Marmora Man

HAL - glad it worked for you - according to my sister, once the meat has reached the "magic" 60C it can be held there without overcooking for up to another hour - so good cooking method if friends / family are somewhat tardy in arriving at the table. I'm going to trial it with a sirloin at the weekend.

Is this forum seriously debating the rights of grubs not to be eaten by a z list nonentity? Baa humbug!

Thanks to all contributors - great idea - I think Boxing Day is now nailed - Kempton Park races it is. Used to go to Huntingdon pint to point as a lad on Boxing Day, big picnic of cold turkey & trimmings, bottles of beer, pickles and mince pies. Huntingdon P t P was very relaxed, with a wellies & beat up corduroy jacket dress code, - what is Kempton Park style, should I book tickets in advance?

Last time this happened I was at sea - and very happy to be on a long long patrol. When "she" died I had to go to deepest, darkest Wales to avoid the media coverage of the funeral. It's going to be a long long 9 months San, you're right - and nowhere to hide.

That would be the Irish Malt and not a personal reference then Mic Mac?

Marmora Man Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Going to try a new, expensive recipe as a special > treat fopr Sunday "roast" this weekend. > Brother-in-law (a butcher) has given me a middle > cut fillet steak about 500gms. Intend to seal, > cool, wrap in cling film and cook @ 60c for 40 > mins - take out, cut into four thick steaks, > season and brown off in hot foaming butter . > Apparently, according to my sister (professional > chef), it will be meltingly tender, moist and just > brilliant. We'll see. Tried this and it works. The centre of the steak needs to reach a uniform 60C - and a bit of overcooking won't hurt. I took maybe 55 mins to get to the uniform temp - cookers will vary in temperature. This is a simpler version of the water bath cooking style favoured by current crop of chefs. An advantage is that the steaks don't need to rest - tho' they do need a good red wine gravy / sauce as the meat, while very tender, needs a "dressing". I used an old Gordon Ramsay version of shallot & red wine sauce - relatively quick & easy and very flavoursome, particularly with just a tablespoon of malt whisky added to taste. Served with creamy / buttery potato & celeric mash, green beans & brocoli stems - all plates were licked clean. Special occasion food tho' unless you have a butcher in the family!

As whisky happiness is hi jacking this thread I also offer you 25 year old Highland Park, Talisker and agree with Louisiana on Lagavulin, Ardbeg, Laphroaig. In fact another version of happiness could be to be locked in the Malt Whisky Society club room in Bleeding Heart Yard, London with an anti hangover pill and carry out a comparative tasting of all 350 malts on offer

For a variety of reasons the Marmora household will be just three over Christmas. Two adults and one 19 year old son. We've planned Xmas Eve & Xmas Day to include walks, good food and occasional glass of something good. Would like to to a show, film or concert on Boxing Day but, so far, haven't identified anything good going on. Any ideas or suggestions out there? Are any of the Comedy Stores open, is there a film premiere at the Ritzy, or a grown up panto in London?

Happiness - comes in many forms. One, impossible, dream for me would be to discover a new, unread, novel in Patrick O Brian magnificent Aubrey / Maturin series and, having absolutely nothing else to do - settle down to read it on a dark winter's night, in a comfortable armchair, beside a log fire with a glass of good malt whisky in my hand - current choice Caol Ila.

david_carnell Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > ED Deli sell Italian sausages in the fridges on > the right hand side as you go in. Regular and > spicy varieties. > > Rose's farmhouse sausage is my current sausage > fave right now. Slow cooked in butter and oil in a > frying pan with a lid till golden, sticky and > caramelised. Takes at least 45mins. Any less and > your heat is too high. Oven baking and grilling is > blasphemy. Rose's farmhouse are a favourite in our house too but I speed up the cokking process by pouring boiling water over and simmering for 5 mins then cooking slowly for a further 10 mins on low heat frying pan - result v similar to D-C's (I believe) but with slightly less molten fat (boiled out), a more meaty texture and still the necessary caramelised coating.

But if we all did our bit in sweeping leaves, clearing snow etc that can be regarded as a physical, non financial, contribution to the local area that avoids an increase in local taxes. As an added benefit we might get to know our neighbours, help out th elderly who were unable to sweep / clear and perhaps as an added bonus everyone would take a little more civic pride intheir immediate vicinity. Leaving the proverbial / anecdotal "them" to do it is, to my mind, a deriliction of public duty - regardless of the level of council tax.

