origamicrane

Masterchef the cooking gameshow where you win if you can read the judges mind. Should be interesting to see how john and gregs tv careers progress after this. I hope they aren't the judges for the next series.

bit extreme. Fruit is like knowledge its only a tool that can be used for good and evil. Its not kiwi or starfruit's fault for being adopted as the weapon of choice by style over content chefs and as a garnish its better then a sprig of parsely n'est pas? anyhoo kiwi and starfruit are nice to eat unlike parsley

yes i am a recipient of care in the community but this is a food forum. yep kiwi vinaigrette and raw rock shrimps tastes really nice 1 ripe peeled kiwi fruit 2 Tbsp rice vinegar 1/2 Tbsp sugar 1/2 tsp mirin pinch of salt blend it alltogether and pour on shrimps make sure the shrimp are sashimi grade. Its works like ceviche does. If you adventurous enough give it a try. If you don't like it... Tough!

hmmm... doesn't that mean the person to go first is at the most disadvantage? hmm... i better go last then. but screw it!!! the last two shows I've been on restricted what i could cook!! ggrrr!!! might just forget the prize as not going to win anyway i'm not funny / charming enough to win a popularity contest if I was, would have gone for big brother Yeah just going to stick to my menu, i won't win but at least the food i cook will look gorgeous!! have a look I've been busy http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=63534&st=60 naturally if i get to go last will adapt the menu to at least look ike i'm trying.

oh no!! Son of a heifer!! and I thought it was serious! ho hum! guess i just go a long for the ride then and I was planning such a nice meal. ← I actually enjoyed that show. It was funny to see the mix of people they selected and the different ways that they all entertained in their home. Some people went completely over the top, hiring a personal chef, and others did the deed of packaged food. The key to that show is that you need to plan a meal that is accessable to your guests. You have to cater to the fact that they might not be into strictly-authenic asian dishes. Much like your judges at Chef vs Britain. You also have to be an entertainer in your home, not just a chef. ← :( bummer it means i have to cook safe/boring! but even then lets say i cook lamb, I like mine rare others would like medium and some well done and what happens if they are like allergic to lamb? or don't eat meat??!! you're buggerd aren't you? oh and the entertaining part? whati have to perform magic tricks or do my impression of elvis

oh no!! Son of a heifer!! and I thought it was serious! ho hum! guess i just go a long for the ride then and I was planning such a nice meal.

Ok had the the dry run last night and it went beautifully It was one of the easiest cooks i have done for a party of 6 very relaxing as I managed to spead most of the night in the dining room rather then the kitchen! I also want to thank sizzleteeth, touaregsand, chefzadi and the rest of you for all of your helpful comments and suggestions. But there is more to discuss, will pick all your brains a little later on but first some photos with the comments from my taste testers. 1. Rock shrimp sashimi with a kiwi mirin vinaigrette. Taste : Everyone liked it Appearance: the girls liked it the guys thought it was pouncy (true). Comments: better to serve it on a plate then a martini glass. 2. Yuzu miso marinated Black cod. (sorry about the bad focus) Taste: They loved it Appearance: They loved it Comments:They loved it 3. Tuna tataki, warmed scallops, potato crisp, green pea puree, white truffle oil and balsamic glaze. ( was meant to be foie gras instead of tuna tataki didn;thave time to buy the foie) Taste: Sizzle you was right they thought the flavour of the scallopes were lost. Appearance: The liked it Comments: The Scallops got overpowered by the green pea puree and tuna. either replace the scallops or replace the green pea puree. I think I might actually half sear the scallop to pronounce the flavour? I guess the foie gras might make it better? 4. Chicken Ballotine with a farcies of pancetta, shallots, shiso, shitake and a rosemary chicken jus. Sides of sauteed oyster mushroom, baby asparagus, edamame and wasabi mash. Taste: They loved it Appearance: They liked it but weren't sure about the appearance of the oyster mushoom. Comments: Originally I had a large white plate with a tower of mash in the middle, they said it looked like there was too much on the plate and that I should serve the mash as a side. Also they said I might consider have another side dish in case we had people with big appetities. BTW a personal comment the chicken is sooooo good with the shiso in !!! 5. Fresh grapefruit with mint ( was meant to be fresh pomelo with a candied cloud) (couldn't find a pomelo might be out of season and couldn't find any candy floss either! that might be out of season too!! but you get the idea) Taste: They liked it, good palate cleanser. Appearance: They liked it Comments: They said it would have looked better with candy floss and some dry ice vapour. 6. Molten Chocolate souffle with ice cream Taste: unfortunately I overcooked it and it wasn't molten and a little dry but they like it. Appearance: They liked it but I need some icing sugar rather then caster sugar and I need white vamilla ice cream rather then yellow Comments: overcooked and dry. So all in all pretty positive, just have to work on the third dish and to tweak a few little things. Other comments were I should put some nibble on the table like italian breadstick, edamame, etc and I should pair wines to the dishes. So what wine would you pair with each dish? I don't know much about wine or how to pair with dishes but here are some comments from last night. I want to start with some good quality cold sake or a saketini with the sashimi and end with champagne with the souffle to follow the japanese to french theme. what would you pair with the black cod? a light dry white? the foie gras? pinot grigio? or should I stick a red in with the foie?? and the chicken? chardonnay? once again all constructive comments and suggestions welcome. oh and I will post the full recipes up soon domo arigato and merci beaucoup

