jackal10

Check the eGCI course on Sourdough, and Dan Lepard's baking day for illustrated recipes. Dan makes wonderful Pugeliese, Foccachio, etc Any requests for follow up bread courses next year? Possibiliites might include Ciabbata Pannetone Pumpernickel Rye Challa Croissants Hot cross buns... What else?

Well done Squeat! One of the better blogs...

Is Gravy Master like Bisto? ("Ahh...Bisto!"as the adverts have it). Cornflour, sugar, salt, caramel and MSG? I prefer to add mine from Maderira and dark Soy (about a Tbs each); I also prefer flour thickened gravy, well cooked out, to cornflour. Cornflour is great for chinese food, but leads to a sort of too tranparent gravy. Flour adsorbs the fat for the roast better, somehow. Stay with roux or Beurre Manie.

Kettner's "Book of the Table" (1877; my reprint is 1968; Amazon says it is about to be re-published, but both originals and reprints are available secondhand via www.bookfinder.com) devotes 3 pages to the (doubtful) derivation of Bisque. The earliest example is in Varenne (1685) where a bisque refers to a browny pink stew of wood pigeons ( biset) , with a ragout dressing. The colour was derived from crayfish, and over time the original meaning, and the pigeons were lost, and anything of about that colour (such as unfired pottery) was called bisque, but especially cream of crayfish. So to be a bisque, strictly it should be a cream soup of an browny/orange/pink colour, with chunks of the principal ingredient floating in it. Campbell's tomato bisque has tomato pieces in it; Cream of tomato is smooth.

That seems hot! I'd use 65C/150F to hold at, and even then fish and meat will continue to cook. Needs to be hot enough to prevent bugs multiplying, but cool enough to handle and not to cook the food off too much. If you are reheating from cold, you need to build this into the design of the dish/sauces. Maybe there are better ways to do it, such a dip into boiling water, or hot assemble, or even the dreaded micro. Oven re-heating tends to dry things out.

You might like to review the pan sauces section of the famous eGCI Non-stock sauces unit.

All will be revealed on the 20th Nov in the massive EGCI Potato primer. Salad Blue, Salad Red and Arran Pilot (first early), all grown in my vegetable plot. The red and blue are old varieties rescued by Heligan Gardens and sold as microplants by Mr Fothergill and other specialist suppliers. They keep their colour best if dry cooked: fried, microwaved or steamed

Make a chestnut loaf. Essentially chestnut stuffing cooked seperately from the turkey. The meat eaters can have it as a stuffing, the veggies as thier main protein. Use pre prepared chestnut for ease. 1lb chestnuts (2 tins of can whole) 1lb breadcrumbs or cooked potato Large Onion sliced, sauteed in best butter Garlic, sage if liked Seasoning 2 eggs, beaten Mushrooms roughly chopped (preferably wild, or shitake, or re-hydrated dried morel) very optional Mix together. If you include mushrooms you might consider a drizzle of truffle oil Pack into a non-stick or baking parchment lined loaf tin.Bake in a moderate oven for an hour. Turn out. Make a good gravy with the soaking water from the mushrooms, soy, maderia, and thickened somewhat with flour or cornflour. You can decorate it (either before you put in the mixture, or layered into the mixture, or after cooking) with carrot batons, bay leaves, thyme sprigs, cranberries etc

Amen! However all that butter makes them too greasy. The bread and cheese sandwich (untoasted) should be placed in the Aga toaster and sandwiched between the simmering plate and its lid. The boiling plate is too hot, and the bread blackens bfoe the cheese melts. Worcester sauce adsorbed into the bread first is permitted, even encouraged. Home made green tomato chutney (from the egCI Autumn and Festive Preserves Unit is good too.

