jackal10

All black food Squid ink pasta or risotto Cavallo nero Black tomatos dark chocolate

You've covered most of the basics in your list above. 1. A proper hamper that is useful after the contents have been consumed, ideally fully fitted for a picnic, or a sensible shopping basket, garden trug or the like. 2. This is not food for the poor, but luxuries or things otherwise unobtainable. Thus I would not include fruit, unless very special, nor an Xmas pudding, unless home made, Similarly I would not include a ham, although traditional, since most people can't cope with a whole one, unless its very special like a whole Parma ham with stand. If you are providing Xmas basics, like pudding or a turkey, its fair to give the recipient some warning so they don't buy another. I can't imagine anything worse than unwrapping another turkey having just wrestled one into the oven. Well chosen luxuries like truffles, or fine wine, or things hard to obtain are nice. 3. I would think in terms of the meals it might be used for, and include those components, maybe with recipes: for example components for a Christmas eve meal ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A9veillon ), including the 13 deserts, or a complete party kit, or mulled wine kit with an insulated jug and hot tea glasses 4. Fewer and better: Whole things are nice: whole ham, side of salmon, whole truckle of cheese, dozen of wine, Poilane loaf etc 5. Things to add you your comprehensive list: Truffles Rare teas and coffees Salt cod (for Bacalao, or jars of truffled Bacalao) a Norfolk Black Turkey, oven ready Stollen Ginger Gold and silver Dragees Sauces and pickles (for left over turkey and ham) Elvas plums

Thanks Nicko, must try it. Is this another Crown Catering operation, or do you know who is financing it? I was not that impressed with Anton's cooking at Midsummer House, but the menu http://blog.restaurantalimentum.co.uk/?page_id=147 looks good. I'm also wary of Noel Young's wines based on an unfortunate past experience, but we shall see I wish them the best of luck

May be tricky for an unskilled non-EU citizen to get a work permit for restaurant work. To do so the restaurant will have to show that there is no EU citizen capable of doing the job. Starting with an unpaid Stage may be one way, then a claim of special knowledge may have some credence. Why not start with 6 months or a year in a US fine kitchen. That way you build skills and contacts.

If you are serious, get a job in the industry. Hands on experience and a few good restaurants on your CV will do a lot more for you than any diploma Do day release if you have to, but learning on the job is far better. btw University funding is a complex subject. Cambridge University does not have large numbers, maybe a class of a 100 or so in the larger subjects, but aims to be among the best in the world. Its main income is from endowment and research grants, rather than student tuition fees. It also does not teach cooking or catering, or even food science as such, although chemical engineering does some research for the food industry.

WHy would you want to anyway? Its not as though there is a shortage of the genuine article. Perhaps you are being a cheapskate and want a cheaper cheese. If there is a market for it at the present price then why would a producer sell cheaper. In any case making and aging takes that amount of money If its a different flavour you are seeking then its not the same cheese, as as remarked above, there are plenty of other good hard grating and cooking cheeses. Hard Cheese! (where did that expression come from?)

I've spit roasted many pigs. Several points: 1. The structure of a pig is that most of the meat is at the ends, legs/hams and shoulders (thick at the ends, thin in the middle). Meat conducts heat quite slowly, so these are the areas you need to concentrate on, Build small fires outside each end, and nothing (or a gravy pan of in the middle. SMALL fires or you will burn the outside before you cook the middle. Even better build something like a tent to keep the heat in. I use corrugated iron or aluminium siding sheets on three sides and above the pig that acts as a wind break and something like a slow oven. You can hire professional rigs, or like me improvise with scaffolding and plasterers trestles. 2. Use a digital meat thermometer. Its done at 60C/140F in the thickest part. 55C even, At 70C it will be overcooked and dry. It will take about 6 hours to heat through. 3. Pigs are heavy and greasy, and shrinks as they cook, so secure well to your spit and make sure when you turn it the pig turns as well. Score the crackling with a stankey or craft knife - needs to be very sharp and not deep. If you use a conventional knife its hard not to go too deep. Rub the pig with salt and olive oil. If the kidneys are there leave them for cooks perks. Rig something that will hold the off-centre weight of the pig in the position you want it. I normally give it quarter of a turn every quarter of an hour. 4, Think how you are going to carve and serve it, You will need help and a production line - one person to carve joints off the carcass, one person to carve slices, and a couple of helpers to plate or stuff into buns. Take the carckling off seperaely and cut into portons with scissors or shears, serve seperately. I like it in hamburger buns (no plates) with lots of sage and onion stuffing (Paxo) made quite loose, and apple sauce, The sides make the pig go further - reckon about a pound live weight per person. 30-40 people is a small pig, or large suckling pig. If you are feeding the five thousand then cheat - cook a couple of pigs for show and smell, but serve from boneless rolled joints cooked conventionally Luck!

