iainpb

I currently experiment with sausage making and have been using an old fashioned hand operated grinder but it's just not up to the task. It seizes up, struggles with grinding fat and leave metal flakes in my mince. Can anyone recommend a domestic grade electric meat grinder i can replace it with? This is a casual hobby so i'd be looking to spend maybe £50/$80 . One particular one i am looking at is the Orbit OPM700, so opinions on this if you have it would be appreciated. Thanks, Iain

I would like to add popping candy to an ice cream to add an extra element of interest. My concern is will it still pop in the mouth? Or will its popping properties be destroyed by the moisture of the ice cream or the freezing process? If anyone has any ideas, i'd be glad to hear them.

I'm heading out to New York in a few months and we've looked at The Breslin and really like the look of the menu, particularly the terrine boards! Has anyone visited The Breslin, I'm interested to hear any opinions.

Absolutely! The lamb daube provencial is still one of my favourite dishes ever. I will pay a visit, think it should be a fun trip. Will post back in August!

I guess maybe 'finest' was the wrong word, doesn't have to be fine dining - i'm looking for the tasting menu most people consider to be great, as we're only going to be doing one tasting menu whilst we're there. Brooklyn Fare and WD~50 and Madison Park are looking like the leaders at the moment.

Main reason for wanting to visit is I have the Les Halles cookbook, I like the food in it (and would like to see how it should taste!) and I like the way the restaurant is described. We picked Park Ave because it was the original restaurant, nothing to do with Bourdain himself.

I'm visiting NYC in August and am planning on visiting Les Halles (Park Avenue) but have seen reports over the last 12 months that say it's not what it used to be. Is it still worth a visit?

I had lamb tongue recently in a restaurant served as part of an assiette of lamb, absolutely delicious! It seemed to be just lightly fried and I imagine it's quite a cheap cut.

I'm visiting New York in August from the UK and there's a huge amount of places we want to eat. Where would you say is New York's finest evening tasting menu, we quite like the look of WD~50 but there's so many places to choose from. We are planning a lunch at jean-georges, so that place is out of the running.

Liquorice and lemon sounds like an unusual combination, I'm going to have to try that as I can't begin to imagine what it tastes like, but I can see similarities in the flavours of mint and liquorice and how that might work. The liquorice risotto is making it to my list too! thanks for all the replies!

It is actual powdered root from a Chinese store. Some great suggestions so far, will certainly hunt down that liquorice cake recipe and the idea of a liquorice creme brûlée is quite appealing.

I bought a bag of liquorice powder for making ice-cream but now have a large amount left over, does anyone have any suggestions for other dishes it can be used for?

If anyone has any restaurant/eatery recommendations for Huelgoat, Quimper or Honfleur I'd love to hear them.

There are some great suggestions here and a lot will be making my ever growing list of flavours to make, rosemary ice cream, balsamic ice cream and thai curry are favourites at the moment. I'm a bit behind in my ice cream amking due to moving but will post pics and tasting notes here as i create!

The idea of minimum cost per alcohol unit has reared it's ugly head again in the UK and the number being put forward is 50p per unit. Assuming an average bottle of wine is about 12% this makes the minimum cost £6. So all those horrible super cheap wines in the supermarkets at £2 are going to increase by £4, this will of course have a knock on increase on teh wines of higher quality, so the everyday drinking wines - say £6 - 8 are going to increase to £10 - 12 and so on. So do you think this will damage the wine market? Are restaurants also going to increase (their already huge) wine list prices?

Pollock is also a tasty sustaionable equivalent to Cod.

I will be starting to make my own ice creams in the next few weeks, I'm interested in exploring the world of savoury ice creams and how they can be used as starters or accompaniements to mains. So i'm looking for savoury ice cream suggestions, one's you've made or had in restaurants or just flavours you think would work. I like the idea of Basil ice cream, Tarragon ice cream and exploring cheese ice creams - any other suggestions? (a current list of flavours i intend to make can be seen here if you're interested http://churningadventures.blogspot.com/ )

I have amde a rose water flavoured panacaotta before which works nicely with a strawberry compote. You will need to substituer a little of the milk for teh rose water to ensure it still sets.

