Wilfrid

Widgeon. One of the several varieties of wild duck you might get to eat. Yes, I think one would be quite a generous portion for a single diner (although half wouldn't be enough!). Mallard is probably the most commonly available, but I also recommend you look out for teal, which is smaller and more delicate (I guess the seasons must be coming to an end soon). I wonder if it is worth looking for different types of grouse? I am not sure they vary much in flavor, but I am open to contradiction. Anyway, grouse are well and truly finished until next August (if you buy one now it will have been frozen). Kangaroo - I agree, not "gamey" in flavor, but literally a game meat in the sense that it's wild not farm-raised. Or maybe they are farm-raised now? Ostrich certainly are farmed. I used to eat kangaroo and emu at a little Australian restaurant in Soho (Delicious Blue, I think) - long gone, I'm afraid. I don't remember seeing bison or alligator on a London menu, but good luck!

I don't have access to my notes right now, so can't remember what I drank there a few weeks back. But I certainly don't recall thinking the list was expensive.

And stews, of course. Quintessentially comforting. I would single out oxtail stew as a personal favorite, but also simple chicken and beef casseroles. Let's hear it for shepherd's pie too (Andy Lynes can't spell that).

Cabrales: You are getting away from rodents now, and on to marsupials. I assume you've had kangaroo? One of the world's great game meats. Kangaroos became legal game in Australia some time in the early 90s, because they had multiplied to pest level. Koalas seem to be headed in the other direction. I did once vow never to eat duckbill platypus (not that I'm likely to get the chance) as they are exceptionally cute and very rare. But Koala - I'll give it a go. Adam: If you want to tell us how your wife came to be sniffing a marsupial's pouch, fine. But if not, that's fine too.

Okay, I was going to try to finish unpacking my clothes this evening (apartment move), but instead I am going to have to figure out which box the campari is in. I need to know what color a campri/grapefruit drink is going to be!

I am with Jinmyo on the wacky Eisenhower-era casseroles. Bizarre. Yeah, I think mashed potatoes must be fairly cross-cultural, although in the UK they aren't served with that pale floury gravy that's popular in the States. Toast, sure, but a big British deal is toast with savory toppings: baked beans, melted cheese (the upgraded version being Welsh rarebit, which can include mustard and/or beer), sardines, cod's roe, eggs again. Sardines on toast - a real childhood flashback (the canned ones of course, not fresh). Also, various commercial fried fish products - by which I mean, not fish shop fish 'n' chips, but things like fish fingers, cod balls (careful!), fishcakes. Served with mushy peas.

No, you are assuming I am rational. I usually get shown to a table fairly swiftly at SD, but occasionally I get a few minutes at their rather swish, semi-circular marble bar. It is then, as an aperitif, that I order the campari. When it is brought to my table, it goes with nothing at all, least of all the breads and olive oil with which the meal begins. I have developed a mild compulsive-obsessive trait which involves always drinking certain drinks when I am in bars I associate with them. Sardi's - Wild Turkey, Milano's - Guinness, San Domenico - Campari, and so on. Relatively harmless, I think

Remember, I'm just guessing how to make lo mein. I think cooking down the onions and stuff with the soya sauce would add a little stickiness too. Now, what's Tommy got against the Sex Pistols?

I plead guilty. I often make a Negroni as an early evening cocktail. It's easy, and it doesn't render you babbling drunk before dinner. I have a specific habit with campari and soda, which is that I always order it before dinner at San Domenico. Bitter and appetizing, although I wouldn't drink it every day.

I was thinking about jerobi's original post. I eat Lo Mein, but have never made it or read a recipe. However, it seems an easy dish to break down into its conceptual parts and reassemble. Here goes: Go to a Chinese food store and buy some dried noodles of the right kind of thickness. While you're there, pick up a tin of bamboo shoots and a tin of water chestnuts. Boil your noodles until they're soft as you like them, and set them aside in a colander to drain thoroughly. Meantime, gently fry some chopped onions and minced or crushed garlic in vegetable oil (or maybe sesame oil). Why not add some fresh grated ginger root, or a pinch of ginger powder? When the onions are cooked, but not brown, add your protein: finely chopped chicken, shrimp, some good ham, whatever. Let this start to cook in the oil. Now add some soy sauce (a light one I would think). Then add the noodles, together with a few bamboo shoots and water chestnut slices - not too much, just to add a bit of crunch. Check the seasoning (may not need salt, as the soy sauce is very salty). Toss all together. Throw in a few peas if you like. The noodles should take on a very light brown colour from the sauce. I should have thought that gives you a decent Lo Mein. I haven't written in the proprtions of ingredients, because I demonstrate that by making shapes with my hands and fingers, and can't figure out how to get that into a message.

That's helpful, Steven. I knew what I was describing was crap, and eating it is rarely my idea. I just wasn't sure whether much better stuff was available. I should make an effort to try some.

