jackal10

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