Adam Balic

Various Rum Punches were very popular in 18th to early 19th C Scotland, especially at the various 'Hellfire' type clubs, but also at les aggressively decadent places. This recipe is from a book published in the early 19th C, it is very nice, although I have never been able to work out what type of Rum was actually used in these recipes. Most I use Mt Gay, as I like this rum.

I think that methanol is a breakdown product of pectin, so you will likely have a more concentrated amount then in normal wine fermentation, but if there was not problem with the applejack, you should be OK.

If you are doing it by freeze fractionation, make sure thtat you have plenty of pain killers on hand. I would look into the relative amount of methanol produced as it may not be the same as for cider and could potentially be dangerous. In Burgundy they also make a liquor out of the spent yeast. This is only for the ladies - lucky them.

Is b) correct? I didn't realise that Brandy had a controlled name, as it wasn't invented by the French (Brandy = brandewijn = "Burnt [distilled] wine" in Dutch). "Champagne" grade cognacs refer to the source of the grapes (originally) used for producing the brandy, these are grown on chalky soils which is thought to give the best product. So Cognac, Amagnac and Brandy de Jerez can't be refered to as Brandy?

They are very common in Scotland (called "razorfish" in some regions), I tend to rip them out of shells and very very briefly cook them on a high heat. Just off raw with a little carr is good. Great as a crostini topping with smoked bacon and capers.

Wow what a great post, thank you very much. I guess the food is also evolving all the time as well. Being from Melbourne I was under impression that souvlaki was nearly always lamb (and the books I have on Greek food tend to say that Pork is restricted and regional), but on a recent trip to Hydra all I saw was pork souvlaki and the Greeks I spoke to say this is common across Greece now. On issue with Turkish food is the dearth of in depth English language books (I have book by Arto der Haroutunian, which is great but hardly a weighty volume). It is kind of odd given the depth of the cuisine and the number of cooking books I have heard described in Turkey itself.

From memory, a lot of the Melbourne fishmongers put them in a cement mixer to tenderise them. What's not to like, at there best they taste like lobster with tender flesh, at their worse they are terrible like any other meat.

Irwin - thank you for the detailed posts, this really was most interesting.

FG - thanks for the detailed post and great photgraphs, very interesting irrespective of the chicken. As you say as Ducasse and Keller are unlikely to promote a product that is a dud, so I don't doubt quality of the product. But I find the way the product is marketed to be a bit odd, basically they (press releases I have seen online) seem to be selling it on the basis of its superficial resemblance to the French fowl. A long time ago I remember a conversation about being able to taste the essential characteristics of an item of food, irrespective of if it was on nice white plates or plates with little little yellow chicks around the edges. How do you think that this product compares to other super premium US chickens on the market? Another question is if it is the best in the country to date, is it so difficult to sell the bird on the basis of its essential character or does a large degree of spin/marketing have to play such a leading role? Bresse hens have a great iconic name, but surely the essentialy merit of these birds was established before this?

No I haven't but my family did breed Light Sussex Chickens (Nasty bastards from memory, very white flesh, smallish light brown eggs, I think), so this is very interesting. We rarely buy chicken as it is either mostly crap or mostly crap and very expensive. Free range, organic, whatever, they still taste bland from British supermarkets, what you pay more for is lack of guilt. There are very good free range, dry plucked chickens sold from the local butchers, but I have a problem getting to them during the working week and when I am there on the weekend I tend not to think about chicken. At the moment it is cheaper to buy pheasant then chicken for instance. Oddly enough, I have only just recently ordered food online (OK, I ordered a turkey for Xmas), so I will look into this thank you. And I will have you know that although I have just returned from the pub, no chicken was involved and I haven't been to the pub for ages. Really.

"The series focuses on eight classic dishes - Fish and Chips, Bangers and Mash, Spag Bol, Risotto, Roast Beef, Steak and Salad, Pizza and Treacle Tart and Ice Cream" Classic indeed. I look forward to this, hopefully Heston will look a little more confident of camera then on FOF, God knows he should be confident. What is 'bangers and mash'?

This is sort of weird. Poulet de Bresse are not really a breed of chickens more a manner of raising a particular strain of a breed around the Bourg-en-Bresse region. "Bresse- Gauloise" are a breed of chicken (only the ones in the Bresse region are refereed to as "Bresse", in other regions they are just "Gauloise"), it doesn't have to be white, but the prized ones from Bresse and the milk fed poulette gauloise blanche chooks that Bras cooks (supplied by the small farm "Le Cros de la Géline") are. Unfortunately, for top flight American restaurants, this breed didn't seem to make it to the USA. That 'engineered' thing smells of bullshit (I wonder if this refers to egg smuggling?), if you wanted to breed a chicken with a red comb, white feathers and blue legs it wouldn't be that difficult, but why bother? It wouldn't be the "Bresse- Gauloise" breed, so if there were any special characteristics of this breed, the facsimilies wouldn't have them. I'm sure that there excellent native American breeds that would taste fantastic if they were given the same standard of treatment as the "Bresse- Gauloise" in Bourg-en-Bresse or "Le Cros de la Géline" . In fact it seems that these chcikens are milk fed like the "Le Cros de la Géline" birds, but all the emphasis seems to be on there superficial appearance to the French breed. I have no doubt that these chickens taste great, but it smacks of gimickry.

