AdamLawrence

Mightn't burnt aromas be Parker's famous 'toasty oak'? I've never tasted Domaine Leroy - way out of my price bracket - but seem to recall she uses lots of oak in her wines. Mind you, if something underperforms you've got to suspect a bad bottle. 'Burnt rubber' is another descriptor you see every now and again. I'd be interested to hear from those with more experience what the likely cause of this aroma might be. cheers Adam

Lunching at the Tate Gallery restaurant on Saturday. Menu looks relatively unremarkable, but the wine list is... extensive. Any thoughts as to especially good deals? Sadly I can't see us putting away a bottle of port, but the Grahams '63 at £120 is significantly below retail price. Tate Britain wine list cheers Adam

True, but it's not just the proles, is it? Retired Lt-Col Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells probably wouldn't think too much of Sketch either. Harumph. Adam

Oh, OK - they can be good slow-braised too. Actually, though, I generally find that kidneys in pudding don't stay too moist and still end up dry and crumbly and not very nice. But not as bad as those that have been overcooked on the grill/in the pan. Adam

Nick - cut 'em in half so you can snip the white connective tissue out. If you don't do that, they curl up and they're not so neat. And they probably won't cook as evenly. If you can get kidneys still in their suet you can roast them whole in a very hot oven. The suet melts, protecting the kidney, and they come out just beautfully. I found this suggestion in Fergus Henderson's _Nose to Tail Eating_ and it works a dream. Adam

Kidneys become rotten eating if they're cooked for anything more than a very short time. But, done well, I really love them - they have a wonderful texture as well as flavour. I had some lamb's kidneys for supper the other night, rapidly seared, the pan deglazed with marsala and lots of grain mustard added to make a sauce. A bit of cream wouldn't have gone amiss, but I didn't have any in the house, so I just let the sauce reduce a touch. Sharp green salad on the side. Good bread. Yum. Adam

What, if any, wine would members recommend drinking with a particularly oozing Vacherin Mont d'Or? cheers Adam

How the hell does anyone manage to brew a beer that strong? I'm pretty sure that most brewing yeasts die at around ten or eleven per cent alcohol, so limiting the strength that can be achieved. Presumably they must use some other kind of yeast? Adam

I was trying to work this out the other day. I have about 100 bottles of wine in my so-called 'cellar' - actually the cupboard under the stairs, but I'm trying to convince the lady wife to let me build a spiral cellar as part of our kitchen extension - and they seem to split into three categories. You've got everyday cheapies, mostly southern France and up to about GBP 8/bottle. That's about 50 per cent of what's in there. You've got better wines, mostly Rhones, Alsace and some NZ stuff, bought for between ten and twenty pounds/bottle. That's probably 40 per cent of what I've got. And there's a case or so of special wines - Cote-Rotie and Burgundy. For none of those did I pay more than thirty quid a bottle - some were bought in bin end sales and so were significantly cheaper. The most expensive wine I've ever bought retail was £42. That was burgundy. Adam

That's great, Cabby, but you know what we all want to hear. Did you get the tweet-tweet? Adam

Baruch - I don't see the snobbery or arrogance in saying that the idea that the 99 Guigal Chateauneuf (of which I have a couple of bottles given to me as a present recently, for which I was very grateful) is the 'best' wine of the year, even assuming a mid-price target, is a bit odd. In the UK this wine runs £15/bottle or possibly a bit more. Most Chateauneufs are around the same kind of price, for example - I'd be very, very surprised if the Guigal is the best wine even of that appellation at its price. A very quick run through winesearcher.com reveals the 99s Ch Fortia, Les Cailloux, Chante Cigale, Mont Olivet, Font de Michelle and Vieux Telegraphe available from UK merchants at around the same kind of price. I haven't tasted most of those, but buying blind I would probably risk money on several before I'd try the Guigal. If WS want to focus on wines readers can afford to drink more regularly that's great, but it's a bit rich to suggest these are objectively 'better' wines than some of the mega-priced bottles. Which Chateauneuf would you rather have in your cellar if someone offered to give you a case, the Guigal or the Rayas? cheers Adam

I've had the Felton Road 99 Pinot, and also one of their reserve 'Block' bottlings and I thought it was among the best new world PNs I'd tried. Admittedly this is a fairly small sample - I've not had any US Pinots, don't see many of them over here. Other favourites include Pipers' Brook from Tasmania and Bouchard Finlayson from South Africa. Certainly agree these aren't everyday wines, at least for me - most run close to twenty quid retail in the UK market. In fact, I think many of these new world pinots are starting to get out of control pricewise. You can buy very good burgundy, even with some bottle age if you look carefully enough, for that kind of price from specialist merchants. cheers Adam

