Steve Martin

This is especially interesting as I have never known a single Italian Italian to use this technique. Indeed, my mother tells a story of the exact opposite thing happening to her when she was living in Italy during the early 50s (i.e., one of the locals telling her that she should not be using a spoon). No they don't use the spoon. They don't cook very well either, but that's the myth.

I'm afraid the reason Muslims won't eat with their left hand is far more prosaic.

Water at 135F producing steam at over 212F. That would be quite an invention.

And their fork as well... Apparently same holds true for chopsticks. My sister lived in China for six months and said that the people she knew there were always telling her to hold the chopsticks quite near the ends because only common people hold them halfway down. Which ends?

The British use their cutlery in exactly the same way as the French. We simply do not use the American method. Note. In Britain cutlery now refers to both knives and forks.

The best confit is made from long cooking at well below 100 C. The water helps to keep the temperature down by latent heat of evaporation. I don't use it, but I will add some if the temp is going too high. By the way, I get good control, and a nice result, by putting the whole pan in the oven. The references to 'get the oil to boiling' are always amusing. Oil will ignite long before it boils. It means get it to a temperature where bubbles are coming off the meat at a fair pace; around the boiling point of water.

Thanks Adam, but I would like to know if the hole is in the very apex or the side. A good gas burner can give a quite diffuse heat, because of the small layer of unburnt gas, but I would always use the diffuser.

This is a question, by the way.

The hands above the table comes from the French court where intrigues used to be carried out by passing notes under the table. It's not hard to see why the Catholics have a similar rule. The back of the fork laid uppermost comes from France as well. The family crest was on the back of the silver. When you have finished the course, put your untensils side by side on the plate. The plate should be retrieved from your right so angle them around to just above where the waiter's thumb will be; around five o'clock position. When our oil rig went to the states it was priceless to see the good old boys gawping at our superhuman dexterity. Children basically copy their parents at the table, they do not have to be taught. One can also tell someone's class by the way they hold their knife.

I'd be interesting in knowing where the hole is in the Le Creuset model. Some tagines have little holes on the side, near the top. I understand only the base is cast iron, the top is glazed earthenware. I have read that unglazed would take up the spice flavours and provide a continuity in your tagine cooking. This is an appealing idea on one level. I have heard chefs talking about long cooking in quite tall pans so that the evaporation hits the top and drips back into the food. This constant cycle allows the food to be quite dry, but never dry out. I think it causes optimum conditions for a set of Maillard reactions. The tagine would appear to be the ideal form for this function. They will not work so well in an oven, because the top section should remain cool for condensing.

Mash = mache? But what is "rocket"? Sorry. Mash = mashed potato, as in bangers and mash. I like to do mash and mâche, but I couldn't find any. Hence mash and rocket. Pommes purée avec roquette. rocket = arugula = arrugola = rugola = rugula = rocket salad = Italian cress = roquette = rucola = Mediterranean rocket

Here is a menu I did for friends last month. I didn't photograph it, so I haven't posted it before. They often let us use their little house in France, so the theme was French. It was the first time they had dined with us, so it was something of a shock for them. Tapenade and olives with Pastis Small clams with a velouté of jurusalem artichoke and honey Foie Gras pan fried on puy lentils au lard, sherry vinaigrette Wild salmon caviar in a coulis of cauliflower Small langoustines with green salad Trio of Fish in a Sole fumet Wine : Pouilly Fuissé Poulet de Bresse Coq au vin with mash and rocket Wine : Fleurie Chariot of cheeses St. Agur, Brie, Morbier, Compté, Chevre with honey Creme Brulée with raspberries and a berry coulis Wine : Sauternes Café et Cognac

http://www.bistrotdusommelier.com/ Bloody brilliant. Great cooking and a chance to drink wine by the glass that could be indigestibly expensive by the bottle. Take your 3 star meal at Gagnaire and don't let the wine get in the way of the food. Viognier right through, perhaps.

They would be sued or bombed.

The veg is sliced and blanched in water salted at 20g/litre, then held in separate portions. It is sauted with ham and what appears to be butter, at service.

We thought he was a brilliant chef. The service was too fast a pace, so don't be rushed. Review here. The Don

Nice one Matthew. The DVD shows the gargle is prepared earlier in the day and held in foil containers. It is probably best to blanch the veg at their freshest. You haven't said what you drank, other than the champers. My Bras page has some pics of the building and the Auvbrac, but mainly the menu which shows the variation on the themes.

Chappit means chopped. This exquisite delicacy is often served with chappit neeps and bashed potatoes. It helps to be extremely drunk or extremely Scottish. Probably both.

I like my Gaggia Tebe. You will need a burr grinder, so a model with grinder built in would be good. I have a separate Gaggia grinder. You must play with the grinder settings to suit the coffee you buy and then adjust the force of your tamping to suit the grind. I have it on good authority that tamping should be quite light and it seems to be the case with my machine. The best espresso is made at 90 degrees C and 9 bar pressure. A working pressure of 9 bar is best achieved with a dead head pressure rating of 15 bar. I would hesitate to pay the extra for the Dualit. Good toaster though. Try the coffee beans from Valvona and Crolla mail order. Possibly the best in Britain. The crema depends on the tamp and can be elusive, but on a good day my little set up compares favourably with that which we have had in Italy. The famous Tazza d'Oro in Rome was prosecuted for adding dust from the floor to their coffee. So now we know how to get a great crema.

