Adam Balic

Robert May and Francois Pierre. They could have a cook-off and I would be interested to see the out come. Other then these two, ditto Jason's suggestions and adding to this various cooks form the Ottoman courts (specifically the pastry guys).

Adam, So did you manage to get it ? Sorry, I missed this. Yep, I got them. They are great, aroma of regular black pepper corns with warm spices (cinnamon, coriander, nutmeg) added. The are described as being hotter then regular pepper and while I would agree with this I would have to say that the 'heat' is more in the style of sichuan peppercorns, numbing, not hotting. Have used them in a few dishes (pilaw/terrines/stews etc), but and on steak and also to season roast chicken. Good stuff.

Melokhia leaves and jews mallow are the same thing are they not? Anyway they are all part of the same family (Malvaceae = Mallow family), which also includes okra, hollyhocks and hibiscus, which explains the shared slimely characteristics of mallow and okra.

Yes, she has a version of the leopard pie in that book and a very good version of Artusi's pie in her Northern Italian cooking book (still one of the best in its class for use in the UK). Three days? Now you know why they were so highly prized by the wealthy or only really made for feasts and festivals.

I haven't made this version of a macaroni pie, but I have made the Emilia-Romagna "Pasticcio di Maccheroni in crosta dolce" numerous times and also made recreations of the pasticcio di maccheroni described in "Il Gattopardo". I really like making them, they are easy enough to put together and are a bit more interesting then the usual suspect type Italian cooking (Italian food is simple ingredients prepared simply blah, blah). To get the pasta to "hold together" and slice well, resting the pie after cooking is really important, it should be served warm not oven hot. Also the binding sauce shouldn't be to sloppy and actually there shouldn't be that much of it. These are rich dishes after all and if you put in to much sauce, people will just pick at the pasta and sauce and ignore the crust which misses the point somewhat.

Dinner for a friend. Marche style Slow roast squab (yep squab, not sodding wood pigeon), with lemon and rosemary flavoured pork stuffing. Cannelini beans with sage, garlic and truffle oil Wilted spinach Quaking pudding (a'la balmagowry) flavoured with rataffia, spices and marmalade, served with rich muscat sauce.

In my experience, Armenians have the skill of claiming that they have invented most things. In some cases they actually may be correct. It makes sense though if you think about it. Just because you have been fighting all you neighbours on and off for a thousand years or so, there is no reason why you shouldn't copy there good recipes, change them to suit your tastes and claim them as your own.

If the Melbourne Armenian community is similar to some of the other ethnic communities, the food could be very diverse depending on when they came out (1920's v 1990's). I know a few Armenians and have eaten with them, the food is often similar to neigbouring Middle-Eastern countries (especially Iran), but with specific twists (the type of nuts and spice used in baklava etc). Some of the food reminded me of Georgian food, meat cooked with fruit for instance. Also, there are/were some famous fish dishes from the regions around Lake Van.

Basic directions for cooking a large octopus, would be to put it in a pot with a tiny bit of liquid. As it heats and cooks intially it releases a large amount of water, when this is reabsorbed, it is pretty much done. Acid not required, but may help with release of liquid etc as it will "cook" the flesh, not to mention flavour.

Apparently not. This is something I've read about/heard about in many different sources. It's said that there's some sort of chemical reaction between the cork and the water that tenderizes the normally bicycle-tire-textured octupus flesh and makes it better once cooked further either by grilling or braising. I think there might be some connection between the fact that the cultures that claim this works are also wine producing nations. HERE'S an interesting link that also suggest doing the same. And Another. Can this many generations of Mediterranean chefs be wrong? Never heard of this. The ethnic sorts that I know that catch and cook their own octopus, bash it against a rock to break up the fibres. Less traditionally, but more practically, outfits in Australia that process a lot of octopus, toss it into a clean cement mixer for a few fours. The usual plant derived chemicals/proteins that break down protein are things like papain (from fresh papya) and other proteinases. I doubt that cork would have many of these and they would be inactivated by boiling anyway. It is possible that some more stable chemical may do something, but I doubt it. I would think that tannin would toughen the octopus flesh, not make it more tender. My guess would be that it is easier to cook an octopus for the required amount of time if you drink at least two bottles of wine first and have a little snooze. No all Ye Olde Traditional advise is worthwhile. My Tuscan relatives insist that porcupines shoot their quils at you, no matter how much I point out that they are utterly wrong.

You can buy the blanched version in UK supermarkets.

Ardbeg, 1977, but mostly the 10 year old. But, the most interesting thing is tasting variety and the Scotch Malt Whisky Society has had some interesting 30+ malts, that have been good. Often the older malts don't taste so great though.

Sure, although to be presize, Paula actually wrote one book on Morrocan cuisine per se: she also wrote "Couscous and Other Good Food from Morocco (also known as Moroccan Cuisine)" and "Good Food from Morocco" (Out of Print) -- although her "Mediterranean" books have a lot of middle eastern stuff as well. Not to mention the grains/greens book. The first two are sort of the same book I think

The comb only becomes blue after cooking, in life it is bright red. But they are pretty birds, bright red comb, white feathers, blue legs, if slightly unbalanced looking.Poulet Bresse

It's more the assumption that broken legs at a certain age is normal that bothers me. Very odd in the country where people get so worked up about fox hunting and other animal health issues (seperate issues, not saying that this is wrong), but chickens seem not to matter, even though out of all meat sources apart from fish these actually look like an animal in the purchase state.

