Adam Balic

I've never had any complaints S Or compliments?

Thanks Simon. Do you feel that the size of the Molcajete (7 by 2 inchs) is too small?

I think that the British are strangely obsessed with frying eggs on side walks and car bonnets, when people that actually live in hot climates sensibly stay indoors and leave their eggs in peace (piece?). i know, adam, its mad isn't it! when i was a californian and grew up in the hot hot hot central valley where my parents still live and where they mutter little noises such as : well, its getting a bit warm when the thermometer hovers around 110F which is does every summer. anyhow anyhow, i never cooked an egg on the sidewalk then. here i am in heatwave britain and not only have i cooked an egg on the sidewalk, but today i'm making toast in the back garden! (the thermometer hit 130F in the sun, and i'm telling you, the toast is looking nice and crispy). Marlena - sounds like you have gone native then . It is all of 18.C in Edinburgh (we have the Haar today), heat wave, bah. One quick question to Mexicans and Mexican experts; Is it possible to buy those Mexican mortar and pestal (forgot the correct name of these) of good quality in the UK?

So no matter your intent or how well researched you are, if you are not from the correct ethnic group then it is not possible to be 'authentic' (which I think is a silly word BTW, by definition nothing is authentic)? Seems rather damning and to some extent, historially not representative. I assume that many food writers are not of the ethnic group who's good they write upon, yet this is seen as exceptable, so I can see not reason why the cooking of similar types of commited people would also not be 'authentic' and good. Sandra - I think that opening an 'ethnic' (there must be a better word then that) restaurant could be very difficult, if it was dependent on certain fresh ingredients. I assume that Mexican cooking is very diverse, so would it not be possible to operate in a way that didn't make to many compromises? No Tomatilla, OK, but are the other types of 'authentic' salsa that do not contain tomatilla?

And there speaks one who knows, and who proves it over and over in the kitchen. Yes, yes, I was only joking before. An interesting question is: is it possible to have good ethnic food which is in-authentic, without having to resort to the 'fusion' label? eg. Could a modern Mexican restaurant in London serve a 'Mole of partridge' etc?

I think that the British are strangely obsessed with frying eggs on side walks and car bonnets, when people that actually live in hot climates sensibly stay indoors and leave their eggs in peace (piece?).

Well, truffles are different levels of 'ripeness', it they are collected before they are fully mature they can lack flavour. But, as I said earlier, summer truffles seem to have more aroma then taste. I am guessing that restaurants that use them add a slug of truffle oil to the dish as well.

Come on, I'm talking about people who lived and cooked in Mexico for years. Sure, John I've me ex-pats as well. "Roger and I know this simply delightful little place, very authentic". Only kidding, I respect most of the writing that comes from members of the GFW, although I wish the website could be up-graded more often.

I also bought the mandolin in Dehillerin, which is an amazing store, very quaint and 19th C.

The bottled (black) truffles will almost certainly be Tuber Aestivum the "Black Summer Truffle", described as "White Summer truffle" in the restaurant description . Most jars should mention species name. I wouldn't use them as they are expensive and mostly taste of nothing. Plus the texture is poor as well. I would wait for the fresh truffles (fresh summer truffles should be in season) or make a simplified version using a good truffle oil. The dish looks like a real fresh seasonal treat, so by using a bottle truffle I think that that would miss the best parts of the dish.

Bah, what do Mexicans know about Mexican food in comparison to the Guild of Food Writers?

There are numerous truffle species. Some good, some not nice at all. Often the blander species are tarted up with truffle oil. Bastard chefs have also been known to use portabello mushroom gills or shavings of a black puffball fungus (in the UK) dressed in truffle oil. The USA has several species of native truffle, both black and white (the come from Oregen (sp?) and grow under young Douglas firs. These are not the same as the prized species from Europe. Time of the year is often not a guide either, in Umbria/Tuscany both Tuber Aestivum and Tuber Melanosporum are found and their seasons overlap to some extent. Shops in the UK will charge Tuber Melanosporum prices for Tuber Aestivum, when the former is worth ten times the price or more. So it pays to be able to identify them. I had some Tuber Aestivum in Tuscany recently, very nice, but I paid very little for them, as it should be, as these truffles have a very mild flavour, in fact they seem to smell more then they taste. From the link I would say that they are almost certainly Tuber Aestivum, so 'White Summer Truffle' is I think a restuarant name, so that people do not get confused by the appearance of the shavings. The whole truffle would look black/dark brown.