This made me think about the term "pot luck". At a glance, its derivation seems obvious - taking a chance on what's in the pot - and maybe it is. I know it goes back at least to nineteenth century England - I recall the Pooters in George and Weedon Grossmith's Diary of a Nobody asking tea guests whether they would be willing "to take pot luck". Can anyone take us further with its origins, or should I go look it up?

I am ill-informed about pizza. Let's just get that out of the way. I don't eat it much - never have. So I am bit clueless about what people here are loking for when they talk about New York-type thin, crisp crust pizzas. Every slice I've had from a New York joint has been to some degree floppy. The worst kind hang perpendicularly from their crust like wet rags. So when you talk about thin and crisp, is that only a matter of degree? Or do you really find slices which hold their shape and don't droop?

I too expect potted shrimp to be small and brown, and can I just put in a vote for the version at J Sheekey, just off the Charing Cross Road. Appetizing post, Mr Plotnicki. I must go eat something.

I suppose you're going to tell me you've never had koala!

Ah, but that is the question Stellabella. I did have the address, and I probably still have it. The question is where? And even if I knew where, right now "where" is packed in a mover's crate along with all my copies of AJ Liebling's Between Meals, my super-brittle chef knives and all my tasting notes. Watch this space.

Thanks, Yvonne, you are on the right track as far as I'm concerned. I am a bit nervous about King Wu; will we all get aroused by the sizzling soup, and where will that lead? If someone can come up with an inexpensive Asian option with a sensible name, I might be tempted. How about a duck blood tasting at The Malaysia Restaurant (see, sensible enough; it's not impossible)?

Two and a half bottles of wine per week strikes me as an ambitiously modest intake. John Arlott auctioned off a large part of his wine collection before moving to his retirement home in Alderney. He did so partly to avoid Alderney duty; but he also said that he had spent most of his life thinking he would not have enough wine for his retirement, and was now worried that he would not have enough time to drink what he had acquired. These calculations are clearly very important. I would push it up to 800 bottles.

My goodness, there are some cultural differences here. I am sure the Americans and the British must have some comfort foods in common, but as one raised in the environs of London, some of the "comfort" foods on this thread sound really quite creepy. I'm sure it's mutual. Smoked haddock with an egg on top, anyone?

I have long used the cooking-on-the-fat side method for pork and lamb chops, mainly because I want the fat more thoroughly cooked than the flesh. I have used the method, less often, for steak. I thought it was obvious, but maybe I underestimate myself. I was puzzled by the comment that any meat not cooked in liquid should stand for at least half as long as the cooking time. Surely that's not a general principle. I mean, a turkey roasted for four hours needs to stand for at least two? Don't believe it.

I may have to move back to London. I am consumed with envy. Why the heck can't I get squirrel in New York? Seriously, did they serve the suirrel's brain. There is a school of thought in the midWest that the brain is the best bit. Thanks for the descriptions, you lucky people.

Picking my way through the anecdotes, reminiscences and humor, I think I could see a consensus to start off with a modest event, reserving the right to go for a sumptuous blow-out next. Lots of suggestions for venues - I'd still like to hear more about Pinxtos. Personally, I would rather do something more interesting than a cheap, cheerful Chinatown meal - although maybe I do DimSum GoGo (is that the name? sounds awful) a disservice. Anyone up for jellied pig's foot at The Ukrainian restaurant?

My understanding was that the original chef was a woman who had previously run a restaurant on the West Coast. Would that be Ms Reiss, who had now left? In any case, I have eaten there three times. I agree it's inapprorpiate to compare it with Tabla. It's much smaller, less showy operation, less expensive, and in some ways less ambitious. Most importantly, Tamarind is clearly an Indian restaurant and nothing else, whereas Tabla, as Suvir Saran says, Tabla is providing more mainstream cooking with accents from Indian spices, and some typical Indian accompaniments (like their excellent breads). My partner is Dominican and has had almost no experience with Indian food. She generally rejects spicy food. However, she loves Tamarind, and battles through the chili heat to demolish their tandoori quails with great relish. I like it less, but I think it's because I pine for the UK Indian food on which I grew up, and the Tamarind stuff just tastes different to me - and why whouldn't it? But it is a pretty restaurant, with some nice booths set back from the main floor, and service is courteous. Worth a try.

My least favorite of the options, Bux, and a very high risk project indeed unless you are confident of your host's abilities in the kitchen. Of my American and English friends, I can think of only two, maybe three, who can prepare food to a reasonably good standard (one may actually be a better cook than me). My partner's Dominican family and friends are, in contrast, a safe bet so long as they stick to Dominican home cooking. I am also pretty high risk myself as a guest. I make people nervous because they know I have strong opinions about food. And I did once hear myself say: "This is surprisingly good" when I was a guest at someone's table. How's that for bad manners? They should have thrown a saucepan at my head.

I checked my spelling, and it is Marichu, and on Zagat.com http://www.zagat.com/search....&LID=14