Clare Leaman

The one episode of Masterchef I saw, his fellow judge was Raymond Blanc. The contestants were making soup. Soup is very exciting, very difficult, very complex, said Gary (or words to that effect). Not at all, said Raymond. My mother used to pick a few vegetables and herbs, cook them for ten minutes in some stock and voila. What could be more simple? I love his books and use them all the time: there's often an intriguing tension in the recipes where you see him having to try hard not to overindulge his fondness for the baroque. On television, I wish he wouldn't use the phrase 'build the dish' so much, it's almost as bad as 'plate up'. But I can remember only one serious aberration and that was the turkey Wellington.

I tried the beer soup truleye last night for the first time. Quite pleasant but not a dish I would hurry to have again. As I understand, it is made by incorporating mulled wheat beer into a white sauce and thickening the lot with eggs and cream. I once ate in Ireland a sensational dish of octopus, cabbage and potatoes braised in Hoegaarden. I have tried this method with turbot, but it wasn't as good.

Sounds like my first attempt to make a pork pie. Over the page (and thus not seen by me at first) was the counsel 'ON NO ACCOUNT [sic] use a processor or mincer'. With faggots I'd say you were looking for a similar, perhaps slightly finer texture, thus minced = chopped finely. I have found two chinese cleavers do the job very efficiently.

You could peel and boil them in acidulated water, then make a gratin with plenty of bacon and cream, and a little sharp cheese if you fancy it.

Can't say I enjoyed Midsummer House much, but 'Cambridge's best restaurant' is probably a true ascription, given the generally dire competition. About the only places to find something edible are the cheese shop (one of the very best around IMO) and the deli at the back of that grocer (Al Amin?) at the far end of Mill Road.

Steve - I disagree with one of your arguments. Practically my first experience of wine (as a teenager) was a tutored tasting of Bordeaux. Along with several what I would now judge fairly humdrum wines and a few very decent ones, we sampled a 1961 Chateau Palmer. In no way did I begin to recognise the superiority of this wine over the others, and to me this proves not that I have no sense of taste, but that I had no experience of wine and had not yet acquired a framework against which to form my judgments.

Thanks Steve, I haven't been to Tetou but I will try to next time I am in that part of the world. Funny isn't it how the dishes you mention are some of the most emotive in the culinary repertoire - don't get me started on cassoulet or cholent now...

I believe the main difference between bouillabaisse and bourride is that bourride is thickened with aioli whereas bouillabaisse, uniquely, is basically oil and water boiled rapidly together to achieve an emulsion. The bourrides I have tried have never contained tomatoes either. In the end, I found restaurant bouillabaisse to be a complete disappointment, unlike bourride or matelote or cotriade, all of which I have greatly enjoyed on trips to France. All these places in Toulon or Marseilles or wherever, with access to the right ingredients, seemed to screw up the dish by being omitting or being stingy with the conger eel (my favourite part), serving badly cooked potatoes, not achieving a good emulsion, adding too much or too little saffron, being overcautious with the pepper, or whatever. Factor in the various constraints of restaurant service, and my feeling is that if your kitchen happened to be in the right location, you would do much better to return this preparation to its homely origins, make it lovingly and serve it casually, rather some in artful presentation which is briefly shown to the client and then whisked away to the other side of the restaurant, or even outside onto the street, as at Miramar.

We ate bouillabaisse at maybe half a dozen places along the coast between Nice and Marseilles last summer and were generally disappointed. Perhaps the best was at Miramar in Marseilles, but it still didn't approach anywhere near the platonic ideal I have in my head. And the service was shocking. My conclusion is that this is a dish, like cassoulet, best enjoyed at the kitchen table with friends. Incidentally, the most enjoyable meals we had anywhere were off the 195F (as it then was) menu at Une Table Au Sud, right next to Miramar in the old port. Tasty Mediterranean food with plenty of twists on the norm, great room, charming service and an excellent wine list. What we didn't find in Marseilles were too many good places for casual dining, although the street food, bakeries and traiteurs were memorable.