jackal10

Chow-chow with Shepherds pie? Interesting, but maybe a bit sweet? Tomato ketchup is also too sweet... it should really be HP Brown Sauce as the one true tracklemeat for Shepherds Pie, though I am partial to my own Green Tomato Chutney.

Haggis Andoilette (French not Creole) Leberkase Brawn/Headcheese

Grasp the green leaves of baby radish, dip in salt and bite the radish off the bottom of the leaves.

I followed Bernard Amboise's recipe http://www.ambroise.com/en/oeufs-meurette.html , since we were drinking his wine and poached the egggs for 3 minutes or so in the sauce. The do come out stained purple, and it might be better if they were poached seperately, certainly easier in a restaurant.

Maybe its just a personel or its a European rather than a US view, but when I had a restaurant I tired of the universal praise. I'd go up to a table, often people I knew (yes, an intrusion), and ask about the meal, and almost always was told that it was wonderful. What I really wanted was constructive feedback: this or that dish was OK, but might have been better with a different sauce or garnish, or the salting was too heavy/light, or the meat was slightly tough, or if its been water bath cooked for a long time, too tender. Not everything goes right all the time in a busy restaurant; peoples tastes vary. Realistic feedback is more valuable than peons of praise. Saying the meal was wonderful without detail means nothing (actually said to a chef it means piss off and leave us in peace), or more likely that the guest has only a limited palate and memory.

Jack, do you bake at the temperature that would be appropriate if you were finishing the bread and take it out 2/3 of the way through? Just want to be sure I understand. ← Yes, that's what I do for home baking. I read in http://www.chipsbooks.com/pribread.htm that professional dough for freezing has a number of additives, and is more like steamed than baked.

Roast Asparagus Oeufs muerette (poached in red wine sauce) Long time low temperature cooked roast beef; Jersey Royal Chateau potatotes; brocolitini; carrots with honey; Clafoutis; Local strawberries with balsamic Aged cheddar and stilton 1996 Nuits St George Bernard Ambroise Vielle Vignes 1982 Domiane Hospice de Beaune; Hospice de Beaune

Drinking now, but no hurry- anytime in the next few years

Only in my garden; brambles, sloes, hawthorn, rowanberries, rosehips, wild garlic, elderflowers and berries. Various flowers, like wild violets, cowslips, primroses, mostly to decorate salads with as you need so many to do anything useful with...

Great blog, and I hope I'm not intruding to answer the question up thread Woodruff. The leaves make a sort of ruff around the stem. Use the elderflower syrup recipe above, but infuse the leaves in the hot syrup like making a tea or tisane. Wonderful flavour like fresh hay with vanilla. Makes a great sorbet. Grape Jam or Jelly? Jelly is the usual 1lb sugar to a pint of juice; you will need to add acid (lemon juice) and maybe pectin (or apple) if the grapes are ripe. Jam is the usual 6lbs sugar to 4lbs fruit, but again you may need to add apple or pectin. Oded Schwartz has a grape jam with slices of lemon, pecans and brandy. Very pretty. Christine Ferber gives recipes for Muscat grape jams and jellies; she adds 1 3/4 lbs apples to 2 1/4 lbs grapes or uses 7oz of apple jelly. One recipe adds 3 1/2 oz of Honey; another recipe adds 2 cups of wine made from the same grape

Postcode is right. Shepard's pie is lamb, cottage pie is beef. Further difference is that shepard's pie has mashed potato on top, molded with a fork to look like thatch, while shepards pie has slices of potato like tiles. That way you know if its beef or lamb inside. You can always call it Hachis Parmentier

Hmm... Honeysuckle is mildly poisonsous, or at least the berries are, so proceed with caution. I think the petals are OK, and honeysuckle syrup has been used as a folk remedy for sore thoats

