Day 7: James

THE LAST DAY!
Sod it, pasta & can, I don't care anymore it'll be OK, ITS OVER. Pasta & Dolmio stir-in-sauce. Yes I'm a cooking God.
"Looks like that can of Okra you didn't put in Sarah's cans in the end" comments Ben. "Don't be daft you can't tell what it is from the can". Okra. Deep joy. I dislike Okra, it's always slimey and rubbery. I only see it at Indian restaurants, and I don't like it then.


I put it in a colinder and rinse off the goo. Ah well, let's make the best of it, I chop it up and fry it with some olive oil, chili and "Italian herbs" (there now it'll be perfect in with the pasta!).



Against all odds it comes out OK. I'm stunned. I've survived!

I shan't be playing this again any time soon.

James

Day 7: Jacinda

As I have been such a bad contestant, I will have to have 3 cans today... What do I actually have in my fridge? Somehow my food storage is mainly cans with no labels.

So I have a packed of spelt tortellini, that is going to be my main meal today. I open can number 1 it looks like olives hmmm I taste one and it is more like cherries. I open can number 2 it stinks and looks like onion bits. I open can number 3 and it is cherry tomatoes … hmm so ok I could make a tasty sauce with the onion and tomatoes not too bad then. What about the cherries, I think maybe a few cherries then on top. I made my pasta sauce added some tomato puree and pepper. It again I manage to have a nice and tasty meal out of my cans. Hmmm I feel that I have actually been quite lucky in this game.

Well I still have 2 cans un opened under my desk..Do I need to take them home?

All: "Yes you bloody well do!"

Day 7: Laurette

Thank god its day seven!!! This week felt like it has gone on for a month. I arrived home at about 10pm on Tuesday night after an hour and a half of running club so didn’t feel like making an elaborate meal although I was pretty hungry. I went through what I had in the fridge (not much in there again!!!) and decided I would add the entire contents of my fridge, some tomatoes and pesto, to whatever the cans contents maybe. The contents of the can was a cross between mushy peas and pureed chickpeas and actually tasted (although in the pictures its looks quite disgusting) quite delicious!

All I can say is mystery can game 2009…never again!!!

Day 6: James

I want a Pizza. I know lots of things can make a pizza inedible but I want one, I want one now, and I'll just have to have whatever it is as a side-order of weird. I can do that. I pick out a cheese pizza on the bases it'll be alright with something on top of it maybe:


Lychees! Awesome! I love lychees, thank you Claudia! I'd have happily just eaten the entire can there and then, but that's not what mystery can's all about, so I half them, and on the pizza they go!



I don't mind saying they were tasty! A mystery can win, lychee & cheese pizza. Yummy.

James

Day 6: Laurette

On day six I had to work doing an evening cook and eat session with a bunch of pregnant ladies. I would have to incorporate my can into whatever we were making that evening. One of the dishes was a spinach and sweet potato casserole so I decided to add my (what I think were ) marrowfat peas into that casserole and it was actually quite tasty (I think that compared to my other colleagues I have got off quite lightly although so far I have had 3 days of beans!).

Day 6: Jacinda

Monday and actually had such a long day…

I forgot about the cans… I know bad excuse but I totally forgot about the game.

Day 5: James

Chilli & Can

Still got some chili left, and I remember at 2pm that I'm supposed to be out for a meal that evening. Late lunch of chili & can it is. While yesterday calmed my nerves a bit I still hope the chili can help mask anything too nasty.

OK Some sort of spinach relative. I take half the can, strain it and add to the microwaved chili left over bowl. A bit odd, and not a reccomended addition, but surviveable, I hope that I'll have a "popeye" moment and become invinceable. It doesn't happen. Ho hum, I set off for an early evening meal still full-up.. This game requires rather more planning that you realise when you sign up. Unless you're Kye or Jacinda, in which case you just ignore the problem...

James

Day 5: Jacinda

Still on my mini holiday and no cans with me.

Day 5: Laurette

Day Five and I had to move house. I had a few friends giving me a helping hand with the move so I decided to repay them with the favour by cooking them Sunday lunch. I really needed to use up everything that was remaining in the fridge before I moved so I decided to make a vegetable and bean bake and to my delight the can was fried aubergine slices which went down fabulously with my friends too.

Day 4: James

Seriously nervous after fermented-out-of-date-mock-meat-stir-fry (that's a word you know) I decided to cook chicken curry. There was already a jar involved and I hoped if it was hot enough it could undo any evil in the can. I open the can to find something that smells a little of sweetcorn but looks rather odd. Lord knows. I try a bit and don't screw my face up in a ball. Win.

I later find out that I'm eating "akee" a fruit that's considered something of a delicacy. Possibly not when added to curry...

