origamicrane

I personally would love to see a real masterchef. real prize money for pro chefs. were all the best chefs in the uk would be invited to participate. and you have a panel of judges that blind taste and judge the food. an ironchef with teeth. the format would be heats with themes or specific dishes. then as it gets to the final 16 each task would be a different set piece like restricted budget, surprise box of ingredinets, mass catering, presentation. Would love to see a round with all of the uk celebrity chefs battling each other!! would make absolutely amazing tv i think as real reputations would be on the line!

this process is called "shocking" I thought the idea was that shocking made the dumpling skin more elastic ? like noodles they use this method to give it a more elastic mouth feel. anyone can confirm this?

I guess it depends if you think the ready made stuff is acceptable and if it worth the effort of making it yourself. afterall hellman's mayo is a really good product but even I sometime make my own mayo

wrap a strip of nori around the cake before frying will make it instantly identifible as a japanese dish!! try: a sprinke of wasabi powder actually into the batter itself if you can take the heat put more in chop some shiso leaf into the crab meat. add a squeeze of lemon inot the tempura dip

yum yum Mimmo D'ishcia, Elizabeth Street. A lovely place and it really doesn't get more italian then this place. Osteria Basilico, in Notting Hill I thought was excellent too and very reasonable. Cecconi's haven't been yet but my friends swears by it. Carluccio's in neal street is better then the cafe's but not much much better. but they have a more insteresting menu thent he cafe's

hmm... could you use a bit of metal/plastic piping?

You know i like this place alot but the other night i went there and was literally blown away!!! I've been to Mju six times now but the other night was like the most amazing meal I have EVER had ANYWHERE in the world. Ok we started with a lovely beef consommé and some cumin and sesame bread with excellent unsalted butter. Then the main meal 1. Duo of Colchester Oysters ginger & rice vinegar and passionfruit dressing 2. Seafood Trio was 2 slices of tuna sashimi with wasabi ice cream, a seared scallop, scallop carpaccio with water cress and langoustine tartar, truffle oil and foie gras shavings. 3.Poached salmon melted leeks and Riesling nage 4. Braised foie gras mulled wine jus, pear sorbet and hazelnut brioche 5. Lobster linguini shellfish oil, dried Aromatic seaweed, Asian herbs 6. Cleanser of lemongrass, salt and thyme foam cleanser 7. Wild venison fricassee of mushrooms, parsnip puree & sweet cranberries 8. Second cleanser of tapioca, coriander syrup and passion fruit ice cream 9. Baked Chocolate Hot Chocolate Fondant, Spiced Fig Ice Cream, Brandy Anglaise everything was perfectly cooked, everything was really fresh, and each dish was a good sized starter portion and the ingredients so rich that by the time the foie arrived we were already stuffed. The only dish that I would have taken out was the salmon, it was excellent but for some reason, it didn't seem to flow within the meal (just a personal preference). And why was this the most amazing meal I have ever had anywhere in the world? look at the ingredients in the dishes, 9 course degustation menu food only bill came in at £42/head?!

avoid saturday unless you want to know what a sardine feels like

I think a lot of newbies have a preconception about the time Vs effort ratio of cooking. When I attended a french cooking course the most eye opening thing I made was a jus. The lecturer told us that we were going to spend the next 6-8 hours making a few litres of stock and check it ever 15 minutes to skim and depouiller and then we were going to reduce it down to just a fuew tablespoons to make a jus. my initial reaction was there is no way that spending 6-8 hours making a stock and then reduce it down to a jus would be worth it. how wrong I was! it was one of those, it tastes so good you are speechless moments! I think in every kind of learning you should be shown something that makes you go Wow! have fun!

"Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse". Except me that is! I'll be stirring, chopping, roasting and a cooking!! Yeah baby!!! So less then 3 days to xmas and I don't see any major xmas dinner threads at the top of the cooking forum??? ??? anyway starting tonight I am prepping the kitchen and making stock for 20 of my family and friends to descend on my home to eat the following 1. Turkey ballotine with two types of stuffings Stuffing 1. sausage meat, porcini, pancetta, garlic, shallots and tarragon Stuffing 2. sausage meat, onion, leek, sage and chestnuts Sides: Roast stuffing balls Honey mustard roast parsnips Roast potatoes Roasted vine cherry tomatoes. Steamed carrots. Sauteed leeks Brussel sprouts with garlic herb butter and pine nuts. Sausages wrapped in bacon. Fresh Cranberry sauce. chicken and turkey gravy. 2. Chicken ballotine stuffed with shiso, shiitake mushrooms, pancetta and chicken rosemary jus 3. Roasted Gammon ham, honey mustard glaze 4. Desserts Chocolate souffles Tiramisu Banoffee pie homemade ice cream hmmm do you think I have forgotten anything?? So what you got cooking?

Where in London apart from borough market and the high end deptartment stores can I buy good/reasonably priced porcini?

Surely not!? A man with your impeccable taste would not fall for the...what's that English expression meaning "all frills and no substance" of PV? Their cakes may look great but they are way light on flavour... ← I dunno I love the ambience there and I still rate their cheescake if you know of a better cheesecake show me the way to it But the main reason I love the Soho branch of PV is sentimental. I've been going there since I was about 5 my Chinese sunday school is just opposite Ronnie Scott's. It also used to host two of the most funny, friendly, kind and entertaining waitresses I have ever met Maria and Helena. Maria was just like Edith Artois from the old 80's tv show 'Allo allo' and Helena was just a babe During university I would go there for lunch once a week in between lectures and they would sometimes give me a free slice of cake after my club sandwich and lemon tea. sigh.... Then about 8 years ago PV decided to expand, Maria and Helena left and it was then that it started to lose its lustre. I go there less now but that place still makes me smile.

hehe ok all the cakes were lovely, very light and refined and just right on the sweetness. Service was very good, the friendly staff happily shifting tables and chairs to accomodate us. The cakes are easily better then my much adored Patisserie Valerie and seem to be on a similar price also they are open to 11pm so I have a feeling I will be heading back there very soon and besides still got another 8 cakes to try

some photos to drool over starters orders praline mille feuille carre chocolat raspberry passionfruit tart what was this one called? arabica aftermaths

hi to follow on my thread in the China forum anyone know where I can hold of osmanthus flowers? or candied osmanthus in London? thank you

a bunch of us went yesterday hmm... yummy those macaroons are on the painful side of pricey though £1.50 each. hmm.. better learn to make my own

thanks for all the info so far. i actually have a big bag of osmanthus tea you think i could make an osmanthus tea jelly with it? i might try it and will probably trial and error with making a tea infusion but if anyone got any guidelines about making the infusion be most grateful

i got a recipe here in chinese its a clear jelly with a subtle sweet floral scent and taste very delicate jelly. my problem is I don't know how to ask for or where to get the main omanthus flavour ingredient? http://www.leisure-cat.com/frm_1384.htm my pinyin is pretty crap so not sure if the quan fa is correct.

hi just got back from holiday in Hong Kong and had one of my favourite desserts there. I'm back in london and am in seperate need of it. 桂花果凍 桂花 jelly "gwai fa go" ? osmanthus jelly? "Kwai hua" jelly? "Quan fa" jelly? can't find anything google . anyone know how to make it? got a recipe pretty please

thanks looks good to me will have a butchers

here's mine pretty traditional but a goodie. stuffing: 500g sausage meat 5 slices of fresh brown breadcrumbs 100g butter mixed with 1/2 cup of coursely chopped herbs (a mix of parsley, sage, thyme, rosemary, tarragon) 1 large diced onion 1 chopped leek sauteed in butter half a bulb of chopped garlic 1t salt 1t pepper.

anyone know where I can get good quality fozen puff pastry? I'm making mille feuille but too lazy to make my own puff pastry yet too stuck-up to settle for supermarket / saxby-et-al.

yeah that doesn't ring true to me either. I think most of the wierd things we chinese eat was probably due to famine and desperation in the olden days. We eat bugs and insects but crab and most seafood I think would have been staple diet of fishermen who probably observed birds and otters and thing like that eating them.

well my vote for best fast food joint is Nando's do i hear a second?

observation here so feel free to discuss but wouldn't indian/chinese fusion food be like malaysian? indonesian? nonya? food?