Jon Tseng

Try this Although the method I remember is a little different - more spinning involved Mianmian no videos; i suspect they would be kind of messy j

Actually I don't think they're too hard to make yourself - the dough is normally just flour and water - no egg. You pull them by holding a thin sausage of the dough at each end and twirling it between them, using centrifugal force to extrude it ok, maybe i should find a picture to explain it! j

Just a quickie. Was down Borough Mkt this w/e and found the chicken place (they have both a stall and a shop down the side by the veggie places) were selling whole raw duck foie gras for £28/kg, an outstanding price (cheapest have seen it before is £40, in France - albeit Christmas week - it was similar) Well the upshot was I got a small (1 lb) fg for fourteen quid which was roasted whole and shared between myself, and two of our eg brethren for lunch with a bit of brioche and some caramelised oranges. At a fiver each that's a steal and I heartily recommend it to all and sundry cheerio J

Yes, I've been confused by the hand-pull thing too. We ordered these at Capital (could have been Hakkasan but this it was Capital) and were dished up a plate of thin noodles with a distinctly square-cut cross-section (ie like packet noodles). When quizzed the waiter insisted they had been made that day by the chef. I always thought hand-pulled were thinker, slightly irregular made pretty much as the name suggests. They have some wicked versions in west china which they serve in soup with mutton or chilli beef. I dunno. Actually nowadays I prefer a good udon. cheerio J

My duck ravioli stuffing (which has had a good working out this year) is shredded confit leg (remember to salt it before confiting!), caramelised onions or shallots, some of the fat from the stuffing and some egg white to help bind it. I'm sure there's some herb/truffle action which could also be adeed. I throw in a couple of small chunks of fg (maybe c1cm cubes) I generally shred the meat to a small dive (ie <0.5cm); this is coarser than italian recipes which seem to basically puree the forcemeat. Pasta as thin as possible. cheerio J

Tinned FG fine just different - is this entier (better) or bloc, mousse &tc (worse) The texture is slightly grainier because it is usually heated to a higher temperature (c100c) when cooking rather than 60-ish at home As for cooking it I wouldn't bother frying it. However if you did remember to use a good thick piece - frying thin slices of FG they tend to disintegrate ito a fatty puddle. I have melted pate into a sauce quite successfully though... something as simple as reduced cream with it melted in is lovely, if slightly unhealthy. A useful tip if using it in a sauce is to puree it in a food processor/with a hand blender first. Another use is as a backdrop to other flavours - eg in the wellington below. When I make duck ravioli I slip in some FG which quite melts away but adds a certain richness - again this lessens the effect of it being pate not fresh good luck J

Because if most of them do understand that means some of them do not. PS BTW I thought the Oriental did have a star a few years back.

Nah, looks like they only mentioned it had closed because it was included in the guide. Don't think it indicates TC would have lost its stars if it hadn't closed. ie cheznico and oak room also listed as losing stars but not closing, although they have. Interesting Cliveden lost its star given Clive Fretwell (head chef at Waterside for donkeys years) recently moved in. Overall rather dull this yr cheerio J

I would favour Peking Duck - think of it as a phrase in itself rather than the constituent parts. The obvious example is Bombay Duck, as opposed to Mumbai Duck! Similarly Peking University is still called Peking University as opposed to BJ Uni (www.pku.edu.cn) Bear in mind there is a case for sticking with Peking in any case. Beijing is, after all, the name in Chinese rather than English. After all we don't called Florence Fiorentia, Turin Torino or Lisboa Lison when we're talking in English cheerio J

Random thoughts (errr, so whats new?) best thing to keep it simple. do stuff you've done before (maybe not necessarily all at once) so you know it works. often a dish sounds really cool but falls miraculously apart into squidly, fudgy bits while the expectant diners are waiting next door better still work up a repetoire of standbys/building blocks - i have several dishes which i know will work and which i often use as the bae of other dishes (too often victims - sorry, guests, sometimes say) - risotto, gazpacho sauce, slow-cooked salmon, confit duck. THis has two roles: i) ya sure it'll work on the big night ii) doing a dish a couple of times you get much better at it plan around the main course - beef - sounds heavy - so something light for the starter and pudding - ie fish, white meat, veg-based starter. a salad garnished with goodies perhaps. fruit-based pudding (as opposed to choc & cream) the secret of a good menu is contrast - so the diners don't get bored by similar-style dishes. rule of thumb is never to replicate stuff - don't replicate cooking methods or ingredients between courses. try to have dishes with contrasting textures, temperatures, degrees of stodiginess, lightness &tc one hot course is more than enough for a three course meal!!! a cold, prepare-ahead starter and pud is the ideal way to avoid pre-meal stress! don't reckon on your guests turning up on time ;-) there is a good passage on menu-planning going over many of the above in a book called Leith's Contemporary Cooking, by Prue Leith as maggie pointed out - think about whats seasonal - often tis cheaper cook what you want to eat! cheerio j

