jackal10

Adding a pinch of salt to these summertime drinks makes them much more refreshing. Something to do with being isotonic and replacng the salt lost through sweating

Cool! Do you have the equipment for this? Is that so bad? Its just an alternative format of carrier, like the mayo. You can add flavourings - port, mustard, bitter orange (think cumberland sauce) before foaming

Tiles have two purposes: 1) They act as heat reservoirs, evening out the variations as the thermostat controlled heating element cuts in and out. Modern ovens don't have enough mass to give the gentle even heat of old fashioned brick ovens. 2) The help the bottom of the loaf or tart cook. You would not want a soggy bottom. However they only do this if they are in contact with it, either directly or with the tin directly on the tiles. Steam is different. For bread, a burst of superheated steam at the very beginning of the bake gelatanises the outside of the dough and gives better crust formation. The steam must be very hot. In the old days this was achieved from the wet mop coming into contact with the hot stones on the oven floor, an then the steam from the other loaves baking. One way to replicate this is to splash water onto the hot tiles when you put the bread in, or if you are afraid of cracking them, put an empty cast iron skillet on the tiles when you light the oven, let it get very hot , and throw a cup of water into it after you put the dough in, and slam the door. The water vapourises immediately. !Caution! Hot steam! Most modern ovens are ventilated, so the steam comes straight out, but it will have done the job. The surface of the dough will look sticky and shiny. You can achieve a similar efect by spraying water into the oven from a garden mister, where the hot walls of the oven turn it into steam, or painting the bread with water before putting it in the oven (not as good). You may want to remove the glass oven light, as they can crack from the thermal shock. Steam during the first part of the bake is said to assist in rise by keeping the outside flexible, otherwise the crust will form too early and holds the bread down, but I don't believe this, especially if the loaf is properly slashed. You can achieve both of these effects by using an oven cloche. such as Sassafras's "La Cloche". King Arthur carries both round and oblong versions. The ceramic base retains the heat, and the cover keeps the steam in. For domestic ovens, they really are worthwhile and work well. For tiles, as mentioned above, use a pizza stone, unglazed quarry tiles, or engineering bricks, but a cloche is easier and better.

Delicious on its own. Full of meaty Unami. I guess it doesn't need any more gelatine, seasoning, soy, sherry, port etc. Clarify it. Let it set hard. Cut it into cubes or lozenges. Serve with the brisket. You could foam it. You can make a sort of salad dressing emulsion, but that uses a more dilute stock. Stock, EVOO ( two of oil to one of stock), mustard plus what you want: honey, garlic, soy, seasoning, capers etc. Shake well

You can make very nice Latkes by just grating the potato and the raw onion together, mix, season, and shallow fry tablespoons full in hot oil. No need of Matzo meal or eggs. Other suggestions: Sag Aloo (Potato and spinach) Pommes Dauphinoise ( slice potatos, bring to boil in milk, seasoning, bay leaf. Pour into shallow dish, dot with butter, bake until brown) Jansen's Temptation: as above but with lots of salted anchovy's included Flavoured mashed (garlic, curry, horseradish etc) Heston Blumenthal's Mashed potato with lime jelly Chip butties Potato pie (cubed potato, good gravy, pie crust) Leek and potato pie. Cheese optional Leek and potato soup/vichysoisse

Easiest is a parmesan tuile - just make a circle of grated parmesan on a silpat or non-stick baking parchment. Hot oven for a bout a minute until melted and beginning to brown. Cool. Done.

Baby fava beans, shelled and skinned

Amataur or professional? For constant use, bench mounted, not much beats a Bonzer. Any good catering supplier should have them (at least in the UK). Blades are replaceable as well. For the ordinary cook you want one of the newish type that cuts through the side, not the top of the can,and rolls the edge so as not to leave it sharp. Personally I prefer a hand held one (e.g. Good Grips), as I don't open many cans, but you can get wall mounted equivalents. I don't think electric ones are worthwhile. The effort they save is minimal, and they tend to be a bit inflexible, and awkward to clean.

I hear a rumour that Jamie has bought the former "Town and Gown" pub in Cambridge. Can anyone confirm or deny?

My copy of Nero Wolfe Cookbook is the 1981 Penguin edition. Essential Americana, and my first reference for American recipes. The recipes are really quite good. Anyone know who really wrote it? Favourites include Corn Fritters with Thyme Honey, and, of course, Shad Roe...

Perfect. Thanks.

Getting into full production. Surfeit of goosberries Picked the red and white currants before the pigeons got them - made jelly (12oz sugar to 1/2 pt juice) Strawberries Potatos First tomatos Fava beans Lettuce Swiss Chard Sorrel Planted out leeks and celery (module sown). Still have lots of plants needing a good home. Cucumbers are going into overdrive. Anyone with a good pickling recipe for new green?