Spelling flames are the lowest of the low, but I can't resist. Simon, why do you know so much about short hos? Adam

JD - if you don't mind, how much did the beehive oven cost, and how much maintenance/TLC does it need? I quite fancy one myself. cheers Adam

Vanessa - I'm not sure that's true, except in the narrow sphere of restaurants (I'd have to hunt out some stats to be totally convinced though). There are loads of family businesses even now. But they have special problems. It's hard to attract good managers to family firms, because candidates know the top job is unattainable. Many family firms were seduced by the allure of the stock market during the 80s and 90s, and once the family no longer control the equity they won't stay in charge for long. And many family-owned firms were established in sectors that have declined in recent years - think textiles, and other manufacturing industries. Adam

Most likely their heirs aren't interested. How many multi-generational family-owned restaurants are there in this country? I can only think of Le Gavroche and the Waterside - whose owners are French - though I dare say there are some local Italian places that might fit the bill. I think we have to come back to the lack of a really deep-seated restaurant tradition in the UK. But really, aren't we trying to draw conclusions based on a tiny sample size? Winteringham is for sale because the Schwabs have had enough of 18 hour days. Altnaharrie closed because Gunn Eriksson had a bad accident and didn't want to get back into the grind once she'd recovered. Croque-en-Bouche closed because the Jones' could make a living from their wine merchanting business and didn't want the hassle of running a restaurant any more. There's three examples, all explained by factors peculiar to the owners. I'm not sure the sample is large enough to infer a more general trend. The other point is that, when most of these privately-owned top class restaurants started up in the regions, their owners probably opened on the cheap. Shaun Hill told us that he moved to Ludlow because he could buy a property that would be his home and restaurant all in one. Property around Winteringham must have been incredibly cheap when the Schwabs opened. And at Altnaharrie you could probably get enough grant aid to pay the first year's bills. Has anyone ever been to Altnaharrie? I haven't but I know the area well - I can't begin to explain just how isolated it is. You are talking about a place that is probably two, three hours from Inverness. Maybe more. So it was cheap to start your restaurant. It won't be cheap to buy those places now. Property is much more expensive than it was even two years ago. Croque-en-Bouche is up for £550,000. Winteringham, with the hotel, must be well into seven figures. How many talented young chefs wanting to move to the regions could afford that kind of money? Adam

Steve - You're right to say that Winteringham isn't massively well known, but since it's full does that really matter? I guess if there were more relativley wealthy gastrotourists there the average wine spend might increase. But then Scunthorpe and Grimsby aren't great destinations for gastrotourists. Although I suppose a trip to the Grimsby fish market might be vaguely interesting. If only it weren't in Grimsby. (no offence to any Grimsby readers out there....) Adam

I think Basildog has a very good point. I mean, how much above the market value of a property would anyone be prepared to pay for a restaurant where the chef/owner who made it well-known is retiring or leaving? Robin and Marion Jones were trying to sell Croque-en-Bouche in Malvern earlier in the year; they've closed the restaurant, but, as they're still running their wine merchant business from the same premises, I presume they haven't sold. According to their website, they wanted GBP 550,000 for the place, of which 450k was the claimed market value of the house. I don't know what fitting out a pro kitchen costs, but if much of that price is goodwill you have to ask whether that goodwill exists when the proprietors are leaving. Winteringham is an amazing success story, but realistically who would want to fork out the kind of money the Schwabs must want to set up in that part of the world? I think they may find it difficult to sell. Adam

