jackal10

This is known as Potage Dubarry in classical cuisine. Escoffier's recipe [my additions in square brackets]: Parboil 1lb of califlower divided into bunches Drain them and put them in a saucepan with 1pt boiled milk and 2 medium size potatoes for the thickening. Set to cook gently, and [when soft] rub though a tammy [puree and sieve]. Finish with boiled milk, despumate [skim] [season] and add butter. Garnish with bread dice fried in butter The soup may also be prepared as a veloute [cooked with stock, finished with a liason of egg yolks and cream. Proportions for 2pts soup are 1 pt stock, 1/2pt vegetable puree, 3 eggs and 1/4pt cream, 2oz butter], or as a cream [1lb puree; 1 1/4 pts bechamel, thin with chicken stock to consistency desired, finish with cream] Personally I like Escoffier's original for its simplicity. Roasted cauliflower soup, IMHO, is something different, in both taste, texture and colour. Browning the cauliflower by roasting or frying first means that the caramelised caullifower taste is more dominant, the cauliflower has less water in it and is tougher to puree. It is better suited for "brown" soups - beef rather than chicken stock, brown roux or espagnole rather than bechamel. An onion based recipe works well, starting with roast cauliflower, and using beef stock to dilute to puree rather than milk. 1 lb onions peeled and chopped 1/4 lb butter 1 lb cauliflower florets Sweat the onions in the butter without colouring. Put the cauliflower on top. Add 1 large glass sherry [and some soy]. Cover with greasproof paper and a lid. Sweat slowly for an hour. Puree. Dilute with water or beef stock to consistency. Season generously Swirl with cream. Croutons, chopped chives.

Confit. Rub the thighs with salt, thyme, pepper, garlic, spices. Leave for half an hour (or as long as you like) in the fridge. Wash off the salt etc Immerse in fat of choice (preferably duck or goose, but you can use butter or even oil) and cook slowly for a long time 140F 2 hours. Drain. Lots of ways to serve: - with a warm salad - bacon bits, garlic croutons, eggs - with saute potatos, or just mashed - with a bean puree - on lentils - shredded , wrapped in lettuce leaf or pancake, chinese duck style etc etc

I'd second the Ram Jam Inn suggestion, unless you want to divert for lunch at Hambelton Hall itself.

I was involved with a restaurant where the food was great, but the presentation plain. We sold it and the sucessors served average food but great presentation - two colour sauces squiggled together on the plate, caramel hats, synchronised cloche lifting, the lot. Attendance (and revenue) doubled. Talking to the chef he pointed out that most people did not have trained palates, but wanted food which they could not prepare easily at home.. Thus they select visually. Squiggling two sauces on a plate is easy for a restaurant (thanks to squeeze bottles) but a fuss for home cooking

Many examples of presentation affecting taste, by setting expectations. A recent example are Heston Blumenthal's Beetroot plus Tartaric Acid jellies tasting of beetroot or of blackcurrant depending on context.

I think my expectations are set by context. I've had great fish and chips out of newspaper, but I'd expect different sort of fish and chips at a fine dining establishment, unless it done for a joke (Bibas, in Boston, for example printed their own newspaper). I'd hope the presentation and the accompanyments were intended to enhance the experience. All too often, however they are just there for show, or a random selection: "Our chefs steak with pineapple and chocolate sauce, garnished with strawberries, dried apple slices, and potato wafers" No thanks, just send it palin.

If its served with too big a scowl, or the evironment is filthy, I may not return, no mater how great is the meat. Also the way I like my meat is unlikely to be the way you like yours. Edit to add Plotnicki point: How can you claim that well marbled with a good strip of fat is the only true steak? That slim young thing that has come to the restaurant disagrees. For her its no visible fat that makes the ideal staek. We can disagree about her taste, but she has that right.

"There should be no dispute as to what great meat is. In fact the meat industry has set up objective standards for meat to be measured by. Yet you will still hear diners insist that inferior meat tastes better to them. " There is lots of debate as to what great meat is. To take FG's example, I'm not sure we can, or should, all agree exactly what makes a great or even good steak. Yes, we can agree some parameters, like it should not give us food poisoning, but even then what is well hung to some is plain bad to others. Some like to see their raw meat bright red, others prefer an oxidised outer crust, indicative of long hanging. I like my meat free-range and slow grown, and I'm prefer for it to be a little tougher because of that, and what I think is extra flavour. Others prefer their steak like butter, and don't mind the chemicals and growth promoters to make it so. The meat industry's standards represent one set of choices, or maybe just parameters against which those choices can be made. I like my meat well marbled, others abhor any fat at all. Steak has lots of parameters: What cut? How well done? I like my steak blue, which puts me in the minority. Presentation is also a matter of choice. Personally I prefer a great steak plain, well maybe some frites, and preferably outdoors, near the fire that cooked it in the evening of a perfect day. Others insist on sauces, garnishes, or half a pound of salad, and their ideal dining experience involves starched linen, Lous XV imitation chairs and candelabra. The ambience sets the context and expectation for the steak. If we want to compare we need to narrow the parameters down.

