Carlovski

Turned out to not be a particulary gastronomic trip! One recommendation is to have a wander around St Nicholas' Market though. Really good, wish we had something like it in Southampton. Mix of produce stalls and small independant eateries (Plus a pieminster outpost!). Morrocan, Portugese, Carribean etc. I ate in 'Spice up your life' which works a bit like the curry cafes you find in the northern quarter in Manchester - a handful of already made dishes along with bhajis etc. Apparently everything is sourced locally and they make the dishes a bit lighter than traditional to make it more suitable for lunch. I had the vegetable dish of the day which was a potato and some sort of fritter yoghurt based dish, along with a lentil dish. Served with plenty of very good pilau and a very freshly made poppadum (Important!). I actually felt quite healthy after eating it, which isn't something I can always say after eating a hearty indian meal. Total cost - £3.90! The other thing they had there was Source which I am not so sure about. The produce looks good, and if they had one near me I would probably use it, but it's the concept of good food being packaged as a middle class aspirational kind of thing (Like Borough Market). I don't want an 'experience', I just want to buy some cheese and some sausages!

I've never got the appeal of raw mushrooms either, I'll eat them but will always thing how much nicer they would have been with a little cooking! Like with most of the Elizabeth David books (with the exception of English Bread and Yeast Cookery)I use it mainly for inspiration and reading pleasure, If I like the sound of a recipe I am more likely to try and find a more up to date recipe.

I saw that program, can't say that Casamia really took my fancy, and I just had a look at their website and found it highly annoying (bad design, pretencious sounding menu, and they spelled risotto incorrectly!). Maybe I should go just to avoid judging them unfairly though. Also, having a prix fixe menu, with two main course options, where one of them has a £10 supplement winds me up as well. Carl

Thanks, might give the Lebanese a miss though as I was planning on hitting the buffet at http://arabesquebath.co.uk/ for lunch when I'm in bath.

Thanks - sounds like a good recommendation. Might be just the thing if I feel the urge to look at the suspension bridge!

I'm spending a few days in Bristol and Bath next week - any current recommendations? Trying to go fairly cheaply, so if there is anywhere special that offers a good lunch deal, I'd be interested. Might push the boat out one evening though. I'll be alone too, so any suggestions for places that a a bit more solo diner friendly would be welcome!

Good point, it's like the saying goes 'there is nothing new under the sun'. Of course, if you look in detail, at even the most banal of cooking methods and culinary dogma, there is a surprising amount of science. How does a few teaspoons of cornstarch thicken that whole stew? Why do we salt the cooking water etc. I think one of the most radical 'modernist' foods, or at least it would be if invented by a modern chef is the traditional Indian practice of Paan. They put what you would normally consider as chemicals in it for starters!

2.4 Billion? How long is it going to take to claw that back?

I can't remember the last time I had breakfast. The really bad/strange thing is that I normally skip lunch in the week too. People do ask me why somebody as interested in food as I am never actually appears to eat....

Was just looking at the website for the 'Mark Addy' (yes, I know it's in Salford, not Manchester) having just watched the 'North on a plate' programme on BBC4. On the menu they had Vimto Trifle with Mint Ball Wafers - maybe taking the northern nostalgia thing a little too far? P.S Was everyone aware of the mass popularity of Vimto in the middle east? Only discovered it the other day.

Your original recipe with the addition of a few anchovy fillets is my favourite.

A good base recipe is to take pretty much whatever vegetable you like/is in season, and saute, as mentioned above with olive oil, garlic and chilli. Greens have a great affinity for a touch of anchovy too (Oddly, if I am cooking this with something like kale, or broccoli, and don't have any anchovy, I add a splash of fish sauce...). Cook it well - it's not the time for al dente vegetables - that's for the pasta! You want it to break down a little and produce a 'sauce' - although it is more of a dressing. If I'm using broccoli, I usually do this with the stems, and add a few florets to the pasta cooking water for the last few minutes. With this, it is vital to add a little of the pasta water - it emulsifies with the oil, garlic and vegetable juices and clings to the pasta. This is mainly for the leafy, iron rich and bitter greens, but also works with courgettes, and even parsnips.

Argentinian beef and Chimichurri seems an odd thing at a Huddersfield food festival!

