CHARCUTIER

I'm going to Bangkok with my partner next week. Whilst she has some vague thoughts about sight-seeing, I shall mostly be eating. We have been to BKK before and eaten amazing food, mostly from stalls. This time, we would like to go to a proper sit-down restaurant for one evening. We want authentic Thai food but in a restaurant setting. Is this possible? If so, where would you suggest? In terms of price, we are fairly flexible but would much rather avoid identikit hotel dining rooms. I just can't wait to be there.

It is an extrodinary coincidence that there has recently been so much interest in Nice, as I have just been tasked by the girlfriend to "ask my friends on egullet" about restaurant recommendations. I have, of course, read through the existing threads. However, my question is quite a specific one: where can a group of 11 english girls go for dinner in nice? The kinds of places they like in London are Salt Yard, Yauatcha, Fino; in other words, trendy places that aren't astronomically expensive. I suspect that Nice might not have a surfeit of this kind of restaurant, but I promised I'd ask.... I should probably say that it is for a hen night, but before you all recommend your most hated places for fear of destroying an otherwise pleasant restaurant with a group of drunken yobbettes, I should clarify that it will not be the kind of hen-night involving penis earings and male strippers (or so my girlfriend tells me...). The ladies in question are a (relatively) sophisticated bunch. I thought la Petite Maison might fit the bill; otherwise I suppose there's always brasserie flo. Any imput would be enormously appreciated.

I think many possible contributors to the UK forum are discouraged from posting by the highfalutin dining tastes of many of the regular contributors. One sometimes gets the feeling that unless one is on first-name terms with the maitre d of Petrus, or sleeping with the sommelier at the Ledbury, this forum is not the place to post. I know that there are lots of posts about the bloody new tayabb, but it is usually mentioned thus: "went to Pied a Terre (or the square or the capital etc) and paid loads of money, but then i went to New Tayabb and spent loads less". I think there are some great new places to eat in London, and I remain enthused about the state of food in the capital. Moby P (who's posts i generally very much respect) suggests that in order to improve dining in London, we need more Blumenthals. But Blumenthals and their ilk are completely alien to most dining experiences in London today - whether or not the bar has been raised by another celebrity chef opening another overpriced and overmarketed restaurant is neither here nor there. The way in which restaurants standards are improved is through competition amongst solid neighbourhood eateries, and I think we are seeing more of that. To give a (somewhat random) example, the tapas restaurant opened by the people who run Garcia on Portobello road is an astonishingly good value, tasty and friendly place to eat. I know you are all bored of tapas, and especially of tapas being the new black, but I highly recommend it. The restaurant eschews the traditional accoutrements of ye olde tapas bar, and instead nods firmly towards the clean lines of new spain. The food, however, is simple, well executed tapas classics: meat balls, patatas bravas, tortilla etc. It doesn't sound like much, but when executed properly it is a good and honest thing. Oh and by the way, I went to Pied a Terre recently and it was historic.

I stand corrected. Apologies.

I am also a big fan of Tobia. It fulfils the essential test for any London Ethiopian restaurant: the food must be much better than in Ethiopia. Tobia does this: the food retained enough authenticity to remind me of Addis, but used much better meat than I found in Ethiopia. When I last went, we were the only table. This is a disgrace, as the food was excellent, the service extremely friendly and the bill marvellously low. Could the restaurant reviewers amongst you stop reviewing the bloody Ledbury and encourage people to dine at Tobia?

I should first confess that I am no great fan of polenta, which, as Hector points out, might explain my dislike of ugali. Also, in defence of Tanzanian cuisine (and therefore in contradiction to my earlier post) I'd like to agree with Hector that Zanzibar provides some interesting food. The night market in Stone Town is one of the best culinary playgrounds I've ever been to, and the Lobster is cheap! Also, the sugar cane juice is awesome.

Jason - Thanks for the detailed recipe. Can't wait to try it. Just one remianing question: what cut of pork did you use? Thanks, Phil

Jason - I would be extremely interested in your coppa recipe - pleas do post it! Phil

In or out? I have a pot of ragu in the oven at the moment. I used chicken livers for the first time. It's been cooking for about 2 hours now, and I have just given it an initial taste. It tastes....livery! A good thing? Frankly, I'm a little concerned...