It was in Sainsburys in Bristol, not sure if it's a nationwide offer or not but it does seem to still be running. Thanks for those links.

Unexpectedly, this wine was in my local supermarket and was one of their wine offers of the week. It took me four visits until they actually had any in stock. I think a lot of people had been taking advantage of the £30 price tag. I shall drink one soon and maybe grab another bottle while it's on offer. I have no temperature controled storage, will this wine stay in good condition at normal room tempurature if laid down for the next two years?

I picked up a bottle of Château Palmer Margaux Alter Ego 2004 at a discount price (a third off). Does anyone know how long until this wine is at its best to drink?

"50 Last Suppers" - 50 reknowned chefs and what they would eat as their final meal with recipes http://tinyurl.com/37qxkpn

Made In Italy - Food and Stories - Giorgio Locatelli. A great book with incredibly detailed discussions of ingredients and great recipes. An enjoyable writing style and nice photography. One of the best Italian cookbooks I have ever seen. I would also recommend The Cook's Book - a much more general cookbook covering Meat, Sauces, Knife Skills, Baking with contributiosn by Marcus Wearing, Feran Adria, Paul Gaylor. A quite basic but well written book.

I'll second Cacao Sampaka, great chocolatier which I believe is owned by the brother of Ferran Adria. They have plenty of little treats to take home with you too!

On a recent trip to Barcelona we visited many places to eat, the highs and lows are recorded here for you to enjoy or avoid. Origen 99.9% - i believe we visited the branch on C / Rosselló, 154 A small but popular bar / restaurant serving a range of dishes including open sandwiches and seasonal regional dishes. A great spot for lunch, the menu features dishes slightly larger than tapas and just enough for one as a lunch. Very fresh ingredients prepared very simply but very well. A veal and olive dish and an extremely fresh salad. The creme catalan was the finest i tasted during my visit. Friendly staff and great pan tomaquet - the catalan special. Highly recommended for a small simple lunch. Senyor Parellada - 37 c/ Argenteria We visited this on the basis of several reviews read on other food / travel websites, many had said it offered great food at reasonable prices and we were eager to try it. This restaurant is busy - if you do visit make a reservation, we waited 20 minutes for a table (without being offered a drink). Menus are available in most European languages and offers Spanish cusine with some French influence. The wine list is imopressive ordering wines by D.O.C so as we were in Catalnuya we chose a local red at around 20€ which was really quite good. The bread and olives arrived - trussed up in colored paper like giant amaretti, the olives were passable but the bread was past its best. Starters were uninspiring, my 'meat croquettes from the stockpot' were filled with a bland grey slurry of underseasoned meat and could have used a touch of sauce or stock to counter the dryness. My partner's squid rings were tough and accompanied by a romesco which seriously lacked any flavour. I was excited by the veal fricasse with wild mushrooms and when did it arrive was not too disappointed, the veal was tender and tasty in a rich thick gravy. The wild mushrooms howver were scarce and there were no other vegetables. I had expected a small serving of veg with the main as there were no sides listed on the menu. I would consider myself to be extremely carnivorous but this was an unrelenting plate of nothing but meat even to me. Desserts came and went - an obligatory creme catalan as i was in the region and although nothing special i could not particularly fault it either. Service was stuffy, pretentious and incompetent. The wine waiter fumbled with the bottle unable to open it, waiters repeatedly knocked my chair, desserts arrived ten minutes apart and obtaining the bill was almost impossible. This is a restaurant to avoid. Vinateria del call - Carrer Sant Doménec del Call A small softly lit bar in the old city, full of character and one of my favourite places in the city. There is only a Spanish menu outside but English available inside, this means it is filled with locals not tourists. The wine list is superb and we ordered a Clos Mostardo (Priorat) at a very reasonable €15. The menu is largely local meats and cheeses with small dishes or large platters available of each. The plate of black and white bull meat, a local catalan goats cheese and stuffed spicy mussels were amongst the highlights. Perfect for a lingering relaxed meal with many plates. Well worth a visit! Service is friendly and relaxed and you can see the open kitchen with its display of meat and cheeses.