So far my most expensive wine has been a fifth as expensive as my top meal. This ratio is unlikely to change. I suggest that our past record is a good indication of what we would do with the grand. 1000 should allow for a very fine with the meal anyway, although I prefer lesser, more anodyne, wine with the finest cooking. The sour faced sommelier at Bras informed me that 'good food needs good wine'. I don't agree. Good wine needs good food, but all good food needs is good company. Thanks for the money, by the way. I will opt for no publicity.

Sean, I have just watched that section of the DVD again and the meat is not salted before cooking. He says they "will season mainly with pepper because salt will make the meat bleed". Although he does say "mainly", the meat is shown throughout and no salt goes near it. Perhaps I should have wiped the knife on my trousers as well. The knife trick was explained to us too late, but I don't doubt that it is Authentic. I actually thought Bras greatest stroke of genius was in designing a Laguiole knife that didn't look like a tacky souvenir. Now we are on "honest" food. What is dishonest food? I will not take the concept of honesty and integrity in food as a given. I think you brought more baggage to the table than I. He is not in the Auvergne, but the nearby Aveyron. I do agree that the food is thoughtful and, I suppose, sublime in concept and appearance. What I am saying is that the meal lacked flavour and balance. We felt we had munched our way through a box of raw vegetables and were actually glad when it was over. We were not offered dessert wine or digestif, but that was the same as Gagnaire. The French so often lose interest in the diner half way through the meal, exceptions such as Veyrat, Coutanceau and Putelat are a relief. Certainly, in the DVD, Gagnaire paid us the courtesy of explaining himself as fully as possible. No doubt that is what he was asked to do. We found Bras dreadfully stilted. A man who now believes in his own greatness. We didn't see him at the restaurant. Gagnaire, at his restaurant, seemed very humble and shy. I wish I had known for sure that he spoke English as I would have liked to have said more to him. I do hope you have a great time at Gagnaire, though, apparently, some people don't. PS. I was planning on visiting Rolly before I saw the DVD.

Chef Little does explain that the octopus must be nearly raw or very well cooked. Anything in between will be like a 'steel belted radial'. Like the 40 seconds or 40 minutes rule for squid. The marinating in lemon juice does seem to have an effect because 45 minutes poaching was too long after that. I imagine there is some variation in the tenderness of octopus due to age, size and the amount of pounding on rocks it endured. Chloe. Rick Stein says that freezing is better than scaring before a long cooking method. He said this after his travels to Galicia. The onion idea is quite Greek as well. I will definitely try it. Priscilla. Put a cork in it? I don't know this method. Perhaps some acidity or tannin from the cork helps matters. At any rate, it would have been better to have sliced and served the cork.

In answer to the query on the dinner thread. I received three large octopus tentacles and prepared them in three ways. One went into the freezer to see if that will tenderize it. Unfortunately, it will be some time before I will be cooking at home again. One was poached in a lemon court bouillon for 90 minutes, after an Alastair Little recipe. It was cooled, sliced and was very tender and tasty. A great success. The last was treated to another Chef Little method and scared in boiling salted water. This involves dipping it in for 20 secs, removing and dipping back in for 20 secs, and a third time. This is supposed to tenderise it more than a straight 60 secs blanching. It was then marinaded, unsliced, for 3 days in lemon juice and chopped chili. The amount of juice specified was not great, so I used a plastic bag to maximise contact. It was then sliced and served with some oil and parsley. It was quite inedible! The inside was very soft looking but too tough to chew and the outside, scared, part was no better. I poached the unsliced part on in salted water for 45 minutes, but then it was too soft and not quite right. So a balance of tenderising and poaching time is required. It is one of my wife's favourite things, so I will have to find out more about marinading methods. It does seem that some poaching can only be a good thing though.

Hi Andy, After reading a favourable review and then a bad one, I am none the wiser. It might tell me something about the writers but even that unwanted information will be suspect. The question is why should anyone believe a good review from me will mean a good meal for them or vice versa? As for a passion for food, I notice a passion for discussion of opinions and, perhaps, a broad consensus that food shouldn't be 'mucked about with'. Aside from lists of dislikes, the subject is often whether food is 'authentic' or 'relevant'. Many here seem to think they know whether a dish has 'integrity' or not. Has the chef been 'true' to his ingredients. I can't be doing with it. On the other hand, how many times can we discuss types of salt and ways to ruin a steak. By the way, on the DVD, Bras says not to put salt on raw meat because it makes it bleed. My counter indicates very little interest in my website. I mention it because it serves as a way to introduce myself. On your site, you ask that people look at your track record before they read your reviews. I like the reference to a vanity publication, because it explains very well what we are doing. Let's face it. We should really be in our kitchens.