Also, what would be instructive is if you also cooked a supermarket type bird. Be warned though it can back-fire, I cooked a beautiful 2.5 kg turbot for my mother and she said "This fish is really good, almost as nice as redfin [=perch]".

Moby - I over simplified, there are more then two lines of chickens being used for meat or egg production, the exact lines vary from country to country. Sometimes they will be first crosses, second crosses etc or even stable hybrid lines. This is from an American site, it tells you all you need to know about why they went for this particular line commercially = fast growth. Not the appearance of these birds compared to the Label Anglais birds. Broiler chickens Taste is most likely a very secondary consideration. Actually, blandness is most likely a bonus, most consumers of chicken proberly don't like the tast of chicken, hence the price difference between thighs and breast I guess.

I've had these and they where quite good. The site indicates that they are derived from a Red Cornish (a.k.a Indian Game) and the White Rock cross, many commerical chicken lines come from a Cornish x White Rock cross, as well as those Cornish Game hens that American recipes seem to mention so often. Still, different lines will give very different results and it is the rearing that is likely to be the most inportant influence on quality in this case. Comparison to Bresse hens? Well the last Bresse hen I had was rubbish (more the recipe then the bird though) and I haven't made a direct comparison, which would be the idea thing to do as you suggested. Good luck!

That is quite funny if you consider that the origin of the word 'bugger' is 'bulgur' (bulgarian). Eh, no offense etc.

Youknow I have never really made the Emilia-Romagna version of Lasagna, mostly just the 'shitty lasagna' from Sicily. But I did make the bake pasta dish from Emilia-Romagna "Pasticcio di macceroni in crosta dolce", the pasta in this was cooked until al dente then baked for 35 minutes. The pasta wasn't al dente, but it hadn't wasn't mush either. I think that much of this comes down to the quality of the pasta, not all dried durum wheat pasta are equal, some will have a horrible texture even if cooked to al dente (there is a brand of scottish pasta here, horrible stuff), better pasta can go past al dente and still be delicious.

According to Silvano Serventi and Françoise Sabban in their extensively researched book (Pasta:A Universal Food), "al dente" is a term that is only really found post WWI, and is largely derived from the influence of Southern dried durum wheat pasta. So some peoples preference for "bite" in there Northern style lasagna, is proberly a modern thing. I assume that the traditional lasagna made in Emilia-Romagna would have been made from fresh soft wheat egg pasta and this would have been more 'custardy' like which was described in the original post?

This would be from this book? 16th century English cook book The text of this (and similar works) are availble on the net. Have made several recipes from it, the chicken pye is very good. The cream based dishes (snow cream, cabbage cream, triffle, fools, syllabubs, leaches and jellies) from this period till about the 18th century are really popular. Some have even sort of survived till the present (gooseberry fool). Having people about for dinner tonight and it is has a kind of a historical English theme (only the food). A English 17th century chicken galantine ("forced chicken"). Macaroni pie (actually Italian). "Grande Salat" (big salad) 17th century English again "Cherries Hot" (or "pain perdu" = lost bread) with rhubarb and gooseberry fools.

"The pan-flipping trick thingy" is way cooler then saying "sauté", although the latter is only a sub-division of "The pan-flipping trick thingy" really. For some reason it works really well with zucchini slices.

Something like this 18th century rant? "When Mighty Roast Beef was the Englishman's Food, It ennobled our veins, and enriched our Blood, Our Soldiers were brave, and our Courtiers were good, On the Roast Beef of Old England, And Old English Roast Beef! But since we have learned from all-conquering France, To eat their Ragouts as well as to dance, We are fed up with nothing but vain complaisance, Oh the Roast Beef of Old England, And Old English Roast Beef! Our Fathers of old were robust, stout and strong, And kept open House with good cheer all Day long, Which made their plump Tenants rejoice in this song. Oh the Roast Beef of Old England, And Old English Roast Beef! But now we are dwindled, to what shall I name, A sneaking poor Race, half begotten-and tame, Who sully those Honours that once shone in Fame, Oh the Roast Beef of Old England, And Old English Roast Beef! When good Queen Elizabeth was on the Throne, E'er Coffee, or Tea and such Slip Slops were known, The World was in terror, if e'er she did frown. Oh the Roast Beef of Old England, And Old English Roast Beef! Oh then they had stomachs to eat and to fight, And when Wrongs were a-cooking to do themselves right! But now we're a-I cou'd[?]-but good Night. Oh the Roast Beef of Old England, And Old English Roast Beef!" These types of rants against the French and French ways were very popular during the 18-19th century. More to do with trying to kill each other a lot during this period then the food. Although, dishes like 'Ragouts' where singles out as a contrast with 'Roast Beef' (which I believe is still a French insult for the English now). Remember it was the new-style cooking from France ( as typified by La Varrene) that actually simplified the combinatons of flavours in English cooking from the more synergistic medieval/renaissance cooking.

Few people would call it "lasagne" here. It is normally referred to as "pasta al forno", which of course encompasses a wide range of possibilities. However, up here by the Alps, pasta al forno is what most people outside of Italy would call lasagne. Down south it has a whole new range of possibilities. So that would be Craig "Garfield" Camp? I agree with you definition, but many Italian-descent people are from the South and their default may be different. Plenty of Lasagna in Sicily, used salted ricotta, never Bechamel or Parmesan.