Pongi - I would love a copy of the recipe thank you.

Wheat genetics is very complicated, so any generalisation will have errors. A simple family tree is; Eikorn (14 chromosomes) X wild grass (14 chromosomes) | "Emmer" type wheat (28 chromosomes) = 'hard' durum type wheats after generations of human breeding (ie. Emmer wheat is the original form). Emmer X another 14 chromosome wild grass | "Modern" soft or bread wheats (42 chromosomes) Farro is also the wheat that Roman soldiers took with them as part of their daily rations. Unfortunely, I'm not sure which farro exactly, but most likely Medium Durum type farro.

Thank you to everbody that offered their advise. I didn't eat quite as much as was suggested, because I ran out of time and once I got to Italy, I stuffed my self with fruit, which seemed to be extra good this year, maybe the drought? In Liguria, I did manage to eat some farinata, which was quite difficult to find as many places that advertised it, did not make in any longer. I eventually found it watching some people coming out of a small alley with some farinata in their hands. Very nice, especially the crispy outer edges. I know that tradionally the sea around Liguria isn't thought to be that rich in fish (although the amount of Fish resturants in Liguria suggests otherwise), so I was disapointed to observe a decline in quality this year. In some of the restuarants the Batti batti had been replaced with imported tiger prawns and in Rio Maggiore the fish cart was selling imported South Pacific Sea Bream ('Snapper' in Australia) cheaper then the locally caught Gilt headed Sea Bream. I could guess what was being served in some of the resturants. Still the local anchovies were very good, as were the stuffed mussels from La Spezia, what a pity that date clams are now to endangered to eat. I spent some time sampling as many vegetable tortes as possible in Liguria, it is often easy to forget the excellence of Veg in this part of the world in the free for all over seafood. Zucchini flower torte was exceptional. Not sure if it is tradional though? Had trofie several times and was surprised to find out that it is actually a fresh pasta and that the dried form sold everywhere in Cinque Terra isn't traditional. Must be hellish to make by hand though. Drank much local wine in Cinque Terra. Some was terrible some was delicious. What a pity that they good stuff wasn't marketed like the poor stuff. The best wine we had was the house wine in one of the restuarants, made by the owners family. It tasted like fruit and sunshine.

It would be helpful if those that are discussing 'good' Mexican food could give examples and describe how it differs from Tex-Mex. eg. How much regionality is there in Mexico and would Tex-Mex be a regional variation or another thing entirely. My exposure to Mexican food is limited to avoiding it like the plague due to its crapness Taco-Bell type food and some Moles, salsa, that cormeal stuff cooked in corn husks and a few other stews. Plus pissy beer, which I quite like.

The grains were "farro" yes? Mostly it is translated as spelt, but that is only partially true. Farro is a term which covers a number of species of primative wheat. One of these is spelt, but the one that is more commonly used in soup, salads and risotto (I have had an excellent version of this at La delphina) is Farro Medio. This is an ancestor of modern hard wheats used in pasta making. Farro information

Exellent review Robert, I shall hop on your coat tails with this from my recent trip to Chianti: When in Tuscany: "Bar Dell'Orso" Loc. La Colonna 23 - Monteriggioni It is a tavern on the road near Monteriggioni, the middle of nowhere really. It is a place that all sorts attend, from Businessmen from Siena to local field workers. The place has a mind blowing selection of procuitto, salumi, lardo, cured wild boar etc, a dozen or so different pecorini plus other cheeses, a whole deboned, stuffed and roasted pig (Porcetta, this version is particuly good, very tender and they use coriander seeds as well as fennel seeds) and fantastic melons. You ask for what you want and it is piled onto a solid olive wood tray, this is all then weighed and you take the feast to your table. You can drink young local wine (6 Euros for a litre) or an excellent selection of Chianti, Brunello etc. They have an excellent selection of Tuscan sweets, which are sourced from the best producers in the region, not just the cheapest and most local. Unique.

