Kikujiro

Okay, so I have raw chicken fat and an onion. From Google, I see at least two basic options available to me. The first is to render the fat in a pan with water to stop it from burning, let solidify, drain water, and then melt again and fry the onion in it. The other is to render the fat directly in a frying pan with the diced onion. People, I need guidance here.

Having had a bit more, I'm guessing boiled egg. Off to the gym now, in a complex bit of quasi-Faustian self-negotiation that is meant to allow me to render chicken fat tomorrow.

The pickle is presented in two large pieces, so I doubt mixing in was the intention.

Not sure about the 'should'. River Café Green has this: 'Ricotta Salata This is a dry, salty cows' and sheeps' milk cheese, made in Puglia, Sardinia and Sicily. White in colour, it has no rind and its condensed hard texture makes it easy to grate.' (The 3 recipes in the book want it grated.) Edit: I'm not saying like parmesan. Crumbly but grateable.

Ricotta salata is fairly hard. Like, you can grate it. Ricotta wants to be incredibly fresh. You can make it at home. I've never tried to (I live right by the two oldest Italian delis in London); a quick search on Google brought back this method, for example; have no idea whether it's a good one.

Macrosan, Thank you very much for the elucidation (and thanks again to you and Mrs Macrosan for the fantastic gift). I am already raving about the chopped livers sans schmaltz, but I think I will be unable to resist trying it with as well. Luckily, the quantity provided was heroically generous, so I will be able to do both quite comfortably

Every time I go to the States I envy the smoking restrictions. It is impossible for me to go out for a drink in London without being subjected to nauseating (lit.) gales of second-hand smoke. The same applies to several restaurants. I come back home wearing clothes that need to be aired for 24 hours. We even still have smoking compartments in trains, which are so ridiculously crowded that you cab be forced to sit in them. At the very least, I'd welcome mandatory no-smoking sections over here. Meanwhile, somebody should open a bar called Smoke and Air: two separate glass boxes connected by an airlock, so you can see the difference; sushi served where you can taste it.

Yeah, a little elaboration for those of us less in touch with our heritage would be cool. Am I being a fool, or is the chicken fat raw but the onion already cooked? If so, should I be concerned about eating the already-prepared bits (the onion and the cucumber) that have been in contact with the chicken fat? Should I not fry onion i the chicken fat anyway? Do I add all the rendered fat to the (decimated, in the literal sense) chopped liver? Also, like Simon, I'm curious to know what's in the already prepared chopped liver. I am looking forward to this once I've worked it out. In the meantime, the chopped liver as it stands is sensational. It could become an unhealthy new addiction. edit: I see Macrosan's posting in here right now. I'm going to hang out until he finishes.

I'm noticing a trend on this thread. I say something which nobody notices, and a day later Gavin says it Besides this comment, I have nothing to add, except, Steve, there's no apostrophe in the possessive form of 'it'.

PE's wine is actually fairly decent value, I thought. The Aglianico is a much better deal than at other restaurants.

KP. RC. The Eagle. PizzaExpress. Wagamama. Pret. Seattle Coffee Co. Fifteen. I'm joking, of course. Except about PizzaExpress.

Sketch is reviewed by Guy D. in this weeks Time O. Oddly, their estimate for upstairs is £260 for two inc. wine and service. Based on previous posts and the Telegraph review this sounds at the very low end. Some carte prices cited. Starters: 'vegetables, £32'; 'Crab, £30' [inc pig's ear]. Mains turbot £55, partridge £58. They didn't order puds either, apparently because they were 'too full'. GD, is your job.

I bet we could broadly agree on a list of, say, twenty.

That's what I said but everyone ignored me

Are you just meant to nuke them dry?

Simon: hm. According to the OED, it's a "corruption of ‘and per se -- and’, the old way of spelling and naming the character &; i.e. ‘& by itself = and;’ found in various forms in almost all the dialect Glossaries." First citation is from 1837, so your date must have been pretty old if she was telling the truth ... then again she was probably so swamped with endorphins at your typological smalltalk she was desperate to get you interested, even if it meant lying. Certainly the thought of you murmuring quietly across a candlelit dinner table about glyphs and em dashes makes me feel weak at the knees.

