Adam Balic

Butternut squash are "Summer" squash, Pumpkins are "Winter" squash. Basically you can store one easily over the winter, the other not so much. To store them well they do well when bedded down on something soft (like straw) in a place where air can circulate around them. It could be that you have the wrong type of squash and the wrong storage conditions. After prolonged storage Butternuts often go wrinkly, especially if they are not of the first water. I would cut one open and see how they are going. If they are on the turn, start making soup.

Paula – I have never found your recipes particularly complicated. They could be, but you have a very good talent of breaking down a complex recipe into a number of simple and logical steps. If there are people that say that your recipes are ‘complicated’, then I would think that they have not really read them carefully. It would seem to me that even now people prefer ‘assurance’ from their food and food writers, rather then any hint of doubt. When you originally had the idea for a Moroccan cookbook, did you think that it would be as successful as it has been? And if so, why? At the time it was published there was very little in the way of Moroccan food writing in print and the book must have stood out on the shelves of bookstores like a poppy in a field of daisies. Obviously, the popularity of these books in part reflects the excellent nature of Moroccan cuisine, but a very large part of their popularity is due to your skills as a food writer. What do you think these skills are and how conscience are you of these abilities when you are writing?

Should be fine. Goose fat doesn't seem to go rancid like some fats.

The actual derivation of the word "cobbler" when referring to the dessert is vague, at best. As you know, a fruit cobbler is a deep dish fruit pie with no bottom layer of dough or crust. A layer of biscuits or dumplings are placed on top of the fruit filling and then the dessert is baked. Regarding the name, one thought is that fruit "cobblers" were so named because the biscuit/dumpling layer of dough on top resembled rounded cobble stones after baking. Another thought was that since the dough on top is usually not a single sheet of dough but is, instead, pieces of dough (like dumplings) placed incrementally over the layer of fruit, that the name "cobbler" came from the phrase "to cobble", meaning "to piece together" (which is how the shoe-related term "cobbler" came into being). Also "cob" (as in 'cob (spider) web) means a small rounded headlike thing, like a cobble stone. So you can by-pass the cobble street theory if you assume that 'cobbler' refers to the small bits of dough themselves. And obviously, the original coblers were made out of, a now sadly extinct, fruity-tasting spider. Peaches are just trying to recreate the that once much loved spider-pudding.

We had this topic a while back. We had to put that person to death . More un-dead really and he still doesn't get pasta.

I get everything except 'Ambrosia salad' and Cheeseburgers.

That's weird, I see them as very separate cuisines (obvious with some over-laps). Maybe because I was introduced to both at the same time.

They do. Mostly it is called "Bread" in these parts, but occasionally you will see "Naan".

The poor were forced/encouraged to eat potatoes in the UK by their masters. In general, tenants/peasants ate what they were told to in the UK. I doubt that the upper classes would be to keen on a bunch of peasants mucking about up their nice flowering horse chestnut. Horse chestnuts have a relatively low yield of fruit, so you would have to plant large amounts of them to feed the peasants and there are better sources of food for this. Irish working men at up to 10 pounds of potatoes per day, to get an equivalent amount of horse chestnuts you would require a hugh amount of trees. Just not efficient and there were better alternatives. Better to give the peasants peas and barley/rye/oats/bere etc then bugger about with un-productive tree plantations. Even in areas where peasants ate sweet chestnuts (it was often called the 'Bread Tree' in these areas), they switched to eating other forms of protein/energy sources when they had the chance. I like things made with chestnut flour, but it is very stodgy and people that have been brought up on it often refuse to eat it later in like when given the chance. Chestnut flour also stores very poorly. As for rhubarb, originally people ate the roots of a related species and it was thought to have protective medical qualities (these roots were imported from the East). The form that we eat today was introduced later, with the full knowledge that you eat the stems, not the leaves. It was introduced for medical/food reasons, whereas the Horse chestnut was brought in because it looked nice. I suspect that the reason that horse chestnuts are not eaten is because of the above and because they do not taste that good or store well, they were certainly fed to animals, hence the name I guess.

