Jon Tseng

for a start they taste bitter. now as it is well known, bitter is nature's way of warning this are POISONOUS a brussel sprout is nothing more than a stunted, bitter tasting cabbage. think. if you were offered a stunted, poisonous, bitter-tasting carrot you would send it back. why should brussel sprouts be any different??? Hell is not, with the possible exception of my landlord, other people. Hell is a twelve course brussel sprout degustation. J

Good gig on getting Fergus in Andy! So those long an tortuous meals you had to endure to sort it out were worth it then? Have had the chicken necks in the bar - were ok but mouth-puckeringly salty (think my ones were deep fried, not confit) J

Bitter Melon is evil. It resides on the eigth circle of fruit and veg hell between the Durian Hell and the Brussel Sprout Hell. Anyhow, back to the original topic: Bamboo pith, which has a more glorious wet-but-crunchy texture when stewed. Slightly reminiscent of deep-fried braised/stewed pork skin. J

I'm reminded of the old quote from a random famous French chef (possibly bocuse) that bearnaise is something simple but you have to do it fifty times before you say you can do it right I'm sure you will sympathise! On the grilled cow stakes, one of Peter Gordon (Sugar Club, Providores) signature dishes is/was Beef Pesto; in short a fillet steak with pesto glazed on top (I think theres some marinading involved too) - actually tastes better than it sounds (its in his sugar club cookbook) cheerio J

GARLIC SHOOTS Wonderful "meaty" texture and a beguiling flavour It is a crime that restaurants hardly ever serve them in the UK J PS also good chinese chives (jiu cai) esp. in jiaozi. Gai lan also has a lovely texture but don't like the taste as niceas garlic shoots

Just out of interest does anyone know which cuts Homestead uses for its Kobe burger? When the story came out about the $40 burger I remember thinking if thats a pound of Kobe beef like you get in Jap restaurants (ie tenderloin or whatever) that's WAY too cheap... I presume they'd have to use other cuts of Wagyu if they were doing it that price (or is american wagyu a lot cheaper than Jap?) cheerio J

I forgot to add we also used to get fantastic steamed buns brought back from Paris from a Cambodian-Chinese family friend. I particularly remember for the most wonderfully moist, sweet chunks of wind-dried sausage. Yum. J

Yes, I guess "doggy bag" just not the done thing here... english squeamishness I suspect (to be fair, what you get in the bag does tend to look like regurgitated astronaut food by the time you get home) I believe its similar in France >I was unable to taste his offerings and decide for myself if the piquillo pepper is necessary....alas..) Not - blatant attempt to squeeze out more money from the punters. cheerio J EDIT: When we go to chinese places we often take away bits - obviously bit more of a takeaway food culture in these places!

If you're doing the non-roast pork ones (ie plain meat filling - no gloop) MUST be as juicy as possible (I suspect this involves chucking lots of pork fat and/or jelly into the stuffing). Best baozi I ever had were lamb baozi from a muslim hole-in-the-wall in beijing. terrifically tasty and oozing juice. yum. J

- High filling/bread ratio - Lots of meaty filling - no padding out with cornflour-gloop sauce - fluffy bread but not too much - And a touch of garlicy sweetness to the filling Can we extend this to roast pork puff ( char siu so)? - Flaky pastry - Slightly sweet pastry - Piping hot J

Don't be silly Cartons of course Saves on the washing up... and keeps the food warmer (v. imp if its already at least half an hour from the kitchen) J

Alternately you could try the "Escoffier method" ie chuck in a pint of heavy cream and then stir in a stick of unsalted butter just before serving Had a similar experience with pumpkin soup recently - thin and watery but with the addition of gratuitous animal fat it suddenly tasted just like in the restaurants! Alternately scavange a ham bone (eg used parma ham leg) from the deli counter and simmer the soup with that in for another hour (though haven't got a clue what that would do to the peas) cheerio J

Heresy! You may as well have gotten a McPancakes with Maple Syrup in the morning, left it to congeal under the desk and reheated it in the microwave It would have been more authentic (at least in terms of culinary standard ;-) )

bloody furriners next thing you'll be serving eggs benedict on the side

Did this many years ago when caught the crawfish season in China (you mean the tiddly little freshwater ones right, non the clawless lobsters?) The shells, unsurprisingly, make fantastic stock. I ended up with a very dark brown liquid - much darker than even a brown chicken stock. Zapped it right down to a syrup and turned a bit bitter (didn't have cream or butter to hand out in Beijing those days to soften it) Try giving the shells a bit of a roast too before using You may need to strain as there's lots of grit J

Did some normal (non-fluffy) pancakes for the house - dead quick (cheated not leaving batter for half hour after making, but did stick it thru a sieve to make sure smooth) Very nice, as usual first ones crappy as pan to cool but soon had two on the go. about 50% success rate on the flipping J

I think bigger metal chopsticks status symbol - my Korean friend said his dad had BADASS metal stix Oldest person pays (cf China host always pays) J

Great minds think alike... ... or we're all equally stoopid ;-)

In Taiwan I've also seen half-dried scallops as a stack. They're little queenies which come in individual packets; not completely dry - sort of a bit chewy/fudgy texture. Lovely sweet flavour. Haven't seen them in Europe, but have a sneaking suspicion the Japanese have something similar J

Presumably if its being defrosted (and maybe even refrozen again - is this do-able from a safety perspective?) you don't want something too lightly cooked ie ceviche, gravadlax et al (though how fresh was the salmon when frozen? i remember the japs often use very fresh defrosted fish for sushi). ... So if you'd cooking it well you might wanna think about fishcakes or fish pie ie the other gunk in there so overcooking of fish flesh isn't so important. plus doesn't matter as its scraps as it'll all get mashed up. plus fishcakes, at least, can be frozen in handy portions to be used at will haven't got a clue how to make fishcakes, bear in mind. i believe spuds are involved somewhere... j

Could ya chuck in an egg yolk? (apologies if mentioned already - just sped red the thred) J

Saw this a couple of weeks ago and was a little underwhelmed after the buildup. The one joke appears to be substituting surreal verbs in the recipes, which is fine the first couple of times but grates after a while. The problem with the program is its trying to parody a genre which has already descended into self-parody (errr Nigella?). Remember seeing the same thing happen with Austen Powers, when James Bond is already taking piss out of itself to start with J

Working late yesterday, actually not a terrible burger from Deliverance (www.deliverance.co.uk) - big, juicy, lots of mayo, in a wholegrain bap rather than a bun (not necessarily a negative) Only lukewarm but due to delivery rather than chef crap chips J

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En ce moment Glorious French Food - Peterson The Best Recipe - Cooks Illustrated people Cuisine Actuelle - Patricia Wells/Joel Robuchon Passion for Flavour - Gordon Ramsay Culinary Artistry - Dornenburg/Page (though not cooking directly from) J