sbb1979

There are so many out there that it is a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack - or should I say, looking for the oyster knife in the kitchen drawer... As far as food apps go, I love FoodSpotting. So great for getting the appetite going - it makes it so much easier to choose where to eat when you can actually see what's going to come out of the kitchen. Spingredients is really cool - select one ingredient, shake your phone and it picks three other ingredients that not only go with it, but also with each other. You can also personalise it by adding your own ratings of flavour combinations, but there's loads of them in there already. Epicurious and AllRecipes apps are reasonable for recipes, but I prefer to browse my cookbook collection or the internet rather than apps for recipes. I quite like the idea of iPairings, but there's not that much in there, and it looks like an early 90s website. Cocktail is quite fun for selecting what to drink whilst out and about. Spin through the photos of the cocktails in the random selector and where it stops decides how you're going to feel the next day! One that I really love that's not food related at all, but that's helping me to be better organised is "2Do". It is a to-do list app, but is so much more than that. Word Lens (translation) is also amazing, but I'm not going to Spain in the near future, so its of little use to me right now. Has anyone had any luck with Chef's apps etc? Or are they just cheap marketing ploys?

We're heading to San Sebastian in a few weeks for 4 days. During this time, we're going to be taking in many of the small local places to try all of the specialities, however, we'll also be able to make it to one of the big names in the area... I've been reading about them all for years, and am therefore very much looking forward to getting there finally, but am having difficulty choosing which. Budget is unfortunately a factor in this, but we're happy to push it if it's worth it. Can any of you who've been recently to SS please let me know roughly what a decent lunch for 4 would set you back at each of the big names? Also, what my chances are of getting a table for four on a weekday with three weeks to go?

There's a great recipe for the chestnut equivalent of a Chocolate Fondant in this book called Great French Chefs. I've always wanted to make it because I love chestnuts and love chocolate fondant, but have never gotten around to finding the flour. Its a really lovely book anyway: http://www.amazon.com/Great-French-Chefs-J...24065717&sr=8-1 (if someone can link this through egullet then please let me know how...) Don't know if it would work at all in chestnut soup - I love this when made with puree, thyme and good chicken stock. Other thing is - as people have said - pasta. You have to be more careful with the dough though, and don't replace all of the 00 with chestnut - can't remember the best proportions. Amazing to think it was a peasant's ingredient isn't it!

YKL, thanks for your report and wonderful photos. I'm heading there for dinner on Friday night and am more than a little excited about it! I take it that you get so many snacks and extra courses because you're a regular diner there, or is that the current menu? Either way, it looks pretty amazing. I'm particularly looking forward to the shrimp and the squid - hope they do them. Do you always get the wine menu there, or are there any wines particularly at the more modest end of their list that you'd recommend? I'm debating which to go for, and could go for the wine menu, but would also be keen to save some funds to be able to splash out elsewhere during our weekend in Copenhagen. Are there any bars near to Noma for drinks afterwards that anyone would recommend? I'll endeavour to report on my experiences next week.... can't wait to get there!

I was just writing "Can I throw Culinary Artistry into the ring?", but I see that someone beat me to it! Anyway, I definitely agree.... Not so much a recipe book (although there are a few), but a book of lists of what goes well with what... When you get to the stage where you're not following recipes so much, this book is fantastic for dish creation inspiration. As much as any experienced cook knows the good flavour combinations, this is a fantastic prompt for when you can't think of anything suitable.

I'm booked in for dinner in August and very much looking forward to it (although, slightly worried by some of the reports on here). We won't be staying at Bras, so does anyone have anywhere else nearby that they recommend - we're looking to keep costs for that bit down as the rest of our trip is proving to be quite costly. Having said all of that - and assuming that I can only make it to one top restaurant this year (and that I'm based in London), would any of you Bras doubters recommend an alternative restaurant? We have friends in the area there, so that was one attraction, and I love his book and recipes, but we could be tempted to go pretty much anywhere else in Europe.

Exactly - you can always add salt, but you can't take it away. If you regularly cook savoury and sweet dishes, then you only need one type of butter in your fridge and that's unsalted. Gives you more control, and fewer ingredients necessary, therefore the question should be, "Why would you not buy unsalted butter and add the salt later?"

Don't bother with Fifteen. Royal Hospital Road is great but expensive. Maze has had some great reviews. If you're in town for a weekday lunch, then book Le Gavroche for the best value 2* set menu in the world including half a bottle of wine & coffee! Bacchus do some very interesting/MG food and have a good deal on TopTable. Maybe tea and pastries at Yauatcha followed by a beer in Cafe Boheme. Go to Borough Market on a Thursday or Friday afternoon, or get there early on a Saturday morning - loads to try. Go for a Sunday lunch at The Engineer and have a walk on Primrose Hill.

