jackal10

I've put up today some of our surplus apple juice to ferment for cider. No great problem - the juice will ferment on it own, given a chance. However I once had (and made) a recipe that was delicious, that put spices and extra raisins in with the cider to ferment. It came form an old book and said something like "To make the best cider, take a barrel of indifferent cider and add the spices and raisins", and let ferment again" Problem is I've lost the recipe, and can't remember the proportions or the spicings It is not hot mulled cider or cider with added spices - the spices were in the ferment. Can anyone help?

Usually known here as Samphire. Its delicious. Starts here at midsummer for about a month. It grows wild on sandy sea shores and salt marshes. Shakespeare describes samphire picking as a "ghastly trade" Treat like asparagus. Serve with melted butter. I think it works better as a seasonal treat and a dish on its own, rather than as bed or garnish for fish dishes. If its not very young, it will have a glassy core in each stem. Pick it up in your fingers and suck the iodiney seaweed flavoured flesh off the core.

What food do you associate with Sukkot? The only one my family made were cinnamon biscuits, but I know not why they were associated with this festival I believe it was something to eat in the Succah when guests called not at a meal time. We also hung fruit and produce from the green leafy ceiling of the Succah.

Real china and cutlery please! The trick is to use two or even three sets, and wash one while using the other. This is not a hurried meal, so you can take your time... Typically you will need two large plates (one a service plate), and two small plus desert/soup bowls and tea or coffee cups per person. Service plates help, since being cold, they make hot dishes easier to carry, and protect the table. So in the menu above: Plate 1 - small (cold) Plate 2 - large (service) Plate 3 - small Plate 4 - large, hot Crudite - fingers (but need serving platter) Oyster - small plate 1 on service plate 2 Soup - bowl or cup on plate 3 or 4 Salad - small plate 1 reused on plate 2 Souffle - Ramekin on plate 3 reused Sorbet - glass or cup on Plate 1 again Turkey - large plate 4 Pudding- Bowl on plate 1 or 2 or both

No pepper at all goes into Talisker, or any true Scotch malt whisky, just barley malt, yeast and spring water. The malt is smoked somewhat during the drying proces over smoldering peat, which gives the whisky some of its characteristic taste. Talisker is more "peaty" than many, and some might interpret this as a black pepper taste ("the peat reek"). Its more like iodine than pepper to me. Laphroig even more so, which is why some might describe it as medicinal. Other detect seaweed, especially in the Island malts, from distilleries on the Scottich isles (not Isla, which is a river). The whiskey is matured in second fill oak casks. The cask and the first fill, usually sherry or bourbon adds complexity and its own character to the flavour.

The recipe is originally for the HMSO "Home Preservation" book - a government publication from the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food, first published in 1929. The orginal recipe gives vanilla or cinnamon as flavouring. No garlic Vanilla and tomato? Who would have guessed? I wonder if ther are other recipes? I had some with garlic and dill from a kosher pickle shop in NY on the lower east side, maybe 20 years ago.

Today seemed like a good day to clean up the tomato patch I made this last year. After a week it was bittre and nasty, so I put it back in the cupboard and forgot it. After six months it was amazingly delicious. The recipe is simplicity itself 3lb green cherry tomatoes 2 lb sugar 1/2 pt vinegar 1 tsp vanilla essence (or a pod) Boil the sugar and the vinegar and tomatoes for 5 minutes. Add the vanilla. Put into a non-metallic bowl, covered in the fridge for a week. Strin off the liquid, boil for 10 mins, add the tomatoes and bring back to the boil. Pack into jars and seal hot. I'll fry a few, but most of the rest will end up as green tomato chutney

Yes, its perfectly possible, if hard work. Its faster if there are two of you in the kitchen, and either LOTS of crokery and cutlery or a fast way of washing and recycling them. An example 14 course dinner Traditionally small and larger course alternate; its easier if the small courses are cold or can be plated quickly or in advance. 1. Palate cleanser 2. Amuse 3. Oysters or clams or caviar (or even a special seasonal fruit) 4. Soup 5. Fish 6. Salad 7. Game 8. Savoury Sorbet 9. Meat 10 Light pudding 11. Heavier Pudding 12 Cheeses 13 Fruit and Desert (or a savoury) 14 Coffee and petit four Of course, each course can be doubled, thus you could serve two different fish dishes, one after the other such as a smoked fish and then a fresh fish, or two different meats, such as duck leg confit, followed by the grilled breast.

