Adam Balic

I think this phenomena has been occuring for a long time. Even before Marie Antoinette had milking sheds built in the gardens of Versailles. And et in Arcadia ego still sells a lot of 'rustic' themed cookbooks I guess. Not a bad thing in moderation. It tend to be where I go on holidays anyway.. ← Is it really that hard to figure out that Behemoth and I are talking colonialism and war in different areas? And the hardships of working land that is in danger of being taken away (again the context of many different coutnries) and looking at our mothers, aunts or grandmothers work and work untill they have thick calloused hands and aching backs all the while having baby after baby after baby with little or no modern health care? Epidurals back then? Nope. Back to working in the fields and kitchen with a babe in arms and toddlers in tow... ← Absolutely I agree. But what attracted Morocco to me was the idea of the medina in Fez, not a modern hotel and pool in Marrakesh. This is not to belittle the lives mothers, aunts and grandmothers, but for outsiders like me sentimentalisation is part of what attacts me to the food. Damn, I will have to reconsider all of this. You know with all my interest in food, travel, markets etc, I hadn't really considered the falseness of the experience.

I think this phenomena has been occuring for a long time. Even before Marie Antoinette had milking sheds built in the gardens of Versailles. And et in Arcadia ego still sells a lot of 'rustic' themed cookbooks I guess. Not a bad thing in moderation. It tend to be where I go on holidays anyway..

My understanding from my grandparents is that this is exactly what it used to be. It's factory farming that has made chicken into the cheap, anonymous, flavourless protein it is today. ← Like farmed salmon. Chicken is by and large carnivore tofu.

Where these the snails eaten? These are Theba pisana which do undergo estivation/aestivation ( L. aestas Summer), some types undergo Hibernation (L.hibernus Winter). Are all the edible Spanish snails dormant in the summer only?

Adam, I wasn't terribly unhappy with the prices I paid for those chanterelles. My fishmonger has a small display of vegetables outside his shop, and he had the same chanterelles (same supplier, he claims) for ?17.50 per kilo, 50p more than Borough. It's the ordinary things that have become expensive -- good but not exotic British cheeses at high prices, for example. Jane Grigson's aphorism applies here, I think: We have more than enough masterpieces. What we need is a better standard of ordinariness. ← I understand and I don't get to shop at B on a regular basis and I tend to mentally compare to what I get in Edinburgh (and I really like the King's Pork pies ), but I guess the question you have to ask is would you still miss it if it was gone (good God, this sounds like relationship advise)?

Ah thank you for clearing this up, I was discusing it on the weekend (in a Thai restuarant in Edinburgh, so still on topic). Do you know if noodles are considered a Chinese food item in Thailand?

Although I think that Borough is expensive, aside from the Turnips it isn't hughly overpriced in comparison to what I get in Edinburgh (paid £18 a kilo for chanterelle the other day, this is standard for local produce) and in fact the range is much much bigger. The crush of humanity is more of an issue for me, but I wonder how long that can last?

As far as I know the Thai have never traditionally chopsticks, either hands or conventionaly cutlery being normal, but the food I agree is pretty dull and very expensive for what it is. La Garrigue food was OK, but it failed the "Don't mop the damn floors with bleach before I have finished my meal" test. HN has delivered one of the nastiest dishes I have eaten (my partners meal was very good though). Sweet Melindas I like for the fish that isn't all seabass, but not sure it fits the University budget. I think my last meal there was ~ £90 with booze (but maybe I drink too much).

I walked out of he new branch on sunday. I went in to but a sandwich to take out and after being ignored for a few minutes I went and asked a staff member if this was possible. She looked vague and uninterested, and when I inquired price said "The prices are on the door". Very poorly trained and if V&C had any competition for this store they would struggle. The staff at the original store are very pleasant and helpful and when we pointed out he the oil they were using to cook the breakfast items in was rancid they thanked us.

Originally you were concerned with the distiction of fresh v freshwater fish. Logically, it freshwater fish were the only type avalible a distintion would not be made between sea and freshwater fish. If you are saying that only freshwater fish were avalible then a logical distinction, such as "Tari" in that recipe, would be between salted and fresh fish. Also in the same recipe it refers to the juice of 'tari'lemons. I assume that this doesn't mean freshwater lemons, rather then sea lemons? As I stated above unlike al baghdadi, the description of familar fish has recipes for fresh fish. As I said before a clue that it is fresh fish being discussed is the bit about slitting its belly and tossing away the guts. Not something you have to do with a salted fish, or fresh or sea origin. "Tirrikh" means salted fish, the word is derived from "Tarikhos" (Greek = 'dried up'). Another thing to consider is that Arabic culture isn't monolithic, it changes over time. Many if the recipes in these older books are represented extant recipes, but many are not. I am sorry for causing all this trouble posting what I thought may be an interesting historical recipe. To make up for it I will cook the recipe in as modern form as I can get my hands on.

