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Try this one: Gastronomie

I just recently preserved lemons for the first time, and found it interesting that very many of the recipes/instructions I looked at (5+) didn't mention sterilisation at all! According to info from the WHO, CDC and USDA, botulism does not survive in acidic environments. This is probably why many commercial crushed-garlic preparations contain a lot of vinegar. If in doubt, only use the lemons if you can boil them (eg, in the food you're cookng) for at least 10 mins at 100C.

One of the best and most reliable timetable systems for European trains (and other modes of transport sometimes) is at the German Railways site in English. Doesn't give price info for inter-country journeys though. It contains info for most train services in Europe, except many suburban (eg, metro, underground) services, and some regional trains are also missing, such as many Spanish RENFE regional services. The SNCF site is very very touchy about the time periods entered and what sort of trains and how many connections. A real pain! Margaret, that's a great tip about res.codes!

Reading this, I had to get my Furi onto the surface to see what the problem is. I have the 21 cm chef's knife. The blade lies flat and slightly downwards - so this isn't one of the dangerous ones. That probably explains why opinions differ about them -- I've only ever used the shorter/smaller knives and they go spinning across surfaces rather easily. Good to know the larger ones aren't problematic!

I like the feel of the Furi handle, but many of them sit poorly on a work surface because the handle is so fat, making some of them a little dangerous when you've put them down for a moment.

And we mustn't forget Ian Hemphill's site for herbs and spices... Herbie's Spices

I still have nightmares about canned spaghetti and fish fingers and that powdered egg goop in primary school (thankfully my parents saved me and we returned to Australia). I was recently doing research work in some posh London schools and the different levels of plated filth were quite interesting. Very very fancy school: three choices, including vegetarian, vaguely pleasant but definitely institutional...; slightly fancy school: fried this, fried that, fried this again. Revolting. I couldn't stomach anything. But the worst was when I attended a conference at York, and the "lunch" was rubbery quiche and cold peas. The room stank of canned spaghetti. Worst conference food ever.

I had intended to apologise for slightly diverting the thread Roger! ... Unfortunately I can't add wisdom to the issue of British chefs, although I wonder if the two-way traffic UK-Aus means there *must* be a tangible effect... (but the Melbourne-related idea you mention sounds plausible).

have a look at Coffeegeek for valuable information. Price does not guarantee anything like a decent cup of coffee, so if you're spending a lot, choose well.

Hi Roger and Jane. I must admit being transfixed by Food Network in the US... largely because it seemed so alien. There are a few light shows that might work here (eg, Alton Brown's stuff, except much of the material won't appeal to Oz audiences), and something I saw with Mario Batali. I guess one reason why we see so little US cooking here is because of expectations that it will involve lots of meat, lots of barbecuing, lots of sauces, and not much style -- regardless of reality. More than once I've heard people talk about US cooking as being "too homely" (negatively), so the market just isn't there perhaps. Mexican? Sigh. Too much of the cheap tacos cachet, I guess -- Mexican is for students and people who buy burrito-kits at the supermarket? Such a pity. Any thoughts as to why UK shows like Masterchef and Ready Steady Cook don't have Australian versions?

I was toying with the idea of adding the following, then saw mamster's last message and feel it even more important to comment: In researching an article recently, I found that a piece in a broad-distribution food magazine had lifted recipe and instructions from a common English cookbook. A few quantities had been changed, and a little of the wording, but certain key stylistic elements were unaltered (which is why I picked up the plagiarism). There was no attribution to the original. And at the same time I noticed that my local community newspaper (distributed weekly to a portion of my home city) was taking almost its entire food content (1-2 pages *each week*) from material published on the web. Most of the time the source is stated, but I have found out that few or none of the sources gave permission for the reproduction of their recipes, articles, or information. I would dearly like to see the editors/writers eat a little humble-pie for this, but as a new writer I don't want to affect my own opportunities to publish, so see no option but to ignore the above... and so the cycle continues. Thin protection for IP might be something that best serves the creators and public (to paraphrase mamster) in some respects, but surely there must be some form of constraint or redress when there is such blatant disrespect of others' work?

Hi Jango. I don't know if the British presence on TV and in bookshops is necessarily related to the presence of British chefs in Oz. I think the media presence has more to do with our preference for British-style programs and presentation (or at least a cultural clash when it comes to US-style food programs), and possibly the same is the case for books. The design and content of American food books can be very different from what Australian home cooks prefer. And, of course, the British books are increasingly just TV-spin-offs, so are marketed prominently. At the serious-cook level, however, there is very little published out of Britain at the moment, and US books dominate. As for poor 'heat' and zing and stuff, it may be a result of Melbourne's bias towards Mediterranean food...? Always a more conservative place than Sydney, I think.

