Carlovski

I'm worst when getting takeout. Especially when it's just for me. I always like to have at least one appetiser, a couple of main dishes, and at least one vegetable. Which is far too much for one person. Always nice to have leftovers the next day though. Especially as by this point you have qualified for the free ribs, mixed starter etc. I used to live near a place that did a boxed up meal for one, with a few choices - you got appetizer, soup, main, vegetable and a little fruit salad- that was good, although I did usually order something extra as well!

I usually try and have a tin handy for an emergency storecupboard pasta sauce - sardines, garlic, chilli, a little tomato and white wine/vermouth (The last is optional when it's a real emergency meal!). Some fennel seeds are good here too if you have them, or some fresh basil at the end - I wouldn't use both though. Good with linguini.

I'm a Maldon guy - it's fairly reasonable in the UK (As you would expect really!) I use any old table salt for salting pasta water though. I'm off to Brittany next month, so might see if I can pick up any Guerande salt too.

Which brand? I have to admit I have a general aversion to almost all jarred/canned vegetables. So I'd probably just use a fresh red bell pepper. ← I don't know about brand, but I often buy jars of Pequillo (Or is it piquillo?) peppers. I have had canned peppers which are just flat tasting, over sweet and too soft, but these are great. I find the biggest problem is I eat as many straight out of the jar as I put in the recipe!

I'd disagree, if you can get genuine spanish ones, they are likely to be better than any fresh ones you can find.

I'm afraid, in my experience the blurp blurp splattering is essential, and yes, it does make hell of a mess.

Oddly enough, when I was in London, I saw several places advertising 'NY Style Fried Chicken'. Seemed really out of place to me.That DOES seem odd. Any clue what constitutes "NY Style Fried Chicken"? ← Wouldn't read too much into that. We don't really appreciate U.S regional differences to well here - it's all America, and N.Y is at least somewhere everyone has heard of.

I think this is definitely to do with where and how you grew up. I'm sure for most people it is the other way round - lobster being something they only ever have at a restaurant - never at home.

Works both ways - try paying for anything expensive in cash and people look at you like you must be a bank robber. I think the talk of exhorbitant credit card fees is a bit misleading - yes there is a fee of 2.5-4%, but that has to be factored against the cost of cash handling - keeping change, banking money, risk of robbery etc.

I think the tomato puree does add something (Although not necessarily a good thing!). My dad always wanted to replicate the Madras from the local curry house, And I think I have worked out their 'secret'. By using a whole tube of tomato puree, but no fresh tomatoes, a load of black pepper at the end and more garlic than normal, I have got it pretty close (Big squeeze of lemon at the end too). I have a feeling I got the same results by different methods - I doubt they used that much pepper for example, but it is very red, very tasty, and completely inauthentic - the perfect great British curry! I'll see if I can remember exactly what I did and produce a recipe.

Masham is a lovely part of the world - you can visit the brewery and also go to the wensleydale creamery at Hawes if you are ever in the area.

I get a few comments of my housemates if I have been heavy on the garlic - none of them cook very much (One goes home nearly every weekend and returns with loads of containers full of food his Mum has frozen for him!) I apologise If I know I have done something antisocial, like scorching chillies a little too much (That really hits the lungs!) and even though we take durns doing dishes for everyone, f I have used every pan, or welded something to one I normally wash them myself. Normally I just get 'What are you making', or 'that smells good' comments. I did once share a house with an Scottish guy - every so often he would make a huge pot of soup, the major ingredient of which appeared to be Brussel Sprouts. We could smell he'd been doing it from the end of the drive!

A few things which interested me on that Lucy Cavendish review. The bits about childrens menus, and kids food seemed slightly at odds with Heston's family food book don't you think? Mint choc chip was an interesting comparison, when you think of it that's a fairly avant-garde combination (I've only ever tried 'cheap' mint choc chip, something more intensely minty, with good quality chocolate could be worth trying)

...which, roughly translated, means "what iz left in zee walk-in freedge zat moaning" (thats JC doing his Inspector Clouseau impression BTW.) ← poppy seeds and cheese souffle then!

