jmacnaughtan

I have to confess that I hate standing around skimming stock. I've learned to just bring the bones/flesh/skin to the boil, dump out the water and rinse the pieces well enough to just leave the pot on a simmer. The result doesn't seem to suffer...

If you're feeling mildly ambitious, you might want to try this pumpkin tart. Just substitute pumpkin for the butternut. Failing that, the crémeux makes a good filling for a lot of things, and is easy to make

Go to Les Climats. It's very good, and the wine list is phenomenal (especially considering that they only do Burgundy).

If it's used in a cake batter, that shouldn't be an issue.

You could use it anywhere you'd use pâte d'amandes, like a Genoa bread (pain de Gênes).

May be because it's easy to get tired of eating sweet food. Less so for barbecued meat and beer. I could really go for some of that right now.

A glaze makes cakes nice and shiny, while a ganache can often have a dull, matte finish. Chocolate glazes don't always use chocolate (rather a combination of cocoa powder, sugar, water, glucose, gelatin and dairy), so are generally pretty cheap. They also have the advantage of freezing well. I much prefer using glazes on cakes because the layer tends to be thinner, it's shinier, more attractive, and easier to work with because it's more fluid. You can also work with a wider range of colours and flavours. If it helps, this cake uses a chocolate glaze I picked up from one of Francisco Migoya's books.

I'd personally use a glaze rather than a ganache- I find it goes on easier, looks shinier and the raw ingredients tend to be cheaper

You shouldn't normally need to tenderize pigeon breasts at all. It seems like you're either overcooking them (they shouldn't be any more than medium rare, and I find them perfect when rare) or maybe your birds are just old.

I don't know about that. It takes real skill to eat prawns with both cutlery and elegance

I always do half and half- half the sugar will help stabilize the yolk (probably) and the other half helps stop milk from sticking and scorching on the bottom of the pan. If you're using starch in your crémeux, then it's a good idea to mix it with sugar, add a little cold liquid, then add the egg yolks. It helps avoid lumps.

It's finally strawberry season Just a quick little fraisier.

Yeah, I don't tend to share restaurant dishes- unless it's with my better half. Then it's OK. But for other people, I subscribe to the philosophy that if you want to try something, you should order it. I wouldn't share a beer or a glass of wine, so why a main course?

Just a little egg, for two Mostly Valrhona Bahibé, with some Barry Zéphyr.

I've seen Bobby Flay do this on Iron Chef. Unfortunately, I've never been too impressed with the technique- it doesn't seem to improve on normal lemon juice. Maybe it's just me; I like my lemon juice to taste fresh.

They look good. Are these the white-themed ones you were talking about here?

Enjoying the fact that a team of people are cooking for me. A wide variety of wine. A good atmosphere, and occasionally the chance to dine (well) in the sun. And service. I love great service, when the waiters are invisible until you need them and your glass is always full.

My local supermarket always overstocks on sv-packed whole raw foie gras before Christmas, then bumps them down to around 15€ each a couple of days before they're due. They freeze well, which is lucky as a whole liver is way, way too much for two people. It is, however, great for a party.

I haven't had casu marzu, but the fromages forts they do in the remote regions of France are a little... different. The worst I had was cachat from Provence: refermented cheese ends with garlic, rosemary and salt. The texture of peanut butter and a flavour that lingers for days. I think it was in Brittany that I tried a cheese refermented in local beer. Interesting, but I wouldn't try it again. Also, I find the custom in the Nord Pas de Calais pretty exotic, where you dip pungent maroilles cheese on toast into your breakfast coffee or hot chocolate. Just the thought of that film of smelly grease that forms makes me queasy. ETA: syntax

I haven't seen it in Paris, but there are a few Bouchons where you might be able to find it- Aux Lyonnais, Le Moissonnier... Failing that, Lyon's only 2 hours away and you'll get all the pork products you could possible want I do miss a good saucisson à cuire...

There's actually quite a lot of revulsion about eating ortolan. However, this may be trumped by the illegal cachet associated with it. Conceptually, it is pretty different. You're eating, essentially, a roasted adult bird, one that is small enough to eat whole in the same way that some fish are eaten whole. But when you ask people to eat what appears to be a nice, safe, friendly boiled egg and they open it to find a bird foetus, it's a shock. Also, why are you so worked up about French cuisine? ETA: proper syntax

OK. There's no reason why you can't bake them in a mould- Conticini does a Buddha's hand meringue in half-spheres. But I'd recommend you just work on your piping. Generally when you make meringues, you make a significant amount and I'm not sure you'd want to buy that many moulds.

By meringue cookies, are you talking about macarons?

Whole dried fish in northern Russia, as a beer snack. Also monkfish liver, veal head, pig ear and foot, beef muzzle salad, lamb testicle... The worst out of those was the liver- it has the texture of foie gras and the flavour of mackerel. Really offputting.

Not bad. With those babies I'm amazed you ever get round to making chocolates.