Richard_D

In Yorkshire (which by rights should be a country of its own ) a portable feast can be bought at many takeaways that is known as the calzone kebab. Basically, and as the name implies, you take your pizza dough and add doner kebab meat, chilli sauce, tomato sauce and cheese, fold it up and bake it before sitting back and enjoying its chilli, meaty, cheesey, heart clogging goodness.

Just picked up the River Cottage Cook Book by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall for less than half price (bonus!). So there's another one....

I'm planning on heading to Valencia for a week soon and would be interested in updated suggestions for places to go for tapas and meals out. We're getting a fully equipped apartment so where do the locals go to get the good stuff (eg fish, fruit, veg) so I can do a bit of my own cooking? R

Found a great link to loads recipes, an enormous database fullof all the varieties and seed suppliers in the UK here

Thanks all, some great ideas here. I'll be investigating further

My collection is limited to the fact I'm a tight wad so I've only got around 30 ish (but they're carefully chosen!) New in the past week are: Simon Hopkinson's Roast Chicken and Other Stories - I heard it was a classic so thought I'd better get it, and they're not wrong. The Kitchen Diaries by Nigel Slater - Gotta love Nigel and his approach to cookery, if he wants chips and baked beans then he has 'em Gastronaut by Stefan Gates - so funny I almost spat my lunch out reading it at work today (especially his essay on ahem, 'windy' food).

It all depends on what cut you're using but with any moderate to good cut to get really tender meat you're only going to get a decent end product by buying properly aged and hung meat. You want to find a butcher that knows what they are doing and hangs their meat for at least 21 days and sources it from a decent breed. Do not leave it in the fridge in any packaging, when you get it home take it out and put it on a plate loosely covered with foil so it can breathe, it should be OK for a few days. Depending on the size take it out of the fridge an hour or two before you want to cook it so it comes to room tempearture. Quickly sear it all over in a hot pan and chuck it an oven at 180 deg celsius for 20 minutes a pound plus an extra 20 minutes. Check the thickest part of the meat with a digital probe, when it hits somewhere around 60 deg celsius it's rare, 70 for medium and 80 for well done. If the middle is rare the ends are probably medium to well. If you insist on having it well done then baste it with a bit of beef stock as you go. Take it out and rest it for 15 minutes under foil. It should be perfect! I cooked a boned and rolled sirloin for christmas this way and it was perfectly tender and extremely tasty. The meat had been hung for about 28 days by the butcher and was properly beefy.

I got the girlfriend (a complete chilli nut) various bags of dried chillis from a chilli farm as a 'different' type of christmas present. Looking through all our cookbooks (including specific chilli cookbooks) most of the recipes tend to be quite samey and tend to be beef/chicken/pork/fish + whatever heat chilli you can stand. I'm looking for some recipes where the chillis are more the main ingredient and the main flavour - not just a source of heat. Has anyone got any ideas? or are there any other threads I could look at? For the record I've got aji limon guajillo habanero piri piri ring of fire chipotle twilight Apart from the guajillo, they are all smallish and medium to hot. cheers R

We had a bit of change this year with no turkey. We started with a few slices of smoked duck breast, salmon, a little prawn cocktail and a few gherkins and olives. After a suitable break we hit the main course of a sirloin of beef (that had been hung for 4 weeks), potatoes roasted in goose fat, yorkshire puddings, carrots, broccoli, green beans, pigs in blankets, honey parsnips and gravy. Then christmas pud and brandy cream It was all washed down a glass or two of sparkling shiraz and some Torres Gran Sangre. I'm still full now......

Firstly, I haven't seen the show. However, if you're talking about media sensationalism, then I don't see how GR is to blame for that. If you're saying that GR's show deliberately played up the slaughter in a sensationalist way, then I can understand the criticism. As long as there are appropriate warnings, I personally don't see a problem with revealing the slaughter aspect of food. I also don't have a problem with explaining to my children that meat comes from dead animals. Death is exploited in much worse ways on television, such as CSI. ← I was talking about the show. I was wondering if it had been done to get ratings and column inches

Got to say I've had my new pre-freeze ice cream maker for a couple of days and it works OK. It doesn't freeze as hard as ones with a built in freezer but it does the job as long as you don't add too much alcohol to your ice creams. So far I've tried lemon sorbet and baileys ice cream, both have come out pretty well and considering the machine only cost £15 it's been a good buy.