Thankyou Chefg. Very interesting. Are you including water baths for sous-vide cooking? What mixers do you plan, for example for bread dough?

Looks good! You might find life easier by retarding in the fridge for between 4 and 24 hours once formed. This also gives a longer, slower second proof. You can retard for up to 24 hours, so you can make up the loaves at your convenience, put them in the fridge, and then bake them (from cold) whenever you want. Or make one day (before or after service) and bake the next. The plastic liner works fine. Try scoring at less of an angle that is with longer cuts more along the length of the loaf - more like 10 degrees to the centreline.

Amen Selah... I have comitted some of those (especially the ones about preparing too much and then finding stuff going mouldy at the back of the fridge) For the sin of making a restaurant booking and not turning up or cancelling late For the sin of turning up with extra or fewer people For the sin of ordering the most expensive dish when you are not paying For the sin of not writing a bread and butter thankyou to your hosts for dinner For the sin of not labelling packages in the freezer For the sin of eating junk food For all these forgive us, pardon us, grant us atonement.. Restaurants have their own special series... For the sin of having both a service charge and open card slips For the sin of making the customers wait unduly long For the sin of not answering the booking telephone For the sin of saying you are full when you are not For the sin of serving frozen par-baked bread, stock cubes or other shortcuts and thinking the customer won't notice For the sin of over garnishing with irrelevant garnishes For the sin of background music For the sins of designer furniture and decor For the sin of outrageous markups on drinks For the sin of too long or too short menu descriptions, bad puns and cutesy descriptions For the sin of trying to turn the tables twice in an evening For the sin of overcooking a steak For the sins of restaurant critics with no taste For all these forgive them, pardon them, grant them atonement..

The photos are taken originally with a Sony DSC F717 5Mpixel camera, at highest resolution (except the cell phone camera ones). I then post processed them with Microsoft Photodraw; usually the contrast and brightnes needed tweaking, and the sharpness improved slightly. I save them as .jpg with a compression level of 50 and a resolution of 320 x 240 or 640 x 480 for the larger pix. This is good enough for screen work, but will be a bit grainy if printed full page. If anyone wants the high resolution originals, ask. I'm aware of the difficulties to heavy pictures cause, which is why I used the maximum reasonable compression. The average weight is only about 20Kb. The webcam is a Logitech webcam that was uploaded to a private site using ftp and ConquerCam. I asked if people prefer the smaller or larger pix, and the page layout (2 pix + text), but got no response. I'd still be interested. The new Imagegullet is good, but I miss being able to upload eight pix at once; also having all the foodblog pictures in one flat directory is not optimal.

Golden days....We often get an Indian Summer around this time - coming up for the start of the University term. The saddle was from the Denham Estate in Norfolk, as referenced above. There were two for 24 people. Plainly roasted, then filleted, carved and re-assembled for ease of serving. Tender, lean and flavoursome. I think that was a little spurious choppe parsley on the top. Its the sort of thing the kitchen does best. Not that what we had was not good, but I'd maybe consider something fruity and autumnal, such as a blackberry or bramble sauce, as a garnish as an alternative to what we had. Baked or lightly pickled quince might also be good. Little early for medlars.

Golden days....We often get an Indian Summer around this time - coming up for the start of the University term. The saddle was from the Denham Estate in Norfolk, as referenced above. There were two for 24 oeople. Plainly roasted, then filleted, carved and re-assembled for ease of serving. Tender, lean and flavoursome. I think that was a little spurious choppe parsley on the top. I'd maybe consider something fruity and autumnal, such as a blackberry or bramble sauce as an alternative to what we had.

I think one was a Stilton, and the other a Shropshire Blue. Probably from Long Clawston Dairy. Like Stilton, but coloured with Annato, like Leicester cheese.

