Wilfrid

Hard to do better than crayfish, in season. I suppose, to answer CSquared's question, use as little binding as is necessary for the cake to hold together while in the pan and being lifted out. May require a little experimentation.

A baker's dozen of clams is very generous Nick. I am tired of being offered half a dozen clams on the half shell. I fancy Basildog's monkish too!

Fig clafoutis. Start the figs off baking in the oven with some good sugar sprinkled over them. Pour over the clafoutis batter (a quick search should come up with a recipe for this). Also, roast duck with figs. And marinate them in just about any fine liquor for a dessert - armagnac, calvados, amaretto...

Exhausted and slightly sun-charred, I wanted a very fast, light supper last night. Some little escalopes of beef from the supermarket, seasoned and seared quickly in butter. Deglazed the pan with a shot of calvados. Glugged in a little heavy cream. It bubbled almost immediately down to a perfect consistency for a sauce. Swept in a few peppercorns. Escalopes de boeuf au poivre in less than ten minutes.

With what do people normally hold together their home-made crab cakes. Flour, a little beaten egg or both? Or something else?

Point magazine, in my view, have proceeded to put on a clinic of restaurant reviewing.

A craven coward, Cabby, is the phrase which springs to mind. By the way, we stopped off for palate-cleansing fresh juices when we got back to Avenue A, and found Benjamin Bratt and Talisa Soto sitting at the table outside our juice bar. At least, I detected Talisa Soto as soon as she waved at baby. Brief glossy magazine research later that afternoon identified the smooth dude as Benjamin Bratt.

Let me see if I can elaborate on the descriptions of this dish, which was certainly more complex and challenging than I had expected. This did not taste like chicken. A unique combination, in my experience, of gamey flesh and an almost suckling-pig-like skin. The skin was almost crisp, tantamount to crackling, and on some parts of the body had layer of tasty pork-like fat beneath it. The flesh was very dark, almost purple, and had a slippery, springy texture which strongly reminded me of silky bantam. It was the smell, specifically, which called to mind wild rabbit. This is a musty, faecal, strongly animal smell - if you have a kid who keeps hamsters (or indeed ginea pigs) take a sniff inside the cage. I find it in wild, but not domestic rabbit. The actual flavor of the flesh was something else again. Very strong, gamey, and - as has been said - extremely salty. I remarked at the time, that the guinea pigs would have to live on salted cocktail peanuts for the flavor to be intrinsic. The restaurant imports them from Ecuador, and I think the most likely explanation is that they are preserved in brine at some point. The saltiness was not repellent, just very pronounced. I certainly found the organs much stronger in flavor than rabbit or chicken. The mildest delicacy was probably the brain. Nobody except me seemed to bother with the potatoes, boiled and floury, which had soaked up some of the cuy fat in a way I found pleasant. I liked the euphemistic title of the dish - papas con cuy - like it's just a potato dish which happens to have a rodent on top as a garnish. The dish also came with some utterly tasteless and unappealing corn preparation which everyone left. Other dishes: I think Cabby underestimates the seco de chivo, goat stewed in beer. I eat a lot of goat stews, and often find stringly, chewy scraps of meat, outnumbered by pieces of bone and gristle. This stew offered sizeable slabs of very tender meat in a delicious sweet broth. Good plus in my book, and if I ate at this restaurant regularly, I'd be eating the goat, not the cuy. $7 for a big portion with rice. The whole grilled fish must have been good, because Beloved turned it into a pile of tiny clean bones before anyone else got a taste. I was too busy with the meat dishes to get any ceviche or special fried rice either - also we'd eaten empanadas before entering the restaurant. An interesting expedition, and I have to say that in Nina I have finally found a more savage and ruthless carnivore than my poor timid self.

"Gamberoni shrimp ("broiled...flanmbeed in lemon Bacardi rum; basil, garlic and parsely" - thanks for describing that correctly. It was quite wonderful. And you did indeed get into more than one bowl of rice. I wonder if it made a nice change for the waiters to deal with a table of people having fun?

If Gray's made a hot dog that way and offered it with those kinds of garnishes, they'd charge more than 75 cents. How much, I don't know. Maybe $1.25, or $1.50. Danny Meyer is charging a dollar on top of that, and he's giving it to charity. Are we really worried about questions of value on the scale of $1?

I cut fillets into rough cubes/rectangles, speared them with a skewer. No problem at all. Are you cooking them at too low a temperature or for too long?

Yeah, the name's more adventurous than the dish.

