A Balic

Cabrales, it would have taken hours and hours (hard to say how many in total, 10-15?)of preparation time, but spread over several weeks. Cevapcici (CHE-vahp-CHI-CHI) are one of those food items that the Arab empire gave to Europe.Cevap is a local word for kebab, which has its origins in Ottoman Turkey. Cici means small. Basically, they are minced (ground) beef, pork (and sometimes veal) mixed with paprika (also from the Ottomans), onion, garlic and lots of black pepper. This is kneeded together to form and shaped into "cigars" and grilled.

Cabrales, Wilfrid an I have never prepared canapes together . However, when I have had the time to make them I make whatever takes my fancy. There are some regulars (Thai fish cakes, Vietnamese beef in mint leaves), but it tends to vary a lot. The last cocktail party I had involved the these two items, plus: monkfish skewered on rosemary and wrapped in panchetta; venison terrine; chicken liver pate; salmon eggs on buckwheat blini with creme fraiche; various middle eastern filo pastry things; mini pizza with queen scallops; various chicken Asian things; californian rolls; vegetarian nori rolls; steamed pork buns (bought, not made); mango salsa with prawn crackers; Cevapcici (Croatian skinless sausage); Vietnamese spring rolls, Vietnamese rice paper rolls, plus other stuff which I can't remember. Almost everything can be pre-prepared. so its not as much trouble as it looks. Also, it is a lot of fun and I like doing it (I was cooking until four in the morning). Actually, making canapes is a lot less stressful then dinner parties. Unlike Wilfrid, I have made a consious effort to move away from plated meals (anyway, it is more effective not to plate the type of food I cook). I am by no means a stella cook (I am still rubbish at deserts, most likely because I am not sober at the end of a meal), but I enjoy it and as I don't eat out much it is a good way of socialising. At the moment, we would have people to dinner maybe once a week. We would go to other friends homes for dinner about the same amount. Lucky for me, my friends are great cooks and are very generous.

Tommy don't worry, without their skin, head and paws, they aren't as cute .

Sorry, I forgot to add the hare link: http://walz-naturfoto.de/img1/ca115.jpg

Adam -- If you want to discuss it, what were the dishes in some of the meals John cooked for you? I guess he doesn't specialize in pastries after all, even though he seems to have pretty advanced questions in that regard. Are you a "high tech", or cooking utensil/gadget-intensive, cook? I somehow imagine your cooking in a more "traditional" way. Six to eight people is a lot. If you want to discuss it, what types of "ethnic" foods do you tend to prepare? On the wild boar you cooked this birthday, is that the 12-people meal? I had wanted to ask whether you might have enjoyed the meal differently (not necessarily more) if you had not been the cook. Do you generally cook on your birthday because you want to? I sometimes wonder what I'm missing in not being able to cook. It would seem that cooking a meal could be linked to eating it in so many ways that both parts could, in certain situations, become more meaningful. Also, did you bake your own birthday cake and what was it? John has cooked a lot of meals that I have been lucky enough to have eaten. Some of the things that he has made is: Confit Rabbit with vanilla risotto, Haggis, swede and potato constructed in the shape of a ziggurat, fresh oyster in glazed with oyster gelee, many great deserts (I think he enjoys making these the most), my favorites being a modern version of a Mont Blanc and a green apple thing, with coils of green spun sugar. And much more. The most high tech thing I have is a blender, but if I had the cash I would get more utensils. What I do have is a few very good quality items, which makes all the difference in cooking. I tend to make French, Italian, North African, Spanish and South East Asian, ie. whatever is interesting to me at the time. I am interested in food history at the moment, so much of my current cooking is influenced by that. Also, I am interested in raw ingredients, so I tend to by whatever catches my eye, then worry about how to cook it later.eg. last weekend my butcher was selling Blue Mountin Hare (see link), I bought it, invited people around then stank out the kitchen with gamy smell. It was so pungent that I was going to throw it out, until I thought to make ravioli out of it. As I had been reading about the influence of Arabic cuisine on European, I made a vaguely Sicillian/Renaissance Italian stuffing from the hare. It was fantastic, one of the few dishes that I have been happy with. So much cooking is very much about me and enjoying the company of my friends. The wild boar was for twelve people and yes I most likely would enjoy the meals more if I wasn't the cook, but alot of the satisfaction is in the anticipation and in retrospectively looking back at the event. I didn't have a cake, I didn't even think to get one!

