jackal10

Many merchants and distilleries will lay down personal casks. It often used as a form of investment - liquid assets. http://www.scotchcasks.com/casks.htm http://www.tullibardine.com/caskoffer.aspx The Scotch Whisky Association has a pamphlet http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/jhb/whisky/swa/cask1.html http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/jhb/whisky/swa/cask2.html However, beware, there are some scams selling whisky that does not exist, or the whisky might just be of very poor quality http://www.sfo.gov.uk/publications/2000_2001/section_05.asp Whisky Scam help line

Rolly Gassmanns's Edelzwicker "Terroir des Chateux Forts" I believe is also a run-of-vinyard wine, and very good too.

My partner's birthday is on May 1st. It is a significant year number. She has expressed a desire to spend the weekend and have dinner in Paris, preferably on the left bank, say Paris 5, and for it to be informal, for example a bistro, rather than fine dining. We will probably take some friends along, and be a party of six or eight. Recommendations please, both for suitable restaurants, and for hotels.

I agree things have got a lot better. For wine the UK has always had an advantage, because of the history as a trading nation, so we have advantages in range and good merchants. Although you can get excellent wine in say France or Spain, it tends to be of local (and sometimes very local origin. Rarely would you see, say a South American (or Californian) wine, or even wine not of the district. Even though the wine is outrageousely taxed in the UK, at the higher end, say $25 and up per bottle, the tax makes little difference. What we miss is cheap everyday modestly priced drinking wine. I am constantly amazed at just how well the supermarkets do. Food items that were rare even a few years ago (dried morels, for example) are now on supermarkets shelves. There is an increasing empahsis on local and fresh ingredients, and in some on quality rather than lowest price. Organic foods are also increasing in availability.

You can make miniature sussex ponds with kumquats, but the ratio of outside to inside goes wrong if you make them too small. I think the whole citrus is essential. Kentish Well (which is Sussex pond with currants) is a heresy Lots of other good puds: Boiled Baby (bacon+leek suet roll) Spotted Dick Treacle Marmelade Sticky Toffee Steak and kidney pudding. Not pie, which is merely a stew with a lid on it, but a proper boiled suet pudding. To quote Dr Marigold (one of Charles Dicken's more obscure characters) "A beefsteak-pudding, with two kidneys, a dozen oyetes and a couple of mushrooms thrown im. Its a pudding to put a man in a good humour with everything, except the two bottom buttons of his waistcoat" Rather than list all the UK foods I should point out a) It is still regional b) It is a cuisine based on good ingredients, plainly cooked ("not mucked about with") Even high versions, such as the Fat Duck or St John rely on good ingredients, cooked to achieve maximum flavour. c) It is basically a farm/estate rather than court cuisine, although court and Grande Hotel customs and ethnic cultures (especially India and other former colonies, meant simply in the historical sense) have had their influence Read Florence White "Good Things in England" Dorothy Hartley "Food in England" or anything by dear Henrietta Green, including her Food Lovers Britain site

Oy vey! There is no Hamentaschen or mohn or even lekvar recipe in the recipe archive. Please rectify urgently...

Good luck It usually takes btween 100 and 200 full presentations... Even so you then have to hassle with the lawyers... Pay the deal broker on on success, when the money is in your account, not before.

It is nothing like orange in taste. Its a very sweet flower frangrance. Can you get rose flower water? or even a little rose perfume, very dilute? or omit it enitirely, or use a little light spiceing instread - a grating of nutmeg.

See the Erotic Baker Cookbook Pink or chocolate icing, as you prefer...

et aussi http://www.meilleurduchef.com/ en francais et en english

They are delish! I'm committed to making a hundred or so this weekend for a family party. I'll try to get some snaps. Equal quantities of flaked cooked white fish, mashed potato, fried onions, parsley. Season well. Bind with egg and Matzo meal, roll in more Matzo meal; deep fry dark brown.

I'd also support Rolly Gassmann: big wines. I'd add Heywang Cave Vinicole de Turckheim

Heck, lets add in Purim recipes as well... We discussed Hamentaschen last year. I favour the poppy seed filling. What other Purim foods are there?

I thought it was "order" in the sense of "order of service", the central feature being the "Shulchan Auruch" or "laid table", the meal itself. "Shulchan Auruch" is also the compendium of halacha or laws originally laid down in the 14th century by Rabbi Yosef Karo of Safed. Thus eating the meal is symbolically also reaffirming the Rabbinic law... I had a orthodox education, even if I do not believe in any of it... Doe anyone have a recipe for Paska, or the Russian cheese deserts: Paskhas? Are they related? Also to add Columba, the Italian Easter dove-shaped sweet loaves, the Easter equivalent of Pannetone

