Adam Balic

If that minority is aware that it's interests in food represents the "better end" of the spectrum in food and drink, then what else is it?

Ardbeg is an excellent whisky and until recently my favoured Islay. Bruichladdich is an Islay well worth trying as it is a very good malt in it's own right, but is of particular interest due to it being rather different to the other Islay malts. Try the 17 year old V the ten year old for an interesting comparison.

Quinces are the golden apples of mythology. Perfectly ripe white peaches.

There is a level were the 'if it feels good do it' espect is fine. But in in terms of food discussion on this site if we talk about 'British food' or 'British eating habits' how reflective are the views on this site of those concepts in general. If an interest in food represents a tiny minority of the majority of the population, then is it particularly valid to talk about say 'British dining' experiences, when these experiences here expressed are so un-representative of the majority of peoples expectations of British dining? It would be eually valid to state that Kimchi was a 'typical British dish', as it is eaten in Britian by minority.

Difficult to comment on as I haven't been here for that long. However, from what I have read and been told then yes it has. However, recently reading a load of books on British and Scottish food history, I noticed that somebody of my wage level eats on par with an artisan class or lower middle class person in the 19th. C. eg. Rarely can afford meat regularly except in the forms of bacon, mince or sausage. My wage is almost exactly the average wage for a male in the UK, if this is the average condidtion then I find it difficult to see how people can afford to develope an in-depth knowledge of food. Therefore, any in-depth interest or knowledge is elitist because it is unavalible to the majority of people.

After the egullet meal in London I me Wilfrid at the Borough (sp?) Market. While there I noticed that we were both greedily eyeing a magnificent pork pie. I knew about the pork pies maker and the pigs that went into it, I was interested in eating the pork pie as an expeirence of all that knowledge. Now, I wonder, is this level of interest in food elitist? Much about food and drink is certainly elitist, however is taking an interest in food which is avalible on most budgets elitist in the UK simply because in greneral people in the UK have a very shallow interest in food?

Extra cold is for tourists. I quite like Samuel Smiths Taddy Porter, even though it is bottled, goes well with oysters and grilled sausage (yes, both together). Or at least British sausages with 85% or above meat content.

Yep, many of the champagne house are very, very streetwise and make there products very much in mind of what the consummers want. Hence, historially Demi-sec was produced for the Russian market, while Brut was for the English (Pol Roger even made a 500 ml bottling, because Churchhill felt that a half bottle was to little for one person while a full bottle was too much). Extra-dry for Americans would seem to be a logical extentions of this idea.

Vanessa - I would add to what others have said and say that making sushi as part of a meal is really fun, tastes good and for some reason, really really easy. Obviously what you can make isn't going to be the essence of faeries dancing on you tongue, but it will be better then 90% of what you can go out for. YO SUSHI's Sushi really really sucks, if it wasn't for the beer comming out the tap on you table I would never go there. Ah, I am flying through to the UK tomorrow. Willl buy some smoked eel to make sushi.

Havew spent several days in chianti eating new season chestnut honey with pecorino cheese. Chestnut honey is highly aromatic, but rather tannic and bitter as well. However, if you dip a piece of Pecorino into it, the cheee flavour combines very well with the honey.

When I was in Champagne last year, one of the wineries told me that "Extra-Dry" was a line that they had been developed to specifically target North Americans. It was felt that Americans, in general, don't like Brut as it is too dry, but like the idea of dry wine, as sweet wine is associated with cheapness and lack of class, which isn't what sells champagne. So Extra-Dry has more residual sugar, as FG said, then brut .

I prefer dried. Most canned beans that I have used in the UK contain sugar, which makes the beans taste funny. Even very good quality Italian of Spanish beans in jars have that "I've come from a tin" taste. This taste disperses with cooking, but often the period of time it takes for this to occur results in the beans breaking up. Canned chickpeas (garbanzos?) taste particularly foul. No texture control in the canned beans also.

D'Arenburg is a old Australian family owner winery in Mclaren Vale. The Osbornes have been making quality wine forever, in an old fashioned model (eg. Age for at less ten years before drinking). However, about 8-10 years ago a younger member of the family, Chester Osborne took over as the winemaker and he has modernised and expanded the portfolio. The wines are nearly always very good value for money, the marsanne/viognier blend should be good, at that age it should have citrusy acid sherbert tingle on the tongue and decent body (from the viognier). I'm guessing that its flavours will be in the tropical fruit-white peach spectrum. Hopefully it will be free of oak or has very little oaking.

