Mr Wozencroft

I use it as a vegetarian stock. Last night I tried cooking some cannellini beans with half water and half liquid left over from steeping some chinese black mushrooms. I was really happy with the result. Well worth trying.

Some take-away chinese dishes in the u.k. have food colouring added. I'm thinking of the pink/red sweet and sour dishes. If you go the Chinese supermarkets you see plastic jars of the stuff. Its also nearly impossible to cook chinese food without using some m.s.g. (oyster sauce, chilli-bean paste etc) but thats ok cos me and m.s.g. are dear friends.

Just to let you know there are a few smacked cucumber recipes in fuchsia dunlop's Revolutionary Cookbook. Few things in life are as satisfying than smacking a cucumber.

I bring my stock slowly up to around the boiling point, this is the time when you have to watch it like a hawk, then I lower the heat to around 70c until the meat is tasteless. I dont add any aromatics, I prefer to add them fresh to next application. Then I strain the first stock and re-wet the original ingrediants (perhaps adding a few pigs feet or chicken feet) to produce a secondary stock. Frugal and time consuming but unltimately worth-while. n.b. If using pigs feet dont forget to fish them out, press bread crumb and grill for a delicous dinner with mashed potato and a piquant sauce.

I second the feet reply. I get mine frozen from a local chinese supermarket and they are/were my secret stock weapon. If you gently swirl a spoon into the centre of the stock the unwanted particles will be swept out to the edges of the pot which makes it easier to skim them.

You could try the old trick of dousing them in boiling water a few times. Then refresh them in ice water then dry with paper towells and dry in your fridge overnight. If you have a hairdryer with a cold blow setting, you could work on it with that for while. Then bake as normal, nice and hot, nice and quick. Hope this helps.

I've used turkey; and pheasant for that matter in chinese dishes. Pheasant sichuan chilli chicken was stunning but less so was the Turkey dry fried "chicken". Perhaps that was because it was the best lookin turkey in the line-up. We're just talking fairly white protein ar'nt we? I'm sure I remember a post here talking about how good guinea fowl was for chinese dishes.

Try this. 3 tablesppons of sweet soy sauce. Add chilli oil to taste and a litte sesame oil. Then, if you wish, add some crushed garlic mixed with some water.

Just laser temp'ed it. In less than 40 seconds it was smoking and at 326c, 619f. Not sure how that compares with gas wok burners. In fact I usually have to set it lower than this to prevent things instantly burning to a crisp. I use a wok rather than a cast iron pan for stir fries mainly because of the volume of ingrediants a wok can hold. For example when you are stir frying greens, in a cantonese style, before quickly boiling it in stock.

Dont know if anyone has any experience of using a flat bottomed wok on an induction hob; but I have found that it gets extremely hot very quickly. I have no idea how hot it gets but I shall laser temp it later and report back.

Can I chime in with recommending Fuchsia Dunlops book? Too late, I already have. I have been working my way through it for the past few months. I am slowly trekking up to mount hotpot. The chicken with chillies, dry fried chicken and the ma po dou fou (among others) are already firm favourites. The key is to get the freshest, most potent, sichuan peppercorns that you can. The peppercorns available from your local chinatown will not do. Thats an order. Look for the chilli bean paste that includes Broad beans (Fava Beans). I use the Lee Kum Lee brand, not sure if its available in the U.S. The facing heaven chillis I have found impossible to source so I use a chinese dried red chilli's and they work a treat. Enjoy and dont forget, you are nothing without good stock.

Just as a general note. I always removes eyes lips and gills when making fish stock. The secret ingrediant is brevity. Fish head currys are great too.

I use a cast iron wok, a infrared temperature gun and a spider for scooping up the goodies. This set up costs around thirty quid. The real benefit of this approach is that the cast iron retains a huge amount of heat and so you dont really get dramatic drops in temperature. It only uses about a litre of oil and is very easy to clean. I did a test run recently with some vietnamese style chicken wings and it worked perfectly, hope this helps.

Its an in-shop offer as far as I can tell. I just stumbled across it yesterday afternoon. Also mentioned on Dan Lepards forum. Its hardback and for the price I reckon its pretty special... Hope this clears it up.

Just letting you good folks know that Whsmith are selling The Cook's Book featuring for only £6 reduced from £30. Featuring Ferren Adria, Peter Gorden, Shaun Hill, Dan Lepard, Atul Kochhar, David Thompson, charlie trotter and many more. It seems its ugly cover has failed to impress but the content is great.

If you head over to Fergus Hendersons website - www.stjohnrestaurant.co.uk. - You can see a video of a chef listening to tell when the mayonnaise is ready

I agree with fatguys comment about grinding your own meat. You could try and add some unami, grind a dried morel (or other mushroom) in a coffe grinder untill its a powder, add that to the mix. Parmasan, in moderation works well. I saw a japanese video cip that suggested adding a lil mayonaise to the mix; which I tried and kept the burger very moist. A good tip if your meat hasnt got enough fat.

Thankyou for your kind and prompt response but most of the site apears to be in japanese? (chinese?) Which given my impoverised education seems to be beyond my grasp. Please help! Anyone.... ? Anyone....?

Forgive me fellow travelors for my indulgence but I have developed a deep craving for sea urchin. The sorry creatures I have bought at cardiff market have got me escorted from at least one local cafe as they seem to have long since given up the will to live and ejected themselves from their casing (through plastic bag) onto the floor. Does anyone know where I can order a basket of (fresh) sea urchins?

Thanks bro um........... I'm a limey brit welsh boy so whats nutritional yeast.. um looking for unusual, usual coatings.............. just read about alton browns microwave method but am looking for some amazing taste sensations............. thanks once again. Teach me toings I kinda know the classics but wanna be amazed..

Just like it says on the tin, Will you share your great recipes and coatings for that corn which does pop. The truth is my g.f. loves it and I wanna make her day. Savory, sweet, alls a treat. Cover me in tasty corn from my chin to my feet. Thanks in advance.

Girl, if your a man then I just turned gay.

Last weekend I deep fried some battered pig brain slices. Served them with good sea salt and wedges of lemon. They were crunchy, creamy and delicous.

How long do you think does it takes before your taste buds begin performing like non smoker taste buds? Any ideas? Anyone... Anyone? (I'd hate to waste a bottle of Bordeaux on my stinky underperforming smoker tastebuds.)