No I don't. To my mind there's the difference in flavour which is huge, but also different levels of acidity and salts. That doesn't mean substitutions aren't possible, for example if i can't get limes for thai cooking (i usually wouldn't cook Thai without them) I will sometimes subtitute rice vinegar, but never lemons. But no, I keep them strictly seperate.

my point is to your original question, yes it is crazy and no you won't break even if you run it how you propose. I'd be surprised if you stayed open for a month. .

two of my fantasy businesses to run would be a cool restaurant that serves amazing food in a really casual but contemporary setting that becomes insanely popular because of the great food or a food magazine dedicated to edgy and interesting writing about food and food culture.

David Chang stole my idea twice is my point.

Sort of jokes aside, the type of restaurant you would like to see is a really good idea, possibly not as uncommon or unique as you say, but not a bad idea. Your proposed method for establishing it and running it is just awful business sense.

But you say you won't mind if it doesn't make money. My hunch is that in reality your investment would be completely wiped within a month, possibly two. BUT who knows and it sounds like you're not particularly phased by the loss of significant capital so good luck to you.

My other suggestion would be to look at whether it needs to be a permenant thing or if you could trial it as a food event, pop-up or market stall.

seafood isn't really my thing, but people really rate Gambaro's and Paragon for it. Locavore isn't something we do much, spring in the CBD would be the closest i can think to that genre.

SE and Northern Asian food we do brilliantly well. Just hit up Urbanspoon and look up sunnybank, sunnybank Hills, chinatown and West End for them. My big tip is Thai Wi Rat for some of the best Thai food i've had outside of Thailand,

you know what i love at the Chinese joint around the corner from me? Scallops baked in their shell covered in cheese. Not even sorry.

none, it's suburbia

i tend to agree. The amount of heavy dairy in it is so high that any substitutions are going to really affect the enjoyment of the dish.
Perhaps try a different pasta dish with no dairy other than some parmesan but a lovely creamy texture and good healthy omega oils like a carbonara?

I don't think it's so much rudeness as an inevitability of judging another by your own expectations of their behaviour.

From the outset, etiquette is silent on whether or not you should season a dish you eat a certain way, or at least not as codified as knives being held in the right hand and placed on the plate while chewing.

More specifically to this situation, yes you are a foodie, a marvellous and wonderful thing to be in life. This dude isn't and is also quite a fair bit younger so possibly has immature tastes if the crap i ate unknowingly at university was any indication.

Chances are he doesn't actually mentally distinguish between mashed potato (not doubting yours are lovely) and a finely spiced delicate risotto.

I don't just mean in terms of mentally not processing or appreciating the difference between preperation time, skill involved or expense or rarity of ingredients used.

I mean also simply not processing the differences in the flavours between the two things. When my taste was quite immature it was food i liked, and other food, i liked hot and so hot sauce aligned most dishes closer to a flavour i like. the guy's really young and may not care about food that much.

You do, and i admire that, but you can't get snitty with him for not. Maybe this just isn't someone you should be putting huge efforts into a meal for. I can understand you take great pride in what you serve your family and he joins your family for dinner regularly so obviously you'l need to serve him what it is they're eating also, but maybe just try and accept this is not an interest you share.

And no, he wasn't being deliberately rude. I sympathise with you, watching one of my nephews drown a bisque i served one night in salt was a bit heartbreaking, but he's a kid and a little bit of 'whatever' goes a long way.

Maybe there are other reasons you don't like this young man that prompted following him from the table to have a dig at his tastes?

does any of this make you a snob? I just gently make the point that as people become more and more deeply involved in their food and cooking there can be a risk that we become rather overbearing hosts who absolutely insist our guests apreciate every detail of the extraordinary meal we have presented them and perhaps lose some of the joy of sitting down to a meal with our loved ones and those special to us.

Neil Perry has a great recipe for what he calls (probably not correctly) Italian coleslaw which is half a cabbage, two large bulbs of fennel and parmessan dressed with 2 parts oil to one part balsamic. Absolutely fantastic

i'm a massive fan of adding some lap cheung (Chinese preserved sausage, like a chinese salami. In fact i guess it is a chinese salami....) Goes really well and crisps up beautifuly

Love cook's companion but can i take this moment to have the slightest gripe about Maggie?

