly, expertly blend precise ingredients together to make a delicious, moreish cake.

In reality, it often ends with a messy kitchen, a lot of excess batter lying around and baking pots and pans that have seen *much* better days that now need an intensive cleaning which just isn’t quite the baking dream, is it?

However, a chef on Reddit has come to the rescue with their super simple trick to keeping cakes and bakes from sticking to the bottom of pans.

How to stop cakes from sticking to the bottom of the pan

Reddit user /u/jellysnake asked: “Chefs of reddit, what’s your number one useful cooking tip?”

Their post got thousands of responses including one saying: “A master chef told me this in culinary school: “You can always stop cooking. Take it off the burner or out of the oven if you need to. Surprisingly helpful tip.”

Which is incredibly helpful for those of us that get overwhelmed in the kitchen and good advice for life, really.

However, it was a comment from /r/soccermomjane that caught my eye. They said: “pastry chef here, not my best tip but the only one I can think of this early on my day off…flouring pans for cakes is a step not to be skipped but when it comes to chocolate cakes, it looks awful so for dark cakes, I use cocoa powder instead.“

GENIUS.

Another commenter expanded on this saying: ”[flour is] a dry barrier that will discourage adhesion of the baked good, allowing it to rise as it bakes. Butter is fine if rising isn’t a concern, but fats are “sticky” and can actually hold flour-based things down. It’s the same reason you would flour a surface when you’re rolling out or kneading dough.”

This makes perfect sense.

However, if you are going to use cocoa powder, user /u/westorphales warned: “To piggy back on this, DO NOT use sweetened cocoa powder or semi-sweet, as the sugar will caramelize.”

Brb, planning my next big bake.

The Hilariously Relatable Reason Jamie Lee Curtis Left The Oscars Early

Posted on 11/03/2024 by Boris Clair

Jamie Lee Curtis, who won Best Supporting Actress last year for her role in Everything Everywhere All at Once, attended last night’s Oscars awards in a glam black gown.

The actor was there to co-present the Best Supporting Actress award (which went to Da’vine Joy Randolph for The Holdovers this year).

However, she left early ― which is relatable in and of itself, but which becomes way more “she’s just like me”-level real when you realise why.

So… why?

Basically, she was hungry.

The actor posted on Instagram after the event to say that she’d dropped out as soon as she’d finished presenting to grab an In’N’out burger, sharing a snap of the tempting melee of fries and buns.

“FLY IN [check emoji] GET FLUFFED AND FOLDED [check emoji] PRESENT AT OSCARS [check emoji] GO TO @inandout_burger [check emoji] FLY AWAY,” the post read.

Predictably, commenters were full of praise

The Five Foods You Need To Keep Your Vitamin D Levels Topped Up

Posted on 25/02/2024 by Boris Clair

The UK government advises that during the autumn and winter months everyone in the UK is advised to take a supplement of vitamin D every day to support general health and in particular for bone and muscle health.

This is because, as most residents are all TOO aware, during colder months in the UK, we don’t get much sunlight and sunlight is the essential factor in soaking in vitamin D.

UK Registered Nutritionist and Head Chef, Anna Tebbs from recipe box delivery service Green Chef said: “Vitamin D is a key nutrient for maintaining healthy teeth, bones and muscles because it helps your body to regulate and absorb calcium more effectively.”

They added that those with a vitamin D deficiency may experience negative side effects such as muscle and bone aches, and fatigue.

The essential foods for boosting vitamin D

While Tebbs recommends checking the nutrient level of any food on the packaging and ingredients list, she suggests some of the highest vitamin D rich foods are:

Types of oily fish, such as mackerel and salmon
Egg yolks
Mushrooms
Milk replacements, including soy and almond
Some breakfast cereals

The nutritionist added: “The simplest way to increase your vitamin D levels through your diet, is by increasing your mushroom intake.

“Particularly paying close attention to portobello, button and chestnut mushrooms that have been grown in the sunlight or under a UV lamp. You can usually find this information on the packaging.”

They also pointed out that this is an easy, simple swap out for meat. “Plant Based News recommends that a portion of mushrooms between 80g-100g can provide you with all your daily vitamin D needs. This amounts to one large portobello mushroom, 11-14 button mushrooms, or just 4-5 chestnut mushrooms.

Finally, Tebbs said that if you’re looking to make a swap from cow’s milk to a plant-based one, this can also boost your vitamin D levels: “you can also increase your intake by carefully choosing milk alternatives that have been fortified with vitamin D and calcium.

“Typically, in the UK cow’s milk is not fortified, so making this swap can help to increase your vitamin D levels with very little impact on your daily diet.”

This Is How Mary Berry Levelled Up Her Scrambled Eggs In The 70s

Posted on 23/02/2024 by Boris Clair

The words ‘national treasure’ are thrown around far too lightly for my liking but when it comes to Mary Berry, they absolutely apply. First appearing on our screens in the 70′s, Mary has been teaching the nation to cook and bake for longer than I’ve been alive.

