Jinmyo

Heh. I know what you mean. In conversation I'll often talk about pitches and keys and make vaguely orchestral conducterish gestures to indicate interactions.

Paper napkins? Fine for blowing your nose in if there's nothing else around. I wouldn't eat anywhere that uses them. If travelling, which I do seldomly for the past years, I'll use one of the handkerchiefs I usually have with me first.

Heh. cabrales, that post you linked had me clutching my stomach with both arms to prevent something rupturing the first time that I read it.

Rice noodles with sautéed chile-glazed daikon brunoise with minced red bell pepper and chopped asparagus, ngoc mam, mirin, fresh coriander; carrot and coconut milk bisque seasoned with lemongrass, kaffir lime, galangal, with straw mushrooms; oolong tea-steamed baby bok choy and yu choy with peanuts; pillow tofu and scallions with a shoyu-miso-ponzu sauce.

I like pork pies!

I use white, black, stainless steel, glass. C'est tout.

Reconstituting in water is great if you're making a porcini risotto because the soaking liquor can be part of the liquid used to build the risotto. They don't really seem to reconstitute completely in extra virgin olive oil, even if it is warmed. You do wind up with great oil though. I reconstitute them in white wine quite often, sometimes clam juice. A quick rinse to remove impurities and then right into a sauce works well.

Miss J, with the spicing given the salmon and potatoes, pickled mango would go nicely. It has quite a crisp crunch to it. You can find it in Asian groceries, particularly Vietnamese.

cabrales, as always, my thanks.

blind lemon, lamb stock? Very interesting. The mixture of port, madeira, and red wine is a good idea as well.

stefanyb, I agree that plastic bottles somehow seem to ruin the taste. Tinned water tastes metallic. Plasticed tastes...hmmm..flacid? Glass works best.

Basildog, just a wee word. You love this place and what you've done. Please don't get too far away from the mains. Starters and veg just don't satisfy a cook. It curdles the attention after not too long. One loses the sense of it. It all becomes frittery, if you know what I mean. No depth. Glad Davy's good but please don't let yourself become less good than you are. That's it, I'm done.

I have a Nikken filter that blah blah blah the blah blah blah so that blah blah blah. Whatever. The water tastes great. I used to drink Appolinaris (mm. chewy) or Pellegrino (not as macho) every day. And experiment with new Italian and German waters every week. Now, as a treat, I'll stock some occasionally. I used filtered water for drinking, for tea and coffee, for pastas, rice, soups, stocks.

Hmmm...I'm not sure I want to touch that one. It's an a balic bio thread thing. :wow:

Oven baked crispy chicken (crusted with home-made large bread crumbs and dried herbs). Frites with fresh wasabi mayonaisse. Celery root slaw with a vinagraitte.

All right, thanks. Wonderful series of posts, by the way. I'm enjoying them very much.

Richard, I'm just wondering if you've seen this thread: Steingarten on Local Food Products under Starters > Food Media and News. I think you might be interested.

Bux, in connection with lizzie's report on el Bulli on the Spain Board, do you have anything to add here?

In any case, yet another exceptional report, cabrales. Thank you. I would just like to add a link to the excellent Fat Duck web site that Andy pointed out in an earlier thread.

Okara (also called unohana or kirazu) makes an interesting soup with dashi as a base, scallions, daikon, shoyu, and a bit of sake. It's best to steam or bake the okara for 45 minutes and let it cool before trying to use it, to make the proteins more digestible and remove undesirable enzymes. It's also good to fry it instead until thoroughly it's cooked (about 20 minutes) and then add it to a vegetable dish, like maitake mushrooms and leeks.

Roast beef sandwiches on fresh Pain de Pepin (we call it that because it's based on a recipe for French country bread by Jacques Pepin). With Normandy cultured butter, ricotta dura, Maille Dijon, watercress, cracked pepper. Roasted tomato soup with creme fraiche. Strubb's kosher dills.

I cryovaced some from the autumn, store it in the freezer in small chunks. Not really "fresh" grant you, but I wanted to quickly distinguish it from some kind of bottled creamed horrid glop. That's a lot of trout. I've used amaranth in salads and of course in Chinese-style preparations. Wonderful.

Ha ha. I haven't heard that in years.

While Wilfrid says you need not trouble yourself, if it's only a bit of trouble then I'd have you bear up under it by posting these, please.

I've always been learning how to cook. I am always learning how to cook. I will always be learning how to cook. Then I'll die and cabrales will eat me.