Richard_D

There's a thread about hells kitchen/MPW here on the UK board. Also there's an interview on

A new one from The Observer Jay Rayner gives egullet an honourable mention

Slightly off topic, but I don't subscribe to the idea that cheap kitchen equipment is great. You can get cheap functional stuff but most home cooks want a balance of form and function and that's one of those areas where you are going to pay one way or another. The most important question you should ask is do you really need all of the tools and when I'm honest with myself the answer is usually 'no'. Anyway back on topic, yes, I tend to go to a major department store or local kitchen shop to find what I want and try it out for size, weight, quality etc. Only then look online to try and find it cheaper. Most of the time the high street comes out as favourable once you factor in postage etc. Branded goods only attract a minimal discount online and you're better off waiting for the department stores to have a sale (I speak from bitter experience as I'm the man who spent a year looking online and in shops for a food processor only to eventually buy one from the shop round the corner). I have bought the odd knife from ebay but to be honest it's not worth the hassle/chance of a fake for a 5-10 pound discount (unless you're buying loads). You can't beat nisbets and lakeland for plastic trays, spatulas, tongs and the more minor purchases. TK Maxx (if you're lucky to drop in at the right time) can do good pans, tea towels, baking trays and even electricals, but generally I find I'm as well off going to John Lewis, House of Fraser, selfridges etc at sale time and picking up something that looks nice and is right for me. My golden rule is to think very, very hard before buying anything with 'pro' or 'professional' in the name (even more so if it's in the shop name as well) as they are rarely either if those.

Just thought I'd flag up that Exeter Food and Drink festival returns next weekend (30 March-1 April) Should be good as it's bigger than last year. We live a bit of a trek away it's been a good day out the last two years.

It's a bit of light-hearted fun. Don't take it so seriously! Adam ← I'm trying not too But it just seems so pointless. It's the whole 'chef as artist' (another discussion) scenario that winds me up. After all it's just a plate of food. It either tastes and looks good or doesn't. At that point!

There is a noble tradition of cooking on car engines as this fine book proves: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Manifold-Destiny-G...ie=UTF8&s=books sorry. Still haven't worked out how to do bloody hyperlinks. ← I stand corrected

Normally like OFM (apart from Cocktail Girl) but was shocked to find this video mentioned. God, it's been ten minutes since I saw it and I'm still cringing. It's complete and utter pretentious bobbins. I think it's done the oppposite of what was intended - I'm going nowhere near an Audi or those restaurants. What's the flippin' point of cooking something in an audi headlight?!?!?!? What does it demonstrate (apart from you've got too much time and money on your hands)??

Finally went there last night. I've been putting this off as I figured it could become a habit and I think I was right. The other half said as we were leaving 'when can book to come again?'. I don't know what else to add to the other posts as they were all spot on. I'm not a big fan of 'fine dining' as I tend to show myself up by spilling wine, dropping food down myself, using the wrong knife and fork etc but this is a really relaxed atmosphere and the little things were obvious - unobtrusive service, the wine and water left on the table for you to pour yourself and there are not armies of waiters watching you and waiting for your glass to empty so they can fill it. It took us a lonnng time to decide but we had... A pre-starter of salt cod in olive oil with garlic cream and garlic foam which was a real wake-up call for the taste buds. Then we had cod cheeks with veal breast, chickpeas and a peanut foam and a cannelloni of kid, goats curds and a land cress puree. This was followed by an amazingly intense crab risotto with seabass fillet For mains we went for chump of lamb with jerusalem and globe artichokes, liquorice and almonds and the roe deer with beetroot and soured cabbage. We then moved on to the enormous cheese selection. We were very restrained and just chose three, all of which were fabulous. On to dessert and we had a pre-dessert of geranium brulee with a sorbet and popping candy and then I had to have the chocolate delice with salted caramel (which lived up to expectations and I have strict instructions that I must now try and make it) and the pine kernel parfait with lemon curd. Finally finished this off with coffee and petit fours. We asked for wines to be chosen for us and we had some great recommendations including a sherry with the chocolate delice. An absolutely faultless meal with fantastic service. Really worth a visit (or two or three or four..) and the lunch looks like fantastic value.

Just seen this article.

