Adam Balic

They paved paradise And put up a parking lot With a pink hotel, a boutique And a swinging hot spot Don’t it always seem to go That you don’t know what you’ve got Till it’s gone They paved paradise And put up a parking lot

Different types of squid seem to have different textures, the is no comparison between arrow squid and calamari for instance. I like octopus (excellent photgraph), "baby" (actually the adults of a SE-Asian species) were absolutely everwhere in mid 90's Melbourne. But of this group, I would choose cuttlefish very time (with the rare exception of some octopus dishes). Next time I get one of these I will take a photograph.

I wouldn't think that they are in any danger of dying out, as long as there are church/school bakes. I have made them here in Scotland and the locals have never seen them. Which doesn't mean they didn't originate here, but given they are just cake rolled in chocolate syrup/strawberry jelly and coconut, they could have many origins.

I missed this on account of being away and dense. What I wouldn't give for a complete english translation of Scappi. Given the importance of his work I am surprised that this hasn't happened. Surely there are enough Ph.D. students in the world to have done this? Anyway, recipes would be good and what do you mean, no pictures!?

All that photography must have turned their heads.

How very curious. This is the same shop display (rebuilt) as of a few weeks ago from my foodblog. The large fish in your photograph is a wolf-fish, also know in Scotland as "seacat". It is a giant blenny, and has a nice flavour, no bones and a medium texture. Confined to the Northern Atlantic, more of a scottish fish then an english fish, so it has a low profile here. Heads are cute/ugly, but make excellent fish head curry.

Be careful what you wish for: Oh, I wish I were an Oscar-Mayer wiener; that is what I'd truly like to be. Cause if I were an Oscar-Mayer wiener, Everyone would be in love with me. Food and poetry is all very good, but if given the choice I would prefer maybe more facts and less opinions. However, I still like the shows well enough and I am willing to forgive Rick almost anything for his recipe for prawns stuffed in papadums, as a beer snack.

Andy - I also was thinking about Floyd v Stein when I made my post. So far the latter doesn't compare well with the formers show which were made ~20 years ago(?). Floyd made me interested in food and the cultures associated with it, Stein makes me think "Surely, chardonnay, rhiesling and semillion don't taste like shit after 2 years of age?".

I enjoy ~80% of any given Stein program. He does a lot to be commended for, but some times he does come across as ignorant (or maybe just uninformed) and I find him a little self absorbed, especially when he says "But it's not about me, it's about the food". But personality aside, I enjoy the travelog.

Would you hold it against me if I said that I had been away for a week and have forgotten what my original point was (if there was one, I am often pointless).

A little more information on the Langoustine. These are caught in large numbers of the Scottish coast, but are fairly widely distributed, hence the large amount of names for the same species: Scientific name: Nephrops norvegicus English: Norway lobster, Dublin Bay Prawn, prawn (scotland), scampi, langoustine. -"Scampi" is the plural of the Italian scampo and refers to the breaded deep fried tails found as a common pub meal, "Langoustine" is french and is reserved for the whole shellfish or less pedestrian presentations of the flesh. British class rules apply even to shellfish. Italian:Scampo is singular, scampi is plural. - Although they are the same species, the specimens I have seen in the Adriatic tend to be smaller and have a brighter colouration (red spots on the claw joints) then the North Atlantic ones. - I imagine that an Italian preparation of this shellfish is were the American "Scampi sauce" is derived from, even though it doesn't contain any actuall scampi. French:Langoustine Spanish: Maganto, cigala There are also many other name variations, attesting to the popularity of the beast.

Do not be fooled! I can tell you first-hand that lobsters are nasty, loathsome creatures with no regard for anything. They eat everybody, even young lobsters, and will do battle with anything in their way. Nasty! Nasty! NASTY! The apparent endearment to these low-lifes is a constant source of amusment in these parts, especially to urchin divers who have to shoo them away while they hunt for urchins, themselves a pest to lobstermen up until about five years ago. I'm gathering a few pics and facts about our most famous crustacean which I will post in due time. From now on, do not shed a tear over the lobster. Here's a tip: try thinking of those fabulous old sci-fi movies with bizarro spiders and multi-clawed aliens as they bear down on the poor, defenseless, japanese villagers... ... there now, see?! ← Yeh, but when you get a big one it is a bit like trying to boil a poodle, no matter how much you say "It has no brain" etc. Excellent images BTW, is this style of building typical to the east coast?

