jackal10

Err..each other? Make a range of finger food, and retire...

I use a pressure cooker for stock when I'm in a hurry. My Tefal pans have a pressure cooker lid option, so I can cook about 6 litres at a time. Its OK, but somehow different to a traditional stock: maybe fresher and more aromatic, but thinner and less unctious. I guess that indeed theere is less conversion of the collagen. You do get quite a lot of volatiles escaping via the vent. I've never just chucked in a couple of leaves of gelatine, but I don't see why not..

All the advise comes to much the same. Funding something as insanely high risk and poor return as a retaurant takes either some non-economic love, or a very high return to compensate for the risk I doubt if you would get a loan without collateral, usurious interest rates and personal gurantees. The problem with a loan is that you end up with the debt, reagradless of how well or badly the restaurant does. At least with equity you can walk away.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,...1141521,00.html

Pot roast is something quite different, and refers to roasting in a pot, rather than something that is "potted", that is put and stored in a pot... When cooking was mostly done on an open fire, roasts were either spit-roast, or cooked in a a large enclosed pot buried in the ashes, hence pot roast..

Keep the raw and the peeled shallots under water to keep the eye-watering down. The chemical in onions and shallots that brings tears to the eyes dissolves easily in water, including the water in your eye, so keeping everything wet, and having a tap running nearby helps...

I must defend potted meats. They were (and are) delicious. They were a key way of tenderising and preserving before refrigeration, sealing the cooked (and shredded or pounded) meat under fat. Think of confits, or rilletes, or potted shrimp, or meat sandwich pastes. I have an original copy John Farley's London Art of Cookery (about 1783) and there is an excellent Elizabeth David pamphlet. Potted roast beef is a favourite, and a great way of using up the trimmings and leftovers. Spread on hot toast... Very easy with modern food processers; just whizz up the the beef, including some of the best crispy outside fat with an equal quantity of warm melted butter, and some seasoning - salt, lots of pepper, a little nutmeg and a dash of cayenne maybe. Put the paste into ramekins, and cover with more melted (ideally clarified) butter, and leave to get cold and set in a refrigerator. Use as pate, serving in the ramekin slightly warm (but not melted) and first removing half the lid of solidified butter so people can dig into the luciousness beneath...

Mash with equal quantity of butter. Spread on toast. Eat. Pizza toppings Pasta, or as part of alla Puttanesca Add to a meat dish. The anchovies melt into the sauce

Lea and Perrins Worcestshire Sauce

Fish skin, descaled, crisped in a hot pan. Sort of a fish version of scratchings or gribenes Pea-pod soup (puree, then sieve) Veg peelings and trimmings (not potatoes) for stock MRP (Mechanically recovered meat) (ugh!)

Four or five cups a day, half decaf? Thats not a lot. I guess I drink maybe 8-10 cups a day...full strength, and have done for many years. Press pot with semi-skimmed milk at home, and double expresso at the office. Surprisingly it doesn't seem to affect sleep patterns

For fish quenelle you should be able to use any uncooked white fish, or salmon or the like. Not oily fish. I use 2 of fish: 1 of heavy cream: 1 egg white. Keeping it all cold while mixing is the key. Ther is a reciep here, just leave out (clasically) the onion and the parsley: http://recipes.egullet.com/recipes/r836.html They need quite heavy seasoning. They ae tough to sieve, but it does add extra smoothness. I'd leave out that step initially until you have something you like. You will need to flip them manually, once they release and float. The boiling water should cover them initially. They don't take long to poach on the top.

Informal Guest Night in college In Hall Twice baked Goats Cheese Soufflé with roasted vine Tomatoes Braised Saddle of Hare with Herb Dumplings Pureed potatoes with home-cured Bacon Selection of vegetables (pureed parsnips, broccoli) Pear Tart Tatin with saffron Pastry and Armagnac Creme Caramel Petit Bourgeois sauvignon Blanc 2002 Cot Rotie Chapoutier 1997 In Parlor Coffee and petit four (miniature caramalised lemon tarts, white chocolate florentines, truffles) Cheese Fruit Ch d'Angludet 1993 Ch Coutet 1988 Grahams 1977 Presentation: (Hare: fanned slices of hare, quenelle of potato scattered with small cubes of the tea-smoked(?) bacon, jus) (Pud: circle of pear tatin; small creme caramel with curved triangular tuile half surrounding it like a flag, compote of dried fruits(?) in Armagnac) About 50 people. Seriously good and accomplished food.

Cavolo Nero is a plant; a variety of kale in the cabbage family. Fairly easy to grow, but yield is low (at least in my garden). Cook it like kale, or use it as a spinach like component to stuff into things. It was trendy a while ago. Personally I think it over-rated.

How long is a piece of string? It depends on the quality of ambience you want. Basic is about 10sq ft per cover for chair and table; Double that for circulation and loos etc; Double that to allow for kitchen and service space, and you are looking at about 50 sq ft per cover, since you can never fit them in ideally, not forgettting wheelchair access etc. That is really crowding them in, canteen style. For an upmarket space you could easily double or triple that again. Then there is the bar or lounge, parking, garbage, dry storage etc etc... Gross is the overall measurement, which the real-estate company sells you. Net is the actual usable space after partitions, corridors, fire exits etc. Maybe half gross, especially of its an awkward space.

