Amy D.

If the kitchen joins directly onto the dining room (ie not seperated by any corridors) I don't think it needs to be as drastic a change as you fear. I would personally make the dining room a more informal area (some comfortable chairs, a tv) that becomes the hub of the household that the kitchen adjourns, then as Toliver suggested you can always remodel things at a later date.

Hi Doodad, I'm reading very good reviews on the book, do you like it? Nice meal BTW, here is a picture of the filling Considering it was my fist attempt I'm happy about how the dough turned out and the look, need to give it another try soon. wow that's some very impressive pleating! I think the great thing about cooking at home is the experimentation and adjusting things to personal taste. Whilst I think the filling looks fine it might be worth testing out your theories next time you make them, you can always cook off a little of the stuffing to taste before filling. For myself I like the filling to be well seasoned - I think it needs it not to be lost in all that dough (but then I do generally like strong flavours). Browning the bottoms gives an extra sensory dimension that makes them tastier but is not essential.

I loved it, got to wonder at the stress they put themselves through but great to watch. It's still on iplayer for those that can access it. My link

having just used some of the compost from my bin for the first time i've noticed that even after two years of rotting a few things haven't really decomposed (and wont be added in future)including advocado skin, advocado stone, lychee stones, & mango stone, & from now on any egg shells will be crushed a little before adding to the pile.

I had the same trouble when i tried looking a few months ago. I did eventually find this site My link not that I've actually gotten around to ordering from them yet.

indeed the lamb is still a hot & spicy dish, just not as scalding from chilli peppers as the one I had at leeds red chilli. Though on the other hand the Sichuan peppers seemed to be more potent. The dish is addictively moreish, definately worth a try at least once.

visited the manchester branch on saturday, as usual with the vegetarian OH, we shared the forest mushrooms; cold crunchy woodear mushrooms in a fantastic savory chilli oily sauce, and the Sichuan Style Spicy Steamed Aubergine; a similar sauce but this time it was soaked up by the creamy soft and warm aubergine. When they did eventually arrive the Spring Onion Pancakes were great in that way that fried oily dough is (though whilst perhaps better than the ones at red chilli they could still do with more spring onion flavour). We also orderd the Fried Pumpkin Pancakes which arrived about the same time as the spring onion pancakes (before the mains), although to me it seemed like they should have been more of a sweet as they were served with a small dish of condensed milk, either way these pancakes just weren't to our tastes consisting of some flavourless glupe inside a greasy fried shell. The Sliced Lamb Sichuan Style was for me a better version than the similar dish served at red chili - it had all the flavour I desired but with just the right level of spicyness (for me at least). The OH also really enjoyed his Tou Fu with Mixed Mushrooms. Most of the food was fantastic however we were really disapointed by the service. We only seemed to be served one dish at a time with a wait of at least 20 mins between dishes, at one point i had lost hope that we'd ever get our mains. still as the food was so good i'm willing to hope that this was just a one off as they were really busy, & I'll definately be testing this theory soon.

I never questioned that the term demerara sugar would be used for different products in different countries, from what I can tell from the photos it looks as though the demerara sold in the UK our demerara is the same as that sold in Australia as shown in Steb's second (demerara) picture. If this is the case then I would suggest that the sugar should not have caused the problems Steb's has suffered as I've not noticed any problems using UK demerara sugar for Kerry's fudge recipe which in the 10+ times I've made it has always produced super smooth creamy fudge.

I had my first go at ordering a load (for me at least) of couverture a few weeks ago (had a few presents to make) & not really having much experience I thought i'd try products from several different companies (although my choice was limited as I was only ordering a kilo of each so no Valrhona for me this time): Firstly after having tried & liked chocolates from a shop that claimed to use Elray I thought I'd try their Apamate, Caoba and Icoa but was really disapointed with the flavours of all three which were over powering and basically not particularly nice (to me at least), I also found the Apamate tempermental to work with. Not something i'd return to. Callebaut W2-553 white callets tasty enough with creamy notes just what you expect from a white chocolate with no tempering problems. Cocao Barry 70% Santo Domingo extra bitter has a nice flavour but I haven't got around to using this one yet. 43% Venezuelan Belcolade milk: this was my big suprise as I wasn't expecting much from it as it's not a company i'd heard of before & it was the cheapest, however it has a great flavour and tempers & enrobes really well. my next order will definately explore more of Belcolade's products!

Lior that looks so good. how do you make a strawberry caramel?