Does anyone read Petits Propos Culinaires?

The vietnamese sauce nuoc mam is usually darker and fishier than the Thai sauce nam pla. I've heard the Burmese fish sauce is even stronger, but haven't tried it.

since my last post, I've discovered it's also known as jicama or Mexican turnip. I'm including a photo of a small one.

oooh, I like those ideas, thanks Shiewie!

Hi Carl... completely on thread now, i would say that the idea of sophistication can have to do with one's own willingness to test boundaries -- well, some of the simpler ones at least . Perhaps pineapple and sweetcorn seem a little "homely" and that's why people might label it unsophisticated. But we all have our little secrets, don't we... whether it's Jeffrey Steingarten's Milky Ways, or all the foods being mentioned on an active thread right now. I remember an Australian writer mentioning last year how he has only grown to like tea in later years... I'm sure many of us have experienced something similar -- doesn't need to be labelled as sophistication, but it's just proof that our tastes change with time and perhaps other experiences. Time + experience = "age" or "maturity" and thus the assumption of better taste...?

Hi SuzanneF, I have no quibble with the etymology of it... you're right about its origins and how interesting (and ironically appropriate) it is for the issue at hand. Lots of things change in either direction ("cavalier" is a great example), but the emphasis in other replies had been on the archaic meaning, rather that what it means now. The idea of a "sophisticated palate" may be hogwash (and I share your view), but the etymology of the word "sophisticated" doesn't make it hogwash.

You shouldn't be using the definition of the verb as your point of departure, but instead of the adjective (even though historically derived from the verb, the meanings may diverge). Also, the verbal definition which includes "to corrupt/mislead/spoil etc" refers to an archaic meaning of the verb. VERB: to develop into a more complex form (paraphrased from The New Oxford Dictionary of English) ADJECTIVE (sophisticated): developed to a high degree or complexity; aware of and able to interpret complex issues; appealing to people with such knowledge of experience (direct quotes from the above volume).

I bought a yam bean the other day. Helpfully marked as "water chestnut", which it most definitely wasn't (this much I knew). I have now identified what it is -- yam bean -- but would like to know what things people do to it (other than shred it and fill spring rolls with it). It's also called, I believe, kuzu-imo (Japanese), and cu san (Vietnamese).

One more comment perhaps... There are payment terminals in many countries which will only accept local cards, even if the terminals are marked VISA (not sure about M'card) -- these are in my experience terminals integrated into vending machines usually: petrol stations in Switzerland have never accepted my foreign VISA cards, NYC subway ticket machines only accepted local cards (at least initially), and ticket machines in Melbourne only appear to accept Australian cards. Part of this might relate to whether the VISA card is a 'debit' card (issued by some banks, and the money is drawn straight from your transaction account if you are using it locally), or a true 'credit' card, where the transaction is recorded in a specific credit account regardless of what country the transaction occurs in. I have only ever tried using debit cards. --lamington

There certainly used to be some problems using some British cards in some French ATMs/cashpoints, despite claimed accessibility. This may have had to do with the chips. Don't know. In the last two years I've only had one problem though.

It's common in Britain and decreasingly in Aus (fashions now go for $14.5 and $22.9, two decimal points is so 1990). But it seemed to be popular in France after the introduction of the Euro. --lamington

Yes! La Varenne Pratique is excellent for beginners and the pics are really good... it was my first serious book about food (and in Swedish! I only just realised that Kokkonsten (The Art of Cooking) is actually La Varenne). It can be too detailed or analytical for beginners who are just interested in cooking food, rather than knowing about food... just a thought. --lamington

I was allowed virtually anything that wasn't "adult" (ie, Mum's best chocolate, and wine)... but I was allowed sips of beer as soon as I got tired of the breast (which led to an unfortunate poisoning at age 2 when I mistook a tin of foamy stuff for a glass of beer) and when I was a big boy (age 5-10) I was allowed a sip of sherry if the parents were having some. On the other hand, I wasn't allowed coffee until I was 14 years old! They used psychowarfare on me when I refused to eat anything but chocolate at age 6. It was fine by them as long as I took some frightening black drops of complete vitamin and mineral supplements. I lasted 36 hours on my chocolate-and-drops diet and then relented. The drops were revolting. --lamington