jackal10

Doing it all yourself won't stop this, and if anything make it worse. For example most jam or pickle recipes make 10lbs or so, its not worth doing much less. Somehow you have to store the other 9lbs. Its a great relief to go to the shops and only buy a 1lb jar. Most crops come in gluts; you either have not enough or much too much. Even worse with livestock; chickens lay about an egg a day in season - even 3 or 4 hens lay a lot of eggs for a family. Cows produce gallons a day; when you slaugher and animal you have lots of meat, of which the prime roasts are only about 10%, so you have to find something to do with all that stewing meat. I hope you have big freezers. On the other hand you will know what went into the food, and can cook without compromise. If you want to do this it is much easier if you are in a community or large extended household and can share the gluts

Other side of London (north west). About an hour by tube to Dollis Hill Station. Next to the end of the No 52 bus route, which mighrt be the best way to get there from Kensington.

Corned beef here refers usually to a tinned product, often of South American origin. Doesn't have the saltpetre in it that Salt Beef does, so it is brown, not pink/red. Used in hash, but that is about all.

Nope. Once it is sugar it stays that way.

salt beef (UK) = Corned Beef (US) A traditional Ashkenazi Jewish delight. Beef, salt pickled, then long slow cooked. A bit like pastrami without the smoke. Eaten with Latkes, or best in a sandwich with rye bread, plenty mustard and full sour dill pickles. I second the suggestion for Blooms in Golders Green, , but its not the same as the original east end restaurant in the Mile End Road. Last time I went the waiters were almost polite, and the portions small enough to finish! Cue for Jewish restaurant jokes..

There is surprisingly little out there. I adapted this one from a sloe gin recipe in Dorothy Hartley's Food in England". Hugh Fearnley- Whittingstall reccomends using Vodka instead of gin, and gives a recipe in his "The River Cottage Cookbook" You may have seen the TV series. Its traditionally hedgrow stuff - blackberries work well too. I guess there must be professional books, but I've not fond any. The closest are books on food flavoring extractions, such as Merory "food flavourings, composition, extraction and use". Many natural food flavour concentrates start with an alcoholic extraction. There are odd chapters in home brew books, such as Suzanne Beedell "Wine Making and Home Brewing" (mine is Sphere books, 1969) Very old cookery books often have drink recipes, for example from Mrs Rundell "Domestic cookery by a Lady"(1869) Raspberry Brandy Pick fine fruit, put intoi a stone jar and the jar into a kettle of water or on a hot hearth till the juice run; strain and to every pint add half a pound of sugar, give one boil and skim it; when cold put equal quantities of juice and brandy, shake well and bottle. Some people prefer it stronger of brandy. In the previous century "English Housewifery" (Elizabeth Moxon 1790) advises (I quote directly, as I think copyright has expired! The letter s in the middle of a word was written as an f without the bar.) To make Rafberry Brandy: Take a gallon of the beft brandy you can get, and gather your rafberries when they are full ripe and put them whole into your brandy. To every gallon of brandy take three quarts of rafps, Let them ftand clofe and covered for a month, then clear it form the rafps, and put to it a pound of loaf fugar; when the fugar is diffolved and a little fettled bottle it and keep it for ufe. The book goes on to give reciepts for black cherry, lemon, ratafia (apricot kernal) brandy and cowslip cordial. Very old books such as "The Closet of the Eminently learned Sir Kenelm Digby, newly opened by his son (1669) have mead or metheglin (fruit mead) recipes. Cordials were made in the Still room, and you may find A Plain Plantain, a Still Room Book: Madam Susanna Avery, Her Book, May ye 12th Anno Domini 1688. There are still copies of the limited edition published by the Herb Growers Society in 1950 occaisionally available.

I used 40% gin (80 proof). A recent sad trend is for many famous Gins, like Gordons are now sold in lower strengths. If you can get a higher proof gin, like a Plymouth Gin (85 proof) then it will be all the better. However I find 100 proof too strong to drink without dilution. You need a small strongly flavoured cooking plum. Wild plums, like sloes or Bullaces work well.

