jackal10

Melton Mowbray is a place in Lecestershire in the UK, where the best pork pies come from. Hot water suet crust, hand raised around a wooden former - no external tin, so they bulge a little, then filled with ground peppery pork forcemeat, baked golden brown, and finally any space filled with a pork stock that turns into the most delicious jelly... There is an old tradition in those parts to eat Pork Pie for breakfast...

Chitinase? (although chitin is a polysaccheride, rather than a protein)

Waitstaff knowing who ordered what without asking Decent linen, cutlery, crockery and glass Not more than two courses of cutlery on the table at any time - the rest brought with the service plate Good breads Comfortable chairs with enough distance between tables for some privacy Right temperature room, with silent air conditioning Good carpet Good soap, and plenty of clean towels in clean elegant washrooms No musak (maybe a live classical string quartet in the foyer, or a sung grace on formal occasions, so long as its not sung by the waitstaff) Wine correctly handled - decanted properly with a candle if need be. For some places just having reasonable wine, at the right temperature, not excessively priced, and with a proper description including grower and year. Service compris

Ballymaloe

Kosher Cassoulet Adapted from Colombie via Elizabeth David Threequarters of a pound to a pound of white haricot beans (not butter beans, reserve those for cholent), about half a pound of garlic sausage (wurst), about 3/4 pound confit of goose or duck, 1lb shoulder of mutton boned, (the original has 4oz of bacon, omitted for kashrut. Note the Syndicate d'Initiative du Castelnaudary prohibits smoked meat. I'd add half a pound or more of small sausages, ideally Toulouse with garlic and parsley, but use hot dogs, cooked ), 2 cloves of garlic, an onion stuck with cloves, a little bouquet of parsley,a fresh tomato, and some breadcumbs. Wash the beans, and put into a stock pot with 3 1/2 pints of cold water. Bring to the boil, cover and leave for 40 minutes. Drain (Colombie notes: "The beans swell, go white and throw off the oxide of potassium they contain. The purpose of this operation is to make them more digestable and less flatulent. Throw away the water out of doors and not down the drain or its smell will infect the kitchen for twenty four hours. In the Languedoc housewives keep this liquid in well corked bottles and use it to remove obstinate stains on white and coloured linen") Return the beans to the pot with 2 1/2 to 3 pints of water and a little salt, the aromatics and bring to the boil. In the meantime roast the mutton and then cut into large cubes.Cut up the sausage. When the beans are nearly cooked, layer them with the meats and aromatics in a deep clay pot, finishing with a layer of beans. Moisten with the bean cooking liquid. Put a top layer of breadcumbs, and put into a very low oven, such as a bread oven the day after baking has finished, for at least 1 1/2hours. There should be a fine golden crust on the top formed by the breadcumbs browning in the surface fat, with moist and creamy beans underneath. If they look like they are drying up add more liquid during cooking. It is traditional to stir in the crust when it has formed, and add another layer of breadcrumbs. The operation is repeated a second time, and only when the third crust has formed is the cassoulet ready. M. Colombie advises that the cassoulet is eaten at midday on a day when no great exertion is called for afterwards.

Yes and yes.

No problem. Make a Cassoulet de Carcasonne, where by tradition the pork is replaced with a leg of mutton, or during the shooting season, with partridge. Of course obtaining kosher partridge might be difficult, but you can certainly find lamb, if not mutton.

McGee gives the formula in "The Curious Cook" 1 1/2 cups water 14 Tbs sugar Boil together with the vanilla pod, or ad a tsp vanilla essence. Let get cold, then put in a deep freeze or freezing compartment of the fridge. Stir and mush with a fork every half an hour, When it begins to get musshy add the chocolate chips.

Chestnuts roasted on a log fire with a glass of Tokaji

a set of egg poaching rings

There is a tradition in parts of the UK , especially neasr Melton Mowbray, to have Pork Pie for Christmas Breakfast

More like an alginate or one of the calcium activated polysaccarides - I think some are even made from the chitin in shrimp shells.

Clarify the fat and store in jars closed, in the fridge, or freeze. Cook the goose to 140F or a bit more, say 150F. Hold at temperature for at least 15 mins,

Doesn't trifle need jelly and cake and fruit? More likely flan (caramel custard) that has split...

