jameswilliam

Depends what you're looking for and can't vouch for this presonallly, but if you are looking for something close by this was just reviewed in the Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/food/2024/apr/05/dream-xian-london-ec3-restaurant-revew-grace-dent For wider London it's worth having a look through Jay Rayner's reviews also

This obituary was in the Guardian today: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/aug/01/marlena-spieler-obituary

That's a great price for the UK, was that showing as out of stock? I can see they have Rittenhouse at the moment for £23.50 out of stock, might be worth a try!

These look like what I've seen sold as borlotti in the UK. I've used them in the Marcella Hazan recipe here which is simple and very nice

Thanks Teo, that's much appreciated

I'm about to go to Puglia for a couple of weeks, specifically near Ostuni and then near Specchia and I wondered if anyone had any recent food recommendations, I guess either restaurants with an emphasis on more traditional food or good bakeries, things like that. I've had a look through the various Puglia food / restaurant threads, but the restaurant threads in particular are 10 years old and I just thought I'd see if anyone had any recent good experiences.

They're very nice actually and nicely presented as well, you get them in boxes individually wrapped like you can see on this page http://cadizpedia.wikanda.es/wiki/Reposter%C3%ADa_%28Medina-Sidonia%29 I've been looking for a good recipe for a while. I found one in Frank Camorra's book 'Movida Rustica' which I thought was going to be along the right lines as he seemed to know about the area, etc but it turned out be rather different than what I've had, more of a biscuit (it's reproduced here http://www.them-apples.co.uk/2010/07/alfajores-spanish-spiced-fruit-and-nut-biscuits/)

Thanks for your help - I've got a couple of other places I can try to get normal anise seeds, otherwise maybe I'll try a mixture of fennel / star anise. I think I'll probably use rather less than specified as well, I don't really recall the ones I've had in Spain having that much of a dominant aniseed flavour.

I'm looking to make the Alfajores that you find in Medina Sedonia in Spain. I've found recipes here in English and Spanish (it looks like the English one is a translation of the Spanish one with measures converted to volume) http://spanishfood.about.com/od/dessertssweets/r/Alfajores-De-Medina-Sidonia-Recipe-Andalucian-Delicacy.htm http://www.asopaipas.com/2010/12/alfajores-de-medina-sidonia.html I'm having a little bit of trouble finding aniseeds and I'm wondering whether it would be okay to use star anise as a substitute somehow, maybe just the seeds from middle? Any advice would be much appreciated!

If you're going to the Whiskey Exchange shop in Vinopolis it's worth double checking with them if you're after something specific from their website - they don't have everything from the website in the shop. If they haven't got it I've found they can get it ordered into the shop for no charge with a few days notice.

Just a quick note on Golden Day - this is apparently now has a different chef and is not so good http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/nov/17/sichuan-folk-restaurant-review-jay-rayner Jay Rayner recently reviewed Leong's Legend in Chinatown quite favourably

I have a jar of Laoganma black bean sauce that looks like that (specified in Fuchsia Dunlop's Every Grain of Rice) The label design is slightly different but from what I can see the characters are the same and contents look similar... http://www.amazon.com/Lao-Black-Bean-Chilli-Sauce/dp/B0051D84GI edit (actually that jar on amazon is slightly different - my one has the same characters in white across the top as yours)

ETI (the manufacturer) list refurbished thermapens in various colours on ebay uk http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Splash-Proof-Super-Fast-Thermapen-Food-Thermometer-/370753828807?pt=UK_Kitchen_Accessories&var=&hash=item5652a677c7 Looks like it works out around $47, with shipping on top, the listing only shows shipping to Europe though, so it depends where you are.. I bought mine this way last year and it's great, seemed like new

Something I thought was great with Every Grain of Rice compared to Fuchsia Dunlop's previous books was the sections with pictures of all the various ingredients, both in terms of fresh vegetables and packets of things like 'red-in-snow', tofu bamboo, etc. With previous books I had a lot of trouble going around Chinatown asking people about Cao Guo, etc. having the pictures makes things a lot easier, and certainly in London at least I've easily found most of the branded things she's using like the black bean sauce, fermented tofu etc. It definitely feels more accessible in general as well.

I've got one of these porlex spice mills which I've been pretty happy with, works well for things like fennel seeds http://www.creamsupplies.co.uk/porlex-spice-mill-ceramic-burrs-/prod_2271.html?category=