Christopher Haatuft

And who said that the world moves foreward? I found the Mexican/US border episode very interesting, and I have no doubt that the Lebanon show will be good as well. Be safe and good luck.

My experience is that if the meat is too long in the oven (ten hours and up) it renders to much of its juices. Its still tender, but not juicy. But I guess it depends on the temperature, but I did a leg of lamb for about 12 hours at 60 degrees and it wasnt very good. I did do a pigsknuckle for about ten hours at 55-60 degrees once and it came out very nice, but a little undercooked.

Take a front leg of a lamb, salt it and cut it in slices on the bone. Lay it on a perforated tray, with the root in a pan underneath. Steam in oven or on stovetop til the meat is tender. The root shall have taken all the drippings and juices. Pure the root with an immersion blender, add nutmeg or mace, salt, pepper and loads of butter. Eat till you pop. Or....boil in lambsbroth, add nutmeg, salt and pepper. Puré and whisk in butter. Use with lamb, venison, braised pork belly, bacon, heavy beef dishes. Add some to the mashed potatoes. The danes feed the pigs with em..hehe

Since you've been down the Western route why not come back a bit further East. Take the A64 past Biarritz to Toulouse. Good place to stay, beautiful city, good eating. Next day take the A62 & turn off at Montauban to pick up the A20 to Paris. Plenty to see & do en route. Around Limoges might be a good place to stay overnight. Again lots to see & do. One note of caution. The freeways in France can get pretty expensive. Best bet is to go to: Michelin for route planning, timings, costs and where the speed cameras are. Enjoy & we'll look forward to your report. Bon appitite & Bon courage! ← Thank you for your reply. Ive been thinking about taking a route thats more to the east. Last summer, in Spain, I tried keeping of the highway and take the smaller roads. Not so much about the cost as there was just more to see along the small roads. Would this be a possibility in France, or is the distances to far for my planned intenrary? Also, am I taking a big risk innot booking hotels for my two day trip back to Paris? I like the idea of leaving something up to chance, as I guess some of the smaller places dont have an internet address. I had good experiences withthis in Spain, but the downside is that I spent quite a lot of time getting a room sometimes. ← Chris Your approach is absolutely the right one. You will see a lot more going on the RN's and good D roads in France, but it will take longer due to truck & farm traffic. With 2 days to get to Paris I would suggest that you sort of 'cut the corner' getting North. In other words skip Toulouse, great though it is, & come up more via Agen & Villneuve sur Lot. This will get you further North the first day. Second day I would advise secondary roads to roughly Chateauroux, then freeway as the countryside flattens out & is not as interesting unless you really have time to explore. If, earlier in your trip. you pick up (free) a copy of the Logis de France book and book one night ahead you shouldn't have a room problem. An alternate is to go to the local tourist office (they're normally open until 18:30) & ask about B&B and local hotels. Normally they'll call for you. They'll also clue you in on the best local restaurants. Have fun. ← Thank you, Dave! I got my Logis de France a while back,but as theres no pictures, Im using their website. Makes me want to be a rich bum just jumping from auberge to auberge for the rest of my days:laugh: Thank you for your advice.

Since you've been down the Western route why not come back a bit further East. Take the A64 past Biarritz to Toulouse. Good place to stay, beautiful city, good eating. Next day take the A62 & turn off at Montauban to pick up the A20 to Paris. Plenty to see & do en route. Around Limoges might be a good place to stay overnight. Again lots to see & do. One note of caution. The freeways in France can get pretty expensive. Best bet is to go to: Michelin for route planning, timings, costs and where the speed cameras are. Enjoy & we'll look forward to your report. Bon appitite & Bon courage! ← Thank you for your reply. Ive been thinking about taking a route thats more to the east. Last summer, in Spain, I tried keeping of the highway and take the smaller roads. Not so much about the cost as there was just more to see along the small roads. Would this be a possibility in France, or is the distances to far for my planned intenrary? Also, am I taking a big risk innot booking hotels for my two day trip back to Paris? I like the idea of leaving something up to chance, as I guess some of the smaller places dont have an internet address. I had good experiences withthis in Spain, but the downside is that I spent quite a lot of time getting a room sometimes.

Ok, I got my intenerary sorted out. Please feel free to comment and add recomandations. 17-20/7 Paris Were staying at HOTEL LES JARDINS D'ALÉSIA, in 34 rue d'alésia. I screwed up on this as the map I chose it from indicated it was nere Gare de Lyon. Its in the 14th though, but I doont know how much that will affect our stay. I guess its easy to get around by taxi and subway? Anyway, we're picking up a rentalcar from easycar.co.uk at Gare de Lyon on the 20th. It was pretty cheap at about 230€ for nine days. Last time I used that agency, they gave me a nice little Citroen C3. While we're in Paris, we'd like to see all the usual Paris stuff, butI need a good recomandation for at least one good bistro...? Also, is there a two or three star who serves good value dinner or lunch? 20/7 - 22/7 Tours We drive down to Tours to spend two nights at Hotel Ariane. Any good restaurants in Tours would be appreciated. We are looking foreward to this alot. 22/7 - 24/7 Bourdaux The we got two nights at Chateau de Roques. Dont really know alot about this area exept for foie gras and truffles. But should I expect to get truffle oil infused food if dining at notsogood restaurants? Anything in this area I should check out? 24/7 - 27/7 San Sebastian Staying at Monte Ulia. Got a reservation at Arzak for the 25th!!! My first Michelin starred experience. Other than that its pintxos all day and night. Btw, are the pintxos places open on mondays? 27/7 - 29/7 On the road Keeping these days up to faith. Anywhere you recomend on the way to Paris? 29/7 - 31/7 Paris Staying at Crown Etoile Hotel. Our last days in France. I CANT WAIT!!!

