Jon Tseng

Oh no, not one of these again! 1) John thinks its great 2) Tony thinks its terrible Therefore either a) Tony and John had the same experience and different opinions. So what? It happens. Read contrasting reviews of a new opening, often describing the same dish on the same night. b) Tony and John had different experiences and drew different opinons. So what? It happens. People react to the same food, different. I, for one, am currently addicted to McD's bacon cheeseburgers (99p!) and Pizza Hut deep pan super supreme (large, for one ) Regards J PS Tony, re diners rights to equal food and service, what's your view on the Ivy? Thats a place which is open about NOT treating all diners the same, at least in the bookings process. The logic there is that if someone is a "regular" then they deserve better service. Two further examples are a) French Laundry VIP'ing regulars contrasted with b) Haeberlin (I think) saying everyone is equal cuz for the regular it may be something normal but the one-off diner may have saved for months and for them it may be a once in a lifetime experience ie more significant. Is favouritism ever a defensible position?

Noticed Krispy Kreme are opening their first ever UK branch... in Harrods. Hopefully they will infect more salubrious locations soon! On a related note they were giving away free Krispy Kreme donuts at work yesterday! (only ones with plain icing). Grabbed a box of twelve to take home to the house. Presumbly a freebie to raise their profile amongst all the expat US bankers they have running around the place... cheerio J PS donuts nice - seemed thinner crusted than the ones I've had before. Sweet.

Not really a misinterpretation, justa different system of transliteration. Peking is the name transliterated using the Wade-Giles system, Beijing is pinyin. The confusing system is that in Wade-Giles English letters are pronounced exactly the same as the equivalent characters in English, so if you were pronouncing Peking properly accord to the system it would sound like, well, Beijing. Of course when people don't it sounds like, er, Peking cheerio J

Is that before or after you reheat it? If before, perhaps its droplets of fat still in the liquid which have solidified cheerio J

How about sticking the pot just on the side of the hob, so one edge is over the flame - so any simmering just bubbles up to one side, pushing the raft and other bitz to the other side Also allows for lower heat Good luck. Its wonderful when you pull the raft to one side for the first side and see the damn thing has actually worked! cheerio J

Yeah baby... good to munch. As a rule of thumb the more yolks the better, although have to say when you get to four yolk cakes you do tend to get egg yolk overload I was in Shanghai this time last year and had the meat mooncakes for the first time. Very nice - incredibly moreish, particularl when they are dirt cheap on the street stall! Like much Shanghai food both sweet and meat at the same time One thing I find is my English friends dont like mooncakes. It seems to be one of those things like thousand year eggs the western palate doesnt really "get", especially the egg yolks cheerio J

I'm often struck by the similarity between the service in chinese banquets and french tasting menus ie 9-10 small courses served for the entire table. (consequently) small portion size, luxury ingredients. once again the french finally cottoning on... a couple of hundred years later J

Yes, I have that book. It is very good - an interesting glimpse into modern HK cooking, taking, adapting lightening from traditional cuisine. His other books are also very accessible. Probably prefer them to Ken Lo J

Sorry if you misunderstood. I was referring to Tony's point about there being lots of "references to classic or more traditional preparations". Yes I agree the menu and the amuses stay pretty fixed. note that this doesn't mean the dishes don't change; dishes have changed over the years, but kept the same menu description. J

Can anyone confirm if this secret menu stuff is real, or just an urban myth? has anyone ordered off it? you yanks are soooo lucky with burger chains! all we have is mcds, bk and wimpey!

I'd disagree. Heston does random wierd shit as well as old-stuff-in-a-new-format Rabbit and sea urchine veloute, Sweetbread with pollen, Lamb garlic and coffee, Potato and lime, Crab foie gras seaweed and salmon, Langoustine pigs trotter and truffle. Sure there old or canned combinations, but there are also new ones too J

If its goign to be a bit coarser because of hand-stirring make a virtue of it and do a sorbet or granite instead! As an alternative I don't think frozen parfaits need churning because the bubbles in the whipped egg whites mean it doesn't freeze as solid J

Hmpf Not bad, but looks about as Shanghainese as an Eskimo in a kilt... J

I don't know about Wagyu, but on the sushi front there is a fish place in Ealing that is very popular with the Japanese expat community. I don't have the details but I think it may be in the Time Out Shopping & Services guide. Maybe you could try phoning restaurants and ask where they get theirs. I know Tsunami in Clapham does it - when I asked they said it was Australian wagyu Also think about scouting out Oriental Plaza - the supermarket in there has a very good collection of Japanese bits n' bobs Cheerio J

Soup dumplings are also known as Xiao Long Bao (or Siu Loong Bao in Cantonese). They are little Shanghainese steamed pork (or pork and shrimp) dumplings filled with soup. The soup squirts out when you bite into them. They're usually eaten with julienned ginger and black vinegar. Cool website Literal translation is "Little Dragon Dumplings" J

Haven't a clue about tapas That aside: Tooting Broadway consider Ricks Cafe. Random modern neighbourhood friendly. Clapham Common can't think of anywhere now Tartuf has metamorphosed into a random grill (grrrr) Clapham Junction would the Gourmet Burger Kitchen be too downmarket? Brixton is a hellhole, although Jay Rayner has a Portugese Brixton Hill area he recommends. I'm sure he can fill you in. For other Portugese recs round there check out the Time Out guide Oval The Lavender gets decent notices for random modern neighbourhood, but have never been If you can get to Waterloo/London Bridge outposts of Tas are always useful for big groups. cheerio J

Isn't that a Devon vs. Cornwall thing?

sauce choron?

Hi mate Try using as heavy as possible a cream; in the UK I use double cream (48% fat) for cooking. Lighter stuff tends to split. It is splitting into globules of oil in the sauce? Sometimes can be rescued by zapping with a hand-blender, sometimes not (depending on the cream, qv) In his Passion for Flavour, Gordon Ramsay has a useful recipe for what he calls "sauce gazpacho". Basically pureed, sieved and heavily reduced cherry tomatoes (excellent at this time of year) with butter and olive-oil stirred in at the end. Make an excellent summary dressing. cheerio J

I picked up Jeremiah Tower Cooks from Books for Cooks the other weekend An excellent and most thoughtful book. I was surprised by how much cuisine bourgeois, and even escoffier he spoke for the supposed patriarch of new-cal. An eminently sensible read, and highly recommended. J

G'day And welcome Don't know about Kaki but Persimmons and Sharon fruit are the same When they're really ripe I just halve them and eat with a spoon! So liquid you could almost drink them... maybe you could make milkshakes? haven't had them for a while though cheerio J

Why so high? The UK version is £75, which is about $125 US. Suspect the amazon one might be mispriced. they sometimes do this for pre-order items where price isn't certain - a reason to order now methinks (you can always cancel later) in fact, thats what I think I'll do now... J

I spotted one waiting for collection at Books for Cooks today in London - presumably the spanish version J

Just checked back; its in French Country Cooking (1989) Actually looking at the recipe the amount of water is relatively small (500g lard, 1kg duck fat, 100ml water) so maybe its to help the mixture melt in rather than for topping up. But its a bit funny as I think its the only confit recipe I've seen where there are refs to putting water in cheerio J

have seen roux brothers recipes where they just top up with water... but yes most other fats would probably be preferable! annoying though, that one carcass yields just-not-enough-fat to do its two legs! Maybe try cutting them into thights and drumsticks so the will fit tighter in the pan and use less fat? J