There may not be a single "correct" recipe, but rather a range of recipies. Half a pound of salt might always be wrong, just as no salt might be, but whether the correct amount is 1 tsp or 2 tsp can depend on context and personal taste. Are ths scrambled eggs being served on toast? If so is the toast buttered, and is there salt in the butter? Is there a side of bacon. or smoked salmon? or a kipper? Is there a side salad? What is being drunk? What comes before, and after? Thus for absolute specificy you need to describe the complete meal, and possibly the one before as well. Even then you can only specify it for one person, and then only for one time. My physiology may need more salt than yours, since I just exercised and sweated a lot.

I think your understanding of the basic physiology of taste perception is wrong We are wired for AC, not DC. We are much better at percieving differences in taste, rather than absolutes. You can do simple experiments to show this: after tasting something with more salt the same solution will taste less salty. Your salty soup may not be too salty in context. Different people like different amounts of salt (or anything else). Smokers often like more. Like colour, although you can measure some absolute value, like mg/ltr for salt, or wavelength for colour its perception is relative and subjective. Hence the skill of the chef. Hence also why we might differ in which chef's food, or restaurant critics opinion we prefer. Our perception of food is also cultural. I prefer nothern European foods: pig, smoke, dill, etc. My partner prefers the southern range of tastes: EVOO, garlic, tomato, marjoram. Makes menu planning difficult. Maybe we can agree on execution of a particular dish: cassoulet rather than pork'n'beans. Maybe we should only judge on a complete meal.

This was before Ebay Yes, I threw it away, after it had taken up shed space for some years. I tried giving it away, but no takers. I guess it was a previous model, in brown and cream. I remember it was quite expensive, but nothing like $800. It was basically a liquidiser with a built-in heating plate. It was claimed you could make better sauces, like hollandaise because of the more accurate temperature control. Not for me, and besides the amount of hollandaise we made did not justify it.

I had one, and threw it away. Still got the manual somewhere. I could not get on with it, Seemed to me it did nothing well, and what it did do I could do easier with a saucepan and a spoon.

Not being an American, I prefer my PB&J lubricated with mayo, or even better Heinz's Original Sandwich Spread.. It also helps if you spread the bread with Marmite first. Thus the definitive PB&J is Jam: home-made grape jelly or high fruit raspberry. Some hertics like Marmelade Sandwich Spread Peanut Butter (crunchy, organic, no sugar) Marmite Sourdough bread

While it is true that in part "we eat with our eyes", I think you can over-emphasise presentation at the expense of taste. Surely taste should be the primary element, in turn composed of the five basic tastes (including Umani), and odour/perfume, supported by what it looks like. This is taken to extremes in the cheats in most food photography - that is not a fully roast chicken, but parcooked, painted and with drops of glycerine. The steam is dry ice. Looks great, but I wouldn't want to eat it. I understand the real food would look awful under the lights, but it is still a cheat. I also prefer food to look of itself, unless deliberately misleading as a joke. I abhor meaningless garnishes, for example, like the stray mint leaf or parsley branch, or even the carved carrot. I hate it when the chef has thought more about what the plate looks like, rather than what it tastes like I would therefore re-arrange your preferences: 66% Taste, including interest factor 33% Visual presentation 33% Service: right temperature, and not to long a wait.

More seriously, until recently beef on the bone was illegal because of supposed possible contamination from mad cow prions. Similarly oxtail. Many butchers continued to sell it, however (you asked for "special sausages") and eventually sense prevailed. Then there is the tale of Henry Eddington and the excellent Lanark Blue cheese. Health inspectors arbitarily condiscated it on suspicion of contamination with Lysteria, and shut down not only his business, but also the cheesemongers who had purchased and stored it. Court cases followed, and Mr Errington was vindicated, but alas, delays in payment and the general hassle meant that the businesses, I believe, never recovered. A sad example of the power of faceless beurocrats of the state. No doubt now anyone purchasing middle eastern food, or flatbreads, will be subject to state scrutiny, such as that of the the Total Information Awareness Program run by John Poindexter of the CIA. Brave New World, here we come.

