Carlovski

Pock Marked Mother Chen's beancurd is pretty good, but the fairly large amounts of oil required might be going against the principe. And the fact that it is traditionaly topped with minced beef... I saw a Gary Rhodes recipe for steamed chicken leg Jardiniere (Steamed over spring vegetables), that seems to meet your restrictions, and is seasonal.

Organic is a funny thing, if going as defined by the soil association. As far as I see it, Fish would have to be farmed to be able to be defined organic.

Good on you! I have recently 'rediscovered' the cheeses I was brought up on, Lancashire, Cheshire etc. I remember a cheese stall at a local market that only sold Lancashire cheese, either crumbly or creamy. They don't have the big wow appeal of aged cheddars, or the luscious texture of the french soft cheeses, but what they do have is a marvellous refreshing 'tang'. They are also remarkably versatile cheeses, just the thing to always have in the house, good for sandwhiches, excellent toasted and make reasonable substitutes for mexican queso blanco (similar melting and crumbling qualities, and clean fresh taste). I even used some lancashire as a substitute for feta cheese in a salad the other day. Obviously not the same, but was still good. It's just a shame how many of these cheeses are undervalued. Any UK supermarket cheese section tends to have about 30 'different' (quoted as they aren't really different at all) varieties of cheddar - nearly all rubbery and either tasteless, or harsh and one dimensional, and very little else. Don't get me wrong, well made cheddar is one of the worlds great cheeses, but the UK makes a lot more good ones too!

Simon Hopkinson has a good rant about 'chefs' who liberaly flavour something with fish sauce, chilli, lime etc, and then add the 'essential' salt and pepper (Usually from a great height) in one of his books (Can't remember which) It is easy to take pepper for granted, but when you try a dish where the pepper is a vital ingredient, thats where it really shines. Something like Spaghetti cacio e pepe (Or carbonara for that matter) and obviously steak au poivre (And not the version swamped in cream!). I have a recipe for a very simple black pepper pilau where if made with good fresh pepper really shows it off (It can be almost citrusy, even though there is no lemon). On the pepper with melon experiment, strawberrys are good too. On a side issue, powdered ginger is good with honeydew melon too (One of the few things it is good for). I vaguelly remember my nan actually had a shaker specially for that purpose.

Just because it's safe don't make it right... Overcooked lean cuts of pork are an abomination, but I don't think there is any value in cooking pork rare, apart from the fact if you served it in a restaurant probably 50% of the customers would send it back I don't think it will be in any way improved by cooking it rare. Perhaps it's just me, I don't like lamb too underdone, or most game (Pink yes, but not truly rare). Save it for the beef...

Aren't the ones used in southeast asia slightly different though?

This one. Prepare for the universe to disappear in a puff of paradox.

I feel for you! You could try one of those delivered organic veg boxes? I know waitrose say they support local producers, the one near me is having a sort of open day in a few weeks where they talk about their sourcing, with samples . Apparently last year it was booked up within hours though. I must live in a Waitrosey type of area! There are a couple of recipes which traditionally use wholemeal pasta (rather than for weird health reasons), Bigoli with sardines, and I am sure I have seen a recipe for a cabbage based one (Which I think also contained loads of cream and cheese, so maybe not, unless that's ok?) I find that most people who eat organic and so called 'Whole foods' are not particularly interested how things taste. You could try going the japanese route, buckwheat noodles etc? And at least you can console yourself with asparagus at the moment(Actually does anyone grow it organically? And what about Jersey royals?)

Should you 'season' with the poison before, after or during cooking?

Thought I'd resurrect this one - just caught this last night showing on satellite. It was a surprisingly good film, I liked the kitchen scenes, and there was a good twist at the end. Wasn't sure about the special lobster creation though, as I remembr it lobster stacked up against some deep fried pasta, with champagne sauce flavoured with lime, served with caviar and wasabi flavoured tobiko roe? Sounded fairly nasty to me, and looked pretty dumb too. Probably terms out to be someones famous signature dish, but lost on me! And I know it was meant to be more avant garde italian, but what was wasabi flavoured tobiko even doing in the kitchen! Other slight gripe, how impressed would a food writer really be if they were given things completely off menu? I'd be thinking, well that was good, but what are you serving everyone else? Still, highly recommended though.