I live in Bergen, and Ill be happy to find the best cheesemaker for visiting around here. MUILWIJK Birgitta og Albert Myrdal gård 5690 LUNDEGREND 53 43 22 93 Geit, ku, gouda Autorisasjon Past. These are dutch, but they make some of the best cheese in the vicinity of Bergen. Ill ask around and get back to you.

I was a bit dissapointed to that book, as I like pictures with every recipe. I would like to add the Nobu books and Tetsuya.

Thank you, Corinna Dunne!!! Your post will serve as a reference to my further planning. Thank you for taking your time to post this. And of course to all you others as well!

I got it explained to me...

That reminds me of stumbling upon Umbria Jazz in Perugia after two weeks of punky-rockabilly fun in Spain. That was a nice summer

colour is like very dark beef. Texture can remind you of lean and tender beef. It should be cooked no more that rare, as it has a lot of blood in it, and can very easily taste like liver/iron. Its sold smoked and as raw, frozen blocks all year raound, but is definately best fresh. I think the whaleing season is at springtime and that for me is the only time to eat it. I got to add that I have limited experience with it, butI have had it on a menu and fried up quite a bit of it. I remember as a kid, the neighbur wife made us kids eat it raw. She gave us candy afterwards so it was ok

Ok, so far Ive booked tickets in (17th July) and out (31st July) of Beauvais. Other than that, Im working on a reservation at Arzak the 25th. So I guess we'll stay a couple of days in Paris on arrival, head south, stop for a couple of days and go to Spain. Stay 4 nights in San Sebastian and head back north. Anywhere you think I should stop and visit on that route? Im thinking mayby Loire on my way back...

how about "spiny lobster"? I thought that was a good term, until I wen to Gran Canaria and saw that what they called spiny lobster was what I thought was a langustine...hmmm...hehe

btw, I read your article. Very nice, seemed like you had a great trip.

Thank you for your reply. I have since quit the restaurant (Spisestedet på Høyden) you tried visited. Hanne Frosta, the owner and head chef, was just named "Head Chef of the year". Shes the first woman ever to get this acclaim in Norway. This quote "overly international style, too much demiglace, too much salt, imported products of poor quality, and a heavy sense of imitating others" is something that even with my lack of experience, I find all to common in Norway. We have some of the best chefs in the world but still it seems like everybody tries to be very trendy. As an examlple, we have one good food magazine here called "Apetitt". Yesterday I was reading it and it struck me that the focus on ingredients are steered by what the national seafood export agency (lack of better name, in norwegian its Eksportutvalget for Fisk) or the national meat information office (sounds really corny trying to translate it...) wants us to eat. Hanne is the opposite of the abovementioned. She goes her own way and people should follow in her footsteps. The world would be a better place for it.

Battle of the crab and the whatshcmecallit

WHOO HOO!!!

I think I figured out how to post pictures! So here I go,

I did a piece once on Nephrops Norvegicus (I think it means something like norwegian kidney-eyes - refering to the kidney like eyes). In my opinion they are closer to a small lobster than a shrimp, and I also prefer them to lobster. I always get into a discussion with co-workers when writing menues were they appear, because they have so many names! Some call them rock-lobster, wich in some parts of the world refers to the lobster-like creature that is missing the claws. I would call that a langustine, as I belive thats what theyre called in the Caribbean. Though Dublin bay prawn is fitting, I dont belive an Italian reading our menu would know what it is, nor would an avrage american....The latest I heard at work was that they are called norwegian lobster, but then what do we call the real norwegian lobster (thats bigger and of course better than the american ;P)? the people at work sorta roll their eyed at me...hehe But seriously, I think its important to be precise on a menu.

FinnegårdsstueneIm curious if anyone has had a meal in Norway that they wish to tell about. Anyone been to Restaurant Oscarsgate lately? Chef Hellstrøm gives them praise in the not so updated newsletter on Bagatelles webpage. (Sorry, I think its only in norwegian). Also mayby someone has something to say about Annen Etage losing their one star in the recent edition of Guide Rouge? I have never had a meal at a good restaurant in Oslo, so Im out of the loop, but as Im an apprentice cook in Bergen, Id love to hear what people think of the food in our capital. Also I heard Guide Rouge where outside Oslo for this latest edition, but noone got a star. Does Mathuset Solvold deserve a star? At least Ive never heard about a norwegian chef been held in higher regard by other chefs than Solvold. Here in Bergen theres little new. As far as I know, Lucullus and Finnegårdsstuene is still going strong, with Potetkjellerenkicking at their heels. I work at Smauet Mat og Vinhus, where we do our best at making good food. This august I start at Lucullus to finish my apprenticeship. After that.....mayby Oslo? I dont expect much input on this thread, but every little bit will be highly appreciated.

Well, congratulations to "The Modern" then.

So for an established restaurant with good ratings, the effect is really minimal?

How much does recieving this acclaim have to say on a restaurants business? Can it compare to a european restaurant going up a star in the Michelin guide? Is this the biggest thing a american restaurant can get or is a top review in NYT or similar better for business?

Alright!!! I booked flights to Paris (Beauvais) the 17th of July with return date the 31st. Now to find out were to go....WHOO-HOO!!!