Adam Balic

What's khoresh? Sounds Persian. Is that right? Yes it is Persian (Khoresh ~ stew). Everything you want to know about rhubarb

Rhubarb Khoresh is very good.

Greek Link

"Chez Sucker". You know it?

See above. World cup, Ashes.

Christ you lot can be parochial sometimes . "Akudjura", "Dorrigo [pepper]" and "Quandong" are all native Australian fruit and in the case of Dorrigo a spice. As such they are not part of any ethnic cuisine, so rather difficult to mis-interperate a cultures cuisine that doesn't actually exist. No back-packing. "Akudjura" is the fruit from a member of the nightshade family, think of it as tomato type flavour. "Dorrigo [pepper]" is a spice with a peppery/cut wood flavour. "Quandong" is blue native fruit, often refered to as a "native plum", although it isn't related to the Prunus genus. There is a big difference between "being critical of a restuarant that you have actually been to and actually have some knowledge on what ingredients/techniques they are using" and "Gosh, aren't they funny Johnny-foreigner works they are using". All this dis-missing of un-tasted food on the grounds that it is obviously inferior because it is 'odd', smacks of Plotnickism.

Some types of halva are made with pistachios, this may work in an icecream recipe?

It is a very fine way to spend time with friends. BTW: Snow falling on Cedars? She got I lightly I think.

Yes, we seem to do this all the time. Either because our place at the time has been too small or because of renovations etc. It's great I do the cooked, get all the glory, some other sucker has to do the cleaning up. More recently, we have had a party for a friend at our home, she paid for the food, I did the cooking. It's a fun thing to do, especially if your friends feel uncomfortable with the idea of cooking.

No worries Suvir, although it was from my Grandmother (my mother is a terrible cook).

Not really, I don't drink it by itself for instance. Its just something to add to coffee.

Weird. Last year I went out on a work dinner and ordered either duck or boudin noir. A scatty work college made a vary similar comment, but also when on a bit about how disgusting it X was how could anybody possibly eat X etc etc. Well it was the middle of winter and I was slightly depressed, so rather then being my normal polite self I replied "Actually, what is fucking disgusting is having to eat at the same table as somebody who doesn't have enough fucking clues to know how fucking rude they are by making ignorant comments about somebodies dinner". I wish I hadn't done that now, although the startled expression on her face, when I said "ignorant" almost made it worth while. n.b. She had already pissed me off by ordering a rare steak and sending it back three times to be "cooked properly". When asked to expand on what she actually wanted she said "It doesn't matter if it is called rare or medium-rare or well done, I just want it cooked. Why wont they just the cook it?". Cretin.

In Australia milk = "moo juice".

Until the age of ~18 I drank whole, un-Pasteurised, un-homogenised milk, fresh from a dairy farm. My father would dip a 5 litre bucket into a vat of milk and this would keep me and my two brothers going for about three days. It took me a long time to get use to the taste of milk in cartons/bottles, it tastes like fresh milk, like canned soup tastes like fresh soup. Skim milk and various permutations is filth. In the UK I use skimmed milk (2%), because my wife likes it. I wish I had a cow, I miss real milk.

Saddle of lamb. Roast 'Golden Wonder' potatoes with garlic and rosemary Sauteed zucchini with garlic and menthi seeds.

Sure. How about: Morel and panchetta Ballantine of chicken, Tomato coulis and fondant potato?

Claude - thank you for the information. An ex-boss of mind told me of the large amount of cheap Yquem he bought in the early 1970's, I had thought that it was prehaps not very good, but from what you have said, maybe it was because it was hard to sell sauternes in this period. The full bottles of '75 and '76 Climens cost me ~US$35 each in Australia, while several full bottles of 1990 Rieussec and Coutet were US$50 each. Bargin wines.

Soak dried borlotti beans overnight (has to be borlotti beans). Place soaked beans pot of water, bring to boil. Discard water and add beans to fresh pot of water. Bring slowly to simmer. To this add sauteed onion, carrot & celery (including celery tops). Add one smoked ham hock or ribs if you are feeling poor. I think that this is an Austro-Hungarian influence. Add about ten garlic cloves (peeled), one tablespoon of very good grade paprika (A-H's again) and a tablespoon of tomato paste. Plenty of black pepper. Cook slowly until beans are almost cooked, but not falling apart and meat is tender. Add pasta and cook for a further until pasta is cooked (soft, not al dente). Some of the beans can be pureed and added back to the soup. The ham is removed and either - eaten seperately or chopped up and added to the soup. Soup is served with olive oil pured on top.

Rather then spice, fresh herbs are good. Dill, tarragon, parsley, coriander or a combination of these are good. Or freshly ground coriander seeds, they have a nice cirtus/orange type flavour that goes well with pilaf.

Steve - What is your general impression of sauternes from the 1960's- (early)1980's? From what I have read some people have suggested that quality really decreased in this period and only really got back on track in the mid-late '80s. My only experience Sauternes from this period are several bottles of 1975 and 1976 Ch. Climens, that I picked up cheaply at auction. IMO they were fantastic, but what do I know.

Mamster - Sauternes are great wines, the particular wine that you drank was from well respected producer and from an good year, I would guess that the style and the age of the wine was against you. As mentioned before, some sautrenes go well with savoury dishes, this is especially true when they have some age. I like to drink some styles with lightly smoked salmon for instance. In regards to their age, well I prefer them as older wines as I think that they are much more interesting. At the moment I am cellaring wines from 1988, 1989 & 1990. I'm not planning on opening any bottles for some time yet and I won't open any halves for a few more years. Infact, I'm not planning to open any full bottles until my 40th birthday (2012). These vintages are great (especially '89 and '90) and it is still possible to buy them, often at prices only slightly more expensive then current releases, so look out for them. Several producers that I would suggest, if you are looking for more desert type wines would be. Ch. Coutet - lighter bodied. Ch. Climens - my favorite. Ch. Rieussec - a rich style. They are expensive wines and there are cheaper desert wines about, but for all that they are still great wines, enjoy.

Well 'meaningful' and 'interesting' are relative terms no? Maybe we should discuss how relevant they are to the wider question of rhetoric? For example, if you are Armish then 'barn-raising' is most likely both an "interesting" and "meaningful" topic of discussion, but not everybody is Armish and this has several important implacations.......................

This whole thread relates only to those Italians living close to Italy's international borders. That is self-evident from every post up to yours, Adam. My post refers sepecifically to Switzerland and France, but I would be happy to extend the discussion to its other two borders. I can find you a map if that helps Bah, you and Plotnicki need to start thinking outside the box. See, I refine the question and the answers come pouring in - with no fighting either.

It is also authentically Croatian, although, possibly derived from the Venetians. You find it all over Italy, as has been mentioned, but I prefer my grandmother's Croatian version.

But if you were a restaurant in Nice, and you wanted your food to taste authentically Italian, you could go to the market in Ventimiglia and buy your ingredients there. Or you could use Italian purveyors who delivered in Nice. Terroir travels guys. A bottle of Barolo tastes the same in Alba as it does in Cannes. So does any raw ingredient. Chefs can't hide terroir with their cooking. Either it's there or it isn't. And if it isn't there, the only possible explanation is that the source is different. Steve- I think that this is correct (plus being as exacting with recipes and cooking techniques etc), but as nobody does this, hence that importance of 'attitude-to-ingredients' as well as 'ingredients'.