I don't really know. To me, all three terms are used, pretty well interchangeably. I think there may be slight variety differences (e.g. Kentish Cob is a distinct variety Cobnuts tends to refer to the green whole nut in its shell, as off the tree Hazelnuts tend to mean the nut kernals (or the trees) Fibert is a rather old fashioned term

I do most of the cooking. Jill, bless her, does most of the clearing and washing up...an endless, vital but often an unseen and thankless task Last batch of pictures. Went into College to check the arrangements for tonight M. Reverchon Head of Catering in the cellar; the saddle of Venison (from the Denham estate http://www.denhamestate.co.uk/) Let me correct the idea that Cambridge college life is just about eating and drinking, lest I give the wrong impression. While the environment is supportive, and the networking important, a lot of hard work goes on. The College came top last year in the Cambridge table of academic excellence, measured by the examination results, and is also high in sporting achievement league tables, in what is arguably the best University in the world. It works hard to ensure equal opportunity, with special emphasis on attracting those from disadvantaged backgrounds, although there are many good candidates for every place. It is very tough to get in, but once here it is also tough to fail (or leave) One way of attracting the best and the brightest is the quality of the life... John Harvard studied here, and I believe did good work in the then colonies. More is given on the website (www.emma.cam.ac.uk ). College Hall, the main dining area. High table, where the Fellows of the college dine is on the slight platform at the top. After dinner the fellows retire to the Parlour, where port is drunk and serious conversation is had. The servery, normally a self-service canteen for the students, backing onto the kitchen Upper Hall, the venue for our meeting, and the Gardiner Room, laid for our dinner New Court, new in 1824. The Hall is on the left, the kitchens ahead of you with the Upper Hall above the kitchen. The court, being next tot he kitchen is laid out as a herb garden. The Chapel (designed by Wren) is undergoing restoration While in the centre of town I had a quick walk round the market, on your behalf, dear eGulleteers. The Market is a square, and this is the left side. In addition to produce stalls there are clothes and all sorts. However late on a grey Monday afternoon was perhaps not the best time, as most of the stallholders were packing up or had already gone. The Market has declined somewhat since the City Council made the centre of town a pedestrian area. Also the city centre, like city centres elsewhere, is now mostly shops and offices and tourist places, rather than residential. The left side of the market, and one of the better produce stalls. They had fresh cobnuts, and new season wet walnuts; local raspberries Squashes, corn and new carrots, but I don't think the asparagus was local. Nest stall has wholefoods The fish man was packing up; this "Caffe Mobile" was neat There is a stall with interesting breads, I think from Bury St Edmunds The Dinner itself. Two candidate companies presented themselves, and we also discussed funding for a new approach to diagnosing and treating Alzheimers, and ways of accessing information about charities, and in particular how to measure their efficiency, for example in how much of the donated money actually reaches the intended recipients, rather than is used for adminsitration (surprisingly little in some cases): We had Sweet Pimento and Crab Soup Bassermann-Jordan Jesuitgaren 1990 Roast Whole Saddle of Venison with Caramelised Pears and a Redcurrent Jus Nuits St George Dom D'Arlot 1995 Warm Linzertorte with Armagnac ice cream Ch. Coutet 1988 Cheeses Coffee, Petit Four Port That's it... I'm off to bed, an the baton passes to the next blogger. It's been fun. You picked a good week - although I did nothing different just because of the blog, we don't have such parties every week. If you are planing on passing this way drop me a note...

I did mention it here: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...ndpost&p=717672 Its a mixture of elm, hazel and mostly cherry from trees on the estate that have fallen down, stacked and dried for a couple of years...The oven is very well insulated, so it only uses half a wheelbarrow or so per firing.

Nearly true... In my college, at least, because of the complex tax and charity laws, the wine is, I believe, formerly the property of the fellows, but is looked after for them by the college. The primary consumer is the formal dining and feasts, but some is sold to the fellowship for personal consumption. There is also wine for conferences, undergraduates, parties and the like. The usual rule is that the wine is sold at the price it would cost to replace it with a wine of equivalent quality of a current vintage, plus a small handling charge; essentially the capital and the cellerage is free.. I remember when I was a graduate student my tutor would entertain once a term with a blind tasting for his students (fellows get an entertainment allowance). The student who most nearly correctly identified the wines won a case. Excellent education and motivation! The wines are chosen and controlled by the wine commitee, drawn from those of the fellowship who are interested. Buying wine for a college is quite different to buying wine for a restaurant. For a restaurant (and the conference trade) you ideally want to sell the wine before you have paid for it; few restaurants have the capital or the time for long term cellerage. For college time is of no object. Of course, the bursar has a severe view of the budget he will allow for wine for feasts and dining that the college pays for, so the wines are typically mid-range, and of fairly conservative taste. Beacuse the colleges are significant consumers (think of them as medium size hotels), and there are enough of them in one place, the wine merchants find it worthwhile to come to Cambridge and show their wines. I suspect they also enjoy it, as the audience is informed and knowledgable. Thus during term there is often a wine tasting most weekday lunchtimes, especially in the Michealmas term