I cooked salmon kebabs recently. Marinated the salmon for an hour or so in a couple of different marinades. One was simple white wine and chopped shallotts. The other was pineapple juice with a spoonful of honey stirred in. I use a le creuset oven top grill, brushed with a little oil. I get the grill hot enough that it sizzles when you flick some water on it, then the kebabs take only two or three minutes on each side - a little longer if you want them cooked right through. Turned once, but otherwise try not to move them afte they've hit the hot surface. vegetables schmegetables

I agree, it's a pity they're not at least trying some of the British fillings. But now there's a branch right near me, I use it a lot. Decent bread, good, quick service, and in the end I just appreciate a lighter style of sandwich than the two-pounds-of-cold-cuts deli style.

A dinner party last night at Le Bernardin composed of: Yvonne and G. Johnson Mr and Mrs Tommy Myself and Beloved As you can imagine, a quiet, solemn, even funereal atmosphere prevailed. In fact, I thought the staff did quite well with us considering they couldn't get a word in all night. We took the $84 prix fixe which offered three courses and dessert or cheese. The first courses listed were generally light, cold fish dishes (several came with caviar and hefty supplements), and the following courses were progessively more substantial. Overall I thought all the dishes I tasted were good, with one or two being exceptional. It's a lovely room, lighter than I remembered it from several years ago (have they brightened the decor?), the seats were comfortable, and our party was the only source of noise annoyance. Chilled geoduck - the first time I've had it, I think, and since it was served shredded, I would never have guessed it was anything but regular clam. Nothing wrong with it, but I didn't find it any more interesting than regular clam, which fortunately I like. Came with toast studded with seaweed. Brandade, served just warm. I could have happily eaten a larger portion, and I would rather have had the toast with this dish. But it was excellent - still slightly chunky, with biteable pieces of cod, which is how I like it. I sampled the Beloved's seared tuna, which had a strikingly deep and full tuna flavor. Next was hearty, well-flavored slices of monkfish served over a cabbage leaf stuffed with shredd oxtail, surrounded by finely pureed potatoes and an oxtail sauce. Good-looking dish, and I noticed several unrepentant carnivores in the party ordered it. Halfway through, the Beloved snatched it and gave me the rest of her sauteed shrimp. These looked much more like langoustines than shrimp, and were quite outstanding - hard to describe how perfectly cooked they were. I am forgetting what they were dressed with, but they came with a side of spicy, saffron rice. A $15 supplement bought a surprisingly hearty helping from the cheese trolley. The selection was mainly French and solid rather than imaginative - not unlike the trolley at ADNY. I liked the ripe Montbriac. I got a taste of an excellent chevre from Mrs T. While there are some astronomically priced bottles on the list, I was very surprised at how reasonable some of the prices were. We started with a N.V. Louis Roederer at $70 (surely less than a 100% mark up). We moved on to a decent Pouilly Fuisse (Les Poyeaux, I think, 1998). I was really pleased with the red, a light, cool Saumur Champigny for around $65. Good for red wine drinkers who are eating fish. Can't remember the year. Port, of course. Of course. Negative point: nasty little plastic menus with the days dishes secured by an elastic band. Like a hotel coffee shop. I was shocked. And I thought the menu used to be in French. Did we get a cheap tourist translation?

invite me next time. i'm a real good singer. errrr, or maybe i should say i'm mildly entertaining at karaoke bars. I don't doubt it. You'd be mildly entertaining at a funeral.

"What would be a complete meal without sampling some poultry?" Oh, how true. How very true.

Ditto. I can do Bearnaise and Hollandaise.

Yes. Whats the problem exactly? I can't make it. It goes all grainy. I suppose that means it separates, technically speaking.

Very interesting question. I remember an interview with the Waltucks a while back where they laid out the reasons a place like Chanterelle was only barely profitable. They said they opened Le Zinc so they could make some money and send their kids to college. Wish I could remember where I read it.

I agree. There is no point arguing about whether boiled mutton with caper sauce is a better or worse dish than mutton with white beans, or whether boiled beef with carrots and pease pudding is better or worse than pot au feu. What is interesting is to figure out how and why each country developed the cuisine it developed, and how and why French cuisine became the pre-eminent cuisine of fashionable, professional dining in a number of countries. By the way, I'd be most interested if anyone has the time, inclination and knowledge to be able to develop similar information about Holland, or indeed Germany, Italy or Spain.

That's the spirit!

Congrats, and I'm glad I was right about the chicken. I wondered, on the basis of a few dumplings, whether I wasn't imagining it just because it was halal. I'm sure they were setting up that carnival when i was there to. Maybe it's all about travelling, not arriving. Did you run into Alan Hevesi?

Nothing. Somehow the chicken which had been in the refrigerator yesterday morning had made its escape by the time I got home. Think Caine Mutiny - Captain Queeg and the strawberries.

Mayonnaise. Shameful, isn't it?