Adam Balic

Eh, no idea. This is my first image post ever, so I am no expert. Maybe there is an evil filter on. Are you evil for instance? I imagine that this is when computer geeks will come in handy. Appologies to computer geeks, fixed my own stupidity (in this instance hopefully).

I know that many (some?) people on this site have an interest in historic food. Some even have images I hear. To encourage and to share the following is a 17th century English recipe for stuffed chicken based on Robert May's recipe(s), with an anachronistic sauce of rhubarb and ginger on the side.

They are great, especially for large volumes. Not sure about the asparagus you are going to cook, but it is a better way of accurately cooking different types as well. Also, I haven't tried the oven method, but in general I am trying to avoid using the oven for things like this durig a dinner party etc, due to space/time restrictions. Cooking asparagus is one of those things that is easy to get wrong.

It has been a couple of years but I can't remember any problem with getting brisket. But given the trouble you have had their is definately an issue here. I wonder if it is the preparation of the cut? If avalible 'off the shelf' in Melbourne it was most common to see it trimmed of most fat and rolled. You could try an Asian butcher in Victoria St? Silverside is the most common brining cut (called corned beef in Australia). Silverside is pretty much the top round cut, sometimes called "London broil" although this is actually the finished dish?

The have been a few Petit Verdot growers for some time, mostly it is used as part of a Bordeaux style blend, but there are the occasional 100% release. The better examples have been quite interesting, very fine tannins and quite a perfumed wine. Petit Sirah is grown as Durif in Australia. A big butch fighting wine, sometimes after 20 years or so it settles down to be almost drinkable. Commonly found in the Rutherglen region of Victoria, Austalia. On the otherhand if you drink Petit Sirah in the States there is a chance that you may not be getting what you thought you were getting. Petit Sirah ID

wow! And how exactly did you come across this combination??? No Brown sauce left in the pantry, only sweet chili sauce left, lived without fear and was not completely sober.

Deep fried battered haggis and Thai sweet chili sauce.

From experience I would say that this would also true of places that do have large numbers of good resturants, like say Italy. Blimy, my Italian friends will talk forever about food, but are very suspicious of the local Chinese places as "You never know what they are putting in their food". Considering the general lack of interest in food, the lack of a foundation of tradional British food regularly cooked in the home and the popularity of ready meals and take out, I think that the level of restuarants in Britian is not as bad as it could be.

Yes, but these restuarants are catering to British tourists. I think that it is very easy to slag off mediocre British restuarants (there are so many of them after all), but what are the running costs of a British restuarant compared to a similar level place in France/Spain/Italy? Obviously, the wine has to be imported (realistically). And I guess most of the veg would be sourced from overseas (don't know if this makes it more expensive?). What are rentals like in the UK v France/Spain/Italy? The questions could go on for ever. I agree that by and large, unless you are very lucky or dine at a top level you are likely to go to a mediocre restuarant in the UK, but I'm not sure that it would be easy not to run a mediocre restaurant in the UK. Getting back to Gary's comments about people booking six weeks in advance to get into Anthony's in Leeds. This is obviously a great thing, but would the same people put in an equivalent amount of effort to go to a less 'fine' restuarant? What motivates diners in the UK compared to France/Spain/Italy etc?

I'm afraid I don't think very much of this article, I know bugger all about the topic, but I can still see many flaws: - as I tried to say previously "Israeli couscous" and maftoul/mhammas/maftul/maghribiyya are by in large different produces made in a different ways and have different cooking properties. Having said that I imagine that more maftul/maftoul will be made in the manner of Israeli couscous in the future, so maybe this is a little academic. - Couscous isn't really pasta, "Israeli couscous" is. It is a pity about the name of the latter product really. - what is "tedious" about steaming couscous in a couscousière/kiskis? It is no more effort them making mashed potato. Also the couscous steamed in a couscousière isn't really the same as the instant stuff. Try adding water to non-instant couscous and eating it. - If attention is going to be drawn to the fact that Israeli couscous is a pasta, why not describe how it can be cooked like other similar pasta products(orzo etc), rather then comparing it to risotto?

Philip - butchers like George Bowers (especially) and Crombies are open very early, the same with the Eddies Seafood and Armstrongs the fishmonger (currently burnt out). All of these places are very good, infact excellent which means that you can place orders with them in advance and pick it up at lunch time etc. But I agree with your point, it can be very difficult to fit this into a working day, specially without a car. However, is a ~£7 Sainsburys Free Range West Country chicken picked up after work a more pleasant food experience then a brace of pheasant or grey partridge (£5-6) from Bowers picked up at a less convenient time? The other issue is quality of the meat. Initially friends couldn't understand why I was going to a butcher for meat that could be had cheaper at the supermarket, but after they had cooked several supermarket roasts that were very tough and not good they admitted that more time/money was saved by going to the butcher. Things have changed slightly, the quality of the meat has improved recently at Sainsburys, but this is the interesting thing: The good quality meat is a premium line and costs more then the equivalent at decent butcher. Tescos I can't work out the quality of the meat seems to be entirely store specific. I don't actually have a hugh issue with supermarkets, they are part of the landscape, I actively love the Hyper-COOP in Tuscany, but I think that consumers are being ripped off in the UK in terms of meat and especially fish.