Not bad, it padded the curry out to make rather more than I'd have liked, but I'm still struggling with portion control at this point. A near miss!

James

Day 4: Laurette

I found this can game easier on the weekend as I knew I could make sure I was at home with some time to cook (this game has made me realize that I actually eat out a lot!!!). I was cooking lunch for my boyfriend and his flatmates so I bought some yummy fresh bread and made a salad and opened the can to find this disgusting canned spinach which smelt like wet horse chaff (gross!). I made it into this cheesy spinach dip which I baked and with the bread and salad it was a hit with the flatmates!!!

Day 4: Jacinda

In a hotel enjoying my free time and yes giving a thought to everyone in the can game…

Day 3: Claudia

Day 3: Kye

Strangely Absent...

Day 3: Jacinda

Today was Leon’s birthday party and I didn’t have time for any lunch today. We had a cake from Valerie and no way would I open a can to spoil this lush cake. So there was no can for me today. And then I was off in the evening for my weekend away. I wouldn’t cook anything during the weekend as it was my time off of any duties at all.

Jacinda

Day 3: Laurette

On day three (Friday night) I was going out to the cinema so we had to quickly pull something together to eat before we went. We decided to use up what little was left in the fridge, carrots, onions and little else so decided to make a stir fry. I opened the can and it was some giant orange beans which when covered in soy sauce and Thai chilli sauce with some rice actually tasted quite good!

Laurette

Chronology be damned!

OK I've been crap.

What follows is a back-log from everyone that's provided content thus far. I was hoping to get everyone in by day but I'm not sure that's going to happen.

James

Day 3: James

I'll be honest, by this point I was feeling pretty smug. I'm batting at 100% after 2 days, not only have I been OK with the cans but I'd eaten the whole can each day rather than the 50% required by law. I know I stitched Sarah up with some of her cans, and she stitched Kye up with some of his, but I reckoned Claudia had been too soft I was going to walk this.

yeah

Day 3: Chicken stir-fry with noodles and mystery can. I pick the shortest can, I don't know why, but it seemed like a reasonable shout and when shaken, sounded like something solid in liquid. I figure drain the sauce and stir-fry the solids. Claudia's written "Cook thoroughly" on the instructions (see, she's even given hints, this will be easy).

I put the can opener in and the can hisses, Then a smell of wine / old beer comes out. This I take to be a bad sign. Further inspection reveals only one date printed on the can "2008-03-18" That's err 11 months back. I open the can:




Lumps of something in a red sauce. I decide to boil it and see if that helps, then add only the solids to the stir-fry. I remove the stir fry from the pan and serve the untainted version to my housemate, then transfer the lumps of what I presume is a protien/soya bean type mock meat like Kye endured yesterday to the pan.



It disintegrates into a paste. Perfect. I give up and transfer it to the side of my stir-fry. Time to man-up and suck it up.



Let me start with the smell, it was completely rank. I have never put anything that smelt that bad in my mouth. The texture was a sort of shrimp-paste-esque mess. Man up. For England James!



Wow. If salt could rot I reckon it'd taste a lot like this. I manage about 1/2 a spoon. Utterly defeated I slink off to the sofa suddenly not hungry. I've had a few little bits of stir-fry that weren't touching the contaminated stuff from the can. That was horrific. I hope the can had gone off, I can't imagine what you'd do with the contents if it was supposed to be like that. There goes my perfect record on the 3rd day. I don't want tomorrow to come. I go to bed. Touche Claudia.

James

Day 3: Sarah

After spending the Day digesting last nights bamboo-parsnip-cheese-string BRICK i have decided to take a more head on approach to this can game. I figure that my stomach has had a few days to acclimatise and my immune system is probably on high alert. So tonight's dinner is going to be a miso noodle soup and whatever comes out of the can goes straight into the bowl. Maybe its the Friday effect or the fact that i plan to have a bottle of wine to wash down the food but i refuse to be beaten by a small collection of seemingly innocuous cans.

The wine was fantastic! The dinner - i wouldnt have fed to the pigeons currently cleaning up roadkill and kebab off the high street

That grey-green blob floating in the middle of my dinner is a fermented mustard green. Yes it has been fermented and canned. I am all for fermentation in the right context - alcohol, bread and even the yummy Miso that i normally enjoy so much - but why ruin a perfectly good vegetable by fermenting it WHY?

Wiki so kindly informs me that that one of the reasons for food fermentation is the enrichment of the diet through development of a diversity of flavors, aromas, and textures. The only thing enriched by this meal was my vocabulary as i tried to describe to Dave the rancid taste that had infused and overpowered my soup. Even the mighty scotch bonnet couldn't mask the taste. All i achieved was a runny nose and a disgusted look from Dave as i worked my way through dinner.

