Carlovski

The bean and pork dish is good isn't it - I cook a slightly bastardised version myself quite regularly. It's a good dish to order alongside one of the 'soupier' dishes.

I'd rather they focussed on ingredients and techniques rather than particular recipes. And that there is a lot less cake baking than when I was at school. I learned how to make every type of sponge, but not chop an onion... They should definitely cover a few simple pasta dishes though.

There is a recipe for Parsley and Gin soup in the late Jeremy Round's 'The Independent Cook' - I quite fancy giving it a go, but it strikes me as bit in the 'amuse bouche' mould, which isn't really me. Perhaps if I take it as a bloody mary substitute.... I think he nicked the recipe from a New Orleans chef (If I remember right it has onion,green pepper and celery in it as well)

Yeah because combining an expensive piece of seafood with something rustic is completely beyond the pale for a restaurant menu... Perhaps somebody should tell 90% of chefs they need to take their scallops + xxxx dishes etc off the menu. And does Succotash really stem from the great depression? I'm somewhat sceptical about the accuracy of that remark. I do wonder why some of these people enter this competition. None of them want to be a chef (not surprising, it's bloody hard work) - what they want is to be a CELEBRITY chef. I'm constantly amazed, a few of them sometimes cook decent stuff on the cook your own 2 course menu stage, probably better than I could do (although if I practised something endlessly before going on I could probably manage it) but on the invention test I am sure most of them have either no cooking skill, no taste or both.

I can't imagine there is more than a few % difference in starch content between potato varieties. If it was up to 20% you could easily replicate by just having 20% less mash anyway! There is one way to reduce the amount of starch in mashed potatoes - use Joel Robuchon's recipe, as it is about 50% butter that's halved the carbs in one stroke.

Drink Guinness! Or the stout of your choice. They used to prescribe it in hospitals you know.

Problem I find is that supermarket herbs tend to come in the same size packets for everything - a pack of thyme or rosemary goes a lot further than a pack of parsley. I actually find the big bunches of parsley and coriander useful, I use it by the handful in a lot of recipes, but I never use more than a quarter of a pack of the woodier herbs.

I've seen techniques where the egg is very briefly poached in vinegared water, then quickly switched to pure water once the egg has coagulated to prevent o much vinegar taint....But I like the taste of vinegar in my eggs! probably how I was brought up with them - my Mum who was a master at poaching eggs used quite a lot of what I guess what malt vinegar (i doubt we had any other kind). If there hasn't been any vinegar involved they just don't seem like poached eggs to me.

I live in Southampton where there is a large Polish population - and a couple of Polish bakeries so i'll have to give it a go.

I'll second the oven for toasting argument - only dilemma being I don't like heating the whole oven for a slice or two of toast. I've tried using a griddle pan, with mixed results. Most British high street bakeries are fairly dire too - the best toast is only when i pick up a loaf from the farmers market. Other issue is that I think that for a poached egg you want a thicker than usual slice - another reason for the oven method as a toaster will not do the job. So a white sliced loaf is out. If you come up with an answer, please let me know!

It's a shame that foods become marketed on what is perceived to be the most desirable qulaity - Apples should be as crisp as possible, corn should be sweet, strawberries should be juicy etc. Some of the best apples I have tasted (Invariably from farmers markets - although there used to be a stall at a train station in Kent with a remarkable selection of local varieties) haven't been crisp at all - a slight shock at first, you think they must be off, but have the most complex and rich flavour. I guess they don't travel or keep well because they are so soft.

Something that I think gets forgotten a lot on these forums is that tinned foods, long life foods and buying things in single serve portions is often the most sensible option for some people. Yes - buying in bulk and buying fresh is better, but not if you have limited or no freezer/fridge/pantry space, and you walk your shopping home. There is no way I would use up my 1/4 of a freezer space with apound of yeast (Plus a housemate would probably throw it out!) so I'd definitely go with the sachets. Shop bought salsa, guacamole etc I do buy sometimes - if I am doing tacos, fajitas etc I don't always want to use every bowl in the house (Plus often avocados are either hard to find, or completely unripe), I will quite often make one and buy one though.

