Carlovski

I'm impressed with 15 minutes for the deboning - didn't Jeffery Steingarten take over an hour in his account of making one? Won't you guys get away with putting the whole thing inside a swan? or have i been reading too much Tom Sharpe?

Not sure if you can get those ones, if you can find a chinese supermarket they tend to have a HUGE range though. I'm a nong shim man myself, unfortunately a large proportion of their products have been withdrawn in the UK due to an unregistered irradiation plant... Most of the indian food will be of the British indian curry house variety - not authentic but delicious all the same. There may be a few more interesting choices in Newcastle though - I haven't actually been in Newcastle for a few years.

Very impressive - that's the neatest one I have seen! I'd have thought skinning the duck especially would be important - must help the fat escape?

A good fish pie is a thing of beauty. I usually make mine with smoked haddock, but sometimes use normal fish (In which case I like to use a mixture). Some fish pie pointers and suggestions... - When making your bechamel fry some leeks first before adding the flour for the roux, adds a touch of sweetness (And some colour - although a big handful of parsley helps here too) - You want to be rigorous in removing every scrap of skin and bone, this is the sort of dish you want to be able to eat with a spoon and not have to worry. - Some fried quartered button mushrooms can stretch out the fish, and I like them anyway - nothing too fancy or stongly flavoured though. - A rosti type topping makes a nice change, but to be honest is not quite as good. Trying variations on the potato topping like you might do on a shepherds pie (mix in parsnips/celeriac/sweet potato or use mashed white beans) just doesn't seem to work, but there may be a magic combination I haven't tried. - Putting somewhat too much butter on top of the mash creates a lovely buttery crust - to hell with calories! - Mussels are fine addition, steam them open in a little white wine. The good thing is you can then use the juices in the sauce. This does make the whole thing hopless for re-heating though, the mussels turn into rubber. - I do not own a piping bag and have no desire to buy one so I just pile on the mash, spread it on and fork across the create ridges. These are very important as they produce the delicious crust - epscially when some of the filling bubbles up over the sides.

One odd thing I remember about a night out in Newcastle was a kebab shop where a large kebab was cheaper than a small one Newcastle does have a large student population and as such you will find a lot places do deals at less busy times - Pizza/pasta places often do weekday offers where everything is under a fiver for example - that used to be the sort of thing we used to do for someones birthday etc (Usually means the wine bill is twice the food cost though!). Not great food, but half decent and cheap. Indian restaurants are another perennial student favourite, and are usually good value. I seem to remember that Newcastle's student union is a lot better than most for food, although I was a bit less fussy in my student days! It very much depends where he is going to live too, both in terms of location and whether he is going to live in Halls or live out somewhere. Cooking (And storage) facilities can be very variable. A few basic cookery lessons might come in handy - how to make basic pasta sauces (Saves money on nasty and expensive jars), how to cook rice (which a lot of people struggle with) and a good idea is how to cook at least one more complicated and family sized dish so he can invite people round for dinner (Good for making friends, influencing people and getting free wine!) Instant noodles are readily available here btw!

This all relates to those stupid 'eat nothing with more than 5% fat' diets. Eat old school french restaurant food every day and yes, you will get fat (And probbaly feel a lot worse than Morgan Spurlock did after eating McDs in Super Size Me). Eat that sort of food occasionally as part of an enjoyable and balanced diet then you'll be fine. You need to balance your nutrition across the day, the week, the month, not one meal.

What a great idea! I'm sure a lot of people are slightly put off buying cheese due to it either being prepackaged in far to large amounts or not wanting to ask for small amounts at the counter, or even the 'don't know how to pronounce it' dilemma. My old favourite cheese shop has shut down now, I have had to start buying it from the supermarket, which is just not the same. There is a french cheesemonger on the market who is ok though - always VERY ripe cheeses, handy for improptu lunches. I do like to support local cheesemakers when I can though. If you can get hold of some, try some Britich cheeses (Jennahan mentions a few good ones) - We do go beyond cheddar and Stilton, although of course good ones of them are excellent.

I'd be a durian.

Soccer is Football!

Fancy doing that sort of thing to perfectly good Gin. But I don't like Cucumber in my Pimms either. Or in anything to be honest. Not very English of me really!

Don't forget the numbers.... Some of these suggestions might not be too easy for 17 guests. That's going to have to be a hefty piece of beef - unless you get really traditional and make everyone fil up on yorkshire pudding beforehand. Maybe a buffet style lunch instead? Coronation chicken, poached salmon, sausage rolls, sandwiches. And the trifle of course!

looks like Trinity is quite with the times and publishes it's menus online See Here Sounds a lot better than the food was at Durham. That really was low level institutional stuff (I started a thread on that somewhere...) Looking at the BA society pages I saw this too On alternate Sundays at 12 p.m., the BA Committee organises a brunch in the BA rooms. Croissants, baguettes, bagels, cold meats, cheese, fruit, yoghurt etc. are served. The brunches are subsidised and cost only £1 per person. For environmental reasons, we ask you to bring your own mug, plate and cutlery. There's no need to book - just show up. That could help keep you going. Or bring over a few bottle of ice wine and trade them for dinner round at Jackal10's place!

