jackal10

After the US crash of 2007, soup kitchen cuisine becomes the next chic; the food riots of 2008 are supressed sternly. Meantime in heavily guarded gated communities talented chefs prepare micro-cuisine for the satiated; China increases in prosperity and recreates some of the imperial court food and traditions; Europe fares not too badly with the cylical return to Cuisine Grandmere;

ciabatta is in the range 70% to 80% hydration (bakers percentages, by weight relative to weight of flour). Thus a typical recipe would be 1Kg flour 750ml water 20g salt 20g yeast Team US recipe 92% hydration

Ciabbata dough is so wet that it is practically a batter. You can't really handle it like ordinary dough. Thats what gives it the slumped slipper shape and the open structure.

Yukon Gold and Maris Piper are different varieties Does anyone know where I can get some "Rubbens Fryer" seed potatos for the UK?

Baking sounds good to me, but some of us bake frequently Other suggestions: A full turducken might be too much, but a basic chicken ballontine should be feasible, and teach new boning skills Stuffed pork trotter or hock if you don't like chicken

We've had a recent thread from guajolote with great pictures on making sauerkraut. I think the key to cooking it is to wash it well, and then simmer in good stock, maybe with some sweated onion and some ham or bacon...

Can one use pectin sold for jam making, like Certo? Its sold in small quantities in most supermarkets, next to the jam suger and is apple pectin.

Beef and potato pie; Take the beef off the bone; layer with sliced potato, (some uses mashed or cubes), maybe some onion and carrot add some brasing liquid; pastry lid, eggwash bake. Good eating Similar but as a pasty The beef will stand pretty well anything as it is already so cooked and flavoursome. Hash might be a use, or potted, like beef rillettes.

My stovetop runs on bottled gas (we are out in the country). We have two big calor bottles outside, with an automatic changeover. They seem to last for ever, although all they are powering is two burners and a wok burner, I've had to get a refill maybe once in five years..and that was when a squirrel chewed though one of the flexible gas pipes connecting the bottle (tails).

Don't fuss it Either just bung it in a hot (400F/200C) oven for about an hour and a half; let it then rest for half an hour. I guess if you are an Australian (I'm not) and its warm outside you can put it on the barbeque ovefr a layer of herbs; turning (and fresh herbs) after about half an hour. or Put in 140F/60C for seven hours or so - not time critical. Sear it first or brown it after if you like. Can use sous-vide if you have the equipment, but a plate-warming oven will do. See EGCI Science of the Kitchen - Meat cookery Seven hour leg of lamg: the long time low temperature cooking results in super tender juicy meat, evenly cooked all through.

Dinner in College. (I ate rather then cooked it): The Gomes Dinner in honour of The Revd Professor Peter Gomes DD In Hall Saumon marine a l'aneth sur une salade de saison et une mayonnnaise moutarde Cannelloni de ricotta et epinard d'orbe Supreme de faisan aux choux et lard fume et un jus de la biere Bouquet des legumes Pommes Chateux Prune au miel de lavande avec un parfait glace au whisky Chablis Mont de Milieu 1er Cru Dom Auffray 1997 Cotes de Nuits VIllages Naudin-Ferrand 1996 Tokaji Aszu 5 Outtonyos Ch. Messzelato 1988 In the long Gallery Desert Cafe et Petit Four Ch Patach d'Aux 1994 Grahams 1977

Its all about temperature. I think you've missed the really interesting experiments, which is to try braising at lower temperatures. At 140F/60C the meat will cook, although unless left for days the collagen will not soften much. At about 175F the collagen will soften, although I believe the so-called "collagen stall" is more to do with the fat melting rather than the collagen dissolving. The meat in the air (or less liquid) will get hotter than that in contact withthe liquid, since the oven air temperature is higher. It will also, unless well enlosed, dry on the surface somewhat.

Hot, crusty, with jam Or hot with raisins in it or cold with lemon (rizagolo) or rose water (Roz il habeeb)

What treats you have waiting : Steak and kidney pudding Tripe a la mode, or chinese style Andoilette (but maybe only in France) For liver start with liver pate, or Foie Gras

We have yet to find a bird feeder that is squirrel proof. Plastic they just chew through. Metal mesh resists for a while, but then is bent open. The ones with bars around a central feeder don't fare much better. You can get designs that on on a pole with a big saucer underneath, that is meant to deter. Nope. The only way we have found is to suspend the feeder between two trees on fairly thin wire, with empty plastic large soda bottles threaded on the wire, though the top and a hole in the bottom of the bottle. These are too wide a slippery for the squirrel to grip, and rotate around throwing the squirrel off. You may need two to stop them jumping over the bottle, and, of course ensure the feeder is high enough from the ground so that they can't leap up, and not overhung by trees so that they can't leap down. We see them measruing up, but it usually frustrates them, at least until the trees grow enough so that they can leap, or a crow brings the feeder down for them.

