Adam Balic

From what I have seen in my many ratatouille research field trips, the "jam" like texture is due to the emulsion of Veg. proteins/sugars in olive oil. You may need the correct type of olive oil for this to work. Now who do we know that imports olive oil from that part of the world?

Steve - by seperately sauteing the Veg. and combining them together at the end you are adding an extra layer to technique and complexity that allows the true potential of the ingredients to be seen. Simply put, by combinging the individually cooked ingredients at the end you create a synergy of flavour, colour and texture not seen in the original recipe. Or are you suggesting that to truely appreciate how good the original recipe is, you would have to understand that the use of authentic Provincal ingredients and olive oil is vital for the recipe to work? The use of non-Provincal ingredients and olive oil removes the recipe from the correct cultural context for a true appreciation?

Oh God, did he do that thing of his, where he tucks the napkin down his trousers and pulls it out his fly and pretend to be an elephant? Just try to forget about it.

Depends if you are in the northern or the southern hemisphere. If south of the equator reverse the direction of stir. Ah, a common mistake. Yes the 'handedness' of a rice grain is subject to the Coriolis effect [actually, the spiral handness of developing rice plant flower-head is subject to the Coriolis effect, but the rice grains are indirectly inlfuenced, obviously], but most risotto rice is still grown in the Northen hemisphere and it is the rice place of growth that is important, not where you stir the cooking rice.

Well you do have to be careful that you only stir clockwise when using right handed grains of rice. Stir clockwise using left handed rice and you will end up with too many broken grains.

you're british, and the foreign version looks different. and it's probably not snipped either. but i think the pink and non-pink version are the same at the end of the day. Incorrect Old boy, The non-American versions aren't cheaply put together and don't fall apart. Must be some social commentry on the American-throw-away-society thing. I don't think people should use cookbooks for this politicking, but there you go.

Sorry P., if we are to count mere re-prints then I still win ( ) by about 350 years with Archestratus's "Hedypatheia". Bahahahaha.

my thompson thai book is in the condition of a book that's been around for 237 years. does that count? [at least it's not pink] Dude, did nobody say? If it ain't Pink then it won't work. So sad, but there you go.

I have about 100. Oldest original book is 237 years old. Anybody got anything older (orginals only)?

What about "Chasseur" cast iron cook ware? Basically the same as Le Creuset, but cheaper and the colours are better. Also in regards to the saucepand and frying pans, the handles are still wooden, not that sucky plastic that Le Creuset has gone for in the last 2 years or so. Chasseur Plus, who has ever heard of Chicken "Le Creuset"?

On serious note, it occurs to me that if one of these artifcial casings is used then they may not allow O2 to diffuse in. In that case nastiness may occur.

Your sausage is aerobic so you should be OK. Always happy to help a biologist with these difficult questions. Damn amateurs. Biologists know enough not to commit. Oxygen is water soluble, but in the case of sausages, a load of it gets locked up in the meats haem, so anaerobic pockets are possible. Once the haem is saturated, there's nothing stopping addition oxygen diffusing in, is there? Sausage aerobic, happy little aerobic bugs, bugs use up O2 at faster rate then gas diffusion. HAPPY anaerobic bugs. Dead Mamster (maybe). The nitrates added to many cured sausage inhibit the growth of Clostridium bugs. I like nitrates.

I no understand, what problem with myoglobin?

Some British Produce = good. British people choose to eat Foreign food though. Some British produce is not eaten by British people, some British produce is eaten by Foreigners. Nobody eats British Food. Therefore, all British food is bad and always has been, therefore British people are stupid and always have been?

Dunno about no damn tortoises, have only seen BP once. Damn crepes, used a Escoffier recipe and everything. Most damn people in the whole damn democratic damn world think that damn French cuisine is the best damn cuisine there is. I am damn jealous of the whole damn lot of them, so I damn well used a damn French recipe and the whole damn thing went pear shaped. Darn it.

OK, the formating sucked, but did he raise any valid points? I would say yes he did, but I wonder if anybody else agrees.

Yes there was pancake tossing on Blue Peter (I was sick that day). Made some crepes, first one terrible as per normal, next six perfect, then after that all terrible. Very vexed indeed. Have given up pancakes for lent.

OK, the formating sucked, but did he raise any valid points? I would say yes he did, but I wonder if anybody else agrees.

Watched JM's show for the first time last night. Thought had had some very putatively valid points - "Food-Culture" in UK is largely about "lifestyle-perception" and not the food itself, most UK-foodies are just middle-class versions of 'boyz for the hood', drinking Cristal etc etc, there is not food-revolution, only a lifestyle-revolution etc etc. Points possible valid, but unlikely to influence anybody, given the way that it was presented. Shame really.

Your sausage is aerobic so you should be OK. Always happy to help a biologist with these difficult questions. Damn amateurs. Biologists know enough not to commit. Oxygen is water soluble, but in the case of sausages, a load of it gets locked up in the meats haem, so anaerobic pockets are possible. I would be more concerned about the rice, then botulism. Rice has a special species of bacteria Bacillius cereus, the spores present in the rice are activated by cooking the rice. If the rice is left un-refridgerated the bacteria multiple and can give you food poisoning. Nice, warm fermenting sausage? On the otherhand, I think that it is the microflora in the rice which help the sausage to ferment (like primative sushi), but userly you add salt to which favours the growth of 'helpful' bugs. Sounds like an interesting project, hope you don't die.

I thought you were the microbe guy here? Clostridium botulism type bugs are mostly found in soil etc, so if you can be certain of you meat quality, I guess it would be OK. But it only takes a tiny amount of the toxin to kill you. Are you sure that the lack of curing salts isn't a mistake? Do they spike the meat with lactic acid bacteria?

Mostly, I just wanted to see what it was like. Next time I will open a can. You should make Mr. J do pounding next time.

Yes, sometimes you seen them labeled as "Findon Smoked Haddock", but not very much (mostly because it doesn't sound as good as "Finnan Haddie"). Jane Grigson's fish book has history/cooking info. on both types. And how to order them in 1960's London. I know, I know Edinburgh sucks. Glasgow is great. I especially like how on a Friday, by 6:00 pm the centre of town is full of drunk people. From professional drunks, to drunk professionals. In Edinburgh, people look at you funny if you go to a pub before 12:00.

On Sunday I did. And I defleshed another one and made razor thin slices of coconut for toasting.

I'm not sure about this 'un-compromising' thing. Yes, he gives detailed instructions on how to make a curry paste via mortar and pestal, and says that this is the best way. However, he does say to use a blender as well, as he relises that it is very time consuming to pound (pounding good BTW). He then goes on to describe why a blender is better then a food processor for the job. What problem with this? Sad if a book gets canned because it is too authentic.