I can just imagine a dorm room full of induction hobs, sous-vide machines and water baths. Dry Campus? Do such things exist? Can't imagine that in the UK!

I've heard of putting an icecube in the centre of a burger to keep the inside rare, but this is a new one on me - Can't see a problem with it though - advice on properly thawing meat are all about risks of not cooking the centre, but if you know what you are doing I don't see a problem. Would of thought freezing might dry the meat out though, and fast defrosting which is what you are in effect doing might affect the texture somewhat.

I've got a lot of time for Rick Stein. His shows are what you expect BBC2 cookery shows to be, not dumbed down or overly showy. He even quotes poetry occasionally! I don't think anyone will beat Keith Floyd. Remember the episode where he made Piperade in front of a rather stern looking lady who then had to show him how to make it properly? Although Stein did once do the comedy 'cut yourself on a mandoline' scene.

When I was at university there was a very low quality fast food place called Benis, and one night someone snapped off the bottom curve of the B....... They didn't fix it for months, figuring the new name might be more memorable, until local residents started complaining.

Re Anchovies - I mentioned this in the Anchovy thread but there is a magic reaction between tomatoes and anchovies (Well I think so anyway!). It brings out sweetness like nothing else and you end up with something not really fishy, just incredibly savoury. Re the pastry crust, I often make very thin pastry tarts/pies whatever you want to call them in preference to pizza - I am too impatient to make dough and as I have mentioned elsewhere it isn't something readily available in the UK. I think I got the basic idea from a Nigel Slater book, but things I often uses are Caramelized onions and Taleggio (But any softish cheese works well), red onion and parmesan (Lots of parmesan), Roasted veggies of all kinds, softened onion (Less caramelized for this one) and anchovies. Purple sprouting broccoli sauted with anchovy, garlic and chilli is good too.

Is this another cross-atlantic two nations divided by a common language thing? Casserole, fine, cream cheese and rice

Anchovies are the strangest things - They enhance the most unlikely ingredients. Why do they go so well with green vegetables (especially broccolli)? And why do they have some sort of alchemy with tomatoes? As soon as anchovy hits tomato a rich sweetness magically appears. There must be some reason - Might have to hit 'On Food and Cooking'.....

I'm a big fan of all versions of sloppy scrambled eggs cooked with vegetables, ekuri, menemen or just whatever I have to hand. Favourite version is with strips of slightly hot peppers, tomato, a little onion and about 3 fresh eggs. I like the vegetables slightly overecooked ands caramelized and the eggs thrown in and left to cook with the residual heat. Some herbs if you have any to hand are good - coriander in small amounts or lots of parsley. Serve luke warm with flatbread. Some Chorizo thrown in works well too.

Another thumbs up from me - really enjoyed the book. Far better then I expected it would be (For some reason I half expected a series of 'silly people getting so worked up about food' anecdotes) Informative guide to the history of the Michelin guide, the restaurant apprentice system, development of nouvelle cuisine (And Loiseau's cuisine) and the tragic events of his suicide. Sounds like it would be all over the place, but was very well put together and written.

Remind me not to get stranded on a mountain with you anytime soon. ← To get this back on a culinary theme, How would we prepare Andy - should we be stuck in the Andes?(I'm assuming we've crashed with a fully equipped kitchen and possibly plenty of condiments)

unleash the hounds.....

I don't really know how the career path of a sommelier runs, but if you can't be a young sommelier, how does anyone become a sommelier?

Some people do genuinely seem to prefer the convenience versions of foods - just been chatting to a colleague who loves instant mashed potato - she buys real potatoes for other things and does cook, but just prefers instant mash. A lot of people are of the what they don't see can't hurt them brigade too - they hate seeing recipes requireing adding salt, oil and butter, but that ready meal they just microwaved that contains twice as much sodium and twice the fat isn't a problem. So then they cut the seasoning out of the dish, replace the butter and then complain that the homemade version was tasteless.... I don't think it is a laziness thing (Well sometimes it is, but not often). I hate cleaning, ironing, washing etc, but love cooking whereas I know people who are constantly doing DIY, cleaning etc but can't bear to spend time cooking. It's just a question of what your priorities are. Some people also can't abide messing up the kitchen, or making it 'smell' (i.e of food - what the hell is a kitchen for then?)