origamicrane

oh yeah definitely some pho nuoc-mam?? hmmm... condiment more then food but then again wasabi would definitely be japanese. hmmm... what to do? what to do?

korea - yep definitely kimchee and soju as the national drink vietnam - summer rolls

Belgium - mussel frites and beer again Switzerland - hey we forgot fondue.

some others Scotland also chips and gravy China - Peking duck Germany - Sausages and beer Greece - Kleftiko and ozu Morocco - lamb and cous cous Thailand - green curry and tom yum soup Hainese - Chicken rice personally i think satay should be for Malaysia and chilli crab should be Singapore.

che that's pure poetry

Hi all I want you all to help me create a definitive guide of all the national dishes/ drinks from around the world. I'm planning to make a kind of gourmet map of the world and then attempt to eat all of them!! you know i'm sure there is money to be made in organising gourmet eating holidays anyway this could get very messy with lots of people claiming certain dishes as their own or making remarks about the origins of a particular dish ie: pasta came from China etc So the simple criteria is this, it is the dish/ drink or food group that you most associate with a country regardless of it original heritage. let me get the ball rolling England - Fish and Chips, lager Scotland - Haggis, Whiskey Spain - Paella , sherry Japan - Sushi, Sake China - Rice, Tea Italy - Pizza, coffee America - Burger, coke Sweden - Smorgasbord France - Escargot, Wine Ireland - Guinness India - Curry, Lassi This is just a bit of fun so feel free to add your own ideas for each country and at the end of the thread i will set them out inito a nice big map.

what i have to go out of zone 1?!

balex Posted on Jul 19 2004, 12:52 PM there lots of good places to eat in and outside of London, just stick a post up for recommendations and you will be flooded with good suggestions. What i am talking about is that a restaurant that always serves the same thing does become mediocre for me good cooking can be mediocre if it is boring. here's an example of what i mean say you are on holiday you usually want to try the local dishes as they are new and unfamiliar to you. The food might not be good, it might even be dangerous but it will be interesting as such it doesn;t become mediocre in your eyes and i would like to sometimes walk into a restaurant and see a dish or two that i have never seen before in a london restaurant. on to Gary's post Gary Marshall Posted on Jul 20 2004, 01:05 AM I agree, egullet is just a spoilt foodie forum ( and a very good and spoilt one it is ) and dissecting the whys and wherefores of the uk social consciousness is out of our err.... remit. I'm not saying that the UK populace has bad taste, heck! no! The uk taste buds have improved in leaps and bounds over the last 30 years what i am saying is that the UK populace is still reserved and conservative when it comes to trying new foods. As such the variety and range of restaurant serving more new and interesting food is limited. There is good food out there, there is bad food out there, but when was the last time you saw a dish that you never seen before in London?

hey all I think there are plenty of good places to eat in London in all price categories, but interesting places? I'll assume we mean interesting foodwise. I think the lack of interesting place is down to the majority of the UK population not having adventurous tastes. Supply and demand, no demand, no supply. I know everyone who is on egullet has good/adventurous tastes but the majority of the population doesn't. Need I remind you all that the UK's most popular dish is chicken tikka masala.

keep the heads as they add flavour when you cook them think of it like keeping the bone on meat as it improves the flavour.

well if the fruit is sweet enough there no need for salt. I think most people add salt to the fruit if its not quite ripe adding a little salt to anything sweet actually heightens the sweetness try it with pineapples or wash strawberries in a little brine and rinse but it is only a very very light dusting of salt. think about the salt rim on maragritas its that kind of idea. personally i would rather chop up the water melon and stick it in a blender with some ripe strawberries and ice:)

i think its the yogurt thats causes the graininess try reducing the yogurt, increase the mascapone and use a few more vanilla beans

chinese sauasages lap cheung the red waxy like sausage hanging by strings. yes they do have a sweet taste and they are fatty but if cooked right are very tasty. You don't really find them in restaurants as this product is more for home cooking. Quality varies from brand to brand like any other product . But the simplest way to cook them is to toss them in the rice cooker with your rice, while the rice steams the sausages are cooked and they impart their flavour to the rice. Once cooked take them out and slice them into very thin half a centimetre thick diagonal slices. And they are just eaten like that with your other chinese dishes. Yes they are an acquired taste as chinese wind dried/cured products are very different from western versions. If you don't like the sweetness you can make sticky rice which is made from a load of rehydrated dried shrimps, squid, shitake mushrooms. The water from the rehydration is used to cook some glutinous rice, at the same time you cook the chinese sausages. chop up all the ingredients into small piece and quickly stir fry in a wok with oyster sauce, soya sauce a little sugar. Then you mix it with the steamed glutinous rice. serve with a sprinkling of chopped scallion. :)