I choose, in consultation with the catering manager and the head chef. The wines are from the college cellar. As a by-fellow I get acess to the Fellow's wines, rather than the standard catering list. The college has many tens of thousands of bottles laid down. As I said earlier, Colleges provide living and dining, and it is a requirement for the students to eat a certain number of meals a term in college hall. The idea is that they learn by socialising as well as by formal teaching. There are also formal feasts and guest nights several times a year. College http://www.emma.cam.ac.uk/ has about 400 undergraduates, and about 120 fellows. Outside University term it also acts as a conference venue. The kitchen is thus akin to a hotel kitchen and has to serve a number of roles: Three meals a day bulk catering for the students and staff, both formal and self-service canteen. Formal fine dining for high table (the fellows), complete with gowns and latin grace. Private dinners and conferences Feasts. The college awards scholarships, and one of the duties of a scholar is to be on the rosta to say the Grace. The Grace has been said in Hall every day for over 400 years. For feasts it is sung by the choir,

Someone asked about corn. This is strawberry corn. You are meant to be able to use it as popcorn, by putting the whole cob in the microwave. Didn't work for me.. Inevitably some things got forgotten. I found another bag of the fish balls in the fridge, and a pack of cumberland sausages I was going to roast. They will freeze for another time. About half a loaf was left from all that bread, and I suspect that was only because it had been put away after I had used half for the forcemeat for the salmon. There was a tray of baked potatoes left in the oven, that turned to charcoal. Supper tonight needed to be something simple and restorative. Chunky Chicken Soup with Onion and Parsley Dumplings. Fortunately I had bought a chicken at the supermarket, and it was about the only thing left from the ravening hordes. Chicken stock is quickly made in a pressure cooker. Tomorrow I am at a Cambridge Angels dinner, which I am hosting in my College. The Cambridge Angels is primarily a dining club, but we justify its existance by making angel investments in promising young start-up companies. I act as steward. The average investment is around $500K, and we have made a dozen or so investments in the last year or so. Angel investment is a long term, high risk gamble. Don't do it with money you can't afford to lose. The term angel was origiinally one for a theatrical backer. It typically takes ten years to get your money back, and maybe only one in ten suceeds, thenyou have to pay tax on it. Two or three will fail, and you lose the investment. Most will settle into lifestyle companies, or zombies - sound companies, but not making much more than enough to pay the staff. However a very few will win a lot, returning hundreds of times the initial investment. We meet before dinner and hear presentations from hopeful companies who want us to invest in them. We then give them a hard time in questions - usually there are some experts in the field amongst us. I wanted it to be called the Chapter of Angels, and for us all to wear studded leather jackets, but I was overruled. The rule is that any Angel can introduce a company, but they must be prepared to invest in it themselves personally, and act as its champion. We then throw out the candidates, and have dinner over which there is lively debate or the merits of the proposals.. Individuals (who must be of high net worth and sophisticated investors to comply with the financial regulations) make the investments personally. It has the advantage that since everyone is acting on their own behalf, decisions can be made quickly. The menu planned is Sweet Pimento and Crab Soup ****** Roast Whole Venison Saddle served with a Caramelised Pear and a Redcurrant Jus Vegetable Selection Potatoes ****** Warm Prune Linzer Torte with Armagnac Ice Cream ****** Cheeseboard, Coffee and Mints Wines: Before: The Graham Beck Blanc de Blanc 1998 Bassermann- Jordan Jesuitgarten 1990 Nuits St George Domaine D'Arlot 1995 Ch. Coutet 1988 Warre 1977 I'll talk more about college life and catering tomorrow, answer any questions and then the blog baton will pass on...

More from yesterday. A tarte flambe or flammenkuche cooking in the oven This Alsacien version of onion tart is a very thin pizza base, creme fraiche, onion and bacon The beef, . Like everything else this vanished, and someone even took the bones home for their dogs... A beef sandwich, but not as we usually know it.. Various spontaneous happenings: Ross playing the Northumbrian small pipes. Dan Lepard taking a pizza out of the oven. Dan is one of the best bakers in the UK, if not the world. He was the initial baker and baking advisor for St Johns Bread and Wine, and many other famous places. Dan was heroic, and when the pizza dough ran out, happily made more by hand, discoursing and demonstrating to a fascinated audience on the properties of dough and the hydration of gluten. His new book "The Handmade Loaf" ISBN: 1840009667 will be published next month by Micheal Beazley. Plum pizza (plums, butter, sugar), and apple pizza (apples, butter sugar) (delicious). Like most food, it tended to vanish before I could snap it... There are still apples in the orchard. I guess we will have to do it again soon..

