eG Foodblog: Andy Lynes - Brighton Rock and Rolls

[bloviatrix]

I miss the seafood.

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I'm planning to visit the retail outlet of a rather good wet fish supplier tomorrow morning so at least I can share some pictures and a recipe or two with you if not the flavours.

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So there are dry fish suppliers as well???

[Behemoth]

Looking forward to this blog, Andy -- I never got to thank you for your recommendations from last summer. We really enjoyed Brighton, and if we had to have fish and chips there, the Regency was definitely the place for it.

I must admit we weren't expecting much out of Brighton before we went -- I thought it would be like the Jersey Shore or something equally cheesy. But it is a lot bigger and a lot more dense than I expected. Great places to eat and shop, lots to see and do. From what I understand it is also a large artist's community?

We got lucky with great weather, so we were able to spend a lot of time out of doors. For me the one particularly charming feature in Brighton were the Thai pubs. Decent Thai food and good beer for little cash, and some even have outdoor gardens in the back. A Blessing for grad students and recent docs.

[fou de Bassan]

I think I'd much rather start my day with 'The Pursuit of Love' rather than 'Bonjour Tristesse' . (see link)

I looked at the flapjack recipe, did I miss the addition of flour and a leavening agent. I, too, think of pancakes when I see flapjack. Although I had an English friend who couldn't understand my laughter after she said she would 'knock me up' so I know there are variances in English and American english.

[pattimw]

I am very much enjoying this so far. In college, I did a study abroad program at the University of Sussex in nearby Falmer and spent quite a bit of time in Brighton.

Bringing back lots of good memories.

Is Disco Biscuit still there? And Food for Friends?

[MobyP]

Yes but will we get to see Andy Flesh bouncing along the brighton shores???

I shall have to cancel the rest of my week, clearly.

[Andy Lynes]

Disco Biscuit (a pre-club bar?) has gone I believe, but will check next week for you. Food For Friends, one of Brighton's most famous veggie restaruants is still there after 24 years but has just been sold by its founder Simon Hope.

[Andy Lynes]

So there are dry fish suppliers as well???

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I forsee a "two nations divided by a common language" theme developing to this blog! Wet fish meaning just out of the sea as opposed to smoked, tinned or dried I suppose.

[Andy Lynes]

Yes but will we get to see Andy Flesh bouncing along the brighton shores???

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You'll need to get hold of a copy of my appeareance on the 1997 Masterchef TV show for that. And no, I'm not letting you borrow mine.

[Abra]

And further to the wet fish/dry fish lingo thing, is there such a thing as a non-Uma Thurman fan?

Those flapjacks looks scrumptious and earthy, not at all like anything I've ever seen called a flapjack, and not what I would have thought of as a Brit breakfast (shows what I know). Gotta try that recipe.

Do you think Art Meets Matter ships to the US? I couldn't see anything about that on their site.

Fun blog already!

[Jensen]

Great blog already! I'm still trying to find somewhere that ships those mugs (I wonder if WHSMith has them?) and trying to figure out how I can eat some of those flapjacks!!!

[Andy Lynes]

Those flapjacks looks scrumptious and earthy, not at all like anything I've ever seen called a flapjack, and not what I would have thought of as a Brit breakfast (shows what I know).  Gotta try that recipe.

Do you think Art Meets Matter ships to the US?  I couldn't see anything about that on their site.

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Not sure if its usual for British people to eat flapjacks for breakfast, it just happened to be in my line of sight and seemed like a good idea at the time.

The mug order form says to enquire about price and shipping rates for the Rest of The World.

[Andy Lynes]

I must admit we weren't expecting much out of Brighton before we went -- I thought it would be like the Jersey Shore or something equally cheesy. But it is a lot bigger and a lot more dense than I expected. Great places to eat and shop, lots to see and do. From what I understand it is also a large artist's community?

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As a resident, I probably don't appreciate the place as much as I should do. Perhaps documenting the food shops and cafes etc in this blog will help me see Brighton through new eyes.

[Priscilla]

Further info on the mugs from Art Meets Matter.

[...]

(Obviously any discussion of music must be in direct relation to the activity of cooking and its not my intention to encourage off topic chat. I believe that my mood has a great impact on how well I cook and my mood can be influenced by music. I think it will be interesting to assess over the coming few days if that is in fact true.)

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Course it's true! Don't ever cook for others when you're sad or in a bad mood! I think this cookery universal was well illustrated in Laura Esquivel's Like Water for Chocolate.

Andy, in addition to the mood-affecting-cooking deal, other disparate, formerly disparate, themes are becoming interwoven for me here, in your blog. Uma Thurman: I only recently saw what Quentin Tarantino and most other people in the world, including the irresistable Gary Oldham, have seen in UT -- in Kill Bill I finally saw it. And, cooking soundtracks: Highly important, of course.

And those mugs! My Penguin shelf exults. I knew "Brighton Rock" as a Queen song long before I learned it was a Graham Greene book, however.

(I'm going to go look if they have Gertrude Stein's The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, with Picasso's portraiit of Gertrude on the cover! Or, Reyner Banham's Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies, with David Hockney's "Splash.")

[Pan]

[...]

More on the great LKJ here.[...]

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When I click on this link of cut and paste the URL into my Firefox browser, I'm redirected to http://www.microsoft.com/. Strange. Anyone have any insight on why?

