Carlovski

Nice and sunny todays so yet more Summer Lightning at lunchtime. It's basically real beer for lager drinkers, but a perfect sit outside in the sun drink.

No, that's a BLT. If i've got a hangover I don't want salad. And especially not mayonnaise. I just want a bacon butty. They got it wrong though. It shouldn't be too crispy, crisp up the fat yes but the bacon needs a certain amount of floppiness. Yo get this best by frying. Then dip the bread into the leftover bacon fat - no butter. And brown sauce is essential. And yes, I do think about this a lot.

I'm sure someone more knowledgeable can come up with some decent ideas, but I'd give up on any ideas about using the kettle like a wok - you just can't stirfry that amount of food, and anyway, I doubt it would get anywhere near hot enough. You are probably better off cooking some sort of braised pork dish.

I'be bought knives from TK Maxx (British Name for TJ Maxx - apparently so as to avoid confusion with another chanin called T.J Hughes) before - I hate going in the place but the one near me has the cookware section on the ground floor, and near the door so i occasionally pop in. I bought myself a sort of hybrid santoku knife (Santoku blade, but full tang and a more 'western' handle ) which I use all the time (Needs a lot of sharpening though) and a more traditional one which I gave as a wedding present (I know, bad luck in a lot of cultures, but he didn't mind!) which they use all the time - just very carefully (They were used to blunt knife block style knives before)

The only time I cook rice that way is if I'm cooking for a crowd - I'll do a few batches, drain it into a tray and keep warm in the oven. It's also ok if you are going to let it cool and use it later (Shock it with cold water to stop t turning into ricey glue) - I can never seem to get it completely drained if I try and use it straight away - always stays soggy.

I tend to use vermouth instead of white wine for general deglazing/sauce making duties.As well as tasting good is has the advantages of 1 - Lasting a bit longer than wine 2 - I don't like drinking the stuff so it definitely lasts longer! 3 - Usually has a screwcap so easy to seal back up. Didn't Bill Buford mention in 'Heat'that one of Mario Batali's dishes (I think it was some sort of beef braised in red wine) listed as 'al Barolo' used an inexpensive local Merlot?

Probably just repeating what other people have said but Worcestershire sauce - perfect if you are lacking the right amount of meaty richness. Mushroom ketchup - often used interchangably with the above. Sherry vinegar - A splash can lift a stew without making it at all acidic. Sugar - heresy to some, but perfectly normal in some cusines, helps to fix an overly acidic dish - especially handy with not very good tomatoes. Not a secret at all, but a squeeze of lemon can really add a lot to a dish.

Tabasco does have a 'clean' flavour that other sauces lack, not a huge depth of flavour but that is a good thing if you are using it on eggs or in a bloody mary.

When i worked worked in my old college bar we used to quite often do things like that to stitch people up - funny thing was when one lad having been forced into drinking the thing (Some sporting achievement or so) came back 3 or 4 times and bought them with his own money.

Interesting survey on the subject of disgust on the BBC website here

Perfectly normal - in the UK that's what they use in the Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce adverts. My housemate had a corned beef (The dogfood like stuff from the tin, not proper corned beef) and cheese toasted sandwich last night. I thought that was fairly weird but he seemed to enjoy it.

I'd even go as far as saying puff pastry - there are some ok fresh and frozen brands available, and it's a bugger to make yourself. Shortcrust is a different matter though.

I've created a sister topic on what really isn't worth making yourself (I am sure there are some things) - I couldn't find an existing thread on the subject.

As a sister topic to the better and cheaper if you make it yourself thread, what really isn't worth it? Either because the rewards are minimal, or there is such a good commercial product it makes all your efforts pointless. There must be some things? I'll start the ball rolling, dried pasta, you could theoretically make it yourself, but why? Even artisnal dried pasta isn't that expensive, probably better than you can make and a lot more convenient.

I also saw this wine for sale in a tetrapak in my local shop last night. Interesting thing is they are marketing it as 33% extra free - 1L rather than .75 with the justification that they are passing on the savings due to the packaging (It's lighter so less expensive to ship, no cork etc) to the consumer. What do people think? Nothing really new in some countries I know - I have seen milk cartons of local plonk in Spain but the packaging technology appears to have improved. A good idea for cheap/mid range everyday wines? I personally have no problem with the concept, as long as the wine is reasonable.

Don't really like to answer for someone else, but Fat Guy's criteria were easy, better and cheaper - the home made alternative doesn't need to be easier, just reasonably easy. The ready made toast thing has always puzzled me, strangely it's fairly unknown in the UK (If not king of the pointless convenience food only just behind the USA), On holiday in spain it was fairly common though. I always thought it was due to the popular type of bread not toasting very well. Salad dressing, definitely, plus the fact that a couple of different oils, a couple of vinegars, mustard and any other bits and bobs that you probably have to hand will provide hundreds of dressing variations without filling your fridge full of bottles. One more to add - Chilli infused oil.

I know from past periods of poverty where I had enough for one meal a day (You can make something decent to eat at home a lot more cheaply than something portable to take to work) that I'd be fine skipping breakfast and lunch (And occasionally dinner too), if I didn't have anything at all, as soon as I had a snack or a taste of something I'd then be ravenous. As a rule I can go without food quite well - I'd rather wait and have something good than what is necessarily to hand but occasionally I'll just eat and eat, normally at weekends. I do have friends who think i am mad though and who get incredibly grumpy if they miss their regular eating times by more than an hour.

It's the only thing for a proper bacon sandwich. I also favour plastic bread for the much maligned fish finger sandwich. I usually keep an emergency loaf in the freezer, don't normally like freezing bread but can't really make the stuff any worse! Handy for emergency bacon butties or toasted sandwiches - the plastic texture makes a good seal.

I'd be a cucumber. Tall, thin skinned, usually tasteless and frequently pickled. This is bad as I HATE cucumber almost as much as celery.

Not quite the right time of year (Well not here anyway) but preserved oven dried tomatoes when you have a glut of tomatoes are fairly easy. I've never actually done it myself, mainly due to lack of the appropriate jar but preserved lemons seem fairly straightforward - they are always really expensive to buy commercially.

I actually thought it sounded horrible! Lamb would make a bit more sense but I doubt either of them would rise.

That sounds great - I don't normally brave souffles but it seems fairly straightforward. P.S I like the comment someone left on the recipe - "I added 1pound of ground beef (fried with tomato paste) into the mixture"

I know - I did mention this in the original post. I try and keep my food miles down but it's around this time of year you get a little tired of cabbages and root vegetables, especially as we have had a couple of bright sunny days this week.

Steaming - I would never have thought off that, in fact I would have swore it would produce something completely inedible. I'll give it a go - maybe in conjunction with making 'fish-fragrant' aubergine, should cut down on the gallons of oil it normally needs - tasty but not too healthy!

I go through phases of drinking loads of milk and then not having any for months. I agree with the rest of you though, it has to be icy icy cold. I hated milk as a kid because we got forced to drink milk that had been hanging around all morning in the sun at primary school. I want some milk now - might be frowned upon drinking all the milk out of the communal tea fund though!