A Scottish Chef

It's impossible to know if Ramsay was ever a drug user. Certainly he's never so much as hinted at it. Lot's of Chef's don't do drugs by the way. I work with a pile of non-users and, coincidentally, have been reading Mr Bourdain's book (kitchen confidential) at work this week in my breaks - the Chefs around me seem singularly unimpressed with his drug-career adventures and have been adopting lofty moral positions about how they would never do such a thing. I'm not perhaps as popular with these Chefs as I could be

Mr Ramsay wasn't kidding about his 'drug' tests. This coming Monday (23rd june 10 am - 4 pm), Ramsay is having a recruitment drive at his Amaryllis restaurant in Glasgow. The drive is in the form of an open day and prospective employees can meet the great man and talk to current chefs. No ordinary interview's mind - anyone seeking a job will have to agree to a urine test. Apparently he wants to know what substances any of the jobseekers have taken in the last six months. I'm no expert, but don't lots of commonly used drugs have a half-life of less than six months?

Ok: is that you or Lenny Henry 'being' you in the mini-me/avatar? Glamour is as glamour does.

Well, it's a word now. Neology suits you I can think of many things that substance use/abuse brings to the life of a functioning abuser. Glamour isn't one of them.

Well, Suvir, they thoroughly enjoyed the meal and I passed on the source of the Daal recipe. They seemed quite fascinated by this Suvir guy I was raving about

Possibly. But then I didn't know if they were Moslem, Sikh or whatever and so I didn't know what was ok or not ok for them to eat let alone whether to serve alcohell. Anyway, it went fine and dandy and I needn't have worried as much as I did at all. Apart from being made to feel like a prize eejit by Raja about the booze. Or, rather, the lack of it.

Wow, Suvir, you amaze me I was searching for an easy way to make a Daal and the search returned this thred. Boy, am I grateful. I'll be serving your Moongee Kee Dal to the Indian Chefs later tonight as part of the meal I am preparing. Thank you very much indeed!

Suvir: you can't tease us this way! Be the gentleman we know you are and tell us the whats and how to's as well! Please!

Thank you, Suvir, for those kind words. I missed this place greatly, too. Hopefully I'll have more time on my hands to contribute a little more than of late. On top of everything else I'm finally getting together a band again It's been a fantastic year so far, and now I hope to manage my time to include my two grandest passions of cooking and music making.

Not too long ago I was asked for suggestions for a salad and - taking into account this guys cooking ability - I said Tuna would be an easy main ingredient. He said, "Tuna! I never thought of that. That's just like fish, isn't it?"

You are right! Although I wouldn't feel to shabby if they were impressed anyway I might just go with your suggestion - although I'm hoping the story of the name for that dish is what makes them laugh rather than my efforts in making it.

One experience I had with food colouring in Chicken Tikka was very sobering indeed. Getting on for four years ago now, I got to thinking there was little benefit to adding food colour to some Indian dishes I was making, so decided to discard them. First up I removed the orange colouring from my Chicken Tikka marinades. It made no discernable difference to the taste. But, my customers were not happy. After a series of complaints - including some pointed comments about what to expect by way of authenticity from a 'white guy' - I returned to the addition of the colouring. The complaints ended. But not before I'd lost some customers for good. Including a shrink - a former regular who had made the worst of the comments about the authenticity of my cooking. I can't say I was sorry to lose her custom. Ediot: commas should help a sentence, not make them unintelligble....and unintelligible has two i's not three...

Hi Tomorrow night, Monday, I have three Indian Chefs and an Indian restaurant owner from Glasgow coming to visit me. Essentially a social visit, I'd asked one of them, Raja, a while back for some help/suggestions for my summer menu. For a whole variety of reasons this is about a month behind schedule. Now they are coming to my shop to have a look at my facilities before making suggestions. I think I've mentioned this before, but when I ask these guys for help they don't do things in half measures. I haven't a clue what to make for them. Should I offer them something completely different to Indian cuisine? Two of them, Kayani & Deven, are top class chefs and I'm nervous as hell about making them an Indian meal. Basically I don't know what to offer them. HELP!

Sorry for my current absence from the Indian forum, but I'm finalising menu's and getting readied for our summer season. I really miss the time I had here so recently. I'm having a night off tonight though! A going away party for one of my Chef friends who's moving to open up a restaurent in Spain. Some guys have all the luck Slainte!

