jackal10

2 cups crumbs (graham cracker or I prefer sponge biscuit) 1 cup shelled walnuts, chopped ( I omit)(blanch and dry first to remove bitterness) 1 cup (6 oz) chocolate melted, or coaco powder 1/4 cup honey 1/4 cup rum Pinch salt Mix together,. You can adjust sweetness with the honey, and wetness with the rum. Roll into balls Roll balls in confectioners sugar Of course you can always make "Salty chocolate balls" and substitute rum for the brandy....

Needs to be something fairly tough to stand up to the rigors of travelling and flavourful food I have a case of Vieux Telegraph (Chateuneuf-du-Pape, Rhone) 1996 half bottles for just such occaisons. A quick Google indicates the Wine Specialist in DC http://winespecialist.com/ic/process?id=4aVrwBPj&mv_pc=253 has some 2000, although its $35. Have them decant it. OTH half bottles of decent fizz are easy to obtain, and universally popular. Besides they don't need a corkscrew...

This seems to me to be a classic, and all too prevelant confusion between threat, vulnerability and risk. Yes, there is a threat that fruit rinds carry bacteria; they may also carry soil, birdshit and all sorts of casual contaminants. However, is this a real risk for human health? People have been eating unwashed fruit since humans began; it is not a significant cause of death or disease. People are not partcularly vulnerable to such exposure, except in very special circumstances. Likely that the continued exposure to the soap and chemicals, being artificial, from the washing process are a greater risk to health.

Stick blender, and some practice. There was a thread recently on Carrot Air. If you can afford it, get an ISI whipped cream canister, but the gas cartridges are quite expensive. In the UK the whipper is £22.50 and the cartridges £4.50 for 10. - close to $1 each For most domestic foams, like cream or egg-white, and old fashioned balloon whisk works as well as anything.

The '97's are good value for current drinking. I'm just finishing the last of a case of '97 Rausan Segla, and very nice it is too. In a normal year it would still be hard and closed. The 97's are not long lasting, so retailers are moving them on to take on more recent vintages. They form a useful stop-gap until some of the bigger vintages are ready.

I'd say come and see us in Cambridge, except that its an hour north by train, and I don't know how reliable they would be on Boxing day, and expecially late at night. Alas we can't offer accomodation, since remote family and waifs and strays are taking it all. College is closed for the holidays, or we could use the guest rooms there.

Have you tried with sourdough starter instead of yeast? You may need to adjust the rising times, but 6-8 hours should be OK. Do these machines allow two rises, that is seperate fermentation and proof steps? If not they may be more suitable for brown or wholemeal bread.

In Scotland, for Hogmany (New Years Eve) the first person through he door should be a handsome dark stranger bearing a lump of coal, shortbread, (or an oat bannock or black bun depending which region), salt, whisky and in some traditions a silver coin. Other traditions leave the silver soin outside until next day. Some explain that the visitor should be dark, since a fair person might be a Viking marauder, nor should he be a doctor, a mimister or a gravedigger since they were also were of ill omen. The coal is for warmth, the food for sustenance and the silver coin for wealth for the year. Later whisky was substituted for the silver coin. Tradition dictates that the First Footer can claim a kiss from every female in the house

You need something pretty assertive to stand up to that lot. Fizz would be good, or a Gewurztraminer, or even Manzanilla sherry?

I use rum or brandy, and add just enough to damp the mixture - maybe a couple of glasses. However I don't have the meat, and even if I did I would have equal amounts to the suet - about half your amount. Also a lot more fruit - I use 4-5lbs fruit to 1lb suet, 1lb sugar, and if used 1lb meat. If you eat it cold then a broth that will jelly might be appropriate

Depends how you like it, and what equipment you have. The object is to get the meat to 55C/130C (rare) to 65C/150C (well done). Best tip is to use a digital thermometer that you can read from outside the oven. Here is a snap from an upcoming egCI unit on Kitchen Science/Molecular Gastronomy. You also want to get the outside brown and flavoursome (Maillard reaction) Ways you can achieve this: a) High heat (425F) for one hour, then stand in a warmish place covered in tinfoil for half an hour for the heat to equalise and while you cook the yorkshire puddings. Probably the easiest method in a conventional oven, and gives a choice of well done or rare depending outside or inside. b) Sear the outside (hot pan or blowtorch). Put in a 150F oven for 4 hours or so. This gives the best, juiciest and most succulant meat, since it never overcooks, but it is hard to get most home ovens to go that low reliably. You won't get much juice running (it stays in the meat) with this method, so you will need to make stock seperately for gravy, and use a seperate oven for the kugel etc Other tips: Rub the fat with chilli powder before cooking for that certain something. Cook a cut onion in the pan for extra flavour. Remember, like cooking steak, the more well cooked the smaller and tougher the meat gets.

