CalumC

Just because Jeffrey Steingarten says it, doesn't make it true. This, to me, is analogous to all those people who say alcoholics can eat dishes where alcohol is an ingredient because the alcohol burns off. Science has shown not all the alcohol burns off, and how much alcohol remains depends on many factors, including the cooking process, itself (flambeed vs. braising etc) Not all lactose is always consumed in the cheese-making process, and not all cheeses have equal amounts of lactose. Hard cheeses because they are aged have much less lactose than a cheese like ricotta. The woman says she's lactose intolerant, and as a guest, she's entitled to be believed. WebMD with further references from scientific studies. (Note that Jeffrey Steingarten belongs to the "people of European descent" category, so perhaps when he wrote "very, very few of us", maybe he meant "very, very few of us of European descent.") ← Steady on there, apologies if i've riled you a bit, I just included because it was relevant and interesting. As I remember from the actual article, there was some sort of scientific study into it, if i find the book back home over christmas i'll come back with what it says. Anyway, we've managed to stray away from the topic a little, back to the menu talk.

"Suddenly, everybody has become lactose-intolerant. But the truth is that very, very few of us are so seriously afflicted that we cannot drink even a glass of milk a day without trouble. I know several people who have given up cheese to avoid lactose. But fermented cheeses contain no lactose! Lactose is the sugar found in milk; 98 percent of it is drained off with the whey (cheese is made from the curds), and the other 2 percent is quickly consumed by lactic-acid bacteria in the act of fermentation." From http://www.slate.com/id/3152/ but like i said, its in one of his books.

I am moderately(?) lactose intolerant. I can eat small amounts of hard, aged cheeses but *cannot* handle milk, cream, ice cream, and soft cheeses such as ricotta. ← Fair doos, i'll try and find the original article, must be around here somewhere.

Yeah it is frustrating, but then so many people feel unable to not leave extra tips for some reason. I get a bit annoyed with the general idea of a service charge anyway, its not an obligatory payment, its more a compliment of the service on the night. The last meal I was at, the waiter was a bit useless so we scribbled the service charge and left a smaller amount (he had redeemed himself a little). To my knowledge, you're within your rights to do so.

Next time i'll read the other posts a bit better.

re: lactose intolerance. From what i remember reading in one of Jeffery Steingartens books, there are no cheeses that someone with lactose intolerance cant eat due to the large part of the lactose going during the cheese making process.

What about Duck ham. I seem to be forever talking about Heston Blumenthal on here, but... For his recent versions of the snail porridge dish, where he had previously used jabugo ham, he now makes his own cured duck breast ham. Might be worth a try. And obviously use the carcass for stock.

Haha, an alcohol tasting in the late afternoon, my kind of party. Try and hold back any impulse to take new things that you've only just made for the first time, take the things that you know are great. The gift box idea is great, events like that always pick up impulse sales, especially this close to christmas. Good luck!

I'm not sure exactly how you would do this, but i've got this idea in my head that you could put an M&M or two inside a scoop of ice cream, then do the deep fry/batter thing. It would work awesomely if the M&M would somehow melt but not the ice cream. I'm sure theres a way of doing it in a microwave that I saw on one of Heston Blumenthal's shows, except that was jam in the middle.

Any pictures of that? Sounds like a monster.

Oh, that's interesting... A quick look at the website reveals it to be Grady Atkins. The 'Degustation' menu doesn't really excite. Carte looks better though. We may pop along this weekend and let you know. ← Yeah let us know whats going on there. I had a chance to gander in some food guides in waterstones today, It looks like Le gallois is the only place doing anything like this, but i did like the look of the a la carte menu.

Sounds great Gary, I think i felt the same kind of just being so impressed by the whole operation. Hoping to take Miss CalumC out for dinner in the new year, see if i can convince that the cote de boeuf is absolutely necessary!

Quick message on my vanilla. Think i've had it going in its little jar for going on a year now, very occasional use now that i don't have it with me day to day, but last time i saw it, it was a lovely gloopy syrup, much more heady and aromatic than the normal extract I was buying, awesome vanilla flavour. Thanks to the OP for the idea and all the guidance along the way, this idea is a keeper. Might try some different extractions next time.

Yeah i noticed that when i checked the website, the new menu sounds quite interesting, certainly like theyre pushing for stars, and the chef has had a good background or so it seems at least. Will definitely keep ba orient in mind, cheers.

We have a hotel in cardiff and wanted dinner so i'm afraid it would have to be, reason being we're going to a gig the night before the anniversary. Le gallois looked like the most suitable place, but if any of the lukewarm recommendations are better than that then i'd love to hear them.

Nothing?

That was my suspicion, I had a quick look in salts a little while back, seemed a nice place. And i've become a fan of the caribbean/sub-con food stall in the market. As for the macbook, have you tried the refurb store. Around 1AM gmt they always put up the remaining stock of polycarbonate macbooks (white/black), they start around £530 for the 2.1ghz, 1GB ram, 120GB HD white one.

Much easier than using image shack, funnily enough, is flickr. I would be lying if I said I wasn't having a very comfortable experience now using a mac. But anyway, http://www.flickr.com/photos/music_food/se...57610377131688/ First proper experience with iberico, I seem to remember it being belotta. Either way, absolutely gorgeous, cut with a very nice electric slicer. Fat melted on the tongue giving a subtle nutty flavour. The range of cheeses (kept in a refrigerated room, glass doors) looked good, lots of olives and the like, as well as charcuterie. Ate this with a piece of sundried tomato focaccia from the bakery, also very good. Got 3 muffins too, this one (banana) was great, had an injection of caramel sauce in the middle, dried banana chips on top. Also had triple chocolate, which was unfortunately quite disappointing and carrot cake, which was absolutely stonking, brilliant cream cheese icing. Scoffed that before i could take a picture. So yeah, if you get a chance to visit, make sure you do. I personally don't know of anything even approaching this elsewhere in leeds, even in individual shops. Admittedly, ive only been living here for 4 months, but i've been looking around the city centre a fair bit. Maybe Gary knows of some places? I loved the general feel of the piazza, the shops are all in alcoves and have a great intimate feel to them, can't wait to try the restaurant and i hope to have a coffee in the cafe tomorrow, depending on whether my mac gets delivered so i can try and use the wifi

I managed to completely smeg up the image posting, hopefully i'm getting a macbook delivered tomorrow, when i've sorted out all my images on that, ill write it up again.

Does anyone know what the cardiff food scene is like at the moment, i've been keeping half an eye on Le Gallois. I need a fairly special place for an anniversary meal with the girlfriend. Hope you've got some recs for me. Cheers.

Well i went, was amazed, ended up spending more than i probably should. Good to see the man himself hard at work, was doing some pastry work, then checking elsewhere, good sign id say. Pictures on the way

I've got a free day tomorrow so i might end up wandering down to check the shops out, try and work out an excuse to have dinner.

So gary, how was it.

What is english toffee to the american? Theres chewy toffee and theres bonfire toffee (which is also divided by some into cinder toffee and tin pan toffee).

Result as far as i'm concerned, ill be back by then.