You want to take the temperature from the middle of the thickest bit of meat - the middle of the back leg/rump. 60C = 140F. Last time I did it I used a piece of 2 inch scaffold tube as the spit, with a couple of holes drilled in it. It went in through its ass, and out through the neck, although if they have split the lamb you will need to wire the neck end together. Have the head removed as it squicks people out. A couple of steel pins/rebars then went through the holes drilled in the scaff tube, and through the meat. They lined up with about the thickest and heaviest parts of the lamb - the legs and shoulders, and were wired in place. I also tied back the the back and front legs so that they stretched along the bar, otherwise they dangle down too much. If you don't use pins skewered though the spit, when it all gets greasy with the melted fat the wire or whatever clamps you have will slip, and the lamb will assume its lowest position - spine down, which will overheat and burn. When cooked it doesn't have much structural integrity, so if it is not firmly wired on bits will fall off. Some wrap it in chicken wire mesh, but I think that is going too far. The spit support was a couple of plasterers trestles, about 5 ft high, We could have used more scaff to make a support. Jury rigged something to turn the spit and hold it in position, against the off-centre weight - a pair of stilson wrenches if I remember correctly. Remember the everything will get hot and greasy. The firebox was a couple of wheelbarrows, filled with sand, but a half barrel would serve, or even a couple of small BBQs. Small fire at each end where the meat is, gravy pan in the middle. The whole contraption was covered with a sort of tent or shed made of corrugated tin, more scaff and foil. You need it high enough above the fire so that fat flares don't burn it. A squirt gun or a hose with a tap and a fine nozzle are advised so you can damp down any flare-ups. You can use the beer you are drinking, but its a waste. You can hire whole animal spits, or you could spatchcock the lamb and roast it pit style. Serve on hamburger buns with mint sauce or redcurrant jelly, hot sauce, sage and onion stuffing (use packet (Paxo), make it fairly dilute, more like a lumpy sauce), baked potatoes... edit: wish I could spell and type before my second cup of coffee

What were the symptoms? IF you have the salt level high enough and a little vineagr to ensure it starts acid, you will favour lactic fermentation. You may get a mould or scum on the top, but it is harmless - just skim it off. Of course these pickles don't have a long life, maybe a few weeks, even in the fridge. If you want to keep them long term you will have to can them, but loses a little of the crispness.

The Matzo Gateau I know is matzos soaked in Kosher wine, sandwiched together with chocolate buttercream... Serve in small portions. There must be better pesachticker cakes...

PG Tips is an Orange Pekoe tea. I think the PG originally stood for Pekoe Golden Tips Golden indicating young growth, and tips the top bud and two leaves Nice to see another UK blog. Are you a member of the Guild of Food Writers http://www.gfw.co.uk/ ?

http://www.pgmoment.com/ http://www.unilever.ca/products/index.asp?http://www.unilever.ca/products/index.asp?...CateId=6&type=1navLev=5&NavId=729&PCateId=6&type=1

Plenty more fish in the sea..... Don't go looking; relax, socialise, and they will come. The fastest way to get over an old affair is to start a new one, even a temporary one with someone less than perfect. Standard counseling is that you go through four stages of grief: Denial ("they will be back") Anger ("how dare they...") Resignation ("poor me..") Resolution ("Moving on..") Denial need realism and accurate information and assessment Anger needs a safe place and people to express it to Resignation needs activity and information about future possibilities Resolution needs encouragement Key is a support group of friends (besides eGullet) that you can share with, shoulders to cry on and go for meals or drinks with...

At the supermarket this weekend they were stocking up with Easter eggs, and getting out displays featuring pictures of fluffy chicks..signs of spring... Its also coming up for Pancake day (Shrove Tuesday) So what are your favourite Easter (and Passover, and any other festivals at this time of year) dishes and traditions? Some to start: Easter lamb Easter eggs, both chocolate and coloured hens eggs Simnel cake Fish pie Figgy pudding Hot Cross Buns Saffron Bread Pashka and other soft sweet cheescake sort of things Charoset Matzo Brei Chicken soup with Matzo Kleis Chrain (and gefillte fish) Egg and Lemon fish Almond pudding Cinnamon balls Macaroons Coconut pyramids Any others? Recipes? Should there be an eGCI unit?

Lamb is pretty tolerant, so easy to spit roast. - Try and enclose the spit and the fire so it acts as a slow oven - rig up some sort of roof and side shield. Corrugated iron works well. - Secure the lamb to the spit well - its an off-centre slippery load when its hot, with much less structural integrity cooked than uncooked. You want it to turn with the spit, not drop into the fire. It helps if you can get the butcher not to split the breastbone, otherwise you will need to wire it together - Quarter of a turn every 15 minutes - The meat is at the ends, so you need a small fire at each end and nothing (or the gravy pan) in the middle Use a meat thermometer - 55C for rare 65C for well done Usually takes 4-6 hours.

The inside should be just runny - like a when you cook an omlette. You are cooking in a hot oven, and the whipped egg mixture is a poor conductor of heat, so when the outside is done, you get a little bit of raw mix in the middle. When you mix the egg with the base you should end up with a few bits of white unmixed in. If you mix too hard you deflate the mix. The normal trick is to "lighten" the base by mixing in well a spoon or two of the beaten egg white, then mix that with the rest of the egg white by folding gently with a metal or plastic spoon, or the whisk. BTW when I make souffles, I usually leave out the flour or roux.

You mean you are not spit-roasting it whole? There isn't much left after that: Shoulders: boned and roast Breast: boned, stuffed and rolled or as short ribs Neck: chops, but the cut for hot pot or Irish stew Offal: Offaly good

Venison Carpaccio Slow roast saddle of rare breed (Portland) lamb Baby fennel and carrots Pommes Forestiere Rhubarb Tart Tatin with Stawberry Sorbet, Creme anglaise Peter Lehmann Shiraz 1999 Ch dAngludet 1993 Warre 1977