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New guide entry
Apr 28, 2007

I haven't written an entry for the edited guide in a long time. Any requests?

Two ideas I have:

* Participatory economics - a decentralised economic system, an alternative to capitalism or centralised socialism

* Colour words - theories about language and perception in colour vision

(22 replies, Latest reply: Jan 26, 2008)

New name
Jan 31, 2007

So I finally received my PhD and now I can stop calling myself Dr Dogster. That makes me think - what should I be called? There's something a bit wrong about the name Dogster. It makes me think of dogging and doggie style which is not the impression I'm trying to give. So what should it be?

My other website is called "The Samovar" but that doesn't really work in H2G2 somehow. I was thinking "Sam the Egg" (Samovar, Sam Ova), but it's a bit stupid.

Any ideas?

(18 replies, Latest reply: Dec 5, 2007)

Dr. Dogster
Nov 8, 2006

Last week I passed my PhD viva so until I get bored of it I shall be Dr. Dogster on h2g2.

For anyone interested, my thesis is online at:

http://thesamovar.net/thesis

(9 replies, Latest reply: Nov 13, 2006)

The Fat Duck
Nov 17, 2004

Today, a good friend Alastair and I went to the Fat Duck restaurant on our internet poker winnings. Dinner for two was £170 including drinks, tea, coffee and petit fours.

We both started with a grain mustard ice cream with red cabbage gazpacho (a palate cleanser), followed by a quail jelly with pea puree and langoustine cream. After that, we moved on to our starters proper. We both had the 'crab biscuit'. This is a reduced essence of crab made into a biscuit, served with roast foie gras, crystallised seaweed, rhubarb and an oyster vinaigrette. It was quite probably the single most spectacular dish I have ever eaten.

After that, we moved on to main courses. Alastair had a slow cooked saddle of venison with sauce poivrade, which came with celeriac puree and marron glaces (little explosively flavoured balls of chestnut). I had best end of lamb, which came with a very rich mashed potato (40% butter), a mustard and green bean thing, an intensely flavoured jus with the lamb, and a bowl of jellied lamb consomme with a garnish of lambs tongue. Both were very, very fine indeed.

After that, another between course treat. We had little crystallised sheets of orange and carrot, basil bavarois (a mousse of distilled basil flavour) and sugar crusted beetroot cubes. In preparation for my pudding, I also got some douglar fir sherbet with a dried vanilla pod to scoop it up with.

Next came the puddings. Alastair went for the Delice of Chocolate, which consists of some dark chocolate sorbet, a moussey thing encased in chocolate and on a bed of popping candy, and a cumin caramel sauce. I had the douglar fir and mango puree, with a lychee and mango bavarois, cubes of jellied green pepper and blackcurrant, and a blackcurrant sorbet. Exquisite.

Finally, tea, coffee and petit fours. These were two types of chocolates, one was flavoured with oak, the other with mint (and I mean the fresh herb, not peppermint). A fine end to a spectacular meal.

So you see kids, gambling really does pay.

You can even see Alastair and I tucking in if you really want to, on my blog at http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/dangoodman/entry/the_fat_duck/ .

(1 reply, Latest reply: Nov 17, 2004)

Chicken stock
Oct 26, 2004

My advice on chicken stock is to never use cubes. If you really have no choice, you can use them of course. As long as what you're cooking has sufficiently strong flavours to cover up their rather uniquely artificial flavour they're OK (but in this case, why not just use water?). Making a stock is a bit of an effort, but the difference it makes to soups and risottos is astounding.

Recently I've been buying a whole chicken, cutting off the breasts and possibly the legs to use in another dish (curry, salad, whatever), and making a stock from the remaining bits. Simply saute some finely chopped leeks, carrots and celery along with the chicken smashed up into smaller bits for about 10 mins (in butter preferably), add water to cover, throw in some herbs (parsley, thyme, bay leaves, celery leaves and so forth are all good), spices (both star anise and cloves give an interesting and distinctive flavour to the stock), bring to the boil and simmer for about 45 minutes to an hour. Sieve this as finely as you can be bothered and you're done.

This stock is good enough to be a chicken soup if you just add a few vegetables (potatoes, carrots, celery, leeks, peas, green beans, etc. are all nice) and maybe some rice, barley or pasta. Or, it'll turn a risotto from a very tasty dish to an exquisite work of culinary art.

(No replies)