LesleyC

the braised kohlrabi with garlic and parmesan on this website is a particular favourite of mine.

Today being Stir Up Sunday, I've just finished making my Pineapple & Rum Christmas pudding. Your gloop would be perfect!

that is an experiment someone in the US will have to do. There seems to be some doubt as to whether it is legal or not in the UK, confiscations at customs, and certainly no online suppliers of the stuff. What is the teeny percentage of everclear that is not alcohol made up from? Could this if it ever come back into stock be a substitute (the rectified spirits, can be used as a liqueur base implies flavourless) or would this higher percentage vodka be a better substitute? .

Yes, there is nothing really special about the sugar. It is a pale colour, but not quite as white as white sugar. None of it is as fine as powdered sugar, so I'm assuming that they have caramelised the sugars, let them set and ground them up, not very finely. The alcohol tastes quite strongly caramelly, and obviously very paint strippery. On the top of the dessert after flaming, there is no alcohol flavour at all, and the caramel flavour of the liquid mixes quite nicely with the caramelliness of the sugar. If I could get my hands on ever clear over here, I would probably have a go with a mixture of everclear and some caramel essence, and would do the caramelise, set and grind thing with the sugar. Quite apart from the visual appeal of the flames, I really like the way the sugar melts and sets with this method. Its evenly coloured across the entire surface, no bits darker than others etc. From now on my blowtorch is for setting the. alcohol alight rather than for bruleeing the creme brulee. Last night I used 4ml liquid per pot. Next time I think I'll go with 2ml,

Kit arrived this morning (not bad, only ordered it yesterday afternoon). Creme's now basking in the oven. Ingredients: Liquid: extrafine cooking alcohol (96%) of vegetable origin, natural and nature identical flavours Sugar: glucose syrup, sugar, icing sugar the kits is supposed to contain a spray nozzle and measuring cup which were missing from my box. the box was still factory sealed so i'm assuming this is a problem with cookal packaging process rather than my local supplier, but will phone the supplier shortly. 1 dosage of the liquid is 6 sprays, and I think spraying will give a more even coverage than pouring liquid over the top, so will find a spray bottle around the house to dose it with. Not for many hours though sadly, cos i don't have anything to speed up the chilling process..

i have ordered one of the kits containing the sugar and fluid, so when it arrives, if nobody else has given ingredient information, i'll post it.

Yes yes yes!!! Thank you Lisa. changed my google search criteria to look for a kit and found this ... And this bunch have a lovely video and seem to sell the sugar and liquid separately if you're still wanting some.

i'm going to try it with virtually any alcoholic beverage suitable for a little flambe, but the caramel flavouring in the liquid in the restaurant I think is important. the sugar certainly didn't cook long enough to give the caramel taste to the brulee. If it helps any the little spray bottle had a capacity of around 200 ml, so not huge, and it was clearly the bottle that the stuff was bought in, not decanted. I feel sure I would have noticed the word grappa on the bottle, and there wasnt the slightest taste of any sort to the dessert other than that of regular creme brulee. the liquid in the bottle was a caramel colour too.

this week, at a little restaurant in Venice, Italy, I had a creme brulee (crema catalana on their menu) that arrived at the table in flames, the flames being used to brulee the sugar. after the meal i asked the waiter what liquid had been used for the flambe, and he showed me a little plastic spray bottle, the only word on which i could read was Caramel. he said that the sugar was just sprinkled over the creme, some of the liquid added, and lit. the sugar crystals when it arrived at the table looked more the size of normal granulated sugar than castor sugar, but by the time the flame had gone out some 40 seconds later, there was a lovely thin film of caramel on top of the creme brulee. Does anyone know what this liquid was, and where I may get my hands on some (preferably a UK source), but to be honest, just knowing what it was will help me find it. Many hours of googling my fingers raw has got me nowhere at all.

to me, food honesty has to do with whether its highly processed or not - ham that is carved from a leg of gammon (however the gammon is cooked) is an honest slice of ham. A piece of square/round ham from a vac pack that is more water and other rubbish than pork is a dishonest slice of ham.

Had the Oxtail & Kidney Pudding for dinner tonight. Was very nice, but I think I would prefer to take the star anise out before everything going in the pressure pot. Didn't burn off the alcohol fumes either, because I couldn't find any long matches, and kinda like my fingers. Worth making again at some point.

Over here in the UK, Beko manufacture some chest freezers that will work down to about -18C, and they are one of the cheapest chest freezers on the market. They surely must have a US equivalent.

Enjoyed the show, was slightly annoyed that I watched it a mere two hours after cooking steak for dinner. I'm intrigued by the turn every 15-20 secs thing, and have to try it ... soon. I do need to restock the freezer with hamburger patties though, so wil do them his way this time round. Very similar to the Perfection series hamburger, but with much less fuss. I did make the ketchup from the perfection burger ... once. It took an awful lot of ingredients and time to produce about 2 tablespoons full. Oh and not being a Texan allows me to really enjoy beans in my chilli

the rivets that hold the two halves of the handle onto the knife (if you have that style of knife) deteriorate in the dishwasher over time, and eventually the handles won't stay on. It took 13 years of dishwashing for it to happen to mine though, so I suppose it depends on whether you're happy to replace when that happens or not whether they should go in the dishwasher. I do wash mine by hand now, because I was very upset when the last lot 'died'. I have had a wooden bowl that went in the dishwasher accidentally, and the finish was totally ruined. I do put the wooden spoons and other wooden utensils in though. I don't care what they look like, and replace when necessary. I do put crystal in, but run it on a special cycle that doesn't get as hot. If I used the crystal daily though, I probably wouldn't because normal glasses do get a bit cloudy after a few years of regular dishwashing and wouldn't want that to happen to the crystal

Onions ... and Pepsi Max to keep me going.