My first real exposure to her was obviously Great British Bake Off where her cheeky little smiles were a perfect sidekick to co-host Paul Hollywood’s gentle snark. Racing over to my friend’s after work, we’d tuck into some pasta, share a bottle of wine and talk about whether it was too late for Mary to adopt us as her granddaughters.

With all of this fangirling in mind, it’s probably not a surprise to learn that I forked out for a vintage cookbook of Mary’s from 1975: “Beating The Cost Of Cooking”. It’s yellowed, bent a little in the middle and perfect.

Mary Berry’s vintage scrambled eggs recipe

I bought this book mostly to learn how much not only Mary’s cooking has changed over almost 50 years but how much food trends have changed in general. It’s a great read but there are some that I’m glad stayed right where they belong. In the 70s.

Take for example, the ‘sweet corn scramble’. I don’t know if it’s because I hate sweetcorn or because the illustration is… vile, but this one really got my stomach turning.

Anyway, if sweetcorn isn’t an issue for you, you can try this vintage scrambled eggs recipe from Mary herself.

You’ll need:

6 eggs
6 tbsp milk
salt and pepper
15g of butter
175g of drained sweetcorn
toast

Then, simply beat your eggs in a bowl with milk, salt and pepper. Melt the butter in a pan and make scrambled eggs in your usual way. Just before the eggs are ready, stir in drained sweetcorn and cook until hot. Pile on toast and serve at once.

Despite this cursed illustration haunting my nightmares, I still love you Mary.

Mary Berry’s Genius Potato Salad Addition Transforms It Into A Main

Posted on 20/02/2024 by Boris Clair

I can stand some Irish stereotypes; actually, yes, we do all know each other (more or less). And yep, we love potatoes ― what sane person wouldn’t?

I like mine baked, fried, chipped, boiled, mashed, and, uh, be-saladed (?). But It wasn’t until I read Mary Berry’s version of the dish that I started eating it on its own for lunch.

That’s because the Cordon Bleu-trained chef adds tasty (and omega 3 and protein-rich) salmon and prawns to her dish, not only making it more delicious but also turning it into a more balanced meal.

In fact, the dish is so tasty that it’s earned a five-star rating on its BBC page ― having tried it myself, I can understand why.

The dish also contains radishes

The tasty addition of radishes to the dish adds a crisp and peppery bite to the meal, balancing out the mushy spuds and tender fish.

It holds up well during storage, too ― in fact, all of this recipe does. “The potato salad can be made a day in advance and stored in the fridge, adding the radish, freshly cooked salmon and the prawns up to four hours ahead,” the BBC’s page suggests.

In order to hold up longer against refrigeration, Mary Berry recommends using thicker, middle-cut salmon from the centre of the fish, rather than the tail.

The result is a delicious, balanced dish with loads of contrasting texture and complex flavours ― way, way better than your standard spud salad.

What’s the recipe, then?

You’ll need three middle-cut salmon fillets, each weighing 125 grams or four and a half ounces, with their skin left on. Additionally, the recipe calls for one lemon and 16 cooked tiger prawns.

For the potato salad, you’ll need 500 grams of baby new potatoes, four tablespoons of olive oil, three tablespoons of Dijon mustard, one tablespoon of caster sugar, and three tablespoons of white wine vinegar.

You’ll also require six tablespoons of mayonnaise, one bunch of thinly sliced spring onions, 150 grams of thinly sliced radishes, four finely chopped celery sticks, one small bunch of finely chopped flatleaf parsley, salt, and freshly ground black pepper. This makes enough for six people.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C Fan/Gas Mark 4, and line a baking tray with kitchen foil.

To prep the salad, place the potatoes in a saucepan of salted water and bring them to a boil. Allow them to cook for approximately 15 minutes or until they are tender ― once they’re cooked, drain them and then slice ’em into quarters.

While the potatoes are cooking, place the salmon fillets skin-side down on the foil-lined baking tray. Squeeze half of the lemon juice over them and season them with salt and pepper. Cover the fillets with foil, seal to make a parcel, and bake for about 15 minutes or until just cooked. Once that’s done, remove them from the oven and let them cool before removing the skin.

For the salad, combine oil, mustard, sugar, and vinegar in a large bowl. Add the hot potatoes, season with salt and pepper, and set aside to cool. After that, you can mix in the mayonnaise, spring onions, radishes, and celery. Adjust the seasoning to your taste and add the remaining lemon juice.

Gently flake the cooked salmon into large pieces and stir it into the salad with the prawns and half of the chopped parsley, ensuring you don’t accidentally mash any spuds. Serve sprinkled with the remaining parsley.

Voila ― you’ve got an elite potato salad that’s bulky and balanced enough to count as a full meal (at least, I’ve eaten it for dinner with a baguette twice this week).

Enjoy!