I went to an Indian store (the wonderful Nasreen Dar store) near the office of one of my companies, where I was today. Besided Urad Dal, I picked up two instant mixes, made by Gits (unfortunate name for a brand in the UK). However they seem to have semolina and other different ingredients, although the pictures on the packet, and the method are similar: Rava Idli contents Semolina and Lentils, hydrogenated vegtable oil, cashew nuts, raising agents, citric acid, dhy green chilis, dehy curry leaves, dried ginger powder, fenugreek powder, aesfoetida powder, E 320) Rava Dosai contents: Semolina flour, rice flour, hydrogenated vegetable oil, citric acid, sodiun bicarbonate, sesame seed powder, cumin E320 How can this be?

Fingers. That is why a silver fingerbowl with warm water, and maybe a lemon slice or a few rose petals is brought to table. It is brought to table with your asparagus isn't it? Btw it is not corrrect to drink from the fingerbowl despite the Queen Victoria story.

Worcester sauce is often traditionally added to toasted cheese. I always do. It even features in the Lea and Perrins adverts Marmite is pretty good too.

Glad it worked OK. Pips are the seeds. Apple jelly on dark rye is a good combination..

Seven loaves Two fishes 4000 people

Depends on the apples. I like mine still in one piece. I scarecly cook it on the stovetop at all. I just turn the apple around in the hot caramel on the stove so that they are coated, then whack on the top and put it in a hot oven until the top browns - 20 mins or so Get the caramel fairly dark, otherwise it is too sweet.

Mulled wine

This is my thousand'th post!!

I've not made it myself but I guess hot, sweet and if vinegar is added sour, but otherwise fairly neutral, sort of a solid chilli sweet sauce. Perhaps others can say. I belive it is a staple in in Southern US

Amazing! I love the dosa's. How can I get white Urad dal in the UK, other than ethnic shops? Does it go by any other name, or have an anglicised name? Can anything else be substituted?

Pattern recognition of bubble chamber tracks, but I never finshed writing it up...

Oops The amount is 1pt/750mls vinegar. The best kidney suet (the fat from around the kidneys of beef carcases) should be available from a good old-fashioned butcher that does their own cutting. Cheap too, since its essentially a by-product. The short answer for meat in mincemeat is to add cooked chopped beef tongue, in the same weight as suet. For a very long answer I have posted some historic recipes, such as those of Sir Kenelm Digby of 1669 in the thread om Mincemeat pies.

Many thanks claire. That is really great! If you are having trouble with pix email them to me and I can upload them.

No, I'm British, but much the same applies. Particularly good tinned salmon sandwiches, on thin brown bread, were served in the Tea Room of the old Cavendish Laboratories, the physics department of the University of Cambridge, and where I did my PhD, and where many discoveries were made, including that of Crick and Watson of the double helix structure of DNA. The rumour was the sandwiches were provided under a trust fund established by Professor Bragg from his Nobel prize money, to provide sustenance for staff and students who had worked through lunch.

Mildly edited, and taken in turn from a possibly edited version of "The boke of Cury" dozen is spelt differently - possibly from several cooks. Also my typing at this time of night is not the best Conys are diferent from rabbetts somehow.

Great Feast of Sept 23, 1387 given by King Richard and the Duke of Lancaster 14 Oxen lying in Salte 20 Oxen ffresh 120 hedes of sheep fressh 120 carcas of sheep fressh 120 bores 14 calvys 140 pigges 300 maribones of lard and grece, ynough 3 ton (barrels) of salt veneson 3 does of ffresh venison 50 swannes 210 gees 50 capons of hi grece 8 dozen other capons 60 dussen hens 400 conyngges (rabbit) 4 fesauntes 5 herons and bitores 6 kiddes 5 dozen pullayn for gely (pullets for jelly) 12 dousan to roast 100 dousen peions (pigeons) 12 dozen partrych 8 dozen rabettes 12 dosen curlews 12 cranes wilde fowle ynough 100 galons milke 12 galons creme 11 galons of cruddes (curds) 12 bushels of appelles 11 thousand egges