Is "Come dine with me" the one with 5 people all having dinner parties on consecutive nights that is on Channel 4 in the afternoon? To call most of them foodies is a vast exaggeration. A lot of them rely on their sparkling wit (not) to get them through and they even serve complete dinners of pre-packaged food. The idea of the programme is to provide the best evening - not the best food. Looks bloody awful to me but essential viewing if you are home from work in time to see it. ← is it? bollocks!! Its on at 4.30pm so I haven't seen the program at all. How bad is it? Yeah I heard about the fact that some of the contestants bought prepackaged food. its knobby but the one that did that actually won !! The thing I want to know is, if it isn't on the food how do they score each other? looks? wit and humour ? dress sense? interior design? personal hygiene?

arr.. sounds like the BBC put to further Andy's point one of the things that i think all cooks love is to see people enjoy and praise your cooking especially if its sincere and even more so from strangers or an audience.

hi postcode several people have asked me this question and here the answer i gave previously would also add its a good laugh, its a day out of the office Now i think the following reason will appeal to you and all the people on egullet 1. I get to cook my dream meal, all ingredients paid for by the tv company. 2. I get to spend a week in the company of fellow foodies eating their cooking. 3. £1000 prize money for the winner the last one float your boat ?

Did you get a call back? I got my call back for Hell's Kitchen. I'm in the final 40. Had the last audition yesterday... Fingers crossed. ← cool!!! good luck!! nah haven't had a callback guess i'm not through ho hum can't really complain will be on tv twice although both times i lost Hell's kitchen will be a lot better you got two well known chefs are presenters also rhodes and novelli are both meant to be quite nice chaps. keep us updated!! and remeber to have fun!! ← yeah just got my rejection letter for hells kitchen sigh!!! just have to consol myself with my audition for "Come Dine With me" next week hoho! Ukfoodie you make it through to the finals of hell's kitchen? Andy how about you any news on your program?

just a taster Rock shrimp sashimi with a kiwi mirin vinegrette 2 ripe kiwi fruit ½ t mirin 4 T rice vinegar 1 T sugar 1 t salt was actually planning to serve this in a martini glass half filled with the vinegrette and the prawns half in, a garnish of topiko and a slice of kiwi. But i don't have any martini glasses Tuna tataki warm scallops potato crisp and green pea puree with roasted hazelniuts, white truffle oil and balsamic glaze. Had no foie gras available so used Otoro instead just salt pepper olive oil and seared. By the way these photos are just me practising at home Tomorrow is the actual dry run and some of my friends get to eat it after all this effort i bloody better get on to that show!!!!

the shuttle chef is a thermos flask so it will keep the content pretty close to the starting temperature for a good few hours and as you can see i simmer it for 30 minutes everytime i attend to the pot. Hiro's diy version will work. It will probably need a tight lid, but the physics are the same ie: put pot in insulated container. My only query is the convenience and the likelihood of making a mess

OK as a non european i think i might be able to arbitrate a bit just to qualify myself I am a british born Chinese who like all of us here is a little food obsessed i have been to France and Italy several times and cook french and italian food amongst other things. So here are my perceptions as a brit. I said in the French forum, I feel that French food has an air of snobbery about it. Italian food doesn't have this feel, instead italian food i feel has a spontaneous passion instead. The main reason for this is that French food always seems to be served in a formal environment where as italian food is for a gathering of friends and family. Yes i know there is formal and informal dishes in both cusines but its the image that has been exported to other countries that is what drives global perceptions of their cusine.