Mary Berry’s Unexpected Secret Ingredient For The Best Shortbread

Posted on 19/02/2024 by Boris Clair

Marry Berry, unsurprisingly, has a lot of culinary tricks up her sleeve ― she adds muscovado sugar to her cottage pie, uses an extra yolk in her pancake, and even coats her roast spuds in semolina.

And now, it seems the Cordon Bleu-trained chef has a secret for shortbread, too.

In her recipe for the simple Scottish delicacy, Mary Berry goes beyond the typical sugar-flour-butter recipe we’d expect.

Instead, she adds another ingredient for extra crunch ― semolina (yup, like for her roast spuds).

Why semolina?

Semolina is a hard flour, the less finely-milled version of durum wheat (which is used for pasta).

It has more gluten and protein than all-purpose wheat four, as well as more flavour. And because it’s coarser, it doesn’t become soft and fluffy as easily as all-purpose flour ― meaning it’ll help to provide a structure and bite to your baked goods.

“I like to use semolina as well as flour to give the shortbread crunch, but you can use cornflour or ground rice instead,” Mary Berry says.

What’s Mary Berry’s shortbread recipe?

First, you should preheat your oven to 160°C/Fan 140°C/gas 3, and grease a 30cm x 23cm roasting or traybake tin.

You’ll need 225g (8oz) of plain flour, 100g (4oz) of semolina, 225g (8oz) of butter, 100g (4oz) of caster sugar, 50g (2oz) of flaked almonds (there aren’t mandatory), and 25g (1oz) of demerara sugar for dusting.

Combine the flour and semolina in a bowl or food processor. Incorporate the butter and sugar, then use your fingertips to rub them together until the mixture starts to come together. Gently knead the mixture until it forms a smooth dough.

Spread the dough into a baking tray and then press its top until even with a knife or spatula. Then, prick its surface with a fork, add your flaked almonds if you like, and store it in the fridge to chill until it’s firm.

After it’s chilled, bake it for 35 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Sprinkle it with demerara sugar after it leaves the oven. Then, after a few minutes, cut it into 30 fingers in the tin and leave those to cool further on a cooling rack.

Enjoy ― store any leftovers on a cooling rack (though I’d be amazed if you had any.)

Where Should You Be Keeping Your Ketchup? You Might Be Surprised By What Experts Say.

Posted on 17/02/2024 by Boris Clair

Ketchup is reportedly found in 97% of American homes, but where in the home should it be kept?

Can it be stored in the pantry after it’s been opened? Or does it need to stay in the refrigerator in between trips to the dining room table? And if it should be in the fridge, why do restaurants leave it out?

Those are just a few of the questions that we — Raj Punjabi and Noah Michelson, the co-hosts of HuffPost’s “Am I Doing It Wrong?” podcast — posed to Kristen Aiken, HuffPost’s editorial director of Life and Commerce, when she recently stopped by to chat about keeping leftovers out of the danger zone.

“There was a huge debate over this a few years ago, and Heinz had to tweet out and explain themselves, but basically, in a restaurant, it’s different than at home, because the turnover is so fast,” Aiken said. “They’ll go through a bottle in a day, maybe, with so many people squirting it on their food.”

But even if you aren’t serving hundreds of guests a day, your ketchup would likely do just fine in the cupboard.

“Heinz, for example, is shelf-stable. You should be able to keep it not refrigerated for a long time. However, [because of specific factors that may vary from home to home like] the temperature of your room or certain storage conditions, they recommend that you refrigerate it after you open it [to maintain quality]. But it really is meant to be shelf-stable.”

That’s thanks to the product’s high level of acidity. However, other brands and homemade ketchup may not have the same acidity level and may need to be handled differently.

“There are all these new fancy ketchup brands that are organic, and they probably are not as shelf-stable, so you just have to read the label,” Aiken advised.

Heinz UK responded to this condiment storage dilemma in a 2023 tweet. After learning that more than a third of respondents to an X (formally Twitter) survey were keeping their ketchup in the cupboard, the company tweeted, “FYI: Ketchup. goes. in. the. fridge!!!”

A spokesperson for the company added, “Although we’re aware many Heinz Tomato Ketchup fans have been storing their ketchup in the cupboard, we do recommend refrigeration after opening. This is the best way to maintain the delicious tangy taste of our Heinz Tomato Ketchup that you know and love.”

So, while it’s probably safe to leave your bottle of Heinz out (and if you do, experts advise you should consume it within 30 days), if you want your ketchup to taste its very best (and who doesn’t?), keep it chilled.

Aiken also chatted with us about what you never want to do when you’re defrosting food, the foods you never want to keep in the door of your fridge and much more. Listen to the full show above or head here to check out every episode of “Am I Doing It Wrong?”

After you’ve had a listen above or wherever you get your podcasts, subscribe to “Am I Doing It Wrong?” so you don’t miss a single episode.

Need some help with something you’ve been doing wrong? Email us at AmIDoingItWrong@HuffPost.com, and we might investigate the topic in an upcoming episode.

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