New Tayyab (see numerous threads) Sabras in Willesden Green, NW10

Mnay thanks, but please don't send tins of pumpkin. It won't get here in time. Its available fresh, and I have some in the garden, so I'll puree a chunk, or leave it out - the filling is basically a spiced custard. The local Waitrose should indeed have tins of pumpkin, but doesn't, and besides its the other side of town (although they do deliver) The Libby's recipe calls for evaporated milk. Will cream plus some sugar substitute, or is it essential? It reminds me a bit of a traditional Norfolk treacle tart - the sort without the breadcrumbs

Dave, I'd love to see your long reply... Tinned pumpkin is practically unobtainable over here "No demand for it, Sir"

I'm suckered into providing desert for a Thanksgiving dinner. It has to be Pumkin pie. There is no recipe in the recipes section (only a cocktail, which is not the same), or doing a search Tricks (other than use tinned pumpkin), hints and tips? Special spice mixtures? Who has the best pumpkin pie recipe? One year I left out the pumpkin, heresy I know, but it seemed an improvement.

The Japenese make wonderful light pickles, which I love to eat, but am woefully ignorant about how to make. Can anyone help? A friend used to make lovely dilled carrots. Take small carrots, or carrot batons and put in a light pickle, like the Cucumber pickle in the unit, maybe diluted with more water to taste, in the refrigerator but only in the pickle for 24 hours. I guess you could do other crudite veg the same way. The carrots were not cooked first. You can also make cauliflower carpaccio - slice the cauliflower very thin, lay out on a plate, then dress with sea salt, vinegar and EVOO

Being in the UK I use King Edward. I guess Burbank Russet is the UK equivalent The worcester suace is not used in enough volume to make the crisps go soggy. Maybe the equivalent of a few shakes in a bag of chips, and then spread out to dry I'd love someone to try the diet coke dip before frying and report...

I like the gamey taste...I hope you have a big freezer. Two points: On a whole animal most of the meat is stewing or sausage or hamburger. It is only really the backstraps that are tender enough for steaks. Well, maybe the legs, but they have lots of tendons. Venison is a very dry meat, with very little fat. You will need to lard or add fatty pork to the hamburger or sausage.

Fantastic! I really look forward to this, having spent time there at Stanford and various computer companies down the bat. Please can you talk about the bread - is Acme Bakery still the best?

This is an example of the same word meaning two different things: In the UK chips mean french fries (as in fish and chips); the thin snack food fried potato things are called crisps, unless of course they are re-formed dehydrated potato starch, in which case they are called Pringles and the like. The snack food industry is a major business, and almost alchemy since it transforms a low cost raw material into something worth over 25 times as much, and comparable in price to gold. Slice, wash, dry, fry fairly slowly at 350F/175F-375F/180C dropping to 320F/160C-345F/178C Choice of variety is important, and late season potatoes, or ones that have been stored cold for some time will have more sugar content, and so darken quicker, and will need to be fried at lower temperatures to crisp before blackening. Some processors hot dip their chips (1 min at 150F) in an acid solution to help overcome this. Dry before frying. Solutions include citric acid, phosphoric acid, calcium chloride, sodium citrate, and sodium bisulfite, with or without citric acid (campden solution). I guess diet Coca Cola might work, since it features citric and phosphoric acids, but avoid the sugar in the real thing. Try straight black pepper as a flavour. Worcester sauce is good too.

Thanks. We are fortunate to have 5 acres of old orchard here, mostly apples, pears and plums, so the damson tree was here when we bought the property. I put in the quince tree a few years ago, and this is the first year it has had anything like a decent crop. Too good even, and I keep trying to find new uses for the Quinces - pickled, in pies, baked, jelly... I've never tried to candy peppers, but I guess it will depend heavily on variety. Some Jalapeno varieties have thicker walls than others, but most hot peppers have thin walls. You would also need a recipe that doesn't keep them in the sugar too long, so traditional glace fruit recipes, like the marron glace recipe would not work. I guess I'd try with red bell peppers, grilled, skinned and sliced, and then boiled in sugar syrup as in the grapefruit recipe but only for 10 minutes, with some hot peppers added for flavour.

