Duncan
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Posts posted by Duncan
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We're going to Oud Sluis in a few weeks time and I want to try to book a taxi in advance. Getting there for 7:30 sounds easy enough, but does anyone who's already gone have any idea what sort of time we'll be wanting a taxi back to our hotel again?
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The Sun is reporting that TV chef Antony Worrall Thompson has been arrested for shoplifting on 5 occasions at the Tesco store in Henley-on-Thames.
They quote their source as saying:
He was ordering blocks of cheese at the deli counter, taking bottles of wine, then putting some things through the scanner but walking out with the rest."They caught him on camera doing it more than once, but had to be 100 per cent sure it was not a genuine mistake before apprehending him. Because of his high profile, the security staff could not afford to get it wrong.
He's had money problems recently, so I do hope it's just stress and he can get over it.
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Maybe you should complain as an old student. Charity trustees are in a very difficult position as they have an obligation to maximise returns, and probably feel they can't afford to be sentimental. You could suggest that they should follow the example of the de Walden Estate around Marylebone and increase the overall value of their portfolio by encouraging the sorts of shops that people living nearby want to use, hence increasing the value of the flats etc.
It may too late to save Fitzbillies, but it may stop something else being replaced by yet another photofit coffee shop.
I'm not so sure about that rumour now. The source that suggested the rents were high seems to have been the BBC and when I found the relevant article it actually seems to have been a quote from the owner of another business complaining that all rents in central Cambridge are too high. It might be interesting though to drop them an email and see what they say.
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I see today that Fitzbillies (cake shop and tearoom) in Cambridge has ceased trading: World-famous city cake shop ceases trading
Anyone who has spent any time in that area will recognise them as one of the great Cambridge institutions. Especially famous were their Chelsea buns (and if you think you know what a chelsea bun tastes like, then until you've tried the Fitzbillies version you really don't). I spent much of my undergraduate career nourished by Chelsea buns, or rather by the reduced price rejects that they sold to impoverished students.
It is reported that the high cost of rent is what drove them over the brink: if true that's particularly bitter to me as it's my old college that owns the building.
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There was some discussion on this last year but as I recall, the advice was to do a quick dunk (30 sec) in 180 deg F water to quickly kill off any surface pathogens. I did that with some short ribs that were suspect and did end up tossing them in the trash after cooking as the smell lingered, but that was mostly my fault for keeping the meat far longer than I should have before bagging it.
Mostly now I try to bag quickly, and always do a smell test before bagging.
Keep experimenting!
Thanks stomsf, Chris and Mikels. Next time I'll definitely try a quick dunk in hot water. Thinking it over I suspect it may have been the fat I added which had been sitting in the fridge a while (I mixed the seasoning into a paste with some fat so as to avoid anything actually liquid in the bag).
We had the second ox cheek last night: this one without any worrying aromas and very nice it was too.
BTW, I must say that I'm pretty impressed with the Sous Vide Magic. Now that I've calibrated it against the slow cooker I'm using it seems to be able to hold the temperature to about +/- 0.2C
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I got a Sous Vide Magic for Christmas which I'm using to control a slow cooker. This weekend I had my first go at cooking something for a very long time: 2 ox cheeks, one with a Porcini rub similar to the one Chris Amirault suggested recently for short ribs, the other in a beer marinade.
The first cheek was cooked at 60C for 33 hours by the end of which time there was obviously some gas in the bag and a slightly cheesy smell. It didn't smell off as such, so we ate it and it was very nice but the cheesy smell lingered for some time afterwards. I assume that I was unlucky enough to get some thermophilic bacteria in the bag and in future I should probably recognise this and bin the food straight away.
My question really is whether there are any steps I can take to minimise the chance of this happening again?
The other cheek I left in for another 12 hours then chilled down in ice and is currently sitting in the fridge for a day or two. It doesn't look like I've any problem with that one.
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I really think the supermarkets should say the date/time the asparagus was picked, as this makes a huge difference to the taste.
In today's paper I saw an advert from Tesco claiming that their asparagus takes 48 hours from farm to shop.
For some reason that doesn't make me want to rush out to visit Tesco, I think I'll continue going to the local farm shop where not only is it picked the same day, but once picked the bunches spend their time upright in water (or they also do PYO for the purists).
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Google for Bath Chap instead, I've never known them called pork chaps before.
We've tried Waitrose pork chaps a few times, but I'm not sure we've got it right yet.
The problem is that while it's easy to find recipes like the one you suggested which tell you how to prepare Bath chaps from the raw materials (including curing them) the Pork chaps that Waitrose are selling are already cured. They're not rolled, they're not cooked, but they are salted. Very heavily salted. I think they're too thick to roll the way Bath chaps are usually done.
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Just managed to catch up on the few i missed.... Glad Nathan got through. His dessert looked horrid though. It amazes how crap a lot of the desserts are this year.
That's a common factor every year: the desserts are always weak. I think many of the chefs depend heavily on someone else at their establishment for desserts so they find themselves a bit out on a limb when they have to work on their own.
Think I'm going to have to pay Will Holland a visit soon, his main course looked lovely, but I am an asparagus nutter.