I would be saddened to find out otherwise.

Yes, me when I was in the States last and very good it was too. Salt issue not a problem to me, but people I was with commented that these hams were not as popular as they once were because of the salt. I like salt.

Interesting. Ignored all my advice I see . Did you use caul on your faggots? I find it difficult to get caul in Scotland. Was Woodcock, not snipe. But I understand how Scrumpy can make things apear bigger, so I forgive you.

Sadly, I don't have the honour of being British - Australian. Tahblik Marsanne has a low pH (about ~3. Vanessa?), not low acid. Those people who aren't gits, some information: Marsanne is a the a Rhone white varietal (found as a major player in white heritage). However, it is rather rare, Tahblik in Australia has the the largest and oldest plantings of this variety in the world. They make the wine in an un-oaked style, which I prefer. When the wine is young (1-2 years) it is a simple lemony, sherberty wine, but as it ages (3-8) it developes amazing honeysuckle, straw (almost oaky) and honeyish flavours.

Yes, but will they 'get it', I ask you.

Hmm, my book is structurally sound, but the pink cloth bound cover is covered with oil spots and stains from various currys etc. Should have used a better material for the cover. Maybe hot pink rubber would have been good.

Green Papaya and soba noodle salad (other half of fruit from previous menu) with carrot, cucumber and red cabbage. All mandolined except for the red cabbage. Cucumber shredded as slightly thicker setting. Served with Vietnamese beef grilled in mint leaves.

Suvir - you eat the comb. Crunch, crunch. Even in the USA they must sell jars of honey with a piece of comb inside? More tradionally, after extracting the honey you could render down the wax of the comb and use it to make more bases for bees to biuld their conb upon or make it into caddles and such. edit: Hehehe, so many spelling mistakes.

Suvir - all these honeys are good, so it is difficult to rank them. The most important thing is that honey isn't refined, processed or adultered with glucose syrup etc. My uncles had bee hives and we would occasional raid wild hives to steal their queens. In doing this we also got large amounts of honey comb containing honey and a sort of thickened pre-honey stage nectar/bee vomit, it was lovely to eat this super sweet nectar while crunching up the comb as well. This was a great experience, but a difficult thing to give to others. So tasting honey is like that, some a good for some purposes, but not others. I would never eat Chestnut honey with a toasted bagel and fresh ricotta for my breakfast, as it is far too bitter and tannic (?). But, eaten with some salty blue cheese, perfect. I have been told that this honey eaten with blue cheese and white truffle shavings is very good, will have to to this one day. Having said this I prefer Heather Honey bought from my local butcher, here in Edinburgh, above all others. It could be the location, but the flavours are very rich and complex and stand up to cooking (this honey combines very well with ricotta and is lovely used as a filling for crepes).

Sad, I guess that you didn't get it then. Often people eat authentic Alsacien cook and don't like it because they are expecting some type of Americanised version. I blame Jamie Oliver and his "Pukka Tarte Flambe with Grilled Aubergine". Bastard.

I had an excellent steak at "Da Delfina" in Artimino, which is well worth the effort of getting to. My relatives in Chianti (Gaioli) keep mentioning a genius-insane butcher in Panzano, so if you are self catering you could try him

I have a terrible habit of buying honey where ever I go. Currently I have: Tuscan Chestnut flower honey: dark and bitter, good with salty blue cheese. Some Greek honey made my monks on some autonomously ruled mountain state: Nice for breakfast. Provencal lavender honey for an island off the coast from Cassis: Nice waxy/lavender flavour American Desert flower honey: tastes similar to: Australian yellow flowering gum honey: tastes of caramel and toffee. Tuscan flowers of the forest (spring) and (autumn) honeys: both very fresh and fragrant, similar to clover honey, which makes me think that they have a high proportion of acacia. Greek orange flower honey: Tastes of, well, orange water. And my favourite: Scottish Heather honey: Rich and heady, my perfect honey. However, I have read of an Persian honey, made from the nectar collected from opium poppy fields. Very trippy apparently and its name translates roughly as "Honey of Madness". I want some.