For info - Here is the Hampshire school meals website And if you like bright colours, here is the kid's version! My School Lunch

Not being a baker I don't understand the relevance of the Vitamin C powder, but what would be the alternative? make your own And life is definitely too short to make your own puff pastry, never mind filo! My cheats are also tinned beans and pulses, jarred tom yam paste, Mae ploy thai curry pastes and most shamefully - tinned corned beef (occasionaly used along with the tinned beans to make my famous storecupboard chili, which is probably enough to get me banned from the state of Texas for life...)

Back to the Goat topic, I was once walking past a butchers shop with an old girlfriend (who was very squeamish about raw meat in general) and she said 'lets cross the road, I don't like that place'. I asked her why and she said that she heard that they sold 'funny' meat and possible even goat. I said yes they probably do sell goat - the shop appeared to have quite a lot of west indian trade. She seemed horrified - she actually though it was illegal (she had been brought up with some quite funny food ideas - she is better now!) I think those sorts of ideas are quite prevalent though.

But look at Gascony, where they traditionally ate plenty of meat, most of it cooked with liberal amounts of goose and duck fat - they have the highest life expectancy in France and one of the highest in europe. I don't think it is that simple.

Living in a shared house I do have to keep a close eye on my condiment levels, not a lot of storage space - too often I have opened an at first glance full fridge and cupboard to realise I don't actually have anything I can actually eat (I have the same issue with spices). I do know a girl though who usually has 2 fridge shelves devoted to nothing but pickles and chutney It's normally worst after my occasional visit to a chinese supermarket (The one near me also stocks lots of indian, thai and malaysian ingredients) but the longest lasting bottles tend to come when I have shopped while slightly drunk - I had a bottle of pomegranate molasses for about four years! I'm currently on 4 soy sauces, 2 oyster sauces, Worcester sauce, mushroom ketchup (But strangely no tomato ketchup!), HP brown sauce, 4 different mustards, a couple of chutneys (Spiced plum, mango and a lime and chilli one), 2 chilli sauces (very very low for me!) and a bottle of salad dressing I got for when i had a party and couldn't be bothered to make any.

I bet the other customers were muttering"Does that man not know ANYTHING about wine" under their breath! I thought I might be the only one who like basic Pinot served nice and cold in the summer (Although to be honest it's normally chilean for me....)

A spur of the moment Salad I came up with (Probably not original but was new to me!) was to roast some shallots and tomatoes (I think I used cherry tomatoes, but mainly because that is what I had to hand) and toss with lightly cooked beans in a lemony vinaigrette (I think I added a little minced garlic), some lemon zest and fresh basil. I made it more substantial by topping with grilled halloumi too.

That sounds like a recipe for shoeleather to me - slowcooking with little fat in the meat. I second the idea to cook it quick and rare, but slice it thin. I'd either go for a Thai stlyle hot and sour beef salad or Stroganoff.

I will occasionally measure a bit more carefully when using unfamiliar spices for a dish or cuisine I am not familiar with. Rice I eyeball, unless I am at someone else's house and they have funny sized pans.

Not a revolutionary twist, but I like bacon (Or Pancetta if I have it) and leeks in mine. Spring onions can sub for the leeks too.

Am I the only one who misread the title at first and thought it said 'I'm a Lobster Newburg'?

I've done the cheese tour 3 times at Hawes. I've never seen Blue Wensleydale for sale apart from there though. I've even bought some smoked blue Wensleydale from there (Interesting but not great).

What's the world coming too when you can't get a decent G&T in an ex British Colony? But lime in your G&T? that's just wrong! how about Vodka, lime and soda (tell them to go easy on the lime - too often it comes like fizzy pop)?