Could be a piece of Marlin, this looks exactly like that.

Tomatillos are closely related to Cape gooseberries, infact they are different species of the same genus. You can buy Cape gooseberries in supermarkets etc, although they may be to ripe to use in Mexican cooking (they are used green and un-ripe in salsa?).

Then you imagine wrongly. The chef world works more along the lines of -- fuck you. It's not illegal. I quite agree, but this convention doesn't exist in catering, and its lack has provided ingress for many a reputation builder. I guess my view is a little naive.

This is unsurprising magnamimity for a scientist, but imagine if someone copied your ground-breaking work on fruit flies, and passed it off as their own. I doubt very much if you'd be feeling quite so generous. Time and again we have discussed this topic, and I am ever surprised at the generosity of non-chef pundits towards those who usurp others' creative efforts. What about the creators? Do you think they like it? Downplaying the importance of creative pillage, may have some benefits for the diner, but in the long run it allies food with fashion, and not art, with trends spreading like lice throughout a creatively corrupt industry serving a morally bankrupt, and clearly undiscerning clientele. The net result is the comforting homogeneity in which everyone knows what's in and what's out, that we find on these boards. No, I should make it more clear. If somebody copied my 'fruitfly' work and published it, then I would be very pissed off. Once my work was published, if somebodies work was based on my results and they didn't refer to my original work then I would again be annoyed. But, if I was given credit then I have do problem with this. It is how progress is made in the field, I imagine it is the same in Chef-world. If credit is given, then all the world can know about you briliance. For those few original thinkers, this is the main way that their ideas reach the world, though others.

If chefs stopped making derivative recipes then there would be no restaurants, but in published work it is good to see people being credited for there recipes.

Some brands do include this designation, but not many. As far as I can remember those having that designation are large commercial brands of no particular interest. I have never been served any pasta in Italy that was not roundly criticized by the table if it was the least bit overcooked. I just went over to my cabinet to check and out of the 9 brands of pasta in there at the moment only one has the two cooking times and I would not buy it again. 'al dente' is kind a moving target as it slightly different for different shapes. Please remember there are a lot of bad cooks in Italy: just fewer than in other places. One of my current favorite home brands of spaghetti is Spaghetti alla Chitarra from Garofolo in Naples. They recommend 14 minutes and it takes every minute of that to reach the al dente stage. It is packed with flavor and excellent with the uncooked tomato sauces we seem to be making everyday in order to be not overrun with the tomatoes in our garden. I should have said that most packets of pasta I have seen are "Barilla" . It would seem to me that 'al dente' was not the preferered degree of doneness in pasta in all regions. I wonder if the widespread preference for 'al dente' is due to the increased consumption of factory produced dried pasta. I wonder how many interesting 'native' pasta have become extinct, due to the popularity of dried pasta. That Alpine buckwheat pasta that they serve with cabbage, potato and cheese is strangely, a recipe that doesn't deserve to go extinct for instance. "Spaghetti alla Chitarra" is one of my favourite pasta. I like the mouth feel of the square edges of the individual pasta strands. As it is difficult to source ( ) in the UK, I usualy make my own on a Chitarra.

Craig, Bill & Peter - Most packets of pasta I have seen in Italy have cooking times for "al dente" and also "normale" which is softer to the tooth. Although, I have never eaten pasta cooked "normale" in Italy, does not the word it self suggest that this was the normal practice at some point? Also, given the hugh amount of pasta and different types of pasta is it not possible that some pasta is not best served al dente? Although I dislike it, I imagine that Pinci would be better normale, rather then al dente?