oh yeah!!! sear scallops with a raw creamy middle :) hhmmmmm..... the most amazing seared scallop dish i had was in MJU Knightsbridge, London. 3 juicy sashimi grade sear scallops on a green pea puree, topped with a piece of pan fried foie gras served with a green leaf and a sprinkle of roasted hazlenuts drooolll :)____

jimbob Posted on Jul 15 2004, 09:09 AM think you been eating the wrong herbs or the right ones depending on your point of view

arrr... minced meat kebabs, yes, i can see that working hmmm that reminds me of vietnamese chao tom, minced prawn wrapped around a piece of sugar cane and deep fried. hmmm........ could try the same thing with the lemon grass. mince up some meat with some sweet basil, garlic and seasoning and wrap it round a stalk of bruised lemongrass it might just work.

rosemary stalks for skewer yep but lemongrass for skewers? wouldn;t lemon grass stalk be too thick? it be hard to skewer stuff. In malaysia they use shredded lemongrass to make a basting brush for satay adds a really nice aroma to the satay. sabg Posted on Jul 15 2004, 08:20 AM chop and bruise the lemongrass into 1 cm bits add water bring it to a boil add green tea bag or leaves add sugar or honey to taste and then chill in a fridge its very refreshing.

man cannot eat bread along No he/she must have crossiants and bagels and pita and naan and foccacia, blah, blah, blah.......... yep if you got the freshest fattiest tuna belly then it be sacrilege to eat it anything but raw. yeah just cut it off and give it to me with aload of wasabi and soya sauce but chefdg have you tried the nobu recipes they are seriously good the first one gives the fish a really strong chilli spike and the blow torching just realease some of the fatty oil searing the edges and is a gorgeous variation of tuna tataki. And the new style sashimi is amazing too, although i think that technique lends iself better to salmon or scallop as tuna has a firmer texture.

trillium Posted on Jul 14 2004, 10:18 AM thanks trillium thats was something that worried me about some of the stone m&ps as i thought that you would get a lot of unwanted dust and colouring in your grind. So in effect you have to season the m&p before real usage

yep if the pan is smoking hot anything more then a minute and it will be overdone. Thats why I sometimes use a blowtorch as you literally just want the outside to be cooked and it too be raw in the middle. Actually the nobu cookbook got two nice recipes for tuna 1. You smear a little crushed garlic on sashimi slices of tuna and just blowtorch one side then top it with a cilantro leaf and a thin slice of chilli and serve it with a citrus soya sauce. 2. new style sashimi where you sprinkle crushed garlic, finely sliced ginger and scallion on some thin slices of tuna. Then you heat up a 3/1 Tbsp of light olive oil to sesame oil until is start to shimmer then using a ladle carefully just pour the oil over the tuna slices and then finish with a splash of soya sauce and a squeeze of orange and a sprinkle of chives and toasted sesame seeds. its amazing how simple and tasty these both come out, everytime i made it for people they are like "wow! this is amazing!"

here's a pretty good one for any occasion say you are taking some medicine for some imaginary ailment and the doctor said you not allowed to eat particular foods being offered until you finished the course of medicine. A good one is to say its chinese herbal medicine and you not allowed to eat dairy products, red meat, shellfish, fried food, chilli food, fatty foods, etc which pretty much covers everything that could be in a picnic basket.

well looks like its pretty conclusive the granite one it is.:) yeah the glass ones seem a little unsafe but they do look good :) and thinking about it now the porcelain one might be quite fragile too. okie dokie off to the chinese supermarket for me this weekend. thanks for all the help :) cheers

hi there i'm in the market to buy a pestle and mortar and was wondering what is the best material for one???? Wood? porcelain? metal? marble? as a friend said wood ones tend to absorb the flavour and smell of the herbs being grinded and metal ones can also impart a metallic taste to certain herbs? is this true? i'm looking at typoon P&M's http://www.typhooneurope.com/dept.asp?dept_id=16 i like the look of the porcelain one as its quite cheap too, under a tenner any insight would be much appreciated :)

check this link http://www.sojourn.com.my/contents/2003/01...1_cnyfoods.html looks like a pretty accurate recipe:)

iced lemongrass and honey green tea :) others thai green curry and satay :)