Prawncrackers I would strongly recommend "50 Great Curries of India" by Camellia Panjabi for some great tips and recipes

Great topic Anna N! agsin more ideas than specifics from me: Paella ...never tried one before but as I've recieved a Paella pan amongst a treasure trove of kitchen goodies this christmas I have no excuses not to give it my best shot. Lamb Biriani.. I have wanted to for a couple of years now but it has always seemed too much effort. I will do it one day soon. Beef rendang.. sounds soooo good Pecan buns... thanks to ncorrigbl I might actually get around to making some.. finally i'd love to have a go at some sort of complex patisserie item... as i'm not so good with precision and detail with cooking any thing patisserie esk could be a major challenge but at the least I definately want to tackle macrons again.

Thanks Kerry, it's good to know I can have a play with both recipes to see which gives the best results

Hi guys I would like to try making nightscotsman's strawberry marshmallow recipe (and of course other fruity flavours) but living in the uk I have a couple questions about ingredients: firstly can anybody tell me how many grams are in the four envelopes of gelatin (just to see if we have a standarised size), secondly I can't easily get corn syrup over here normally I just subsitute glucose syrup but i'm not sure if this really thick product would be a suitable replacement for the light corn syrup? if not would there be any thing else I could use instead? failing that do you think it would be possible to add a fruit puree to this egg white recipe I have previously used: My link any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Obviously I can see shelf life issues with raw eggs but I would have thought that as long as the egg is cooked (which it surely will be if heating the custard to 80C?) then there shouldn't be a problem, and as such would negate the need to pasturise the eggs (but you could always do so just to be sure). I think it's more about getting over the enforced mind set that all eggs are potentionally bad (something i've had to overcome recently whilst deciding whther or not to use a Swiss Meringue Buttercream where the eggs had been heated to above pasturising point at a family gathering, and yet I didn't have similar concerns regarding the lime curd I'd made, nor the remains of last year's christmas cake both of which also contain egg - the only difference is that having egg in buttercream is a new concept to me so i ended up really deliberating over it.) though i'm sure somebody will warn that i've got the wrong message and we should all be more egg smart,, or something along those lines

I have a beko fridge freezer, chosen because of its good engery rating and capacity. after 18 months the compressor? broke down (typically on the day of a party!). apparently it's not uncommon with Bekos as the parts they install are too small/weak for the machine, the repairman advised to go for zanussi next time if i want something reliable.

M&S's Percy Pigs - the only time i'd been thankful when they started producing something in smaller bags, because once i've opened them I really can't stop eating until they've all gone. Galaxy Caramel Maltesers

I made Greweling's hazelnut Gianduja last year. Again, just in a food processor at home - although it was perhaps not as smooth as a commercial product the texture wasn't that far off, and I didn't have any setting problems using the ratios in the book (but thinking back it may have been a bit sweeter that I would choose). It's definately worth a play with

cake, particularly if it's victoria sandwich. I can't bake a cake without ending up eating it for breakfast, lunch and dinner until it's all gone...

I have to say that the idea of even a red velvet cake is pretty unappetizing to me, but then as someone who has grow up in england it's just not something I've grown up with - which is probably part of the issue with colour with cakes in particular considering that, to me at least, they are inherently a comfort food.

apart from just grazing on them whole like I do any soft fruit, although sometimes with a spinkle of salt in between bites. I also enjoy a quick salad of sliced tomatoes, thinly sliced red onion tossed together with a spinkle of salt and pepper & drenched in balsamic (apple balsamic works really well if you can get it) and a little drizzle of good EVOO. good as a side dish but also great just with some bread to soak up the juices.

we had a quick visit of edinburgh last week and decided to try one of the vegetarian indian restaurants, we decided to go for ann purna on the day as the menu sounded more interesting to us than kalpna. wanting to try as many dishes as possible we went for both the thalis. I though the food was ok, not great but not bad. perhaps this is because I can compare it to Prashad in bradford where the food is made by the queen of vegetarian indian dishes. ann purna in comparison was a bit bland with the exception of the dahl which was really tasty. I might also have been influenced by the terrible service, it took over 90 minutes to receive our food, no explaination except a quick "we're short of staff" as the waiter (who was generally quite slack, taking ages to take orders bring drinks etc) finally brings the food out. I think by this time I was (amazingly for me) starting to lose my appitite. No wonder they feel the need to add a 10% service charge (the waiter did take this off the bill when we complained about the wait, perhaps preempting the argument) I wouldn't revisit ann purna in my rare visits to Edinburgh, though I probably wouldn't if I did live there as I'm sure better indian food can be found in the city.