Marron Glace are something I always buy. Its hard to make quality ones at home, and the process is time consuming and fiddly. They fall apart and you end up using the bits in chocolates, or chestnut balls, or Mont Blanc recipes, and the whole thing costs more in money, as well as time and frustration than buying in. I also find them too sweet. Peeling chestnuts is a pain, and difficult to keep the nut whole. When I need chestnuts to cook with, or for stuffing I buy the vacuum packed whole ready peeled nuts. Whole fresh nuts are best for roasting by a blazing fire, and eating with salt and loved ones... Since a quick Google doesn't reveal any reasonable recipes online (only ones packed in jars of syrup, which is not the same) here is a recipe adapted form HMSO Home Preservation of Fruit and Vegetables, that essential book referenced in the last unit. 2lb/1Kg sweet chestnuts 1lb/500g sugar 1 lb/500g glucose or dextrose 1 lb/500g additional sugar to glace vanilla pod Snip the tops off the chestnuts, and scald for 3 minutes then peel, including all the brown inner skin. Put into fresh cold water, and slowly bring to the boil, simmer until tender. Drain carefully The chestnuts need gentle handling, as they fall apart soon as look at them. Make a syrup from 1lb/500g sugar, the glucose, and 1/2 pt/ 300ml water. Bring to the boil, add the chestnuts (carefully), bring back to the boil Remove from the heat and leave, covered, until the next day. Next day bring back to the boil, uncovered, remove from the heat and cover, and leave until the next day The third day add a vanilla pod, or 8 drops of true vanilla essence, bring back to the boil, let get cold, and then take out the chestnuts very carefully and let drain on a wire rack over a tray or newspaper where the sticky drippings don't matter. Many of the chestnuts will have fallen apart, and you can either roll the bits into balls, or stir into good melted chocolate, or pass through a sieve to make Mont Blanc. Next day (day 4) Make a glace syrup with 1lb/500g sugar and 1/4 pt/150ml water, Bring the syrup to a boil, then keep warm. Put some in a cup, and individually dip in the chestnuts, before letting them dry on a rack. If the syrup goes cloudy throw it out and replace it with fresh warm syrup. Put the rack in a warm (100F/30C) dry place until dry, turning the marron occaisionally. Wrap up the marron invidually in something airtight, and store sealed, otherwise they will get damp. If the atmosphere is damp when drying they won't dry and will go mouldy. Good luck. Its a challenge, and not one I think worthwhile, when good marron can be bought.

They are all good. Depends how smoky and peaty you like it - they all have different tastes. If you are a new-comer to scotch I'd start with the Glenlivet, that traditionally is the best of the region.

Hard Sauce 4 oz (125g) unsalted butter, softened 4 oz (125g) caster or light brown sugar Juice of half a lemon 4 tbs rum or brandy Grating of nutmeg Cream or whizz the sugar and the butter, grate in a little nutmeg. Slowly beat in (or add to the whizzer) the liquids. Put in an attractive pot in the fridge. It will keep for several weeks. Traditional with Xmas pud, mince pies, and great on toast.

Cheese is an old english term for a concentrated fruit paste. Less concentrated (but more than jam) is is fruit butter Even more concentrated it becomes fruit leather. Traditionally fruit cheeses were made in plate-like disc, which were then stacked together with sugar and spices for winter storage, and I guess looked rather like an uncut cheese. There are also served like, and with, cheese for example on the cheese board. People cut slices to go on their bread. Membrillo is simply the Spanish for Quince. Dulce de Membrillo means sweets made of quince. Indirectly Marmelade is derived from the same word. Manchego, or any sharp cheese is indeed a match made in heaven for quince paste. Even better is a blue cheese such as aged Stilton. That is stellar.

There is the old story of the tourist who asked for newts in one of the fancier London hotel dining rooms. "I'm sorry Sir", replied the impeccable head waiter "While we try to satisfy our guest's needs, newts are out of season at the moment. I believe it is the breeding season" "What is all this about breeding season?" the tourist spluttered "I wanted a bottle of Newts St George""

I'm stunned by the silence. The unit has been up for 12 hours or so Wot, no questions? No comments on the food porn pix, or the Satanic overtones of Xmas food and customs?

Inserting batons of fat into the meat. Used to help dry meats. You can get special needles like skewers, but with a clamp arrangement at the blunt end to take the strip of fat. You can do it with a thin knife like a boning knife and some care. Helps if the fat is cold. If you use bacon its called "barding".

Pheasant should ideally be hung in the feather for a week or so. This time of year just plain roast is good. Lots of butter, and cover the breast with bacon. 30 mins in a hot oven. Serve with bread sauce, game chips, redcurrant or cranberry, brissel sprouts and a good burgundy