jackal10

Nothing to it, just a bit tedious if you have to do lots. I pluck dry, stating from one end. Do it inside a garbage bag, otherwise you'll get feathers everywhere. Then cut the head and neck off, make an incision around the arse and empty the body cavity. Wash While plucking, sing out loud The Pheasant Plucking Song "I'm not a pheasant plucker, I'm a pheasant plucker's son I'm only plucking pheasants 'till the pheasant plucker comes."

Whats wrong with the traditional Soup (or prawn cocktail) Turkey with the trimmings Xmas Pud Mince Pies I'd feel short-changed if I was served anything else....well, since the US eats its Turkey this week, then a large joint of beef.

My apologies. You have a tough job. My comments were more about the set-up that makes staff depend on "voluntary" payments. Since they are habitual, rather than voluntary and a reward for above average service, why not increase the prices by 15%, and pay the staff a decent wage? It is really a cultural difference. In Europe, at least in some parts, waiting is an honorable salaried profession. Some places refuse to take tips, believing it is demeaning and unfair to the staff, who will have pride in what they do, and do their best anyway. In the US, the set up is that staff have to survive mostly on tips, and hence try and maximise them. I guess also, in this economic climate, more are waiting at table, rather than doing what they really want to do...

In what perverted portion of the universe do the powers-that-be think that the requirements set out in the Food Tutor's report above constitute good manners, or a pleasurable dining experience? What middle management hell do these people inhabit? I guess the motivation is that somehow they think that announcing your name stands for personal service. They have read a pop psychology book that talks about trust associated with having an identifiable person, and seek to subvert that. It also may be a legal point, with a specific identified authorised agent of the company taking the order. Push the appetiser and the specials, since there is more profit margin there. The quaility check I believe is another legal point. As I said above shifts liability from the establishement to the diner, and conpletes the contract - (You ordered, we delivered, you expressed satisfaction, accepting the food). None of this constitutes genuine concern, careful hospitality or mutual enjoyment However the reasoning behind the mandatory pepper beats me

"How's everything" is a question that should not be asked. Besides being poor English ("The war is Iraq is pretty bad" would be one reasonable reply), it shifts the responsibility from the waiter to the customer for things wrong. It should be the waiter, by their own observation, that ensures everything is good. That is their responsibility. That is what they are there for. It reminds me of an old Jewish joke, illustrating the use of the Yiddish "Ah-ha!" Insert your own embellishements, as to the goodness of the golden chicken soup mit knaidlach, how many years the late Mr Goldstein (may he be remembered for good) had dined at that restaurant, always taking the soup etc etc... "Mr Goldstein, what's the matter? You haven't touched your soup!" "Here take my spoon, and you try it!" "OK, give me your spoon" "Ah-ha!" (there was no spoon)

Don't you have the under-butler make them?

Carrot has natural saponins (soaps). It was Ferran Adria's original idea and recipe. There was a discussion some time ago about how to make it, and I posted my attempt then. It was just going to post a reference, but the original photos had disappeared. Fortunately I had them on a back-up disc, so I redid the post. The carrot foams quickly, provided you keep skimming off the froth. I guess that small bowl took a few minutes. Its a bit of a cheat really. Unless you freeze it, or incorporate a gelling agent, the stuff doesn't last more than a few minutes. The tiny particles of carrot puncture the gas cells as the walls thin as the water drains. Adria lets his carrot juice stand for a few days, then decants off the clear juice. He also serves it over an orange sorbet, wich disguises the liquid run-off. I freeze it fast, and then serve it frozen as a super-light sorbet. Lot of work though. You can also flavour it (orange, corander etc), or use other root vegetables. However foams are now a bit past...

Cucumber (on white bread) is classic. If only one, this is the one. Tinned salmon (not tuna, not fresh salmon) with vinegar Egg mayonnaise (cress optional) Smoked salmon. Leave out the cream cheese, just put in more salmon Gentlemans Relish or Marmite Shippams Chicken Paste (or Bloater) Thin ham and mustard

Can you explain how to do this, please, Jack. ← We had a discussion on this some time ago.

Make foams and "airs" - try carrot air from fresh carrot. Mash potatoes, if you fix the starch first Instant sorbets, from frozen fruit and sugar

I do object to this over familiarity by the service staff. A nasty mostly American habit, I fear. I have no wish to enter into a personal relationship with my server, still less a first name one. "Waiter" is a perfactly satisfactory and respectful form of address, should it be needed. Even worse is a personal greeting with a cutsy icon scribbled on the check, in the jope of a better tip. Next will be their phone number and an invitation to stay the night, or start an affair... I realise these people are, by tradition, not paid properly and need to beg, but if giving service is as much of a pleasure as they state, surely that is its own reward? "How is everything?" is one of those questions, like "How are you" that requires a conventional lie in response "Fine Thanks", meaning "Go away". Telling the truth - the bread is par baked rubbish, the food greasy and cold, the steaks over-cooked, the fries pale and aneamic, the salad dressing commercial and oversweet, is to invite trouble, and in any case most of these things are not in the control of the waitroon, or even the chef. None the less, evil is done by indifference. We should all tell it how it is, and preferably direct to the manager, owner or someone who has control. Otherwise we will continue to suffer indifferent food, and the establishment management will continue to believe their customer's don't care, and to be smugly self-congatulatory on a a job poorly done. Alas, I don't often have the energy to protest as I should, nor, I suspect, do you, and thus, following Gresham's law, the bad drives out the good.