It seems like I am going to have to find some of this lime. The rest is fine as this is how I preserve fruit in syrup for some of the historical cooking I am interested in. The slowly increasing the amount of sugar in the syrup seems to be a common theme. This an 18thC English recipe for preserving gooseberries. "To every pint of water put in a pound of common loaf-sugar, and boil it and skim it well. When it is about half cold, put in your gooseberries, let them stand till the next day, give them one boil a-day for three days. Then make a syrup thus: To every pint of water put in a pound of fine sugar, a slice of ginger, and a lemon-peel cut lengthways very fine. Boil and skim it well, give your gooseberries a boil in it, and when they are cold, put them into glasses or pots, lay brandy-paper over them, and tie them up close."

We get then in Australia, an oldish French variety I think (also known as 'Pomme de Neige' or 'Fameuse'). My parents grow them. Re: Cox Orange Pippin. The aren't really the most popular variety in the UK and there are several different strains or clones. The strain that is imported isn't nearly as nice as the local ones and are nearly twice as big as the local ones also. The UK has many amazing apple varieties, but mostly imported apples are eaten. Some of the more evocative local apple varieties are: D'arcy Spice, Egremont Russet, Grenadier, Lord Derby, Norfolk Beefing, Ribson Pippin (parent of the Cox Orange Pippin), Worchester Pearmain, Bramley's Seedling, Blenheim Orange, Cornish Gilliflower and Pitmaston Pineapple. There are most likely hundreds more quitely becoming extinct.

Kevin - very good quality olive oil from local co-ops is relatively (OK very cheap), so it is used in a most cooking. Life is pretty good when you have a plate full of squash floweres fried in Olive oil, a bottle of wine and obviously a loaf of bread. For what ever reason the flavours of the oil do come though as well.

Thanks very much for the offer, let me check out the local Asian supermarket, then more then likely have it.

Yes, pan de muertos, sugar skulls, tamales, mole negro, hot chocolate, good tequila, mezcal and cerveza. For a real authentic event, create a shrine in your home to those you have passed. Ask your guests to bring something for the altar, either a gift of food or a photograph of a dead relative, friend, celebrity, or even a pet to add to the altar. On the altar put out foods that the dead enjoyed while living. Here traditionally you would put a cup of hot chocolate, a bowl of mole negro, tamales or what have you, a few drinks, bread and a whole lot of candles. Of course, it is not the food that the dead have come to eat but you are enticing them back with the aromas of the food and drink. It is the aroma they will consume. The aromatic elements of the altar act like a landing pad for the dearly departed. Decorate your shrine with marigolds, the traditional flower of the dead (flor de muertos), noted for its strong aroma. You can also make a path to the altar with the flower's petals, a sure sign that the "muertitos" know the way. It also looks very beautiful. ← This may scare my guests I reckon, but I will see what I can do as it sounds very fun oddly enough.

A small species of Shark. This is considered one of the best of all the sharks that are eaten around the Med., but happily in the UK which isn't really a fish eating country (other then a few exceptions) it is very cheap. The common name is the "Spur Dog" (Squalus acanthias), the spurs are located on the two dorsal fins. My fishmonger cut these off as he thinks I am a bit of a clumsy idiot. I simply cooked this is a cataplana with some chorizo, onion and tomato.

Well I would like to make it, but the chances of getting food grade lime in Scotland are remote I would think. What does this candy look like, could I substitute sweet potato? The pumpkin that is most regulalry avalible here is butternut and they are quite flavourless and watery. These are some 17th century English candies I made at one point, the small hand is reaching for some candied sweet potato, does Dulce de calabaza resemble this?

It likely to be a texture thing.

OK looks good and easy enough, one question for the pumpkin candy is it essential to use [quick] lime and why? To this list I will add a fish dish and a pork dish (maybe 'table cloth stainer) and some veg dishes.

I would like to cook my (first) Mexican meal for friends close to this date. Are there some specific dishes that are prepared (for the living) on this festival/date?

Don't get me wrong, I love the pressure cooker (is there a thread on this I wonder). It is very interesting to see how it works and find its limits. I have been making chicken stock in it, one day with a supermarket organic free-range blah blah chicken that cost £8 and the next day using an old cock from the Chinese grocer (£3). The former was reduced to a pulp, whereas the old cock was still tough as buggery. Good stock but. I haven't tried it yet, but the advise from the manufacturer say pre-soaked beans can be cooked in 20 minutes..... We shall see.

Yah, I know what you mean. What I might do next time is to add some of the spices after the pressure cooking as I reckon something is lost during the process (he says waving his hands about). Lets see ~1 hour total cooking time for a dish that I was 80% happy with. If I had made a fish tagine I could have made it in a "traditional" manner in the same amount of time and got a dish I was much more happy with (no that I have ever been happy with anything I have cooked). Still I now have the option of been lazy and not planning a meal, rather then getting up and catching a bus for 15-20 minutes to the fish-monger then walking an extra 30 minutes to work. Damn my standards are slipping in old age.

This is very similar to an 18thC English recipe I have seen. I have made it a few times and it is very good. "Ratafia of Quinces" You must have some Quinces, and rasp them with a Grater; all being grated, you must have a Piece of strong Cloth, put in a small handful, and squeese it with all your Might, that the Juice may come from it; when all is squeesed and you have all the Juice, put it in a Preserving pan, let it take just one single Boiling, and let it cool; being cooled, measure two Quarts of Juice and two Quarts of Brandy, Measure by Measure, and clarify some Sugar; to each two Quarts, ten Ounces of Sugar, a Piece of Cinnamon, four Cloves, and three or four Grains of white Pepper whole; stop up your Jug very close, put it aside for two or three Months, put it through a Straining-bag, until it come very clear, and put it up in Bottles flopped very close. La Chapelle, "The Modern Cook" (London: 1733)