We went to La Becasse the Friday evening that Will Holland got through (see signature for link to blog). There were some really nice and imaginative dishes so yes, do go if you get a chance (no asparagus though we did get asparagus the next evening at Mr Underhill's).
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There's a tiny bit more information at http://ow.ly/14Zkj
Ryan was somewhat unhappy of the direction that the operation wished to pursue and the resources that where made available, he felt that in his opinion that the business was also not using best practice in it’s daily operating procedures, and felt that the time was right therefore to part company -
Any other recommendations for the centre of Oxford?
I'm just there one night and on my own - casualish place would do nicely.
Head in the direction of Little Clarendon Street and/or Jericho and have a look at the menus in some of the restaurants to see what you fancy.
We had lunch in Pierre Victoire a few months back and it was pretty decent brasserie food (but I've no idea how they do for dinner). Branca in Jericho is supposed to be good (but we haven't been there for several years). If you fancy Lebanese then try Al Shami. There are plenty of other options in that area if none of the above take your fancy.
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Its Turbot or Lobster tonight.
Yum, Yum.
Whose home are those supposed to be a taste of?
Edit: Oh, I see: Fish & Chips versus Prawn (or at least Lobster) cocktail.
But what on earth posessed Shaun to choose a dish he can't taste?
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to follow i took the grey mullet with chive butter sauce (as predicted by adrian- i don't like to disappoint in my predictability) a big fillet, cooked well with a light butter sauce, sarah had a margot's classic of confit duck leg which she also enjoyed, think that was with a sage cream sauce and spring onion mash.
He didn't quite predict our menu selections correctly on our recent visit (claimed to have forgotten that duck confit was one of the options). We had the tasting menu which is slightly smaller portions with choices for main and dessert (so e.g. the sticky toffee pudding is only large instead of enormous). All very tasty.
Keep up the good work Adrian.
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Anybody had recent meals at Nathan Outlaw's or Shaun Rankin's place Bohemia in Jersey?
Both chefs are doing eggy starters tomorrow.
I'm really looking forward to this one.
Yes, Judy and I went to Nathan Outlaw's at the start of April. I posted a very brief writeup on my blog, mostly just a list and photos of the courses, but we enjoyed it a lot. We had the tasting menu so we got a good range of Nathan's dishes but none remotely similar to the ones listed for the competition.
So is it 'Iron Chef Uk', the Duck Egg battle tomorrow?
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Mrs Brown - another mis-informed person.
There is bad veal and foie gras production as there is bad chicken, beef and pork production. There is equally good production of veal and foie gras as there is good production of chicken etc etc. I assume the Presidential banquets would buy high quality artisanal produce i.e. well sourced and well produced.
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Is it possible that Mrs Brown was well-enough informed to disagree with your assumptions?
It is indeed possible she quizzed the chef about the sourcing of the meal, but at a high level banquet it is probably safer for her just to leave the meat rather than risk a resumption of the 100 years war.
I see the Times didn't actually attempt to make their article balanced:
Peta says that veal calves are plunged into dark crates and denied mother’s milk until their flesh turns white from anaemia, while foie gras is created from geese that have been force-fed so that their livers expand painfully to eight times their normal size.No mention there of humanely raised rose veal (even if this time it wasn't they should still mention it), and this is the first time I've seen it suggested that the problem with foie gras is that the livers expand painfully: I wonder what evidence Peta think they have for that. To my amazement the Daily Mail report of the same dinner seems much more balanced.
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Maybe Im old fashioned or naive but its reasurring to know that when you go to the likes of Wisharts, the chef is 9 times out of ten actually cooking and he has resisted the temptation to sell his soul to the media.
The evening we were at Kitchin the chef was busy in the kitchen (there's a window into the kitchen so we could watch what was happening). I have no idea whether this was an atypical evening.
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Unrelated to menu requests, we've been warned not to respond to notes left by P.D.S (Parcel Delivery Service), saying 'Unable to deliver a parcel' and then requesting you to dial their number.
Apparantly you automatically get charged £21.
That one resurfaces every Christmas: it was true (although it was only £9, and even that only if you stayed on the line for the full 6 minutes of the recorded message), but the premium line involved was shut down on 29th December 2005.
The official statement from the regulator PhonepayPlus in 2007 says
A STATEMENT FROM PHONEPAYPLUS ABOUT THE CURRENT ‘POSTAL SCAM’ CHAIN EMAILPhonepayPlus, the phone-paid services regulator, is aware that a chain e-mail about an alleged postal scam is being circulated on the internet. The email refers to the Royal Mail, Trading Standards and ICSTIS (PhonepayPlus’ former name).
PhonepayPlus appreciates that recipients of the email may want to find out more information about the alleged scam and has therefore issued the following statement:
• The chain email refers to a service that was shut down by us in December 2005.
• We subsequently fined the company that was operating the service, Studio Telecom (based in Belize), £10,000.
• The service is NO LONGER running and has NOT been running since December 2005.
• The email refers to a £15 charge for simply being connected to a recorded message. This is NOT TRUE – a £15 connection charge does NOT exist. The service in question actually cost £1.50 per minute and lasted six minutes, making a total cost of £9 if callers stayed on the line for the full six minutes.