Given that they are frozen you want recipes that stress the taste rather than the texture. Lobster souffle Lobster bisque Pasta (as mentioned) Quenelle Mousse Layered with vegetables in a cold terrine etc

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) on Salad. It is usually only the last two lines that get quoted Serenely full, the epicure would say, "Fate cannot harm me, I have dined to-day." but the full poem is full of delicious lines. Makes a good salad dressing as well. TO make this condiment, your poet begs The pounded yellow of two hard-boiled eggs; Two boiled potatoes, passed through kitchen sieve, Smoothness and softness to the salad give. Let onion atoms lurk within the bowl, And, half suspected, animate the whole. Of mordant mustard add a single spoon, Distrust the condiment that bites so soon; But deem it not, thou man of herbs, a fault, To add a double quantity of salt. Four times the spoon with oil from Lucca brown, And twice with vinegar procured from town; And, lastly, o'er the flavored compound toss A magic soupcion of anchovy sauce. O, green and glorious! O herbaceous treat! 'T would tempt the dying anchorite to eat: Back to the world he'd turn his fleeting soul, And plunge his fingers in the salad bowl! Serenely full, the epicure would say, "Fate cannot harm me, I have dined to-day." (NB Oil of Lucca = EVOO Onion Atoms. I'd use crushed garlic)

Lots of good places in the country outside. Prime country house hotels. In no particular order Charlton House at Shepton Mallet (GFG 6). I used to have a company in the old malthouse opposite, and the palce is much improved. Homewood Park at Hinton Charterhouse (GFG 4) Hunstrete House, Hunstrete (GFG 4)

Chip butties

I took to market (the local MDA garden party) Fresh bread baked in the wood oven: Baguettes, Organic white sourdough, olive, sun-dried tomato, light rye, dark rye, onion Goosberries Potatos: Arran Pilot (first early); Salad Blue Plants: Tomato (Fireworks, Gold Cherry); Basil; Thyme; Sage; Hollyhock;Chrysanths (Yellow Biarritz) They all sold. The bread sold like, well, hot bread...

I'm tempted, but it would need to be for two, and we'd also have to make the logistics work...

Ch. Cissac, and, under the same ownership Ch. Plince

Peg Bracken's "I hate to cook book" ..." Fancy ingredients are replaced by cans of condensed soup, baked beans, and crushed corn flakes"... Sweep Steak 2-3 lbs. of a cheap roast, or blade steak 1 package onion soup mix Put the meat on a big sheet of aluminum foil. Sprinkle the soup mix on top & fold the foil, airtight, around it. Put in a baking pan & bake at 300 degrees F. for 3 hours (or 200 degrees F. for 9 hours; it doesn't matter). If desired, open it up an hour or so before it's done & surround it with potatoes & carrots. Also, you can pour 1 can of undiluted condensed mushroom soup on over the onion soup mix. Makes a nice gravy.

Chocolate Digestives (dark, not milk) Bath Olivers Oatcakes (even Duchy Originals) Jaffa cakes Ryvita Weetabix

Are you really set on doing it in a pit? Spit roasting is much easier IMHO. Protect your drive with a thick (6 inch) layer of sand first. You can then either build a southern style BBQ pit with concrete blocks(see How to cook hawgs...) or Hire a BBQ oven or Make a fire box from either half an old oil barrel, or a couple or wheel barrows (more sand to protect the bottom), A spit from a length of scaffolding, Drill a couple of holes to help secure the pig A support for the spit so it is about 4 ft over the fire - I use a pair of builders trestles. Something (like scaffolding clamps) to stop - the pig turning on the spit - holding the spit to the support. It needs to be able to support the out-of-balance pig, even when hot and greasy, but be capable of being loosened so the spit can turn. Corrugated iron, or even just foil to surround the whole contraption and act as a roof to keep the rain off, and the heat in. About 12 hours before you want to eat light two small fires at each end. Pigs have most of the meat at the legs and shoulders, and these are the parts you need to cook, without burning the bit in between.. Put the spit though the pig and wire it on to the spit securely. Everything will get hot and greasy, and you don't want the pig to slip. Rub the pig with salt, EVOO Score the skin with a very sharp knife so the crackling can be broken up. Insert meat themometer into the thickest part. Put the pig over the fire. Surround with something to keep the heat in, if you can. Its not like a grill. You are cooking in a very gentle oven, for a long time, so the heat can penetrate the thickness of the meat. It needs to be high enough above the fire not to scortch from the fat flares. Not much will happen for quite a while. Drink some beer. Rotate the pig by 90 degrees every 15 minutes or so. Check the fire at the same time. You will need about 10 sacks of charcoal for a 100lb pig. Small fires at each end work best. Drink some more beer...eventually the pig will be cooked. Remove it to a where you can carve. Serve in hamburger buns, with sage-and-onion stuffing, apple sauce, mustard, and more beer. Allow about 1lb of pig per person, as you will have a lot of waste (bones etc). Enjoy Get help with the clean-up next day.

Weasand is wind-pipe or esophogus, Used as a sausage casing, and hence the name for a type of sausage. Bring back Tripe! I bought a copy of Veraswamy's Indian Cookery on a charity stall at the weekend. He gives a recipe for Tripe Curry...

Distinguish between Sheperd's pie: Made with lamb, or even better mutton (hence sheperd), mashed potato topping, fork marks to look like thatch and Cottage pie: Beef, overlapping rounds of potatoes like tiles. While we are on the subject: Proper suet pastry based puddings: steak-and-oyster, sussex pond, kentish well, marmelade, ginger bacon and leek roly poly.. Irish stew Dumplings

Yes, that is the English edition.