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Sea Urchin Ragout

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  1. I'll second that. Their accommodation is stunning too. There are several 1 stars and even a two stars within a 20 minute drive so the area is something of a hotbed of culinary delights.
  2. Dined at this restaurant on Saturday and I thought I would add my tuppence. First of all, beautiful location and building, the main dining room is very elegant, the upstairs sitting room is plush and extremely tasteful. The whole place just oozes sophistication basically. As for the food, the menu varied quite a bit from what has been posted here so far; the first course was smoked salmon vs. smoked haddock based; the haddock option was completely overpowered by the fish but nice in texture and stunning visually. Almost forgot that the bread consisted of a mysterious combination of nuts and fruits, slightly underbaked and a tad too filling. Soup was white asparagus, apple and a few other mystery ingredients I couldn't quite place; nice and well-balanced flavours. The main dishes disappointed. One was a chicken breast with chorizo, the other a wild turbot with chorizo and a 3-cheese-sauce. IMO, fish and cheese sauces rarely work and the blob of chorizo was just completely over the top. Cheese dish was nice and unusual, 4 frenchies with the usual assortment of biscuits / crackers. Favourite cheese here was a soft buttermilk / tarragon and paprika based one from Le Nord (close to Calais was all I could understand). The coconut and porridge crackers work and are very nice. Next came the inbetween course of milk served out of a quirky cow in little paper cups. Bizarre and hardly revolutionary in taste. Not sure how this fitted into the whole menu. Finally, desserts which were a baked-lemon style creme brulee (almost) and a deconstructed bread & butter pudding with a white chocolate air which didn't seem to taste of chocolate at all. The baked lemon dish was really nice. I think the lemon dish came with two types of dryish biscuits, one awful and salty, the other sublime and laced pistacho nuts. Overall, I would describe the place as hit or miss. Pleasant dining experience with some original and bold dishes, alternated by overworked overcomplicated combinations. I guess at this stage they're still fine-tuning and Paul is probably building up a new oeuvre of favourites.
  3. Read somewhere that no. 16 has shut down? I'd recommend Asia Style at Charing Cross. Low-key venue and interior but fantastic, authentic, fresh and delicious Malaysian food. Just order a few dishes and share around the table, can't think of a better birthday dinner.
  4. Can someone please recommend a good rijsttafel resto within walking/ stumbling distance of Central Station?
  5. Sea Urchin Ragout