Not sure about that foodpairing site, although I like it's suggestion of replacing parsely with fried bacon! If you have access to an indian\eastern grocery you might be able to get Ajwain seeds.

In the UK we have a severe lack of fishmongers, and the selection in supermarkets is somewhat uninspiring. The number one thing being pushed at the moment is Vietnamese River Cobbler - I don't even know what that is! It was only a few years ago that supermarkets did use to sell quite a bit of mackerel (And herring) which I used to buy quite a lot, rarely see it now, and when you do it's of indifferent quality.

Spanish Tortilla, and anything frittata like in general. Problem I have is that they take quite a while to cool down and I start cutting myself slices while it's still hot - not as tasty, but still good and available now!

I have never salted an aubergine(eggplant) in my life. Also, the only time I ever deseed chile peppers is if I am adding a lot raw to a dish as garnish, and I want the flavour without making it too lethal.

British food might get a bit of abuse, but if there is one area where we rule the world it is in our dazling array of crisp flavours. I've not sampled the new world cup ones yet, although my housemate swears by the garlic baguette flavour. Vloglady - I think you must have sampled the delights of 'Brannigans' crisps - a definite highlight. Beef and mustard ones are the best, you occasionally get an extra mustardy one which blows your head off. Bit like eating Padron peppers!

Well I'd say that receiving (if only slightly) inferior service due to looking 'cheap' isn't a reason for, it's actually evidence of poor service.

I think the original BBC discussion was based on a misquotation, as they changed the title of the topic to be about trans-fats. In the UK butter in supermarkets tends to be around £0.90-£1.20 for a 250g pack, not a lot of variation, even between 'basics' and premium brands. No idea about buying in bulk, or about Margarine for that matter.

A curry I made from '50 great curries of India' a few months back fell into this category. i think it was called something like 'Lamb with herbs and black Pepper'. Sounded just my sort of thing, and everything else I have cooked from that book has been great. It wasn't bad - fairly tasty, but not as good as the other dishes I have made from the book, and it was about 10 times the effort - grinding fresh coconut, liquidising onions and herbs (Partially my own fault, I only have a tiny little liquidiser, and the recipe produced a huge bowlful of herbs, coconut and spices to process so i had to do it in batches).

There is a discussion on the 'have your say' board on the BBC News website on banning butter (Insanity if you ask me!)Have your say. Interestingly there are a lot of comments along the lines of 'I don't buy butter, but mainly because I can't afford it'. I personally find it rather odd - i know I'm in a relatively privileged position, and don't have to worry too much about the food bill, but the difference in price between butter and margarine isn't that high (Well in the UK at least), surely? How much are people using? I do remember, as a kid, that butter was considered to be a luxury item - my Mum still refers to it as 'best butter'. Did butter used to be (relatively) more expensive? i guess if you are making lots of sandwiches for kids etc then the price difference could make a dent in the weekly budget - especially for families on low incomes, but the tone of some of the posts implied that it was more widespread than that.

Re- the whole F-word thing. I did find some of the Chef's comments a bit odd. The food did all look quite good, but I am fairly sure they weren't the first Indian restaurant in the UK to cook authentic food and up the presentation.... Also, I don't quite get how a restaurant, which is part of a larger group which is diversifying into casual dining and catering, based in England's second city qualifies as a 'Local restaurant'. Or does the phrase just mean 'Not in Central London' these days?

Just dumb if you ask me. What exactly does the 3D aspect give you over a normal online shop interface? Apart from losing you a big chunk of potential customers who can't or won't use it? It's also not a farmers market - surely the whole point of a farmers market is that it is local producers, selling direct to the customer, not a centralised operation shipping stuff all over the country. I could just about see the point of a localised version (Although I imagine that there wouldn't be enough suppliers interested in a local ara to make it worthwhile). I could understand someone setting something like this up in second life (Not that I really understand the appeal of second life), but to invest a load of cash into this, and have your own 3-D engine etc, madness.

I imagine that most of them are made with a commercial paste. the difference might well be the liquid they add, probably the standard stock, flavoured with ginger and spring onion (And maybe a bit of star anise). wouldn't be surprised if there was a ladlefull or two of the generic 'gravy' that gets used for most of the dishes.