An essentially similar item is called a 'scallop' in the North of England.

Never has somebody spoken about living in Clayton with such loving memories! From my time Clayton* I remember a local chip shop that sold battered deep-fried dim sims that had been re-batted and fried until they were as big a tennis balls. Not sure if this is a fond memory. *outer Melbourne suburb were Monash University main campus is located.

I'm afraid my mother is a brilliant gardener, not a cook, but best childhood memories of food: - Spit roasted pig/lamb at family gatherings - Hot Jam doughnuts at school - Scones baked by my grandmother during shearing - licking the cream out of the middle of Fairy cakes - Dim sims with soy sauce Later comfort memories: - Pho - Shopping very early at the Queen Vic. and having a Bratwurst in a roll. - Seafood BBQ - Stew/casserole of beef shins - Visting wineries

When I moved to Edinburgh from Melbourne one of the first things I did was ask people what day the markets were open and where they were located. That caused some laughs. I spent a long time bitching about the dependence on supermarkets, but now have practically given up. I have very little knowledge of Southern UK cities, but my impression is that what markets that do exist are very middle-class. Being middle-class isn't the end of the world, but I don't think that it is realistic for people to expect their to be less dependence on supermarkets when there are few alternatives for a large proportion of UK society. I have a 'right on' friend who is single, lives in a very nice Georgian flat and only shops at Wholefoods, who insists that a family of five does not need a car as they can walk their shopping back from the Supermarket. I respect the effort that they make in their life, but it offers no solutions for anybody else. It interests me to imagine what the state of food supplies will be like in the UK in the case where fuel prices increase. I fear the day when the extra-fine trimmed beans from Kenya become to expensive to import.

I don't think that there is an issue with Israeli couscous and p'titim not being Israeli? But unlike mhammas they pasta, not formed like couscous. Two different products, the Israeli couscous proberly being modeled on mhammas, unless there is also a Jewish equivalent? So not all round pasta/couscous products are infact Israeli couscous, although this seems to be the perception in the English speaking world. So failing to find Israeli couscous you could also ask for the similar Muslim product?

That looks really good. The Thai mortar are great for poundiing, but not so good on the grinding of things like ginger etc. Will have to look into the suribachi, except my wife has banned me from buying anymore mortar and pestles.

Depends on what they are to be used for. The european marble types with wooden pestles are fantastic for making emulsuion type sauces, but suck for spice grinding. The Thai stone ones are good for pounding/grinding spices but they are realtively smooth on the inner surface and may not me ideal for some purposes. Whatever you decide, my advise would be to get biggest one you can find. You can grind small amounts in a large mortar, but it is a pain in the arse to make curry pastes etc when the ingredients slop over the sides.

I wonder if this Italian obsession with cooking octopus with corks comes down to it being mentioned in some popular book etc. Anybody got a copy of Ada Boni's cook books?

A 20 lb Sheppard's Pie.

That price is for the average price per bottle as a total, no the average price paid for a bottle of Australian wine. You have to take out all those Black Tower drinkers. But assuming that 4-5 quid per bottle is an average price for all wine, I think that a 'better' (note: entirely subjective) wine can be had from say the Languedoc, then from South-Eastern Australia. But again I am bias because I can't bring myself to pay 4-5 quid for a bottle of Rosemount/Jacob's Creek/Rawson's Retreat etc.

I dunno, I live in Edinburgh and I would estimate that ~1/3 of the Australia wine is priced over £10. edit: by variety, not volume.

Agreed. However these price brackets probably aren't that representative in the UK -- I beleive the average spend per bottle is closer to £3-4. I don't believe so, that sounds too low. £2.99 will by you a bottle of supermarket Rose de Anjou, the cheapest Australian red at Oddbins is 'Rawson's Retreat' blend and this is £3.99 a bottle. Considering that the latter contains Ruby Cabernet (= filth and second rate filth at that) this is an expensive wine for what it is. £3-4 pounds would have to be at the very lowest end for what you could buy a bottle of Australian wine for in the UK.

All very true. One of the problems with Australian wine in the UK is that being Australian, I wouldn't normally buy or drink the majority of Australian wine sold in the UK. My fiends/relatives in Australia have a hard time coming to terms with the fact that the success of Australian wine in the UK is less about "the good stuff" and more to do with large volume commercial brands. It would be interesting to know the break down of consumer choice, obviously a lot of people are going for Australian wine in the £5-10 bracket, but if consumers were to spend say £20-40 would they pay that for an Australian wine or would it more likely be French?