Adam_Balic

See above under "Drunk". Actually, it was a good party. Had to call the police and somebody tried to beat me up with a golf club.

Suvir - I hadn't realised that I had made Meethe Chawal until I looked it up! It's very similar to some of the Persian rice dishes that I have made (is it a Moghul dish?). I have used some dried fruit, nuts and Saffron. Screwpine is Pandana, yes? If so does this make the rice green? I have served this rice with lamb dishes, would this be the case with the Indian version?

Ooh, that reminds me of after we had been diving for Abalone, I was preparing them in a friends kitchen, but forgot to clean out their stomach contents. Blam, blam, blam, squirt, squirt, squirt. Abalone shite all over the walls and ceiling. Very stinky.

On Friday we had a Cocktail party at our flat for a friend who had just passed is Ph.D. We had been drinking little bit since about 5:00pm, at around 2:00am somebody asked me what the strange Veg. in the basket was. The Veg. in question was a Jicama (Also known as Yam-bean) I had bought back from DC. I offered to slice some for everybody to taste, but always the idiot I used my Mandolin. On the lattice setting. Mandolin very sharp, Adam very drunk. It took a few slices of Adam for me to notice what was going on. I now have some really cool parallel cuts on my fingers. People were very funny about eating the Jicama, go figure.

schmoopie - When you say Scampi, do you mean a sauce with shrimp-type things in it or a spicy tomato sauce with no Scampi? While in DC I ordered pasta with Scampi sauce and got the latter, when I questioned that lack of scampi in the scampi sauce I was told that "Scampi" just ment spicy in the USA.

Sure chiffonade, chiffonade goes without saying, but it's those little spiky hairs that put me off.

Curses, I was going to say that they are good in Pimm's & Lemonade too. You can crystalize the flowers, like violets. Leaves are OK in sandwiches (a little rough in texture to my taste). Also, leaves and flowers make a nice garnish for poached Salmon.

The type I buy (I always get a portion only, if I bought a pair I would start giggling like a teenager), is slightly different to the yellow rinded type (which is more aged). It is a fresh cheese, so ultra soft (think of the inside of a ripe Brie). I just spread it on bread and add the extra bits on top. There is no wrong way of dealing with a breast shaped cheese, just go with you feelings.

Wilfrid - "Queso Tetilla" is the cheese in question (a Spanish market has opened up next to our flat in Edinburgh, go figure). Looks like a womans breast, by reputation it tastes of "Kisses". Nice eh.

Yeh noodles. How about those green tea Japanese noodles, are a talking point, they taste great and they look good on the plate.

Had a few friends over for dinner last night. Had to work late so it was a bit rushed. Spanish "tit" cheese with quince paste on bread to keep everybody friendly. First Salmon-trout (Sea-trout) of the season. Baked in foil with wild-thyme, chervil, shallots, scrape of lemon zest and a splash ofvermouth. I love Salmon-trout. King of fish. Roasted Cauliflower with shaved garlic shoot, roasted new potatoes (in goose fat) , Vichey carrots, First Scottish asparagus of the season, petit pois (mushed with cream and butter added). Apple strudel (disaster, filling too wet so mushy pastry ).

From www.myspicer.com Difficult to know if they were implying that PPC were a type rose-hips or belonged to the rose plant group (like strawberries). The species ground in Reunion is related to the Cashew, I'm not sure how closely related this group is the roses.

Suvir - the pink peppercorns avalible in the UK/USA/France are almost entirely of the Schinus terebinthifolious/molle variety. These basically all have one source in the Island of Reunion. I would love to try some of the "true" pink peppercorns, as I love the fresh green variety (which is pretty common here in Scotland of all places). Are they commonaly avalible. Schinus terebinthifolious berries were really popular in Australia during the '80s, I remember that I had a pear tart that was flavoured with rosemary and pink peppercorns which was rather nice.

It's O.K., you are an Englishman, so that sort of behaviour is perfectly normal.

Mostly agree with what has been said before (especially the hair bit), but you could ask him about his association with Tate & Lyle. He was interviewed on the BBC "Food-Junkies" special about sugar and was very unhappy when it was vaguely suggested that had compromised himself. Anyway, he might get up and punch you, which would still make great copy . Other then that I have heard he is a Saint (stories about him visiting children in hospital who were invoved in car accidents are common, not surprising given his personal history).

