Guy Martin Tea revisited

I'm no chef (my reportoire is limited to Generic Curry, Spag Bol,
white/cheesey sauce on pasta/fish and chile con carne), but the first
time I heard of star anise was on UKRM. Cardamon, yes, though I can't
remember where I first came across it. My preferred method for adding
cardamon is to split & empty a few pods and grind the contents with a
pestle & mortar. If I grind it just right, sometimes while eating a
curry I'll get a fragrant but not overpowering burst in the mouth -
lovely.

I also discovered by accident[1] that cardamon makes a great flavour
in roast chicken stuffing.

[1] I was trying to make lemon & 'something' herb stuffing properly
with real breadcrumbs etc, but had no lemon and no 'something', so I
substituted cardamon and, err, some other herb. I've got it written
down somewhere.

 

I dunno, it's not like the words look similar or anything.

 

Well, up until encountering cardomen, my understanding was that you
put edible herbs and spices into the meal, which were pleasant when
you tasted them. Having to check each forkful before you put it in
your mouth in order to fish out some foul tasting thing is pretty
tiresome/

No, I don't watch cookery programs. I don't watch programs on women's
fashion, or doing up houses, either, as those are two other subjects
I'm not interested in.

 

Helm and helmet look similar too.

 

Funny that.

http://www.answers.com/helm

helm2 (he(lm) pronunciation Archaic.
n.

A helmet.

[Middle English, from Old English.]

 

no.

 

Ding! Actually, it goes on a bit longer than that.

 

*Sigh*

I give up trying to be funny. My humour[1] obviously doesn't translate
well to a text medium..

Phil

[1] Such as it is.

 

Joyce really was taking the piss, wasn't he.

 

Ever had Chinese food? If so, I'll guarentee that you have had star
anise since it's one of the constituents of Chinese 5-spice[1].

Depends on the effect you want in the dish. I mostly do what you do
(especially for Mughal-style curries) but sometimes you want the more
muted taste of the pods.

So does fennel. C does a really good stuffing for chicken using suet,
dried breadcrumbs, parsley and fennel.

It also makes a good flavour for ice-cream.

Phil.

[1] There is a Chinese insult that basically translates as "you don't
know the 5 spices" (ie are thick and have no culture).

 

It isn't. Different spice completely. Tastes similar - yes - but from a
different plant.

Star anise = Illicium verum
Aniseed = Pimpinella

Phil

 

A bit, but it's very entertaining.

 

Surely everyone knows they're Posh, Scary, Baby, Sporty and Ginger.

 

Quality.

 

That's a moot point but for really taking the piss you need to try his next novel.

 

Ulysses is a novel?

 

Taking it to an extreme in order to not be funny?

Yersh actually I do. At the risk of sounding like Bear, someone
recently said it was the best curry they'd ever had.[1]

Those Patak's curry pastes are very useful.

[1] Mind you, he was 21. How many decent currys can he have had?

 

On Mon, 13 Jul 2009 09:53:18 +0100, Phil Launchbury

snip>

There's an English insult that basically translates as "stick to
selling chips and curry sauce you slant eyed cunts."

 

The (Chinese) Boy advises me that he has no knowledge of this one and
he's particularly good at Chinese insults! You have a link to this?

 

I read it in one of my Chinese cookbooks.. so no.

Phil