Eritrean food differs from Ethiopian food in that it has a much more marked Italian influence, resulting from the respective histories of the countries. Ethiopia was only "colonised" by the Italians for some 5 years whilst Eritrea remained an Italian colony for most of the first half of last century. The culinary effect of said colonisation is that Eritrean cuisine is more reliant on tomato based sauces, and is to a certain extent more approachable for the Westernised palette. I love real Ethiopian food. It is something of an acquired taste, particularly the ubiquitous, slightly fizzy pancake-like bread called injera that serves as plate and cutlery. I also find the method of eating particularly satisfying: various stews are served on an enormous round injera, and the people roung the table simply tuck in with their hands, using the bread to scoop up the stews. It is genuine communal eating. I haven't yet been able to find the genuine tast of Ethiopia outside the country. Something ineffable is always missing... As for Tanzanian food, I am afraid I cannot be so complementary. The staple diet is a porridge-like substance made from maize called ugali. Despite trying my best over a period of 6 months to grow to love it, I never found it to be anything more than tasteless stodge. I wouldn't say that Tanzania (or much of the rest of East Africa) has a very distinctive or attractive cuisine. Something to look out for, though, is nyama choma - simple barbecued beef. Tastes damn good after months of ugali!

I second Janice's reccomendation of the Almeida's trollies, particularly the charcuterie trolley (though, as you might guess from my name, I am rather partial to a sliver or two of cured pork). It's generally a pleasant dining experience - big tables that are quite far apart; soothing lighting etc. The only downside for me is that they employ an overbearing, aggressive sommelier. You know the type. However, this was a year ago; he really should be gone by now! Otherwise, Fredericks or Lolas might be worth thinking about.

Jason - sorry to keep asking questions, but the picture of your salame etc posted above marks you out as a master! do you always use collagen? If so, why do you prefer it to natural casing?

Question for Jason: all the lomo I have eaten has come in some kind of casing (like salame). How does this work? Is the loin first cured and then stuffed into the casing to mature? It has always baffled me...

The Grigson book is a great read and an inspiration but, as thomasrodgers points out, it is not a manual. Rather, it is an evocative description of the infinite range of products that pork, salt and human ingenuity have conspired to produce. As such, it is an important work. The opposite extreme can be rather off-putting - I recently leafed through a book about curing that had an entire chapter entitled "A passion for hygiene". Whilst hygiene is clearly important in all culinary matters, and rather more so when you are dealing with large volumes of raw meat, I could never quite call it a passion..... As far as making fresh sausages is concerned, there is rather less need for technical knowledge. As there is no real curing process involved, the more arcane debates about nitrites and acidophillus can largely be ignored. The skill lies more in the judicious use of flavourings and, in my experience of sausagemaking, its all about the sage. thomasrodgers, my bacon cure is essentially that from Hugh FW's Meat book, with the addition of some crushed juniper berries. I first tried the cure from Grigson, but the bacon came out as rather too sweet due to the large amounts of brown sugar that she recomends. This time, I have gone for a 8 day cure, changing the cure about 4 times. I'm then going to hang it for about 3 weeks: I want it to lose about 25% of its weight. I have had trouble in the past sourcing good quality organic pork belly that is not too fatty for bacon purposes. However, this last belly looks pretty much perfect. I'll tell you all about it when its ready.

tomrodgers is right: no-where is the alchemy of cooking more satisfying than in the curing of meats. It is fascinating, and all the more so to the uninitiated: "what, you mean you don't cook the pork AT ALL?". My experiments (or, to borrow Lee Scratch Perry's apt expression, exmerryments) have been variable in their success, but satisfying nonetheless. I am currently in the process of making bacon. Can't wait to eat it. For me, the great benfit of home curing is that you know precisely what is in your salami. You can source organic meat that has been treated humanely, as opposed to relying on the questionable meat usually used for processed goods. Quick question for Jason: I love your chambers. Can I ask how much you spent on all the equipment?