olicollett

Just over a cup and a half, yes, i thought that too and double checked but its definately correct, i'm not really sure why the milk was in the recipe anyway, i don't see what it adds other than softening the mixture.

No instant pudding sadly.. I'm thinking now that perhaps a gelling agent would be better.. perhaps a couple of sheets of gelatin, or even better some agar (i would rather use agar because i wanted to bring the whole thing in to work for my work colleagues and one or two are vegetarian!) I also have some carrageen, not sure which would work best.

Right need some help here! I made a cheesecake yesterday which hasn't turned out as planned. To keep things easy i made a non-baked recipe which seemed to rely on the cheese and white chocolate to set the cheesecake. Easy I thought, can't go wrong. I've had too many problems with baked cheesecakes being inconsistent, one day coming out perfect and another a gooey mess (even with temperature probes and oven thermometers at my disposal!) Anyway, I left the cheesecake to set overnight in the fridge and i checked it this morning and sadly it had not set. The top is kinda set but the bottom is basically liquid. If i tried to release it from the tin half of it would just spill out of the bottom. The recipe was as follows: 380g white chocolate 380ml whole milk 750g soft cheese (i used 250g ricotta, 500g marscapone) 2 vanilla pods 60g icing sugar amaretti biscuits + butter for the base I left the chocolate over a low heat to melt with the whole milk and i began beating the cheese for the base along with the icing sugar and vanilla seeds. Once the chocolate melted i mixed it thoroughly and then left it to cool. Once the cheese was a soft, creamy consistency i added the chocolate/milk mixture and stirred thoroughly and then added it to my springform cake tin (on top of the base, which i had baked and left to cool) and then left it in the fridge. I was somewhat worried about the mixture because it was very thin and i had not used a gelling agent of any kind (as directed in the recipe!) Right now i'm left with a gooey mess and a fairly costly list of ingredients gone to waste, does anyone have any ideas how to salvage this? I don't know if its a good idea to remove the mixture, beat in some eggs and then try baking it but i'm open to any suggestions! Thanks

Right, tonight just baffled me. Why did Richard Corrigan want to source lamb that was both lean and where the animals had got pleanty of space to move around in, because he thought it would be the most tender. Surely everyone knows that the most tender, juicy meat will be from animals that have used their muscles less (ie less connective tissue etc.) and are less lean??

I was meant to go a few weeks back when the tasting room opened, but sadly some of my friends couldn't make it and i couldn't change for a smaller table I'll hopefully go in the summer though!

His end dish looked like some of the worst examples you see on MasterChef goes large, as did his crabcakes. I have a sneaky feeling that Nick Nairn is actually being overly kind to Mr Lee, as he realises the man is maybe out of his depth, namely being able to cook. Obviously chosen for his personality as opposed to being the cream of Scottish cooking. ← Surely they could find someone better to represent scotland? He's an embarassment. I still don't understand why he didn't caramelise the outside of his beef??

Gary from chatting to Sat in the past his opinion of a certain leeds restauranteur is well reciprocated. It is great to see his restaurant now getting some attention, and as I have mentioned previously maybe some of the national critics may pay a visit. Prior to visiting I could not find any major reviews on his restaurant and after visiting could not understand why. I remember drunkenly telling him (great beer list by the way) '...the world needs to know about this place.....' It was Katie at Juniper who actually reccomended it to me, and she has never failed me on good restaurant tips!!! In relation to the show, it is so boring this week, both in the chef's character and the food they are preparing. Does saying things like, 'striping a dish down to its basic elements' or ' letting the flavours speak for themselves', equate to lack of imagination, talent and creativity?? One doing salmon and mussels, the other doing trout and cockles. The French will be quaking in their boots................ ← And don't tell me, the chef's used the word "simple" at least 50 times when describing their cooking style/combinations/etc.? Something that really winds me up.

I really enjoyed my trip there, simple, honest down to earth food cooked well at reasonable prices.

Well worth the trip, assuming you can ever find his somewhat obscure location, not as Jennie Bond says in "downtown Nottingham" but out in the wilds down what appears to be a farm track. ← Yes I know where it is, its pretty obscure, certainly not in the city centre by any means! I can't understand why AWT was in the show last year in the first place, I should probably read through this whole thread to hear what happened but from what I hear he was pretty awful (what a surprise?). Sat definately comes across well on TV and I agree, I think he'll get tons of offers, I'm sure he won't "sell himself out" though!

Sat was legendary last night, not too sure about that fish dish but would have been interested to try it! Galton was clearly getting wound up though! Looking forward to eating at Sat Bains when i get round to sorting a table out!

Whats the dress code like there? Is it quite smart? Was considering booking before a night out but we'd be dressed pretty casually!