We were lucky with the weather - one of those lovely sunny autumn days, althugh the Saturday and today are grey cold and windy. Everybody helps, and the kids have a great time. The apples are picked. That tree is an Ellison Orange, which has a characterisitic resinous flavour. The garden near the house has some old apple trees, but the main orchard is to the left and behind the oven.. The apples are then notionally washed - dumped in tub of water. Here are apples waiting to be processed. Here is the press. Apparently the ratchet mechanism was designed originally by Leonardo de Vinci. so I guess it was originally designed for olives. The apples first go through a garden shredder (I pressure washed it first), to make pomace. The press takes 40 litres of pomace, to the top, and the juice comes out of the bottom, remarkably clear, considering it is unfiltered. The juice is already brown. You can keep it white, but only by adding ascorbic acid, vitamin C to the pomace. I prefer it natural, just organic apples (OK, maybe the odd worm and a drowsy wasp get in) Wood blocks fil the gap between the follower and the ratchet. The remains are cake, which I just compost. We get about 60% juice to weight of apple, which is quite good. Professional hydraulic presses will get 75% or more. We just mix the apples, and the juice is delicious. It gets put into plastic containers and froze. Freezing is the best way of preserving it at home, and keeps the flavour intact - pasturisation is tricky, and I don't like chemical preservatives. The freezer is full, and I'll make cider (US: hard, alcoholic cider) from the surplus. As these are eating, rather than cider apples, it doesn't make good cider, but you can freeze it and filter out the ice to make applejack. which is wicked stuff, at about 20% alcohol. (I'm drinking fresh apple juice, not the applejack) More in the next installment

Thanks Marlena. Good to see you both, and thanks for coming. Glad you enjoyed it! I don't usually hire caterers. We have the excellent Mrs A, who comes twice a week to clean and iron, thank goodness. The half hour progress meeting turned into a four and half hour strategy meeting, so lunch wsa a samosa and two pieces of chicken in spicy batter was from the local Indian store "Nasreen Dar" The office has a well used automatic expresso machine, that makes a quite acceptable cup, fresh ground from Lavazzo beans. Like most high-tech organisations good coffee is essential, and there is a deep freeze of ready meals and a microwave free for those working late.. Back to yesterday. Salmon en croute. Good easy party dish Cheat by using shop bought puff pastry, but given a couple of turns with more butter. Roll out the pastry and put the skinned salmon fillet on it. Make forcemeat stuffing with breadcrumbs, parsley, rosemary, onion, salt, pepper, bound with an egg Layer the salmon with the stuffing, and lay the other salmon fillet over the top, head to tail end of the one below. Cover with more puff pastry, eggwash, and decorate - scales made with a small pastry cutter and a head and tail are traditional. Bake for twenty minute or so. Unfortunately I wasn't paying enough attention, and the brick oven was much hotter than I expected, so it burnt. Quick work with a sharp knife saves the day! Collect saladings: cucumber, lettuce (this is buttercrunch), and the overgrown tomato patch The tourte blette (being finished by Fabien). The pastry is my standard pate brisee 3 flour: 2 butter: 1 sugar, and egg yolk to cohere. Put all in the food processor and whizz together. I did not get a chance to photograph it before it vanished. That is a pizza baking on the right, but I did get to taste a piece of the tourte. To me, apart from the buttery pastry, with a hint of woodsmoke, the apple and the brandy dominated the taste, with a rich, slightly bitter and almondy backgound, a bit like a green sort of frangipane. Nice. I'll make it again. The pate, and the chocolate challa. Maybe a bit too much salt in the challa Put out the beer and champagne. We used plastic champagne flutes, which are OK, safer outside and save washing up. Ice bucket on the right. Tie bottle opener on string. There was also a Provencal Rose. Apple juice and champagne is excellent. More food on the kitchen table The cheddar is a Butlers Vinatge Traditional Farhouse Cheddar (again from Tesco, one of the few good and serious cheeses they do). It was a quarter of a whole truckle, and vanished like the snows of yesteryear... More in the next post...

Moving slowly this morning... Need to go to the office for a 10am engineering meeting (weekly prayers..) Should be back lunchtime to post pix