culinary bear

Has anyone actually eaten and enjoyed tinned mushrooms?

Howard, did you ever met David Harvey? He was the sommelier when I worked there, and he would bring the heeltaps of unfinished bottles into the kitchen for me to try. Delightful man. Last I heard he was working in Cliveden.

...and I have, in fact, made confit budgies. Seriously though, I've got quite small hands for someone that's 6'4". For the pedantic otters amongst you, the jar is 24cm tall and has a circumference of 45cm. It weighs 4.1kg, according to the lovely digital scales I got for christmas (thanks, mum!) :)

you didn't sell it, did you?

Personally, I believe owning a firearm should be dependent on passing a weapons handling and proficiency test, as well as psychometric evalutation... I mean, when was the last time you saw a bright orange deer walking around on its hind legs? Back to duck; I made a batch of ten legs and potted them up in a 3kg jar the other day... I'll stick a photo up in a minute or two. edited to add photo... There really are ten legs in this pot... the hand is there as a guide to size.

it does however, bugger your brain up somewhat... what I meant to say was that I'd been drinking tea for 29 years, and I'm now 29 1/2 (which is clearly not too young for dementia to have set in).

I think that's a good idea. In effect, you're using the first pot as an external infuser. As an aside, I've been drinking tea for thirty years; I'm now thirty and a half(!)... Tea obviously doesn't stunt one's growth.

is there a time delay between eGullet headquarters and Texas? *friendly laugh* see about ten posts above yours. Mabelline - I haven't seen the film; I've been meaning to for a while.

I don't get this one. Is it because I'm British? :)

I agree with Fat Guy - black tea is better brewed with water fresh from the tap, boiled once and once only, and used directly off the boil. The trouble with almost all restaurant/cafe tea is that the water is far from freshly boiled; it tends to come from a hot water still.

There's a "pusser's rum" here in the UK. "Pusser" is a corruption of "purser", and the word is still widely used in the Navy. Anything referred to as "pusser's" is genuine naval issue; "pusser's crabs" are boots; "pusser's crabfat" is battleship-grey paint.

"Riding High on the Crest of a Wave" - Indonesian food, of course. "Streptocoq au Vin" - French bistro "Der Tag-liatelle" - WWII-era German-themed Italian.

Chicken breast stuffed with bananas and ham, with a champagne and strawberry sauce, at a graduation dinner. We had no choice of main course. Obviously. What particular brand of crack the chef was on, I've no idea, but I'm sure it's outlawed under Article 5 of the Geneva convention.

hee hee... glad to help.

If I want a shingle to get to 1/4" high, for example, this is what I do : 1) butter-and-flour the baking sheet 2) apply docked shingles 3) butter and flour the underside of an identical sheet 4) place 1/4" spacers at the four corners of the sheet with the shingles on it 5) place upper sheet on top of spacers 6) bake as normal, giving an extra few minutes baking time to compensate for the insulating qualities of the top sheet. I'm sure there are other methods, but this one is fairly uncomplicated and works well for me - this way it rises to your pre-set limit and bakes completely flat.

That might be a decent explanation. Off-flavours in fats are usually caused by oxidation, giving a rancid flavour. This shouldn't really happen in a freezer unless it's being opened all the time and the fat isn't wrapped at all well. It might well be down to cross-contamination.

Depends on the cheese: Grocery store cheddar, faux-parmesan, that sort of thing... you'll get away with it, as long as you're not going to try and keep it around forever. Artisanal cheeses, made with love and passion? I'll kill you myself if you even try. :)

Freezer burn is low-temperature desiccation - there's no water in duck fat to begin with.

I wouldn't have thought the freezing process would have harmed the fat at all - even refrigerated it shouldn't go off in that length of time. Did you use some of the fat before you froze the rest? if so, how did it taste?

No, but Liverpool is the largest nearby city to Chester and I was highlighting the fact that should you wanted a starred meal in Liverpool then Chester would be one of your natural options. eh la? :)

I read VPL's Arkle review with interest. Does the man have a clue? Seriously, he writes decently in Private Eye, but he writes about the Arkle as if a particularly toothsome female pastry chef offered to wank him off between courses. I mean, I know that the Liverpool area (the highest-rosetted restaurant within a 20 mile radius of liverpool, including the city itself, has one rosette... one...) is as devoid of good places to eat as the moon, and has as much atmosphere, culinarily, at least (nods in the direction of Boris). One must go further afield. "Breathtakingly imaginative and innovative cuisine?"... no. Basics done well with a bit of a polish? yes. no more.

Reasonably well. We're attached to a hotel, so the clientele varies from discerning diner to barely housetrained chimp. The veloute sold well, though some of the less, erm, erudite diners had questions about artichokes. Since the front of house staff have the collective IQ of a small snail, this was most easily solved by providing a display artichoke, which the waters could carry out and show people. Honestly, I swear if they were any less intelligent they'd have to be watered on a daily basis. Customer : I say, this artichoke thing, what is it exactly? Waiter : Me no know, but me find out. *waiter trundles off to annoy chefs; is threatened with stabbing if he wanders behind the pass; picks up artichoke after first picking up ginger by mistake; trundles back to table* Waiter : This artichoke, it grow in ground, give plenty gas, yes. I exaggerate, of course. Sometimes the waiters actually achieve adequacy in their work, although I've learned more abusive phrases in french than I ever thought possible. Anyway, I digress; the only dish we have on the main menu that uses them is one of pan-fried sea bream with sauteed artichokes, morels and ceps - it seems to shift fairly decently.

From time to time, I have my comic moments... :)

I'll take some photos tomorrow of the syringe I use and put them up here...

I hate vatted malts with a passion; although other people are perfectly free to enjoy them, I'd much rather have a single malt. You might like to try the Signatory's unchillfiltered Caol Ila. It's pale, very pale, but tastes like vanilla ice-cream and smoked haddock, mixed with cigar ash. Really good. Clynelish is an interesting malt too; if you can get a hold of it, try and track down a Rare Malts bottling of its sister distillery, Brora. I think it's bottled as a 23 year old. Fabolously complex, and you'd swear it was an Islay malt, not highland. Unfortunately it's getting rarer, and consequently more expensive; I believe it retails for nearly GBP100 these days.