Carlovski

I'm with you on this one - every time I make a dish the 'authentic way' without browning the meat (I'm thinking of tagines, most thai curries, some stews) I find something missing. I'm wondering if some of these classic recipes didn't brown the meat because of any culinary reasons, but for reasons of economy? For one it may require use of oil/butter, and also requires initial high heat? P.S I always do poulet au pot in the oven, and remove the lid for the last 20-30 minutes.

The Fuschia Dunlop books got me enthused with chinese food again, and Szechuan cuisine in particular. That and trips to Red Chilli in Manchester (Se the UK forum for details...) The chinese supermarket near me does sell what I am fairly sure are the facing heaven variety of chillies - they are the right shape and have more colour than heat. If any UK based people (Don't really want to mess around with international post, and potential breaking of laws of importing foodstuff!) want some I can pick some up and post them next time I make a trip if they like (They are less than a pound for a big bag). PM me if you want some.

I doubt it's a particularly British affliction - otherwise I'd have bumped off a good proportion of my housemates and friends on my chili cookoff nights.

Beat me to it - that's exactly what I was going to say, best way to make something half fat is to have half as much! If you really want the luxurious taste of a proper bearnaise, then I can't see how to do a low fat version, but if you just fancy a sauce with the flavour of tarragon you could probably do something by deglazing the pan and adding some low fat creme fraiche and some tarragon.

What was that vegetable/salad type thing next to the (very decadent looking!) truffled cheese?

Don't know if it is the greatest. If you put some bacon in it, then maybe!

This comment is now seeming a little dated!

I was singing the praises of this book a while ago too. Something for everyone, goes from how to joint a chicken right up to Ferren Adria discussing making foams. Also a very good baking and pasty section from Pierre Herme (And I don't normally even do baking!)

What it is worth doesn't necessarily bear much resemblance to what the production costs are - A piece of overcooked turbot isn't 'worth' any more than a piece of overcooked mackerel. And I don't paticularly like Caviar - so if a dish came with 'bonus' garnish of caviar (Yes, I know that is unlikely!) the worth to me would go down, even though the costs would have gone up dramatically.

Toastabags! See here

I find most greens love a bit of anchovy - especially the more bitter varieties. My usual approach is to fry some chopped anchovy, garlic and crushed dried chilli in olive oil then add the greens (You can blanch the tougher varieties first). Saute for a while, splash in a little water/wine and put on a lid. Works well as a side dish, or toss with pasta.

It's encouraging that restaurants have finally worked out that some of their non-chinese customers might actually want to venture beyond sweet and sour pork. That set menu does sound particularly adventurous though! I've got a craving for some Sichuan food now - i've just been reading Fuschia Dunlop's Shark's fin and Sichuan Pepper. Bristol isn't too far, wonder when the next train is.....

A trait occasionally shared with food writers and discussion board posters!

Wow - I'm not only impressed by the weight loss, but also by the fact you have maintained a healthy interest in food. I am sure that many other people would have found it much easier to distance themselves from something you obviously take great delight in. P.S If you are worried about your kitchen not standing Scrutiny with Chris's then maybe I should do a foodblog - houseshare with 3 other guys and no dishwasher? That should be entertaining!

In general I'm not a snacky kind of guy, but when I'm in the mood..... Recently I've been having a fad of snacking on poppadums (cook them in the microwave - too easy!) of differing kinds, especially the spicy punjabi ones from my local indian supermarket. But the usual culprits are Maltesers - I normally eat very little chocolate, and when I do it's a couple of squares of something dark and high quality. But give me a bag or box of maltesers and I finish the lot, no matter what size. Normally leaving me feeling ill! Oh and the fantastic spicy crisps (Chips to our American friends) made by the Cofresh company (From Leicester I believe, just like walkers) the Jalapeno ones, or the curly spicy ones being favourites. The chilli and lemon ones are good too. They also make lots of Bombay mix type snacks - some of which are a definite acquired taste!

Wow, Matt, those look really good, and innovative. What is mae ploy ? ← Thanks, they were great. Mae ploy is a Thai sweet chili sauce. It's outrageously good as a dip for just about anything. I also spread it on meat and fish. http://www.importfood.com/samp1001.html ← Mae Ploy is actually the brand - they make all sorts of food products (Their curry pastes are quite good). Their sweet chilli sauce is damned addictive though! Don't want to sound too pedantic, but thought I'd better mention and save some possible confusion at an asian supermarket!

In British Curry houses the 'Meat' curry usually means Lamb. Although most tend to be more specific these days.

It's interesting - eat or drink something that you may not originally enjoy, but grow to love like olives, stinky cheese (apologies for my 'Bourdainism' there!) or fine wine by trying them repeatedly then it is educating your palate. But the same argument is also used to explain why children become indoctrinated to fast and junk foods. I think I have what is normally regarded as an 'educated' palate - I favour complex flavours and some ones which border on the bitter and get little pleasure from overly sweet foods - but why is this generally considered more refined? I wish I could get the pleasure other people obviously get from sweet foods. My opinion is that people enjoy different flavours (Not suprising - people enjoy widely different experiences in other spheres). People with what are considered unsophisticated palates will probably not enjoy, or even distinguish between things like blue cheese, tannic wines and well hung meat, in the same way a lot of desserts taste the same to me, whereas I have friends who can talk at length about cakes and chocolate bars.

You have forgotten the best foil for salmon - it's sweet, meaty and crunchy - of course it's Bacon! Actually something like fried chunks of chorizo work as well.

My first thought, too. In the resturant that was my first choice of what to do with the scraps. Once had a young know-it-all relief cook. I left him a note to use the trimmings. Idiot ground it into burger. ← If it was a good burger - why not? Rather a good burger than a bad steak.

Origamicrane - can we nominate you for a Nobel prize? Fantastic dedication to porky goodness!

Stroganoff?

How about a pinch of pimenton (smoked paprika) for the smokiness? A Chocolatier near me does a strawberry and smoked paprika bar linky so not a completely wacky idea.

Jack - just out of interest (And not a leading question, I'm staying well out of this debate!), what was the policy at Midsummer house, when you were involved?

When I was a kid, and McDonalds was a treat, I used to have Filet-O-Fish. Partially because I have always liked fish, but probably mainly because I didn't want to have the same as all the other kids!