Steve, the day the Telegraph tries to teach its readers anything is the day the Daily Mail's stock price rockets. Although your comparison with an art show is a bit unfair as one doesn't have to buy the dam' Picassos Edit: anyway, Gary's right.

Adam, Care to divulge your method for green papaya salad?

Steve, where are you getting the tasting menu figure? The review suggests up to £150/head for three courses from the carte. An additional quesion: were any of the comparators you cite charging prices like that at opening, before getting their stars and/or with the name/star chef being in a consultant role?

Cloudy Italian honeys (Seggiano and especially Lungarotti), on toast with butter or in a mug with the juice of a lemon, hot water and a splash of rum.

What was your family food culture when you were growing up? We lived in London and, for a few years, Palo Alto. We generally ate dinner together as a family from quite early in my life. My parents' cooking changed over the years. I remember earlier dishes like spinach and cheddar pie, 'Mexican pie' (like Shepherds Pie but with stuff like red beans in), and a 'Chinese' chicken salad (sesame oil, etc). From recent shifting about of boxes of old books, I know that Conran, Delia Smith and Sunset magazine were all eary sources. We ate dim sum and dinner in Chinese restaurants from CA onwards, so when I was about 5. We ate out in London too. As I got older we spent a lot of holidays in Italy and like the rest of the country incorporated a lot of pasta into our diet, except we did it fairly well quite early on. Pasta and fresh tomato sauce was probably the first thing I learned to cook with confidence. My parents' cooking developed and got more contemporary and confident over time: fish and meat raw or cooked rare, and so on. Annual trips to Venice brought lots of risotti and yet more fish into the mix. Was meal time important? Yes, it was usually a whole-family thing at least. Was cooking important? I think my mum (who cooked most when I was younger) cared a lot about our diets. My dad was always the pastry chef. What were the penalties for putting elbows on the table? Occasional requests not to. Who cooked in the family? My mum when I was a kid; later both my parents and ultimately all of us. Were restaurant meals common, or for special occassions? Fairly common. Did children have a "kiddy table" when guests were over? No, only my grandparents did that. When did you get that first sip of wine? Fairly early at a family event is my guess. Can't remember. Was there a pre-meal prayer? No. Was there a rotating menu (e.g., meatloaf every Thursday)? Not exactly, but there was a repertoire of repeated meals at the core. How much of your family culture is being replicated in your present-day family life? As I live by myself, not that much ... except I think it's responsible both for the frequency with which I eat out, the attention I try to pay to what I eat (in terms of health and of quality of ingredients), and my enjoyment of cooking. Oh, and my love of Chinese food, perhaps

Salmon (farmed, organic), dusted with chilli flakes and seared on a ridged grill, served on the rest of the spinach (had to finish it off). Not an entirely successful invention: too much chilli, grill too hot -- but it was okay. Accompanied by rock shandy because I've been drinking a lot recently. Organic yoghurt.

Hm. Maybe you're right. I do feel that it's a bit intrusive to ask someone that's just trying to make a reservation who they work for. At the very least they could make it clear that's an optional market research question. And it's quite a different matter from keeping records on existing clients to provide good service, as in your experiences at Red Cat and Blue Hill. Supposing they ask: are you single? Because they might want to pitch the place to singles nights? Or, are you gay? Or which football team do you support? (And what if you don't want your employer to be told you've been dining there?)

Steve, while the choice of pens is clearly an amusing but irrelevant aside, I don't think the booking policy is. It's part of the experience of Sketch and surely a restaurant review should take aspects other than food (service, ambience, yadda yadda) into acount? I didn't think the mention of the customer cross-examination was just mentioned because it was funny ha-ha. It's in danger of sounding like screening. On the other hand, the fact that the Telegraph's budget doesn't stretch to dessert is a bit pathetic.

baphie -- many thanks for doing this