Tomatoes don't fucking get planted at the rate of one plant per 5 acres of park land. If they did you would seen them less in Italian cuisine. Plus Tomatoes took a very long time to become popular in Italy aswell.

The are not native to Britian, they were introduced in the late 16th.C from the Balkans, most likely as a Park specimen tree. Therefore, a cuisine is unlikely to have developed around them in the UK.

OK, Citrus identification completed. Asain Citron is Citrus medica var limetta. Looks a like a lime, but unlike a lime isn't very sour (Has been my experience with other citrons). I blend of Meyer lemon and Tangarine juice should do the trick.

Paul - get with the program, when it come to Spain, you don't have to have been there to have and opinion!

Alan - were are you located? With that much variation in the population it sounds like you are in Malaysia. The other explanation is that the trees are derived from seedlings and not from grafted plants.

This is a good thing?

Pommelo's are the ancestors of grapefruit. They vary quite a bit and from what people have said on eG, most of the ones avalible in the USA are from Israel and these are often not great (Or an I thinking of melons). I would use a mixture of tangarine and pink grapefruit juice. It may not be authentic, but it should taste pretty good.

I would like to here more about your trip if you have the time. Strangely enough I made the Swiss Chard and potato dish for some friends the other night. Adam Balic

Mandarin/Tangarine are different things entirely from oranges. Tangarine/Mandarin are Citrus reticulata, Sweet Oranges are Citrus sinensis, Sour/Seville oranges are Citrus aurantium and Citrons/Cedro are Citrus medica. With in each citrus species there are many variants. Hence many Tangarine/Mandarin types. The also hydridize quite well, so while Eureka lemons are a type of lemon, Meyer Lemons are a hybrid (naturally occuring) between a Lemon and a Mandarin/Tangarine. 'Citron' is a name often given to any weird yellowish Citrus fruit, not sure what 'Asian Citron' is, I will look it up and get back to you.

OK...Footy is what?... And what the heck is a Chippy... Footy = Australian Rules Football Chippy = Fish and Chip shop/van

Marrowfat peas are a large type of drying pea, very ancient usage in Europe. Not sweet like modern garden peas. Think of the dried split peas used in pea and ham soup. The colouring tablet is something the chippies do to make the peas look more attractive to people that think Uranium-glow green is a 'healthy' colour.

No. I come from Victoria, we don't do the pie and pea/mashed potato thing, this is a NSW or SA thing. Meat pies need only the addition of sauce and footy.

Australian meat pies are not really like sheppard pies, other then they are both pies. Short crust base, puff pastry lid. Meat filling, no reall veg content. Commercial pies will have dried onion powder in them etc. Take stewing meat, ground up coarsely and brown, added browned onions sprinkle with flour, cover with meat stock, cook until meat is very tender. Season. Allow this to cool over night. This is the pie filling. The peas are mushy peas of the marrowfat type that you get in the UK. I was once complimented on my meat pies by a former Indian cricket captain.

if I recall correctly some of the earlier press on Oliver himself, the kudos he has received have been well earned (for his restaurant)... but I also remember that "Jamie Bashing" was quite the sport in London and their "nit picky" press, some time back, was "on his case" so to speak because he had not done enough charity stuff ... Oh sure lifes tough and unfair and all that, but he has made is fortune with being a public figure and that has made him fair game for the press. He has great smarts though. Set up a production company, film setting up a restaurant with a twist, sell this to C4. Brilliant! People are actually paying him to advertise is restaurant on prime time TV for one hour periods.

It's because of his promotion of the Sainsburys chain of supermarkets in the UK. The advrts are fairly sick making and while he says on his TV show 'Herbs are useless if used more then six hours after picking', his face is plastered all over supermarket herbs that have been picked days ago. Basically he is over-exposed and people are cynical about him. Since he has a personal fortune of 20 million pounds at last estimate, I think that he is big enough to take the knocks.

I have been out of Melbourne foe too long to comment on restaurants , but you must try to spend some time at the Queen Victoria Market.