cnspriggs

Hi! I'm looking to buy a new fridge and am more familair with brands in america than what is available here. What brands have you been happy with? I am particularly looking for a fridge with the freezer bottom mounted. Cheers!

I'm looking for a store that has a good selection of hot sauces. I'm looking for the following sauces and hope to find a shop that hopefully has them all. Cholula Marie Sharps El Yucateco Blairs Huy Fong Foods Tuong Ot Sriracha Cheers!

Do you have any books you think are really great for the food and wine matching suggestions? I know there are lots of books with matches but many times they are recommendations of wines with recipes that don't clash and haven't really dug into the flavours of the food and the wine to create a special harmony. I'm looking for something that really delves into the subject and doesn't regurgitate the 'classics'.

Hi! In these post Mad Cow days where is the best place to get meat bones for making stock without paying a premium?

Hi! I'm taking my significant other to this area for his birthday as its an area of Ireland he would love to see. Is there any restaurants or pubs in the area that come recommended to eat at? Thanks!

How about Northern Ireland? Any gifts specific to this region? Cheers!

Fasinating! I agree with Darren72-your posts are always interesting even if I am now left a little less sure of what I want. It is interesting to me that classically if you 'stir fry' you use a carbon steel wok but if you 'saute' you use a copper pan....quite different materials for the same application. There is no difference. The difference between "stir fry" and "sauté" is that the former is tyically applied to cooking Asian foods (classically, in a wok) and the latter is typically applied to cooking Western foods. The term "stir fry" is a relatively modern addition to the English cooking lexicon (mid 20th century), and is generally credited to Buwei Yang Chao in the book "How to Cook and Eat in Chinese" where it was used to describe the chǎo technique -- although the complete chǎo technique involces a bit more specificity than what we have now come to think of as "stir frying" -- which generally now means "tossing around a bunch of Asian ingredients over high heat." More information stir-frying here on wikipedia. ←

From what you describe I'm not sure I see the difference between your description of 'saute' and what I imagine 'stir fry' to be??

Hi there, Thanks for the reply. In fact I've read the Understanding cookware article many times but I still finish reading it unsure as to what exactly I want.... One of the main things I struggle with in the kitchen is browing onions. I know it sounds silly but for some reason I find it challenging getting the onions to a really dark brown for a curry base without burning the onions in parts or the spices. While this is the impetus for the purchase I also love trying to cook and would like to see what copper is all about. It's a 'treat' purchase for a new job I have so I'm happy to spend a little bit more but can't buy more than one so was hoping to figure out which style of pan would work best for me. Currently leaning towards Falks Sautépan cilindric.

I'm looking to buy copper of either a Saute or a frying pan but can't afford both. Would you say that a Saute pan can do what a frying pan can do but not the opposite? That was my impression but having never had a good quality copper pan in either wasn't sure. Cheers!

What brands (or materials type) of baking sheets, muffin tins and loaf tins does everyone prefer? I was looking around a hardware shop and noticed some enamel sheets? How does baking on these turn out?

Following up to my own thread I'm wondering if people here would agree with some comments I've heard. Do you find that you investigate the kitchen equipment you want to buy in stores and then order online as it is much cheaper (even with international shipping) that way? I'm in need of many pieces for my kitchen (best quality copper skillet, chefs knife, espresso machine, mixing bowls etc etc) and am new to the UK so hoping to find some great sources to buy but will shop online if that is what is recommended. Thanks!

Can any Aussy out there confirm if Weber has any carbon steel woks down under? In the UK I've written the distributor and they insist that only stainless steel is available.

I'd love to hearing opinions on the wok that weber has http://www.weber.com/bbq/pub/grill/accessory/chargear.aspx I notice it's stainless steel and I always thought carbon steel was the preferred wok material. Would love to hear if anyone thinks this wok would give good performance with the weber charcoal grill or if it is a gimmick. Cheers!

As the weather warms up I thought this a timely revival of this thread. I'm going for a charcoal grill and contemplating Weber One-Touch Gold Weber One-Touch Platinum Bar-B-Chef Texas Charcoal Barbeque on cart (however can't seem to find where to buy this in the UK!) Anyone else buying a charcoal grill this spring? Cheers!

I'm curious if there are some loyal shoppers out there for buying kitchen goods(pots, pans, knifes, baking sheets, bowls etc etc). What are your favorite shops (and location please)? Any chains that are good quality? Independents that source great stuff or offer great service? Warehouses that offer good value? Retail opportunities to buy professional quality? Interested to hear what you love!

I'm considering buying tin lined copper saute pan instead of stainless steel as I understand things don't get stuck to the tin lined pans as badly as stainless. I was wondering how often those of you that own them find they need to be re-tinned? Cheers!

Hello all! I'm moving to horsham and am interested to know if there any little gems in the area. I've searched 'horsham' on this site and haven't seen anything but of course sometimes the gems are a little out of town. So any food shops/restaurant/cafe etc that are recommended would be great!

Hello, I was wondering where might be recommended for some great restaurants in Stuttgart. I'll have 2 evenings free there in April. It does not have to be of any particular type of food but I do generally go for restaurants that source local ingredients whether they are used traditionally or not. Thanks!

Hi! I have a stollen recipe that ask for 250g of whole almonds to be blanched in milk and then skinned. Can anyone tell me why they might want to use milk instead of water for blanching? Also are there any guidelines to follow when using milk instead of water? thanks!

I'm looking for truffles (black or white) imported from Europe somewhere in Victoria. Any ideas? I tried Ottavios in Oak Bay but they don't get them.

I have to say that so far what you are saying about cooking the onion tomato mixtures is what I am finding to be the most successful at making the recipes from this book taste more closely like what I get at the restaurant. I find the spice and quantity level generally ok. Strangly I'm still finding that dry cooking the onions a bit before adding the oil is working very well and for sure adding spice mixtures after onions are well cooked is also working well. When work slows down in a couple weeks I'll try a couple side by side comparisons of the methods and report back. cheers!

Out of curiousity-I tend to prefer chocolate from Italy or Germany. Where do you all think their chocolate lies on the sweetness scale(I'm typically buying in the 70%range)?? My instinct says lower than US French or Belgian.

Hi Gabriel Thanks for the reply! My cook book is insistent that the mustard seeds do not pop because if they are popping then they are burning and burning either the mustard seeds or the cumin is to be avoided. Curious as to everyones thoughts on this. This is why I've been frustrated by the onion part because I find if I try to carmelize the onions in 8 mins as per instructed the seeds that were already in the pan were burning by the end of the 8 minutes. As for adding the seeds after the onions have started cooking I was thinking along the lines that if the onions take 20 mins I would add the seeds at around 15 minutes into the onion cooking so the seeds have time to cook before the onions are finished. Cheers!

Well the first experiment I tried was moderately successful. I decided if the key was to get the water out of the onion I would first cook the onion on a non stick pan without any oil until they were quite dry. There was no browning at all at during this processes but the onion sure did look dry by the end. Then I added the oil and browning came on quickly and evenly-no brown edges with white insides. I added the seeds after the onions were moderately brown so they would also get fried but not for so long that they had no choice to burn. The tomato and rest of the steps went well. Will try a few more variations on the method soon. As for the oil-at present I'm happy with canola. I also find it quite neutral and when I don't have ghee on hand canola is working for me. However in the future perhaps I'll do an oil taste test and see if anything will replace it.