Tino, You're missing the soup group that includes pretty much all the soups that I make. Puree based vegetable soups. Soften mirepoix in a little oil in a pan (onions, leeks, celery and carrots - omit carrots for 'white' soups), add the veg that's the basis of the soup (e.g sweet potato, chestnuts and thyme, cauliflower or pretty much anything else), add a complementary stock (or water will be fine as you get so much flavour from the mirepoix etc), cook for a while, blitz, then check seasoning. They're very healthy, extremely tasty and there's no dairy which could limit the longevity of the soup in the freezer. Hope your Grandfather's recovering well. S

Rousillon used to do a tasting menu for children that sounded fantastic (Alexis Gauthier seems to actually care about these things) - may be worth asking about - and the staff are so lovely there that I'm sure they'd be delighted to accomodate you.

I'm heading to the Perth area for 2 weeks in May and am looking for some interesting meals ranging from reasonable to the very top. So far, my only choice is Star Anise. There's very little new on here at the moment so I was hoping to initiate some discussion before I head out there. There must be some Perth based eGullet members out there - come on, show me what you're made of!

I think that's very different. Have a look at the pictures/recipes in here: http://www.cookingconcepts.com/PDF/Espumas_elBulli.pdf Much easier for service and presentation too.

Go to the National Starch website as listed above. Find the N-Zorbit product and request a sample. You should have it within a couple of days.

www.Toptable.co.uk is worth a look for the offers. They have a wide range of restaurants listed and some are complete bargains, others not so much.

Me too! :-( That was much quicker than I expected...... Oh well, hopefully some of the friends in my group will get lucky..... S

I agree, and I'll only truly believe that this place actually exists if (when) I get to see it with my own two eyes. Fingers are most definitely crossed! S

Does anyone know where I will find unsalted Pistachios? Any places in Central/North London, or mail order.

I haven't tried it yet, but I think that this Fig and Pistachio Frangipan tarte looks like it may just be the best tart in the world! http://www.magma.ca/~efung/blog/2007/03/fr...ipane-tart.html I love figs!! and pistachios!

All of the kitchens that I've worked in have had female chefs in them. Some good and some bad. The ones that get the rubbish from the other chefs (not just the male ones) are those who are lazy or disorganised etc. I've worked with plenty of lazy and disorganised male chefs too, and they end up getting just as much hassle. I wonder if its the case that in order to gain the respect of some chefs, women have to prove that they're capable whereas men have the respect already but can certainly prove that they're not capable? This is obviously profoundly unfair but would back up the point of view that they'll come around. The method of pulling them out of the weeds when you've finished your MEP is also great for some people, but there are also the proud losers who don't like being shown to be behind by being helped by someone else, and the chauvanistic losers who don't like being helped by a woman. I prefer to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. You may be talking to someone who knows a hell of a lot more than you about a technique and when someone is able to help you accept it graciously because next week you could be in an even bigger hole that you currently are and you'll need it then!

Excellent, thank you all so much. I've got a lot to get on with now. I've always thought of them as a very elegant touch to a dish and look forward to mastering them. I'll put some photos up if I manage it!

One thing that really frustrated me some years ago when I was briefly working on the pastry section of a very good restaurant was the Single Spoon Quenelle. I'm good with the Two Spoon technique having had plenty of practice, but it never looks as good as a nice, rounded Single Spoon variety. I was just wondering if any of you accomplished pastry chefs out there could give me a few tips so that I can fill this glaring/annoying gap in my presentation skills.

Fantastic suggestions. I think I may go for something along the lines of the duxelles, but open up the skinless breasts and stuff the insides. I was going to wrap them in the parma ham and then clingfilm. Then for service steam them, and colour them quickly in a pan so that they don't dry out. Reading the thread about chicken skin though has made me hungry! I may buy breasts with skin, seperate it, and then cook it seperately between two sheets of greaseproof.......

I'm cooking for friends at the weekend and feel like doing some stuffed chicken breasts wrapped in Parma Ham (or some such thing). I'm looking for interesting ideas for what to put inside, and also, for what sauce to serve with it....

Don't know how available they are out there but unusual over here, go to The Boxwood Cafe in London for Elvers. "Spring marks the season for the fishing of elvers, which have drifted for three years from the Sargasso sea to the Severn estuary. Served in only a handful of restaurants, at Boxwood Café, executive chef Stuart Gillies serves the highly prized elvers very simply: cooked in watercress butter, served on toast with baby spinach and drizzled with lemon." For odd bits of the animal that you may or may not be able to eat in the US go to St John at Smithfields Market for some "nose to tail" eating. St. JOHN Bar & Restaurant Smithfield 26 St John Street London EC1M 4AY Anthony Bourdain's favourite restaurant apparently. Bone Marrow with Parsley Salad being a particular favourite of mine.

When we made lovely green basil oil at my last restaurant, we used a little spinach and parsley and then loads of basil. Blanch them for no more than 10 seconds and refresh in ice cold water. Dry on paper towel. Blend the herbs and spinach for a few minutes with just enough olive oil to get it moving nicely until you get a very nice green puree, and then pour in the rest of the oil at the end and blend for a few seconds. Let it infuse overnight if you can and then strain it through muslin in a conical seive. You should end up with a lovely dark green basil oil.