Adam Balic

I believe it involves the same logic which means the word 'Celtic' is pronounced 'Seltic', instead of 'Keltic'. Chicken Bruschetta Pasta? Golly.

only people who know what scampi means in italian know it is somehow "wrong" or funny. the rest of us just accept scampi (no italics, as it's an english word in this usage) as a preparation. "Scampi" is mis-used in the UK as well. It means Langoustine that have been de-shelled, processed and crumbed on an industrial scale to be sold at pubs. It meant originally the name of the animal now the process. Restuarants sell the same beast as "Langoustines". Originally, they were 'Dublin Bay Prawns' or 'Norwegian Lobster'. Language, so confusing.

The BW's that I had were the base of the wing, turned into those mini-drumsticks. Multi-layer misuse of words.

In most English recipes this is a gratin of scallops (stupid, I know).

Actually, it confused the hell out of me when I was in the US. Also, no Buffalo in Buffalo wings and something called "Beer" in the US was utter piss. n.b. Those offended by the Beer comment should keep in mind that I am Australian and Australia is the origin of 'Foster's Lager', the ulitmate Piss-Beer.

As LML said. My sister in-law translates such documents and it can be very frustrating. She was excited to fine an un-translated letter from Lorenzo Medici to a tenant farmer. After much effort, the final translation was basically "Thank you for the cow and how are the X (some type of vegetable) coming along?". There are facsimile editions of various 'primary sources' availible (Latino, Platina etc), but many of these are out of print or hard to get. Actually, 'goggle' will direct you to many sites selling such books: Platina translation It can be best to look at transaltions because some of the earlier books use all types of short hand and bastardized Latin in some cases. The Vatican also owns many cookbooks and recipe collections, no idea who to contact though.

Even Black pudding can be a gourmet dish these days and God knows that there are enough resturants in Edinburgh serving decontructed haggis or contructed into cones a towers etc to qualify as 'gourmet' . Venison haggis is quite good and I have recipe for goose haggis that I should try one day.

Haggis can be quite a nice sausage. It was a reputation that way out of proportion to to what it actually tastes like. The flavour should be mild and, hopefully, peppery. Most Haggis here (Edinburgh, Scotland) would most likely be consumed as a deep fried saugase version for a Fish and Chip shop. Due to its fearsome reputation (largely put about by the Scots), complete rubbish versions are common, eg. it tastes like shit, because is 'ment' too, which is utter crap. A Big Mac tastes for a hell of a lot worse then a decent haggis.

Link caught fish = dead Albatross. One kilo of farmed fish = three kilos of 'industrial' fish eat less fish.

"Hurricanes" Huh? Good name for a Wellington team. When I was there I certainly noticed a great deal of wind. Dogs eaten to extinction or some other reason for their demise?

Balic, A weka is a diurnal, day loving, bird similarly shaped to a kiwi, but actually a rail not a ratite. Other ratites are the emu, rhea, ostrich and moa, which the Maori polished off at too many lunches and it is now sadly extinct. Found this in of all places a the Hingham Journal hailing from Massachusetts on 27 Feb this year: "The Weka and the Takahe are both flightless birds in the rail family that includes coots and gallinules. Most rails are very secretive and seldom seen. The New Zealand Weka, by contrast, does not shy away from people. It can swim and has feet strong enough to kill rats and stoats." Very apt. The weka like many NZ birds has no qualms about shouting its name, in this case, in your face. The last one I saw diligently worked at putting its beak through my pink plastic water bottle. Meanwhile a week earlier one had shattered my Milford Sound hotel's dining room picture window with its beak. I guess, it just couldn't understand why it couldn't get to its placesetting and wished to file a formal complaint with the maitre d'. The weta, note the "t", on the other hand, is your giant cricket. http://www.wwf.org.nz/earthsaver/es_17.cfm includes the following description and a great close-up. "Wetas Wetas are only found in New Zealand. They have out lived the dinosaurs and have changed very little over the last 190 million years. Wetas are very large by insect standards - only the African Goliath beetle is bigger. They look quite fearsome, with heavily spined legs and large jaws. However they only bite if they feel threatened. Wetas are mostly nocturnal and they live in lots of places including burrows, inside caves and in tunnels in trees. The Giant weta species on Little Barrier Island is called wetapunga and one pregnant female weighed in at 71 grams, which is bigger than a garden bird. Many of the giant species now only survive on protected land or offshore islands and are endangered." http://www.wwf.org.nz/earthsaver/earthsave...images/weta.jpg Although I like to do macro photography of such beasties when I can convince my companions to hold them, I don't hope to share too many characteristics with them. They would make great B film monsters, I think. - Weka Weka - thank you for the information. New Zealand full of weirdness isn't it? Pity about the cricket team though. . The first Polynesians to settle, must have gone through a process of 'what the hell is that! I wonder what it tastes like?'.

