Adam Balic

Absolutely the thing I dislike the most about Italy is the little tomato plants growing on the rail tracks at various stations. Sure they lime the tracks for hygiene reasons but those little are tough and seem to survive specicifically as a reminder of the lack of modern toilets aboad Italian local trains. Those tomato plants are revolting.

My God, they must be almost entirely fat then! I have made them as well, not as much work as it may seem. However, I used pork neck, not belly, as this was the most appropriate cut of meat I could get at the time.

Helena - I have cooked with tea to make a (reputed) Georgian recipe for braised and roasted phesant and a Japanese rice and salmon that contains green tea as a base, not stock.

I have just been reading the rules and regulations for production of Prociutto San Danielle and Prociutto de Moderna. Both have large amounts of detail specific to all parts of ham production. This is a quote from the San Danielle information: " this development, involving the rearing of heavy pigs which are slaughtered at an advanced age, has determined the characteristics of the raw material and its production for a specific purpose" i.e. they care about the age of the pigs, as this determines the character of the meat they use in ham production. I wonder if the a similar amount of care goes into rearing pigs for sausage production? Oaklet - no free ranging pigs in Tuscany, they interbreed with the wild boar is not locked up.

Yes I have eaten sausage made from the black and white Siena breed of pig and also those made from more commercial breeds. Both good. I have noticed that the pork in much of Chianti is much more red in colour then what I would seen in Australia or the UK. About the colour of year old beef. Pigs may be matured to a longer age in Italy, then in Australia and the UK.

Utterly no idea. Um, you have finally come clean? Or maybe just a midlife crisis?

In Edinburgh there is one good Italian Deli, but they don't sell sausages. The is one excellent sausage shop and they sell Italian style sausage, but the cut of the meat is coarser, there is less fat in them (they tend to dry out) and they use no saltpetre, so they are not as good as the sausage in Italy.

Well in that case you will either have to go to Italy or visit somebody who brought some back from Italy, under the mistaken notion that it was OK to do so.

Last night I made a pasta sauce with some Italian sausages bought in Prato (just out of Florence). These were plain sausage 100% pork meat, no obvious flavouring (eg. No fennel seed, garlic, wine etc) except for salt and pepper. No the thing is they taste fantastic, with a very rich pork flavour and great mouth feel. Why is this? Now it could be the ingredients, but many countries produce great pork (Not Australia sadly), so it must be something else. These sausage most certainly contain saltpetre (or a similar agent) as the meat turns bright pink upon cooking and has a slightly firm granular texture that you get when using saltpetre. But again many fresh European sausage contains saltpetre. Could it be the fat content and the way that it is distributed through the meat, so that upon cooking the meat is based, by the melting fat, but the fat drains away form the sausage? Certainly the sausages are contain much fat and taste very rich, but on eating the item there is never the impression of greasiness that you can get with eating a British style sausage that contains a significant amount of ceral content. What's it all about then?

She seemed to do pretty well for a victum. () Although it's true her ambition was greatly helped by her celebrated beauty - damn men: She died in poverty after the deaths of Nelson and William Hamilton. Samuel - yes her job finished. In this free market economy what do you expect, charity?

Thanks for that! I looked at the web site yesterday and they have Black Sarawak corns and a picture of Long pepper, but no mention of long pepper. Will contact them to make sure that I get the correct item.

The poor waif was the victum of a classist and patriarcal society. Damn men.

No, you lie! How shocking. Did they ask who Nelson was? Please, say that you said it was some guy who cuckolded Lord Hamilton and who's last dying wish was to be kissed by a man.

Well you tend to do a lot of reading about a country you are about to move to. Was a shock for me to find out that many Scots that I work with seem to have no clear understanding of their own history. I am very annoying at work.

Sure the more the merrier.

While she was queen the Catholics (which she was) took the opertunity to cut the heads off as many protestants as possible.

Wrong Mary. Good Queen Bessies half sister, not the Froggy-Scot. She died of a womb tumour (?Gavin?) Malt Whisky society is very good and not pretentious at all.

Oh, well you simply must come to dinner dear boy. March is good for me. To my knowledge, everything between G an E is a wasteland, I wouldn't stop of wind down my windows, but I will see if there are any distilleries worth the bother. If not there is always the Whisky Society.

1/4 Scottish, ah well then, that must me the charming bits. Do you drink Single Malts? If you are able to come up we could eat, drink and be merry on a night then Visit the Scotch Malt Whisky Society on another.

You come up to Edinburgh and I will cook. My new SMEG even has an automated extra long spit, so we won't have to put you on little treadmill - unless you want to. Edit: Actually could be fun. Not the costume bit though, the last thing I want to seen is Gavin in tights and his Golden (be)Hind. Period plonk as well. No bubbles. Sack, Malaga, Claret. Have no idea if there are any period white table wines.

My nominations are 1. 13thC for Pre-Black Death serf-farmed spicebox luxuria and 2.16thC for the impact of civil war, hundreds of years of fighting the French and a decisive break from Rome. My nominations: Tonyfinch to play Henry VIII Simon M Cardinal Wolsey Adam Francis Bacon Vanessa Bloody Mary MissJ Elizabeth I Kikujiro Erasmus You forgot: Gavin Sir Francis Drake. Bet you would enjoy dressing up as a pirate, almost as much as Simon would dressing up as a Cardinal.

Yes there is also a Cinnamomum alba as well. I use Vietnamese cinnamom for making Pho. It looks like bark, not rolled at all.

OK, in medieval - Roman cooking it was the cassia or cinnamon buds, not bark that were mostly used. If the bark (actually the inner bark) was used it was refered to as 'canel', which comes from the same root word as canal etc (eg. 'tube'). True cinnomon is much thinner then cassia, is a roll, rather then a scroll in cross section, is a light brown colour and isn't as harsh in flavour. I will do some Historicooking at the end of Feb. when I get payed. Choose your period.

Both Cinnamomum zeylanicum and Cinnamomum cassia were used historically (both mentioned by Gallius). I prefer Cinnamomum zeylanicum (much easier to grind, nicer flavour), so I use that. My sources don't say where there cinnamon was obtained from, so I just use what I can get.

Blast, I thought that was a list. OK then: Ye Olde List O' Spice Pepper (Black [several types]) Salt (ditto) Cloves Coriander Caraway Cinnamon Nutmeg Bay leaves Mace Aniseed Fennel Saffron Grains of Paradise Cubeb (tailed pepper) Liquorice root Sumac Seville Orange (either frozen whole for juice or as dried rind) Rose water Orange water Barberries Capers Almonds (sweet and bitter if I can get them) Sugar (various) This covers most British recipes I have from the 13th - 18th C. To this list I add: Cummin (various) Allspice Chilli Peppers (No authentic, but without Long pepper it is my only choice). Dried Limes (I just like the flavour) What is missing from the list is Long pepper, civet musk, ambergris, and various aromatic gums (think of the three kings). I'm sure there are other spices that are used that I haven't identified. edit: Forgot Galingale.