Michael

[Matthew Grant]

[...]

More on the great LKJ here.[...]

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When I click on this link of cut and paste the URL into my Firefox browser, I'm redirected to http://www.microsoft.com/. Strange. Anyone have any insight on why?

Michael

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Yep - its got http://http://

Delete one of the http:// and you will be ok, alternatively CLICK HERE

Edited January 14, 2005 by Matthew Grant (log)

[Susan in FL]

I'm thrilled that you're blogging, especially after our recent trip to Europe which included London... before which I wouldn't have had any idea of where Brighton is! Thanks. Cheers!

[Daddy-A]

Yep - its got http://http://

Truly, my eGullet mentor is having a bad day with the keyboard

Looking forward to this Andy. Are the youngsters going to make an appearance?

A.

[Andy Lynes]

Apologies for the bad link and yes, the younger members of the family (that's all of them in fact) awill be making an appearance very soon.

[Andy Lynes]

As promised, a proper cup mid-morning coffee made from a brand given to me by the lovely Sophie Conran (if your wondering if this sort of unseemly name dropping will be carrying on for the entire blog, then the anwer is almost certainly going to be yes).

I grabbed a cheese and salad roll for lunch (again made by my wife. Don't worry, I do get around to some cooking soon).

I popped into Infinity Foods in Brighton's bohemian North Laines area.

It's a workers co-operative and retailer of organic and fairtrade goods. I suppose you could broadly call it a "health food shop" but they also stock nice breads

and have an excellent range of dried herbs and spices

however, I was interested in the grains and nuts to make granola for tomorrows breakfast

On my way into the office I was pleased to spot that noodle bar

I was too busy to eat anything else in the afternoon, although I did manage several more cups of coffee (instant again). Back home, I enlisted the help of Alice in weighing out and stirring the ingredients for our granola.

The recipe is by Michelin starred chef John Campbell of The Vineyard restaurant and appears in "A Cooks Guide To Grains" by Jenni Muir. I've e mailed Jenni and requested permission to reproduce the full recipe here so hopefully I will get the OK soon. I can tell you that there's rolled oats, malted wheat flakes, barley flakes and loads of dried fruits among other things . You dowse the whole liberally in Mexican honey (or as we did, Maple Syrup) and toast it in the oven.

[jackal10]

Good to see you Andy; but where are the pictures of Brighton Rocks (both the sweet and the seashore kind)? Also the obligatory pix of the pier and of the banquetting rooms and kitchen in the Pavilion. And the pubs!

I have fond memories of Brighton having spent a year at the University of Sussex there

[Andy Lynes]

Dinner 14 January

A review of food in the house revealled a mass of vegetables that needed using up. After the idea of cabbage and butternut squash soup was rejected by a look of mild horror on my wife's face, I decided a simple vegetable broth would have to do.

I fried a rasher of bacon and a crushed clove of garlic to flavour some olive oil, in which I then sweated one choppped onoin, a celery stalk and some white of leek. I used a tiny Pariseinne cutter to make balls from swede, potato, carrot and courgette. Here's what was left of the vegetables after I had finished with them:

I added the balls to the sweated vegetables, covered with water and bought the soup to the boil. I then put back the bacon and garlic, some tinned red kidney beans to add body, and a bay leaf, some peppercorns, salt and pepper and a small piece of chicken stock cube. I simmered the soup very gently for 30 minutes until I was happy with the flavour, adjusted the seasoning and served.

The Pariseinne balls are really only for show, and a dice or even roughly chopped pieces would be just as good. Using the cutter however does ensure that all your veg is of an even size and will cook at the same rate. You could add the courgette later in the cooking process as it will cook more quickly than the roots (or even omit it, I just happened to have one to use up), but I found that they held their shape and texture even going in right at the start.

[phifly04]

i appreciate your efforts truly.if you deny motown ,then you aint getting your groove on....that would be a shame.I feel ya on the music thing,whatever it is

im not getting cocky,im just getting in-

Edited January 15, 2005 by phifly04 (log)

[Andy Lynes]

The soundtrack to last night's cooking was the Radio 4 arts show Front Row, so no music oddly enough. I was a bit tired last night and running late. We didn't eat until 9.00pm and by that time the edge had gone off my hunger. If it wasn't for this blog, I probably wouldn't have taken the time to do all those vegetable balls, so preparing the meal was a bit of a slog. Even so it was all done with care and attention and as a result tasted good. Not a sparklingly good meal, but OK considering the "recipe" was made up on the spot.

[Swisskaese]

I always thought flapjacks were another name for pancakes.

These look like home-made muesli or granola bars.

Is this a particularly English term or confection?

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I've been labouring under the impression that flapjacks were something we'd got from the US. I'm almost certain that it was the Sainted Delia (Smith) who popularised them in the UK back in the 70's.

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Flapjacks are what Americans call a granola bar, but flapjacks are better!

Edited because I should have read the entire thread before I typed.

Great thread so far Andy!

Edited January 15, 2005 by Swisskaese (log)

[johnnyd]

Andy, you are returning with some fresh fish this AM if I recall. Does Brighton-Hove have an organized fishing fleet of any kind? I notice a small marina on-line map of Brighton.

What's the local specialty?