In the North of Italy they use buckwheat pasta ("pizzoccheri"), although this is mostly a blend of buckwheat and wheat flours. Is a bitch to make, but the flavour is good in with robust type sauces, such as porchini and sage butter.

Is a weka a bird/ I thought it was one of those giant cricket things?

It should say Scotch 'Whisky' not 'Whiskey'. There are numerous recipes around, but if you don't like the taste of it then you are only prolonging the agony. Drink it I say and if you still like it, buy another bottle and cook with that.

Love the napkin test result!

The is an important distinction to be made between the different ages of the goats. If you can get milk fed kid, the flesh is white, tender and very mild in flavour. Older animals have a stronger flavour and older, intact, male animals can be quite rank in flavour. Middle-Eastern and North African flavours work well with kid/goat meat. The last time I cooked it I marinated a leg of milk-fed kid in Yogurt, flavoured with saffron, powdered ginger and cinamon then slowly raosted it. The yoghurt turns a gold colour during the cooking process.

Interesting to see Australian lamb mentioned. About four (?) years ago the US gov. placed heavy protectionist restrictions on the importation of Australian lamb. A small but vocal lobby group in the US had argued the case that their industry needed protection. The impression that I got was that US lamb was quite inferior to either Australian or New Zealand lamb and now that I think of it, when I think of the USA sheep farming isn't something that springs to mind. Is US lamb of poor quality in general and what percentage of meat eaten in the US (middleclass restricted) would be lamb? I was raised in a farming area and my family were sheep farmers so I ate lamb/hogget/mutton as ~90% of my red meat intake till the age of 18.

1) Puncture plastic with skewer etc, then cut with kitchen sissors. 2) What Britcook said.

Yes this sounds like Papaya/Pawpaw, not Custurd apple/Pawpaw.

Remoulade made with a little apple added and Salsa Verde. Not together mind.

Is a medium tree, but can be kept small by trimming. Is very attractive and if you want it can be formed into a hedge etc.

"Clairet" ("Clear") still exists in Bordeaux, it is a Rose. Originally, Claret was a blend of white and Red wine, the earliest record of the wine in English (13th. C.) mentions 2 parts white to one part red. This would have been wine in barrels, not bottles. At some point the wine was blended in Bordeaux using Spanish red wine, so no longer a Rose and finally after the marriage of the cork and bottle, it was aged and not adulturated with foreign wine. Gentleman would have drank well aged wine, so maybe a cheaper, old fashioned oxidized wine.

Certain herbs seem to be 'better' in the dried form rather then fresh, although maybe that should be 'different' rather then 'better'. Oregano, thyme and mint (not all times in the case of mint) all seem to be prefered by some cultures in the dried form rather then fresh. Change in flavour maybe? Maybe they taste 'best' at a certain time of the year and the drying captures this? N.B. Naturally dried only, I am tired of paying money for freeze dried herbs that taste of nothing but dried grass.

As mentioned before they are an alternative name for "Papaya" in Australia. Infact, you will mostly see these fruit labled as Pawpaws in Australia, the term Papaya is mostly reserved for the red fleshed types.

Spencer - what's chambord? The Larousse says something about a method for braising whole fish in red wine. What's the secret? If I may answer for Spencer (Chef/Bard, forgive me for jumping in ahead of you! ), Chambord is a French-made berry liqueur -- and I'm suddenly brain-dead because I don't remember the type of berry!! Raspberries? No, that's Framboise. Fraise des bois?? I don't even have a bottle around so I can check! Somebody help me out, please!! Ah mais oui, tu es correct mon amis.....It is raspberry.... Black raspberries.