Keep it colouful and televisual - avoid brown sauces I'd avoid wok cooking altogether - its too much of a cliche Steamed whole fish Noodles in soup

Black onion seed, Nigella, kalonji, nigella sativa http://forums.egullet.com/lofiversion/index.php/t52157.html

nice pan!

I exagerated. Salisbury the place is sometimes pronounced Sarum. as in There was a young curate of Salisbury Whose manners were quite Halisbury-Scalisbury He wandered round Hampshire Without any pampshire Till the Vicar compelled him to Warisbury I extended this to steak.. There are many similar English place and family names that are not spoken the way they are spelt. Cockburn I mentioned above, Other food related ones might be Worcester (sauce) pronounced Wooster; Leicester (cheese) pronounced lester Other examples (not a complete list by any means) Wymondham (pronounced Wind-am), Waldergrave (=Wawgrayve), Mainwaring (=Mannering), Magdalene (=Maudlin), Caius (=Keeys), Auchinlech (=Aflek) Althorp – pronounced 'Awltrup' Belvoir – pronounced 'Beever' Cholmondely – 'Chumli' Featherstonehaugh – 'Fanshaw' Leominster – 'Lemster' Leveson-Gower – 'Loosen-Gaw' Marjoribanks – 'Marchbanks' Ralph – 'Rafe' Ranulph – 'Ralph' St. John – 'Sin Jin' Towcester – 'Toaster' Woolfardisworthy – 'Woolseri' Wriothesley – 'Roxli' Menzies - 'Minges'

Cockburn port pronounced Co'burn Salisbury (as in steak) is Sarum

I agree. An AGA ia a stored heat stove, like a brick oven. The cooking experience is different. Better for some and some things, worse for others. Where the US excels over European equipment is in refrigeration and washing. The problem with a lot of US domestic equipment is that the culture is different. The US tends to prepare less at home from scratch (readers of this list excepted, of course), so the equipment is designed more for looking good, reaheating and browning, rather than actual cooking. Thus ovens have less insulation and heat storage, since they are designed to a cost, only occaisional use and for fast heating up to temperature

I think you need to be even more controlled, as the type of wine can make a big difference. I love to braise in a soy/sweet wine liquid, to bring out the unami flavour. Mirin or Madeira or a sweet sherry work well. You don't need much - maybe 2 tablespoons each of soy and sweet wine, plus aromatics Quite a different effect from red wine

It depends on what and how you cook. Commercial ranges are different from domestic for good reasons; they are designed to handle much larger amounts of food. Using them in a domestic setting is like using a MAC truck to go shopping, or a 747 plane to commute a few miles to work. The AGA was designed as a domestic stove, originally for a blind person. Back in the 1920s, when most ranges burnt solid fuel they were a great improvement in range design. They have been used commercially, typically for small restaurants, pubs or inns. See, for example John Fothergill's Cookery Book, Innkeeper of Bray. It sits there as a warm friend, in the kitchen which is where we tend to spend most of the time.. Yes, I am an AGA person. I do also have a gas burners, including a wok burner for when I really need heat, and a combi oven/microwave as backup. I can see an induction top in my future. I don't have a commercial range as in my kitchen I rarely cook for more than, say, a dozen people, and I don't want the noise from the ventilation and the heat put out, or have to fire up a large oven to roast a small piece of meat. I like cooking on a flat-top, but don't want to wait for a commercial flattop to come up to temperature, just to fry an egg. With an AGA the flattop has an insulated lid, and is always on, ready.

I should add an original advantage of the AGA ia that it burns any type of fuel, and in particular solid fuel like wood or coal, which is a real advantage if you are in the middle of nowhere. May not be such an advantage in a town center

I have a reconditioned old 4 oven AGA converted from solid fule to oil, and I love it. YOu either love them or hate them. For me they are the warm centre of the house. They take a little getting used to. Always on, but heavily insulated so no that inefficient. More like cooking on a flatttop - you move the pans around to different heat zones. The ovens are at roughly 300C, 200C, 100C, 60C - the last perfect for those long time low temperature dishes, although originally it was for plate warming. Advantages are its solid, indestructable, always there ready, with the hot oven hotter than most domestic ranges and the bootom cooler. Since the heat is all round, it roasts and bake superbly - the hot oven floor means you don't need pizza stones or bricks - you have a ton of cast iron instead. Disadvantages are it weighs tons, so needs a ground floor or good support. It has a very high thermal inertia, so you cook at the temperature it wants. If you leave the oven door open and the top uncovered for a long time it will significantly drop the operating temperature. Its warm in hot weather - about equivalent to a radiator permanently on Cakes are slightly tricky on the two door model, as they fall between the two oven temperatures, but you can use a cold shelf to get round it. It needs servicing (basically brushing out the flues) once every six months. No grill or slalmander, but great for contact grilling. Makes the fabulous toast If you are an AGA person, or grew up with one, nothing else will do. It has cultural overtones of upmarket country house living, dogs and horses. If you arn't an AGA person, then it is pretentious scrap iron. Second hand ones are good value.