Well I am now back in sunny Scotland after my adventures in the USA. Firstly, I would say what a pleasure it was to meet all concerned at the DC dinner and thank everybody for their kind efforts towards me. Those cornbread/ham kept me fuelled for another round of gallery/museum stalking the next day! The ham was excellent, I know we had some debate about its origins (local or Italian), my hosts in DC were quite sure that it was Virginian ham, so maybe it is. Anyway, its saltiness went very well with the sweetness of the cornbread. I also gifted the excellent chocolates to my hosts (who adored them), but not before I had picked out the red wine versions (sure, ungenerous, but I?m not made of stone). In the absence of an Asian meal I could detect more of the individual flavour components and realised just how good they were. The meal itself, as others have mentioned, had some very good dishes. I particularly enjoyed the soft shell crab, which I was fairly loath to share, but for the sake of manners, managed to overcome this impulse. The only real disappointment was that after being told that there was not BYO, finding out that they had sold out of all but three types of white wine. But this was of minor consequence in the grand scheme of things. Beer helped. I was most likely slightly subdued that evening as I had been walking around the Smithsonian for about seven hours. That and the conference I had attended were quite tiring. So sorry if I was a bit lacklustre. Additional items that I ate while in the USA: 1. Biscuits and Red eye gravy. Actually rather good, but three days in a row is about my limit. 2. Pork ribs. Good, but the artificial (?) smoke flavour was a little sickly after a while. 3. Crab cakes. Truly delicious. The crab?s flesh was in large pieces, so you could taste the natural sweetness of the meat. 4. Buffalo wings. Neither Buffalo nor wings. 5. Italian sausage sub-sandwich. Excellent, but huge and calorie laden, nearly died trying to finish it. 6. Southern fried chicken. Actually, exists outside of KFC, enjoyed in with sweet corn, felt very American. An observation I would make about the food I ate was that there seemed to be a great deal of sugar in the bread, even just plain rolls etc. Is this common in the US? It surprised me, given all the bad press given to salt and fats in the diet. Oh, scrapple doesn?t actually exist. It?s part of American folklore, like elves, pixies and faeries in Europe. Everybody has heard of it, some claim to have seen it out of the corner of their eye, but nobody has actually eaten it. Based on what scanty information is available, I am going to make some. Will serve it with a crawfish foam and bitter green sorbet. I did buy a pizza-stone from Sur-la-Table, which was a very good store, much better, in terms of what was offered, then W-S. Unfortunately, it caused me some problems at Dulles airport, as it as a large X-ray opaque object in my suitcase, so it caused some panic. I was taken to a special little room and made to un-pack. I was asked, ?What was in the box??. ?A pizza-stone?, I said. They were very puzzled about this until I pointed out that British pizza was terrible, so I was going to make my own. That little bit of racism resulted in smiles and backslapping and I was then free to leave.

Adam - it is in Leith, here is the website: http://www.smws.com/index.html You have to become a member, but at thirty quid a year (each member can bring three guests per visit) it is a bargin. There is also a branch in London so that may be closer?

Look at this site: http://www.cliffordawright.com/ JB award good enough for you? Sorry, my dash, taxi waiting.

Sorry Pricilla I didn't see that you have asked me a question. If I wanted an "original" recipe I would consult several sources (as has been suggested) and compare recipes, find out what are the common componants, then use that as a basis to work from. A source of "original" Italian recipes is "Great Italian Cooking. LA Grande Cucina Internazionale" by Luigi, Carnacina. Um, I was only joking about the cheese thing, kind of poking fun at the strict rules that my Italian friends have, by taking on that persona myself (sorry, should have used more of those winky-smily things). Have you got Clifford Wright's book "Mediterranean Feast"? Utterly brilliant, a great book for finding out about the roots of things. No. 9.

"Scampi" is Italian for Dublin Bay Prawn (Nephrops norvegicus), Langoustine (spelling?) in France. Nephrops norvegicus in the Adriatic is the same as Nephrops norvegicus in the North Sea (the name actually means "Norwegian Lobster"). It is more closely related to the lobster then to shrimp/prawns. They taste fantastic, unfortunately in Britian they batter/crumb them to death and the sell them as "Scampi". So some people, quite rightly, have difficulty making the conection between the loverly fresh Nephrops norvegicus and the sad battered/crumbed pub lunch Nephrops norvegicus As an Australian I would call small clawless prawns "Shrimp" (as in those delicious little brown shrimp you get in the UK), in the USA the would call the large version a "Shrimp", no?

Fritons? Interesting. The rillons I have seen cooked are all largeish chunks, it is true (never crunchy though). If you shredded them, I guess they would then be rillette, but much easier to make rilletes in the more conventional way. Lamb rillette, no I though of it of the top of my head, I just wondered if the existed out side of this though (Wilfid - do not become the philosopher on me now, or I will have to invoke the power of the pie).

I couldn't agree more, if it brings you the more pleasure then do it (I draw the line at adding coke though). I have a little tempid water in my Whisky, but I have only really drank it whilst living in Scotland and it is a little too cold/depressing to drink on the rocks here. Ardbeg is my very favorite, pure joy in a bottle. If anybody ever visits Edinburgh, and is interested, I will take you to the Scotch Malt Whisky Society Rooms, were you can have some truely unique and outstanding SMs (all single barrels given at barrel strength).

Rillions are chunky Rillette or more correctly Rillette are little Rillions (the name is a bit of a give away). Rillions are almost confit of lardons, whereas Rillette are more shreddy. They are my favourite food, especially goose Rillette, although rabbit Rillette with prune conserve is a close second. Has anybody ever had lamb rillette?

Most Italian cookbooks will give you the bare-bones, but it is up to you how the recipe ends up. It's a peasant dish, so nothing is fixed. A recipe of this nature is always original by nature. I would say that for such a recipe use the best olive oil and the very best pasta you can get and work up the recipe from there.

oh priscilla wasn't referring to you silly. it was that damned adam balic who was throwing around absolutes as if they were chunks of cheese at a tuscan dinner. ooh, bad analogy. sorry! Tommy is...correct? And chivalrous, to boot. As for Mr. Dr. Adam Balic: THAT's rich, an Australian, even an Australian living in Scotland, needing practice being loud and brash. (Not a criticism, an affinity!) I don't believe in Absolutes (note my earlier daring combination of butter and olive oil. Cutting edge stuff), just Yoko and me. Revolution No. 9. (See how I punish you, that song will be in your head for days now).