I see Gordon Ramsay has hit the headlines again. After keeping a few turkeys in the run up to Christmas, his latest programme showed them being electrocuted and plucked. Despite heavy warnings some people still watched it and complained. Now an investigation into the programme has been launched...... Oh dear, is it just me or is it sooo predictable? first Jamie Oliver and now Gordon Ramsay. I'm all for knowing where your food comes from but putting this on TV guarantees column inches etc. Don't get me wrong I'm a fan of the show but a few of the items have been quite sensationalised. What do people think of this kind of 'shock' food TV?

thanks to all, it helped me decide and now it's on order. I'll post my results R

I have no idea what a quart is (I'm in the UK) but I find the 27cm oval casserole brilliant for two people. It fits legs of lamb, whole 2kg chickens and large pieces of beef in. The oval shape fits joints of meat more snugly than a round one meaning less scorching and less liquid needed. Colour - well, you take your pick. I went for the classic orange.

I'm thinking of buying an ice cream machine but I'm unwilling to stump up the nescessary wonga for one with a built in freezer unit. Has anyone got any experiences of using the type where you freeze the bowl? Are they satisfactory or destined to clutter up my cupboard?

Thanks all for posting. I looked at the geese at Lidl as well but thought better of it. I've decided on a bit of sirloin for a change and have ordered it today to ensure I get some well hanged meat (been promised at least some 4 week old stuff) I've now just got to decide what to have with it....... Definitely goose fat roasted spuds, vichy carrots and yorkshires. Any other great ideas for accompaniments?

I've had that flyer as well. I'd be interested if anyone tries one before christmas

Any ideas for a decent Christmas dinner? I'm in a quandry, I can't decide what to have for my main meaty bit. Should it be Turkey (traditional), Goose (even more traditional), Guinea Fowl (a little different), a rib of beef or something completely different? Whats everyone else thinking of? R

Just watching Jamie Oliver, he's not killed anything this week. But he's been shown up at making pasta by a five year old

If you've not heard of him I'd give Nigel Slater a try, his new book 'The Kitchen Diaries', is a run through what he bought and ate almost every day for a year. If you haven't read his books, they're relaxed and reasonably simple. If you can't get hold of that then 'Apettite' from a couple of years back is a great book. Few 'instructions' but a really good read.

The TV channel did warn that it was going to be graphic so I can't see what all the fuss was about. He also looked genuinely distressed when doing it and very strongly made the point that if you're going to eat it you should be prepared to kill it. Yes, it was a cute fluffy little lamb but I bet it tasted goood! R

I've definitley seen a resurgence in pithiviers on menus, usually including game rather than the sweet version. I think it might have gone out of fashion a little after every vegetarian option included a pithvier of roasted veg or walnuts and blue cheese which could be of wildly varying quality. The realisation that filo could be used to surround whatever filling and was cheaper, quicker, more 'exotic' and less likely to fail probably also contributed to its dip in popularity. Now you've mentioned it I might have to go and try to make one for dinner

Hi, Over here in the UK the minced kidney fat is suet and has a different texture to normal beef fat. If you're going to use it in pies then I wouldn't render the fat, you won't get the same result especially if you're making shortcrust pastry then it really won't end up as 'short'. I know rendered beef fat (from the roasted meat) as 'dripping' which is great thinly spread on toast or for frying potatoes in (my arteries are closing up just thinking about it)

I have always wanted to go to England just to find out for myself if the food is as bad as some people claim. Your experience makes me think it would be a good idea. ← The UK has a now undesereved reputation for bad food. The UK is definitely one of the best places to get good restaurant food at the moment, and it can be a price (but not always). It's not just London that has good restaurants but there are loads of good places to eat/buy food/go to food festivals in the rest of the UK. The UK has had a real renaissance in the past 5-10 years with an increase in farmers markets, local producers and people generally willing to try new things and pay a little more for them. I'd also recommend the Basque region of Northern Spain/SW France. Fantastic seafood, hams, morcilla etc. You can eat out cheaply in a relaxed way in small bars trying wildly inventive tapas or go for the full multi-michelin starred experience. R

Definitely, but only if you live north of Birmingham as everyone knows that the best fish and chips are found in the North