    Belgian Beer

    Poperings Hommelbier for me purely because it's the beer brewed in the place I was born I don't think this beer is actually that well-known outside Belgium?
  6. I would love to go to South Africa and especially Cape Town but keep hearing disturbing reports about how dangerous it is? What's your impression Dave?
  7. Shirley, I'm relieved to hear you're not closing. My annual visit to the most beautiful place on earth would not be complete without dinner at the Chimneys! I can assure everyone personally, that Eddie and I have no plans to close The Three Chimneys and The House Over-By in beautiful north west Skye. We are amazed that information about our North Berwick project has spread so far! To explain: we have sold our 1-bedroom flat in Leith and bought a 2-bedroom cottage in North Berwick. This will give us the combination of accessibility to my home city of Edinburgh, where our children live and work, with the wide open spaces of the East Lothian coastline. The cottage will take at least another year to renovate. We hope that all the family will use it and that we ourselves, will have a small retreat. We have no plans to retire! Indeed, we re-opened last night following our annual period of closure for essential maintenance and ongoing refurbishment. We had a full house and a superb menu appeared to be enjoyed by all. Eddie was playing genial host front-of-house as always and serving the wines from his great list. As you will see from our website, we appointed a new Head Chef, Michael Smith, a little under three years ago. We worked closely together for the first 18 months, building a new team. I had realised a few years ago that one day I would have to pass on the day-to-day running of the kitchen to younger chefs. I have worked hard to make this changeover successful, rather than walk away from all that we have achieved at The Three Chimney. The "peculiarities" of running such a special restaurant in this crazy location took Michael a few months to accomplish. He is a brilliant Chef and completely on my wavelength about the importance of using the wide range of local produce available from Skye and the Highlands of Scotland, as well as promoting the superb culinary heritage of Scottih cooking. The "astonighingly good meal" referred to by Tony H was all down to him and the team. I have not been at the stoves for a a year now. However, I am here virtually al of the time, assisting Eddie with running (and possibly developing) the buisness for the future. We are still living in the flat over the restaurant - our home for 22 years and still counting! Come up and see us sometime. But don't forget to reserve a table as demand is greater than ever! ←
  8. Excellent advice by all, I've looked up and bookmarked a good number of websites based on your input. Prince Edward Country and Algonquin will feature...tempted to push through to Montréal too but not sure if it's worth that extra couple of hours? I'm currently thinking of going as far as Kingston and then heading North. I'll pass on the Vancouver option though, just a little bit too far to travel and I've been told early Summer on the west Coast is as bad as Summer in Scotland!
  9. Thanks for the replies so far folks. Here's the deal...I've got a 9 days off around June time and I've stumbled across some dirt-cheap, direct flights to Canada from Scotland. Calgary, Halifax, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver are the options...I want to have a bit of time in a City, drive around, listen to the Arcade Fire, see some of the outdoors and most of all, eat extremely well.
  10. I'm planning a week in Ontario in June, taking in a few days in Toronto then maybe driving a bit further North and heading through Algonquin National Park towards Ottawa. Can any of you resident Canadian foodies give some suggestions which towns / restaurants are worth a detour or indeed where I should be going to get some of Canada's best food? Thanks in advance
  11. You're right my yeast was ancient. Will try again this weekend with some fresh stuff and perhaps a little less water. As for ovenspring, I found this little snippet on bakingbusiness.com. Helps explain ovenspring partly I suppose The increase in volume at the beginning of baking is called ovenspring and is due to the expansion of CO2 being driven out of the liquid phase plus evaporation and expansion of alcohol and water. Proofing temperatures affect ovenspring. As the proofing temperature increases, the amount of dissolved CO2 decreases, thus cutting potential ovenspring. Lower temperature proofing (85°F to 90°F, or 29°C to 32°C) may be more beneficial than the temperatures (105°F to 110°F, or 40°C to 43°C) commonly found today in commercial bakeries. The amount of 1 g of dried yeast is correct. How fresh is your yeast? (Just check the expiration date.) To make a higher loaf, you can simply use a smaller pot so the dough spreads less over the bottom of the pot as it's baking. People have successfully baked this bread in 3-qt pots. Ovenspring is another question. People have reported different levels of ovenspring when baking this bread. I don't know what factors contribute to more or less ovenspring. (Anybody else know?) My advice is to make sure that the dough is not too wet. The dough should form a moist, sticky ball, and not be like a batter. The dough should double in size regardless of what the video looks like. I suggest using the poke test to determine that the dough is ready. When you poke the dough with your finger, the indentation remains for a few seconds without filling up. BTW, when baking this bread some people have discovered that the 500 degree temp mentioned in the video is too hot. The article recommends 450 degrees. good luck! ←
  12. The follow-up article in the NYT states the recipe needs 1g of dried yeast. Is this right or a mistake? I tried the recipe with 1g and although the bread tastes nice and the texture is amazing, it didn't really rise beyond 3 inches high. Another thing that confuses me in the video is the 2hr rising in the towel. The article states the dough will double in size but the video does not reflect this at all. Can anyone clarify?
  13. Sea Urchin Ragout

    Eel

    There's a Flemish recipe called "Paling in't Groen" which uses river eel rather than sea eel (not sure how different they are) Cube eel and saute with garlic and shallots, then remove eel, deglaze pan with white wine and fish stock and add eel back to the pan, let eel simmer very slowly for 20 mins. Blanch a mix of 400g spinach, 50g chervil, 50g sorrel, 25g parsley, 50g nettles and turn into a rough puree. Add this to eel together with marjoram and chives. Serve with thin cut chips.
  14. Got my hands on a crate of Trappist West-Vleteren 12 recently. For those who don't know this, it is a dark Belgian beer, brewed by monks in the St Sixtus abbey in West-Flanders. The monks only brew a certain amount each month and the beer is very popular. The area where the beer is brewn is famous for its hops industry but mostly produces blonde, strong, hopsy (?) tasting ales. The West-Vleteren 12 is actually 10.2% and is a superbly balanced delicate beer. There's a very subtle cinnamon smell about it and the beer has a complex, mostly sweet taste which, due to a combination of poor palate and inadequate vocabulary, I cannot begin to do justice by describing it. I've tried it both chilled and served at room temperature and the latter option is actually best to bring out the full flavour. Heaven in a glass!
  15. Found a good French blog which is based mostly around video entries...some more interesting than others but a good mix of recipes and interviews nonetheless http://www.cuisinerenligne.com/
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