All interesting questions. To clarify this specific issue, this 14th century text is largely based on al-Baghdadi, but in this specific instance it should be noted that this earlier work seems to have references to dried or salted fish. The later book adds the fresh fish recipes. If you have doubts about the translation, contact Charles Perry. He has been kind enough to answer questions of mine in the past. But, before you do that I think that you should be aware that his gastronomic and linguistic skills are not in question. If you are concerned about gastronomic heritage, then this individual has most likely contributed the most of any individual to the Wests understanding of Historical Arabic cooking.

Well I have no expertise in this and it isn't my translation, but given that the next section is for salted fish, it fits, especially as the first bit of the recipe is about gutting fish. Perry specifically translates 'tari' as 'fresh'. There is a later recipe "Malih Na'im" which is translated as 'soft salt' (i.e. soft salty fish). But the begining of the section on fish starts by saying 'Fish are fresh or salted', so I guess the translation is correct. It could be that fresh fish are always freshwater in the context of this recipe collection.

OK the medieval recipe is called "Samak Tari Mahshi" (Stuffed fresh fish). The stuffing is (approximately). 50 gms of sumac* 20 gms of dry thyme 12.5 gms peeled, finely chopped garlic 25 gms of walnuts mix these Adjust flavour with cassia (USA cinnamon), caraway, mastic, tahini, lemon juice, parsley and mint. Stuff the fish, smear with saffron and bake. * This refers to whole sumac berries, so I think that the amount of ground sumac would have to be adjusted down. It also seems like a lot of garlic compared to walnut meat.

I think that the article that Farid refers to is here, the translation I am refering was published in "Medieval Arab Cookery", which I thought was out of print, but this site (scroll down) claims to have it in stock. A very good resource, in the last few weeks I have seen at least two extant dishes mentioned on egullet, identified in this book (or the other way around).

In Charles Perry's translation of "al-Kitab Wasf al-At'ima al-Mu'tada's" ("The Book of the Description of Familiar Foods," of 1373) the is a recipe for "Stuffing for fish", from my notes, the ingredients of this are; Walnuts, garlic, sumac, coriander, cinnamon, tahini, parsely, mint and lemon juice. I think that this is an early version of the recipe discussed here, originally for fish from Lake Van I think. I will check the original recipe and see if I have got this right.

Tayberries were developed at the Scottish Crop Research Institute at Invergowrie (1978) and are a hybrid of a raspberry and the blackberry variety "Aurora" form Oregon. They are now planted through Europe and the USA. They are a little sour to eat raw, but develop an amazingly rich flavour after cooking.

I was a bit tricky. It is actually No. 5, the giant yellow gentian (Gentiana lutea). This looks rather different to more usual gentians, being 1.5 metres high with multiply yellow flowers. It is the large starchy root that is used to produce alcohol, the most famous being "Suze".

Nope, as a clue I will identify the booze as gentiane liqueur.

To finish off this thread, I thought that a game might be fun. These are various Alpine flowers that I photgraphed while hiking in the Dauphine. One of these is used to produce a local liqueur. Can any body identify which plant and what it is called? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Yep, I am back in Scotland. Trying to cook some of the food from places I have travelled to is a good way of improving my cooking skills, such as they are.

A French Alpine recipe. Trout with Hazelnuts.

A few things I cooked on the theme of French Alpine cooking. Saucission sec, left to right: Walnut (common around the Grenoble area), Donkey and Wild Boar. Truite aux noisettes (trout with hazelnuts) Poulet aux fides. Fides are pasta, essentially the same as the Spanish fideos and cooked in a similar manner (fried until brown, then cooked in small amount of broth). We alos had two gratin, one of swiss chard, the other of ravioles and chanterelle. Autumn has come early to Scotland, so I was able to cook these with the Fides. Dessert was Tarte des Alpes, made from Tayberries (which are Scottish, not French) Tayberries And Gateau Grenoblois (Walnut cake) To after dinner we had a local drink made from an Alpine wormwood (Artemisia genipi, glacialis or mutellina)

Not quite a dinner party, but we had a party and I made food and it was dinner for some folks, so what the hell. Held a party for a friends birthday, due to this I didn't actually know all the guests. One chap was a bit of an arsehole, but I decided to live and let live. After a few hours he got utterly shit faced and started feeling up various females at this point I and few other beefer males threw in out of the flat. Four or five hours later when everybody had left I found him hanging around in the stairwell, he claimed that he lived in the flat below us, and had a key, but couldn't get in the flat, so I assumed he was lying. This time I tossed him out myself and as he was getting violent I called the police. While waiting for them a car pulled up and two guys jumped out with golf clubs and started running towards me. When they were a few feet away, the police arrived and took the golf clubs off them, but did nothing else. Turns out the arsehole was a guest of the downstairs flat, too pissed to open a door, but capable of phoning a few of his mates to beat the shit out of me.

Comming from you Farid, I take that as a great compliment, thanks.

I don't know yet (I suspect it tastes a little like horse, just cuter), but I will be cooking a French Alpine* themed meal on saturday to wrap up thread so I will let you know. * Given the number of cook books I own, I am annoyed about the almost complete lack on information on this cuisine I have.