• You do NOT need to contact us, or the Royal Mail, about this service as it was stopped almost two years ago.
• If you receive a copy of the email warning you about the alleged scam, please do NOT forward it to others. Instead, please forward this statement from PhonepayPlus.
• Please go to www.phonepayplus.org.uk/pdfs_news/ConsumerGuide.pdf for useful information about how to recognise phone-paid services and understand what they cost, and some simple tips to help you enjoy using services with confidence.
• For more detailed information about our work, please visit www.phonepayplus.org.uk.
19 October 2007
Edit: and the pdf referenced above says:
We will, however, accept complaints about premium rate style services found to be operating on incorrect numbers. For example, some companies try to run revenue-sharing services on 070 numbers, which is not permitted.so I think Erica should definitely contact them.
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A place called Thompson and Morgan seems to be the most recommended place to find growing kits, which is nice and it only takes a couple of weeks for your greens to grow. This could be interesting.
6 trays and 7 packets of seeds? Seems a strange combination, but I expect each pack does more than one trayful. Also the sprouting kit (2 tier sprouter plus 23 packets of seeds) would keep anyone going for a while.
I also find it surprising looking at the individual packs of 'Living Greens' seeds that they vary in size from 500 seeds (purple radish) to 6000 seeds (rocket victoria). Presumably its the size of seed that matters to the producer, but I expect you'll get a lot more rocket than radish.
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You can probably buy growing kits online. Try searching for "micro greens".
This article looks useful, also this one. The telegraph article links through to Gregg's Veg who will deliver the actual salads (but I can't see on their website how much you get for your money).
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Is there a better way than others to get a booking? we'd only be two people for lunch or dinner during june.
should i start emailing now?
should i be specific on the date or does being flexible limit my chances?
or is calling the best way?
etc.
Apart from getting late cancellations I think there is no point in emailing any time except when they say: mid October. Send them an email early on 15th October.
Opinions seem to vary, but I asked for a specific date for my wife's birthday (and also said I'd accept any other date). I think they probably select more specific requests first, and they do seem to like doing birthdays: that's a pure guess but based on a 100% success rate (one application, one success).
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I wonder how true your assertion is that in France chefs don't aspire to a Michelin rating.
I didn't say that. I said:
In France the restaurants largely focus first on serving decent food and there are many which do this very successfully without ever aspiring to Michelin stars.'many' doesn't imply that all chefs don't aspire to Michelin stars, it just means there are many competent chefs working in restaurants which are never going to impinge on the Michelin radar.
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Is French TV awash with Celeb Chefs?
Based on a couple of weeks holiday each year, it seems to be awash with Morse, Inspecteur Barnaby, Poirot, Miss Marple. I don't believe any of them are known for their cooking skills.
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Why the negative on the Michelin aspirations? This also comes through on the Masterchef thread.
Most British restaurant food is appalling, and that is reflected in the dearth of Michelin starred places. There are lots of honorable exceptions to my sweeping statement. BUT in the UK maybe less than 0.1% or the restaurants get a Michelin star (or bib), in France is seems to be a much higher proportion.
In France I can generally find a decent meal in most places I visit (not all Michelin rated ). In the UK I am "surprised" if I eat well. It shouldn't be like this. Can anybody help me here? Are the two linked?
While I'm not convinced that your assumptions are correct, I think you answered your own question. In France the restaurants largely focus first on serving decent food and there are many which do this very successfully without ever aspiring to Michelin stars. Restaurants like that do also exist in the UK, but these TV programmes are showing a worrying proportion who seem to think that the badge is more important than serving good food to their customers.
I guess by definition the people you see on such shows are looking for a quick way to fame without putting in the hard work. TV show or Michelin star: its publicity and exposure they want.
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I think I may have come across filming for the new series earlier in the year in Brentford. An Italian restaurant had been taken over and new, obviously temporary, signs erected advertising it as "True Provenance - British Eatery". BBC "minders" were turning away genuine punters (like me) but were not disclosing what show they were filming for.
Assuming it is part of the series, then it just went to confirm my suspicions of the first series that it was all show-biz and there was no actual attempt to trade as a restaurant. Place is tucked away in a bit of backwater with no passing trade and you'd have to know it was there.
Well if that was for the show they must have changed the format significantly from last year, or perhaps they were filming one of the elimination challenges so it wasn't actually open when you tried to go in. They only actually end up running the restaurant at most 2 nights a week, but if it was one of those nights I'd have thought that you wouldn't have had any problem getting a table.
Getting fed on the other hand might be harder.
Food Hygiene Rating
in United Kingdom & Ireland: Dining
Posted
I believe it depends on the type of improvement. The facilities manager where I work was quite upset when the canteen lost a star after an inspection found a tap on a sink wasn't working properly: it had apparently been working earlier that day and was fixed the next day but they were still docked down to 4 stars. They got the star back immediately though because it was a one off technical failure; she told me that if it had been a failure in their processes it would have needed multiple further inspections to verify that the process was both fixed and being followed.