jackal10

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.

Poached eggs are always messy. Either use a ring or a mould, or trim them with scissors when they are cooked.

Not good. Imagine drinking only cappucino foam Also air is a dilutant. Hard too get enough flavour or alcohol..

A southerner (not a scotsman) usually ignorant, oir at least ignorant enough to put prunes in cockie leekie http://www.royal-stuarts.org/sassenach.htm

Apple sauce with pork or goose Cranberry with turkey Redcurrant with game and lamb Apricot in stuffing Prunes in cocky leekie if you're a sassenach

Maybe you need "Cooking with Fernet Branca" by James Hamilton-Paterson 256 pages (July 2, 2004) Publisher: Faber and Faber Ltd ISBN: 0571220908 although its more of a novel than a cookery book.

I think the Carmargue red rice is like brown rice, and still has the outer part, like wild rice. You need to cook it for 30-35 minutes, and the gfrains will break down some.

Ohh...this is good stuff. Is it Matjes herring season? Any plans for Rijstafel?

Marylisa: The true price doesn't increase. The true price is hidden, as the tip is expected. Lets see: $50K/300 days (assuming our waiter works 6 days a week) is $166.66. Say an 8 hour day (many teachers and nurses work more) is just over $20/hour for a senior teacher and $12/hour for a junior teacher. These are figures before tax. Marylisa above says her waiters clear about that after tax. For a junior teacher waiting is better paid.

That is quite a time span, duing which there were many social and other changes I'd start with something like Roy Strong's Feast: A history of Grand Food. Also British Food: An Extraordinary Thousand Years of History; Hardcover ~ Colin Spencer The Art of Dining: A History of Cooking and Eating; Paperback ~ Sara Paston-Williams The Rituals of Dinner: The Origins, Evolution, Eccentricities and the Meaning of Table Manners; Paperback ~ Margaret Visser Food: A History; Paperback ~ Felipe Fernandez-Armesto For the early part of the period: Mead The English Feast Cindy Renfrow's collection of 15th century recipes: Take a Thousand Eggs or more Many other recipe books if you search on medieval cooking Reading the original manuscripts, still less deducing anything from them is very hard work There is a nice reprint from Tom Jaine's Prospect Books of "The Closet of the Eminently Learned Sir Kenelme Digbie Kt OPENED" (1669) This is about the middle of your period, and might be a way to dive in.

I don't think that is what we are saying. I think we are saying that we (at least I) would prefer an more honest system where the advertised price included the "expected" tip. That way handing over cash to the server is reserved for truly exceptional personal service, and we are not being asked to support the cheapskate practices of the restaurant in not paying its staff or evading tax.

Where are you? In the US King Arthur's brand are well spoken of. However, if you can it is always best to use local, artisanal flour. As Dan Lepard sas, its not so much the flour as the technique. Each flour will make its own distinctive bread, but there is no right or wrong. Flour is just one of the variables.

Search on Bookfinder.com. There are about 20 for sale, although not cheap. Also thre are copies of "Making Sense of Wine" by the same author

Lets see. Maybe not a week, but in a year... Tuition fees (American University in Paris) are about EU20,000, say $25K. Double that for living, even at student rates, say 50K. Bit more since the earned income will be taxed, but then there is also some wages from the restaurant. That is about $150/day everyday. If that represents 15% of the bill, that means the bill must be about $1000 Say 10 covers at $100 each - looks possible. Wait staff aren't as badly paid as I thought. I know teachers, nurses and other vital professions that pay less.

I don't understand. You tip after the meal don't you, not before?Assuming that you have not invented time travel or its not Groundhog day, unless you are a frequent diner the amount you tip can't have any effect on the quality of service. The cash is wasted, except in a very general sense of setting the average for that establishment... My contention is that tipping, or intending to tip more or less has no effect on the quality of service...

Its a crazy, demeaning system. It doesn't reward the people (like the chefs) who did a lot of the work, and makes the payment depend on factors outside the control of the person being paid, like the quality of the food and efficiency of the kitchen. As has been said above, as a medium for sending a message to the staff and management its not very effective...If its primarily a tax evasion scheme, then it doesn't work well, since the taxman is quite capable of estimating average earnings Personally, being a tourist or on a business trip, I am never likely to go to the same restaurant twice, still less get the same wait staff, I see no reason, other than charity, to leave any money at all. I can put my charitable donations to better use, and get a tax rebate.

Miss Manners (Judith Martin) That doyen of American etiquette writes "Miss Manners dearly hopes that the day will come when the price of running such an establishment as a hotel, restaurant or topless go-go palace will be figured with the full salary of all the employees, and the customers will not be left to guess how much of it they must make up out of their own pockets after they have paid the bills. ..... There will then be those who ask Miss Manners how they may deliver critiques of the performance of service people? With smiles, letters to employers and the pressure with which you slam the taxicab door" We had better take this discussion to the proper forum before the moderators complain...

A quick google for "no tipping policy" reveals 3910 hits, mostly cruise ships and high end hotels such as Delamar Greenwich Harbour and Grand Hotel, Mackinac Island,. Michigan "Grand Hotel operates on a "NO TIPPING" policy, and tipping is not expected, permitted nor required to any employee of Grand Hotel." If you are trying to get good service, you need set out the terms of the contract. Why not pay, say, 15% of the expected bill up front, and explain there will be more at the end if the service is exceptional. Drinks sent into the kitchen probably help as well...

In many places in the UK leaving a tip is seen as low class, and the US tip culture is alien, strange and demeaning. It means the staff is not being paid properly, and reduced to begging. A reward for good service, or a complaint about bad service should be a written letter to the establishment. It is a management function to ensure the guests get good service, and motivate the staff, not the guest's duty. If they need to charge more for the meal in order to do this, then they should, rather than publish fake prices, where the "normal" price is 15% more... Besides a gentleperson would not carry the requisite cash; the cost of their meal would be charged to their account and settled quarterly.

Mini Tea eggs Mini versions of any egg dish. Good poached and dressed on a crouton or pastry boat with a suitable sauce

You can use both parts of the leaf, as seperate vegetables. The thick ribs like celery and the leaf like spinach. Or braise the stems in bundles with bacon and onions Or stir-fry giving the chopped stems a bit longer Or make a sweet tart au blette (example in my foodblog)

Betty's, Harrogate UK Tea at the Ritz, London