It's a Science thing.

Cabrales, I have made hot canapes etc for about 30-40 people at party. For my birthday I cooked a three course meal for twelve people. Six to eight people is size I feel comfortable with. I teand to cooked ethnic/peasant type food, so not so much emphasis on presentation, as on flavour/context. I have cooked for John on numerous occasions, with much fun had by all. John is a great cook, who has made some of the most memorable meals I have ever had.

Thank you everybody for your thoughts. I was mostly annoyed that the guest used her over-compensation for her embarrassment as oppertunity to draw attention to herself and of justifying her squeamishment. eg. The meal was ethicaly wrong because the bird had been shot (which she had no problem with until I served the bird). Thankfully, one of the other guests pointed out that if it wasn't for the shooting of game, much of the Scottish heathland would have been converted to pine plantations long ago. The guests had three days 'warning' about the game (one of them had asked for game to be cooked). The guest in question isn't naturaly squeamish (the previous day she and my wife had been pick bits of decomposing rabbit out of a stream and she had no problem with that), so it was all the more annoying for that. Ironicaly, One guest bought his partner, who was a vegetarian. I made a seperate meal for her, only to find out that she would have been happy to eat game, as it was only farmed meat she didn't eat.

Winodj, wine from the St Joseph region in the northern Rhone are really delicious Shiraz/Syrah wines that are not to expensive. Chapoutier is a good bet (as are most reds from this company). Try Tyrell's Rufus stone Heathcote Shiraz from Australia too. It is avalible in the UK (Oddbins etc), if you tell me if you are in the UK I could give you some more specific examples.

Last night I made dinner for some work colleagues of my wife. They were interested in game so I cooked a pheasant and some grey partridge (plain roasted), as they are proberly the most appoachable for the un-initiated. One of the guests had a problem with eating her pheasant once presented with it, which perfectly fine with me, game is not to everybodies taste. However, she went on a treat about it, using words like "disgusting" etc and making gagging noises. I was really miffed with this because I had gone to some trouble to make her a meal when I was tired and I didn't think that being that ungracious was exceptable behaviour for a guest. I suspect that if I had cooked something else instead of game that she didn't like she would have been polite about it, but because it had "Yuck factor" it gave her carte blanche to make a fuss. Anyway, the rest of the meal was fine (I didn't give her the good whisky though), but I was wondering if anybody had an opinion on whether they think that people are more likely to make a fuss about less straight forward food items, if they don't like it, rather then just not liking something more familiar?

Cabrales, for my next holiday my wife and I are going to rent a flat in Florence for three weeks. We were in Spain (Andalusia) in August and had a great time. Unfortunately, getting from Edinburgh to Spain can be difficult, my last trip to Spain was via Frankfurt. When I was in Barcelona in '96 it was on my first trip to Europe, we spent Christmas in Parc Geuill, sitting on that incredible Gaudi tiled bench with a several jugs of Sangria. The tapas I liked then were razor clams, deep fried anchovie spines and sepia (the tiny cuttle fish that you see). Its a pity that you could not get more then serrano ham, some of other hams (especially the black ones, which unfortunately I can't remember the name of) are amazing, so buttery in flavour. Ah bliss.

Bux - you are right, I did have them in Bordeaux come to think of it (I knew it was in the south!), so forget shared Catalan roots yahda yahda yahda. Steve - thank you very much for the information. I was interested in the idea, not as a desert but to go with chicken liver mousse etc. I thought that the sweetness and the acid would be a good match for this type of dish.