Elderflower cordial 8-12 large elderflower heads, shaken to remove the bugs 5 large lemons 1Kg/ 2lbs sugar 1pt boiling water Cut in half and squeeze the lemons. Dissolve the sugar in the water. Put everything including the lemon rind in a large bowl. Pour over the syrup. Stir. Cover. Leave for 3 days. Strain (messy) bottle. Keep in fridge, unless you sterilise (can) it. Dilute about 1:8 with water, or pour over strawberries, ice cream or into champagne or make sorbet. Can ferment it diluted to make elderflower wine or elderflower champagne. Make sure the elderflowers are fresh or it can smell like cats... Elederflower cordial is made commercially (Belvoir), and is very good. Its not yet out here in the uK...maybe another month. DO you have woodruff (Mayweed) there? Also makes a good cordial or sorbet

Firkin L

Pictures and discussion of home made vinegar escaped to the Vinagrette threas http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...ndpost&p=925622

A fairly full Alsace Pinot Gris 2003 for the first two courses. I'd agree Pinot Noir or Merlot for the main course, but maybe try a Chilean or an Australian one Desert maybe a late harvest Gewurztraminer

The vinegar mother originally came from MarcoPolo... Doing fine thanks. Living behind the sink in the laundry. Of course she doesn't get the diet of fine wines she was used to, but is doing an excellent job of converting everyday red wine into usable, fairly sharp vinegar. I just fed her half a bottle of Mas des Bressades Cuvee Tradition, Costieres de Nimes, 2003.

Irish linen oven cloths work fine. Forgot to say what a great looking loaf. So nice to see it properly brown, not like so many aneamic loaves...

Just tried adding the vinegar drop by drop while whisking with a hand blender. Much smoother, until I added too much water and it broke.

Brillat Savarin, a hundred and fifty years ago had much the same thought in his "Gastronomical tests": http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/b/bri...part18.html#102 I'm surprised they haven't included some of his proposed test dishes: A fowl weighing seven pounds, stuffed with truffles, so that it has become a spheroid Asparagus, large as possible, served up in osmazome (meat glace) Following Brillat Savarin there is a perfectly good word for a foodie: a gourmand.

Vinagrette is a water-in-oil-emulsion, that is drops of water in an oil carrier, unlike mayonnaise which is the other way round with oil drops in a water continuous phase. The mustard particles act as a nucleation centres for the water drops. I discuss this briefly in the eGCI non-stock sauces unit http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=29574 Two of oil to one of water is traditional. Most vinegars are too strong, and should be diluted by half. What I haven't tried, but which might work, by analogy with making mayonnaise with the water and oil phases inverted, is to add the water or vinegar to the oil drop by drop while whisking vigourously.. There is an old debate of whther to add vinegar first or oil first to the salad if making it directly. Oil first coats the leaves better, but vinegar first adds more flavour...

rhubarb and ginger

To get it silky smooth you need help with the emulsification, either s super high speed blender, or a emulsifier like a cream maker or an additive. Mustard helps, or a pureed shallot, or a little lecithin (available from health food stores)

Fishcakes are tough when the proteins bind to each other. Think chinese fish balls. This happens if you process the raw fish/egg white too much, then cook them too much. You can avoid this by cooking the fish first, then just gently folding in the big chunks to the potato/onion.parley mix (or whatever), before breadig and frying. Alternatively make quenelle, softly poaching a raw fish/egg white/cream mix. The cream softens, and the poaching ensures not overcooking.

How can you have a serious library without Larousse, or Escoffier? Escoffier's "Guide to Modern Cookery" is the one book I would not be without - his recipes and basic "faites simple" approach are still relevant today, and the basis for classical cuisine - just disregard the garnishes. Le Repertoire de la Cuisine is an essential reference Also rans include Alan Davidson's Oxford Companion to food. Kurlansky's Cod is better than his Salt. If you are interested in the sociology of food, then I would add Much Depends on Dinner: The Extraordinary History and Mythology, Allure and Obsessions, Perils and Taboos, of an Ordinary Meal by Margaret Visser Feast: A History of Grand Eating -- by Roy Strong