I volunteered for next week...and/or New Years eve

New World, chinese restaurant in London's Chinatown serves a remarkable dimsum steamed tripe, with chillis and black beans. Yum! Tripe a la mode de Caen, long (10 hours+) slow braise with onions, carrots, cloves,leeks, parsley, thyme, cider, calvados, and a trotter for gelatine.

You start at the very top. 96 Yquem is probaly one of the world's best and greatest sweet wines, although it is still very young. 96 was, if you remember, that very hot year, when the grapes were super-ripe. Other regions have different styles, perhaps not as sugary as Sauterne, and therefore better with food. My current personal favourite is an Australian Gewurtztramier: Rymill, Coonawarra - Gewurztraminer half 1998 Botrytis affected late harvest (Cambridge Wine Merchants, £5.99/half bottle) Other styles you might like to explore are Barsac, for example Ch. Climens, or sweet Loire wines (Parker raves about Domaine du Clos Naudin, Foreau (Vouvray) 1996). Vendage Tardive (Late harvest) Alsace wines are also interesting and present a range of flavours from different grape varieties.

Desert wines go with desert, not coffee. But then the coffee is I guess milky weak Americano, not black expresso. I suppose if you drink strong drink like Martini's before dinner it really doesn't matter what you do after... Cheese before or after desert?

The US has always had exclusive (and expensive) clubs. For example the Cosmos Club in Washington. Its even snobbier and elitist than the UK.

Christmas Pudding with Brandy Butter, followed by Mince Pies, of course and the traditional "13 deserts". They are 1-"Pompe à l’huile" (olive oil flat sweet bread), 2-the black (representing evil) and 3-the white nougat (representing good), dried fruits named "the four beggars" (LES QUATRES MENDIANTS) carrying the color of religious orders: 4-Walnuts symbolize the Augustans , 5- Dried figs symbolize the Franciscans, 6- the Carmelites are symbolized by the almonds and 7- raisins stand for the Dominicans. Then come 8-dates (the sacred fruit from Egypt), 9- oranges or quince comfits or other home grown fresh fruits from store 10- apples 11-pears, 12-grapes and 13- mandarins.

I was in Harrods today, getting a haircut. They have one of the best old-fashioned barbershops in the UK. Its in the basement, complete with original 1930 style Art Deco fittings. They are stuck with it, since the interior is now listed. Passing through the food halls I noticed that Krispy Kreme is where they used to sell Poilane <sigh>. Much of the sacred food halls are now franchises or tourist tat. alas. Not particularly busy. A young lady proffered me a free glazed doghnut. Being curious, and not being one to refude free food, despite Atkins I accepted. You mean people actually eat this stuff? Very light, slightly limp, overly sweet pap. Not a bad doughnut I suppose if you like artificial flavours and sugar, but the oil it had been fried in was stale. The rancid oil taste lingered, and I was forced go and breathe deeply near the white truffles on sale at £4000/kilo

There is a chocolate mud cake, originally from Peg Bracken's "I Hate to Cook" book that uses oil, and is actually very good. Made in the pan, like stirring mud. http://www.recipesource.com/desserts/cakes/14/rec1473.html

Wot not turkey?? Seriously, this is festal cooking, that calls for large hunks of protein. Looks spectacular as well. Cooking for largish numbers is much easier to do a large roast or something in bulk, where the chef does not have to handle individually each mouthful. I would avoid finger food. If you want beef then do a big roasting joint, say a 5 rib piece. Soup or Lox before, and Christmas pudding after

I'll volunteer for Xmas week, if anyone is interested...

The bottom left oven on a 4 oven AGa - mine is about 65C. Two oven aga the simmering oven, and the top right oven in a 4 oven AGA ias about 95C. You can get them cooler by a) Leave the door ajar. That's how I dry herbs etc. b) Put in a solid shelf (cold shelf) available from AGA. Latest AGA must-have: A A wonderful stainless steel bread peel.

That's exactly what I do. The only thing I can think is that for some reason the pork did not cook in the steaming step. I put it in on a plate in a bamboo steamer over a wok full of boiling water, topped up from the kettle from time to time. The steamer has a lid, but the port is not covered. Quite a bit of juice collects around it.

Did you braise it for 2 hours first, as in the recipe? When I cook it, it falls apart with a spoon. 6 hours cooking should dissolve the collagen into gelatine, making the meat wonderfully soft. Maybe it needed to cook longer, or for some reason your steaming was not reaching the pork. I can't see how blanching would affect the toughness - its not as though you are trying to keep the pork tender by undercooking it. Sorry it was not more successful

The ovens are larger than a conventional domestic oven, much deeper, but not as large as a catering oven. 20lb turkey and all the trimmings no problem. Why they don't make them standard half sheet sizes I will never know. You can easily get six, maybe eight pans on the top.