My version, adapted from Michel Guerard "Cuisine Gourmand". Its a boosy garlicky coarse country pate 500g/18oz chicken livers. Frozen is fine. Can replace 6 oz with chicken hearts 400g fatty sausage meat or ground pork (raw) bayleaves, sprigs of thyme 7 Tbs brandy or armagnac 6 Tbs Port or Madeira 2 Tspn peled and chopped garlic Bunch parsley, chopped 1 Tsp thyme pinch nutmeg 1 Tsp sugar 2 Tsp salt 12 turns of the pepper mill Marinate everything together overnight in the fridge. Whizz to a coarse texture. Put bayleaves and thyme sprigs decoratively in the bottom of a loaf tin. Line with bacon, if liked. Fill with the mixture Bake in a bain marie in a hottish oven 220C/425f for 2 hours. The top will be be pleasantly browned, Weight until cold. Turn out and serve qith good bread, pickled cornichons, and onion confit

Tangerine segments or slices in caramel sauce, with brandy snaps and ice cream

You need to distinguish where the food is basically grown up sandwiches, eaten with a pint at the bar, or something more serious eaten at a table with a knife and fork: In the former category: Ploughmans: Decent farmhouse mature cheddar, good bread, pickle - pickeld onion, Branston pickle, maybe some salad, and generous with the portion size. Pork pie: Melton Mowbray, grey not pink meat, peppery Scotch eggs In the latter: Bangers and mash, with onion gravy Standing rib roast of beef, rare, carved before you, yorkshires, crispy roast spuds, with spouts in the winter and runner beans in the summer. In the summer the beef can be cold or lukewarm in sandsiches or salads Treacle tart, or sponge pudding with custard. Chocolate ditto.

Do you mean scones - an inch or so thick, usually round, or farls, which are flatter and triangular or pie wedge shape, and more pancake like?Bacon leek and potato scones Same recipe, but without the bacon, but split with creme fraiche and marinated Orkeny herring, as an amuse. A farl would be more like 1 cup flour (6oz) to a pound of mashed potato, and a thick batter or rolled into a thin round that is cooked on a griddle lke a pancake, maybe 6 to 9 inches diameter, then cut into quarters.

137F is almost ideal. However, depending on the thickness of the meat I would allow more like several hours. If the food is uniformly at that temperature and held there for half ann hour or so the pathogens will be killed.

About three minutes in this house...

Try with a slightly less wet dough. Even changing the amount of flour by a few percent has a significant effect. Also most doughs need support from either a banneton (linen lined basket) or a couche (folded linen cloth) during proof.

Welcome! I've been having foodblog withdrawal symptoms. I use my standard pate brisee or sucre for crusts. Its very high fat, so there is no need to grease the tin if you are making a tart, and it satys crisp. The magic formula to remember is 3:2:1 by weight 3 flour (say 6oz) 2 Butter (say 4 oz) Pinch salt if unsalted 1 Sugar (optional) Add an egg yolk or the quivalent in cold water. Dump all in a food processor and whizz until a ball forms; leave to rest for half an hour.

UK. Cold - about freezing. Boned, rolled stuffed shoulder of lamb, cooking for 7 hours at 60C - in the oven now. Stuffing is a seasonal sausagemeat with chestnuts and cranberries...

I'm not a medic, but I believe there are all sorts of chlamydia, including blood and respiratory track veriants, which are naturally present in a benign form in up to 70% of the population, and do not indicate sexual contact. Interestingly it also explains why low dose of asprin is an effective preventative in some, as it supresses the immuse reaction that causes the platelets to clump. Lots on the web if you search, for example Chronic infection, Chlamydia and coronary heart disease

Toast and dripping, with lots of salt. Surprised no one has mentioned it yet... Especially if it was beef dripping, with some of the jelly and that an onion had been cooked with the joint...mmm Actually the avoidance of trans-fats may be doing more harm than good. Recent reserach indicates its not the fat that causes heart attacks, but an immune reaction to a variant of a common inhaled Chlamydia infection that cause the fat (which is present anyway) to aggregate. Instead modest levels of transfats may protect from some forms of cancer...