Thanks again James another culinary treat to try and forget.

Sarah

Day 2: Jacinda

My first day was a very poor effort and I think I most have opened the worst of cans yesterday. So A harsh start but at least I feel a bit relieved that maybe today’s can will not be as bad. Today I felt like cooking well a bit anyway. I had been to Steve Hatt and bought some nice salmon. So I oven cooked my salmon, boiled some rice with it and made a nice green leaf salad. I opened my can. It looked like a can of mixed beans; I was relieved and could breathe again. I rinsed the beans in water and used half of the can in my salad. It was a meal that I could enjoy and not spoiled by the mystery can. I was happy

Day 2: Claudia

Text to follow, added to keep chronology

Day 2: Sarah

Day 2.....

Still buzzing off the protein high from last nights dinner i was pretty excited about tucking into my next can until i opened it. This is what i was greeted with as i lifted the lid.

At first i thought maybe it was a can of harmless pickled parsnips. Then upon closer inspection i though maybe i was lucky enough to get bamboo shoots. But when i lifted the bamboo-parsnip out of the tin it disintegrated in my hand to resemble what i can only describe as an anemic cheese string.




All game for trying new things i took a bite. I have a sneaky suspicion this thing was canned pre-WW2 and even the desperation of rationing couldn't persuade people to open it. I decided to shove the lot in my stir-fry feeling all smug after eating a whole can the night before. Bad idea! after a few mouthfuls the boiled bamboo-parsnip-cheesestring started to taste like old fermenting socks. The centre of each one had disintegrated into a white goo that happily clung to every other veg on my plate, tormenting me as i tried to eat around the worst of it. I managed just over half the can before feeling like i had ingested a brick.




Thanks James!!!! All of sudden dinner tomorrow isn't looking so rosy

Day 2: James

Mystery Beans!


Here's how the thought process went: "Chilli, I cook a mean chilli and it should absorb most of the things you'd find in a can, right?" By the time we get back from Tesco with everything needed to make a decent chilli, it's late, and I'm very hungry. With the chilli and rice cooking nicely I select a can and open it. Beans, this could be fine, there are beans in chilli anyway so we're on a winner here right? Only they're in a sauce, and I don't think I can legally throw the sauce down the drain and just add them to the chilli, after discussing this with my house mate we agree this is probably not in the spirit of the game so they go into to another pan with the sauce. The beige sause promptly boils and goes grey. Perfect.

He're the problem, I now have rice, chilli and an extra can of beans and sauce in front of me. It dawns on me I'm about to eat about a can and a half of beans with sauce. Try it, it's a lot of beans. The grey sauce tastes mostly of tin, and doesn't do good things with the rice. I mix the chilli and mystery bean sauce together, it goes the colour chilli might be if Gordon Brown started taxing the use of colour in food. Perfect.

Thankfully it just makes it taste like a very cheap chilli where tomatoes, chilli, beef and peppers have been added in minescule quantities so the provider donesn't get prosecuted under the sale of goods act.

I eat the bean/chilli combo, but by this point I'm far too full to manage the rice. I sit in front of the TV for nearly an hour, then go to bed. Only 5 cans to go...

James

Day 2: Laurette

Kidney Beans:

Having planned to prepare spinach and ricotta cannelloni the night before (when unfortunately I got locked out of the house) I decided that I would give the cannelloni another go and add mystery can to it, whatever the contents maybe.

I was pleasantly surprised when I opened a can of kidney beans! Although they don’t really compliment the cannelloni they added an extra source of protein!

Laurette

Day 2: Kye

Mock Duck:

I’m not sure how much longer I can do this game – its evil. Last night I had the pleasure of sitting down to a beautiful mixed leaf salad with pan fried baby aubergines, artichokes, toasted pine nuts, cherry tomatoes all topped off with the gorgeous gesiers confits de canard and it looked divine. Then, much to the surprise of the cook, I said I had one more ingredient to add. When I opened what looked like tesco value pet food I was categorically informed that today’s mystery can would not be making it into the salad. However, I wasn’t too disappointed as once I had drained it I identified the ingredient as mock duck. What luck I thought – mock duck with a duck salad – easy. After frying it off in the duck fat from the confit if you squinted you might just be able to convince yourself it looked and smelt like duck – but then I tasted it. I can safely say that mock duck must be made for vegetarians who have NEVER EATEN MEAT. It’s revolting. Absolutely, utterly, completely, comprehensively, undeniably….wrong. So unnatural was this pan fried salty sponge textured reformed gluten it actually made my forehead itch. I’m dreading tonight.

Kye