Carlovski

It was the best of chines, it was the worst of chines.

Don't think that was quite what I said!

Such tests are growing more popular in all area of business. With Ramsay's operation being so high profile (and lucrative) it is not surprising that this has happened, regardless of the sad event of David Dempsey's death. This is not to say I approve, I think these tests are an infingement of privacy, and sign of the growing control work has on people's lives. On top of the stress, it must be difficult for young chefs, who have to work at the times most people consider as leisure time to find release from their working environment. I am concerned by the policy, it sounds like he is to simply dismiss anyone with a positive result, rather than offer support. I know it is a business, not a charity , but I am sure a more compassionate approach would prove more valuable in the long term - the investment made in staff I am sure is considerable in Ramsay's kitchens, as well as helping the industry in general.

Has Tony Bourdain seen this?

How did I forget my old friend cous-cous! May I also recommend Bulgar wheat (Although you probably only need one of the two at a time). Get some Harissa sauce on the list and you are almost there! Some Ras-el-Hanout might be good if you are going with the north african theme as well. I second the frozen peas, if that counts as a pantry item. One of the few things (Apart from vodka) worth using a freezer for.

I'll try not to duplicate what has already been mentioned, so here are the things I currently HAVE to have in my cupboard Pimenton - smoked spanish paprika. I am probably overusing the stuff at the moment! Dried Chilli flakes - These go everywhere! Just the thing for pasta dishes. Mustard seeds - I just love these things. Mustard powder - For the proper palate clearing effect Dry sherry - This alternates being stored in the cupboard for cooking and being chilled when I am in the mood for a glass. Vermouth - Keeps better than white wine for general cooking/deglazing use Decent Tinned sardines and tuna Stock powder(shock horror!) - The swiss marigold vegetable stuff is actually quite good Risotto rice (I normally use Carnaroli, don't know why) Basmati. Lots of Basmati One long, One tubular, one Flat and one other pasta should get you out of most fixes! I currently have Penne, Linguine, Maldafine (My current fave, it's like pappardelle with crinklier edges) and raddiattori (Little car radiators!) I think Tinned Chick peas and Cannelini beans Lentils (Puy and red normally)

Is kosher wine the only sort of Booze an observant Jew can drink then? Or is there an entire industry of kosher beer, vodka, whisky etc that I am unaware of? We never covered this in R.E class!

My housemates thought I was very strange when they caught me reading it (Only shortly after moving in). Have you read that compendium of food writing (Choice cuts?) Looked interesting, but I picked up the Jeffery Steingarten one instead.

How about Icelandic/Vegetarian health food - Rotten Quark Romany/Mexican - Hedgehog Mole And of course Australian/Sri Lankan - Kangaroo hoppers!

Strange how it is considered that Fried food is ideal for mass catering, when in fact everyone knows fried food a - Doesn't take standing around too well b - Doesn't work for more than a handful of people Although I do know someone who only likes fried food that has gone soggy (They say they don't like 'Crunchy'!)

Anyone else read 'Salt - A world History' by Mark Kurlansky? (The same guy who did the book on cod, and the recent compilation of food writing) It's a fascinating read. Personally all I have is Maldon for normal use, and some bog standard free running stuff for salting water for pasta, veggies etc. Smoked salt sounds interesting, I'm surprised it works though, I wouldn't have thought salt would take on much smoky character.

Still not had any dishes to rival the Fish finger in pastry (IMO), surely there must be somewhere worse? Tarka, Bits of cambridge must seem pretty ancient to the average American, I have a friend who recently visited America and went to see something billed as the oldest remaining residence (Can't remember what city), it was from about 1850 something. I have lived in older places than that, and they definitley weren't museums!

I'm afraid so. It's got to be brown sauce.

There was a kebab/pizza place in Durham called Bennys, where somebody strategically ripped bits off the sign to make it look like it was called penis. They never fixed the sign, I think the increased publicity boosted their sales - though it did spark the legendary quote from a friend of mine I'm not eating that burger, they taste worse than penis'......

We had formals about every fortnight. Very odd combination of wearing gowns and formal clothes, saying grace in latin (I can proabably remember it at a push, even if I can't spell it) and then being served chicken kiev!

Yep, some people think Porterhouse Blue was fiction.....

But of course the bacon sandwich (Along with the Chip Butty - yes, the caps were intentional!) is one of the few cases where cheap plasticky bread is perfectly acceptable.

Don't want to spoil it for anyone, but calling Ed a fry cook is greatly exaggerating his pre-training culinary skills! I recommend everyone watches this - Both Ramsay, and Ed are brilliant.

The sad thing was they could occasionally knock out decent food. The food on the high table was usually better, and they did have a decent stab with the formal meals (Although the wine may have helped!). The attempts at themed 'international' formals was quite funny though - the single sardine (Cooked, strangely in tin foil) as a starter for the portugese one, and I am sure you can guess the ingenious garnish for the 'Hawaian' chicken! For the conference trade, for balls, and the 'pass the port' style dinners they usually fared quite well.

Although my roots are in Manchester, I am currently exiled in deepest, darkest Hampshire.

Posting in another thread I was just reminded of some of the horrors which were served in the name of food at my old college dining room (And I lived there for 3 years!). Some of the highlights were Pie (Filling unknown) served with rice Fish finger (yes one!) in puff pastry? Orange juice and soup which were at the same temperature The rest of the food I think you would have to experience to understand. To be fair, they did have to feed us 3 meals a day for a food cost of about £1.70. We used to liven up mealtimes by giving food the 'Bounce' test. It was suprising how much of the food did bounce. The foreign students were particulary confused, although one poor lad said it was much better than his mum's cooking! The highlights were Saturday lunchtime where they gave us bacon eggs, sausages chips and beans (Perfect for the hangover) and during the beef crisis where the plummeting price meant we could get a fairly decent (Although obviously cooked until leathery) bit of beef on a sunday. Anyone else got experience of such high quality institutional food?

For most people, eating well needs to be a balance. If you don't have time to cook every night (Or just don't want to) fine! If you have time to shop you can have bread, cheese, salad etc (Admittedly, this is not as good in winter!). If you haven't had time to shop then hopefully you are near a decent takeaway, or you have something you made last weekend in the fridge/freezer. Then when you do have the time and/or inclination to cook, you can cook, and enjoy doing it, not because you have to, but because you want to. This is basically the same opinion that Nigel Slater makes in the intro to his Fabulous book 'Appetite'. Appetite at Amazon I heartily recommend it to anyone, who like me never likes to leave a recipe alone

Must be yet another drawback from living in the provinces. Mmmmm Beef fat!

Caroline, - You were lucky if you managed to get decent bread, you can get it in Britain, but it is hard to find now. We are the land of the 20p saver loaf. Thomas, I love the idea of a 'Pie Room'! I might have to check that out on my next visit to the big smoke.

It all depends on what you expect from a restaurant. Sometimes, I am out with friends, and just want to eat, and chat and have a drink. As long as the food is ok, I don't mind. Then a chain place is fine (And probably the best option). If I actually want to go out for a meal - where the food is an important part of the evening then I expect the food to be better than what I would do at home.