Tjaart

I am just popping in here - and here I was thinking Nando's was out-and-out South African - nando's is flame-grilled young chicken spatchcocked and marinaded in piri-piri sauce - oil with garlic and hot chilli flavour (sometimes with a touch of vinegar) and I am sure that it comes from Mocambique and Angola - I notice now the query was halfway answered above ← Thank you for answering the followup question before I asked it. This sounds simple and delicious. It also sounds like something I could reproduce easily on my countertop grill, minus the flame part. ← A good idea is to make 2 to 3 diagonal slits in the thighs and breasts to make sure the chicken cooks before it burns, and important to baste it while cooking I like adding the touch of vinegar to the chilli oil because it underscores the chilli heat - and the dish should have more chilli than garlic flavour serve with french fries or rice

I am just popping in here - and here I was thinking Nando's was out-and-out South African - nando's is flame-grilled young chicken spatchcocked and marinaded in piri-piri sauce - oil with garlic and hot chilli flavour (sometimes with a touch of vinegar) and I am sure that it comes from Mocambique and Angola - I notice now the query was halfway answered above

In Athens - flame-grilled in the street, slightly charred bits and all, with nothing on it, and then I take the left-over middle part to my hotel-room and chew whatever is possible with a touch of salt. At home in Africa, only at home, only young cobs fresh off the field, boiled for a few minutes and the salty farmhouse butter dribbling down my chin, sometimes a touch of freshly-grated black pepper, no particular system and usually the core is soft enough to even sit and nibble at it sucking all the juices out! Otherwise not at all.

1. Oooh, crispy outside, creamy, creamy rich, yet light, inside - potato with the delicate flavour of fresh eggs and butter - pommes dauphines! the best ever form of potatoes (although German potato croquettes rolled in crisp buttery chopped almonds could almost make it too) 2. German Salzkartoffeln, golden earthy flavour, oozing butter and sparkling with parsley! 3. potatoes like my mother used to make for special family occasions - perfectly boiled and smothered in a creamy cheddar-flavoured sauce Mornay, with a touch of hot English mustard in the sauce and a light sprinkling of nutmeg. not far behind these come a plateful of gnocchi, one half robed in pesto, one half robed in a light, fresh tomato sauce with a dollop of cream stirred into it.

I have tasted the chicken confit at last and it has come out with a deliciously gamy flavour and creamy texture. It doesn't crisp and brown as well as duck would, but I have found it works best in the form of rillettes on toast. Once it has been lightly shredded it also crisps up fairly well to sprinkle sparingly into a green salad.

I finally screwed my courage to the sticking point, more for the method and the spicing than anything else: i started making a "duck" confit using chicken legs, thighs and wings. And, I can't really afford duck at present prices in South Africa, if one does manage to find it by travelling all over my own and the next door city, Johannesburg. Don't even think about coming across ducks that are "Beijing", or "moulard", or "muscovy"! I did a dry spicing with juniper berries, allspice , black pepper, coriander and a lot of garlic. The juniper berry and allspice combination I have learnt to love from Jane Grigson's brines. I did it all quite fast, not much research, but since I have now been dipping into this posting, if the chicken is edible - which I am fairly sure it will be - I will probably have to force myself to start saving up for a duck or two within the next few months, and THEN, oh then, will I progress to the cassoulet, which I have eaten only once in my life, and I want to taste it once more at least before I see Naples.

I have always washed my rice before cooking, and then, on the basis of several Indian and some Chinese recipes, started soaking my rice as well (this applies to Indian and Chinese rice only, not Arborio - which goes into the pan as is). Rinsing removes any chance of sticky rice, unless you cook it in a lot of water and never rinse them. The 'pasta' method is only one of many methods - vide Julie Sahni, Classic Indian Cooking, who gives this method as one of several. I haven't noticed any particular loss of flavour when using the 'pasta' method, which is very rarely. Soaking the rice and throwing away the soaking water could probably also be accused of 'losing flavour and nutrients' but I dont believe that that actually happens. In Chinese and Japanese restaurants the rice is often slightly 'sticky' which makes it just that much easier to eat with chopsticks. 'Fluffy' rice only works for me with good juicy stews (plenty of gravy) or curries, and not at all for small Japanese fried dishes, or even fairly juicy stir-fries, because I believe that these dishes are meant to help large amounts of rice 'go down' - that is, in the West we tend to use much too much 'food' to eat with our rice. Ifeel the same about pasta - drowning pasta in sauce spoils the flavour of the pasta.

I must admit I leave cooked food, lightly covered with cloth, out for at least 36 hours sometimes, and I have not been made sick by any of these foods yet. And I keep cooked foods in the refrigerator (meat, chicken, even fish) for as long as 4-5 days sometimes. Of course, one should know which dishes can appropriately kept for so long without losing or skewing the flavours. As for noodles al dente, I think it depends on taste and type of dish: a noodle salad which has been kept in the refrigerator for one day becomes soggy if the noodles have been overcooked in the first place; on the other hand, if the noodles in the salad are distinctly al dente, their absorption of liquids from the dressing can turn a salad into something quite spectacular by the second or third day. There are other noodle dishes (especially sweet ones) where a moister noodle than al dente is the only thing that gives the dish its required smoothness.

If I have read the thread correctly, nobody seems to say much about Julia Child's 'other' alternative for white wine - vermouth. I cooked Elizabeth David's vermouth-glazed onions in my youth, and since have developed a penchant for using dry white vermouth instead of white wine for many recipes - especially for deglazing for sauces, where the slight spiciness adds delicious flavour. When a distinctly acid note is required, a reasonably good white wine surely does the trick, and even here I often prefer the slight natural sweetness and floral qualities of most Rieslings are excellent with fish.