ALice B Toklas's fudge? "This is the food of paradise - of Baudelaire's Artificial Paradises: it might provide an entertaining refreshment for a Ladies' Bridge Club or a chapter meeting of the DAR [Daughters of the American Revolution, a notoriously conservative sorority]. In Morocco it is thought to be good for warding off the common cold in damp winter weather and is, indeed, more effective if taken with large quantities of hot mint tea. Euphoria and brilliant storms of laughter; ecstatic reveries and extensions of one's personality on several simultaneous planes are to be complacently expected. Almost anything Saint Theresa did, you can do better if you can bear to be ravished by un evanouissement reveille [a sense of fainting while awake]."

Challah is a lot more work than sourdough - all that braiding. Sourdough is about 5 minutes actual work, and a lot of waiting. There is a festival tradition, for example for Rosh Hashonnah (New Year) of adding honey, and a little dired fruit and peel to the challah dough for a sweet year. Matzohs might be an answer, though.

Thanks. I have those books. My expert is Ian Duffy, formerly of the San Franciso Baking Institute, now at Cook Naturally, the flour producers, I believe. I think he has some connection with Acme Bakery as well. I still think a sourdough will serve your purpose. A sourdough loaf will stay fresh for some days, and just needs slicing. You can refresh the starter and make the dough one morning, and it will hold in the fridge either until that evening or the next day, or even the day after - it is not fussy when cold. I assume your oven gets hot enough, but you may need some bricks or a pizza stone or a cloche to bake the breads. If your chef can slash it put it in the oven and spritz it, and leave it alone for an hour, then it can be cooked that day, otherwise when you get in next day or next time. The loaf will serve a couple of days. Two, say one plain and one fancy, like walnut and raisin should be more than adequate You could even make a show of it, slicing hunks off a big wheel of a loaf at table. A big loaf doesn't need so hot an oven, either, although longer to bake.

I salute your experience and expertise! I'd appreciate your comments on my recipe. If they can't match the quality, then buying in is the best option. I guess what most resort to in your position is to use part-baked breads. Ther are some quite adequate ones available, although a good palate will always detect them. That or breadsticks!

I've added my Sourdough recipe to the archive From a batch of sourdough you can make: Raisin and Walnut Sundried Tomato Olive Dill and Onion 5-Seed etc, with some as rolls, and some as loaves, and sliced. if anyone needs sourdough starter email me. I should be able to supply, providing the demand is not too great. Mine is fairly mild.