Wilfrid, what a wonderful post I hardly know how to reply. Maybe, you lucky, lucky bastard might be a start . I haven't been to Barcelona since 1996, but my memories of it are very warm. Friends of mine that have been there more recently have told me it is improving all the time (although the petty crime is a problem) and you have confirmed this for me (the improving, not the petty crime). I really like Spain and I will have to go there soon. I'm pleased that you had the baby eels, you can get the same dish in the south of France, which suggests that it has shared Catalan roots. I have also had a baby eel dish in Tuscany, but they were in vinegar, which over powered their flavour. It's interesting that they served you Hydomeil, as it is medieval liquor (most often called "Hydromel"). I was wondering if you example was heavily spiced like the original recipes. You are so lucky that you were in town at the same time as the baby broad beans were in season. How can something so good turn into something as nasty as matured broad beads? The Tapa of snails that you had, what type of snail were they? Petit gris, Roman or the mysterious white ones I once had in Barcelona? This post of mine has inspired me to get out my Colman Andrews Catalan cooking book for the last week. I like the idea of the tomato jam/cofit? with goats chees for desert, I can't find a recipe so do you think that you could have a stab at a recipe for me?

When making home made egg pasta, it is a source of annoyance that it always looks white or even slightly grey, if oxidation sets in. We use many free range eggs, to the point that the raw dough looks bright yellow, yet after cooking it turns white when cooked. What is going on here, is it ment to look like this and the commercial stuff is dyed? Are there some tricks I should know?

Interesting, I have never heard about these Australian Bulldogs. Looked an informative link: http://www.nobesaussiebulldogs.com/ What do think about trying to sort out some of the health problems in the breed? Is it a problem in the States or is that an Australian thing?

I have a mild confession to make. On my one trip to the USA I found that the people were really friendly. So friendly in fact that I found in insulting. I though it was patronising. When I queried my American friends about this they said, nope it was all genuine and I was far to suspicous and un-generous. I dunno though, I feel much more comfortable with mildly rude British people, then I do with overly friendly strangers in the USA. Most likely this is why I like France as well. Nobody is pretending to care whether I live or die, which makes me feel much more comfortable.

Strange I was sure they were Boston Bulldogs, not terriers. I even found a link: http://www.danheller.com/images/Pooches/Slideshow/img9.html But I looked up the Kennel Association - Boston terrier only. See Egullet teaches me something ;). Yes, I think that the brindle coat is very handsome. The all white dogs look a little manky to me.

You should have bought a Boston Bulldog, then you wouldn't have all this anger. Nice dog by the way, he has nice head conformation.

Simon - this attitude is because you are "common" :) . I like Europeon cities because of the reasons you suggested (not so many old buildings in Australia) and because being in Europe gives me context for my place in the world. I couldn't comment about American cities, as I have only been to Lake Taho and that doesn't count as a city. At some point in the future I will move back to Australia, so for the moment I am taking in as much of Ye Olde Europe as possible.

Slightly off topic. We had some Finnish friends staying in Australia for New Years Eve a few years ago. Anyway at about 5 am I went to get a glass of water and found Sartu (the friend) pouring herself a glass of Balsmic. Beening cruel by nature a let her drink a mouthful, waiting for her to wince. To my horror she smiled and said that the wine was very good, the best Australian wine she had tasted. She drank the rest of the bottle, while I spluttered curses about Finnish taste buds.

I hope that both the Michelin Stars thread and the Adam Balic thread were given as examples of high-brow intellectual debate. Or is the baring of my soul to you people now an example of type of hapless comical fools that frequent egullet?

Tommy - in regards to Burgundy, my vote is for a Chambolle-Musigny, which I love because of the fantastic nose, I could just smell a glas of it all day. I realise that this is way out of line, but as you have the cash to spare and you like Burgundy, have you thought of getting some New World pinot noir? New Zealand Pinots are getting some interest at the moment, some are a little full-blown, but one I could recomend is "Martinborough Vineyard". It might be interesting to compare a Burgundy with one of these New World upstarts.

Does anybody drink St. Veran?

Anything to dull the pain, mostly Cotes de Ventoux at the moment, its a nice peppery red.

Yep, that bullet is the smoking gun alright.