All parking "police" now seem to have digital cameras - if they took a photo of every alleged infringement this would allow cases such as yours to be appealed. I was once ticketed for a wrongful turn - the attached photo showed my car to be in Rye Lane at the time I was supposed to have been making an illegal left turn. Result - an abandoned ticketing process and no fine.

Brum, When your posts are based on logic, reasonable argument and backed by relevant evidence I'll accord you appropriate respect, as I was doing back on page one of this thread. Since page 1 I have become progressively more disappointed with the quality of response from firefighters and their supporters. Thus my latest response has descended to a lower level.

Did anyone hear the radio 4 news item about China putting forward a 20 / 20 team for the Asian Games? Just think what sort of opposition China could be in 20 years time if 1.2bn start to support, play and follow the game

Hugenot - you're using logic again in this debate. You know that's not fair. Emotions, ideology and concern about vague, unsubstantiated future threats to cuddly animals and children are OK - don't spoil their fun with logic, rational analysis of their case using facts and statistics.

Keep the level of spend - improve the targeting of the spend.

brum Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Last week a firefighter friend of mine in > Cleveland turned up as part of a crew to a house > fire with people trapped. His was the only > appliance to arrive as the original call was to > rubbish on fire. There were only 4 in the crew, he > was driver. Two entered the house with one > supplying the water. He saw 2 faces through the > smoke at a bedroom window. As the only person > left, and without any time to don his his > protective clothing (drivers normally dress on > arrival) he pitched a ladder, broke through the > glass and saved them just in time. He sustained > cuts to his hands requiring stitches. If a second > crew had arrived, he would not have had to risk > his own safety to carry out this rescue. > > My point? That insufficient resources (fewer fire > appliances) will mean that more lives are put at > risk - both public and firefighters. > > Though sorry, I've still no stats or 'bullet > points' to prove my point! But as the original call was to a rubbish on fire - logic demands that no matter how many appliances that particular force had, the call centre would still have only sent one appliance manned with four people. I do not deny the bravery of the individual - but the incident does not make a case for, or against, reducing / maintaining or increasing the number of appliances.

Re The Shard - it will have a public viewing gallery at, or close to, the top. the panorama across London on a clear day will be amazing - and some of us may be able to spot our own ED residences - whoopee!

Going to try a new, expensive recipe as a special treat fopr Sunday "roast" this weekend. Brother-in-law (a butcher) has given me a middle cut fillet steak about 500gms. Intend to seal, cool, wrap in cling film and cook @ 60c for 40 mins - take out, cut into four thick steaks, season and brown off in hot foaming butter . Apparently, according to my sister (professional chef), it will be meltingly tender, moist and just brilliant. We'll see.

My house too PR - ditto my photo too big to fit (that's not a boast). Can see from Millenium Dome (just) right thru' an arc to Wembley Stadium arch from the little roof terrace outside my home office. WSatching the Shard grow day by day is fascinating - and a distracting work avoidance option.

Parliament yesterday was unusually co-operative / in agreement when the "Quiet Man" presented his proposals. There was no deep or meaningful opposition and quite a lot of rueful agreement that much of his ideas were not only taking the right (no pun intended) direction but should have been implemented 10 years ago - around the time Frank Field was sacked for thinking the unthinkable. Just occasionally Parliament can act rationally and rise above party politics - yesterday was, almost, one of those days on this subject.

'Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness'. Th welfare state was / is supposed to combat these evils. The current benefits system is contributing to the Want, Squalor & Idleness in many many instances. The original concept was to support those out of work between jobs - not to create generations within ghettos that have never been employed. If there's a certain degree of shame attached to being unemployed - that's not necessarily a bad thing if it encourages people to go and do something. If all benefits (Housing, JSA etc) are taken into account the "pay" is close to the minimum wage anyway, it's only the ideological left that are characterising this as "slave labour". On last night's Question Time there was a significant majority of the audience in favour of the work while on the dole concept.

Casablanca Bogart, Bergman, Brilliant.

I did - while visiting a potential project partner - a major construction company relayed the message by tannoy to everyone and everything stopped.

There are companies that collect used deep fat fryer oil from Fish & Chip shops to turn into biofuel. 3 litres obviously too small for them to consider - but you might ask at your local chippy if you can gift your used oil to them?