Excellent photograph of the Blue fin tuna. I have seen similar stalls in Palermo (even near the bus station), that also had hugh swordfish on display.

Fresh it is the best bit. I have no guesses left about the lobster then. Photoshop?

More scottish seafood. Langoustines ("Prawns"), monkfish cheeks, scallops and haddock from the Fish buyer in Lochinver.

I think that there are two main pigment groups in lobsters, reddish and blues. The blue is heat sensative, hence they 'turn' red with cooking. I would guess that blue lobsters lack normal amounts of red pigment. They are most likely quite pale when cooked?

Difficult to compare the two side by side meaningfully as good flavour in lobster varies from individual to individual. All of the North American lobsters I have had have been imported for instance. But, there basic flavour is similar I would say. Different to spiny rock lobsters ('crayfish') which I an use to in Australia for instance.

Lobsters from a recent holiday. This is the western Atlantic species Homarus gammarus, which is very similar to the Eastern Atlantic/North American species Homarus americanus. Although, there is some colour variation, the latter tends to have much more red colouration on the underside of the claws and the fine legs, while the former has more blue highlights. Even in Scotland it is the North American species that I see most often for sale (alive), imported from Canada.

And bastard combinations of these. I have a nice 18th scottish trifle which is a mound of wine soaked biscuits, apple fool/snow and a layer of sylllabub. Earlier trifles were like fools or in some cases what would be called a junket now (milk set with rennet). Sugar was expensive and in the 16th-17th C in England, highly in vogue due to the recent increase in avalibility (West Indian plantations). Actually, sugar is another example of a downward class spiral. I have a nice recipe for chicken with a sweet custard sauce fro this period if you like.... The early recipes for trifle appear in quite high class cook books, written by male chefs, then a bit later female cooks for ladies, then a bit later then that female cooks for domestic servants. Another interesting item is the garnish that formed a "ragoo/ragout". Orginally French, based on a complicated and expensive meat reduction sauce with a garnish of cockscombs, meat balls, mushrooms etc Over 50 years or so it ended up as a aspirational Middle-Class English dish, with the difference that the meat sauce was cheaped to the point of nothingness (carmel brown with lemon pickle or just gravy) and recipes suggested the use of fake cockscombs and cheap garnish. (I think that this cheap, but aspirational cooking, was the graveyard of Englsih cuisine BTW). By this point there is no way that the wealthy (unless very old fashioned) would touch such a dish. "mechanization" isn't such an issue I think. But it can contribute to the supply and demand issue. If something is cheap and plentiful, then it doesn't have cachet. So yes, pasta (specific types) was once a high class item in Italy, until it was mass produced.

Great line, Rogov. That strips it down to what matters, doesn't it. It reminded me of something I'd read, so I looked it up: "We plan, we toil, we suffer - in the hope of what? A camel-load of idol's eyes? The title deeds of Radio City? The Empire of Asia? A trip to the moon? No, no, no, no. Simply to wake up just in time to smell coffee and bacon and eggs. And, again I cry, how rarely it happens! But when it does happen - then what a moment, what a morning, what a delight!" J.B. Priestly Yes. . .how rarely it happens. . . and what a delight when it does! ← True, but what people mean by "good taste" changes geographically and temporally. RE: "Trickle down". Emilia-Romagna's Pasticcio di tortellini is a good example, basically a Renaissance high end dish that is now extant festival dish. Siena's various spiced cakes are another example. The English trifle is another. Use of Spices in western european cooking. More detailed analysis has been made on the subject by others, looking at English food in the 18th century and observing up to a 60 year lag in the creation of a dish/style of eating (say in French high circles) and its migration down the Class slope. Supermarkets now sell duck confit, who was eating this 20 years ago?

On another thread I said "In modern Italy it is fun to observe the number of Renaissance high end food items that have ended up as feast/festival foods of the people, for instance.". I wonder if this is true of Algeria as well? How much of that Court cooking is now festival food?

'Cause obviously the Algerians invented it right?

Flat breads in various forms are the most likely the oldest cooked grain dishes there is, other then gruels. They most likely have developed independently in many locations, but although this doesn't exclude the possiblity of a localised origin of a specific product.

Haven't you heard? Everything has a Moorish influence. Kevin - sorry for the off topic (you) stuff. Nice plates.

I think that Coca are Catalan, rather the Spanish (not sure on this point though, I think they are also found in Mexico). I have various recipes via Colman Andrews which I can look up later if you like.