Simon Majumdar

Not just a jewish dish. Queen Victoria is known to have sworn by the restorative affect of calves foot jelly and I remember having it as a kid when I was ill. S

Powdered mustard is very useful in cooking My dear departed welsh granny always used a spoonful of it in the mix for her suet crust when making a Steak & kidney pud or in the flour mix for yorkshires. It adds oomph to most soups and stews and is also used by Bengalis in fish dishes like Mascher jhole S

There is no such thing as a true bengali restaurant anywhere. even the much vaunted places in Queens that get shilled on other boards are very very poor in comparison with what you get in a home. Because it is a home food, it does not get any credit as it is not showy, rich or lavish. But, like the bengalis themselves it is the most thoughful and considered of all Indian foods We have a saying in Calcutta What Bengal thinks today, India will think tomorrow. I like to think that the same is true with food. One day Mother will wake up to what the Ghoti's have known for centuries The food reflects the spirit of both West Bengal ( still part of India ) and East Bengal and within those regions there are a myriad different varieties The experience you had of the meal with friends is the true experience of eating Bengali food. There are few foods that are prepared with such love and attention but also such blissful simplicity. most dishes have a maximum of three spices ( Ginger, Turmeric and Kalonji being the most usual ) oh and of course, a little sugar. Fish is the real mainstay of Bengali cooking. In Bangladesh it is mainly river fish with lots of bones, in calcutta, the true Ghoti will be the same but many now prefer the meatier and less boney sea fish. Guess which I am? There is very little else used I have put some recipes on here, Suvir many more. Do try them. They are so simple and easy to prepare and they will be a great addition to your repetoire S

Suvir Your list makes me want to cry as it is so hard to find any of these dishes. Fortunately, I am headed to my parents for the holiday and know that one or two of them will be waiting for me I think you are so right. Bengali food is such a "home food" that it often is more subtle than much restaurant food. People take that subtlety to be a lack of taste as they are used to fiery heat and overpowering spicing Even the amazing people on Egullet are only beginning to know the difference between spicy food and food cooked with spices and the differences are vast That is in no small part down to your efforts and those of Monica Thanks S

I prefer dried. Most canned beans that I have used in the UK contain sugar, which makes the beans taste funny. Even very good quality Italian of Spanish beans in jars have that "I've come from a tin" taste. This taste disperses with cooking, but often the period of time it takes for this to occur results in the beans breaking up. Canned chickpeas (garbanzos?) taste particularly foul. No texture control in the canned beans also. People like you make me sick to my stomach. You come on here with your la de da ways and your poncey bean fascism and expect everyone to bow down and worship. Well you can take your dried beans and .......... have a great time in Italy BTW S

I find most canned beans to be infinitely preferable to the dried. Any difference in taste is minimal and the convenience factor is immeasurably better I always keep a stock of canned beans in the larder as they can be used in a million and one different ways S

But of course Sometimes, if one is lucky a chingri-Jhol S

To be fair though Tone, and I mean this in the most Christmas spirited of ways, if a restaurant was going to leave enough room for you to be comfortable, there would only be two tables in the place. S

That's a great report and certainly would make me reconsider That being said, much of the criticism has been aimed not at the food, I think most people found it good+ with one or two small gripes that you would have anywhere, but at the service and the room which are hit & Miss and Dingy respectively Your service sounds immeasurably better than that I received, but for what is still a lot of money, I expect more. The service at The Capital has never been less than outstanding. The whole issue of tables being too close together has been the great bugbear of 2002 for me ( as bugbears go it is a pretty shallow one, but I redefine shallow on a daily basis ) We all understand the financial requirements and demands on restaurants in prime locations, but that does not mean that they have to cram so many tables into a place that everytime someone wants to go to the bathroom the whole restaurant performs the ,much mentioned before, Piss Waltz. Some places are just ridiculous. Racine was one, Jo Jo and Blue Hill in Ny were others. I would much rather the meal was £5 a head more but they took one table out. That being said, your post makes me want to reconsider going back to PaT. Ta S

Agreed, but as with all things there is always a way to find some good. I have one place there ( it is very near t me ) and when I go, I have the staff curry ( usually fish ) which is invariably delicious and better than anything on the menu. Always a good trick to try S

