Tim Z

I put about tablespoon of salt in the in the water to make the peeling process easier, of course you still have to let the eggs cool a little. It doesn't effect the flavour of the egg.

You might be better cooking it on a heavy cast iron skillet istead of under the grill (broiler in US?). It's also really important to dry the steak on kitchen paper beforehand, and bring it to room temperature for at least 30 minutes before you cook. I'd also put the oil on the steak, rather than in the pan / skillet.

I am bit puzzled about pitted black olives in jars, The black olives that I know at home in Cyprus are soft, so I am suprised that they can be pitted and keep their shape and firmness. I suspect the black pitted ones in jars here might been green ones that have been coloured. Any comments?

Well I'd have to say Yorkie!! Yum!!

Thanks Andy, will check them out.

Another thing that I don't do is wash my pot with detergent - just wipe with a paper towel. The reason for this is, that it gets seasoned and holds the heat better, therefore better to cook with in the future. Also you get better flavours.

The reason I asked about the ingredients is that here in the UK I have a similar kind of pot, which CANNOT have any water added into it or it will crack. The recipe that you supplied the link to had cooked rice, no water. I think that may be your problem.

Hi To me the reason that your pot cracked is something to do with your ingredients, what were they?

Hi again I just thought, how about going for a Spanish or Morroccan influence: The key ingredient being smoked Spanish paprika, salt, black pepper coriander seeds cumin seeds fennel seeds garlic cloves crushed to a paste with salt red wine vinegar. fresh oregano pinch of saffron olive oil Dice the pork loin into one inch cubes, put into a bowl with a marinade made of the above ingredients. Marinate for 2 hours in the fridge. Lay on to a hot griddle, cook for 3 minutes on each side.

Damn.

Hi I wish my local butcher would say 'buy one and get one free'. I will be the first one to queue up for loin of pork. Does it come with the skin on in the USA? Here in the UK it comes with skin and fat.

Thanks, Offcentre, they both look interesting.

Hi. I don't know Brighton very well at all, but my partner and I are going down on a Saturday, in a couple of weeks time. She'll be at an event at the University on grand parade, then we'd like to do lunch within walking distance, as we'll be going by train. Something different, or something casual but food being the whole point. Any ideas? Thanks.

Hello Smithy. The only seasoning I use before cooking white meat is salt, then keep it in bowl for 6 - 8 hours. With the red meat I season with salt (sometimes black pepper too) after sealing, by that I do mean sealing, not searing. ie the first exposure to the heat to seal in the moisture. With the lemons, I know it sounds odd, but I do mean literally cut the lemon in half and caramelising, so that you can then squeeze the juice out which will be slightly brown. (It's a bit tricky to squeeze slices, and all I want is the juice.) I believe very much in fresh ingredients and natural flavours. Other flavours can be added to the meal with complementary dishs - like a mezze.

Hello Moby, Rachel. Thanks for your responses. Fifi - it's just a metal trolley - you know the kind of thing - with wheels and three baskets. I just lined the top one with foil. The other racks I just used to hold the bits and peices. You just make sure the charcoal's not too hot - and time it - just use instinct - there's no adjustments unfortunately - apart from moving things to the outside where it's not to hot. What am I doing wrong with my pic posting?

Hi there - still trying to figure out the pics. Back to respond when I've tried this:

Hi everyone, as you can see, I'm new here. i come from Cyprus - so I'm big on kekbabs too. There, we don't usually marinade the meat before hand. With red meat, we just season after it has been sealed, with white meat we season before. Baste with plenty of olive oil. And once it's on the grill/barcecue we don't mess around with it - ie don't keep moving it. Cook oneside, then turn, cook the otherside. Other flavours can be added after in the form of dips and side dishes. At the end of the cooking, we put the pitta breads on top of the meat, so it picks up the flavours. When the pitta bread is ready, we lay it on a big serving dish, lay the kebabs on top to rest, so that the juices run through onto the bread, and add lemon juice and a drizzle of olive oil. At home, the way we serve it is to put one skewer onto the bread wrap it round and pull the skewer out. Unlike here in the UK where people open the pocket and put the kebab pieces inside. A good dressing to go with it is: Slice a lemon in halves, fry in a little olive oil in a frying pan, until caramelised. Squeeze the juices into a pot of yoghurt (through a sieve to keep the pips out) with a little salt and olive oil, and mix. Add flakes of dried chili if you want spice. Well, that's my kebab rant for today!

Ok, here goes - apologies if this goes horribly wrong - I've uploaded a pic to a 'my album' in imagegullet, and I'm going to try to post it/ post the link? Help! http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=mo...md=si&img=13376 Is that right? Or is there a way to make the image appear on the page? Cheers - all help apreciated!

Hi Andiesenji and Fifi, Actually I'm from Cyprus, but I live in the UK. Baked beans are pretty traditional here (they come in cans) but fried bread less so, these days. Being a bit of a desperado cook, I used greek 'corek' bread (not sure what the English word is), which has sesame seeds - which work surprisingly well with it. I'll see if I can post a pic now, thanks for the link.

Having woken up with a bit of a hangover this morning, I fancied a proper English breakfast. The sun was out, 2nd time this year (whe-hey!) so I thought I'd have a go on the barbie. (Except I don't actually have a barbecue, since the legs fell off the last one, after years of barbecuing, beyond the call of duty.) So, I improvised. My new barbie on wheels is actually an old metal vegetable trolley, whose previous incarnation was a bathroom trolley. I lined the top tray with foil, set up the charcoal, and I was off. I cooked the eggs in pockets of foil, and the beans, the rest done straight on the barbie. I thought it was great, if someone could tell me how to post the pic, I'd show you the results! (I'm new on here!)