No way is this normal practice. I think you hit the nail on the head when you suggested they don't care. A quick call to your insurers about the problem - and where blame would be legally placed in the result of a fire or other mishap - would probably give you more than enough ammunition to encourage your bosses to act to bring the contractors into line. Apart from the danger and waste, it's deeply disprespectful to other Chefs going about their work in a proper, priofessional manner. Who are these people to endanger their work colleagues? I dread to think how dangerous these people could be if they really can't gaurantee to remember to switch equipment on when they arrive for work. It beggars belief that they act in such an irresponsible way.

Other than my gratitude for the marvellous diversions you suggested, I'd like to also say I laughed like a maddie at your article. Hilarious and bitingly accurate in eqaul measure. Thank you Maggie!

Half an hour? I'll see you in a week. Or so

I'd love to see/try the recipe

Others around here will probably let you know the better restaurants in London. You might want to have look at Catering.com via the link below as it usually carries a fair amount of current jobs. Jobs in the UK catering industry can be found here. Good luck

Yes please

I think so. When I searched for Harvey Day on Amazon it returned all sorts of out of print books about the occult, yoga, spirituality and Curries. I'm not sure I get the link Simon: You are in publishing - is it ok to post recipes from books long out of print? Do these works ever become public domain? I can't even find the publisher - Kaye & Ward Ltd London - anywhere.

Would even a small amount of yoghurt added as you describe change the flavour of dishes added to very much? How would it affect any dishes where yoghurt would not usually be used? Also, welcome to the wonderful Indian forum on eGullet. I, too, will look forward to your posts

I stumbled across a very old book called 'The Complete Book of Curries' today in a charity shop and I bought it for the princely sum of £0.19. The author is Harvey Day and I wondered if he or his writing is known to anyone here? The book - a compendium of five individual books dedicated to curries around the world - is an absolute delight. Not least because of his recipe offerings which strike an odd balance between authenticity and a very olde fashioned, almost quaint Englishness. So quaint in fact, that Day sees fit throughout the book to publish the addresses of those who helped him with the book. Presumably so people could write to them and offer their own thanks. The first of these five books was published by Kaye & Ward in 1958 in Britain. I'm not even certain about the authenticity of the recipes published. I'm as sure as can be that no one would have been able to challenge Day's assertions/recipes as I am completely unaware of other books on this subject from that time. Certainly none that I have come across. There are quite fantastic quotes in the book which he uses to highlight his thoughts on food. Although this first quote itself is not about curries, he used it to indicate his feelings about those who found curries too much of a culinary challenge to enjoy. It will also give you an indication of the tenor he adopts throughout the book. Perhaps it's the time elapsed since first publication that makes it such a glorious read, but some of it is also hilarious. For example; Each book has a small preface and in these Day offers up his thoughts on the wonder of curries and the benefit of the spices used. The preface to the second book returns again to his ideas about those unable to enjoy curries. I think Mr Finch and Mr Majumdar will enjoy this one in particular. Fantastically, he said; I'd love to post some of these recipes if I can, as I can't offer you a source where to find the book. It's long out of print and I could not find it available even through second hand sellers on the internet. If I can't - and I'm assuming someone will tell me if this is not permissible - I'd still love to ask many questions about the recipes and methods he writes of in the book. For example, Suvir, IndiaGirl or Monica, was mustard oil commonly used in Indian cooking to preserve and protect meats due to the hot climate?

It's impossible to think that any bottled sauce could taste as good as fresh made (provided the frsh made was in fact made well), but that needn't mean they cannot be good. Or, indeed, very good. If it serves to promote Indian food and foster greater interest in the cuisine amongst those who don't/wont/can't have the time to make it from scratch, then it's surely a good thing.

I offered a lift to a young Chef yesterday who was on his way to work. He tell's me the hotel chain (a british national chain) he works for move him around all over Scotland. Naturally I asked how he was getting on, what sort of thing he was up to, about the qaulity of his training and the standards he was expected to aspire to. He's making pastry from pre-bagged mixes. Frying breaded frozen haddock. Serving up bought in desserts. Having worked in eight different establishments, the most difficult thing he has had to make from scratch was a cheese sauce for macaroni cheese. It was quite depressing to hear. Brake Brothers march appears to be relentless. I hope this isn't all of the future, but I suspect it will be the majority of it.