I'm assuming Gordon would stay on for the US version of the show, whilst Marco would be on the UK version. ← Marco Pierre-White confirms the UK version here

It's still being watched in our house (despite the fact it could be the cause of me needing a new telly) because we have to guess at the beginning of the programme, which of the two presenters is allowed to do the 'thoughtful nod' or 'look of surprise' when the professional chef announces who they would allow to work in their kitchen. For the first two series Greg Wallace had a monopoly on the 'thoughtful nod' but it seems John Torode is now allowed to do it, and to make things interesting they take random turns. Maybe I need to get a life.....

Glad to see you got a column out of it after the shoddy treatment you received

Staying in and cooking this year or going to the takeaway as I can't be doing with the markups and forced romantic 'atmosphere'. But just to prove I'm not all 'bah, humbug' we've got a table booked at Le Champignon Sauvage for the week after.

A couple of less well known ones in there but it's still heavily London weighted which is a shame as the geographical spread was something I used to find quite refreshing about Matthew Fort's restaraunt reviews in the Guardian. Tyddyn Llan looks very good and definitely a place to try next time I visit relatives in North Wales. It got a gold in the True taste of Wales awards this year so must be doing something right. Glad to see Le Champignon Sauvage in there. Looking forward to trying that in a few weeks.

Couldn't agree more !! I've only ever had an issue with this in London or in some crappy pizza chain that had ideas above it's station - the one in particular doesn't take bookings on the weekend and during the week would only let us have a table between 7 and 8 if we promised to be out by 8.30, whereas if we wanted to eat at 8.05 we could stay all night.... As for the New York thing I found the approach in restaurants far more relaxed than in the UK. We walked into a couple of well known places expecting a short, sharp 'no' but got a table for that or the next night without having to be fingerprinted or have a dna sample taken. If you're going to go to these places that expect you, the paying customer to be grateful to be allowed across their threshold then they can shove it as far as I'm concerned.

I think I might have to eat my earlier comments about it having improved. In the Friday 'final' firstly they dragged them round a market to get a shot of them sniffing/prodding/looking thoughtfully at a button mushroom. They then kicked one bloke out because he couldn't identify some tinned beans and bits of lamb (fair enough, although the person who couldn't identify the borlotti beans she cooked with in the earlier round should have been booted out as well). Only then with 10 minutes to go did they get around to cooking something. Oh, and each stage was followed by some serious blubbing from all the contestants. I'm still hooked though. I don't know why I can't stop watching it.

Aaah, now Nigella recommends smooshing marmite in with the butter before spreading and I can say this works a treat, even for someone like me who prefers 95% marmite to 5% butter

So, the new series started this week. I think it's a bit hit and miss so far but it's still early days. Glad to see that the table manners of the presenters appear to have improved. Any egulleteers appearing?

Crikey

I don't know about the Finchley area but in Central London, the Ginger Pig sell veal and will cut to order. I haven't purchased it from them in ages but I recently had a beautiful thick veal sirloin (bone-in) at Hawksmoor and Ginger Pig supply them with their meat. ← Or if you want to order online try Helen Browning Organic meat. They do have rolled shoulder and loin amongst other things

I fancy cooking some kid goat but I'm not too sure about it and would appreciate any advice. I've done a brief search but only found recipes for long, sloooow cooking of legs/shoulder etc and I'm thinking of something speedier. I know Goat takes some cooking as it can be quite tough, but is this the same for Kid? I'm looking at a fillet or rack which I presume would be quite tender and so could be hot roasted or pan fried. Also assuming I have a tender piece of fillet can you eat it rare (like lamb) or is that inadvisable? Cheers

An article in todays Guardian about the Bruniblog post.

Well said! I've read her articles and often wondered if they were a pisstake, but I've sadly come to the conclusion that they're not. Drop Vernon and OFM would be a lot better. It's no worse than the Music or Sport mag and it's FREE (well, in a hidden in the cost of your sunday paper way). The Observer are trying and full credit for that and to try to appeal to all their readers would be an impossible job. In a ideal world they would get Matthew Fort to join in with his food from round Britain column from the saturday Guardian. Surely a much more deserving target of our constructive criticism would be a mag you've got pay for e.g. Good Food magazine (but hey that's another thread)

Confirmation by the man himself?

He now has a weekly column in The Guardian.