jackal10

I was one of the founders of Midsummer House, and converted it from a private house, although I now have no connection, other than to eat there. The "M" logo was designed for us by David Kindersley. If you turn it upside down it's my initials (JAL)... Nice to see the place improving so...may it continue to go from strength to strength. Cambridge is a difficult place for restaurants. Despite being in a reasonably prosperous area, not many people dine out regularly (other then in College), and few of them have any sort of palate, so part of a restaurant's job is to educate as well as entertain.. Jack P.S>The easist way to get to Midsummer House is over the footbridge from Pretoria Road..

Naturally yours: Naturally yours website] Good organic and rare bread meat and other foods. Based near Ely, but deliver over a wide area. including north London. That said Tesco's butchery counter is surprisingly good, and the meat RSPCA approved. The butcher, at least at my local on will do things like bone-out a shoulder of lamb ready for stuffing, and their rib beef is so well trimmed there is very little waste.

Sticky toffee pudding: Criteria: Steamed, not baked. No suet, nuts etc. Very sticky.. Ginger optional. Adapted froma number of sources, including the Pudding Club cookery book, the AGA book , John Tovey (perhaps the orginator): Ingredients: Best Butter (unsalted) 6oz/175gm Sugar (whie or soft brown) 6oz/175gm Cream- 4 Tbs Lemon Juice - 1 lemon, squeezed Eggs - 2 Self raising flour (or plain soft flour +2 tsp baking powder) salt 1 tsp Method: Make some toffee. Put 2oz of the butter, and 2oz of the sugar 2 Tbs Cream and juice of half the lemon in a pan. Heat and stir until the sugar dissolves and starts to caramalise. Pour into a 2pt basin and swirl around. Alternatively divide between about 8 dariole moulds. (Add stem ginger, rhubarb, seville marmalade or other heresies if you must) Beat remaining butter and sugar (OK, put it in the food processer and whizz until light and creamy) Beat in eggs, lemon juice flour, salt. (1tsp ground ginger or other spices if you must) Pour into pudding pasin or moulds. Cover with silicon paper and tie down, allowing room for expansion.. Steam for 1 1/2 hours, but the time is not fussy. Turn out. Serve with cream, etc Loosen clothes...

Its not to hard to make these, for example Papad recipe. Essentially you make a fairly firm dough, with or without spices, roll out thinly and leave to dry. If you are in a hot country you do this outside, here a very low oven or warm place works. Anyone know what is the mechanism that coauses these to puff in heat? I don't believe its the evaporation of residual water, as the chips are bone dry to start. It must be some form of degradation of the starch. I guess its the same mechanism as for Indonesian kerupuk, prawn crackers, shrimp chips and other expanded starch based snacks. El Bulli's new book has some fascinating versions. Trivia: In the UK those made from potato or wheat starch are subject to VAT, while those made from tapioca etc are exempt.

Use young, small parsnips, otherwise remove the core. You need to pretty well cook them by boiling them first. Parsnips have a high sugar content, so if you just roast them they get too dark before they cook. Roast in hot fat (WVOO or goose or duck) to crisp an brown the outside.

Stainless steel is for wimps. 5" Sabatier "Au Carbone" full carbon boning knife. Amazon reference is my perfect knife OK, you can't put it in the dishwasher, it stains and discolours, and needs sharpening, but you can't get that edge except with full carbon steel. It glides though the work, making it a pleasure.

Horseradish for me.. Incidently horseradish make a surprisingly good substitute for garlic... Following the modern trend, I served Roast Onion Ice cream with the beef this last Sunday, a small scoop in the middle of each yorkshire pud. Roast Onion Ice Cream 4 medium onions peeled and chopped lump of butter 2 tsp sugar Fry together over a low heat until lightly brown - 1/2 hour or so Whiz together with 1/4pt whipping cream, salt, pepper Churn in an ice cream maker, but the volume is a bit small. Alternatively Put into a small basin in the freezer, an mash up when half frozen and returnto the freezer Take out of the freezer to soften up about an hour before serving.

Wing Rib is the cut you want. 2 bones for 6 people. Ribeye if you must, but with the bones looks nicer and tastes better. The supermarkets do surpringly good beef - Tesco's from the in-store butchers is excellent. One trick is to buy it one week and they will hold it in their coldroom to hang for the following week. A meat thermometer is essential, preferably a digital one with a long ovenproof wire to the probe, such as sold by http://www.meilleurduchef.com/ Either use Heston's slow cooking method, or blast for an hour of so in a 200C oven. Roast an onion in the pan with the meat for the sake of the gravy. Optionally rub the fat beforehand with pepper, salt, mild chile. The lowest (plate warming) oven of a 4 oven AGA is ideal for the slow cooking method. The hot method has some advantages since there are always some heathens that like their beef gray, and they can have the outside. If you use the slow method you will need to ostentatiously microwave the heathen's portion for 2 mins on high. Hot cooking also gives better gravy. Let it stand for half an hour while the Yorkshire pudding cooks. Have we had the horseradish vs mustard debate?

Toss with roast chestnuts instead of bacon for vegans. You can stuff them, if you have the patience for amuse, Or you can sprinkle with garlic/lemon/breadcrumbs However they are best plain boiled, or steamed, slightly overcooked so they are soft but not discoloured, and served with a generous knob of good butter. Boil in a low magnesium water like Evian to retain the colour. Usual restaurant technique is to par-boil, then shock cool in advance. Then at service they can just be reheated (for example in a sieve in a pan of boiling water), or finished by frying as above. You didn't think they cooked them from raw on your order, did you? Suttons Seeds (www.sutton-seeds.co.uk) do a new red brussel sprout called Red Delicious. Not sure if its grown commercially, so you may have to grow your own

Depends on the bread you are making, and the effect you want. You want the basket (banneton, brotform) to be somewhat porous, as the slight drying helps with crust formation, but strong enough to provide support for the soft dough. For baguettes, a traditional linen fold (on a tray for easy handling) is best. Personally I always use baskets lined with linen. Coiled basket will leave definite paterns on the bread, woven ones less so. Mine came from the people who supplied my wood-fired oven shell: http://www.fourgrandmere.com/ Bannetons, long or round are listed under Gourmet -> Accessories Other suppliers include the San Francisco Baking Institute http://www.sfbi.com/oc.shtml