Love Maggie's Kitchen, Love Cook and the Chef, and love her, hated Maggie's Harvest.

I don't know about others but i actually thought the recipes were really pretty lacklustre and in a couple of cases actually a bit patronising and a bit of an ad for her whole brand including the quince paste recipe that calls for 3-6 hours of continual stirring.

The ingredient list might as well have been 'my Quince Paste from a shop and while you're at the shop why not get some other fine products from the Maggie Beer range.'

Women's Weekly do amazingly good cookbooks, I love them. AGTs annual cookbook is a big fave too. Also a shout out to the Country Women's Association recipe compendium.

Young guys can read CWA jam recipes, it's not weird....

what sensational timing i just bought this book. I had very little exposure to Burmese food previously but have an ongoing love affair with South East Asian food generally and have always appreciated the light and citrus elements to it, especially the Thai and Viet cuisines. The book was a fantastic eye opener to a very different type of food from the region with such strong Indian traditions of the use of legumes, tumeric, and besan flour with the addition of shrimp pastes and fish sauces and lime and all those old friends from SE Asian food I've come to love. I made the noodles with pork and coconut sauce and my God it was stunning! I subbed mince for shoulder, because i'm just mad for minced pork, and it was amazing. I'm so glad she wrote this book, I'm just thrilled to find a whole new cuisine and to get exploring.

Has anyone made the shan tofu yet? That's next for me and any good tips on technique or unexpected things to watch out for would be appreciated.

Also a massive M&P fan. I use a Thai granite model and it is really just sensational. My only tip to add is that in addition to the M&P itself, also think about purchasing a really flexible silicone spatula. It makes getting wet ingredients out of the mortar a real dream and cuts down heaps on waste. I make a lot of thai pastes in mine and I really appreciate it.

that is excellent advice regarding technique. Many thanks.

as a lot of the ingredients have very volatile oils that are released by pounding them out I've been told that freshest is always best as they degrade fairly rapidly. I dunno though, I've had them frozen and never noticed a huge difference. Even if there were a slight one, you're still going to be streets ahead of any store bought pastes.

not as good as Australian lamb, but yeah, it's okay.

Also, you have GOT to let us know how this goes.

Agreed on the bolognaise. It's really hard to mess up and you'll probably be a bit flustered getting the meal ready on the night, so anything that can be made ahead is going to help you. Also, love the edible flower salad, that's inspired.

Good luck champ.

Slightly off-topic, such a fantastic film.

merci

panade! thank you.

I totally concur with the bread soaked in milk as a binder, stock also works. Doesn't just help with binding, also helps keep the moisture content up. The French have a word for it, but it escapes me.

I've always wondered about this. I rinse mine but I like the recipes that call for toasting it. How do you dry it out before you put it in oil or do you dry fry it?

Legend! Thanks!

Hi all,

I used to have a fantastic recipe for a prune and walnut log simmilar to this one

http://www.pastillanash.com/log.html

It was really lovely and required a turn on the stovetop. Can anyone reccomend any recipes around that might acheve something simmilar? I have a lunch party coming up really soon and would love to serve it on a cheeseboard.

Many thanks,

not really a build thing per se, but i recently moved into the first home i own and put a bookshelf in the kitchen for all my cookbooks and (ridiculous number of) food magazines. I vaguely collect obscure kitchen stuff on my travels so it also makes a nice display for them and some of my treasured pots and pans. It's a long and low slung shelf, just abve waist height, so it also makes a nice sideboard for laying out plates and glasses before guests arrive and bowls of snacks for people to nibble on while they mill in the kitchen while i cook.. More a furniture thing than a design thing, but i just love it.

funnily enough there really is a fabulous place very close by. Griffith Nathan Campus has a restaurant called G's which is just spectacular. Also, nearby Sunnybank has a MASSIVE Chinese population and some of the finest Asian restaurants in Australia, well worth a visit.

seconded, awesome way to eat them

in fact i take the food stains on the pages containing my most beloved recipes as a badge of honour.