nah the world cusine is chinese more people on the world eating it chinese then any other cusine followed closely by indian. hahaha

How are you planning on constructing it, would be miy first question? ← 1. debone a medium chicken making sure i don't tear the skin. 2. seperate the brown, white meat and skin. 3. mince the brown meat then mix it with breadcrumbs, shiso, fresh shiitake, fried pancetta, shallots, garlic, salt and pepper. 4. Trim the skin to roughly the size of an A4 sheet. 5. layer the chicken breast horizontally across the skin at a slight slant 6. mould the stuffing into a cylinder and place it on top of the breast. 7. roll it up in to a cylinder, cling film it and into the fridge until i need it. When i come to bake it i will take it out of the fridge let i come up to room temp, then wrap it in a oiled and seasoned muslin and bake off. The reason i'm not sure if i can make it over night is the fact i got salt in the stuffing worried it will either tighten up the meat or draw out the moisture. So thinking i might actually go up to step 5 and tuperware everything and assemble when i cook it. What do you think? also I'm also thinking about lightly marinating the chicken breasts in a little olive oil and a teaspoon of soya, ginger and garlic before assembling the ballotine. Do you think this might be over the top? Do you think this is a good or bad idea? or the marinade will be too strong? or clash with the stuffing or sauce.

in a word yes they put little packet of silica gel in some crisps/potato chips. put as it says on the packet DO NOT EAT. An alternative is to wrap some rock salt in a paper towel and seal it with tape and put it at the bottom of your container.

The portions i'm making are going to be small tasting portions so going to go for slightly stronger then normal flavour. btw can I make the ballotine the night before? as most of the menu i think i can prep several hours in advance and the only thing i need to cook/attend in situ is the foie and maybe some of the vegs.

hmm good advice take a replacement blade for the hack saw just in case. you will need a sharpening steel/stone for the meat cleaver too. Pop into a chinese super market the meat cleaver there should be cheaper and indestrutible . but if you only there 10 weeks how many cows, goats and pigs can you eat?

wouldn't it be cheaper to buy your tools out there?

also sounds a little er.... precarious wrapping a towel round a hot pot and then moving it into a box of styrofoam ,doesn't the foam melt even if its wrapped in a towel?. But i guess those shuttle chefs aren't exactly cheap and i don't think widely available so might be a weekend project for some of us.

light fluffy black sesame cheesecake with a layer of sponge topped with some berries and dragon fruits. If you want a safe decoration make it a tiger.

Hi all I can HIGHLY recommend using the shuttle chef for making a stock. The end result was a very clear and strongly flavoured stock and all without the fuss and waste of gas of simmering it all night. Ok 8.00pm last night, chopped up and roasted off 3 chicken carcasses to a nice golden brown about 45 minutes. Then into a pot of water with 3 sprigs thyme, 3 sprigs rosemary, 2 bay leaves, 4 garlic cloves, 2 carrots, 4 tomatoes, 2 red onions, 1t black peppercorns and a handful of mushrooms. Bought it to a simmer, skimmed and depouille and repeat every 10 minutes for about 1 hours. At this point turned the gas to full for about 30 seconds and then straight into the shuttle chef. Then I went to bed 7.30am next morning woke up, go down to the kitchen, put the pot back onto the stove, skim once and let it simmer while I get ready for work. 8.00am just before I leave the house, I skim once, turn the heat up to full for 30 seconds again and then straight back into the shuttle chef. 7.00pm I get home, pot back onto the stove, skim, simmer for 30 minutes skim again and then ladle the stock through a cheesecloth. 8.00pm finished (well kinda, I then reduce the stock by half , and using the stock vegs and chicken carcass made a chicken soup.) So as you can see the stock in total took 24 hours to complete but it was only on the simmer for 2 hours, attended by me for 3 hours and only skimmed 9 times. quite a good saving in time, gas and skimming wouldn't you say?

ok so it begins going to be doing a dry one of this menu for a few lucky friends this weekend will take lots of photos and post them. Just made a lovely pot of chicken stock using my "shuttle chef" think i would highly recommend it to everyone as it saves so much electricty and time. Anyway from the stock made a small sample of demi glace, a chicken jus and a rosemary and garlic jus. Out of the three i liked the rosemary jus the most as it had the strongest flavour although unsure how it will got with the chicken shiitake shiso ballotine and wasabi mash? And other suggestions for a sauce for the chicken?

cool ! more egulleters on tv!!