Sourdough bread and variants Serves 1. My daily bread...fragrant tastes of the yeast and the grain, crisp crackiling crust. This seems straightforward, but contains the results of years of experimentation and optimisation. Sourdough starters can be bought from many places on the web, or beg some from a local bakery, or make your own by leaving out a mix of flour and water until it goes bubbly, and then follow the refreshing process described four or five times. To refresh the starter 1 c sourdough starter, out of the fridge from last time, or from a friendly source 1 c flour 1 c water For the dough 1 c refreshed sourdough starter 2-1/2 c flour 1-1/2 c water 2 tsp salt Sourdough Bread Instructions Refresh the Starter Mix together starter, flour, and water. It should be the consistency of very thick cream Allow to stand in a warm (85F) place for 4 hours. Should be bubbly. Temperature is fairly critical, as it affects the ratio of yeast to lactobacillus, and hence the sourness of the bread. Any hotter and you start to kill the yeast; colder and it is not as sour and takes longer to rise. Put half the starter back in the pot in the fridge for next time. Ideally should be refreshed (this process) once a week or so, but will keep more or less indefinitely in a closed container in the fridge. May separate into two layers, but just stir them together. If you haven’t used it for a long time refresh it as above a couple of times first to restore the vigour. Doesn’t freeze well, but can be dried for a reserve supply. If you need to ship it, make some into a lasagne sheet, For best results always use the same flour, so the bugs can get used to it. Need not be fancy. Some people keep separate starters for white and for wholemeal. I use a white unbleached flour, which has added Vitamic C as an improver, otherwise you can add 1/2tsp Vitamic C (Ascorbic acid) but it is not critical. Make the Dough Whizz together refreshed starter, flour and water in a food processor for 20 sec. You can knead by hand (10 minutes by the clock), but a food processor is much easier. Should make a softish dough. The wetter the dough the bigger the holes in the final bread. Different flours need different amounts of water – add more water or flour to get the right consistency. Leave for 30 mins. Add the salt and whiz for another 20 sec, or knead for another 10 mins. You add the salt after an initial fermentation period as salt jams the amylisation of starch to sugars to feed the yeast. Leave for 2 hours or so in a warm (85F) place. Turn out onto a floured board. Handle gently - don't knok all the air out. Shape and put upside down into a cloth lined basket (called a banneton). Put into the fridge, covered with a cloth, overnight. The dough is soft, so needs the support of the basket. You could cook it after letting it rise for a hour or so, but its easier to handle, less critical in timing and gives a better crust if you keep it in the fridge (retardation) for between 8 and 24 hours. When you are ready to bake the dough heat the oven as hot as it will go. If you have one, put a pizza stone or a layer of quarry tiles on the shelf to provide bottom heat. Heat the oven at least an hour before you want to bake to allow time to stabilise. Best if you take the dough out of the fridge an hour before you cook it. When ready to cook turn the dough out onto a baking sheet and remove the cloth. Slash the top firmly with a very sharp knife. Professional bakers use a razor blade on a stick. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a good colour. You might need to turn it after 30 mins. Let the bread cool to warm before you slice it. (hard to do). For a better crust, put an empty pan in the bottom of the oven and pour a cup of boiling water into it after you have put the bread in the oven. (care: hot steam), and shut the door quickly. The idea is to provide a burst of steam, which gelatinises the outside of the dough. Professional ovens have steam injection for this purpose. Alternatively (but not as good) you can paint the bread with water before it goes in the oven, or use a garden sprayer. I’d advise practicing plain white bread before trying variations. When you get that right you can get fancier: Flavours and additions: Add with the salt, but you might want to hand-knead them in – the food processor chops them a bit fine. Onions (soften in butter first), Hazelnuts, walnuts Olives, Sun-dried tomatoes Caraway seeds Dill weed Raisins Smarties or M&Ms Seeds: Pumpkin, sunflower, sesame Crust variants: Dust the cloth lining with flour before putting in the bread Brush with milk or cream Brush with egg glaze (egg yolk+milk) Toppings: Porridge oats Muesli Poppy seeds Sesame seeds Cheese Flour variants: I’d recommend only using 1/3rd-1/2 with plain strong white flour Wholemeal (will not rise as much) Granary (has added malt) Rye flour (makes a sticky dough) For dark rye add 1 Tbs black treacle (molasses). Some like caraway seeds Spelt (ancient wheat) Poilane is reputed to use 1/5th Spelt. “Mighty White” (steamed, corned grains) Sweet bread: add sugar and butter with the fruit. Saffron for Easter. Keywords: Bread ( RG263 )

Mincemeat (as in Xmas tarts) Strudel Fruitcake

Halibut (or any firm fish) poached with egg and lemon sauce is traditional in my family For the sauce: Beat the rind and juice of 2 lemons with 3 egg yolks, over a bainmaire. Gradually add 3/4pt fish stock (from poaching the fish). Cook and stir until thickened. Arrange the fish, half hard boiled eggs if liked, and pour over the sauce. Sprinkle with chopped parsley. Serve cold.

Many "country" liqueurs: I have made with some success: Sloe Gin (only one I make regularly- the trick is to freeze the sloes before adding the gin and sugar) Damson Gin Nocino - walnut liqueur (from"Leaves from the Walnut Tree" - Taruschio) Flavoured vodkas - lemon (leave lemon peel in the vodka bottle for a week); pepper; Rumtopf The juice from cherries in brandy I agree that Cynar is disgusting. Nobody has mentioned Grappa or the Alcohol blancs (such as Framboise), or varieties of Schnapps (Doppelkorn for me), or the various Marcs...so much to try...

Motza Gateau: Soak matzos in kosher wine. Sandwich 4 layers with chocolate buttercream, Slice into small pieces, Cinamon balls: Ground almonds 6oz Cinnamon 2 Tbs Castor sugar 8oz Whites of 3 eggs Mix together, roll into balls with et hand. Put on baking paper, slow oven (350F) until set - 20 mins They will spread a bit, but should be crisp on the oustide and gooey in the middle. Roll in icing (confectioners) sugar Use the yolks for Coconut Pyramids, Mix with 1/2lb dessicated coconut. Form into pyramids. Bake in a moderate oven until the tops brown We always had Halibut with Egg and Lemon sauce, as well as cold fried fish - Matzo meals is better than breadcrumbs for a coating ("So which will you have, the boiled or the fried fish?" "The boiled fish please" "So what's wrong with the fried fish?") Have we had the firm vs fluffy Kneidlach/Matzo Kleis debate yet? With parley and/or onion or without?