Great thread. My version: What was your family food culture when you were growing up? British home cooking, but with quite a lot of Mediterranean thrown in from about the age of seven or eight. We started holidaying in Greece and Portugal when I was about six, and eating out in Italian restaurants a little later. I was a pretty fussy eater at that time, but grew out of it to the point where I'll eat anything now. Except bananas, the fruit of the Devil. And beetroot. Was meal time important? Yes, to an extent. We didn't eat at table that often, but would generally eat all at the same time, even if it was in front of the TV. Was cooking important? Yes, very much. Both my parents love food and drink, and we were accustomed to eating well from an early age. What were the penalties for putting elbows on the table? I think my parents may have made a few vague attempts to enforce 'no elbows on the table' and 'no leaving the table without asking permission' rules when I was very young, but I can't really remember, and it wouldn't be in character for them to exact penalties. They are sixties children after all. Who cooked in the family? Mum, always. She was once away for a night, can't remember why, and my father contrived to let a pan of carrots boil dry and burn. Twenty-odd years on, he's not been allowed to forget it. Nowadays, when Mum is away for one night he'll either go to my sisters, suggest to my sister they go out for dinner, or get fish and chips. If she's away longer, she leaves pre-prepared stuff in the fridge or freezer for him, marked 'Monday', 'Tuesday' or whatever. Except that some nights he will ignore her offerings and either go to my sisters, suggest to my sister...... You get the point. I find it odd that he's never felt like learning to cook, because he's probably more of a gourmand than Mum is. Still, if you get it for free...... When I was in primary school, we used to walk up to my great-aunt's house for lunch most days (Mum was working by this time, and continued to do so until she took early retirement about six months back). She was - and is - a classic British home cook - pies, fantastic baking. To my regret she now bakes less than she used to, but whenever I go home I try to ensure there'll be a cake for me to bring back. And I need to get her recipe for Yorkshire parkin ingrained in my mind before she goes, though I trust that'll be some time yet. Were restaurant meals common, or for special occassions? Fairly common. We used to go out, generally for Italian food, every couple of weeks. And, as the restaurants in our town (medium sized, north of England) got better, we expanded our range. Oddly they still don't like Indian food though. Did children have a "kiddy table" when guests were over? Only very occasionally when Mum threw a proper dinner party that would start late and go on later, so we'd eat earlier, and go to bed when we felt like it. She had one dish, a boned, stuffed and rolled shoulder of lamb that she would cook quite often for these parties. There were always leftovers, and I used to nip downstairs the following morning and scoff them cold. Yum. Funnily enough I got her to cook that dish for me a couple of years ago, probably the first time I'd ever eaten it hot. It was delicious, if a bit unfashionable. When did you get that first sip of wine? I can't really remember, but I know I didn't like it. I didn't like booze at all till I was about seventeen, when I started getting pissed on vodka and orange. It took me much longer to start enjoying wine and beer, odd when you consider what a dipso I can be these days. Mum and Dad always - at least as far as I can remember - had wine with dinner most evenings though, so it was around. I just didn't like it. Was there a pre-meal prayer? No, never. Totally areligious household. Was there a rotating menu (e.g., meatloaf every Thursday)? Only trad British Sunday lunch/dinner (which we usually ate in the evenings, odd that I tend only to cook it at lunchtimes now). And if we'd had roast lamb, which was the most common Sunday joint, the leftovers would, in the winter, usually be turned into a stew with root vegetables and suet dumplings. Later we developed the habit of getting takeout, usually pizza, on Friday nights, which Mum and Dad still practice nowadays. How much of your family culture is being replicated in your present-day family life? Not much, because the lady wife and I are without issue. We try to eat at table more often, and we probably eat a little later than my family used to (though I always found people who ate their evening meal at five thirty a bit weird). And my cooking is probably essentially French at its core, whereas my Mum's is basically Italian.

Any favourites among the myriad of N African places? Easy access from Montparnasse would be a bonus, but hell, getting around Paris is hardly difficult, so not critical. Thanks in advance. Adam

Well, I dunno about Scott, but the thought that you had a dish you thought 'superb' in Paris - given your view of the place - amused me, too. Adam

Lucy and I are off to Paris for five days over the New Year holiday. We're staying with my cousin in Montparnasse. First time I've been over for a couple of years (why?). I'm trying to get my head round various issues, such as - will restaurants be open as normal, both on New Year's Eve and on other days around then? will they be serving their usual menus? what places should I be looking to try out? I've come to the conclusion that palaces of gastronomy are probably out on this occasion on price grounds, but am struggling to identify the sweet spot for Parisian dining. In an ideal world I'd want to spend around Eu160 for two for dinner, including booze, but would probably go higher in the right circumstances. Thoughts? At what price point do you reckon you get the best value for money? cheers Adam

True, true, but this wasn't your normal garden variety humiliation, this was a once in a century humiliation event. The sort of thing that most people don't have to experience at all in their lifetime - like the turn-ups. Adam, when you've lived in Britain a bit longer, you'll realise that this kind of sporting humiliation is something we deal with several times a year. Think the Scots and the Faroes. A

So one Test win (albeit overwhelming, humiliating etc etc etc) constitutes 'retaining the Ashes', does it, Adam? I mean, it's not that I think we have a chance, but you might at least give us the privilege of actually stuffing us, rather than just assuming you will....... Adam

Ah! Apple pie, made with a layer of cheese (properly Wensleydale, but Cheshire or Lancashire would do - you want a crumbly creamy job) under the pastry top is known as St Wilfrid's Pie. Thanks for reminding me of that