I keep thinking of that simpsons episode where they go to a costco like place Marge - That's a good price for 10 pounds of nutmeg...

i can't help but ask myself this every time i look at a supermarket's meat section. i suppose it's what most people prefer. people generally don't spend a lot of money on food, and don't put much thought into it. compared to us at least. if you gave the average person a 1.5-1.75 inch 22 oz steak they'd think you were freakin crazy or that you were going to feed them for a week. poor souls. Same in the UK, even in the supermarkets 'Finest' and 'traditional' ranges the steaks are always cut very thin. The thing is I think a lot of people actually prefer them that way (Or at least think they do). There is the percieved better value, and the fact that it cooks more quickly (So it takes less time for them to cook it until it is tough, dry and tasteless). Also as such steaks are usually fairly poor quality and have rarely been hung for more than a couple of days a thick steak is probably going to be unchewably tough.

You can already use chocolate to help you... Sorry, thought I was on a different board

Clue there how he makes his Parmesan Butter Mmm, Parmesan fat

I've actually just sent a proposal for an article to the editor, but I understand they rarely accept stuff from freelancers. It is however a bloody good idea, even if I do say so myself, and will appear on eGullet if they don't want it. Perhaps you should wait until you have a book to promote....

I actually quite liked Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstalls' honest, and slightly tongue in cheek take on self promotion. And at least he regularly writes for it, and wasn't just doing a one off to plug the book. If anyone is interested , he is doing 'An evening with...' thing in Eastleigh in Hampshire (And possibly other places?), nominally as part of the Hampshire food festival. If anyone wants any info (Or on other events in the fare) let me know - I actually live in Eastleigh so I might go. Half of the OFM articles are rubbish, and the John Briffa bits just wind me up, but the interviews are normally interesting, and that Pho article was good. I think it is better than nothing, but as their other monthly supplements seem to be much better, the sport one is normally a very good read, it is disapointing. Perhaps they should sign up Andy, now he is a 'Pro'?

I have a similar problem, I have a bigger kitchen but also housemates whose whole aim in cooking seems to be to cause as little 'mess' and use as little effort as possible. Hence they don't understand that if I'm cooking steak it will get a little smoky, if I am stir frying it will get quite smoky, and if I am making scorched chilli flavour dishes, well, better get the gas mask out!

Do not underestimate the power of Ribena as a hangover cure as well.

Harsh but fair Tony, Harsh but fair.

A bit of a side issue - Has anyone noticed how many so called dressings are IMHO nothing of the sort? Something thick, gloopy and in all likelyhood out of a squeezy bottle isn't a dressing - it doesn't dress the salad, it sits on it.

MobyP, many thanks for this. I'm collecting places that are potentially worth visiting this summer. John, If you find yourself in Hampshire, may I also recommend the Flower Pots in Cheriton

Especially as a lot of the 'Official' Farmers market have stalls which are pushing the definition at the very least - Bakers (Which are a good thing I will add!), cake stalls, Womens Institute preserve stalls. I think by loosening the definition and inviting a wider range of stall holders would be good for both the customers, and the farmers. If the local produce isn't good enough to stand against foreign imports without artificial restrictions, then why bother? I personally think that it does, and in fact may do even better when in direct comparison (Although I am still not convinced by the English Parmesan they always seem to have a stall selling)

I don't think I would send something back because I didn't like it (Although it raises an interesting quandary, If you are trying something new, how do you know whether you just don't like it, or it is bad?). It has to be quite bad for me to send something bad, although the scale/cost of the place does factor, if it's cheap I am less fussy, and also if If I get a dodgy steak in a seafood restaurant, then it probably was my own fault! Sending things back is quite often a pain anyway, I once sent back a piece of halibut which was so overcooked it had turned mushy. When I finally got a new one (Which to be honest was still overcooked, but not as bad) my girlfriend had almost finished her (nicely cooked, and very tasty looking) sole. The unmentioned ingredient problem is another one that would cause me to send a dish back, I remember sending back a seafood pasta dish which came in an unadvertised gloop of tomato sauce. The Chef actually came out and apologised (with a free plateful of bresoala) - turns out his boss had made him add the sauce as some previous customers had complained that there wasn't enough 'sauce' with the dish, but they hadn't changed the menu.

What a brilliant idea! I'd better not try myself though, I'm dangerous enough with a Barbecue Grill, never mind Gallons of boiling oil. Maybe with adult supervision Deep Fried Calzone sounds like a good idea to me.

That's just evil. Can see the potential for variations (Just like the Scottish penchant for fryin things in Batter). Pastrami Spring roll? Kosher hot dog spring roll? Pulled pork Spring roll?