The food at QC is not bad at all, but it has less buzz than the Marie Celeste Ransome's Dock is very good indeed but not high Have you thought about Rhodes in The Square? S

with both my publisher hat and my enthusiastic home cook hat on, I can truly recommend Monica's book to anyone who wants to cook Indian food at home and create authentic and flavourful food from around the continent but who finds the thought of it too intimidating It is clearly laid out and the recipes work I rarely use recipe books but I have used this one 5 times already since I got a copy I can give no greater recommendation that that S

That's far more wounding than any punch. You cad S

Take a number and form an orderly line take your best shot country boy S

Oh God, it is all coming back to me now in a fuggy haze of booze addled memories I don't recall anyone poking my rock like abs although I am sure there were lots of people who would have queued up to hit me S

Oh well if you insist 3 x 12 mile runs a week ( not this week as I have a filthy cold) 2 upper body heavy weights sessions 2 lower body weights sessions and the sit ups. I try and do 2,000 per week Fucking kills me S

As someone who had the great pleasure to be in Austin for an all too brief few days, I can honestly say it was one of the highlights of my year Sitting in Jo's on South Congress St ( we were staying at the Austin Motel ) while waiting for a table at Guerro's was blissful (as indeed was the excellent meal at G's ) I also have fond memories of running by the river at 6am in the morning as the sun began to rise If only all cities could be like Austin I shall return S

In the end we rendered the fat in a pan and mixed with the livers, we then added in the onions I also added in some Chipotle tabasco at the table ( I can see Macrosan fainting ) It was very good indeed S

OK Macrosan brought a number of pre-requestees gifts to the UK Xmas bash. The well wrapped parcels contained 1) A tupperware box of pre chopped chicken livers with something mixed in ( that's what I am trying to discern ) 2) A box with chciken fat, friend onions and a pickled cucumber The brief instructions were to render the fat, mix with the onions and liver and eat. Er, that's it. I just wanted this fleshing out a bit. It was excellent and I would not mind trying to make myself S

At the Xmas London Bash, Macrosan handed out a number of boxes of chopped liver which he ( and I believe, primarily Mrs Macrosan ) had taken time to prepare Two packages contained the liver and chicken fat and fried onions and pickled cucumber with instructions for us non kosher types on how to prepare This was the most sensational chopped liver I have ever tried and I wanted to get some more recipes as I have to try and make this again A huge thanks to Mr & Mrs M but please LET MY RECIPE GO!!!!! S

I can only assume that you don't know what that means in the UK???????? God bless Tommy S

but at least unlike the rest of us you can light a cigar without matches. You can ignite it by breathing on it or, I am told just looking at it in a funny way S

Quite right, but you can smoke here. S

Tony, what bollocks. Much as I love you like a brother ( not a favourite one mind you , more of a Fredo ) don't try and make the US smoking issue into a class war. It is nothing of the sort. What it is, is another symptom of the US government's inability to let and the US people's inability to take responsibility for their own actions. You are living in a society where people can sue restaurants becuase they can't say no to food even though they need two seats on the bus, where people can sue musicians for recording songs that make them go out and shoot others then themselves ( have you noticed that most of the people who killed themselves after listening to Priest or Ozzy were congenitally stupid. Perhaps it is just natures way of culling ) and where smokers who put the filthy stick in their gobs and light it and inhale the stuff into their lungs despite the warning on the packet that says "this will kill you dickwad" can sue the companies that sell the stuff. Few governments treat their citizens with the contempt the US government does and this is just one example. Bear in mind that you in the US are not considered grown up enough to have proper cheese. I am not an ex smoker, with the exception of a handful of wonderful cigars, I am a never smoked, but people have every right to do what they want as long as their actions don't affect others. So, keep cigarettes out of restaurants where others will be forced to ingest it along with their food or give them a section, well ventilated where they can smoke without damaging the atmosphere for others, the same in bars. But, make people responsible for their actions. If you smoke and become ill through smoke related illness, you should pay more for your treatment. If you are a fat through overeating, and are so obese that you take up two seats on the plane, you should pay for them without whining about discrimination. Why should I suffer from passive crushing because you wanted an extra donut? So, what does class have to do with it? A porky schmuck with a malboro in his mouth is as likely to be reading the Wall St Journal as The New York Post......... S

Absolutely I have lost nearly 60lbs and have been at the weight I am now for a year. ( 162lbs for the record ) I still eat carbs but in moderation and only if the stuff is great ( so at the xmas bash last night I chowed down on chocolates and some of Rosie's home made bread I just don' eat all the crap I also have a fairly punishing fitness regime I think the point about a lifestyle change is valid. My dietary habits are entirely different, but I still eat like a horse. Hell I even eat the horse S