Some of JC's menu is also getting on a bit - the mushrooms in poppy seed pancake and lamb cutlets topped with cheese soufflé both appeared on his Four Seasons Park Lane menu back in the early 90's. Nothing wrong with that though, both are nice dishes. He was also using chorizo and other flavoured oils, lemongrass as a skewer and serving "pomme carlos" with fillet of beef, so I think we can allow Rhodes his haddock and bread and butter pudding. ← Pomme Carlos? I like the sound of that.

What do people think of the menus? Gary's is typical Gary Rhodes 'Modern British' - a few of the dishes are ones he was knocking out on telly about 5 years ago. Novelli's seems a touch on the pretentious side.... Front Braised Pig’s Trotter stuffed on the day according to Jean-Christophe’s mood, celeriac root soft mash anyone? And what does 'Front braised' mean? And what if he's in a bad mood?

Oh, that's the truth! It's the rare curry that doesn't have huge puddles of orangish oil floating on top. I've heard that Indian chefs scoop off some of that oil and add it back to the base curry sauce, giving more flavor to the base sauce. But (1) apparently the chefs won't admit to doing this, and (2) there's still so much left on top! ← In my many experiments in recreating favourite indian dishes I have found that seemingly unecessary amounts of oil are vital for getting the right taste and consistency - you can drain it off after if you leave it to cool and settle without losing to much of the effect, but for some reason you need it for the cooking.

I normally make the stuffed aubergine variation myself - making Moussaka for one is a bit of a pain, but the stuffed aubergine is a lot easier. Usually have a load of the meat sauce left (You can't really make small amounts, and Aubergines don't hold THAT much. Good just with pitta bread though (Especially as it is even better the next day)

For a book as enjoyable to read as to cook from, I recommend Dear Francesca by Mary Contini.

Yep - it's the base sauce that gives it the characteristic taste, and consistency (Restaurant curries tend to be a lot thicker than you would get at home - and it isn't long simmering that's doing it). The meast also tends to be precooked in the base sauce too. I don't see anything wrong with it, yes a lot of the dishes get a bit samey, but when done well they can still be very tastey. And when you think about it, it;'s not a lot different to Classical French with the ubiquitous ladlefull of demiglace or sauce espagnole. The fenugreek is important too - people see the odd fleck of green and assume it is coriander when they try and recreate dishes at home, but it is usually fenugreek. The last thing is that they tend to cook the onions properly - most people don't cook them anywhere near enough - Camilla Panjabi's 50 great curries of india (Definitely not a guide to how to make curry house favourites!) goes into the importance of cooking the onions (And the variety) at great length.

Actually I would have thought the marbling in Wagyu beef would mean there might be too much fat? And more importantly, why? Throwing expensive ingredients into a dish do not necessarily improve it.

Cheers Guys - Crepes and Cider don't sound too bad! Forgot about June (Actually going to be late June/early July now) not being good for oysters :( I'll try and grab some of the biscuits and pastries, and a tub of sea salt (Although I'm more of a Maldon guy myself). Roellinger might be a bit out of our price bracket, and some of my companions might not be too keen (Plus it's the other side of Brittany). Have to try Cotriade somewhere though - sounds up my street, fishy and rustic.

I am spending a week in a cottage in Brittany with some friends in June (Morbihan area, near Josselin if anyone knows the area) Any food highlights, restaurant recs, local produce to buy, good markets all appreciated. All I know is they have crepes and drink cider. It will actually be my first trip to France as well, so general French type fare and activities are fine.

Rice, both simple boiled (Well how I do it it is as much steamed really) and more complex things - I usually manage to cook pilafs, paellas etc ok, measuring the liquid by eye. Although I did manage to burn a load to the bottom of the pan when I moved into my new house - got to be wary of the big gas ring!

Yeah, I like to dip in cloves of garlic and anchovy fillets