Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Me too

I made marmalade for the first time this weekend. 4 hours of increasing anxiety as the further I went on in the process the more I felt I had to lose should it go wrong in the final stages. But it turned out just fine and I'm already planning the next batch.

I also made a spicy roast parsnip soup which was delicious but the competing aromas in the kitchen mean the wonderful orangey scents from the marmalade were overpowered.

My fail was a beetroot soup I had been planning, I just didn't get round to it.

I too need a slotted spoon! I'm nearing the point of having too many coffee mugs and will need to sort through shortly, I also have too many empty jars set aside for all the jam I was going to make this summer but didn't.

Someone commented recently on my wooden spoon collections - but I need sweet and savoury ones, one for spicy food and my favourite porridge one - they looked at me as though I was quite odd but it makes sense to me.

We should set up a swap-shop.

My mother made a chocolate desert called 'Sylvabella' for birthday and Christmas celebrations. It was the richest chocolate mousse imaginable - almost solid and served in a dish lined with rum soaked sponge fingers. She said the recipe was South African and was given to her by a friend. I have the recipe, as does my sister, but neither of us has been able to recreate it since she died. The disasters are wounding! We're certain she's left out a step somewhere.

I have, however managed her Gin and Grapefruit sorbet, and possibly improved it with my liberal, and better quality, gin. Roll on Christmas!

Thank you so much for the tips - all duly noted. I'm not sure about the reindeer pizza - I've nothing against trying reindeer meat, but can't quite see it on a pizza!

I'm certainly looking forward to stocking up on salt liquorice - even if it does give me a headache.

As Cybercita says, they need to be roughed up prior to being added to the fat.

Parboil, drain really well so they're as dry as possible, then put them back into the pan and shake them around to rough up the edges - this will ensure a really crispy outside, then toss in already hot fat before roasting. Goose fat is indeed the best imo, but I rarely use it.

There's a good article here comparing different potatoes, fats, methods etc

Oh my - salt on watermelon, a revalation! I love sweet/salty combos (actually I just love salt) so will be heading out to try this. I love watermelons (only melon I stand to eat) but so many here in the UK are now seedless and therefore tasteless. I've always wondered what would happen if I tried to return a completely tastless fruit to the store (Waitrose), when does a watermelon cease to be a watermelon?

If it rose first and then fell, it could be too much leavening or an uneven distribution of the leavening

This would explain the disaster I had at the wekend baking David Lebowitz's Racine Cake. It rose beautifully then, whilst cooling, I had to watch the centre sink millimetre by millimetre - gutting. I filled the offending dent with orange water flavoured whipped cream and strawberries and the whole thing was delicious, but it wasn't what I was hoping for.

I'm envious as buttermilk powder isn't available in the UK!

Tuna from a can for me - I had to feed some to my cat to try and get him to take a tablet and had to put gloves on to open it lest the juice *gag* got on my hands, I then had to double wrap the tin and take it to a bin in the street rather than having it in my house. I've not been able to try fresh tuna just in case it tastes anything like tuna smells (I've no idea what it actually tastes like as I've never managed to get that close). We didn't eat it when I was younger so I think the aversion must come from the smell of warm tuna mayo salads at various events - I like tinned sweetcorn but can't cope with it if it's in a salad with mayo as it was so frequently paired with tuna.

Also tomato juice - for that same smell reason, my sister would drink it when we were young and then smell from the glass after the contents had been drunk but the thick sluge coating the inside of the glass remained - or the way it would congeal around the lid of the bottle; or the smell on her breath.

I feel quite unwell now.

I have so many, each meal/tyype of food comes with it's own quirks (I like that term as it seems so harmless!) based around the order things should be eaten in or the combination of ingredients to the cutlery used. e.g. my morning porridge, once cooked has to be placed in a hot oven so a crispy skin appears and I have to eat that first, then pick out all the pumpkin seeds and eat them, then i eat the remainder but leaving all the dates to the last mouthful and the whole thing has to be eaten with a particular plastic spoon.

Oh dear.

I made these yesterday from The British Larder and they were delicious (I didn't bother with the glaze as I was too impatient to eat them hot from the oven)