Spent a while last year trying to find a definitive basic jap cookbook - seem to be a lot which do a bit of this or a bit of that but didn't have the breadth or depth for what i was looking for. Best I could come up with was Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art by Shizuo Tsuji. Not that flashy but covers the basics well cheerio J

incognico three courses for twelve fifty and decent sized portions too j

Mate... of course it soooooooo saves on the washing-up just make sure you have a tray underneath - those plastic cartons can get hot! ;-)

you or me?

my skates are all i need to get home flippin' hard trying to 'blade on ice though, have to say j

hear hear for the pierogi - especially with crispy pork fat scattered over the top fifty vodkas at two quid a shot - what else do ya need? J

An interest (passion?) in/for food remains a minority interest in this country Not sure whether than says if its elitist or not J

Otherwise known as steamboat - where you have a heater and a pot of boiling water/stock in the middle of the table and everyone dips in raw ingredients to cook at a minute then devour with dipping sauce - I prefer peanut with a raw egg yolk beaten in J

Oh yes, eminently do-able A couple of tips: i) Plan ahead - I don't go as far as critical whatchamacallit but I do break each dish down into individual tasks eg make a salad, make a sauce, prep a fish, make pasta dough and write these down. Then I just work through the list til everythings done ii) You'll have to do lots of stuff ahead (and this is positively recommended) ie figure on prep of at least an afternoon, and more likely all Sat for Sat evening. iii) Seperate the hot courses with cold ones so you don't spend all the time rushing around the stove (also helps out if the hot courses need a longer time to prepare). Better still minimise the number of hot courses - one or two is quite enough, especially if you're messing around with salads or cold puddings &tc iv) Figure out what's cooking in terms of hobs, ovens &tc ie if two dishes need different temperatures can't be done at once! Try for something in the oven, something on the grill, a couple of things on top &tc v) Make sure you're eating in the kitchen, not a seperate living/dining room! Otherwise it could be quite a lonely meal given the extra stove-time demanded during the meal! cheerio J

If I'm worried about getting stuffed I generally skip on the bread Also in posh places I find that ordering coffee triggers the materialisation of multiple squadrons of petit fours, which often does very nicely for a light pudding if I am feeling a bit complet The third alternative is a brisk walk around outside (esp. in winter) before returning to the table. does wonders for the perpetually plumped cheerio J

I think canned and dried is different - and indeed highly prized. Certainly good canned abalone can be as highly prized - or even more so - than fresh. I've only cooked fresh abalone once - beaten to tenderise, cut into strips and stir-fried with shiitake mushrooms (similar meaty texture) and oyster sauce. I gather that, like squid, its something which needs to be cooked quick or long (or left raw) in order to stay tender. Its another one of these wierd chinese foods (sharks fin, birds nest, errr, camels foot anyone?) where the texture seems to exceed the taste. Note that a variant of abalone is also found in the Channel Islands - its called an Ormer by locals and virtually never reaches the open market cheerio J

Steam boat always fun - good way to use that fondue set/random camp stove you never thought you'd need. The alternative would just be to get everyone together for a mutha jiaozi (dumpling-making) session in the afternoon. The advantage is there's plenty of time to chat and no need to do any cooking. Is not that hard, either, once you have the knack (although round-eye dumplings do tend to look like something the cat dragged in at first. It's very traditional for everyone to sit round making these sort of dumplings at new year (at least in the north - the southerners are probably busy catching cats, dogs, snakes or whatever they consider apposite). The shape of the dumpling is meant to resemble a gold ingot - symbolising prosperity. The more you eat the more prosperity you will have in the new year. cheerio J

Went to Victoria whatchamacallit too. Try the deep-fried pigs intestines. I think Patricia Wells gave them a favourable write-up years ago When we went with foodie relatives we had two choices: Victoria Harbour for less jazzy dim sum but a wide selection or the restaurant Peninsula for top-notch dumplings, but more traditional and smaller selection. cheerio J

Presume this baby's out soon; time for a bit of annual crystal ball-gazing, methinks Any thoughts? Will Petrus not actually being in existence at the moment be a barrier to its second star? Will Foliage keep its tinkler sans-Hywel? Anyone know when its meant to be out? cheerio J

Erm, easy on the drinks as some of the victims, sorry guests, weren't heavy boozers. With the foie gras we got through a somewhat random 1984 sauternes we found lying around in the cupboard (there was a 1990 we had meant to quaff but my brother had left it at home - doh!) With the duck we had a Saint-Emilion my brother had been saving up. It was 1990, premier grande cru classe and tasted like red wine. Other than that I know nothing*, although a wine buff friend had recommended duck to go with it cheerio J * note that am oenological ignoramus ;-)