I didnt invent it i just perfected it,only joking i m not claiming to have re invented the wheel, i know people have done chocolate fondant with caramel before but saying that the fondant recipe is mine, the ice cream recipe is mine, the foam is mine and the salted caramel is mine, but over the years i have seen a number of chefs attempt combinations very similer to what heston does, which are obviously noticed as there so different, the chef in question being one of those people. ← come off it, i have 2 recipes for chocolate fondant with salted butter caramel from books, I doubt either of the chef's were original when they produced them. Copying combinations from Heston? What next, chef's serving deconstructed bacon and egg ice cream? Heston has created some innovative dishes, but criticising a chef for perhaps using his ideas as a basis for their recipes, or even for coming up with a mixture of ingredients similar to those at the fat duck is surely daft. No offence chap but i think its a bit rude to accuse other chef's of such things when you are trying to get your restaurant going. ← Hey i didnt criticise, i think hes a very good chef, it was just an observation, maybe i m wrong ← Sorry i probably went a bit OTT with my reply, i had been drinking all afternoon and shouldn't have gone near the internet!

I didnt invent it i just perfected it,only joking i m not claiming to have re invented the wheel, i know people have done chocolate fondant with caramel before but saying that the fondant recipe is mine, the ice cream recipe is mine, the foam is mine and the salted caramel is mine, but over the years i have seen a number of chefs attempt combinations very similer to what heston does, which are obviously noticed as there so different, the chef in question being one of those people. ← come off it, i have 2 recipes for chocolate fondant with salted butter caramel from books, I doubt either of the chef's were original when they produced them. Copying combinations from Heston? What next, chef's serving deconstructed bacon and egg ice cream? Heston has created some innovative dishes, but criticising a chef for perhaps using his ideas as a basis for their recipes, or even for coming up with a mixture of ingredients similar to those at the fat duck is surely daft. No offence chap but i think its a bit rude to accuse other chef's of such things when you are trying to get your restaurant going.

".. My approach on Hell's Kitchen will be about inspiring people and helping them, not belittling them and putting them down." Asked if he had Ramsay in mind, he replied: "I couldn't pass comment."

Pork crackling is definately one of those things that chef's can't agree on! I've seen chef x say to not put anything on the skin and just score it, another chef y will say add salt, and chef z will say to add salt and olive oil! In Heston Blumenthal's book, full on food, he says that you can achieve perfect crackling by trimming off just the skin on its own and placing it in the microwave, I can't say i've tried it, however!

I'll come along if you pay my expenses. Just send a cheque to...

Marbling in any animal is definitely going to improve the flavour, just in some animals its not possible to achieve. That's my understanding, anyway! I had some very nice bacon the other week that was marbled and tasted fantastic!

Just a small step to make restaurants even more exclusive imo. Starts off at $35, then they start charging $100 and so on.

Interesting. I enjoyed Locatelli's when i went there but I did have a few gripes. Firstly i'm not a fan of places where you get charged for everything (i started looking down the bill and expected to see oxygen at the bottom). Secondly, someone was smoking two tables down, didn't affect my dinner but it was clearly affecting the table next to ours. I was able to get a table there at pretty short notice, however, which seems to be a thing of the past in London nowadays, plus, it was the best pasta i've ever had.

Anyone know a good butchers in Nottingham? I can't seem to find anywhere nearby (i live in the city centre) and i don't have a car! I'm pretty fussy over my meat so i'm not too keen on ordering online, unless anyone can recommend me anywhere really good, which doesn't involve ordering a whole cow?

Sadly i only caught a couple of the shows, but I thought the ones i did catch were very interesting. I did also get the book for christmas and have been working my way through that (reading it, that is, not cooking everything!) I have had the chance to cook a couple of the dishes from the book, the spaghetti bolognese and the steak. The bolognese was pretty accurate to the recipe, I hand shredded the pork shoulder, however i had to substitute minced oxtail with beef mince, since i have no mincer and i couldn't find a butcher willing to mince it for me! I had some tomato fondue left over from a few weeks previous that i had cooked up which i used to add to the meat/veg mixture as well which made it easier. On the whole I thought the bolognese was excellent, i liked the way the texture of the meat varied with the difference in shape/size of the pork and i thought overall it had a much, much richer and satisfying taste compared to other bolognese i had made before. The steak was sadly somewhat less successful. I decided to be brave and i stuck the rib of beef in the oven for what must have been nearly 48hrs at 50C. When serving the steak I found that although it was juicy and the flavor was excellent, the beef wasn't as tender as i had hoped. I'm not sure whether this was because the beef was not as well marbled and aged as it could have been or whether the fan oven i used was a factor and if the temperature should have been more like 49C instead of 50C, because it was quite possible the temperature did on occasion go above 50C and could have destroyed the enzymes needed for the aging process. The mushroom ketchup was excellent though, as was the Stilton butter, both made excellent complements to the steak. I also served the steak with some chunky triple cooked chips which i thought were an excellent addition. I'm planning on going to the fat duck in a few months time, just hope i can manage to get a table!