we were a bit gutted to find Asia style was closed due to water damage during our one night stop over in glasgow, too tired to go much further we decided to stop at the next restaurant we got to - Asia Gourmet was just round the corner the uninviting exterior gave me second thoughts but when we entered to look at the menu we were won over by the really pleasing aromas and tasty looking dishes being eaten by the other diners. we ordered a tofu sechwan hot pot (as the waitress indicated this was the spicy version) and tofu in black bean sauce, the hot pot came out in a sizzling clay pot with nice pieces of perfectly cooked veg and some of the best textured fried tofu I've had, shame about the complete lack of flavour in the broth and total absence of chilli I had been expecting. The hot pot was disapointing but the black bean sauce was absolutely awful it actually tasted like someone had added black beans to bisto gravy. yuck. it makes me shudder to remember that taste. We left feeling really unsatisfied & suprised that the restaurant seemed to be doing a reasonable trade we could only conclude that possibly the chinese & English menus were different. even so it doesn't excuse that disgusting sauce. So not so much a recomendation but rather one to avoid.

I have a 2.25 quart handled saucepan; I use it all the time for low-and-slow cooking, esp southern style veggies. I can saute seasoning meat (andouille, tasso, bacon, pickled pork) over high heat to render the fat, then brown onions & aromatics deeply, then add the veggies directly to the pot with liquid...the cast iron allows me to achieve an even simmer over very low heat. Yes, you can do these things in an all-metal saucepan, but I find that the fond created in the inital browning is better in the enameled cast iron, and the subsequent simmer requires a much lower flame. Plus, I can make a roux in the saucepan & add baby green limas, or petits pois, and continue to cook over low heat with no scorching or uneven heating. My absolute favorite LC is the low, wide buffet pans (recently renamed "braisers" in the promo literature)...perfect for etouffee, chicken fricasee, etc. Interesting. I have found the opposite to be true for many of these things. For example, I find that enamel cooking surface is significantly worse at browning meats and creating fond compared to a stainless steel surface. I also find that the larger diameters of Le Creuset don't have a thick enough construction to provide truly even heat distribution (my tests show a definite "heat ring") and long-cooking performance is significantly improved in these diameters by the use of a thick aluminum "flame tamer." On the other hand, your 2.25 quart saucepan is so much smaller than their large casseroles that evenness of heat should be pretty good, as this diameter is within the tolerances of the thickness that they use. And, I absolutely agree that one of the main benefits of this construction is that it can maintain a nice, even, low simmer on the lowest possible heat setting. All of which goes to show the extent to which cooking style can make a big difference. For someone preparing fairly small amounts of long-cooked Southern-style vegetables, it sounds like a great choice. For making sauces... not so much. ← I think Le Creuset (enameled cast iron) can go in the waste of money pile. My mum bought herself a set after wanting one for years, & has spent several years struggling with overly heavy saucepans that due to the thickness of the iron also have a smaller than normal capacity, the material retains heat which is great for a skillet but bad when trying to stop an overboiling pan of veggies, & the enamel can be a pig to clean, not to mention they have pouring spouts that meant you could only pour out liquids without scalding yourself if holding the heavy pan in your left hand. Mum recently gave up with the LC and bought a set of stainless from another manufacturer.

if only the supermarkets over here (UK) stocked premade dough, hopefully it's something they'll start doing soon. I can only dream. we used to eat homemade pizza about once a week, I just shoved all the dough ingredients into the bread maker & 90mins later it was ready to be made into pizzas without the tiresome kneeding. I quickly became fed up with the poor bread produced in that bulky machine but at least it was very consistant in making pizza dough. Even so when the thing gave up after a very short lifespan, surely not just from my neglect of its cooking capacities, the vast expanse of worktop it occupied was reclaimed and this oversized gadget never replaced. And so our consumption of proper homemade pizza also greatly diminished. I have recently started doing a quick cheats pizza using Khoubz as a base. This is a circular arabian flat bread I get at an asia grocers, I think its normally used in falafel wraps. I usually have the oven on as high as it can put the Khoubz (either fresh or straight from the freezer) on a baking tray top with a little sauce, usually a good one from the jar, and a very thin layer of toppings/cheese. By the time the topings are sufficently brown the Khoubz is toasted with crispy edges, the bread itself tends to have a nice savoury wheaty taste, which we really enjoy.