No need to breadcumb...fry directly

I think I have cracked an acceptable low-carb fish cake. Recipe is http://recipes.egullet.com/recipes/r836.html Key is to invert the process for diet foods of replacing fat with starches...

Low carb fish cakes I have cracked a solution for a low-carb version of fish-cakes with an acceptable texture. Its the inverse to low-fat solutions that use starches instead of fat to give the maouth feel. 500 g White fish, or crab or shrimp meat (raw) 4 Egg whites 250 ml cream 2 Onions peeled and chopped parsley, chopped Soften the onions in a little butter or oil, and let cool. Whizz the fish and the egg in a food processor or blender until smooth and incorporated together. Keep cold. Add the cream and blend until incorporated. Season with quite a lot of white pepper and salt Add the parsley and the onion and blitz briefly to mix. Make into cakes (for example as large quenelles with two tablespoons), and put into a baking pan. Fill the baking pan carefully with boiling water, and put on a gentle heat to poach. The fishcakes will release from the bottom and float when cooked - turn them over to cook the upper side for a minute or two, then take out with a slotted spoon and drain. They will firm up as they cool. You can eat them as they are, or brown off in a frying pan. Keywords: Main Dish, Fish ( RG836 )

Low carb fish cakes I have cracked a solution for a low-carb version of fish-cakes with an acceptable texture. Its the inverse to low-fat solutions that use starches instead of fat to give the maouth feel. 500 g White fish, or crab or shrimp meat (raw) 4 Egg whites 250 ml cream 2 Onions peeled and chopped parsley, chopped Soften the onions in a little butter or oil, and let cool. Whizz the fish and the egg in a food processor or blender until smooth and incorporated together. Keep cold. Add the cream and blend until incorporated. Season with quite a lot of white pepper and salt Add the parsley and the onion and blitz briefly to mix. Make into cakes (for example as large quenelles with two tablespoons), and put into a baking pan. Fill the baking pan carefully with boiling water, and put on a gentle heat to poach. The fishcakes will release from the bottom and float when cooked - turn them over to cook the upper side for a minute or two, then take out with a slotted spoon and drain. They will firm up as they cool. You can eat them as they are, or brown off in a frying pan. Keywords: Main Dish, Fish ( RG836 )

Sourdough bread Marmite chunky peanut butter Homemade and home grown Grape Jelly Sandwich spread (or salad cream)

Serve it in smaller portions. Its an old catering trick make it hot, that way it goes further without too many complaints, and few come back for seconds... If you want serve it with a bland filler, like rice or baked potato on the side.

Its a good price. Parker quotes 88 points, price band D (about $25). Buy some for now, and some to keep..

The secret is not to overcook. Fish needs to be no more than 45C/115F. Forget poaching. Easiest is to wrap it (gutted, washed but otherwise whole) in oiled aluminium foil, Add a splash of white wine, some herbs (parley, dill spring onion), salt and pepper. Seal the foil and put in a medium oven for half an hour or so. Of its very big curve it artistically so it fits in the pan and looks like its swimming. A digital themometer really helps here, and they are not expensive. Take out of the oven and cool to room temperature. It will be fairly fragile, so handle gently. Strip the skin, put on a big dish. Up to you whether to leave on the scales or not. Decorate with cucumber slices, and if you like piped mayo. You can use the decoration to hide the messy bits or where you broke it. You can add sea-like decorations to he rest of the dish. Serve with a good hollandaise or mayonnaise... If you plan to serve it warm or hot then salmon is pastry (with ginger and raisins) is a good version. Get the fishmonger to skin and fillet the salmon. Roll out two sheets of puff pastry bigger then the salmon. Good quality shop bouht pastry is OK, especially if you give it another couple of turns with real butter. Make up some green forcemeat (lots of soft herbs, chopped onions sweated in butter, bread crumbs, and for this ginger and raisins. On the sheet of pastry put a layer of the stuffing, one side of the salmon, another layer of stuffing, the other side of the salmon, another layer of stuffing. Eggwash all round. Put the second sheet of puff pastry on top, and seal round. CUt it out into a fish shape - tail at one end, head at the other. With aknife draw in the hea and eye, and make scales all along with a small round pastry cutter. Eggwash 45mins in a hot oven or until the pastry is brown.

Yes. The very same. http://www.tobaccoreviews.com/blend_detail...LPHA=T&TID=1259 Escudo is another good tobacco with a high perique content To be pedantic "A good cigar is a smoke" is from Rudyard Kipling's "The Betrothed" I wonder if Loufood would do a blog, or should we wait until she is settled in Spain? or Fat Guy...or Rachel...or one of the professional chefs..

What a fine meerschaum. I knew we had something else in common.. Unfortunately since a bout of alveolitis a while ago I can only smoke on high days and holidays, but what joy. Maybe we should have a seperate thread on tobaccos. I habitually smoke Three Nuns (none nicer), but its not the same since they make it only ready shredded, and not in the original navy cut with a dark perique centre....