← More like ten years...drinking it now is infanticide

The better (=more expensive) brands make pleasant hot drinks, or add a flavour to cakes, icings etc. However they are a different drink, and not the same as real coffee...

High-tech VCs rarely make real-estate investements: the structure of their funds, and the manifesto they gave to their investors usually preclude this. High net worth individuals act as angels and also invest in a range of other things to spread their portfolio. The equivalent to a hgh-tech fast growth and exit would be something like setting up a chain or a set of franchise restaurants, with a view to aquisition by a major in 3-5 years. A single restaurant's growth and hence worth, by definition, is limited by its physical size, and to some extent by its location and demographic. Since you are not planning (as far as I know) a chain of Alinea's or an early exit rewarding the investors with capital growth, I wonder if traditional equity (selling a share of the business) is the right way to raise funds, or if debt finance such as a debenture (essentially a mortgage on the business) would be more appropriate. That way you could pay interest, and eventually repay the capital out of the profit. Given the team, the success (and hence profitability) is very likely, and hence the advantage of debt financing is that the amount you have to pay back is fixed, and you wash out the investors. If they own shares, then they are with you forever. There are also half-way houses, like convertible debentures. One example is a bond covering the loan, that if various conditions are not met, such as timely repayment, can be converted into shares. For a business expecting a reasonable sustained profit, but not high growth this might be attractive to both the founders and the investors. You could even build in an initial interest and repayment holiday for, say, the first year to ease the starting period. How can I buy in?

In his Weekly Guardian article this week Heston Blumenthal mentions methyl-cellulose:

Use Vitamin C - you can buy powder - about 0.5% or a small pinch. It inhibits an enzyme in fresh flour that degrades the gluten. I wouldn't bother with the soap, unless you are baking on an industrial scale, and using compressed air and mechanical means instead of yeast to get the rise.

You might be thinking of Hervé THIS ----------------------------------------- Physico-chimiste INRA (Attaché à la Direction scientifique "Nutrition humaine et sécurité des aliments") Groupe INRA de gastronomie moléculaire, Laboratoire de chimie des interactions moléculaires (prof. Jean-Marie Lehn) COLLEGE DE FRANCE 11, place Marcelin Berthelot 75005 Paris tel : + 33 (0)6 86 49 89 01 ou + 33 (0)1 44 27 13 10 fax : +33(0)1 44 27 13 56 Email : hthis@paris.inra.fr ou herve.this@college-de-france.fr http://www.college-de-france.fr/chaires/ch...erche_herve.htm -------------------------------------------- Chaque mois, une idée de science et une recette qui l'utilise, par Pierre Gagnaire, à l'adresse : http://www.pierre-gagnaire.com/francais/cdmodernite.htm Herve organises the Molecular Gastronomy meetings at Erice, and also gives courses an seminars in Molecular Gastronomy in Paris.

Works for me. I bake maybe once every week or two and the mother starter goes perhaps a couple of months between refreshments.

My family is also from Alsace, a little village called Durmenach. However they celebrated Channukah not Christmas. In France, the main meal is on Christmas eve: Reveillon. A meatless meal before midnight mass, and a meat meal after, with the traditional "13 deserts". However each region has its own traditions, and some even celebrate on different days (In eastern and northern France, the Christmas season begins on 6 December, la fête de Saint Nicolas, and in some provinces la fête des Rois (6th Jan is the main day) In Lyon, it is 8 December is la Fête de lumières,

Is a popover the same as a Yorkshire Pudding?

On various people's advise (thanks!) what I do now is slightly different to that in the unit. 1. Take out jar of starter ifrom the fridge. Stir if it has seperated. 2. Make a thick batter for the sponge (poolish) with 1 cup flour and 1 cup water 3. Stir in a tablespoon of the starter. Let it ferment for at least 4 hours (or even up to about 12 hours) at 85F, until it is well bubbly. 4. Put the rest of the jar of starter back into the fridge for next time. If it is getting low, then make a double quantity of sponge (2 cups flour, 2 cups water) and put half of the finished starter back into the jar. 5. Use the sponge to bake with.

A google search reveals many, such as http://recipes.chef2chef.net/recipe-archive/45/240779.shtml I am wondering about stuffing the individual XMas puddings with something, like a liquid centre. Brandy Butter maybe but would be a bit rich. Some sort of creme? Chocolate? Marzipan? What do you think?

You are obviously not hungry enough, otherwise you would eat the bowl as well. In ancient times most food was served on a bread plate or bowl, the trencher. Hence good eaters are called Trenchermen since they ate the bowl as well As the economy declines, you will be glad of that carelessly discarded bread bowl with the luxury of the meager amount of left over stew as its sauce

I believe the custom of tokens and silver threpenny bits originated in the UK, although it is based on much older customs, that some trace back to pagan times. In the EGCI unit I say The question here is how to serve Xmas pudding as a modern upscale restaurant dish. Not a different pudding, but something recognisable and tasting as the original. A group of us are cooking Xmas dinner for for the staff and friends of a serious (and starred) restaurant, using their kitchens on their day off. Hence the need for something on traditional lines, but that will stun and amaze...maybe an interesting presentation, or some variant. Space constraints mean it probably has to be plated. I do like the idea of a Nesselrode pudding, served hot with the conventional gelatin replaced with agar or another hot gelling agent..

Add "Umani", such as Soy and some Madeira, or sweet sherry or other sweet wine... Turn it into curry