Blether

I'm pretty sure I read on Noilly Prat's own web site that it's Noilly as in oily, and Prat as in fat.

They do that at one of my favourite places in Thailand - weird the first time you see it - in the tropical heat, too - and it sure made me think, but I still eat there every time. The whole gang does and we've never had a problem.

It looks like one, apart from the age of it ?

Tamanegi = onion. Tama = ball. Naga = long. Ao = blue (no, green ! **), and aonegi is what they call the negi tops when they're chopped fine. ** cf a blue traffic light, which means go. Also, spring onions are asatsuki, and I've never heard a chive called anything except "chaibu", but my dictionary suggests they can also be called "ezonegi".

Umm, only if you think it's bad to surprise a country bumpkin like yours truly. But really... corn-fed sheep ? Whatever next ! I was thinking about asking serious questions like how the flavour differs, but it's a national holiday here and acting foolish will be my highest level of function, at least till midnight.

Corn-fed sheep ? Jings !

Thanks for writing - and for covering so much

So that's what Japan's "biifun" is supposed to be comes from.

Welcome home, Percy ? The other day, funnily enough, roast chicken, because other plans took over the previous night: I rustled up a salad to keep it from just being bread-and-meat:

That's nicely creative. Your food is always beautiful... you haven't often written preparation details and if this is the norm I'll be happy to hear as many breakdowns of ingredients and technique as you're willing to post

Wow !

Mmm... to me it's not pot roast if it's not mimicking the traditinal roast's way of being cut into slices from the block. And Margaret, I'm sorry but - to me - pot roasting uses shallower liquid, replenished as necessary to prevent drying out. Pot roasting also requires a browning step. (None of which is to suggest that what you describe sounds less than wonderful).

I'll add that I think osmosis does play a bigger part in longer-term curing (ham) in terms of texture and density, as opposed to shorter-term brining. Osmosis still has nothing to do with how salty / seasoned the meat gets from the brine.

Pot roast in our family, growing up, was either silverside (bottom round in the US ?), brisket or topside. I'd add that ground may also contain head meat, meat scraped from bones, odd cut off bits &c.. If you're a commercial outfit making mince for sausages or kebabs, say, then add ears, eyes, tail, tendon &c.

Lose fond ? Pour boiling water in there and stir it around. (With water in it I'd be surprised if it wouldn't tolerate a gentle burner, but that's beside the point). Did you look at mm84321's pheasant in Dinner! this week ?

Getting brine in along the bone is a good addition to your technique, especially for hams (not so meaningful with bone-in belly, say). Who was it that posted recently (to paraphrase) "it's bacon, not birth control". You really mess it up even to the point of inedibility and you've bought a valuable lesson for what ? Twenty bucks ? With respect to you, IndyRob, can we stop talking about osmosis as the major mechanism in brining ? We know that the whole basis of osmosis across (meat) cell walls is based on the fact salt can't pass through the cell wall. But we know that meats get salty in brine. Therefore we know that something else does that - the salty fluid seeps / soaks in through the fibres of the meat, carrying the salt & whatever else is dissolved with it. Yes, osmosis will happen too, but it's a lesser part of the effects cooks are looking for. Osmosis *does* explain, on the other hand, why even wet-cured meat can lose fluid, overall. That's my understanding.

It's worth reading the short Wet-curing bacon thread too. Dave uses a calculation that only includes the water %age of the meat (a putative 65%). Why, I don't know. Instinctively I'd go with the whole weight. Brining equlilibrium time (penetration time by any method) always depends on the thickest part of the meat. I do pork belly in a strong (80% saturated) brine for 3.5 days, then allow to dry and equalise (i.e. reach equilibrium) for a couple of days more. A limit on brining time is the keeping quality of the meat, especially in a domestic fridge being used day-to-day. Ideal brining temperature is 1 - 2C. I lay an esky-box pack on top of the brining box, and change in a new one every 12 hours or so.

Thanks.

Why are you must to known ? I read that and it didn't answer the question, that I can see, but could the additional pinkish-orangeish tube / matter be related to molting cycles ?

Grouse... pheasant. The curved beak says 'not grouse' to me. Either way, given how prone pheasant is (game birds are) to dryness, especially in the breast, it looks very skillfully handled. mm84321, roasted at what temp ? Whole or in pieces ? Edited: to put the right bird in quotes...

Ai-yaaaaaa ! I love it that the sour plum powder is rendered in Chinese characters as exactly that; yet the English on the bag is "sweet prune powder". Assam pedas - is pedas "veggies" ? Apart from the tamarind, was the bulk anything more than bhindi & tomato ? Do you know what base the mulligatawny used - I mean beef or something else ? I have an idea in my head that beef is (British-)authentic but thinking about it now, I'm not sure where from.

Dang, I was just PM-ing my shipping address.

Great atory PS Like me at that age, you were a very soft negotiator.

I guessed it wasn't meant as a compliment - I still like Talisker a lot, but don't expect anyone to drink it that doesn't.

Japan's Subways don't have any awful or even vaguely unpleasant smell. Well, you couldn't do that kind of business here if your shops had (special exception for the truly humming Hope ramen). They've also done coffee for the longest time - and it's good. Currently JPY190 a cup, the same as McD's large size (also fairly good coffee). Better than any of the coffee-specialist chains, and cheaper.