Eggs are complex, See for example http://newton.ex.ac.uk/teaching/CDHW/egg/ Fresh egg whites coagulate in the range 62° to 65°C, the temperatures decrease with increasing pH and hence age. This is why very fresh eggs require more time to cook than older eggs. Egg Yolk coagulation occurs in the range 65° to 70°C. According to Harold McGee the "[...]egg white begins to thicken at 63 °C and becomes a tender solid when it reaches 65 degrees". Furthermore, "The yolk proteins begin to thicken at 65 °C and set at 70 °C [...]". (McGee, pp 85),,,McGee (pp 85): "[…]the major [egg white] protein, ovalbumin, doesn't coagulate until about 80 °C". Hervé This also writes about this: "[...]at 62 °C one of the proteins in the white (ovotransferrin) is cooked, but the yolk remains liquid because the proteins that coagulate first in this part of the egg require a temperature of 68 °C. " (This, pp. 31) So by selecting the temperature you can choose different degrees of coagulation. Normal boiling works by the time it takes heat to transfer, raising the white to a higher temperature than the yolk. So for super easy peel eggs you need to get the outside temperature even higher, such as in a hot oven. For perfect eggs (firm but not rubbery white, just set yolk) cook in a laboratory water bath at 67C plus or minus 1C, or as on a kibbutz I was at once, overnight in a low oven.

Ahem Here is one I prepared earlier...The Big Egg List http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...ndpost&p=513578

Had some last night. Wonderful stuff, Still all there. Quite dark Nose: caramel, and grass Taste: Smooth and mellow. Smoked butterscotch, Amazing! Almost rum like (run barrel?) A whisky to be drunk in awe

They grow easily enough in a frost free greenhouse or conservatory, but they are lime haters. Use ericaceous compost, and rainwater to water them or you will kill them

http://shop.rivercottage.net/rcv2/shop/onl...op=courses#1195

Not an issue but the most senior of the guests, seated on the host's right

I'm growing Sungold and Black Cherry next to each other, Sungold wins hands down. Black cherry is anemic and tasteless by comparison, just a funny and rather unattractive colour, Sungold is also much more productive. Other winners are Gardeners deilight, and Brandywine

How can you be in Harrogate and not go to Betty's Tea Rooms?

Blessings on you Its back to school meals: Sausages Hamburgers Hot Dogs Pizza? Baked beans (with aforementioned sausages or bacon) (aka cassoulet) Breakfast foods for dinner: egg bacon hash browns Gammon/ham Stews (aka Daube Carbonade etc) Steamed puddings - steak and kidney What about sweets, like brownies, or sponge pudding or fruit with custard,,,

The bread is underproved...

Known as Baker's Percentages where the total flour is always 100%. Formulas usually do not include the method, nor explanations as to how this recipe was handed down from the author's great-aunt's second housekeeper etc...

Bread preferment (poolish) that got out of hand? but why in a blender? and why the seperation into a liquid base? It also looks like a chemical foam, so maybe a cake batter that got too hot?

More sugar and more lemon juice to start with, then you can boil less Sugar needs to be about 60% by weight of finished jam for the pectin to set. (e.g. 6lbs sugar to 4lbs fruit) The jam is not preseved by the sugar, but by being sterile from the boiling and bottled hot into in sealed bottles.

The true American food is a Big Mac with Coca Cola. Otherwise there is very little that is indigenous to the US, and what there is tends, like most cultures, to be food of poverty - southern food in particular, such as cornbread or BBQ or even Sourdough. The Puritan tradition hasn't helped either. Few Presidents, or other equivalents of aristocracy have been bon viveurs or gourmets, so there has never been a tradition of court food to draw on. Instead commercial interests, such as big beef and big corn/corn syrup have dominated and still do, hence hamburger and coke..

You need pectin (enough in the orange), acid (some lemon juice) and the right sugar concentration (60% by weight) for the marmalade to set. You had not nearly enough sugar, and no acid You can reach setting point by boiling which evaporates the water until the sugar concentration is right. You can measure this crudely by temperature the jam or marmalade will set at 221F or even better and easier to remember 222F, To avoid the marmalade getting too dark you may want to pre-cook the orange rind, The pectin is in the rind and round the pips, so you nay want to add the pips tied in muslin. Differences between jam, preserves, marmalade, and compote? Jam (jelly in the US) has in the EU a legal definition, and must be made with at least 60% sugar, of fruit and some other exceptions like rhubarb. Jelly (in EU and UK) is clear, without bits of fruit in it Preserves is a more general term, and include other things like chutney, fruit butters, fruit cheese, fruit curd, etc Marmalade was originally quince, but now usually bitter Seville orange, but can with qualification apply to other citrus fruit (e.g lime marmalade), and even by extension to Onion marmalade Compote is stewed fruit, not set The EU legal definitions are given in Council Directive 2001/113/EC http://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_...&model=guichett.

USe he braising liquid for Oxtail soup, and the meat in any number of ways, such as ravioli. I guess you could set it in a terrrine, cube it, egg and breadcrumb and fry them if you must, but to my mind crispy is alien to oxtail

Toad in the hole (sausage and broccoli baked ina pop-over batter. Even better with some onion and tomato) Tempura Frittata Baked in a pie (with potato and hard boiled eggs for filler) Curried with rice Broccoli risotto with sausage Pizza topping

Third the Orford recs an second the wonderful Dunwich tea rooms fish and chips. Dunwich is a a village that has disappeared under the sea. For many years it was a "rotten borough" in that it still elected a member of Parliament, even though there were only one or two voters. Now there is a car park, some fishing boats (and shacks selling fish) and bracing walks before or after the delicious super fresh fish and chips from the tea rooms on the beach. I still remember the dover sole and chips