haresfur

A note that the Indian restaurant has moved out of the British and American, into the centre of town where there was a pizza place. They continue to run both menus, which is a bit strange. But they have a southern Indian cook and have been trialling dosa on the menu. Tasty There is a lot of competition - it seems like almost every new restaurant is typical Indian restaurant food

Does it need to be food donations or could he raise money (which is usually better for the organisation)? Maybe he and his friends could get pledges for the number of times up the wall in a certain amount of time

How do you say "Punt minus a half ?"

I did make it to Rockpool, a few years ago now, for a Buck's party lunch for a former/inactive eG member. At least one other former member was in attendance. I knew it was an all-in event. $$$ wines were flowing. The Sommelier helped the main wine-fiend guest who wanted something like some California something or other, saying, "I have this $$$$ bottle, but if you like that, you will like this $$$ bottle." Most of the people around the table split portions of most of the steak available (no Wagu, unfortunately). No problem, a slew of waiters showed up and marched around the table dropping off slices for each person. I could have used more veg, the sides tasted good enough, though. The mac and cheese with bacon is a favourite of the guest of honour. I prefer my smoked salmon version. One of our friends, a pastry chef did his usual order one of each desert for himself. I can't remember which one or ones I had, but they were good. So, yeah, it was way above my usual dining level and fun and good. I don't think I'd go again, unless it was a similar event. FWIW, Bendigo has a high-end steak place, The Woodhouse, now. I've never been.

If you want a Japanese paring knife, as opposed to a petty, you could go with this Minke whale* now on sale at Chef's Edge * Other whales also available

I hold the roti in my right hand and use the fork with my left. I was brought up with the "fork stays in the left hand" school of eating. So it all makes sense and I assume it doesn't offend anyone. In a restaurant, I will usually order naan or garlic naan. I like the wholemeal chapatis but would have to make them myself. At home I get frozen roti from Aldi and use them for almost anything that calls for flat bread except Mexican, especially kabab since the bread at my local shop is pretty ordinary. We just get a meat pack and eat it with roti like it is Indian. I use my fork concave side up. Scooping onto the back of the fork baffles me. I hold my knife overhand and the English hold from below grip seems odd.

So you mix the other food with the rice rather than using a bit of rice to scoop up the food? Is that a northern vs southern India thing? I could never get the hang of scooping up "curry" etc. with rice but do like to scoop with roti. Or, be a real heathen an use a fork to put the food in a bit of roti to eat. I can use chopsticks with my right hand if I'm trying to be polite, but I'm left handed and that just works better for me.

For what it's worth, my Sanyo rice cooker came with a separate bowl for slow cooking so you don't muck up the rice one. I think it is a big negative if Zojirushi doesn't have one

Report back if you die

I think you need to try it and report back. But imo currants are superior to raisins in butter tarts.

The "flower" part of figs is internal to the fruit and are pollinated by wasps that burrow into the centre. So bees can't make honey from them. However, fig trees can produce fruit parthenocarpically, without pollination.

Cornwall?

Depends. If you are they type who would set the dirty rice paddle on the flat top of the machine, then curse yourself out when you have to clean it, I'd get the round top '

There is an unrelated drink called Viva Maria so this has been renamed in Kindred Cocktails to Viva Maria! #2

I looked into Acacia a while ago because it was one of the few ok looking end grain boards I could find near where I live. There are a huge number of Acacia species but it sounded like the boards were likely rather hard or maybe have some silica in the wood. Don't quote me on that last bit. But the internet opinions ranged from probably ok to you can probably do better

You could try Wondra flour, but on advice from an Asian cooking show, I've stopped using corn starch and use potato starch. It's very forgiving and I plan on trying it for other non-flour thickeners. Make a slurry in water and stir in.

I will never again take a pack of frozen pierogies, handmade in a small community outside Winnipeg, and thaw them before cooking. The instructions said to boil from frozen but we were going to fry without boiling. Anyway, I didn't read the instructions and we now have a gooey mass of dough and cottage cheese to fry up.

Oooh. I didn't realise this is the season. My parents always cooked lobster for New Year's. It does kind of remind me of the time our prospectors went out early one Sunday morning and we had er, poached salmon for dinner. 😉

I take no joy in this, nor in the media and social media frenzy. I strongly suspected her guilt, without hanging on every word from the trial, so I suppose this is the better of the possible outcomes. At the end of the day three people are dead and one was nearly killed and had his life upended.

I read that Chinese black cardamom and Indian black cardamom are different. Do you know which you used?

With good timing for this topic, The Cookup With Adam Liaw played a past episode where guest Victor Liong made Biang Biang noodles. We get the show every day and it is hard to figure out which are old episodes and find them on line. This one was Season 6, episode 36 for those of you who can access SBS on demand. It was really good to see the process of making the noodles and the rest of the dish. He emphasized that it possible for the home cook. Watching the noodle making was a blast and the other guest was really excited to try. One of the hints was to press a chopstick into the log of dough before stretching and then pull it apart along that line. Looked like a second set of hands helped with that.

I consider chopping and grinding to be very different processes, and that's the point. Grinding tears the meat fibers apart whereas even finely chopped meat has intact pieces so the texture is better in this dish. If I recall, it is usually recommended to chop steak tartare rather than grinding hamburger. Gordon Ramsey says even using a food processor doesn't produce the right texture (whether or not you consider him an expert...)

For what it's worth: I can't seem to find the episode on line, but on Adam Liaw's The Cookup, chef Jerry Mai prepared the chicken for Larb by chopping it finely with a cleaver and said it made for a much better dish than using ground chicken. She used some sort of Vietnamese chook.

Absolutely. I make the best sleazy at-home fast food. If you can't be bothered to clean a rack, put on baking paper on a tray but it gets a bit soggy. Do what you like. Cook lower if you don't want char.

I just marinate boneless chicken thighs in bottled peri-peri marinade overnight. More surface area than bone-in. Beerenberg if I can find it, otherwise the ubiquitous Nando's (chain restaurant who also sell their sauce and marinade in grocery stores). Put on a wire rack in the convection oven and blast at oh, 210 degrees until done. I like the char.